Of Fancy Watch And Dignity
Sakumoto + surprise side pairing. PG-15. Crack. Betaed by inaudible_d. Originally written for akhikaru in arashi_exchange. Next Top Model + Crossdressing.
Ohno, Nino, and Sho were short of money. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
“We’re short of money,” Sho announced to his flatmates. He had been scribbling on a reused paper since an hour ago, recounting and re-budgeting, but the bad news were unchanged. He groaned and threw himself backwards to the sofa.
Nino, who had been lying flat on the floor in front of the door since he came home from his second part time job of the day, jerked up to the news and scrambled to check Sho’s paper. He squinted, trying to understand all those abbreviations but failing, and cried out, “Even after I throw myself into three jobs?!”
“Yeah,” Sho covered his eyes with the back or his arm, feeling that Ohno was looking at the poor piece of paper with the same amount of horror in his face too, “We need another job. We need another fifty thousand to save our sorry asses from getting kicked out.”
“Go do it yourself,” Nino’s tone was raising; he was at his limit, “I already work for 15 hours a day, goddammit!”
“And so do I!” Sho’s tone was raising too.
“But you’re the one who insisted that we should go to Shanghai last month!”
Sho looked offended, “And you’re the one who whined about seasick so we had to take a fucking expensive flight back!”
“You son of a-”
“No fighting inside the house!” Ohno moved and effectively shut both Sho and Nino up by slapping them across the head, “We all had a good time there, for fuck’s sake! And if you prefer having another scene of endlessly vomiting Ninomiya, Sho kun, then be my guest!”
Sho huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Nino did the same thing, just on the opposite direction so they looked like mirroring each other.
Ohno sighed. He didn’t like commotion, especially if it happened between themselves.
“I’ll take the job at the takoyaki shop,” Sho suddenly said, “Only three hours per day. I can surely do that.”
“And then you’d get sued for poisoning the customer and-”
“Nino, don’t open your mouth unless you’re helping!” Ohno snapped. Ohno was a rather quiet man, but this was a big problem. His plan of buying a new lure might get postponed. Nino slumped to the sofa with a huge pout on his face and Ohno massaged the bridge of his prominent nose. “You guys do remember the nude modeling job that-”
“No!” Nino and Sho answered in unison.
“Ten thousand per hour!”
“Nude!” Sho pointed out.
“And for that creepy Matsuko’s class,” Nino added, “Do you want to get raped on his class or what?!”
Sho nodded and Ohno got irritated on how fast they turned from enemy to loyal partners. He sighed, “Okay, so spill your idea. Now.”
Sho and Nino stopped at once and closed their mouths. They leaned back to the sofa and averted their gazes away. Defeated.
“Useless,” Ohno hissed and turned to walk away.
Sho and Nino got alerted. They jumped to their feet and started to chase Ohno, but Ohno stopped them with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“I’m going to ask Matsuko san if there’s any job that doesn’t include nudity,” he said and turned one last time before getting out of the house, “Whatever the job is, you both are in. Period.”
“Don’t get tempted to be his toy boy!” Nino shouted.
“He’s fine!” Ohno shouted back from outside.
Nino shrugged exasperatedly and walked rather angrily towards his rucksack. He slung it to his shoulder and bumped Sho’s shoulder as he marched towards the door. “I’ll see if I can take more extra hours,” Nino managed to say before making his escape.
♀
Later that day, Nino didn’t even manage to walk pass the door. He dropped himself right on the genkan, not really minding all the shoes that were scattered all around him. He was sweaty, grime decorating his pale skin everywhere, and he looked like he was emitting smoke from his body. When Sho got back from tutoring neighbor’s son twenty minutes after, he had to tiptoe around Nino just to get inside. When Ohno appeared shortly after, he accidentally stepped on Nino’s leg but Nino didn’t even have the energy to scream. He just squeaked like a lifeless toy.
“I’ve talked to Matsuko san,” Ohno announced while trying to roll Nino over so he could get in, “He doesn’t have any job available that doesn’t include nudity-”
“Take the nude job, then, I don’t care!” Nino groaned. Exhaustion changed his mind big time.
“Oy!” Ohno kicked Nino’s side. He took a huge step over Nino’s head and walked inside the small flat, “He proposed something else, though. There’s this competition- You know that he teaches a design class, right?”
Sho nodded promptly from where he was gulping a bottle of water.
“Yeah, there’s this designing competition or such,” Ohno slumped to the sofa, “But every designer has to sign up with a model. It would be pretty much like the usual modeling contest- catwalk, photos, poses... but focusing on the clothes. In short, Matsuko san’s students need models. Male models.”
“Good, I’m in,” Nino, who was still lying on the genkan mumbled, “By the way, your boots stink, Ohno san.”
“How much?” Sho asked.
“Five thousand each upon registering, another five thousand for those who got through the audition, and 10% of the prize for the winning one, which is-,” Ohno tried to count.
“How much is the prize?”
“Five hundred thousand.”
“Fifty thousand, then,” Sho said, “Exactly what we need.”
“I’m in,” Nino mumbled again, rising his hand and swatting Ohno’s boots away.
“But only if someone wins. If not, then-”
“Then we’ll get fifteen thousand, at least. Then, we can sell your fancy watch,” Ohno stated.
“I’m in!” Nino sounded a bit happier.
“Hey!” Sho complained, “Your fishing rod could do it too!”
“I’m in!” Nino said with a bit of chuckle.
“Or your game console, dammit!” Sho and Ohno snapped in sync.
“Hoi!” Nino jerked up his head, “I’ll chop your heads off before you lay a finger on my console. I worked my ass off for it almost literally, you ass!”
Sho was about to repent with how he saved for three months just for the watch that he only wore to important events like dates and job interviews, but Ohno was faster. Ohno raised both of his hands up, signaling that truce was his command. Then, he said, “Whoever gets eliminated first will have to do the sacrificing, alright? Do we have a deal or what?”
Nino made a voice but he said again, “I’m in.”
Sho took three seconds longer than Nino but he had no other option so he nodded.
Ohno clapped his hands once and moved to the direction of his room, “Alright, I’ll tell Matsuko san, then. Good night.”
“Night,” Sho placed his bottle and walked to his room.
“Can somebody pick me up? I feel boneless,” Nino shouted.
No one answered.
“Sakurai san? Ohno san? Come on, give your dear friend a little help, please? I’m not that heavy.”
Ohno closed his door. Sho did too.
“Hey! You guys will not get any breakfast tomorrow, I swear!”
Silence.
“No lunch too! Oh chan, don’t you dare whine to me when you taste Sho’s food tomorrow!”
Still, silence.
“Geez, your boots really stink like hell, old man,” Nino said the last sentence of the night and they all drifted to dreamless sleep.
♀
Days went by and the weekend arrived. Ohno had informed everyone that the audition would be held at noon, so no one had their job at that time of the day. The competition was a local one, only the ones from the university where Matsuko was teaching were allowed to enter, but it was a huge university to say the least, so there was enough amount of applicants to intimidate the three men in need.
They stepped nervously inside the campus hall and looked around for Matsuko. The hall was swarmed with a lot of people and, after taking a good look on it, Sho figured that Ohno hadn’t given all the details for the competition. Sho turned to look at Ohno, seeking for answer without any word, and hoped that it was not like how he thought it was.
Ohno just grinned sleepily and said, “Ah, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention. They need male models to wear female clothes. That’s why they were so desperate.”
Nino laughed at Sho’s pale face.
“You knew this?!” Sho demanded at Nino.
“It’s not so hard to figure out! Either way, I’m still in. How about you, Mr. Fancy Watch?” Nino wiggled his eyebrows.
Sho crossed his arms in front of his chest in demonstration of anger. He really wanted to leave his two silly friends but, thinking about his watch, he just knew that he had fallen to the perfect trap with no way out.
Actually, he had no problem with shrugging himself inside a tight absurd dress. The actual problem was on how many men in tight absurd dresses that he had to encounter in one day.
“Ohno san?” a girl approached them.
“Yes?” Ohno answered out of reflex.
“Great. Come on, we have to hurry,” the girl dragged Ohno with her and the others followed. She led them to a tiny space surrounded by curtains on the edge of the hall. Apparently, it was their emergency changing room.
Inside the room, there were three other girls that were crowding over a man on a stool. They lifted their heads when Ohno, Nino, and Sho stepped in, and two of the girls immediately rushed to them.
The first girl started, “I’m Kiritani Mirei. Ohno san, you’ll be with me.”
Ohno bowed a bit and he was pushed inside to the mess of clothes.
The second girl stepped forward, “Toda Erika. Which one of you is Ninomiya san?”
Nino pointed at himself.
Toda grabbed Nino’s wrist and they went to the other part of the tiny room.
“So, you’re Sakurai san? I’m Kitagawa Keiko, let’s get you dressed,” the last girl said and dragged Sho with her.
When Sho was dragged, he finally got to take a good look on the man who was there before them. The man was already dressed. He was closing his eyes and tilting his head up; a girl was putting eyeliner on him. His hair was pinned messily but it was obviously curly and black.
Sho gulped.
No. Meeting men in tight absurd dresses was a problem not because Sho was an onee-phobic or something.
It was a problem because he loves it.
♀
Dwelling with skirts and wigs and bobby pins was harder than anything that Sho ever tried in his life. For a good one hour, he was forced to fit himself into various skirts and dresses, try different kinds of wigs, and figure out how make up works. Keiko kept making him change because she was a perfectionist and she was bothered by the fact that Sho was so manly. She complained about Sho’s arms, his abs, and even his jaws.
Meanwhile, Nino and Ohno had little to no problems at all. They fit perfectly into their first set of clothes and it took fast enough to do their hair and makeup. They spent their waiting time by talking with the other guy and gossiping with the girls. Somehow they just clicked with the cheerful girls so effortlessly, making a good team to tease Sho in no time.
Sho got giddy as the time passed by. He could hear the other guy’s voice but he couldn’t see him properly yet, thanks to Keiko and her persistence in making Sho constantly moving. Sho could tell that this guy was the kind of guy that he would be nervous to be around with. The guy’s voice was somehow throaty, his way of speaking was confident but also polite, he didn’t move much but Sho could feel his presence strongly.
Or maybe it’s just the fact that this guy was wearing a dress and might be looking good in it that made Sho feel all the building anticipation, Sho wasn’t sure himself.
Sho’s face kept changing from grinning idiotically to frowning because he scolded himself mentally, reminding himself that he couldn’t let his jerks of friends see this side of him, and back to grinning idiotically again when he heard the other guy talk. Keiko would slap him and curse him for it and it would make the other guy laugh which made everything a lot harder for Sho.
Sho tried to think about something else - anything, really - but he still found it hard to focus when this guy was so close and when his subconscious was telling him that oh, yes, he wanted to check on this guy in dress. He kept telling himself that no, this other guy might be not all that interesting and maybe it’s just because of the dress, but then his inner self slapped him mentally and said things like don’t fool yourself, you know you like him from the first time your gaze landed on those thick brows. Finally, Sho resorted in thinking something scary like heights and Ohno’s wrath and his own cooking, and repeatedly telling himself that even if this other guy was that interesting, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about that anyway unless he wanted to be Nino’s and Ohno’s object of teasing for the rest of his pitiful life.
Because, man, it would be like three strikes at once.
First, they’d find out that Sho was gay.
Second, they’d find out that Sho had a thing for guys in dresses.
And last, they’d find out that all those mysterious bras and skirts on their laundry basket were Sho’s, not their neighbor’s properties that decided to fly away to their lawn like Sho told them they were.
It did a trick wonderfully. Sho could keep his distressed face long enough to let Keiko finish his makeup. But, it didn’t last long.
Keiko stepped back after a while, telling Sho to slowly open his eyes and stand up from the stool.
The moment Sho did as he was told, his logic flew out the window and his jaw dropped to the floor.
Man, this other guy was so definitely highly crazily out-of-mind-ly attractive. His facial features were prominent and his body was so obviously manly that it made a funny contrast to the cute little dress.
Praise the heaven and the deepest hell, this man was the real version of Sho’s wildest imagination ever.
♀
“Stop staring like that, you’re scaring Junko chan,” Nino giggled and slapped Sho’s head lightly.
Sho closed his mouth slowly but his eyes were still wide on this guy- who’s his name again? Junko? So it must be Jun. Jun. Gosh, even his name made a nice pretty ring inside Sho’s head!
If Nino had transformed into a fine housewife type of a lady, Sho missed it completely.
If Ohno had transformed into a hot chick that looked like she just came out of a club, it was just a blur to Sho.
All that Sho saw was a perfectly awkward guy in a dress one size too small. The sleeves barely covered the muscles, the fringe fell to the eyebrows - those lusciously thick eyebrows - and the stocking had a hard time concealing those hairy legs. The eyelashes- Oh, God, it’s so pretty Sho doubted that they’re natural.
“Junko chan, this is Sho,” Ohno introduced, “Or Shoko now, I think.”
Jun blushed a bit, aware that Sho was gulping him down through his thirsty eyes.
“Yoroshiku, Shoko san,” Jun bowed politely.
“You’re pretty,” Sho unconsciously blurted out and he regretted it immediately. The whole room went silent for a full second before falling into a deep pit of laughter.
A girl that Sho didn’t recognize yet slung an arm across Jun’s shoulders - how dare she - and said proudly, “That’s Junko chan for you. I’m Naka Riisa, by the way.”
“Alright, I think we’re done, then?” Mirei clapped her hands, “Satoko’s done.”
“Shoko’s done,” Keiko said.
“Junko’s done and pretty, according to Shoko,” Riisa said with laughter.
Toda grinned and said, “Kazuko’s-”
“Ninoko,” Nino and Ohno interrupted in the same time, shocking the others.
“Kazuko’s my mom,” Nino explained shortly.
“Alright,” Toda nodded understandingly and resumed her words, “Ninoko’s done.”
“Let’s mesmerize the judges, then,” Keiko said confidently.
Riisa and Mirei opened the curtain like revealing a magical world beyond it. Nino’s and Ohno’s eyes glinted at how crowded the hall was; even more than before. They looked at each other - checking each other for a good measure - and nodded before linking their arms and walking out fabulously like a couple of mega stars.
The girls - the real ones - followed after them with heads held high because people started to turn at them and gape at the nice view.
Sho - who hadn’t recovered from the shock of seeing his dreams taking solid, touchable form in front of him - suddenly felt nervous and at loss of what to do. Ninoko and Satoko surely stole the spotlight, but Sho was sure his Shoko self was no more than a crappy joke. He knew it. He had seen himself in dresses for enough times to figure out that Sho in dress was better imagined than seen.
Sho almost jumped when Jun leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Thank you, you’re pretty too.”
Sho didn’t know how he could balance himself on the killer high heels when Jun had their fingers laced like that.
♀
It was only fifty meters of walking from the emergency changing room to the registration area, but it felt like two hundred kilometers for Sho. He had quite a few reasons that made him feel like that, and the one that was on top of the list was the fact that Jun didn’t let his hand go at all. To be fair, Nino and Ohno were holding hands too. They were closer and clinging like a pair of mollusks, even. But, in Sho’s defense, they were straight! They were best friends and they didn’t have that kind of interest to each other, as far as Sho knew. They also only thought of the dresses as jokes or amusing stunts. They would never know the struggle that Sho had to get through.
Sho knew his hand was sweating, but Jun’s was too so he felt a little bit better because of that. At least, he’s not the only one who felt uneasy about everything. But then again, Jun was one of the reasons why he was sweating, so Sho was back to square one on the next intake of breath, gasping like fish out of the water.
The queue for registration was super long but apparently, one or two of the girls - real ones and fake ones included - managed to charm enough male designers and guys in dresses to cut a whooping length of it. In fifteen minutes or so, just before Sho’s makeup started to melt, they reached the registration table. Nino and Ohno winked to the registration staff and they’re registered in record time. No need to fill messy forms, no funny questions asked.
They were guided straight to audition area. Nino got the smallest number, which meant that he would get auditioned first, followed by Ohno, Jun, and lastly Sho. The audition was a simple session of photo shoot, you pose and the judge judges. If you’re cute enough, you’re in. If you’re terrifying, you’re out. As simple as that.
Just before he jumped in front of the camera, Nino stopped their little merry group. “Money. Fifteen thousand yen. Cash, please,” he stretched his hand.
Toda grumbled but she gave him the money anyway.
Nino grinned. He shoved the cash to Ohno’s hand and walked confidently, “Hold this, Oh chan. Snug it to your bra or something, I’ll gain us another five thousand in five minutes, I’ll show you.”
Ohno grinned too and shoved the money inside his bra just like Nino told him to. They witnessed as Nino stepped into the spotlight and naturally did some cute poses. His small figure helped him big time and he knew how to utilize this advantage. Nino played with his finger, putting it on various places of his face. His facial expression was cute and flawless. He was- no, she was witty and brave. The lay-your-finger-on-my-property-and-I’ll-bite-your-fingers-off-while-smiling-cutely kind of brave. Nino had fully transformed into Ninoko, the girl that Sho first met on that place. In five minutes straight, the judges stopped her and gave a thumb up without much thinking.
Nino grinned.
Toda rolled her eyes and snug another five thousand to Ohno’s bra.
Ohno smirked smugly and walked to take the spotlight. He also fully transformed into Satoko and posed like he was the hip girl who goes to purikura every day. He sported the peace sign and the pouting face. He blinked his eyes cutely and he laughed like a proper girl.
It’s another thumb up and it’s Mirei’s turn to snug the cash to Ohno’s bra.
Then, it’s Jun’s turn and Sho could feel that his body was warming up. Jun was moving. Jun was moving and posing in that tight mini dress. For the love of everything, Sho’s brain short-circuited and he didn’t know how to recover.
It’s different. Different than Nino. Different than Ohno. Different than any models that Sho had ever seen in act. It was as if the world was played in slow motion as Jun flipped his hair. The clock was ticking with half speed as Jun smiled to the camera (Was it lopsided? Sho wasn’t sure but he loved it). The surroundings turned into muted monochrome background as Jun stole a glance towards Sho and winked.
Wait- WHAT?!
Sho felt the heat on his cheeks and he didn’t know where to look at anymore. Heck, he didn’t even know what to do with his hands, how to breathe, who his name was... Sho was thrown to this specific vault where all he could comprehend was Jun’s pretty wink.
The next thing that Sho knew, Jun was already back to his side. Jun tapped his shoulder and whispered right to his ear, “Like what you see?”
Now, ain’t that one precious?
Sho turned away, suddenly remembered the existence of Nino and Ohno. He took a cold shower inside his head, took a dive inside a deep blue sea, and came back with full armor. He had a pride to keep, this pretty man wouldn’t break him that easily.
“Oh, keep wishing, Junko chan,” Sho tried to whisper as smug as he could and he probably succeeded on that because Jun threw him a taken-aback yet amused gaze.
Shoko rocked the photo session like he had never imagined before, thanks to the rush of adrenaline that Jun gave him. Ohno secured another five thousand inside his frilly bra and they proceeded to change into their second outfits.
The theme would be uniforms.
Because rubbing one of Sho’s kink right in front of his face wasn’t enough, apparently.
♀
Red. The uniform that Jun wore was red. Sho wore red too, but he didn’t give a fuck about himself. Jun was wearing a tight red latex uniform with fishnets for his legs and a cap for his head. He had a pair of red killer stiletto and when he walked in front of Sho on that damned runway - along with what seemed to be thirty other contestants that Sho didn’t even bat an eye on - his hips swayed in the most sinful way.
Even more sinful than the amount of cross dress porn that he had in his secret stash.
It took approximately five minutes to get on the runway, pose, and walk back graciously to the backstage.
It took approximately five minutes too for Sho to run to the bathroom, discard his latex skirt, and jerk himself off to completion.
It would be highly questionable to have a hard on inside a room which was filled with men in female uniforms, wouldn’t it?
♀
Apparently, they announced the shortlist while Sho was in the bathroom, taking care of his business. Most of the people had disappeared by then, only some were left and they’re all busy with yet another type of dress.
Kimonos.
Well, at least Sho had no special interest in kimonos.
Keiko dragged him to one corner and Sho had made a resolution to not search for Jun again. Fuck Jun- wait, no, it brought wrong imagery to Sho’s brain. Err... Jun could go to hell - yeah, that sounded much better - Sho had to finish this competition without any scene to keep both his dignity and his watch.
“There will be cameras after this,” Keiko said while wrapping Sho with the fabric, “I mean, real cameras. We’ll be on TV.”
“Yeah,” Sho answered absentmindedly.
“The head judge will open it officially. She’s- uh, he’s- uh... well, Aiba-sama is the famous model, you know it, right?”
Sho didn’t know, but he nodded just for the sake of time efficiency. He just wanted everything to be fast forwarded. Two times. Three- no, eight times, even. He just wanted everything to be ended so he could go home and smash his face on his worn pillow then turn this person called Jun into memories.
Or tales.
Or myths.
Something else that was not real because that’s what Jun was; unreal.
Sho was as still as a statue this time. He was busy trying to bury Jun with self-suggestions like look at those slanted lips and please, the eyebrows are definitely not normal and he might not even be gay. He was partly successful - only partly because there’s still this tiny voice inside of him that kept nagging on Jun’s favor - and by the time Keiko finished the kimono and the makeup, Sho could finally compose himself decently.
The kimono that Keiko designed was light and short, but gracious. It hung nicely on Sho’s sloppy shoulder and it matched his bold red lipstick. Keiko didn’t make him wear any wig this time. Keiko said that his dark straight hair was long enough to look good with the kimono. A flower was clipped on his bang and that’s it. Sho was ready to go.
Sho gathered with Nino and Ohno - who looked like they’re going to Shichi-Go-San festival, by the way - and they followed the staff to line up on the stage. They’re supposed to stand there while the head judge do the opening, bow on cue, and then walk down the runway when they got called for introduction. Jun was standing next to Sho, but Sho managed to find a standing position that blocked his vision from Jun.
There’s a loud music on the background and then someone came out from the backstage with full confidence. She had furry coat with her and she was so damn fabulous in every step that she took. Sho remembered the famous model that Keiko told him earlier and he thought that this must be her.
And then, this fabulous creature posed on the center of the stage. The music slowly came to an end and she chanted the tagline of the program dramatically, “Wanna be on top?”
Her whisper was husky, throaty, breathy, and pretty much... manly.
Alright, so she was a he. Sho had no problem with that because that’s normal as fuck. Really. Considering his surroundings, with twelve mature, healthy, strong men dressed in female traditional clothes of Japan, this was so normal, wasn’t it?
Then, one by one, the contestants were called.
There’s this bizarre man named Subako. And then some weirdo named Maruko. Next was this super macho man named Nishikiko, followed with a mean-faced Yokoko. Then Murako, Kurako, and Yasuko - what’s with the ‘ko’, really? - went down the runway. The last before Nino was Yuri - thank God, a break from the ‘ko’ trend! - a petite little man that seemed to have some funny interests towards Ohno.
And then it’s Ninoko’s turn.
And Satoko’s.
And-
“Not everyone wanna be on top,” Sho heard a giggle right before he had to make his walk, “Me, for one, prefer to be the bottom one.”
Sho wasn’t in control of his own body when he made the walk. Once he’s down from the stage, he turned to see Jun doing his walk and he couldn’t move anymore after that.
First, was Jun saying what Sho thought he was saying?
Second, since when did Kimono become that seductive?
That’s it. Kimono made it into Sho’s list of kinks. Thank you, Junko.
♀
“You’re stripping him off with your eyes, aren’t you?”
Sho snapped back to reality and looked that Nino and Ohno were grinning at him.
“N- no. What are you talking about?”
“Oh, come on,” Nino punched Sho’s shoulder, “You’re this close to fucking him with your eyes. Let me tell you a secret. We’re here for the money but him? No. He’s here for fun. And for the eye candies. He’s as gay as rainbow parasol, go for it!”
Sho could taste that the great wave of Ninomiya’s teasing fiesta was coming. He had to save his ass. Fast. Or Ohno would jump to the train too and it would be too late for Sho to even dream of a peaceful life ahead. So he just said, “Don’t joke around, Ninomiya. Go for it yourself, if you want it. I’d rather to have a go with Keiko chan, thank you.”
Nino rolled his eyes, “Yeah, and I don’t see you checking out on the said Keiko chan.”
“Shut the fuck up, Ninoko.”
“Want to shut me up, Shoko chan?” Nino blinked his eyes.
Sho shook his head and left.
Something remained in his head, though. Something that made Sho want to run to the woods, climb to the hill, and howl on top of his lungs.
Jun was gay. Oh angels, JUN. WAS. GAY. WHAT SHOULD SAKURAI SHO DO?!
♀
“You disappeared.”
Suddenly Jun was next to Sho and Sho jumped because of it. Geez, how to hide blushing cheeks again?
Sho tried to focus on his next dress; a cheongsam. He shrugged, signaling that he was not interested in the conversation when, actually, he was interested as fuck. He just still couldn’t figure how to approach this sizzling hot man without getting caught by his friends.
Sakurai Sho had managed to live with Ninomiya Kazunari and Ohno Satoshi for five years without making them know about his sexual orientation. He didn’t want to ruin it with one short crush.
“Maruyama is interested in Nino, do you know that?” Jun didn’t care with Sho’s indifference, “He tried to drag Nino to the janitor room a while ago.”
Sho raised his eyebrow, considering if he needed to rescue his friend. But then, he remembered that Nino was the tease that made everything harder for him, so he decided that Nino might as well taste a little bit of gayness himself.
“And Yuri? That kid? He is obviously interested in Ohno,” Jun continued, “He has been following Ohno since earlier.”
Sho just nodded to that one. It’s not something that he didn’t see coming. Ohno could handle it by himself, though.
Then, Jun leaned in and said, “And Jun is interested in Sho.”
Sho turned to look at Jun immediately. His eyes widened. His face was as red as a tomato.
Getting teased for the rest of his life didn’t sound so bad anymore, suddenly.
Sho’s face was so close to Jun’s right then. He could see the eyebrows. He could count those eyelashes. He could measure the nose and if he leaned in just a bit more, he could taste those lips.
But Sho slapped himself hard. Literally. Physically.
This was too good to be true. This must be a joke or something. Or maybe he misinterpreted Jun’s words. Maybe what Jun meant was that Jun was interested in his clothes or in taking him down on the competition.
Sho’s heart was beating fast. Too fast.
He almost fainted when he said, “I don’t think I know what you’re talking about,” and ran to rescue Nino anyway.
♀
When Sho arrived to the janitor room, Maruyama was already beaten up to pulp. Nino was there. Ohno was there. But Sho would never believe that either one of them was the one who did the beating. Nino’s arms were as lean as a girl’s and Ohno would never use that much of energy unless he’s highly angered.
Nino’s lipstick was smudged and his skirt was askew. Alright, something happened.
“Are you okay?”
For an unknown reason, Nino was blushing hard. He didn’t look like he was traumatized or anything, though. Hell, he even looked like he was just making out with someone a moment ago and enjoyed it. What the actual fuck.
“Uh...”
“Could you tell his friends to take him away?” Ohno said.
“Is he dead?”
“Almost but no,” Ohno said, “You might want to call his friends faster, though.”
Sho’s eyes widened and he dashed to the changing room, searching for someone. Anyone.
What he found rendered him wordless. Breathless. Brainless.
Apparently, everyone else was getting a brief for the next stage. The changing room was empty, save from a single manly man who wore nothing frilly.
Jun was standing there, packing his bag. With a simple t-shirt, jeans, and fedora hat. Without make up or skirt. Without wig. It’s just Jun and his manly man self.
And Sho wanted to check if his heart was okay but apparently it’s not because it had come to a complete halt.
“Hey,” Jun said.
“What are you-”
“Leaving,” Jun stood up straight and picked up his bag, “I was here because I’m bored. I was told that I’d find something interesting and I did, but I don’t think this interesting something - or, someone, to be exact - put the same amount of interest on me. So, I’m leaving.”
“Wh- what?!”
Jun chuckled. He walked closer to Sho and said, “Oh, God. I don’t know what I wish more. You playing dumb just so you could get away from me, or you not playing dumb and just simply don’t get all the hints that I dropped - which meant that you’re slightly... dumb.”
Holy fuck, Jun was even better without make up. What was he? A sculpture? A painting? Holy hell, what was he saying again?
“What?”
Jun laughed, “Alright, I’ll make it clear this time,” he stepped once more so he was just an inch away from Sho, “I am interested in you, Sho. Interested as in I want to know more about you. Interested as in I want to go out with you. Interested as in I want to hold you and kiss you. Interested as in I want to ride you and hear you moan my name. I want to do all that, really. And in no particular order.”
Sho swore his legs turned to jelly. Was he hallucinating?! WAS HE?! SOMEONE, TELL HIM!
Jun waited for a long, long while. No, it’s only two minutes, really. But with held breath and shaking legs, it felt like an eternity. Sho didn’t say anything; he couldn’t. Then, Jun made a disappointed face and stepped back.
“It’s okay. I’ll leave then. Send my regards to Kazu and Oh chan, would you?” Jun turned and walked away.
And Sho felt as if his life was pulled away from his being.
No, Sakurai Sho, you were not hallucinating.
“WAIT!” Sho screamed.
Jun stopped. He didn’t turn to look at Sho, though.
“C- can we do the last one first?”
Jun smirked, “I know a place. We can get there in five minutes.”
“C- can you.. uh.. wear the-”
“Uniform? Kimono? Name it, I’ll wear it.”
Sho knew he would have to sacrifice his dear fancy watch if he walked through the gate and abandoned the competition.
But, hey, being ridden by Jun in uniform sounded like a sweet, panting heaven, didn’t it?
Sho smirked and snatched the uniform before taking Jun’s hand and running through the gate.
Thank heavens not everyone wanna be on top.
♂♂
Jun slumped on top of Sho, sweaty and breathless. He giggled in between his ragged breaths and whispered, “They’re not kidding, you do have a thing with the uniform.”
“They?”
“Kazu and Oh chan.”
Sho took three seconds before freaking out, “What?! They- they knew?!”
“Who do you think dragged me into this? They promised me a hot sexy man who’s into cross-dressing and here you are.”
“They plotted this?!”
“You sound offended, do you not like this?”
“No, no. I like this. Very much. But- I- I thought they don’t know a thing! I mean, I bet they’d start mocking me the moment they knew that I’m a- you know..”
“Gay?” Jun chuckled, “Why would they? Don’t you know that they’re screwing each other behind your back? All these five years?”
Sho’s brain ran wild for a while, tracing and retracing. Then, realization.
“The synchronous moans that I heard-”
“Them screwing each other.”
“Loud banging on the walls-”
“Them screwing each other.”
“Ohno yelling in the middle of the night-”
“Them screwing each other.”
“Nino throwing up while on boat-”
“Them screwing- wait, no. It’s just seasick, you moron.”
“Smudged lipstick and askew skirt earlier-”
“Probably them screwing each other. Damn, even there?”
“Holy fuck! Where have I been?!” Sho covered his face.
“According to Nino, you’ve been busy trying to hide your bras and your skirts. And failing on it,” Jun smiled fondly.
“Oh, God,” Sho made a face. Then, “Do you want to try them on?”
“Hm?”
“The bras and the skirts?” Sho shyly whispered.
Jun was silent for three seconds, and then he laughed, “Alright, let’s pay them back with all the noises that they forced you to hear.”
Nino and Ohno needed to wear their earplugs that night, but Sho didn’t care.
Oh, fucking yes, he didn’t care at all anymore.
Ohno, Nino, and Sho were short of money. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
“We’re short of money,” Sho announced to his flatmates. He had been scribbling on a reused paper since an hour ago, recounting and re-budgeting, but the bad news were unchanged. He groaned and threw himself backwards to the sofa.
Nino, who had been lying flat on the floor in front of the door since he came home from his second part time job of the day, jerked up to the news and scrambled to check Sho’s paper. He squinted, trying to understand all those abbreviations but failing, and cried out, “Even after I throw myself into three jobs?!”
“Yeah,” Sho covered his eyes with the back or his arm, feeling that Ohno was looking at the poor piece of paper with the same amount of horror in his face too, “We need another job. We need another fifty thousand to save our sorry asses from getting kicked out.”
“Go do it yourself,” Nino’s tone was raising; he was at his limit, “I already work for 15 hours a day, goddammit!”
“And so do I!” Sho’s tone was raising too.
“But you’re the one who insisted that we should go to Shanghai last month!”
Sho looked offended, “And you’re the one who whined about seasick so we had to take a fucking expensive flight back!”
“You son of a-”
“No fighting inside the house!” Ohno moved and effectively shut both Sho and Nino up by slapping them across the head, “We all had a good time there, for fuck’s sake! And if you prefer having another scene of endlessly vomiting Ninomiya, Sho kun, then be my guest!”
Sho huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Nino did the same thing, just on the opposite direction so they looked like mirroring each other.
Ohno sighed. He didn’t like commotion, especially if it happened between themselves.
“I’ll take the job at the takoyaki shop,” Sho suddenly said, “Only three hours per day. I can surely do that.”
“And then you’d get sued for poisoning the customer and-”
“Nino, don’t open your mouth unless you’re helping!” Ohno snapped. Ohno was a rather quiet man, but this was a big problem. His plan of buying a new lure might get postponed. Nino slumped to the sofa with a huge pout on his face and Ohno massaged the bridge of his prominent nose. “You guys do remember the nude modeling job that-”
“No!” Nino and Sho answered in unison.
“Ten thousand per hour!”
“Nude!” Sho pointed out.
“And for that creepy Matsuko’s class,” Nino added, “Do you want to get raped on his class or what?!”
Sho nodded and Ohno got irritated on how fast they turned from enemy to loyal partners. He sighed, “Okay, so spill your idea. Now.”
Sho and Nino stopped at once and closed their mouths. They leaned back to the sofa and averted their gazes away. Defeated.
“Useless,” Ohno hissed and turned to walk away.
Sho and Nino got alerted. They jumped to their feet and started to chase Ohno, but Ohno stopped them with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“I’m going to ask Matsuko san if there’s any job that doesn’t include nudity,” he said and turned one last time before getting out of the house, “Whatever the job is, you both are in. Period.”
“Don’t get tempted to be his toy boy!” Nino shouted.
“He’s fine!” Ohno shouted back from outside.
Nino shrugged exasperatedly and walked rather angrily towards his rucksack. He slung it to his shoulder and bumped Sho’s shoulder as he marched towards the door. “I’ll see if I can take more extra hours,” Nino managed to say before making his escape.
♀
Later that day, Nino didn’t even manage to walk pass the door. He dropped himself right on the genkan, not really minding all the shoes that were scattered all around him. He was sweaty, grime decorating his pale skin everywhere, and he looked like he was emitting smoke from his body. When Sho got back from tutoring neighbor’s son twenty minutes after, he had to tiptoe around Nino just to get inside. When Ohno appeared shortly after, he accidentally stepped on Nino’s leg but Nino didn’t even have the energy to scream. He just squeaked like a lifeless toy.
“I’ve talked to Matsuko san,” Ohno announced while trying to roll Nino over so he could get in, “He doesn’t have any job available that doesn’t include nudity-”
“Take the nude job, then, I don’t care!” Nino groaned. Exhaustion changed his mind big time.
“Oy!” Ohno kicked Nino’s side. He took a huge step over Nino’s head and walked inside the small flat, “He proposed something else, though. There’s this competition- You know that he teaches a design class, right?”
Sho nodded promptly from where he was gulping a bottle of water.
“Yeah, there’s this designing competition or such,” Ohno slumped to the sofa, “But every designer has to sign up with a model. It would be pretty much like the usual modeling contest- catwalk, photos, poses... but focusing on the clothes. In short, Matsuko san’s students need models. Male models.”
“Good, I’m in,” Nino, who was still lying on the genkan mumbled, “By the way, your boots stink, Ohno san.”
“How much?” Sho asked.
“Five thousand each upon registering, another five thousand for those who got through the audition, and 10% of the prize for the winning one, which is-,” Ohno tried to count.
“How much is the prize?”
“Five hundred thousand.”
“Fifty thousand, then,” Sho said, “Exactly what we need.”
“I’m in,” Nino mumbled again, rising his hand and swatting Ohno’s boots away.
“But only if someone wins. If not, then-”
“Then we’ll get fifteen thousand, at least. Then, we can sell your fancy watch,” Ohno stated.
“I’m in!” Nino sounded a bit happier.
“Hey!” Sho complained, “Your fishing rod could do it too!”
“I’m in!” Nino said with a bit of chuckle.
“Or your game console, dammit!” Sho and Ohno snapped in sync.
“Hoi!” Nino jerked up his head, “I’ll chop your heads off before you lay a finger on my console. I worked my ass off for it almost literally, you ass!”
Sho was about to repent with how he saved for three months just for the watch that he only wore to important events like dates and job interviews, but Ohno was faster. Ohno raised both of his hands up, signaling that truce was his command. Then, he said, “Whoever gets eliminated first will have to do the sacrificing, alright? Do we have a deal or what?”
Nino made a voice but he said again, “I’m in.”
Sho took three seconds longer than Nino but he had no other option so he nodded.
Ohno clapped his hands once and moved to the direction of his room, “Alright, I’ll tell Matsuko san, then. Good night.”
“Night,” Sho placed his bottle and walked to his room.
“Can somebody pick me up? I feel boneless,” Nino shouted.
No one answered.
“Sakurai san? Ohno san? Come on, give your dear friend a little help, please? I’m not that heavy.”
Ohno closed his door. Sho did too.
“Hey! You guys will not get any breakfast tomorrow, I swear!”
Silence.
“No lunch too! Oh chan, don’t you dare whine to me when you taste Sho’s food tomorrow!”
Still, silence.
“Geez, your boots really stink like hell, old man,” Nino said the last sentence of the night and they all drifted to dreamless sleep.
♀
Days went by and the weekend arrived. Ohno had informed everyone that the audition would be held at noon, so no one had their job at that time of the day. The competition was a local one, only the ones from the university where Matsuko was teaching were allowed to enter, but it was a huge university to say the least, so there was enough amount of applicants to intimidate the three men in need.
They stepped nervously inside the campus hall and looked around for Matsuko. The hall was swarmed with a lot of people and, after taking a good look on it, Sho figured that Ohno hadn’t given all the details for the competition. Sho turned to look at Ohno, seeking for answer without any word, and hoped that it was not like how he thought it was.
Ohno just grinned sleepily and said, “Ah, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention. They need male models to wear female clothes. That’s why they were so desperate.”
Nino laughed at Sho’s pale face.
“You knew this?!” Sho demanded at Nino.
“It’s not so hard to figure out! Either way, I’m still in. How about you, Mr. Fancy Watch?” Nino wiggled his eyebrows.
Sho crossed his arms in front of his chest in demonstration of anger. He really wanted to leave his two silly friends but, thinking about his watch, he just knew that he had fallen to the perfect trap with no way out.
Actually, he had no problem with shrugging himself inside a tight absurd dress. The actual problem was on how many men in tight absurd dresses that he had to encounter in one day.
“Ohno san?” a girl approached them.
“Yes?” Ohno answered out of reflex.
“Great. Come on, we have to hurry,” the girl dragged Ohno with her and the others followed. She led them to a tiny space surrounded by curtains on the edge of the hall. Apparently, it was their emergency changing room.
Inside the room, there were three other girls that were crowding over a man on a stool. They lifted their heads when Ohno, Nino, and Sho stepped in, and two of the girls immediately rushed to them.
The first girl started, “I’m Kiritani Mirei. Ohno san, you’ll be with me.”
Ohno bowed a bit and he was pushed inside to the mess of clothes.
The second girl stepped forward, “Toda Erika. Which one of you is Ninomiya san?”
Nino pointed at himself.
Toda grabbed Nino’s wrist and they went to the other part of the tiny room.
“So, you’re Sakurai san? I’m Kitagawa Keiko, let’s get you dressed,” the last girl said and dragged Sho with her.
When Sho was dragged, he finally got to take a good look on the man who was there before them. The man was already dressed. He was closing his eyes and tilting his head up; a girl was putting eyeliner on him. His hair was pinned messily but it was obviously curly and black.
Sho gulped.
No. Meeting men in tight absurd dresses was a problem not because Sho was an onee-phobic or something.
It was a problem because he loves it.
♀
Dwelling with skirts and wigs and bobby pins was harder than anything that Sho ever tried in his life. For a good one hour, he was forced to fit himself into various skirts and dresses, try different kinds of wigs, and figure out how make up works. Keiko kept making him change because she was a perfectionist and she was bothered by the fact that Sho was so manly. She complained about Sho’s arms, his abs, and even his jaws.
Meanwhile, Nino and Ohno had little to no problems at all. They fit perfectly into their first set of clothes and it took fast enough to do their hair and makeup. They spent their waiting time by talking with the other guy and gossiping with the girls. Somehow they just clicked with the cheerful girls so effortlessly, making a good team to tease Sho in no time.
Sho got giddy as the time passed by. He could hear the other guy’s voice but he couldn’t see him properly yet, thanks to Keiko and her persistence in making Sho constantly moving. Sho could tell that this guy was the kind of guy that he would be nervous to be around with. The guy’s voice was somehow throaty, his way of speaking was confident but also polite, he didn’t move much but Sho could feel his presence strongly.
Or maybe it’s just the fact that this guy was wearing a dress and might be looking good in it that made Sho feel all the building anticipation, Sho wasn’t sure himself.
Sho’s face kept changing from grinning idiotically to frowning because he scolded himself mentally, reminding himself that he couldn’t let his jerks of friends see this side of him, and back to grinning idiotically again when he heard the other guy talk. Keiko would slap him and curse him for it and it would make the other guy laugh which made everything a lot harder for Sho.
Sho tried to think about something else - anything, really - but he still found it hard to focus when this guy was so close and when his subconscious was telling him that oh, yes, he wanted to check on this guy in dress. He kept telling himself that no, this other guy might be not all that interesting and maybe it’s just because of the dress, but then his inner self slapped him mentally and said things like don’t fool yourself, you know you like him from the first time your gaze landed on those thick brows. Finally, Sho resorted in thinking something scary like heights and Ohno’s wrath and his own cooking, and repeatedly telling himself that even if this other guy was that interesting, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about that anyway unless he wanted to be Nino’s and Ohno’s object of teasing for the rest of his pitiful life.
Because, man, it would be like three strikes at once.
First, they’d find out that Sho was gay.
Second, they’d find out that Sho had a thing for guys in dresses.
And last, they’d find out that all those mysterious bras and skirts on their laundry basket were Sho’s, not their neighbor’s properties that decided to fly away to their lawn like Sho told them they were.
It did a trick wonderfully. Sho could keep his distressed face long enough to let Keiko finish his makeup. But, it didn’t last long.
Keiko stepped back after a while, telling Sho to slowly open his eyes and stand up from the stool.
The moment Sho did as he was told, his logic flew out the window and his jaw dropped to the floor.
Man, this other guy was so definitely highly crazily out-of-mind-ly attractive. His facial features were prominent and his body was so obviously manly that it made a funny contrast to the cute little dress.
Praise the heaven and the deepest hell, this man was the real version of Sho’s wildest imagination ever.
♀
“Stop staring like that, you’re scaring Junko chan,” Nino giggled and slapped Sho’s head lightly.
Sho closed his mouth slowly but his eyes were still wide on this guy- who’s his name again? Junko? So it must be Jun. Jun. Gosh, even his name made a nice pretty ring inside Sho’s head!
If Nino had transformed into a fine housewife type of a lady, Sho missed it completely.
If Ohno had transformed into a hot chick that looked like she just came out of a club, it was just a blur to Sho.
All that Sho saw was a perfectly awkward guy in a dress one size too small. The sleeves barely covered the muscles, the fringe fell to the eyebrows - those lusciously thick eyebrows - and the stocking had a hard time concealing those hairy legs. The eyelashes- Oh, God, it’s so pretty Sho doubted that they’re natural.
“Junko chan, this is Sho,” Ohno introduced, “Or Shoko now, I think.”
Jun blushed a bit, aware that Sho was gulping him down through his thirsty eyes.
“Yoroshiku, Shoko san,” Jun bowed politely.
“You’re pretty,” Sho unconsciously blurted out and he regretted it immediately. The whole room went silent for a full second before falling into a deep pit of laughter.
A girl that Sho didn’t recognize yet slung an arm across Jun’s shoulders - how dare she - and said proudly, “That’s Junko chan for you. I’m Naka Riisa, by the way.”
“Alright, I think we’re done, then?” Mirei clapped her hands, “Satoko’s done.”
“Shoko’s done,” Keiko said.
“Junko’s done and pretty, according to Shoko,” Riisa said with laughter.
Toda grinned and said, “Kazuko’s-”
“Ninoko,” Nino and Ohno interrupted in the same time, shocking the others.
“Kazuko’s my mom,” Nino explained shortly.
“Alright,” Toda nodded understandingly and resumed her words, “Ninoko’s done.”
“Let’s mesmerize the judges, then,” Keiko said confidently.
Riisa and Mirei opened the curtain like revealing a magical world beyond it. Nino’s and Ohno’s eyes glinted at how crowded the hall was; even more than before. They looked at each other - checking each other for a good measure - and nodded before linking their arms and walking out fabulously like a couple of mega stars.
The girls - the real ones - followed after them with heads held high because people started to turn at them and gape at the nice view.
Sho - who hadn’t recovered from the shock of seeing his dreams taking solid, touchable form in front of him - suddenly felt nervous and at loss of what to do. Ninoko and Satoko surely stole the spotlight, but Sho was sure his Shoko self was no more than a crappy joke. He knew it. He had seen himself in dresses for enough times to figure out that Sho in dress was better imagined than seen.
Sho almost jumped when Jun leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Thank you, you’re pretty too.”
Sho didn’t know how he could balance himself on the killer high heels when Jun had their fingers laced like that.
♀
It was only fifty meters of walking from the emergency changing room to the registration area, but it felt like two hundred kilometers for Sho. He had quite a few reasons that made him feel like that, and the one that was on top of the list was the fact that Jun didn’t let his hand go at all. To be fair, Nino and Ohno were holding hands too. They were closer and clinging like a pair of mollusks, even. But, in Sho’s defense, they were straight! They were best friends and they didn’t have that kind of interest to each other, as far as Sho knew. They also only thought of the dresses as jokes or amusing stunts. They would never know the struggle that Sho had to get through.
Sho knew his hand was sweating, but Jun’s was too so he felt a little bit better because of that. At least, he’s not the only one who felt uneasy about everything. But then again, Jun was one of the reasons why he was sweating, so Sho was back to square one on the next intake of breath, gasping like fish out of the water.
The queue for registration was super long but apparently, one or two of the girls - real ones and fake ones included - managed to charm enough male designers and guys in dresses to cut a whooping length of it. In fifteen minutes or so, just before Sho’s makeup started to melt, they reached the registration table. Nino and Ohno winked to the registration staff and they’re registered in record time. No need to fill messy forms, no funny questions asked.
They were guided straight to audition area. Nino got the smallest number, which meant that he would get auditioned first, followed by Ohno, Jun, and lastly Sho. The audition was a simple session of photo shoot, you pose and the judge judges. If you’re cute enough, you’re in. If you’re terrifying, you’re out. As simple as that.
Just before he jumped in front of the camera, Nino stopped their little merry group. “Money. Fifteen thousand yen. Cash, please,” he stretched his hand.
Toda grumbled but she gave him the money anyway.
Nino grinned. He shoved the cash to Ohno’s hand and walked confidently, “Hold this, Oh chan. Snug it to your bra or something, I’ll gain us another five thousand in five minutes, I’ll show you.”
Ohno grinned too and shoved the money inside his bra just like Nino told him to. They witnessed as Nino stepped into the spotlight and naturally did some cute poses. His small figure helped him big time and he knew how to utilize this advantage. Nino played with his finger, putting it on various places of his face. His facial expression was cute and flawless. He was- no, she was witty and brave. The lay-your-finger-on-my-property-and-I’ll-bite-your-fingers-off-while-smiling-cutely kind of brave. Nino had fully transformed into Ninoko, the girl that Sho first met on that place. In five minutes straight, the judges stopped her and gave a thumb up without much thinking.
Nino grinned.
Toda rolled her eyes and snug another five thousand to Ohno’s bra.
Ohno smirked smugly and walked to take the spotlight. He also fully transformed into Satoko and posed like he was the hip girl who goes to purikura every day. He sported the peace sign and the pouting face. He blinked his eyes cutely and he laughed like a proper girl.
It’s another thumb up and it’s Mirei’s turn to snug the cash to Ohno’s bra.
Then, it’s Jun’s turn and Sho could feel that his body was warming up. Jun was moving. Jun was moving and posing in that tight mini dress. For the love of everything, Sho’s brain short-circuited and he didn’t know how to recover.
It’s different. Different than Nino. Different than Ohno. Different than any models that Sho had ever seen in act. It was as if the world was played in slow motion as Jun flipped his hair. The clock was ticking with half speed as Jun smiled to the camera (Was it lopsided? Sho wasn’t sure but he loved it). The surroundings turned into muted monochrome background as Jun stole a glance towards Sho and winked.
Wait- WHAT?!
Sho felt the heat on his cheeks and he didn’t know where to look at anymore. Heck, he didn’t even know what to do with his hands, how to breathe, who his name was... Sho was thrown to this specific vault where all he could comprehend was Jun’s pretty wink.
The next thing that Sho knew, Jun was already back to his side. Jun tapped his shoulder and whispered right to his ear, “Like what you see?”
Now, ain’t that one precious?
Sho turned away, suddenly remembered the existence of Nino and Ohno. He took a cold shower inside his head, took a dive inside a deep blue sea, and came back with full armor. He had a pride to keep, this pretty man wouldn’t break him that easily.
“Oh, keep wishing, Junko chan,” Sho tried to whisper as smug as he could and he probably succeeded on that because Jun threw him a taken-aback yet amused gaze.
Shoko rocked the photo session like he had never imagined before, thanks to the rush of adrenaline that Jun gave him. Ohno secured another five thousand inside his frilly bra and they proceeded to change into their second outfits.
The theme would be uniforms.
Because rubbing one of Sho’s kink right in front of his face wasn’t enough, apparently.
♀
Red. The uniform that Jun wore was red. Sho wore red too, but he didn’t give a fuck about himself. Jun was wearing a tight red latex uniform with fishnets for his legs and a cap for his head. He had a pair of red killer stiletto and when he walked in front of Sho on that damned runway - along with what seemed to be thirty other contestants that Sho didn’t even bat an eye on - his hips swayed in the most sinful way.
Even more sinful than the amount of cross dress porn that he had in his secret stash.
It took approximately five minutes to get on the runway, pose, and walk back graciously to the backstage.
It took approximately five minutes too for Sho to run to the bathroom, discard his latex skirt, and jerk himself off to completion.
It would be highly questionable to have a hard on inside a room which was filled with men in female uniforms, wouldn’t it?
♀
Apparently, they announced the shortlist while Sho was in the bathroom, taking care of his business. Most of the people had disappeared by then, only some were left and they’re all busy with yet another type of dress.
Kimonos.
Well, at least Sho had no special interest in kimonos.
Keiko dragged him to one corner and Sho had made a resolution to not search for Jun again. Fuck Jun- wait, no, it brought wrong imagery to Sho’s brain. Err... Jun could go to hell - yeah, that sounded much better - Sho had to finish this competition without any scene to keep both his dignity and his watch.
“There will be cameras after this,” Keiko said while wrapping Sho with the fabric, “I mean, real cameras. We’ll be on TV.”
“Yeah,” Sho answered absentmindedly.
“The head judge will open it officially. She’s- uh, he’s- uh... well, Aiba-sama is the famous model, you know it, right?”
Sho didn’t know, but he nodded just for the sake of time efficiency. He just wanted everything to be fast forwarded. Two times. Three- no, eight times, even. He just wanted everything to be ended so he could go home and smash his face on his worn pillow then turn this person called Jun into memories.
Or tales.
Or myths.
Something else that was not real because that’s what Jun was; unreal.
Sho was as still as a statue this time. He was busy trying to bury Jun with self-suggestions like look at those slanted lips and please, the eyebrows are definitely not normal and he might not even be gay. He was partly successful - only partly because there’s still this tiny voice inside of him that kept nagging on Jun’s favor - and by the time Keiko finished the kimono and the makeup, Sho could finally compose himself decently.
The kimono that Keiko designed was light and short, but gracious. It hung nicely on Sho’s sloppy shoulder and it matched his bold red lipstick. Keiko didn’t make him wear any wig this time. Keiko said that his dark straight hair was long enough to look good with the kimono. A flower was clipped on his bang and that’s it. Sho was ready to go.
Sho gathered with Nino and Ohno - who looked like they’re going to Shichi-Go-San festival, by the way - and they followed the staff to line up on the stage. They’re supposed to stand there while the head judge do the opening, bow on cue, and then walk down the runway when they got called for introduction. Jun was standing next to Sho, but Sho managed to find a standing position that blocked his vision from Jun.
There’s a loud music on the background and then someone came out from the backstage with full confidence. She had furry coat with her and she was so damn fabulous in every step that she took. Sho remembered the famous model that Keiko told him earlier and he thought that this must be her.
And then, this fabulous creature posed on the center of the stage. The music slowly came to an end and she chanted the tagline of the program dramatically, “Wanna be on top?”
Her whisper was husky, throaty, breathy, and pretty much... manly.
Alright, so she was a he. Sho had no problem with that because that’s normal as fuck. Really. Considering his surroundings, with twelve mature, healthy, strong men dressed in female traditional clothes of Japan, this was so normal, wasn’t it?
Then, one by one, the contestants were called.
There’s this bizarre man named Subako. And then some weirdo named Maruko. Next was this super macho man named Nishikiko, followed with a mean-faced Yokoko. Then Murako, Kurako, and Yasuko - what’s with the ‘ko’, really? - went down the runway. The last before Nino was Yuri - thank God, a break from the ‘ko’ trend! - a petite little man that seemed to have some funny interests towards Ohno.
And then it’s Ninoko’s turn.
And Satoko’s.
And-
“Not everyone wanna be on top,” Sho heard a giggle right before he had to make his walk, “Me, for one, prefer to be the bottom one.”
Sho wasn’t in control of his own body when he made the walk. Once he’s down from the stage, he turned to see Jun doing his walk and he couldn’t move anymore after that.
First, was Jun saying what Sho thought he was saying?
Second, since when did Kimono become that seductive?
That’s it. Kimono made it into Sho’s list of kinks. Thank you, Junko.
♀
“You’re stripping him off with your eyes, aren’t you?”
Sho snapped back to reality and looked that Nino and Ohno were grinning at him.
“N- no. What are you talking about?”
“Oh, come on,” Nino punched Sho’s shoulder, “You’re this close to fucking him with your eyes. Let me tell you a secret. We’re here for the money but him? No. He’s here for fun. And for the eye candies. He’s as gay as rainbow parasol, go for it!”
Sho could taste that the great wave of Ninomiya’s teasing fiesta was coming. He had to save his ass. Fast. Or Ohno would jump to the train too and it would be too late for Sho to even dream of a peaceful life ahead. So he just said, “Don’t joke around, Ninomiya. Go for it yourself, if you want it. I’d rather to have a go with Keiko chan, thank you.”
Nino rolled his eyes, “Yeah, and I don’t see you checking out on the said Keiko chan.”
“Shut the fuck up, Ninoko.”
“Want to shut me up, Shoko chan?” Nino blinked his eyes.
Sho shook his head and left.
Something remained in his head, though. Something that made Sho want to run to the woods, climb to the hill, and howl on top of his lungs.
Jun was gay. Oh angels, JUN. WAS. GAY. WHAT SHOULD SAKURAI SHO DO?!
♀
“You disappeared.”
Suddenly Jun was next to Sho and Sho jumped because of it. Geez, how to hide blushing cheeks again?
Sho tried to focus on his next dress; a cheongsam. He shrugged, signaling that he was not interested in the conversation when, actually, he was interested as fuck. He just still couldn’t figure how to approach this sizzling hot man without getting caught by his friends.
Sakurai Sho had managed to live with Ninomiya Kazunari and Ohno Satoshi for five years without making them know about his sexual orientation. He didn’t want to ruin it with one short crush.
“Maruyama is interested in Nino, do you know that?” Jun didn’t care with Sho’s indifference, “He tried to drag Nino to the janitor room a while ago.”
Sho raised his eyebrow, considering if he needed to rescue his friend. But then, he remembered that Nino was the tease that made everything harder for him, so he decided that Nino might as well taste a little bit of gayness himself.
“And Yuri? That kid? He is obviously interested in Ohno,” Jun continued, “He has been following Ohno since earlier.”
Sho just nodded to that one. It’s not something that he didn’t see coming. Ohno could handle it by himself, though.
Then, Jun leaned in and said, “And Jun is interested in Sho.”
Sho turned to look at Jun immediately. His eyes widened. His face was as red as a tomato.
Getting teased for the rest of his life didn’t sound so bad anymore, suddenly.
Sho’s face was so close to Jun’s right then. He could see the eyebrows. He could count those eyelashes. He could measure the nose and if he leaned in just a bit more, he could taste those lips.
But Sho slapped himself hard. Literally. Physically.
This was too good to be true. This must be a joke or something. Or maybe he misinterpreted Jun’s words. Maybe what Jun meant was that Jun was interested in his clothes or in taking him down on the competition.
Sho’s heart was beating fast. Too fast.
He almost fainted when he said, “I don’t think I know what you’re talking about,” and ran to rescue Nino anyway.
♀
When Sho arrived to the janitor room, Maruyama was already beaten up to pulp. Nino was there. Ohno was there. But Sho would never believe that either one of them was the one who did the beating. Nino’s arms were as lean as a girl’s and Ohno would never use that much of energy unless he’s highly angered.
Nino’s lipstick was smudged and his skirt was askew. Alright, something happened.
“Are you okay?”
For an unknown reason, Nino was blushing hard. He didn’t look like he was traumatized or anything, though. Hell, he even looked like he was just making out with someone a moment ago and enjoyed it. What the actual fuck.
“Uh...”
“Could you tell his friends to take him away?” Ohno said.
“Is he dead?”
“Almost but no,” Ohno said, “You might want to call his friends faster, though.”
Sho’s eyes widened and he dashed to the changing room, searching for someone. Anyone.
What he found rendered him wordless. Breathless. Brainless.
Apparently, everyone else was getting a brief for the next stage. The changing room was empty, save from a single manly man who wore nothing frilly.
Jun was standing there, packing his bag. With a simple t-shirt, jeans, and fedora hat. Without make up or skirt. Without wig. It’s just Jun and his manly man self.
And Sho wanted to check if his heart was okay but apparently it’s not because it had come to a complete halt.
“Hey,” Jun said.
“What are you-”
“Leaving,” Jun stood up straight and picked up his bag, “I was here because I’m bored. I was told that I’d find something interesting and I did, but I don’t think this interesting something - or, someone, to be exact - put the same amount of interest on me. So, I’m leaving.”
“Wh- what?!”
Jun chuckled. He walked closer to Sho and said, “Oh, God. I don’t know what I wish more. You playing dumb just so you could get away from me, or you not playing dumb and just simply don’t get all the hints that I dropped - which meant that you’re slightly... dumb.”
Holy fuck, Jun was even better without make up. What was he? A sculpture? A painting? Holy hell, what was he saying again?
“What?”
Jun laughed, “Alright, I’ll make it clear this time,” he stepped once more so he was just an inch away from Sho, “I am interested in you, Sho. Interested as in I want to know more about you. Interested as in I want to go out with you. Interested as in I want to hold you and kiss you. Interested as in I want to ride you and hear you moan my name. I want to do all that, really. And in no particular order.”
Sho swore his legs turned to jelly. Was he hallucinating?! WAS HE?! SOMEONE, TELL HIM!
Jun waited for a long, long while. No, it’s only two minutes, really. But with held breath and shaking legs, it felt like an eternity. Sho didn’t say anything; he couldn’t. Then, Jun made a disappointed face and stepped back.
“It’s okay. I’ll leave then. Send my regards to Kazu and Oh chan, would you?” Jun turned and walked away.
And Sho felt as if his life was pulled away from his being.
No, Sakurai Sho, you were not hallucinating.
“WAIT!” Sho screamed.
Jun stopped. He didn’t turn to look at Sho, though.
“C- can we do the last one first?”
Jun smirked, “I know a place. We can get there in five minutes.”
“C- can you.. uh.. wear the-”
“Uniform? Kimono? Name it, I’ll wear it.”
Sho knew he would have to sacrifice his dear fancy watch if he walked through the gate and abandoned the competition.
But, hey, being ridden by Jun in uniform sounded like a sweet, panting heaven, didn’t it?
Sho smirked and snatched the uniform before taking Jun’s hand and running through the gate.
Thank heavens not everyone wanna be on top.
♂♂
Jun slumped on top of Sho, sweaty and breathless. He giggled in between his ragged breaths and whispered, “They’re not kidding, you do have a thing with the uniform.”
“They?”
“Kazu and Oh chan.”
Sho took three seconds before freaking out, “What?! They- they knew?!”
“Who do you think dragged me into this? They promised me a hot sexy man who’s into cross-dressing and here you are.”
“They plotted this?!”
“You sound offended, do you not like this?”
“No, no. I like this. Very much. But- I- I thought they don’t know a thing! I mean, I bet they’d start mocking me the moment they knew that I’m a- you know..”
“Gay?” Jun chuckled, “Why would they? Don’t you know that they’re screwing each other behind your back? All these five years?”
Sho’s brain ran wild for a while, tracing and retracing. Then, realization.
“The synchronous moans that I heard-”
“Them screwing each other.”
“Loud banging on the walls-”
“Them screwing each other.”
“Ohno yelling in the middle of the night-”
“Them screwing each other.”
“Nino throwing up while on boat-”
“Them screwing- wait, no. It’s just seasick, you moron.”
“Smudged lipstick and askew skirt earlier-”
“Probably them screwing each other. Damn, even there?”
“Holy fuck! Where have I been?!” Sho covered his face.
“According to Nino, you’ve been busy trying to hide your bras and your skirts. And failing on it,” Jun smiled fondly.
“Oh, God,” Sho made a face. Then, “Do you want to try them on?”
“Hm?”
“The bras and the skirts?” Sho shyly whispered.
Jun was silent for three seconds, and then he laughed, “Alright, let’s pay them back with all the noises that they forced you to hear.”
Nino and Ohno needed to wear their earplugs that night, but Sho didn’t care.
Oh, fucking yes, he didn’t care at all anymore.