Soto Mawari Part 2
Jin makes use of Kamenashi's number the very next afternoon. With the other's name highlighted on the screen and his thumb hovering over the button, he hesitates for a moment, second-guessing himself. He wonders if extending a second invitation within a day of parting from the last one is too eager, but he quickly decides it's not when he remembers that Kamenashi had been the one to contact him within only a few hours of their seeing each other off at the platform. It's likely if he calls now, Kamenashi won't give the date or the time of day a second thought. So he hits the button and connects the call.
Kamenashi answers on the third ring with such a clipped, professional, “Kamenashi speaking,” that Jin wonders if maybe he's feeling the heated, disapproving glares of a room of cross interviewers on his back as he steps out of a company conference room to take an unexpected phone call.
“Ah, hi, this is Akanishi,” he starts nervously. “Is now a bad time?”
Following his introduction, Jin's relieved to hear a bit of warmth and familiarity enter Kamenashi's voice. “Huh? Oh, hi. No, now's okay. Sorry about that, I answered my phone without looking at the screen. What's going on?”
Jin feels some of his nervousness leave him in bubbles of light laugher. “Oh, that's all right. Ah, actually, I was wondering...I have Fridays off, so...if you're not busy, would you like to get together and do something?”
Kamenashi hums thoughtfully, and for a few tense moments, Jin's heart seems to creep up into his throat, beating madly. “That sounds good. When and where should we meet?”
Jin stops to think about it for a moment, picturing the Tokyo subway and train line maps in his head and trying to figure out how to best work his knowledge of them to his advantage. “How about Ebisu?” he suggests casually once he's put a bit of a plan together.
“Okay,” comes Kamenashi's immediate reply. “Ne, should I wait for you by the clock tower?”
The smile in Jin's voice is as evident as in Kamenashi's. “Not if it's raining,” he quips.
“Ah, but it's February now. Wouldn't it be more likely to be snowing?”
“Tell you what, if it's raining or snowing, I'll meet you at the Yamanote ticket gate instead of the clock tower.”
In response to Kamenashi's whine of, “Oi, you, spoiling my romance!” Jin can't help but laugh.
“Around six, then?”
“Yup, see you there. Don't keep me waiting for hours!”
“I won't.”
“Oh, and Akanishi?”
“Yeah?”
“You can call me 'Kame' if you want. That's why I signed the text message I sent you the way I did.”
“Ah.” Before he can get out that it'd be okay if he wanted to call him 'Jin,' too, Kamenashi hangs up.
It turns out to be neither raining nor snowing when Jin goes to meet Kame in Ebisu, so he finds him at the clock tower, his hands crammed into the pockets of a wool coat he's wearing over a black ribbed turtleneck and dark jeans. He looks as though he got dressed planning to go out for a nice dinner somewhere, perhaps at one of the ritzy restaurants around the Ebisu Garden Place area, which makes Jin feel a little bad about what he has planned for them instead.
As expected, when he approaches Kame greets him with a smile and angles his body in the direction of the gardens and the restaurants surrounding them. Jin feels a little bit bad, but there's also a feeling of satisfaction when, after Kame enthusiastically asks him, “So, where are we going?” he grins and answers, “Back to the station.”
It's so worth it for the look that comes over Kame's face. “Huh?”
“Didn't you hear me?” Jin teases, and he's already heading back the way he came. “I said we're going back to the station.”
Not given much of a choice, Kame hurries to catch up with him. “I heard you, but...why'd we meet in Ebisu if we're not going to stay in Ebisu? Where are we going?”
Jin just grins. “Ne, Kame, have you ever gone out without a destination in mind, just to see where you end up?”
When Kame fixes him with a blank look, Jin smiles wider and steps onto one of the moving walkways on the SkyWalk linking the plaza to the station. It seems to take Kame a few seconds to realize what's happening and follow after him. “So...where are we going?” he asks again, less demanding and more confused.
“Not sure. I figured we'd ride the Yamanote around a few times and see where we end up.”
Kame looks at him as though he can't believe what he's hearing. It makes Jin feel good to see that he's caught Kame so off-guard, because it's usually him who's being taken by surprise, so turning the tables for once feels...almost powerful, in a way.
“Seriously?”
Plus, the look on Kame's face is really cute. “Seriously.”
When he steps off of the last moving walkway before the ticket gates, he turns and waits for Kame to catch up. “What do you look so worried for? C'mon, it'll be fun-give us a chance to sit and talk.”
Kame still looks skeptical, but he smiles politely and nods, making it appear that he's at least giving Jin the benefit of the doubt. “Okay.”
Just after six o' clock on a Friday evening, they've got no chance at finding a pair of seats right away, but the very next stop after Ebisu is Shibuya, at which half the passengers on the train get off, allowing Jin and Kame an opportunity to squeeze in. Jin's lucky enough to get a seat at the end of the row, next to the doors, while Kame takes the one on his left-hand side. Once they're settled, they make themselves as comfortable as possible, and Jin mentally pats himself on the back for his date idea when the close proximity of the other passengers means he and Kame end up sitting shoulder-to-shoulder.
For as hesitant as he had been, it doesn't seem to take Kame long to relax when they glide through Harajuku and Yoyogi; Jin can feel the tension melting out of his shoulders as the under-seat heaters fill the car with warmth, making the windows fog up. Even when the train rolls into Shinjuku and the seats next to them open up, he stays pressed close.
“So,” Kame starts, keeping his voice down to avoid alerting the attention of the other passengers, “do you do this a lot? Considering your job, my guess would have been that you would hate being around trains anymore than you have to.”
Jin laughs. “You'd think that, but I don't mind it so much if I can get a seat. It's the standing on the platform for hours part that's the worst.”
Kame hums in agreement, and from where Jin's sitting, it doesn't appear the other is aware of how he's relaxing further, to the point where he's almost leaning against Jin's shoulder as he speaks. “Yeah, but it's kind of annoying how sitting on the train automatically makes you feel sleepy, isn't it?”
With Kame pressed so close, it's hard for Jin to focus on anything other than how all of a sudden he wants very badly to touch him. Not in a creepy way-he's not a train pervert or anything like that. Just...something perhaps a little bit more forward than letting Kame lean on him. His gaze drops to where Kame's right arm is pressed against his left shoulder. If he were feeling brave, he'd reach out and take Kame's hand in his own, intertwining their fingers, but that feels like a big risk to take in public on a second date, especially when he doesn't know how Kame feels about things like that.
“In a few moments...Ikebukuro,” comes the recorded voice over the PA.
Oh.
The steady flow of passengers onto the train, filling the car once again, makes up Jin's mind for him, and his hand stays firmly on his own knee as he comes back to the conversation. “...It's only annoying if you end up an hour past where you wanted to go because you fell asleep and missed your stop. If you can master the subtle art of waking up in time, it's pretty nice.”
Kame hums again. “Speaking from experience?”
A blush rises to Jin's cheeks from the teasing tone of Kame's voice. “I'm sure a lot of people can speak from experience on that one.”
“True,” Kame agrees. “Can't say I've never done it...”
“Oi, if you've done it, too, then you're not allowed to tease!”
Kame laughs, a happy, melodious sound that makes his shoulder shake against Jin's. “It was on this line, so it doesn't count. When I woke up, the train was almost back to where I needed to go-I just ended up being nearly an hour late for my appointment.”
Feeling spurred on for having caught Kame in something of a white lie, Jin doesn't pass up a further opportunity to poke fun. “Ah, so you can't say you've never ridden the Yamanote all the way around, either!”
“But it shouldn't count if I was asleep!”
Jin makes to reply, but in that moment, they both realize the steadily rising volume of their conversation has won them the attention of everyone in the train car, and they laugh shyly. “In theory,” Jin ends up saying instead, making sure to keep his voice down, “it's a really nice idea. You could sleep for hours...”
“You could do that in a bed, too,” Kame argues.
“Yeah, but a bed doesn't necessarily come with the comfortable sleepy feeling the rocking of the train gives you.”
With Kame's observation of, “You look like you're succumbing to that feeling right now,” Jin grins and tilts his head back to rest it against the wall.
“Maybe.”
Beside him, Kame fidgets a little. “Don't you dare try a 'yawn-and-stretch' move on me.”
As if on cue, Jin yawns, but he doesn't complete the accompanying stretch. Instead, he lets his grin fade into more of a serene, sleepy smile and subtly rubs his thumb over the inside of Kame's elbow. “Wouldn't dream of it-not on a crowded train, anyway. Give it a chance to empty out, and--”
Jin hadn't been sure what Kame would do in response to the touch, but hissing through clenched teeth and jerking his arm away weren't among the reactions he'd considered. “Sorry!” he says immediately, not at all fond of the rolling, sick feeling he gets at the thought of Kame so violently rejecting his advance. What's even worse is how Kame grips at his elbow with his other hand as though the brush of Jin's fingers had been like a lick of flame to his skin. Had Kame found his touching him that offensive?
Jin figures he must look as upset as he feels, because in the next moment, Kame's eyes go wide, and he quickly says, “No, no, it's not you,” like he knows exactly what's running through his head. It makes Jin feel a little better, but only a little, because while it always bothered him that people can so easily read him, more than that, he can see tension hunching Kame's shoulders again, and he doesn't have the warmth of the other's body pressed against his anymore. Jin can't help but think that's a pretty big rejection, and he has no idea what to say to the guilty look Kame shows him next, so he just searches with his eyes for an explanation.
“Then...?”
Kame lowers his gaze to his elbow still clenched in his other hand. “I swear it's not you,” he reaffirms. “I'm just...” He trails off, his tongue darting out to run over his lips as he seems to search for words. “I'm sensitive there.”
That has Jin's eyebrows rising with interest, because 'sensitive' can mean all kinds of things. His collarbones are the perfect example. They can be 'sensitive' in a number of different ways, all depending on how they're stimulated. “'Sensitive' like...did I hit your funny bone?” he tries, not really believing his own words based on how Kame reacted to being touched there, but trying to make a joke to lighten the mood.
The answer he gets surprises him. In response to his words, the corners of Kame's lips curl upwards into a bitter sort of half-smile. “Kind of,” he says, and his tongue slips out again. “Do you know what Tommy John surgery is?”
Jin gives him a blank look and shakes his head a little, but his gaze goes a bit soft when he realizes from the mention of 'surgery' that it's unlikely Kame's elbows are sensitive like his own collarbones are. “What's that?” he asks hesitantly, finding himself somewhat fearful of the answer.
Kame takes a deep breath that visibly lifts his shoulders. “For starters, it's the reason why by the time I got to Keio, I couldn't play baseball anymore.”
Even though he and Kame are only on their second date (because there was no denying after that kiss that their meeting at the café had been their first) and they've known each other less than a week, Jin feels he knows enough about Kame to understand that whatever happened to his elbow somehow had life-changing consequences. “Oh...”
Kame keeps smiling wryly. “I'll spare you the gruesome details of tendons and ligaments and how they had to cut into my leg to fix my arm, but--”
Jin makes a horrified noise.
“Essentially what happened is I overworked my arm in high school trying to simultaneously play to win a high school championship and prepare for college ball, and...” Kame's gaze lowers to his hands, where Jin sees his left has moved from his elbow to pick at a loose thread on his sweater. “The thing is, the surgery to fix it is an easy one. It might have been new and dangerous back in the 70's, but now there's a really high success rate. They said I'd be back playing-stronger than ever, even, within a year.”
Jin stays silent, unable to think of anything to say. He's heard enough to figure out where the rest is going.
“Long story short, it is my funny bone. They messed up my ulnar nerve somehow, and I haven't been able to throw since.”
After an extended silence, Jin finally says, “I'm sorry,” and his apology carries the weight of not just sympathy, but also his regret for both aggravating the injury and making Kame relive the memories of it.
It takes him a few moments, but by the time the train pulls out of Ueno Station, a small smile comes back to Kame's face. “It's all right,” he says, so earnestly that Jin can't help but believe him, and without warning, he takes Jin's hand in his own, tangling their fingers. “I don't have any damaged nerves here,” he explains, squeezing Jin's hand a little for emphasis, “so this is okay.”
Jin wonders if maybe his own nerves are damaged from how much having Kame's hand in his makes them tingle.
By the time they pass through the lights of Akihabara and the Imperial Palace gardens at Tokyo, either because of the crowds or because he wants to, Kame scoots closer to lean against Jin's side again, and when they come up on the stops in the heart of the business district-Yūrakuchō, Shimbashi, Hamamatsuchō, it takes them both by surprise that the car empties out completely. Jin looks perplexed, and he's about to say that he's never seen the Yamanote so empty before, but Kame beats him to it.
“Happy Constitution Day.”
“Huh?”
Kame suddenly moves closer, and Jin feels his heart start beating as though it's a taiko drum someone's pounding on when he can feel Kame's hot breath against his jaw. “Public holiday,” he says, moving closer still, “meaning no salarymen.”
And then he steals a kiss.
Jin remembers to kiss back, and it only lasts a few seconds, but afterwards he sits in a bit of a stupor all the way to Gotanda. “Wow,” he says then, and he has to laugh at himself for getting so worked up over a simple, sweet kiss. When Kame joins in and the sound of their laughter blends together, he wonders if it's not the kiss he's getting worked up about, but the thought of a budding relationship.
When they roll into Tamachi, Kame speaks for both of them when he peers out the window at the platform and says, “Whoa, this is kinda surreal.”
“Don't have to tell me,” Jin replies, and Kame laughs heartily at his attempts to hide his face from his co-workers on the platform.
At Shinagawa, they finally get off and change trains, but only because Jin's stomach had started making audible complaints about its emptiness, so they load up on sandwich packs, onigiri, and soft drinks from the kiosk on the platform before hopping on the next train to come through the station, exactly four minutes after the last.
“Not exactly a Michelin-star restaurant,” Kame comments, unwrapping a salmon flake-filled onigiri as the train pulls into Meguro, and the casual manner in which he speaks makes the contents of Jin's stomach lurch; for a moment fear fills him at the thought that maybe his little date experiment hasn't been as successful as he'd hoped. If that turns out to be the case, he'll spend the whole way back to his apartment mentally kicking himself for thinking he could impress someone like Kame with anything less than a place with dishes he can't pronounce and imported wines he'd have to save up for months to be able to afford.
But then Kame smiles around a mouthful of rice, seaweed, and salted fish; chews; swallows; and follows up with, “But this is fun, too. Maybe we can do a restaurant next time?”
Jin flushes to the tips of his ears, an interesting blend of embarrassed and relieved. “If you're buying.”
Kame grins and playfully bumps his shoulder against Jin's as he uncaps his bottle of Calpis. “It's a date.”
Quickly bagging up their trash, Kame hurries to get off when Ebisu comes around again sooner than expected, but Jin holds him back. “Our cards will screw up if you try to go out through the same ticket gate we went in, so we have to go at least one stop further.”
Jin watches Kame process that information, and he sees in his eyes the moment he figures it all out. “So that's why we met at Ebisu-so we could take the same train home together from Shibuya. Jin, you're so romantic!”
Jin has to adjust his collar when heat spreads from his face all the way down to his chest. “You've no proof of that,” he tries to defend himself, but he knows the shy, nervous look on his face is all the proof Kame needs.
It's only two stops on the Tokyu Tōyoko line from Shibuya to Naka-Meguro, and when Jin steps off the train there with him, Kame doesn't say anything, just smiles. “Walking you to your door,” Jin offers as explanation, and Kame snickers.
They teasingly let their fingers brush and tangle between them as they exit the station, all nervous smiles and shy looks, and Jin's so distracted by the occasional brush of Kame's shoulder against his own that it catches him a little off-guard when Kame suddenly stops at the bottom of a stairwell leading up to an apartment building.
“This is home,” he explains, almost unnecessarily, and the look he gives Jin as he steps out of the glow of the streetlight has Jin easily following.
Jin avoids gripping at Kame's elbows to wrap his arms around his waist instead, his hands finding shelter from the chilly night between the heavy fabric of Kame's coat and the warmth of his body radiating through his sweater.
Kame leans into the touch, and when he offers, “Thanks for tonight,” his eyes reflect none of the coyness that his fingers playing with the lapel on Jin's jacket might suggest.
Jin responds, “Even though it was--” at the same time Kame continues with, “It was really--” and they land on the word 'unconventional' at the same time, which makes them both break into laughter.
“Even so,” Kame concedes, “I had a really good time.”
Jin says, “You don't have to lie for my sake,” only half-teasing just in case Kame's being polite and humoring him. “We can go to a restaurant next time if that's what you'd like.”
“Speaking of next time,” Kame says, and his grip on Jin's collar tightens a little while his tongue slips out again, “I really like you. I was wondering if you wanted to approach this, you know, a bit more seriously from now on...”
For a moment Jin wonders if by that Kame means he should think of something nicer than a train ride with no destination and conbini food for a date, but then he figures out from how Kame seems to be fidgeting nervously in anticipation of his answer that he's actually asking him if he wants to be his boyfriend. “Oh! Yeah, I'd...I'd like that a lot.” Using the grip he has on Kame's middle to pull him farther into the shadows, he adds, “So long as you don't have any beautiful, internationally-minded girlfriends currently studying language and fashion in Europe or America or anything...”
Kame laughs and shakes his head. “No, nothing like that. I take it that means you're not engaged in any other affairs at the moment, either?”
Jin grins. “Nope. Wouldn't be going around kissing you under staircases if I was.” Then he leans in and does exactly that.
The moment their mouths come together, Jin can't help but let out a groan, because shy, nervous Kame disappears to take control of the kiss, cupping Jin's jaw in one of his small hands and flicking his tongue between Jin's lips the second Jin parts them, and it feels really, really good to be kissed like that. Jin feels Kame shiver against him when he brushes their tongues together, and they stumble into a corner, moving languidly and taking the time to explore each other. Somehow the slowness of it makes it all the more exciting.
Jin feels Kame's breath as puffs of hot air against his lips when they separate, and even though the other seems to be aware of how tightly he has his arms wrapped around Jin's neck, he doesn't let go. “Is tomorrow too soon for dinner?” he asks, punctuating his question with a soft kiss to Jin's lower lip.
Jin's too interested in getting another taste of Kame's kiss-swollen mouth to answer, but eventually he has to pull away, and when does, it's with a bit of a sigh. “I only have Fridays off.” Pressing his lips to the first hints of 5 o' clock stubble at the corner of Kame's mouth stops Jin from admitting out loud that he doesn't want to wait a week before they can meet again, but he has a feeling the tenderness of the action might betray his regret.
And Kame seems to take it as such, responding with a long, shuddering sigh. “That's okay. Maybe next week, then?”
He looks a little hesitant, as though he thinks he's being too forward, but Jin quickly reassures him with a firm nod of his head. “Next week's fine.”
A smile comes back to Kame's face, and a hint of his business tone re-enters his voice when he says, “Okay. I'll text you the details after I make the reservations, then. Say around seven?”
When it sounds like Kame seems to be putting together a tentative plan, the nervousness that had evaporated from Jin's belly as they'd kissed comes roaring back. Caught up in Kame's smiles and his charm, he'd forgotten that their lifestyles are very, very different. For instance, Jin goes to places that require reservations so infrequently that he almost forgets the practice exists. He'd much rather find a restaurant like a ramen shop or a kaitenzushi place or even something like a Saizeriya where he and a few close friends can just walk in off the street and enjoy some cheap, good food. The idea of an intimate, swanky little bar with chic spotlight lighting and decorative trickling waterfalls in the corners serving miniscule servings of food at prices ten times what they'd be if purchased from the nearest street vendor is completely foreign to him. For Kame, however, it appears to be the standard, which worries Jin just a little. But just because he's somewhat uncomfortable with the idea doesn't mean he's going to turn Kame down. Things have been progressing well for them despite the income gap, and he's not about to ignore his instincts telling at him to go for it. At long last, he says, “Okay,” and it feels worth it when he sees Kame's face light up.
“Okay, so...I'll see you then?” The note of hope in his voice is so endearing that Jin can't help but kiss him again, and he both hears and feels that hope melt away into satisfaction when Kame groans into his mouth.
Jin thinks it's an incredible sound, and the memory of it fifteen more minutes and two more failed goodbyes later makes him want to skip all the way back to the station. He only barely resists the urge, but he can't keep the glee out of his voice when he calls Pi to tell him that he's sorry, but he's not going to be able to make it to their bi-monthly anime marathon and poker night the following evening because he has a date with his boyfriend.
Pi's so offended that this is the first Jin's told him about said newly-acquired boyfriend that he squawks something about loyalties and bros before hos into the phone before hanging up, and Jin's so over the moon about his budding relationship with Kame that he doesn't care.
At least he doesn't until the following week, when he's once again standing helplessly in his bedroom surrounded by his clothes scattered about, because Kame's texted to confirm they have reservations at an upscale yakitori restaurant in Meguro, and his entire collection of shirts appropriate for upscale restaurants (a grand total of two items) is somewhere within the pile of dirty laundry that's been growing in the corner of his room for at least a month. So he calls Pi, because he and Pi are best friends who have been lending each other everything from money to manga to handjobs since middle school, so surely Pi can spare one of his nice Ralph Lauren button-downs for a night, even if Jin has to admit that he can't fill it out as well in the chest area as Pi can.
At first it's clear that Pi's still a bit sore about the night before, but after whining and begging and groveling enough, Jin finally gets him to give in, on the condition that Jin fill him in on everything that's happened thus far with Kame. So Jin spends nearly an hour on the phone, telling Pi about everything from the odd way they'd met to riding the Yamanote around to how if Kame's as in good in bed as he is at kissing, then he has a lot to look forward to, at which point Pi audibly shudders (Jin didn't know this was possible, and probably wouldn't believe it if he hadn't just heard it) and says, “Ew, TMI,” but still gives Jin permission to stop over and borrow a shirt.
After talking to Pi for that long, for a moment Jin panics and thinks he's going to be late in meeting Kame, but then he realizes he has at least another three hours before he needs to even think about leaving. “How am I supposed to keep myself busy for three hours?! :( :( :(” he wails at Pi via text message.
Pi's reply comes, “You could ride the Yamanote around a few times. I hear you're fond of that. (wink)” and Jin kills a half-hour trying to figure out how to flip him off using ASCII art.
In the end, after stopping at Pi's to borrow a shirt and tie (and to flip him off for his comment in person), he does ride the Yamanote around, because with Pi heading out to Yuu's for anime/poker night, he doesn't have anything else to do. And he finds it kind of nice, actually, because it reminds him of when he did it with Kame, curling up together in their adjacent seats and talking about everything that came to mind while the train went around. Jin wonders if maybe there's a chance he's sitting in the same seat in the same car on the same train, but he gives up thinking about it when the math to figure out how many trains run on the Yamanote at any given time makes his head hurt.
He's only gone around once when the train pulls into Meguro at a few minutes to seven, and he feels his legs go shaky with nerves as he ascends the trio of escalators to meet Kame at street level. He's not surprised to find Kame already there, leaning against the barrier between the street and the sidewalk across from the station's main exit, and he pushes off with a smile when he sees Jin approach. Smiling back, Jin would love to greet him with a kiss, or even a tangle of fingers, but the bustling crowds of commuters surrounding them prevent him from doing more than falling into step with Kame as he heads down the street to where Jin presumes the restaurant is.
Torishiki turns out to be exactly the type of restaurant Jin imagined-tucked inconspicuously off the main road with sleek, modern architecture and Zen-like plants dotting the entrance. Inside the traditional curtain and sliding door, it looks like any other Japanese restaurant Jin's been to, with a polished counter and a number of small tables around the perimeter of the room, save for the minimalist décor, which appears as though it was chosen to appeal to someone of a much higher class than himself.
When the hostess sees them to a table (Kame makes it clear that seats at the counter are out of the question with a quick wave of his hand), Jin sees that there are no menus save for that for drinks, just a row of wooden tokens hanging on the wall with the restaurant's selections written on them in thick brush strokes of hiragana. Jin thinks that if he were to come to a place like this with Pi, they'd take the very middle seats at the counter, chat up their neighbors and the chef in loud, obnoxious voices over plate after plate of grilled meat, and walk away completely shit-faced from too much sake and beer.
It feels completely different sitting there with Kame, across the table from his once again impeccable taste in clothes and his bright, eager smile. Looking at him, Jin really wishes they could be somewhere else, both because he feels uncomfortable in the situation and because he's very quickly realizing that he can't see Kame looking at him like that without wanting to kiss him. If Jin didn't know better, he'd say it looked as though Kame wanted the same. He's leaning his weight on his forearms on the table, leaning in as though he's straining to hear Jin over the noise of the other patrons, except that they're not talking yet, and the decreased space between them makes their corner of the restaurant feel even more intimate. Their knees bump every once in a while under the table, and if Jin were a little bit braver, he'd try resting a hand on the lower part of Kame's thigh, rubbing gentle circles over the inside of his knee with his thumb, just to see how Kame would react. Well, he would hope. At this point, he doesn't think it would be too far a stretch of the imagination to imagine Kame's Adam's apple bobbing slightly as his breath catches in his throat or his intense, coffee-brown eyes framed by long lashes turning more the color of freshly-ground espresso as he shifted, leaning into the touch to tacitly give Jin permission to walk his fingers a little higher.
Feeling his own gaze darken a little at the sudden sexy turn his thought process has taken, Jin awkwardly clears his throat and reaches for the drink menu, mentally reminding himself that there's meat to be eaten before anything like that can happen. Of the grilled variety. Right. Yes. And before the grilled meat can be eaten, it and their drinks need to be ordered. Hence the menu he's now poring over as though drawn on it is a map to the fountain of youth.
Jin jumps a mile out of his seat when Kame's hand suddenly moves to cover his where it's gripping the menu. “Are you all right?” he asks, and damn him, he looks positively thrilled to be here, eyes still bright and happy, and it's only when Jin realizes that Kame's looking at him like that that he tries to will himself to relax and take things a bit more in stride. If he's here on a date with someone whom he likes very much who clearly likes him the same in return, he should try to make this a good evening for that reason, despite the fact that he's somewhat out of his comfort zone.
With a hint of a smile, he says, “Yeah, I'm fine,” and if Kame notices the slight falseness of his words, he doesn't say anything about it, instead turning his attention to the drink menu Jin's set flat on the table, craning his neck to read it upside down.
“I'd say beer sounds good with yakitori. What do you think?”
If anything, Jin's tastebuds are grateful for the distraction. He can feel his mouth starting to water at just the thought of the always winning combination of chicken, salt, and beer. “Sounds perfect,” he says, much more eagerly, and Kame flags down a waitress to order two draft beers and opening rounds of grilled chicken and skirt steak.
“Would you like anything else?” he asks, eyes skimming the menu on the wall once more, poring over some of the odder options like ginkgo, duck, and raw bar cow liver.
Jin shakes his head and says, “Not for now,” which gets Kame's attention on him again, and when he sees the happy, nervous smile on his face, he realizes there really isn't anything more he could ask for in that moment, and not just in regards to the menu.
It only gets easier for Jin to relax after their food and drinks come out. The lavish atmosphere of the restaurant fades away when they eat juicy pieces of salted meat off of skewers, and Kame comes out with, “This reminds me of barbecues with my family,” at the same moment that Jin's thinking nostalgically about perusing festival stalls with Pi and the rest of his friends. Washing down bites of chewy meat with long sips of beer, they both lean close over the table, swapping stories and laughter. At one point, Jin thinks Kame must be feeling adventurous, because after a few plates of chicken and steak, he puts in orders for things like quail, duck, and liver, and when they come off the grill, he seems to eye them skeptically before daring himself to sample them. Jin spends a good half-hour just watching Kame's facial expressions as he does this, leaning in with parted lips when something proves unexpectedly delicious and Kame insists he has to try it, then laughing when something Kame clearly doesn't like makes him pull a face.
By the time Kame pats what he declares to be his 'bulging' stomach and signals for the check, Jin realizes that for all of his reservations about the evening, he's really enjoyed himself. He thinks that being with Kame might just have that effect on him, which is a terrifying and pretty exciting thought. He just makes sure to focus his attention on the tall vase of bamboo near the entryway on their way out so he doesn't have to see the total amount their meal comes to when Kame goes to the register to pay. Except that he still manages to see Kame place two bills in the small tray on the counter out of the corner of his eye, and really, 20,000 yen for all of those tiny pieces of chicken and two beers apiece?! But then he remembers the quail Kame had fed him off the end of his skewer and how he thought he wasn't going to like it, but it had ended up being one of the most delicious things he'd ever tasted. He especially remembers the expression that had come over Kame's face as he'd eaten it, the one of fondness mixed with the smallest hint of an 'I told you so,' and really, in the end, there are probably worse ways to spend 20,000 yen. So long as he doesn't have to be reminded of it anytime soon.
When Kame joins him at the door, they're both all smiles and flushed cheeks, and their first steps back out onto the street have Jin stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat and bouncing on his toes, half from the chill in the air and half from nerves. “So, where to now?”
Kame hums in a way that makes Jin think he's pretending to consider before saying, “Well, I was thinking we could go to a sweets café for dessert-”
Jin makes a pitiful whining noise at the thought of eating more and says, “Please no more food,” which makes Kame break out in laughter.
“-but there's no way I could eat anymore after all that chicken and two servings of quail, so-”
“Just one serving,” Jin cuts in, because he'd eaten half of Kame's order once he realized how much he'd liked it and then half of the serving they'd ordered to share.
Kame laughs again and then finishes, “So how about we just go for a walk?”
Jin can't think of a single thing to say against the suggestion, especially when Kame's fingers subtly brush the inside of his elbow to steer him down the road towards the river that runs through town. They head back towards the station, but pass it, following the gently sloped, curving road past restaurants and bars that clearly cater to all kinds of different tastes. As they walk, Jin sees Kame's gaze flicker to an establishment outfitted with a giant skull and crossbones above the door. 'Dokuro,' the sign below it appropriately reads, and Jin can just make out the word 'ramen' written beneath that. It's the kind of place Jin might have taken Kame to had he been the one in charge of arranging their dinner plans, where they could have gotten at least three times as much food for a tenth of the price and still had a fantastic time. Or so he'd like to believe.
He hasn't known Kame long enough to get a good read on him yet, he feels like. Although Kame clearly belongs to the upper echelons of society (when Jin had asked about his family at dinner, once of the things Kame had revealed was that he came from a long line of lawyers and government officials), but he's also shown he can be down-to-earth, admitting to having fun on a date where he'd eaten ready-made onigiri with Calpis soda on a train and now taking interest in a restaurant selling whole dinner set meals-drinks included-for less than a thousand yen. Jin's not yet sure where the divide lies-how much of Kame's personality retains the snobbish traits that wealthy people always claim they don't have, and how much of him is an average 22-year-old Japanese boy about to strike out on his own in the world for the very first time. Jin likes him enough to want to find out, and he hopes that they can get to know each other well enough that the issue falls away from their relationship.
It's easy enough for him to forget about when the hustle and bustle of the main commercial street fades into clusters of residential and community buildings standing along the banks of the river, and Kame runs forward suddenly, the downward incline propelling him faster until he reaches the tall guardrail separating the scenic walking path from the steep concrete cliffs leading down to the surface of the water. Kame looks a bit like an inquisitive child as he leans over the railing to peer down at the murky stream far below, as though he's waiting for it to reveal its secrets to him, and the sight brings a smile to Jin's face. Were they on a private balcony somewhere, instead of a public walking path, Jin might consider wrapping his arms around him from behind to look out at the view with him, but that's impossible with occasional cyclists and pedestrians going past. Instead, he goes for the casual approach, leaning his weight on his forearms resting on the top bar of the rail when he moves to stand next to Kame, making sure that his eyes, rather than his posture, reveal that there's anything besides close friendship between the two of them.
Fixing Kame with a significant look and a hint of a smile, he drawls, “So, where to?”
Kame doesn't say anything in response, just returns the smile and pushes away from the railing to pass behind Jin, starting off on the path leading to the right. Jin watches the slow, lazy shuffle of his feet for a few moments before pushing off the rail himself and following. Not too far off to their left, the lights of a Tokyū Meguro line train go speeding past over the river.
They don't touch or even speak much on their stroll along the riverbank, but that doesn't mean communication doesn't pass between them. Much like the last time they wandered around together after dark, hardly 24 hours before, they steal glances at each other, their eyes meeting with shy smiles when they get caught. As the time passes and their steps along the path accumulate, their gazes flit between their feet, each other, and the faces of the people passing by. Bikes go by one after another, as do joggers, dog-walkers, and students clearly taking the scenic route home from cram school.
Much like he does at work, Jin tunes the details out (apart from those involving Kame, that is), but for a moment, he wonders what sorts of thoughts are going through the heads of the people with whom he and Kame cross paths. Are they trying to guess what their lives are like? (Could they just by looking at them?) Are there little alarm bells going off in their heads, warning that the way the line of his shoulders angles the slightest bit towards Kame signals that they're not just friends? Jin would like to think that passersby can't guess things like that from a single glance at his face, but then two young, foreign men with a small dog on a leash between them approach, and Jin finds himself wondering. He knows Kame's noticed, too, because when they turn to look at each other, they're wearing the same speculative expression, eyebrows arched high with curiosity and disbelief. In response to each other's reactions (and, in effect, their own), they share a few moments of private, knowing laughter before continuing on their way. If either of them notices the space between them has diminished ever so slightly as they go along, neither says anything about it.
As comfortable as the silence between them is, Jin feels the pleasantness of the evening start to bubble up within him, and he feels the urge to let it out in the form of equally pleasant conversation.
“Nice night,” he says airily, and he finds he means it, because even though it's the middle of February, going for a walk with Kame has helped keep him warm, to the point where he barely notices the chill. “It's a pity the sakura aren't blooming yet,” he continues, glancing up at the bare branches criss-crossing over the path and dangling low over the river.
Kame hums thoughtfully, a murmur of, “Not yet, but soon,” on his lips, and then, without so much as sparing Jin a glance, he works a hand beneath Jin's coat to trace the tips of his fingers down the length of his broad back, over the fabric of his shirt. To onlookers, it might appear as though Kame's merely helping him relieve a persistent itch in the middle of his spine, but there's no way they would think that to be the case if they were aware what kind of reaction the touch evoked, and Jin's very, very glad they're not the slightest bit privy to that. Tiny pulses of electricity flare out from where Kame's fingers sweep over him. A shudder wracks his whole frame, and suddenly the air temperature feels downright sultry. His eyes first go wide with surprise, but then narrow into something decidedly less innocent when he turns to look at Kame, and after he sees the subtle smirk pulling at the corner of his lips, it becomes very difficult for Jin to focus on anything other than touching Kame back, to tease him the same way.
Jin gets a chance much sooner than he would have expected. A community baseball field sits just off the right-hand side of the path, and it catches Kame's attention before Jin even realizes it's there. At this hour, only a dedicated few remain beneath the lights, some twisting their bodies to seemingly impossible degrees to hurl round, white missiles into nets set up a handful of meters away, while others are squaring their shoulders and swinging their arms forward to impede and reverse the paths of balls being hurled at them by machines. The general lack of activity doesn't seem to bother Kame, though. Jin hangs back while Kame threads his fingers and sticks his endearingly crooked nose through green chainlink to watch. Jin had thought about maybe taking advantage of Kame's distraction to cop a playful feel, but he can't when he sees Kame's normally clear, alert eyes glaze over with something sad and wistful.
So he just stands and watches Kame watch the schoolkids, observing every change in the other's facial expression. He sees Kame's stubby fingers grip the fence a little tighter and his bottom lip disappear behind his teeth. Does he want to say something to the boys? Offer them words of support, or maybe pointers on their game? Jin doesn't know. He doesn't know enough about the sport to see what Kame sees, and he doesn't know Kame well enough to guess at what he might be thinking. So he hangs back until the kids start to pack up and go home and the bright lights over the field shut off one by one. In the darkness, Jin comes up behind Kame to wrap his arms around his waist and pull him back into an embrace. He doesn't mean for the gesture to be overtly sexual-just supportive, but Kame shivers like he thinks it's the former when Jin presses his cheek to his temple to murmur, “Come on,” in his ear.
When he finally succeeds in turning Kame's attention away from the now shadowed, empty field, Jin's surprised to feel fingers slip between his own and see Kame fix him with an unreadable look. With a deep, shuddering breath, Kame says, “Okay,” before continuing down the path.
They don't make it too much farther before Kame suddenly stops again, and Jin's about to turn around and ask him why, but Jin stops short. He looks up and finds himself faced with the same building he stood before the previous week. He'd been so distracted (mostly by Kame) that he hadn't noticed the signs around them changing from 'Meguro' to 'Naka-Meguro.' He also hadn't noticed the plain blacktop and bare cherry trees giving way to rows of neat tan brick, inlaid with decorative tiles depicting sakura, koi, and cranes, all edged with impeccably trimmed rows of shrubbery. It also goes to show that he hadn't been paying very close attention the week before if he hadn't noticed that Kame's apartment building backed up to the river. “Oh,” he ends up saying lamely, eyes wide with realization.
“'Oh'?” Kame parrots, stepping closer, and Jin comes back to his senses when he hears amusement in Kame's voice that matches the look in his eyes. Amusement, and...something else. Something else that becomes more pronounced when Jin responds to Kame's oh-so-subtly pressing up against him by threading his fingers through the other's belt loops and pulling him even closer.
“Think you're clever, do you?” he murmurs against Kame's lips, ghosting his own over them in a pattern similar to the teasing brush of his palms over the waistband of Kame's jeans.
Kame responds by working one of his legs between Jin's and untucking Jin's shirt to scratch lightly at the small of Jin's back with his short nails.
“Very,” he all but purrs when Jin's eyes go half-lidded. He takes the initiative by dropping soft kisses around Jin's mouth and chin and also along the length of his jaw. His breath is hot against Jin's ear as he whispers, “Want to come up?”and Jin feels a rush of sensation travel through his body.
Pressed together from torso to hip, Jin wraps his arms around Kame's waist to hold him there, and he all but trembles with excitement when he feels Kame's lungs and heart working at the same frantic pace as his own. A subtle shift coaxes a quiet sound from Kame's throat and reminds Jin of the heat growing between them; he presses his cheek against Kame's to mumble, “Lead the way,” against the corner of his mouth.
Kame's whole body goes tense against his for a moment, and then with a deep breath, he steps back, but only far enough to wrap his fingers around Jin's wrist and gently pull him up the stairs to his third-floor apartment.
Once they're inside, Jin wraps his arms around Kame from behind, the way he's been thinking about doing all night, and to his surprise, Kame spins around in his arms to push him back against the door, closing it behind them. A groan escapes Jin's throat at the sudden movement, but it goes no farther than the heat of Kame's mouth. A sigh comes out next when Kame parts his lips against Jin's, and Jin cradles him by raising an arm to wrap tightly around his narrow shoulders while the other works its way into Kame's hair. It's Kame moaning when he tilts his head into the touch, cupping Jin's jaw to slip his tongue between his lips. Jin returns the kiss in earnest until they have to part for air, and he stumbles as he tries to simultaneously toe off his shoes and find Kame's mouth with his own again.
They fall together against the adjacent wall and they stay there, nestled in the corner and wrapped up in each other, letting their mouths come together soft and wet over and over again. Their movements are graceful and intuitive, with little awkwardness. It's something Jin doesn't think he's ever experienced at this stage in a relationship before, and it turns him on like nothing else how well they seem to fit together. When Kame lowers his mouth to the column of Jin's throat, Jin slips his hands up the back of Kame's sweater to pull them flush against each other. He'd feel more embarrassed about how loudly he vocalizes his pleasure when Kame's lips brush over and then latch onto the sensitive spot at the base of his neck, if it weren't so clear how much Kame is enjoying it.
When Kame finally pulls away with a quiet sound and a sudden gasp for breath, Jin tangles both his hands in Kame's hair to kiss him forcefully, and they push against each other until the heat rising between them becomes too much to bear. Still tangled together, their knees go weak as their clothed erections bump and catch between them, and they stumble their way through the apartment to the bedroom. Once they tumble into bed, Jin lets Kame lead, arching into soft hands slowly removing his clothes and squeezing Kame's hips with his knees when Kame settles between his bare legs. The last thing Jin sees before losing himself completely is Kame's liquid gaze fixed solely on him.
*
Jin's still short of breath when Kame returns from disposing a damp washcloth in the hamper and the used condom in the wastebasket. The mattress dips a little as he climbs back into bed, and Jin feels boneless when he curls up against Kame's side, tucking his chin into the hollow between Kame's ribs and his sharp hipbone. Somewhere above him, he hears the flick of a lighter, and suddenly there's a cigarette held out to him between small fingers. He's grateful for the drag when he feels the nicotine start to ease his still-thudding heartbeat, and he feels Kame's lungs expand when he takes his turn.
Kame's voice comes out as a rumble after he exhales. “Seven Stars,” he says cryptically, and when Jin turns to look up at him, making a pillow out of his soft tummy, he sees him fix his gaze on the dimensions of the cigarette before he taps the ashes into an ashtray on the nightstand. “You know, I've always thought there's something special about these things.”
He offers the cigarette to Jin again, and Jin wraps his lips around the filter for a few seconds before letting go and exhaling. “Oh yeah?” he prompts, eyes curious as he looks up at Kame. He's not sure what to make of this mellow, almost mysterious side of Kame, but somehow he's fascinated by it. “Why's that?”
After taking another drag, Kame sets the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray, and then his hands work their way into Jin's damp, tousled hair. “They remind me of magic.”
A low rumble of laughter escapes in response to the confused look Jin gives him, and in that same scratchy, deep voice, he starts telling fantastical stories-of schoolboy cigarette tricks, shops that sell confetti and stars, and magical streetcars. Of cubism and expressionism. “Kobe in the 1920's, as told by Inagaki Taruho,” he explains.
The scent of tobacco lingering in the air and the low murmur of Kame's voice lull Jin to the edge of sleep, but he manages to get out, “Wouldn't have taken you for a literature buff.”
Kame laughs again, and his fingers swipe gently through Jin's bangs. “I'm not-only with the stuff that resonates with me. It sounds amazing, doesn't it?”
Rocked by the gentle patterns Kame's fingertips trace over his scalp and the steady rise and fall of his regular breathing, Jin sees colors and whimsy behind his closed eyelids. “Mm, amazing...”
Part 3
Kamenashi answers on the third ring with such a clipped, professional, “Kamenashi speaking,” that Jin wonders if maybe he's feeling the heated, disapproving glares of a room of cross interviewers on his back as he steps out of a company conference room to take an unexpected phone call.
“Ah, hi, this is Akanishi,” he starts nervously. “Is now a bad time?”
Following his introduction, Jin's relieved to hear a bit of warmth and familiarity enter Kamenashi's voice. “Huh? Oh, hi. No, now's okay. Sorry about that, I answered my phone without looking at the screen. What's going on?”
Jin feels some of his nervousness leave him in bubbles of light laugher. “Oh, that's all right. Ah, actually, I was wondering...I have Fridays off, so...if you're not busy, would you like to get together and do something?”
Kamenashi hums thoughtfully, and for a few tense moments, Jin's heart seems to creep up into his throat, beating madly. “That sounds good. When and where should we meet?”
Jin stops to think about it for a moment, picturing the Tokyo subway and train line maps in his head and trying to figure out how to best work his knowledge of them to his advantage. “How about Ebisu?” he suggests casually once he's put a bit of a plan together.
“Okay,” comes Kamenashi's immediate reply. “Ne, should I wait for you by the clock tower?”
The smile in Jin's voice is as evident as in Kamenashi's. “Not if it's raining,” he quips.
“Ah, but it's February now. Wouldn't it be more likely to be snowing?”
“Tell you what, if it's raining or snowing, I'll meet you at the Yamanote ticket gate instead of the clock tower.”
In response to Kamenashi's whine of, “Oi, you, spoiling my romance!” Jin can't help but laugh.
“Around six, then?”
“Yup, see you there. Don't keep me waiting for hours!”
“I won't.”
“Oh, and Akanishi?”
“Yeah?”
“You can call me 'Kame' if you want. That's why I signed the text message I sent you the way I did.”
“Ah.” Before he can get out that it'd be okay if he wanted to call him 'Jin,' too, Kamenashi hangs up.
It turns out to be neither raining nor snowing when Jin goes to meet Kame in Ebisu, so he finds him at the clock tower, his hands crammed into the pockets of a wool coat he's wearing over a black ribbed turtleneck and dark jeans. He looks as though he got dressed planning to go out for a nice dinner somewhere, perhaps at one of the ritzy restaurants around the Ebisu Garden Place area, which makes Jin feel a little bad about what he has planned for them instead.
As expected, when he approaches Kame greets him with a smile and angles his body in the direction of the gardens and the restaurants surrounding them. Jin feels a little bit bad, but there's also a feeling of satisfaction when, after Kame enthusiastically asks him, “So, where are we going?” he grins and answers, “Back to the station.”
It's so worth it for the look that comes over Kame's face. “Huh?”
“Didn't you hear me?” Jin teases, and he's already heading back the way he came. “I said we're going back to the station.”
Not given much of a choice, Kame hurries to catch up with him. “I heard you, but...why'd we meet in Ebisu if we're not going to stay in Ebisu? Where are we going?”
Jin just grins. “Ne, Kame, have you ever gone out without a destination in mind, just to see where you end up?”
When Kame fixes him with a blank look, Jin smiles wider and steps onto one of the moving walkways on the SkyWalk linking the plaza to the station. It seems to take Kame a few seconds to realize what's happening and follow after him. “So...where are we going?” he asks again, less demanding and more confused.
“Not sure. I figured we'd ride the Yamanote around a few times and see where we end up.”
Kame looks at him as though he can't believe what he's hearing. It makes Jin feel good to see that he's caught Kame so off-guard, because it's usually him who's being taken by surprise, so turning the tables for once feels...almost powerful, in a way.
“Seriously?”
Plus, the look on Kame's face is really cute. “Seriously.”
When he steps off of the last moving walkway before the ticket gates, he turns and waits for Kame to catch up. “What do you look so worried for? C'mon, it'll be fun-give us a chance to sit and talk.”
Kame still looks skeptical, but he smiles politely and nods, making it appear that he's at least giving Jin the benefit of the doubt. “Okay.”
Just after six o' clock on a Friday evening, they've got no chance at finding a pair of seats right away, but the very next stop after Ebisu is Shibuya, at which half the passengers on the train get off, allowing Jin and Kame an opportunity to squeeze in. Jin's lucky enough to get a seat at the end of the row, next to the doors, while Kame takes the one on his left-hand side. Once they're settled, they make themselves as comfortable as possible, and Jin mentally pats himself on the back for his date idea when the close proximity of the other passengers means he and Kame end up sitting shoulder-to-shoulder.
For as hesitant as he had been, it doesn't seem to take Kame long to relax when they glide through Harajuku and Yoyogi; Jin can feel the tension melting out of his shoulders as the under-seat heaters fill the car with warmth, making the windows fog up. Even when the train rolls into Shinjuku and the seats next to them open up, he stays pressed close.
“So,” Kame starts, keeping his voice down to avoid alerting the attention of the other passengers, “do you do this a lot? Considering your job, my guess would have been that you would hate being around trains anymore than you have to.”
Jin laughs. “You'd think that, but I don't mind it so much if I can get a seat. It's the standing on the platform for hours part that's the worst.”
Kame hums in agreement, and from where Jin's sitting, it doesn't appear the other is aware of how he's relaxing further, to the point where he's almost leaning against Jin's shoulder as he speaks. “Yeah, but it's kind of annoying how sitting on the train automatically makes you feel sleepy, isn't it?”
With Kame pressed so close, it's hard for Jin to focus on anything other than how all of a sudden he wants very badly to touch him. Not in a creepy way-he's not a train pervert or anything like that. Just...something perhaps a little bit more forward than letting Kame lean on him. His gaze drops to where Kame's right arm is pressed against his left shoulder. If he were feeling brave, he'd reach out and take Kame's hand in his own, intertwining their fingers, but that feels like a big risk to take in public on a second date, especially when he doesn't know how Kame feels about things like that.
“In a few moments...Ikebukuro,” comes the recorded voice over the PA.
Oh.
The steady flow of passengers onto the train, filling the car once again, makes up Jin's mind for him, and his hand stays firmly on his own knee as he comes back to the conversation. “...It's only annoying if you end up an hour past where you wanted to go because you fell asleep and missed your stop. If you can master the subtle art of waking up in time, it's pretty nice.”
Kame hums again. “Speaking from experience?”
A blush rises to Jin's cheeks from the teasing tone of Kame's voice. “I'm sure a lot of people can speak from experience on that one.”
“True,” Kame agrees. “Can't say I've never done it...”
“Oi, if you've done it, too, then you're not allowed to tease!”
Kame laughs, a happy, melodious sound that makes his shoulder shake against Jin's. “It was on this line, so it doesn't count. When I woke up, the train was almost back to where I needed to go-I just ended up being nearly an hour late for my appointment.”
Feeling spurred on for having caught Kame in something of a white lie, Jin doesn't pass up a further opportunity to poke fun. “Ah, so you can't say you've never ridden the Yamanote all the way around, either!”
“But it shouldn't count if I was asleep!”
Jin makes to reply, but in that moment, they both realize the steadily rising volume of their conversation has won them the attention of everyone in the train car, and they laugh shyly. “In theory,” Jin ends up saying instead, making sure to keep his voice down, “it's a really nice idea. You could sleep for hours...”
“You could do that in a bed, too,” Kame argues.
“Yeah, but a bed doesn't necessarily come with the comfortable sleepy feeling the rocking of the train gives you.”
With Kame's observation of, “You look like you're succumbing to that feeling right now,” Jin grins and tilts his head back to rest it against the wall.
“Maybe.”
Beside him, Kame fidgets a little. “Don't you dare try a 'yawn-and-stretch' move on me.”
As if on cue, Jin yawns, but he doesn't complete the accompanying stretch. Instead, he lets his grin fade into more of a serene, sleepy smile and subtly rubs his thumb over the inside of Kame's elbow. “Wouldn't dream of it-not on a crowded train, anyway. Give it a chance to empty out, and--”
Jin hadn't been sure what Kame would do in response to the touch, but hissing through clenched teeth and jerking his arm away weren't among the reactions he'd considered. “Sorry!” he says immediately, not at all fond of the rolling, sick feeling he gets at the thought of Kame so violently rejecting his advance. What's even worse is how Kame grips at his elbow with his other hand as though the brush of Jin's fingers had been like a lick of flame to his skin. Had Kame found his touching him that offensive?
Jin figures he must look as upset as he feels, because in the next moment, Kame's eyes go wide, and he quickly says, “No, no, it's not you,” like he knows exactly what's running through his head. It makes Jin feel a little better, but only a little, because while it always bothered him that people can so easily read him, more than that, he can see tension hunching Kame's shoulders again, and he doesn't have the warmth of the other's body pressed against his anymore. Jin can't help but think that's a pretty big rejection, and he has no idea what to say to the guilty look Kame shows him next, so he just searches with his eyes for an explanation.
“Then...?”
Kame lowers his gaze to his elbow still clenched in his other hand. “I swear it's not you,” he reaffirms. “I'm just...” He trails off, his tongue darting out to run over his lips as he seems to search for words. “I'm sensitive there.”
That has Jin's eyebrows rising with interest, because 'sensitive' can mean all kinds of things. His collarbones are the perfect example. They can be 'sensitive' in a number of different ways, all depending on how they're stimulated. “'Sensitive' like...did I hit your funny bone?” he tries, not really believing his own words based on how Kame reacted to being touched there, but trying to make a joke to lighten the mood.
The answer he gets surprises him. In response to his words, the corners of Kame's lips curl upwards into a bitter sort of half-smile. “Kind of,” he says, and his tongue slips out again. “Do you know what Tommy John surgery is?”
Jin gives him a blank look and shakes his head a little, but his gaze goes a bit soft when he realizes from the mention of 'surgery' that it's unlikely Kame's elbows are sensitive like his own collarbones are. “What's that?” he asks hesitantly, finding himself somewhat fearful of the answer.
Kame takes a deep breath that visibly lifts his shoulders. “For starters, it's the reason why by the time I got to Keio, I couldn't play baseball anymore.”
Even though he and Kame are only on their second date (because there was no denying after that kiss that their meeting at the café had been their first) and they've known each other less than a week, Jin feels he knows enough about Kame to understand that whatever happened to his elbow somehow had life-changing consequences. “Oh...”
Kame keeps smiling wryly. “I'll spare you the gruesome details of tendons and ligaments and how they had to cut into my leg to fix my arm, but--”
Jin makes a horrified noise.
“Essentially what happened is I overworked my arm in high school trying to simultaneously play to win a high school championship and prepare for college ball, and...” Kame's gaze lowers to his hands, where Jin sees his left has moved from his elbow to pick at a loose thread on his sweater. “The thing is, the surgery to fix it is an easy one. It might have been new and dangerous back in the 70's, but now there's a really high success rate. They said I'd be back playing-stronger than ever, even, within a year.”
Jin stays silent, unable to think of anything to say. He's heard enough to figure out where the rest is going.
“Long story short, it is my funny bone. They messed up my ulnar nerve somehow, and I haven't been able to throw since.”
After an extended silence, Jin finally says, “I'm sorry,” and his apology carries the weight of not just sympathy, but also his regret for both aggravating the injury and making Kame relive the memories of it.
It takes him a few moments, but by the time the train pulls out of Ueno Station, a small smile comes back to Kame's face. “It's all right,” he says, so earnestly that Jin can't help but believe him, and without warning, he takes Jin's hand in his own, tangling their fingers. “I don't have any damaged nerves here,” he explains, squeezing Jin's hand a little for emphasis, “so this is okay.”
Jin wonders if maybe his own nerves are damaged from how much having Kame's hand in his makes them tingle.
By the time they pass through the lights of Akihabara and the Imperial Palace gardens at Tokyo, either because of the crowds or because he wants to, Kame scoots closer to lean against Jin's side again, and when they come up on the stops in the heart of the business district-Yūrakuchō, Shimbashi, Hamamatsuchō, it takes them both by surprise that the car empties out completely. Jin looks perplexed, and he's about to say that he's never seen the Yamanote so empty before, but Kame beats him to it.
“Happy Constitution Day.”
“Huh?”
Kame suddenly moves closer, and Jin feels his heart start beating as though it's a taiko drum someone's pounding on when he can feel Kame's hot breath against his jaw. “Public holiday,” he says, moving closer still, “meaning no salarymen.”
And then he steals a kiss.
Jin remembers to kiss back, and it only lasts a few seconds, but afterwards he sits in a bit of a stupor all the way to Gotanda. “Wow,” he says then, and he has to laugh at himself for getting so worked up over a simple, sweet kiss. When Kame joins in and the sound of their laughter blends together, he wonders if it's not the kiss he's getting worked up about, but the thought of a budding relationship.
When they roll into Tamachi, Kame speaks for both of them when he peers out the window at the platform and says, “Whoa, this is kinda surreal.”
“Don't have to tell me,” Jin replies, and Kame laughs heartily at his attempts to hide his face from his co-workers on the platform.
At Shinagawa, they finally get off and change trains, but only because Jin's stomach had started making audible complaints about its emptiness, so they load up on sandwich packs, onigiri, and soft drinks from the kiosk on the platform before hopping on the next train to come through the station, exactly four minutes after the last.
“Not exactly a Michelin-star restaurant,” Kame comments, unwrapping a salmon flake-filled onigiri as the train pulls into Meguro, and the casual manner in which he speaks makes the contents of Jin's stomach lurch; for a moment fear fills him at the thought that maybe his little date experiment hasn't been as successful as he'd hoped. If that turns out to be the case, he'll spend the whole way back to his apartment mentally kicking himself for thinking he could impress someone like Kame with anything less than a place with dishes he can't pronounce and imported wines he'd have to save up for months to be able to afford.
But then Kame smiles around a mouthful of rice, seaweed, and salted fish; chews; swallows; and follows up with, “But this is fun, too. Maybe we can do a restaurant next time?”
Jin flushes to the tips of his ears, an interesting blend of embarrassed and relieved. “If you're buying.”
Kame grins and playfully bumps his shoulder against Jin's as he uncaps his bottle of Calpis. “It's a date.”
Quickly bagging up their trash, Kame hurries to get off when Ebisu comes around again sooner than expected, but Jin holds him back. “Our cards will screw up if you try to go out through the same ticket gate we went in, so we have to go at least one stop further.”
Jin watches Kame process that information, and he sees in his eyes the moment he figures it all out. “So that's why we met at Ebisu-so we could take the same train home together from Shibuya. Jin, you're so romantic!”
Jin has to adjust his collar when heat spreads from his face all the way down to his chest. “You've no proof of that,” he tries to defend himself, but he knows the shy, nervous look on his face is all the proof Kame needs.
It's only two stops on the Tokyu Tōyoko line from Shibuya to Naka-Meguro, and when Jin steps off the train there with him, Kame doesn't say anything, just smiles. “Walking you to your door,” Jin offers as explanation, and Kame snickers.
They teasingly let their fingers brush and tangle between them as they exit the station, all nervous smiles and shy looks, and Jin's so distracted by the occasional brush of Kame's shoulder against his own that it catches him a little off-guard when Kame suddenly stops at the bottom of a stairwell leading up to an apartment building.
“This is home,” he explains, almost unnecessarily, and the look he gives Jin as he steps out of the glow of the streetlight has Jin easily following.
Jin avoids gripping at Kame's elbows to wrap his arms around his waist instead, his hands finding shelter from the chilly night between the heavy fabric of Kame's coat and the warmth of his body radiating through his sweater.
Kame leans into the touch, and when he offers, “Thanks for tonight,” his eyes reflect none of the coyness that his fingers playing with the lapel on Jin's jacket might suggest.
Jin responds, “Even though it was--” at the same time Kame continues with, “It was really--” and they land on the word 'unconventional' at the same time, which makes them both break into laughter.
“Even so,” Kame concedes, “I had a really good time.”
Jin says, “You don't have to lie for my sake,” only half-teasing just in case Kame's being polite and humoring him. “We can go to a restaurant next time if that's what you'd like.”
“Speaking of next time,” Kame says, and his grip on Jin's collar tightens a little while his tongue slips out again, “I really like you. I was wondering if you wanted to approach this, you know, a bit more seriously from now on...”
For a moment Jin wonders if by that Kame means he should think of something nicer than a train ride with no destination and conbini food for a date, but then he figures out from how Kame seems to be fidgeting nervously in anticipation of his answer that he's actually asking him if he wants to be his boyfriend. “Oh! Yeah, I'd...I'd like that a lot.” Using the grip he has on Kame's middle to pull him farther into the shadows, he adds, “So long as you don't have any beautiful, internationally-minded girlfriends currently studying language and fashion in Europe or America or anything...”
Kame laughs and shakes his head. “No, nothing like that. I take it that means you're not engaged in any other affairs at the moment, either?”
Jin grins. “Nope. Wouldn't be going around kissing you under staircases if I was.” Then he leans in and does exactly that.
The moment their mouths come together, Jin can't help but let out a groan, because shy, nervous Kame disappears to take control of the kiss, cupping Jin's jaw in one of his small hands and flicking his tongue between Jin's lips the second Jin parts them, and it feels really, really good to be kissed like that. Jin feels Kame shiver against him when he brushes their tongues together, and they stumble into a corner, moving languidly and taking the time to explore each other. Somehow the slowness of it makes it all the more exciting.
Jin feels Kame's breath as puffs of hot air against his lips when they separate, and even though the other seems to be aware of how tightly he has his arms wrapped around Jin's neck, he doesn't let go. “Is tomorrow too soon for dinner?” he asks, punctuating his question with a soft kiss to Jin's lower lip.
Jin's too interested in getting another taste of Kame's kiss-swollen mouth to answer, but eventually he has to pull away, and when does, it's with a bit of a sigh. “I only have Fridays off.” Pressing his lips to the first hints of 5 o' clock stubble at the corner of Kame's mouth stops Jin from admitting out loud that he doesn't want to wait a week before they can meet again, but he has a feeling the tenderness of the action might betray his regret.
And Kame seems to take it as such, responding with a long, shuddering sigh. “That's okay. Maybe next week, then?”
He looks a little hesitant, as though he thinks he's being too forward, but Jin quickly reassures him with a firm nod of his head. “Next week's fine.”
A smile comes back to Kame's face, and a hint of his business tone re-enters his voice when he says, “Okay. I'll text you the details after I make the reservations, then. Say around seven?”
When it sounds like Kame seems to be putting together a tentative plan, the nervousness that had evaporated from Jin's belly as they'd kissed comes roaring back. Caught up in Kame's smiles and his charm, he'd forgotten that their lifestyles are very, very different. For instance, Jin goes to places that require reservations so infrequently that he almost forgets the practice exists. He'd much rather find a restaurant like a ramen shop or a kaitenzushi place or even something like a Saizeriya where he and a few close friends can just walk in off the street and enjoy some cheap, good food. The idea of an intimate, swanky little bar with chic spotlight lighting and decorative trickling waterfalls in the corners serving miniscule servings of food at prices ten times what they'd be if purchased from the nearest street vendor is completely foreign to him. For Kame, however, it appears to be the standard, which worries Jin just a little. But just because he's somewhat uncomfortable with the idea doesn't mean he's going to turn Kame down. Things have been progressing well for them despite the income gap, and he's not about to ignore his instincts telling at him to go for it. At long last, he says, “Okay,” and it feels worth it when he sees Kame's face light up.
“Okay, so...I'll see you then?” The note of hope in his voice is so endearing that Jin can't help but kiss him again, and he both hears and feels that hope melt away into satisfaction when Kame groans into his mouth.
Jin thinks it's an incredible sound, and the memory of it fifteen more minutes and two more failed goodbyes later makes him want to skip all the way back to the station. He only barely resists the urge, but he can't keep the glee out of his voice when he calls Pi to tell him that he's sorry, but he's not going to be able to make it to their bi-monthly anime marathon and poker night the following evening because he has a date with his boyfriend.
Pi's so offended that this is the first Jin's told him about said newly-acquired boyfriend that he squawks something about loyalties and bros before hos into the phone before hanging up, and Jin's so over the moon about his budding relationship with Kame that he doesn't care.
At least he doesn't until the following week, when he's once again standing helplessly in his bedroom surrounded by his clothes scattered about, because Kame's texted to confirm they have reservations at an upscale yakitori restaurant in Meguro, and his entire collection of shirts appropriate for upscale restaurants (a grand total of two items) is somewhere within the pile of dirty laundry that's been growing in the corner of his room for at least a month. So he calls Pi, because he and Pi are best friends who have been lending each other everything from money to manga to handjobs since middle school, so surely Pi can spare one of his nice Ralph Lauren button-downs for a night, even if Jin has to admit that he can't fill it out as well in the chest area as Pi can.
At first it's clear that Pi's still a bit sore about the night before, but after whining and begging and groveling enough, Jin finally gets him to give in, on the condition that Jin fill him in on everything that's happened thus far with Kame. So Jin spends nearly an hour on the phone, telling Pi about everything from the odd way they'd met to riding the Yamanote around to how if Kame's as in good in bed as he is at kissing, then he has a lot to look forward to, at which point Pi audibly shudders (Jin didn't know this was possible, and probably wouldn't believe it if he hadn't just heard it) and says, “Ew, TMI,” but still gives Jin permission to stop over and borrow a shirt.
After talking to Pi for that long, for a moment Jin panics and thinks he's going to be late in meeting Kame, but then he realizes he has at least another three hours before he needs to even think about leaving. “How am I supposed to keep myself busy for three hours?! :( :( :(” he wails at Pi via text message.
Pi's reply comes, “You could ride the Yamanote around a few times. I hear you're fond of that. (wink)” and Jin kills a half-hour trying to figure out how to flip him off using ASCII art.
In the end, after stopping at Pi's to borrow a shirt and tie (and to flip him off for his comment in person), he does ride the Yamanote around, because with Pi heading out to Yuu's for anime/poker night, he doesn't have anything else to do. And he finds it kind of nice, actually, because it reminds him of when he did it with Kame, curling up together in their adjacent seats and talking about everything that came to mind while the train went around. Jin wonders if maybe there's a chance he's sitting in the same seat in the same car on the same train, but he gives up thinking about it when the math to figure out how many trains run on the Yamanote at any given time makes his head hurt.
He's only gone around once when the train pulls into Meguro at a few minutes to seven, and he feels his legs go shaky with nerves as he ascends the trio of escalators to meet Kame at street level. He's not surprised to find Kame already there, leaning against the barrier between the street and the sidewalk across from the station's main exit, and he pushes off with a smile when he sees Jin approach. Smiling back, Jin would love to greet him with a kiss, or even a tangle of fingers, but the bustling crowds of commuters surrounding them prevent him from doing more than falling into step with Kame as he heads down the street to where Jin presumes the restaurant is.
Torishiki turns out to be exactly the type of restaurant Jin imagined-tucked inconspicuously off the main road with sleek, modern architecture and Zen-like plants dotting the entrance. Inside the traditional curtain and sliding door, it looks like any other Japanese restaurant Jin's been to, with a polished counter and a number of small tables around the perimeter of the room, save for the minimalist décor, which appears as though it was chosen to appeal to someone of a much higher class than himself.
When the hostess sees them to a table (Kame makes it clear that seats at the counter are out of the question with a quick wave of his hand), Jin sees that there are no menus save for that for drinks, just a row of wooden tokens hanging on the wall with the restaurant's selections written on them in thick brush strokes of hiragana. Jin thinks that if he were to come to a place like this with Pi, they'd take the very middle seats at the counter, chat up their neighbors and the chef in loud, obnoxious voices over plate after plate of grilled meat, and walk away completely shit-faced from too much sake and beer.
It feels completely different sitting there with Kame, across the table from his once again impeccable taste in clothes and his bright, eager smile. Looking at him, Jin really wishes they could be somewhere else, both because he feels uncomfortable in the situation and because he's very quickly realizing that he can't see Kame looking at him like that without wanting to kiss him. If Jin didn't know better, he'd say it looked as though Kame wanted the same. He's leaning his weight on his forearms on the table, leaning in as though he's straining to hear Jin over the noise of the other patrons, except that they're not talking yet, and the decreased space between them makes their corner of the restaurant feel even more intimate. Their knees bump every once in a while under the table, and if Jin were a little bit braver, he'd try resting a hand on the lower part of Kame's thigh, rubbing gentle circles over the inside of his knee with his thumb, just to see how Kame would react. Well, he would hope. At this point, he doesn't think it would be too far a stretch of the imagination to imagine Kame's Adam's apple bobbing slightly as his breath catches in his throat or his intense, coffee-brown eyes framed by long lashes turning more the color of freshly-ground espresso as he shifted, leaning into the touch to tacitly give Jin permission to walk his fingers a little higher.
Feeling his own gaze darken a little at the sudden sexy turn his thought process has taken, Jin awkwardly clears his throat and reaches for the drink menu, mentally reminding himself that there's meat to be eaten before anything like that can happen. Of the grilled variety. Right. Yes. And before the grilled meat can be eaten, it and their drinks need to be ordered. Hence the menu he's now poring over as though drawn on it is a map to the fountain of youth.
Jin jumps a mile out of his seat when Kame's hand suddenly moves to cover his where it's gripping the menu. “Are you all right?” he asks, and damn him, he looks positively thrilled to be here, eyes still bright and happy, and it's only when Jin realizes that Kame's looking at him like that that he tries to will himself to relax and take things a bit more in stride. If he's here on a date with someone whom he likes very much who clearly likes him the same in return, he should try to make this a good evening for that reason, despite the fact that he's somewhat out of his comfort zone.
With a hint of a smile, he says, “Yeah, I'm fine,” and if Kame notices the slight falseness of his words, he doesn't say anything about it, instead turning his attention to the drink menu Jin's set flat on the table, craning his neck to read it upside down.
“I'd say beer sounds good with yakitori. What do you think?”
If anything, Jin's tastebuds are grateful for the distraction. He can feel his mouth starting to water at just the thought of the always winning combination of chicken, salt, and beer. “Sounds perfect,” he says, much more eagerly, and Kame flags down a waitress to order two draft beers and opening rounds of grilled chicken and skirt steak.
“Would you like anything else?” he asks, eyes skimming the menu on the wall once more, poring over some of the odder options like ginkgo, duck, and raw bar cow liver.
Jin shakes his head and says, “Not for now,” which gets Kame's attention on him again, and when he sees the happy, nervous smile on his face, he realizes there really isn't anything more he could ask for in that moment, and not just in regards to the menu.
It only gets easier for Jin to relax after their food and drinks come out. The lavish atmosphere of the restaurant fades away when they eat juicy pieces of salted meat off of skewers, and Kame comes out with, “This reminds me of barbecues with my family,” at the same moment that Jin's thinking nostalgically about perusing festival stalls with Pi and the rest of his friends. Washing down bites of chewy meat with long sips of beer, they both lean close over the table, swapping stories and laughter. At one point, Jin thinks Kame must be feeling adventurous, because after a few plates of chicken and steak, he puts in orders for things like quail, duck, and liver, and when they come off the grill, he seems to eye them skeptically before daring himself to sample them. Jin spends a good half-hour just watching Kame's facial expressions as he does this, leaning in with parted lips when something proves unexpectedly delicious and Kame insists he has to try it, then laughing when something Kame clearly doesn't like makes him pull a face.
By the time Kame pats what he declares to be his 'bulging' stomach and signals for the check, Jin realizes that for all of his reservations about the evening, he's really enjoyed himself. He thinks that being with Kame might just have that effect on him, which is a terrifying and pretty exciting thought. He just makes sure to focus his attention on the tall vase of bamboo near the entryway on their way out so he doesn't have to see the total amount their meal comes to when Kame goes to the register to pay. Except that he still manages to see Kame place two bills in the small tray on the counter out of the corner of his eye, and really, 20,000 yen for all of those tiny pieces of chicken and two beers apiece?! But then he remembers the quail Kame had fed him off the end of his skewer and how he thought he wasn't going to like it, but it had ended up being one of the most delicious things he'd ever tasted. He especially remembers the expression that had come over Kame's face as he'd eaten it, the one of fondness mixed with the smallest hint of an 'I told you so,' and really, in the end, there are probably worse ways to spend 20,000 yen. So long as he doesn't have to be reminded of it anytime soon.
When Kame joins him at the door, they're both all smiles and flushed cheeks, and their first steps back out onto the street have Jin stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat and bouncing on his toes, half from the chill in the air and half from nerves. “So, where to now?”
Kame hums in a way that makes Jin think he's pretending to consider before saying, “Well, I was thinking we could go to a sweets café for dessert-”
Jin makes a pitiful whining noise at the thought of eating more and says, “Please no more food,” which makes Kame break out in laughter.
“-but there's no way I could eat anymore after all that chicken and two servings of quail, so-”
“Just one serving,” Jin cuts in, because he'd eaten half of Kame's order once he realized how much he'd liked it and then half of the serving they'd ordered to share.
Kame laughs again and then finishes, “So how about we just go for a walk?”
Jin can't think of a single thing to say against the suggestion, especially when Kame's fingers subtly brush the inside of his elbow to steer him down the road towards the river that runs through town. They head back towards the station, but pass it, following the gently sloped, curving road past restaurants and bars that clearly cater to all kinds of different tastes. As they walk, Jin sees Kame's gaze flicker to an establishment outfitted with a giant skull and crossbones above the door. 'Dokuro,' the sign below it appropriately reads, and Jin can just make out the word 'ramen' written beneath that. It's the kind of place Jin might have taken Kame to had he been the one in charge of arranging their dinner plans, where they could have gotten at least three times as much food for a tenth of the price and still had a fantastic time. Or so he'd like to believe.
He hasn't known Kame long enough to get a good read on him yet, he feels like. Although Kame clearly belongs to the upper echelons of society (when Jin had asked about his family at dinner, once of the things Kame had revealed was that he came from a long line of lawyers and government officials), but he's also shown he can be down-to-earth, admitting to having fun on a date where he'd eaten ready-made onigiri with Calpis soda on a train and now taking interest in a restaurant selling whole dinner set meals-drinks included-for less than a thousand yen. Jin's not yet sure where the divide lies-how much of Kame's personality retains the snobbish traits that wealthy people always claim they don't have, and how much of him is an average 22-year-old Japanese boy about to strike out on his own in the world for the very first time. Jin likes him enough to want to find out, and he hopes that they can get to know each other well enough that the issue falls away from their relationship.
It's easy enough for him to forget about when the hustle and bustle of the main commercial street fades into clusters of residential and community buildings standing along the banks of the river, and Kame runs forward suddenly, the downward incline propelling him faster until he reaches the tall guardrail separating the scenic walking path from the steep concrete cliffs leading down to the surface of the water. Kame looks a bit like an inquisitive child as he leans over the railing to peer down at the murky stream far below, as though he's waiting for it to reveal its secrets to him, and the sight brings a smile to Jin's face. Were they on a private balcony somewhere, instead of a public walking path, Jin might consider wrapping his arms around him from behind to look out at the view with him, but that's impossible with occasional cyclists and pedestrians going past. Instead, he goes for the casual approach, leaning his weight on his forearms resting on the top bar of the rail when he moves to stand next to Kame, making sure that his eyes, rather than his posture, reveal that there's anything besides close friendship between the two of them.
Fixing Kame with a significant look and a hint of a smile, he drawls, “So, where to?”
Kame doesn't say anything in response, just returns the smile and pushes away from the railing to pass behind Jin, starting off on the path leading to the right. Jin watches the slow, lazy shuffle of his feet for a few moments before pushing off the rail himself and following. Not too far off to their left, the lights of a Tokyū Meguro line train go speeding past over the river.
They don't touch or even speak much on their stroll along the riverbank, but that doesn't mean communication doesn't pass between them. Much like the last time they wandered around together after dark, hardly 24 hours before, they steal glances at each other, their eyes meeting with shy smiles when they get caught. As the time passes and their steps along the path accumulate, their gazes flit between their feet, each other, and the faces of the people passing by. Bikes go by one after another, as do joggers, dog-walkers, and students clearly taking the scenic route home from cram school.
Much like he does at work, Jin tunes the details out (apart from those involving Kame, that is), but for a moment, he wonders what sorts of thoughts are going through the heads of the people with whom he and Kame cross paths. Are they trying to guess what their lives are like? (Could they just by looking at them?) Are there little alarm bells going off in their heads, warning that the way the line of his shoulders angles the slightest bit towards Kame signals that they're not just friends? Jin would like to think that passersby can't guess things like that from a single glance at his face, but then two young, foreign men with a small dog on a leash between them approach, and Jin finds himself wondering. He knows Kame's noticed, too, because when they turn to look at each other, they're wearing the same speculative expression, eyebrows arched high with curiosity and disbelief. In response to each other's reactions (and, in effect, their own), they share a few moments of private, knowing laughter before continuing on their way. If either of them notices the space between them has diminished ever so slightly as they go along, neither says anything about it.
As comfortable as the silence between them is, Jin feels the pleasantness of the evening start to bubble up within him, and he feels the urge to let it out in the form of equally pleasant conversation.
“Nice night,” he says airily, and he finds he means it, because even though it's the middle of February, going for a walk with Kame has helped keep him warm, to the point where he barely notices the chill. “It's a pity the sakura aren't blooming yet,” he continues, glancing up at the bare branches criss-crossing over the path and dangling low over the river.
Kame hums thoughtfully, a murmur of, “Not yet, but soon,” on his lips, and then, without so much as sparing Jin a glance, he works a hand beneath Jin's coat to trace the tips of his fingers down the length of his broad back, over the fabric of his shirt. To onlookers, it might appear as though Kame's merely helping him relieve a persistent itch in the middle of his spine, but there's no way they would think that to be the case if they were aware what kind of reaction the touch evoked, and Jin's very, very glad they're not the slightest bit privy to that. Tiny pulses of electricity flare out from where Kame's fingers sweep over him. A shudder wracks his whole frame, and suddenly the air temperature feels downright sultry. His eyes first go wide with surprise, but then narrow into something decidedly less innocent when he turns to look at Kame, and after he sees the subtle smirk pulling at the corner of his lips, it becomes very difficult for Jin to focus on anything other than touching Kame back, to tease him the same way.
Jin gets a chance much sooner than he would have expected. A community baseball field sits just off the right-hand side of the path, and it catches Kame's attention before Jin even realizes it's there. At this hour, only a dedicated few remain beneath the lights, some twisting their bodies to seemingly impossible degrees to hurl round, white missiles into nets set up a handful of meters away, while others are squaring their shoulders and swinging their arms forward to impede and reverse the paths of balls being hurled at them by machines. The general lack of activity doesn't seem to bother Kame, though. Jin hangs back while Kame threads his fingers and sticks his endearingly crooked nose through green chainlink to watch. Jin had thought about maybe taking advantage of Kame's distraction to cop a playful feel, but he can't when he sees Kame's normally clear, alert eyes glaze over with something sad and wistful.
So he just stands and watches Kame watch the schoolkids, observing every change in the other's facial expression. He sees Kame's stubby fingers grip the fence a little tighter and his bottom lip disappear behind his teeth. Does he want to say something to the boys? Offer them words of support, or maybe pointers on their game? Jin doesn't know. He doesn't know enough about the sport to see what Kame sees, and he doesn't know Kame well enough to guess at what he might be thinking. So he hangs back until the kids start to pack up and go home and the bright lights over the field shut off one by one. In the darkness, Jin comes up behind Kame to wrap his arms around his waist and pull him back into an embrace. He doesn't mean for the gesture to be overtly sexual-just supportive, but Kame shivers like he thinks it's the former when Jin presses his cheek to his temple to murmur, “Come on,” in his ear.
When he finally succeeds in turning Kame's attention away from the now shadowed, empty field, Jin's surprised to feel fingers slip between his own and see Kame fix him with an unreadable look. With a deep, shuddering breath, Kame says, “Okay,” before continuing down the path.
They don't make it too much farther before Kame suddenly stops again, and Jin's about to turn around and ask him why, but Jin stops short. He looks up and finds himself faced with the same building he stood before the previous week. He'd been so distracted (mostly by Kame) that he hadn't noticed the signs around them changing from 'Meguro' to 'Naka-Meguro.' He also hadn't noticed the plain blacktop and bare cherry trees giving way to rows of neat tan brick, inlaid with decorative tiles depicting sakura, koi, and cranes, all edged with impeccably trimmed rows of shrubbery. It also goes to show that he hadn't been paying very close attention the week before if he hadn't noticed that Kame's apartment building backed up to the river. “Oh,” he ends up saying lamely, eyes wide with realization.
“'Oh'?” Kame parrots, stepping closer, and Jin comes back to his senses when he hears amusement in Kame's voice that matches the look in his eyes. Amusement, and...something else. Something else that becomes more pronounced when Jin responds to Kame's oh-so-subtly pressing up against him by threading his fingers through the other's belt loops and pulling him even closer.
“Think you're clever, do you?” he murmurs against Kame's lips, ghosting his own over them in a pattern similar to the teasing brush of his palms over the waistband of Kame's jeans.
Kame responds by working one of his legs between Jin's and untucking Jin's shirt to scratch lightly at the small of Jin's back with his short nails.
“Very,” he all but purrs when Jin's eyes go half-lidded. He takes the initiative by dropping soft kisses around Jin's mouth and chin and also along the length of his jaw. His breath is hot against Jin's ear as he whispers, “Want to come up?”and Jin feels a rush of sensation travel through his body.
Pressed together from torso to hip, Jin wraps his arms around Kame's waist to hold him there, and he all but trembles with excitement when he feels Kame's lungs and heart working at the same frantic pace as his own. A subtle shift coaxes a quiet sound from Kame's throat and reminds Jin of the heat growing between them; he presses his cheek against Kame's to mumble, “Lead the way,” against the corner of his mouth.
Kame's whole body goes tense against his for a moment, and then with a deep breath, he steps back, but only far enough to wrap his fingers around Jin's wrist and gently pull him up the stairs to his third-floor apartment.
Once they're inside, Jin wraps his arms around Kame from behind, the way he's been thinking about doing all night, and to his surprise, Kame spins around in his arms to push him back against the door, closing it behind them. A groan escapes Jin's throat at the sudden movement, but it goes no farther than the heat of Kame's mouth. A sigh comes out next when Kame parts his lips against Jin's, and Jin cradles him by raising an arm to wrap tightly around his narrow shoulders while the other works its way into Kame's hair. It's Kame moaning when he tilts his head into the touch, cupping Jin's jaw to slip his tongue between his lips. Jin returns the kiss in earnest until they have to part for air, and he stumbles as he tries to simultaneously toe off his shoes and find Kame's mouth with his own again.
They fall together against the adjacent wall and they stay there, nestled in the corner and wrapped up in each other, letting their mouths come together soft and wet over and over again. Their movements are graceful and intuitive, with little awkwardness. It's something Jin doesn't think he's ever experienced at this stage in a relationship before, and it turns him on like nothing else how well they seem to fit together. When Kame lowers his mouth to the column of Jin's throat, Jin slips his hands up the back of Kame's sweater to pull them flush against each other. He'd feel more embarrassed about how loudly he vocalizes his pleasure when Kame's lips brush over and then latch onto the sensitive spot at the base of his neck, if it weren't so clear how much Kame is enjoying it.
When Kame finally pulls away with a quiet sound and a sudden gasp for breath, Jin tangles both his hands in Kame's hair to kiss him forcefully, and they push against each other until the heat rising between them becomes too much to bear. Still tangled together, their knees go weak as their clothed erections bump and catch between them, and they stumble their way through the apartment to the bedroom. Once they tumble into bed, Jin lets Kame lead, arching into soft hands slowly removing his clothes and squeezing Kame's hips with his knees when Kame settles between his bare legs. The last thing Jin sees before losing himself completely is Kame's liquid gaze fixed solely on him.
*
Jin's still short of breath when Kame returns from disposing a damp washcloth in the hamper and the used condom in the wastebasket. The mattress dips a little as he climbs back into bed, and Jin feels boneless when he curls up against Kame's side, tucking his chin into the hollow between Kame's ribs and his sharp hipbone. Somewhere above him, he hears the flick of a lighter, and suddenly there's a cigarette held out to him between small fingers. He's grateful for the drag when he feels the nicotine start to ease his still-thudding heartbeat, and he feels Kame's lungs expand when he takes his turn.
Kame's voice comes out as a rumble after he exhales. “Seven Stars,” he says cryptically, and when Jin turns to look up at him, making a pillow out of his soft tummy, he sees him fix his gaze on the dimensions of the cigarette before he taps the ashes into an ashtray on the nightstand. “You know, I've always thought there's something special about these things.”
He offers the cigarette to Jin again, and Jin wraps his lips around the filter for a few seconds before letting go and exhaling. “Oh yeah?” he prompts, eyes curious as he looks up at Kame. He's not sure what to make of this mellow, almost mysterious side of Kame, but somehow he's fascinated by it. “Why's that?”
After taking another drag, Kame sets the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray, and then his hands work their way into Jin's damp, tousled hair. “They remind me of magic.”
A low rumble of laughter escapes in response to the confused look Jin gives him, and in that same scratchy, deep voice, he starts telling fantastical stories-of schoolboy cigarette tricks, shops that sell confetti and stars, and magical streetcars. Of cubism and expressionism. “Kobe in the 1920's, as told by Inagaki Taruho,” he explains.
The scent of tobacco lingering in the air and the low murmur of Kame's voice lull Jin to the edge of sleep, but he manages to get out, “Wouldn't have taken you for a literature buff.”
Kame laughs again, and his fingers swipe gently through Jin's bangs. “I'm not-only with the stuff that resonates with me. It sounds amazing, doesn't it?”
Rocked by the gentle patterns Kame's fingertips trace over his scalp and the steady rise and fall of his regular breathing, Jin sees colors and whimsy behind his closed eyelids. “Mm, amazing...”
Part 3