(Almost) Heroes 3: Lost and Found 1 (part 1)
Title: (Almost) Heroes 3: Lost and Found
Author: moon_catcher
Characters/Pairings: Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya, Nishikido Ryo, Yamashita Tomohisa, Yokoyama Yuu, Akanishi Jin/Kuroki Meisa (sort of?), Shirota Yu/Kuroki Meisa, Ohkura Tadayoshi, Akanishi Reio, Takizawa Hideaki, mentioning of others…
Rating: NC-17
Warning: AU, cursing all the way, porn, randomness, messed up time traveling… did I mention randomness? Dubious pseudo-scientific explanations of… stuff. Possible little inconsistence with the previous instalments because I fail.
Summary: After everything Jin and Kame went through, one would think their lives would finally settle. Maybe even literally. That’s until 1) Yamapi loses his power, and 2) Kame disappears. Neither is a good sign. Will Jin keep trying to find Kame or will he give up eventually and take a different path in his life? A path that leads to a life without Kame? How will Pi deal with being just an ordinary guy? hint: he won’t :| And where has Kame disappeared to?
A/N: First of all, this whole mess is for karilly, all 86+k of it, because she can’t shut up about this verse. #karimademedoit
It's a finished story and updates should be coming more or less smoothly.
[more notes you may want to acknowledge]Next thing, you should probably have read the previous instalments if you have plans to read this one, as there are mentions of major events from the past stories. Though you should be also warned that I suffer the worst case of memory fail, so it’s possible certain details are inconsistent. Oups.
(Almost) Heroes MASTERPOST
I’d also like to mention this story was plotted and outlined back in 2011/early 2012, and looking back, I kind of feel like a prophet. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you reach it. /shot
“Not again, please!” Yamapi reached for the first harmless object he could find around, a big plushy turtle lying on the corner of the bed closest to the chair he was sitting on, and threw it at his best friend. “Akanishi, we already talked about this, didn’t we?” He knew his complaints, no matter how loud and relevant, had near to no chance to be heard out when it came down to Jin, though.
And - or - to Kame.
The very same Kame who had appeared in the room out of nowhere just now, materializing on Jin’s lap. Barefoot. Wearing jeans and an unbuttoned shirt. His hair wet. And if Kame hadn’t been straddling Jin’s lap with his back turned to Yamapi, Pi would have been able to see the confused surprise written all over the young guy’s pretty face.
However, Yamapi could see nothing but the back of Kame’s head, dark hair curling just above his neck, his back clothed in a beige-colored shirt, and Jin’s hands placed on Kame’s ass, holding him at place.
Damn Akanishi must have been just ready to put his hands there when pushing the time forward.
It wasn’t the first time something like this happened, after all.
Akanishi was helpless. Really.
His fucking hormones had most probably cost Yamapi - as well as the others and the rest of the world - a couple of hours, maybe even days, of their lives so far, with all the time jumps Jin did just because he was too impatient to wait for Kame to arrive on his own. Yamapi wasn’t amused. He would have to find a way to get back on Jin someday. The sooner the better. For the sake of the world peace and starving children in Africa… and puppies, naturally.
“We do love to see Kazuya and he is a part of the gang, of course,” Yamapi kept rambling, oblivious of the looks his other friends present in Jin’s room at the moment were sending him. “But you can’t just shift with time all you want to have him here already! I’m sure Kame can survive an hour without your hands groping him!”
The turtle hit Kame’s nape and fell down on the floor. Not expecting the attack, Kame instinctively leaned forward upon the soft stroke; his forehead bumping into Jin’s.
“Ouch.”
“Sorry. Meant to hit Akanishi,” Yamapi smirked, noticing the grim look Jin was giving him over Kame’s shoulder.
Kame blinked, disorientated and taken aback, because Jin’s face was the last thing he had expected to see in the following approximately ninety minutes - having been standing in the gym dressing room just a second ago. In school. More than a couple of blocks away from Jin’s bedroom. And Jin’s lap. Kame frowned, quickly realizing the situation and what must have happened.
Akanishi Jin and his power were so fucking unbelievable at times!
“That has been at least an hour that I’ll never get back,” Yamapi pouted. “Really, I thought we had a deal not to use our powers on anyone in this room.”
That finally brought Yamapi the attention he had been seeking.
“Of course we do!” Ryo agreed promptly.
The quick reaction - and even more, a positive one supporting his opinion - made Yamapi grin. It was kind of unexpected to have Nishikido on his side so promptly, but right now Yamapi wasn’t going to question Ryo’s motives. Not at all. It was such a rare moment when Ryo was actually siding him right from the start instead of showing off his usual spiteful nature -
“If we didn’t,” Ryo kept going though, as if to prove Yamapi’s string of thoughts wrong and once again remind everyone of his sharp tongue and characteristic approach to the matters of being best friends, “you would get into the head of any of us for some fucking stupid joke, after all.”
“Wha-” Yamapi’s eyes bulged out and not having been for Yoko and Shirota sitting between him and Ryo’s place, Yamapi would have swooped at Ryo, punching and strangling. “Fuck you!”
“What? Ain’t I right?” Ryo pursed his lips, playing innocent while looking around for support from the others.
Yamapi wasn’t buying it, as expected. “Of course not. I do not do that!”
His shriek earned him a raised eyebrow from Jin; a snicker from Kazuya, muffled in Jin’s shoulder where Kame had buried his face in order not to laugh out loud; Yoko’s indifferent expression (only because the eldest among them always knew better than take sides in such discussions bordering with stupidity); and a pat on his upper arm from Shirota who, completely uncharacteristically for him since he was always just about ready to oppose anything Nishikido said, now kept his mouth shut and eyes lowered to the floor. That alone should have told Yamapi something was fishy.
Sadly, it didn’t.
Among all shiny character traits Yamashita Tomohisa possessed, an ability to think straight when heated up in fret sadly was not one included.
All Yamapi could comprehend at the moment was the fact that Nishikido was - once again - teasing him and the others, the so called best friends for life and beyond, were siding the little fucker instead of Yamapi. Who actually deserved sympathy so much more!
He did not misuse his mind reading power on them. Neither did he as much as attempt to influence their decisions…
… recently.
Unobtrusively poking Jin into agreeing on going to watch a movie of Pi’s choice a couple of weeks ago didn’t count of course. It was more like helping Akanishi see the light of good European cinematography instead of spending money on watching yet another lame American action movie. Yamapi had his priorities set right, after all. The deal didn’t say anything about saving his friends from their own bad taste in movies.
Jin hadn’t found out anyway.
Else Yamapi would have already lived a happy peasant life somewhere in the fifteenth-century Portugal. Just because Yamapi didn’t know a shit about Portugal or fifteenth century, and would have died there if not in hours, then days for sure.
No, Jin didn’t know - and certainly didn’t have even the slightest suspicion either - what had been behind his urgent need to watch an independent movie from a country that probably hadn’t yet existed when both of them had been born.
That meant Ryo had no right for his accusation.
The obvious injustice pissed Yamapi off.
Would anyone notice if Nishikido suddenly craved a year long trip around the world? Because that might be arranged and would give Yamapi some 365 days of blissful peace.
Yamapi wasn’t a bit bothered by Ryo’s power, anyway.
What could Ryo possibly do to him? Write him some fucked up future?
Tsk.
Not when Yamapi had the power to persuade Nishikido to write him a nice, shiny life within an eyewink. And Ryo wouldn’t even know what and how it would happen.
Yamapi overlooked the room one more time and pouted.
He couldn’t believe they all conspired against him. And obviously, Ryo wasn’t done yet - as if he hadn’t done already enough.
“Of course you do!” Ryo stuck his tongue at Yamapi.
“Watch your tone.”
The turtle was lying on the floor and Yamapi made a poor attempt to reach for it, thinking of assaulting Ryo this time.
Despite the conversation taking an amusing direction, Jin cared more about Kazuya whose body unconsciously shifted closer, arms wound around Jin’s torso and fingers drawing random shapes all over Jin’s back. The touch was unintentional and Kame must have had no idea about the caressing. His body just naturally reacted to Jin being there. As always.
It had been two years since his dream had come true and Jin had not only acknowledged Kazuya’s existence but also had surrendered to his own feelings so the two of them could get together. And ever since the moment, it had felt like they couldn’t get enough of each other, making up for all the time before.
With Jin’s power, catching up on all the lost time wasn’t really impossible, after all.
Kame sighed, puffing hot breath into Jin’s shoulder. His finger gave a little tug on Jin’s t-shirt while slowly running up. The skin underneath was warm and smooth, enticing Kame to slip the hand down again, this time doing so fully aware of his action. When his palm made contact with Jin’s back, fingers spreading to feel as much of the smoothness as possible, Kame felt Jin turning his head and making him look at the other. Their faces got so close they could share the same air, and Kame gulped, once again taken aback in only a few moments.
The effect Jin had on him was still something Kame couldn’t quite put a finger on. It was like being dragged by a wild river, and he couldn’t do anything else but let his whole existence be carried away by the stream. He knew nothing bad would happen to him. Just because Jin was by his side.
Akanishi Jin was his fate.
Whatever would happen, there would be a reason behind it.
Not even Death could tear them apart.
It had already tried and failed. Because Kame wasn’t useless, wasn’t weak as he used to think back in times. He had a power to bring Jin back to him. He had fought Death and won Jin back. And he would do it all over again if he had to. Nothing could come and stand in the way when the two of them wanted to be together.
They were meant to be, just like Kame had always wished, and just like Yokoyama had said.
After everything that had happened a few months ago, when Jin had died and Kame had brought him back to life; there was hardly anything to be afraid of.
Yet their kisses always kind of felt like being the last one. Intense, hungry, making their blood boil and toes curl, robbing them of their breath and sanity. Sweeping them away from reality. Taking them to a place that was theirs and only theirs.
For the first time since Kame had found himself sitting on Jin’s lap a while ago, the hold of his hand around the other tightened. Jin craned forward a bit and pressed a kiss on Kame’s lips, pulled away for only as long as to look at Kame with a mischievous, happy grin, and then was kissing him again. The voices around them stopped being important; just their friends having a pointless argument that would fade away sooner or later, because none of them was able to stay angry for long - and their ability to stay on topic for more than a few word exchanges was quite lousy. Jin could tell, after all, he himself not being any better. The only one with an acceptable level of attention was Yoko, but Yoko rarely really participated in all the bickering that was often going on.
Jin sucked Kazuya’s lip into his mouth, playing with it, licking over the soft pillow until it got all red and swollen and Kame was silently moaning and trying to pull away.
As expected though, Jin didn’t let him, enjoying the little protest and taking advantage of Kame’s mouth opening wider to deepen the kiss.
They soon got lost in tasting each other, in the sensational game of lips meeting lips and tongues leisurely poking and rubbing, licking and teasing.
Kazuya’s eyelashes fluttered and he pecked Jin’s lips one more time, a happy grin all over his face. Jin was looking at him, eyes dark and focused solely on Kame.
“What’s your goddamn problem, Pi?” Shirota asked after having been dragged into the conversation against his will, with Yamapi suddenly making remarks also on him and his teleportation.
Yamapi never knew when to stop, really.
“Mine?” Pi squealed. “It’s you,” he pointed at a general direction of Shirota and Yoko - as if Yoko had also participated in the quarrel - then turned at Ryo, “and you, too, who always say we should not use our powers on each other!” A pout. “But now I see, Akanishi is a fucking exception, right?”
Sometimes, Yamapi was like a wounded animal, kicking and lashing out. He rarely meant it though.
“Akanishi’s only business is to get into Kazuya’s pants, he doesn’t threaten you anyhow, Pi,” Ryo noted, not affected by anything Yamapi had said. “Whatever he does with his power doesn’t concern you -”
“His fucking time jumps do concern me!”
Kazuya took a deep breath, his forehead resting against Jin’s.
Yamapi’s whining was kind of irritating.
“He keeps robbing me of moments I’ll never get back and some of those actually might be important! But that apparently doesn’t bother anyone. Of course, let’s all blame poor Yamapi for nothing instead!” Yamapi pouted.
“Since when exactly is your life so full of important moments, mind telling me?” Jin smirked and busied himself with pushing his hands into the back pockets of Kame’s jeans, getting a better access to kneading Kame’s ass and pushing Kame down on his lap. Letting Kame know that their seating arrangements were not leaving him unaffected.
Well, he did try to get into Kazuya’s pants at any and every given chance after all. Ryo was pretty much right about this.
Kame gasped. Jin’s slowly awakening erection fitted perfectly against his crotch, he could feel it hardening against his balls through two layers of denim. Why did there still have to be so many people around?
He might have not really planned to be with Jin so soon today, but he was not going to complain either.
“It has always been but you have been too focused on your libido to notice,” Yamapi huffed. This discussion was not at all going in the direction it should have.
“Now this is getting interesting.” Amused as not in a long time, Shirota comfortably leaned back, folded his arms at his chest and with a grin was watching the scene unfolding in front of him. It was better than a movie, really. He could only guess how long it would take for Yamapi to explode.
Jin groaned. “Don’t be ridiculous, Pi.”
“I am not being ridiculous, asshole. I’m just saying… When was the last time you cared about something else than your time shenanigans to get into Kame’s pants?”
“Hey,” Kame pouted, but his protests weren’t - and couldn’t be - very forcible when there were Jin’s hands groping his ass through his pants, and Jin’s cock swelling under him and making his shiver in anticipation. And he was not exactly fighting against any of it.
As much as he liked the others and had fun in their company, there were times when he would rather prefer having them gone.
“My time-what?” Jin shrieked, annoyed and feeling like there was a reason to defend himself.
Yamapi rolled his eyes and pointed at Kame, giving Jin a meaningful look. “Or do you want to tell me that I just fell asleep for an hour or so and woke up to this? Fuck you.”
Finally Jin understood.
With all the time in the world at his hand, Jin could afford being a bit slower at times. To his defense though, following the conversation would have been difficult even without a certain Kamenashi on his lap.
In the end, the realization made Jin only more confused. “Are you hinting that I’ve shifted time to get Kame here?”
“Hinting? Now who is the ridiculous one here,” Yamapi snorted. “You could have at least let him dress, but no, it’s surely easier this way. Less clothes to take off. You know what, Jin? Next time you could move us all to the moment when we don’t have to see it anymore.”
Jin’s grip around Kame tightened. “Shut up, Yamashita, I did not time jump at all just now!”
“Why should I believe you?” Yamapi snapped, but then there was something about the whole situation and Kame looked just as confused as everyone when he had appeared in the room… and even Jin had actually looked like he had not been expecting his boyfriend materializing on his lap so soon.
“Because I’m telling the truth. Fuck.”
Yamapi opened his mouth with another retort almost slipping off his tongue, but he swallowed it all. And blinked. “You… did not…?”
“Wait, it was not you?” That was Kame who momentarily forgot about being horny and having an equally horny Akanishi under him.
Jin shook his head. “I certainly don’t mind having you here more than an hour earlier, but despite someone’s stupid suspicions, I didn’t do anything. This time. Look.” He thrust a hand with his big white wristwatch into Kame’s face. “Still the same time. No jumping. Upon my life.”
“Not so convincing when Kamenashi’s tongue can bring you back,” Ryo muttered, but it was just that. Teasing. He couldn’t have let the chance slip when it offered itself, could he?
“Asshole,” Yamapi punched Ryo’s shoulder.
They would be hearing about Kamenashi’s magical tongue for the rest of their life, wouldn’t they? No matter how old the joke might eventually get, one of them would always bring it back at some point anyway.
Kame frowned then.
The time hadn’t jumped indeed. Jin was innocent - this time. However, that didn’t solve the question of how had he gotten over here.
“Shut up, you two,” Jin growled.
Just a moment ago, all he had cared about was the taste of Kame’s lips and the perfect feeling of his hands kneading Kame’s ass, and impatience to get the others out of the door as soon as possible; and now he was confused and thinking, because Kame was here and Jin only now realized that he wasn’t the one who had brought Kame over here. Kame hadn’t come through the door either. Kame had just happened here.
And for someone to just appear somewhere out of nowhere was more than suspicious even in their world.
Actually, in their world of supernatural - of mind reading and teleportation, foretelling and writing one’s own future - for someone to just appear somewhere was suspicious and potentially dangerous.
Kame pulled away; looked at Jin, and this time the need from before was shadowed by confusion and questions no one knew the answers for. “What’s going on?” he asked anyway, shifting to slip off Jin’s lap and sit down next to him. Jin’s hand just naturally found its way to Kame’s thigh and rested there. Kame didn’t seem to protest, either because he was already used to Jin touching him all the time, or because his head was occupied with other things.
With things and questions of how and why, and who.
“I swear it was not me,” Jin blurted out in defense, somehow expecting for his friends to start blaming him all over again as always. Well, at least Yamapi might do just so, even if only to repeat his preachment about Jin stealing his time and ruining his life, and all the usual shit.
However, Jin being innocent this time didn’t solve the main problem.
He was happy for having Kame here more than an hour earlier than the original plan was, but at the same time, Kame being here was suspicious.
“Maybe you did it unconsciously?” Ryo offered. “Maybe your pants were making decisions for you and you would never get to know.”
“There’s Kamenashi sitting where he shouldn’t be, and you think Jin would not notice?” Yamapi scoffed. His eyes were watching Jin rather closely, to the point where Jin uncomfortably fidgeted around and quickly thought of one of his wild fantasies regarding Kame - if Yamapi was in his head, this image might get him the fuck out of there. Yamapi didn’t flinch though, clearly unaffected by the porn rolling on inside Jin’s head; and Jin hissed, because now he had more than one problem to solve.
The thought that should have hinted Yamapi to fuck off, now made Jin horny as hell and had him crave tying Kame up and sucking him off the whole night.
“Kame is sitting exactly where he should,” Jin snapped back.
Yamapi pouted. “Whatever. You know what I mean.”
“Maybe it’s not just Jin having a superpower now,” Ryo said, not even trying to sound serious because his own grin betrayed him right from the start, “maybe Jin’s pants possess a power to summon Kamenashi from anywhere.”
“That’s not funny.” Kame frowned and glanced over at Ryo who was on the verge of a snickering fit.
“Seriously, Nishikido?” Jin groaned. “That’s your best shot?”
What the fuck was this? An afternoon of let’s make fun of Jin? Jin overlooked his friends sitting around the room, and suddenly wanted to kick them out one by one for real. They went from fun to annoying in a span of two seconds. His head was not catching up, and he knew it was just a matter of time when they would notice and mock him for that.
“Kame somehow appeared here and you all know we should look into it.” To Jin’s surprise, Yamapi seemed like he was actually willing to accept the option that Jin had nothing to do with this.
Well, he was willing to accept it as one of the options, but he wasn’t striking the others off the list. Just yet.
“We definitely should,” Shirota finally nodded, letting them know he was still present and even paying attention to the whole situation and its seriousness. “It could be the end of the world, or something. We can’t just-”
Yoko glanced over at him, his expression unchanged.
“Oh man, no more ends of the world, please!” Jin groaned again, this time even more frustrated than before, if something like that was even possible, and let his body fall backwards on the bed. His attempt to pull Kame along didn’t work though, and Kame just looked down at him. “I’m not saving anything anymore.”
“It was fun last time,” Ryo said promptly. “And we found out the powers are way cooler than we thought. - And maybe that’s where also your pants gained their own power…”
Yamapi jumped up. He ignored Ryo’s remark about Jin’s pants because that one was childish and stupid and ridiculous, and they didn’t have time for any of that. There were priorities. “My power was always cool.”
Jin’s head lifted only so much for Jin to give both Ryo and Yamapi a rather judging glance. “Do I need to remind any of you that the last time we were saving something I fucking died?”
“And Kazuya saved you!” Ryo whined. “Remember? His tongue, your mouth? Me needing a psychologist for the rest of my life?”
Jin collapsed back on the bed, shaking his head. It’s been a few months already since he had tripped and fallen off a window in the second floor, landed on his back and suffered fatal injuries. - Instinctively, Jin brought a hand to the small of Kame’s back and brushed his fingers up and down the shirt loosely covering smooth, warm skin. Kame still felt like a shower and a shower gel, and Jin wanted to bury his face in his chest and inhale. - He would have been dead had it not been for Kame bringing him back to life. With a kiss.
Another reason to like Kame’s kisses. Jin had liked kissing Kame, and being kissed by Kame, already before - most likely from their very first kiss, on the beach, with a bonfire burning hot right next to them. It had been like they had been drawn to each other. And in a way, they had been indeed.
Yokoyama called it Destiny.
And after a long time of struggling for one reason or another, Jin was starting to believe it as well. He and Kame belonged together.
Destiny indeed.
“That’s what you say now,” Kame smirked. “Wait for if you ever need reviving as well, you will beg for my kiss.”
Jin perked up, eyes wide. “And you are not getting any!” He pulled Kame close and held him. “You are not kissing Nishikido.”
“Hey, you would let me die?” Ryo yelped, feeling offended even though he really hoped he would never get so close to death to actually need Kamenashi kiss him. “Thanks a lot, asshole. I thought we were friends.”
Jin struggled to prop himself on his elbows, as it was easier to look at Ryo from that position than while lifting only his head. “We are, but you are not getting to kiss Kame. Ever.”
“Whoa, someone is jealous,” Yamapi noted.
“I am not.”
The mumbled statement made Kame chuckle and pat Jin’s thigh. Jin caught his hand and held it. Kame didn’t seem to mind, but then he felt Jin tugged and pulled, maneuvering his hand a bit higher and further to where Kame’s palm brushed over a soft bulge of Jin’s cock.
Kame tried to pull his hand away; in vain.
“Jin,” he hissed.
They had other things to do, business to deal with, a mystery to solve - they needed to find out what had happened and why Kame had relocated from the school gym locker room over here to Jin’s bedroom before they would start something… because what if it hadn’t been an isolated case, what if Kame would disappear in the middle of things and appear horny and naked back at school?
He didn’t even want to think about the cheerleaders training that usually happened in the evening in the gym…
“If you two are going to…you know…fuck-” Shirota raised a brow.
Kame finally got his hand out of Jin’s grip. “We are not. Well, not now.” He curled his fingers into a fist; the feeling of Jin’s swelling cock still tingling on the skin of his palm. Self-control was something he might have kind of lost over the time he and Jin had been together. “There are more important things…”
“Really?” Jin pinched Kame’s hip, almost victoriously finding a bit of skin peeking out between Kame’s low riding pants and the shirt that Kame actually tried to button up at some point that Jin must have missed, being preoccupied otherwise.
“Yes. Really.”
“Name one,” Jin challenged him.
Normally, Kame would have been all up for a game or teasing their friends, but now not so much, because he was here even though all the reason in the whole world was telling him he should have been only on his way over here by now, so in conclusion, something was fishy and despite the usual lack of concentration on one important point among this group, they really needed to find out the source of the problem.
Well, maybe not exactly problem. Teleporting to Jin could be hardly considered a problem, when being with Jin was something Kame craved above everything else.
But when the teleportation part happened at all random, it might be a problem…
Jin hooked a finger at the belt holding Kame’s pants at place. “Come on, how about keeping our noses out of this this time?”
“Is there any more old friends of yours who I should know about?” Kame asked all serious, not only Jin but also the others.
The last time they had run into troubles, or better to say, when troubles had run into them, it was all because a childhood friend of Jin’s, or better to say, a kindergarten companion and a weirdo, had held a grudge against Jin and wanted a revenge.
And honestly, with Jin’s attitude, chances were there might be more people like Ninomiya Kazunari and Matsumoto Jun. It was actually a miracle that they weren’t running into those at every corner. All the girls Jin had been with and then had ignored afterwards, all the guys who had wanted those girls but Jin had been faster and better looking and having more charm; or those who didn’t like Jin for no particular reason - and here Kame had no doubt the group was pretty big, because Jin was simply the kind of person who one either liked or hated, nothing in between. All of them represented a potential danger. A threat lurking in the shadows.
There used to be times when Kame had thought they might have been a threat also for him, for everything he had with Jin - particularly the female part of the numerous group -, but those days were over.
He and Jin were together.
“I don’t think so.” Jin shook his head. Ryo and Yamapi actually joined him in all seriousness.
Kame’s eyes shifted to Shirota.
Shirota looked at him back. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” Shirota shrugged. “Like I’ve done something wrong.”
He got up and walked towards the back door leading directly to the street, unlike the door on the opposite side of the room that led further into the Akanishi house. Back in the day, Jin used to be afraid of the other door so much that his father had to put a heavy bookcase in front of it, so no stranger could have sneaked into Jin’s room at night and kidnap him; however, once having reached puberty, Jin had soon realized how actually useful the door to the street might be. The book case had been removed into the garage, the lock changed, and Jin didn’t need to worry about his late night returns home anymore
“Kazu?” Jin was frowning, because Kame kept looking at Shirota and Shirota was on the way out even though they still didn’t know anything, and what the hell was going on here?
After a moment Kame smiled. “Sorry.”
Content with how the situation calmed down, Jin shifted, wrapped his hands around Kame’s waist and held him; it wasn’t difficult, because Kame wasn’t struggling this time, and his skin was warm and no one had teleported anywhere in the last fifteen minutes so maybe everything was back to normal and they didn’t need to solve another mystery. There was no world ending, and no freaks seeking absurd revenges. They could go on with their lives, everyone could go home, and he and Kame could finally get rid of their clothes… or at least some of their clothes; if the others didn’t leave soon, Jin might become too impatient and jump Kazuya the moment the door would fall shut, not giving a fuck about details as clothes.
Jin pulled Kame’s shirt a little up and pressed a kiss to the revealed skin on his side.
Kame writhed, because the touch was tickling him.
And-
“You two seriously can’t help it, can you?” Shirota groaned, palming his face. “I didn’t bring Kamenashi over here to give you a sooner chance for fucking.”
“Then why did you bring him here?” Yamapi’s question slipped out, coming like the most natural reaction.
Ryo choked. “You did what?”
“All of you should have seen yourselves when he suddenly appeared here,” Shirota’s frustration lightened up a bit, because the sudden confession had almost better effect than the action itself. Yamapi and Ryo were staring at him in confusion, Kame was kind of unreadable at the moment but Shirota knew there was no thread to come from that direction, and Jin seemed to be still too preoccupied with nibbling at Kame’s hip. Shirota shook his head.
Had there ever be the end of the world to come for real, Akanishi Jin would miss it, having his eyes only for Kamenashi.
Shirota rolled his eyes. They could call themselves lucky that there was no real danger this time.
Only Yokoyama stayed calm as usually. “Well, that explains why I haven’t seen any danger coming.”
“Neither have I,” Ryo quickly nodded. Since the moment his power had turned out to be of a great use after all, he hadn’t missed a single moment to remind everyone of his future-writing (and occasionally future-creating) ability. No one could say anymore that Nishikido Ryo and his power were not relevant. They fucking were.
He had learnt to love his power so much that now he could easily compete with Yamapi at who the one cherishing his power the most was among them.
“Why would you even…?” Ryo scratched his head. “You don’t even like Kame.”
Kame stiffened.
His relationship with Shirota was still something fragile. Shirota tolerated him now, or rather, Shirota tolerated Kame being with Jin. Chances were that had Kame not been dating Jin, he and Shirota would have gotten along with each other just fine.
Shirota looked at him. “That’s not true. Kame is cool.”
“You have no idea…” Jin mumbled. It almost looked like he had been completely unaware of what was going on and what Shirota had just admitted. His fingers started fumbling with the opening of Kame’s pants, and Kame mindlessly slapped his hand. As expected, it didn’t stop Jin at all.
“So it was you?” Kame asked, his confusion fading away. At least they were in no danger.
Just because he could bring Jin back didn’t mean he ever wanted a repeat of losing him.
“Who else?” Shirota shrugged, again, this time the gesture held more nonchalance. Okay, Kame wasn’t mad. Didn’t seem to be. Good sign. But then again, why should he be? Apparently, Shirota had sent him exactly where he wanted to be after all.
There was no reason for complaints.
Only not really.
“See? So much for the fucking agreement,” Yamapi whined; obviously, he was the one who got over the initial shock first, and was back to his usual litany. “It’s fucking okay for Jin to shift time, and it’s fucking fine for Yu to throw us around like damn ragdolls, but god help us when Yamapi uses his power for anything!”
“You can’t compare your power to me giving Kamenashi a lift though,” Shirota said calmly.
“A lift he didn’t ask for!”
Kame’s look flicked from Shirota to Yamapi and back. “Actually, I don’t really mind. I was on my way here anyway, so-”
“That is not the fucking point!” Yamapi yelped.
“If you expect me, or any of us, to give you a permission to get freely into our heads, then you are crazy.” Ryo shook his head. “Stay the fuck away from my brain.”
“As if I wanted to get into your head in the first place. There’s nothing worth my attention.”
“Oh shut up, Pi. I’m pretty sure you are fucking curious. Anyway, I think we should stick to the agreement. If Kame doesn’t mind being pushed and pulled by you two through time and space, then it’s his choice and we can make it an exception, but as far as I am concerned, I’d like to keep Pi-chan out of my head.”
Yamapi hissed. “Asshole.”
“Then we are settled,” Jin grinned, raising his head for a moment. He had managed to open Kame’s pants and now he really needed the others gone.
“Seriously? That’s it? We are settled? The fuck are we.”
“Pi, come on.”
Shirota nodded. “It was a joke. Not my fault none of you has understood it.”
“Pretty lame joke,” Yamapi muttered. The only fucking thing he didn’t understand here was why Kazuya didn’t mind what had happened. Well… fine. There was Jin’s hand reaching into his pants and Jin’s lips nipping at his hip, but… seriously? Was it really all that Kazuya needed to ignore that Shirota had manipulated him?
Of course, in fact, nothing too serious happened, and they all were just a step away from turning it into a joke indeed, but then what? How far could either of them go without crossing the line between a joke and not-a-joke-anymore? Their agreement about not using their powers against each other without the other’s consent existed for a reason.
Kazuya was now one of them. Not just because he had a power too, or because he was dating Jin, but because after everything that had happened with Ninomiya and Matsumoto a couple of months ago, Kame finally seemed to feel like a part of their little world. Like someone who belonged there, not just a random visitor who might be told to leave any time, so it would be better for him not to get used to it or too attached. Yamapi was really glad. He had always liked Kazuya; and in a way, he also liked the little changes that happened with Jin ever since the night he and Kazuya had met… well, gotten together.
And then suddenly Kame was the one speaking. “Pi is right. I mean, I don’t mind being spared a ride on the train over here once in a while, or…” There he quickly stopped, because explaining the advantages of Jin’s power was a road Kame was not willing to take, even though it was more than clear that the guys knew well anyway. “Or other things,” Kame said instead, earning himself a snort from Ryo and a view of Shirota once again rubbing his palm over his face. Jin patted his hip, apparently satisfied with Kame’s words; however, Kame hadn’t finished yet. “But Pi is right about the agreement. There shouldn’t be exceptions.”
“Thank you,” Yamapi smiled.
“You know what, Pi? Fuck you. Isn’t it always you who says we should enjoy the powers?” Shirota groaned.
It was one of those arguments that could go on and on; with no winner and no conclusion. They had been through this a hundred of times before, and would hit the same problem over and over again also in the future. The agreement was important to each and every one of them, no matter how annoying it might be at times, but at the same time, there was always way too much room for maneuvering around and bending their own words the way they needed at the moment.
“Hey!” Jin finally came to his senses and had had just enough of the crap going on in his room. “I think we are done here today, and if none of you has something better than this, we can as well call it a day and go home.”
“I thought we were heading to the club later this evening,” Shirota remembered, taken aback by Jin’s sudden rather wild entering the discussion. However, what else was to be expected when the discussed matter concerned Kamenashi for the bigger part?
Jin frowned. “Plans changed just now. I’m not going.”
“Come on. Had I known this would happen, I’d have never brought Kame over here.”
Kame sighed, making a last minute decision not to repeat the fact that he was glad for having been teleported over here. It was Friday afternoon and the whole city was most likely crowded as usually. Even if he had been on time to catch his train, he might have as well not gotten inside anyway. Shirota’s power was pretty handy at times. However, Kame had learnt his lesson a moment ago, and he was not going to tempt Yamapi’s nerves again.
He didn’t want to be an exception. In anything.
He wanted to be - was - one of them, and no matter how annoying it could be, he wanted to be treated that way too.
“You can take Ana,” Jin suggested.
Yu’s cute, and finally happily divorced, Spanish girlfriend had never managed to fit into their group, and as Ryo liked to point out, her being a girl wasn’t the main problem. The first weeks after her arrival to Japan, she had spent most of the time hiding in fear that her husband would have found her and taken her back to Europe. However, as the time had been passing and also after all formalities had been taken care of and she had become a free woman again, it turned out more than clear that she wasn’t the type to keep up with the way Shirota and his friends lived and enjoyed their lives. Partying wasn’t her cup of tea, as well as she didn’t really understand their usual sense of humor - the main problem being the language barrier. She wasn’t fluent in Japanese, and Shirota couldn’t spend all the time translating every word.
In spite of the obvious troubles, they all agreed, for Yu’s sake, they kind of liked Ana, though. She was even fun occasionally.
Shirota made a face, not really reacting to Jin’s words.
“What? I’m giving you an opportunity to spend time with your girlfriend,” Jin pouted.
“You are just giving yourself more time with Kazuya.”
Yamapi snorted. “Why should he? Jin doesn’t need to ditch friends to have time for dirty games in bed. He is the master of time.”
“Who said we would be playing in bed today?” Jin smirked - then groaned as Kame nudged him. They looked at each other, and ignoring Kame’s pretended annoyance, Jin quickly leaned in and pecked Kame’s pouty lips.
The almost innocent remark made Shirota groan, once again, and grab the doorknob. “And that’s been, gentlemen and gentlemen, a cue for my leave.”
“I’m going with you,” Ryo hurried to his feet and joined Shirota by the door. “Not eager to see your games anywhere, bed or not,” he made a face at Jin, and somehow that simple moment, the expression, drew a line behind the budding bitterness that had spread among them all.
“Just because you are jealous,” Jin smirked and pulled Kame close. “Don’t think I’ll forget about your plan to use Kazuya’s kisses in case of death. Not gonna happen.”
Ryo shook his head. “Of course not. I have no plan to die in the first place, so I’ll be just fine without Kame kissing me. Sorry, Kame.”
Kame smiled in response. “I’m not eager to kiss you either.”
“See, Akanishi? He is not eager, I am no eager -”
“The only one eager here is Jin,” Yamapi rolled his eyes. “Can we go now?”
“You are going, too?” Ryo was surprised at first, but then again, who would want to stay in the same room with Jin and Kame when it was more than clear what would happen once the door would close behind the leaving group.
Yamapi snatched his jacket, and on his way to the door bent down for the plushy turtle and tossed it at Jin, hitting the side of his face. “Watch your turtle.”
“You bet I will,” Jin grimaced at Pi, still holding Kame against his side. They had ended in a rather weird and not really comfortable position, half sitting, half lying, one of Kame’s legs bent under the other that was still touching the floor. He was twisted and locked in the grip of Jin’s arms, felt his body stiffening - not at the preferred places; and thanks god he had put on his underwear today else the others would have gotten a nice view of everything that was going on inside his now wide open pants. Kame was planning to get back on Jin for this. Soon. As soon as the guys would leave.
“Who wants a lift?” Ryo asked, shaking keys in his hand.
“Thanks, but hopefully I am still allowed to use my power myself,” Shirota said, stressing the words enough not to leave any doubt that there was an underlying message, more like a prod, for Yamapi, “which means I’m fine, and will catch you guys later in the club. If we are still going, that’s it.”
“Your nose is too big for my new car anyway,” Ryo brushed it off, trumping Shirota’s remark with one of his own.
They were definitely back to normal once again. The previous friction was pushed away, somewhere to the very back of their minds. It was not forgotten, not at all; as long as there were the powers and the deal, there would be also the everyday troubles caused by them. Temptation to use them freely growing stronger with every day passed, small sparks of envy here and there, because one’s power might be more handy at times than the other’s. It was not over; couldn’t be.
The powers both bound their friendship together and made them clash occasionally. It was an endless fight, but for now they were winning.
“Pi?” Ryo turned around, giving Yamapi the same offer.
And this time, it wasn’t refused.
“Room mate is out of the city, we can have a beer or two,” Yamapi added to Ryo’s suggestion, and met with immediate positive reaction.
“Deal.”
“So I guess we are not seeing you tonight.” Shirota was already twisting the doorbell, not yet tugging the door open though, when he asked, watching Jin and Kame. They were actually kind of cute; in that almost desperate way of not being able to move away from each other whenever they happened to be in the same room. He had known Jin for years by now, but it hadn’t been until Kame that this particular side of Jin got to shine. Who would have thought that Akanishi Jin might be an exemplary boyfriend material? A thought about Ana flashed through Shirota’s mind then, and he quickly shook it off. “At least there won’t be another commotion in the club -”
Ryo laughed and pointed at the two sitting on the bed.
“Hey,” Jin pouted. “There wasn’t a sign saying that I couldn’t take off his shirt.”
Kame instinctively pulled the parts of his open shirt together to cover himself; the memory too strong to ignore it.
It had been a couple of weeks ago, yet he still felt his cheeks burn while remembering their dance and how Jin’s hips humping against him on the dark dance floor had made him hard - and Jin had wanted to get him off right there and then. They had been lucky that they had been only asked to leave for that particular night instead of having been banned for good. Kame liked the club; had found liking in the atmosphere and even in the loud thumping music, even though he had never considered himself a party animal.
However, the Tokyo club scene was an important part of Jin’s world, and Kame wanted to know and experience everything.
In return, Jin attended every baseball match Kame either participated in or simply wanted to watch, spent nights lying on bed and watching television when Kame didn’t want to miss an important international broadcast.
Their lives had been mingling together more and more after the incident with Nino and Matsumoto, and Kame only slowly accepted that he hadn’t been dreaming anymore.
“Okay, guys, just remember - whatever you do, I sure as hell don’t need to know details,” Shirota said with a light tone.
Kame would almost swear that Shirota winked at him, and it made him intrigued. But then again, he and Shirota had been doing better, almost approaching something that could be called ‘friendship’. And today Shirota had teleported him here; well, the reasons were a bit shady and unclear, but they had brought Kame to Jin’s lap anyway.
Yamapi patted Shirota’s back. “Jin will gladly give you a report the first thing on Sunday. Does it still stand, actually? Sunday morning, at the café?”
“Yep,” Kame nodded. “I’m off and you all are my treat.”
“Fine,” Shirota chuckled, “you can keep him, Akanishi, he has coffee.”
Jin exhaled a short puff of air. “He has much more than just coffee,” he smirked suggestively.
“And I’m out for real,” Shirota’s teasing died out, because there was still only so much he could handle. There were moments when he was doing just fine - Jin was his best friend, and he kind of even liked Kame, after all -, but then he reached a certain point and fell back to simply not understanding.
Only then Yoko stood up too.
He wasn’t as talkative as the others, which usually put him into a corner during their banters, but it was fine, really fine, because the little distance gave him a chance to observe and see things the others were oblivious of for one reason or another. Like that, he could understand certain situations better, could read people and their intentions.
“We will be going then,” Yamapi announced when Shirota finally opened the door. The autumn afternoon air slipped into the room. It was still nothing, just the weird, uncertain time between summer and autumn when not even the weather itself knew what to do and temperature was jumping up and down overnight. “See you, guys.”
Kame raised a hand for a little wave, while Jin struggled to get up and see the guys off, poking Ryo and Yamapi to get them out of the door.
“Is everything alright?” Kame asked Yoko, noticing the other’s look.
The question made Yamapi halt in the middle of his step. “What? Why shouldn’t be?”
“Nothing, I’m just asking. Is it not allowed now?”
“Everything seems to be just the way it should be,” Yoko said. The words seemed to be just enough of an answer for Yamapi, because the next moment he followed Ryo and Shirota outside. However, Kame wasn’t as satisfied; rather the opposite, actually.
He glanced over to where Jin was standing in the door, talking about something with Ryo, and shifted to the very edge of the bed to stand up.
“Yoko…”
“It’s nothing, Kame. Everything is just the way it should be, and I can’t see any danger coming. For now, I can’t see anything, in fact.”
Kame frowned. “And that’s a good thing?”
“For all I know it may mean that Destiny has been fulfilled and for now there’s nowhere else to go You and Jin are fine, aren’t you?” Yoko raised an eyebrow and gave a little nod towards Jin’s back.” When Kame nodded (unable to stop a grin spreading over his face), Yoko raised a hand and patted his shoulder. “You have nothing to worry about then.”
Only then there was finally a smile curling the corners of Kame’s lips slightly up. Nothing much, not a happy smile of someone who had been completely reassured, nowhere near that, but Kame could work with Yoko’s words, could accept them and do his best to believe.
The next moment it almost seemed like Yoko would add something else, but he didn’t. There was nothing else to add after all.
Yoko’s power was the most fragile among them all. Yet, at the same time, the things Yoko could see were unbreakable. Unchangeable. No one could fight his own Destiny.
Destiny had its own ways.
Yoko could warn them when necessary, but in the end, they had to meet whatever was waiting for them in the future.
Kame wanted to ask if it was really okay when Yoko couldn’t see a damn thing, but he kept quiet. What did he know about Yoko’s power anyway. If Yoko said things were alright, they must have been.
“Thanks, Yoko.”
Another pat of Yoko’s hand on Kame’s shoulder. “Don’t let Jin off your sight. You know how easily he falls into troubles,” Yoko chuckled. “And that’s just a statement, no power involved.”
“Oi! I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Jin pouted. He had parted with the others already and overheard the end of Yoko and Kame’s conversation. And felt a bit aggrieved.
“Of course you are.” Kame approached Jin, wrapped his arms around Jin’s neck and gave the other a peck on a cheek. “But me watching over you requires me being around, so maybe you wouldn’t mind too much…”
A frown was back between Jin’s brows, but this time it was more caused by the fury of thinking about Kame’s words. “Smartass,” Jin stuck his tongue when the whole point finally sank in. “In that case, you are bound to watch over me forever.”
“Forever has become much longer than it used to be. With that power of yours,” Yoko noted, then grinned and walked out of the door.
Shirota had been already gone, and the engine of Ryo’s car was running. Yoko waved at the leaving guys, as he wasn’t joining them until later. He was on the way over to the nearest train station and then home.
Jin and Kame waited until Ryo and Yamapi disappeared behind a corner of the street, and then Jin let the door fall shut.
“Hi there,” he grinned at Kame who was just standing there when Jin turned around.
Finally alone. He had been looking forward to Friday afternoon since Wednesday when he had dropped by the café for a double latté to go and a very short make out with Kame in the storage room. Jin had had more thorough intentions originally (something that might have included Kame bent over one of the lower shelves at the very back), but the place had been packed, and soon Kame’s colleague had been calling Kame to come back and help him with tables.
An interruption that had done nothing to improve Jin’s judgment about the guy. Ohkura Tadayoshi had been a thorn in Jin’s side ever since the first day. There was no particular reason though. Ohkura was friendly and seemed to be nice. He and Kame got along well, at work and also after their work hours. Which was all good, because Kame liked his job; even once or twice mentioned he might like to open his own café someday.
Kame working at the café had many advantages as well. First of all, it was a safe place for Jin and his friends to meet, other than Jin’s bedroom, because Jin’s bedroom was becoming more and more inconvenient when Jin’s parents happened to be home - and even more, when Jin’s younger brother Reio had returned from his studies overseas. Jin liked his brother, but there were things he couldn’t simply tell Reio. Things Reio couldn’t get to know.
”Hey, lil’ bro, remember the times you were late even though you left home on time? Yeah, that was kind of me.”
No, Jin had no intentions to go there.
“You won’t be mad at Shirota, right?” Kame asked carefully. He brought his hands up to Jin’s shoulders, smoothed the fabric of the shirt Jin was wearing, and then his restless fingers found their way up to Jin’s neck to toy with dark curls of Jin’s hair. Jin had been talking about a haircut for weeks by now, but hadn’t gotten around visiting a hairdresser yet - which Kame was secretly thankful for, because he liked the feeling of his fingers slipping through the heavy strands.
Jin shrugged. “Like I said, you are here. I don’t mind.” He pulled Kame closer by his hips. A gentle encouragement to take a step forward, and Kame complied.
“Do you mind I told him not to do it again?”
“It could save you a lot of time,” Jin’s voice was suggestive, and his hands caressed Kame’s hips and lightly kneaded his ass.
“Yamapi doesn’t like it.”
“Yamapi doesn’t need to know,” Jin leaned in to brush his lips against Kame’s forehead. “And if you ask Yu to teleport you here and there, it won’t be like he would be doing it against your will, right?”
Hearing the proposal, Kame made a face and looked down to avoid direct contact with Jin’s face. “I don’t think he would agree to do it,” he mumbled, remembering Shirota’s words about not having brought Kame over because of Jin and… well, them. Shirota’s intentions were everything but to support their relationship.
“It’s fine, Jin, really. Taking the train to get here is not so bad. And if everything goes well, I could soon save up enough to buy a car.”
Jin’s hands stopped moving. “I thought you wanted to use the money on school. Your baseball stipendium-”
“It was a stupid idea,” Kame shook his head and slipped out of Jin’s reach.
The moment between them was broken.
Jin stared.
“No, really,” Kame shrugged; he didn’t even need to fake nonchalance, because he meant each and every word. “I’ve always known I’m not a type to have an academic career, and if I haven’t made it big with baseball yet, there are hardly chances to become a pro.” Were they really going to discuss this now? Just like that? The afternoon really wasn’t going the way he had pictured it. First the involuntary jumps from one location to another and now this. And he couldn’t be even mad at Jin for pushing him into the talk, because in fact, Jin wasn’t being nosy or obtrusive. He had just asked. The reason for Kame to just spill out everything was really simple: he had wanted to tell Jin for a while already.
Since July when he had started taking more shifts at the café and occasionally skipped an afternoon baseball practice.
“Kazu…”
Kame looked up and smiled. “It’s not the end of the world.”
Jin nodded. He might be clueless at times, or other times he might be thinking of all the wrong things, but he was not stupid (in spite of everything his friends would say about him for teasing purposes), and this was not the right moment for this discussion. Friday afternoon that had finally come after two (almost three) days without seeing each other, should be reserved for other things.
And Jin didn’t even know why he asked, “Have you thought about what you would do? After graduation, I mean.”
Graduation. Right. The winter would come and go, and then there would be final exams and the ceremony. And Kame would be not playing baseball anymore. Not the way he used to want.
“I like it at the café.” He swayed on his feet and played with the bottom hem of his shirt to occupy his fingers. “And my parents don’t insist on a university anyway.”
Jin scratched his head. “Maybe we should…” He waved towards the door at the opposite side of the room. “You hungry? I guess Yu didn’t wait for you to be done with your lunch before stealing you and bringing you here.”
Kame blinked. The question came out of nowhere and caught him off guard. Weren’t they talking about-
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say no.”
“There should be some leftovers in the fridge.” Jin tugged at one of the loops on the waistband of Kame’s pants, dragging the other to the kitchen. “I can heat it, and I will also call Reio to find your bag and bring it here when his classes are over.”
Reio was now in the same class like Kame - and hated every single day when he had to get up and go to school, always complaining about how things were different in America and how he would go back at the first given chance.
“Thanks,” Kame mumbled.
(***)
Author: moon_catcher
Characters/Pairings: Akanishi Jin/Kamenashi Kazuya, Nishikido Ryo, Yamashita Tomohisa, Yokoyama Yuu, Akanishi Jin/Kuroki Meisa (sort of?), Shirota Yu/Kuroki Meisa, Ohkura Tadayoshi, Akanishi Reio, Takizawa Hideaki, mentioning of others…
Rating: NC-17
Warning: AU, cursing all the way, porn, randomness, messed up time traveling… did I mention randomness? Dubious pseudo-scientific explanations of… stuff. Possible little inconsistence with the previous instalments because I fail.
Summary: After everything Jin and Kame went through, one would think their lives would finally settle. Maybe even literally. That’s until 1) Yamapi loses his power, and 2) Kame disappears. Neither is a good sign. Will Jin keep trying to find Kame or will he give up eventually and take a different path in his life? A path that leads to a life without Kame? How will Pi deal with being just an ordinary guy? hint: he won’t :| And where has Kame disappeared to?
A/N: First of all, this whole mess is for karilly, all 86+k of it, because she can’t shut up about this verse. #karimademedoit
It's a finished story and updates should be coming more or less smoothly.
[more notes you may want to acknowledge]Next thing, you should probably have read the previous instalments if you have plans to read this one, as there are mentions of major events from the past stories. Though you should be also warned that I suffer the worst case of memory fail, so it’s possible certain details are inconsistent. Oups.
(Almost) Heroes MASTERPOST
I’d also like to mention this story was plotted and outlined back in 2011/early 2012, and looking back, I kind of feel like a prophet. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you reach it. /shot
“Not again, please!” Yamapi reached for the first harmless object he could find around, a big plushy turtle lying on the corner of the bed closest to the chair he was sitting on, and threw it at his best friend. “Akanishi, we already talked about this, didn’t we?” He knew his complaints, no matter how loud and relevant, had near to no chance to be heard out when it came down to Jin, though.
And - or - to Kame.
The very same Kame who had appeared in the room out of nowhere just now, materializing on Jin’s lap. Barefoot. Wearing jeans and an unbuttoned shirt. His hair wet. And if Kame hadn’t been straddling Jin’s lap with his back turned to Yamapi, Pi would have been able to see the confused surprise written all over the young guy’s pretty face.
However, Yamapi could see nothing but the back of Kame’s head, dark hair curling just above his neck, his back clothed in a beige-colored shirt, and Jin’s hands placed on Kame’s ass, holding him at place.
Damn Akanishi must have been just ready to put his hands there when pushing the time forward.
It wasn’t the first time something like this happened, after all.
Akanishi was helpless. Really.
His fucking hormones had most probably cost Yamapi - as well as the others and the rest of the world - a couple of hours, maybe even days, of their lives so far, with all the time jumps Jin did just because he was too impatient to wait for Kame to arrive on his own. Yamapi wasn’t amused. He would have to find a way to get back on Jin someday. The sooner the better. For the sake of the world peace and starving children in Africa… and puppies, naturally.
“We do love to see Kazuya and he is a part of the gang, of course,” Yamapi kept rambling, oblivious of the looks his other friends present in Jin’s room at the moment were sending him. “But you can’t just shift with time all you want to have him here already! I’m sure Kame can survive an hour without your hands groping him!”
The turtle hit Kame’s nape and fell down on the floor. Not expecting the attack, Kame instinctively leaned forward upon the soft stroke; his forehead bumping into Jin’s.
“Ouch.”
“Sorry. Meant to hit Akanishi,” Yamapi smirked, noticing the grim look Jin was giving him over Kame’s shoulder.
Kame blinked, disorientated and taken aback, because Jin’s face was the last thing he had expected to see in the following approximately ninety minutes - having been standing in the gym dressing room just a second ago. In school. More than a couple of blocks away from Jin’s bedroom. And Jin’s lap. Kame frowned, quickly realizing the situation and what must have happened.
Akanishi Jin and his power were so fucking unbelievable at times!
“That has been at least an hour that I’ll never get back,” Yamapi pouted. “Really, I thought we had a deal not to use our powers on anyone in this room.”
That finally brought Yamapi the attention he had been seeking.
“Of course we do!” Ryo agreed promptly.
The quick reaction - and even more, a positive one supporting his opinion - made Yamapi grin. It was kind of unexpected to have Nishikido on his side so promptly, but right now Yamapi wasn’t going to question Ryo’s motives. Not at all. It was such a rare moment when Ryo was actually siding him right from the start instead of showing off his usual spiteful nature -
“If we didn’t,” Ryo kept going though, as if to prove Yamapi’s string of thoughts wrong and once again remind everyone of his sharp tongue and characteristic approach to the matters of being best friends, “you would get into the head of any of us for some fucking stupid joke, after all.”
“Wha-” Yamapi’s eyes bulged out and not having been for Yoko and Shirota sitting between him and Ryo’s place, Yamapi would have swooped at Ryo, punching and strangling. “Fuck you!”
“What? Ain’t I right?” Ryo pursed his lips, playing innocent while looking around for support from the others.
Yamapi wasn’t buying it, as expected. “Of course not. I do not do that!”
His shriek earned him a raised eyebrow from Jin; a snicker from Kazuya, muffled in Jin’s shoulder where Kame had buried his face in order not to laugh out loud; Yoko’s indifferent expression (only because the eldest among them always knew better than take sides in such discussions bordering with stupidity); and a pat on his upper arm from Shirota who, completely uncharacteristically for him since he was always just about ready to oppose anything Nishikido said, now kept his mouth shut and eyes lowered to the floor. That alone should have told Yamapi something was fishy.
Sadly, it didn’t.
Among all shiny character traits Yamashita Tomohisa possessed, an ability to think straight when heated up in fret sadly was not one included.
All Yamapi could comprehend at the moment was the fact that Nishikido was - once again - teasing him and the others, the so called best friends for life and beyond, were siding the little fucker instead of Yamapi. Who actually deserved sympathy so much more!
He did not misuse his mind reading power on them. Neither did he as much as attempt to influence their decisions…
… recently.
Unobtrusively poking Jin into agreeing on going to watch a movie of Pi’s choice a couple of weeks ago didn’t count of course. It was more like helping Akanishi see the light of good European cinematography instead of spending money on watching yet another lame American action movie. Yamapi had his priorities set right, after all. The deal didn’t say anything about saving his friends from their own bad taste in movies.
Jin hadn’t found out anyway.
Else Yamapi would have already lived a happy peasant life somewhere in the fifteenth-century Portugal. Just because Yamapi didn’t know a shit about Portugal or fifteenth century, and would have died there if not in hours, then days for sure.
No, Jin didn’t know - and certainly didn’t have even the slightest suspicion either - what had been behind his urgent need to watch an independent movie from a country that probably hadn’t yet existed when both of them had been born.
That meant Ryo had no right for his accusation.
The obvious injustice pissed Yamapi off.
Would anyone notice if Nishikido suddenly craved a year long trip around the world? Because that might be arranged and would give Yamapi some 365 days of blissful peace.
Yamapi wasn’t a bit bothered by Ryo’s power, anyway.
What could Ryo possibly do to him? Write him some fucked up future?
Tsk.
Not when Yamapi had the power to persuade Nishikido to write him a nice, shiny life within an eyewink. And Ryo wouldn’t even know what and how it would happen.
Yamapi overlooked the room one more time and pouted.
He couldn’t believe they all conspired against him. And obviously, Ryo wasn’t done yet - as if he hadn’t done already enough.
“Of course you do!” Ryo stuck his tongue at Yamapi.
“Watch your tone.”
The turtle was lying on the floor and Yamapi made a poor attempt to reach for it, thinking of assaulting Ryo this time.
Despite the conversation taking an amusing direction, Jin cared more about Kazuya whose body unconsciously shifted closer, arms wound around Jin’s torso and fingers drawing random shapes all over Jin’s back. The touch was unintentional and Kame must have had no idea about the caressing. His body just naturally reacted to Jin being there. As always.
It had been two years since his dream had come true and Jin had not only acknowledged Kazuya’s existence but also had surrendered to his own feelings so the two of them could get together. And ever since the moment, it had felt like they couldn’t get enough of each other, making up for all the time before.
With Jin’s power, catching up on all the lost time wasn’t really impossible, after all.
Kame sighed, puffing hot breath into Jin’s shoulder. His finger gave a little tug on Jin’s t-shirt while slowly running up. The skin underneath was warm and smooth, enticing Kame to slip the hand down again, this time doing so fully aware of his action. When his palm made contact with Jin’s back, fingers spreading to feel as much of the smoothness as possible, Kame felt Jin turning his head and making him look at the other. Their faces got so close they could share the same air, and Kame gulped, once again taken aback in only a few moments.
The effect Jin had on him was still something Kame couldn’t quite put a finger on. It was like being dragged by a wild river, and he couldn’t do anything else but let his whole existence be carried away by the stream. He knew nothing bad would happen to him. Just because Jin was by his side.
Akanishi Jin was his fate.
Whatever would happen, there would be a reason behind it.
Not even Death could tear them apart.
It had already tried and failed. Because Kame wasn’t useless, wasn’t weak as he used to think back in times. He had a power to bring Jin back to him. He had fought Death and won Jin back. And he would do it all over again if he had to. Nothing could come and stand in the way when the two of them wanted to be together.
They were meant to be, just like Kame had always wished, and just like Yokoyama had said.
After everything that had happened a few months ago, when Jin had died and Kame had brought him back to life; there was hardly anything to be afraid of.
Yet their kisses always kind of felt like being the last one. Intense, hungry, making their blood boil and toes curl, robbing them of their breath and sanity. Sweeping them away from reality. Taking them to a place that was theirs and only theirs.
For the first time since Kame had found himself sitting on Jin’s lap a while ago, the hold of his hand around the other tightened. Jin craned forward a bit and pressed a kiss on Kame’s lips, pulled away for only as long as to look at Kame with a mischievous, happy grin, and then was kissing him again. The voices around them stopped being important; just their friends having a pointless argument that would fade away sooner or later, because none of them was able to stay angry for long - and their ability to stay on topic for more than a few word exchanges was quite lousy. Jin could tell, after all, he himself not being any better. The only one with an acceptable level of attention was Yoko, but Yoko rarely really participated in all the bickering that was often going on.
Jin sucked Kazuya’s lip into his mouth, playing with it, licking over the soft pillow until it got all red and swollen and Kame was silently moaning and trying to pull away.
As expected though, Jin didn’t let him, enjoying the little protest and taking advantage of Kame’s mouth opening wider to deepen the kiss.
They soon got lost in tasting each other, in the sensational game of lips meeting lips and tongues leisurely poking and rubbing, licking and teasing.
Kazuya’s eyelashes fluttered and he pecked Jin’s lips one more time, a happy grin all over his face. Jin was looking at him, eyes dark and focused solely on Kame.
“What’s your goddamn problem, Pi?” Shirota asked after having been dragged into the conversation against his will, with Yamapi suddenly making remarks also on him and his teleportation.
Yamapi never knew when to stop, really.
“Mine?” Pi squealed. “It’s you,” he pointed at a general direction of Shirota and Yoko - as if Yoko had also participated in the quarrel - then turned at Ryo, “and you, too, who always say we should not use our powers on each other!” A pout. “But now I see, Akanishi is a fucking exception, right?”
Sometimes, Yamapi was like a wounded animal, kicking and lashing out. He rarely meant it though.
“Akanishi’s only business is to get into Kazuya’s pants, he doesn’t threaten you anyhow, Pi,” Ryo noted, not affected by anything Yamapi had said. “Whatever he does with his power doesn’t concern you -”
“His fucking time jumps do concern me!”
Kazuya took a deep breath, his forehead resting against Jin’s.
Yamapi’s whining was kind of irritating.
“He keeps robbing me of moments I’ll never get back and some of those actually might be important! But that apparently doesn’t bother anyone. Of course, let’s all blame poor Yamapi for nothing instead!” Yamapi pouted.
“Since when exactly is your life so full of important moments, mind telling me?” Jin smirked and busied himself with pushing his hands into the back pockets of Kame’s jeans, getting a better access to kneading Kame’s ass and pushing Kame down on his lap. Letting Kame know that their seating arrangements were not leaving him unaffected.
Well, he did try to get into Kazuya’s pants at any and every given chance after all. Ryo was pretty much right about this.
Kame gasped. Jin’s slowly awakening erection fitted perfectly against his crotch, he could feel it hardening against his balls through two layers of denim. Why did there still have to be so many people around?
He might have not really planned to be with Jin so soon today, but he was not going to complain either.
“It has always been but you have been too focused on your libido to notice,” Yamapi huffed. This discussion was not at all going in the direction it should have.
“Now this is getting interesting.” Amused as not in a long time, Shirota comfortably leaned back, folded his arms at his chest and with a grin was watching the scene unfolding in front of him. It was better than a movie, really. He could only guess how long it would take for Yamapi to explode.
Jin groaned. “Don’t be ridiculous, Pi.”
“I am not being ridiculous, asshole. I’m just saying… When was the last time you cared about something else than your time shenanigans to get into Kame’s pants?”
“Hey,” Kame pouted, but his protests weren’t - and couldn’t be - very forcible when there were Jin’s hands groping his ass through his pants, and Jin’s cock swelling under him and making his shiver in anticipation. And he was not exactly fighting against any of it.
As much as he liked the others and had fun in their company, there were times when he would rather prefer having them gone.
“My time-what?” Jin shrieked, annoyed and feeling like there was a reason to defend himself.
Yamapi rolled his eyes and pointed at Kame, giving Jin a meaningful look. “Or do you want to tell me that I just fell asleep for an hour or so and woke up to this? Fuck you.”
Finally Jin understood.
With all the time in the world at his hand, Jin could afford being a bit slower at times. To his defense though, following the conversation would have been difficult even without a certain Kamenashi on his lap.
In the end, the realization made Jin only more confused. “Are you hinting that I’ve shifted time to get Kame here?”
“Hinting? Now who is the ridiculous one here,” Yamapi snorted. “You could have at least let him dress, but no, it’s surely easier this way. Less clothes to take off. You know what, Jin? Next time you could move us all to the moment when we don’t have to see it anymore.”
Jin’s grip around Kame tightened. “Shut up, Yamashita, I did not time jump at all just now!”
“Why should I believe you?” Yamapi snapped, but then there was something about the whole situation and Kame looked just as confused as everyone when he had appeared in the room… and even Jin had actually looked like he had not been expecting his boyfriend materializing on his lap so soon.
“Because I’m telling the truth. Fuck.”
Yamapi opened his mouth with another retort almost slipping off his tongue, but he swallowed it all. And blinked. “You… did not…?”
“Wait, it was not you?” That was Kame who momentarily forgot about being horny and having an equally horny Akanishi under him.
Jin shook his head. “I certainly don’t mind having you here more than an hour earlier, but despite someone’s stupid suspicions, I didn’t do anything. This time. Look.” He thrust a hand with his big white wristwatch into Kame’s face. “Still the same time. No jumping. Upon my life.”
“Not so convincing when Kamenashi’s tongue can bring you back,” Ryo muttered, but it was just that. Teasing. He couldn’t have let the chance slip when it offered itself, could he?
“Asshole,” Yamapi punched Ryo’s shoulder.
They would be hearing about Kamenashi’s magical tongue for the rest of their life, wouldn’t they? No matter how old the joke might eventually get, one of them would always bring it back at some point anyway.
Kame frowned then.
The time hadn’t jumped indeed. Jin was innocent - this time. However, that didn’t solve the question of how had he gotten over here.
“Shut up, you two,” Jin growled.
Just a moment ago, all he had cared about was the taste of Kame’s lips and the perfect feeling of his hands kneading Kame’s ass, and impatience to get the others out of the door as soon as possible; and now he was confused and thinking, because Kame was here and Jin only now realized that he wasn’t the one who had brought Kame over here. Kame hadn’t come through the door either. Kame had just happened here.
And for someone to just appear somewhere out of nowhere was more than suspicious even in their world.
Actually, in their world of supernatural - of mind reading and teleportation, foretelling and writing one’s own future - for someone to just appear somewhere was suspicious and potentially dangerous.
Kame pulled away; looked at Jin, and this time the need from before was shadowed by confusion and questions no one knew the answers for. “What’s going on?” he asked anyway, shifting to slip off Jin’s lap and sit down next to him. Jin’s hand just naturally found its way to Kame’s thigh and rested there. Kame didn’t seem to protest, either because he was already used to Jin touching him all the time, or because his head was occupied with other things.
With things and questions of how and why, and who.
“I swear it was not me,” Jin blurted out in defense, somehow expecting for his friends to start blaming him all over again as always. Well, at least Yamapi might do just so, even if only to repeat his preachment about Jin stealing his time and ruining his life, and all the usual shit.
However, Jin being innocent this time didn’t solve the main problem.
He was happy for having Kame here more than an hour earlier than the original plan was, but at the same time, Kame being here was suspicious.
“Maybe you did it unconsciously?” Ryo offered. “Maybe your pants were making decisions for you and you would never get to know.”
“There’s Kamenashi sitting where he shouldn’t be, and you think Jin would not notice?” Yamapi scoffed. His eyes were watching Jin rather closely, to the point where Jin uncomfortably fidgeted around and quickly thought of one of his wild fantasies regarding Kame - if Yamapi was in his head, this image might get him the fuck out of there. Yamapi didn’t flinch though, clearly unaffected by the porn rolling on inside Jin’s head; and Jin hissed, because now he had more than one problem to solve.
The thought that should have hinted Yamapi to fuck off, now made Jin horny as hell and had him crave tying Kame up and sucking him off the whole night.
“Kame is sitting exactly where he should,” Jin snapped back.
Yamapi pouted. “Whatever. You know what I mean.”
“Maybe it’s not just Jin having a superpower now,” Ryo said, not even trying to sound serious because his own grin betrayed him right from the start, “maybe Jin’s pants possess a power to summon Kamenashi from anywhere.”
“That’s not funny.” Kame frowned and glanced over at Ryo who was on the verge of a snickering fit.
“Seriously, Nishikido?” Jin groaned. “That’s your best shot?”
What the fuck was this? An afternoon of let’s make fun of Jin? Jin overlooked his friends sitting around the room, and suddenly wanted to kick them out one by one for real. They went from fun to annoying in a span of two seconds. His head was not catching up, and he knew it was just a matter of time when they would notice and mock him for that.
“Kame somehow appeared here and you all know we should look into it.” To Jin’s surprise, Yamapi seemed like he was actually willing to accept the option that Jin had nothing to do with this.
Well, he was willing to accept it as one of the options, but he wasn’t striking the others off the list. Just yet.
“We definitely should,” Shirota finally nodded, letting them know he was still present and even paying attention to the whole situation and its seriousness. “It could be the end of the world, or something. We can’t just-”
Yoko glanced over at him, his expression unchanged.
“Oh man, no more ends of the world, please!” Jin groaned again, this time even more frustrated than before, if something like that was even possible, and let his body fall backwards on the bed. His attempt to pull Kame along didn’t work though, and Kame just looked down at him. “I’m not saving anything anymore.”
“It was fun last time,” Ryo said promptly. “And we found out the powers are way cooler than we thought. - And maybe that’s where also your pants gained their own power…”
Yamapi jumped up. He ignored Ryo’s remark about Jin’s pants because that one was childish and stupid and ridiculous, and they didn’t have time for any of that. There were priorities. “My power was always cool.”
Jin’s head lifted only so much for Jin to give both Ryo and Yamapi a rather judging glance. “Do I need to remind any of you that the last time we were saving something I fucking died?”
“And Kazuya saved you!” Ryo whined. “Remember? His tongue, your mouth? Me needing a psychologist for the rest of my life?”
Jin collapsed back on the bed, shaking his head. It’s been a few months already since he had tripped and fallen off a window in the second floor, landed on his back and suffered fatal injuries. - Instinctively, Jin brought a hand to the small of Kame’s back and brushed his fingers up and down the shirt loosely covering smooth, warm skin. Kame still felt like a shower and a shower gel, and Jin wanted to bury his face in his chest and inhale. - He would have been dead had it not been for Kame bringing him back to life. With a kiss.
Another reason to like Kame’s kisses. Jin had liked kissing Kame, and being kissed by Kame, already before - most likely from their very first kiss, on the beach, with a bonfire burning hot right next to them. It had been like they had been drawn to each other. And in a way, they had been indeed.
Yokoyama called it Destiny.
And after a long time of struggling for one reason or another, Jin was starting to believe it as well. He and Kame belonged together.
Destiny indeed.
“That’s what you say now,” Kame smirked. “Wait for if you ever need reviving as well, you will beg for my kiss.”
Jin perked up, eyes wide. “And you are not getting any!” He pulled Kame close and held him. “You are not kissing Nishikido.”
“Hey, you would let me die?” Ryo yelped, feeling offended even though he really hoped he would never get so close to death to actually need Kamenashi kiss him. “Thanks a lot, asshole. I thought we were friends.”
Jin struggled to prop himself on his elbows, as it was easier to look at Ryo from that position than while lifting only his head. “We are, but you are not getting to kiss Kame. Ever.”
“Whoa, someone is jealous,” Yamapi noted.
“I am not.”
The mumbled statement made Kame chuckle and pat Jin’s thigh. Jin caught his hand and held it. Kame didn’t seem to mind, but then he felt Jin tugged and pulled, maneuvering his hand a bit higher and further to where Kame’s palm brushed over a soft bulge of Jin’s cock.
Kame tried to pull his hand away; in vain.
“Jin,” he hissed.
They had other things to do, business to deal with, a mystery to solve - they needed to find out what had happened and why Kame had relocated from the school gym locker room over here to Jin’s bedroom before they would start something… because what if it hadn’t been an isolated case, what if Kame would disappear in the middle of things and appear horny and naked back at school?
He didn’t even want to think about the cheerleaders training that usually happened in the evening in the gym…
“If you two are going to…you know…fuck-” Shirota raised a brow.
Kame finally got his hand out of Jin’s grip. “We are not. Well, not now.” He curled his fingers into a fist; the feeling of Jin’s swelling cock still tingling on the skin of his palm. Self-control was something he might have kind of lost over the time he and Jin had been together. “There are more important things…”
“Really?” Jin pinched Kame’s hip, almost victoriously finding a bit of skin peeking out between Kame’s low riding pants and the shirt that Kame actually tried to button up at some point that Jin must have missed, being preoccupied otherwise.
“Yes. Really.”
“Name one,” Jin challenged him.
Normally, Kame would have been all up for a game or teasing their friends, but now not so much, because he was here even though all the reason in the whole world was telling him he should have been only on his way over here by now, so in conclusion, something was fishy and despite the usual lack of concentration on one important point among this group, they really needed to find out the source of the problem.
Well, maybe not exactly problem. Teleporting to Jin could be hardly considered a problem, when being with Jin was something Kame craved above everything else.
But when the teleportation part happened at all random, it might be a problem…
Jin hooked a finger at the belt holding Kame’s pants at place. “Come on, how about keeping our noses out of this this time?”
“Is there any more old friends of yours who I should know about?” Kame asked all serious, not only Jin but also the others.
The last time they had run into troubles, or better to say, when troubles had run into them, it was all because a childhood friend of Jin’s, or better to say, a kindergarten companion and a weirdo, had held a grudge against Jin and wanted a revenge.
And honestly, with Jin’s attitude, chances were there might be more people like Ninomiya Kazunari and Matsumoto Jun. It was actually a miracle that they weren’t running into those at every corner. All the girls Jin had been with and then had ignored afterwards, all the guys who had wanted those girls but Jin had been faster and better looking and having more charm; or those who didn’t like Jin for no particular reason - and here Kame had no doubt the group was pretty big, because Jin was simply the kind of person who one either liked or hated, nothing in between. All of them represented a potential danger. A threat lurking in the shadows.
There used to be times when Kame had thought they might have been a threat also for him, for everything he had with Jin - particularly the female part of the numerous group -, but those days were over.
He and Jin were together.
“I don’t think so.” Jin shook his head. Ryo and Yamapi actually joined him in all seriousness.
Kame’s eyes shifted to Shirota.
Shirota looked at him back. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” Shirota shrugged. “Like I’ve done something wrong.”
He got up and walked towards the back door leading directly to the street, unlike the door on the opposite side of the room that led further into the Akanishi house. Back in the day, Jin used to be afraid of the other door so much that his father had to put a heavy bookcase in front of it, so no stranger could have sneaked into Jin’s room at night and kidnap him; however, once having reached puberty, Jin had soon realized how actually useful the door to the street might be. The book case had been removed into the garage, the lock changed, and Jin didn’t need to worry about his late night returns home anymore
“Kazu?” Jin was frowning, because Kame kept looking at Shirota and Shirota was on the way out even though they still didn’t know anything, and what the hell was going on here?
After a moment Kame smiled. “Sorry.”
Content with how the situation calmed down, Jin shifted, wrapped his hands around Kame’s waist and held him; it wasn’t difficult, because Kame wasn’t struggling this time, and his skin was warm and no one had teleported anywhere in the last fifteen minutes so maybe everything was back to normal and they didn’t need to solve another mystery. There was no world ending, and no freaks seeking absurd revenges. They could go on with their lives, everyone could go home, and he and Kame could finally get rid of their clothes… or at least some of their clothes; if the others didn’t leave soon, Jin might become too impatient and jump Kazuya the moment the door would fall shut, not giving a fuck about details as clothes.
Jin pulled Kame’s shirt a little up and pressed a kiss to the revealed skin on his side.
Kame writhed, because the touch was tickling him.
And-
“You two seriously can’t help it, can you?” Shirota groaned, palming his face. “I didn’t bring Kamenashi over here to give you a sooner chance for fucking.”
“Then why did you bring him here?” Yamapi’s question slipped out, coming like the most natural reaction.
Ryo choked. “You did what?”
“All of you should have seen yourselves when he suddenly appeared here,” Shirota’s frustration lightened up a bit, because the sudden confession had almost better effect than the action itself. Yamapi and Ryo were staring at him in confusion, Kame was kind of unreadable at the moment but Shirota knew there was no thread to come from that direction, and Jin seemed to be still too preoccupied with nibbling at Kame’s hip. Shirota shook his head.
Had there ever be the end of the world to come for real, Akanishi Jin would miss it, having his eyes only for Kamenashi.
Shirota rolled his eyes. They could call themselves lucky that there was no real danger this time.
Only Yokoyama stayed calm as usually. “Well, that explains why I haven’t seen any danger coming.”
“Neither have I,” Ryo quickly nodded. Since the moment his power had turned out to be of a great use after all, he hadn’t missed a single moment to remind everyone of his future-writing (and occasionally future-creating) ability. No one could say anymore that Nishikido Ryo and his power were not relevant. They fucking were.
He had learnt to love his power so much that now he could easily compete with Yamapi at who the one cherishing his power the most was among them.
“Why would you even…?” Ryo scratched his head. “You don’t even like Kame.”
Kame stiffened.
His relationship with Shirota was still something fragile. Shirota tolerated him now, or rather, Shirota tolerated Kame being with Jin. Chances were that had Kame not been dating Jin, he and Shirota would have gotten along with each other just fine.
Shirota looked at him. “That’s not true. Kame is cool.”
“You have no idea…” Jin mumbled. It almost looked like he had been completely unaware of what was going on and what Shirota had just admitted. His fingers started fumbling with the opening of Kame’s pants, and Kame mindlessly slapped his hand. As expected, it didn’t stop Jin at all.
“So it was you?” Kame asked, his confusion fading away. At least they were in no danger.
Just because he could bring Jin back didn’t mean he ever wanted a repeat of losing him.
“Who else?” Shirota shrugged, again, this time the gesture held more nonchalance. Okay, Kame wasn’t mad. Didn’t seem to be. Good sign. But then again, why should he be? Apparently, Shirota had sent him exactly where he wanted to be after all.
There was no reason for complaints.
Only not really.
“See? So much for the fucking agreement,” Yamapi whined; obviously, he was the one who got over the initial shock first, and was back to his usual litany. “It’s fucking okay for Jin to shift time, and it’s fucking fine for Yu to throw us around like damn ragdolls, but god help us when Yamapi uses his power for anything!”
“You can’t compare your power to me giving Kamenashi a lift though,” Shirota said calmly.
“A lift he didn’t ask for!”
Kame’s look flicked from Shirota to Yamapi and back. “Actually, I don’t really mind. I was on my way here anyway, so-”
“That is not the fucking point!” Yamapi yelped.
“If you expect me, or any of us, to give you a permission to get freely into our heads, then you are crazy.” Ryo shook his head. “Stay the fuck away from my brain.”
“As if I wanted to get into your head in the first place. There’s nothing worth my attention.”
“Oh shut up, Pi. I’m pretty sure you are fucking curious. Anyway, I think we should stick to the agreement. If Kame doesn’t mind being pushed and pulled by you two through time and space, then it’s his choice and we can make it an exception, but as far as I am concerned, I’d like to keep Pi-chan out of my head.”
Yamapi hissed. “Asshole.”
“Then we are settled,” Jin grinned, raising his head for a moment. He had managed to open Kame’s pants and now he really needed the others gone.
“Seriously? That’s it? We are settled? The fuck are we.”
“Pi, come on.”
Shirota nodded. “It was a joke. Not my fault none of you has understood it.”
“Pretty lame joke,” Yamapi muttered. The only fucking thing he didn’t understand here was why Kazuya didn’t mind what had happened. Well… fine. There was Jin’s hand reaching into his pants and Jin’s lips nipping at his hip, but… seriously? Was it really all that Kazuya needed to ignore that Shirota had manipulated him?
Of course, in fact, nothing too serious happened, and they all were just a step away from turning it into a joke indeed, but then what? How far could either of them go without crossing the line between a joke and not-a-joke-anymore? Their agreement about not using their powers against each other without the other’s consent existed for a reason.
Kazuya was now one of them. Not just because he had a power too, or because he was dating Jin, but because after everything that had happened with Ninomiya and Matsumoto a couple of months ago, Kame finally seemed to feel like a part of their little world. Like someone who belonged there, not just a random visitor who might be told to leave any time, so it would be better for him not to get used to it or too attached. Yamapi was really glad. He had always liked Kazuya; and in a way, he also liked the little changes that happened with Jin ever since the night he and Kazuya had met… well, gotten together.
And then suddenly Kame was the one speaking. “Pi is right. I mean, I don’t mind being spared a ride on the train over here once in a while, or…” There he quickly stopped, because explaining the advantages of Jin’s power was a road Kame was not willing to take, even though it was more than clear that the guys knew well anyway. “Or other things,” Kame said instead, earning himself a snort from Ryo and a view of Shirota once again rubbing his palm over his face. Jin patted his hip, apparently satisfied with Kame’s words; however, Kame hadn’t finished yet. “But Pi is right about the agreement. There shouldn’t be exceptions.”
“Thank you,” Yamapi smiled.
“You know what, Pi? Fuck you. Isn’t it always you who says we should enjoy the powers?” Shirota groaned.
It was one of those arguments that could go on and on; with no winner and no conclusion. They had been through this a hundred of times before, and would hit the same problem over and over again also in the future. The agreement was important to each and every one of them, no matter how annoying it might be at times, but at the same time, there was always way too much room for maneuvering around and bending their own words the way they needed at the moment.
“Hey!” Jin finally came to his senses and had had just enough of the crap going on in his room. “I think we are done here today, and if none of you has something better than this, we can as well call it a day and go home.”
“I thought we were heading to the club later this evening,” Shirota remembered, taken aback by Jin’s sudden rather wild entering the discussion. However, what else was to be expected when the discussed matter concerned Kamenashi for the bigger part?
Jin frowned. “Plans changed just now. I’m not going.”
“Come on. Had I known this would happen, I’d have never brought Kame over here.”
Kame sighed, making a last minute decision not to repeat the fact that he was glad for having been teleported over here. It was Friday afternoon and the whole city was most likely crowded as usually. Even if he had been on time to catch his train, he might have as well not gotten inside anyway. Shirota’s power was pretty handy at times. However, Kame had learnt his lesson a moment ago, and he was not going to tempt Yamapi’s nerves again.
He didn’t want to be an exception. In anything.
He wanted to be - was - one of them, and no matter how annoying it could be, he wanted to be treated that way too.
“You can take Ana,” Jin suggested.
Yu’s cute, and finally happily divorced, Spanish girlfriend had never managed to fit into their group, and as Ryo liked to point out, her being a girl wasn’t the main problem. The first weeks after her arrival to Japan, she had spent most of the time hiding in fear that her husband would have found her and taken her back to Europe. However, as the time had been passing and also after all formalities had been taken care of and she had become a free woman again, it turned out more than clear that she wasn’t the type to keep up with the way Shirota and his friends lived and enjoyed their lives. Partying wasn’t her cup of tea, as well as she didn’t really understand their usual sense of humor - the main problem being the language barrier. She wasn’t fluent in Japanese, and Shirota couldn’t spend all the time translating every word.
In spite of the obvious troubles, they all agreed, for Yu’s sake, they kind of liked Ana, though. She was even fun occasionally.
Shirota made a face, not really reacting to Jin’s words.
“What? I’m giving you an opportunity to spend time with your girlfriend,” Jin pouted.
“You are just giving yourself more time with Kazuya.”
Yamapi snorted. “Why should he? Jin doesn’t need to ditch friends to have time for dirty games in bed. He is the master of time.”
“Who said we would be playing in bed today?” Jin smirked - then groaned as Kame nudged him. They looked at each other, and ignoring Kame’s pretended annoyance, Jin quickly leaned in and pecked Kame’s pouty lips.
The almost innocent remark made Shirota groan, once again, and grab the doorknob. “And that’s been, gentlemen and gentlemen, a cue for my leave.”
“I’m going with you,” Ryo hurried to his feet and joined Shirota by the door. “Not eager to see your games anywhere, bed or not,” he made a face at Jin, and somehow that simple moment, the expression, drew a line behind the budding bitterness that had spread among them all.
“Just because you are jealous,” Jin smirked and pulled Kame close. “Don’t think I’ll forget about your plan to use Kazuya’s kisses in case of death. Not gonna happen.”
Ryo shook his head. “Of course not. I have no plan to die in the first place, so I’ll be just fine without Kame kissing me. Sorry, Kame.”
Kame smiled in response. “I’m not eager to kiss you either.”
“See, Akanishi? He is not eager, I am no eager -”
“The only one eager here is Jin,” Yamapi rolled his eyes. “Can we go now?”
“You are going, too?” Ryo was surprised at first, but then again, who would want to stay in the same room with Jin and Kame when it was more than clear what would happen once the door would close behind the leaving group.
Yamapi snatched his jacket, and on his way to the door bent down for the plushy turtle and tossed it at Jin, hitting the side of his face. “Watch your turtle.”
“You bet I will,” Jin grimaced at Pi, still holding Kame against his side. They had ended in a rather weird and not really comfortable position, half sitting, half lying, one of Kame’s legs bent under the other that was still touching the floor. He was twisted and locked in the grip of Jin’s arms, felt his body stiffening - not at the preferred places; and thanks god he had put on his underwear today else the others would have gotten a nice view of everything that was going on inside his now wide open pants. Kame was planning to get back on Jin for this. Soon. As soon as the guys would leave.
“Who wants a lift?” Ryo asked, shaking keys in his hand.
“Thanks, but hopefully I am still allowed to use my power myself,” Shirota said, stressing the words enough not to leave any doubt that there was an underlying message, more like a prod, for Yamapi, “which means I’m fine, and will catch you guys later in the club. If we are still going, that’s it.”
“Your nose is too big for my new car anyway,” Ryo brushed it off, trumping Shirota’s remark with one of his own.
They were definitely back to normal once again. The previous friction was pushed away, somewhere to the very back of their minds. It was not forgotten, not at all; as long as there were the powers and the deal, there would be also the everyday troubles caused by them. Temptation to use them freely growing stronger with every day passed, small sparks of envy here and there, because one’s power might be more handy at times than the other’s. It was not over; couldn’t be.
The powers both bound their friendship together and made them clash occasionally. It was an endless fight, but for now they were winning.
“Pi?” Ryo turned around, giving Yamapi the same offer.
And this time, it wasn’t refused.
“Room mate is out of the city, we can have a beer or two,” Yamapi added to Ryo’s suggestion, and met with immediate positive reaction.
“Deal.”
“So I guess we are not seeing you tonight.” Shirota was already twisting the doorbell, not yet tugging the door open though, when he asked, watching Jin and Kame. They were actually kind of cute; in that almost desperate way of not being able to move away from each other whenever they happened to be in the same room. He had known Jin for years by now, but it hadn’t been until Kame that this particular side of Jin got to shine. Who would have thought that Akanishi Jin might be an exemplary boyfriend material? A thought about Ana flashed through Shirota’s mind then, and he quickly shook it off. “At least there won’t be another commotion in the club -”
Ryo laughed and pointed at the two sitting on the bed.
“Hey,” Jin pouted. “There wasn’t a sign saying that I couldn’t take off his shirt.”
Kame instinctively pulled the parts of his open shirt together to cover himself; the memory too strong to ignore it.
It had been a couple of weeks ago, yet he still felt his cheeks burn while remembering their dance and how Jin’s hips humping against him on the dark dance floor had made him hard - and Jin had wanted to get him off right there and then. They had been lucky that they had been only asked to leave for that particular night instead of having been banned for good. Kame liked the club; had found liking in the atmosphere and even in the loud thumping music, even though he had never considered himself a party animal.
However, the Tokyo club scene was an important part of Jin’s world, and Kame wanted to know and experience everything.
In return, Jin attended every baseball match Kame either participated in or simply wanted to watch, spent nights lying on bed and watching television when Kame didn’t want to miss an important international broadcast.
Their lives had been mingling together more and more after the incident with Nino and Matsumoto, and Kame only slowly accepted that he hadn’t been dreaming anymore.
“Okay, guys, just remember - whatever you do, I sure as hell don’t need to know details,” Shirota said with a light tone.
Kame would almost swear that Shirota winked at him, and it made him intrigued. But then again, he and Shirota had been doing better, almost approaching something that could be called ‘friendship’. And today Shirota had teleported him here; well, the reasons were a bit shady and unclear, but they had brought Kame to Jin’s lap anyway.
Yamapi patted Shirota’s back. “Jin will gladly give you a report the first thing on Sunday. Does it still stand, actually? Sunday morning, at the café?”
“Yep,” Kame nodded. “I’m off and you all are my treat.”
“Fine,” Shirota chuckled, “you can keep him, Akanishi, he has coffee.”
Jin exhaled a short puff of air. “He has much more than just coffee,” he smirked suggestively.
“And I’m out for real,” Shirota’s teasing died out, because there was still only so much he could handle. There were moments when he was doing just fine - Jin was his best friend, and he kind of even liked Kame, after all -, but then he reached a certain point and fell back to simply not understanding.
Only then Yoko stood up too.
He wasn’t as talkative as the others, which usually put him into a corner during their banters, but it was fine, really fine, because the little distance gave him a chance to observe and see things the others were oblivious of for one reason or another. Like that, he could understand certain situations better, could read people and their intentions.
“We will be going then,” Yamapi announced when Shirota finally opened the door. The autumn afternoon air slipped into the room. It was still nothing, just the weird, uncertain time between summer and autumn when not even the weather itself knew what to do and temperature was jumping up and down overnight. “See you, guys.”
Kame raised a hand for a little wave, while Jin struggled to get up and see the guys off, poking Ryo and Yamapi to get them out of the door.
“Is everything alright?” Kame asked Yoko, noticing the other’s look.
The question made Yamapi halt in the middle of his step. “What? Why shouldn’t be?”
“Nothing, I’m just asking. Is it not allowed now?”
“Everything seems to be just the way it should be,” Yoko said. The words seemed to be just enough of an answer for Yamapi, because the next moment he followed Ryo and Shirota outside. However, Kame wasn’t as satisfied; rather the opposite, actually.
He glanced over to where Jin was standing in the door, talking about something with Ryo, and shifted to the very edge of the bed to stand up.
“Yoko…”
“It’s nothing, Kame. Everything is just the way it should be, and I can’t see any danger coming. For now, I can’t see anything, in fact.”
Kame frowned. “And that’s a good thing?”
“For all I know it may mean that Destiny has been fulfilled and for now there’s nowhere else to go You and Jin are fine, aren’t you?” Yoko raised an eyebrow and gave a little nod towards Jin’s back.” When Kame nodded (unable to stop a grin spreading over his face), Yoko raised a hand and patted his shoulder. “You have nothing to worry about then.”
Only then there was finally a smile curling the corners of Kame’s lips slightly up. Nothing much, not a happy smile of someone who had been completely reassured, nowhere near that, but Kame could work with Yoko’s words, could accept them and do his best to believe.
The next moment it almost seemed like Yoko would add something else, but he didn’t. There was nothing else to add after all.
Yoko’s power was the most fragile among them all. Yet, at the same time, the things Yoko could see were unbreakable. Unchangeable. No one could fight his own Destiny.
Destiny had its own ways.
Yoko could warn them when necessary, but in the end, they had to meet whatever was waiting for them in the future.
Kame wanted to ask if it was really okay when Yoko couldn’t see a damn thing, but he kept quiet. What did he know about Yoko’s power anyway. If Yoko said things were alright, they must have been.
“Thanks, Yoko.”
Another pat of Yoko’s hand on Kame’s shoulder. “Don’t let Jin off your sight. You know how easily he falls into troubles,” Yoko chuckled. “And that’s just a statement, no power involved.”
“Oi! I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Jin pouted. He had parted with the others already and overheard the end of Yoko and Kame’s conversation. And felt a bit aggrieved.
“Of course you are.” Kame approached Jin, wrapped his arms around Jin’s neck and gave the other a peck on a cheek. “But me watching over you requires me being around, so maybe you wouldn’t mind too much…”
A frown was back between Jin’s brows, but this time it was more caused by the fury of thinking about Kame’s words. “Smartass,” Jin stuck his tongue when the whole point finally sank in. “In that case, you are bound to watch over me forever.”
“Forever has become much longer than it used to be. With that power of yours,” Yoko noted, then grinned and walked out of the door.
Shirota had been already gone, and the engine of Ryo’s car was running. Yoko waved at the leaving guys, as he wasn’t joining them until later. He was on the way over to the nearest train station and then home.
Jin and Kame waited until Ryo and Yamapi disappeared behind a corner of the street, and then Jin let the door fall shut.
“Hi there,” he grinned at Kame who was just standing there when Jin turned around.
Finally alone. He had been looking forward to Friday afternoon since Wednesday when he had dropped by the café for a double latté to go and a very short make out with Kame in the storage room. Jin had had more thorough intentions originally (something that might have included Kame bent over one of the lower shelves at the very back), but the place had been packed, and soon Kame’s colleague had been calling Kame to come back and help him with tables.
An interruption that had done nothing to improve Jin’s judgment about the guy. Ohkura Tadayoshi had been a thorn in Jin’s side ever since the first day. There was no particular reason though. Ohkura was friendly and seemed to be nice. He and Kame got along well, at work and also after their work hours. Which was all good, because Kame liked his job; even once or twice mentioned he might like to open his own café someday.
Kame working at the café had many advantages as well. First of all, it was a safe place for Jin and his friends to meet, other than Jin’s bedroom, because Jin’s bedroom was becoming more and more inconvenient when Jin’s parents happened to be home - and even more, when Jin’s younger brother Reio had returned from his studies overseas. Jin liked his brother, but there were things he couldn’t simply tell Reio. Things Reio couldn’t get to know.
”Hey, lil’ bro, remember the times you were late even though you left home on time? Yeah, that was kind of me.”
No, Jin had no intentions to go there.
“You won’t be mad at Shirota, right?” Kame asked carefully. He brought his hands up to Jin’s shoulders, smoothed the fabric of the shirt Jin was wearing, and then his restless fingers found their way up to Jin’s neck to toy with dark curls of Jin’s hair. Jin had been talking about a haircut for weeks by now, but hadn’t gotten around visiting a hairdresser yet - which Kame was secretly thankful for, because he liked the feeling of his fingers slipping through the heavy strands.
Jin shrugged. “Like I said, you are here. I don’t mind.” He pulled Kame closer by his hips. A gentle encouragement to take a step forward, and Kame complied.
“Do you mind I told him not to do it again?”
“It could save you a lot of time,” Jin’s voice was suggestive, and his hands caressed Kame’s hips and lightly kneaded his ass.
“Yamapi doesn’t like it.”
“Yamapi doesn’t need to know,” Jin leaned in to brush his lips against Kame’s forehead. “And if you ask Yu to teleport you here and there, it won’t be like he would be doing it against your will, right?”
Hearing the proposal, Kame made a face and looked down to avoid direct contact with Jin’s face. “I don’t think he would agree to do it,” he mumbled, remembering Shirota’s words about not having brought Kame over because of Jin and… well, them. Shirota’s intentions were everything but to support their relationship.
“It’s fine, Jin, really. Taking the train to get here is not so bad. And if everything goes well, I could soon save up enough to buy a car.”
Jin’s hands stopped moving. “I thought you wanted to use the money on school. Your baseball stipendium-”
“It was a stupid idea,” Kame shook his head and slipped out of Jin’s reach.
The moment between them was broken.
Jin stared.
“No, really,” Kame shrugged; he didn’t even need to fake nonchalance, because he meant each and every word. “I’ve always known I’m not a type to have an academic career, and if I haven’t made it big with baseball yet, there are hardly chances to become a pro.” Were they really going to discuss this now? Just like that? The afternoon really wasn’t going the way he had pictured it. First the involuntary jumps from one location to another and now this. And he couldn’t be even mad at Jin for pushing him into the talk, because in fact, Jin wasn’t being nosy or obtrusive. He had just asked. The reason for Kame to just spill out everything was really simple: he had wanted to tell Jin for a while already.
Since July when he had started taking more shifts at the café and occasionally skipped an afternoon baseball practice.
“Kazu…”
Kame looked up and smiled. “It’s not the end of the world.”
Jin nodded. He might be clueless at times, or other times he might be thinking of all the wrong things, but he was not stupid (in spite of everything his friends would say about him for teasing purposes), and this was not the right moment for this discussion. Friday afternoon that had finally come after two (almost three) days without seeing each other, should be reserved for other things.
And Jin didn’t even know why he asked, “Have you thought about what you would do? After graduation, I mean.”
Graduation. Right. The winter would come and go, and then there would be final exams and the ceremony. And Kame would be not playing baseball anymore. Not the way he used to want.
“I like it at the café.” He swayed on his feet and played with the bottom hem of his shirt to occupy his fingers. “And my parents don’t insist on a university anyway.”
Jin scratched his head. “Maybe we should…” He waved towards the door at the opposite side of the room. “You hungry? I guess Yu didn’t wait for you to be done with your lunch before stealing you and bringing you here.”
Kame blinked. The question came out of nowhere and caught him off guard. Weren’t they talking about-
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say no.”
“There should be some leftovers in the fridge.” Jin tugged at one of the loops on the waistband of Kame’s pants, dragging the other to the kitchen. “I can heat it, and I will also call Reio to find your bag and bring it here when his classes are over.”
Reio was now in the same class like Kame - and hated every single day when he had to get up and go to school, always complaining about how things were different in America and how he would go back at the first given chance.
“Thanks,” Kame mumbled.
(***)