Gift fic for alissa
To: alissa
From: elyndys
SEASON'S GREETINGS!
Title: Three Sides of a Square
Pairing/Group: Kanjani8 - Yoko, Hina and Maru
Rating: PG-13/R
Warnings: Reference to mild sex scene
Notes: For alissa. Beta’d by C. <3
Summary: Sometimes, even the people you’ve known the longest can still surprise you.
On Kanjani8 nights out, kissing is far more common than some members are entirely comfortable with. It's perhaps less common than other members would be comfortable with, though, and it's usually those members who are in the middle of it.
If asked, they'd probably blame Subaru for starting it. After a few drinks he's liable to start licking his lips suggestively and ignoring more and more of everyone's personal space - although there are times when the others suspect the drinking is just an excuse.
"But everyone's so handsome~" he might say, if he's in a charming mood, or "But everyone's lips look so delicious~!" with a purposeful look at Ohkura, who ducks behind Yasu, who just giggles and looks like he doesn't mind being called 'delicious' at all.
But Subaru isn't here tonight. Neither is Yasu; Hina knew he didn't really need to bother asking him after Subaru had refused, he knew what the answer would be. Ryo's in Tokyo. Ohkura probably chickened out - Hina made the mistake of asking him before he knew Subaru wasn't going to be there.
So in Subaru's absence, it falls to Maru to start the kissing, or at least the suggestion of it.
"Again! Why do we always end up this way!" exclaims Hina, when Maru smacks his lips at Yoko for the first time, apropos of not much. "This never happens with my other friends!"
"That's 'cos none of your other friends are this handsome," giggles Maru. Hina thinks he's been paying too much attention to Subaru; or maybe it's just that they're both equally pervy but Hina has chosen to notice it less in Maru. He's not quite sure how, though.
"None of my other friends are this freakish," mutters Hina.
"You don't have to lump me in with him!" protests Yoko, though he's laughing. "I'm just an innocent victim!"
"Aww, I'm sorry," says Maru, but he doesn't look it at all, with the way he's cuddling up to Yoko with a silly grin on his face.
"Hey, c'mon, you should give Hina some too," Yoko says, still giggling. "I know his lips aren't as good as mine, but he's secretly sad you're giving me preferential treatment!"
"Oi oi, leave me out of it!" Hina says, giving Yoko a whack for good measure. "Don't give him ideas!"
"See, that's why I went for you instead," Maru laughs.
Yoko raises his eyebrows. "I thought you'd like that, you masochist! But then, who knows what you get up to when it's just the two of you…" he says.
Hina rolls his eyes with the air of the long-suffering, but Maru obviously feels differently.
"Wouldn't you like to know~" he says with a wink.
"Stop that," says Hina, knowing it's a lost cause. "Stop encouraging him! You're as bad as each other!"
"Whatever it is you two get up to, it must be good," Yoko muses. "You're always together!"
Hina starts to say What's so surprising about that? but Maru is louder. "Aww, are you lonely? I haven't abandoned you! But you never ask me any more!"
"I'm afraid to! I think you're always busy with him! I don't want you to feel obliged…" Yoko says. "I'd hate to drag you away from something you'd rather be doing…"
Hina laughs loudly. "You know you guys have my blessing, right? To do whatever you like," he says, standing up and clapping them both on the shoulder. "I definitely need another drink," he mutters.
When he gets back, he wishes he'd stayed away longer - he can hear his name. "What, what is it now?" he demands, exasperated, putting the drinks on the table.
"Maru was just explaining - well, making excuses really - why he hangs out with you so much," Yoko says, trying and failing to keep his face straight.
"I can't wait to hear this," says Hina, taking a mouthful of beer.
"Well you see," Maru starts, "I was just saying how I think it's because you're going to get married soon, I mean, you're getting to that age-"
"Wait wait wait," says Hina, exploding with laughter. "'That age'? 'Probably'?! He's older than me!" Hina exclaims indignantly, pointing at Yoko.
"Well, I thought the same," agrees Yoko, "I was like, what the hell's that meant to mean?! Am I a lost cause?!"
"But like I was saying, you're going to remain eternally youthful! Playing high school roles when you're 35!" Maru says earnestly.
"Oh, give it a rest now, I'm tired of being the big kid! I want a shot at maturity! I want kiss scenes now!" Yoko says, pouting.
"You're gonna give up the games then? Give away your DS and your PSP?" Hina asks, finding all this quite hilarious.
"Nope!" says Yoko cheerily. "I'll be the coolest grandpa in Japan!"
Hina snorts. "Well, at least the kids will feel superior to you intellectually," he snipes.
"Better than being an ossan from age 20!" Yoko shoots back.
Maru giggles. "OK, maybe I was wrong about Shin-chan getting married first - you're going to marry each other, aren't you?"
"Well, that's what the fans want to see," says Yoko airily. "But don't you think I'd be wasted on him? Really?"
Hina whacks him again, and it's Maru's turn to laugh uncontrollably.
"Rejected~" sings Maru, through his laughter. "But don't worry," he goes on, grabbing Hina with surprising quickness. "I'll still have you!"
"This conversation is ending, right now!" says Hina loudly, doing his best to ignore Maru hanging off him. "Or I'm going, and leaving you with the bill!"
Yoko and Maru look at each other like naughty siblings told off by mother, and drop the topic in favour of pointing out how Hina should pay for both of them in exchange for them not bring it up again.
When the next month's schedule comes out, it just so happens that Maru and Hina have the same few days off.
"Ah, I can't believe they listened to me!" Hina enthuses. "I wanted those few days off to go see some of the world futsal championship!"
Maru laughs. He had no idea there was such a thing. "Wow, you're so influential these days!"
Hina is grinning from ear to ear. "This is awesome! I'm going to book my flight right now! You want to come?"
He doesn't even pause, asks it so casually that it takes Maru a moment to catch up. "Come where?"
"To Thailand! That's where it's being held!" Hina says impatiently, like Maru should know.
Maru doesn't really need to think about it - he has the time off, after all… "Sure," he agrees with an easy smile. "And, y'know, why don't we invite Yokocho this time?"
Hina looks at him curiously, so Maru goes on. "I know he made it seem like he was joking, but maybe he really wants us all to go one time! Y'know, maybe he's joking about it because he feels awkward?" He feels Hina should know this is a feature of Yoko’s behavior by now.
Hina shakes his head. "But if he never asks seriously, of course he's going to get rejected!"
Maru laughs. "It'd be nice if we were all as straightforward as you."
Hina hisses through his teeth as if he's exasperated. "Well, OK then. I've got no problem with him coming - but you can ask him! He'd only get annoying if I do it."
Maru smiles. Maybe even Hina can't be so straight-up all the time. "OK. And if he laughs at me for thinking he was serious when he really wasn't, I'll tell him you told me to do it."
Hina only whacks him lightly for that.
"Come with you?" Yoko asks when Maru invites him. He sounds almost suspicious. "I wouldn't want to be a third wheel…"
Maru chuckles. "C'mon, stop being such a martyr!"! You always say 'But they're having more fun without me~' but when you get there you always have a good time!"
"Good time with just you two, well, I'll do my best, but if we both beat you up, remember, it was you who asked me!"
So it's decided. They've not got long, only four days, and Yoko can only come for three of them before he has to get back to Japan- but they're used to that, they can make the most of their time.
Even if that's broadly similar to how they'd use it back home.
"It's too late to go see any attractions," says Yoko, when they've picked up their bags and got to the hotel. "Let's go make friends with the local old men!" he suggests cheerfully.
"Y'know, most people would say, Let's find some cute girls," observes Hina.
"Yeah, but old men always know where the cheapest beer is," explains Yoko. "Let's go!"
"Y'know," Hina says to Yoko later that night, "I think one of the reasons you like coming overseas so much is the cheap beer."
"I think that's a nice, wholesome reason," says Maru sagely. "There are much worse reasons for going somewhere. Like, you remember last time we came to Thailand-"
Hina slaps his hand over Maru's mouth in such a comedy fashion that Yoko bursts out laughing. "It must be good, if he won't even let you say it!"
"It wasn't my fault!" says Hina loudly, not letting Maru go. "I was drunk! And I've seen you guys do worse," he says defensively. "Hell, you've seen me do worse!"
So what's so bad about this particular time? Yoko wonders, but Hina's face is warning enough to keep his mouth shut. At least until he's had a few more beers.
When Yoko tries to bring it up again though, when Hina's in the men's room, Maru looks like he knows where the line is, and though he might want to cross it, he daren't.
"No, I can't say!" he says, almost apologetically. "He'd be too embarrassed!"
"Him? Embarrassed?!" Yoko exclaims, laughing in disbelief. "You look up the opposite of 'embarrassed' in a dictionary and you see Hina's picture!" He's impressed with Maru's loyalty, though. Even if it makes him think, whatever the secret is, it must be really really juicy.
"I guess all things are possible after all!" Maru says with a smile.
Yoko keeps his mouth shut after that, partly because Hina comes back, and partly because he's contemplating this strange new information about Hina - it's like he's suddenly encountered a dimension to him left undiscovered for the 12 years they've known each other.
Despite the cheapness of the beer, and the quantities consumed, during the course of the evening, Maru is still awoken by a text from Hina at 9am the next morning.
'Off to the match! Don't sleep all day! See you later!'
When he shows Yoko, a couple of hours later, Yoko promises that if Hina even mentions futsal when they next see him, he'll beat him up. "And I've never said that before! About him, I mean," he clarifies.
Yoko and Maru take a trip up a mountain on a cable car.
"What would you do, if it suddenly stopped in mid-air?" Maru asks.
"Shut up, you always ask that."
"I was just wondering if you'd come up with an answer yet."
Yoko thinks for just a few moments. "I'd call my mum, happy now?"
"We'll see," says Maru cheerily. "I once asked Hina."
"Oh? What did he say?"
"Of course! He said, 'There's not a lot you can do, is there?' and laughed."
Yoko makes a face. "Of course, he would! Sometimes he's so annoying!"
The cable car doesn't stop, though, and both of them are happy with the photos they get of the view from the top.
When they get back to the hotel, although it's early evening, there's no sign of Hina, and he hasn't sent any messages either.
"We know where we stand. Futsal's more important!" laments Yoko.
"Say that again when he gets here," giggles Maru.
After not very long they get tired of waiting, and they send Hina a message when they get to the bar they've chosen for tonight. It's not until over an hour later than Maru finally gets a call.
"He kept us waiting! Tell him we were worried! Tell him we were going to call the police!"
Maru does.
Hina laughs. "No you weren't! I bet you didn't even notice!"
"Of course we noticed! We missed you!" says Maru. Yoko smacks him.
Hina laughs again. "Yeah yeah."
"How was the match?" Maru asks.
Yoko hits him again. "Like you care! And don't get him started, you idiot! Give that here!" He takes Maru's phone. "Hey, are you coming?"
"Nah, sorry, I'm with the team!"
"You what?"
"Yeah, sorry. Listen, I'll see you guys later!"
Yoko stares at the phone in disbelief. "We've been dumped!" he announces, bursting into giggles after a few moments.
"What? He's not coming?" Maru asks.
"No! He's got a bunch of guys to hang out with, and they can show him a better time than we can!" Yoko pauses, then makes a face. "It's just not the same when he's not here to get riled up about it," he complains. After a moment he shoves Maru's shoulder in a manly sort of way. "But how come we always end up talking about him?! We can do better! Get more beer!"
They're walking along the hotel corridor some hours later when Maru remarks cheerfully, "Well, we sure showed him, didn't we?"
"Huh?" asks Yoko, listing dangerously and grabbing onto Maru to steady himself. It takes him a moment to understand what Maru means, but when he does he pushes Maru away, though he sends himself staggering, too. "You just can't help talking about him! Seriously!"
Maru giggles. "Sorry."
Yoko looks like he wants to say more, but he just sighs. "Teasing you about it isn't the same without him," he laments again.
"You'll have to find another way to have fun," Maru offers cheerfully, putting his arm round Yoko and attempting to steer them both.
Yoko tries to shrug him off, but Maru's relying on him now for forward propulsion as well as upright support, so it sort of fails. "C'mon," he says, unlocking his room. "Let's see if there's any interesting porn on the TV."
"Doesn't have to be interesting," says Maru, still just as cheery.
Yoko giggles and turns on the TV. There's no porn - "What a rip-off! Next time we stay in a classier hotel!" "Classier?" - but there's some terrible serial on in a language they don't understand, so they leave it on "for ambience," as Maru puts it.
Yoko isn't a believer in minibars, frugally preferring to smuggle in his own beer, and when they're a couple of cans in, Maru's phone goes.
"Oh - it's from Shin-chan," he says brightly. "He's got back here too."
Yoko stares. "He texted you to let you know he got in safely? Does he always do that?"
"Not always," Maru says, typing. "I'll ask if he wants to hang out."
"Tell him he's a bad boy! We beat him back here!" Yoko says loudly, but then he deflates a little. "But he went out earlier than us too. Does that mean we lost to him?"
"I won't put that bit in," says Maru. "He'll only say, 'What's new?'"
Yoko grumbles in half-hearted outrage, but it's only a minute before Maru gets a reply.
"He says he's going to sleep so he won't come over. So I guess we won after all!" Maru says, grinning.
"Yeah! You can tell him that bit!" says Yoko.
"Oh, and he asked if we enjoyed our date," adds Maru casually.
"We're not the ones out with a bunch of hot-blooded young sportsmen!" says Yoko indignantly.
"What are you saying, didn't you have a good time?" Maru asks, pretending to be wounded.
Yoko hits him. "Yeah, I'm gonna steal you off him," he giggles.
"I'll tell him that too," Maru says, sounding quite smug.
"You sound so happy about it! Having two hot guys vying for your attention… Well, one hot guy and a gorilla."
"Well, it doesn't happen often!" Maru explains, not catching the part about the gorilla. "I've never been so popular!"
"Not as popular as Hina, all those futsal players," Yoko snickers.
Maru giggles. "We should probably stop bringing that up, y'know, he'll get mad…"
"Isn't that the idea?"
"No, but really…"
The way Maru says it is unexpectedly serious, and Yoko is intrigued. "Why? It's not like him to be bothered by anything like that!" exclaims Yoko, amused, but then he remembers he said the same thing about Hina being embarrassed. "Did something happen?" Even drunk, Yoko's mind works in sly ways.
Maru's, however, doesn't, and his brain isn't working efficiently enough to deter Yoko. He stutters and turns pink and Yoko knows he's onto something.
"What, it really did?!" Yoko only as to pause for a few seconds, cogs turning, before he says, "Does this have to do with the last time you guys were here? I bet it is!"
Maru stares. "How do you do that?!"
Yoko giggles. "I have ways," he says smugly.
Maru looks completely crestfallen.
"C'mon," wheedles Yoko, knowing he's got him. "If you don't tell me, I'll just imagine the worst thing I can…"
Maru looks so torn that Yoko almost feels guilty for putting him on the spot like this, but he's counting on Maru's desire to please meaning he'll be unable to keep his mouth shut, especially having drunk as much as he has.
"You've got to swear you won't let him know you know," Maru whispers. He sets his phone aside a distance away, as if Hina will be able to hear them through it.
"Of course I won't say anything," Yoko says, almost offended by the suggestion. He might want to know everything, but that's just his own personal curiosity! He prides himself on his understanding of where the lines are - unlike some people!
Maru bites his lip, but he stays quiet for only a matter of seconds before shuffling closer to Yoko on the bed. "It was when we were here," he confides. "But what he said was true, we were pretty drunk," he adds as a disclaimer.
For a brief, choking, surreal moment, Yoko thinks Maru is actually going to confess that something has happened between them, that Yoko was right all along, without even intending to be! Before he can bring himself to form any suitable words, though, Maru goes on.
"There was this… guy," starts Maru, so gravely that Yoko giggles.
"A ladyboy?" he asks, cackling.
"…Sort of," says Maru, looking like this is more difficult than he anticipated. "He was definitely wearing a skirt. And he was… interested in Shin-chan," he says, not quite able to meet Yoko's gaze, "and we were drunk, so we didn't realise it wasn't a girl till…"
Yoko's eyes widen. "Till it was too late? Oh my god - " he exclaims.
Maru shushes him desperately. "They didn't do anything more than kissing!" he blurts out. "And mainly they were only dancing together!" He looks a little mortified, and Yoko regrets making him tell, just a little.
Yoko's quiet for a moment, digesting this new, inconceivable information about Hina. After thinking about it, even though he knows he's sworn to secrecy after tonight, he thinks he might as well make the most of it while he can. Get it out of his system. He can't resist it. "…I bet his face was a picture when he realised," he says, not able to stop himself sniggering, then out and out laughing as he imagines it.
Maru brightens a little, drawn into Yoko's amusement. "It was pretty funny," he confesses, his grin impish. "The best part was," he confides, all guilt forgotten again, "I don't think he'd've realised it I hadn't pointed it out to him." He even sounds a touch proud - of what, Yoko doesn't know.
Yoko cackles, both at the story and Maru's telling of it. "What did you say?! 'Shin-chan, I think your lady is a transvestite'?"
Maru giggles. "I dunno, I think I just dragged him out," he says vaguely.
Yoko laughs at that. "The guy probably thought Hina was spoken for!"
"Maybe he wanted a threesome," mumbles Maru.
Yoko gives him a smack and laughs. "There you go, flattering yourself again! I can't believe you said that!" he says, shaking his head. "Like that was the obvious conclusion! You and Hina really do come as a pair, don't you!"
Maru doesn't quite see how it's so funny, but he thinks he'd better keep laughing anyway. "The guy obviously thought we were… sex tourists, anyway."
Yoko giggles at 'sex tourists' and says it again a few times for good measure. "Good job you were there to protect poor, innocent Hina,” he chuckles. "He could've ended up out of pocket! Not that he couldn't afford it," he mutters as an afterthought.
"Someone's got to look after him," Maru says.
"Ah, but who looks after you?" Yoko says, winking like he thinks he's being very clever.
"Well, he does," Maru says blankly. "He looks after everyone. …In his own way."
Yoko raises an eyebrow. "Really? Him?" He sounds almost hurt, but in that way that's trying to pretend he isn't - his glass heart shattered yet again! "Well, I guess I'm not the obvious choice, even after I plan all sorts of wonderful activities like barbecues and overseas vacations, and even after I put you to bed when you were drunk that time…"
"I don't remember that!"
"That's because you were drunk!"
Maru is sure Yoko would've crowed about it before now if it were true, but nevertheless he can accept it. "In that case I apologise, I'm not giving you proper credit," he says.
Yoko’s still looking put out. “Yeah, you should! I care too, y’know! I understand people’s feelings way better than Hina does! I care deeply about everyone’s lives!”
Maru laughs, feeling like he should defend Hina when he’s not here to do it himself. "But he doesn’t demand to know everyone’s personal secrets,” he teases. "And you can always rely on him to -” he starts to add, but he doesn't get a chance to finish, because, before he knows what's going on, Yoko leans in and kisses him, just presses his mouth against Maru's for a few seconds.
Then he pulls back again, just a short distance, staring at Maru with a blank sort of look on his face.
"Uh," Maru says hesitantly. This is a bit different to when it's all of them, giddy and rowdy in a bar, egging each other on. "What was that… for?"
"I just thought we should stop talking about Hina for five minutes together," Yoko mutters.
Maru smiles. "What, you wanna prove you can do a better job of -" he gets out before Yoko cuts him off again.
It's an awkward sort of kiss - Yoko doesn't move his mouth for a few moments, and Maru doesn't know how to respond, and he's fairly certain that if he were sober this would be the most uncertain, uncomfortable moment of his life - but to his drunken sensibilities, he doesn't really see what's wrong with it. It just seems easier to go along with it - there's no reason to make a fuss! So Maru starts to kiss back, and he guesses maybe Yoko is relieved, because he seems to get a little more enthusiastic, like he relaxes into it and isn't just keeping his mouth on Maru's because he's afraid what will happen if he takes it away.
Maru, to his own surprise, is enjoying himself quite a lot. After all, it's nothing they've not done before… not for the first few minutes, anyway. It’s true that there’s more kissing amongst Kanjani8 than in a comparable group of young men, but usually it stops quite soon. But now they've come this far, it seems like it would make less sense to stop than to carry on. It feels almost like a dare, and to stop would feel like losing, just like getting back to the hotel before Hina did earlier.
So they keep kissing, not touching or getting closer or anything, until Yoko sort of clumsily shuffles in and kneels in front of Maru on the bed, puts his hand on Maru's hip.
That's when it really starts to register with Maru that this is a bit more than the time he drunkenly smooched Yoko before - after all, that time, Yoko acted all outraged. Maybe it was more of an act than Maru realised.
They haven't stopped kissing, and Yoko awkwardly goes for Maru's belt, and so Maru goes for Yoko's, but he mustn't do it right because Yoko takes his hands back and starts undoing his own belt instead, so Maru does the same, and with a suddenness that makes Maru dizzy they've got their hands in each other's pants and they're jacking each other off, quick and amicable and over embarrassingly soon. At least, Maru thinks hazily, Yoko doesn't last much longer than he does, so he thinks they can call it a draw.
Maru feels the faint tinge of a blush creeping up his face when Yoko hands him tissues, but he decides to be philosophical - after all, it's too late now, and if either of them was so opposed to it, they wouldn't have got that far in the first place, right? If he hadn't wanted it, then he wouldn't have got a thrill out of Yoko's kiss, wouldn't have got turned on by it, by how fast they got down to it, by how eager they both were by the time they got their hands on each other.
He braves a look at Yoko, finally, and he's relieved when he realises he's clearly taking a similar attitude. Maru gives him the silliest grin he can muster, and Yoko giggles. He throws the tissues down the end of the bed and flops down next to Maru, lying down and propping himself on his elbow.
"…Have you ever done that before?" he asks, taking Maru by surprise.
"Uh," says Maru, feeling slow with sex and drink. He inclines his head, drawing a breath. "Well…"
Yoko is sharper, yet again. "Who with? Subaru?"
"…Maybe?" is as enigmatic as Maru can manage.
"When we were teenagers, right?" Yoko nods, clearly taking this as mere confirmation of something he'd decided about long ago. "How about Hina?"
"No!" Maru blurts out, wincing.
The fact that Yoko doesn't say anything in response to that is almost worse than if he did. But at least, Maru thinks, it shows Yoko really can be trusted not to mention Hina's fateful Bangkok encounter again, either. He knows where the lines are, after all.
"I should probably get back," Maru says eventually, sighing.
Yoko nods. "You don't have to," he says after a moment.
"I should," Maru says, a little ruefully.
"Yeah," Yoko concedes, "I guess it would be pretty awkward if we came face to face with Hina when we open the door tomorrow."
The smile Maru manages is a little lackluster. "Ahh, I'm tired," he says, half-climbing, half-rolling off the bed. "What time's your flight tomorrow?"
"Not till 6,” Yoko says, closing his eyes. "Give me a shout when you get up, yeah?"
"Sure," Maru says easily, making his way still a little unsteadily to the door.
He doesn't have time to think any further about any of this, because as soon as he falls gratefully into bed his thoughts are way too scattered and brief to sustain consciousness for very long.
Of course, Maru isn't surprised when he wakes up the next day and it's 1pm. He feels guilty for wasting Yoko's last day here, but at least Yoko will probably have just woken up too, and will probably feel just as rough.
He realises he was half-expecting to have forgotten what happened in Yoko's room last night, but nope, it's still there, albeit with a hazy, dreamlike quality. So many things in dreams make sense at the time…
Maru sees no sense in trying to think it out or talk it over with Yoko. It happened, no harm done! He's sure Yoko will refrain from bringing it up as the topic of a future MC.
So he confidently reaches for his phone to let Yoko know he's (mainly) alive. It's only when he sees a message from Hina that he suddenly feels uneasy.
It's weird. He feels, bizarrely, like he's left Hina out of something - like he hadn't invited him to a party he was going to. He hears an echo of Yoko's words: maybe he and Hina really do come as a pair! He tries to talk some sense into himself - it's crazy, he doesn't need to report back to Hina about anything, and he doesn't need his permission to do stupid things, even if - he imagines - if he'd consulted Hina about the wisdom of performing a sex act with Yoko it would probably have ranked near the top of the all-time list.
Maru remembers Hina saying he and Yoko had his blessing to do 'whatever they wanted'. He smiles wryly. He's almost 99% certain that Hina didn't mean it quite this literally. He wishes he'd thought to remind Yoko last night, because it's pretty funny, but now the moment has passed.
He sends Hina a message telling him when Yoko's flight is, that he'll be free tonight.
Hina texts back when Maru's in the shower - there's a match on tonight, does he want to go?
Maru agonises, second-guessing himself over and over, until he decides that no, he'll refuse, says he'll catch up with Hina after the game. Unless Hina is busy with his gang of young men again. Except that's not as funny without Yoko here.
When Hina texts him back it has the emoticon for waving, but Maru knows it's really a slap aimed at his head.
Maru goes down to the hotel café, where Yoko is sitting with his luggage, putting spoonfuls of sugar into a cup of very black coffee. Maru grins at him, and Yoko grins back.
"So, worth the trip?" Maru asks, sitting down.
"Beats being hungover in boring old Osaka," Yoko says wryly. "Thanks for inviting me," he says after a while. "And thank Hina for me too," he adds. "It was good of him to organise it."
"I'll tell him."
"Barely saw him, though!" Yoko says with a little laugh.
Maru smiles. "We'll have to do it again, then. Go somewhere way away from any foot and ball related events."
Yoko laughs. "Do you think he'd go crazy?"
"Probably," Maru agrees, and they look at each other and giggle.
By the time Yoko leaves, Maru is feeling a little more energetic, so he goes out with his camera and explores some temples around the city, tries to calm the uneasy feeling that's stuck with him and gets worse every time he thinks about seeing Hina. He's talked himself into it, he says to himself, there's no real reason to worry! If being with Yoko today was perfectly comfortable, why is the thought of facing Hina giving him so much difficulty?
As he's walking back to the hotel, it strikes him, very awkwardly, that maybe what he's worrying about it's Hina's disapproval, but his approval. What if Hina were to say, Sure, fine, OK?
But what if he didn't? Maru doesn't even dare think about that one.
But he's still thinking in terms of this being something he has to inform Hina of, like he has to make a confession, an admission of guilt! It almost makes him chuckle. He doesn't have to dump this on Hina. He's sure Hina wouldn't appreciate it in the slightest if he did. He imagines the grimace, the look of 'Why did you have to go and make me imagine that?!' He shakes his head, trying to bury the thought so it won't somehow slip out of his mouth without his permission.
He wonders how it would've gone if Hina hadn't been absent the whole of yesterday. Of course, nothing would've happened! Maru feels like, when he really thinks hard about it, that would've been a shame. Not like he and Yoko are necessarily likely to ever do it again - but Maru feels a new level of something like gratitude that they could do something like that, and be so easygoing, so laidback with each other afterwards. Maru feels like that must be a mark of true friendship.
Maru can't help it, his mind wanders and he finds himself wondering how it would have been if it had been Hina. Just him and Hina. Maru has never considered himself a particularly closed-minded individual, but today he feels like his mind is a few degrees more open. He wonders about being in bed with Hina like he was with Yoko last night, imagines Hina's hand on him and Hina's mouth against his.
Would it be the same afterwards? Would they be able to just go back to normal just like that?
If it were Hina, would that even be best? Hina and Yoko are different people.
And in any case, they've spent so much time together. It's never happened yet.
But then, it had never happened with Yoko, either. Maru starts to wonder why Yoko did that, so out of the blue - or was it, really? I'm afraid to ask you to come out! You're always together... But then he's back at the hotel and when he walks through the lobby, Hina is there.
"I thought you were going to a game tonight," Maru says. Hina's caught him by surprise, he doesn't have time to be nervous.
"I am, but it doesn't start till 8, I just came by to change," Hina says, and after a pause adds, "And see what you were up to - I haven't seen you much, I didn't want you going off and getting into mischief now Yoko's not around."
Maru grins. "I'll try and be good," he says, though he can think of half a dozen other responses.
"What did you get up to yesterday, anyway?"
"We went up a mountain and took pictures. And then we just... went drinking."
Hina laughs, though Maru wasn't really being funny. "Yeah, sorry I wasn't around. But I figured you two could take care of each other... and seeing as I’m not at a police station bailing anyone out right now, I guess everything was OK."
"Yeah, Yoko took care of me," Maru says, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "He was very keen to take credit for it," he adds, trying a smile.
Hina looks at him suspiciously. "You OK? You're not being as... stupid as usual."
"I'm fine," Maru replies, trying a more sincere smile. "Just still a bit tired," he says apologetically.
Hina doesn't look completely convinced, but he nods. "Yeah, I know how that is. I'll need a holiday to recover from this holiday," he laughs.
Maru is actually relieved - Hina never pushes for all the details, Hina doesn't care what's going on behind the scenes, he doesn't need to know everyone's secrets. "Yoko said we should do this again sometime. Go somewhere where there's no sport," he says with a cheeky grin.
Hina frowns. "I'll have to think about that last part," he says, but he doesn't really sound opposed at all.
Maru smiles. He's feeling a lot better. "Y'know, maybe I will come to the match with you tonight after all," he says.
Hina gives him another look of surprise. "What? Since when have you cared?!"
"I won't if you don't want me to..." Maru says.
"No, no," Hina says, "I'm just surprised!"
Maru smiles. "Well, sometimes people surprise you. You've got to expect the unexpected, Shin-chan!" he says. putting his arm round Hina's shoulders.
Hina laughs and does the usual. "With you, that's good advice."
Maru laughs too. "That sounds like permission to keep surprising you," he says, and promises that whatever surprises he might have in store, they'll always be nice ones.
From: elyndys
SEASON'S GREETINGS!
Title: Three Sides of a Square
Pairing/Group: Kanjani8 - Yoko, Hina and Maru
Rating: PG-13/R
Warnings: Reference to mild sex scene
Notes: For alissa. Beta’d by C. <3
Summary: Sometimes, even the people you’ve known the longest can still surprise you.
On Kanjani8 nights out, kissing is far more common than some members are entirely comfortable with. It's perhaps less common than other members would be comfortable with, though, and it's usually those members who are in the middle of it.
If asked, they'd probably blame Subaru for starting it. After a few drinks he's liable to start licking his lips suggestively and ignoring more and more of everyone's personal space - although there are times when the others suspect the drinking is just an excuse.
"But everyone's so handsome~" he might say, if he's in a charming mood, or "But everyone's lips look so delicious~!" with a purposeful look at Ohkura, who ducks behind Yasu, who just giggles and looks like he doesn't mind being called 'delicious' at all.
But Subaru isn't here tonight. Neither is Yasu; Hina knew he didn't really need to bother asking him after Subaru had refused, he knew what the answer would be. Ryo's in Tokyo. Ohkura probably chickened out - Hina made the mistake of asking him before he knew Subaru wasn't going to be there.
So in Subaru's absence, it falls to Maru to start the kissing, or at least the suggestion of it.
"Again! Why do we always end up this way!" exclaims Hina, when Maru smacks his lips at Yoko for the first time, apropos of not much. "This never happens with my other friends!"
"That's 'cos none of your other friends are this handsome," giggles Maru. Hina thinks he's been paying too much attention to Subaru; or maybe it's just that they're both equally pervy but Hina has chosen to notice it less in Maru. He's not quite sure how, though.
"None of my other friends are this freakish," mutters Hina.
"You don't have to lump me in with him!" protests Yoko, though he's laughing. "I'm just an innocent victim!"
"Aww, I'm sorry," says Maru, but he doesn't look it at all, with the way he's cuddling up to Yoko with a silly grin on his face.
"Hey, c'mon, you should give Hina some too," Yoko says, still giggling. "I know his lips aren't as good as mine, but he's secretly sad you're giving me preferential treatment!"
"Oi oi, leave me out of it!" Hina says, giving Yoko a whack for good measure. "Don't give him ideas!"
"See, that's why I went for you instead," Maru laughs.
Yoko raises his eyebrows. "I thought you'd like that, you masochist! But then, who knows what you get up to when it's just the two of you…" he says.
Hina rolls his eyes with the air of the long-suffering, but Maru obviously feels differently.
"Wouldn't you like to know~" he says with a wink.
"Stop that," says Hina, knowing it's a lost cause. "Stop encouraging him! You're as bad as each other!"
"Whatever it is you two get up to, it must be good," Yoko muses. "You're always together!"
Hina starts to say What's so surprising about that? but Maru is louder. "Aww, are you lonely? I haven't abandoned you! But you never ask me any more!"
"I'm afraid to! I think you're always busy with him! I don't want you to feel obliged…" Yoko says. "I'd hate to drag you away from something you'd rather be doing…"
Hina laughs loudly. "You know you guys have my blessing, right? To do whatever you like," he says, standing up and clapping them both on the shoulder. "I definitely need another drink," he mutters.
When he gets back, he wishes he'd stayed away longer - he can hear his name. "What, what is it now?" he demands, exasperated, putting the drinks on the table.
"Maru was just explaining - well, making excuses really - why he hangs out with you so much," Yoko says, trying and failing to keep his face straight.
"I can't wait to hear this," says Hina, taking a mouthful of beer.
"Well you see," Maru starts, "I was just saying how I think it's because you're going to get married soon, I mean, you're getting to that age-"
"Wait wait wait," says Hina, exploding with laughter. "'That age'? 'Probably'?! He's older than me!" Hina exclaims indignantly, pointing at Yoko.
"Well, I thought the same," agrees Yoko, "I was like, what the hell's that meant to mean?! Am I a lost cause?!"
"But like I was saying, you're going to remain eternally youthful! Playing high school roles when you're 35!" Maru says earnestly.
"Oh, give it a rest now, I'm tired of being the big kid! I want a shot at maturity! I want kiss scenes now!" Yoko says, pouting.
"You're gonna give up the games then? Give away your DS and your PSP?" Hina asks, finding all this quite hilarious.
"Nope!" says Yoko cheerily. "I'll be the coolest grandpa in Japan!"
Hina snorts. "Well, at least the kids will feel superior to you intellectually," he snipes.
"Better than being an ossan from age 20!" Yoko shoots back.
Maru giggles. "OK, maybe I was wrong about Shin-chan getting married first - you're going to marry each other, aren't you?"
"Well, that's what the fans want to see," says Yoko airily. "But don't you think I'd be wasted on him? Really?"
Hina whacks him again, and it's Maru's turn to laugh uncontrollably.
"Rejected~" sings Maru, through his laughter. "But don't worry," he goes on, grabbing Hina with surprising quickness. "I'll still have you!"
"This conversation is ending, right now!" says Hina loudly, doing his best to ignore Maru hanging off him. "Or I'm going, and leaving you with the bill!"
Yoko and Maru look at each other like naughty siblings told off by mother, and drop the topic in favour of pointing out how Hina should pay for both of them in exchange for them not bring it up again.
When the next month's schedule comes out, it just so happens that Maru and Hina have the same few days off.
"Ah, I can't believe they listened to me!" Hina enthuses. "I wanted those few days off to go see some of the world futsal championship!"
Maru laughs. He had no idea there was such a thing. "Wow, you're so influential these days!"
Hina is grinning from ear to ear. "This is awesome! I'm going to book my flight right now! You want to come?"
He doesn't even pause, asks it so casually that it takes Maru a moment to catch up. "Come where?"
"To Thailand! That's where it's being held!" Hina says impatiently, like Maru should know.
Maru doesn't really need to think about it - he has the time off, after all… "Sure," he agrees with an easy smile. "And, y'know, why don't we invite Yokocho this time?"
Hina looks at him curiously, so Maru goes on. "I know he made it seem like he was joking, but maybe he really wants us all to go one time! Y'know, maybe he's joking about it because he feels awkward?" He feels Hina should know this is a feature of Yoko’s behavior by now.
Hina shakes his head. "But if he never asks seriously, of course he's going to get rejected!"
Maru laughs. "It'd be nice if we were all as straightforward as you."
Hina hisses through his teeth as if he's exasperated. "Well, OK then. I've got no problem with him coming - but you can ask him! He'd only get annoying if I do it."
Maru smiles. Maybe even Hina can't be so straight-up all the time. "OK. And if he laughs at me for thinking he was serious when he really wasn't, I'll tell him you told me to do it."
Hina only whacks him lightly for that.
"Come with you?" Yoko asks when Maru invites him. He sounds almost suspicious. "I wouldn't want to be a third wheel…"
Maru chuckles. "C'mon, stop being such a martyr!"! You always say 'But they're having more fun without me~' but when you get there you always have a good time!"
"Good time with just you two, well, I'll do my best, but if we both beat you up, remember, it was you who asked me!"
So it's decided. They've not got long, only four days, and Yoko can only come for three of them before he has to get back to Japan- but they're used to that, they can make the most of their time.
Even if that's broadly similar to how they'd use it back home.
"It's too late to go see any attractions," says Yoko, when they've picked up their bags and got to the hotel. "Let's go make friends with the local old men!" he suggests cheerfully.
"Y'know, most people would say, Let's find some cute girls," observes Hina.
"Yeah, but old men always know where the cheapest beer is," explains Yoko. "Let's go!"
"Y'know," Hina says to Yoko later that night, "I think one of the reasons you like coming overseas so much is the cheap beer."
"I think that's a nice, wholesome reason," says Maru sagely. "There are much worse reasons for going somewhere. Like, you remember last time we came to Thailand-"
Hina slaps his hand over Maru's mouth in such a comedy fashion that Yoko bursts out laughing. "It must be good, if he won't even let you say it!"
"It wasn't my fault!" says Hina loudly, not letting Maru go. "I was drunk! And I've seen you guys do worse," he says defensively. "Hell, you've seen me do worse!"
So what's so bad about this particular time? Yoko wonders, but Hina's face is warning enough to keep his mouth shut. At least until he's had a few more beers.
When Yoko tries to bring it up again though, when Hina's in the men's room, Maru looks like he knows where the line is, and though he might want to cross it, he daren't.
"No, I can't say!" he says, almost apologetically. "He'd be too embarrassed!"
"Him? Embarrassed?!" Yoko exclaims, laughing in disbelief. "You look up the opposite of 'embarrassed' in a dictionary and you see Hina's picture!" He's impressed with Maru's loyalty, though. Even if it makes him think, whatever the secret is, it must be really really juicy.
"I guess all things are possible after all!" Maru says with a smile.
Yoko keeps his mouth shut after that, partly because Hina comes back, and partly because he's contemplating this strange new information about Hina - it's like he's suddenly encountered a dimension to him left undiscovered for the 12 years they've known each other.
Despite the cheapness of the beer, and the quantities consumed, during the course of the evening, Maru is still awoken by a text from Hina at 9am the next morning.
'Off to the match! Don't sleep all day! See you later!'
When he shows Yoko, a couple of hours later, Yoko promises that if Hina even mentions futsal when they next see him, he'll beat him up. "And I've never said that before! About him, I mean," he clarifies.
Yoko and Maru take a trip up a mountain on a cable car.
"What would you do, if it suddenly stopped in mid-air?" Maru asks.
"Shut up, you always ask that."
"I was just wondering if you'd come up with an answer yet."
Yoko thinks for just a few moments. "I'd call my mum, happy now?"
"We'll see," says Maru cheerily. "I once asked Hina."
"Oh? What did he say?"
"Of course! He said, 'There's not a lot you can do, is there?' and laughed."
Yoko makes a face. "Of course, he would! Sometimes he's so annoying!"
The cable car doesn't stop, though, and both of them are happy with the photos they get of the view from the top.
When they get back to the hotel, although it's early evening, there's no sign of Hina, and he hasn't sent any messages either.
"We know where we stand. Futsal's more important!" laments Yoko.
"Say that again when he gets here," giggles Maru.
After not very long they get tired of waiting, and they send Hina a message when they get to the bar they've chosen for tonight. It's not until over an hour later than Maru finally gets a call.
"He kept us waiting! Tell him we were worried! Tell him we were going to call the police!"
Maru does.
Hina laughs. "No you weren't! I bet you didn't even notice!"
"Of course we noticed! We missed you!" says Maru. Yoko smacks him.
Hina laughs again. "Yeah yeah."
"How was the match?" Maru asks.
Yoko hits him again. "Like you care! And don't get him started, you idiot! Give that here!" He takes Maru's phone. "Hey, are you coming?"
"Nah, sorry, I'm with the team!"
"You what?"
"Yeah, sorry. Listen, I'll see you guys later!"
Yoko stares at the phone in disbelief. "We've been dumped!" he announces, bursting into giggles after a few moments.
"What? He's not coming?" Maru asks.
"No! He's got a bunch of guys to hang out with, and they can show him a better time than we can!" Yoko pauses, then makes a face. "It's just not the same when he's not here to get riled up about it," he complains. After a moment he shoves Maru's shoulder in a manly sort of way. "But how come we always end up talking about him?! We can do better! Get more beer!"
They're walking along the hotel corridor some hours later when Maru remarks cheerfully, "Well, we sure showed him, didn't we?"
"Huh?" asks Yoko, listing dangerously and grabbing onto Maru to steady himself. It takes him a moment to understand what Maru means, but when he does he pushes Maru away, though he sends himself staggering, too. "You just can't help talking about him! Seriously!"
Maru giggles. "Sorry."
Yoko looks like he wants to say more, but he just sighs. "Teasing you about it isn't the same without him," he laments again.
"You'll have to find another way to have fun," Maru offers cheerfully, putting his arm round Yoko and attempting to steer them both.
Yoko tries to shrug him off, but Maru's relying on him now for forward propulsion as well as upright support, so it sort of fails. "C'mon," he says, unlocking his room. "Let's see if there's any interesting porn on the TV."
"Doesn't have to be interesting," says Maru, still just as cheery.
Yoko giggles and turns on the TV. There's no porn - "What a rip-off! Next time we stay in a classier hotel!" "Classier?" - but there's some terrible serial on in a language they don't understand, so they leave it on "for ambience," as Maru puts it.
Yoko isn't a believer in minibars, frugally preferring to smuggle in his own beer, and when they're a couple of cans in, Maru's phone goes.
"Oh - it's from Shin-chan," he says brightly. "He's got back here too."
Yoko stares. "He texted you to let you know he got in safely? Does he always do that?"
"Not always," Maru says, typing. "I'll ask if he wants to hang out."
"Tell him he's a bad boy! We beat him back here!" Yoko says loudly, but then he deflates a little. "But he went out earlier than us too. Does that mean we lost to him?"
"I won't put that bit in," says Maru. "He'll only say, 'What's new?'"
Yoko grumbles in half-hearted outrage, but it's only a minute before Maru gets a reply.
"He says he's going to sleep so he won't come over. So I guess we won after all!" Maru says, grinning.
"Yeah! You can tell him that bit!" says Yoko.
"Oh, and he asked if we enjoyed our date," adds Maru casually.
"We're not the ones out with a bunch of hot-blooded young sportsmen!" says Yoko indignantly.
"What are you saying, didn't you have a good time?" Maru asks, pretending to be wounded.
Yoko hits him. "Yeah, I'm gonna steal you off him," he giggles.
"I'll tell him that too," Maru says, sounding quite smug.
"You sound so happy about it! Having two hot guys vying for your attention… Well, one hot guy and a gorilla."
"Well, it doesn't happen often!" Maru explains, not catching the part about the gorilla. "I've never been so popular!"
"Not as popular as Hina, all those futsal players," Yoko snickers.
Maru giggles. "We should probably stop bringing that up, y'know, he'll get mad…"
"Isn't that the idea?"
"No, but really…"
The way Maru says it is unexpectedly serious, and Yoko is intrigued. "Why? It's not like him to be bothered by anything like that!" exclaims Yoko, amused, but then he remembers he said the same thing about Hina being embarrassed. "Did something happen?" Even drunk, Yoko's mind works in sly ways.
Maru's, however, doesn't, and his brain isn't working efficiently enough to deter Yoko. He stutters and turns pink and Yoko knows he's onto something.
"What, it really did?!" Yoko only as to pause for a few seconds, cogs turning, before he says, "Does this have to do with the last time you guys were here? I bet it is!"
Maru stares. "How do you do that?!"
Yoko giggles. "I have ways," he says smugly.
Maru looks completely crestfallen.
"C'mon," wheedles Yoko, knowing he's got him. "If you don't tell me, I'll just imagine the worst thing I can…"
Maru looks so torn that Yoko almost feels guilty for putting him on the spot like this, but he's counting on Maru's desire to please meaning he'll be unable to keep his mouth shut, especially having drunk as much as he has.
"You've got to swear you won't let him know you know," Maru whispers. He sets his phone aside a distance away, as if Hina will be able to hear them through it.
"Of course I won't say anything," Yoko says, almost offended by the suggestion. He might want to know everything, but that's just his own personal curiosity! He prides himself on his understanding of where the lines are - unlike some people!
Maru bites his lip, but he stays quiet for only a matter of seconds before shuffling closer to Yoko on the bed. "It was when we were here," he confides. "But what he said was true, we were pretty drunk," he adds as a disclaimer.
For a brief, choking, surreal moment, Yoko thinks Maru is actually going to confess that something has happened between them, that Yoko was right all along, without even intending to be! Before he can bring himself to form any suitable words, though, Maru goes on.
"There was this… guy," starts Maru, so gravely that Yoko giggles.
"A ladyboy?" he asks, cackling.
"…Sort of," says Maru, looking like this is more difficult than he anticipated. "He was definitely wearing a skirt. And he was… interested in Shin-chan," he says, not quite able to meet Yoko's gaze, "and we were drunk, so we didn't realise it wasn't a girl till…"
Yoko's eyes widen. "Till it was too late? Oh my god - " he exclaims.
Maru shushes him desperately. "They didn't do anything more than kissing!" he blurts out. "And mainly they were only dancing together!" He looks a little mortified, and Yoko regrets making him tell, just a little.
Yoko's quiet for a moment, digesting this new, inconceivable information about Hina. After thinking about it, even though he knows he's sworn to secrecy after tonight, he thinks he might as well make the most of it while he can. Get it out of his system. He can't resist it. "…I bet his face was a picture when he realised," he says, not able to stop himself sniggering, then out and out laughing as he imagines it.
Maru brightens a little, drawn into Yoko's amusement. "It was pretty funny," he confesses, his grin impish. "The best part was," he confides, all guilt forgotten again, "I don't think he'd've realised it I hadn't pointed it out to him." He even sounds a touch proud - of what, Yoko doesn't know.
Yoko cackles, both at the story and Maru's telling of it. "What did you say?! 'Shin-chan, I think your lady is a transvestite'?"
Maru giggles. "I dunno, I think I just dragged him out," he says vaguely.
Yoko laughs at that. "The guy probably thought Hina was spoken for!"
"Maybe he wanted a threesome," mumbles Maru.
Yoko gives him a smack and laughs. "There you go, flattering yourself again! I can't believe you said that!" he says, shaking his head. "Like that was the obvious conclusion! You and Hina really do come as a pair, don't you!"
Maru doesn't quite see how it's so funny, but he thinks he'd better keep laughing anyway. "The guy obviously thought we were… sex tourists, anyway."
Yoko giggles at 'sex tourists' and says it again a few times for good measure. "Good job you were there to protect poor, innocent Hina,” he chuckles. "He could've ended up out of pocket! Not that he couldn't afford it," he mutters as an afterthought.
"Someone's got to look after him," Maru says.
"Ah, but who looks after you?" Yoko says, winking like he thinks he's being very clever.
"Well, he does," Maru says blankly. "He looks after everyone. …In his own way."
Yoko raises an eyebrow. "Really? Him?" He sounds almost hurt, but in that way that's trying to pretend he isn't - his glass heart shattered yet again! "Well, I guess I'm not the obvious choice, even after I plan all sorts of wonderful activities like barbecues and overseas vacations, and even after I put you to bed when you were drunk that time…"
"I don't remember that!"
"That's because you were drunk!"
Maru is sure Yoko would've crowed about it before now if it were true, but nevertheless he can accept it. "In that case I apologise, I'm not giving you proper credit," he says.
Yoko’s still looking put out. “Yeah, you should! I care too, y’know! I understand people’s feelings way better than Hina does! I care deeply about everyone’s lives!”
Maru laughs, feeling like he should defend Hina when he’s not here to do it himself. "But he doesn’t demand to know everyone’s personal secrets,” he teases. "And you can always rely on him to -” he starts to add, but he doesn't get a chance to finish, because, before he knows what's going on, Yoko leans in and kisses him, just presses his mouth against Maru's for a few seconds.
Then he pulls back again, just a short distance, staring at Maru with a blank sort of look on his face.
"Uh," Maru says hesitantly. This is a bit different to when it's all of them, giddy and rowdy in a bar, egging each other on. "What was that… for?"
"I just thought we should stop talking about Hina for five minutes together," Yoko mutters.
Maru smiles. "What, you wanna prove you can do a better job of -" he gets out before Yoko cuts him off again.
It's an awkward sort of kiss - Yoko doesn't move his mouth for a few moments, and Maru doesn't know how to respond, and he's fairly certain that if he were sober this would be the most uncertain, uncomfortable moment of his life - but to his drunken sensibilities, he doesn't really see what's wrong with it. It just seems easier to go along with it - there's no reason to make a fuss! So Maru starts to kiss back, and he guesses maybe Yoko is relieved, because he seems to get a little more enthusiastic, like he relaxes into it and isn't just keeping his mouth on Maru's because he's afraid what will happen if he takes it away.
Maru, to his own surprise, is enjoying himself quite a lot. After all, it's nothing they've not done before… not for the first few minutes, anyway. It’s true that there’s more kissing amongst Kanjani8 than in a comparable group of young men, but usually it stops quite soon. But now they've come this far, it seems like it would make less sense to stop than to carry on. It feels almost like a dare, and to stop would feel like losing, just like getting back to the hotel before Hina did earlier.
So they keep kissing, not touching or getting closer or anything, until Yoko sort of clumsily shuffles in and kneels in front of Maru on the bed, puts his hand on Maru's hip.
That's when it really starts to register with Maru that this is a bit more than the time he drunkenly smooched Yoko before - after all, that time, Yoko acted all outraged. Maybe it was more of an act than Maru realised.
They haven't stopped kissing, and Yoko awkwardly goes for Maru's belt, and so Maru goes for Yoko's, but he mustn't do it right because Yoko takes his hands back and starts undoing his own belt instead, so Maru does the same, and with a suddenness that makes Maru dizzy they've got their hands in each other's pants and they're jacking each other off, quick and amicable and over embarrassingly soon. At least, Maru thinks hazily, Yoko doesn't last much longer than he does, so he thinks they can call it a draw.
Maru feels the faint tinge of a blush creeping up his face when Yoko hands him tissues, but he decides to be philosophical - after all, it's too late now, and if either of them was so opposed to it, they wouldn't have got that far in the first place, right? If he hadn't wanted it, then he wouldn't have got a thrill out of Yoko's kiss, wouldn't have got turned on by it, by how fast they got down to it, by how eager they both were by the time they got their hands on each other.
He braves a look at Yoko, finally, and he's relieved when he realises he's clearly taking a similar attitude. Maru gives him the silliest grin he can muster, and Yoko giggles. He throws the tissues down the end of the bed and flops down next to Maru, lying down and propping himself on his elbow.
"…Have you ever done that before?" he asks, taking Maru by surprise.
"Uh," says Maru, feeling slow with sex and drink. He inclines his head, drawing a breath. "Well…"
Yoko is sharper, yet again. "Who with? Subaru?"
"…Maybe?" is as enigmatic as Maru can manage.
"When we were teenagers, right?" Yoko nods, clearly taking this as mere confirmation of something he'd decided about long ago. "How about Hina?"
"No!" Maru blurts out, wincing.
The fact that Yoko doesn't say anything in response to that is almost worse than if he did. But at least, Maru thinks, it shows Yoko really can be trusted not to mention Hina's fateful Bangkok encounter again, either. He knows where the lines are, after all.
"I should probably get back," Maru says eventually, sighing.
Yoko nods. "You don't have to," he says after a moment.
"I should," Maru says, a little ruefully.
"Yeah," Yoko concedes, "I guess it would be pretty awkward if we came face to face with Hina when we open the door tomorrow."
The smile Maru manages is a little lackluster. "Ahh, I'm tired," he says, half-climbing, half-rolling off the bed. "What time's your flight tomorrow?"
"Not till 6,” Yoko says, closing his eyes. "Give me a shout when you get up, yeah?"
"Sure," Maru says easily, making his way still a little unsteadily to the door.
He doesn't have time to think any further about any of this, because as soon as he falls gratefully into bed his thoughts are way too scattered and brief to sustain consciousness for very long.
Of course, Maru isn't surprised when he wakes up the next day and it's 1pm. He feels guilty for wasting Yoko's last day here, but at least Yoko will probably have just woken up too, and will probably feel just as rough.
He realises he was half-expecting to have forgotten what happened in Yoko's room last night, but nope, it's still there, albeit with a hazy, dreamlike quality. So many things in dreams make sense at the time…
Maru sees no sense in trying to think it out or talk it over with Yoko. It happened, no harm done! He's sure Yoko will refrain from bringing it up as the topic of a future MC.
So he confidently reaches for his phone to let Yoko know he's (mainly) alive. It's only when he sees a message from Hina that he suddenly feels uneasy.
It's weird. He feels, bizarrely, like he's left Hina out of something - like he hadn't invited him to a party he was going to. He hears an echo of Yoko's words: maybe he and Hina really do come as a pair! He tries to talk some sense into himself - it's crazy, he doesn't need to report back to Hina about anything, and he doesn't need his permission to do stupid things, even if - he imagines - if he'd consulted Hina about the wisdom of performing a sex act with Yoko it would probably have ranked near the top of the all-time list.
Maru remembers Hina saying he and Yoko had his blessing to do 'whatever they wanted'. He smiles wryly. He's almost 99% certain that Hina didn't mean it quite this literally. He wishes he'd thought to remind Yoko last night, because it's pretty funny, but now the moment has passed.
He sends Hina a message telling him when Yoko's flight is, that he'll be free tonight.
Hina texts back when Maru's in the shower - there's a match on tonight, does he want to go?
Maru agonises, second-guessing himself over and over, until he decides that no, he'll refuse, says he'll catch up with Hina after the game. Unless Hina is busy with his gang of young men again. Except that's not as funny without Yoko here.
When Hina texts him back it has the emoticon for waving, but Maru knows it's really a slap aimed at his head.
Maru goes down to the hotel café, where Yoko is sitting with his luggage, putting spoonfuls of sugar into a cup of very black coffee. Maru grins at him, and Yoko grins back.
"So, worth the trip?" Maru asks, sitting down.
"Beats being hungover in boring old Osaka," Yoko says wryly. "Thanks for inviting me," he says after a while. "And thank Hina for me too," he adds. "It was good of him to organise it."
"I'll tell him."
"Barely saw him, though!" Yoko says with a little laugh.
Maru smiles. "We'll have to do it again, then. Go somewhere way away from any foot and ball related events."
Yoko laughs. "Do you think he'd go crazy?"
"Probably," Maru agrees, and they look at each other and giggle.
By the time Yoko leaves, Maru is feeling a little more energetic, so he goes out with his camera and explores some temples around the city, tries to calm the uneasy feeling that's stuck with him and gets worse every time he thinks about seeing Hina. He's talked himself into it, he says to himself, there's no real reason to worry! If being with Yoko today was perfectly comfortable, why is the thought of facing Hina giving him so much difficulty?
As he's walking back to the hotel, it strikes him, very awkwardly, that maybe what he's worrying about it's Hina's disapproval, but his approval. What if Hina were to say, Sure, fine, OK?
But what if he didn't? Maru doesn't even dare think about that one.
But he's still thinking in terms of this being something he has to inform Hina of, like he has to make a confession, an admission of guilt! It almost makes him chuckle. He doesn't have to dump this on Hina. He's sure Hina wouldn't appreciate it in the slightest if he did. He imagines the grimace, the look of 'Why did you have to go and make me imagine that?!' He shakes his head, trying to bury the thought so it won't somehow slip out of his mouth without his permission.
He wonders how it would've gone if Hina hadn't been absent the whole of yesterday. Of course, nothing would've happened! Maru feels like, when he really thinks hard about it, that would've been a shame. Not like he and Yoko are necessarily likely to ever do it again - but Maru feels a new level of something like gratitude that they could do something like that, and be so easygoing, so laidback with each other afterwards. Maru feels like that must be a mark of true friendship.
Maru can't help it, his mind wanders and he finds himself wondering how it would have been if it had been Hina. Just him and Hina. Maru has never considered himself a particularly closed-minded individual, but today he feels like his mind is a few degrees more open. He wonders about being in bed with Hina like he was with Yoko last night, imagines Hina's hand on him and Hina's mouth against his.
Would it be the same afterwards? Would they be able to just go back to normal just like that?
If it were Hina, would that even be best? Hina and Yoko are different people.
And in any case, they've spent so much time together. It's never happened yet.
But then, it had never happened with Yoko, either. Maru starts to wonder why Yoko did that, so out of the blue - or was it, really? I'm afraid to ask you to come out! You're always together... But then he's back at the hotel and when he walks through the lobby, Hina is there.
"I thought you were going to a game tonight," Maru says. Hina's caught him by surprise, he doesn't have time to be nervous.
"I am, but it doesn't start till 8, I just came by to change," Hina says, and after a pause adds, "And see what you were up to - I haven't seen you much, I didn't want you going off and getting into mischief now Yoko's not around."
Maru grins. "I'll try and be good," he says, though he can think of half a dozen other responses.
"What did you get up to yesterday, anyway?"
"We went up a mountain and took pictures. And then we just... went drinking."
Hina laughs, though Maru wasn't really being funny. "Yeah, sorry I wasn't around. But I figured you two could take care of each other... and seeing as I’m not at a police station bailing anyone out right now, I guess everything was OK."
"Yeah, Yoko took care of me," Maru says, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "He was very keen to take credit for it," he adds, trying a smile.
Hina looks at him suspiciously. "You OK? You're not being as... stupid as usual."
"I'm fine," Maru replies, trying a more sincere smile. "Just still a bit tired," he says apologetically.
Hina doesn't look completely convinced, but he nods. "Yeah, I know how that is. I'll need a holiday to recover from this holiday," he laughs.
Maru is actually relieved - Hina never pushes for all the details, Hina doesn't care what's going on behind the scenes, he doesn't need to know everyone's secrets. "Yoko said we should do this again sometime. Go somewhere where there's no sport," he says with a cheeky grin.
Hina frowns. "I'll have to think about that last part," he says, but he doesn't really sound opposed at all.
Maru smiles. He's feeling a lot better. "Y'know, maybe I will come to the match with you tonight after all," he says.
Hina gives him another look of surprise. "What? Since when have you cared?!"
"I won't if you don't want me to..." Maru says.
"No, no," Hina says, "I'm just surprised!"
Maru smiles. "Well, sometimes people surprise you. You've got to expect the unexpected, Shin-chan!" he says. putting his arm round Hina's shoulders.
Hina laughs and does the usual. "With you, that's good advice."
Maru laughs too. "That sounds like permission to keep surprising you," he says, and promises that whatever surprises he might have in store, they'll always be nice ones.