Day 47
~Day 47~
Title: Cruisin’
Author/Username:
Pairing: Sakumiya (Sho/Nino)
Rating: R
Genre: Friendship/Fluff
Length/Word-count: One-shot/2382
Summary: Sho is getting consumed by a secret compulsion. Nino finds out about it and pulls him back.
Warning: mild sexual references
~*~SHO~*~
It began with a curiosity. A simple, rather naive itch to poke his nose into something he had already heard about a few times before, but had not yet had the guts to actually see for himself.
If someone should ask him why in the world did he think to take a pass on the nearest men’s room in Shinjuku station the summer he was twenty-three, preferring instead to take the few extra turns to get to the one that was way out of the hustle and bustle of the busiest station in Tokyo, he would never have known what to say. He hardly even knew what he was doing in Shinjuku to begin with.
He was young. Of course, he was a little anxious. Maybe even a little scared. But he also had the same stubborn thirst for adventure and intense, careless encounters that had so often driven young men like himself to the edges of compulsion.
The restroom was exactly as his friend had described it: men of varied ages and built standing at the urinals, stroking themselves while casting flitting glances at each other to make their intentions known. The curious frowns and openly lewd once-overs that were thrown Sho’s way almost sent the faltering guy rushing back out into the civilized world he had just been meaning to turn his back on.
And he would’ve seriously stepped back from it all had it not for a guy, not much older than he was, who had been openly staring at him since he came in.
Sho did think for a while that he had been found out despite his blue Nike cap and ungraded thick-rimmed glasses.
But the scruffy-looking salaryman, obviously fresh out of work, turned out to be just as nervous as he was. They did both loosen up a little once they locked themselves in the furthest corner stall to get things done and over with, both of them only barely able to muffle their pleasured noises as he rammed into the guy’s warm, tight ass and the guy in turn opened himself up to him in every possible way.
He never saw that guy again. They never even got to exchange names, nor a parting kiss. It was all wham-bam-bye, hope-to-never-see-you-again.
It was exactly what Sho Sakurai needed.
~*~NINO~*~
Nino spotted the guy he came here for as soon as he walked through the door. A scandalously loud hip hop music dominated the place, making every concrete wall vibrate with each booming beat. The dance floor was alive with the pulsing blur of lights and people gliding and strutting like drunken fireflies all around.
He hadn’t even had anything to drink yet and he was already feeling loaded just for being here.
Going into this kind of bar wasn’t exactly new to him, though it had never really become his thing. He did come here a few times in the past for a couple of casual hook-ups, just to get a feel for how these things work. And it had always been with a friend persistent enough to pull him away from his all-night gaming sessions.
Coming here on his own tonight was a first. He wasn’t sure why he even bothered to begin with.
It was just that seeing the name of this bar written out in plain, cursive English on Sho Sakurai’s notebook-the one where the guy carefully wrote out and kept track of his own schedules-had stirred a raw, compelling, though as yet inexplicable sense of alarm in Nino.
He didn’t mean to pry. He had only wanted to check if he remembered his scheduled appointment with the dentist right. Because Sho did also keep track of their individual timetables in a separate section of that notebook. He was like a manager that way. Or a mother hen, to be more precise.
Nino did flip through several other pages that he didn’t really need to see. But he wouldn’t call that prying, either.
Well, okay. So maybe he was prying. But he had good reasons for it-
Although it hadn’t been happening regularly enough to be an issue-yet-Sho coming in late a couple of times a month just did not fit Nino’s definition of what normal was where it concerned the usually so precise and strait-laced guy.
So Sho Sakurai had been coming to this place all along.
For how long, Nino didn’t think it mattered anymore. He wasn’t here to ask questions. Nor judge the guy for something that did not even begin to define his character.
But Nino also could not just turn a blind eye and leave the guy here on his own.
Even though it was already looking like said guy wouldn’t be on his own for far too long-
Sho-chan, what the hell are you doing?
~*~SHO~*~
Sho was no longer a stranger to this place, nor to this habit. Although eight years had not really been enough to make him into an expert able to navigate the entire vicinity of Shinjuku Ni-chōme, Tokyo’s friendly gay neighborhood, with his eyes closed, he had already learned enough essential things, enough important places, to thoroughly enjoy himself every time he came down here.
It wasn’t like he was doing this every day. Even if he wanted to, he just did not have the time. There was also the need to stay as inconspicuous and discreet and cautious as possible, so he restricted himself to places with the least people, the least lighting, and thus a relatively lesser chance of unnecessarily exposing this rather unbecoming side of him to the public.
He knew it was wrong. He knew it was rather risky and out of his character to be prowling for brief sexual encounters like this. But that was actually part of the thrill of it all, aside from the fact that he never had to tell anyone anything about himself, or stay any longer than he needed to after each uninvolved, yet satisfying encounter-
“Hey.”
He eyeballed the guy who sat beside him at the bar with the probing, come-hither look he had already perfected: eyes half-lidded, lips curled in a half-smile, head barely moving as he checked his possible prospect for the night from head to foot. “Hey yourself,” he said in a soft voice, equal parts breath, word and seduction.
“I’m George.” The blond, seemingly middle-aged gaijin with the bright blue eyes and brighter smile, held out a thin, long-fingered hand to Sho.
“Hmmm...” Sho took the offered handshake in a warm grip and was pleasantly surprised when, though he had yet to introduce himself, the self-possessed man was already tickling his palm, brushing the tips of his fingers on Sho’s skin in an unmistakable gesture of flirtation and interest.
Mr. George had done his homework before coming here, it seemed. Sho was already smitten.
But just before he could appropriately respond to the subtle invitation, his phone vibrated in his pocket, effectively jolting him out of his trance-like amusement for the man. He gave George an apologetic smile that the gaijin quickly responded to with a small nod and a, “Take your time,” in decent-sounding Japanese.
Sho pulled his phone out and almost let out a shrieky gasp at the alarmingly familiar name flashing on the screen. He turned his back on George and cupped a hand over his mouth. “Nino!”
“He looks hot, but I doubt he’s going to last the whole night.”
“What the hell?!” he hissed, making a quick swipe of the whole place. He had already figured Nino was here even before the guy finished talking. There was no mistaking the thundering hip hop music pulsing through the bar and that he was also hearing from the other line. “What are you doing here?!”
“You tell me.” Nino did not even make an effort to hide the sneer in his voice. “What am I supposed to be doing here, Sho-chan?”
Sho did feel that Nino’s teasing was both ill-timed and a little inconsiderate. His heart pounded in his ears more out from embarrassment than anything. It annoyed him too that he could not find his bandmate anywhere in such a small place like this. “Shit! Where the hell are you?”
Nino did not answer for some time, thus sending Sho close to a full-blown panic. He did not care anymore that he was swearing like a drunken trooper in front of his potential date-
“Nino? Where the fuck are you?! Goddammit!” The line went dead and Sho’s heart almost died along with it.
“Right here,” the familiar voice said from behind, causing Sho to spin around in his barstool so fast he almost slipped off the edge.
Nino was standing behind George, his face a smorgasbord of emotions. Sho could not even begin to define those emotions one by one. There was definitely anger in there, though. Pure and unadulterated annoyance behind that obviously forced smile. He could not yet decide whether he should fear more for his own life or for George’s.
Nino laid a hand on the gaijin’s shoulder, making the blond man jolt in surprise. “Hey, move along, buddy,” he started saying in clear and seemingly well-practiced English. “This one’s with me.”
George jumped off his seat at once, sputtering out apologies in dual languages and bowing about half a dozen times until he almost broke his back. Then he turned around and walked away, his strides long, quick and no longer interested.
“That was pretty smooth, jerk,” Sho grumbled, desperately trying to highlight his upset to disguise his humiliation. “What am I supposed to do for the rest of the night now?”
“You can come to my place, if you want.” Nino grabbed his hand before he could even recover from and protest the barefaced invitation.
It took everything Sho had not to gasp when his smirking bandmate tickled his palm.
It seemed like Mr. Ninomiya had done his homework as well.
But Sho felt more anxious than smitten this time. What the hell are you doing, Nino?!
~*~NINO~*~
Nino had a lot of respect for Sho Sakurai. After all, the guy was more of a leader than the old man who merely won the title in a lucky game of janken.
Sho took care of practically everything for them. Even those things that the guy shouldn’t even be bothering himself with. And if coming to this place was Sho’s way of keeping himself together after overworking, overstretching, and over-whatever-else-ing himself all day, all week, then Nino absolutely had nothing against it.
Except that Sho had just again come late for filming last week, and would’ve undoubtedly come late tomorrow, too, if Nino had not practically dragged him out of that place.
“I... don’t know how to explain this to you...”
Nino kept his eyes on the road, his hands on the wheel. He brought the car into a slow stop at a red light. “I’m not asking you to explain yourself, Sho-chan.”
“It’s just like you with your games, you know,” Sho kept saying, sounding too eager, too desperate to make things clear, right here right now. “Different variables, same end-results-”
“It’s okay.” The light turned green and the car started moving again. “I’m not going to tell on you, so stop worrying about it.”
“I know you won’t.” Sho gave him a small smile of confidence. “It’s just that... I don’t even fully understand why I’m doing this, but... I can’t stop. I just can’t. I need to be doing this, I need to have this to keep myself sane. You know what I mean, right? Because I really don’t.”
“You take care of a lot of things for us,” Nino said, briefly glancing at Sho before taking a left turn out of the main road. “Whatever makes you feel good at the end of the day is none of our business, Sho-chan. Unless...” His heart skipped at what he had almost ended up saying out of mere instinct and without much thought.
“Unless what?”
Another turn into a more familiar space, an extension of the place he called home. He shrugged and then sighed and decided to go the whole hog, his face flushing like it had never dared to do so before. “I can take care of you too, you know.”
Sho’s breath hitched, and then he grew unusually quiet for a change. Nino did not even realize how much he was missing the sound of his bandmate’s steady breathing until he was hearing it again.
The sound of deep thought, of careful deliberation.
Of just plainly existing for the sake of it, without having to answer to anything or anyone but himself.
Sho sighed, sunk deep into the passenger’s seat and just kept his gaze up ahead. “Oh.”
Nino slid his car into an empty bay in the parking lot in front of his apartment complex. “You didn’t have to go too far, is all I’m saying.” He turned the car engine off and fixed his gaze on the same random spot that Sho had been staring at. “Whatever ten Georges can do, Kazunari can do better.”
A light chuckle escaped Sho’s throat. “Is this a love confession?”
“It’s a passing offer,” Nino teased. “Going...” Sho’s laughter grew louder. “Going...” Sho bit his lip and pretended to think. “Going...” Sho laughed again. “I can do this all night, you know-”
“I thought it was a passing offer?”
“It’ll only pass once you say yes.” Nino stared into Sho’s dazed eyes, loving the way the guy’s cheeks had gone three different shades of red. “What will it be, Sho-chan?”
There was a brief moment of hesitation that Nino tried to dispel with his best puppy dog eyes. Sho instantly melted at the sight of it and gave in. He reached out, grabbed Nino’s face with both hands, and leaned in to give the younger guy’s lips a kiss deep enough to seal his promise. “Keep.”
Nino grinned, trying to keep up with his usual self-assured image though he was all flushed up and giddy inside. “I knew you could never resist me.”
Sho slapped his forehead playfully. “Jerk...”
It was a rather unexpected turn of events.
It was also enough of a good start for something even greater.