[fic] Love the Way You Lie - Part One
Title: Love the Way You Lie - Part One
Pairing: Jin x Kame
Rating: R to NC-17 (somewhere in that range anway)
Genre: AU, drama
Disclaimer: I don't own KAT-TUN, any of its members, any other JE people. I write this for fun and for other fans of these fine folks. But don't steal my plots, mmkay? I put a great deal of time into them except for when I'm randomly spastically spitting words onto a page. But I value those too...
Disclaimer: This particular fic and its title are based on the song and video by Eminem and Rihanna "Love the Way You Lie" and I tried to incorporate little things here and there from the video when I could to help get the same flavor but other parts of this story are completely my own imagining. Hopefully, I've blended it all together smoothly into an awesome story (^_^)b
Summary: Love doesn't ask our permission and love never apologizes. We can fight the current or we can swim along with it but we will never completely escape it.
The Master Posts:
On the akame_ Community - Love the Way You Lie
On the akame_fanfics Community - Love the Way You Lie
On the kattun_fanfics Community - Love the Way You Lie
Love the Way You Lie - Part One
We every last one of us have destruction in our blood. The need to destroy and be destroyed is a very basic part of us. The world flows towards chaos and we’re pulled along with it. It’s inescapable but the truth of is, that doesn’t matter because this is what we want. We embrace it even as it rips through us.
There are those who say that love is for the weak, but anyone who thinks love is a soft emotion has never seen it used as a weapon. In the realm of destruction, it’s the mightiest sword we carry. Nothing cuts so surely or deeply as love.
As the flames surrounding them inched closer and closer, Kame couldn’t help but think the ending was fitting. They’d both die exactly as they lived - consumed by a fire neither of them could control.
Being a friend of a friend was enough to crash them into each other’s lives. It was the eyes that first attracted him to Akanishi Jin. Not that rest of the package was unappealing. The man was about five-foot-nine, broad of chest but fairly thin overall. That day he was dressed comfortably in black jeans and a white-and-silver long-sleeved shirt. His medium-length hair - a gorgeous scorched brown color - was tied in the back, leaving his face perfectly visible.
But those eyes… Kame knew he would never forget them. There were the sweetest eyes he’d ever seen but there was something else in them, dangerous and seductive. It stirred feelings in him he couldn’t explain.
They talked for hours that evening at the club, so caught up in each other that they neglected their communal friend entirely. They spoke over drinks of music and hobbies and other casual things - laughing together and generally having a good time - but eventually Jin asked him to dance.
As if he could say no by that point…
As if he even wanted to…
The way Jin flowed dancing through the crowd caught the attention of every person on the dance floor but he had eyes only for Kame. Jin’s hands found their way to Kame’s hips, their bodies so very close, moving to the rhythm along lines only they could feel.
And when the music finally ended, they were both breathing hard. It was almost too much. Kame needed a second to calm his racing heart. “I… I need… Excuse me…”
It was cowardly to flee but he needed to splash some cold water on his face at the very least. The next song started but he pushed his way through the crowded dance floor.
Jin caught up with him in the hallway. He grabbed Kame by the wrist and pulled him back, pinning him against the wall. One hand found its way to Kame’s hip again and the other crept quickly upward to cup the side of his face.
Kame’s eyes fluttered closed as Jin’s lips brushed against his own. The kiss was at first tentative - almost gentle, even - but soon something primal flared red hot between them and reservations bled away.
When the kiss finally ended, Jin didn’t stop there. He nipped gently at Kame’s chin and then ghosted kisses down his throat, teasing helpless moans out of him. Kame’s own hands slid around Jin’s waist, pulling him even closer, desperate to feel more of him.
“Come home with me,” were the words whispered softly against his skin and in that moment, Kame felt he’d agree to anything Jin ever asked of him.
A short cab ride later and the door to Jin’s house swung closed behind them. With each frantic touch, with every shed piece of clothing, with each unsteady step backwards guided by Jin, the last faint remnants of Kame’s inhibition shattered and fell like so much glass around him. He gave himself over wholly to desire.
His back hit the bedroom door but he barely noticed. Hungrily he attacked Jin’s mouth, one hand tangled in his now-loose hair and the other resting on the swell of his buttocks. Only a thin layer of fabric now lay beneath his hand, its existence almost maddening to his seeking skin.
Returning in kind the passion of the kiss, Jin’s hands meanwhile traveled down Kame’s sides, over his hips and to his thighs. Keeping Kame pinned to the door with his upper body, Jin pulled Kame's legs up so he could wrap them around his waist. “Hold on tight…” he murmured against Kame’s lips.
Jin gave Kame just enough time to circle his arms around his neck before turning the knob. The door swung inward and Kame would have fallen if not for Jin’s strong arm carrying him. It wasn’t far to the bed but his need was so fierce by this point that each step was its own eternity.
The bed was soft at his back but Jin’s body was hard to his searching palms. The lower his fingertips brushed and the more passionately they kissed, the more Jin’s body seemed to hum above him and the more Kame was lost in his desire.
They explored each other for hours with hands and lips, the last of the clothes thrown somewhere on the bedroom floor. Finally, Kame could stand it no more and begged in a broken voice, “Take me…”
“I thought you’d never ask,” was Jin’s husky reply. What little space was left between them disappeared entirely, just the right mix of pain and pleasure and sweat and sighs. And when it was done, they were both almost too exhausted to move. Jin rolled on his side and pulled Kame back against him, his breath tickling the nape of his neck.
“Isn’t this… the part… where you kick me out?” Kame panted, barely enough breath left to get the question out.
“Normally,” and Jin laughed tiredly. “But somehow… I don’t want to. Stay the rest of the night, won’t you?”
So he did.
And that’s how it all began, the first step on the three-month path that led to Kame moving in with Jin. Along the way, they went everywhere together - dinner, dancing, shopping, shoplifting (vodka just the once on a lark, followed by wild drunken lovemaking and Kame could still barely believe they got away with it)…
It was thrilling, being with Jin. The man was sweet and smart and protective - not to mention fantastic in bed - and the more time that passed, the more in love with him Kame fell. He could tell it was the same with Jin. They starved desperately for each other whenever they were apart so moving in with him seemed an almost inevitable consequence of having met.
And though it was true they did fight often - the both of them had terrible tempers at times - they screamed at each other for a while and then reconciled just as suddenly and passionately. It was so hard to stay angry while Jin’s lips and hands aggressively explored him, tempting him to quick forgiveness.
Over the next nine months, the frequent dates dwindled into time spent together at home. Neither of them minded - it was cheaper anyway - but they still went every Friday to the club where they met. Kame usually got there first since his manager was practically allergic to staying late and Jin would get there an hour later when the photo sessions ended.
Since it was their one year anniversary, Kame wanted everything to be perfect. He spent an extra thirty minutes getting ready, settling eventually on a short-sleeved black and blood-red shirt with slashes across the front and a pair of tight black jeans he’d bought especially for this occasion. He accented it with black eyeliner but he left his hair wild.
He still made it to the club about half an hour before Jin was supposed to show up. The tables were all taken by this point but that was okay because he looked amazing and it was worth giving up a table to look so good for the man he loved. Kame took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer and waited for Jin to arrive.
Half an hour turned into an hour and a half. Someone sent him a free drink; Kame nodded a wordless thanks to the man and then turned away. He drank the beer (his third) because it would be rude to do otherwise but hoped the man would get the message he wasn’t interested.
Still no sign of Jin but the alcohol and the anger over being stood up allied against him, making the room hot.
Air. He needed air. He stood only to stumble and he would have fallen if the gentleman who bought his drink hadn’t noticed and jumped to Kame’s aid, asking as he caught him, “Are you okay?”
“Drunk. Pissed. Either. Both. Whatever,” Kame laughed weakly. “Too hot in here anyway.”
“Do you need to go outside for a minute?”
Kame nodded and with the man’s help he made for the side door. But halfway there, Jin’s voice came from behind him, hard and accusing, “Kazuya, who’s this?”
“I don’t know his name but I do know you’re late,” was Kame’s angry response. The room was somehow swaying now and he leaned a bit more into the man supporting him.
“I asked you a question!” Jin snapped back at him, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away from the stranger. Kame stumbled sideways into Jin.
“And I told you I don’t know!”
The man helping him finally spoke up with, “Look, I don’t know who you are-” but Jin’s fist to his face silenced him mid-sentence. He knocked the man to the floor and didn’t stop with that.
Kame sagged at the loss of support while Jin stood over the other man, grabbing him by the collar and punching him repeatedly. “Jin, stop it! What the hell is wrong with you?! He didn’t do… do any… thing… Oh, god…” and with nobody to stop this fall, Kame landed hard on his knees. The room kept swaying so he rolled on his side and closed his eyes. “Everything is dancing…” he laughed, because it really was funny. The whole situation was absurd and deeply surreal.
By this time the bartender had gotten to the bouncer who in turn pulled Jin off the man. Some talk of pressing charges buzzed around Kame but it was just so much noise in his ear. A still-pissed Jin helped him to his feet, out of the club, and into the car.
Jin had the grace to wait until they got home to start the shouting but Kame knew he hadn’t done anything wrong this time. Jin was the one who was late on their anniversary and Jin was the one that attacked some random guy for no reason other than his own jealousy and Jin was the one shrieking at him now when he had this headache.
“…and you go there dressed like that…”
“Oh, so this is my fault?” was Kame’s own shouted response. “I wore this for you, you ass!” At least the room wasn’t spinning anymore though now he just hurt. Hangovers really were the worst and falling in the club probably hadn’t helped. “You’re being paranoid. He just bought me a beer and then helped me when I stumbled. That’s all.”
“HE DRUGGED YOU, IDIOT! Don’t you know better than to trust some stranger? He could have put anything in that drink before he gave it to you!” Jin screamed at him.
Right. Like he was born yesterday. “I’m not an idiot and he never touched that drink. He paid for it but I got it straight from the bartender like the first two and my head hurts now so for the love of all that’s holy would you STOP FUCKING SHOU-!”
Kame hit the wall behind him and crumpled to the floor… and he had no idea why. The side of his face burned as he pushed himself up, a sharp ache that his mind refused to process. His hand went to his cheek and he looked up at Jin, trying to blink away the tears stinging his eyes.
Jin was looking at his own hand with a face of confusion. His gaze traveled further down, to Kame’s, and when their eyes met the truth of what just happened flowed between them, drowning them in one endless moment.
“You h-hit me…” Kame spoke with barely a whisper but the words were deafening.
“I can’t believe I just did that. God, Kazuya, I…” and Jin knelt down in front of him, reaching towards him. “I’m really the worst, aren’t I? I’m horrible…”
“Don’t touch me!” Kame flinched away from Jin’s seeking hand.
“Please, Kazuya… I didn’t mean to do it. I’m sorry!” Jin pleaded with him. “I know I was mad but that was just wrong of me… Let me see it. Is it bad? Are you bleeding?” Kame would have none of it. Between whatever he’d been dosed with, falling in the club and now this, Kame was at his end. Jin kept trying, though. “Kazu, please! I... I just don't know my own strength. Please, just let me see if you’re alright!”
“I can’t do this right now, Jin…” Kame finally said, trying desperately to hold himself together. “I’m tired and I hurt and I just can’t do this right now. I’m going to bed.” He pushed past Jin and to his feet. Jin tried to follow him to the bedroom but Kame threw a pillow at him, shoved him back into the hallway, and informed him he was sleeping on the couch. He then slammed the bedroom door in Jin’s face.
Kame curled up on his side on their bed, already missing Jin’s warmth. What a terrible anniversary.
But he wouldn’t be the one to give this time.
The next morning Kame dragged himself to the mirror. His cheek was badly bruised - Jin had probably backhanded him and hard too from the looks of it - but if working at a fashion magazine had taught him anything it was that a quick swipe of the makeup brush concealed all manner of sins. A shame it could do nothing for the horrible aching he felt in his chest.
One last deep breath and then he braved the rest of the house.
The kitchen was doing its best impression of an active warzone. Almost every surface was covered with dirty dishes - some of them broken - and what was probably flour and… jam? It was such a shock to see that Kame almost missed Jin entirely in that mess.
Jin was also covered in flour and jam. His eyes were so tired but his smile was triumphant. “I got it right this time, I hope. I thought I had more time…”
To say he was confused would be an understatement. Jin was the master of the grilled cheese sandwich and nothing else as far as the kitchen was concerned. “Hmm?” was all Kame could come up with, still trying to reconcile what he was seeing with what he knew of Jin.
“The pie. I think it’s right finally. The last four weren’t right...”
“Have you been up baking all night?”
“Oh… is it day already?” Jin asked offhandedly as he pulled the dish out of the oven.
“Yes.”
“Then yes.” Jin set the pie on the counter next to the four other suspiciously pie-shaped monstrosities ranging in color from black to even darker black.
Kame’s shock only deepened upon learning this. “Why?”
“You love it and I thought… maybe I should surprise you…” and Jin yawned, rubbing his eyes sleepily with the back of his hand before continuing with, “After… after what I did I think… I should do something for you… I couldn’t sleep anyway, knowing I hurt you like. I still can’t believe I hit you…”
“Oh, Jin…” Kame sighed. He didn’t want to have this conversation but it couldn’t be avoided any longer. “Plate a slice of that pie for me and we’ll talk. Just don’t think I’ll be the one cleaning this mess up.”
The pie was better than at first it seemed and, thankfully, so was the conversation. Though they were banned from the club, Jin was quick to judge the bartender a silent partner in dosing Kame or else why be so fervently against the notion of pressing charges? Kame shuddered to think what could have happened if Jin hadn’t shown when he did.
Speaking of which…
“Why were you so late on our anniversary?”
Jin didn’t answer but rather stuck his fruit-stained hand into his pocket. After much scrounging he eventually found what he was looking for and held his hand out for Kame to see. “Here. I… well, this isn’t how I imagined doing this but…”
When Jin opened his hand, Kame saw two golden bands with etchings that were too small to make out at that distance. “Jin…?”
“I spent so long trying to decide on just the right ones that I lost track of time and then I had to wait for the engraving. That’s why I was late. I just… wanted to show everyone we belong to each other. That you’re mine and I’m yours. A bond to last forever.”
And as Jin took his hand and slipped the ring onto his finger, Kame had no words. The continued beating of his heart told him this moment was, like those of the night before, real even if everything since his waking was still so surreal.
Jin looked back up with such a serious expression. “Please forgive me, Kazuya. I never - never! - should have hit you. I was still pissed at what those men tried to do and scared of what could have happened if I hadn’t gotten there when I did. All that adrenaline surging through me with nowhere for it to go…”
“That doesn’t make it right, Jin.”
“I never said it did. I’m so sorry…”
Jin said hadn’t meant to do it and Kame did honestly believed him. Their bond - for he could now see the word sung in gold around his finger was just that, KIZUNA - was deep and lasting and utterly undeniable. In the end it came down to this: his love of Jin far outpaced the pain to his face and, more importantly, to his pride.
Kame silenced Jin’s continued apologies with first a palm to his cheek and then the tender flutter of a kiss. He whispered softly, lips brushing across the rim of Jin’s ear as he said, “We’re good, Jin. We’re good. Just hold me now and swear you’ll never hurt me like this again and that will be enough for me.”
And for a time, it was enough for the both of them. Things between them were even better than before. They took a trip to Okinawa the next weekend to celebrate their anniversary properly. It was everything an anniversary celebration should be and the weeks after it were just like when they first started dating. Spare moments were spent enjoying each other's company, talking about practically everything and making love anywhere they could get away with it.
It was work that slowed their momentum, or at least that's what Jin told him when he stumbled drunkenly through the front door at one-thirty in the morning. All Kame knew was the hours of waiting over an increasingly cold dinner, scared out of his mind that something horrible had happened. He thought he'd feel relieved to find Jin unharmed but he was pissed. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Why didn't you answer your damn phone? I've tried calling and texting and you never responded!"
"My phone died. I think there's something wrong with it," Jin sighed dramatically. "That's why I didn't call from the bar and stop looking at me like that. It's not my fault Nishikido-san sent us to get those new contracts. Everyone's after them so we have to work hard to-"
But Kame noticed something which commanded his immediate attention. He interrupted Jin, pointing at his bare hand, "Where is your ring?"
Jin looked puzzled for a moment but then his eyes went wide. "Oh my god, I was going to put that back on before I came home..." He stuck his hand in his pocket, digging for the missing band.
"Why did you take it off?" This hurt more than Kame wanted to admit.
"Cause I'm the sexiest or at least that's how Nishikido-san sort of explained it when he made me get rid of it. They really want those contracts..." He found the ring and slipped it back on his finger. "There. All better. Now come here and kiss me. I've been wanting you for hours."
"After what you put me through tonight? Are you kidding!?"
Jin didn't look happy over being denied. "I told you that wasn't my fault. Nishikido-san said-"
"I don't care what Nishikido said!" Kame insisted. "I'm going to bed. You can just... you know what? I don't care. I don't care one bit what you do or where you go as long as it isn't here."
"This is my house..." and Jin's tone was menacing as he stepped forward.
"Our house," Kame interrupted again. He refused to yield even if Jin was getting mad now too.
"Our house and I'm not going anywhere." He took another step towards Kame who stood his ground stubbornly.
Jin was a renowned photographer, contracted to the third largest fashion agency in the country which also happened to be the same company that owned the magazine at which Kame was an editor. After a scandal involving allegations of abuse at a rival company, many well-known models and designers refused to renew their expiring contracts. All of the big agencies were now scrambling to recruit them as they became available.
Kame could understand how important this was to the company and why they'd send Jin's group to represent them. The fashion industry was highly competitive and social gatherings were just as common a method of negotiation as boardroom meetings. It didn't change how furious he was over how little consideration Jin had for him. Even if his phone was broken, he knew before he left work that he wasn’t coming straight home and there was nothing wrong with the ones there. "Don't touch me."
He may as well have been talking to himself. Jin took one final step and the space between them was gone. But when Jin tried to cup the side of Kame's face - to lean in for a kiss - Kame blocked the hand with his forearm and stepped backwards.
Jin frowned and with a frustrated sigh complained, “But I want you.”
“I really don’t care what you want right now, Jin.”
Pushing past the drunken Jin wasn’t all that difficult but Kame only made it a few steps before Jin had him by the arm. He pulled him backwards, throwing him against the wall. Kame shut his eyes as Jin’s fist came at him, flinching as the hand slammed into the wall mere inches from the side of his head.
“You don’t get to just walk away like that in the middle of an argument.”
Kame didn’t need to open his eyes to know Jin was now pissed. He could hear it in his voice, feel it in the vibration which shot through the wall when Jin’s fist hit it. “T-then what should I do? Scream at you?”
“You can start by opening your eyes. Did you really think I was going to hit you? I’d never-”
“But you did. You did it a month and a half ago.” He opened his eyes. “You can’t say never if you already did it before.”
“That was just…” and Jin growled before continuing with, “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that anymore. I already apologized. And it’s not like I’m the only one with a temper here. It could just as easily happened the other way around.”
“No, because I’d never hit you!”
“Just like I’d never hit you. That was a mistake, Kazuya.”
“Not the only one around here…”
Jin’s hand slid from the wall to brush along Kame’s collarbone - now exposed partially by the disheveled state of his shirt - and then further up the side of his neck towards the nape. He leaned forward until they were forehead-to-forehead and whispered. “Please, I don’t want to fight again. Just let me hold you. Let me show you how much you mean to me and how much I desire you still above all others. Because I do, Kazuya. I love you so much it’s like sometimes I can’t even breathe.”
Kame’s eyes fluttered closed once more as Jin’s lips captured his own. He wanted to hold onto his anger but in the end he could only moan into the kiss and match fire to fire. Even the faint residual taste of the alcohol on his lover’s tongue wasn’t enough to keep him from giving in as Jin’s other hand slipped under his belt to wrap his fingers around the budding flesh.
“Do you still want me to stop?”
"No, no... don't... ahn... stop…”
They stumbled into the bedroom, knocking things off shelves and shedding clothes along the way. Normally they’d take their time but it was fast approaching two in the morning and both of them had to work tomorrow. Even rushed, being with Jin was both sweet and electric.
At some point after they were done, Kame must have fallen asleep because when he opened his eyes it was morning and he was alone. The house was a wreck all the way from the living room to the bedroom with discarded garments and fallen books and even some broken glass from two formerly hanging photos. Jin left the whole mess for him to clean up.
How considerate of him.
In the harsh light of morning, Kame was unhappy. Nothing had been settled. There was no apology for the hours of worry. He’d let Jin win - again! - because he couldn’t think with the man’s lips and hands on him and looking back on it now just made him feel weak.
The wall was damaged where Jin’s fist connected with it last night.
He thought Jin wouldn’t ever hit him again but looking at the wall, some small part of him wondered if perhaps the man just missed because he was drunk.
The rest of the week followed in much the same way - hours of waiting for Jin to stumble home, distraction sex, and waking alone -- but at least by the end of the week, the contracts were signed and Miryoku Agency had three more famous models: Oomasa Aya, Horikita Maki, and Kuroki Meisa.
To mend things between them, Jin took him out that Saturday to his favorite restaurant. He was perfectly attentive to Kame all throughout the meal, all smiles and jokes and the ever-present irresistible longing in those gorgeous brown eyes that Kame loved so much.
Then the meal was over and everything changed...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The story continues - Part Two.
A/N: Okay, I originally intended this to be a one-shot but I've changed my mind. It'll probably be a short multichapter, three or four parts. I know where to end the second part but I'm not sure whether what's left will be enough for one or two more parts past that yet.
Expect the second part in two weeks. I plan to have it up Friday afternoon, the 19th of September. I'd have it sooner but we had our first gaming session for our Shadowrun 3rd edition game and I have to translate my notes out of MeganSpeak to email them to the other players plus I'm kinda novel-ifying the thing. So I'm giving myself one week to do that and then one week to do this fic's part two and then we play Shadowrun that evening again. Rinse and repeat until I have all of this fic for you.
If you've never played Shadowrun before and you're into tabletop gaming, you really should try 3E Shadowrun (I can send you a link to a pdf of the game book). It's a lot of fun! Well, unless you have a troll throwing grenades without warning inside your favorite dive bar. That could have gone soooooo badly...
Pairing: Jin x Kame
Rating: R to NC-17 (somewhere in that range anway)
Genre: AU, drama
Disclaimer: I don't own KAT-TUN, any of its members, any other JE people. I write this for fun and for other fans of these fine folks. But don't steal my plots, mmkay? I put a great deal of time into them except for when I'm randomly spastically spitting words onto a page. But I value those too...
Disclaimer: This particular fic and its title are based on the song and video by Eminem and Rihanna "Love the Way You Lie" and I tried to incorporate little things here and there from the video when I could to help get the same flavor but other parts of this story are completely my own imagining. Hopefully, I've blended it all together smoothly into an awesome story (^_^)b
Summary: Love doesn't ask our permission and love never apologizes. We can fight the current or we can swim along with it but we will never completely escape it.
The Master Posts:
On the akame_ Community - Love the Way You Lie
On the akame_fanfics Community - Love the Way You Lie
On the kattun_fanfics Community - Love the Way You Lie
Love the Way You Lie - Part One
We every last one of us have destruction in our blood. The need to destroy and be destroyed is a very basic part of us. The world flows towards chaos and we’re pulled along with it. It’s inescapable but the truth of is, that doesn’t matter because this is what we want. We embrace it even as it rips through us.
There are those who say that love is for the weak, but anyone who thinks love is a soft emotion has never seen it used as a weapon. In the realm of destruction, it’s the mightiest sword we carry. Nothing cuts so surely or deeply as love.
As the flames surrounding them inched closer and closer, Kame couldn’t help but think the ending was fitting. They’d both die exactly as they lived - consumed by a fire neither of them could control.
Being a friend of a friend was enough to crash them into each other’s lives. It was the eyes that first attracted him to Akanishi Jin. Not that rest of the package was unappealing. The man was about five-foot-nine, broad of chest but fairly thin overall. That day he was dressed comfortably in black jeans and a white-and-silver long-sleeved shirt. His medium-length hair - a gorgeous scorched brown color - was tied in the back, leaving his face perfectly visible.
But those eyes… Kame knew he would never forget them. There were the sweetest eyes he’d ever seen but there was something else in them, dangerous and seductive. It stirred feelings in him he couldn’t explain.
They talked for hours that evening at the club, so caught up in each other that they neglected their communal friend entirely. They spoke over drinks of music and hobbies and other casual things - laughing together and generally having a good time - but eventually Jin asked him to dance.
As if he could say no by that point…
As if he even wanted to…
The way Jin flowed dancing through the crowd caught the attention of every person on the dance floor but he had eyes only for Kame. Jin’s hands found their way to Kame’s hips, their bodies so very close, moving to the rhythm along lines only they could feel.
And when the music finally ended, they were both breathing hard. It was almost too much. Kame needed a second to calm his racing heart. “I… I need… Excuse me…”
It was cowardly to flee but he needed to splash some cold water on his face at the very least. The next song started but he pushed his way through the crowded dance floor.
Jin caught up with him in the hallway. He grabbed Kame by the wrist and pulled him back, pinning him against the wall. One hand found its way to Kame’s hip again and the other crept quickly upward to cup the side of his face.
Kame’s eyes fluttered closed as Jin’s lips brushed against his own. The kiss was at first tentative - almost gentle, even - but soon something primal flared red hot between them and reservations bled away.
When the kiss finally ended, Jin didn’t stop there. He nipped gently at Kame’s chin and then ghosted kisses down his throat, teasing helpless moans out of him. Kame’s own hands slid around Jin’s waist, pulling him even closer, desperate to feel more of him.
“Come home with me,” were the words whispered softly against his skin and in that moment, Kame felt he’d agree to anything Jin ever asked of him.
A short cab ride later and the door to Jin’s house swung closed behind them. With each frantic touch, with every shed piece of clothing, with each unsteady step backwards guided by Jin, the last faint remnants of Kame’s inhibition shattered and fell like so much glass around him. He gave himself over wholly to desire.
His back hit the bedroom door but he barely noticed. Hungrily he attacked Jin’s mouth, one hand tangled in his now-loose hair and the other resting on the swell of his buttocks. Only a thin layer of fabric now lay beneath his hand, its existence almost maddening to his seeking skin.
Returning in kind the passion of the kiss, Jin’s hands meanwhile traveled down Kame’s sides, over his hips and to his thighs. Keeping Kame pinned to the door with his upper body, Jin pulled Kame's legs up so he could wrap them around his waist. “Hold on tight…” he murmured against Kame’s lips.
Jin gave Kame just enough time to circle his arms around his neck before turning the knob. The door swung inward and Kame would have fallen if not for Jin’s strong arm carrying him. It wasn’t far to the bed but his need was so fierce by this point that each step was its own eternity.
The bed was soft at his back but Jin’s body was hard to his searching palms. The lower his fingertips brushed and the more passionately they kissed, the more Jin’s body seemed to hum above him and the more Kame was lost in his desire.
They explored each other for hours with hands and lips, the last of the clothes thrown somewhere on the bedroom floor. Finally, Kame could stand it no more and begged in a broken voice, “Take me…”
“I thought you’d never ask,” was Jin’s husky reply. What little space was left between them disappeared entirely, just the right mix of pain and pleasure and sweat and sighs. And when it was done, they were both almost too exhausted to move. Jin rolled on his side and pulled Kame back against him, his breath tickling the nape of his neck.
“Isn’t this… the part… where you kick me out?” Kame panted, barely enough breath left to get the question out.
“Normally,” and Jin laughed tiredly. “But somehow… I don’t want to. Stay the rest of the night, won’t you?”
So he did.
And that’s how it all began, the first step on the three-month path that led to Kame moving in with Jin. Along the way, they went everywhere together - dinner, dancing, shopping, shoplifting (vodka just the once on a lark, followed by wild drunken lovemaking and Kame could still barely believe they got away with it)…
It was thrilling, being with Jin. The man was sweet and smart and protective - not to mention fantastic in bed - and the more time that passed, the more in love with him Kame fell. He could tell it was the same with Jin. They starved desperately for each other whenever they were apart so moving in with him seemed an almost inevitable consequence of having met.
And though it was true they did fight often - the both of them had terrible tempers at times - they screamed at each other for a while and then reconciled just as suddenly and passionately. It was so hard to stay angry while Jin’s lips and hands aggressively explored him, tempting him to quick forgiveness.
Over the next nine months, the frequent dates dwindled into time spent together at home. Neither of them minded - it was cheaper anyway - but they still went every Friday to the club where they met. Kame usually got there first since his manager was practically allergic to staying late and Jin would get there an hour later when the photo sessions ended.
Since it was their one year anniversary, Kame wanted everything to be perfect. He spent an extra thirty minutes getting ready, settling eventually on a short-sleeved black and blood-red shirt with slashes across the front and a pair of tight black jeans he’d bought especially for this occasion. He accented it with black eyeliner but he left his hair wild.
He still made it to the club about half an hour before Jin was supposed to show up. The tables were all taken by this point but that was okay because he looked amazing and it was worth giving up a table to look so good for the man he loved. Kame took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer and waited for Jin to arrive.
Half an hour turned into an hour and a half. Someone sent him a free drink; Kame nodded a wordless thanks to the man and then turned away. He drank the beer (his third) because it would be rude to do otherwise but hoped the man would get the message he wasn’t interested.
Still no sign of Jin but the alcohol and the anger over being stood up allied against him, making the room hot.
Air. He needed air. He stood only to stumble and he would have fallen if the gentleman who bought his drink hadn’t noticed and jumped to Kame’s aid, asking as he caught him, “Are you okay?”
“Drunk. Pissed. Either. Both. Whatever,” Kame laughed weakly. “Too hot in here anyway.”
“Do you need to go outside for a minute?”
Kame nodded and with the man’s help he made for the side door. But halfway there, Jin’s voice came from behind him, hard and accusing, “Kazuya, who’s this?”
“I don’t know his name but I do know you’re late,” was Kame’s angry response. The room was somehow swaying now and he leaned a bit more into the man supporting him.
“I asked you a question!” Jin snapped back at him, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away from the stranger. Kame stumbled sideways into Jin.
“And I told you I don’t know!”
The man helping him finally spoke up with, “Look, I don’t know who you are-” but Jin’s fist to his face silenced him mid-sentence. He knocked the man to the floor and didn’t stop with that.
Kame sagged at the loss of support while Jin stood over the other man, grabbing him by the collar and punching him repeatedly. “Jin, stop it! What the hell is wrong with you?! He didn’t do… do any… thing… Oh, god…” and with nobody to stop this fall, Kame landed hard on his knees. The room kept swaying so he rolled on his side and closed his eyes. “Everything is dancing…” he laughed, because it really was funny. The whole situation was absurd and deeply surreal.
By this time the bartender had gotten to the bouncer who in turn pulled Jin off the man. Some talk of pressing charges buzzed around Kame but it was just so much noise in his ear. A still-pissed Jin helped him to his feet, out of the club, and into the car.
Jin had the grace to wait until they got home to start the shouting but Kame knew he hadn’t done anything wrong this time. Jin was the one who was late on their anniversary and Jin was the one that attacked some random guy for no reason other than his own jealousy and Jin was the one shrieking at him now when he had this headache.
“…and you go there dressed like that…”
“Oh, so this is my fault?” was Kame’s own shouted response. “I wore this for you, you ass!” At least the room wasn’t spinning anymore though now he just hurt. Hangovers really were the worst and falling in the club probably hadn’t helped. “You’re being paranoid. He just bought me a beer and then helped me when I stumbled. That’s all.”
“HE DRUGGED YOU, IDIOT! Don’t you know better than to trust some stranger? He could have put anything in that drink before he gave it to you!” Jin screamed at him.
Right. Like he was born yesterday. “I’m not an idiot and he never touched that drink. He paid for it but I got it straight from the bartender like the first two and my head hurts now so for the love of all that’s holy would you STOP FUCKING SHOU-!”
Kame hit the wall behind him and crumpled to the floor… and he had no idea why. The side of his face burned as he pushed himself up, a sharp ache that his mind refused to process. His hand went to his cheek and he looked up at Jin, trying to blink away the tears stinging his eyes.
Jin was looking at his own hand with a face of confusion. His gaze traveled further down, to Kame’s, and when their eyes met the truth of what just happened flowed between them, drowning them in one endless moment.
“You h-hit me…” Kame spoke with barely a whisper but the words were deafening.
“I can’t believe I just did that. God, Kazuya, I…” and Jin knelt down in front of him, reaching towards him. “I’m really the worst, aren’t I? I’m horrible…”
“Don’t touch me!” Kame flinched away from Jin’s seeking hand.
“Please, Kazuya… I didn’t mean to do it. I’m sorry!” Jin pleaded with him. “I know I was mad but that was just wrong of me… Let me see it. Is it bad? Are you bleeding?” Kame would have none of it. Between whatever he’d been dosed with, falling in the club and now this, Kame was at his end. Jin kept trying, though. “Kazu, please! I... I just don't know my own strength. Please, just let me see if you’re alright!”
“I can’t do this right now, Jin…” Kame finally said, trying desperately to hold himself together. “I’m tired and I hurt and I just can’t do this right now. I’m going to bed.” He pushed past Jin and to his feet. Jin tried to follow him to the bedroom but Kame threw a pillow at him, shoved him back into the hallway, and informed him he was sleeping on the couch. He then slammed the bedroom door in Jin’s face.
Kame curled up on his side on their bed, already missing Jin’s warmth. What a terrible anniversary.
But he wouldn’t be the one to give this time.
The next morning Kame dragged himself to the mirror. His cheek was badly bruised - Jin had probably backhanded him and hard too from the looks of it - but if working at a fashion magazine had taught him anything it was that a quick swipe of the makeup brush concealed all manner of sins. A shame it could do nothing for the horrible aching he felt in his chest.
One last deep breath and then he braved the rest of the house.
The kitchen was doing its best impression of an active warzone. Almost every surface was covered with dirty dishes - some of them broken - and what was probably flour and… jam? It was such a shock to see that Kame almost missed Jin entirely in that mess.
Jin was also covered in flour and jam. His eyes were so tired but his smile was triumphant. “I got it right this time, I hope. I thought I had more time…”
To say he was confused would be an understatement. Jin was the master of the grilled cheese sandwich and nothing else as far as the kitchen was concerned. “Hmm?” was all Kame could come up with, still trying to reconcile what he was seeing with what he knew of Jin.
“The pie. I think it’s right finally. The last four weren’t right...”
“Have you been up baking all night?”
“Oh… is it day already?” Jin asked offhandedly as he pulled the dish out of the oven.
“Yes.”
“Then yes.” Jin set the pie on the counter next to the four other suspiciously pie-shaped monstrosities ranging in color from black to even darker black.
Kame’s shock only deepened upon learning this. “Why?”
“You love it and I thought… maybe I should surprise you…” and Jin yawned, rubbing his eyes sleepily with the back of his hand before continuing with, “After… after what I did I think… I should do something for you… I couldn’t sleep anyway, knowing I hurt you like. I still can’t believe I hit you…”
“Oh, Jin…” Kame sighed. He didn’t want to have this conversation but it couldn’t be avoided any longer. “Plate a slice of that pie for me and we’ll talk. Just don’t think I’ll be the one cleaning this mess up.”
The pie was better than at first it seemed and, thankfully, so was the conversation. Though they were banned from the club, Jin was quick to judge the bartender a silent partner in dosing Kame or else why be so fervently against the notion of pressing charges? Kame shuddered to think what could have happened if Jin hadn’t shown when he did.
Speaking of which…
“Why were you so late on our anniversary?”
Jin didn’t answer but rather stuck his fruit-stained hand into his pocket. After much scrounging he eventually found what he was looking for and held his hand out for Kame to see. “Here. I… well, this isn’t how I imagined doing this but…”
When Jin opened his hand, Kame saw two golden bands with etchings that were too small to make out at that distance. “Jin…?”
“I spent so long trying to decide on just the right ones that I lost track of time and then I had to wait for the engraving. That’s why I was late. I just… wanted to show everyone we belong to each other. That you’re mine and I’m yours. A bond to last forever.”
And as Jin took his hand and slipped the ring onto his finger, Kame had no words. The continued beating of his heart told him this moment was, like those of the night before, real even if everything since his waking was still so surreal.
Jin looked back up with such a serious expression. “Please forgive me, Kazuya. I never - never! - should have hit you. I was still pissed at what those men tried to do and scared of what could have happened if I hadn’t gotten there when I did. All that adrenaline surging through me with nowhere for it to go…”
“That doesn’t make it right, Jin.”
“I never said it did. I’m so sorry…”
Jin said hadn’t meant to do it and Kame did honestly believed him. Their bond - for he could now see the word sung in gold around his finger was just that, KIZUNA - was deep and lasting and utterly undeniable. In the end it came down to this: his love of Jin far outpaced the pain to his face and, more importantly, to his pride.
Kame silenced Jin’s continued apologies with first a palm to his cheek and then the tender flutter of a kiss. He whispered softly, lips brushing across the rim of Jin’s ear as he said, “We’re good, Jin. We’re good. Just hold me now and swear you’ll never hurt me like this again and that will be enough for me.”
And for a time, it was enough for the both of them. Things between them were even better than before. They took a trip to Okinawa the next weekend to celebrate their anniversary properly. It was everything an anniversary celebration should be and the weeks after it were just like when they first started dating. Spare moments were spent enjoying each other's company, talking about practically everything and making love anywhere they could get away with it.
It was work that slowed their momentum, or at least that's what Jin told him when he stumbled drunkenly through the front door at one-thirty in the morning. All Kame knew was the hours of waiting over an increasingly cold dinner, scared out of his mind that something horrible had happened. He thought he'd feel relieved to find Jin unharmed but he was pissed. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Why didn't you answer your damn phone? I've tried calling and texting and you never responded!"
"My phone died. I think there's something wrong with it," Jin sighed dramatically. "That's why I didn't call from the bar and stop looking at me like that. It's not my fault Nishikido-san sent us to get those new contracts. Everyone's after them so we have to work hard to-"
But Kame noticed something which commanded his immediate attention. He interrupted Jin, pointing at his bare hand, "Where is your ring?"
Jin looked puzzled for a moment but then his eyes went wide. "Oh my god, I was going to put that back on before I came home..." He stuck his hand in his pocket, digging for the missing band.
"Why did you take it off?" This hurt more than Kame wanted to admit.
"Cause I'm the sexiest or at least that's how Nishikido-san sort of explained it when he made me get rid of it. They really want those contracts..." He found the ring and slipped it back on his finger. "There. All better. Now come here and kiss me. I've been wanting you for hours."
"After what you put me through tonight? Are you kidding!?"
Jin didn't look happy over being denied. "I told you that wasn't my fault. Nishikido-san said-"
"I don't care what Nishikido said!" Kame insisted. "I'm going to bed. You can just... you know what? I don't care. I don't care one bit what you do or where you go as long as it isn't here."
"This is my house..." and Jin's tone was menacing as he stepped forward.
"Our house," Kame interrupted again. He refused to yield even if Jin was getting mad now too.
"Our house and I'm not going anywhere." He took another step towards Kame who stood his ground stubbornly.
Jin was a renowned photographer, contracted to the third largest fashion agency in the country which also happened to be the same company that owned the magazine at which Kame was an editor. After a scandal involving allegations of abuse at a rival company, many well-known models and designers refused to renew their expiring contracts. All of the big agencies were now scrambling to recruit them as they became available.
Kame could understand how important this was to the company and why they'd send Jin's group to represent them. The fashion industry was highly competitive and social gatherings were just as common a method of negotiation as boardroom meetings. It didn't change how furious he was over how little consideration Jin had for him. Even if his phone was broken, he knew before he left work that he wasn’t coming straight home and there was nothing wrong with the ones there. "Don't touch me."
He may as well have been talking to himself. Jin took one final step and the space between them was gone. But when Jin tried to cup the side of Kame's face - to lean in for a kiss - Kame blocked the hand with his forearm and stepped backwards.
Jin frowned and with a frustrated sigh complained, “But I want you.”
“I really don’t care what you want right now, Jin.”
Pushing past the drunken Jin wasn’t all that difficult but Kame only made it a few steps before Jin had him by the arm. He pulled him backwards, throwing him against the wall. Kame shut his eyes as Jin’s fist came at him, flinching as the hand slammed into the wall mere inches from the side of his head.
“You don’t get to just walk away like that in the middle of an argument.”
Kame didn’t need to open his eyes to know Jin was now pissed. He could hear it in his voice, feel it in the vibration which shot through the wall when Jin’s fist hit it. “T-then what should I do? Scream at you?”
“You can start by opening your eyes. Did you really think I was going to hit you? I’d never-”
“But you did. You did it a month and a half ago.” He opened his eyes. “You can’t say never if you already did it before.”
“That was just…” and Jin growled before continuing with, “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that anymore. I already apologized. And it’s not like I’m the only one with a temper here. It could just as easily happened the other way around.”
“No, because I’d never hit you!”
“Just like I’d never hit you. That was a mistake, Kazuya.”
“Not the only one around here…”
Jin’s hand slid from the wall to brush along Kame’s collarbone - now exposed partially by the disheveled state of his shirt - and then further up the side of his neck towards the nape. He leaned forward until they were forehead-to-forehead and whispered. “Please, I don’t want to fight again. Just let me hold you. Let me show you how much you mean to me and how much I desire you still above all others. Because I do, Kazuya. I love you so much it’s like sometimes I can’t even breathe.”
Kame’s eyes fluttered closed once more as Jin’s lips captured his own. He wanted to hold onto his anger but in the end he could only moan into the kiss and match fire to fire. Even the faint residual taste of the alcohol on his lover’s tongue wasn’t enough to keep him from giving in as Jin’s other hand slipped under his belt to wrap his fingers around the budding flesh.
“Do you still want me to stop?”
"No, no... don't... ahn... stop…”
They stumbled into the bedroom, knocking things off shelves and shedding clothes along the way. Normally they’d take their time but it was fast approaching two in the morning and both of them had to work tomorrow. Even rushed, being with Jin was both sweet and electric.
At some point after they were done, Kame must have fallen asleep because when he opened his eyes it was morning and he was alone. The house was a wreck all the way from the living room to the bedroom with discarded garments and fallen books and even some broken glass from two formerly hanging photos. Jin left the whole mess for him to clean up.
How considerate of him.
In the harsh light of morning, Kame was unhappy. Nothing had been settled. There was no apology for the hours of worry. He’d let Jin win - again! - because he couldn’t think with the man’s lips and hands on him and looking back on it now just made him feel weak.
The wall was damaged where Jin’s fist connected with it last night.
He thought Jin wouldn’t ever hit him again but looking at the wall, some small part of him wondered if perhaps the man just missed because he was drunk.
The rest of the week followed in much the same way - hours of waiting for Jin to stumble home, distraction sex, and waking alone -- but at least by the end of the week, the contracts were signed and Miryoku Agency had three more famous models: Oomasa Aya, Horikita Maki, and Kuroki Meisa.
To mend things between them, Jin took him out that Saturday to his favorite restaurant. He was perfectly attentive to Kame all throughout the meal, all smiles and jokes and the ever-present irresistible longing in those gorgeous brown eyes that Kame loved so much.
Then the meal was over and everything changed...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The story continues - Part Two.
A/N: Okay, I originally intended this to be a one-shot but I've changed my mind. It'll probably be a short multichapter, three or four parts. I know where to end the second part but I'm not sure whether what's left will be enough for one or two more parts past that yet.
Expect the second part in two weeks. I plan to have it up Friday afternoon, the 19th of September. I'd have it sooner but we had our first gaming session for our Shadowrun 3rd edition game and I have to translate my notes out of MeganSpeak to email them to the other players plus I'm kinda novel-ifying the thing. So I'm giving myself one week to do that and then one week to do this fic's part two and then we play Shadowrun that evening again. Rinse and repeat until I have all of this fic for you.
If you've never played Shadowrun before and you're into tabletop gaming, you really should try 3E Shadowrun (I can send you a link to a pdf of the game book). It's a lot of fun! Well, unless you have a troll throwing grenades without warning inside your favorite dive bar. That could have gone soooooo badly...