Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4235043.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      F/M, M/M
  Fandom:
      弱虫ペダル_|_Yowamushi_Pedal
  Relationship:
      Arakita_Yasutomo/Shinkai_Hayato, Shinkai_Hayato/Original_Female_Character
      (s)
  Character:
      Shinkai_Hayato, Arakita_Yasutomo, Toudou_Jinpachi, Shinkai_Yuuto,
      Fukutomi_Juichi, Izumida_Touichirou, Makishima_Yuusuke, Ashikiba_Takuto,
      Kuroda_Yukinari, Machimiya_Eikichi
  Additional Tags:
      Bad_Jokes, Drinking, Drama, Cheating, Original_Character(s), Humor, Gay
      Sex
  Series:
      Part 2 of Le_Tour
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-06-29 Completed: 2017-02-02 Chapters: 18/18 Words: 88236
****** Tourgelion ******
by Malvapulce
Summary
     "So you went and shagged your teammate even though you have a
     girlfriend, Shinkai?"
     The sequel of Le Tour de la Confusion.
Notes
     Please read!
     Warning! This fic contains under-age people getting drunk, boys doing
     gay stuff and some lame original characters. Also, it handles themes
     that are a bit heavier than its predecessor even if humour is one of
     its genres. On top of that, the characters might act in ways that
     cannot be considered exemplary and that some readers might consider
     immoral or insulting towards either the characters or people of
     certain sexual or gender identities. That doesn't mean that it would
     in any way represent the world view or values of the author; it's
     only a matter of fiction. That's just how literature sometimes is.
     But hey, at least nobody is going to die!
     The fic is set a good month after the Tour, in the beginning of the
     autumn period, and follows the manga as closely as I see fit plot-
     wise. Some artistic licenses will occur. And even though I promised
     you some Ashikuro, after wrestling with the beginning for all these
     weeks, I realized that I need to erase the other pairing if I want to
     have the depth that I’m aiming for in it. And in this case it means
     I’m scraping Ashikuro. As much as I wish to write about them, I
     haven’t got the resources to right now. I want to include Arakita’s
     POV and then there’s Shinkai’s girlfriend and whatnot. And I suppose
     the reason I found writing them quite hard is that there isn’t enough
     source material for me, since I can’t read Japanese. The writing
     process has been interrupted so many times for me to check some
     details I should know by heart when beginning a fic. So I’m not
     totally abandoning the idea, heck, I have two complete chapters of
     them already and Kuroda was talking to me, he truly was, but I’m just
     not including them in the sequel in the way I was planning to. I
     might do a one-shot of them while writing the sequel or write about
     them after I’ve finished this and hopefully there’ll be more of the
     YP manga translated then. I guess some readers will be disappointed
     but then again, I reckon a Shinara fic is better than no fic at all.
     Disclaimer: Watanabe-sensei owns Yowapeda. Shinkai owns my soul.
     Arakita owns Shinkai's ass.
     Many thanks to ladyleopardy for betaing the chapters 1-4 and
     SalaciousCrumb from chapter 5 onward! And special thanks to todokeya
     for helping me out with details of Japanese culture.
     The title of the fic is based on the_amazing_posters Perunaprinssi
     made for the sequel. Yes, it was supposed to be a joke but then it
     grew.
See the end of the work for more notes
***** Back in Hakogaku *****
What should you expect from a moment when after a long break you meet someone
you've been secretly screwing for almost the whole holiday trip?
Shinkai didn't know what to expect from the moment he met Yasutomo for the
first time after the summer break. The first time after their return from
France. After what happened in France. To tell the truth, he'd been expecting
the unexpected but Yasutomo acted in a way that was not unexpected. Or
something like that.
Okay, so maybe he had expected at least a bit of a stronger reaction than a
quick glance and a nonchalant greeting. He was almost hurt and on the verge of
blurting out something as equally stupid as 'Have you forgotten?' but his self-
censorship saved him at the last minute.
Sometimes he felt like he had imagined the whole thing. After they'd returned
home and life had found its normal rhythm again, the Tour trip had adopted some
dream-like tones. That world was so different from what he was used to. And
then he had made the error of going through the photos and everything had come
back with a rumble. He had gone through all of them before showing them to
Ayane or the others, just in case there was a shot that he wasn't aware of and
that might raise suspicions. There weren't any but nonetheless he had moved the
picture Manami had taken of hungover Yasutomo and him to another file before
presenting the photos to his family and girlfriend. There wasn't anyone else in
the photo besides him and Yasutomo and he knew Ayane wouldn't have let it
slide.
Despite the indifferent, almost cold greeting he found himself talking to
Yasutomo just like always, as part of their group, part of their Inter High
team, and in twenty minutes, the ice melted. Maybe there was something hanging
in the air between them, a secret, something they'd never ever talk about, but
the every-day hanging around in the clubroom restored the feeling of normalcy.
But he was very much aware of Yasutomo standing next to him as Juichi talked to
the club members, and how his arm was brushing against his own, but he had done
it before. In a friend-like manner.
At least that's what he wanted to believe.
At least he wanted to believe that a small but quite persistent voice wasn't
screaming dark truths in his head.
This guy's dick has been in your ass!
You've fucked him in the back of a van and in a public toilet in a camping
area!
You've fucked him in an airplane toilet ten kilometers up in the air!
He masked his nervousness by munching on his energy bar. He thought no one had
noticed that he was a bit strained. Not even Yasutomo.
Thank god they needed to concentrate on the team stuff. Today marked as the day
when they would hand the torch over to the second-years, to Touichirou and
Kuroda. And Ashikiba would become the new ace. They had discussed it long and
hard with Juichi and agreed that Ashikiba was ready. And that he had learned
his lesson. Besides, Juichi trusted Kuroda to keep his two-meters-tall teammate
in order and bring some needed discipline into the team if Touichirou was too
soft for it.
Yasutomo complained about them needing a whole ceremony to name the new lead of
the team. They hadn't had any kind of festivities last year. Afterwards it was
time to see some pictures from the Tour. The guys were already buzzing with
excitement, having hardly been able to refrain from asking until that point.
There was no need to urge them to go to the locker room, nobody was hanging
back.
They turned benches so that everyone could sit down and watch the show and
pulled the curtains over the single small window. They even had a projector to
reflect the photos onto the wall. Jinpachi insisted on being the photo master
and the others let him have the role, although Yasutomo gave a small side-
remark.
"You better show pictures other than those of your precious Maki-chan."
A couple of laughs were audible in the lot. Jinpachi's mouth snapped open and
his face probably changed colour, but luckily it was too dark to see it. He
looked like he wanted to make a retort, but in the end he only pressed his lips
together and jabbed his USB stick into the computer.
The third-years sat down closest to the computer and the others found their
places around them. Yasutomo slumped down between Shinkai and Juichi, ignoring
the fact that Shinkai had deliberately left a space that was too tight to fit
into properly. He even muttered something about there not being enough room.
Shinkai and Juichi couldn't help but give him room if they didn't want to
squish their thighs.
Shinkai didn't want to feel Yasutomo's scent, but of course he felt it, and
since human olfactory memory happened to be annoyingly sharp, a herd of
unwanted, unsuitable recollections washed over him. Too many of them were from
the back of a van. Too many of them inflicted an awkward throbbing in his groin
and he had to stare at the wrapper of his energy bar, read the text printed on
it over and over again, until the feeling passed. He sensed that Yasutomo was
not looking at him, but he seemed aware of his movements. He tried a bit too
hard to act like nothing had happened.
It would only be the first days. They hadn't had time to practise their
interactions. When life returned to its ordinary self, their relationship would
follow suit. It had happened in France; Shinkai couldn't see why it wouldn't
happen here too. Eventually they would forget that for a short while they had
been more than friends.
"Attention!" Jinpachi raised his voice and the room quietened down. "Here's the
first picture. Alright, this is from the airport when we were about to leave. A
group shot."
"Everyone can see it's a group shot," Yasutomo butted in.
"Shut up. Let me explain."
Yasutomo let out a sound between laugh and sneer but shut his mouth.
"Okay then, this was taken in Paris, at the airport of Charles de Gaulle,"
Jinpachi probably pronounced it horribly. "My bag went missing and didn't
arrive with the rest of our luggage. So the first thing we had to do in France
was fill out a missing luggage report. I had to borrow clothes from Maki-chan.
You know, Makishima of Sohoku."
"Everyone knows who Maki-chan is."
Jinpachi ignored Yasutomo. "Anyway, I got it back the next day. In this picture
we're standing in front of Notre-Dame. Then we went to, erm, a museum of
eroticism."
He continued his presentation. The audience commented appropriately. The guys
were not that excited about scenery photos, but once they got to the Tour
shots, the atmosphere went through the roof.
"Is that Chris Froome? He was the overall winner, right?"
"I'm not sure. It was hard to get decent pictures when the racers rode past so
fast. But we actually got one decent shot of Arashiro. Hold on... yeah, here it
is."
"Oh, wow! That's a good one! You got really close."
"He also waved at us," Jinpachi said, his voice oozing with pride. "It was one
of the parts where they didn't ride so fast. What was the place called?"
"Fougères," Touichirou remembered.
"Yes, that's right. The first stage we saw. Hayato and Arakita had a hangover
and Hayato threw up on a field in front of all the spectators."
There were a few chuckles in the audience. The guys didn't know if it was okay
to laugh when they were talking about a senpai that also happened to be the
sprinter star of the team. Yasutomo snorted all the same, nudging Shinkai's
shoulder.
"Shinkai was so wasted the night before that he said he could do some hot yoga
with Gackt."
Shinkai huffed. "Well, thank you for that." I sure hope that you leave out what
led to that caprice.
"I don't think Gackt is an ugly guy," Ashikiba whispered behind them.
"Shut up! Don't you embarrass us now," Kuroda hissed at him. Shinkai felt a
smile tugging at his lips.
Jinpachi clicked forward. "A couple of landscape shots... wait until we get to
the Alps. The view was incredible." He halted at a picture in which Shinkai and
Tadokoro were leaning over gigantic portions of food and glaring at each other
out of the corners of their eyes. "Ah, this is when Hayato and Tadokoro were
having an eating competition in an Indian restaurant."
Shinkai hadn't seen the picture before; funny, he'd thought that he had
collected every one of them onto his own computer. Both his and Tadokoro's face
were flushed, their chins soiled with sauce, and the table had had its share of
splatters too.
Shinkai crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back. "Not one of my finest
moments."
"Who won?"
"Tadokoro."
"Well, he does have more bulk on him."
"But Shinkai always eats like three people."
"And you like two and a half," Jinpachi commented. "When you're not busy
getting drunk or smoking."
Yasutomo snorted, ignoring Jinpachi, at least until he opened his mouth again.
"Arakita and I wrestled arms right after the eating competition. I won."
"Fuku-chan called it off!" Yasutomo snarled.
"I still would have won!"
"No, you wouldn't, you twig!"
Touichirou rubbed his eyes. "Not this conversation again."
Juichi cleared his throat meaningfully. "Let's move on."
Jinpachi swallowed his anger, clicking forward. The next picture featured
Sohoku's green-haired climber, Jinpachi's current boyfriend, standing next to
flowers against a yellow stone wall and smiling. Shinkai couldn't recall seeing
him smile even once during their trip, but apparently Jinpachi had been granted
with some of those rare moments.
Jinpachi was scratching his neck, looking a bit abashed. "Whoops, how come this
picture is here? Well, never mind, this was taken in this very nice medieval
village. It was so small and desolate looking but it was really beautiful."
The next picture also had Makishima, sitting at a table in a restaurant patio
or inner yard.
"Oi, Miss Headband," Yasutomo interfered again. "I swear, if the next picture
has you and Sohoku's climber boning, this show is over."
Shinkai snorted involuntarily, but he shoved Yasutomo lightly, indicating that
he had had his fun already and that he should stop embarrassing Jinpachi. They
were already walking on thin ice. Jinpachi was trying to pull Yasutomo's tongue
out with his gaze. "There are no pictures like that! Keep your reckless mouth
shut!"
Shinkai heard Ashikiba talking again behind them, not as quietly as the
situation would have required. "Are Toudou-san and Kinjou-san boning each
other?"
"Makishima," Kuroda corrected him. "I don't know and I don't wanna know."
Shinkai placed a note on his mind that he must ask Yasutomo to keep it down
about Jinpachi and Makishima. It was a different matter to joke about it when
there was only their Inter High team present, because Shinkai and Touichirou
knew and the others didn't care, but now the whole club was listening.
Luckily, there wasn't Makishima in the next photo but Manami, his fingers
raised in the peace sign, smiling his fairly deceptive angelic smile. And then
followed a shot of Jinpachi himself in the same place.
"They had rather good food in that restaurant," Jinpachi muttered. "Alright, so
this was taken in a café. Excellent ice cream, by the way..."
After that they got a few scenery photos of the same town and some blurry
snaps, taken from a car window.
"These are from the day when we drove to Lyon. A wasp got in the car and stung
Hayato."
"A fucking big wasp," Yasutomo pointed out.
"Might have been a hornet," Juichi added.
"Shinkai-san even got a fever," Touichirou said. "We went to a pharmacy, but
they told us to go to a hospital."
"And we had to wait there for god knows how long, because they thought Shinkai
was going to die," Yasutomo said.
There was a picture of his injury too. The purple, extremely swollen hand
prompted the audience to let out sympathetic sounds.
"I still have a scar," Shinkai said, glancing at his limb.
"While Hayato and Arakita were in a hospital, we drove to this tiny village
where we spent the night in a real castle. I have some pictures of it..."
The first picture was stunning. The castle was bathed in sunlight, the flower
beds around it blossoming with all imaginable colours. It looked amazing, like
out a fairy tale. Jinpachi also had a lot of photos of the indoors: the
hallways, the rooms, details in the decoration and the view from the window.
Shinkai didn't remember the castle that well since he had been high on the
pills he had gotten in the hospital, so it was nice to get to see some good
pictures of it.
"A friend of Sohoku's coach owned it so we were allowed to stay there with a
reasonable price. It was haunted, actually, but Hayato was the only one who saw
the ghost."
Chatter followed his words when everyone wanted to know what kind of ghost he
had seen. Shinkai answered sparsely, shrugging and smiling awkwardly. He still
didn't feel like he had seen a ghost, but there was really no other
explanation. He had told the story to Ayane and she had had a small fit,
thinking that he just wanted to scare her.
Once again, Ashikiba had his own say on the matter. "I thought ghosts didn't
exist."
"They don't," Kuroda said.
"But if Shinkai-san saw one..."
"The ghost was in our room," Yasutomo said. "Manami was so scared that he
wanted to sleep in the same bed with us. There was this really big, old bed in
the room."
"The ghost sat down onto Manami's bed first. That's why he freaked out and
wanted to sleep next to Hayato and Arakita," Jinpachi explained. "In the
morning, Mr. Pierre's friend told us what kind of ghosts they have and one of
them matched the lady Hayato had seen."
The photo show and travel report lasted for another half an hour. After that
those who wanted were invited to a short practise session with the third-years.
Kuroda and Touichirou were automatically excluded since they had ridden a good
spurt on the rollers. Shinkai and Juichi paid special attention to Askikiba.
Juichi would have preferred to see their new ace compete against Manami, but it
didn't happen as their miracle child was absent once again. However, with or
without Manami, Ashikiba showed some great potential. He had made some great
progress during the last six months; had learned to handle his size and his
freakishly long limbs and polished up his climbing style, his 'metronome
dancing'. Yes, Ashikiba was ready.
They got back from their round sweaty and hungry (at least, Shinkai did).
"Should we go and get a bite to eat?" he heard himself suggesting to Yasutomo.
Right after he remembered he had made plans to have dinner with Ayane today. Oh
well, it was still a couple of hours away and his stomach never minded an extra
portion of food. And he couldn't really take his suggestion back now, could he?
His teammate glanced at him. "I was going to take a shower before anything
else."
"Yeah, of course. But after that?"
"Hmh, whatever."
"Sure, let's go," Juichi said, assuming the invitation was directed to him as
well.
"I'm coming too," Jinpachi added.
Alright, so they would go as a group. Shinkai didn't know why he felt a small
flicker of disappointment. Wasn't it just good that he wouldn't be alone with
Yasutomo now when the awkwardness could strike at any given moment? Besides, it
would be nice to sit down and eat with the guys after a long break.
"The usual place?" Juichi asked.
"Yeah, sounds good."
"And now Toudou can't lecture us for eating treats since there's no big race
coming up."
Jinpachi just looked at Yasutomo like you look at a piece of blue cheese that's
been forgotten in the back of a fridge for months. "Yes, by all means, eat
until you're nothing but a ball of lard."
"Somebody is just cranky because he can't eat sweets without getting fat."
"I don't want to eat them. Sweets just ruin my skin and make me feel tired."
"Really? They do nothing to me."
"Of course not, since you're such a cyborg."
Yasutomo mused over his words, wondering whether a cyborg was an insult or not.
In the end, he only chuckled. "Come on, let's go and take the shower so we can
get going. Shinkai will start whining soon."
Shinkai was about to deny it, but then he remembered that he had run out of
energy bars during their practise. Yup, he'd be starving soon.
He was planning to pick a shower with some distance to Yasutomo – but not too
far, he didn't want it to look suspicious – or on the opposite side so that
they would stand their backs towards each other. However, he didn't have to do
anything since Yasutomo peeled off his clothes with a lightning speed and
marched into the shower without sparing a glance at him. And he even chose a
stall in the farthest corner. Juichi took the stall next to him and in the
blink of an eye the bathroom was filled with second-years. It was nothing out
of the ordinary. Shinkai sighed, getting rid of his own sweaty clothes and
occupying a shower closest to the door.
* *
Their regular place, an American-style road diner, which had food so thoroughly
Western that it had to be eaten with a fork and knife, was quiet that
afternoon. They were the only customers besides a group of tourists. Shinkai
leafed through the menu even though he already knew what he was having.
Jinpachi sat next to him, which would have been more than suitable if it hadn't
meant that Yasutomo sat across him and every time he lifted his gaze, there was
a chance that their eyes would meet. But Yasutomo kept his attention on the
menu too, until a waitress came to take their order and he had to hand over his
visual barrier.
Jinpachi typed a message with his cell before placing the phone on the table –
as an indication that he would need it soon again and it would be useless to
put it back into his pocket. It was not hard to guess who he was texting to.
"So, what did you do for the rest of the break?" he asked then.
"I was at home."
"Yeah, but what did you do there? Did you just sit in your room and stare at
the walls?"
Shinkai laughed. "No, I didn't. I spent some time with Usakichi and practised
climbing with Yuuto. And Ayane stayed with us for a while." Why did he feel
ashamed mentioning Ayane? Wasn't it perfectly normal? He had spent some time
with his girlfriend. It would have been more suspicious had he not seen her
during the holiday. He avoided looking at Yasutomo even though it wasn't
necessary since he was staring out of the window and seemed to be focused on a
cat that was balancing on a fence.
He was grateful that Jinpachi decided to focus on the part about his brother
and not his girlfriend. "Oh yeah, Yuuto! Is he showing potential? Could he
participate in the Inter High team in a few years?"
"Possibly." More like in a year. Yuuto's climbing skills already almost matched
Manami's. But he was only fourteen and fourteen-year-olds were unpredictable,
so Shinkai didn't mention his observations. If Yuuto continued his training and
managed to keep his interest towards road racing, he would be a good asset to
the Hakogaku team.
"So what about Fuku and Arakita?"
Yasutomo sneered. "I got wasted every night and kicked old ladies on our
street."
Jinpachi let out a yelp. "Why the hell would you do that?"
"Of course I didn't. Fuck, can't you tell a joke when you hear it?"
"If it's you, nothing is certain. And you said it with a straight face!"
A hint of smile graced over Yasutomo's face, the first one since the photo
show. "Calm down. Old ladies are safe."
"I was–" Juichi began.
"'I was strong' is not something you do on a holiday, Fuku."
Juichi coughed. "I wasn't going to say that. I was about to say that I mostly
stayed at home, went cycling and built a pool for Turtle in our backyard. But
then I also went to Hiroshima for a few days with my family."
Yasutomo leaned closer. He had an undefined, sort of hungry expression on his
face. "Did you see that bastard Machimiya?"
"No. It's a big city and I wasn't there specifically to meet him."
"Oh, does that mean that you sometimes are?"
Juichi looked like he was very hard trying to understand why in the world would
he have to meet Kureminami's asshole of a captain (Shinkai wouldn't probably
have said it out loud but it was true). "No. I haven't got his email or
anything."
Yasutomo leaned back on his seat. "Okay, got it already." Then he added, almost
in passing. "I have it, by the way."
Jinpachi slammed his hands onto the table. "Why on earth?"
"Because the dickhead practically forced me to take it when I bought him a
Bepsi after he'd lost to me in the Inter High."
Shinkai thought it was only a fair thing to do but Jinpachi saw it a bit
differently.
"The guy's like the biggest idiot on the planet. You haven't kept in touch with
him after that, have you?"
"Yeah, I have. I exchange mails with him sometimes."
Jinpachi couldn't have been more shocked. "What?!"
"Hey, the guy's an asshole but an okay one."
"How can someone be an okay asshole?"
Yasutomo shrugged. "He just is. And how the hell is it your business who I'm
talking to anyway?"
Jinpachi shook his head and gave up even though he clearly didn't understand.
And he was not the only one: Shinkai was surprised too, because Machimiya
Eikichi was simply one of those few people who made his hair stand on end, but
on the other hand – and he hesitated to even think about it – there was
something similar in Yasutomo and Machimiya.
"What about you, Jinpachi?" he said, returning to their original topic. "What
did you do on the break?"
Jinpachi had clearly been waiting for this part of the conversation. His face
lit up and his cheeks got a pink tint. "I went to Chiba and then Maki-chan
stayed in the ryokan for almost a week."
Yasutomo groaned. "Save us from details."
"I showed him the town, we went to see almost every attraction there is, and
then we cycled and of course took full advantage of the ryokan."
"What did I just say?!"
Jinpachi stuck his nose up in the air. "Shut up. Block your ears if you don't
want to listen."
"I don't wanna hear in what way you took full advantage of the ryokan and I'm
pretty sure no one else wants either."
The colour in Jinpachi's cheeks turned red. "Well, I don't want to hear about
your holiday either!"
"Why did you ask then?"
Jinpachi's phone beeped, making him forget Yasutomo immediately. Judging by the
glow in his eyes, the message was from his beloved Maki-chan. Shinkai had
happened to bump into Jinpachi during the holiday and had taken notice that the
relationship with Makishima was well alive and kicking if there was anything to
tell about the eagerness and enthusiasm Jinpachi babbled about it with. He was
a bit surprised at how openly Jinpachi spoke about Makishima now. Apparently he
had come to the conclusion that the world wouldn't end even if the guys knew.
Ah, the excitement of fresh love interest. Shinkai had had his fair share of it
too. He was happy that Jinpachi had stopped worrying about things he couldn't
change and was concentrating on enjoying his relationship.
They received their dishes. Jinpachi had ordered a salad whereas everyone else
got juicy hamburgers. It was very necessary to order them in this diner since
they were so different from other, traditional restaurants and fast food
chains' burgers. Jinpachi looked like he wanted to comment but he managed to
keep his tongue in check. For a while, nobody spoke, their attention stolen by
the contents of their plates.
Jinpachi was the first one to recover. He lowered his fork onto his plate.
"Okay then, when's the party?"
Shinkai, Yasutomo and Juichi turned to look at him. "What party? For all these
years that Shinkai had known Jinpachi, not once had he suggested a party. He
had participated in them, yes, but had seen them as a synonym for degradation
and losing his good shape.
"We've always had a party in the beginning of a new training season."
The trio kept glancing at each other. "We have?"
"Yes, we have. Last time was in April when the third year began."
"Oh right. I didn't think of it as a party to celebrate a new training season,"
Shinkai said. "But it would be fun to have some kind of party that the new lead
of team was also invited to."
Juichi looked thoughtful. "Hmm, yeah."
"Or do you want it to be just the four of us?" Shinkai asked.
"It wouldn't be a party then," Yasutomo snapped. "Of course we are gonna invite
other guys too. Okay, what would be a suitable place? How about the ryokan?"
Toudou's family ryokan had been used as a nest of many parties (even when
Jinpachi had been against it) and due to its size it was a much better choice
than the dorms. And even better, no wannabe-dorm police would come and cut the
party short. Jinpachi's parents were surprisingly calm about it as long as
nothing was broken and the house was cleaned before their return.
"Need to ask my folks. It's not the season so getting the house for one night
might be possible. Maybe if I encouraged them to visit some relatives..."
"If the ryokan won't work, my flat is available," Yasutomo said. He was the
only of them with a regular rented apartment, bigger than the dorm rooms. But
it would get crowded very soon if there were more than a handful of people.
"I'll ask and let you know," Jinpachi promised. "So who are we going to
invite?"
"Touichirou, Kuroda and Ashikiba are obligatory. Some of the second and third-
years."
"I suppose we have to invite Manami too."
Yasutomo huffed. "Hey, with a little luck he forgets to show up."
"What about Sohoku?" Jinpachi asked, and for a few seconds, everyone just
stared at him. Wasn't this supposed to be Hakogaku's party? "Alright, forget
it. It just crossed my mind. But can Maki-chan come if he can make it?"
"If you invite your fabulous Maki-chan, the other Sohoku guys will start
wondering why they haven't received an invitation," Yasutomo remarked.
"I don't think that's going to happen, but I can ask Maki-chan to keep the
party a secret."
"Well, if you somehow manage to do that, I suppose it's okay," Shinkai
promised, making Jinpachi lighten up. He had probably assumed from the start
that he was allowed to invite his boyfriend.
"When will the party be then? How about this Saturday or is it too soon?"
"I'm sure it's fine. Everyone's back at school anyway. Let's inform the guys.
If the majority agrees, the party will be on Saturday."
"Right. Let's do that. We can also think who brings what. Snacks and drinks."
They immersed themselves in the party plans, arguing who gets to bring what,
where they would find some cheap alcohol, what type of alcohol they should even
get so that it wouldn't get too expensive since there were so many drinkers
("Kuroda will drink more than the rest of us together," Yasutomo pointed out)
and Shinkai was once again the only one worrying if they would have enough
food. For a moment everything was just like before. But he already knew that it
wouldn't last.
***** Facebook Conversations and an Attack of the Melty Man *****
Chapter Notes
     Thank you so much everyone who reviewed and gave kudos for the story!
     Sorry I didn't answer you personally this time; I'm going to move in
     two weeks and I've been busy packing and cleaning. But the good news
     is that I've managed to write ahead quite a bit so the next update
     should come sooner! :)
See the end of the chapter for more notes
The downside of the party was, of course, that he had to tell Ayane about it.
So in the afternoon when they were sitting in a café, Shinkai was inhaling his
third warm meal of the day and Ayane was nibbling at her salad (she had quite a
lot in common with Jinpachi), he lowered his chopsticks and cleared his throat
to indicate that he had something to say. Something that Ayane probably
wouldn't like.
"We're kinda having a party this Saturday."
"You are? Where?"
Shinkai cleared his throat. "It's only for the club members."
"Yeah, I got that." 'When was the last time you invited me to your party?'
Ayane didn't have to say that, it was visible in her eyes. But it wasn't true,
not entirely. When Shinkai had had his 18th birthday party at home, Ayane had
been invited. Okay, so the average age of the guests had been between 40 and 80
years, but what could you do? On his actual birthday, he had been in France. In
the evening they had gone to have dinner together and walk around and Ayane had
given him her present, the new album of his favourite band, so he hoped it had
compensated for the lame birthday party a little.
Their first encounter after he had returned home had been milder than Shinkai
had anticipated. His own reaction had been milder. He had been afraid of
suddenly losing it in front of Ayane and blurting out his secret. On the other
hand, a part of him was sure that Ayane could read his thoughts on his forehead
and just pretended to be friendly, waiting for his weak moment, predator teeth
ready to strike. For a week he had walked on smouldering coals, trying to
interpret his girlfriend's body language and tone of her voice through the
curtain of fear, but when the sky hadn't fallen and crushed him, little by
little he had calmed down. Ayane didn't know and wouldn't know in the future
either. If Shinkai didn't tell her, she had no source. Yasutomo was the last
person likely to babble to her. He was certain of it. He was certain.
...but maybe he should check, just in case.
"Let's meet on Sunday?" he suggested.
A knowing raise of brows. 'Oh, you mean when you have a hangover?' Shinkai
rarely got one, but he suspected there was a fairly good chance of it on the
upcoming weekend. The party probably wouldn't be the tamest one in the
neighbourhood, not least because the core of the team was stepping aside.
Shinkai didn't want any kind of funeral feeling in the party and hoped that the
others shared his thoughts. Hopefully Makishima would keep Jinpachi busy so
that he wouldn't have time to start bawling.
"We could go shopping or something," he added.
"Mhm, okay." Ayane returned to her salad.
Christ, this was not going well at all. Shinkai was too used to things working
out on their own. Things had been going so well with Ayane – mainly because
neither of them was the type to pick a fight – that in the face of a conflict
he was helpless. Ayane acted normally but expressed subtly that Shinkai had
spent enough time with the guys and now when the third-years were to retreat
from the club, she had assumed it would mean more time together for them.
Shinkai had assumed it too. And he still was. Maybe the situation would settle
down eventually.
"You coming to my place tonight?"
His question managed to be sincere enough, because Ayane flashed him a smile.
"If you want me to."
"Of course I do."
"I need to take care of a couple of things at school but I'll come after that."
"Sure, that's fine." He had time to go and feed Usakichi, check how much of a
horrible mess his room was and maybe spin a vacuum cleaner over the floor.
They walked back to school together. As they separated, Ayane wrapped her arms
around his waist, quickly pecking him on the lips. It didn't feel like she was
upset. Maybe she hadn't minded after all. Or maybe Shinkai had saved it by
suggesting two new dates. Ayane sometimes pointed out to him that she was
mainly responsible for contact and Shinkai only seemed to want to hang around
with his bike and cycling friends. That wasn't exactly true either, many times
Shinkai was the one to call or text but maybe he didn't suggest dates that
often due to his tight schedule.
"See you in a bit!" Ayane called out before heading to the main building.
Shinkai turned to the opposite direction.
* * *
Usakichi seemed to be feeling a little blue again. She came to the cage door
and ate the treats he offered but she was lacking some spirit. She didn't
really seem sick, and Shinkai had seen these phases on her earlier, usually in
Hakogaku after a break, when she had to sit in her cage for hours after getting
used to running around free in his room. Even though the cage was big, she
didn't have that much company.
He considered taking the bunny with him, it wouldn't be the first time he'd
sneaked her into his flat and nobody had noticed, but he wasn't sure if he had
time to take her back in the morning before the first lesson. Ayane might agree
to take her (Shinkai assumed she was going to stay the night) but he didn't
want to take his chances. Usakichi couldn't be left to roam free and
unsupervised in a school dorm. He needed to get her a cage where she could stay
while he was at school.
Keeping a pet was bound to cause problems at some point. He should have freed
the bunny back to the wild when she was old enough, but he hadn't done it and
he didn't know if she would even make it out there. Sure, she knew how to eat
but would she understand to look out for predators and, more importantly,
humans?
And if he was brutally honest, he wouldn't have had the heart to free her.
Maybe he should get her a companion. After all, rabbits were very social
animals and he couldn't keep her company enough. The thought had crossed his
mind before but first he had been planning to release her into the wild and
later he had thought that two bunnies would double the trouble. Besides, how
would a wild rabbit and a domesticated bunny get along? Except that Usakichi
was not wild anymore. She was accustomed to people, she had grown up eating
food given by a human and Shinkai had dewormed her regularly.
He petted the bunny for a while before closing the cage door and straightening
up. That was when his cell began to ring in his pocket. The screen announced
the caller to be his little brother. Pretty good timing, although it was a bit
unusual for Yuuto to call. He was more of a texter.
Shinkai brought the phone to his ear. "Yeah?"
"Hello, brother!"
"What's up?"
"Are you gonna come and meet me at a station?"
"Eh?" What..?
Yuuto sighed. "You forgot, didn't you? I'm coming over this Friday. My train
will stop at Hakogaku a little bit past six."
Oh yeah, damn!
He did remember that Yuuto was going to come and visit him over the weekend.
They had talked about it three days ago. It had just... slipped his mind after
Jinpachi had begun to babble about the party and he had made plans with Ayane.
He couldn't really skip either, so Yuuto just needed to tag along as best as he
could. Or if he was a responsible big brother, he would leave him in his flat
for Saturday night, but that wouldn't be the easiest of jobs. Perhaps with a
few good movies and some pizza...
"Sure, I'll come and meet you there," he said. "You're taking your bike?"
"Yup."
He would cycle to the station then. It sounded like a pretty good way to start
a weekend.
"Maybe we could get some donburi in that restaurant near your school?" Yuuto
suggested.
"Yeah, we can do that."
"Yes, good! The food was pretty damn delicious there!"
Shinkai checked that Usakichi's cage was locked before heading towards the
dorms. "Hey, I needed to ask you something."
"Oh?"
"What was Usakichi like when she was there with you?"
Yuuto huffed. "A real pain in the ass, I told you already."
"Yeah, but what did she do exactly?"
"She ate the cord of my PS, shredded my magazines, chewed the carpet edges,
shat all over my room, pissed in my armchair... shall I continue?"
"But did she seem happy or bored?"
"The hell should I know? At least she was constantly busy with her evildoings.
She also gnawed at the bars of her cage so noisily that we had to move her into
the bathroom for the nights. There she pawed all the pellets and hay and shit
out of her cage so first thing in the morning I had to clean it all up. Then
she dashed out immediately when the cage door was opened."
It sounded like Usakichi had had the time of her life. And she had seemed happy
during the times she had been allowed to run free in Shinkai's room.
"You owe me all the favours of the world for the fact that I took care of your
horrible 'pet'." Shinkai could practically hear the quite marks in his
brother's voice.
"I'll buy you a pizza."
"Fuck, is that all? One pizza is hardly going to cover it."
"Alright, I'll buy your donburi too. And why are you swearing like..." Like
Yasutomo. "..like a yakuza boss?"
"I'm not."
Shinkai exhaled. Mom was strict with language, always had been, but Yuuto was
fourteen. Who knew what kind of company he spent his time in?
There was some rustle in the line and he could hear Yuuto talking to someone on
the background. "Hey, Hayato-kun, I need to go now. See you on Friday! Don't
forget again!"
"I won't."
Right after ending the call Shinkai set up an alert for Friday. 'Pick Yuuto up
from the station at 6 pm.'
* * *
Back in his flat when he opened his laptop and signed in Facebook, he noticed
that Jinpachi had already created an event and a group conversation for the
upcoming party. Was he more upset about the future than the rest of them? It
was really unusual for him to throw a party.
Except that... the event was named 'The party for a new training season &
Jinpachi's 18th birthday'. Yasutomo had already commented on it, 'fucking
change the name', to which Jinpachi had answered that the name of the event had
to be descriptive.
Jinpachi hadn't arranged his birthday party yet, since he had spent the early
August with Makishima and anyway it was a bit difficult to throw a big party
during a break when everyone was at home, travelling or otherwise just busy.
'Guys, the ryokan's available! My folks said they're going to spend the weekend
over my grandma's and Shiori will be at her friend's place!' Jinpachi typed a
message.
Shinkai answered him: 'Good. What food we'll get?'
'Let's get crisps and other snacks.'
'Yeah, but we need something more filling too.' Like he would make it through
the night with just crisps. 'Yakitori? Pizza?'
'we can have both but we need to have enough of them or this guy's gonna eat it
all by himself,' Yasutomo wrote. 'should we make the second-years bring the
food and we'll get the beer?'
'If that's okay with them.'
'it is if we make it to be.'
'What about Manami?'
'you can't give him any responsibility. let's just tell him to bring some food
if he manages to show up.'
'I'll get the cake and some other sweet stuff,' Jinpachi promised. 'After all,
it's my birthday.'
'half your birthday.'
'Even so. Or do you want to bring the cake?'
'hell no.'
'Who are we gonna invite then?' Shinkai asked.
'I sent invitations to Izumida, Kuroda, Ashikiba and Manami.' Jinpachi paused
for a second before continuing. 'And Maki-chan.'
'are you sure he wants to come to our revel party?'
'It's not a revel party! It's my birthday and the opening of the new training
season!'
A new chat window popped into Shinkai's screen.
'that's what he thinks. :D'
Shinkai couldn't think anything clever to answer so he just typed out a smiley.
'wanna bet on whether or not kuroda will be wasted before ten?' Yasutomo
continued.
Yasutomo had a weirdly strong opinion of Kuroda's drinking habits. Where had he
gotten it from? Shinkai wasn't sure if it was a good idea to get drunk with
Yasutomo even if the others' presence would restrict some bad ideas. He had to
keep some sense in his head. Besides, next morning he had to get out of bed
because of his plans with Ayane and Yuuto.
Yasutomo returned to the group conversation. 'kuroda can bring his own beer so
that the others will have something to drink too.'
'You mean we're going to add a side note in the invitation? "Kuroda must bring
his own beer, others' will be on the house"?'
'yes!'
'Have we chosen a drunkard as a vice captain?' Jinpachi wondered.
'it's a strong possibility, yes.'
'Hey, Yasutomo,' Shinkai typed into the private chat window. 'It just crossed
my mind...' He hesitated. Should this kind of thing be mentioned on the
internet? He had heard that sometimes private messages on Facebook became
public due to some bug.
'?'
'The thing that happened, you know... you're not going to tell anyone, right?'
At least not to his girlfriend.
'if we're talking about the same thing, of course I'm not gonna tell. what are
you, crazy?'
'Just checking.'
'trust me a little, will ya?'
'Sorry.' A short pause. 'Could you delete this thread please?'
'ok.'
It was quiet for a moment. Shinkai's chat window announced that Yasutomo was
typing something. He waited but the message never came. He deleted the thread
even though it couldn't really be made out what they had been talking about and
told the others that he was going to clean his room.
The room wasn't that messy though, after all he had only returned a couple of
days ago and during summer it was cleaned by professionals. Some socks had
ended up on the floor instead of in the laundry basket and he hadn't finished
unpacking his bag. He picked up the socks and made his bed before getting to
his bag and arranging its contents into a small dresser. Once the floor was
free of any extra objects, he quickly vacuumed it and opened his window wide.
The vacuum cleaner was originally Juichi's but already during their first year
in Hakogaku it had ended up as communal property between them and was now
circling around from Juichi to Shinkai or Jinpachi and back. There was no point
in investing in your own vacuum cleaner only for cleaning your school dorm
room.
Alright, now the only thing to do was to fetch a spare futon and bedding from
the basement for Yuuto but that could wait until Friday. Ayane slept in the bed
with him anyway.
With nothing more to do in his room and Ayane still to show up, Shinkai
returned to Facebook chat. Touichirou had opened a new group conversation in
which he had invited only Shinkai, Juichi and Yasutomo.
'Do you happen to have any ideas for Jinpachi's birthday present? Should we buy
something together or should everyone bring their own present?'
Yasutomo had already given his own suggestion. 'Let's get him a bottle of
cherry-flavoured lube.'
'Um, isn't that a bit too little? It's his 18th birthday.'
Involuntarily Shinkai snorted. Poor Touichirou took everything so seriously. He
sat down to type. 'Jinpachi doesn't like cherries. Strawberry-flavoured would
be better.'
'well, that then.'
'I can show him my plate spinning act,' Juichi wrote.
'that's all good and well, fuku-chan, but I think we should have something more
tangible to give him.'
'But besides that.'
'I suppose we could get him some bike stuff,' Shinkai suggested. Jinpachi
didn't really like to talk about it, but Shinkai knew that he had a hard time
purchasing everything needed for his expensive hobby. 'Is there something he
needs right now?'
'Well, there's always something...' Touichirou typed. 'But hey, what if we got
him a gift voucher for a bike shop? That way he could buy whatever he wanted.'
'That's a good idea!' Shinkai agreed.
'That's a strong idea,' Juichi added.
'imo the lube bottle was a better idea.'
'Why don't buy that too? I don't think it costs that much,' Touichirou wrote,
making Shinkai giggle uncontrollably. Touichirou seemed to have gotten the joke
after all and was just playing with Yasutomo. After all, he had been the first
one to realize the true nature of Jinpachi's and Makishima's relationship.
He opened the private chat with Yasutomo again. 'I don't wanna be a spoilsport
but not everyone knows about Jinpachi and Makishima. Maybe we shouldn't discuss
them so openly.' He assumed that Yasutomo knew. All these gay innuendos
couldn't be just joking around, now could it?
'bah, it was just a joke.'
'But there's half of the truth there. Never mind Juichi and Touichirou, but the
others don't need to hear about it. I don't want to make any trouble for
Jinpachi.'
It was silent for half a minute. Then Yasutomo began writing.
'wait a sec. does this mean toudou and christmas tree are officially a couple?'
Shinkai jumped. Whoops. 'Shit. I thought you knew.'
'I knew that toudou is head over heels for the guy but I didn't know they're
actually dating. I thought it was... I don't know, some sort of vague crush.'
'Yeah, they're actually dating and that's why we need to keep it down. You
never know how the other guys would react.'
'well, yeah, but wouldn't it be suspicious if I suddenly stopped teasing him?'
'As long as it sounds like you're only joking and not... what it really is.'
'jesus. okay. I can maybe tone down taunting him a bit. maybe.'
Shinkai smiled.
'did toudou tell you?'
'Not directly, but he was quite open about it after I implied I knew.'
'did it begin in france or before?'
'In France.'
He waited for Yasutomo to write something like 'What do they put in the water
there?' but he was careful not to touch their case. In the end he just stated
'good for them' which was a lot, coming from him.
There was a knock on the door. Shinkai deleted the private messages again and
opened a site that sold bike supplies. He left Facebook open just in case the
others still wanted to discuss Jinpachi's present and anyway, Ayane knew he had
a profile, they were friends there too – in fact, their relationship was
documented there – so why try to hide it? Out of sheer curiosity he popped in
Jinpachi's profile to check what was marked in his information. A smile tugged
at his lips as he noticed that Jinpachi's status was 'in a relationship', but
with whom, that part he had left out. Quite a wise thing to do. He clicked back
to his own wall and then opened the bike site again before scrambling to his
feet and heading to the door.
First thing she offered him a plastic bag. Judging by the delicious smell
wafting from the bag, she had brought nikumans.
"They were just freshly made so I bought us, I mean you, a few."
"Oh wow, thank you!" He wasn't hungry yet but surely would be in a couple of
hours. Ayane had also brought them a big bottle of Pocari Sweat. He took both
of her bags, stepping aside so she could slip in. "You can have some of them
too."
"Well, I suppose I could have one."
"Come on, have two at least."
"I'm not really hungry. I bought them for you."
Sometimes Shinkai was shocked for how little Ayane ate. And she was skinny too.
She answered his worries by saying that Shinkai was just used to guys who
exercised a lot and their eating habits. Maybe that was so, but Ayane still ate
very little in his opinion. But he didn't really know how much girls were
supposed to eat, he only had a brother and no sisters. Maybe he could ask
Yasutomo or Jinpachi what their sisters' daily nutritional consumption was.
He lowered the bag on his table next to his laptop. "Do you want to watch
something? A movie?"
"There's a new episode out of that series I told you about. But we don't have
to watch it."
Ah, that new j-dorama that Ayane had mentioned a couple of times. Perhaps not a
show Shinkai would watch it of his own accord, but he could keep company for
Ayane. "We can watch it if you want."
They settled the laptop so that they could see the screen and sat on the bed
with their snacks, Ayane leaning on his side and him wrapping his arm around
her shoulders. Her dark hair smelled like peaches and she fitted perfectly
under his arm, small hand finding his and the warmth of another body radiating
through the clothes.
Shinkai took a deep breath. Yes, this was how it was supposed to be.
"We were just talking about Jinpachi's birthday present with the guys," he said
just to break the silence when the opening of the series filled the screen.
"Oh, what are you going to buy him?" Unlike his other teammate, talking about
Jinpachi never caused any negative response in Ayane. Was it just because
Jinpachi was polite and well-spoken and had always treated Ayane like the
gentleman he was or because only a few ladies were able to resist Jinpachi's
charm?
"We're probably going to get him a gift voucher to a bike store."
"Sounds like a very suitable present."
"Yep. It was Touichirou's idea." Shinkai trailed off, fiddling with Ayane's
shoulder. "You know, I had forgotten something."
"Mhm?"
"I had forgotten that Yuuto was going to come here this weekend."
Ayane tilted her head so she could look at him. "Does that mean that the Sunday
shopping is cancelled?"
"No, it doesn't, but it might mess up with our schedule a bit. And Yuuto might
join us."
"Sure he can join us if he doesn't get too bored walking from one shop to
another."
"Maybe I'll just dump him in a restaurant with a bundle of money and fetch him
once we're done with our shopping.
Ayane chuckled and squeezed his hand before turning her attention back to the
screen. Since he hadn't seen the first episode, Shinkai couldn't really get a
handle of the show, so after 15 minutes or so he picked up the snack bag and
pulled out one paper-wrapped nikuman. During the next hour Ayane ate one of
them and Shinkai the rest and drank half of the Pocari bottle since the maker
of nikumans had been quite generous with salt.
"Are you gonna stay the night?" he asked when the episode finally ended.
"Mm, if that's okay with you? I brought my school stuff with me just in case."
"Of course it's okay. Although, my first lesson begins at 8.30."
"That's alright, so does mine."
They watched one episode of another tv series, this one was a bit more exciting
than the first, and began to prepare themselves for bed. It would be an early
wake up call in the morning.
In the early days of their dating Shinkai had dragged the spare futon from the
basement and spread his own mattress next to it on the floor but later they had
come to the conclusion that they could just share the bed. It was a snug fit
but they were not intending to leave a gap between them. Usually they slept on
their side, Ayane as a little spoon and Shinkai as big.
He checked Facebook one more time. After his departure, Juichi, Touichirou and
Yasutomo had agreed on which bike store they would purchase the gift voucher
for and what amount of money – that was still waiting for Shinkai's approval –
and in another window Jinpachi and Yasutomo had argued about the alcohol
politics of the party. Yasutomo had suggested that Jinpachi could pinch a few
bottles from his parents' sake and wine stock and Jinpachi had called Yasutomo
a dishonest freeloader. In the end, they had agreed that Kuroda could bring a
couple of wine bottles along with his beers. Most likely Touichirou hadn't been
online anymore since he hadn't defended his friend.
'Just remember Kuroda probably doesn't bathe in money,' Shinkai typed before
signing out and shutting down his computer. Meanwhile, Ayane had settled under
the blanket and was browsing something on her phone. Shinkai took off his pants
and t-shirt before slipping next to her. Out of the corner of his eye he could
see that Ayane was chatting with her friend before turning his head away. A
warm peachy smell was prickling at his senses, making him remember the times
when he had only been warming up his girlfriend, waiting to get to a direct
skin contact, and how he now, even after a month and rather active attempts to
forget, remembered what kind of smell Yasutomo had brought into their tent and
in the back of the van. What it became like when it mixed with sweat and musk.
And how he had tried to get rid of the images, but naturally the things you
tried not to think about always crawled into your mind.
He sighed deeply, making a tiny wheeze escape his lips, and threw his arm over
his eyes.
God, this guilt was going to be the end of him!
He had considered telling her. At least that would have been fair. But he
couldn't take the risk that Ayane, feeling betrayed, would spread it around.
After that both he and Yasutomo would have been fucked. And naturally he didn't
want to lose his girlfriend along with his reputation.
When he lifted his arm, he found Ayane looking at him. Her expression was
slightly puzzled. He shook his head. "Just thinking about Usakichi."
"Oh, what about her?"
"She doesn't like to be alone in her cage. I don't know what I should do with
her."
"Yeah, I suppose you can't take her to live with you here either."
"I was thinking that maybe I should get her a buddy. Bunnies are herd animals
after all."
"Another bunny would hardly be that much trouble. It's not like they eat like a
horse. And isn't Usakichi's cage big enough for two?"
"Yeah, it is."
Ayane was quiet for a second, musing over his words. "Do you want us to pop
into a pet store on Sunday? Just to take a look to see if they happened to have
a suitable bunny there?"
The weight on Shinkai's chest lifted a little, making him breathe deeply with
relief. "Well, it certainly can't do any harm."
"Good thing that Usakichi is a girl. It's easy to find a friend for her. If you
had a male bunny, you'd have to neuter him first."
Shinkai grimaced inwardly. That didn't sound like fun even though he knew that
it didn't do bunnies any harm to have their balls removed, quite the opposite.
Their life became much more peaceful. Maybe his life wouldn't have been in such
a mess, if he'd been castrated. He could have only concentrated on food and
cycling.
Huh, shit. When you reached a phase where you began to think about removing
your own sac, it was time to go to sleep.
He pushed himself up from the mattress to kiss Ayane. "Let's go and see some
bunnies on Sunday. Good night." But when he was lying down again, Ayane cupped
him behind his neck. "I'm not tired yet," she whispered against his lips. Dark,
round eyes shone through the dim light, staring at him in that very special
way. Shinkai felt something flip in his throat.
He would have lied if he had insisted that the first time after his return
hadn't been quite awkward. He had only been able to slip into his role because
they had done it before so many times, and Ayane hadn't noticed anything weird.
At least that's what he hoped. But something had changed. She seemed to want it
a lot often now, every time they met. Before it had been Shinkai who had
initiated any action between sheets.
It wasn't like he was complaining, hell no. He wasn't that stupid. But he was a
bit concerned about what was lurking behind the change.
He pushed his thoughts to the back corner of his mind. Let them could cool off
there for a while, they were not needed right now. He had a beautiful
girlfriend who wanted to have sex with him. What the hell did he care about
some crazy aberration that had happened thousands of kilometers from here? The
guilt would pass eventually. Everything was fine.
Everything was fine. Splendidly.
At least, it was until the Melty Man attacked him.
Everyone knew that if an 18-year-old suddenly experienced an attack from the
dreaded Melty Man, it was a mental problem.
He tried again, stroking himself hard again before the condom would slip off,
but once he tried to enter, the phenomenon repeated itself. When it happened on
the third try too, he gave up. His junior just wasn't up for it tonight, quite
literally.
"Sorry," he muttered. Shame was burning his face and he thanked every god there
was for the darkness of the room. "I'm more tired that I thought."
"That's alright," Ayane said, sounding like she didn't honestly mind. Her
fingers reached out to comb his fringe. "That's normal. Happens to every guy
some time."
"Mm-m." Suppose it was, but the information didn't help at the moment when it
happened. Mostly he was afraid that... there was some other reason behind it
than mere tiredness. He rolled off of Ayane, pulling the condom off and
slumping onto his back, staring at the ceiling. Ayane lay quiet for a moment,
but then got up onto her elbow.
"You're seriously not going to worry about that now, are you? This is the first
time it has happened."
That was the whole point. Because if it happened once, it could happen twice.
The gate was open.
"If it started happening often, then you should maybe think what's causing it,"
she continued. "But there's no reason for you to stress over it. If I were a
guy, it would have happened to me already. You just can't tell with girls that
clearly."
Shinkai forced a smile on his lips and lifted his hand to stroke his
girlfriend's neck. This was the side of Ayane the guys didn't get to see.
(That Yasutomo didn't get to see.)
She was such a compassionate and warm person. Optimistic, but with her feet
firmly on the ground. He knew that the guys thought of her as a bit clingy but
that wasn't how Shinkai saw it. Ayane just wanted to spend time with him and
had been very patient with his constant practise and race trips.
"I can use my mouth..." he began.
"No need," Ayane cut him off. "I kinda lost the mood too. Let's just go to
sleep, okay?"
"Okay."
One last good night kiss and Ayane settled down by his side. Her hand was
resting on his chest, rising and falling with it. Shinkai could hear when she
fell asleep from her breathing, he himself lying awake, staring at the ceiling,
trying to tame malicious thoughts buzzing around in his head, trying to assure
himself that nothing was wrong. He had just had a busy day, and that had taken
its toll. He should cut himself some slack and wait for things to go back to
normal. And they would go back to normal. He was sure of it.
Chapter End Notes
     Coupling and Jeff, anyone? ;D
     I know that the combination of Toudou-an and party has been used in
     fanfiction quite many times but... this just happened.
***** The Duty of a Big Brother *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Arakita stared at the screen, but Shinkai didn't answer anymore. He had
probably left to do something better than hanging around on social media. Like
sleep. Or fool around with his girlfriend.
Cursed Shinkai.
He opened his downloads file to find the newest episode of American Horror
Story. He'd just watch this one episode and then go to bed too.
Since his mind was not as strong as he wished it was, he left Facebook open and
every now and then his eyes would wander onto the taskbar to check if he had
gotten new messages. After taking a look at the party conversation twice he
began to get annoyed by Toudou and Izumida who were still prattling about the
arrangements – they had already agreed who would bring food and who would bring
beer and that should have been enough – and he was about to close the service
but then he noticed he had gotten a new friend request.
Oh sweet Buddha riding a mountain bike!
He wavered for half a second before clicking 'Accept'. Oh well, they had each
other's e-mails too, how could a Facebook connection hurt?
His new friend immediately began talking to him. 'Hey asshole, what's up dude?'
A smile was creeping up to Arakita's lips. He paused the episode and moved his
fingers onto the keyboard.
'could ask you the same, dickwad.'
'Asswipe. We haven't talked in a while. How was your holiday? Got safely back
from France and all?'
'yeah we did. fartbreath.'
'Pet wolf :D So do they have hot chicks in France?'
'not really. everyone was like 2 meters tall.'
'Urgh. Girls shouldn't be too tall.'
'heh, I agree.'
'How was it otherwise? Everything go well?'
'yeah, it did.' More than well, in fact. It had exceeded his expectations,
really. And now he had to suffer the consequences. 'the country is a bit
weird,' he added. 'but the booze is cheap and you can buy all you want even if
you don't look the age.'
'Hoh! That's awesome. And the Tour, I assume it was pretty cool?'
'it sure was. too many spectators though.'
'Well, it is a bit more famous than our Inter High.'
'yep.'
As his chat partner didn't answer right away, Arakita began browsing the
internet, scrolling down his Facebook. After getting back home, everyone who'd
been on the trip had uploaded pictures of France and changed their profile shot
to one of them, perhaps just to make their friends jealous. Toudou had uploaded
just about every photo there was, including the blurred shots taken from a
moving car and dishes he had eaten and photographed – for reasons that were
beyond Arakita's comprehension. And for some other equally strange reason every
picture had gotten likes and comments. Every last one of them, even that most
unnecessary snap of an open suitcase which Headband had taken after he had
received his lost luggage. 'Nothing was lost, thank god! :)' it said. It had
fifteen likes. Well, fuck him right in the eyeball. But Toudou was popular in a
way that Arakita just couldn't put his finger on.
Shinkai had mostly uploaded Tour pictures and some group shots. Then there was
a photo of him and Izumida on their bikes in some periphery with a lavender
field blooming in the background. Arakita remembered the day well. It had left
him with a bad taste in his mouth, because Shinkai had wanted to spend the day
with Izumida and Arakita had thought that this was it, their friendship, their
nascent... what ever it was, everything. Shinkai would distance himself from
Arakita, maybe only acknowledging him with a curt nod when they passed each
others by in a hallway.
And yet, that hadn't been the case. The day had ended way better than it had
begun. And that memory pulled his lips into a smile despite the hot bile
boiling in his stomach, reminding him that it was all in the past now. Left
behind with the airspace of Europe.
Shinkai's profile image was the same picture, a bit blurry as it was greatly
zoomed. He was leaning on his right arm, which was visible in a way his right
shoulder was higher than the left, squinting his eyes in the bright sunlight,
smiling with his lips pressed together. There was no energy bar hanging from
his mouth. It was a damn good picture. Arakita had been looking at it a bit too
much lately.
Luckily there was no visitor counter on Facebook. Shinkai had no way of finding
out how pathetically often Arakita visited his profile and stared at his
pictures. Read what he chatted about with others. He knew exactly where Shinkai
was going and with whom, which pictures and videos he liked and who liked his
status updates the most (Izumida, Toudou, Ayane, in that order). If it was
mentioned on Facebook, Arakita knew about it. He was like a fucking stalker.
'So what else is new?' Miya started talking to him again. 'Do you already know
which university you're gonna apply for?'
'not really. I mean I have a couple of choices but no clear plan yet. you?'
'Yeah, it's the same for me. I do know there needs to be a technical faculty
there.'
'hmm, maybe I'll end up applying for a school like that too. need to think
about it.'
'Maybe we'll go to the same uni.'
'it's possible.'
'Hey, listen, I did have something I needed to ask you.'
'?'
'I'm coming to Hakone in a few weeks.'
'why?'
'I just am.'
Well, well, was someone being secretive?
'So I wanted to ask you if you could put me up for a few days.'
Arakita leaned back. Exhaled. Pondered over what to answer. But before he had a
chance to reply, Miya continued: 'We could drink Bepsi. And some beer. And go
to a bar, if you want, hit on some chicks. Or do you have some kind of strict
rules about visitors in your dorms?'
'I don't live in a dorm, I have my own flat. sure, I guess that's okay. except
if it is the same day when shinkai decides he wants to bunk at my place, you'll
be kicked out before you can even blink.'
He deleted the last sentence before sending the message.
'Yes! Thanks man! I owe you one.'
'yeah, you do. you're coming on a weekend or?'
'yup, can't really skip school now.'
'okay.' He was about to ask what else Miya wanted to do while in Hakone, but
maybe he'd be busy with his mysterious duties. Better leave it up to
improvising if there was time to do anything. He could really use a good night
out, though. He had too few friends to go out drinking with.
'oi, miya-chan, what should someone do if they have a crush on a guy?'
'A guy? What the fuck? Do you have a crush on a guy?'
'fuck, I'm not talking about myself obviously. my sister's on another window,
harping on about her issues.'
'I'm sure.'
'fuck you.'
'Eheheh, sorry.'
'I can't believe this. you actually laugh in a written conversation in the same
way as you do irl.' Arakita rolled his eyes. 'try to pay attention now, will
ya? sis is not leaving me alone. she wants some advice from her big brother,
about how to get this lovely chap to notice her.'
'Is your sister good-looking?'
'yeah. no. maybe? I don't know. you can't really tell that about your own
sister.'
'Come on, you can say something, right? Do you have a picture of her?'
'I'm not gonna show you a picture of my sister.' That fucking womanizer, he
might get some ideas.
'Could you at least describe her? What's her face like, does she look like you?
Because is she does, the chances are not that good, I tell you.'
'screw you. you look like a plastic cup that's melted in a microwave.'
'And yet I get double the amount of chicks compared to you. But hey, you have
to give me something. Is your sister small, skinny? What kind of hair does she
have?'
'alright. let's just say the sister is ugly as fuck and the guy is handsome and
popular. any chances?'
'Hmm, sure, stranger things have happened... If you're self-confident enough
you can get anyone you want even if you weren't that good-looking yourself.
That applies more to guys, though. With girls the looks count more. But
shouldn't you know this stuff – in your role of a supportive big brother?
Shouldn't you be there to boost your sister's confidence?'
'tch, better to be realistic and not get your hopes up in vain.''
'Thank god I'm not your sister. How old is she anyway?'
'a couple of years younger than me.'
'Still in middle school?'
'yup, last year.'
'And the guy is her age?'
'yeah, apparently.'
'Well then... I don't know. I'd suggest her to give small signs but not to be
too aggressive. Wait for the guy to notice her.' Miya was quiet for a moment
before typing: 'This must be one of the weirdest conversations I've had on
social media.'
'oh, boohoo.'
'Eheh. Let's hope your sister gets lucky.'
'nngh, yeah.'
'Gotta go now. I've been a bit sleep deprived lately.'
'alright.'
'Talk to you later then.'
'yeah, sure. bye.'
Miya disconnected and Arakita went to check his usual sites one more time. It
was nearing one o'clock; he should get to bed in a minute too. Toudou and
Izumida had completed their discussion. Their last words concerned something
about – Arakita wiped his eyes, momentarily not believing them – decorations
and a program. Like they needed a program in their party. What was Toudou going
to do, hire a clown to entertain his guests? Makishima could have made a pretty
good clown with small efforts. A very scary clown. Like those murderous ones on
candid camera shows. If he and Toudou were now officially a couple, Makishima
might give in to Toudou's weird ideas easier.
A vague feeling was nagging at his insides, something very unpleasant and
gnawing, and he had to sit still for a while and stare at the screen before he
could make it out.
Fucking hell. Was he jealous? Jealous of Toudou Jinpachi?
This was the bottom of it. The deepest mud pool in which a human being could
wallow. He needed help. Surely there was an emergency line that people that had
gotten depressed because of Toudou could call? They probably weren't that big
in number but their need for help was ever the greater.
He wanted to send Toudou a private message. Something pithy like 'Fuck you
sideways with a Toblerone bar!' or 'Could you just choke on your headband?' or
'I really hope a condom gets stuck inside you when your precious Maki-chan is
fucking you and you need to go to ER where nurses laugh their asses off at
you.'
Instead of Toudou, he wrote to Shinkai.
'hey, why don't we follow the lead of toudou and christmas tree? it clearly
works between us. what do you say, would you date me?'
And then he deleted it all.
He truly was the biggest idiot in the world, torturing himself like this. He
should just forget Shinkai and move forward. There were plenty of fish in the
sea. Anyway, a tiny part of his mind kept whispering that on Saturday they
would be drunk (at least he intended to be and was planning to try very hard
for Shinkai to be too) and everyone knew that people did stupid things while
drunk. Even righteous fools like Shinkai.
Irritated, he opened the thread about party arrangements again and added
another comment in it.
'as long as the program doesn't include any zombie or butt pirate films.'
Hah! He could totally picture Toudou's face when he would sign in on Facebook
to check new messages in the morning. But seriously, the guy's reaction to
everything was so dramatic that he was asking for it. It would serve him right,
that overage teen princess.
But now he needed to catch some sleep. He could watch the new episode tomorrow.
Facebook was quietening down anyway and he was one of the last ones still up.
Except that... the event had gotten a new comment. He'd just quickly check
that.
'oi, what the hell you guys?! why is it only me who has to bring their own
beer?'
Arakita snorted.
* * *
Shinkai stirred awake when someone poked him in the shoulder. Not that he had
gotten into a very deep sleep anyway. It was hot in the bed, he hadn't found a
good position and his brain had refused to switch the channel, so he had been
lying in a superficial slumber, losing track of time but at the same time being
somewhat aware of his surroundings.
He forced his lids open, meeting Ayane's eyes staring at him from 20
centimeters vicinity. Judging by the twilight in the room it wasn't morning
yet.
"Mhm?"
"You were talking in your sleep again," Ayane said.
"What?"
"You were talking in your sleep."
Shinkai rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, but what did I say?"
"You were apparently cycling with your friends again."
He chuckled. "Oh? Heh."
"Or at least you told 'Yasutomo' to pedal harder."
At that second a few things happened, probably hard to see outwards but Shinkai
clearly sensed them: his heart froze in his chest, sleep escaped his brain and
his eyes shot wide open.
Was there just a hint of accusation in Ayane's voice? A barely audible cold
edge?
"Oh..." he repeated. Thankfully his voice was hoarse from the sleep and it
masked his frantically beating heart. "What else did I say?"
"That's what you mostly kept saying. Before that you babbled something about
Usakichi," Ayane's voice softened a little. "That she shouldn't nibble at
Yuuto's underpants or something."
Phew, maybe his dreams hadn't been of the worst kind. He didn't remember any of
them, having been awoken too abruptly. "Sorry. I guess I've been talking a bit
too much in my sleep lately," he muttered.
"Well, not really. Sometimes you have wilder phases."
"I ate too much yesterday. It tends to do this." Alongside stress. "It must be
difficult to sleep if I'm talking all the time."
"Mm-m, it wakes me up, yes."
"Just shove me a bit. Tell me to shut up." He obeyed commands pretty well in
his sleep. One time Ayane had been discussing with him almost a minute before
realizing that he was asleep. Such stupidity as 'Remember to pack our
sandwiches inside the tyres so that Touichirou won't feed them to neighbour's
ants' had given him away.
"I kept jostling you for god knows how long. You only shut up for a moment."
"I'm sorry." What else could he say? He had no control over his dreams. And
that was what really frightened him. "There's really no place to... Do you want
me to sleep in the bathroom?"
"Of course not, don't be silly. I just woke you up because I couldn't sleep
from your constant chattering."
"Maybe I'll stop it now after waking up properly," Shinkai reckoned. "I'm going
to turn onto my side. It has sometimes helped." If he dared to go back to
sleep, that is. He might have been cycling with Yasutomo, but it could have
been something very different as well. Certain types of dreams had been
awkwardly common after their return from France. Nightly erections he could
explain but not the minor detail that he was shouting his teammate's names
during them. Especially if the name of the teammate happened to be the one that
his girlfriend already had her own suspicions about.
"Okay." Ayane lay down behind his back. "Good night then."
"Good night."
* * *
The first school week dashed by with lightning speed. They seemed to be
constantly busy even without the club duties. Teacher didn't give them even the
slightest chance to think about anything else than how hard this semester was
going to be. How difficult. How tiresome and stressful. People had been known
to crumble under a smaller pressure. The goal of their whole life and the only
thing they should include in their days was studying. Because the entrance
exams were coming, and by god, if they were going to slack now, their future
would be utterly ruined! They would end up as street cleaners at best. Scrub
pigeon shit off statues and clean public toilets. And they should have already
known which university they wanted to go because they-were-running-out-of-time-
and-they-should-have-known-by-now-which-subjects-they-needed-to-invest-in!
The school wasn't giving them a minute of peace. At the same time Shinkai felt
like the four of them were mourning. It was hard to leave behind something you
had been working for intensely for two and a half years. Not that any of them
was planning to drop cycling. Expensive road racers were not meant to be
abandoned in a garage. They would just have to radically cut down their
training for the time being.
When Friday arrived, Shinkai felt like he had run a marathon every single day
and somehow the upcoming weekend still managed to cheer him up. Tonight he
could just be lazy. He didn't need to act social with Yuuto; they could just
slump down onto a couch (or a bed, since he didn't have a couch) and watch bad
movies with their hands in a popcorn bowl. He remembered that Yuuto was coming
over even without the alarm on his phone and was waiting at the station when
the train arrived.
He had to wait for a while for his brother to walk from the other end of the
train, not wanting to elbow his way in an awful weekend crowd and Yuuto could
handle his luggage just fine by himself. He had a small backpack hung over his
shoulder and his right hand was walking his bike. He managed to wave after
spotting Shinkai.
"Hayato-kun!"
"Did you miss me?" Shinkai asked, capturing him in a brotherly headlock.
Yuuto struggled to free himself, quickly combing his hair back to... supposedly
that was a hairstyle, but to Shinkai it just looked like he had been flying in
a strong side wind while being sprayed with the world's strongest hair
products. "What do you mean?" Yuuto asked. "I just saw you a week ago."
"But you came to visit me so soon."
"Mom wants me to get to know places early." His brother dug in his pocket for
an energy bar, unwrapping it and sticking it into his mouth. Green tea and
nuts. That sneaky little scoundrel, he had already long ago learned to choose
flavours Shinkai didn't like. Although, Shinkai would have eaten that bar too
for lack of a better option.
"It's so early that you'll forget everything before the spring comes. Not that
I mind you coming over. Not a lot, anyway."
"Gee, thanks."
They left to walk away from the platform. Shinkai didn't offer to carry his
brother's bag. After all, he had his own bag and Usakichi's carrier with him.
"Wanna get that donburi right now?" Yuuto muttered around his energy bar.
"Let's just get Usakichi and dump our stuff at my place first."
"Argh, do we have to get her?"
"Yes, we do."
"Is it allowed to keep pets in the dorms?"
"No, but nobody is going to check." His room was on the first floor near the
front door so he didn't have to walk around the building with a bunny carrier.
Sometimes during the busiest hour he had just sneaked Usakichi inside through
his window. Besides, even if someone had spotted him, they had yet to tell the
landlord.
"You're gonna put her in a cage for the night, right? It's me who's sleeping on
the floor."
"I don't have a cage for her in my room," Shinkai said. Before Yuuto's
expression turned too shocked, he added: "I'll put her in the bathroom for the
night."
"Gaah! She's just gonna make noise there all night."
"She doesn't usually do that," Shinkai lied. "Stop whining. My flat, my rules."
"You suck as a host."
"If I did, would I pay for your food?" Shinkai leaned closer to ruffle Yuuto's
hair again, but this time he managed to duck.
They fetched Usakichi despite Yuuto's mild protests, took her and their stuff
to Shinkai's place and then popped in a near-by restaurant to get some donburi.
And pizzas. And a few bottles of soda. And some sweet treats too.
Once back in his room, Shinkai left Usakichi out of the carrier, the bunny
bolting out to examine the room. Yuuto, wiser after his summery bunny-sitting
shift (Usakichi had a tendency to sink her teeth in obstacles that appeared in
her way, especially if that obstacle happened to be a human leg) climbed onto
Shinkai's bed and pulled his legs up to safety. After a few seconds he lay
down, spread his limbs and pulled his phone out of his pocket, looking like he
was not going to lift a finger to help his brother.
"Tomorrow there'll be Hakogaku's party and Jinpachi's birthday," Shinkai said
while piling their purchases onto his desk.
Yuuto glances at him. "Oh yeah? Nice!"
"You can stay here in the meantime."
"You mean with that possessed hare of yours? No way."
"You will stay here."
"No, I won't. That's so boring! And that rabbit needs a good exorcism, I'm
telling you."
"Ayane can take care of Usakichi."
"I don't care. It would still be super boring. Why can't I come with you?"
"Because it's a... Hakogaku party. You can have a good time here too. I have my
laptop full of movies and I'll buy you a pizza."
"But that's what we were supposed to do tonight," his brother protested. "Watch
movies and eat pizza."
"Then I'll just get you something else."
"No. I'm coming with you."
"What if Jinpachi says no? It's his birthday and his home."
"I'll ask him." Yuuto swung his phone into the air.
"Do you have Jinpachi's number?"
"No, but I can send him a message on Facebook."
Jesus. Yuuto began typing with a cunning look on his face. Shinkai quickly
pulled out his own phone and cursed inwardly. It was out of battery. He wouldnt
have time to charge it before Yuuto sent his message. Luckily he had started
his computer when they had dropped their bags at the flat. He opened the
browser and signed in on Facebook. But Jinpachi was online (Shinkai suspected
that he never logged out, spending most of his time chatting with Makishima)
and had already received Yuuto's message. He was just writing to Shinkai.
'Hayato, of course your cute little brother can come to the party!'
'Oh, so he's cute now? Aren't you supposed to be in a relationship?'
"Jinpachi-kun said I could come!" Yuuto announced victoriously.
'Jeez, it begins now, doesn't it? This is exactly what I talked about on the
plane on our way back from France,' Jinpachi flared up. 'Don't start taking my
words in the wrong way. You seriously think I'd try to hit on a 14-year-old? I
have quite a lot of admirers and I think I could find someone who's actually my
age even if I wasn't with Maki-chan. I've once said that Fuku's turtle is cute
but that doesn't mean I'd want to date it!'
'Come on. I had to pretend to be a protective big brother here for a second,
you know.'
"What's Jinpachi-kun saying?" Yuuto hauled himself up and tried to peek at the
chat window, but Shinkai blocked the view with his shoulder.
"He just compared you to a turtle."
"What?!"
Shinkai waved his hand, returning to soothe Jinpachi who was ranting on the
chat as quickly as he managed to type the words out. 'I can't believe this! You
immediately take me as a pervert when I tell you I'm in a relationship with a
guy!'
'Dude, chill. It was just a joke. Nobody thinks you're a pervert. But we're
gonna go and eat donburi and pizza and watch movies now. See you tomorrow!' He
signed out before Jinpachi had time to throw another fit.
"Why did he compare me to a turtle? Fu– hell, he doesn't even know how fast I
am!"
"It wasn't about cycling. And stop swearing."
"'Hell' is not a swearword."
"Yes, it is." Besides, there had been a much stronger word coming.
"Fine then. I'll just start swearing like some priest in kids' comics. Fudge!
Holy marshmallows!"
Shinkai shrugged. "That's more than fine by me."
"I would lose all my friends!"
"You'd get better ones."
Yielding, Yuuto shook his head. "Fiddlesticks! Let's just play a movie."
"In a minute. But you're not coming to the party."
"I so am. Jinpachi-kun promised. You'd just look like some straight-laced
hardass if you forbade it now."
It was true in a way. Shinkai sighed, rubbing his face. Could he somehow manage
to keep his brother away from the booze? Of course there would be soda too; it
was not like all the drinks in the party contained alcohol. He just didn't feel
like guarding the content of his brother's glass for the whole night. Perhaps
he could fix someone else to do the job, for example Jinpachi or Touichirou.
Yuuto would listen to them better than a family member. Especially if the host
told him not to touch the alcohol...
"We can discuss it tomorrow."
"That's fine! Alright, let's put that movie on before the food gets cold!"
Yuuto stopped stickling immediately. The little devil knew that when Shinkai
began to hesitate, he usually gave in too. Maybe tomorrow he could come up with
a good excuse or bribe to keep his brother out of the party, but he wanted to
drop the subject for now.
"Okay then. What do you want to watch, horror, comedy or action?"
Chapter End Notes
     It might be that Arakita only rented his own flat after he went to
     Yonan, but I wanted him to have his own place here too. :3
     The horrible revel party will begin in the next chapter. So fasten
     your seatbelts and prepare your fangirl souls!
***** The Revel Party, part I *****
Chapter Notes
     Finnish readers, please check the A/N in the end!
See the end of the chapter for more notes
"I promise you won't see me at all during the whole night!"
Shinkai glanced at his little brother meaningfully. That's exactly what I'm
afraid of.
"You will not touch any alcohol and always ask Jinpachi for permission to do
something," he emphasized.
"Oh for fu– shucks! I do know basic manners, you know."
"In fact, you could stay close to Jinpachi tonight, if not me."
Yuuto tilted his head to look at him. Shinkai had already previously noticed
that his brother didn't have to lift his chin as much as before. He had grown
quite a bit during the summer. "Why Jinpachi-kun?"
"Him or Touichirou."
"Hmph, sounds like I was some sort of six-year-old rascal. I'm sure Jinpachi-
kun and Touichirou-san have better things to do than stare at me for the whole
night."
"Touichirou is the new captain. I'd recommend getting on his good side if you
wish to join the team in the future."
For a second, Yuuto's confident mask cracked. "Oh yeah? What does this
Touichirou-san look like again?"
"Short black hair and big muscles. Just look for the most ripped guy of the
crowd."
"Ah, he's the Abu-san, right?"
"Yeah, but don't use that name when he can hear you."
Yuuto nodded, content with his observation. "Of course not."
Since Jinpachi had asked them to come in without knocking or ringing the
doorbell, they walked around the ryokan to the backyard where they could
directly enter the family's living quarters. Shinkai opened the door and they
took off their shoes. Jinpachi's voice was coming from the kitchen so they
headed there. The only guests already present were Makishima and Juichi.
Jinpachi was wearing an apron while fussing around a cake and explaining
something to his boyfriend with a passionate tone. Juichi seemed to have gotten
the responsibility of setting the table as he was picking up plates from a
cupboard.
"Did you make that yourself?" Shinkai asked, pointing at the cake, and the
trio's attention switched to them.
Jinpachi's face brightened. "Hey, Hayato and Yuuto! Come on in. You can put
your drinks in the fridge, there should be enough space. And no, I didn't make
the base myself but the decorations, yes." Jinpachi lifted a piping bag that he
had used to make some pretty impressive roses on top of the cake. A collection
of candles was waiting beside it.
"We brought food too," Shinkai said. He really didn't trust the second-years to
bring enough grub, so on their way they had popped in a shop to buy some extra
snacks.
"You shouldn't have. I got a little carried away with my shopping, but of
course it's nice to have a wide selection to offer. Maki-chan, please hand me
the grater." After getting it, Jinpachi began grating chocolate on top of the
cake.
"Makishima," Shinkai nodded at the Sohoku's climber who answered him in the
same way. He didn't seem to be at home in the middle of Hakogaku team and on
top of that he apparently didn't like crowds, so it had been a big concession
of him to come to the party. Unfortunately he was attracting attention with his
weird choice of clothing. Shinkai hadn't even known that orange leggings were
sold in men's sizes. Luckily he was also wearing a long sweater that reached
his thighs; otherwise the impression would have been almost indecent. Yuuto
stared at him a bit too long before shrugging. "Long time no see. Or maybe not
that long. Here's my little brother Yuuto," Shinkai said, mostly to Makishima.
Juichi and Jinpachi had met Yuuto before.
Waving, Yuuto pulled on his best angelic smile that even Manami would have
envied. "Hiya everyone!"
"Jesus, you two look alike," Jinpachi huffed. "I've said it before but the
effect seems to deepen every year. Soon the only difference will be your hair
colours."
"I don't look like that pig," Yuuto protested.
"You're the bigger pig of the two of us," Shinkai said, catching his brother
before he had time to duck. His weird chicken tail haircut received yet another
ruffle. Yuuto let out disapproving noises and was quick to arrange his hair
back in order once his brother released him. Laughing, Shinkai went to the
fridge to stack their beer and soda on the shelves. "Jinpachi, do you need some
help?"
"Well, you could set the table if you want to help. Use the tableware that Fuku
just took out."
The tableware in question looked like it was quite expensive, and judging by
the pink flowers, it had been Jinpachi's mother's choice. It even included a
tea kettle and cups. So apparently at least at the beginning of the party, it
was going to be more civilized than some of them were prepared for. But that
was how it was with Jinpachi. While he was not that big of a partygoer, he
loved to act as a host. And Shinkai really had nothing against it. Let Jinpachi
have his tea and cake ceremony and after that the party could get out of hand –
at least for those who had the chance.
He picked up the pile of plates and spoons while Yuuto took the cups and they
went to carry them to the dining hall. Even though the ryokan's guest rooms
were very traditional, the living quarters had a modern interior. The dining
table was high with ten chairs, of which four were clearly meant as spares and
two were mere kitchen stools.
"What the heck is Jinpachi-kun's friend wearing?" Yuuto asked sotto voce, as
they placed the dishes onto the table.
"Clothes," Shinkai hissed back.
"Yeah, but..."
"His brother is a fashion designer. It must run in the family."
"Oh, I see. But those pants are still pretty horrible."
"Shut up and stop criticizing Jinpachi's guests or I will throw you out myself.
There's an old hen house in the backyard. I can lock you up in it for the
party."
Yuuto pretended to gape with offence. "You're the meanest brother I know!"
"Perhaps, but in three years you'll be thanking me for not letting you
embarrass yourself when you were still an inconsiderate teenager."
"In three years, you'll regret being so mean to me."
Shinkai reached out his hand warningly towards Yuuto's head. His brother leaped
to the side. "Let's just set the table now."
They arranged plates in front of every chair. While setting down the last
dishes, they heard the door open and judging by the explosion of talking and
laughter, the rest of the partiers had come as one clutch.
"It seems that I have accidentally arrived at some old aristocrat lady's
candlelight supper!" Yasutomo announced loudly. He had probably seen the cake
and the tea kettle. Jinpachi snapped back at him, but didn't really sound
angry.
When Shinkai and Yuuto returned to the kitchen, Kuroda was in the middle of
unpacking his shopping bag and wondering why only he had been ordered to bring
his own beer.
"Because you drink the most," Yasutomo explained. "That's just fair. Shinkai
eats the most, so he brought some food for himself." His eyes slid onto
Shinkai, telling him silently to keep his mouth shut if that wasn't the case.
"I don't drink the most," Kuroda protested, but only half-heartedly.
Touichirou and Ashikiba had arrived too. Everyone was present except for the
youngest one of the team.
Yasutomo scanned the room, remarking about the same thing. "Is Wonderboy
coming?"
Jinpachi wiped his hands on his apron. "I guess so. I really couldn't make out
his answer."
"We're not gonna wait for him. He can eat the leftovers."
Shinkai introduced Yuuto to the rest of the guests. Yasutomo he had already met
before. He immediately tried the same thing as Shinkai and Yuuto backed off,
trying to protect his crown.
"Why does everyone want to ruffle my hair?"
"Because it looks like a Persian cat that's tumbled around in a dryer."
"Yasutomo-kun, you're mean too!"
Yasutomo merely laughed. "The truth always hurts."
Ashikiba seemed to take an instant liking to his brother. Maybe it was because
they both were good-natured fools (though Yuuto did have a little bit more
going on inside his head than Ashikiba, Shinkai had to admit that, no matter
how much he wanted to tease his brother ¬– how Ashikiba managed to confuse
Makishima with Tadokoro even if it had been stated many times which one of the
Sohoku team was coming to the party was a mystery to him). Ashikiba kept asking
Yuuto about cycling and his future plans and got very excited after hearing
that he was talking to another climber. Good, maybe Ashikiba would keep Yuuto
out of mischief. Yuuto also managed to exchange a couple of words with
Touichirou and was clearly trying to make a good impression. While Jinpachi
went to carry his servings to the dining room and Ashikiba was keeping Yuuto
occupied, Shinkai winked at Touichirou to let him know that he had something to
say.
"I know that Yuuto is my brother and my responsibility," he began. "But could
you maybe look after him if I'm busy elsewhere?" Ashikiba could maybe entertain
Yuuto but the sheer thought of making him watch after Yuuto's ass was
ridiculous.
Touichirou looked to be very flattered by his request. He almost saluted
Shinkai. "Of course, Shinkai-san! Leave it to me! I will take care of your
brother."
"You don't really need to take care of him, but there's alcohol available and
everything..."
"I understand. I will keep my eyes open!"
Shinkai nodded. "Thank you."
The table was loaded with various kinds of treats and Jinpachi insisted on
serving everyone tea with the cake. When the hot drink was ready and the
candles were lit, Touichirou clinked his cup with his spoon, clearing his
throat.
"Toudou-san, we have a little present for you."
"Ooh, you do?"
"Of course we do. You think we'd come to a birthday party without a present?"
Yasutomo grunted.
Ceremoniously, Touichirou handed over an envelope and Jinpachi ripped it open.
Even if the present wasn't that original, he stared at the gift voucher with
bulging eyes and almost shed some tears.
"This is awesome! The Ridley needs a new frame soon so this gift is more than
useful. Thank you so much, everyone!"
Jinpachi wanted to hug every one of them. Yasutomo agreed while muttering under
his breath. Even Yuuto got a hug, despite not having participated in buying the
present.
"Maki-chan gave me this." Jinpach showed them a golden necklace. It looked
surprisingly good; Shinkai could have pictured himself wearing it too, even
though he wasn't that fond of wearing jewellery. On a second glance he saw
Makishima wearing a matching item. Hmm, the duo wasn't being too careful.
Then Juichi got onto his feet. "Toudou, I have one more present for you."
Jinpachi blinked, surprised. "Really? What is it?"
Without any further words Fuku pulled two long sticks out of his bag and
snatched two plates from the table.
"What are you doing? Aargh, Fuku, those are mom's best plates! I'm–"
Juichi began spinning one plate on his stick. Then the other. He had become
quite skilled in his act.
"Why the fuck did you give your best plates for this crazy lot?" Yasutomo
asked. "In fifteen minutes, Kuroda will be so drunk that he's gonna break at
least three of them."
"Like hell I'm gonna be! There isn't even alcohol on the table! But Ashikiba is
so clumsy he'll break his plate with his mere gaze."
"I'm not clumsy. I haven't broken a plate in a long time," Ashikiba defended
himself.
Jinpachi was not listening, but had his widened eyes glued on Juichi and seemed
to be on the verge of a heart attack. "Fuku, for the love of god, stop! I'm
begging you!"
"It seems to be going on fine," Makishima noted.
"Ooh, Fukutomi-san, you have a talent!" Ashikiba exclaimed.
Juichi kept spinning the plates for another ten seconds before catching them in
his hands and returning them to the table. The audience broke out in applause –
apart from Jinpachi.
"Is that your idea of a birthday present?" He was panting and pressing his hand
onto his heart. "I just aged five years instead of one!"
"I'm sorry."
Jinpachi sighed. "Damn, okay, it was a good show, I give you that, but next
time could you do it with cheaper plates?"
"Sure."
Jinpachi slumped onto his chair, wiping his forehead. "After that I'm feeling
like we're going to change into paper plates. What did you say again, Kuroda?
Ashikiba is clumsy? I think we have some children's plastic plates in the
cupboard..."
Ashikiba stared at his plate, looking sad. "I'm not clumsy. I promise to be
careful."
"Alright, if everyone promises to be careful, should we begin?"
"Yes!"
Jinpachi blew the candles out, others clapping at him. As he occupied himself
with cutting the cake, Yuuto leaned closer to Shinkai, whispering: "You are
quite a weird lot. Will I become equally weird if I join the team?"
"You're weird enough just the way you are," Shinkai promised. Before Yuuto had
time to answer, Jinpachi dropped a huge piece of cake onto his plate. And if
food was something that silenced Shinkai, it did the same to his brother.
In the end, there were only a scrap left of the cake. Shinkai reckoned he could
snatch it after Jinpachi had taken it to the fridge. There was still a lot to
eat on the table but since the official part was over, it meant that they were
free to bring in the booze.
Jinpachi was faithful to his style until the end. When the teacups were empty,
he pulled out a bottle of champagne.
"Shall we toast next? For me and for the new team. But Maki-chan, you're not
allowed to take our confidential information, like the members of our new team,
to Sohoku."
"I'll keep my mouth shut," Makishima promised, looking amused.
Jinpachi poured champagne into glasses, a small amount to Yuuto too, and then
everyone raised their drinks.
"For the new team, Izumida, Kuroda and Ashikiba!"
"And Manami," Touichirou reminded him.
Jinpachi sighed. "And Manami."
"Did someone say my name?"
Everyone froze with their glasses raised, spooked by the sudden voice. The
person in question trudged into the dining room with a self-satisfied smile on
his face, halting in front of the table to observe the group. "My my, you guys
are well into the party already, aren't you?"
"You're late," Kuroda pointed out.
"I am? Was there a time of arrival?"
"It said five o'clock in the invitation," Jinpachi said.
"Is that so? I must have missed it. But you began without me, so no harm done."
After that Manami pulled the last chair under him, looking at the others with
full contentment. "So we're toasting now?"
"We're trying." Displeased, Jinpachi poured some champagne for Manami too and
then they raised their glasses again. "For the new team! May Hakogaku win the
next Inter High and beat Sohoku! Sorry, Maki-chan."
"Don't worry. I have a lot of faith in our team," Makishima said. "Toasting for
another team won't break it."
Jinpachi raised his glass to his lips. "Mhm, we'll see about that."
The champagne must have cost a bit. Shinkai noticed it immediately after taking
a sip from his glass. Not that he was some sort of a wine expert – he didn't
even like wine that much – but the champagne tasted expensive. Yuuto grimaced
when he thought no one was looking but forced himself to swallow the drink and
afterwards kept throwing glances at the bottle, looking like he'd down more of
the nasty beverage if it meant he'd get drunk. Shinkai couldn't really judge
him; he had lived the times too when getting drunk was new and exciting. But he
didn't feel his conscience pinch him even if he prevented his brother from
getting intoxicated. Not every teenager needed to do stupid things.
Not that he had been one to do them, not particularly, but sure, he had
sometimes drunk more than his body could handle and suffered the consequences –
a hangover and lecturing from his parents.
Jinpachi lowered his glass onto the table, rubbing his hands together.
"Alright, guys, now we have gotten past the formalities: what do you say, shall
we play something?"
"Do we have to?" Yasutomo groaned.
"I don't want a boring party where people just sit on their asses and drink
booze."
"It's not boring."
"We could make it a drinking game," Kuroda suggested.
Jinpachi hesitated but as the idea got a lot of support – from the mouths of
only two, but very eager participants. The first one was Yasutomo, the second
one was Yuuto. Shinkai glared at his brother. "You'll only drink soda."
"Oh fu– farting priest!"
"I have a bottle of 0.3 percent cider in the fridge," Jinpachi said. More than
one of the guys burst out chuckling, making Yuuto purse his lips with
discontent.
"I can drink that stuff with you," Ashikiba promised. "I'm not a big fan of
beer or strong alcohol anyway."
"Oh come on, don't be a fucking wuss!" Kuroda snarled. "You'll drink beer like
the rest of us."
"But Yuki-chan..."
Jinpachi raised his hands. "Hey, what if I just set the drinks on the table and
then everyone can have whatever they want. You don't have to drink booze if you
don't feel like it."
The beverage selection turned out to be very plentiful. There was so much beer
that even Kuroda couldn't have drunk it all by himself and his own bottles were
not even counted in. Then there was the rest of the champagne, the fake cider
Jinpachi had mentioned, some regular cider and a bottle of cognac that Kuroda
placed onto the table looking half embarrassed, half victorious, and of course
the non-alcohol drinks such as juice and soda. Yasutomo quickly collected all
the Bepsi cans onto his side of the table. As the group began sharing their
drinks, Jinpachi rushed to save the expensive tableware and brought disposable
dishes as a replacement.
"Alright, listen up!" he tried to get people's attention over the bottles
clinking. "I was thinking that we could either play the liking game or the Two
truths and a lie."
Yasutomo tapped his chin. "How do you get a drinking game out of those?"
"Well, for example... in the liking game you have to guess who's written which
statement. If you guess wrong, you have to drink."
"But then you need to write something more difficult than 'I like bunnies'." He
glanced at Shinkai meaningfully.
"I'm not following," Ashikiba muttered. "How do you play this game?"
"Everyone writes down on paper slips five things you like and five things you
don't like," Jinpachi explained. "Then we mix the paper slips and pick up one
at a time. The players try to guess who has written it."
"What about the other game? That truth thing?"
"Everyone tells three things about themselves: two truths and a lie. The others
try to guess which one is the lie."
"That's almost the same as the Never have I ever game," Yasutomo remarked.
"Is that a problem?" Jinpachi asked.
"When it was played during our trip, it turned into a gay parade in ten
minutes."
"How do you know? You didn't play it. You were sitting in the farthest corner
of our camp, sulking and poisoning yourself with nicotine."
"Shinkai told me quite enough about it, thank you very much."
Jinpachi blinked and shook his head. "Arakita, I'm just going to ignore you for
a second. If you guys want to make that one a drinking game, the person who
guesses wrong has to empty their glass. Well, what do you say?"
Ashikiba had warmed up to the idea. "Yes, let's play!"
"Let's play with shots," Kuroda said.
"We don't have..." Jinpachi began, but Kuroda cleared his throat, nodding at
the cognac bottle.
"Weren't you supposed to bring wine?"
"Didn't feel like it. I don't really like wine."
"But the others do."
Kuroda just shrugged. "We have all sorts of drinks here anyway. But what do you
say, should we play with cognac?"
"Okay then. So which game do you want to play?" Jinpachi asked.
"Whatever," Yasutomo muttered. "Anything but spin the bottle."
"Two truths and a lie. It sounds more entertaining and you don't need to write
anything in it."
"Just remember that Yuuto is here too. So refrain from telling really horrible
truths," Shinkai reminded them.
Yasutomo snorted, slapping him on the shoulder. "Your wish is pretty must lost
amongst this lot."
Jinpachi sat down again and stared at the table for a while before selecting a
bottle of cider. "Okay then. Who wants to start?"
"You can start. You're the birthday guy anyway."
"Who's guessing then? The person who comes next?"
"Sure, let's go in order."
Makishima happened to sat next to Jinpachi so the first guess would dawn on
him. Kuroda was already pushing the cognac bottle towards him.
"Hmm, let's see then..." Jinpachi said. "When I was a kid, I had a carp called
Goldfish."
Yasutomo found this very amusing. "Your naming skills almost match those of
Fuku-chan's."
"Shht, you don't even know if I'm telling the truth. Then... I only learned to
ride a bike when I was ten years old. And... I played soccer in elementary
school."
"The second one is not true," Makishima said immediately.
"Yes! Wow, Maki-chan, you know me so well! Of course I learned to ride a bike
when I was very little."
"Don't make the questions easier for your bo–" Yasutomo noticed what he was
about to say, swallowed his words at the last minute, mumbled something and
threw half a can of Bepsi into his throat.
Then it was Makishima's turn. He seemed to suddenly feel nauseous of all the
attention. "Um, when I was a kid, my brother used to dress me up in very weird
clothes because he wanted to play a fashion show. As a kid I only listened to
enka music since that was the only kind of music we had in the house. And I
always wanted a cat, but my parents misunderstood and now we have a dog."
On his left side, Manami was looking at him thoughtfully. "This is pretty
tricky. Maybe... the second one is a lie?"
Makishima shook his head. "The last one is."
"But you have a dog," Jinpachi said.
"Yes, but I never wanted a cat."
"Ah."
"Wonderboy, drink." Kuroda had already poured a swig of cognac into a paper cup
and pushed it in front of Manami who shrugged and downed the drink on one go.
Or he tried. Towards the end he made a mistake of breathing and almost gagged.
Bravely he forced the liquid down, wiping his mouth with his hand.
"Why is Manami-kun allowed to drink but I'm not?" Yuuto protested, looking at
Shinkai. "We're just a year apart."
Shinkai faced his brother's puppy eyes with an adamant gaze. "Because I'm not
Manami's big brother."
"You don't want to drink that," Manami said. "Tastes like death."
"Pantywaist," Kuroda coughed.
Manami ignored him. "My turn to come up with something. Okay, I once fell
asleep in a forest and woke up to a squirrel sniffing at my face. And I once
called the emergency number after falling asleep on my phone. And one time I
fell asleep at the school graduation party and woke up only when everyone was
already gone and cleaners were sweeping the floors."
Yasutomo gritted his teeth. "Every one of your claims involves you falling
asleep, why am I not surprised?"
Touichirou was thinking. "I'll say the first one is a lie."
"Correct!" Manami chimed. "I did fall asleep in a forest but I woke up to a fox
sniffing at my face."
"My turn," Touichirou said. "A couple of years ago I was going to ask this girl
out but then I found out that her brother had a crush on me so I couldn't do
it."
"This is where the gay parade begins," Yasutomo muttered.
"As a kid I had a bad habit of biting my nails. After I had bitten all my
fingernails, I moved onto my toenails. It was a bit manic, I have to admit.
Eventually mom bought some horrible tasting nail polish and she painted my
nails with it so I would stop. And the third claim is that I can actually eat
more than Shinkai-san but I don't want to ruin his reputation so I hold myself
back."
Shinkai chuckled. "I wouldn't mind."
"The last one is not true," Kuroda said. "This is not working because I know
you so well. Maybe we should switch spots."
"We can do it on the next round," Touichirou agreed.
"Me and Hayato-kun need to switch spots too then," Yuuto noted. "Maybe we could
do it right away. I'll sit next to Touichirou-san and Kuroda-san takes my
seat?"
"Sure, why not. But I'm still going to drink," Kuroda mused, pouring cognac
into his cup and downing it with one gulp, not even batting an eye. Shinkai was
beginning to suspect that Yasutomo's observations of the new vice captain's
drinking habits held some truth.
"You don't bite your toenails anymore, do you?" Jinpachi asked. "That's a
little gross."
Touichirou looked embarrassed. "I don't. Mom got me to stop with that horrible
tasting polish."
Yuuto and Kuroda swapped seats so it became Yuuto's turn to come up with
something and Ashikiba was the one guessing. "When these guys were in France, I
had to take care of Hayato-kun's bunny and she ate my cycling gloves. Hayato-
kun had to buy me new ones. And as a kid I had to learn to eat very fast
because Hayato-kun stole my food immediately after emptying his own plate."
Half of the participants burst out in laughter.
"Is the purpose of these claims just to embarrass me?" Shinkai asked.
His little brother glanced at him cunningly. "Perhaps. Okay, then a couple of
years back I found Hayato-kun's porn film stash and I was halfway through the
first video when mom came in. The conversation that followed was... rather
interesting."
Ashikiba looked lost. "Maybe... the last one?"
"Hah, wrong! The first claim is not true. Usakichi didn't eat my cycling gloves
even if she did eat almost everything else."
"Porn film stash?" Jinpachi repeated. "I mean, sure, we've all seen a video or
two but that sounded like you're some old pervert who has hidden a box of adult
movies in his closet."
"It was no porn film stash," Shinkai corrected. "It was one movie and Yuuto
didn't ask my permission before violating my computer."
"I was looking for a nice comedy!"
"Why did you click on that file then? There's no way you would have mixed that
up with a comedy."
"Do I really have to drink that?" Ashikiba was eyeing the cognac shot as if it
could attack him any minute.
Kuroda nodded. "Yes, you do. Just pinch your nose."
Ashikiba followed the advice, pinching his nose and tasting a little from his
cup – and gagging immediately. Much harder than Manami. Shinkai could hear
liquids gurgling in his throat.
Jinpachi dashed to his feet. "Don't puke on the table!"
Ashikiba shook his head unhappily, blinking and quickly pouring himself a cup
of juice to rinse the awful taste off of his mouth. "I can't drink that. I'm
sorry."
Kuroda pouted. "Take a beer then, you big baby."
"Couldn't I have a cider too?"
Touichirou handed him a bottle, Ashikiba popped it open, looking relieved, and
so the game continued. Ashikiba had to think for a minute before speaking:
"Once when I was buying my mom a birthday cake, I accidentally bought one with
nuts in it. Mom is allergic to nuts and her face began to swell after tasting
the cake. We had to call an ambulance that took her to the hospital. And when I
was a kid, we went to a zoo, okay, it was more like a petting zoo... I wanted
to ride a pony but I was already too tall, so I couldn't. I was so dejected
that mom bought me a bike after that."
Ashikiba was a surprisingly good liar. For Ashikiba, that was. Shinkai only
heard – along with everyone else probably – the tiniest dip in his voice.
"And the third story... when I was around ten, I heard that cabbage might slow
down your growth because of something it has, so I started eating a lot of it.
It didn't work though, as you can see."
"The second one is a lie," Kuroda said.
"Ooh, how did you know, Yuki-chan?!"
"Because even if you were tall, you couldn't have weighed so much that you
couldn't ride a pony."
"Well, yeah, maybe not then."
"Damn, I'm too good at this," Kuroda lamented. "Maybe just one more sip..."
Another portion of cognac was poured into his cup. The booze smelled revolting.
Shinkai didn't like strong alcohol even though he could drink clear spirits if
they had been diluted with juice. He hoped that Kuroda's claims would be easy
so that he wouldn't have to touch the cognac.
"Okay then," Kuroda began after swallowing his drink. "I have the most horrible
flatmate in the world. Every time he cooks, he burns the food. One time when I
came home, a kettle was in flames and the fire was about to spread into paper
towels. I managed to put out the fire and didn't have to call 119."
Shinkai had heard stuff about Kuroda's flatmate, a foreign exchange student who
didn't possess even the most basic manners and who had apparently crawled out
of a troll cave, so that story might very well be true.
"When we were little, Touichirou and I went to nick carrots from our
neighbour's garden. The neighbour got his awful dog to chase us. I still have a
scar on my shin from that day."
"Did the dog bite you, Yuki-chan?" Ashikiba asked, his voice worried.
"No, I tore my skin when we bolted to safety over a wooden fence. Then the
third claim: sometimes when I'm hungover, I feel so sick that I just want to
throw up to make it pass sooner. So I put on Psy's album, because the music is
so bad that it makes you physically ill. It works surprisingly well."
"The second claim is not true," Shinkai decided. "Touichirou would never steal
anything, not even carrots."
Touichirou looked very touched. "Thank you, Shinkai-san."
"Yeah, you're right. I went there with one of my friends but he wasn't
Touichirou. But I actually have a scar from jumping over that fence." Kuroda
patted his leg.
"Why the fuck do you have Psy's album?" Yasutomo asked.
"It was a gift, alright!"
Yasutomo settled for the explanation and then it was Shinkai's turn. He took a
sip of his beer before beginning. "So, when we were kids and I was once again
trying to eat from Yuuto's plate, he stabbed me with his fork so hard that the
spikes went through my skin and blood gushed all over the table. Yuuto was so
clumsy as a kid that he didn't know how to use chopsticks so he had to eat with
a fork."
"Is that so?" Yuuto mumbled.
"In middle school I had a crush on a girl but she didn't like sporty guys so
for a while I pretended to be a part of a literature club. That was when I
found detective novels. And then the third story... hmm, alright. As a kid I
once ate a whole bowl of cake batter. Mom had been baking and she left the
batter unsupervised for a minute so I went and ate it all. Mom was sure that
I'd get very sick, but no, I just went outside to play and had dinner in the
evening quite normally."
Yasutomo leaned his chin on his hand, thinking. "The last one is true, so it
has to be one of the other two. I say it's the first one. It could be true but
I'm having a hard time believing Yuuto was that clumsy."
Yuuto's face brightened. "Thank you, Yasutomo-kun!"
Shinkai grinned. "In fact, the second one is a lie. Yuuto did indeed eat with a
fork as a kid. But I've never pretended to be a part of a literature club."
"Aa, fuck it! Kuroda, give me that bottle."
Kuroda handed over the cognac, happy that the others were drinking it too.
Yasutomo managed to down his shot but with a lot of swearing. Shinkai was glad
that he hadn't had to drink.
"My turn then," Yasutomo rubbed his hands. "Fuku-chan, listen to me! Here it
comes. On my first year in high school when I sometimes walked out of the class
during a lesson, I once found a black stray cat wandering around the campus. I
decided to give him food and during the months that followed the cat got really
fat. I mean really, really enormous. Then one day I saw a missing cat poster on
a lamppost and I suppose he finally found back home, since I haven't seen him
in Hakogaku anymore. Then the second story. One of my sisters is fucking
terrified of horror movies, but she's so stupid that she watches them anyway
and if I happen to be home, she crawls into my bed to sleep next to me. And the
third thing: when we were in France, there was some old perverted man in a
camping area bathroom who offered me money for sex."
Shinkai startled. Jesus, hadn't they agreed not to talk about that event ever?
"He offered you money?" Jinpachi couldn't resist asking.
"Yeah, me."
Juichi thought about it but not for very long. "The first one is a lie. That
cat is still hanging around the school."
"Yes, he is! Bravo, Fuku-chan!"
"Somebody seriously tried to pay you for sex?" Jinpachi clearly couldn't let it
slide.
"Yes! It happened there... what was that place called again? One of the last
locations anyway."
"And what did you do?"
Yasutomo looked at Jinpachi like he was a complete moron. "What do you think? I
ran for it, of course."
"Are you sure he wanted you and not some other... bathroom user?"
Yasutomo smirked. "You're just wishing it had been you."
Jinpachi realized that he couldn't win this debate and gave in. Shinkai
released the breath he had been holding. Okay, no harm done here. It was okay
to tell the story if you left out the things that had led to it. But even
though Yasutomo had promised a thing or two, Shinkai was a bit worried about
how much all the alcohol was going to loosen his tongue. Would he have to
follow him around to make sure he wouldn't blurt out something dangerous?
Phew, did he now have two people to supervise? Luckily he had delegated some of
the responsibility of Yuuto to Touichirou.
It was Juichi's turn. "I once bought a shirt that was too big for me only
because it had 'Strong' printed on it. Then... the first time I saw Toudou, I
thought he was a girl."
Yasutomo snickered. "We've all been there, Fuku-chan."
"No, you didn't!" Jinpachi snapped.
"Do you want to hear the rest or are you going to decide now which one is a
lie?"
Jinpachi succumbed, exhaling. "Okay, tell me."
"Even as a kid I always wanted to have blond hair, so I tried bleaching it with
lemons, because I had heard that lemon and sun lightens hair, best if used
together. So I squeezed some lemon into my hair and went to sit on our porch in
direct sunlight."
"And then what happened?"
"Nothing. My hair didn't get any lighter. Mom did wonder where all the lemons
had suddenly disappeared to."
"Okay, so the second one is a lie," Jinpachi said.
"Incorrect. The first one is. I've never bought a shirt too big just for what's
printed on it."
"But Fuku, how could you have mistaken me for a girl?" Jinpachi was beyond
piqued.
"I saw you from behind and you were surrounded by a group of girls. Anyone
could have made the same mistake."
"Well... maybe. But you realized the truth soon after that, right?"
"I realized it when you turned around."
Jinpachi calmed down and turned his eyes to the cognac bottle. "Aargh, now I
have to drink that shit. Kuroda, why didn't you buy anything better?"
Kuroda waved his hand. "I pinched it from my flatmate."
"You pinched..?"
"Oi, the guy borrows everything from me, including my toothbrush and underwear!
I'm allowed at least a little revenge, aren't I?"
"Yes, but if it's your flatmate's bottle, who knows what's in it? I'm under the
impression that he's a bit... unhygienic."
"The bottle was sealed. Relax, it's just regular cognac."
"You can't get away from drinking it, princess," Yasutomo remarked. "Start
lapping."
Jinpachi poured some of the reddish brown liquor into his cup, eyeing it with
both suspicion and determination, like he was challenging it, before throwing
it into his throat. His eyes began watering and he stuck out his tongue.
"Dear god, that is some nasty stuff!" he panted, gulping down some juice and
when that wasn't enough, stuffing crisps and candy into his mouth. "It's like,
shockingly bad! How come anyone drinks that for fun?"
"I suppose you can get used to it with time."
"I've never really understood why you need to eat something you have to learn
to like. Especially if it's unhealthy," Shinkai said.
"Me neither. I mean, I do understand why kids need to learn to eat broccoli and
other vegetables but this kind of sewer water... fucking hell," Jinpachi
groaned.
"It gets to your head quickly," Kuroda just said.
Jinpachi pushed his chair back, getting to his feet. "Wait a sec. I'll go get
us something better to drink. I think my folks have sake somewhere in the
kitchen. We can continue the game with it."
"Now you're talking!" Yasutomo cheered up.
Jinpachi exited and they heard him rummage around the kitchen while they
munched on crisps, candy and other treats and rinsed them down with milder
alcohol – except Kuroda who hogged the cognac bottle back to himself and poured
third (or was it fourth already?) round into his cup. Shinkai made a mental
note to himself that the cognac crazy vice captain was not to be left alone
with his little brother. Yuuto obediently only drank the 0.3 percent cider, but
he kept glancing longingly at Ashikiba's regular cider. Shinkai fiddled a
bottle of beer in his hands, only taking a sip every now and then and making
sure he was also drinking water and eating something. Because he had
responsibilities tonight. He had responsibilities and he was not going to get
wasted.
Chapter End Notes
     Toudou is like Monica from Friends, the crazy plate lady. Is it very
     obvious that I hate cognac? ;)
     EDIT: BETA NOTE! I'll be needing a new beta/proofreader while my
     regular beta takes a break! So if you're at least 18 years of age,
     have some free time in your hands, English is your first language (or
     you have lived in an English speaking country long enough), you have
     a sharp eye and you'd be willing to check my grammar etc. please send
     me a note on Tumblr (lelymypiilo)! The future updates depend on me
     getting a substitute beta!
     Finnish readers / Suomalaiset lukijat! Viime aikoina olen alkanut
     pohtia myös suomenkielisen version julkaisemista AO3:ssa, koska
     suomiversiosta kiinnostuneita on jo melko monta ja tiedostojen
     lähettäminen sähköpostitse kaikille alkaa olla aavistuksen työlästä
     (tai ei niinkään lähettäminen kuin kaikkien lukijoiden muistaminen).
     Siksi pyytäisinkin teitä ilmoittamaan vaikka kommenteissa tai minulle
     yksärillä (Tumblr: lelymypiilo. Jos en vastaa parissa päivässä,
     lähettäkää uudelleen. Tumblr on viime aikoina tehnyt uutterasti työtä
     yksityisviestien sensuroinnissa) jos olette kiinnostuneita
     suomenkielisestä versiosta. Enkkukäännös nappaa kuitenkin aina
     vähäsen muka-nokkelista sanaleikeistäni ja latistaa tarinaa. Etuna
     suomiversiossa on myös se, että pääsisitte lukemaan luvut
     mahdollisesti jopa kuukausia ennen englanninkielisen päivityksen
     ilmestymistä. Joten... jos teitä on, ilmoittaisitteko itsestänne,
     kiitos! :)
***** The Revel Party, part II *****
Chapter Notes
     A big thank you for SalaciousCrumb for taking on the betaing job! :)
See the end of the chapter for more notes
"Hey, Shinkai, I found a Gackt album!"
Shinkai tilted his head meaningfully. Yasutomo would never let that rest, would
he?
"I'll put it on," Yasutomo decided, picking up the CD from the shelf.
"We should have some better music there as well," Jinpachi said.
"No, Shinkai wants to hear Gackt now." Yasutomo opened the CD cover, inserting
the disc into the player. Shinkai decided it was better to stay quiet. 'Oasis'
began playing and Yasutomo turned the volume up before returning to the couch,
chuckling to himself.
After the truth game, on Jinpachi's insistence the partiers had ended up
writing their likes on paper slips. The slips had been mixed in a bowl, and
they were about to start reading them. They had spread all over the living
room, on the couch, armchairs and on the floor. There was some stupid quiz show
going on tv and the coffee table was packed with yakitori, cocktail meatballs,
crisps, popcorn, sweets and such a selection of drinks that it would have
filled a small shop. Some of the cans and bottles were already empty.
"Alright, hey! Hey! Hey, guys! Who's gonna read first?" Kuroda shouted. He had
downed one-third of the cognac bottle by himself, become noisier by every swig
and reached the point in his intoxication where he alternated in offering the
bottle to others and snuggling it like it was a little baby. It wasn't even
close to ten yet, so Shinkai was happy he hadn't made a bet with Yasutomo.
Whereas Kuroda's raging just made Yuuto and Yasutomo laugh, Touichirou and
Ashikiba tried mildly to restrain him. "Why don't you give me that bottle for a
while, Yuki?"
Kuroda looked at Touichirou like he had asked him to give up his left testicle.
"What are you gonna do with it?"
"I'll just keep it safe."
"Hah, no! It's safer with me! You can't have it. Oi, guyyyyys! Weren't we
supposed to play some kind of a tag game? No, fuck, what was it again... like
game! Where are those paper slips? Hey, hey, you there, person!"
Yuuto snorted. Shinkai slightly shoved his brother despite Kuroda being too
drunk to realize that some of the other guys were laughing at him.
"Hey, you there! Toudou! The notes!"
Jinpachi looked a bit lost with his noisy guest. "The game's going to start in
a minute. We're not in such a hurry."
Kuroda pulled his head back, peering at Jinpachi suspiciously. "Are you
absolutely sure?"
"I'm sure. We'll begin when everyone is here. Or is everyone already present?"
"Is now," Shinkai said, as Juichi returned from the bathroom, occupying the
last free armchair.
Jinpachi picked up the bowl, parking himself on the couch. "How are we going to
play? Should we go in order again, let one person guess instead of everyone?
And if you pick up your own note, you just put it back and take another."
"Wait a minute!" Kuroda hollered. "It doesn't work that way. For example, I can
recognize Touichirou's handwriting."
"That's true. I can recognize the handwritings of you three," Jinpachi said,
looking at the rest of the third-years. "Alright, what if I just read the note
and the second in turn is guessing?"
"But what if you're guessing and the note is your own?" Makishima asked.
"Can't help it. We'll just take another." Jinpachi tucked his hand into the
bowl, stirring and pulling out a paper slip. "'I like apples'."
"Meh, that's Fuku-chan," Yasutomo grunted, stretching his arm out to take the
bowl, but Juichi shook his head.
"It's not mine."
Yasutomo stopped. "What? It's not?"
"It's mine," Yuuto confessed.
"Aargh, goddamnit!"
"Here you go, Arakita-san," Kuroda said, offering his beloved bottle towards
Yasutomo.
"I'm not gonna fucking drink that shit! Jinpachi, hand me the sake."
Jinpachi poured a shot for Yasutomo who gulped it down right away. "My turn to
ask. Let's see... 'I like garlic mayo'."
Juichi thought about it. "That's hard. I don't know. I say Shinkai."
Kuroda lifted his hand. "No, it's mine!"
"I hope there are other likes besides food," Jinpachi muttered.
Juichi picked up a note. "I like the headwind."
"That would be Manami's," Touichirou said, convinced, and of course the person
in question smirked at him from across the table.
"Yes, correct! That's mine, Izumida-san!"
Touichirou couldn't resist straightening his posture just a little bit before
reading the next note. "'I like cognac'."
Ashikiba glanced to his side. "Um, that's Yuki-chan's again?"
"Yeah, that's mine," Kuroda admitted, and to back up his words poured himself
another drink of the reddish liquor. "You skipped me, by the way. It was my
turn to guess."
"I'll just ask you now then," Ashikiba promised. "Hmm... 'I like American
horror movies'."
"Gaah, this game is boring," Yasutomo yawned.
"Just wait. I wrote a couple of fun things on my slips," Kuroda said.
Yasutomo looked at him. "So if there's something weird, it's yours?"
"I wrote a few not-so-usual things too," Makishima added.
"Fine, let's continue then."
"You guessing, Yuki-chan?"
"Yeah, hang on. That note is yours!"
Ashikiba nodded. "Yes, it is. Your turn."
"Hah, you just wait!" Kuroda took the bowl, began picking up slips and opening
them randomly.
"Hey, it doesn't work like that!" Jinpachi tried to intervene, but Kuroda had
already found an interesting note and prepared to read it.
"'I like to sleep naked'."
"Nice, I don't really know you guys, just Hayato-kun..." Yuuto protested. "I'll
just say it's Hayato-kun's. He sleeps naked occasionally."
"No, that's mine," Yasutomo announced.
"Can I have one shot of sake?" Yuuto pleaded.
Shinkai looked at him sternly. "One tablespoon."
"Freaking groundhogs! Shall I go and get a spoon from the kitchen so you can
measure?"
"Here's a little bit." Jinpachi handed Yuuto a cup with a sip of sake. Yuuto
drank it, carefully tasting and grimacing at the same time, and took the bowl
from Kuroda.
"'I like one night stands'. Okay, that's nice... For Ayane's sake I hope this
is not yours, brother."
"It's not mine," Shinkai said immediately. "Wait a minute..." He ruled people
out. It was definitely not Jinpachi, not Ashikiba, not Touichirou, not Yuuto
(or if it was, he'd be in for a long discussion), he didn't think it was
Makishima either... and Juichi wasn't exactly known for one night stands. If it
was Manami, his worldview would break a little once again. That left Yasutomo
and Kuroda. Yasutomo had had one night stands, that much Shinkai knew, but it
was a different matter if he specifically liked them. Then again, Kuroda...
Shinkai thought he had heard a rumour or two about their new vice captain in
the school hallways.
"Kuroda."
"Correct! That's mine!"
Yasutomo coughed into his fist something that sounded like 'manwhore', but if
Kuroda heard him, he didn't care.
It was Shinkai's turn to pick up a paper slip. He opened it, reading: "'I like
gravure'."
Manami was staring at the lot, looking a bit puzzled. "Is this Kuroda-san's
too?"
"No, it's not. I don't stare at gravure, I stare at proper porn."
"Thank you for this image," Jinpachi exhaled. He was clearly regretting that he
had invited the vice captain.
"It's mine," Makishima admitted.
"Ooh, alright! I suppose I have to drink then." Manami took a sip of sake.
"Next one... 'I like...' what does it say here?" He was turning the note in his
hands. "..long popes?"
The guess evoked a burst of laughter amongst the participants.
"Let me see." Jinpachi leaned forward and Manami showed him the note. "'Long
slopes.' Idiot, you wrote that yourself!"
"Oh yeah, I did!"
"Can't you fucking read your own handwriting?" Yasutomo asked.
"I don't always have the energy to write clearly," Manami simply answered.
"I'll take another. 'I like to sit back and watch while others do all the hard
work'."
Makishima blinked, scanning the group in hope of finding the answer. "Um..."
Since he was sitting right beside Jinpachi, he didn't see the sign his
boyfriend was making but everyone else did.
"Hey, no helping!"
"But Maki-chan doesn't know you guys!" Jinpachi objected.
"Yuuto doesn't know us either and Shinkai is not helping him," Touichirou said.
"I didn't see it," Makishima said. "Ehm, maybe... Manami again?"
Jinpachi let out the breath he'd been holding. "Arakita."
"How do you know?" Yasutomo challenged him. "It could very well be Kuroda's
too."
"Oi, I'm not lazy!"
"And Fuku-chan also likes to sit on his ass and watch others sweat."
"It's not mine either," Juichi said.
"But it could be... argh, alright, it's mine," Yasutomo yielded.
Makishima took a swig of sake and the game was about to roll forward when
Kuroda apparently got tired of waiting, crawled across the space carrying the
bottle of cognac under his arm (and miraculously managing to keep all the booze
inside the bottle) and snatched the bowl from Jinpachi's hands.
"Hey!"
"Let's just read the funny ones." Kuroda flopped back down onto his ass and
began rummaging through the bowl. Touichirou, sitting behind him, tried to
reach for the bowl but Kuroda kept it secured in his grip like it were an
American football. "'I like to play piano, I like bonsai trees, I like pretty
girls'... well, don't we all except Toudou-san who likes Kinjou Shingo? Or what
was it again, Ashikiba?"
Jinpachi looked so shocked that it was nothing short of a miracle that his eyes
still remained in their sockets. Makishima turned slowly to look at him.
Ashikiba was gaping, horrified. Beside Shinkai, Yuuto giggled silently. Manami,
instead, laughed out loud so hard that he got tears in his eyes.
However, the biggest surprise was the fact that Yasutomo was the first one to
get up and head towards Kuroda, his hand extended. "Alright, I think this
is..."
A foreign music played somewhere in the house, piercing through Gackt's
singing. Yasutomo halted to listen. "Who has Serj Tankian as their ringtone?"
Kuroda immediately forgot the paper slips, running to his feet. "Me! It's mine!
Where's that damned phone? Fuck!" And then he rushed towards the kitchen, the
cognac bottle still in his hand. The others heard him answer the phone and yell
at the poor caller as loud as he had been yelling at them. "I'm at a party!
Party!!"
"Yuki is not usually like that," Touichirou explained to them quietly. "He's
just..."
"..drunk too much alcohol, yeah, yeah, we know. Let's stop this game. I'm
bored," Yasutomo grunted, taking the bowl and hiding it behind the couch.
"Let's just get wasted too and watch some stupid tv shows. Isn't there anything
better on, Toudou?"
Jinpachi was slowly recovering from Kuroda's remark, but he still looked a bit
startled and kept glancing at Makishima, clearly hoping to get a chance of
explaining soon, even though Makishima really didn't seem to have taken
Kuroda's words seriously. Even the thought of Toudou and Kinjou together was
ridiculous. "I don't know. Let's see," he said, picking up the remote. After a
quick channel surf he ended up settling on a karaoke talent show. "This will
do."
Ashikiba suddenly lifted his head high, giving a momentarily impression of a
giraffe gazing at the tree tops. "Hey, do you have karaoke equipment?"
"Sure we do. And a couple of games too."
"Maybe we could play one?"
The idea got a lot of support, because, in the end, what three things matched
as perfectly as a party, booze and karaoke? Jinpachi fetched the games and set
up his Playstation. Whilst they were selecting the first player, Kuroda
returned to the living room.
"Do you know Serj Tankian, Arakita-san?" he asked, a bit out breath. His eyes
held a great amount of admiration and he slipped, perhaps only due to the
influence of alcohol, straight into Yasutomo's personal bubble.
"Of course I do."
Kuroda leaned even closer. "Do you listen to him?"
Yasutomo looked like he was trying to dodge Kuroda's attention, but in the end
he yielded and answered. "Sometimes. I'm more familiar with SOAD, but that song
I happen to know."
Kuroda took that as a permission to park his ass between Yasutomo and the
armrest even though the gap was no wider than ten centimeters, forcing Yasutomo
to inch towards Jinpachi who in turn had to push Makishima against the opposite
armrest.
"Have some cognac, Arakita-san!"
Yasutomo was about to decline, but remembered then that he was planning to get
wasted, so he took the bottled from Kuroda who responded by looking even
happier, if that was possible. Shinkai had to admit that he didn't know Kuroda
very well, but this wasn't what he had been prepared for. Usually Kuroda kept
to his own, didn't smile very often and expressed irritation as if it were his
only emotion. Funny, how different people could become under the influence of
alcohol.
"Alright, who's going to start?" Jinpachi asked, waving the controller in his
hand.
"I will," Juichi volunteered.
"Sure thing, Fuku. Do you want to sing in Japanese or in English?"
"Try English, Fuku-chan!" Yasutomo suggested. "You know, all the strong guys
sing in English."
"Isn't that a bit of a pathetic attempt?" Jinpachi pointed out, but Juichi was
already getting to his feet and grabbing the microphone.
"I'll sing in English. Does this game have The Show Must Go On by Queen?"
"Eh, not that I recall..." Jinpachi scanned the song list. "No, but there's...
Lady Gaga's Bad Romance."
"Hohoo, you should totally sing that, Fuku-chan!"
Shinkai felt his spirits rise too. "Come on, sing it, Juichi!"
Juichi hesitated. "I don't know... it's kind of a difficult song to sing."
"Oh, and you're saying The Show Must Go On isn't?"
"Here's some cognac for extra boost, Fukutomi-san," Kuroda offered.
Juichi passed on the drink offer, straightening his back. "Alright. I'm going
to try that song."
"Yes! Go, Fuku-chaaaan!"
Juichi lifted the microphone and Jinpachi started the song; an action that
probably could have counted as the moment when the party turned from an
organized program-driven happening into a slow turmoil.
* * *
After an undefined amount of time – it could have been half an hour but it
could also have been two hours – Shinkai realized that the world was swaying
and his surroundings had slowed down in a strange way. Everything moved
sluggishly, including himself. And he was missing pieces here and there. Like,
he had been sure that he had just been in the bathroom, staring at himself in
the mirror instead of peeing like he had intended to, and now he was sitting in
the kitchen on a barstool and he had no clue how he had ended up there. He
wasn't even sure who he was with, but that broad back didn't belong to his
brother, that was for sure.
He hadn't seen Yuuto for a... way too long time.
"They have a bottle of shouchuu here," the broad back said.
"Eh?"
"Shouchuu." The back turned around and Shinkai spotted enough familiar features
to identify his company. Juichi. "You want some?"
"Mhm, I don't mind." His voice sounded like it was coming from outside of his
body, but he managed to speak in a surprisingly coordinated matter.
"I'll fix us drinks," Juichi said. He gave the impression that he wasn't drunk
at all, but that was how Juichi always was. It was damn hard to tell with him,
especially if you were drunk yourself, because Juichi seemed to be totally
sober then.
Shinkai hadn't been intending to drink that much. Damn it. But there had been
every kind of drink available on the table and his hand had moved on its own
accord. He remembered Yuuto asking him at some point if they should take a taxi
back to his place, but he couldn't get his own answer into his head. Oh well,
Jinpachi was going to put them up in case getting back to the dorms turned out
to be too hard. Besides, he had agreed with Ayane to meet around twelve and
before that he'd need to take a shower and change his clothes. He should stop
drinking now. Immediately. After this next drink. Juichi was already making it.
It would be impolite to change his mind now.
"Hey, where's Yuuto?" he asked.
Juichi turned to look at him. Or Shinkai at least assumed he was looking at
him, nevermind that he only saw a vague black, yellow and flesh pink mess that
looked more like a Cubist's nightmare than a person. Wow, was this how
nearsighted people felt without their glasses?
"He's in the living room, playing on the Playstation with Ashikiba and Manami.
This is the tenth time you've asked."
Hmm, Playstation games with Ashikiba and Manami wasn't as bad as it could have
been, certainly not on the verge of a catastrophe. But it wasn't the ideal
situation either. Ideally Yuuto would have been with Touichirou.
"That karaoke game?"
"No, that ended ages ago. It looked like some sort of a driving game."
"Yuuto is not drunk, is he?"
"No, he's not. You have asked that a couple of dozen times too."
"Sorry," Shinkai said, chuckling. "And everyone else?"
"Here and there."
"Did I sing something?" He had a very thin image in his head of holding a
microphone.
"Yeah, you did. Toudou filmed it so if you don't want your performance to
appear on Facebook tomorrow, I recommend either bribing or blackmailing him. Or
maybe if you get a chance, try to pinch his phone and delete the video."
"What song did I sing?"
"Gackt's Redemption."
Oh dear lord. Dear fucking lord above! This was the last straw. He would never
live this down. Yasutomo was going to torment him to an early grave!
Shinkai reckoned that the shock should have felted a bit stronger. Now it sort
of began its assault but crashed into an invisible barrier before it could sink
its claws into him and instead plopped onto the ground. Everything was
comfortably distant and cotton-like, but despite that he knew he didn't want
that video to go on public display.
"Can't you snatch the phone from him?" he asked. Juichi's coordination was
clearly working better than his.
Juichi turned to look at him and Shinkai saw a very rare, sneaky hint of a
smile on his lips. "Absolutely not."
Crap. Okay, nothing he could do about it now. Unless he found Touichirou and
asked him to send the video to pixel heaven. Shinkai was certain that
Touichirou wasn't nearly as wasted as he was.
He glanced towards the windows, noting that the darkness had already fallen.
"What time is it?"
"Half past eleven." From the sound of Juichi's response, it didn't seem like he
was asking this question for the first time tonight, either. He got their
drinks done and returned to the kitchen isle.
"Alright, Shinkai, listen," he said, lowering a glass in front of Shinkai. The
tone of voice was serious enough to make Shinkai's heart somersault
unpleasantly. Was Juichi going to lecture him about something? He couldn't
remember doing anything wrong lately, besides that... obvious thing. But Juichi
didn't know about that, did he? Maybe he was just going to scold him for
bringing Yuuto to a drinking party and getting shitfaced while his little
brother was trying to keep himself entertained amongst the other guests.
Shinkai held Juichi's gaze, trying to look like he was not that easily
intimidated.
"It's really none of my business," Juichi began. That was how he began all his
lectures. 'It's none of my business, but I have to say this for the sake of the
team...' 'It's none of my business, but have you really thought this
through...'
You're right, it's not your business, Shinkai wanted to say. He held his
tongue, taking a gulp of his drink instead. Juichi had made a nice, fresh
cocktail. Shouchuu, Sprite, lime and ice. So different from that blasted
cognac.
"Is there something going on between Toudou and Makishima?"
Shinkai tilted his head, enjoying the wave of relief surging through him. Ah,
so Juichi had noticed too.
"Like what?" he asked fake-innocently. Perhaps Juichi was just imagining that
Jinpachi and Makishima were planning to rob a bank together. Or something.
"You know what I'm talking about."
Shinkai smiled. So much for pretending. "Yeah, I know."
"Are they like..?" Juichi tossed his head back. Shinkai could have finished his
sentence but he didn't feel like it. It was just too delicious to hear Juichi
voice certain words. "Are they dating?"
Hmph. Shinkai had expected something juicier. "Yeah, they are," he admitted.
Why deny it when Juichi had figured it out anyway? Shinkai suspected that all
the drinking had caused Jinpachi's self-control to loosen up and he had touched
Makishima in a way that left no room for misinterpretations. On the other hand,
Jinpachi was even more clear-headed while drunk than Juichi – at least when he
was climbing uphill, for the lack of a better expression – so maybe Juichi had
noticed it earlier and only dared to bring it up after downing a few drinks.
Juichi was musing over his words, leaning his elbows on the table, staring out
of the window into the darkness, his brows furrowed. Shinkai waited. Juichi's
reaction could be anything between judgment, concern and acceptance. In the end
he seemed to have reached his conclusion, nodding to himself. "Well, not much
to do about it then? Knowing Toudou, this will hardly affect his race results."
"It won't affect them," Shinkai assured him. "Jinpachi is extremely competitive
and very keen on his reputation as the Mountain God. You know that yourself."
"Not that it would have mattered anymore," Juichi said. "I don't know if we're
ever going to compete in the same team again."
"A part – a very important part – of Jinpachi's and Makishima's relationship is
their rivalry," Shinkai explained. "Both are the same, I've been told."
Juichi nodded again, taking a sip of his drink. "You're probably right."
"There's no need to worry about them."
Juichi hmm'd as a response. Shinkai raised his glass again, drinking. Fuck,
this stuff was good! He could have another after this one.
"How did you find out?" he asked, just to know if Jinpachi had failed to keep
his hands to himself.
"I've been suspecting it for a while now and I happened to see them in the
hallway..." Another head toss, as Juichi tried to avoid the awkward word.
"..kissing. They didn't notice me."
Oh, Jinpachi, Jinpachi. Continuing this way, by the end of the party everyone
would know and Shinkai didn't exactly trust Manami's and Kuroda's will to keep
a secret. Ashikiba could blab too, albeit not because of wickedness. But there
was nothing he could do about it now. He couldn't sit next to his teammate and
hold his wrists. At least the couple had been wise enough to retreat to a
quieter place to smooch. Unfortunately, anyone could pass by.
"Where are the others?" Shinkai asked, remembering that he had asked the same
thing just a minute ago. "Touichirou?" he added. "Yasutomo?"
"Probably in the living room. Kuroda seemed to have a lot to say to Arakita."
It had looked like that before the karaoke too. It was a small wonder that
Kuroda was still standing on his own feet. In Shinkai's opinion, there was
something... in Kuroda's behaviour towards Yasutomo. He couldn't really put his
finger on it. Kuroda admired Yasutomo, respected him, sure, but was there
something else too? The way he had glued himself onto Yasutomo's side and
pushed his face extremely close was a bit different than for example how
Touichirou behaved towards Shinkai. And Kuroda was usually the one to keep his
distance.
Something was prickling deep inside his stomach. Should he go and see what the
situation was now? Kuroda's behaviour combined with the rumours that followed
him evoked wariness in him; a restlessness, that he couldn't name. Not that
Yasutomo couldn't hold his own. If he wanted to, that was. And if he didn't...
well, what could Shinkai do about it? Yasutomo was free to fool around with
whomever he wanted to.
He grabbed his drink, throwing it into his throat. His fingers were squeezing
the glass a bit too hard. Reluctantly, he loosened them, pushing the glass
across the isle. "Make me another one, Juichi."
His companion raised his brows. Shinkai could see it now. His vision had
decided to clear for a change. What a strange inebriation. Did the cognac have
something to do with it? He might have drunk a few shots of it in the end.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. It was good. Make me another."
Juichi looked at him carefully, but got up from his seat and went to the
countertop to fix another drink.
Chapter End Notes
     "Make me another", here you can imagine Chris Hemsworth's voice.
     Please forgive Kuroda. The boy's got some serious problems.
***** The Revel Party, part III *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
"Hey, Izumida, catch!"
Izumida spun around, surprised, and actually managed to catch the cargo.
Judging by the quickness of his reflexes, he had consumed only a little of the
drink provided that evening, maybe even less than Shinkai's brother, who,
instead of drinks, had invested in annihilating food, and man, not even a big
catering service was designed to sustain the appetite of two Shinkais.
"Wha–?"
"You'll make sure the dude gets home, or to whatever spot Toudou decides to
give him for sleeping, okay?" After saying that, Arakita turned around,
marching away before Izumida had time to ask why he had pushed the new vice
captain into his arms. He rolled his shoulders to get rid of the tension
gathered in them. Christ, the guy had plopped his half-limp form all over him
and had been hanging onto him like some sort of desperate marsupial! Even
though Kuroda's alcohol tolerance was unheard-of for both a 17-year-old and a
Japanese person, he had the habit of downing drinks with such speed that in
three, sometimes even two hours, he passed out. Arakita hadn't made out half of
his mumblings, but the ones he had, he wished for Kuroda's sake that he
wouldn't remember them in the morning.
The party was already quietening down. In the tv corner, Manami, Ashikiba and
Yuuto were playing Grand Theft Auto. Or Yuuto was the one with the controller,
and every time something went amiss, he began swearing like a sailor suffering
from Tourette syndrome. Although, for some reason he used swear words that had
gone out of fashion 50 years ago. Ashikiba was sitting on the floor next to
him, rooting for him, and Manami was lying on the couch, fast asleep. Toudou
was having some sort of an angst fit; he spoke five octaves higher than normal
and looked like he was about to start wailing against his boyfriends shoulder.
Toudou was a weird drinker. After a couple of drinks he resembled almost a
normal person, more normal than when sober, but began crying the closer he got
to sobering up. He also began using his phone, usually towards his beloved
Maki-chan. At that point, some of them, he, Fuku-chan or Shinkai, snatched the
device away and walked the crybaby to bed. Except sometimes Shinkai, that big
softie, tried to comfort Toudou until he passed out. This time Toudou had no
need to call anyone since the main target of his bawling was sitting next to
him, but Makishima was looking a bit lost.
"Hey, Christmas tree," Arakita called out while passing them, making Makishima
lift his head. Arakita nodded towards Toudou. "A big glass of water and a bed."
"I dun– wanna go– bed–" Toudou hiccupped. "I want– onsen. And we... we need to
talk! We need to... bath..."
Makishima nodded at Arakita, managing to look slightly grateful despite Arakita
having called him the symbol of a midwinter holiday. "I think we should go to
bed anyway, Jinpachi."
"Noo–ooo, Maki-chaaaan..."
Arakita sped up. Everyone else was in the living room, but he couldn't spot
Fuku-chan or Shinkai. In fact, he hadn't seen Shinkai in such a long while that
he might have thought the red-haired sprinter had left if Yuuto wasn't still
here. Shinkai would never leave his little brother behind. No, he was bound to
be somewhere in the big house, presumably with Fuku-chan.
The night hadn't really gone according to his plan. Whatever his plan was. If
he even had one. Maybe he just wanted to see how Shinkai would behave towards
him when intoxicated. If he was indifferent and only radiated platonic
friendship, Arakita could maybe... maybe get over it and look ahead again. And
if something else happened... he didn't really believe it could, but his
stubbornness forced him to try.
Unfortunately, having Kuroda hang onto his shirt for an hour had effectively
prevented him from drinking and he wasn't nearly as drunk as he had hoped to be
at this point of the night. That meant that he might chicken out.
He wandered across a small hallway into the kitchen and found what he had been
looking for. Shinkai and Fuku-chan were seated around the kitchen isle, drinks
in their hands. Fuku-chan's glass was almost full, Shinkai's was almost empty.
"Yasutomo!" Shinkai exclaimed, as if it were the first time he had seen Arakita
that night, waving at him. The gesture was poorly coordinated and he almost
wiped his glass onto the floor. His lids were drooping more than normal, his
gaze wandering here and there and his face blooming with a stupid grin.
Yep. Fucking wasted. More than Arakita had hoped for. His plans would have
preferred mildly drunken Shinkai who had lost part of his self-control, not
Shinkai who was so shit-faced that he didn't know which way the ceiling was.
But you had to play with the equipment you got.
He just had to figure out how to get left alone with him.
"Have you seen Yuuto?" Shinkai asked. His speech was strangely coherent.
"He's in the living room playing GTA with Ashikiba."
"And he's not drunk?"
"No, he's not." Arakita stepped closer, halting next to the isle. "So what are
you guys doing here?"
"Juichi made a fucking good drink!" Shinkai proclaimed, raising his glass.
"Juichi, make Yasutomo a good drink too!"
"No need. I'll rather have a beer." He went to the fridge, grabbing a bottle
and opening it.
"We were just talking about Jinpachi and Makishima," Shinkai explained. "Juichi
knows about them too. Now all of us three know. And Touichirou." He seemed
weirdly happy about the fact.
"Well, they're pretty obvious," Arakita grunted. At least they had been during
that night. He would have probably realized what was going on even if Shinkai
hadn't told him on Facebook. Makishima had maintained his self-control, but
after a certain point in his drinking, Jinpachi had moved onto groping phase.
"Hey, Fuku-chan, the kids in the living room were talking about how they'd like
to see your plate act again. Said it had been so cool." Gaah, he was almost
ashamed of himself. Almost. But Ashikiba had been so astonished that he'd watch
the show again and Yuuto wouldn't dare to disagree with his senior.
"Really? They were?" Fuku-chan would have probably believed it anyway, but
being drunk helped immensely.
"You bet they were. You go there now and do it again. But this time use some
other plates than Toudous' heirloom tableware. The crazy plate lady is already
crying."
Shinkai's eyes sharpened. "Why is Jinpachi crying?"
Arakita shrugged. "He's coming down from his buzz."
Shinkai nodded, calming down. Toudou's phases of drunkenness were common
knowledge.
Fuku-chan jumped to his feet. "I'm going to go and see if they really want an
encore."
"I'm sure they do. You go ahead."
Fuku-chan exited the room with his head held up high. Only slightly sluggish
steps gave away the alcohol running through his veins.
"Are you sure you don't want any?" Shinkai asked again, offering his glass.
"I'll pass." Maybe you should have too.
Okay, some quick thinking. Fuku-chan might return after finding out that the
people in the living room were immersed in their own doings and the only third-
year of their old team was ready for bed. He had to get Shinkai somewhere else
and he had to do it quick.
"Hey," he began. "Isn't there a fireplace room somewhere in this hovel?"
"Yeah, there is. It's that way," Shinkai nodded towards a window, totally in
the wrong direction.
"Should we go and try to light the fireplace?"
"In this heat?"
"Hmm, maybe not then." It had been a stupid idea to begin with. He was sweating
too. Suggesting the onsen would have been too transparent; although on the
other hand he would have gotten the answer to his question faster by suggesting
that they'd get naked and jump into a hot spring, than by lying around on the
couch in a fireplace room. But he shouldn't be too pushy. "Let's go and sit
there anyway. I remember there was another tv in there." He tried to sound like
he wasn't planning anything else than lounging on a couch with a beer in his
hand and watching bad tv shows.
Shinkai looked at him, before grabbing his glass and sliding down from his
kitchen stool. "Alright then. But are you sure Yuuto is okay?"
"He's fine. He seemed to be having a fuckton of fun with Ashikiba."
"Not with Touichirou?"
"Touichirou is there too. Loosen up a little bit, will ya? Let the kid have
some fun."
Shinkai pursed his lips but accepted Arakita's reassurance. Arakita turned
around and led the way out the kitchen. He could hear Shinkai's steps follow
him, heard their wobbling and then a thud when Shinkai almost smashed into a
wall and managed to balance himself with his hand. Some of his drink splashed
on the floor.
"Jesus, I think I might be a bit drunk."
Arakita snorted. "Only a bit."
"I shouldn't be this drunk," Shinkai muttered. His words maybe indicated regret
but his tone didn't. He still had the merry phase going on. A horrible hangover
was waiting for him in the morning even if stopped drinking now. Arakita wished
that he had taken a bottle of water with him. On the other hand he wasn't
Shinkai's guardian and he didn't really care either way – this wouldn't be the
first time they'd be hungover together – but this time Yuuto was here too. Oh
well, Toudou would probably allow them to crash at the ryokan.
Arakita found the fireplace room despite having visited it only once before. It
was an ascetic, calm space with only a big couch, a coffee table and a couple
of pot plants. And the fireplace too, of course. Maybe this part of the house
should have been kept free of party goers, but their host was in no condition
to watch after them. And they wouldn't make any mess; they'd just sit on the
couch, chat and maybe something else too. There wasn't a TV after all. Shame,
it would have made a good background noise. Now they would just sit on the
couch and stare at the quiet fireplace.
Nothing he could do about it now. Arakita swung himself onto the couch, placing
his beer on the table. His companion was trying to navigate his way to the
couch and keep the remains of Fuku-chan's incredibly amazing drink in his glass
at the same time. For the first time that night Arakita was allowed to stare
openly. Shinkai was wearing his stupid Rolling Stones imitation shirt, which
had its sleeves rolled up (Yuuto did the same thing – why not just buy
sleeveless shirts instead?), dark brown cargo shorts that hugged all too
perfectly his ass and white tennis socks which were scrunched around his
ankles. He had allowed his leg hair to grow again now as the race season was
over, but it hadn't reached its full length and it looked stupidly thick since
the tips had been cut with a razorblade and...
..and Arakita would still have licked those legs. Hair and all. Right here,
right now. He would have literally gotten onto his knees and pulled his tongue
along them while staring into Shinkai's dark blue eyes and...
Arakita blinked, shaking his head a bit. He had to stop staring now. He had to
stop any deleterious thoughts that were trying to occupy his mind. This was
heading into a totally wrong direction. He was supposed to keep control of
himself.
Shinkai found the couch and touched it with his hand as if fearing it was just
a mirage, before daring to sit down. Or more accurately, slump. The rest of his
drink splashed all over him and the couch.
"Oh, whoops." He tried to wipe the drops absorbing into the fabric with the hem
of his shirt.
"Just leave it. It wasn't that much."
Shinkai kept wiping the spot a bit more for a good measure, before sitting down
again and gazing sadly at the bottom of his glass. It still held one last drop.
Tilting the glass, he caught it with his tongue.
"Hey, Yasutomo."
"Mhm?"
"Why are we here?"
So I could molest you.
He shrugged. "Just because."
"But the rest of the guys are... in the living room?"
"Yep."
Shinkai frowned. He seemed to be thinking very hard about why only they were in
the other room. Before he had time to voice his wonderings, Arakita added:
"Makishima probably went to put Toudou to bed."
"But it's only nine o'clock."
"It's actually past midnight."
"Oh yeah, that's right." Shinkai mused over it some more. "Why are we here
again? Just the two of us? "
"I wanted to get away from Kuroda."
"Why so?"
"He glued himself to me like a goddamn leech and didn't let go before he was
too drunk to control his muscles."
Shinkai was quiet. There was the same concentration crawling in his eyes that
had followed after he had heard about Toudou's state. Arakita had said
something that caused a sparkle of soberness in his mind. He waited, almost
held his breath, but the intoxication won and Shinkai couldn't address his
thoughts. If he had even planned to do so in the first place, that is.
The silence prolonged. Arakita brought his bottle to his lips, taking a sip.
Evaluated the situation. Shinkai was sitting 30 centimetres away from him, at a
distance that was companionable, but close enough for Arakita to count his
lashes. He could have sat further away; the other end of the couch was free.
He was probably overanalyzing it again. Shinkai had always been unreserved, and
while drunk he could even sit in someone's lap and it wouldn't mean anything.
Arakita just had to think how to guide the situation where he wanted it. 'What
would be your price to let someone fuck you?' was hardly applicable anymore.
It wasn't typical of him to find himself speechless.
While he was still testing the words, Shinkai began to talk again: "Hey
Yasutomo, why don't you use the suffix '-chan' with me?"
"Mhm?"
"You say Fuku-chan and Onoda-chan and..." Shinkai trailed off, not remembering
other examples. "Um, Toudou-chan..."
"I most definitely don't say that!"
"Alright, maybe not then. But you use it with people who..." Shinkai stopped to
think of a suitable word. "..who matter to you."
"It's not that simple."
"Sure it is. You have said it yourself."
Maybe he had, in some sudden twist of his mind, but he couldn't come up with a
proper explanation, because Shinkai was suddenly too close and he smelled
divine, masculine and sweet because of those damned PowerBars, and it was mixed
with shouchuu and lime, and when he leaned so fucking close, Arakita was really
fighting to keep his hands to himself...
"It doesn't fit into your name," he mumbled, inching towards the armrest.
"Shinkai-chan. It doesn't work."
"Shin-chan?"
"Hah, no."
"Hayato-chan?"
"No, it must be attached to the surname."
"Says who?"
"Me."
Shinkai tried a new technique. "Well, you could at least call me by my first
name."
Arakita was silent for a while, weighing the words, wondering if there was
something else behind them than mere drunkenness. He could have imagined
Shinkai saying that when sober too. If he himself called everyone he had met
more than twice by their first name, he probably wouldn't mind receiving the
same treatment from them. In fact, Arakita was pretty sure that Shinkai had
asked him this before, but using people's first names just wasn't his style.
Besides, what would the other guys think if he suddenly started talking about
Hayato?
"I'll think about it," he said eventually. Shinkai settled for it.
They sat through the next silence. Shinkai brought his glass to his lips many
times before remembering that it was empty. In the end he lifted it to his face
and began sucking air in and creating a vacuum, so that the glass got glued
around his mouth. Then he let go off it with his hands and beamed with victory
when the glass didn't fall off. He looked fucking dumb. A drunken Shinkai was
fucking dumb. At the same time, Arakita realized that only he could feel time
pass awkwardly slow. Shinkai was so wasted that time had lost its meaning and
social pressure didn't exist in his world. He was completely relaxed and happy
being able to glue a drinking glass onto his face. Arakita hoped he could have
been in the same state.
He drank his beer. It didn't really affect him. He had no intentions of getting
up to fetch more, so this would have to do.
Shinkai finished his little game, placing the glass onto the coffee table and
turning to look at Arakita. Because of his intoxication, he was again leaning
closer than normal. Perhaps he was getting so close to his companion, because
he couldn't see well.
"Hey, Yasutomo."
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever dream about me?"
Arakita was very grateful that he had emptied his bottle, because just now he
might have clanked it against his teeth. "Wha–?"
"Since... you know. Because of what happened."
Oh yeah, Shinkai and the self-censorship erasing effect of alcohol. Arakita
felt his breath strangling in his throat, his heart bouncing irregularly, too
fast behind his ribcage. Could he use this topic to his advance? Could he use
it to pry some things from Shinkai? Shinkai had brought it up, so he clearly
had a need to talk about it. And Arakita would talk about it. Boy, he'd talk
about it the whole night through like some sappy romantic if it meant that he
could maybe, possibly, plant some new thoughts into Shinkai's brain. Or enrich
the old ones, how the hell should he know?
He wasn't exactly worried about somebody hearing them. Everyone was already
drunk enough to hear imaginary stuff, except for Yuuto and Ashikiba, but they
were so absorbed in their playing that they wouldn't lift their asses before
the morning. Of course there was a chance that someone might walk in, so he'd
probably need to go and close the door at some point, but for now he had to
settle for seeing it.
What kind of answer would be the best? He couldn't really blurt out that he had
wet dreams of Shinkai night and day. And not just that, but also dreams where
Shinkai confessed that he had a crush on Arakita and asked if he wanted to go
out with him and where Shinkai held his hand and those dreams were as
sickeningly sweet as fudge candies. Dreams that Toudou should have had, not
him.
"Sometimes," he said in the end, trying to sound nonchalant. "Isn't it normal
to dream about people who you spend a lot of time with?"
Shinkai shook his head. "No. That's not what I mean. I mean for what happened
in France. Dreams related to that."
Yeah, I got that the first time.
If he denied it, Shinkai would notice that he was lying. Because, for fuck's
sake, it was natural to dream about things that broke so blatantly your
ordinary life. Besides, denying it would be a mistake. This was the moment when
he should express to Shinkai that he mattered to him more than other teammates
– despite him not using the suffix -chan with his name. He just wasn't sure if
he had the courage for it.
"Sure, sometimes I have those dreams too," he muttered.
"What are they like?"
Fuck! You're not allowed to ask that!
"What kind of dreams should I have?" he demanded. "About you and Gackt mud
wrestling?"
"No. I'd just like to know that I'm not the only one."
Arakita dropped his gaze. "You're not."
Shinkai trailed off, pulling his knees up against his chest and anchoring his
toes against the edge of the couch. His hands rested limply on the fabric.
Arakita cleared his throat. "What kind of dreams do you have?"
Shinkai shrugged. "You know... something you should expect after that kind of
thing."
"Something with an X stamp on it?"
"Yeah." Shinkai lifted his hand to his forehead, sweeping his hair back. "Feels
really weird since... you know, Ayane."
"Mhhm." Sometimes he was annoyed with himself for how strongly only hearing
Shinkai's girlfriend's name affected him. A physical wave of nausea washed
through his body, leaving his mind wondering if he had been tortured just a
minute ago.
Shinkai's hand lowered to wipe his face. "I feel so fucking guilty, you have no
idea."
Okay, so this wasn't the direction Arakita had hoped the conversation to take,
but on a second thought, it was a very presumable direction. He should have
been expecting exactly this. Shinkai couldn't open up to anyone else about his
guilt since no one else knew. Anonymous online conversations weren't really his
thing. Arakita hummed to indicate that he was listening.
"It never crossed my mind that it would be this bad."
Of course it is, since you, my foolish friend, are more honest than an angel
and more loyal that a shepherd dog.
"Don't think about it that way," he said against his will. "It was an
experiment. That's what we agreed on, right? It didn't..." ..involve any
feelings. Except that it had. No smoke without a fire and no sex with a friend
without feelings.
Shinkai laughed unhappily. "I've tried that but it doesn't work. You know..."
he cut off midsentence.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Just tell me. Maybe it helps to talk about it out loud."
"I don't..." Shinkai mumbled, but Arakita could already see that the booze
demon was loosening his tongue. "Alright, you can't say this to anyone! Just
forget immediately you even heard it."
"Of course. Who'd I even tell?"
"The whole fucking team knows about my Gackt blurt!"
"That's different. It was just joking around, some good-natured teasing. Funny,
harharhar."
"It's like two millimetres away from what happened!"
"No, it's not. Stop seeing ghosts in the corners where there aren't any. I
would have made fun of the Gackt thing even if nothing else had happened."
Shinkai glared at him. Arakita reckoned that the opportunity to hear what was
on his mind had passed. But then he opened his mouth again.
"I lost my boner."
"Eh? You mean..?"
"In the middle of it. I lost it, goddamnit."
"Yeah, well, it happens sometimes." He sounded like it was not that big of a
deal and it probably wasn't, but what if there was more to it? Maybe Shinkai
hadn't gotten it up because...
Shinkai was looking at him. His gaze held sharpness that clashed with the
amount of alcohol he had consumed. "Maybe. And sometimes it happens after
certain events that happened in France."
Arakita was looking back at him. He was suddenly very aware of blinking rapidly
and needing to swallow. His mouth felt dry.
What do you want, an apology? You hopped on board on your own. I didn't force
you. You agreed to do it. Twice. Three times. Four times. In the camping area
bathroom. And in the airplane lavatory.
Shinkai turned his eyes away, letting his neck go limp. His head fell to rest
against the couch. "We haven't tried again since then, but what if it happens
again? How would I explain it?"
"Just say the school is stressing you out."
"Yeah, I could say that. But what if it continues?"
Maybe that chick is not right for you then.
"I really don't believe it will continue. It must be some sort of temporary
disturbance, connected to your guilty feelings," he said. "How is it
otherwise?"
Shinkai glanced at him. "What do you mean, 'otherwise'?"
"It's not flaccid all the time, is it?" It wasn't flaccid the last time I saw
it.
He would have gladly seen it again. Soon. Like, for example, now.
"No, it works fine," Shinkai huffed and seemed to sober up a bit. "Why are we
talking about my dick?"
"You brought it up."
"Yeah, I suppose I did. Needed to vent a little bit. Sorry, but it really gets
to you when the Melty Man attacks."
Arakita dared to chuckle. "I can imagine."
"You're not fucking telling anyone about this!"
"I promised already, didn't I?" Shinkai didn't have to ask. These kinds of
things were not blabbed around.
They fell silent again, this time feeling more companionable than before.
"How are you doing?" Shinkai asked then.
"What do you mean?" Are you asking if 'the Melty Man' has visited me too?
"Like, in general. Life, school, girls?" Shinkai hesitated. "Guys?"
Arakita sneered. "Don't you start teaming me up with Toudou."
"Sorry. Nothing wrong with it though."
"I suppose not, but it's not true." He was challenging Shinkai with his gaze.
'I dare you to say that I'm a back door bandit.' It was in vain, since
Shinkai's eyes managed to focus for only half a second. His state of
drunkenness was really strange: his muscles refused to obey, but he could
almost hold a normal conversation. Was it because of strong liqueurs? Arakita
sighed before speaking again: "I'm alright. Nothing too special going on. I
share the same school stress with you; need to figure out what I want to do for
the rest of my life. There's really nothing to say about girls, but at least it
seems that I have a potential partner available if I decided to go Toudou."
Shinkai raised his brows.
"Kuroda."
"Ah." A nod. Silence. Then a hesitant: "You're not interested in Kuroda that
way then... are you?"
"Nah. Would you like to date yourself?"
Shinkai stared at him for a moment, flabbergasted, his brain ticking through
the alcohol fog. Then he burst out in laughter.
Arakita pulled his knees to his chest, leaning his arms on them, and smiled
while waiting for Shinkai to get over his fit. He was laughing so hard that it
was a miracle he didn't piss his pants, holding his stomach and tears in his
eyes.
"Oh my god! I haven't thought about it before but now that you said it..." A
new fit of snickering, but then he suddenly pulled on a serious face. "You two
don't really look alike. Maybe there's something similar to your aura though.
But damn, that was fun nonetheless." Shinkai was left to lie boneless, his
upper body on the couch and his feet on the floor, shakily supporting his butt
that was hanging in the air, trying to wipe his eyes. His hair looked like it
had experienced a small tornado, red strands sticking out in every imaginable
direction. On a whim, Arakita held out his hand and smoothed it. Just like
that. Like it was something guys did every day to their friends.
Shinkai froze, holding his breath. Arakita pulled his hand away and resumed
fondling the empty beer bottle. Shinkai slipped down onto the floor and
remained there, sitting with his back against the couch. Seconds ticked by.
Somewhere in the house there was a cheerful shout and laughter that Arakita
recognized as Ashikiba's and Yuuto's voices. The kids were still having a blast
with their game.
He tried to read his companion's body language. Why was Shinkai sitting so
still? Because he had passed out with his eyes open or because he was testing
the waters? Was he expecting Arakita to touch him again? Did he want it?
Was he expecting Arakita to create an atmosphere that would lead to repeating
things that had happened on their holiday? Because he could do that. His dick
was affected neither by guilt nor a few dozes of alcohol.
"So Yuuto is aiming for Hakogaku too?" he asked, just to test if Shinkai was
still awake.
"Mm, he is." The reply came quickly. Shinkai had been waiting for his next
move. Arakita took that as a permission to reach out again, sweeping Shinkai's
hair as if to shoo away a mosquito. When Shinkai didn't react, he repeated his
gesture. Still nothing.
"And he wants to join the cycling club?"
"At the moment, yes. I'm hoping he'll feel the same when April comes."
Arakita sneaked his fingers into Shinkai's neck hair, meeting his scalp and
gliding the tips of his fingers lightly along it. He could feel Shinkai's
shoulders stiffen. But he didn't ask Arakita to stop, didn't grab his hand to
shove it away.
"And Yuuto is... a climber?"
"Yep."
"The new team seems to be heavy on the climber side."
"Two remaining positions need to be filled with sprinters. We do have a few in
the club, but there are no obvious choices yet."
"I'm sure someone with potential will show up."
"Mhm."
They kept chatting away, saying this and that about the new team, insignificant
small talk that Arakita would have kicked himself for, had Shinkai not answered
in the same way, and all the time his hand kept stroking the red hair and the
scalp beneath it. Little by little, Shinkai relaxed, leaning against the couch
and lowering his head to rest it on the cushion very carefully so that
Arakita's fingers didn't slip. It was an extremely strange moment and Arakita's
arm was getting tired, but he couldn't stop now, not now when Shinkai seemed to
accept his touch. Could he experiment a bit more? Use his other hand, massage
Shinkai's shoulders or something? No, that would be too much. It was better to
stop while he was still winning. Better to leave Shinkai with a relaxed
feeling.
He pulled his hand to himself, but couldn't help but play with a thought about
what would happen if he lay down on the couch and Shinkai's head rested against
his belly? That would be quite... cosy, wouldn't it? And intimate.
But while he was pondering over his next move, Shinkai's neck stiffened
abruptly and he yanked himself off of the couch. His hand rose to cover his
mouth.
"I think I need to go throw up."
And he did go. Half-running, hitting the door with his shoulder and reeling
before gaining his balance again and disappearing. Arakita huffed and slumped
to lie flat on the couch. He checked the door for any eyewitnesses before
pounding and kicking the couch like an ill-tempered child for a few satisfying
seconds. Fuck, the world was sometimes so unfair! Then he pulled himself
together, got onto his feet and wandered out of the room.
Maybe Shinkai needed someone to hold his hair back while he was puking five
litres of booze into the toilet bowl.
Chapter End Notes
     Fuku is more gullible than Sora from Kingdom Hearts.
***** The Hangover Movie? *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Serious drinking was usually followed by a serious hangover. That Shinkai had
learned during his 18 years of living (of which only three he had been
practising alcohol consumption). He had also learned that if you drank water
and ate something between the drinks, the hangover wasn't nearly as bad or
sometimes even avoidable.
However, he didn't recall having ever experienced a phenomenon where he threw
up before the morning. Jinpachi had done that too and immediately become wiser
from his experiences; that's why he didn't usually get hungover anymore. Even
with some blank spots here and there, Shinkai had a clear vision of hugging the
toilet and puking several times. He also remembered that Yasutomo had visited
him, asking if he was still alive and if he needed anything. Yasutomo had also
been the one who – after his stomach had finally settled down – helped him to
his feet and guided him to lie down with a glass of water and salty snacks.
That was the last thing he remembered.
He didn't know if it was because of his earlier vomiting, but he felt much
better than he would have imagined when he tore his eyes open to a faint light
piercing through bamboo blinds. He didn't feel good, per se, his stomach was
still churning and his mouth tasted like a century egg, but it wasn't the worst
he'd had. It couldn't be morning yet, since it was dark outside; the light he
saw was from the outdoors lanterns of the ryokan. He wasn't late for anything,
like from his date with Ayane.
But where was Yuuto?
He forced his eyes fully open, trying to make out the room he was lying in.
There was a futon underneath him and beneath that a hard floor. The room seemed
unoccupied at first, but then he located some of the other partiers. His little
brother was sleeping beside the wall with Ashikiba right behind his head. There
was someone lying next to Ashikiba too... ah, Kuroda. That was all. Juichi,
Touichirou and Manami had probably made it back to the dorms or home or they
were sleeping in some other room, and Jinpachi and Makishima were presumably in
Jinpachi's room. But what about..?
Shinkai jumped when he felt a warm breath flutter his hair. His head snapped to
the side and he realized his nose was almost touching Yasutomo's.
Why was he sleeping next to him? Why was he sleeping so close? Didn't he have
his own futon?
On a second glance Shinkai saw that Yasutomo did have his own mattress but he
had crawled (hopefully in his sleep) between the sheets and kicked his blanket
aside. Luckily he had decided to wear some clothes tonight. The shirt was the
same he had worn in the evening, but besides it he had only his underwear on.
He was lying half on his side, half on his stomach, his pillow folded beneath
his head.
Shinkai didn't know if the other guy sensed his movements which weren't
anything to speak of, but he suddenly crunched his forehead, twitching his
fingers and inhaled in a way that foreshadowed waking up. On a whim Shinkai
decided to pretend to be still asleep. He straightened his neck, closing his
eyes and opening his mouth, trying to look like he was in a deep sleep. He
heard Yasutomo rustling the sheets, sighing deeply and pulling himself to sit.
Shinkai could practically feel him peer around the room. He assumed that
Yasutomo would just go back to sleep again, but then he heard him climb to his
feet. Steps padded across the floor to the door. Once he couldn't hear them
anymore, he opened his eyes, looking around him once more.
He assumed that they had just been dumped in a storage room since the guest
facilities were sacred. There was a row of boxes beside the wall to support his
assumption. Who had guided them to the room was a mystery. Jinpachi had hardly
been in the condition to do it. Shinkai was pretty sure he had had a drunken
drama going on around midnight.
He heard a toilet flush somewhere in the house and then the steps returned to
the room. Shinkai closed his eyes again, listening to Yasutomo lie down next to
him but this time keeping a proper distance. He let out a long sigh while
straightening his limbs and adjusting his blanket before quietening down. Time
for Shinkai to go back to sleep too. He couldn't be sleep-deprived on top of
having a hangover tomorrow.
He had almost fallen asleep when Yasutomo moved. Turned onto his side, holding
still for about a minute or two and then scratching himself. A new two-minute
silence followed; then he was again switching his position and correcting
either his shirt or sheets. Shinkai could feel his tenseness radiate onto his
side. He apparently got tired of the cloth, pulled it over his head with heavy
grunting and threw it onto the floor after which it was again quiet for a
moment. But of course not eternally, since Yasutomo had apparently decided to
arrange a one-man early morning circus and began switching his position every
two seconds.
Shinkai opened his mouth to tell his restless roommate to cut it out, but then
a small demon landed on his shoulder.
This was his perfect chance to test what Yasutomo's ulterior motive was.
Yasutomo thought Shinkai was asleep and he was known as a restless (or
talkative) sleeper, so he could try it out without the other guy realizing that
he was awake.
But did he really want to know? How would that affect their friendship? He had
somehow recovered from the Tour events and managed to convince himself that he
and Yasutomo had not been going at it like bunnies during the trip. He had
managed to plant a thought in his brain where Yasutomo was just an experimental
young man with a normal libido, but then his teammate had...
It took Shinkai a couple of seconds to catch the image.
..then he had inched his fingers into Shinkai's hair and fondled his scalp like
he was fondling a...
He had to concentrate to suppress a shudder. He wasn't even sure if it was
negative or positive. He remembered that the touch hadn't felt unpleasant. He
would have probably let Yasutomo continue, had he not needed to go puke. But it
could be only because the touch was familiar to him and he associated it with
certain things.
The curiosity won. Since he was lying on his back, the idea was easy to
execute. He just sighed, stretched and then dropped his hand 'accidentally'
onto Yasutomo's side, hitting him in the arm. His hand rested on top of it
naturally, as if he had really acted in his sleep.
This could go two ways. No, three actually. Yasutomo could throw his hand away
or just ignore it or he could...
It took all Shinkai's willpower to keep still when he, after a long, long
while, felt warm fingers on his palm. They tickled and he had to work very hard
to not yank his limb back. A hand landed to rest over his, holding onto it
lightly. Shinkai focused on breathing deeply, waiting for the itching to
subside. His palm was beginning to sweat under the other as the alcohol and all
other garbage stuffed into his system was squeezing out of his pores, but
Yasutomo didn't seem to mind.
He waited, wondering if Yasutomo would do something else still. Now he had a
nice opportunity to grope him if he so wished, although Shinkai didn't really
believe that he would. He was right; Yasutomo settled for holding his hand.
Wiggling and changing his position stopped as if he was afraid to break the
moment. There was just this tiny detail that if someone else in the room got up
and went to the bathroom, they'd see their entwined hands. Maybe this wasn't
such a good idea after all. Well, of course it wasn't, but maybe he should have
controlled his curiosity and saved his experiment for a safer occasion.
Then he heard the sheets rustle. Yasutomo lifted their hands carefully and
pulled the blanket free from underneath them before lowering them back on the
mattress. It became hot when the blanket fell over them. Yasutomo was covering
them so that the others wouldn't see. Shinkai relaxed as much as he could from
his inner turmoil.
Okay, this answered his question. And on the other hand, evoked several new
questions. For example, how long had this been going on?
At least now he knew he'd get a positive response if he ever decided to...
yeah, what?
* *
Next time Shinkai woke up, the sun was just peeking above the horizon. He
reckoned he had only dozed off for an hour or so. He felt shabby, tired and
dried up on top of which he was suffering a serious case of horny hangover. He
felt like getting rid of the extra tenseness right there and then, but he
really couldn't, not with everyone else sleeping next to him, especially since
the incipient sunlight might wake them up. He rolled onto his side, fumbling
for his phone, and realized only then that his hand had been attached to
something. He had been holding onto something. Something warm, sweaty,
smooth...
When there was a sudden noise to his left side, he remembered. And right after
he remembered, a collection of feelings surged through him: practically
everything from 'Oh hell, what the fuck have I done again?' to a warm
somersault in the pit of his stomach. Then he caught a couple of clearer images
and calmed down. He had just tested what Yasutomo would do if he offered him
his hand and fallen asleep right after his test. These things happened when
drunk. And holding someone's hand couldn't be counted as an original sin.
It was seven o'clock. Not even Jinpachi was awake this early on his days off
(especially now when he was hungover too). He could still snooze for a little
while. Maybe it would be best to set up an alarm, just in case. Ayane wouldn't
be too happy if he was late for their date.
He was lowering the phone back onto the floor when a hand flopped onto his
side. Foreign warmth pierced his shirt. Yasutomo wasn't hugging him but it was
pretty damn close.
"Hmh, you have a hangover?" his friend mumbled into his pillow.
"Not that bad," Shinkai whispered. "I was anticipating something a lot worse
after yesterday's drinking."
"I was too. For you, I mean." Yasutomo chuckled to himself, letting go of him
and rolling onto his back to stretch. "What time is it?"
"Seven."
Shinkai heard him yawn and relax. "So it's not time to get up yet."
"No, it's not. I set up an alarm for half past nine."
"Okay."
Yasutomo was quiet for a moment, breathing steadily, and Shinkai suspected he
had fallen asleep again. He closed his eyes too, planning to return to the
sleepland, but then his companion spoke.
"Ngh, what horrible hangover horniness."
Shinkai laughed silently. "You're right about that."
He heard rustling and moving of limbs. "Should I... no. Not here. Not a good
place."
"If you're planning to start fapping, you could maybe go to the bathroom." He
wasn't that bothered – after all, he'd seen (and felt) Yasutomo's orgasm a few
times – but he didn't want Yuuto to wake up to someone's private fist session.
"That's not it. Or I mean... sort of, but..." Yasutomo trailed off. "We
could... you know... do each other? Or I mean together."
Shinkai hadn't been prepared for the heat that attacked him along with
Yasutomo's words. He hadn't been prepared for Yasutomo to blurt out something
like that in Japan and with other people sleeping in the same room, although in
a weird way he should have, after all that had happened. What was he supposed
to answer to that? Yasutomo couldn't seriously expect him to agree, but he
didn't sound like he was only joking.
The guy downstairs certainly agreed with Yasutomo. Shinkai could feel blood
pulsing in his groin, making him even harder than before. No, it wouldn't have
been the first time to jerk off next to sleeping mates, but...
"There are other people in here," he said eventually.
"Yeah, and they're sleeping. Nobody will notice."
"My little brother is here."
"So what? He's not a light sleeper, is he?"
No, he wasn't, but Shinkai still wasn't willing to take the risk. He had no
idea about Kuroda's and Ashikiba's sleeping habits. Ashikiba hadn't even been
drunk, so his sleep wasn't deepened by alcohol.
"Still. It's the worst idea ever."
Yasutomo sneered. "Not necessarily. I can be quiet and I believe sincerely,
deep in my heart, that you know how to not sound like a hungry pack of dogs if
the situation requires it."
Shinkai wasn't sure what he thought about the sarcasm dripping from Yasutomo's
voice. He knew how to laugh at himself, but Yasutomo was referring to the
events in France. "No."
"Okay then. But you'll regret it in a minute, when I take care of my problem
and you're lying there with your dick on fire."
Is it absolutely necessary to take care of it right here?
Of course it was. The whole plan would be ruined if Yasutomo disappeared to the
bathroom and Shinkai didn't have to listen to any telltale sounds.
Rustling and faint grunting followed, as his companion apparently got rid of
his pants. Pulsing in his groin increased. God, he hated hangover horniness,
especially when he got it somewhere else than in his flat. Which wasn't that
uncommon as it was far more comfortable to plump down onto the host's couch or
spare futon instead of wandering home dead tired through the night. He also
hated it in those rare moments when Ayane happened to lie next to him and of
course she refused, because he smelled like sweat and old booze.
"I'm sensing some frustration from your side," Yasutomo remarked. Shinkai heard
an audible lazy but rhythmic pumping. Bastard.
Shinkai gritted his teeth. "You're mistaken. It's annoyance."
"There's no reason to be annoyed. You could participate."
No, I couldn't. Shinkai decided that if Yasutomo didn't stop touching himself,
he'd get up and go to the bathroom with such noise that at least one of the
occupants in the room would wake up and then Yasutomo wouldn't have a chance to
continue.
"Or you could..." Yasutomo said, his voice suddenly much closer. Shinkai felt
warmth against his back and a hot breath tickled his neck. It smelled like
beer, but his sense of smell was so blocked due to the hangover that the effect
was mild. "Let's try something."
"What..?" Shinkai froze when he felt Yasutomo's hand on his hip. Freezing was
the totally wrong reaction, because it stole him those few valuable seconds
during which he still would have been able to shove the hand away. Yasutomo
seemed to be aware of it too and acted quickly, sneaking his hand into
Shinkai's underwear and wrapping his fingers around his erection. Just like
that. Like it was a normal thing to do. And without asking him. Shinkai
swallowed a yelp that was threatening to break free from his throat, as his
body jerked involuntarily. He grabbed the foreign hand but couldn't push it
away, not now when it was moving, bringing some welcomed friction and teasing
the sensitive flesh. Not now, when all of the spare blood was squeezing into
his shaft, making him so hard it hurt. It was the point after which going back
would have been fucking torturous, because it would have caused both grumpy
mood and an annoyingly full feeling in the balls for the rest of the day. And
Yasutomo knew that too.
"This will only... take a couple of... seconds," Yasutomo mumbled against his
neck, his voice laboured. His other hand was fumbling the waist of Shinkai's
underwear, pulling it down and Shinkai lifted his hips. His self-control had
fled to the hills the second a foreign hand had grasped him.
It could be anyone's hand. I'm reacting to it because it's someone else's hand,
not mine. It's a reflex. A subconscious reaction.
Maybe so. Or maybe his body still remembered that hand. The Melty Man was
nowhere to be seen despite interfering with his life just half a week ago. He
regretted telling Yasutomo about it. It would boost his ego immensely to notice
that Shinkai's boner problems disappeared immediately in his hands.
Yasutomo managed to get his pants out of the way and resumed sliding his hand
up and down. Shinkai suppressed a moan when the fingers squeezed lightly and
glided over the sensitive head, forcing him to grab the blanket and curl his
toes, as hot pleasure swarmed over him. His breath quickened, finding a pace
that everyone, including Yuuto, would have recognized, had they been awake.
Yasutomo had been right. This wouldn't take long.
He jolted again when he felt something hot and hard against his ass. He could
have slapped himself for recognizing it and he could have punched himself in
the mouth for the feelings it evoked in him.
He had almost forgotten what it was like to have blood pulse between his
buttocks too.
"You can't do that in here..." he hissed. First of all, that thing required a
lot of lube which they didn't have, and a lot of time which they had even less
of. The others were sleeping just a few metres away. His little brother was
sleeping just a few meters away! They were not in France! Yasutomo couldn't
just... suddenly decide that it was okay to stick his dick into his ass again!
Yasutomo tch'd. "I'm not putting it in."
Oh. Alright. That was different then.
No, wait! That wasn't good either!
But then Yasutomo stroked his erection again and pressed against his butt so
that he could get his dick vertically between his buttocks and began grinding
against him heatedly, and Shinkai just... lost all his words and thoughts.
Except that he almost hoped for that hot hardness to be inside him again,
spreading him and massaging spots he hadn't know existed just a couple of
months back.
Yasutomo pressed his face against his neck, burning his skin with his breath
while pushing against him and up to get enough friction, and his whole lower
body from his navel to balls was glued on Shinkai and everything was so fucking
hot. Yasutomo's hand was squeezing his aching dick, caressing the skin just
below the head, making him grit his teeth to keep from moaning out loud.
If someone had been awake now, they would have thought Shinkai and Yasutomo
were fucking. Like, properly. They would have thought Yasutomo was fucking him
in the ass and it wasn't that far from the truth. He was aware of that and
still couldn't stop.
The good side of hangover horniness was that it didn't take long to climax.
Yasutomo was the first one to come. Shinkai could hear it in his breathing and
feel it in his rough, uncontrolled moving. Yasutomo managed to yank him to the
top just a few blinks after he felt warm liquid shoot onto his lower back and
between his buttocks. His vision blackened for a moment as his groin convulsed,
forcing a muffled groan out of his mouth and making him bury his face in the
pillow. Yasutomo didn't let go of him despite getting cum all over his fingers,
but continued stroking him almost manically until Shinkai grabbed his wrist.
His skin had become oversensitive and every new stroke made his body jolt like
he had had an electrical shock. Yasutomo rested his hand on his hip, leaning
his nose onto Shinkai's neck, trying to even up his breathing. The warmth of
his body was resting against Shinkai, creating an illusion of two lovers.
Once Shinkai had collected himself enough to produce some clear thoughts, a
hurricane of mixed feelings attacked him. His body was relaxed and the awkward
pulsing had disappeared from his groin, but he literally felt the serotonin
levels in his brain crumbling down.
What the actual fuck? How is it fucking possible that this happened again?
He sharpened his senses to check the other guys in the room. None of them had
moved during their ministrations. A deep breathing filled the room. Kuroda was
even snoring a little. Phew, they had gotten lucky. But he had been incredibly
reckless!
Maybe getting a handjob from another guy wasn't such a bad thing. He hadn't
even touched Yasutomo's dick. At least not with his hands. He hadn't done
anything, really, Yasutomo had just fed him the idea and stuffed his hand into
his pants and...
Oh, fuck it.
Yasutomo had been invasive, there was no denying of it, but what had Shinkai
done to prevent him? Not once had he told him to stop and he hadn't thrown his
hand away even though he could have. Instead he had shamelessly enjoyed it.
Mostly he was concerned about the familiarity of it. He knew Yasutomo's
significant smell, he knew what it became like during sex, and his body had
learned to associate it with a bunch of feelings that clearly overruled any
sensible thoughts.
The warmth disappeared as Yasutomo pulled himself together and rolled onto his
back. "Nnh, this is much better."
"I'm covered in spunk," Shinkai complained.
"That is the downside of a male mammal's orgasm."
"I'm covered in spunk but you are not."
"My hand is a little bit." There was a sound of rubbing when Yasutomo wiped his
hand onto something. "Go to the bathroom to wash yourself if it bothers you so
much."
"I can't put my clothes on!" He had only one set of clothes and wiping himself
in Jinpachi's sheets didn't sound like the best of ideas.
"Nobody cares if you walk around naked."
Probably not, but Shinkai wasn't too fond of the idea of walking around the
ryokan with his lower body covered in cum.
"Or just go back to sleep. It will dry soon."
"There's spunk all over my ass crack and back!"
"Nobody's gonna notice it. Or if they do, you can just say you had a wet dream
and came in your pants."
"On the backside?!"
Yasutomo laughed. He wasn't taking this seriously at all. "Shit happens. Put
your pants and shirt on and they'll cover it up."
Shinkai was huffing with annoyance. "Don't you have any tissues with you?"
"Nope."
"In that case..." He snatched the shirt Yasutomo had abandoned on the floor and
used it wipe himself clean. A slight dampness lingered on his skin, but at
least now he wouldn't leave any marks in the sheets.
"Oi, that was my fucking shirt!" For the first time, Yasutomo sounded alarmed.
"I know." Oh, how sweet revenge sometimes was.
"I have nothing else with me!"
"Just say you had a wet dream."
"My shirt has cum on it, but my pants are clean?"
"Shit happens. Nobody will check your underwear."
"Fuck you. I'm gonna go and wash this." Yasutomo pulled his pants on, yanked
his shirt from Shinkai's hand and marched out of the room. Shinkai waited for
the steps to recede before allowing himself to snicker. He had to admit that he
always enjoyed arguing with Yasutomo, even though how they ended up in a
quarrel was always through a quite confusing series of events.
When the laughter ended, it was replaced by his old friends: Remorse and Panic.
He suspected they'd get worse towards the morning, since the alcohol in his
blood was weakening the effect.
He realized that the worst part wasn't his body responding so eagerly to
Yasutomo's touch. No, the absolute worst part was the fact that now he knew
that Yasutomo's interest wasn't purely sexual in nature. Goddamnit, now he had
to continue his life knowing that his teammate liked him in a way that he could
probably never return.
* *
Around half past nine, the more annoying side effects of a hangover had caught
them. Them, as in everyone else besides Yuuto and Ashikiba.
The whole room woke up to Shinkai's phone alarm and even though his little
brother and Kuroda complained about the early call, they both crawled to their
feet and shuffled with the rest of them to the kitchen, where Jinpachi and
Makishima were already making breakfast. Neither of them looked very energetic
or bright, even though Jinpachi had rolled his sleeves up and made miso soup,
rice and scrambled eggs.
"Morning," their host greeted. His face was paler than Shinkai was used to, his
eyes bloodshot and his hair ruffled. Still he was in a million times better
shape than him or Kuroda who looked ready for a grave. "I've seen mummies in
museums that are more alive than you," Jinpachi couldn't resist remarking.
Kuroda clearly wanted to retort, but held his tongue, settling to slumping down
on the first free chair and burying his face into his hands. A faint groan
escaped his lips. Jinpachi's sarcasm immediately switched to concern and he got
up to pour Kuroda a cup of coffee.
"Drink that so you'll get some colour on your face. Do you need a painkiller?
Does anyone else need a painkiller?"
Three hands shot up: Shinkai's, Yasutomo's and Makishima's.
Jinpachi looked shocked. "Maki-chan, why didn't you say anything before?"
"I hoped the coffee would help, but doesn't feel like it."
"I don't usually get a hangover from such little drinking. I blame that fucking
cognac," Yasutomo concluded. Shinkai agreed. He felt utterly horrible. His head
was aching, every cell of his body was begging for water and he still felt like
puking. Even thinking about cognac made his stomach flip. He had probably still
been a little drunk when he had woken up at seven, so he hadn't felt the
effect. But he couldn't spend his day in bed. He had promised to go shopping
with Ayane, and by god, they would go shopping even if Yuuto had to push him in
a pram.
"Nobody told you to drink it," Kuroda muttered.
"Wha– oh really? Hey, Toudou, did you record any of Kuroda's talking?"
"No, I didn't. Why would I?"
"Some part of the evening you were filming something. Are you sure none of
those cognac offers ended up on a film?"
"Offering is different from forcing," Kuroda said.
"With you the difference is very faint," Yasutomo said. "Toudou, what kind of
videos did you film yesterday?"
Jinpachi looked evasive. "I was filming those karaoke performances."
"Hah, oh yeah! We need to watch them. You can send them to us by email or
something."
"You're not uploading them anywhere," Shinkai groaned. "I wouldn't mind if you
just deleted them."
"We're not gonna delete them! Your performance was..." Yasutomo searched for a
suitable word. "..memorable, to say the least. If we uploaded it on Youtube,
Gackt would probably see it too and become jealous."
Yuuto giggled. "I really don't think so."
Shinkai decided to think later about how to bribe Jinpachi to delete the video
and instead concentrated on getting some grub in his stomach. They didn't have
much time, because they'd still have to get to his place, take a shower and
change clothes. He didn't even have his toothbrush with him. He took some miso
soup, rise and scrambled eggs. Jinpachi was giving away painkillers for those
who needed them, and Shinkai gulped the pill down immediately. Now he just
needed his stomach to calm down. He couldn't afford a vomiting session like the
one that had happened in France.
Beside him, Yasutomo was shovelling rice onto his plate. He had managed to wash
his shirt and there weren't any signs of their early morning encounter. There
probably was a stain or two in the sheets, but Jinpachi was hardly going to
perform DNA test to find out which one his guests sleeping in that corner had
jizzed his pants during the night. Shinkai wasn't concerned about that.
But he was lost.
He was lost because of how normally Yasutomo behaved in his company. How
neutral and nonchalant he was, as if they didn't share a secret. As if Yasutomo
didn't have any feelings for him. Had he been mistaken after all? Maybe
Yasutomo was just lonely and the feeling culminated when he was drunk and
Shinkai was an easy target because of their friendship. On the other hand,
Yasutomo had been indifferent after the France trip too and so had Shinkai.
"You're seriously planning to make it to the town?" Yuuto asked him. He was
scanning Shinkai from head to toes. "What time are we supposed to meet Ayane?"
Was he only imagining it, or did Yasutomo freeze when he heard Shinkai's
girlfriend's name?
Shinkai forced himself to stop analyzing Yasutomo's mind and concentrate on
other people. "Around twelve. Yes, I'm gonna make it." Food and coffee would do
miracles.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"I don't know yet. Whichever shop Ayane wants to go to." Better leave out the
plans about a new pet bunny; he didn't want Yuuto to cause a ruckus. "You don't
have to follow us if you don't want to. You can go sit in a cafe and wait for
us there."
Yuuto's face brightened. "Hey! Maybe Takuto-kun would like to come with us?"
It's a date, not a public gathering, Shinkai wanted to say. But how to decline
without hurting Ashikiba's feelings? Hurting Ashikiba was like kicking a sad,
abandoned puppy. And he didn't want to come between Yuuto and his new friend.
In half a year they might be in the same team and it was only a good thing if
Yuuto knew someone beforehand.
Luckily Ashikiba had some discretion. As clumsy and slow as their new ace was,
he had some sense of social situations. "I really couldn't. It's Shinkai-san's
and his girlfriend's date."
"You can always go shopping on your own," Shinkai suggested. "You don't have to
hang with me and Ayane."
Yuuto was very delighted about the idea. "Yeah, we could! Will you come with
me, Takuto-kun?"
Ashikiba's eyes were jumping between the brothers and he also checked Kuroda,
but their vice captain wasn't of any help, as he was busy nurturing his aching
head. "If Shinkai-san is absolutely sure it's okay. Of course we wouldn't
bother you. I know the city so I can show Yuuto around."
"Hey, I very much prefer to dump that monkey into your care, than drag him
around with me."
"You see what I've had to tolerate my whole life?" Yuuto said. "By the way, you
could give me some shopping money, brother."
"Didn't mom give you any? I've paid for food and everything so far. You could
use some of your own money too."
Yuuto spun towards him, drilling his reddish eyes onto him and stared. "You
want to give me money."
Shinkai shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee. "Sorry, munchkin, that's
not gonna work now."
Yuuto leaned even closer. His eyes were round and big as plates and covered all
of Shinkai's field of vision. "You. Want. To. Give. Me. Money."
"What weird Shinkai house play is this?" Jinpachi asked, confused.
On top of Yuuto's irises being an exceptional colour, his pupils had always
been unnaturally big. Dilated. Even in bright daylight they stayed huge, giving
out an impression of a drug user. Shinkai remembered that doctors had done some
tests when his brother had been little and come to the conclusion that it was a
personal quirk, not a sign of illness. Yuuto was aware of the power of his
stare and used it shamelessly to his advantage. Unfortunately for him, Shinkai
had gotten used to it. Yuuto realized it too and changed tactics. "You want to
give me money – or I'll tell mom that you got absolutely pissed, threw up half
of the night and left me to survive on my own."
Yasutomo let out a bark of laughter. "Hohoho! That's mean, little guy!"
Shinkai still refused to budge. He fished a ball of rice into his chopsticks
and stuffed it in his mouth. "That'll only result in mom not letting you visit
me and I'm not going to cry myself to sleep over that. Stop staring now. You're
scaring Ashikiba. He'll refuse to go shopping with such a zombie."
That did the trick. Yuuto backed off, sparing a worried glance to his new
friend who, in all honesty, looked a bit startled. "Could you at least give me
a couple of hundreds for lunch, please?" he asked resignedly.
"That I can do."
Jinpachi wiped his forehead. "Huh, that was weird. You're a weird family. Do
your parents have some crazy eye things too?"
Shinkai shrugged. "I don't know. If they do, I've never seen it."
"I sometimes do that in races," Yuuto grinned, basking in his self-
satisfaction. "It baffles the heck out of my opponents."
"I can believe it," Jinpachi said. "Maki-chan, you can't tell that to Sohoku
guys. In a year or two, Yuuto might be on our team."
Makishima just smiled. "I can't promise you anything. I promised that I
wouldn't tell about your current members, but now we're talking about future
teammates."
Not necessarily that far in the future, Shinkai thought.
Jinpachi huffed. "Well, hopefully your team will forget it before Yuuto joins
Hakogaku. Okay, but enough of that. Who wants some more coffee?"
Chapter End Notes
     A quick note to my readers! I'm going to take a break from
     translating now, for about a month or so, and only concentrate on
     writing the fic further, sort of in a NaNoWriMo kinda way. This means
     that there will be a longer wait for chapter 8, but after that the
     translations will be more frequent, hopefully until the end,
     depending on how well I manage to write. I hope everyone understands
     why I'm doing this. At the moment the translating process cuts the
     flow of story and I'm struggling to keep it in my grasp. But there'll
     be some good stuff coming, I can promise you that.
     Also, you can ask yourself: "Self, did someone hear these two dorks
     going at it?"
     Edit: I realized people might not have read the latest raw chapters
     of the manga and are not aware of Yuuto's stare(TM). I just wanted to
     include it in here. That doesn't mean Yuuto knows something or woke
     up to Shinara ministrations.
***** A Crushing Remorse *****
Chapter Notes
     Merry Christmas to all my readers! Here, have a short and depressing
     chapter. :D The next one will be short and depressing too, but after
     that things should be looking up a bit.
Ayane noticed that he was hungover. Of course she did. He smelled like old
booze despite eating, showering, brushing his teeth and gargling with mouthwash
for three times, on top of which he looked like a shabby monochrome photo of
himself. At least sunglasses hid his tired, bloodshot eyes. Ayane gave a second
glance when two extra people arrived at the meeting spot instead of one and
Shinkai could see a tiny gleam of disappointment in her eyes. But she pulled on
a polite mask, and when Shinkai explained that Ashikiba was here to keep Yuuto
company elsewhere, she visibly relaxed. They agreed to meet in the same place
after a couple of hours, so Yuuto could make it to the train station in time,
and went their separate ways; Ashikiba to show Yuuto the best game stores and
Shinkai and Ayane to shop for some clothes.
"Did you have fun yesterday?" Ayane asked after they had been walking for a
while.
"Hmm, yeah, we had fun." So much fun that I got myself entangled in
questionable situations with my teammate again. The one teammate you hate.
"What did you do? I mean besides..." Ayane pointed at his worn appearance.
"..that."
"We played some silly games. Jinpachi wanted to. And app– we sung karaoke."
Ayane glanced at him. "Apparently?"
"Well, yeah... we sung." I was just too shitfaced to remember it. "Hey, do you
want to pop in there?" He halted in front of a clothing store he remembered
Ayane had visited before.
"Are you okay waiting while I try on some stuff?" she asked.
"Yes, of course." Even though he was anything but a shopper. In fact, he always
hoped that suitable clothes would just materialize in his closet. Those few
times when he went shopping, he always ended up in a sports store and bought
more cycling stuff. Luckily you could buy clothes in sport stores too. They
even fit him better than the latest trend items in fashion stores. Sometimes
Ayane decided that some trendy piece of clothing suited him and talked him into
trying it on – and was usually right. Shinkai reckoned he would need a personal
shop assistant when he and Ayane weren’t together anymore.
When? When?
If! If they broke up some time in the future. Because these things happened.
Very few people nowadays married their high school crush.
He was still ashamed for such a thought leaving his subconscious.
Ayane was already entering the shop and Shinkai hurried to follow her. It was
one of those chains that sold labelled clothes for a reasonable price. The
majority of the customers were girls, but there were a few guys too, probably
sharing Shinkai's fate as a tag-along. But that was the duty of a boyfriend.
Ayate tolerated a lot from him so it was only fair that he sometimes went
shopping with her. Besides, today they were going to a pet shop because of him.
Usakichi had been upset again when had gone to feed her before heading to the
city. She wanted out of her cage, but Shinkai hadn't had her harness with him,
nor had he had time. He had promised the bunny that he would come and see her
in the evening and hopefully bring her a companion. Although, if he ended up
buying a new bunny today he would have to introduce the animals to each other
somewhere else than in the cage. That was clearly Usakichi's territory. So he'd
probably need to take them to his room for a couple of days. The bathroom was
big enough for two bunnies to run around.
"Take a look at this," Ayane said, pulling a blue shirt out of the rack. "Do
you think this would look good on me?"
Shinkai was really bad at saying if something looked good on someone without
actually seeing the cloth on, but he nodded. "I'm sure it would."
"Maybe I should try this on."
"Yeah, go ahead."
Ayane collected three more items before moving on to the fitting rooms. Shinkai
dragged himself to wait next to the booth as Ayane slipped inside, ready to
give his opinion which he would probably be asked soon enough. After leaning on
a wall for a minute or two, he noticed a bench and slumped down on it. Only
then he realized he had been walking around the store with his sunglasses on.
Well, maybe that was for the best, since bright lights hurt his eyes. And other
people didn't have to look at his bloodshot eyeballs or the dark shadows under
them.
He buried his face in his hands, groaning to himself. God damnit, how huge the
remorse had grown. It was like an individual of its own, following right on his
heels, peeking over his shoulder and darkening his world. Reminding him of what
he had done. What he had done last night and what he had done in France. And on
top of that, now he was feeling guilty because of Yasutomo too.
He had the enormous urge to speak with someone. Ask for advice or simply share
the heavy secret with someone. Because he felt like this was something that he
couldn't handle alone anymore. The options weren't plenty. Not because he
didn't trust anyone but because the others were friends with Yasutomo too. His
first option would have – considering the nature of the situation – been
Jinpachi. He could actually be quite a reliable adviser, and his own
relationship would force him to keep quiet. However, Shinkai could already
picture the shock that would follow his revelation. It was common knowledge
that Jinpachi didn't like Yasutomo and vice versa, even if they respected and
tolerated each other. Shinkai wasn't sure if he could handle Jinpachi's
'Arakita?! Of all people? You're not seriously thinking about that, are you?'
fit. He didn't want to give Jinpachi any ammunition against Yasutomo (even if
he didn't think he'd actually be devious enough to use it).
Another option was Touichirou, but as many things as Shinkai could rely on him
for, this was too much beyond his comfort zone. Touichirou had been the person
who had noticed Jinpachi's and Makishima's relationship first, possibly even
before the duo themselves, and Shinkai had been the one he had mentioned it to.
He didn't want to end up as a topic of a similar conversation, when Touichirou
spoke with his others friends, take, for example, Kuroda. He knew Touichirou
wouldn't babble if he confided in him, but if he noticed it on his own... who
knew what kind of rumours would soon be circling around the school?
Phew, he really needed a female friend to pour his heart out to. These things
were easier for girls. Or so he had heard.
"Hayato."
Shinkai lifted his eyes. Ayane had stepped out the fitting room, wearing a
pretty checkered dress. It reached her mid-thighs, leaving her knee-high socks
visible.
He nodded. "That's nice."
Ayane spun around to look herself in the mirror. "You think so?"
"Of course. It's very cute." There weren't many items that looked bad on Ayane.
She was one of those girls who could pull off a tomboy look as well as a meido.
That was one of the reasons why she was so popular amongst the guys in the
school. Or had been. After she had started going out with Shinkai, the admirers
had moved along, but she still could have probably gotten any guy she wanted.
And instead of choosing a nice, faithful bloke, who always had time for his
girlfriend, she had ended up with him.
The guilt reached a new high, threatening to crush him for a passing second.
Nausea waved through him and it had nothing to do with his hangover.
Ayane stopped, looking at him with concern. "You alright?"
"Yeah. My stomach is a bit upset, is all. I'm sure it will pass once I get
something to eat."
"Can you wait?"
"Yeah, I can. Just look around as long as you wish."
Ayane didn't look fully convinced. "Well, if you're sure."
"I'm sure. Let's just check the clothing stores and go eat after that."
"And then the pet store."
"Yep." That managed to cheer him up a bit. Even if his life was shit at the
moment, at least Usakichi was going to have a brighter future.
Ayane continued checking the racks and he strolled after her, commenting when
he was asked something, nodding when Ayane presented an item to him, but his
mind was elsewhere. What options did he actually have? What was it that he
actually wanted to do?
Option number 1: He'd talk with Yasutomo, make him understand that they
couldn't go on like this. He needed to let go of Shinkai and move on.
The positives: That would be the right thing to do. Yasutomo would get over his
crush and maybe find a more suitable person who might actually return his
feelings.
The negatives: He didn't want to do it. He was afraid that he'd hurt his
friend's feelings and nothing would ever be the same between them. Yasutomo
would distance himself from Shinkai.
Option number 2: He'd break up with Ayane and go full gay with Yasutomo.
The positives: He and Yasutomo wouldn't be alienated from each other, that was
certain.
The negatives: He'd be the target of Ayane's fury and other people's
prejudices, on top of which he'd have to keep the relationship secret from his
family forever. Besides, he wasn't sure if he could actually be gay with
someone. Like, in a long run. Dating a guy was more than taking a dick up your
ass every now and then. Yasutomo wasn't the easiest person to get along with.
What was it that he wanted the most, that was a different matter. That he
didn't even know. The best option would have been to travel back in time to the
beginning of their France holiday and remain in a platonic relationship with
his teammate.
Maybe he could observe the situation for a day or two, just to see how Yasutomo
would act around him and make sure he wouldn't end up in questionable
situations anymore. He didn't want to distance himself from Yasutomo, but that
was what they might be facing if he didn't get things under control in some
other way. He could talk to him directly, let him know that he had noticed his
interest, but he already knew Yasutomo would deny it all. On the other hand,
speaking directly might do the trick anyway, but Shinkai reckoned the best way
would be just to act in a normal, correct manner. No exceptions, not any kind.
No touching, no weird conversations, and most importantly, no groping below the
belt. If Yasutomo began persuading him, he'd put a stop to it immediately. Yes,
that's how it needed to be done. Yasutomo was bound to get the message
eventually. And what would follow from that... well, that wasn't in his hands
anymore.
* *
Six hours later, he was crawling back to the dorms with two bunnies. There had
been many kinds of rabbits in the pet store, Lionheads, lop-eared and even
Belgian Giants, but the best find had been a shop assistant who had explained
to them that Usakichi might not accept a female rabbit just like that, since
they hadn't grown up together. If he didn't want to fill his dorm room with
baby bunnies, the best option was a neutered male. The pet shop didn't neuter
bunnies of course, but the assistant happened to knew someone who was planning
on giving up their rabbit. A couple of phone calls later it was settled.
Grateful, Shinkai bought some pellets and bunny supplies, not having the heart
to just leave without buying anything after such a big help. Around four, they
took Yuuto to the train station and went to fetch his new pet. After that Ayane
had to go home to finish her homework, so Shinkai was alone with his new task
of introducing the newcomer to Usakichi. To tell the truth, he didn't mind a
short breather from other people.
He got into his room without bumping into anyone and lowered the new bunny onto
the floor. Usakichi smelled the newcomer and protested furiously by gnawing at
the bars of her carrier and whirling around in the small space. She would have
to wait for a bit while the other bunny was checking the room. He was already
on it, moving cautiously hop by hop and sniffing everything. Shinkai pulled his
phone out and snapped a couple of pictures of the bunny. It was a very pretty
animal: a black-and-white dwarf rabbit. The coat was mainly white but he had
black circles around his eyes and a spot on his nose. Watching the bunny go, he
realized he was smiling for the first time that day.
He opened his laptop and signed in on Facebook to upload the pictures.
'I've got two bunnies now. Need to come up with a name for the new one. Any
suggestions?'
Comments began to pour in immediately. The time was optimal for hanging out on
social media and many of his friends were online.
Touichirou was the first one to comment. 'Oh wow! Is it a boy or a girl?'
'That's a cute one,' Jinpachi wrote. 'But why did you suddenly decide to get a
new bunny?'
'fucking bunny farmer. wasn't one chisel tooth enough?' That was from Yasutomo.
'It's a neutered male. I got him as a buddy for Usakichi. She's been feeling
under the weather lately. I hope she'll accept her new friend without any
fights.'
'Rabbit,' Juichi said.
'What?'
'You asked for name suggestions. You could call him Rabbit.'
'oh my god fuku-chan! shinkai, you should call him fur coat!'
Shinkai snorted.
'That's horrible! You're not going to call him Fur Coat!' Jinpachi objected.
'eunuch then, i mean if he's nutless. eunuch fur coat.'
'Shinkai's first bunny is called Usakichi,' Juichi continued. 'Why can't the
new one be Rabbit?'
'Didn't he have a name in the previous home?' Touichirou asked.
'He did but the kids in the family had thought that he was a girl and called
him Lily.' In Shinkai's opinion, nothing had ever looked less like a 'Lily'.
'oh poor eunuch fur coat. he must be having an identity crisis. maybe you
should give him a proper macho name. rambo, for example. rambo the fur coat.'
'Couldn't we just drop the Fur Coat already?' Jinpachi wrote.
'absolutely not.'
Shinkai couldn't recall when people had discussed anything so actively on his
Facebook wall. The guys must have forgotten they were not talking on a chat
window.
'I'll think about it,' he typed.
'What did Usakichi say about him?' Touichirou asked.
'I haven't let them together yet. Usakichi is causing mayhem in her carrier
atm. I'm waiting for the new bunny to check the room before introducing them to
each other.'
'Ok, I hope it works out.'
The conversation quietened down a bit. Shinkai jerked when he felt the new
rabbit sniff his foot. He leaned down, offering his hand. The bunny smelled it
a few times but continued his exploration then. He seemed to be quite tame and
friendly. The family had said that he liked to sit on people's lap and have his
ears petted. Very different from Usakichi who still had the nature of a wild
rabbit and always made the decision herself of when she would condone to be
petted.
Facebook announced that he had a new private message. Shinkai checked that the
bunny didn't go behind his desk to gnaw at cords before opening the chat
window.
'you still hungover?'
'Not anymore.' Shinkai was hesitating, his fingers hovering over the keyboard.
Now that he had decided not to feed Yasutomo's dreams, it was hard to evaluate
what was feeding and what not. But asking for his teammate's condition was only
basic manners, right? 'How about you?'
'hoh, i wasn't in the first place. just had a little headache but it passed
when i took some painkillers.'
Okay then. Shinkai wondered if he should write some more. He felt like he had
nothing to say, at least nothing that wouldn't refer to the morning encounter.
Should he bring it up or pretend that nothing had happened and maybe only talk
about it if Yasutomo mentioned it first?
'yuuto left already?'
'Yeah, he did. We took him to the station with Ayane.'
You know, my girlfriend. I still have one.
'is he gonna come and visit us soon again? ashikiba seemed to be quite fond of
him'
'I suppose he's going to come again at some point, but maybe not right away.'
'yep.' A pause. 'what did he think about the party?'
Shinkai got the nagging feeling that Yasutomo was only using Yuuto as a decoy,
an innocent topic, just like last night when he had petted Shinkai's neck.
'Let's just dance around the subject a little bit and not touch it so we don't
burn our hands.'
'He didn't say much about it but I assume he had fun.'
He should end this meaningless chatting. Every word he said to Yasutomo was
probably making the situation worse. But he really couldn't just not answer
him...
'Yasutomo,' he found himself writing. 'Thing like what happened this morning
can't happen again.'
He waited for the answer for about three hours – or that's at least what it
felt like. And when the answer finally came, it represented exactly the policy
Shinkai had anticipated and grown used to in a very short time.
'hey dude, you're taking this too seriously. it was nothing more than a tiny
brotherly jerk off session.'
Your hand was around my dick! And your own dick was in my asscrack! I got your
spunk all over me! It most definitely wasn't a 'brotherly jerk off session'.
'I don't care,' he wrote. 'It can't happen again. I have a girlfriend.'
If Yasutomo now said that he had agreed on it himself, he just might get angry.
It was true, sort of, but Yasutomo had left him with only little choice. He
wasn't completely sure himself how they had ended up in the situation. The
memories of France had probably caught up to him and the hangover horniness had
lured his brain into thinking that he wouldn't regret it very much. But he had
obviously been wrong.
Yasutomo typed back at him. This time the answer surprised him.
'you're right. it shouldn't have happened. sorry. misjudged the situation
probably because of the hangover or something.'
Something constricted deep and raw in the pit of Shinkai's stomach. He realized
his heart was beating fast and his face was becoming insanely hot. A weird,
unreal feeling was taking over him, making his arms feel weightless and his
fingers seem like they didn't belong to him.
He kept shaping his answers almost for ten minutes because every sentence he
came up with sounded wrong or not appropriate for the situation.
'Well, it's not only your fault. I could have said no. But I'm just saying this
now, for the future. I can't go on like this if I don't wish to wallow in guilt
all the time.' There. That was good reasoning, wasn't it? He had already
mentioned to Yasutomo about his guilt so it didn't just come out of the blue.
Yasutomo's answer took its time again. In order to get his mind elsewhere,
Shinkai got up and went to see where his new pet had disappeared. The bunny was
under his bed, trying his teeth on a wooden leg. Shinkai shooed him out of his
hide. Maybe he could let Usakichi out of the carrier already. The assistant in
the pet shop had advised to keep the bunnies separate for a while and let them
get to know each other through a fence, but Shinkai didn't have a fence at hand
so he'd just have to hope that they would accept each other. He'd still
separate them for the night since he couldn't stay up and monitor their
behaviour.
Once he opened the door, Usakichi dashed out of the carrier like a bullet,
charging after the other rabbit and growling in a way Shinkai had never heard
from a herbivore. The new bunny bolted away and for a moment they were running
around the room like crazy. Usakichi clearly wasn't that happy about her new
companion.
When they didn't seem to calm down on their own accord and the new bunny let
out a frightened scream, Shinkai went to grab Usakichi and took her to the
bathroom. Okay, so he clearly needed a fence. He'd have to look into it; there
probably was some spare net and wood in the carpentry class to build a gate for
the bathroom door, so the new bunny could be on one side and Usakichi on the
other. Maybe taking the new bunny's smell into Usakichi cage would help too.
The newcomer was crouching in a corner, breathing heavily. Shinkai let him calm
down on his own. Before going to bed he'd need to set up a water bowl and
pellets in the carrier for a temporary toilet. The bunnies had literally shat
all over his room while running around so he'd need to clean up before he could
go to sleep. But first he'd have to end the chat with Yasutomo.
He sat back at his laptop.
'yeah, i understand,' Yasutomo had replied. It was five minutes since the
message. He had written nothing else. And he hadn't commented on the discussion
about the bunny's name anymore, even though Touichirou and Jinpachi had
continued to throw in suggestions. The side bar indicated that he had been
offline for two minutes.
Shinkai's heart was beating too fast again. Irregularly. Something dark and
nauseating was bustling in his stomach. The feeling of unreality threatened to
invade his head again.
What the hell have I done?
No! He slapped himself on the cheek. No, he had done what had needed to be
done. He was finally correcting things. Naturally Yasutomo would be
disappointed first but he'd get over it. His reaction probably wasn't as strong
as Shinkai was imagining. It would have been a different matter, had they been
going out for a long time and he had broken up. Yasutomo had said that he
understood and he probably did. He had just gone to do something more
constructive than hang around on social media. They'd see each other at school
tomorrow and Yasutomo would be totally normal.
And even if he wasn't, what could Shinkai do about it? He had only done what
was right.
***** Oh Herpes! *****
Chapter Notes
     I know it's been too long but I got sidetracked by the Finnish
     version and after finally translating this, my beta got a bad flu. I
     used a substitute beta for this chapter so many thanks to chow for
     quick betaing! :) And thank you for everyone who left a comment or
     kudos! Sorry I've been lazy answering your reviews.
     A fair warning: there's some serious line crossing in this one.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
That week they had to work on group assignments in Health Education. Since all
the possible, ancient, torturing VHS tapes had already been watched, their
teacher had come up with a new way of freeing himself of the unpleasant duty of
teaching sexual health and handed the task over to the students. The group
assignment formed half of the grade so it was best to put some effort into it.
Shinkai, Juichi, Yasutomo and Jinpachi got the questionable honour of
presenting STD's. It could have been worse; they could have been assigned to
introduce the human genital functions. However, their assignment also covered
the use of condoms and so they spent the first five minutes arguing how it
would be best to execute.
"I reckon the teacher is not expecting us to drop our pants in front of the
class?" Yasutomo mused. He was rocking on his chair and stretching his arms
behind his back. They had gathered in a small meeting room in the school
library to plan out their task. Juichi had looked ill ever since Hashimoto-
sensei had fired the assignment at them but took it like a man, with his lips
pressed tight together. Shinkai didn't think the task was that torturous. It
would have been a different matter, had he been assigned to it alone but with
the rest of the guys it wouldn't be too painful. Besides, the other students
had to present their awkward topics too.
"I'm pretty sure that's not what he's after. I think it'll be enough if we
bring along a banana," Jinpachi said.
"I still don't want to be the one to roll a condom on a fruit."
"Yeah, nobody wants to do it, but someone still has to."
"You could do it. You might have the necessary sleight of hand for it."
Jinpachi pursed his lips, tapping his pen against his notebook. "Is this your
way of saying that you've never used a condom in your life and therefore you
are unaware of how it works?"
Yasutomo swung his chair back on four legs, slamming his hands onto the table.
"Fuck no! I was thinking that you might need some practise and so I was letting
you do the honours, just out of the kindness of my heart."
"Well, I don't really need it."
Yasutomo ceased chaffing Jinpachi and turned to Juichi who was sitting next to
him. "Fuku-chan could do it."
"Absolutely not."
"Well, fuck, someone has to do it!"
"All of us together?" Shinkai suggested.
"You mean like all of our hands simultaneously over the condom?"
"No, I mean four condoms and four bananas. That way not only one of us has to
suffer."
Yasutomo thought about it for a moment. "I'm not sure how I feel about that. It
sounds like a modern version of YMCA."
"We can think about it later," Jinpachi said. "The more important thing is to
work on the actual assignment. Where should we start?"
"We could season it with some horrible pictures," Yasutomo said. "A little
shock therapy for playas." He actually used the English word, imitating Les
Grossman.
"We have to include at least a few pictures, otherwise it will be a very boring
presentation. But we have to have some information too." Jinpachi was gnawing
at the tip of his pen, thinking. "Should we separate to gather it? Two of us
could look for some literature and two could look it up online."
"Why not just copy the whole thing out of the net?" Yasutomo grunted. "There
must be a suitable site."
"Of course we're not copying it! First of all the teacher would notice it and
second, I want to do this properly." It was a shame, though, that Hashimoto-
sensei didn't accept a digital version, and there wasn't even a video projector
in the classroom, so a Power Point presentation was automatically out of the
question. The man just assumed they would cut magazines and glue all their
collected information on a posterboard like in elementary school.
"Collecting information suits me," Juichi said, still sounding a bit
constipated.
"Shinkai and I can leaf through some books here in the library if you and Fuku-
chan go to the computer lab," Yasutomo suggested.
Judging by Jinpachi's expression, he had been waiting for a different kind of
distribution, first when it came to the pairs and second the usage of a
computer, after all, Yasutomo was the ICT expert of them, but he merely
shrugged. "Fine by me."
"But check that the sites you find are reliable," Yasutomo noted.
"Yes, of course."
Jinpachi and Juichi got to their feet and headed out to the computer lab.
"Shall we go and find some books then?" Shinkai asked, pushing his chair back.
"Do you know where the health stuff is?"
"Yeah, I do."
They found the correct aisle and began scanning the book covers. Silence was
almost tangible, despite them being in a library. Shinkai was highly conscious
of Yasutomo standing close to him and he felt like his teammate was trying very
much to play nonchalant. The difference was just that this time he was pretty
sure he could recognize that Yasutomo was pretending. Yasutomo had been
uncharacteristically quiet for the whole day and hadn't really spoken to him.
He wondered if there had been some ulterior motives when Yasutomo had suggested
teaming up with him.
Ugh, he didn't like this one bit. He didn't like the awkward atmosphere and the
fact that he had to analyze his friend's actions. He just wanted things to go
back to how they had been, but he wasn't sure if that was possible anymore.
Shinkai located a book that looked promising, judging by the name (Sexually
Transmitted Diseases', so it was getting straight to the point) and pulled it
out of the shelf. He leafed through pages, taking a note that the book only
included text and a few vague line drawings that gave only a little impression
of what was happening in them, but at least they'd have some published
literature besides Google results. That might earn them some extra points.
"This looks alright," he said. "I'm going to take it with us."
Yasutomo grunted. He was squatting, examining the lower shelf. Shinkai turned
back towards the books. He found another book about safe sex and pulled it out
to examine it closer. It didn't exactly concentrate on STD's, but there were a
couple of chapters of them too. It could be of some use so he tucked it under
his arm. They could do a better sieving back at the table.
"So how's your new bunny?" Yasutomo asked then. Shinkai glanced at him,
noticing that his eyes were still lingering on the book covers.
"Oh, Fur Coat? He's fine. They are still separated, but I'm going to buy a gate
for the bathroom door so they can get used to each other through it."
Now Yasutomo was looking at him and raised his hand. "Wait a second! One thing
at a time. Did you actually name him Fur Coat?"
Shinkai felt a faint burning on his cheeks. "Hmm, yeah. I accidentally called
him by that name and it kinda stuck."
"Hah, that's awesome!" Yasutomo exclaimed. His voice was alarmingly loud in the
quiet space. He realized it too and turned down the volume. "I'm sure no one
else has a rabbit named Fur Coat. Ah, now I'm regretting that I didn't bet on
it with Toudou."
Shinkai cracked a tiny smile. "Did you find any suitable books?"
"I don't know. This one might be useful." Yasutomo showed him a home doctor
guide. "There's a chapter of STD's."
"Just take it with us. Let's just collect some potential books and go back to
the table to examine them better."
"Okay."
They returned to their working spot with half a dozen books. The first book
Shinkai had found remained the best one they got, but they might find some
useful bits in the others too. They had to make the presentation look like they
had done some serious research for it.
Jinpach and Juichi had yet to return. Shinkai dropped the books down onto the
table and sat down, Yasutomo following his example. He opened the first book,
scanning through it but his skin was prickling. There was an unfinished,
expectant atmosphere hovering over the table. Yasutomo was restless. Shinkai
sensed his teammate's muscles strain and he kept adjusting his positing. He
probably wanted to say something, preparing to now that they were alone.
Shinkai kept his eyes on the book, waiting and pretending that he hadn't
noticed anything, and in the end Yasutomo managed to blurt out his issue.
He began with a small cough to get his attention. "You wanna go for a short
ride today?"
Shinkai weighed his tone. It might be just an innocent question. Maybe Yasutomo
just wanted to go cycling together. They hadn't had many chances to train
lately.
Except that... when it came to Yasutomo, he really didn't believe in innocent
question anymore.
"I'm kinda busy today," he said shunningly. "I'm going to meet with Ayane
later."
Yasutomo shrugged. "Sure. There'll be other times."
"Yeah, there will, but..." Shinkai trailed off, holding himself back. There was
a part of him that told him to spit out what was going on in his mind, and then
another part that unequivocally forbade him. Let things stay as they are and go
on with our lives. Ordinary is good. Why poke at a shitmountain with a stick?
But Yasutomo had already seen his hesitation and was staring at him
expectantly, a thin wariness glimmering in his eyes.
Shinkai sighed. "I really don't know if that's a good idea. I mean because..."
Alright, idiot, if you're going to say it, at least say it straight. Say it to
him so that there's no chance for misunderstandings. Otherwise nothing will
change. "You remember what I said on Facebook?"
Yasutomo was quiet for a moment. "I guess so. If we're talking about the same
thing."
"That we can't..."
"..let certain things happen again. I got it. I asked if you'd come for a ride
with me." Yasutomo was getting on the defending side. His face was
constricting, a challenging tone seeping into his voice. Shinkai sighed again.
This could turn ugly. It wasn't the best time or place, but he had started it
so he had to see it through. They both needed it.
"I think..." he began, hesitation cutting him off. Damn, this was hard. How to
say it so that Yasutomo wouldn't misunderstand? "I think it would be for the
best if for a while we didn't..." He ran into a new wall. If they didn't what?
Meet? No, they saw each other at school every day and shared a circle of
friends. It would be impossible to not meet Yasutomo and he didn't even want
that. "..be alone together anywhere."
Yasutomo stared at him. His eyes were blinking tardily.
"I just don't think it's a good idea right now," Shinkai continued. His heart
had moved into his throat and kept hammering it, trying to block his airways.
His armpits didn't remember he had applied a layer of deodorant in them in the
morning which meant that he couldn't remove his jacket for that day. At the
same time there was an icy lump in the pit of his stomach. It was a pretty
weird combination. "Since... every time it's just the two of us, something
happens... something that shouldn't happen. I just want things to get back to
normal."
"And you think that will happen if we avoid each other?" Yasutomo pointed out.
His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"I don't mean for us to avoid each other," Shinkai said. "I mean that we
wouldn't be alone. Just for everything to get back to how it was. Because we
really can't go on like this."
Yasutomo looked like he wanted to ask why. Why couldn't they go on like this?
This was not such a big deal; after all, they were talking about small
brotherly jerk off sessions and dicks occasionally slipping into someone's
butt. There were no feelings involved. But he said nothing, merely turning his
head away. Shinkai saw his jaw tensing up.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice hollow. "I just can't go on like this. The
guilt will eat me alive. Why can't things go back to how they were?"
Yasutomo let out a snort, still not looking at him. Shinkai opened his mouth,
maybe try to reason with him some more or at least make him say something, but
naturally at that moment Jinpachi and Juichi decided to come back and he had to
close his mouth.
"Did you find anything?" Jinpachi asked as he pulled a chair underneath him. He
was carrying a stack of papers. Juichi looked like he had just escaped a
medieval inquisition patrol and sat down with his back straight as a pole and
his face even more stony than usual.
"We did. There was an actual book of the subject," Shinkai told them, patting
at their book pile. "We haven't had a chance to go through these yet, but I'm
sure there are bits we can use." His eyes gazed over Yasutomo, but his dark-
haired companion had turned his attention to Jinpachi and Juichi and was
probably going to pretend that Shinkai wasn't at the table anymore.
Maybe he should have waited until the school was over. On the other hand, now
he had a chance to observe how Yasutomo took the news. Perhaps in the end he'd
just accept it and treat him like before. If they had immediately after his
words gone their separate ways, the situation might have escalated and next
time they saw each other, the atmosphere might have been chilly.
Although, there really wasn't that much warmth radiating between them at the
moment.
Jinpachi nodded, satisfied. "Good. We found a lot of useful stuff too. We also
printed a few pictures. Hah, you should have seen other students' faces when
they went to get their own prints and saw what kind of pictures were emerging
from the printer."
Shinkai held out his hand. "Let me see."
"This is syphilis." Jinpachi handed them a colour print of a half-rotten dick.
Shinkai was certain that every one of them felt a twinge below the belt while
looking at the picture. Juichi refused to look at it anymore, turning his head
away.
Yasutomo mimicked puking. "Fucking hell, that's really gross!"
"Tell me about it."
"Shit. I really feel sick."
"That's an advanced stage," Jinpachi explained. "It very rarely looks like that
anymore nowadays in the developed countries. Penicillin cures it. We also found
pictures where the bacterium had eaten a man's face. Now that was gross. Those
pictures could provide a proper shock treatment."
Shinkai picked another picture from the table. It was an image of female
genitalia with a nasty looking rash. "What's this then?"
"Gonorrhea."
"Gonorrhea?" Yasutomo repeated. "Doesn't Nishimura from 3-2 have it?"
Jinpachi blinked, taken aback. "I'm pretty sure he hasn't got it anymore if the
disease has been diagnosed. He must have it been taken care of by now. I mean,
if he's not a complete idiot."
"He's a bit of an idiot, to tell you the truth." Yasutomo kept measuring the
picture with his eyes for a moment before giving it back to Jinpachi. "You
know, it would be useful for Kuroda to come and listen to our presentation."
Jinpachi glanced at him, but before he had a chance to comment, Shinkai spoke:
"How do you treat gonorrhea? With antibiotics too?"
"Yeah." Jinpachi leafed through the stack of prints, picking up a paper with
two pictures on it. Both of them featured vesicles but their locations were
different. "This is herpes. Both lip and genital versions. Most people are
carriers of oral herpes after receiving it from their parents as a kid."
"I don't have it," Yasutomo grunted.
"You could have it even though you've never had vesicles."
"I'm pretty sure my parents and my sisters don't have it either."
"Well, then you belong to that quite small but lucky group of people who for
some reason have never gotten it. But I wouldn't trust your luck forever. It's
very probable that sooner or later you'll catch it."
"Do you have it then?"
Jinpachi lifted his chin, defiant. "Yes, I do. But like I said, it's perfectly
normal. And I don't get vesicles often, just sometimes after a bigger race when
my body's been through a lot of pressure."
"Does your beloved Maki-chan know that you're a plague patient?"
A thin layer of pink landed on Jinpachi's cheeks. "I could tell him if it
somehow came up. I just don't see any reason to talk about it when it affects
nothing. Besides, Maki-chan probably has it too."
"I have it," Shinkai admitted. "It usually activates in the spring when the sun
starts to shine very brightly."
"I've had vesicles on my lips too," Juichi added.
Yasutomo glared at them. "God damn, you're one sick lot."
"It's not dangerous," Jinpachi said. "Except if it spreads to your brain, but
that doesn't happen very often."
Yasutomo was gritting his teeth, unsatisfied, "How the hell do you know all
this shit? Don't tell me you memorized it all when you were gathering
information."
"I've read about STD's before. I think it's wise to be aware of things that
might concern you."
"Suppose that's for the best, since you're probably going to get yourself HIV
in the near future with your homo lifestyle."
Dead silence landed on the table. For a moment, nobody was breathing. They
could hear steps passing their meeting room and a clock ticking on the wall.
Jinpachi was staring at Yasutomo, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open,
perhaps trying to comprehend if he had really said what he had. Juichi looked
exactly the same and Shinkai too, probably, had he had a mirror in which to
look. He was preparing to pull Yasutomo aside and give him a piece of his mind.
Yasutomo had crossed the line like no one else had ever done; the line was
practically out of reach! He should have taken out his frustration on Shinkai
and not an innocent classmate. It was a miracle that Jinpachi hadn't already
jumped up and marched out. He was probably too shaken. Or he could be thinking
how to get back to Yasutomo but every retort felt insufficient.
Before Jinpachi had recovered enough to react, Yasutomo huffed and shook his
head. "I'm sorry. That was a lousy blow. I didn't mean it. Life's just been a
bit stressful lately." He looked honestly repentant and shocked too of what he
had actually blurted out of his mouth. Shinkai relaxed a bit, as did Juichi. "I
don't know why I said that. You're probably the last one of us to catch any
disease. You're always so careful."
That was the nicest thing Yasutomo had ever said to Jinpachi who realized it
too, but he was still too flabbergasted of the incident and Yasutomo's words
only deepened his shock.
"Apology accepted," he managed to mumble at last, scratching his neck. "Okay,
well... where were we again..?"
"Should we stop for today?" Shinkai suggested. He assumed that they wouldn't
get anything proper done for that day anymore. The mood had died when he had
turned Yasutomo down earlier and Yasutomo had pushed his sulking on innocent
people. "Let's go have lunch or something."
The idea received a lot of support, nobody saying anything about his appetite.
Quiet, they collected their things, returned redundant books back to the shelf
and borrowed the useful ones. It was only outside when they, or at least
Jinpachi, tried to resume a normal conversation. The others had been waiting
and observing his reactions.
"I don't know what the teacher's going to say if we add some uncensored
pictures into our poster," he mused. His voice was almost normal, but you could
make out that something had happened just recently.
"I suppose we could crop them a little," Juichi proposed. "We'll just leave the
sick part and cut the surroundings so that you can't tell what's in the
picture."
"Ah, yeah. That might work."
"Hashimoto-sensei can't assume that we don't have any pictures of the diseases.
That's what our topic is. It would stupid to have only pics of condoms,"
Shinkai said.
"We could always add a propaganda picture. You know, one with a pretty girl and
a text 'You can't tell by the looks' or 'She might have an STD'. Or I don't
know... that idea has been used before..." Then Jinpachi's phone began to ring,
and he ceased his ponderings to answer it. Judging by his tone, it was
Makishima on the other end, so that meant he wouldn't get out of the call soon.
Shinkai glanced from Yasutomo to Juichi, but neither of them seemed very eager
to continue talking, so he snapped his lips together, tucked his hands into his
pockets and concentrated on staring at the tips of his shoes moving on the
pavement.
In the cafe, Yasutomo treated Jinpachi with a Cappuccino as reconciliation.
Jinpachi looked like he had been slapped square in his face but accepted the
offer anyway. Little by little, they resumed their chatting. Yasutomo
participated in it too, trying to sound like everything was okay on his part.
Jinpachi and Juichi didn't necessarily notice anything was out of place. But
Shinkai noticed that Yasutomo wasn't looking at him and only spoke to him
through others. And by every awkward minute the icy lump in his stomach grew a
little. He had to remind himself that it was probably Yasutomo's initial
reaction to his words that had come out of the blue (at least, if you
considered what had happened on Sunday morning). Yasutomo was a proud person
and his pride had been hurt. Shinkai just needed to give him some space to
collect himself. He was pretty sure things would get back to normal eventually.
Chapter End Notes
     Playa, playa! :D Cannot unthink Les Grossman.
***** No bitches' drinks! *****
Chapter Notes
     A huge thank you for Matt for proofreading this chapter so I could
     finally publish it!
     Frederica, if you're reading this, I've tried sending you several
     emails, but I haven't got responses so I don't know if you're getting
     them. Please send me a mail either to my gmail or hotmail!
Arakita wasn't fully prepared when Miya pulled him into a tight bear hug right
after stepping out of the train, but he had to admit – while slapping his
friend's back – that it sort of fitted in the situation. After all, it had been
several months since their last encounter.
"Dude, you're as ugly as I remembered," Miya noted as he released Arakita and
took a step back.
Arakita snorted. "You don't look too good yourself. The bags under your eyes
seem to have grown by a few decilitres. If you're not careful, a family of
opossums will move into them."
Miya froze. Icy wave flushed through Arakita. Fuck, had he made yet another
misjudgement and blurted out something that hurt his mate's feelings? Maybe the
eye bags were the same thing for Miya as the dick size for someone not-so-well
endowed. He'd actually need to check his verbal delivery before driving away
the last friendly-minded people around him. But then he saw Miya's face relax.
"Hey, the chicks like them! They think I'm leading a very stressful life and
want to comfort me."
Arakita huffed inwardly. "And in the morning the cold truth comes out?"
"Something like that. If I'm in a good mood, I might offer them a cup of coffee
before showing them the door. Although, I don't usually ask anyone to come
over; I rather go visit myself. It's much easier to sneak out at the break of
dawn than try to pretend to be a gentleman and think of what excuse to use to
get the girl leave."
"Your life sounds very complicated."
"I know. Poor me."
They began walking away from the platform in an easy-going, companionable
atmosphere, something that Arakita had especially missed for the last few
weeks. The early Saturday was bright and warm, bringing a nice illusion that
everything was right in the world. He had slept until ten, eaten a little
breakfast and taken his time to get to the station. Originally Miya had been
planning to come on Friday but then some extra school work had shown up. That
was fine, though. They still had time to do all kinds of stuff. Except that
Arakita didn't know if his friend had a tight schedule.
"Are you ready to tell me what you came here to do?" he asked once they were
walking down the street.
"Oh, it's not such a big thing. I just found some good affordable spare parts
for my bike here and agreed to come and pick them up at the store."
"Wouldn't it have been cheaper to just send them?"
Miya scratched his neck, looking a bit self-conscious. "Probably, but I
thought, why not get on the train and come see Hakone? Travelling is always
refreshing."
"I suppose." And it was not that Arakita was complaining. Every little thing
that took his thoughts away from the happenings of the last weeks was welcome.
Even Machimiya. "Okay then, what do you want to do while you're here? I don't
think picking up those parts will take the whole day."
"Probably not. Didn't we already talk about a bar night? Let's get shitfaced
and hit on some easy chicks."
”They'll need to be easy if you want them to come with you."
"Eheheh, you might be in for a surprise, my friend."
He probably was. He was sure Miya had exaggerated his adventures with girls,
but that didn't mean that there wasn't any truth in them. Sometimes the girls'
taste was incomprehensible.
"Do you know where that bike store is?"
"Yeah, I do. But if you don't mind, I'd like to take my stuff to your place and
maybe grab a bite to eat first? I got up early and didn't eat anything on my
way here."
"Sure, that's fine by me. It's not like I have anything else planned for
today."
It took them fifteen minutes to reach Arakita's apartment. One of his
requirements while looking for a flat had been a central location. It was a
twenty-minute walk away from school; by bike it only took him five. Along the
street there was a shop and a couple of cheap restaurants. The apartment itself
hadn't been in top shape, but he could live with that. After all, he didn't
spend that much time in it.
Miya stepped inside after him, letting out a low whistle as he looked around
the flat. "Wow, you actually have two rooms. That's a luxury." He stopped in
the middle of the living room, dropping his bag and taking yet another look at
his surroundings.
"Well, yeah. But they aren't that big." Arakita was still happy that he had a
separate bedroom even if he could barely fit his bed in it.
"It's still more than a ten square metres in the school dorm. How big is this?"
"28 square meters."
"That's 18 more than what I have." Miya pursed his lips, pointing at the
kitchenette. "And you have a cooking option."
"Yeah, not that I use it a lot."
"Still. I don't even have my own fridge. Where do I sleep? On the couch?"
Arakita glanced at the piece of furniture in question. Miya wouldn't have space
to stretch his legs on it and a couple of its strings were broken so it was
quite sagging. "The couch is pretty uncomfortable. You can sleep here on the
floor on my spare futon."
"Okay, sounds good," Miya trailed off. "In fact, that sounds more than good. If
we happen to find company for the night, at least there'll be some privacy."
Arakita hummed. While the bedroom door meant he wouldn’t have to see, it
wouldn’t really block any sounds and he wasn't that eager to listen to
Machimiya banging some chick in his living room. Miya probably kept making his
annoying 'Eheheh' sounds during sex too. And Arakita already knew that he
wasn't going to bring anyone home for himself.
On the other hand, a one-night fling might give his overburdened brain
something else to think about. In fact, it might be healthy for him. Right now,
his last images of sex included Shinkai and Shinkai only. He hadn't made one
step of progress. He still caught himself staring at Shinkai like a hungry dog
staring at a piece of ham or an alcoholic staring at a bottle of vodka. Like
Toudou staring at Sohoku's Christmas tree. It was humiliating, yet he couldn't
help it.
A one-night stand still didn't sound appealing. And you couldn't force
yourself, not in things like this. It could easily backfire on him and he
didn't want to add a visit from the Melty Man to his list of miserable
experiences. Unless he met a supermodel who showed interest in him, then he
might reconsider.
Miya rolled his shoulders back. "So, should we go and get something to eat
then?"
* * *
Fetching the bike parts and having something to eat didn't take them longer
than two hours, but they ended up taking a tour around the town before
returning to Arakita's place. By then, it was already time to pop in the shower
and change clothes and head out to sniff Hakone's nightlife. Being a polite
host, Arakita let Miya use the shower first.
While his guest was showering, he opened up his laptop and signed in on
Facebook to check his latest events. His wall and inbox had been depressingly
quiet for the last few days but he realized that was more to do with him than
other people. Many of his friends had talked to him but since he hadn't had the
energy to answer them or maintain a conversation, chatting dried up before it
had even properly began. That one person he wished to get messages from didn't
write to him. They talked at school but there was a tight, awkward tone to
their words. Something was lurking in the background and neither of them wanted
it to jump onto the stage so they kept pretending that everything was like
normal. But of course that didn't work. Fuku-chan and Toudou had also noticed
that something was off.
A couple of times Arakita had wondered if this was what Shinkai had wanted.
And on the other hand, he understood Shinkai's point. Of course he did. Shinkai
was just trying to do what was right. Shinkai had set an obstacle on the road
because Arakita couldn't do it. Because Arakita hadn't wanted to do it.
He understood perfectly. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that since he
kept seeing Shinkai on a daily basis, it was quite hard to get over him. You
know, on top of the fact that he and Shinkai could actually have been a great
couple and maybe deep down Shinkai wanted it too... but tried to act
rationally, because that was how he was as a person.
The shower was turned off. Arakita logged out of Facebook and moved onto a
safer site. Tonight he would have to concentrate on other things. He would have
to get wasted as hell and have fun. And make sure he didn't use his phone while
drunk.
He heard the bathroom door open and Miya stepped out with only a towel wrapped
around his waist, walking to his bag and pulling out some fresh clothes.
Arakita kept glancing at him over his shoulder. Even though Miya's face wasn't
exactly suitable for magazine covers, Arakita had to admit that he had a pretty
good body. Good-looking thighs, that type that were wider than the hips, thanks
to hard training. Shinkai had a similar figure.
A sharp twinge beneath his breastbone told him that his thoughts were heading
in the wrong direction again.
He jumped up from his chair and closed his laptop. "I'm gonna go and shower
now. Don't touch my laptop."
Miya turned to look at him. "Why the hell would I touch it? I don't want to
come across any weird porn you have undoubtedly preserved on your hard drive."
"That's right. You stay away from it." Especially away from his browsing
history which included suspicious amounts of staring at Shinkai's Facebook
profile. Miya rolled his eyes before concentrating on his bag again. Arakita
stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.
They made it to the centre in an hour and a half. Arakita mused that he should
maybe have invested in his choice of clothes a little more. He had ended up
putting on worn-out cargos and a red and black band t-shirt. Miya was wearing a
rather stylish but casual button-up shirt (which gave the impression of a
person with a good sense of fashion) and dark jeans and he had been styling his
hair for so long that Arakita had begun to suspect that he shared some genes
with Toudou. Miya had looked at Arakita a second too long and raised his brows
as if to ask, 'Is that the outfit you're going to charm ladies in?' Arakita
hadn't reacted to it, and Miya hadn't said anything.
"Let's go here first." Arakita halted in front of a familiar bar. "Good place
to get your buzz started."
"Sure, you're the expert here. But afterwards we should move to a proper
nightclub. This doesn't look like a good place to hit on girls."
It wasn't. Arakita liked the place because it was peaceful, you could sit alone
with your thoughts and drink beer as long as you felt necessary. The place was
popular amongst men. Ladies were a rarer sight and when they came, they weren't
looking for company either. "Yeah, yeah, we'll switch places later."
There were still a lot of free tables but there was also a steady stream of
customers through the door. The place was usually at its busiest around eight
or nine. They climbed on barstools and ordered their first round. Bottles of
some cheap beer. First numb his sense of taste with beer and then move on to
stronger drinks, that was Arakita's plan. It had been a while since the last
time he had tortured himself with tequila shots. They got into your head
extremely well but man, did you feel like shit in the morning. Tequila was one
of the few drinks that gave him a hangover. But he didn't care about it now. He
was fine with the idea of spending his Sunday hungover and in bed. Miya's train
would only leave in the afternoon and if Arakita was feeling too sick to escort
him, he could find the station himself.
Miya raised his bottle. "Alright then, shall we toast Saturday night?"
Arakita picked up his own bottle and clinked it against Miya's. "Kampai."
"Wow, that was so cheerful. Come on, let's toast with heart. Kampai!"
Arakita forced some enthusiasm into his voice, and their bottles touched again.
"Kampai!"
The beer was nice and cold. Not a real treat but mild enough to be drunk fast.
Arakita took several sips before returning the bottle to the table. Miya
followed his lead.
"Right," Miya said, wiping his mouth. "So how's school?"
Arakita glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "What are you, my mother?"
Miya sneered. "Hey, come on. I'm just trying to have a chat. Although I am
interested, too. I want to know if you get bullied as much as we do."
"Presumably."
"Yep. Ugh, teachers won’t give us a break. When do your tests start?"
"In a month or so." Arakita took a swig of his beer. He wasn't as concerned
with the upcoming tests as he should have been – not nearly as concerned as,
say, Toudou who declared at least once a day that he was going to kick the
bucket out of pure stress. He had passed all the tests up to now; why would
things be any different in the future? If someone had reasons to panic, it was
Shinkai. The redhead was pretty lazy when it came to schoolwork. Arakita was
too, but for some reason he could remember most of the stuff after hearing it
once, and he could answer questions in the way the teachers were after. Toudou
would be in trouble too, if the test questions wouldn't be STD's related.
Toudou wasn't lazy, but he had a bad memory with school stuff. And Fuku-chan...
he'd push through with sheer willpower.
School work wasn't a topic he felt it was necessary to discuss during his free
time but now it was neutral enough and distracted him from more miserable
things. "We had a group assignment a couple of weeks ago," he told Miya. "About
STD's. We had to do a poster with pictures and all. I've never seen so many red
faces in the class. And there were some green ones too."
"Eheheh! What kind of pictures did you put in it?"
"Well, there was one of a dick with syphilis. It looked damn revolting, not to
mention painful."
"Urgh, yeah, I've seen those pictures myself. Luckily we get to live in the
golden era of antibiotics. What about your teacher, didn't he say anything?"
"We cropped the picture so you couldn't tell immediately which body part was in
it, but it was quite clear once we told. But assigned us the topics so it would
have been quite unfair to complain about it when we were just doing as we were
told. We didn't make it purposely lewd, though, but we did have a short
presentation of how to use a condom too."
Miya laughed again. "I really hope someone had the sense to film it. It would
be hilarious to see it."
"I think someone did record it... but I haven't gotten my hands on it yet."
"How did you execute your little condom lesson?"
"With bananas. The thing itself wasn't that funny except for the fact that
nobody wanted to do it, so we ended up demonstrating it together." That had
been fun, even though he had been against it first. Classmates' reactions had
varied from shock to laughter and embarrassed faces. A few of the guys had most
certainly gotten a boner too. And Arakita could name at least three guys who
had gotten hard watching the vagina with gonorrhea. Fucking virgins.
"What, all of you simultaneously, standing in line or something?"
"Yeah, exactly."
"That must have been the gayest sight ever."
"It was stylish." They had been in perfect sync, so perfect that the whole
thing looked rehearsed. He would have gladly seen it on video. He'd have to ask
around for it. Hopefully it hadn't been uploaded on social media.
"We got the loudest applauds," he added. "Despite some poor souls having to
present intercourse." After all this trouble he'd be surprised if they didn't
get a good grade in health education.
"Your teacher is quite a torturer."
"The old geezer just wanted to avoid the ugly task." Arakita picked up his
bottle from the table and took a long sip. The beer had been vanishing
gradually during their chatting, so much that after a few gulps he'd need to
order another. One beer didn't do the trick but he could already feel pleasant
warmth and ease streaming into his limbs. He hadn't even been thinking about
Shinkai as much as usual. Or maybe he had but the sharp edges of those thoughts
had dulled a little. After a couple of tequila shots he wouldn't even remember
the name of a teammate he had once had a crush on.
Miya drank the rest of his beer and gestured the bartender to him. He ordered
two more bottles, pushing one of them towards Arakita. "This round is on me. As
a thanks of having me over."
"Mhm. It's no big deal."
"Of course not. I know basic manners and am quite a neat guest."
"Well, half of the bathroom was flooding after your showering."
Miya pulled a face. "No, it wasn't! I wiped the floor!"
Arakita smirked. "Relax, I'm just messing with you. It wasn't flooding. But I
will gladly accept your offering. Thank you." He took the bottle to his side.
"So what's up with school? How do you think your tests will go?"
"I'm gonna pass them, no problem."
"Have you decided which university you want to apply for?"
"Not much has changed in a couple of weeks. Yonan is one of my choices. We'll
just have to see if I have realistic chances to get in."
Arakita hummed. Yonan was on his list too, since they had a faculty of computer
science and electronics. He reckoned it wouldn't be too bad to end in the same
uni with Machimiya. He'd prefer to have at least one familiar face in the new
environment.
Picking up his beer, Miya nodded somewhere behind Arakita. "Check that out.
Quite a nice looking chick back there."
Arakita peered over his shoulder. He assumed that Miya meant a group of four
girls from which a blonde in a strapless dress stuck out like a queen. Her
boobs looked so big that she had probably used some extra padding.
"She's a treat, that one. And the rest are not so bad either," Miya continued.
"Should we go and talk to them?"
"Mhm," Arakita grunted. He wasn't drunk enough to socialize with strangers.
"You can go if you want to."
That clearly wasn't the answer Miya had been expecting. He turned his eyes from
the girls to look at Arakita. "I was thinking that we both go."
Arakita shrugged. "You'll do fine without me."
"Well, naturally, but it wouldn't be as fun. What's going on? You not
interested or something?"
Arakita dodged Miya's sharp gaze. "I don't feel like it yet. I'd rather
concentrate on drinking first."
"Hey, they glanced our way," Miya hissed, grabbing his arm. "And again! I'm
sure we wouldn't get turned down if we went to talk to them now. Wouldn't it be
more fun to drink with company?" There was a footnote in his voice. We were
supposed to hit on some easy chicks. That's why we're out. You’ve picked quite
a moment to become a prude.
Arakita sighed. Maybe it would have been easy to go along with Miya and try to
have fun. And the girls didn't look bad, hell no. Had the circumstances been
different, he would have been interested. But now at some point of the night
he'd have to reveal that he wasn't looking for a company. Maybe it would be
easier to tell Miya directly what situation he was in. "You can go. I don't
really feel like it."
"Ohoho. What's gotten into you?"
"I kinda have... someone in my sights."
Miya leaned closer, his eyes boring into Arakita and curiosity radiating from
him. "You do? Is she from your school?"
"Yeah. No." Arakita lifted his hand, scratching his neck and turning his eyes
away. "Yes and no."
"Sounds complicated."
"You have no idea."
"Who is it? Do I know her?"
Arakita looked at him long and hard. "How many students do you know in our
school?"
"Okay, point taken. But at least tell me the big picture." Miya seemed to have
momentarily forgotten the juicy girls at another table. "Does she know that
you're interested?"
"I think so. Yeah."
"But you have failed to ask her out, being the coward you are."
Arakita sneered. "Something like that."
Miya had a solution ready. "If your thing is not a thing yet, does it matter if
you have some fun? It's not like she's going to know."
"It's not about that. I'm just not that interested in anyone else right now."
Miya pulled his head back, studying him as if he was a difficult mathematical
equation. "Man, aren't you monogamous or what?"
Arakita shrugged. "There are many things you don't know about me."
"Undoubtedly." Miya huffed, picking up his bottle. "Okay, no problem, man. We
can carry on with drinking. I don't have to go and talk to those chicks. I'm
sure I can find some beauties in a nightclub too."
Arakita nodded. "Yep."
*
A few moments later they were still sitting at the same spot, drinking and not
keeping count. Arakita had never seen Miya drunk so he hadn't known what to
expect. He'd suspected his friend would be annoying since 90 percent of people
were when drunk, and no mistake there. In a certain phase of his intoxication
Miya began snapping selfies and pictures of their various drinks, posting them
on Facebook right after. He even seasoned the pictures with stupid captions
such as 'Out with the Bepsi Wolf' and 'Someone's going to get lucky tonight'.
How Arakita knew about it was simply because every time Miya made another
update, he showed it to him, oozing with triumph.
"Is it absolutely necessary for you to do that?" Arakita grunted after Miya
pointed his phone at him for the fifth time.
"Come on, people have to know how much fun we're having."
Extreme fun. Even though he had to admit that all the beer he had downed was
beginning to play tricks on his system and lift his mood. He hadn't even been
thinking of Shinkai... for five seconds now. Or more accurately, he hadn't been
thinking of Shinkai every moment during the past few hours and that could be
counted as progress. He reckoned his sense of taste was numbed enough for him
to move on to stronger drinks, so he motioned the bartender to come over and
ordered two tequilas.
"Do you want one or should I drink both?" he asked his companion once the
glasses were placed in front of him.
"Fuck, of course I want it." Miya snatched the glass closest to him before
Arakita had time to react.
Arakita raised his shot. "Wanna down them at the same time?"
"Sure. On three then." Miya set the slice of lemon aside, licking at the back
of his hand and sprinkling salt on it. Arakita followed his lead. "One...
two... three!"
Arakita threw the liquid into his throat, forcing it down quickly, but the foul
taste got stuck on his tongue anyway. He stuffed the slice of lemon into his
mouth, chewing on it and trying to concentrate on the acidity instead. Beside
him, Miya was fighting to keep a straight face. The lemon wasn't enough but he
poured the rest of his beer onto his tongue before wiping his mouth and
groaning.
"Jesus, that shit is just sooo bad."
Yes, it was but it got into your head quickly. Kuroda should have tried it too.
One tequila shot could do the job, unlike cognac which you needed to down
several for the same effect. Arakita suspected that Kuroda in fact liked the
taste of cognac and merely complained because everyone else did too.
Miya knocked his glass onto the wood. "Wanna have another?"
"Right now? Shouldn't we wait for the first ones to... ah, what the hell. Sure,
let's order seconds."
"Yo, garçon!" Miya snapped his fingers at the bartender. "Another round!"
The second tequila almost made Arakita gag. He quickly ordered a glass of water
on the side, rinsing the bad taste from his mouth while waiting for the shot to
take effect. One of the interesting qualities of tequila was that it didn't
sneak up on you like other booze but gathered all its power into one attack:
one minute you were sober and the next you found yourself dancing on a table
naked with no recollection of how you had ended up there. Arakita liked to
think that he had a good tolerance for alcohol but he was no match for tequila.
And as the night progressed, as the bar became more crowded, the bartended
rushing from one end of the counter to another and the music grew louder,
Arakita lost sense of the time. A few other things got lost too. He managed to
forget where they were, what day it was and whether he had a test tomorrow or
not.
"No test," Miya swore. His eyes were drooping and his voice was imitating a
snail pulling a heavy load. His Hiroshima accent was already annoying as it was
and it only got worse as the number of drinks he downed grew. Luckily the
selfies and constant Facebook updates dropped out of the picture, mainly
because Miya couldn't find the camera function in his phone anymore. And
sometimes not even his phone. "Tomorrowww... ish Sunday... I think. I'm
prrrretty shuuure. Oi, oi, garçon!"
"The poor guy looks like he's going to throw us out if you call him garçon one
more time," Arakita pointed out. His words came out with an uncharacteristic
giggle.
"Eheheheh! He can't... can't throw out paying cushtomers!" We... 're ordering
drinksh all the time. We're amazing cushtomers! The best!"
The bartender came to them. Arakita thought he saw a hint of suffering in his
eyes. "Yes, gentlemen?"
"Is it Sunday today... no, tomorrow! Ish it Sunday tomorrow?" Miya demanded.
"Yes, sir, it is."
"Exchellent! That's all!" Just as the waiter was about to turn away, Miya
jumped up. "Hey, hold on a second! Fix ush drinks!"
The man huffed. "Alright. What kind of drinks would you like to have, sir?"
"You can decide. But we don' wan' no bitches' cocktails! We want real men's
drinks!"
"Very well, sir." The bartender nodded and went to select bottles from the
shelf.
"Remember! Real men's drinks, no bitches'!" Miya hollered after him.
"We're going to get pink strawberry cocktails with cute umbrellas," Arakita
said.
"Hoh! Then we're just gonna drink 'em! Who cares as long as it's booze?" Miya
declared, waving at an imaginary fly. "This is a great bar night! The best
ever!"
"We haven't even done anything yet."
"Sure we have. We have drunk a lot and we're gonna drink som' more. And then
we're going to a nice nightclub and find ourselves cute chicks and take them to
your place!" Miya's voice became surprisingly sober when he revised their plan.
Arakita smirked. "You saying that you're still gonna get it up after all this
drinking?"
"Never had a problem with that. The chick can always blow me if other stuff
doesn't work."
Arakita hoped to be sleeping at that point. Although, now when he gave it a
closer thought, he wasn't that bothered by the idea of Miya banging some girl
in his living room. They were both overly stressed by school, so he didn't want
to nitpick. Besides, if he kept drinking like this, he would pass out
immediately when his head hit the pillow.
The waiter came back with two pale yellow cocktails and placed them in front of
them, looking very much like he'd throw them out if they dared to say anything
about the drinks.
Miya glanced at the guy. "What'sh in them?"
"Rum, pineapple juice and ginger."
"Doesn't sound too bad," Arakita said, picking up one. He sniffed the content
before bringing the glass to his lips. "This is pretty good, actually."
Pineapple juice and ginger masked the taste of rum – not that it mattered to
him anymore.
Miya took a sip of his drink too. "Yeah, it's good. You know, rum is probably
the manliest drink there is!" And then he threw half of the cocktail into his
throat. "Exchellent stuff! We should..." A bubbling burp cut off his words.
"..order another round in a minute."
"Just let me finish this first."
"Yeah, yeah... hey, why aren't you drunk?"
"I am drunk!" Arakita objected. Pretty rude of Miya to say something like that.
It wasn't his fault that he didn't behave incontinently and recklessly like
certain silver-haired vice-captains.
"You're not. You're sitting up straight and looking like a spinster lemon.
Shouw– should you perhaps order another tequila?"
More tequila was definitely bad idea. "Hold on! Let me drink this first!" He
slurped from his glass.
"I shuppose you're just too uptight to let looshe even when drunk."
Arakita chose to not answer his companion. Miya huffed to himself for a moment
but soon came up with a new topic.
"Hey, woof– Wolfsie! You should tell me about the chick you have your eyesh on!
What's she like?"
"Just ordinary. Nothing special."
Miya leaned closer, nudging him in the arm like they were sharing a secret.
"Come on, you can tell your old buddy..."
"Old buddy? We've known each other for three months."
"I've had shorter acquaintances." Miya winked at him.
"That's not really news to me." He had had them too, even if he wasn't looking
for one tonight.
"What'sh the big deal? We all get crushes. That's life. Why couldn't you tell
me?"
Arakita examined his drinking buddy from the corner of his eye, evaluating how
the news would be received. Miya had been very vocal about real men's drinks;
who knew what his opinion was about the matter. He didn't have another place to
crash in, though, nor were there trains heading south, so he would have to
control his reaction somewhat. Of course there was always tomorrow and the day
after that and many years to come during which he could blurt out Arakita's
secret on social media. He could already picture a Facebook group called
'Arakita Yasutomo is a faggot'. Toudou would join immediately, that spiteful
little bug.
A part of him wanted to trust Machimiya, another part yelled that he was crazy.
There was also the side of him that thought it would be nice to have even one
person in the world to know about the situation (beside Shinkai). But even that
wasn't strong enough to conquer his natural wariness.
The amount of alcohol he had downed solved his dilemma. The painful truth was
that keeping private things private felt secondary when you had drunk ten or a
dozen doses of booze and two of them had been tequila shots.
Arakita wiped his face. "If you tell this to anyone, I'm going to relocate your
nose to the back of your head and fill the internet with pictures of you going
at it with hand puppets."
Miya jerked backwards. "Wow, man! Maybe after that threat I can keep your
secret. But why would you think that anyone would be interested in some unknown
chick from Hakone?"
Yeah, I wonder why. "Because it's not 'some unknown chick from Hakone'."
"What do you mean ish not? Are you telling me she's a celebrity? An idol? Do
you have a crush on an idol? I can tell you from almost my own experience that
doesn't lead to anything elshe than failing tests and inflaming your right
hand. Or left."
Arakita took a swig of his drink, staring in front of him. Which strategy would
work with Miya better? Should he continue avoiding the subject for a little
more or just slam it on the table?
"It's not an idol." At least not nationwide.
"Who is it then? A teacher? A young and cute teacher lady. That's normal too."
"It's not a teacher either."
"Who the hell then? I really don't undershtand why you need to make sh– such a
big deal of it... if it's not your ugly-as-fuck sister?"
Arakita slapped Miya sideways. "My sister! Fuck, what the hell is wrong with
you?"
"Ouch! I don't know! I just can't come up with anyone who'd..."
"It's a fucking big deal because it happens to be my teammate!"
Miya's annoying babbling ceased for ten divine seconds as his brain was trying
to process the news. "Huh?"
"You heard me." Arakita could feel his defence gathering weapons. One wrong
word and Miya would find himself on the floor, missing a couple of teeth.
"It's your teammate! God damnit." Miya's face twisted in a weird manner. "Could
I just... laugh for a minute? I promise to behave after that."
Arakita gritted his teeth. "If you must."
And Miya did laugh, from the bottom of his heart. The noise of the bar covered
it but customers closest to them turned to look as he was swinging back and
forth on his chair, howling like a pack of hyenas.
"The minute is full," Arakita grunted, and Miya snapped his mouth shut.
"Alright, phew. That was... unexpected. And a pretty miserable isshue, if I may
shay so." He trailed off, twisting his lips in a way that foreshadowed another
burst of laughter but in the end he managed to control himself. "Who is it? Not
your Queen of the Mountain or what was he called again?"
"Toudou. No way in hell."
"That's good. He's rather... pansy."
"Tell me about it. Besides, he's in a relationship. With a guy."
The corners of Miya's mouth were tugging again. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Nobody was." Arakita hadn't been surprised that Toudou was dating a guy, just
about the detail that the guy happened to be Sohoku's Christmas tree. He had
been under the impression that in the end Makishima didn't like Toudou in that
way even if he tolerated him. Still, he hadn't really been shocked after
learning the truth.
"But still, oh man!" Miya shook his head. "This revelation requiresh another
rum cocktail. Hey, garçon! We need rum! We need another manly drink! A rum
drink! No bitches' or pansies' drinks!" His hand landed on Arakita's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Wolfsie, Miya-chan is here to help you! This is what we're gonna
do now: I'm going to pay for this round and you're going to tell me the whole
story!"
***** Anyway, how's your sex life? *****
Chapter Notes
     Many thanks to Hailey for taking on the betaing job!
     This chapter contains spoilers of the worst movie ever made.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Miya actually listened to Arakita's venting. Silently, not laughing, leaning
his chin into his hand and humming every now and then to indicate that he was
still on board. After unloading his story onto his friend, Arakita felt much
lighter, like he had thrown up a years worth of sickness. Alcohol might have
had something to do with it, too.
"And that was it. The short version."
Miya exhaled, pulling himself to sit up properly and lifting his hand to wipe
his face. "Man, that was quite a story."
"Yep."
"So let me get this straight. You were boning like bunnies during your trip in
Europe and nearly did it once here too and then Shinkai called the whole thing
off?" Miya had almost stopped slurring, his speech becoming suddenly much
clearer once they started talking about serious stuff. After their last rum
drink they hadn't ordered any more beverages but Arakita had immersed himself
in telling his sad story and Miya had concentrated on listening.
"Yes."
"That's pretty harsh."
"Well, yeah." Arakita shrugged. "Shinkai has a girlfriend and apparently he
likes her, since he doesn't want to break up."
"I don't think you're the one reshp– responsible here. Shinkai should have
known not to get involved. It's not like you forced him."
No, he hadn't forced Shinkai, but they had gone through a long, tiring battle
of wills. Even so, Shinkai could have ended it, had he wanted to.
Miya shot his hand in the air. "Garçon! Another round of rum!"
"I think I've drunk enough," Arakita muttered.
"Are you nuts? After that misherable babbling you need more booze!"
Arakita stopped arguing – Miya would order the drinks anyway – but that would
definitely be the last one. He wasn't in the mood to continue to a night club.
Not even alcohol could really lift his mood even if he downed a bucketful of
it. What he would have preferred to do was get back home, slump into his bed
and sleep until Monday morning.
Damn, he was acting like a boring old man, who always returned home to his wife
and kids before midnight.
Miya was peering at him, a very serious expression on his face. "Should I
confiscate your phone?"
"No need." He couldn't really boast to be free of the temptations of drunken
calls and texts but this time he felt his head was clear enough. He would just
make matters worse by contacting Shinkai after the redhead had made it clear
that they needed to put some space between them. However, being the weak soul
he was, he had been glancing at his phone regularly in hopes of receiving a
call or a text from his desired person. But no, the only message he had gotten
was from Toudou who whined that he had lost his favourite shirt and asked if
Arakita had seen it – in other words, had he taken it with him when leaving the
ryokan after the party. He hadn't.
"Which way was it with you guys?"
"You mean..?"
"Which one of you took it up in the ass?"
Arakita stared at Miya for a long while. "Is that somehow relevant?"
"It might be. Jush tell me. It was you, washn't it?"
"No. Shinkai."
"Oh." 'I didn't see that one coming', was left unsaid.
"Say it," Arakita grunted at Miya's twitching face muscles.
"Didn't see that one coming."
Of course not. He hadn't believed it himself at first. He had been prepared to
be on the receiving end, but then Shinkai had dropped a bomb that didn't match
any traditional homophobic stereotypes. There had been a logic to the redhead's
explanation, though – and it was not that Arakita was complaining, no sir.
"Are you sure?" Miya asked.
"What do you mean 'am I sure'? How the hell could I not be? You reckon that I
just magically forgot which one of us was bottoming?"
"But Shinkai ish so..." Miya clenched his hands into fists and flexed his
biceps. "..and you're so..." He sucked his cheeks in, trying to look
malnourished.
"So what? Like it has something to do with it?"
Miya lifted his hands, yielding. "Hey, I don't know. I'm jush speculating."
"That's quite stereotypical." Despite that everyone else would probably have
thought the same.
"I shuppose." Miya grabbed his glass and poured the remains of his drink onto
his tongue. "Quite a story anyway. I learned shomething new about you."
"I'm not a faggot then," Arakita stressed.
"But if..."
"No! I'm not."
"But ishn't Shin–"
"No."
"Lishen to me for a sec, Wolfsie. I don't care if you like the puss or hairy
asses or fucking gummy bears but if you have a crush on a male teammate..."
"Shinkai is the first and only one," Arakita interrupted. "Besides him, I only
like chicks."
"Okay, then you're just a little bit bi-oriented."
"I'm not some fucking pansy!"
"I know that. Calm down. No panshies by this counter!"
Arakita leaned back, letting out a deep sigh. The barista came over to place
two rum drinks in front of them, the same cocktails they had been slurping the
past few hours. Arakita grabbed his glass and tilted his head back, throwing
half of the drink down his throat. Next to him, Miya was staring into his glass
and turning it around in his fingers.
"I might have the same problem."
"Huh?"
"The same problem but I'm in the other end. In Shinkai's shoes."
Arakita merely kept staring at his companion, assuming that his stunned
expression demanded an explanation. Miya tapped his fingers onto the table,
sighing loud and theatrically before speaking again. "A teammate of mine..."
"Which one of them?"
For a moment, Miya looked like he wouldn't tell but after pressing Arakita he
couldn't really refuse. "Ibitani."
"Ah." Arakita remembered the black-haired guy who permanently wore a Pepsodent
smile and whose mission in life seemed to be following Miya around. He would
have probably figured it out himself, had he thought about it for a second.
"I think... no, I'm almost certain that he's sort of... that he has... a crush
on me."
I second that.
"What makes you think that?" he asked anyway.
"You kinda notice it," Miya said. "I mean... the way he speaks and looks at me
and how he always wants to do everything together and he's sort of... always
there. And one time when we were drunk he almost confessed, but that was a
while ago."
"What are you gonna do about it?"
"Probably nothing. I'm just gonna see how things progress. Ryou is one of my
best mates, so I don't really wanna cut ties with him."
Arakita hummed. You're right. Your situation is quite similar.
"How did you react when he confessed you?"
"Almost confessed."
"How did this even happen?"
"Well, it was..." Miya trailed off, searching for words. "It was one of those
moments when you talk about chicks and exes and... you know, I broke up with my
girlfriend before the Inter High so I could fully concentrate on the race...
and Ryou sort of slipped that he would rather see me alone than with someone
and... I can't remember it word by word, but Shiono asked why so and Ryou said
nothing to it, but you kinda just... you could see it."
"The others saw it too?"
"Yeah, the guys who were there. It was a somewhat awkward moment."
I can very well imagine that. Arakita's worst nightmare was that he somehow
blurted his secret out in front of the whole team. That was why he had buried
it so deep for so long; so that even in his weakest moments, like when he was
drunk or angry, it wouldn't surface.
Although, he suspected that Kuroda might have a small hunch of it, but he
couldn't do anything but trust in the hunch being so small that it wasn't worth
spreading around.
"What was your reaction?" he repeated his question.
"Nonexistent, basically. Everyone just kept on partying and pretended that Ryou
hadn't said anything, Ryou included. He was probably embarrassed after blurting
out something like that."
"Do you think it would be a good idea to keep some distance after that?"
"It would be," Miya answered straight away. "But I don't really want to. It
would make it a bigger deal. And Ryou being interested in me hasn't really
bothered me. I mean, yes, it bothers me that I know about it and because of
knowing I pay a bit too much attention to it but I can still see him as a
friend. I'm not saying that's how Shinkai should have acted, though. Your thing
was way bigger than ours and required bigger actions. Shorry, but I sort of
understand Shinkai even though I do think he should have made up his mind
sooner."
Yep. Arakita understood it too. It didn't make it any less painful.
"Have you considered... or has it crossed your mind that..." He tossed his
head. "..that something would happen between you guys?"
He had expected a strong denial, but Miya just stared at the counter and tilted
his head a little before taking a few gulps of his drink. "Of course it crosses
your mind when you find out something like that. But I've never thought of Ryou
that way – like I haven't thought of other guys, either – so that was the end
of any consideration there might have been. Sometimes I do wonder what Ryou's
thinking if I'm wearing a certain shirt or pants or what has he been thinking
when we've been in the shower at the same time."
"He's probably been ogling at you at every given opportunity." Arakita shook
his head lightly. "You can't really help it. I mean, you stare at good-looking
chicks too."
"Yeah, I suppose. The thought still bothers me a bit."
Arakita knew it too and that's why he had tried to be very subtle with his
ogling, but sometimes his eyes just refused to obey him and sometimes Shinkai
just dressed up very nicely (like, say, in a snug T-shirt – and he didn't even
want to start about the biking shorts) so his self-control possessed no chance.
"I must say that this conversation has flattened my party mood," Miya muttered.
Arakita reckoned a bigger reason was the amount of booze they had downed.
"Sorry."
"No worries, I asked, didn't I? But what do you say, should we just head back
to your place?" Miya pulled out his phone, checking the screen. "It's past one
already. Where did the time go?"
"I'm okay with going back," Arakita said. He was just relieved that he didn't
have to continue pretending to enjoy being out and drinking. Not that he had
succeeded very well thus far.
"We still have time to get some pizza and watch a shitty movie before bed."
"Does the movie have to be shitty?"
"Yes, because I probably won't remember anything of it in the morning. I'd
rather forget a shitty movie than a good one."
"You can always watch it again."
"Yes, but..." Miya downed the rest of his drink and slammed the glass onto the
table. "Hey, what was that extremely crappy movie you wrote about on Facebook?"
"When did I do that?"
"I went through some of your older updates. It was an Adam Sandler movie."
"Jack and Jill?"
"Yes, that's it!"
"We're not gonna watch that," Arakita said, determined.
"Why not? Because you've already seen it?"
"We're not watching it."
"If it's so bad, can't we–"
"Shinkai and I fucked with it running in the background in France."
Miya snapped his mouth shut, staring at him with round eyes before letting out
one of the weirdest noises Arakita had ever heard. "Brrghsh! Okay, fuck, too
much information!"
"You kept insisting."
"You banged with an Adam Sandler movie as a background entertainment? What the
hell is wrong with you? If you both thought it was a good idea, you're a match
made in heaven."
Why even such an innocent remark hurt so much? "It was nobody's idea. We just
forgot it running in the background."
"After this I never wanna see it. Never!" Miya declared. The he slid down from
the bar stool and yanked Arakita's sleeve. "Come on then, Wolfsie! We're going
to get ourselves some pizza and see some other crappy movie!"
*
Walking in the cool night air cleared his head a bit but once they were sitting
in a pizzeria near his home, Arakita noticed weariness sneaking into his limbs.
Miya seemed to be past his highest buzz too and was fiddling with his phone
silent and with heavy-lidded eyes – at least until he found the camera function
again and snapped a picture of them.
"The party continues at home," he cited his update. Although, if Arakita saw it
correctly, Miya had typed 'The pantry avenue homos'. The picture added to the
update didn't look like they were having the time of their lives. As Arakita
was scanning over it, the update already received one like. From Ibitani. He
didn't mention it and Miya pulled the phone back to himself. He checked the
latest events before pocketing the device again.
"You're not a puker, are you?" Arakita asked, trying to evaluate his friend's
condition.
"You mean do I puke after drinking? I guess all of us puke sometimes but I
wouldn't call myself a 'puker'."
"You'll get to sleep with a bucket, nonetheless."
"Fine by me, if that calms your nerves."
After getting their pizzas, they headed to Arakita's place. At the door it took
him a moment to locate his keys even though they were chained to his belt and
yet another moment to navigate the key to the lock. They stumbled inside,
somehow managing to take off their shoes. Arakita needed to piss right that
second and he was also getting thirsty after drinking only alcohol for hours.
Luckily he always had a few cans of his favourite drink in the fridge.
Miya slumped down on the couch, nursing his pizza box. "Bring me something cold
to drink, will ya, Wolfsie?"
Arakita could have called him lazy but he really didn't have the energy. "I
have Bepsi."
"That'll do." Miya was already opening his box and picking up a slice. "Aah,
grease and salt!"
"How crappy does the movie need to be?" Arakita asked while fetching two
Bepsies from the fridge.
"Mhm, the crappier, the better."
"You wanna watch something Japanese or foreign?"
"I don't care."
"Let's see what I have." Arakita handed a can to Miya before going over to his
computer to leave it starting while he popped in the bathroom. He remembered to
have downloaded an American movie that had a reputation of being the shittiest
movie ever. He thought he had begun watching it once, but for some reason
hadn't made it very far.
On the couch Miya was contently munching his pizza and slurping Bepsi and
didn't even stop eating to talk to him. "You know what I was thinking just
now?"
"How the hell would I know that?" Arakita found the movie he had been looking
for and tested it to see if the subtitles worked. Okay, all set. He plugged in
an USB stick to copy the file into it so they could watch the movie on the TV
screen.
"I was thinking that if there's no pussy available, it's perfectly okay to
screw a guy."
Arakita froze before turning around very slowly.
Miya was stuffing his face with another slice of pizza, smacking loudly around
the words. "You don't need to make it a big fussh or anything. There's no need
to march in parades or rant about it on shocial media. Just go for it, end of
story."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"It just crossed my mind."
"There's a little difference, you know." What was Miya to say, having never
tried it? "You trying to be a liberal or something?"
"No, I was just thinking..." More pizza and Bepsi down his throat. "..that I
could fuck you if you wanna test what it's like."
Arakita felt like saying 'Tell me something I don't know', but of course that
wasn't the case. He had not been prepared for such a bomb. His first reaction
was to wonder how quickly gayness seemed to be spreading amongst the cyclists.
First Toudou and Makishima, then he and Shinkai (who, despite all of his
resistance, did have some bisexual tendencies), then Kuroda and now Ibitani and
Machimiya?! Even though it seemed that Miya was just trying to pretend to be an
experienced world citizen and blabbered whatever his drunken brain would cook
up.
Arakita found his tongue somewhere in the middle of his bewilderment and
managed to get back to his companion. "Is there any limit to your generosity?"
Miya stopped annihilating his meal and lifted his hands. Both were glistening
with grease. "Oi, hear me out, Wolfsie! This is actually a good idea."
Arakita just stared at him.
"Think about it. You haven't been on the receiving end; you could test out what
it feels like from Shinkai's point of view. And I've never been with a guy so I
could test what it's like in general. Just... you know, just in case."
Because of Ibitani, you mean?
Arakita didn't answer him, merely disconnecting the USB stick and taking his
pizza box onto the coffee table. Then he opened the TV and plugged the stick
into it. The screen opened a menu that asked if he wanted to view pictures or
video files.
When he parked onto the couch, Miya had gone back to his pizza, looking like he
hadn't said anything unusual. Maybe he had already forgotten.
"So... what are we watching?"
"It's called The Room and I've heard that it's the worst movie of the century."
Miya lifted his chin. "Hey, I think I've heard of it! I've seen clips on
Youtube."
"Yeah, there are lots." Arakita had seen a couple of lousy scenes that had
inspired him to check out the whole movie. He clicked on the file before
picking up his pizza box and opening it. A divine smell of grease, melted
cheese, salami and garlic was wafting from inside. Miya picked it up too, his
head snapping towards Arakita.
"What kind of pizza do you have? Wanna swap slices? I have shrimps, bacon and
olives."
"Salami, extra cheese and garlic. Sure, why not?" He pulled out a slice and
handed it over to his guest. Miya gave him a piece of his own pizza and Arakita
stuffed it into his mouth right away.
Aah, man, how delicious it was! It only took him a few bites to get through the
whole slice. Why hadn't he ordered a similar pizza? Not that there was nothing
wrong with his own, but now he was really craving bacon. One pizza might not
even sate his hunger and it was a known fact that people needed unhealthy stuff
in the morning when they were hungover. There were several fast food
restaurants close to his apartment, but he would have preferred to have
something ready in the fridge.
Beside him, Miya was lapping his Bepsi. "What genre is this?"
"I'm not sure. A drama, maybe. I don't think it matters since I've heard that
the movie is so bad that it makes the plot irrelevant."
"Oh boy, way to lift watchers' expectations."
It sure was. Arakita would be very disappointed if the movie turned out to be
not as bad as promised. The beginning was extremely boring. He took note that
the same guy who was playing the leading role had also directed and produced
the movie. That was probably telling something.
The pizzas were soon gone. Miya was ready first, licked his fingers and kept
glancing not-so-subtly towards Arakita's meal. Arakita pushed the pizza box
away and told Miya to get more food from the fridge if he was still hungry. He
wouldn't give away the tiniest bit of his meal. Miya settled for sitting on the
couch and sniffing at his food so he probably wasn't that hungry anymore.
They had been watching the movie for only ten minutes when it was already clear
that the level of acting was worse than in low-budget sit-coms. The prize of
the worst performance went to the director-producer-leading-role guy himself –
some of his acting Arakita had already seen on Youtube – but the other cast
wouldn't be lining up for Oscars, either. He also remembered why he hadn't made
it far on the first watch.
"This is some real weird shit," Miya muttered after yet another
incomprehensible scene. He had flung his legs on the couch so that he was half
lying on it, leaning his elbow on the armrest. "I know I asked for a crappy
movie but this is painfully bad."
"Want me to change it?"
"Nah, let it roll. It's not like they'll ask the plot in a test."
"There're a few memorable scenes coming up. One is shot in a flower shop and
the other in a café."
"Oh yeah, I think I've seen the flower shop scene."
Arakita finished his pizza and got up to fetch them another round of Bepsi. As
he got back, there was a bedroom scene beginning on the screen. Very badly made
again, with a dull ballad playing in the background and nothing cut out.
"Okay, this scene has been going on for fifteen minutes now," Miya pointed out.
"Never would I have thought that a sex scene could be this boring. And what's
up with the main pair? Their friend just came over and they went upstairs to
have sex. Then the friend comes up to watch and wants to join them. This is
like a bad porn movie without actual porn and with an ugly cast. And who the
hell picked the music?"
"Probably the leading guy himself."
"I could make a better movie and I've never even been in a school play."
"Anyone could make a better movie."
Miya straightened his legs towards Arakita, stretching them. Arakita poked at
the limbs when he almost got toes in his mouth, and Miya pulled his legs back
to his own side. "Oh, Jeeesuuuus! I'm not drunk enough to understand this...
hey, I think the scene ended now!"
"The song ended, so they stopped fucking. Practical."
"And here comes yet another scene that has nothing to do with the previous
stuff!"
Arakita took a swig of his Bepsi, humming in response. On some level, he
understood why the movie was recommended. It was so immensely bad that no words
could describe it. You had to see it with your own eyes.
Miya pulled himself to sit up straight, yawning. "You have a double bed?"
"Yeah, I do. Why?"
"I was just wondering if two people fit in it."
Arakita huffed. "If you wanna sleep in my bed, all you have to do is ask. You
don't have to fuck me."
"No, I meant if it's large enough for fucking in it. Nothing is more horrible
than trying to screw in a narrow single bed."
"You should try in the back of a van with only a sleeping bag under you."
Miya chuckled. "Sounds adventurous."
"It hurt my hips and knees so much that I won't agree to it anymore if I have
other choices."
"I can imagine." Miya was quiet for a moment, but there was expectation
floating in the air. Arakita could sense it even through the curtain of
drunkenness. "So, what do you say?"
"What?"
"Shall we go and do it?"
Another huff escaped Arakita's throat. It turned into a sigh towards the end.
In all reasonability, he should have dismissed Miya's idea right away, but he
had left it hanging. He had left it as something that would be decided later.
He had been expecting for both of them to pass out eventually, but pizza and
Bepsi had cleared and freshened up his head. And therefore he was beginning to
wonder why he hadn't told Miya to go to the bathroom to jerk off if he was so
horny.
The cruel truth was that he hadn't gotten laid in one and a half months (he
didn't really count the party at Toudou's) and Miya wasn't that bad-looking if
you forgot his mug. If they turned off the lights and did it from behind, he
didn't even have to look at the guy. Miya had a good build and he smelled
slightly of deodorant. The idea sounded more bearable than listening to his
guest bang some unknown chick in his living room.
"You're being serious now?" he checked.
"Yeah, yeah! Like I said, it's okay to screw a guy if there're no chicks
available."
"I've always thought that rule only applies to prison and other compulsory
homosexual places."
"Bullshit. It applies to bar nights too. Aren't you at least a little bit in
the mood? I was kinda expecting to get laid tonight and your gay France
adventures flattened my pick up drive."
"Well, I'm deeply sorry."
"That's not what I meant. And you don't have to say yes. I was just throwing it
out there for consideration."
"Mhm." Arakita finished his Bepsi while watching the weird protagonist guy
march to a flower shop, buy a bucket of roses, chatter with the sales woman,
pat an ugly dog sitting on the counter and storm out of the shop. The whole
scene lasted like three seconds. He had seen it online too. Someone reviewing
the movie had wondered if the rent of the flower shop had been so high that the
movie budget hadn't allowed a longer scene.
Miya burst out laughing. "Eheheh! Damn, this is some fucked up shit! I can't
believe a movie this bad was ever made. Didn't anyone watch this before they
decided to send it out to distribution?"
"I'm pretty sure that man himself has been the quality controller."
"Yeah, probably."
They concentrated on the movie for a while. Arakita could feel minutes worming
on skin, could feel his companion waiting for his answer.
"We would never talk about it to anyone," he muttered.
Brightness shone from Miya's face alongside with disbelief as he swirled
towards Arakita. "Of course not! It would be just between us. What were you
thinking? That I'd write about it on Facebook?"
Yes, with a lot of selfies. "Nothing is certain with you."
"Hey, I don't wanna be labelled as a pansy, either."
"Alright, alright, I believe you." Arakita felt the consequences of his blurt
creeping up to him. Blood was beginning to bustle in his veins, his heart was
speeding up and a thin nervousness was raising its head in his mind. The impact
was light, though, because... well, he had downed quite many doses of alcohol
and a couple of them had contained tequila. Since Miya did nothing to execute
his plans, Arakita continued lounging on the couch, but then the movie turned
from an absurd scene to another bedroom torture sequence.
"Fuck, I swear this is the same song!" Miya exclaimed. "I can't take this
anymore. Let's put something else on."
"Fine by me." Arakita was getting fed up with the boring protagonist too. "Any
suggestions?"
"You have porn?"
"Yeah." Of course I do. "You want to watch porn at two o'clock in the morning?"
Miya shrugged. "Why not? If we're planning some action here, it would help us
to get in the mood."
True. Arakita glanced at his friend out of the corner of his eye. The light of
the screen was dancing on Miya's face in the dark room. The weirdest part
probably was that Miya wasn't looking at him like you look at someone you want
to have sex with; no, Miya wore the same companionable, good-natured, drunken
expression he had had on the whole evening.
Arakita got up to his feet, wandering to his computer. His limbs felt like wet
noodles. He wasn't sure if it was because of booze or what was possibly coming.
What he did realize was that had he been sober, the idea would have sounded
extremely stupid. But he wasn't sober and a tiny (or not so tiny) part of him
was interested in trying what it felt to bottom. Shinkai hadn't found it
unpleasant, that was for sure. Then there was also the part that always wanted
sex; the part for which having sex was the topmost priority and with whom it
was done was an insignificant footnote. The same part was probably guiding
Miya's thoughts at the moment too.
Arakita opened his XXX movie folder, going through the files. "You wanna watch
straight or gay stuff?"
"Hmm, I think the former... unless you have something with both in it?"
"I might have one of those too."
"Well, put that on, then."
Chapter End Notes
     What what whaaat? What is happening? More platonic sex??!
     I've seen The Room twice, but I can't recall the order of scenes, so
     it's possible that the timeline isn't correct here.
***** If there are no girls available... *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
I'm probably going to regret this in the morning.
The thought mattered to Arakita surprisingly little at the moment. He wasn't
taken, nor did other human relationship rules concern him. He was free to shag
with bears if he wanted to (not that he did). Quite a few ideas sounded good at
half past two in the morning if you had been drinking a lot of booze.
But the tiniest insecurity sat on his shoulder when the time came to move into
the bedroom and actually start executing their idea. Take off clothes. Touch
Miya. Even though he was drunk and it was so dark in the room that he could
have been sitting on the bed with Sohoku's fat coach without recognizing him,
his body knew that he was getting it on with someone else than the guy who
usually stirred some reactions within him. God damn, he was just hoping that
the Melty Man wouldn't strike tonight. Miya would never let him forget it if he
lost his boner in the middle of it.
"Hey, you don't have any ulterior motives, do you?"
He could almost see Miya's surprise through the darkness. "I wanna screw with
you and you're asking if I have ulterior motives? Could I possibly have more of
them?"
"No, I mean that... you're not interested in me or something? Because I don't
think I could handle something like that on top–"
"I'm not," Miya cut him off. "Don't worry, Wolfsie. You're a good guy but I
don't want a relationship with you. I'm doing this solely out of my own
interests."
Arakita's shoulders slumped with slight relief. "Alright, I was just checking."
For a moment, they sat quietly on the bed. Arakita scratched his neck, feeling
quite awkward. They should have jumped on it while the porn had been playing in
the background; it had helped them get into the mood, but the major part of
arousal had turned into nervousness on their way to the bedroom. His heart was
beating heavily and demandingly beneath his breastbone, the pounding recurring
in his temples and fingertips.
"You take the lead," he said.
"Hmm, but you're the one with experience."
"Yeah, but if you're planning on topping, you can very well lead too. Besides,
this was your idea."
Miya lifted his hands. "Okay, it's not a problem. I was just making sure."
Arakita peered at him. "Or are you too drunk to fuck?"
"I'm never too drunk to fuck!"
He had a recollection of Miya previously babbling about getting a blowjob in
case all the alcohol in his system prevented a full erection, but now he seemed
very sure of his stamina.
"Have you ever tried anal?" Arakita asked. It would make things way easier
if...
"In fact, I have," Miya said, sounding very proud of himself. "But, you know,
with a girl."
So he wasn't a total amateur. That made Arakita relax a bit.
Miya grabbed the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head and making Arakita
uncomfortable by reminding him that he had quite a lot of muscle compared to
his host. Not that there was much Arakita could do about it. He couldn't really
help it that his muscles grew inward. He wasn't a complete stick but food
seemed to whish through his body without leaving any marks behind. Only his
thighs looked trained, thanks to the intense cycling, but combined with his
thin upper body they made him look very unbalanced.
Then he slapped himself mentally. You're feeling insecure because of another
guy? This has never happened before.
It hadn't, but Miya was his rival. He was used to being naked around guys, but
they were his teammates, not cyclists from a rivalling school.
Miya's question broke through his hesitation. "You gonna take off your shirt or
do you want me to do it too?" It wasn't a sarcastic question. Miya wanted to
know how much he needed to lead.
"I can take off my clothes on my own." His voice sounded suddenly defensive and
it irritated him. He pulled his shirt over his head, throwing it onto the
floor. He could have used a couple more tequila shots, as his state of
intoxication had come down quickly. Miya seemed to be have sobered up too. His
voice was still sluggish, but he wasn't slurring anymore. His movements weren't
perfectly coordinated, but the clumsiness that was left was blending into
Arakita's own buzz. Miya watched him remove his shirt before beginning to unzip
his pants. A pale moonlight filtering through the window hit his bare chest,
mirroring back from two tiny spots.
Arakita stopped. Damn. How come he noticed it only now, in half-darkness,
instead of paying attention to it before when Miya had exited from the shower
wearing only towel around his waist? Well, he hadn't really been staring back
then.
He let out a snort. "You have pierced your nipples?"
"Yeah. Why is it so funny?" Miya stopped fumbling with his pants and looked at
him. He sounded slightly hurt. "They bring a good amount of seasoning into
sheet action, you know."
"That's not it. I just remembered your way of cycling." Did Miya perhaps get
some extra boost of energy from banging his pierced nipples into his bike's
handlebar?
Abashed, Miya scratched his neck. "Oh, right. I got them after the racing
season was over, thinking that I wouldn't be cycling as much anymore. On the
other hand, I thought they would be a good way to learn a new style. I was
beginning to grow tired of having a bruised chest after every race." He trailed
off for a moment. "In fact, it was Ryou's idea. Or it probably was a joke at
first, but then things started escalating."
Arakita was still chuckling under his breath. "Was Ibitani there when you had
them done?"
"Yeah, he was. The other guys were too."
"Ibitani probably came in his pants like ten times during that session."
Miya grabbed a pillow, smacking him. "Stop it! I don't wanna think something
like that of my best friend!"
"Haha! Okay, okay, sorry."
"They take quite a long time to heal, you know," Miya muttered, peering down
his chest. "I had them done two months ago and they are still quite sore. The
guy in the store said that they are the slowest healing piercing."
"Have you considered getting some more? You know, like..." Arakita nodded
meaningfully.
Instead of fully crushing the idea, Miya shrugged. "Maybe. They say it really
takes sex to another level. I'm not considering Prince Albert or anything, but
I don't think a Frenum would be that bad."
"What was that again?"
"It's when you have the underside of your dick pierced."
Arakita grimaced. "Ouch." He didn't like needles to begin with and the mere
thought of having a sharp object around the most sensitive part of his body
made him shiver. "What if it tears off?"
"There's always the risk. I haven't really given it a serious thought. Just
been toying with the idea sometimes." Miya exhaled. "Alright, should we
continue?"
Arakita nodded. Their conversation and the burst of laughter had relaxed him,
easing away the tension in his nerves. "Yeah."
Miya grabbed the front of his pants again, peeling them open. Even though he
couldn't really make out much in the dark, Arakita decided he wanted to look
somewhere else and concentrated on opening his own pants. Miya left his
underwear on so Arakita followed his lead. There was another moment of
insecurity, as Miya stopped, taking deep breaths and mustering up his courage
before stepping towards Arakita. Or crawling. Because they were sitting on his
bed. Which wasn't a single bed but it wasn't two meters wide either and it
didn't take much to get in the touching vicinity.
Arakita swallowed. When had the booze vanished from his blood? Why couldn't he
feel the comforting presence of alcohol anymore?
Miya rolled his shoulders back. "Alright, you asked me so..." And then he
leaned forward, breaking into Arakita's personal space and if he had previously
thought that his heart was beating hard, it was nothing compared to this
pounding, and he closed his eyes on instinct, when he felt the warmth radiating
from another body and fingers landing on his shoulder.
His head couldn't really keep up with the events. For a second or two the film
went blank and then he realized he was lying on the mattress on his back and
Miya was on top of him. His warm chest and stomach were leaning against him,
his legs had mingled with own and a hand was grazing down his arm, first
tentatively but with growing boldness and suddenly there was something foreign
on his face.
He slammed his hands against his companion's chest. "Hey, hey! What are you
doing?"
Miya yanked his head back fiercely as if Arakita had slapped him. "Eh, I'm
trying to kiss you?"
Arakita blinked. "Do you want to?"
Miya blinked back equally hard. "Isn't that sort of part of this thing?"
Fuck. Arakita had grown so accustomed to his and Shinkai's 'Only allowed to
touch dicks and asses' policy that he hadn't remembered there could be other
elements to the interaction between two guys. He wasn't completely sure that he
wanted to kiss Miya, but kissing was nice in general so... why not? It might
help him get in the mood.
"Or what kind of robot sex do you usually have?" Miya remarked.
Arakita waved him off. "Forget I said anything."
Miya let out an unsatisfied sound and leaned over him again so that Arakita
could feel his breath ghost over his face, warm and smelling like alcohol and
pizza, especially that bacon topping. He wished to have left garlic out of his
own meal. "So... is this okay?" Miya checked.
"Yeah, yeah," Arakita assured him, immediately getting a pair of foreign lips
against his own.
During the following seconds, he made several observations. Observation number
1: Heat surged through his body like had just dived into a bubbling onsen.
Observation number 2: the heat led to the phenomenon of the majority of his
body's blood supplies packing into his groin. Observation number 3: The change
in his blood circulation made his underpants tent so fast that he wondered if
there had been Viagra in his Bepsi. Observation number 4: Miya was quite a good
kisser. Good enough to evoke some reactions within him. Observation number 5:
He was lying on the bed like a paralyzed jellyfish and did nothing to
participate in the course of events.
He hoped that Miya blamed it on his drunkenness. Truthfully, he was just so
damn confused since it appeared that this might actually work out even though
he wasn't the slightest bit interested in his bed mate. Oh, the hormones of a
young man. But if he didn't start moving soon, Miya would think that he wasn't
up for it after all.
Miya lowered his weight partly on top him and he must have felt what was
happening in the nether regions of Arakita's body – as he was feeling Miya's
mood against his lower belly too. When it sunk in, Miya stopped for a moment,
giving Arakita a second or two to collect his thoughts and the control of his
muscles and kick himself into moving. He lifted his head to catch Miya's lower
lip and suck on it. He turned his head so that their lips were properly against
each other and he got his partner's tongue into his mouth, intrusive and
demanding (because he had asked Miya to lead) and prompting him to match it,
give some feedback that he wasn't some inexperienced girl that Miya could push
around like he wanted. Although, he suspected that Miya wasn't this rough with
girls – at least not in the first time. It was their rivalry that was shining
through their actions.
He realized he had missed kissing. For some reason it was more intimate than
the actual sex since you had your face touching someone else's. If the act
lacked kissing, it also lacked feelings. It became mechanical. The way it had
been with him and Shinkai. Except that he hadn't been lacking any feelings, but
he had had to pretend that they weren't involved.
He wondered what kind of a kisser Shinkai was.
Miya lifted his upper body, supporting himself on his arms. A string of saliva
was hanging from his lips into Arakita's mouth. He was breathing harder and his
lower body was still touching Arakita's, inciting him to roll his hips. "My,
my. This is going way better than I thought."
We'll see how it goes when it's time for the real action.
"Stop babbling nonsense so I don't have to look at your ugly mug," Arakita
grunted, cupping Miya behind his head and forcing it back down. Miya laughed
before attacking his lips again. His hand found Arakita's bare side, stroking
it and travelling up and down. Arakita stopped to observe his reactions, trying
to recognize if Miya's actions were pushing his boundaries, but he was met with
a rather mild reception. It felt like his body was shrugging. 'Hey, it appears
that we're getting laid tonight so who cares of your partner is as ugly as the
drawcard of a freak show?' He lifted his hand over Miya's back, reaching his
shoulder blade that was protruding out of his back because of his position. Its
surroundings were made of muscle and he could feel them move beneath his
fingertips. That was one of the differences between having sex with a girl and
a guy. No softness, no surface that easily gave in. But for some reason the
hard resistance and thicker skin felt right to him. He was sinking into an
image of how he would have felt, had he been in the same position with a girl
he found ugly.
A shiver ran through him. And it wasn't of the nice kind.
God fucking damn it, I might actually be gay. Like, really homo, not just
Shinkai homo. Full homo.
Never go full homo.
"What's wrong?" Miya asked, making Arakita realize that he had frozen in the
middle of making out. "You chickening out now?"
Arakita let out a vague grunt. "I'm not." He stroked Miya's back to indicate
that he was still in for it. When Miya didn't look convinced, Arakita dragged
his hand over to the front of his partner's body and pinched his left nipple.
Miya jumped, cursing. "Oww, fuck! I told you they haven't healed properly!"
"So how do they add to the sex then?"
"You don't have to abuse them. You could just..."
"You mean like this?" Light as a feather, Arakita grazed his nails over the
barbell. Miya squeezed his eyes shut and shivered visibly, his erection
twitching against Arakita's hipbone. "Oh, it seems to be working." He tried the
other nipple too, making Miya's mouth open to a silent moan. Chuckling, he
lowered his hand. "Don't want you to cream your pants." He was impressed,
though. He hadn't considered piercings before but Miya's reaction had piqued
his interest.
Miya's eyes snapped open, his gaze drilling into Arakita. There wasn't a trace
of his control wavering just seconds ago. Instead, his eyes were glimmering
with challenge. "You wish."
A smile was tugging the corners of Arakita's lips. This could turn out to be a
fun night after all.
His determination wavered again when the last remaining clothes had been cast
side, they were lying skin against skin and Miya's hand was sneaking its way
into his ass crack. Huh, did he really want this? Miya was known for his feisty
and unpredictable character, and despite of not being afraid of pain, Arakita
didn't want anything to break. Miya said that he was experienced, but Arakita
didn't know anything about the outcome of that experiment. Perhaps the poor
girl had been suffering from incontinence afterwards. Besides, even though
Arakita hadn't directly touched it, he had felt Miya's shameless grinding
against him and formed an assumption that his partner wasn't exactly small.
While not being in the same category as Shinkai, Arakita mused that for his
first (or only) time it would have been wiser to choose a bit smaller dick,
especially since Miya seemed to excel more in girth than length.
Damn, he had imagined that part of Miya' arrogance and ego boosting was an
attempt to compensate for small equipment and now his theory was left with no
base. Luckily he didn't have a middle school boy's weenie either, otherwise he
would have been collecting his self-esteem from the floor.
Miya lifted his head from Arakita's neck where he had been doing some
interesting things. "You have lube?"
"Yeah, I do." Waiting for Shinkai who'll never get to use it. He had bought
some real stuff after the Tour so they wouldn't have to mess around with lotion
but for now the tube was almost untouched. Almost, since he was only human and
there had been a day when his curiosity had grown unbearable. (That day he had
learned that lube made quite an interesting addition to solo sessions.)
Arakita pushed Miya aside, rolling over and onto his feet. The lube was in his
desk drawer which was locked securely in case a guest would get too nosy.
Condoms, however, were in his nightstand drawer. He took them out too.
Miya didn't waste any time, snatching the lube from him and urging him to lie
back down. That was probably for the best, since the night had leaped forward,
meaning it was almost four in the morning and Arakita was getting tired even
though his nerves were cooking up an anxiety attack at the same time. Better
act quickly before his brain had time to analyze the situation. Although, he
was pretty relaxed compared to how nervous he could have been, had he been
sober. He could feel his heart pound and his mind trying to object but they
didn't have too much effect on him.
He still had to wrestle with himself in order to not slap Miya's hand away when
it again found its way between his buttocks. Part of him wanted to open his
mouth and just suggest a friendly jerk-off session but another part was
curious. Shinkai had liked bottoming so much that he had screamed like a dying
animal so it couldn't be that bad.
Miya slipped his fingertip inside while leaning over him, catching his lips and
jabbing his tongue inside, forcing him to concentrate on it. Arakita could
still feel the finger in his ass. Oh yeah, he felt it alright and immediately
tensed up.
The key was to relax – he had told it to Shinkai over and over again – but now
when he experienced it himself, he realized it wasn't that easy. His muscles
seemed to have a will of their own. How were you even supposed to control your
sphincter otherwise than tightening it? There was no purpose in practising to
loosen it up: it was not like anyone wanted to shit their pants.
Tenseness spread into his whole body when Miya inserted another finger. Fuck,
he wasn't even comfortable with the first one yet!
"Nggh, wait," he snarled against his partner's lips. "That feels
uncomfortable."
Miya pulled back so he could look at him. Unfortunately Arakita's eyes were
already so used to the dark that he could make out Miya's features. "It's
supposed to feel uncomfortable in the beginning."
"No, it's not."
"Yeah, it is. You'll get used to it soon." To emphasize his words, Miya moved
his fingers, slid them deeper and pulled back, making Arakita hiss. "It'll get
better, I've heard."
Arakita couldn't really picture how it would get better. For now, his ass was
only prickling and constricting. His erection had disappeared. He slid his hand
down, grabbing his dick and beginning to slowly pump it in hopes of getting
some pleasant elements into their ministrations. He couldn't get fully hard,
probably because of the alcohol. Luckily it wasn't even required of him
tonight. Miya pulled his fingers out, added some lube and pushed them back in
much more easily. Arakita thought his muscles might have given in a little.
Miya noticed it too and the next second tightness Arakita felt in his ass made
his teeth hurt.
"Oww, for fuck's sake!"
"Does it hurt?"
"Yeah, it fucking does! Try to be more careful, will ya?"
"Stop whining, Wolfsie. Your mouth may say one thing, but your body is already
starting to accept it." Miya slid his fingers in deep, withdrew them and pushed
in once again. Arakita happened to graze the tip of his half-boner at the same
time and for a passing second he almost caught something that didn't resemble
trying to shit a watermelon. Miya removed his fingers and began massaging the
ring of muscles with light, circular motions. And that... was a feeling that
could almost be called pleasant. In fact... Arakita stopped pumping his dick to
keep from interfering with the feeling... oh, now things were getting
interesting.
"Not that I can see auras," Miya said. "But I still can say that yours just
changed."
Arakita realized he had relaxed like 110 percent. Only his toes were tense,
curling against the mattress, as he was trying to silently will Miya to insert
his fingers again, because he needed to test something... but he was not going
to ask out loud. Not from Machimiya.
He let out a sigh of relief when Miya changed the direction of pressure and
pushed his fingers back in. He was left wondering how easily they slid in now,
insinuating of what the whole thing could be like at its best.
He lifted his head, slamming his lips against Miya's, kissing him furiously and
messily. His fingers squeezed Miya's bicep, pulling him closer and his hips
were bucking upwards, against the warm body, first because he was curious but
then because it felt good, and he wasn't sure how many fingers there were
inside him, but he reckoned he could soon take something bigger too.
Miya seemed to agree with the thought. He disentangled their tongues, so he
could drill his eyes into Arakita and boy, did that gaze hold command! "Get on
your knees, Wolfsie."
Arakita obeyed gladly, rolling around and getting up onto his hands and knees
even though the position left him feeling vulnerable. As smoothly as the things
had progressed thus far, he really didn't want to stare at Miya's face while
the red head was fucking him. Doing it from behind also had the benefit that if
he tried really hard he could maybe imagine it was Shinkai whose fingers were
carving into his hips and...
Gaah, jesus fuck!
His breath escaped him between his clenched teeth, accompanied by a series of
curses, when a sharp pain shot up his nerves. Miya totally didn't care to go
slowly.
"You have a condom on?" he snapped. Because he hadn't seen Miya putting it on.
"Yeah, I do."
Arakita peeked behind him. "You sure?"
"Fuck, what kind of an asshole you take me for?"
Grumbling to himself, Arakita straightened his neck. Miya had stopped after the
strong initial reaction and was now rocking slowly and carefully against him.
Arakita could feel the lube but he didn't remember having witnessed Miya
applying it so he must be telling the truth about the condom then. And maybe,
if he really concentrated, he could feel a hint of rubber in the overpowering
pressure inside him. A mere skin would have been warmer.
"Shit, you're tight," Miya grunted. His fingertips were digging into Arakita's
skin as he tried to keep himself in check. That behaviour was very familiar to
Arakita; he remembered how hard it had been trying not to move. Miya had been
right about him understanding Shinkai's point of view too. He hadn't realized
how uncomfortable just one finger could feel in the butt.
He didn't feel uncomfortable anymore. His muscles were giving in more second by
second and he had finally learned to control them. Miya's rocking turned into
thrusts, making Arakita fully experience his girth. Arakita squeezed his eyes
shut, fumbling below his torso to grab his dick. Miya's breath became laboured
and a small groan escaped his lips.
"How does it feel?" he asked.
"It's okay."
"Okay?!" Miya exclaimed. "Sex should never be just 'okay'."
"Calm down. I think something's happening." At least when Arakita began to pump
his dick again, things started to get a bit more interesting. Somehow the
pleasure in the front was starting to spread further in his lower body.
"Don't you have a prostate?" Miya complained.
"I should. I've heard it's pretty difficult to get a hard-on without it."
"So if you had it, it should be somewhere..." Miya changed his angle, pushing
more towards the front. "..around here?"
Arakita mused over the feelings. Hmm, yep, there was something alright. Nothing
mind-blowing but perhaps... interesting? "Do that again," he urged.
Miya did. Once. Twice. Three times. On his next thrust Arakita pushed back to
meet him in the halfway so that the pressure inside sunk in deep. He was
shivering. The feeling was there, embers that needed a good and hard blow to
burst out in flames.
"Ngh, I'm not sure how long I can go on," Miya confessed. "You're really
fucking tight."
"Hang in there. You drank a shit ton of booze."
"It's not helping on a ride like this." Deep thrusts grew faster, creating a
bunch of telltale noises in the room: the creaking of the bed and the slapping
of skin against skin, to mention a few.
Arakita found himself pressing his upper body into the mattress so that his
back was arched and his ass was sticking up in the air. The position told him
that he had discarded the last crumb of caution and something was really
happening inside him. His dick had grown into full erection and was throbbing
in his grasp. Miya managed to continue, but he kept swearing and taking a lot
of small breaks. At some point his cursing turned into breathless moans and
Arakita could remember that too; remembered how hard it had been to endure
until Shinkai was fully on board.
Then he heard the first moan exit his own throat. Miya halted for a second –
maybe to listen – before jumping into the full action. His fingers were like
tongs, digging painfully into Arakita's skin and forcing him to grab the bed
frame to keep himself from sliding forward. His lower body was a core of
throbbing, consuming heat, stealing all his attention. He wasn't sure if the
prostate trick was working for him, probably not as well as it had for Shinkai,
but a familiar pressure was beginning to grow in his groin. His own hand was
helping immensely.
"Haa-ah, Wolfsie, seriously!" Miya huffed. "Could you maybe cum already? I
can't take this for long anymore."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna cum soon," Arakita promised even though he wasn't
totally sure. "Go faster."
"Fuck!" Miya swore but found yet another gear in himself, banging him like an
A-class porn star. For a moment, Arakita was worried for his poor ass, but it
didn't hurt so he'd probably be fine.
His orgasm took him by surprise. It was like a short freefall that announced
its presence by shooting hot liquid over his fingers and sheets and throwing in
a burst of pleasure only afterwards which then turned into piercing cramps in
his ass. They almost hurt but his climax managed to keep him on the comfortable
side.
Miya was giving him a piece of his mind about all the cramping. "Fucking... god
damn it! Aagrh, why are you doing that? Agh, shit!" He jerked against Arakita a
few times and then went limp.
Arakita blinked, trying to banish tiny spots dancing in his line of vision. His
knees were shaking so badly that they couldn't support him anymore when Miya
collapsed against his back and he slumped down onto the bed. He wanted to tell
his partner to remove his carcass off him but his lungs were busy gathering
oxygen. Miya shivered along with the last aftershock and it spread into
Arakita, making him quiver against the sheets.
Then his partner's head peeked up. "Whoah, man! That was something."
Arakita snorted. "Yeah, it was."
"A pretty good session," Miya concluded, lifting his weight off Arakita. This
time Arakita heard the squeaky sound when Miya got rid off the condom. He
rolled onto his back and moved to the side, offering Miya some space to lie
down. The redhead fell down boneless, lifting his arms above his head and
almost hitting Arakita in the face with his sweaty armpit.
Arakita shoved him a little. "Keep your wet body hair on your own side."
"Come on, it's normal to get sweaty!"
"I'm not sweating." He'd felt hot but not enough for sweat beginning to drip
down his forehead. Yet another change of aspect. Girls really had it so much
easier.
Miya scowled at him. "I need water."
"Go and get some."
"You go and get it. You're the host."
"I can't. My legs are too tired."
"What a lazy asshole," Miya muttered but hauled himself up and went to get a
glass of water. He was considerate enough to bring a glass for Arakita too. He
got back in the bed and they lay there for a while, in silence. Arakita felt
like he needed to say something to prevent things from turning awkward, but
sleep was sneaking up on him, making his limbs heavy and fogging his mind.
Somewhere in his haze, he thought he heard Miya say something but he was too
tired to react.
* *
A piercing headache woke him up. Damn beer. Damn tequila. Damn rum cocktail.
And damn Machimiya.
Who, by the way, was sleeping right next to him.
Who he had screwed with last night.
Who had fucked him in the ass.
He had let Machimiya fuck him in the ass and he had enjoyed every second of it.
Or at least most of it.
Oh man. So this is how it felt like to make the mistake of your life.
He threw his arm over his face, groaning silently at least for a minute or two.
What a bloody demon had gotten into him? Why hadn't he just sent Miya to the
nearest gay bar? On top of it, he had given in ridiculously easily. What would
be the next step? Follow some lewd sugar daddy home?
After wallowing in self-pity for a while, he realized that the remorse wasn't
as bad as it could have been. No, the idea hadn't been the best one ever, but
he remembered to have checked that Miya didn't have any feelings towards him.
Like he didn't have towards Miya, either. Neither of them had crashed and
burned. Since he wasn't in a relationship, Arakita hadn't cheated on anyone.
Miya was single too and he had intended to find some company for the night
anyway. They had simply had some fun.
However, finding a sleeping, hungover Machimiya Eikichi on his bed didn't make
onto his list of The Most Beautiful Things You Can See After Waking Up. Miya
was lying on his stomach, the pillow squeezed against his cheek, hair messy and
tangled and the blanket riding down his lower back. He was even drooling onto
his pillow and snoring, that little roach, and the only reason why Arakita
didn't smell the overpowering stink of old booze was that he smelled equally
bad and his sense of smell had flown to the hills during the night.
First things first, he needed to do something about the excruciating pounding
inside his skull. He had painkillers in the kitchen cupboard and a few cans of
Bepsi in the fridge; caffeine would help to dust off his brain. He crawled to
sit up, lowering his feet onto the floor and stepping on something clammy and
squeaky. He could tell without looking what it was. The condom from last night,
crusted with dried-up lube and his guest's cum. Why hadn't Miya thrown it in
the trash? God damn animal.
Using only the tips of his fingernails, Arakita picked the rubber up and
carried it into the kitchen trash which was so full that it would leave the
house today. Then he fumbled around his cupboard for painkillers. Every move
and the sunlight piercing through the curtains hurt his brain like hot needles.
He threw two pills into his mouth and rinsed them down with Bepsi before
checking the clock. Half past ten. They weren't in a hurry yet. Despite his
headache, he was already craving junk food. Just around the corner there was a
decent ramen shop that also served breakfast for a reasonable price. He just
had to wait for his guest to wake up.
He popped in the toilet before returning to the bedroom. Miya hadn't moved
while he had been away, but once he lay back down, the redhead's face scrunched
up a little and he let out a deep sigh. Arakita waited quietly for him to open
his eyes and get on top of things.
"Gurhh," came the first, intelligent comment. Miya lifted his head, wiping his
eyes. "Wha– what time is it?"
"Half past ten."
"Ah, no need to hurry then." His head flopped back down but he didn't go back
to sleep, merely resting his eyes before opening them again and peering at
Arakita from under heavy lids. "Your ass hurting, Wolfsie?"
Arrghh, he had dared to hope that Miya wouldn't remember it but of course he
did.
"My ass is fine, but my head is killing me."
"Hmh, same here. Do you have any painkillers?"
"Yeah, but I'm not getting up right now to get them."
"That's fine." Miya turned onto his back, yawning widely and scratching his
abdomen. "Is there any pizza left?"
Arakita couldn't help but smile at how similarly their minds were working in a
hangover. "No, we ate it all. There's a pretty good ramen shop near by, though.
We could go and have breakfast there."
"Sounds good. Let me just wake up first." Miya's eyes closed again. After a
while, Arakita followed his example.
The next time he became aware of his surroundings, he noted that the headache
had dissipated but the hunger had grown almost unbearable. There was a foreign
warmth against his side and hot puffs of air against his shoulder told him that
his bedmate had inched to sleep right beside him. As his senses woke up
properly, he also realized that Miya's leg was thrown over his thighs and his
very obvious morning wood was pressing against his hip.
"You finally awake?" Miya muttered. "I'm starving."
"Ugh, yeah, I'm awake." Arakita rubbed his face, hunting for a clock. Shit, it
was almost one! They needed to hurry if they wanted to eat properly before Miya
had to hop in a train. "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I didn't want to disturb my host's sleeping routines."
"You should have when it's so late already. Come on, let's get up and go."
Miya nodded but did nothing to disentangle himself from Arakita.
"Could his highness perhaps remove his legs from my thighs and his erection
from my hip?" Arakita noted. He was starting to get horny when his companion
was rubbing against him.
Miya huffed, rolling off him. "So no quick rerun?"
Arakita almost choked on his spit. "Hell no!"
"You don't have to sound so horrified. If I remember correctly, you didn't
exactly hate it last night."
"No, but it will remain as a one-time thing." One time he could deal with, but
not with two. The line had to be drawn somewhere; you couldn't just offer your
ass to anyone in the broad daylight. Besides, the more you got touchy with
someone, the greater was the risk to develop some feelings. He didn't want to
like Miya that way, nor did he want Miya to like him.
"Alright, alright. I'm just horny."
"Get in the shower."
"I will." Miya pulled himself up, wiping his hair back from his forehead.
"Could I please get that painkiller first?"
Not bothering to put on clothes, they wandered to the kitchen, Miya with full-
blown boner. Arakita gave him some ibuprofen and Miya locked himself in the
bathroom right after that. Arakita's stomach was grumbling like crazy so he
searched for a protein bar in the cupboard and went to sit on the couch,
turning the tv on to drown any sounds that might come from the bathroom in case
the shower running wasn't enough. He found his phone, checking it for messages
(none) and turning on the camera function to examine his state of decaying. His
face was grey but the sight wasn't as bad as he had dreaded. His eyes could
have been much redder. But what was that spot there..?
"Miya, fuck, I'm gonna kill you!!"
The bathroom door was thrown open and Miya stuck his head out. "What, what?!"
Arakita pointed at the side of his neck. "I have a hickey on my neck! And not
just one but at least three!"
The shock on Miya's face dissolved into laughter. "Eheheh, what's the problem?
Now everyone will see you got lucky. It's not like you have to tell anyone that
they were made by a guy."
"But hickeys are so... middle school!"
"They are not. They indicate that you've had some hot action in the near past."
As if he had wanted to show that. He didn't care about anyone else but he
didn't want Shinkai to see the results of his weird weekend.
On the other hand, if Shinkai did see them, would they evoke a reaction in him
or would he just be indifferent? And did Arakita even want to see how he
reacted? Would it make him feel worse? Would it change anything?
"Anything else?" Miya asked, when Arakita said nothing for a long while. "I'm
going to continue."
Jerking out of his daze, Arakita waved his hand at Miya. "Just be quick so we
can go and have something to eat."
"Yep!"
Chapter End Notes
     Never go full retard homo.
     I barely dodged the 'Lube in the nightstand drawer' trap.
***** The Day of Embarrassment *****
Chapter Notes
     From now on I'll be writing Tourgelion directly in English so there
     might be a slight change in the wording and tone. But it also means
     you'll get updates quicker! :D I decided that I'm going to finish
     this first before returning to my Haikyuu fic.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
'You know what, Wolfsie, I never would have thought that banging a hairy ass
could be so much fun.'
Arakita stared at the text with a numb mind for half a minute before surging to
type in his reply. 'my ass is not hairy!'
'Eheh. It's definitely hairier than ladies' booties.'
'if you're lusting after hairy holes, you should travel to southern europe. i
heard there are some gay beaches there.'
'Eheheh. I didn't say I'm lusting after them. I just stated that it was more
fun than I had expected. It wasn't because the ass was hairy but because it
wasn't so much different than banging a hairless one.'
'you trying to say that you're considering going at it with ibitani?'
'I'm not. Although, the thought doesn't sound as impossible as before.'
An annoyed huff from across the table snatched him out his thoughts. "Why do
you keep typing all the time? Your food's getting cold."
Arakita scowled at Toudou. "That's none of your business. You should just worry
about your own food."
"I've already finished," Toudou pointed out. "I was ready like five minutes ago
and tried to tell you about my weekend but you just kept playing with your
phone. Who are you texting? A girl? Did you hook up with someone?" With the
last words Toudou's tone turned from scolding to interested.
"I didn't."
"Are you sure? Maybe you met a nice girl over the weekend."
"I didn't meet anyone."
"You've definitely met someone," Toudou, that enormous pain in the ass and a
threat to his friends' blood pressure, continued. "Your neck looks like you've
been wrestling with a vacuum cleaner."
He had been hoping that no one would notice, but at the same time knew that it
was in vain. The collar of his school uniform didn't reach up to his jaw and he
couldn't really wrap a scarf around his neck when the temperature was hovering
above twenty degrees, so the bruises were visible to anyone who paid closer
attention to him (or, judging by the looks he had gotten in the streets, anyone
who cared to even glance his way).
"The chick doesn't have to be nice, you can still bring her home for one
night," Arakita grunted, making Toudou swing backwards.
"I hope you at least escorted her to a train or bus."
"I did. Stop worrying about girls you don't even know." And who don't even
exist.
"So you're not chatting with Miss Dyson. Who could possibly have so much to say
to you?"
Arakita sighed, lowering his phone. "Machimiya."
Toudou's face scrunched up but before he managed to say anything, Arakita waved
him off. "Yeah, yeah, I know you don't like the guy. Suck it up, I'm friends
with him."
Toudou's forced his face to relax. "Just tell your social media friend that
you're eating and chatting with your actual corporeal friend now and you don't
have time for his drivelling."
"You know, for someone who's pretending to be polite, you can sometimes be
extremely rude."
"I'm not rude! It's rude to stare at your phone when a friend is trying to have
a conversation with you. You know, I'd chat with Fuku and Hayato, but they are
not here yet so I have to settle for you."
"Alright then." He didn't know why Toudou suddenly was so eager to emphasize
that they were friends, but Miya had gone back to class so their chatting was
drying out anyway. Arakita pressed the home button and tucked his phone into
his pocket before picking up a spoon and pulling his plate closer. The curry
was still warm. Toudou had yet again been fussing over nothing. As he had
noted, his own plate was already empty and he was now sipping his mineral water
at an annoyingly slow pace, his eyes roaming over Arakita's hunched form.
"You wanted to have a conversation. Come on, talk then," Arakita urged.
Toudou let out a huff, pulling his headband off and shaking his hair before
putting the accessory back to its place. "So. I don't know but I got the
impression that Fuku knows about me and Maki-chan..." He trailed off for a
second, boring an intense gaze into Arakita. "Um, sorry, I sort of assumed that
you know about us too."
Arakita snorted inwardly. "Yeah, I do. Half of Japan knows about you. It would
be on the news if it actually was news to anyone."
Toudou crossed his arms over his chest, his lower lip pouting. "You don't have
to be so sarcastic about it."
"I'm always sarcastic, no matter the subject. You should already be used to
it."
"Yeah, I suppose I should."
Arakita glanced up from his plate, checking his lunch mate. It was unusual of
Headband to be so chill about anything, let alone his not-so-secret boyfriend.
"So, were you getting somewhere with your story?" Arakita asked. "You said that
apparently Fuku-chan knows about you and Christmas tree playing the ring
snatch."
Toudou looked scandalized. "Us... what?!"
"You know, uphill gardening. Dumpster diving. Whatever you wanna call it."
Arakita began shoving rice into his mouth again. "Browning the sausage," he
said around a mouthful.
"Would you please stop?!" Toudou's head was spinning from right to left as he
checked their surroundings, his face flaming red all the way up to his
hairline. "Why would you say such things while eating?"
Arakita shrugged. "It takes more than that for me to lose my appetite." He
didn't really want to picture Toudou and Makishima going at it, but Toudou was
so easily flustered that he couldn't resist. "Which way is it with you guys, by
the way? You top or bottom?"
Toudou was so red that he was shining out from his chair like a traffic light.
He glanced around himself again before leaning forward and hissing, "I'm not
prying details of you and your weekend partner's bed action!"
"I'm not prying details either, I just asked which way is it with you guys.
That's more like, big lines, not details."
"Why are you so–?"
"Or haven't you guys done it yet? You're definitely someone who'd wait until
the wedding night." Arakita dropped his spoon with a clink, gasping
theatrically. "Maybe you're still a virgin!"
"Oh my god, why did I ever think I could have a civilized conversation with
you?"
"Is that why you were so reluctant to do the condom tutorial?"
"I'm not a virgin!" Toudou half-shouted and right after slapped his hand over
his mouth. A few co-customers near by turned to peer at them. "Urgh, Arakita,
why you have to–?"
Arakita cut him off once again. "You were going to tell me something about
Fuku-chan knowing about it. About you and Christmas tree doing whatever you
do."
"I don–" Toudou snapped his mouth shut and his eyes drilled into something
behind Arakita. He lifted his hand and waved, his face melting into a huge
relief. Arakita didn't need to glance over his shoulder to know that the two
missing members of their union had arrived. Soon enough he saw Shinkai halt
behind the chair next to him.
"Thank god, you came!" Toudou cried. "I was just about to pass out because of
Arakita's lewdness!"
Shinkai was scanning at the two teammates sitting at the table and taking in
Toudou's extremely red face. "What's going on?"
Arakita merely looked at Toudou with bored expression. "You're really innocent
for someone who has half of the school's girls drooling over him. It's almost
endearing. Almost."
"I'm not talking to you anymore," Toudou announced, focusing his attention to
Fuku-chan and Shinkai. "So, how was the briefing?"
"Informative," Fuku-chan just said, sitting next to Toudou.
"Hang on, I'm going to get something to eat first. This is the longest I've
ever been without food," Shinkai announced. "Apart from night time."
"What, five hours?"
"Five and a half. I ran out of energy bars yesterday and didn't get a chance to
buy more."
Arakita could hear Shinkai's stomach growling. "Well, go and get yourself some
grub. The curry is pretty good."
"I'm going to get some for myself too," Fuku-chan said, standing up again.
"For the love of god, hurry!" Toudou whined. "I can't handle this pervert
alone."
Shinkai looked like he wanted to ask again but his hunger was a more pressing
matter, so he muttered something about being right back, heading towards the
counter. Fuku-chan followed and Arakita was again left alone with Toudou. He
felt he had run out of gas with his teasing so he let poor Headband be and
concentrated on emptying his plate. The curry was good, but there wasn't enough
of it. Maybe he should have another course or get something as a dessert. Those
steamed buns looked pretty good.
"I need more food," he said, getting to his feet. Relief ghosted over Toudou's
face, which was still a shade too red. Maybe he should buy the guy a coffee or
something to make up for his antics. Damn, this was almost becoming a habit.
He lined up after Shinkai, not entirely looking at him but instead keeping his
eyes on the products arranged in the display. Shinkai had made it clear that
they needed to put some distance between them, so that was what Arakita was
doing. Shinkai could take the first step if he wanted to have a one-on-one
conversation with him. Shinkai glanced behind him, merely checking who was
standing there, his eyes ghosting over Arakita's school uniform shirt and
halting at his neck. Arakita wasn't looking at him directly, but he still
caught his gaze. How it wavered, turning from mildly content (of course he was
content since he was about to get fed, that food-loving dork) to surprised
and... something else. Arakita yanked his eyes up, checking the redhead's face,
but Shinkai had already pulled a neutral mask on, giving Arakita a quick,
acknowledging smile and turning back towards the cashier. He placed his order
and returned to the table with Fuku-chan, not bothering to wait for Arakita who
bought a pork bun, a Bepsi and a coffee for Toudou. He had a hunch that
Headband's torment wasn't over yet.
Once they were all seated at the table, their food in front of them, everyone
concentrated on their lunch for a while. Toudou was surprised to get a coffee
from Arakita but not as surprised as he had been after the STD catastrophe. He
merely accepted it with a simple thank-you, not even commenting the fact that
Arakita had remembered that he preferred his coffee with milk.
After shovelling half of his plate's contents into his mouth, Shinkai was sated
enough to pay attention to his companions. "So what were you discussing and why
is Yasutomo a pervert?"
"He..." Toudou began, but clearly didn't know how to describe it without going
into details about his and Makishima's relationship. Well, if everybody already
knew about it, what was the big deal?
"I just asked about him and Sohoku's climber. You know, which one is catching
and which one is pitching."
A stunned silence that followed was only broken by Toudou's groan and promise
to take his fabulous company to another table. Shinkai sat frozen for ten
seconds or so before sticking his spoon back to his curry and taking another
mouthful. The customers who had previously heard what Arakita and Toudou had
been talking about turned yet again to look at them.
"I'm not entirely following," Fuku-chan said eventually. "Are Toudou and
Makishima-san playing baseball?"
Arakita burst out laughing. "What the hell, Fuku-chan?!"
Fuku-chan's brows furrowed. "What?"
"Seriously! You can't be that dense!"
Whoops. Apparently Fuku-chan didn't like to be called dense in public. The
glare he threw at Arakita would have put an army on their knees. Arakita lifted
his hands, yielding. "Damn, Fuku-chan, I was just kidding!" Which was obviously
a lie.
"Um, Juichi," Shinkai said. "It means gay sex. Like gay butt sex."
"Yeah, you know, which one is doing the work and which one has their face
buried in the pillow," Arakita added.
Fuku-chan's expression turned from stern to stoic again. Arakita knew him well
enough to identify it as his 'I'll just pretend we're in a race and I'm leading
the pack and sex doesn't exist in this universe' face. "Oh, I see," he just
said, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. It probably was only due to the
detail that they were talking about sex, not because of his ignorance.
Toudou had exceeded the point where he could get any redder and his skin was
starting to adapt an unhealthy purple shade. Shinkai snickered at the scene,
but at the same time reached over the table to pat Toudou's shoulder.
"Why don't they just call it 'gay sex' then?" Fuku-chan dared to ask.
"Because people will stare if you say it like that. Just like they are doing
now," Arakita grunted. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed how Shinkai was
shaking in his chair, his face constricted in silent laughter.
"So did you get an answer?" he asked through his chuckling, this time
addressing Arakita directly.
"No, I almost got there but then you showed up."
"I was not going to tell you!" Toudou hissed.
"Yes, you were. I could see it in your eyes. You were so quick to declare that
you're not a virgin."
"Not all gay couples stuff it in the ass," Shinkai commented. "Some like to
stick to blowjobs and handywork."
Arakita hummed. "Suppose you're right. But I'm thinking that Toudou would have
told us if that was the case." Huh, there are three people who have had a dick
up their ass at this table. That's pretty weird. Because he was almost certain
that it was Toudou who was the pillow biter in the relationship.
"Guys, this conversation is making me so uncomfortable, I'll literally start
pulling my teeth out! I swear I'll transfer to Sohoku!" Toudou's voice had
become so high-pitched that he was almost making ultrasounds.
Arakita cocked an eyebrow. "With only half of the school year left?"
"Yes! I will transfer there right now if you don't stop! And you're making Fuku
uncomfortable too. Look at him, he's about to burst!"
Indeed Fuku-chan looked like he was being tortured in very creative ways, his
jaw all tensed up and his dark eyes staring intently at the back wall of the
restaurant.
Shinkai was wiping the corners of his eyes, still chuckling every now and then.
"Alright, we'll stop. Sorry, Jinpachi. Sorry, Juichi."
After that Toudou spent a good five minutes nurturing his coffee and calming
his nerves before he returned to the previous topic. "So tell about the
briefing. You still want to apply for Meisou?"
"Yeah," Shinkai said. "It has the department I want to study in."
"Engineering?" Toudou checked.
"Uh-huh."
"I thought you'd become a doctor like your father. Or a vet," Toudou said.
"You'd make a good vet."
Shinkai laughed a bit but there wasn't really mirth in his voice. "Nah, I can't
stand seeing animals suffer. I'd make the worst vet ever."
"But you'd get to help them."
"Yeah, but first I'd have to watch them in pain."
"No human doctor either then?"
"No, I've never seen the appeal of it. Okay, money might be good, but you'd
have to put in a lot of irregular hours and that doesn't really suit me. Dad
wants us to follow his footsteps but I'll gladly leave it to Yuuto."
"You still wanna go there too?" Arakita asked Fuku-chan.
The blond man snapped out his self-protecting mode, blinking at him. "Yes. It
has the law department."
"Or you know, you could always go pro."
"I feel like I still should have a proper profession even if I decided to do
that."
"What about you, Jinpachi?" Shinkai asked. "You don't really talk about your
future plans. You planning to apply for a university or take on the ryokan?"
Toudou scratched his jaw, looking thoughtful. "I haven't decided yet. The
ryokan is out of the question, I just... no. I'll leave it to Shiori."
"You could go pro too," Arakita offered.
"I know. I just haven't made up my mind yet."
"What about Christmas tree?"
"Stop calling him that!"
"Well, anyway, what does he wanna do?"
"We haven't discussed it too much."
"But it might affect your plans," Shinkai said, more as a statement than a
question.
"Of course it'll affect. This distance thing is utter crap! I'm not
deliberately going to apply for a university that's on the other side of the
country."
"Fair enough," Shinkai said, suppressing a burp before pushing his chair back.
"I'm going to get myself a dessert or two. You guys still want something?"
* *
It was quite late when Arakita got home and opened his laptop. Waiting for the
system to load, he went to retrieve a can of Bepsi from the fridge before
sitting down and opening it, making himself comfortable. He had been meaning to
ask Toudou one more time how he had found out about Fuku-chan knowing too, but
the conversation in the restaurant had gotten so out of hand that he had
forgotten. He was still curious though. Oh well, he could always just text the
Sleeping Beauty.
After logging in on Facebook the first thing he noticed was the amount of
notifications he had gotten. Fifteen in total. What the hell? Usually he was
lucky to get one or two per day and there was a very good reason behind it. He
didn't like posting details of his life on social media so his wall was fairly
empty apart from a couple of Youtube links. Perplexed, he clicked on the globe
image and began scrolling down the notifications.
'Yukinari Kuroda liked a photo you are tagged in.'
'Touichirou Izumida liked a photo you are tagged in.'
'Jinpachi Toudou liked a photo you are tagged in.'
'Sakamichi Onoda liked a photo you are tagged in.'
'Ryou Ibitani liked a photo you are tagged in.'
Okay, what the actual fuck?
'Takuto Ashikiba liked a photo you are tagged in.'
'Sangaku Manami liked a photo you are tagged in.'
'Sangaku Manami commented on a photo you are tagged in.'
'Jinpachi Toudou commented on a photo you are tagged in.'
'Yukinari Kuroda commented on a photo you are tagged in.'
What photo? He hadn't posted anything on Facebook for a week or so and his
friends knew better than to tag him without his permission.
Clicking the notifications led him to the horrible snap of him and Miya in the
pizzeria, clearly drunk off their asses. Miya was at least sitting properly as
he was taking the picture, but Arakita was sprawled over the chair, looking so
bored and fed up and just... drunk. And goddamnit, the caption underneath read
the feared 'The pantry avenue homos'.
'Looks more like a pizzeria to me,' Manami had commented and seasoned it with
an all too cheerful smiley.
'This certainly is a side of you I was not aware of.' That was Toudou. He had
to be referring to the caption since there was nothing new about Arakita being
drunk.
'Is this from Hakone or from Hiroshima?' Kuroda had asked, clearly just after
some attention from him.
Arakita groaned so loud that neighbours probably heard. He had logged in that
morning and then everything had been quiet so Miya must have tagged him in the
picture later that day.
"Fucking... I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch!" he swore, opening the chat
window and typing in: 'you are so dead, dog boy! prepare for a horrible death!'
Miya replied almost instantly. 'What? What's going on?'
'why the hell did you tag me in that photo? delete it now!'
'The tag or the photo? Everyone's already seen it.'
'why the hell didn't you ask me first? and the caption! what the fuck is wrong
with you?'
'Come on, Wolfsie. It's clearly a joke!'
'it's so true that i could swear on it in court!'
'But nobody knows that. Dude, just chill! You're overreacting.'
'you know what i'm gonna do now? i'm gonna google some pictures of gay orgy and
then i'm gonna open my photoshop and when i'm done you can say goodbye to your
social life. no more friends apart from ibitani who you'll be spending the rest
of your life with because no one else will ever look your way!'
'Eheheh. It really isn't such a big deal.'
Maybe the picture itself wasn't but the fucking text beneath it. Why hadn't
Miya changed it? Was he deliberately trying to kill their social lives?
He clicked beneath Kuroda's comment, typing furiously: 'It's the fucking
pizzeria on my street and Miya embarrassed us by going full gay over the poor
cook!'
There, that served the stupid Hiroshima hound. He could exit the closet for all
he wanted, but he should leave Arakita out of it.
Miya was quick to send him a message. 'Dude, why?'
'you asked for it! next i'm gonna set up a group, "machimiya eikichi likes
hairy ass"!'
'I can't even comment on your post without sounding very defensive!'
'yeah, well, too bad. maybe you should have thought that before you decided to
drag me into the out-of-the-closet hell!'
In the upper corner a notification flashed to indicate that he had a new
message. He ignored Miya's furious typing and clicked the other message open.
It was probably from one of his sisters or... his heart got stuck in his
throat.
'Hey, Yasutomo.'
That's all Shinkai had typed. Just a simple greeting. He surely had to have
something to say but Facebook didn't indicate that he was typing right now.
Arakita waited anyway, but nothing came. Maybe Shinkai was waiting for him to
react.
'hey,' he just typed as a reply. This time he instantly saw Shinkai began
typing.
'So, you had a fun weekend?'
He spent a good two minutes trying to analyze the message. Was Shinkai just
trying to make a conversation, was he genuinely interested in Arakita's weekend
or did the message hold a darker undertone? Shinkai wasn't usually one to be
sarcastic but that's what it sounded like. He must have just seen the photo. He
had probably done the same thing as Arakita; gotten home, opened Facebook and
come across the photo with its questionable caption on his news feed.
'it was passable, yes.' He wondered if he should ask Shinkai the same, but it
didn't seem like that the redhead was expecting it.
'Machimiya was here in Hakone?'
'yup.' He was about to type more, but it didn't seem fitting after what Shinkai
had told him in their previous Facebook conversation.
'You guys went out?'
He had a hunch where this casual-looking chat was heading. He had seen the way
Shinkai had stared at his hickeys even if it had been only for a couple of
seconds. And he wasn't sure what he was feeling right now. Confusion, anger? A
tiny sparkle of hope which he immediately crushed, because even if Shinkai was
jealous, he was still too engaged with his have-girlfriend-no-homo-must-move-on
thing to actually do something about it. He probably didn't even know why he
was interrogating Arakita. Because that's what it felt like with his immediate
questions, Arakita's short answers and the direction Shinkai was trying to
navigate their chatting to.
'we went out drinking, yes,' he answered. This was the point where Shinkai
could ask directly if he had hooked up with a chick but that would sort of
reveal his jealousy. He couldn't make it look like he was happy for Arakita
moving on, not like this. Not with the awkwardness still lingering between
them.
'Did you bring someone home?'
Oh. Arakita was surprised, his hands hovering over the keyboard. So Shinkai had
mustered up enough courage to get to the point.
'yeah, kinda.' Technically he had. Miya had followed him home.
'Was it a guy or a girl?'
Oh wow. This was new. This Shinkai was someone Arakita wasn't familiar with.
He considered lying, but he wasn't sure what Shinkai was after and since it
didn't sound like he genuinely wanted to know about Arakita's weekend, he
reckoned he could be on the defensive side. 'does it matter?' He was aware that
by writing that he was practically admitting it had been a guy.
'No, I guess it doesn't.'
Silence. Arakita received a notification that Miya had commented on the photo.
If that idiot had said something about their night, he'd...
'The pizza was excellent.'
Okay, that was probably a peace offering. He decided to leave it at that if
nobody wrote anything stupid on the topic anymore.
'It wasn't Machimiya, was it?'
Arakita stared at the message a moment too long – and by that signalled to
Shinkai that the sprinter might have actually hit the nail in the head – before
kicking himself into typing.
'hell no it wasn't machimiya! are you high or something?'
'Sorry. I didn't really think so. I just'
He just what? Couldn't bear the thought of Arakita screwing Machimiya? Arakita
screwing another guy? Arakita screwing anyone who wasn't him?
'besides, it's not your fucking business if i screw machimiya or the postman or
kuroda. in fact, i could have threesome with kuroda and his cognac bottle and
there's nothing you could do about it because you rejected me.' He erased the
message before he'd actually hit the send button in his growing frustration. A
thought of actually hooking up with Kuroda crossed his mind, at least then he
could see if Shinkai really was jealous or just trying to be supportive of him
moving on, but no, he might be an asshole but not that big of an asshole. He
wasn't interested in Kuroda and he couldn't do it to the guy. Mostly because he
knew how shit it felt to get ditched for someone else.
He waited, but apparently Shinkai couldn't think of anything more to say or he
had gone to feed his bunnies or fuck his girlfriend or whatever he had planned
for tonight. Arakita waited but no one commented on the photo anymore, although
it did receive a couple of more likes from his sisters, so in the end he logged
out, shut down his laptop and went to the bathroom to take a shower before bed.
Chapter End Notes
     Don't feel bad for Toudou, there will be a moment for him to shine.
***** The Moment of Truth *****
Chapter Notes
     Sorry I haven't answered everyone's comment. A lot of things have
     been going on. But I really appreciate you still hanging around,
     reading this and commenting. :)
See the end of the chapter for more notes
"You coming to bed? Hayato?"
This was the fifth time Ayane asked, and it was the fifth time Shinkai
registered it but couldn’t make his legs comply. Not that there was anything to
do on the laptop besides staring at at Facebook, which was gradually quieting
down as everyone logged out and went to bed, Yasutomo included. At least
Shinkai thought so, since he wasn’t answering him anymore. Or was it even
Yasutomo’s turn to answer? He opened the chat window again, checking who had
been the last one to say something. Oh yeah, it was himself who had stopped
midsentence after realizing that he really didn’t know what to type. Yasutomo
had grown tired waiting – if he’d been waiting in the first place. He probably
had better things to do than stare at the screen and wait for Shinkai to get
his act together.
"You alright?" was the next thing Ayane asked.
Shinkai forced his eyes away from the screen, glancing briefly over his
shoulder. "Uh, yeah. Sorry, I was spacing out."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, just... some school stuff."
"About the uni?"
"That too."
Ayane crawled to sit up on the bed, her tender eyes looking at him. The
expression was sympathetic. Shinkai felt an unexpected wave of disgust. Whether
it was because of himself or something else, he was not sure.
"You know, Hayato. I think something is bothering you. And has been for a while
now."
For a blink of an eye Shinkai thought that Ayane knew. That she had somehow
figured out what he had been up to. That he had underestimated her wits. A pang
of horror shot through his stomach but it was short-lived and quickly replaced
by a weird sense of relief.
Come on, say it. Accuse me of cheating and dump me.
He considered lying, but found that he didn't want to. It would have been in
vain too. There hadn't been a trace of hesitation in her voice; she knew what
she was talking about. She had noticed that their relationship had changed.
Heck, while he hadn't actually avoided her, he hadn't been very keen on
contacting her either. They had had fewer dates and fewer sleepovers. They
still had a sex life but it was a pale shadow of what it had been before.
He just didn't know how to admit that she was right. What was he even supposed
to say? 'Yeah, you're right. Actually, I've been bonking a teammate of mine
since July and now I think I have developed feelings for him. Haha, bet you
didn't see that coming!'
He wiped his face, sighing in sort of half-defeat, half-relief. "There is
something. I... I'm not sure if I can talk about it yet. I'm sorry."
Damn, it sure would be easy if Ayane ended things for you two, wouldn't it? But
maybe she has found a new guy and is trying to roll the blame on you – make you
say the necessary words. Nobody wants to be the one that gets dumped and nobody
wants to be the one that dumps. Either way you get burned.
Suppose there isn't an easy way out.
Shinkai stared in front of him, not really seeing anything. His mind was
throwing ideas and suggestions and excuses, getting overloaded and confusing
him, prohibiting him from forming reasonable explanations. This was that kind
of a situation that he hoped he would have been trained to handle. Why didn't
they teach this at school? 'How to end a relationship in a proper manner with
as little harm as possible.'
Shinkai glanced at his girlfriend. Ayane was just sitting there, hugging her
knees to her chest and resting her head on top of her knees. She had a sad look
on her face.
She knows.
She doesn't fucking know! She hasn't witnessed anything that could raise her
suspicions.
You think you've been careful but have you? She could probably even smell it on
you. Her boyfriend crawling back from a holiday abroad reeking like gay butt
sex.
That argument isn't very good, you know?
She's a woman and women can smell like bloodhounds. She probably smelled
Yasutomo on you after the party, even with the stink of old booze you were
radiating around.
She was waiting for him to explain, give her at least something, but he
couldn't. Words didn't obey him tonight. Every phrase that popped into his head
had something wrong in it. He didn't want to hurt Ayane and he didn't want to
start a fight now.
In the end Ayane lifted her head, letting out a long exhale and allowing her
hands to drop onto the mattress.
"Well, whatever it is, I hope you figure it out soon, since I don't think it's
good for you to go on like this."
Shinkai could only nod at that. It wasn't good for him and it wasn't good for
her. That was probably what she wanted to say but she was just too damn kind.
She didn't want to sound selfish even though this was exactly that sort of
situation that required selfishness. Regardless, he had bought himself yet
another day to keep his secret and wallow in guilt. He wasn't very fond of
himself right now.
As he stretched out on the bed Ayane lay down beside him, but stayed on her own
side and refrained from touching him.
* * *
A week later he had reached the point where he needed to talk to someone. He
needed some advice, an understanding ear, a shoulder to lean on, preferably the
whole package, but even one of those could do. And it was not like he was
particularly wealthy on the candidates who would both be up for it and show
their compassion without an ugly undertone.
For a minute or three he kept bouncing back and forth between his options, the
phone in his hand. He almost hit the dial button once, but backed off at the
last second. In the end he let out a deep, quivering sigh and chose the other
one, proceeding to type out a message instead of calling.
'I have something I need to talk about.' And – since sooner was better than
later – he typed another text: 'You free today?'
Jinpachi answered him right away. 'Sure. You can call me whenever. Or I can
call you if you want?'
'This is not something I want to talk about over the phone. Could we meet in a
park or something?'He reckoned an empty park was most likely a place where they
wouldn't be overheard. Restaurants and cafés were automatically out of the
question.
'Uh oh, you're scaring me a little. What's this all about?'
'I'll tell you when we meet.' He wanted to give Jinpachi a heads-up that the
problem concerned only him, but he was faced with the same problem as with
Ayane: he didn't know how to phrase it without sounding like either something
was really wrong or nothing was wrong at all.
'I'm on a train. I'll be in Hakone in an hour. We could meet then if you want?
If you're sure you don't want to call me.'
'I'm sure. You know the small park near the station? Let's meet there.' The
place was popular amongst mothers with young children and in its busiest during
early afternoon. Shinkai hoped that in this hour it would be mostly deserted.
'Okay, see you soon.'
He sensed that Jinpachi wanted to write some more, ask him one more time what
it was about and if it was very serious, because Jinpachi was a worrier by
nature and right now he was probably thinking that Shinkai was very ill, that
he had cancer or something, and his torment wouldn't end until he heard what
Shinkai had to say.
He placed his phone onto his desk and went to feed the bunnies and change their
water. They were getting along already; in fact, they were quickly becoming the
best of friends, licking and nursing each other and sleeping side by side. He
might be soon able to take them to the outside cage. Shinkai thought that
Usakichi had been calmer and more relaxed than before Fur Coat but two bunnies
made a bigger mess than one. Oh well, as long as they were happy.
Attending to the bunnies didn't take long but in his restless state of mind he
decided to head to the park already. Instead of cycling, he could just walk
there to pass the time. Walking would hopefully calm his nerves.
There was a sense of autumn in the air, a serious one this time. The wind was
blowing from the north, bringing a slight chill along with it. Shinkai realized
way too late that he was underdressed, so in order to keep warm he sped up his
steps. He hoped Jinpachi was dressed up accordingly, otherwise he would feel
bad keeping him outside in the chilly wind. Twice or three times he noticed his
steps slowing down, even dragging, his mind toying with a thought of turning
around. Because it wasn't such a big deal, really. Yasutomo and he could go on
as before, it had worked out somehow, if not well, and it was not like the
situation was going to last. Yes, he had developed some feelings towards his
teammate. Shit like that happened. It didn't mean he had to nurture those
feelings. If he just ignored them for long enough, they would eventually
dissipate. He and Yasutomo were not applying for the same university. Even if
they somehow got together and could make it last for the rest of the school
year, they would have to break up as they would probably end up going to
different universities.
Jinpachi is making it work. He's making it work now and is most definitely
going to make it work in the future. This is the happiest you've ever seen him,
and that is saying a lot, seeing that Jinpachi is quite a cheerful character in
general. You and Yasutomo might end up attending the same university, or if
not, you can just travel. The university will not be the rest of your life.
Yeah, but... there were still quite a few pressing issues, such as his family,
Yasutomo's family, Ayane, Ayane's family, Ayane's friends, their friends, class
mates, and practically every other person in the city. They didn't live in the
Netherlands or whatever country was the most liberal with the same-sex
relationships. Whilst he didn't actually think his parents would disown him or
something, he doubted that they would throw a party after hearing that their
oldest son wouldn't be giving them any grandchildren. Of course there was
always Yuuto, but Shinkai had his doubts of his little brother.
He didn't turn back, though, perhaps only because he had precisely asked
Jinpachi to meet him in the park and made him worry. He had backed off several
times already, he realized it now, and this was the point of no return. He
would go to the park and he would talk to Jinpachi and maybe ask his advice,
although he suspected that it was going to be something he didn't like. ('You
want to go gay with Arakita?? Have you ever heard him talk? Have you seen him
sneer?')
Jinpachi was already there when he entered the park, sitting on a bench with a
duffel bag next to him, fiddling with his phone. He was wearing a light jacket,
its collar pulled up to cover his neck from the cool breeze. He lifted his gaze
to check his surroundings and spotted Shinkai, raising his hand in a small
wave. He looked worried. Great. When he had been walking, Shinkai hadn't
realized that his heart had begun a heavy hammering against his ribs and his
stomach was doing backflips, trying to make him gag up his last meal. Which had
been... quite a long while ago. If he was hungry, he didn't feel it, the
churning in his stomach drowning every other feeling there might be. He tried
to crack a smile at Jinpachi, but failed, the corners of his mouth refusing to
budge.
"Hi," he said, stopping in front of his friend.
Jinpachi looked at him with his head tilted slightly back, worry swimming in
his eyes. "Hayato, you are freaking me out," he stated. "Please tell me you're
not dying."
That made Shinkai smile a bit. "I'm not dying."
"Your mom is not dying, your dad is not dying, your brother is not dying..."
"Nobody is dying."
Jinpachi didn't look convinced. "Is someone dead already? Oh my god, did
Usakichi die?"
"She was alive when I left, gnawing at the corner of my desk with Fur Coat.
They are both fine. Everyone is fine. I mean, no one is sick, not that I know
of."
Jinpachi's shoulders slumped as he relaxed, exhaling and pocketing his phone.
"What is it then?"
Shinkai took a seat beside him. His hands were firmly tucked in his pockets as
he feared that they might start shaking. A lump was gathering in his throat,
making it hard to swallow and creating an illusion of half choking. He couldn't
remember the last time he had been so nervous about anything, and since
Jinpachi saw it and knew that he wasn't a nervous person in nature, he too was
getting agitated. Again.
"Hayato, seriously, I just spent an hour in a train imagining how you're going
to blurt out that you have cancer and only six months to live."
"It's nothing like that. I'm just... I've been very confused about something
and it's getting to the point where I need an outsider's opinion, so... that's
why I'm asking you. Or you don't have to give me your opinion," he added,
remembering what kind of comments would probably ensue after Jinpachi heard
about his dilemma. "I just need someone to listen."
Jinpachi nodded, his face smoothing somewhat but staying alert, indicating that
he was going to listen to every single word Shinkai had to say. "I'm here. I'm
listening."
"You can't tell this to anyone. Not even Yuusuke."
"I won't," Jinpachi said without hesitation.
Shinkai turned his head, allowing his gaze wander around the park, mostly to
check that it was empty, but also because he couldn't look Jinpachi in the eye.
He took a deep breath, letting the air linger in his lungs before puffing it
out, giving himself some time to adjust his thoughts. He had been planning how
to phrase his revelation, how to make it sound... maybe not so serious? But the
words were escaping him and his thoughts were all over the place.
"I... I sort of have a crush on someone... who isn't Ayane."
For a split second he got overwhelmed by a fear that Jinpachi already knew –
that the whole team and Sohoku and probably some of their classmates knew and
he and Yasutomo just thought they had been careful. Jinpachi would get his
revenge sooner than he had anticipated. 'Hah, did you really think we don't
know about you two? If it was any more news, it would be the most popular
Google search worldwide.' But of course Jinpachi didn't say anything like that.
Even if it had been the truth, he wouldn't have made fun of Shinkai. "Okay,
that's... problematic. Are you going to act on it or just let it fade?"
"It's not fading. It has been going on for a longer while now and it's only
getting stronger."
Jinpachi hmm'd. "I suppose you already know what you have to do then."
I don't! I don't fucking know! That's why I'm venting to you!
He knew what Jinpachi was referring to. In his eyes the case was still quite
simple. High school crushes came and went, it wasn't such a big deal.
"It's not... I was trying to ignore it first, but it's gone too far. The thing
is... I've already acted on it." Sorry, Yasutomo. Sorry for not keeping the
secret. I need to do this.
"Does Ayane know?" Jinpachi was keeping a very good poker face. It was about to
change soon.
"No, she doesn't know but I think she suspects that something is wrong. The
guilt is killing me. I can't go on like this. Even if the person didn't return
my feelings, I'm beyond the point where I could still go back to my happy
relationship. I think I need to–"
Jinpachi cut him off, he was grateful for it. "But if you – if I understood
correctly – have already done something, shouldn't you know what the other girl
thinks?"
Girl. There it was, the assumption that he was in a love-triangle with two
girls. Now he had a perfect moment to correct Jinpachi, but he wasn't sure if
he was that far in his story yet. There could be two or three more arguments
before he had to blurt it out.
"It's not sure. I mean, we've done some stuff, but things are very complicated
and in the end nothing might come out of this."
"You know, I didn't take you for..." Jinpachi trailed off, shaking his head.
"Never mind."
Yeah, I didn't think I was a cheater, either. It just sort of happened. I don't
want it to happen ever again, with anyone.
"But what you are saying is that you're already too far gone. That means you
love the new girl too much to have a proper relationship with Ayane."
"I don't love–!" He swallowed the pronoun.
"Okay, like then. You should do what's best for all of you even if it hurt for
a while. I think you've answered your question already, if you even had a
question in the first place. You have to do what your heart is telling you to
do. You cannot be rational about these kinds of things."
Yes, he knew what his heart was telling him to do. That was where the problem
began.
"What if... going with my heart is not a good idea this time?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Because of who the new person is."
"Hayato," Jinpachi said, fixing him a stern look. "You haven't been fooling
around with a daughter of a yakuza boss, have you?"
"No, nothing like that."
Jinpachi's brows furrowed and he leaned down and forward, craning his neck and
peering at Shinkai from a weird angle. "Then what's the problem?"
His heart was trying to climb up his throat, pounding like mad as it proceeded,
making him feel hot and cold at the same time, narrowing the edges of his
vision. He couldn't believe that Jinpachi didn't already know, hadn't already
guessed. It would have been easier if he had said it out loud, or milked the
truth out of Shinkai and spared him from voicing the ugly truth.
Not that Yasutomo was ugly. Shinkai just meant the whole secret affair. Or
fling. Or thing. Whatever it was called in the realm of 'Ways to cheat on your
girlfriend with a guy'.
Yasutomo wasn't exactly handsome either. Nor was he cute or beautiful. He was
lanky, almost bony and pale and looked angry 90 percent of the time. His face
gave the impression that it mostly consisted of mouth and teeth. Shinkai didn't
even know why he was attracted to the guy. It was just something that had
happened between a bad Adam Sandler movie and Kuroda's awful cognac.
Okay, maybe that was beside the point.
Jinpachi was waiting. Shinkai didn't know how long he had been quiet for.
Probably 30 seconds tops, but it had been long enough for Jinpachi to start
fidgeting.
He closed his eyes for a moment. Alright, breathe, you can do this. Just say
it. It's like pulling a band-aid off. It stings but the pain will subside soon
enough.
"It's..." he began, his voice cracking just a little. "It's not a girl. It's a
guy."
The silence that followed was deafening. Jinpachi was so quiet, so still, that
Shinkai feared that he had broken the poor guy. He didn't breathe, didn't
blink, he didn't look like he was alive anymore. Shinkai could have been
sitting with a sculpture, Jinpachi was that still.
Then he came alive, blinking and mouthing a breathy 'fuck'.
"I..."
"Fuck," Jinpachi swore. "Fuck. Fuck."
This was serious. Jinpachi almost never said 'fuck'.
"Fucking hell."
Now Shinkai wanted to say it wasn't such a big deal. Hell, who was Jinpachi to
judge when he was screwing a guy himself?
"Shit."
"Why do–?"
Jinpachi eyes were wide as saucers, staring right in front of him, his mouth
mostly hanging open and moving only when he voiced words. "I know who it is."
Shinkai's throat did a weird thing. "Y-you do?"
"Yes!" Jinpachi turned to look at him and there was not a single trace of
hesitation in his eyes. "I can't believe I didn't realize it before!"
Shinkai heard a small groan leave his mouth and he brought a hand to his face,
partly to rub it, partly to hide. He realized right afterwards that it wasn't
the time to hide just yet. There was a chance Jinpachi was getting it wrong and
thought that he was going at it with Juichi. Or Touichirou. Both would have
made some sort of sense (except that they didn't). Jinpachi's strong reaction
was suggesting that he indeed knew.
Jinpachi was blinking and rocking slightly on the bench. "Wait, I can believe
it, actually."
"You can believe what?" Shinkai asked, having lost his train of thought.
"I can believe that I didn't realize. I can see how it's possible now but it's
been the image I've had of you two that's prevented me from noticing. I mean,
Arakita is so..."
The rather intriguing cold-hot wave was back, crushing through Shinkai and
making him shiver.
"..anti-gay and you're just... straight." Jinpachi trailed off to worry his lip
and process things in silence before gasping. "Oh my god, that bastard mocked
me like we were in a bad, inappropriate comedy and all the while he has been
frickfracking you! I'm so going to get back at him!"
"No!" Shinkai cried. "No, you can't! You promised not to tell anyone!"
Jinpachi snapped out of his revenge mode. "I did that, didn't I? Damn. I
shouldn't have promised. Can't I let just Arakita know that I know?"
"You especially can't let him know!"
"Nghh, but he's such an insufferable hypocrite! All that crap about mowing the
lawn uphill or what the hell was it again while he was screwing a guy himself!
Wait, are you guys screwing or what did you mean by saying you've done stuff?"
"Uh, that has happened too." Shinkai wondered why his face wasn't flaming with
embarrassment. He didn't feel like he was blushing even though this would have
been a perfect opportunity to paint his face blood red. Perhaps his body needed
all its resources to handle the unreal, nauseous feeling in his gut.
Jinpachi let out a noise that resembled a wail of a frustrated wolf. "Hayato,
this is killing me. Can't you see I need my revenge?"
"You promised," Shinkai just said.
"Phew, okay. But I think it'll eventually come into daylight, so I don't have
to pretend for the rest of my life that I don't know, right?"
"I... I'm not sure." Shinkai couldn't imagine a situation where Yasutomo
voluntarily told Jinpachi that he was banging a guy.
"Poor Fuku," Jinpachi huffed. "He'll shed half of his eyebrows when he finds
out his whole team is gay."
"Well, it's not the whole team."
Jinpachi cocked his head. "Are you sure? I'm quite certain Kuroda has feelings
for Arakita."
Oh yeah, that. "Uh, maybe?"
"And..." Jinpachi was musing over it. "Maybe Ashikiba is gay too. I don't know,
I just sometimes get that sort of vibe from him."
Shinkai had no idea of their new ace's orientation, nor did he care. He had
more pressing matters weighing down his shoulders at the moment.
"Can I say something?" Jinpachi then asked. "Just this one thing. I promise
I'll be supportive after that."
Shinkai had a pretty good hunch of what was coming and he was already resigning
to his fate. "If you must."
"Sorry, I know you can't really help these kinds of feelings but... Arakita?
You do know it's very probable that he's never going to come out of the
closet?"
Shinkai waited but that was all Jinpachi had to say. In the end he couldn't
resist poking at the ant nest just a little. "Are you not going to tell me that
I could do much better?"
Jinpachi shook his head. "No, why would I? You guys get along very well. I
believe that somewhere underneath that shitty exterior Arakita has a good heart
and if someone has access to it, that's you. I'm just concerned that you don't
hurt yourself – or him for that matter – while trying to dig it out."
"I think I've already done that. Hurt him, I mean."
"How's that?"
Shinkai sent another silent apology to Yasutomo. "I'm under the impression that
he's had a crush on me for a while now."
"How did you figure it out?"
"Well, he was pretty... straightforward about it." Except that he hadn't been,
save from forcing some gay sex on Shinkai. But he had actually made Shinkai
believe that it had been purely experimental, at least in the beginning.
Jinpachi jumped a little, looking like he had gotten the best idea ever. "Hey,
you know, if you two got together, we could go on a double date!"
Shinkai gave him a long look. "Does that sound like something Yasutomo would
do?"
"Heh, I suppose not. But it would be so much fun! We could hook Fuku up with
someone – there has to be at least one girl who isn't creeped out by him – and
go on a triple date."
"You're really getting ahead of yourself now. I really don't know about us
getting together. Maybe Yasutomo doesn't want to." He wasn't sure he wanted it
himself. There were so many if's and but's that it was staining his vision of
the outcome.
"Well, you'll never know if you don't ask. I wouldn't rely on Arakita taking
the initiative."
You have no idea.
Only after seeing Jinpachi's surprised look, Shinkai realized he had spoken out
loud.
"Now I'm very curious. When did that happen? How did it start?"
Shinkai avoided his gaze. "I don't know if I can tell you that."
"Come on, you scared the crap out of me and dragged me out here when I'm tired
and hungry and just want to sink in the onsen and I haven't even finished all
of my homework yet. You must tell me!"
Uh, Jinpachi was turning on his drama queen mode. Shinkai wasn't exactly weak
to it but this time it was yanking at his conscience.
"Does this have something to do with Machimiya?" Jinpachi asked.
"Why? You mean the weekend when he was in Hakone? This has been going on way
longer."
"I figured that. I was just wondering if Machimiya has somehow meddled in."
"No, he hasn't." To tell the truth, Shinkai was still a bit uneasy about that
weekend. Yasutomo had said Machimiya hadn't been the one to give him all those
hickeys but there was a nagging voice in the back of his mind insisting
otherwise. And damn, if he could see those two getting along perfectly. In many
ways, Machimiya would be more suitable for Yasutomo than him. Thinking about it
made his insides squirm and he was beginning to understand now that the feeling
was jealousy.
He decided to discard that thought for now. "How did you know it was Yasutomo?"
"You're just trying to change the subject."
"Well, yeah, since I can't answer you." Besides, Jinpachi's question and his
question might be related and he wanted to know if he and Yasutomo had been
careless.
You haven't been exactly subtle, now, have you? Did you really think that
people seeing you and Yasutomo as heterosexuals would carry you very far?
"I hadn't considered it," Jinpachi said. "But right away when you said your
thing, I got this flash, like a neon sign inside my head, screaming 'Arakita'.
Like, as if it couldn't be anyone else."
Shinkai didn't know if Jinpachi was enjoying their discussion. It wasn't that
long ago when he himself had been in the same situation, fearing for his
reputation and hoping his friends wouldn't turn their backs on him after
finding out he played for the opposite team. He understood his friend's need
for a payback but he absolutely couldn't tell Yasutomo that he knew. Not before
Shinkai had sorted things out and not necessarily after that either, because...
obvious reasons.
"By the way, do your parents know about you and Yuusuke?" he asked.
"No, they don't. They might suspect something, since we meet almost every
weekend. They've been nice to Maki-chan, though, and haven't complained that
he's in the ryokan so often. Shiori is suspecting something, that I'm sure of."
"What do you think they would do if they found out?"
Jinpachi gave a half-shrug. "Hard to say. I try not to think about it."
"Cross that bridge when you get there?"
"Something like that."
Shinkai nodded and they sat in silence for a moment before he decided to return
to the core of his problem. "Anyway, the reason I dragged you out here, hungry
and scared, was that I'm confused and don't know what to do."
Jinpachi looked at him like Dumbledore looks at Harry Potter, with an annoying,
content, knowing smile. "Oh, but I think you do know."
"But like I said, things could get really ugly."
"Hayato, if you're looking for a direct, blunt advice, Arakita is the one you
should be asking, not me. My way is much more subtle."
"I've noticed. Have you considered studying psychology? You'd make a decent
shrink."
Jinpachi waved his hand. "Nah, I like to talk about myself too much."
Shinkai found himself chuckling. The atmosphere was getting lighter despite the
heavy topic. Things weren't that much out of portion anymore and the load in
his back wasn't as heavy as it had been. He was glad that he had talked to
Jinpachi.
"I understand that under these circumstances it would be quite silly to ask
him, but who knows, maybe he would answer you anyway?" Jinpachi continued.
"Like if you asked him: 'Hey, Yasutomo, I broke up with my girlfriend and now I
want to date you. What do you say?'"
"I can't ask him something like that!"
"Why? If he likes you, he should be happy!"
"But he's... you know what he's like. A lot of things have happened since it
began. I... I have rejected him. He might have moved on already."
"I don't think so but it's possible, yes, but you'll never find out if you
don't ask."
That was true. Shinkai wondered why it almost always took an outsider to spell
out the simplest solution.
"But things are very complicated and... I don't like complicated."
"You don't know before you ask," Jinpachi repeated. "Sometimes it's complicated
and sometimes it's just as simple as that."
Shinkai could only hum at that.
Chapter End Notes
     Shinkai, what have you done?
***** Welcome to the Heavy Entertainment Show, part I *****
Chapter Notes
     Thank you everyone who left kudos and comments! Sorry I haven't
     answered them. Still a lot going on in real life. But I hope you
     appreciate this quick(er) update! :3
See the end of the chapter for more notes
After he had (sort of) made up his mind, Shinkai was left with another dilemma.
How to proceed with the matter? He couldn't just kneel in front of Yasutomo
during class and ask him to go out with him ¬– and not only because he was
still, officially, dating Ayane. He was pretty sure Yasutomo had already moved
on, but encouraged by Jinpachi's advice he was ready to give it a shot.
Ironically enough, it was Jinpachi who also offered him a solution during their
lunch break.
"Guys," Jinpachi began, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "I'm thinking
of throwing a party this Saturday."
Yasutomo sneered. "Again? Didn't we just have one a few weeks ago?"
Jinpachi looked at him pointedly. "Excuse me, but are you a high school student
or are you a grandpa?"
That made Shinkai snicker despite his constant nervousness around his teammate.
He already knew what Jinpachi was aiming for with his unexpected party.
"My folks and sister are away again, so the ryokan is free and we should use
every chance we get. It's not long until we go our separate ways."
"I don't feel like partying," Yasutomo muttered, going back to his lunch.
"I don't mean a big party," Jinpachi said. "Just a little get-together amongst
us. No second-years. Just the four of us and... uh, just us."
"No precious Maki-chan?" Yasutomo asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"He's busy this weekend."
On any other occasion Shinkai would have been amused. He could practically see
Jinpachi's train of thought. Had he invited Makishima, the two would have been
glued together, and if Shinkai managed to corner Yasutomo and drag him
somewhere private to have a chat, Juichi would have been left alone. This way
Jinpachi was making sure that Juichi had company without making it too obvious.
Except that it was so obvious to Shinkai that Jinpachi could have winked at him
all the same.
"I need to watch The Giro di Lombardia," Juichi said.
"Oh come on, you can watch it in the ryokan! We can all just sit on the couch
and watch TV the whole night. Or play cards. Or sing karaoke. Eat junk food.
Drink beer. Stuff like that. I can pinch a bottle of something cheap from my
folks' storage."
"Why are you so eager to have us over to your place?" Yasutomo asked. "You want
to show us some homo videos and try to convert us?"
'Like you need converting,' was written all over Jinpachi's face. He kept his
tongue in check, though. "Why wouldn't I want to have my friends over? The
ryokan probably won't be available after this for quite a while if ever, so I
say we use it when we still have a chance."
"You sound like we're all dying in the near future," Yasutomo remarked.
Jinpachi let out an annoyed huff. "Okay, fine. If you want to sulk at home, go
ahead. Hayato and Fuku are coming, right?"
"If we'll get something good to eat," Shinkai said.
"If I can watch the Giro," Juichi said.
"Yes, yes! You can watch the Giro and eat! God, you're really demanding guests!
You can also spend the night and use the onsen if you wish. Should I ask a few
of our employees to cancel their day off and come to serve you?"
"I think we can manage," Juichi said.
"All we need to do is pile everything around the couch so we don't have to get
up," Shinkai added.
"It will be the most boring night ever." Jinpachi kept huffing in annoyance
before turning his eyes back to Yasutomo. "So you coming to our boring anti-
party, grandpa?"
Yasutomo grunted which could be interpreted as a 'yes'.
Jinpachi looked content. Right after that Shinkai's phone beeped for a message.
'You're welcome.'
He glanced at Jinpachi who was pretending to concentrate on his meal but the
littlest smug smile on his lips gave him away.
Great. Shinkai already regretted telling his friend. Maybe Jinpachi thought
that he was helping, but now Shinkai felt obliged to do something in the so-
called party. He had very little time to summon his courage and stitch up a
plan. If he even needed one. Maybe it was better to act on impulse; to see
where the evening would carry him. Wait for an opportunity to present itself.
And if it never came... it wouldn't be his fault. In the same way that he
couldn't get on his knees in front of everyone in the cafeteria, he couldn't
just confess to Yasutomo in the ryokan while Juichi and Jinpachi were watching
either. Although, Jinpachi would probably try to arrange so that Shinkai and
Yasutomo would be left alone and afterwards he would ask what Shinkai had done
and how Yasutomo had reacted to it and if they were now together and... crap.
Crap.
* *
Shinkai was trying to be responsible. He really was. Multiple times a day he
almost managed to kick himself into asking Ayane if they could have a talk, and
equally many times he backed off. She knew something was going on and to
Shinkai it looked like she wanted to bring it up but maybe she didn't have the
courage, either. Damn, why were these things so hard? It was very easy to judge
someone else and tell them they just had to do it, end the relationship and do
it gracefully. He still somehow wished that Ayane would find out and accuse him
of cheating and just... leave him. So that he wouldn't have to. But on the
other hand, that would probably mean the end of his good reputation. He didn't
care as much as he had a couple of months ago, though. In half a year he would
be in a different environment and things that happened in high school would be
hopefully forgotten (depending on how many of his fellow high school students
applied for the same university).
He was trying to be responsible, but Saturday came and he had done nothing to
sort things out with his girlfriend. He thought he saw a sad look in Ayane's
eyes when he told her that he was going to spend most of the weekend with his
guy pals and mentally promised both himself and Ayane that whether or not
something happened during the get-together, he would make things right with her
on Monday. Now he would try to somehow enjoy the weekend and, if the luck was
on his side, have a long talk with Yasutomo.
He was the first one to arrive the ryokan. Jinpachi answered the door wearing
an apron. The sight made Shinkai snort.
"I strongly recommend you take that off before Yasutomo gets here."
Jinpachi glanced down at himself. The apron had a few flour and chocolate
stains in it. "I was baking."
"Baking?"
"Yeah, I got this sudden impulse to bake a cake."
"You got a sudden impulse to bake a cake?" For three... no, two people?
Jinpachi himself avoided sweet stuff most of the time because of his health
nerdiness and Yasutomo didn't like sugary pastries, so that left only Shinkai
and Fuku.
"Are you just repeating what I'm saying?"
Shinkai shook his head, chuckling and pushing past his friend to enter the
ryokan. "You'd make a great house wife. Have you talked about it with Yuusuke?
You don't know what you want to do in the future, so maybe you could stay at
home if he'd be willing to bring the food to the table."
Jinpachi just looked at him with an unamused expression. "Hayato, shut up and
come help me."
"You sure you wanna let me help in baking?" Shinkai asked. He was known for his
ability to eat food, not cook it.
"Come on, you'll do fine. Just follow my instructions."
He took off his shoes and followed Jinpachi to the kitchen, carrying a plastic
back that contained snacks he had bought. He was kind of impressed by
Jinpachi's inability to actually have a simple and laid-back party; he always
needed to act as a considerate host, prepare for the event for hours and
regularly check that his guests were doing alright. Before he got too drunk,
that was.
"You can help with the dry ingredients. Just add two teaspoons of baking powder
to the flour and mix it well," Jinpachi said, pointing towards bowls gathered
on the kitchen counter.
"Uh, okay." He wasn't sure which one of the cans and packages on the table the
baking powder was but it probably had a label. He unpacked his snacks onto the
counter and put the few beers he had brought in the fridge. He reckoned he was
going to need some encouragement but he didn't want to be wasted and he didn't
want Yasutomo to be either. No, this time they were doing it right, sober and
lucid.
"You know," Jinpachi began casually as he went to stir something that looked
like melted chocolate. "I can keep Fuku busy if you guys want some privacy."
Shinkai found the baking powder and mixed two teaspoons into the flour waiting
in a bowl. "You think I'm gonna drag Yasutomo into a closet the moment he walks
in?"
"Of course not. I mean if at some point of the night things head that way."
"Mhm." He probably should have sounded more grateful, but the acid whirlpool in
his stomach and the rollercoaster of his emotions made him uncharacteristically
snappy. Jinpachi understood as he didn't seem to mind, merely concentrating on
his baking project.
"Now you need to pour the flour into this bowl little by little while I keep
mixing it."
Shinkai did as was instructed. Jinpachi made baking look easy, but those few
times when he had tried to make something out of sugar, flour and eggs, it had
ended up in a disaster. Somehow he managed not to mess up simple tasks given to
him, and soon the cake was baking in the oven.
"So do you have a plan?" Jinpachi asked, taking off his apron and leaning
against the counter.
"No."
"Want me to help you?"
"No!" Oh god, he would feel so bad if he didn't take the chance Jinpachi had
set up for him. He genuinely wished he had kept the whole affair a secret. Now
he would have to watch out for overly eager matchmaker meddling in his
business. Yasutomo was bound to become suspicious if Jinpachi couldn't keep a
low profile. "Remember what I said. You can't let him know."
"I won't. I can be subtle, you know," Jinpachi said, his voice a little hurt.
"Just... if we somehow naturally end up somewhere alone, please keep Juichi
busy."
"I promised that already, didn't I?"
"Yes, but that's all I–" he trailed off after hearing the front door clank. By
the sound of it, Yasutomo and Juichi had arrived at the same time.
"What are you doing here?" was the first thing to extract Yasutomo's mouth as
he and Juichi stepped into the kitchen.
Jinpachi tilted his head. "Uh, I live here?"
"No, idiot, what are you doing with all those bowls and ingredients? Baking?"
"Yeah, I'm making a chocolate cake."
"Wasn't this supposed to be a simple get-together?"
"It still is! I'm just baking a cake. You don't have to eat it if you don't
want to." Jinpachi's voice questioned what the hell was wrong with his guest
and he glanced in Shinkai's direction, a pleading look in his eyes.
'Please do something about that brute.'
Shinkai shrugged. 'It might not be up to me.'
'I'm pretty sure it is.'
Yasutomo looked at their nonverbal exchange before muttering something to
himself and going up to the fridge to stock his beer in. So he was in a sour
mood to begin with. Not that Shinkai had expected anything else. Yasutomo had
been nastier than usual for the past few days. Or maybe they were weeks
already.
"What time does the Giro start?" Jinpachi asked Juichi.
"In an hour. The broadcast starts half an hour prior."
"Okay, we can set up the living room right away," Jinpachi decided and grabbed
a bottle of what looked like red wine, waving it in the air. "By the way, I got
this from my folks."
"Got or took?"
"They gave it to me. Said I could have a glass with my friends," Jinpachi still
sounded quite surprised by the fact that his parents actually approved of him
drinking with his friends in the empty ryokan. Maybe it was because everything
was always in its place and cleaned up before they returned.
Shinkai didn't like wine and he knew that Yasutomo or Juichi didn't like it
either, but they could always gulp down a glass or two. Hell, it was free
alcohol. He'd just have to remember to keep his drinking in check. Tonight he
couldn't afford to get smashed.
They took their snacks and first drinks to the living room, piled them up on
the coffee table and settled down on the couch. Yasutomo was aiming to sit
between the armrest and Juichi, but Jinpachi wedged Juichi against the opposite
armrest, slumping down heavily and leaving Shinkai the last spot between
himself and the crankiest guest. He sat down, taking a note that Yasutomo tried
to put more space between them by leaning towards the armrest.
Damn, am I too late?
It seemed that Yasutomo didn't want anything to do with him anymore and it was
not like he could blame him. Shinkai's behaviour had been full of
contradictions; sometimes he'd been flashing the green light and then backing
off the next second. He had told Yasutomo that they had to stop their thing and
that was what Yasutomo was doing, wasn't it? Although, Shinkai had also said
that he wanted things to go back like they had been, at the same time knowing
that it was fairly impossible.
There was enough space on the couch to sit without being squished but he was
still very aware of Yasutomo's every inhale and exhale, the rhythm of his
breath, and every little change in his position. He got the impression that
Yasutomo was trying to sit as still as possible, only moving when he picked
something from the table. Their proximity made Shinkai feel like he should
maybe... touch Yasutomo. But he kept his hands to himself, very careful not to
invade his companion's space.
The broadcast from Italy began and gave them something else to think and talk
about. Jinpachi poured everyone a glass of wine, insisting that they drink it.
He also made relaxing quite impossible, jumping up every few minutes to go and
check the cake in the oven. Things calmed down only after he had taken the cake
out and left it cooling on the counter. Little by little Shinkai felt the
tension drain from his limbs, as he downed two glasses of wine and engaged
himself in his favourite activity, snacking.
"Arashiro is not participating this year, is he?" Shinkai asked Juichi.
"No. He took part in La Vuelta though."
"Are there any Japanese competing?"
"No, I don't think so."
For a while everyone just concentrated on the race. Jinpachi got up one more
time to cut the cake and offer (force) a piece to everyone, but after that he
also stayed in the living room. After three hours of nothing but lounging on
the couch, Shinkai was beginning to realize that things would never move into
the desired direction without his help (or Jinpachi's help, but he wasn't sure
he wanted it). Yasutomo was indifferent – if not downright cold – towards him,
only talking to him when he asked something or the conversation required it.
But how would he get Yasutomo to go somewhere private with him? He didn't want
to ask directly because Juichi was there. Should he wait that Yasutomo got up
and follow him wherever he was going? Yasutomo had already gone to bathroom
half an hour ago and probably wasn't going to go again anytime soon. Should he
maybe spill his drink into Yasutomo's lap to get him to stand up? Nah, that
sounded something that only worked in cheap romance novels and he wasn't aiming
to piss his teammate off even more.
While he was still trying to cook up a plan, Shinkai didn't notice that his
wine glass was tilting dangerously before it was too late.
"Gaah, what the hell, Shinkai?!"
For a second or two Shinkai was too dumbfounded to do anything than blink.
Hadn't he just decided that spilling a drink into Yasutomo's lap wasn't the
best approach?
"Get up! Get up!" Jinpachi was shouting. "Get up before it goes into the
couch!"
Yasutomo jumped up, cursing and snatching a paper towel from the table to press
it against his crotch. Of all times tonight he had chosen to wear blue jeans so
the stain would definitely be visible. The paper towel was quickly absorbing a
crimson tint.
"Damn it, Shinkai, was that really necessary?"
"Sorry," Shinkai finally managed. "Sorry, it was an accident."
"Don't worry. Mom once told me a trick that works for wine stains," Jinpachi
said. "Come on, let's go to the bathroom." He motioned Yasutomo to follow him
and Shinkai wondered if he should go too. Juichi was still sitting on the
couch, not fazed by the little show, but swaying from side to side and trying
to see the screen from between his friends. Jinpachi marched off, Yasutomo and
Shinkai following him, the former still pressing the paper towel into his
crotch and the latter wondering if he was seizing an unexpected opportunity or
just wanting to help and apologize some more.
"You need to get those off," Jinpachi said once they were in the bathroom,
pointing at Yasutomo's jeans. "I'll lend you trousers. I think I have a pair
that fits."
"It got on my underwear too," Yasutomo muttered through gritted teeth.
"Uh, just take them off too then. I think I can find you underwear too."
"I don't wanna wear your prissy lace thong or whatever your collection of
underwear consists of."
"Idiot, you think I cycle in a thong?" Jinpachi clicked his tongue, totally
absorbed in his team mom role and not getting provoked at all. "Calvin Klein
boxer briefs okay for your skinny butt?"
Yasutomo muttered an affirmative.
"I'll go get them. Just take those off."
Jinpachi went to search for clothes, leaving Shinkai and Yasutomo alone in the
bathroom. Yasutomo threw the paper towel in the trash and ripped some toilet
paper from the rack. Most of the liquid was already absorbed in the jeans
though, leaving the paper relatively dry. He let out a frustrated 'tch', threw
that paper away too and glanced at Shinkai.
"Why are you standing there? What are you staring at?" he spit, voice oozing
with accusation. Shinkai knew it wasn't because of the stain in his jeans. No,
Yasutomo was getting into the 'You fucked me and toyed with my heart and dumped
me before it even started so you can just stuff these ruined jeans up your ass'
mode.
"Sorry for the jeans," Shinkai said. "If you can't get the stain off, I'll buy
you a new pair."
Yasutomo kept scowling at him for a good measure before his face relaxed
somewhat. "Don't fret it. Old jeans, I wouldn't miss them. And I'm quite sure
Mama Toudou will manage to get them cleaned."
Before Shinkai had time to answer, Jinpachi returned with a pair of sweatpants,
boxers and a packet of salt.
"Okay, you really need to take them off," he said after seeing Yasutomo still
fully dressed. "If this is another homophobic protest of yours, save your
effort. You're definitely not my type."
"Shut up. You were gone like five seconds," Yasutomo growled. He began
unbuttoning his jeans but stopped and drilled his eyes into Shinkai. "Hello?
You can leave now."
Jinpachi stole a quick glance at Shinkai, and whatever he thought he saw, he
came up with an idea that wasn't going to win The Best Plan of the Year prize.
"Hayato can help you. Now listen up. I'll tell you my mom's trick. All you need
to do is pour salt all over the stain and let it sit for an hour."
"Salt?"
"Yeah, salt. Just leave it in the tub or something. I'm going to wash it
later." Jinpachi planted the salt package into Shinkai's hand and left the
bathroom, closing the door after him.
Shinkai and Yasutomo looked at each other for a moment before Yasutomo exhaled
and his hands went back to his fly again. He didn't continue unbuttoning it,
though, his dark gaze finding Shinkai and once again questioning his presence.
It was a bit weird, Shinkai had to admit.
"You know, you really don't have to stand there. I think I can take off my
pants and pour salt over them just by myself."
"I want to help," Shinkai heard himself say.
Yasutomo looked at him like he had totally lost it. "Alright then, Mr. Helper.
If it means so much to you, you can pour the salt after I've taken these off.
That arrangement suitable for you or do you want to be the one to take off my
pants?"
God, Shinkai was sure that a nice shade of red just blew all over his face.
Yasutomo probably got the double meaning of his words, but didn't allow his
exterior to waver, keeping a stern and rather frustrated expression on his
face.
"No... go ahead."
"Jesus," Yasutomo muttered under his breath, ripping his fly open and pushing
his jeans down his legs. He threw the article at Shinkai before turning around
and proceeding to take off his underwear.
And what was Shinkai doing?
He was just standing there like the moron he was, a package of salt in one hand
and Yasutomo's wine-infused jeans in the other, staring as Yasutomo gradually
bared his ass.
It had been a while since he had last seen it. After all, the race season was
over and they had no reason to shower together.
You know, you can still back off. You can still cancel this. You don't have to
spend the next years of your life wrestling with the same problems as Jinpachi.
You can just break up with Ayane and find another girl.
But... I don't want another girl.
You've always been a butt man, haven't you? You like girls' hips and round
asses. You like it when there's something for you to squeeze.
But I want that skinny, hairy ass that's in front of me.
Yasutomo quickly pulled on the pants Jinpachi had brought him, without giving
Shinkai too much time to stare. Yasutomo could probably feel his eyes on him.
Because, you know, he had forgotten how to be subtle.
Yasutomo turned around. "Okay, you're seriously starting to creep me out. What
the hell is wrong with you today? I know you're not drunk yet. Did you eat
Toudou's granny's medicines or something?"
Shinkai just shook his head.
"Fuck." Yasutomo drew his fingers through his hair. "So are you gonna do the
salt trick or should I?"
"I'll do it." Shinkai kicked himself into moving and squatted, spreading the
jeans onto the floor and pouring some salt onto the stains. "Your underwear
too?"
Yasutomo tossed him his boxers. They were black so the stain was not going to
be visible even if they didn't manage to get it off, but he poured salt over
them nonetheless. Jinpachi had told to put the clothes in the tub, but he
really couldn't move them now without making a mess, so he just left them on
the floor.
"Alright, let's go back," Yasutomo concluded, already reaching for the door.
Shinkai reacted before thinking, taking a quick side step and blocking his way.
"I need to talk to you."
Yasutomo tilted his head. "Here?"
"Here or somewhere else private."
"You need to talk to me now?"
Shinkai only hesitated for half a second. "Yes."
Yasutomo looked like he wanted to argue, point out that there was probably a
better time and place and Juichi and Jinpachi were waiting for them and might
get suspicious if they just lingered in the bathroom, but in the end he just
sighed and crossed his arms. "Fine. What is it?"
"Should we maybe... sit down?"
Yasutomo took a quick look around. "Fine. You sit on the toilet, I'll sit
here." He slumped down onto the edge of the tub, still keeping his arms crossed
which made balancing on the narrow seat a bit difficult. But Yasutomo had
always had a good balance. One of the reasons he had learned to ride a road
racer so quickly.
Shinkai lowered the toilet lid and sat down on it. Luckily the ryokan had
several bathrooms, so they wouldn't have to come out, because Juichi or
Jinpachi needed to use it. He suspected that Yasutomo was so far on the
defensive side that it would take some serious persuasion to coax him back.
For a moment he wondered how he should pursue the subject but he was done
beating around the bush – and he knew Yasutomo didn't like that. Just blurt it
out and deal with the consequences. At least then you can say you tried.
He took a deep breath. "What would you do if I broke up with Ayane?"
Yasutomo looked confused but Shinkai could see that at least half of it was
pretension. He was surprised, yes, but not confused. "What do you mean, what I
would do? It's your goddamn business."
Oh yeah, the walls were definitely up and high.
"What would you do if I told you I'm going to break up with Ayane because of
you?"
He saw just the tiniest crack in Yasutomo's stony façade. He saw something that
could maybe, perhaps, with great optimism, be called hope, but it wasn't enough
to allow him to feel any relief. Whatever Yasutomo's state of mind was, he
wouldn't give in easily. This wouldn't be a quick 'I like you, I want to be
with you, please be gay with me' chat followed by a swift transition to one of
the guest bedrooms. No, Yasutomo would give him a run for his money,
interrogate him and make sure that Shinkai wasn't going to back away once more.
He would need a guarantee that his heart would not be broken again.
If he still wanted Shinkai, that was.
Chapter End Notes
     The chapter title is (obviously) from Robbie Williams' new album and
     song. I was listening to it while writing this and thought it sort of
     fit, in an ironical way.
***** Welcome to the Heavy Entertainment Show, part II *****
Chapter Notes
     As always, I'm very grateful to anyone who reviewed and/or left
     kudos! They make me insanely happy even though lately I've been too
     distracted to answer comments. But I promise I will answer your last
     reviews once this marathon is over. Here, have a Christmas miracle
     and happy holidays, everyone! :) Sorry if there are some weird
     symbols, this was written in three different versions of MS Word.
     Thank you, Hailey, for the quick betaing, so I managed to get this up
     on Christmas Day. :)))
See the end of the chapter for more notes
"What would you do if I told you I'm going to break up with Ayane because of
you?"
Yasutomo was quiet for a long time. Shinkai didn't know if it was because he
was trying to evaluate what he had heard, the degree of truth in what he was
saying. But didn't Yasutomo know him well enough to understand that Shinkai
wouldn't lie or joke about something like this?
Eventually Yasutomo unfolded his arms, grabbing the edge of the tub and
huffing. "That's a... What should I do? I mean... should I react in some way?"
Shinkai fought to keep his nerves in check. You're not backing away now, no
sir. You talk to him until he confesses. "I know you've had feelings for me."
Yasutomo avoided his gaze. "What makes you think that?"
"Come on, Yasutomo. Given all the stuff that's happened during the past few
months, how could I think otherwise?" Yasutomo opened his mouth but Shinkai
wasn't done yet. "And it's okay. It really is. In the beginning I was just
ignoring it, hoping it would go away on its own, since, you know, I'm in a
relationship. I wasn't prepared that it would turn around. That I would
also..." He was pretty sure Juichi couldn't hear them over the commentary of
the Giro but he lowered his voice all the same. "..develop feelings. Towards
you."
There. He had said it. Now it wasn't up to him anymore.
Yasutomo was wiping his face, groaning just audibly. He looked worn out and
stressed and cornered even though it should have been Shinkai who should have
felt trapped. Instead, he felt weirdly calm, like he was beyond the panic.
"I know I have taken my sweet time realizing it, and you might have moved on –
if you've ever even had a thought or... hope of us being together, but I needed
to come clean. And I'm here now if you want to... talk."
For a long while Yasutomo didn't say anything. He was staring at the floor, the
walls, the cabinets, whatever his eyes landed on, except Shinkai. A couple of
times he opened his mouth but words didn't come. Mixed feelings were sailing
across his face. Shinkai was starting to prepare himself for the worst.
See? He doesn't want you. Maybe he's had a crush on you but he's smart enough
to suppress his feelings because he doesn't want those problems for you or
himself. High school crushes come and go. It's quite common to have an
occasional crush on a person of the same sex; it doesn't mean it would be a
good idea to act on it. Give it half a year and you'll be over it. Give it a
year and this time next autumn you don't even remember you once had a fling
with a guy.
"Fuck, Shinkai," Yasutomo muttered. "I don't know..."
"Am I late?" Shinkai asked.
Yasutomo shrugged. "Kinda."
Shinkai ignored the crushing feeling that was threatening to squash his
insides, trying to appear as cool as ever. "Okay, I understand. I respect that.
I just... needed to get it off my chest."
Yasutomo nodded, but there wasn't finality in the gesture. He didn't appear to
be getting up or wanting to leave. Shinkai waited, and eventually he spoke.
"You shouldn't leave your girlfriend for me."
"Okay. I'm going to break up with her anyway. This thing hasn't been working
for a while now. She deserves better. Heck, it could be that she beats me to
it. She knows something is wrong."
"Then why haven't you done it already?"
"Because I'm a coward. I like my life not problematic."
Yasutomo let out a sound that vaguely resembled laughter.
"I don't like difficult. You know me. I like to ride my bike, eat, sleep. Have
sex – when it doesn't involve problems. Difficult relationships tire me out
quickly."
"And you think a relationship with me would be easy?"
"It could be." Taking in Yasutomo's bewildered look, he continued, "I don't
mean easy in the sense of never having disagreements or fights, but like...
'Yes, this is the person I want to be with'. You know, a relationship where I
wouldn't have to doubt if I'm with the right person."
"And you think you could achieve that with me?"
Shinkai hated how sceptical Yasutomo sounded. He made sure neither his voice
nor his gaze wavered when he answered. "Yes, I do."
"Why?"
"Because we get along. You're one of my best friends. We are sexually
compatible." He thought for a moment. "I can put up with your bullshit."
Yasutomo snorted. "What about if you're attending a party that requires a plus
one? What about family gatherings? Holidays when your folks ask you to bring
your significant other along?"
"I don't care about that stuff."
"But they do. Families are a bitch but you can't really avoid them forever."
"That's not what I meant. I mean that I don't care what they think or say."
That step sounded so distant that Shinkai couldn't picture it clearly. It
wasn't important now.
Yasutomo's brows furrowed. "You'd be willing to march in there and sit next to
me and introduce me as your plus one?"
"Would you be?" he shot back, realizing only right afterwards that Yasutomo had
implied that he had already moved on and probably wouldn't be joining Shinkai
in any family gatherings.
"I asked you first."
Shinkai gave it a little thought, so that Yasutomo knew that he wasn't just
babbling the first thing that popped into his mind. "Yes. Yes, I would bring
you to our Christmas feast and I would hold your hand and tell my mom that you
don't need an extra futon because you're sleeping in my bed with me. No,
scratch that. My bed is really narrow. I would tell mom that we need a large
futon on the floor because we're both sleeping on it."
Yasutomo had an incredulous look on his face. "What if I didn't want that? What
if I wanted to keep a low profile?"
"Then I would say that my friend is coming over for Christmas. ‘You remember
Yasutomo, right? No need to set up a guest room, he will sleep in mine, no
thanks, we don't wanna watch TV, I think we're gonna call it an early night.’"
He could see another crack in Yasutomo's walls. The corner of his mouth tugged,
anticipating a smile. A genuine smile, not a sarcastic smirk.
"What if it happens year after year?"
"Well, I think my family would get a little suspicious if I brought the same
male friend to every gathering and never a girl. Like, when I'm 25 and I still
bring the same guy over and insist that he's just my friend and we just like to
spend holidays together and yes, mom, please roll out the large futon." The
thought was rather hilarious, making him snort in the middle of his narrative.
"I would still do it, though."
Yasutomo folded his arms again, then unfolded them again, his eyes wandering.
Shinkai could see that he was processing what he had heard.
"But what would you say if my mom asked what is our relationship?" Shinkai
almost added 'hypothetically speaking', but bit his tongue.
"Would your mom ask something like that?"
"Dunno, maybe. And I think your parents might start suspecting too, not to
mention your sisters."
Yasutomo groaned. "Ugh, my sisters."
"Yeah, and don't forget Yuuto. He's a sneaky little bastard, you have no idea.
But you can't really help it. There'll always be the issue of families. You can
come out clean or you can tiptoe around the subject for years and just hope
that they are too naive to realize."
"And you'd be fine with... both?"
"Yes, that's what I said, didn't I? I don't want to date you so I could brag
about it to my folks."
Yasutomo laughed at that. It was half sarcastic, though. "Yeah, like that'd be
something to brag about."
Shinkai just smiled. "I could brag about it on Facebook, if you allowed me to."
Whoa, man, you're in a rush to come out of the closet!
Yeah, he was. Or at least he thought he could do it. The reality might be
different, but at the moment he was ready to announce it on social media if
that meant that Yasutomo would go out with him.
"I don't want that," Yasutomo said.
"Okay. That's fine too."
"But this really isn't a question of 'Who are we going to tell and when', is
it?"
"No, it's not," Shinkai simply said, still feeling that smile linger on his
lips. He could sense that Yasutomo's defence had lowered. It wasn't completely
down yet, but they were getting there. He didn't know the final outcome, but he
was pretty sure that after this there wouldn't be so much awkwardness between
them.
He was about to ask something else which he forgot the minute he heard
Jinpachi's voice from outside.
"No, Fuku, don't go into that bathroom!"
"Why?" That was Juichi.
"Hayato and Arakita are there cleaning Arakita's pants."
Yasutomo looked at Shinkai, his brows raised, before whispering, "Does he have
any idea what that sounds like?"
Shinkai let out a little giggle.
"They've been in there for twenty minutes," Juichi objected.
"We'll be right out!" Shinkai shouted. "This thing is really hard to get off!"
"I'm not that hard to get off," Yasutomo whispered, making him giggle even
more. God, they probably sounded like a bunch of teenage girls cooking up a
mischievous prank.
"You're missing the best parts of the race," Juichi just said before they heard
his steps receding.
"We'll be out in a minute!" Shinkai called out through his laughter. He
realized it was mostly due to the stress evaporating, the relief finally
crashing over him and brushing the crushing weight off his shoulders. He knew
there was still a Monday to come, the day when he would have to sit down with
Ayane and tell her the bad news, but right now he just wanted to enjoy the
happiness that came from goofing around with Yasutomo.
"Should I lock the door? Do you think we're going to stay here longer than a
minute?" he asked then.
"Nah, I think they'll become suspicious."
You haven't really given me any definite answer.
"So... are we cool?" Shinkai asked.
Yasutomo pondered it over for a moment. "Yeah, pretty much."
"Alright then. Let's go back." Shinkai got up and slapped Yasutomo slightly on
the back when he walked past him. Yasutomo stopped before the door, his hand
resting on the handle but not pushing down yet. He turned to look at Shinkai,
his eyes first hitting Shinkai's chest and then rising up to meet his gaze.
"You know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "You're not too late. I
mean, yes, you're late. But not too late."
Shinkai's mouth formed an 'O', but nothing came out. However, Yasutomo didn't
even seem to wait for an answer.
"Come on," he said, nodding towards the door and pushing the handle down. He
stepped outside before Shinkai had time to get his act together. Tucking his
hands deep into Jinpachi's sweatpants' pockets, Yasutomo sauntered off to the
living room. Shinkai shook his head, mostly to clear his head a bit, before
following his teammate.
Damn, did Yasutomo really have to be so cryptic?
He's not being cryptic. He said you're not too late. Isn't this exactly the
chance you were wishing for?
You're changing your opinion like most people change underwear. Didn't you just
tell me five minutes ago that I don't have to drag myself into the same pit as
Jinpachi? That I should just forget this hairy ass business and simply find
myself another girl.
I can change my opinion whenever I want to. I'm just a part of your unorganized
mind.
But you know, it feels like you're always taking the side which seems to lead
to the most obvious outcome, like, perhaps to make it seem you're always right.
You do realize you're having this conversation inside your head and your hairy-
assed crush has already gone back to the living room? To your friends it seems
like you're just standing in front of the bathroom with a blank look on your
face. Or I don't know, maybe it looks like you're arguing with yourself. You
probably look a bit like Gollum.
Okay, so whatever part of his mind that was, it was getting out of control.
Shinkai decided to ignore it. But he should really join the others before
someone, namely Juichi, got suspicious. He didn't exactly want Jinpachi to know
what kind of turn the conversation had taken, either.
He turned the bathroom light off and walked up to the living room, slumping
down onto the couch between Jinpachi and Yasutomo and focusing his attention to
the screen. He could feel satisfaction and smugness radiating off from
Jinpachi, Yasutomo pretended that nothing out of ordinary was going on, and
Juichi was ¬– not surprisingly – fully focused on the Giro.
* * *
Shinkai didn't know how Jinpachi managed to pull it off so naturally, but when
it was past midnight and everyone else except Juichi was ready to head to bed,
he was ordered to share a room with Yasutomo. A twin room. It had two separate
beds but each was big enough to accommodate two people in it. Yasutomo had
looked a bit surprised – and a little suspicious on top of that – but said
nothing, merely accepting the housing arrangements.
"Where are you going to stuff Juichi?" Shinkai whispered to Jinpachi when
Yasutomo had gone to the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth.
Maybe Shinkai should take one too. You know, just in case.
Jinpachi waved his hand, smiling knowingly. "The Giro lasts until five in the
morning and he's not going to move from that couch as long as there is some
road racing going on. He's probably going to fall asleep on it."
"But what if he doesn't?"
"I'll let him know which room he can crawl into if he gets too sleepy. Just
lock your door."
"And that's not suspicious or anything?"
"Just in case. Fuku has no reason to try your door if I point him to another
room. It's not like we're short of sleeping quarters in this house."
Shinkai huffed. He wasn't totally convinced that Juichi didn't sense something
was going on behind the scene, but his need to kick things into moving with
Yasutomo exceeded his fears.
"Just remember it's only us," Jinpachi said. "It's a big house but it's a
traditional one. The walls are basically made of paper. If you are very noisy,
no lies can cover that up."
"We'll keep it down."
Jinpachi looked at him, his brows furrowed in an evaluating look. "You can be
very vocal, you know." Before Shinkai had time to answer, he continued, "I was
with you in France. Finally that nightly racket makes some sense."
Jesus Christ. Shinkai felt heat creep up to his face.
"I don't really care but if you don't want Fuku to know..."
"Alright, alright, I got it already!"
Jinpachi cracked a knowing smile. "Good. Okay then, I'm going to bed too, but
before that, do you need anything?"
"No, I'm still full because of all that cake." After relenting to the fact that
Juichi or Yasutomo were not helping to down the cake, Jinpachi had force-fed
Shinkai three quarters of it. It had been tasty, Shinkai wasn't complaining
about that, but it had been very filling too. Very sugary. And tonight his
stomach wanted to concentrate on other things than digestion (which hadn’t
happened in a while, if ever).
"I didn't mean food, you doofus. Do you need lube or condoms or..?"
"Shh, Yasutomo's coming back!"
"Do you?"
"No, we're good."
"There should be some lotion in the drawer but it's heavily scented and really
not that good for that purpose."
"We're good!" Shinkai hissed, silencing Jinpachi just before Yasutomo stepped
into the room.
"Mama Toudou trying to push some more cake on you?" he asked.
"Yeah," Shinkai said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, I think I'm gonna take
a quick shower too."
Yasutomo nodded. "Just keep it down when you come back. I'm so beat I'm gonna
hit the sack right away."
"Sure thing."
Jinpachi followed Shinkai to the bathroom. "I'll get you some stuff anyway. If
he asks, you can say you wanted to be prepared just in case."
Shinkai pulled his shirt over his head and placed it onto a stool next to the
tub. "How come you're so sure something's going to happen?"
"I'm not," Jinpachi said. "But if it does, it's nice to be prepared. The lotion
doesn't really... it's not the best."
"Yeah, it isn't," Shinkai agreed.
Jinpachi offered him a wink. "I'll go get it."
Once Jinpachi had scurried off, Shinkai removed the rest of his clothes and got
into the tub, turning the shower on. His face was still rather heated up and he
reckoned he'd be too embarrassed to do anything even if the opportunity
presented itself. He'd just think that Jinpachi was listening to them, not
because he was a pervert but because he liked to be right. He enjoyed the
feeling of 'I called it, didn’t I?' a bit too much for anyone's good.
Jinpachi returned before he had finished his shower, barging into the bathroom
and leaving the promised supplies under Shinkai's clothes. "Here you go. I'm
going to bed too, maybe call Maki-chan before that if he's awake. Good night.
And good luck."
"Thanks. Good night."
The door closed. Shinkai turned the faucet to cold and sprayed some freezing
water all over his face.
He was shivering when he got to the bedroom, only wrapped in a towel and
carrying a ball that was his clothes and Jinpachi's supplies inside of them.
Yasutomo had turned the light off and gotten under the covers but he was
fiddling with his phone and not sleeping. Not that Shinkai had thought he was.
However, he was sprawled on the bed closest to the window and didn't look like
he expected Shinkai to join him.
Frigging Jinpachi, getting all these ideas into Shinkai's head! He and Yasutomo
still needed to talk. That's what was going to happen and nothing else.
Yasutomo had said that Shinkai wasn't too late but what did that really mean?
Things weren't cleared up as they were.
Shinkai turned on a bedside lamp; he would just hit his toes if he tried to
find his way around in the dark. In his peripheral vision he could see Yasutomo
glance at him as he wiped the remaining drops off of his torso and pulled on
his boxers. The rest of his clothes he left on a chair and hung the towel over
the back before going back to the door and locking it. He could practically
feel Yasutomo cock an eyebrow at his doings.
He crawled into the other bed, stretching his limbs and covering himself up to
his chin to get warm. If he listened carefully, he could hear the TV from the
living room even though there were a couple of rooms in between. It was so loud
that it probably covered anything up to the normal speaking volume. Jinpachi's
room was even further away so if they kept it down, Shinkai was fairly sure no
one would hear – whether it would be just talking or something else.
After getting relatively warm, he turned off the light and lay back down,
tucking his arm behind his head. Yasutomo was still tapping on his phone, fully
concentrated on it or pretending to be. Shinkai waited for a few minutes before
opening his mouth.
“You texting with someone?”
“Uh-huh.”
Shinkai waited but Yasutomo didn’t give out more details. “Who is it?”
“Miya.”
“Oh.” Shit, what was this bang of jealousy he felt? It wasn’t just because he
suspected that something had happened between Yasutomo and Hiroshima’s mad dog
ace, but because he felt like his place as Yasutomo’s Number Two friend (Juichi
always maintaining in the first place) was threatened. “Tell him I said hi,” he
managed to keep a neutral voice while saying it.
“Sure.” Yasutomo kept typing away, ignoring Shinkai. Maybe he should go to
sleep after all. It seemed that Yasutomo wasn’t in a mood for a chat. He faked
a yawn and turned onto his side facing the door, about to bid his roommate a
goodnight.
“We’re talking about you,” Yasutomo said then.
Shinkai rolled over. “What?”
“Yeah. I’m venting and trying to analyse the situation and Miya is telling me
to…” Yasutomo peered at the screen. “..to ‘Shut my piehole and grab that meaty
ass’.”
Shinkai was alarmed, jumping up to his elbows. His eyes had adjusted to the
dark so he could make out his roommate’s features. Yasutomo looked all too
content to his liking. “Wait, Machimiya knows about us?” What the hell? When
did that happen? How did that happen? “You told him?”
Yasutomo gave him a pointed look. “You told Toudou.”
“I…”
“Don’t even try. He knows. He’s been fussing around us the whole evening,
trying to arrange private moments,” Yasutomo noted, turning his eyes back to
the screen. “And I don’t think he can come up with stuff like this on his own.”
“Uh…” Shinkai fell back down, rubbing his face. “Sorry, I was at the end of my
rope. I needed to talk to someone.”
“And of all the available options you chose Toudou Jinpachi.”
“You chose Machimiya!”
“He is not known for gossiping.”
“Nor is Jinpachi. He can keep a secret. Besides, you’re not giving him enough
credit. He realized immediately who it was after I told him I have… you know.
And what other options? Who would you have suggested? Juichi? Yuuto? My mom?”
“An anonymous help line?”
“Yeah, right,” Shinkai scoffed. “Honestly speaking, Touichirou was my other
choice but I felt like talking to someone who knows about having a crush on the
same sex.”
Yasutomo raised his brows. “You have a crush on me?”
“Isn’t it obvious already? Didn’t I say it too?” He was pretty sure he had.
“Not in those words.”
“Well, I’m saying it now.” Shinkai thought for a moment what his exact words
had been. “I said I have feelings for you. How is that different?”
“You didn’t define those feelings.”
“Oh come on! We practically planned out our visits to my home for the next
seven years!”
Yasutomo chuckled. “I’m just messing with you. Yeah, I understood you in the
first place. I just wanted to hear you say it. Hold on.” He lifted his phone
and began typing. “’Shinkai… just… confessed… he… has… a… crush… on… me’.”
“Machimiya doesn’t need to know everything!”
“Yes, he does. He’s been a fucking great support.”
“Then could you perhaps wait until the morning before reporting to him?”
“’Shinkai… wants… me… to… wait… until… the… morning… before… reporting… to…
you... Wonder… what… he… has… in… store… for… tonight’.”
Shinkai fixed Yasutomo a bored look. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“After all this crap you deserve a little revenge,” Yasutomo remarked but hit
the home button and placed his phone on the nightstand before rolling towards
Shinkai and lifting himself up to his elbow. “So, you have my attention now.
What is it?”
“Should we maybe… I don’t know… do you wanna talk?”
“Nah, I said we’re cool.”
“You also said I’m not too late.”
“Yup.” Yasutomo was wearing an almost cheerful smile, clearly enjoying the
situation to its fullest. “What are you gonna do about it?”
Shinkai mused over it for a minute. “I’m gonna come over there.”
“Go ahead then,” Yasutomo said, lifting the blanket as an invitation. Shinkai
could see that he was wearing only underwear. He had been prepared for that.
Yasutomo usually slept naked or, in a situation like this, kept his underwear
on.
What he wasn’t prepared for was a full-blown hard-on to hit him on the way to
another bed. Because the bed was, like, half a meter away. Damn. Now Yasutomo
probably thought he wanted to only bone him.
Being the observant bastard that he was, Yasutomo naturally took note of his
state. “Does this shit turn you on? You get off on weird relationship
conversations? Or was it Machimiya?”
“Shut up,” Shinkai grunted as he slipped beneath the covers. Oh god, it so
warm. Yasutomo was so warm, after cooking up under his thick blanket longer
than Shinkai. Not to mention his skin which was even warmer, almost hot. And he
smelled so familiar. So Yasutomo.
He also smelled like Jinpachi since he had used some of his shower gel but that
tiny detail Shinkai could ignore and concentrate on the grassy, fresh outdoors
smell that was purely his friend.
Or should he say… his boyfriend?
He almost asked if this meant that Yasutomo would go out him from now on, but
decided otherwise. There would be plenty of time for that in the near future.
He didn’t want to ruin the moment by blurting out something that required more
serious talk, more analyzing and coming in terms with stuff he had no
experience of.
“You’re sniffing me like a goddamn dog,” Yasutomo pointed out. “I thought
analysing people by their smell was my forte.”
“That’s because I’ve missed your smell,” Shinkai muttered, wrapping his arm
around Yasutomo’s midriff and pressing his face into Yasutomo’s neck to inhale
deeply. Shit, he just might get emotional if he kept doing this. Which he was
probably going to.
Yasutomo sniffed him in turn, with an unnecessary loud inhale. “You smell like
that chocolate cake. It must be oozing out of your pores by now.”
“Just bear with it.”
“Mhmh, I think I can manage.” Yasutomo turned his head a little so that his
nose was touching Shinkai’s temple. His breath was hot and brought a hint of
toothpaste with it. That made Shinkai recall the not-so-tiny fact they hadn’t
actually kissed… ever. There had been that brief moment of pressing their lips
together in France but that couldn’t be counted as a kiss. It had been almost a
mocking gesture, involving a lot of frustrated, suppressed, negative
undertones.
Driven by this sudden memory, Shinkai tilted his head a little, his lips
trailing along the side of Yasutomo’s neck and jaw, very lightly, very
tentatively. Asking, seeking, experimenting. He found himself bargaining. If
Yasutomo accepted his suggestion, if he kissed him back, it would mean that
things would turn out alright. That they would wake up in the morning as a
couple.
He heard Yasutomo’s breath hitch in his throat before he angled his head a
little, helping Shinkai to reach his lips.
It was wet and warm and hot and a lot like Shinkai had expected but at the same
time very different. Until then, he only had kissed girls, and even though not
all of them had been shy or passive, they still hadn’t kissed so…
enthusiastically. So… demandingly. It was like Yasutomo was commanding him and
simultaneously accepting his intrusion, sucking his breath from his lips, like
all the air he wanted to breathe had to come from Shinkai. His lips were moving
with purpose, coaxing Shinkai to open his mouth wider so he could sneak his
tongue in. Shinkai could sense all the bottled-up emotions erupting in the
movement of their lips.
Why the hell did you make me wait for so long?
Why did you almost chase me away?
Didn’t you know that this is what you crave? What you need?
And Shinkai tried to apologize by yielding a little, pulling back just the
tiniest bit and allowing Yasutomo to take the reins.
Sorry, I was stupid. No, I was an idiot. I knew what I needed but I was too
much of a coward to accept it until now. Forgive me?
As Yasutomo’s tongue entwined with his, he tasted it. He tasted that his
apology was accepted. That Yasutomo might make him pay for his stupidity for a
little longer or occasionally in the future, because that was just how Yasutomo
was and because Shinkai did deserve it, but he didn’t have to crawl in the mud
nor did he have to keep explaining himself. The realization unloaded the weight
he had been carrying off of his shoulders, allowing him to enjoy the kiss more
as a physical act and become aware of what their bodies were doing beneath the
blanket. He was damn hard and rubbing his lower body against Yasutomo and he
could feel that his friend was equally hard and his hand was already sneaking
down Yasutomo’s side but it hadn’t decided whether it should grab the front or
the back.
Yasutomo took his brief hesitation as a sign to stop for a breather. His lips
left Shinkai’s with a wet smack as he pulled his head back to look Shinkai in
the eyes. The sigh he let out was very, very content. “Fuck, that was gooood. I
kinda guessed you’d be a good kisser but damn, Hayato!”
“Hayato?” Shinkai questioned, mirth haunting his words. His lips were tingling
from the friction but it quickly drowned in the throbbing that tried to invade
his whole pelvic area.
“Yeah, you asked me to call you that, didn’t you?”
“I did, like a couple of light-years ago. Because friends are allowed to call
each other by their first name.”
“I think I wanted to save it for a special occasion.”
“Like… for a partner?”
It was too dark to see colours, but Shinkai could still make out a deep shadow
on Yasutomo’s cheeks. “Something of the sort, yeah.”
Shinkai chuckled. Not wanting to embarrass his teammate, his bedmate, any
further, he decided to make a quick change in the topic. “So… you wanna do
something else?”
“Like what?”
“Like read poems. Touichirou showed me a site that has some world classics
translated into Japanese.”
Yasutomo almost bought it, hook, line and sinker, and Shinkai managed to catch
a glimpse of ‘What the fuck?’ on his face before he snorted. “Shit, why didn’t
you say it was a site listing top restaurants in the area? Then I would have
believed you.”
Shinkai slapped himself in the forehead theatrically. “Crap. That would have
been a great idea.”
“I know you better than you do.”
“Apparently.” Shinkai buried his head back to Yasutomo’s neck and pulled his
hand up to hug his partner.
“So what else?” Yasutomo asked but his tone already gave him away. Of course he
knew what Shinkai was implying.
“You know, fool around some more and maybe… have sex?” He was half expecting
Yasutomo to decline, because Juichi was there and Jinpachi was there and since
he knew that Jinpachi knew, it might be too much of a distraction for him, and
he was already steeling himself for it, but then Yasutomo hummed an
affirmative.
“Of course I do. Even if Toudou might think otherwise, I’m not actually a
grandpa. I think we would have gotten to it even without talking.”
“Just wanted to make sure.”
“Sure thing. So do you want to… fuck or try something else? I could blow you.”
A thunder made of pure lava surged through Shinkai, leaving him quivering.
Yasutomo sucking him off? Christ, he probably just came a little in his boxers.
“Or we could just… do everything?” he managed to suggest. If Yasutomo went down
on him, he wanted to return the favour. He had expected that the thought of
sucking another man’s dick would be difficult at first, if not impossible, but
right now it didn’t seem so bad. As long as it was Yasutomo, he would do it.
“Everything? Damn you, you greedy sex monster, leave something for the future,
will ya?”
“Sorry, I’m just not that tired.”
“You will be when I’m done with you.”
That made Shinkai shiver again. “You wanna top? Like we did in France.” He had
missed that feeling of being filled, missed the weird freedom of it, when he
could just concentrate on the variety of stimulations and not have to worry
about anything else. Not even break a sweat if things went nicely. Holy shit,
he was a lazy bastard, wasn’t he?
Yasutomo was wearing a devilish grin. “You wanna get pounded, don’t you?”
“Or do you want to bottom?” Shinkai checked. He didn’t want come out as
selfish.
“I can but only if you want to try topping.”
“I don’t mind either,” Shinkai assured. “But if you let me choose, this time
I’d rather bottom.”
“That’s fine. I…” Yasutomo trailed off, hesitating. “I actually tried bottoming
and found that it’s not really my thing. I mean, I don’t mind it and with you
it will probably be a totally different matter, but if there was a query and if
I needed to choose only one role, then I’d say I’m a top.”
“That’s fine,” Shinkai said, smiling. “I think I prefer bottoming.”
“And I think I already knew that.”
“Told you we’re sexually compatible.”
“But things might get boring if I just keep pounding your ass from here to
eternity.”
“If that happens, I might get some serious problems with my sphincter. You
don’t want to date someone who shits their pants every once in a while, do
you?”
“Well, it’s fine once you get old. Anyhow, I think we can come up with other
stuff besides ‘Shinkai takes it up the ass’, or what do you say?”
“Oh, I think I can come up with a few alternatives,” Shinkai laughed a little
before peering at Yasutomo under his fringe. “What are we doing here? Planning
out our future sex life?”
“It sounds like it, yeah.”
“’Mom, roll out the futon and please leave us some extra towels.’”
“Now you’re being gross.”
Yeah, he was. Shinkai didn’t say anything to that, instead flashing a charming
grin.
“So…” Yasutomo began, lazily trailing his finger along Shinkai’s shoulder and
arm. “Wanna get to it or wanna keep talking about how you’re going to poop your
pants when you’re an old geezer?”
“The former.”
“Thought as much. Now, do you think Toudou has something we could use so I
don’t wreak havoc in your cute butt?”
“I have condoms and lube.”
Yasutomo pulled back in surprise. “A little too confident, are we?”
Shinkai shook his head. “Jinpachi.”
“Agh, damn that mother hen, I swear he lives on by sticking his nose into other
people’s business,” Yasutomo cursed but only half-heartedly. He patted Shinkai
on the shoulder, his expression sneaky and suggestive. “Alright then. Why don’t
you get the stuff out and we’ll see where the night takes us?”
Chapter End Notes
     Shinkai, you lazy-ass hedonist.
***** Welcome to the Heavy Entertainment Show, part III *****
Chapter Notes
     The following scenes turned out more weird than steamy but I suppose
     that's how it's always been with these two dorks. And I think they
     needed more talking and less mindless frick fracking.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
"God, I didn't remember it was this hard."
Yasutomo's face was constricting with restrain. He was sitting on his knees
between Shinkai's legs and quite vividly reminding him what it was like to have
something pushed up against your sphincter. "Yeah, I had a taste of that, too."
"You know how easy it is with girls. Everything is ready. Everything is like...
waiting for you. You just need to glide in."
"Uh-huh. But it's preceded with the whole 'I'm a good guy, please have sex with
me' play."
"Not always, and in a relationship it can be the other way around. Besides, are
you implying that I'm easy?"
Yasutomo smirked. "I might be."
"Look who's talking."
"That was sorta my point. Like, guys are practically always ready. You can just
say 'Let's have sex' and that corresponds as persuasion and foreplay."
Well, that pretty much applied to Shinkai, so who was he to argue? Although he
assumed that there were guys who weren't that straightforward, take, for
example Jinpachi, who probably wanted to have a candlelight supper before
getting to a thorough and syrupy foreplay. Hopefully Makishima was into slow
tantric sex.
"Why are you grinning like that?" Yasutomo asked.
"Thinking about Jinpachi and how he probably has sex."
"Huh. Well, whatever floats your boat."
"No, I mean it just popped into my mind that he probably wants to read poems
before getting to it."
"Or bake a cake. And then feed it to his partner."
"Or who knows, he could be into really kinky stuff? Like 'Spank me and call me
a cake master' stuff."
"Ahhaha, or like 'Do me while I'm baking'."
"'Sprinkle some flour over my ass'!"
"'Use margarine as lube'," Yasutomo snickered before voicing a very on-point
question, "Why are we talking about this right now?"
"Because we can," Shinkai said. "Because it doesn't affect my mood." He tapped
at his erection resting against his stomach. It twitched as a response.
"It kinda affects my mood a little bit. I mean, I'm getting a bit soft,
thinking about Hairband and Christmas Tree bathing in flour and margarine while
going at it." To emphasize his words, Yasutomo stroked his dick. It didn't look
too soft to Shinkai.
"You're free to push in whenever."
"Yeah, I'm trying but your ass resists."
"Hmm." They had done proper preparations, three fingers and a lot of lube, and
Shinkai thought he had been ready, but then his muscles had changed their mind.
All in all, it was a very weird scene. Nothing like those hot and steamy
encounters in erotic novels (which he obviously didn't read but he could
picture them in his head). It was leisurely, comfortable, comforting 'Let's
kiss a bit more, oh, there's a scar I haven't seen before, how did you get it?
Oh yeah, back to kissing. Wanna touch my dick? By the way, what do you want for
Christmas?' kind of session. Yasutomo was getting a bit impatient now, as he
was the one trying to maintain his erection to keep the condom on and push into
Shinkai who had suddenly begun talking about their friend's sex life.
"Maybe you just don't find me attractive anymore," Shinkai mused.
"I would immediately disagree but the things you talk about are making me
reconsider."
"I'm sorry. Should we put an Adam Sandler movie on? Would that help you?"
Yasutomo let out a sound between a huff and laughter. "There's no tv. Are you
suggesting that we go to the living room and tell Fuku-chan that we're taking
over the couch and he should just go to bed because we're going to put some bad
Adam Sandler movie on and have sex?"
"I think that would kill him."
Yasutomo hummed. "Yeah, probably."
"But you know, I could just find a suitable scene on Youtube on my phone. Do
you like the one where Sandler plays a Middle Eastern barber? What was it
called again? Zohan?"
"I fucking hate that movie!" Yasutomo visibly shuddered, before leaning down
over Shinkai. "I think it's time to shut you up."
"Oh, how are you gonna– mhph!" Shinkai's words were cut short as Yasutomo
crushed their lips together, plunging his tongue inside, and at the same time
he felt immense pressure against his rear and then a strange plop, and ugh, he
kind of hated this part even though he knew it would lead to something awesome.
He heard himself groaning against Yasutomo's lips, as muffled as the sound was,
expressing discomfort and brief unhappiness. Yasutomo wasn't giving him a
break, pushing further inside and occupying his tongue to keep his mind
elsewhere. It didn't work too well. He still felt every inch of the intruder,
forcing its way inside and spreading him open.
After getting all the way in, Yasutomo lifted his head a little, looking down
at Shinkai through the darkness. "Hmm, I had forgotten how tight your ass is."
Shinkai took a moment to grit his teeth and adjust his position, trying to make
his lower body more comfortable and relaxed. "I had forgotten it too." His ass
was convulsing and stinging and he almost felt like something was going to tear
if he couldn't coax his muscles to relax soon. "Next time please don't do
that."
"Sorry," Yasutomo muttered, lowering his head to kiss him again, this time
softer and gentler. He rolled his hips tentatively, causing the pressure inside
Shinkai move a little. He still felt like there was a tree trunk stuffed inside
his poor butt, but Yasutomo's movement wasn't entirely unpleasant. His body was
starting to remember.
Yasutomo pulled out halfway before pushing back in, very slowly and allowing
him to concentrate on it, as he dropped his face onto Shinkai's neck, kissing
the side of it and trailing his tongue up towards his ear. Shinkai closed his
eyes, musing over the feeling in his lower body. It was helping that his
partner's stomach was rubbing against his erection but he wanted to search for
that spot inside him. As Yasutomo settled into a slow rhythm, Shinkai became
aware of another problem: the bed was creaking. It was creaking really badly,
the sound piercing through the almost quiet house and swallowing the distant
sound of the tv.
Yasutomo noticed it too, halting and lifting his head to look around, his face
scrunched up in disapproval. "The fuck?"
"Yeah," Shinkai agreed. It wasn't that the bed hadn't creaked before but it
became painfully obvious when it was creaking rhythmically.
Yasutomo backed off of him, sitting up, yet somehow managing to stay inside.
"Everyone's gonna hear that."
Uh, yes, that was possible. "Let's move onto the floor," Shinkai suggested.
"It's not like we're unused to hard surfaces."
Yasutomo nodded, this time slipping out of Shinkai and moving away so he could
climb up.
Shinkai looked around, searching, but in the end he couldn't think of a better
solution than dropping their blankets off the beds. Luckily Toudou-an's floors
were always spotless.
As he was on the floor on his knees and spreading the blankets, he felt
Yasutomo's hand caress one of his buttocks. The touch was feathery light,
sending a shiver down his spine, and weirdly, urging him to arch his back so
that his ass perked up. The movement was instinctive, making him question
everything he had known about himself thus far. He heard Yasutomo curse under
his breath, and the next second a strong pair of hands grabbed his pelvis.
"Move a bit so I can get onto the blanket too," Yasutomo instructed, nudging
him forwards. Shinkai obeyed and, staying on all fours, crawled further so that
Yasutomo got some soft material under his knees too. Then one hand left his
hips as Yasutomo used it to line himself up and push back inside. A sharp
inhale left Shinkai's lips, followed by a low moan. His hands balled into fists
and his upper body dropped, making the angle even steeper.
"Oh yeah, you like this position, huh?" Yasutomo asked, adjusting his grip
before thrusting in deeper than before.
Shinkai did like it. He didn't exactly know why but it helped him relax faster
and allow deeper intrusion. Yasutomo was moving easier, sliding in and out in a
leisurely pace, and damn, if his dick did not graze that amazing spot inside of
Shinkai.
"Shit, you look fucking hot like this, did you know?" Yasutomo whispered, his
fingers caressing the dip of Shinkai's back. "And you feel even tighter than
before. I don't know how long I'll be able to take this."
Shinkai craned his neck to try and look back at his bedmate. "It's fine. You do
know that you don't have to perform tonight? I'm not going to take back my
words even if you don't put on your top class porn star game."
"What in the ever-loving fuck is my 'top class porn star game'?"
Straightening his neck, Shinkai rested his chin on his arms and snickered.
"Something that I'm probably going to learn about in the near future. I just
meant you don't have to last long tonight. There will be plenty of times for
you to prove your skills to me."
Yasutomo said nothing to that, either taken aback by his words or simply
concentrating on other actions. His fingers dug deeper into Shinkai's flesh as
he rocked his hips forward, picking up his pace a little, but only little, like
he wanted to enjoy this moment forever. Shinkai wasn't objecting. Not when
Yasutomo's every thrust slid past his prostate, and the pressure was starting
to build and turn into a hot, churning mix in his groin, and he arched his back
further to steepen the angle even more and...
..and Yasutomo just happened to hit the magical spot in a perfect way and
Shinkai's knees almost gave away. "Oooooh, fuuuuuck!"
Yasutomo stopped and smacked his ass. "Oi, you can't shout like that in here!"
"I can't help it!" Shinkai protested, his body shivering from the intense wave
that had just threatened to swallow him.
"Stuff the blanket in your mouth if you have to, but keep your voice in check,
for fuck's sake!"
Who cared? Jinpachi already knew that he was very vocal and Juichi... well, he
could only hope that the Giro had reached a state in which Juichi didn't see or
hear anything around him.
"Come to my place tomorrow night," Yasutomo offered. "There you can scream like
a goat if you want but tonight... I can't have Fuku-chan know, I really can't."
Shinkai understood it. It was something he had already agreed on. If Yasutomo
wanted to stay in the closet, then in the closet they would stay even if it
took half of their lifetime. But... "Like a goat?"
"Yeah, you know, like on that video."
"What video?"
"You haven't seen it? Damn, I must show it to you later. Or we can watch it
after we're done. But seriously, you have to mind your volume."
"Okay, okay. I'll try to keep it down. You're free to smack me every time I get
out of hand." Shinkai buried his mouth into his forearm and wiggled his ass to
urge Yasutomo to continue.
As Yasutomo began moving again, Shinkai really had to concentrate on keeping
his voice down and it sort of affected his mood. Or maybe it was the thought of
others possibly finding out. Weird, he had been much more careless in France.
Maybe it was because he knew that Jinpachi knew or maybe it was all for
Yasutomo. His partner didn't want the others to know and keeping the secret was
also on Shinkai's shoulders.
But it was only for tonight. It wasn't like this was the last time he would
have sex in his life. There were plenty of opportunities to come. And he was
still enjoying it, enjoying Yasutomo's presence and touch and the almost
overwhelming feeling of finally being true to himself. Who cared if the sex
didn't go like in the porn films? It still felt good. Yasutomo's slow, thorough
thrusts were lighting that spark inside him, making him relax and strain his
muscles in turn, urging him to dig deeper because the things he would find were
amazing. He squeezed his eyes shut, handing the reins fully to Yasutomo and
just allowing his body to succumb to those feelings.
He muffled his moan into his arm. The friction inside his passage was building
up, turning into waves of hot, immense pleasure. His dick was throbbing and he
could feel moisture seeping from the slit. He could also feel drool gathering
in the corner of his mouth and dripping down his arm.
"Fuck, this is good," he muttered. "Come on, move faster."
"I'm gonna cum if I do," Yasutomo answered, his voice strained. Shinkai could
feel his hands trembling on his skin.
"I don't care. Just... fuck me hard. For a little while. If you cum, you cum.
It's not the end–" A sharp snap of Yasutomo's hips made him shut his mouth and
bury his head into the blanket. Another snap almost made him fall onto his
stomach but Yasutomo was holding onto him and allowed him a second to adjust
his balance and anchor his knees and arms better before shifting gears and
starting to pound into him. Shinkai knew he was in for a ride if he asked for
one from Yasutomo but he had also forgotten just how intense the guy could get.
He would have struggled to keep up that kind of pace. The pleasure got mixed
with a burning that left him hoping that he wouldn't have to take a shit in the
morning. Hell, he probably wouldn't be able to even sit tomorrow. The lack of
oxygen forced him to turn his head sideways to suck in a haphazard breath
before he pushed his head into the fabric. The beginnings of a scream turned
into muffled grunts. Fuck, did Yasutomo know how to use his pelvis when he
wanted to!
A brief thought of Juichi and Jinpachi hearing the tell-tale smacking of flesh
crossed his mind but there was nothing he either could or wanted to do about
it. Right now he simply wanted to...
"Gonna cum," Yasutomo warned him. "Gonna cum, gonna..." A guttural moan cut
through his words. His hips jerked against Shinkai and his forehead landed
between Shinkai's shoulder blades as his upper body went limp. Shinkai reached
for his dick and began stroking it in a rapid pace, but to his surprise
Yasutomo smacked his hand away and forced it down where it stayed all the while
he kept twitching inside of Shinkai.
"Hold on," he breathed into Shinkai's neck. "Hold on, gimme a moment."
"I wasn't that far," Shinkai said, but obeyed, waiting for his partner to ride
out his orgasm. His dick was throbbing and so was his ass, begging for release.
Precum was dripping onto the blanket. He was subconsciously pushing his hips
back to get some more friction from Yasutomo's softening cock, but all too soon
Yasutomo pulled out, leaving him empty and longing.
"Get on your back," Yasutomo ordered, his voice still winded, as he slapped
Shinkai in the hip to boost his words. As soon as Shinkai had gotten himself
into the desired position, his bedmate got down between his legs and – holy-
fucking-shit-he-had-sort-of-expected-it-but-then-again-not – grabbed his cock
and gave it a long, long lick before enclosing his lips around the tip. Shinkai
threw his head back, unable to control a rather loud groan that left his
throat. He slapped a hand over his mouth immediately; god forbid, Yasutomo
might stop if he was being too loud again.
It was not like he had not gotten a blowjob before but he had never gotten it
from a guy. Like with kissing, it was different and not in a bad way. Firstly,
Yasutomo's mouth was bigger than a girl's so he could take more of Shinkai's
length into his throat, and secondly, he knew instinctively what a guy liked.
He also knew what a guy liked in the phase of arousal Shinkai was in. No
teasing, no tentative poking or tickling; no, he needed a good, hard suck
because he wanted to get off. Yasutomo was lifting himself to get a better
access, to be able to move faster. Taking turns to suck hard and swirl his
tongue around the head, he really knew how to get Shinkai to the peak in less
than half a minute.
"Hnnnh, shit, I'm close," Shinkai warned, although Yasutomo probably could tell
from the way he was tensing up. His back was arching, his heels were digging
into the blanket, fingers curling around the blanket, as Yasutomo sped up, the
sweet trap of his lips teasing the skin and the hot cavern of his mouth
swallowing his length.
The last draw came when Yasutomo plunged two fingers inside him, curling
rubbing them against his prostate. He did let out a little yelp then, unable to
keep it inside, as his body turned into a carousel of pleasure. Yasutomo didn't
pull back, instead keeping his mouth around his cock, only loosening the
pressure when he felt it twitch and the first wave of cum spurted out. Hips
jerking and body shuddering, Shinkai forced his eyes to remain open so he could
watch Yasutomo swallow, because he needed to see. Yasutomo was looking back at
him, locking their eyes as he gulped down every pulse, his still fingers still
inside and curling upwards and releasing only when Shinkai's leg kicked
involuntarily, stimulation growing too intense to bear. Damn, the guy looked
smug, clearly proud of getting him to cum so fast. It didn't last long, though,
the expression in the dark eyes softening into deeper, and Shinkai allowed
himself to slump down and moan (quietly) through the last tremors.
Phew, fuck. That had been good. Good – and relaxing. And he was weirdly touched
by the fact that Yasutomo was willing to suck him off and even swallow so early
in their relationship. Hopefully he wasn't doing it just because he wanted to
prove a point to Shinkai or something.
Yasutomo pulled back and unceremoniously wiped his mouth into Shinkai's inner
thigh. "Your spunk tastes like that cake."
Shinkai lifted his head to shake it a little. "That's not possible. It's too
early." His metabolism was quick, but not that quick.
"Then it's something else sugary. It's not really unheard of that you consume a
lot of sweet pastries."
"Uh, sorry?"
Yasutomo slapped him on the arm. "Just messing with you. Didn't taste too bad.
Not something I would have as an icing on a birthday cake but–"
"Okay, you need to stop right there." He really didn't need an image of a cake
covered in semen.
Yasutomo snickered but quit his analysis, inching to Shinkai's side and lying
down. His breath was a little laboured, making him take long inhales through
his nose, as he buried his face into Shinkai's arm and dropped his arm over
Shinkai's stomach. Then they lay there on the blankets spread on the floor,
waiting for their beating hearts to quieten down and musing over all that had
happened tonight. At least Shinkai was musing over it, almost wondering if he
was dreaming or if this was actually happening. It felt so absurd. His
worldview had shifted greatly when in France he had given in to Yasutomo's
persuasion. This would be another great shift, being in a relationship with a
guy. It was a different matter to picture it in his head than actually carry it
out. His brain would probably try to fight against it, so he should be prepared
for occasional lapses. Right now he wasn't feeling that nauseating 'What a mess
have I gotten myself into?' bang that tended to appear after drastic changes in
life but it might have been lurking around the corner.
Yasutomo was probably going through the same whirlwind of thoughts and
emotions, never mind that he had been the one to initiate the whole thing. But
he wasn't the one to ask what Shinkai was thinking about and neither was
Shinkai, really. He preferred more direct questions.
"Should we get back in the bed?" That was Yasutomo's question in the end.
"Sure." Lying on the floor was getting pretty uncomfortable now that there was
nothing to distract them. Gathering his feet underneath him, Shinkai pushed
himself up, his blood pressure protesting the sudden change in position and
making him light-headed for a moment. He slumped back to Yasutomo's bed, its
original resident following suite.
"I wanna spoon. Turn your back on me," Yasutomo said, nudging him slightly.
Shinkai rolled onto his side and Yasutomo settled behind him, curling his arm
around him and hooking his upper leg over his thighs. It felt both foreign and
at the same time... homely. Shinkai was pretty sure he could get used to it.
"I can still hear the tv," Yasutomo said after a while. "I'm pretty sure Fuku-
chan has been fully engaged with it."
"I guess we'll find out in the morning."
"You mean if his face is the usual amount of stony or a blank brick wall?"
"Hah, yeah," Shinkai chuckled. "You know, I'm afraid Jinpachi might notice that
something has happened."
"Because Hairband can smell the gay from another prefecture."
"I don't think so. He was quite ignorant just a few months ago. But this time
he knows to expect it."
"He will be insufferable, I'm telling you."
"Then we'll just ignore him."
"You could ask him to bake another cake. That will keep him busy and give him
something else to think about."
"Hmm, why not? I think I can eat another half tomorrow." His stomach was
already settling and beginning to wonder what and when its next meal would be.
"You can eat the whole cake. I have no doubt about your skills."
"You do realize it's going to take quite a well-paid job to keep me fed?"
"What, you expect me to provide for you? You're not going to find a job
yourself?"
"I'm considering it. I'd make an excellent couch potato."
"Not even a good housewife?"
"I'm not a good cook and my skills of doing laundry are limited to stuffing all
my clothes into a washing machine and turning a simple 40-degree program on.
Sometimes my clothes have changed colour when I get them out. And I'm just a
generally lousy cleaner. I'm unable to see if there's a mess or not."
"You could learn."
"Nah, I'd just take care of the bunnies and wait for you to come home so you
could start cooking for me."
"You'd take care of bunnies and a cat."
"Oh, you want a cat?"
He felt Yasutomo shrug. "Maybe."
"Sure, why not. I have no objections. Although I think it would be best to keep
it away from the bunnies."
"So we need a rather big place."
"I suppose."
"So I have to become the best engineer in the country so I can rent a decent-
sized flat and provide for you, bunnies and a cat."
"Yes, you got it now."
"Just one question: What's in it for me?"
"My ass would be at your reach every time you feel like it."
"Mhm, not a bad trade then." Yasutomo slid his hand down Shinkai's side to give
his ass a good squeeze. "Uh, hate to bring this up, but you're seriously going
to dump that chick, right? I mean, you are not gonna postpone it and tell me
there just hasn't been a good moment..?"
"I'm not going to postpone it," Shinkai assured. "I will do it on Monday. Hell,
I could do it tomorrow if I got a chance. But please don't talk so rudely about
her. It's not her fault I suddenly turned gay."
Yasutomo nuzzled his nose into his neck, returning his arm around his midriff.
"Sorry."
"'S okay. Just... be prepared, since there might be some rumours in the future.
I don't suspect that Ayane will start spreading them, but people... they sense
this kind of stuff. Not everyone, not people like Juichi, but there are those
who are more sensitive to changes of dynamics in the relationships around
them."
For a while Yasutomo just breathed into his neck, hot puffs of air and a faint
smell of cum mixed with toothpaste. Oddly, Shinkai didn't find it unpleasant.
Then he adjusted his position, pulling a back little so Shinkai could make out
his words. "You're talking about someone specific, aren't you?"
"Mhm, I think I am."
"I think I can name a person or two, myself."
Shinkai peeked over his shoulder. Yasutomo's eyes were closed and he looked
like he might fall asleep at any moment. He didn't look like he was afraid of
rumours. "Okay, you go first," Shinkai urged.
Yasutomo let go of him to spread his limbs and yawn before slumping his arm
over Shinkai's waist again. "Uh... Kuroda?"
"Oh. Yeah. Him too." Damn, Shinkai had forgotten about Kuroda, but the silver-
haired vice captain was definitely on their list ¬– and not only because he
obviously had a crush on Yasutomo.
"Well, who were you thinking about?"
"Touichirou."
"Really?"
"Yes. He's a lot more intuitive than most people realize. He figured out
Jinpachi and Makishima before any of us."
"He did?"
"Uh-huh."
Yasutomo said nothing to that, perhaps musing over his words. Shinkai gave it
another thought before voicing another name, "Then there's Sangaku."
"What? That little pothead doesn't even know what day it is."
"But he has a big mouth. He practically blurts out everything that crosses his
mind."
Yasutomo snorted. "I don't care about Manami. Nobody takes him seriously."
"He might not even be around enough to realize something has changed." Shinkai
reached for Yasutomo's hand, closing his fingers around it. That was weird too,
holding a hand that was the size of his own, despite Yasutomo having slenderer
fingers than him, but he liked it. Stroking his thumb over the soft skin, he
was preparing Yasutomo for his next question. Because he was anticipating that
he wouldn't like it. "Can I ask you something about your... encounter with
another guy?"
"You can, but I might refuse to answer if I find the question too much."
"I was just wondering... it wasn't Kuroda, was it?"
Yasutomo jerked against his back. "God, no!"
"Was it someone from our school?"
"No."
"So no worries of walking into him in the hallways?"
"Nope."
"Okay, that's enough for me." Shinkai still had his own suspicions of the
identity of the mystery guy, but in the end it shouldn't have mattered,
especially if it wasn't anyone from their team or school.
"How about we get some sleep?" Yasutomo suggested, his words broken by a yawn.
"You can come to my place tomorrow night if you want and scream your heart out
in my bed."
"You mean scream like a goat."
"Oh yeah."
"Alright, sounds like a plan. By the way, weren't you going to show me that
video?"
"I'll show it to you tomorrow, I'm too tired now."
"Sure. Good night then."
"Good night."
* *
It was around noon when Shinkai stirred from his slumber. There was rather
heavy warmth leaning against his back, a lanky arm lying over his midsection, a
leg thrown over his thighs and a tell-tale hardness pressed against his back.
As he became more aware of his surroundings, he also felt a hot puff of air
against his neck.
He peeled his eyes open and was met by a bright sunlight sneaking through
curtains, illuminating the room. It was too hot and his bladder was full to the
point of it being painful, but he didn't want to get up. He listened to
Yasutomo's breathing, quickly coming to a conclusion that his bedmate couldn't
be in deep sleep anymore.
And as Yasutomo felt him move, trying to stretch, he opened his mouth, voice
raspy but very content-sounding, "Hey, incompetent house wife, I think we
should get up."
"Ugh," Shinkai groaned, finding his hand somewhere in the sweaty tangle of
limbs and lifting it to rub his eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm gonna ruin Toudou-
an's sheets if I don't get into a bathroom soon."
"I think they might be stained already."
"Well, not because one of us pissed on them."
Yasutomo chuckled, nuzzling his neck and urging him to turn around. As Shinkai
rolled onto his back, Yasutomo half climbed on top of him, pressing their lips
together in a slow, lazy kiss.
So this is what it's going to be from now on. Waking up next to this guy. No
bras or lacy panties or thigh-highs lying on the floor, but boxer briefs and
worn out, smelly socks instead. A razor in your bathroom instead of feminine
products. Having a morning wood pressing against your butt. The smell of
masculine sweat and other fluids. Hairy arms and legs around you. At least he's
still light enough for you to lift him if you want to give it a try.
Shinkai felt the corners of his mouth tug into a smile. Yasutomo felt it too
and lifted his head to look at him. He didn't say anything, though, just
observing Shinkai and after a while cracking a small smile himself. The moment
was almost sappy if something like that could ever happen with Yasutomo.
All too soon it was over as Yasutomo pushed himself to sit up and ran his hand
through his hair. "No lingering in bed this morning. Toudou was knocking behind
the door a good fifteen minutes ago. Wanted to have breakfast together or
something equally stupid."
Shinkai sighed. Damn Jinpachi and his urge to play house with his friends. This
morning he would have liked to stay in bed and have a long, thorough groping
session with his... boyfriend.
At least break up with your girlfriend before calling him that!
Yeah, he needed to do that. He groaned inwardly. Fuck, that was going to be
hard and he knew he would feel like crap afterwards. He could only hope that
Ayane wouldn't be too upset or angry. She was not the type to hold a grudge,
but you never knew. He had never been in a similar situation with her before.
He pushed Ayane out of his mind for now. He would have to deal with the issue
today (or tomorrow) but it didn't help to wallow in it now.
He crawled to sit up, dropping his feet onto the floor and looking for his
clothes. His ass was a little sore but it didn't bother him too much. A more
urgent matter was his bladder that was screaming for relief. He really needed a
shower but he had taken one last night and another one so soon when it was a
Sunday morning would look suspicious. He'd just clean himself up as best as he
could by using the sink.
There was a positive side to Jinpachi's The Best Host of the Year mode and that
was his cooking. He probably was already on it, frying eggs, making coffee and
tea, assorting pastries he could find in the pantry, maybe even cooking some
rice and miso soup. Shinkai didn't mind getting up to that.
"What does it look like if we show up in the kitchen at the same time?" he
wondered out loud.
"Just how it is: Toudou woke us up with his unnecessary breakfast show."
"Yeah, suppose so. I need to pop in the bathroom first, though."
"Me too, actually."
"Good thing this house has several."
After dressing up and checking that nothing looked too obvious (hiding the used
condom under some tissues in the trash can and arranging pillows and blankets
into their original beds), they exited the room, Shinkai heading to the
bathroom where they had left Yasutomo's jeans and Yasutomo to the second
closest one. Somehow they still ended up in the kitchen at the same time.
Juichi was already there, a cup of coffee and a plate of fruits in front of
him, and Jinpachi was fussing around the stove, apparently making some
tamagoyaki. When he heard them approach, he swirled around.
"Morning! Did you sleep well?" His face immediately gave away what he was
thinking. Shinkai was glad that Juichi wasn't looking in his direction. "The
beds were okay?"
"Yes, everything was fine. It's not the first night we've stayed over,"
Yasutomo pointed out.
Jinpachi shrugged. "Just making sure. It's our livelihood after all. Every
customer's feedback is appreciated."
"We're not technically customers."
"No, but I still want to know. The beds were comfortable enough?"
"You asked that already. Everything was super amazing," Yasutomo grunted,
pulling out a chair and slumping down opposite of Juichi. Shinkai took the seat
beside him. It was useless to try to offer some help to Jinpachi when he was in
that mode, so they would just sit and wait to be served. Stealing a glance from
Juichi, Shinkai noted that he didn't look too blank, only as stoic as ever, if
not a little tired. He probably had stayed up the whole night watching the
Giro, but it didn't seem that he had heard anything that he shouldn't have.
"Why don't you ask Fuku-chan too?" Yasutomo added, his voice holding a sharp
edge. 'I see where you're getting at, you self-sufficient substitute for
Tinder, and I recommend for you to stop that now.'
Jinpachi turned to look at his third guest. "Fuku slept on the couch, didn't
you? Or maybe not slept but stayed there."
Juichi nodded an affirmative. "It was fairly comfortable."
"Good. It's just that Hayato and Arakita stayed in one of our guest rooms and
I'd like to–"
"Jinpachi, I really need you to bake me another cake," Shinkai interrupted.
Jinpachi turned to look at him, blinking owlishly. "Huh?"
"A cake. That chocolate delicacy you baked yesterday was beyond this world. Do
you think you could make me another?"
"Uh, sure, I think so. We should have enough ingredients for another..."
Jinpachi left the stove and walked up to cupboard to look for flour and other
stuff. Shinkai suppressed a giggle as Yasutomo threw him a 'Told you so' look.
Stealing a glance from Juichi, however, Shinkai saw that their former ace was
shocked, clearly fearing that he would have to participate in eating the cake.
"So, who won the Giro?" Yasutomo asked, guiding the conversation elsewhere.
"Rodriquez."
"Oh, he won last year, too, didn't he?"
"Yes, he did. Valverde came in second, so a good ride for Spanish."
"Alright. Need to check the best moments online later."
Seeing that Jinpachi was completely engaged in getting the cake started,
Yasutomo got up, removed the pan with tamagoyaki from the stove, picked two
mugs from the cupboard and poured coffee into them. He passed one of them to
Shinkai and proceeded to cut the egg roll into portions and arrange them onto
plates.
Smirking to himself, Shinkai refrained from commenting of which one of them
would be the actual house wife when Yasutomo placed a plate in front of him.
Not that he was complaining. He knew Yasutomo could be extremely lazy when he
wanted to, so he should enjoy this helpful version as long as it lasted.
Yasutomo didn't sit back down before he had arranged all the food onto the
table and everyone had some tamagoyagi in front of them. Jinpachi was still
obsessed with his baking project.
"Oi!" Yasutomo barked. "Stop it for now and come eat your breakfast! Hayato can
wait for his fucking cake!" He realized only after that he had called Shinkai
by his first name. Luckily it didn't seem to draw any extra attention.
Jinpachi snapped out of his Masterchef mode and joined them at the table. At
first he simply sat there quiet and stared at his plate, his expression
thoughtful, but eventually lifted his head and looked at his guests. "You guys
realize that there probably won't be many moments like this left for us?"
"Ugh, don't become sentimental now," Yasutomo said. "It's not like any of us is
dying. It's just a matter of will."
"It's also a matter of time," Jinpachi argued. "We'll probably be quite busy in
the future."
"Still, just arrange a get-together when you want one."
"They might not be as often but they will be there if we make time for them,"
Shinkai added.
"Yeah, I suppose so," Jinpachi admitted, looking thoughtful. In the end, he
picked up his chopsticks and began eating his breakfast. The mood climbed up
again after that as Juichi began elaborating some highlights of the race. They
ate, drank coffee and tea and chatted away. After finishing his breakfast,
Jinpachi got back to his baking project while the others continued lounging at
the table. Very nice, very domestic, very Sunday.
It was two hours later when Shinkai, Yasutomo and Juichi were standing in the
yard and saying goodbye to Jinpachi, Shinkai holding a bag with a newly baked
cake inside. He was planning to save it for the night, maybe force Yasutomo to
eat some, since it had been his idea all along.
"Thanks for the cake and all the food and other stuff," he said, nodding in a
way he knew Jinpachi would understand.
"No problem! I'm glad you liked the cake and... other stuff."
Yasutomo switched his weight, another warning to not get into that area, but
Jinpachi would have left it at that anyway. He was already closing the door.
"See you tomorrow at school then!"
After Jinpachi had gone back inside, Juichi grabbed his bike and threw his leg
over the frame. "You guys taking a train?"
"Yup. I'm going back to the dorms to finish my homework and maybe see Ayane
later," Shinkai explained.
"And I'm gonna go to my place and sleep some more," Yasutomo said.
"Well then, see you in class tomorrow." With that, Juichi hopped onto his bike
and cycled away.
It was only the two of them in the yard, but Shinkai was pretty sure Jinpachi
was stalking them in one of the ryokan's numerous windows so they would have to
keep their exchanges subtle. Not that either of them was a fan of PDA, anyway.
"I think I'm gonna head to the center first," Shinkai said, pointing to an
indefinite direction. "I need to buy some more pellets and hay for the bunnies.
Then I'm going to... you know." He shrugged. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"
Yasutomo hovered back and forth for a moment, hesitating and checking that
Juichi had already disappeared from the view, but then he leaned closer and
placed a quick peck onto the corner of Shinkai's mouth before pulling back to
the just-friends distance. "Yeah, see you."
And with that, a smile plastered on his lips and the warmth of Yasutomo's kiss
lingering on his skin, Shinkai headed off. He had some serious business to
attend to.
Chapter End Notes
     This is almost it. There will be a short epilogue and I'm hoping to
     get it up in a week or two. I'd like to ask my readers how you'd feel
     about another YP fic. I can't promise anything, I have two HQ fics
     and an original story to finish, but new manga updates and the 3rd
     season have gotten me hyped up again. Just, it wouldn't be a Toumaki
     or Shinara fic but instead of the new generation (possibly that
     Ashikuro I was planning to write ages ago). Also I'm rather
     interested if any of you would read my original stories if they were
     in English. My original stuff is gay, too. Gay and mythical. Like
     mythical creatures being gay, lol. :B Anyway, please let me know in
     the comments what you think.
***** Epilogue *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
"Hey, Kinjou, sorry, I gotta skip this weekend's training."
Kinjou blinked slowly behind his red-tinted shades. Or rather, closed his eyes
for a moment to acknowledge Arakita's announcement. "Okay then."
He didn't ask why but Arakita still felt a need to explain. "I have a guest
coming over."
"Okay, sounds nice."
He still wasn't asking. Damn, that bastard was sometimes even more stoic than
Fuku-chan. Usually Arakita wasn't the one to babble out his plans, but they had
talked about having a little extra training session over the weekend and he
wanted to let Sohoku's former captain know that it wasn't because of a sudden
attack of laziness. "It's uh, Shinkai, you remember him?"
Shit, why did he say that? He had mentioned Shinkai several times before and
every time Kinjou had expressed that he knew whom Arakita was speaking of. They
had fucking gone to France together, for God's sake!
"Your former ace sprinter, of course I remember him," Kinjou merely noted. "He
goes to Meisou, right?"
"Yeah."
"Fukutomi goes there too, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, he does."
"Is he coming too?"
"Uh, no, it's only Shinkai."
"Well, you guys have fun then."
Kinjou turned back to polishing the frame of his Trek. Arakita wondered if he
should do something in the club room now that he was here or just head to the
dorms to clean a bit. Not that Shinkai minded a mess, but he still didn't want
the room to look like he had lived in it for two years instead of two months.
Before he had time to make his decision, the front door opened and another
figure, very familiar to Arakita, stepped inside.
"Hey guys, what's up? You know, I found a pretty crazy slope not too far from
here. We could try it out this weekend. I know none of us is technically a
climber but it looked so cool."
"Arakita just said he is busy this weekend so we have to postpone our practise
session," Kinjou said.
Miya stopped in his tracks, turning his eyes to Arakita. "Huh, why?"
"Got a guest coming over." Maybe he should have mentioned it to Miya before,
just to avoid any unnecessary... well, anything.
"Oh," Miya said first, but his face lit up right afterwards. "Oh!"
'Stop it,' Arakita warned with his gaze. Miya's lips were curling into a
knowing smile. Thank god, Kinjou sat with his back towards them.
"Okay, maybe you're not willing to spend your weekend cycling, but should we
have a drinking night together? You and your guest, me and Kinjou."
Arakita ground his teeth. "What makes you think my guest wants to drink with
you?"
"What makes you think he doesn't?" Miya challenged. "Come on, Wolfsie, I'm not
gonna hoard him to myself. It's just been ages since I've had a party weekend."
"Welcome to the university life. Besides, you can go drinking with Kinjou and
leave us out of it," Arakita suggested, not one second believing that Kinjou
would go out drinking with Machimiya, especially not alone.
"You're a huge spoilsport, Wolfsie," Miya announced, turning around and pulling
out his phone. "I'm just gonna ask him myself."
"No, you're not!" Arakita tried to snatch Miya's phone away. Shinkai was so
social and overly friendly that he would immediately agree to Miya's
suggestion, and tonight Arakita wanted to have his boyfriend to himself. They
hadn't seen each other for four weeks and that was four weeks too many. He had
planned to get some junk food to eat and crappy movies to watch and... okay,
they would probably stay in bed for the majority of the weekend. He had also
bought an arsenal of condoms and lube (although he was hoping that Shinkai
would agree that they didn't need condoms; it wasn't like there was any risk of
pregnancy, and Arakita had been tested so he knew he was clean and he was
pretty sure Shinkai was too).
"How are you even gonna contact him? You don't have his number or email!"
"Facebook," Miya merely mumbled, typing away. As Arakita tried to reach for his
phone, he turned away, keeping his back to his club mate.
"You're not Facebook friends. He probably won't notice your message." Those few
times Arakita had received a message from someone he wasn't friends with it had
taken him quite a while to notice it.
"We'll see about that."
Arakita decided to wave it off. Miya would just get more fuel into his tank if
Arakita showed how much he cared. 'Don't feed the troll' and so on. "Whatever.
I'm gonna go and buy some grub and head to the dorms. See you on Monday."
"See you," Kinjou simply answered.
"See you later tonight or tomorrow!" Miya said.
Walking away, Arakita considered if he should send Shinkai his own message and
tell him to ignore Machimiya's suggestions. He didn't have time to do it,
though, before his phone buzzed.
'Hey, Yasutomo, I just got a message from Machimiya suggesting that we should
have a party night with him and Kinjou.'
Damn, of all times, this was when Shinkai decided to be online. This was when
he decided to check his private messages. He was usually the one to forget to
check his Facebook sometimes even for days. But maybe there was nothing else to
do on the train.
'ignore him. he's just getting some shitty ideas. kinjou didn't agree to it and
neither did i.'
'Dunno. I kinda liked it. I haven't seen either of them in ages.'
Arakita could feel his carefully planned weekend melting into a pile of crap.
'We'd still have a lot of time for ourselves,' Shinkai added, clearly reading
his thoughts. 'We could have a get-together with them tonight and spend the
rest of the weekend alone.'
Except that if they got wasted, their Saturday would be ruined too. He was
looking forward to spending his weekend in bed, but not feeling sick and tired.
Having a beer or two was fine, but it didn't usually stop there when Miya was
involved.
Shit, he was really turning into a grandpa, wasn't he?
His phone buzzed again.
'We don't have to be smashed, you know. We can just have a few beers and then
call it an early night.'
Okay, so Shinkai obviously wanted to see Miya and Kinjou and have a couple of
drinks with them. Arakita would just look like a possessive asshole if he kept
resisting. But he would definitely give Miya a piece of his mind. The guy had
to be fully aware of how much Arakita would have preferred to have Shinkai to
himself for the whole weekend.
'alright,' he typed. 'just don't come crying at me when you're hungover and
can't get out of bed before sunday.'
'Hah, you're really against this, aren't you?'
'i'm not against it, i just,' he stopped for a moment to consider his words and
that was when Shinkai beat him to it again.
'I've missed you too. I wanna spend the weekend with you, preferably in bed or
occasionally on a couch, eating junk food and watching stuff that doesn't
require any brain function. But I thought it would be rather weird and
conspicuous if I refused to meet up with Machimiya and Kinjou. Doesn't sound
very... straight, you know. I know Machimiya knows about us, but I assume
Kinjou doesn't.'
Arakita huffed, succumbing to a warm, fuzzy feeling that settled in his stomach
as he read his boyfriend's text. Shinkai had a point there. And it wasn't that
Arakita was technically opposed to a party night; he was just frustrated
because of the little amount of time the university life was allowing to him
and Shinkai. Their weekends together were precious and he didn't want to waste
any minute of them. Hmh, maybe he should just switch to Meisou.
'okay. but just for tonight. tomorrow i'm keeping you to myself.'
'Deal. The train should be there in an hour. You coming to meet me at the
station?'
'of course i'm coming. told you so, didn't i?'
He received a smiley that looked too much like Shinkai and a short 'Just making
sure.'
'i'll be there. i just have to go and buy some food first. i mean, i have food,
but not enough to feed a shinkai.'
'Or we can go together. We need to buy some stuff for the gathering anyway.'
'miya can buy all the stuff. it was his idea.'
He could picture Shinkai chuckling at that. 'Okay, what do you say if I answer
him and say that the get-together is fine but only if he buys all the foods and
drinks?'
'oh yes, please do that! i knew there was a reason why i got together with
you.'
'I thought it was because of my hot, meaty ass.'
'well, that too, but mostly because people think you're a gentle, kind,
generous soul when in reality you're a sassy, sneaky bastard who only shares
food when there's too much of it. which isn't often.'
'Runs in the family, I suppose. I can already see Touichirou shedding hair
because of Yuuto.'
'can't say i envy him. but i'm gonna head to the dorms now. i'll see your
sassy, meaty ass in an hour. let miya know what we decided, okay?'
'Yeah, see you in a bit.'
Arakita pocketed his phone and began walking towards the dorms, humming to
himself, his trademark scowl absent from his face.
.
~ The End ~
Chapter End Notes
     Afterword
     That's all, folks! The (for-now) official end of Le Tour. When I
     started writing it back in 2014, I couldn't have pictured that it
     would become so popular and I would meet so many great people along
     the way. I want to thank every single one of you who have commented,
     favourited or left kudos or other ways supported this rather lengthy
     journey! You have made writing this so much worth it. Also a special
     thank you to Hailey who took on the betaing job of all my damn fics
     and has actually been following it through (and hasn't pulled a
     Manami yet, thank you for that). I really appreciate your support!
     As for the future, it turned out that I have quite a tight deadline
     with my original story (i.e. I should finish it before the summer),
     but I'm hoping to update my Haikyuu fics within a decent timeframe.
     Many of you said you'd like to see another YP fic from me, but
     unfortunately I can't get to writing it just yet. Maybe when my
     original story is in a better shape. Meanwhile, enjoy Season 3 and
     the manga scanlations!
     I occasionally post stuff about my writing on my Twitter (Namipulla)
     and Tumblr (lelymypiilo) so you're free to follow me if you like.
     Just be warned, my Twitter is half Finnish and I post a lot of
     bearded dragon stuff. :D
     November 2017 - Note to my readers
     I'm currently working on an original novel (vampires, very gay) which
     will be released sometime during the first half of 2018, with both
     eBook and printed version available. If you're interested in reading
     my original stuff, please follow my Twitter author account @sakeranen
     for further news. I mostly tweet in Finnish, but the news regarding
     the release of the novel will be in English too.
End Notes
     I know sensei has said that Hayato and Yuuto don't train together
     because one is a sprinter and the other a climber, but I just decided
     to ignore this foolishness.
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