[JExStardust] The highest result of education is tolerance
Written for je_whiteday 2009.
Title: The highest result of education is tolerance
Characters: Nishikido Ryo/Sawajiri Erika/Kato Shigeaki; with a bonus pairing at the end
Rating: PG13
Summary: Shige learns that studying over at Ryo's is an education in itself.
A/N: To my recipient; one of your requests was Erika/Shige/Ryo...unfortunately, this fic doesn't go in that order T^T But um ILU and I hope you like this! ♥ Much love to my beta-readers, T and K!
When Shige rang the doorbell to Ryo's apartment one particular early evening, he wasn't really expecting anything unusual-- just maybe Ryo opening the door wearing only a towel (which he'd been witness to many times before, so it wasn't really anything shocking), or Ryo opening the door wearing only boxers (which Shige had also seen before, so nothing new there--heck, he'd seen the man naked already), or Ryo opening the door and asking him what the fuck was he doing there.
There were many things he wasn't expecting to see, and one of them was Sawajiri Erika opening the door, wearing nothing but an old-looking, almost transparent shirt that didn't even fall halfway down her thighs.
Shige swallowed, staring down the length of her legs before snapping his eyes back to her face to find her looking at him with her head tilted to one side and an eyebrow raised.
"Uhhh," he managed to utter, realizing, with a sinking feeling, that she probably didn't recognize him or even know who he was, just like those girls who were sitting right beside him in the shinkansen one time, watching Shounen Club yet not realizing he was right beside them. He certainly knew who she was, however. After all, who didn't? "I'm--"
"Kato Shigeaki-san," she said matter-of-factly, running a hand through her slightly damp (as he happened to notice) hair. "I know."
"Yeah," he breathed out, relieved, and maybe just a bit giddy that she knew who he was after all. "Sawajiri-san. What are you--erm. Hi. Aren't you--?" A lot of things came to mind: Married? Supposed to be out of the country? A sight to behold in that shirt?
"Is that the delivery?" came Ryo's voice from the inside, halting his reverie. Owner of the voice appeared moments later, padding down the hallway, wearing only boxers. "Shige?!" Ryo nearly screeched, staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. "The fuck are you doing here?"
"Funny," Erika put in, shooting both boys a chilling smile, as Shige struggled to squeak words out of his throat which had seemingly shrunk in the presence of two notoriously mean-tempered people, who were also currently barely clothed. "That's what I'd like to know."
Ryo gaped at her, and she merely looked back blankly. Turning his attention back to Shige, Ryo asked, "You're...not in some kind of trouble and are actually working as a delivery guy, are you?"
"No!" Shige managed to sputter. "Nishikido-kun, don't you remember?" As Ryo's brows furrowed and Erika's merely rose higher, he explained in a rush, "My midterms are coming up; the library's full of students and relatives are staying over our house right now so you offered your apartment if I wanted to study quietly."
Silence ensued as the other two digested this information.
"When the hell did I say that?" Ryo finally said, sounding put-out.
"You sound like you must have been drunk when you did," Erika said, leaning against the doorway and crossing her arms over her chest. She had a nice chest, Shige noticed. Ample, but not overly so. He'd been staring for several moments--though apparently not enough for Ryo to notice that Shige was ogling at his girlfriend, or whatever Sawajiri was to him, because Ryo wasn't punching him in the face or anything--before he managed to tear his eyes away again and say, "Actually, he was--it was when we went out drinking that one night and... I... was kind of... drunk that time, too..."
Shige trailed off, realizing belatedly that he was an idiot and the offer was probably not meant even if it was said. "Uh," he began again, starting to step back. "I'll just--"
Erika stepped aside to let Shige pass. "Come in."
"What?" Shige's exclamation was one of disbelief; Ryo's was one of angry disbelief.
Erika stared at both of them. "Come in," she repeated calmly, her tone belying only slightly that she clearly thought the two males were dimwitted imbeciles.
"Why," Ryo demanded. Shige wanted to ask the same question.
"Don't be rude, Nishikido," she snapped, giving him a piercing glare that would have quelled a lesser man. Nishikido Ryo, apparently, wasn't a lesser man, Shige thought, as he looked at his bandmate in near admiration--and saw him trying not to cringe. "You invited Kato-kun over; and whether you remember it or not, he's your guest. It would be impolite to turn him away. I said come in, Kato-kun."
Shige hurriedly stepped inside, pointedly avoiding looking at Ryo.
Erika shut the door with a nonchalant nudge of her left foot, pushing past both men (Shige actually shut his eyes tight, anticipating Erika's chest to brush against his arm and letting out a sigh of relief when it didn't) and walking down the hall. "You could study in the living room or in the kitchen. Take your pick, Kato-kun," she said over her shoulder.
"Uhh..." They had reached the living room; the couch looked rumpled, a piece of clothing that looked suspisciously like a bra was draped over one arm, and the pillows looked like they were tossed to the floor in a frenzy of-- Shige would rather not think about it. How the hell was he going to study under these circumstances? "The... uh, kitchen would be good."
"She acts like she owns this place," Ryo muttered to Shige, looking disgruntled.
"Whipped," Shige muttered back. Erika turned to face them just in time to see Ryo land a near-solid punch on Shige's arm.
"Make some coffee for Kato-kun," she ordered Ryo.
"He can make his own coffee!" Ryo protested.
"He's your guest, Nishikido," she hissed, narrowing her eyes at him as if to say, if you misbehave one more time you'll regret it.
Ryo made a noise that sounded strangely like a cross between a choke and a groan before stomping over to the coffee maker in the corner of the kitchen .
"Sit," Erika told Shige. Shige pulled out a chair and sat down obediently. "You're studying law, is that right?"
"Yes," he answered, surprised that she knew that much about him. "At, uh, Aoyama."
She eyed his books, sitting from across him and leaning forward to rest her arms on the table, making her breasts more visible through her shirt. Shige wondered briefly if she was doing it on purpose, or if maybe she was just someone who was so comfortable with her body that she didn't care even if others saw her practically naked. "I can't imagine law to be an easy major," she remarked, face openly curious--and completely devoid of makeup, now that he noticed. It certainly didn't lessen her beauty; it made her look soft, even more beautiful somehow. "It must be difficult, doing all that studying and having to work in the industry as well."
"It is, a little," Shige replied slowly, forcing himself to keep looking at her face and not at the way her nipples seemed partially hardened beneath the thin material of the shirt. "But my department's pretty flexible; they let me take classes and exams around my own schedule."
The conversation was interrupted when a mug full of coffee was banged soundly on the table, right next to Shige. The coffee, smelling absolutely heavenly, nearly sloshed over his arm. "Here's your coffee," Ryo said through gritted teeth, placing a spoon and containers of sugar and creamer next to the mug. "Anything else?"
Yeah, Shige wanted to say, How about you get your girlfriend's bra from your couch and make her put it on so she won't be so obscenely distracting? But he wisely kept his mouth shut, shaking his head instead.
"So can we go now?" Ryo was asking Erika, but she ignored him.
"So I have a question about divorce here in Japan..."
An hour later
Almost half of the pizza that had been delivered was devoured by Ryo, as was the coffee he'd originally made for Shige, and the other two were still in discussion.
"There are two other grounds for divorce aside from the first five I told you," Shige said, eyes narrowing slightly in concentration as he spoke.
Erika was listening to him in rapt attention, chin on her hands and mouth partly open, nodding once in a while to his words. "And what are those grounds?"
Ryo stared at both of them mutinously over the empty mug he was now clutching in his hands.
"First is refusal or neglect of marital sex-- only the husband can sue on this grounds, however. For the second, refusal or neglect of financial support, only the wife can sue. Do you understand why?"
"Because," Erika began thoughtfully, "the wife is expected to submit to the husband for purposes of reproduction, while the husband is the one expected to work to be able to provide for the family financially."
"Well said," Shige praised, looking like a professor whose student got the answer right. Erika beamed at him.
Ryo scoffed.
"You're so smart, Shigeaki-kun," Erika marveled. "It's amazing how you can retain all that information." Shige turned slightly red at that compliment.
Ryo let out an annoyed snort.
Erika gave him a serene smile. "Wouldn't you agree, Ryo?" she asked sweetly.
Shige was looking at Ryo almost shyly, as if wanting his approval.
Ryo opened his mouth.
"Hey--you know what, why don't we play Monopoly?"
"...What?"
Two hours later
"You're about to go bankrupt, you know."
"Am not."
"Nishikido-kun, I'll trade my Pennsylvania Avenue for one of your railroads, how's that?"
"No."
"But if I give you Pennsylvania, you'd have a Monopoly and you can start building houses--"
"Don't tell me what to do," Ryo snarled, rolling the dice.
They all watched as the dice fell on the board.
"Great," Erika said, eyes fluttering upward in near exasperation, leaning back on her seat and fanning herself lazily with her thick wad of money, "You're going to land on my Park Place. Give me 1,400 dollars."
"What? I'm not. One, two, three, four, five, six, se--shit."
"Now you're bankrupt," Erika went on triumphantly, snatching the bills from Ryo's hand. "Game over. Shigeaki-kun needs to study now."
Shige leapt to his feet. "Shame we have to stop playing," he said, hurriedly putting everything back into the box, "But yeah... I had fun, though. Thanks, Nishikido-kun."
"Yeah, okay," Ryo said gruffly, getting to his feet as well. "Hey... Sorry I forgot I said you could study here tonight."
"It's okay," Shige replied, looking a bit surprised to hear an actual apology. "I could have reminded you before I came here. Thanks for letting me stay."
"Yeah, well..." Ryo glanced at Erika, as if to say that if it weren't for her, he wouldn't have let him.
Shige followed his gaze just in time to see Erika raise her arms over her head, stretching her upper body lazily and making her almost-nonexistent shirt hike up to her belly button, exposing a lot more skin than Shige would actually care to see.
He swallowed, closing his eyes and turning away. Shige had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't be able to get much studying done tonight, at all.
Ryo grumbled all the way back to his room. "You were paying him too much attention."
"For heaven's sake." Erika rolled her eyes, pushing past him and padding over to his bed, gesturing for him to close the door. "He's your guest, how many times do I have to say that? I'm merely being a good hostess."
"Really now." He raised an eyebrow at her, walking over to the bed as well. "And... do good hostesses usually face their guests wearing nothing but an old shirt of their boyfriend and underwear?"
"This ratty old thing?" She glanced down at her attire, shrugging her shoulders with a careless air. "I'm sure Shigeaki-kun appreciated the view."
"Wench," Ryo muttered, reaching for her.
"You know they can only look, but not t-- oh--" He was kissing the back of her neck, one hand pushing her hair over her shoulder, fingertips brushing over her skin; the other running down her spine. She gasped softly. "Ryo--"
"Come here," he murmured, breath washing over her ear. Her eyes crashed shut as she felt his tongue trace around the edge before dipping in.
Erika reached up, placing one hand against his cheek--and pushed him away.
"Ryo, we can't."
"...What?!"
"We'll make too much noise." She smiled at him, looking positively evil. "We don't want to disturb Shigeaki-kun, do we?"
Three hours later
Shige winced as he stood up from the table, feeling his legs break out in pins and needles as a result of sitting down for hours. Mug after mug of coffee now had his bladder close to bursting. He left the kitchen, going over to where he was pretty sure the bathroom was located, and turned the knob.
The door was locked.
"Hello?" he called out quietly, uncertainly, pressing his ear to the door and about to knock--
When he heard the unmistakable grunting of a man who most likely had one hand wrapped around a particular appendage that brought most pleasure to males when stroked, from the other side of the door. He knew the sound well--he did it on a regular basis, after all, like most guys are wont to do.
Except he didn't think guys who had hot girlfriends and probably got some action before going to bed that very night were bound to still do it, too.
Shige walked off in disgust, still needing to pee--among other things, he thought miserably, vowing never to study at Ryo's ever again.
When his finals came around and Shige found himself in the same situation of having his home too occupied for him to be able to study quietly in it, he again thought of calling on a band mate to help him out.
Massu, after all, was congenially kind, and would probably feed him wholeheartedly instead of grudgingly. The only downside of it all would probably be Massu talking his head off while he was attempting to actually study. But if Shige was going to be honest, he would admit that he was actually rather looking forward to studying at Massu's.
He was feeling generally cheerful when he rang the doorbell of the Masuda home, expecting the door to be opened by his round-faced band mate, or maybe said round-faced band mate's mother, to usher him in.
So when the door was opened by one Kitagawa Keiko wearing a rather baggy shirt and equally baggy sweatpants (though thankfully a bra as well, his eyes quickly darting down to her chest to check) that looked like they belong to Massu, Shige nearly had a heart attack.
"Kato-san!" Keiko greeted him, sounding surprised, but pleasantly so, a smile stretching across her lips. "Good evening."
"K--Kitagawa-san," he stuttered, managing to bow slightly, "What are you--"
She laughed lightly, looking slightly bashful. "Well, Taka-- I mean, Massu, he invited me over for the night."
"He-- Massu--?"
"Shige!" Owner of the nickname appeared, looking almost as shocked as Shige was currently feeling--and then mortified, and then completely apologetic. "Oh, no! Is it for tonight? Maa, I mixed up the dates! I thought you'd be coming over tomorrow!"
"What's going on?" Keiko asked, glancing from Massu to Shige with a curious look on her face.
"Shige has to study for his finals," Massu explained, "And I said he could study here--but I'd forgotten he was coming over tonight..." He trailed off, looking torn.
"Well, what's the fuss all about?" Keiko wanted to know. "If Kato-san needs to study here tonight, then he studies here tonight." She flashed Massu an assuring smile. "I don't mind. I know how exams can get--"
"No, no," Shige interrupted, stepping back, a wild look in his eyes. "Nonononononono. I'll just--leave. Really. Sorry for intruding on your--"
"Don't be silly, Kato-san," Keiko said firmly, already taking hold of his arm and pulling him inside. "You're not intruding on anything."
Shige let out a terrified whimper as Massu trailed behind them, piping up cheerfully, "We'll help you study, Shige! Keiko-chan's really smart, she can quiz you! Or...something! I'll make you coffee, anything! Wow, those books look really thick--can I read one, Shige? Ne?"
fin.
Notes!:
1) Title of fic is taken from a quote of Helen Keller;
2) Everything I know about divorce in Japan came from here; and
3) The American version of the board game Monopoly is also available in Japan, just to say I’m not making it up XD
Title: The highest result of education is tolerance
Characters: Nishikido Ryo/Sawajiri Erika/Kato Shigeaki; with a bonus pairing at the end
Rating: PG13
Summary: Shige learns that studying over at Ryo's is an education in itself.
A/N: To my recipient; one of your requests was Erika/Shige/Ryo...unfortunately, this fic doesn't go in that order T^T But um ILU and I hope you like this! ♥ Much love to my beta-readers, T and K!
When Shige rang the doorbell to Ryo's apartment one particular early evening, he wasn't really expecting anything unusual-- just maybe Ryo opening the door wearing only a towel (which he'd been witness to many times before, so it wasn't really anything shocking), or Ryo opening the door wearing only boxers (which Shige had also seen before, so nothing new there--heck, he'd seen the man naked already), or Ryo opening the door and asking him what the fuck was he doing there.
There were many things he wasn't expecting to see, and one of them was Sawajiri Erika opening the door, wearing nothing but an old-looking, almost transparent shirt that didn't even fall halfway down her thighs.
Shige swallowed, staring down the length of her legs before snapping his eyes back to her face to find her looking at him with her head tilted to one side and an eyebrow raised.
"Uhhh," he managed to utter, realizing, with a sinking feeling, that she probably didn't recognize him or even know who he was, just like those girls who were sitting right beside him in the shinkansen one time, watching Shounen Club yet not realizing he was right beside them. He certainly knew who she was, however. After all, who didn't? "I'm--"
"Kato Shigeaki-san," she said matter-of-factly, running a hand through her slightly damp (as he happened to notice) hair. "I know."
"Yeah," he breathed out, relieved, and maybe just a bit giddy that she knew who he was after all. "Sawajiri-san. What are you--erm. Hi. Aren't you--?" A lot of things came to mind: Married? Supposed to be out of the country? A sight to behold in that shirt?
"Is that the delivery?" came Ryo's voice from the inside, halting his reverie. Owner of the voice appeared moments later, padding down the hallway, wearing only boxers. "Shige?!" Ryo nearly screeched, staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. "The fuck are you doing here?"
"Funny," Erika put in, shooting both boys a chilling smile, as Shige struggled to squeak words out of his throat which had seemingly shrunk in the presence of two notoriously mean-tempered people, who were also currently barely clothed. "That's what I'd like to know."
Ryo gaped at her, and she merely looked back blankly. Turning his attention back to Shige, Ryo asked, "You're...not in some kind of trouble and are actually working as a delivery guy, are you?"
"No!" Shige managed to sputter. "Nishikido-kun, don't you remember?" As Ryo's brows furrowed and Erika's merely rose higher, he explained in a rush, "My midterms are coming up; the library's full of students and relatives are staying over our house right now so you offered your apartment if I wanted to study quietly."
Silence ensued as the other two digested this information.
"When the hell did I say that?" Ryo finally said, sounding put-out.
"You sound like you must have been drunk when you did," Erika said, leaning against the doorway and crossing her arms over her chest. She had a nice chest, Shige noticed. Ample, but not overly so. He'd been staring for several moments--though apparently not enough for Ryo to notice that Shige was ogling at his girlfriend, or whatever Sawajiri was to him, because Ryo wasn't punching him in the face or anything--before he managed to tear his eyes away again and say, "Actually, he was--it was when we went out drinking that one night and... I... was kind of... drunk that time, too..."
Shige trailed off, realizing belatedly that he was an idiot and the offer was probably not meant even if it was said. "Uh," he began again, starting to step back. "I'll just--"
Erika stepped aside to let Shige pass. "Come in."
"What?" Shige's exclamation was one of disbelief; Ryo's was one of angry disbelief.
Erika stared at both of them. "Come in," she repeated calmly, her tone belying only slightly that she clearly thought the two males were dimwitted imbeciles.
"Why," Ryo demanded. Shige wanted to ask the same question.
"Don't be rude, Nishikido," she snapped, giving him a piercing glare that would have quelled a lesser man. Nishikido Ryo, apparently, wasn't a lesser man, Shige thought, as he looked at his bandmate in near admiration--and saw him trying not to cringe. "You invited Kato-kun over; and whether you remember it or not, he's your guest. It would be impolite to turn him away. I said come in, Kato-kun."
Shige hurriedly stepped inside, pointedly avoiding looking at Ryo.
Erika shut the door with a nonchalant nudge of her left foot, pushing past both men (Shige actually shut his eyes tight, anticipating Erika's chest to brush against his arm and letting out a sigh of relief when it didn't) and walking down the hall. "You could study in the living room or in the kitchen. Take your pick, Kato-kun," she said over her shoulder.
"Uhh..." They had reached the living room; the couch looked rumpled, a piece of clothing that looked suspisciously like a bra was draped over one arm, and the pillows looked like they were tossed to the floor in a frenzy of-- Shige would rather not think about it. How the hell was he going to study under these circumstances? "The... uh, kitchen would be good."
"She acts like she owns this place," Ryo muttered to Shige, looking disgruntled.
"Whipped," Shige muttered back. Erika turned to face them just in time to see Ryo land a near-solid punch on Shige's arm.
"Make some coffee for Kato-kun," she ordered Ryo.
"He can make his own coffee!" Ryo protested.
"He's your guest, Nishikido," she hissed, narrowing her eyes at him as if to say, if you misbehave one more time you'll regret it.
Ryo made a noise that sounded strangely like a cross between a choke and a groan before stomping over to the coffee maker in the corner of the kitchen .
"Sit," Erika told Shige. Shige pulled out a chair and sat down obediently. "You're studying law, is that right?"
"Yes," he answered, surprised that she knew that much about him. "At, uh, Aoyama."
She eyed his books, sitting from across him and leaning forward to rest her arms on the table, making her breasts more visible through her shirt. Shige wondered briefly if she was doing it on purpose, or if maybe she was just someone who was so comfortable with her body that she didn't care even if others saw her practically naked. "I can't imagine law to be an easy major," she remarked, face openly curious--and completely devoid of makeup, now that he noticed. It certainly didn't lessen her beauty; it made her look soft, even more beautiful somehow. "It must be difficult, doing all that studying and having to work in the industry as well."
"It is, a little," Shige replied slowly, forcing himself to keep looking at her face and not at the way her nipples seemed partially hardened beneath the thin material of the shirt. "But my department's pretty flexible; they let me take classes and exams around my own schedule."
The conversation was interrupted when a mug full of coffee was banged soundly on the table, right next to Shige. The coffee, smelling absolutely heavenly, nearly sloshed over his arm. "Here's your coffee," Ryo said through gritted teeth, placing a spoon and containers of sugar and creamer next to the mug. "Anything else?"
Yeah, Shige wanted to say, How about you get your girlfriend's bra from your couch and make her put it on so she won't be so obscenely distracting? But he wisely kept his mouth shut, shaking his head instead.
"So can we go now?" Ryo was asking Erika, but she ignored him.
"So I have a question about divorce here in Japan..."
An hour later
Almost half of the pizza that had been delivered was devoured by Ryo, as was the coffee he'd originally made for Shige, and the other two were still in discussion.
"There are two other grounds for divorce aside from the first five I told you," Shige said, eyes narrowing slightly in concentration as he spoke.
Erika was listening to him in rapt attention, chin on her hands and mouth partly open, nodding once in a while to his words. "And what are those grounds?"
Ryo stared at both of them mutinously over the empty mug he was now clutching in his hands.
"First is refusal or neglect of marital sex-- only the husband can sue on this grounds, however. For the second, refusal or neglect of financial support, only the wife can sue. Do you understand why?"
"Because," Erika began thoughtfully, "the wife is expected to submit to the husband for purposes of reproduction, while the husband is the one expected to work to be able to provide for the family financially."
"Well said," Shige praised, looking like a professor whose student got the answer right. Erika beamed at him.
Ryo scoffed.
"You're so smart, Shigeaki-kun," Erika marveled. "It's amazing how you can retain all that information." Shige turned slightly red at that compliment.
Ryo let out an annoyed snort.
Erika gave him a serene smile. "Wouldn't you agree, Ryo?" she asked sweetly.
Shige was looking at Ryo almost shyly, as if wanting his approval.
Ryo opened his mouth.
"Hey--you know what, why don't we play Monopoly?"
"...What?"
Two hours later
"You're about to go bankrupt, you know."
"Am not."
"Nishikido-kun, I'll trade my Pennsylvania Avenue for one of your railroads, how's that?"
"No."
"But if I give you Pennsylvania, you'd have a Monopoly and you can start building houses--"
"Don't tell me what to do," Ryo snarled, rolling the dice.
They all watched as the dice fell on the board.
"Great," Erika said, eyes fluttering upward in near exasperation, leaning back on her seat and fanning herself lazily with her thick wad of money, "You're going to land on my Park Place. Give me 1,400 dollars."
"What? I'm not. One, two, three, four, five, six, se--shit."
"Now you're bankrupt," Erika went on triumphantly, snatching the bills from Ryo's hand. "Game over. Shigeaki-kun needs to study now."
Shige leapt to his feet. "Shame we have to stop playing," he said, hurriedly putting everything back into the box, "But yeah... I had fun, though. Thanks, Nishikido-kun."
"Yeah, okay," Ryo said gruffly, getting to his feet as well. "Hey... Sorry I forgot I said you could study here tonight."
"It's okay," Shige replied, looking a bit surprised to hear an actual apology. "I could have reminded you before I came here. Thanks for letting me stay."
"Yeah, well..." Ryo glanced at Erika, as if to say that if it weren't for her, he wouldn't have let him.
Shige followed his gaze just in time to see Erika raise her arms over her head, stretching her upper body lazily and making her almost-nonexistent shirt hike up to her belly button, exposing a lot more skin than Shige would actually care to see.
He swallowed, closing his eyes and turning away. Shige had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't be able to get much studying done tonight, at all.
Ryo grumbled all the way back to his room. "You were paying him too much attention."
"For heaven's sake." Erika rolled her eyes, pushing past him and padding over to his bed, gesturing for him to close the door. "He's your guest, how many times do I have to say that? I'm merely being a good hostess."
"Really now." He raised an eyebrow at her, walking over to the bed as well. "And... do good hostesses usually face their guests wearing nothing but an old shirt of their boyfriend and underwear?"
"This ratty old thing?" She glanced down at her attire, shrugging her shoulders with a careless air. "I'm sure Shigeaki-kun appreciated the view."
"Wench," Ryo muttered, reaching for her.
"You know they can only look, but not t-- oh--" He was kissing the back of her neck, one hand pushing her hair over her shoulder, fingertips brushing over her skin; the other running down her spine. She gasped softly. "Ryo--"
"Come here," he murmured, breath washing over her ear. Her eyes crashed shut as she felt his tongue trace around the edge before dipping in.
Erika reached up, placing one hand against his cheek--and pushed him away.
"Ryo, we can't."
"...What?!"
"We'll make too much noise." She smiled at him, looking positively evil. "We don't want to disturb Shigeaki-kun, do we?"
Three hours later
Shige winced as he stood up from the table, feeling his legs break out in pins and needles as a result of sitting down for hours. Mug after mug of coffee now had his bladder close to bursting. He left the kitchen, going over to where he was pretty sure the bathroom was located, and turned the knob.
The door was locked.
"Hello?" he called out quietly, uncertainly, pressing his ear to the door and about to knock--
When he heard the unmistakable grunting of a man who most likely had one hand wrapped around a particular appendage that brought most pleasure to males when stroked, from the other side of the door. He knew the sound well--he did it on a regular basis, after all, like most guys are wont to do.
Except he didn't think guys who had hot girlfriends and probably got some action before going to bed that very night were bound to still do it, too.
Shige walked off in disgust, still needing to pee--among other things, he thought miserably, vowing never to study at Ryo's ever again.
When his finals came around and Shige found himself in the same situation of having his home too occupied for him to be able to study quietly in it, he again thought of calling on a band mate to help him out.
Massu, after all, was congenially kind, and would probably feed him wholeheartedly instead of grudgingly. The only downside of it all would probably be Massu talking his head off while he was attempting to actually study. But if Shige was going to be honest, he would admit that he was actually rather looking forward to studying at Massu's.
He was feeling generally cheerful when he rang the doorbell of the Masuda home, expecting the door to be opened by his round-faced band mate, or maybe said round-faced band mate's mother, to usher him in.
So when the door was opened by one Kitagawa Keiko wearing a rather baggy shirt and equally baggy sweatpants (though thankfully a bra as well, his eyes quickly darting down to her chest to check) that looked like they belong to Massu, Shige nearly had a heart attack.
"Kato-san!" Keiko greeted him, sounding surprised, but pleasantly so, a smile stretching across her lips. "Good evening."
"K--Kitagawa-san," he stuttered, managing to bow slightly, "What are you--"
She laughed lightly, looking slightly bashful. "Well, Taka-- I mean, Massu, he invited me over for the night."
"He-- Massu--?"
"Shige!" Owner of the nickname appeared, looking almost as shocked as Shige was currently feeling--and then mortified, and then completely apologetic. "Oh, no! Is it for tonight? Maa, I mixed up the dates! I thought you'd be coming over tomorrow!"
"What's going on?" Keiko asked, glancing from Massu to Shige with a curious look on her face.
"Shige has to study for his finals," Massu explained, "And I said he could study here--but I'd forgotten he was coming over tonight..." He trailed off, looking torn.
"Well, what's the fuss all about?" Keiko wanted to know. "If Kato-san needs to study here tonight, then he studies here tonight." She flashed Massu an assuring smile. "I don't mind. I know how exams can get--"
"No, no," Shige interrupted, stepping back, a wild look in his eyes. "Nonononononono. I'll just--leave. Really. Sorry for intruding on your--"
"Don't be silly, Kato-san," Keiko said firmly, already taking hold of his arm and pulling him inside. "You're not intruding on anything."
Shige let out a terrified whimper as Massu trailed behind them, piping up cheerfully, "We'll help you study, Shige! Keiko-chan's really smart, she can quiz you! Or...something! I'll make you coffee, anything! Wow, those books look really thick--can I read one, Shige? Ne?"
fin.
Notes!:
1) Title of fic is taken from a quote of Helen Keller;
2) Everything I know about divorce in Japan came from here; and
3) The American version of the board game Monopoly is also available in Japan, just to say I’m not making it up XD