Fic for buzzbird
Title: The Management Approach
Author: ___clash
Pairing: Kame/Jin
Word count: ~4400
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Sleep-deprived Kame, lots of people thinking they're being sneaky, insane amounts of stupid.
Notes: Set sometime after Gokusen, before Nobuta.
Dear Linda, I really, really hope you'll find something to like, somewhere in there.
With endless thanks to P ando J for not killing me being so patient with me when I kept missing every deadline, and to the kizuna-exchange mods, who put up with me being... troublesome. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.
Summary: Jin really should know better than to listen to the guys.
Kame likes being punctual. He doesn't mind quite as much that others aren't, of course it bothers him―no one likes to be kept waiting, after all―but he's not going to hold a grudge over that. Or at least not a life-long one.
He doesn't like the way people stare at him when he arrives to an appointment a few minutes too late. It's not really about the looks; Kame is an idol―a rather well-known one too, ever since he did Gokusen with Jin―and he's used to being the centre of attention. It's about those looks, specifically. The ones that judge him, expect him to be late because he's now famous, to make them wait just because he can. Like he's some sort of conceited prima donna.
Kame is determined to prove them wrong, so he's always the first one at the scene.
That's why he pauses with his hand on the doorknob to KAT-TUN's changing room. He can hear muffled voices coming from inside, and he wonders, for one panicked moment, if there's been some change of schedule no one has warned him about. It's not like his band-mates to be this early, especially when Kame's solo shoot is the first thing happening today, and that won't be for another half-hour.
Slowly, he pushes the door open. The guys are huddled together in the far corner of the room, arguing over something or other in hushed tones. Whatever they're talking about must be fascinating; none of them even seem to notice Kame walk in.
“Good morning!” he says loudly, and notes with some satisfaction that Maru's shoulders give a startled little jump. Kame drops his bag on the nearest bench with a soft thud, and bends over it to fish out his phone.
It's only then that he notices the odd silence―how quiet it's become, how no one has even bothered to return his greeting. When he turns around, his band-mates are still crouching at the exact same spot, but now they're all staring at him strangely.
He brings his hands up to pat his hair, carefully rearranging a few strands. He thought it looked okay when he checked the mirror before leaving home, but maybe... They've all seen his bed hair before, it must be really something to get him this much attention.
Eventually, Ueda straightens up, clearing his throat.
“Your boyfriend called,” he says, looking vaguely put out. “Said he's going to be late. Stuck in traffic, apparently.”
“My what called, now?” Kame asks. He must have heard wrong. He hasn't been seeing anyone since those few tentative dates months ago, and while he wasn't particularly intent on checking at the time, he's still pretty sure that one didn't have boy's bits. Perhaps part of the problem, his mind supplies helpfully.
“You know, about this tall, not too bright, shrieks like a girl?” Koki offers with a vague sort of gesture. When Kame just blinks, he repeats, “Your boyfriend,” like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh for god's sake, Akanishi,” Ueda drawls, and Kame just looks at him. Keeps looking.
The Jin infatuation thing is so old. Kame no longer believes Jin is this amazing creature that fell from the sky, with his perfect singing voice and his perfect smile. One would think his friends would notice that much.
“That's hardly news, Jin's always late,” Kame says. “He's also not my boyfriend.”
His band-mates simply share a long meaningful look at his words.
“Yeah, well.” Koki shrugs. “We thought you might say that.”
“It's actually what we meant to talk to you about,” Maru says carefully. “You seem to have some sort of problem with the word 'boyfriend'. As your friends and colleagues, we want you to know there's nothing to be ashamed of.”
“What,” Kame deadpans.
He thought this was some harmless prank, but perhaps his band-mates are finally crumbling under the stress of waiting forever to debut. Kame warned Johnny about that possibility, but of course the old man wouldn't listen to a junior.
“We understand you hiding it from the press, even the agency,” Maru is saying, “but you don't need to keep it a secret from us as well.”
“Yeah, we're happy you guys finally worked things out,” Koki adds solemnly, and then ruins it by grinning widely as he steps closer to ruffle Kame's hair. “Took you long enough, huh?”
Kame raises an eyebrow. “I appreciate your support, really, but we're really just friends.”
Ueda snorts. “Please, the thing with Jin is so painfully evident a blind man could see it.” He pauses, staring down at his perfectly manicured fingernails in careful concentration. “I don't get why you're still trying to deny it.”
“Because there is no Jin thing!” When did Kame's life start feeling like a press conference?
“You guys had another fight?” Koki pats Kame's shoulder condescendingly.
“What? No! We were just never an item to begin with.”
Across the room, Maru sighs. “Kame...” He hesitates briefly, but then nods, looking determined. “Have you considered seeing someone about those trust issues of yours?”
“I don't―” Kame crosses his arms over his chest. This is too weird even for them. “Okay, what's really going on?”
There's a quick panicked look between Maru and Koki, but then Ueda lets out a very fake-sounding gasp and says, “Oh my, look at the time! Don't you have somewhere else to be?”
Kame spares his watch a quick look and swears loudly. Nice save there, but it's not like they're going anywhere; he'll be back after the shoot, have his answers then. Kame can be patient.
#
Kame doesn't usually have trouble sleeping; it's hard to actually find the time to sleep, but he's had a few years to get used to it by now. And yet, all he seems to manage tonight is restlessly rolling around in bed.
It's been such a long day, with everyone being weird and unpredictable and refusing to explain even when Kame kept asking. By all means, he should be exhausted, and he is, but he's also wide awake.
He's desperate enough to be considering getting up and doing something productive―trying to write lyrics, or perhaps picking up one of those books he's never finished―when the doorbell rings.
Kame rolls onto his back to check the time display on his alarm clock. Two thirty. He's not expecting anyone, much less in the middle of the night. Must be some tipsy neighbour who got disoriented, he decides. They'll go away.
He's almost forgotten all about it when it rings again. And again. And then it just won't stop―one insistently prolonged buzz that goes on and on and on forever...
By now, Kame is more than a bit annoyed, not to mention not looking forward to the noise complaint his neighbours are sure to place. Eventually, he pulls on a pair of sweatpants and stumbles to the door, managing to open it after some fumbling. Then he just stares.
Jin.
Standing in the darkness of the hallway, with his hood pulled up and his hair a mess, Kame can only make out the bottom half of his face. But it's him, no doubt; Kame would recognise those lips anywhere. Just, why...
“Hey,” Jin says, shouldering right past Kame and into the house, kicking his sneakers off in the genkan.
“What the fuck, Jin? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“Yeah, hang on a minute,” Jin slurs. He's glaring at his wrist like it's offended him somehow. “I swear I had a watch.”
“You're so drunk,” Kame says. Jin doesn't deny it, just tips dangerously to one side when Kame pokes him in the shoulder to prompt him to stop blocking the way.
Kame makes his way back to his bedroom, with Jin trailing clumsily behind him like a dazed puppy. It's an amusing sight, but he's also slightly concerned. He really hopes Jin doesn't have work to do in the morning, which reminds him...
“What are you doing here anyway?” Kame asks.
Jin blinks slowly. “Huh?”
“This is my apartment. It's the middle of the night,” Kame explains. “And you never said you'd be dropping by.”
“I live here too.” He sounds defensive, staring off to the side, like Kame's bedside table is just that interesting―and Kame isn't even sure what he means to say, or if he's saying what he means at all, but he has to admit Jin looks kind of cute, standing there sulking like that.
“You want to crash here tonight?” Kame asks, just for clarification. Prodding and rephrasing sometimes helps with Jin's language skills.
“Well, you did say I could move in,” Jin says, still not making eye contact.
“I did?” Kame doesn't remember doing that, unless... But Jin can't be talking about that, it was ages ago.
“When?”
“You know, when we were doing Gokusen,” Jin says.
So it's that after all.
“We were filming together at the time, it was convenient.” Kame hadn't meant it as a permanent arrangement; it never even occurred to him Jin could take it as such. “You know you can drop by whenever you want, but I really didn't mean that as an invitation for you to move into my place.”
Jin looks at Kame. Looks at Kame's bed. Then simply walks up to the bed and gracelessly tumbles onto it. “'M tired,” he mumbles into the pillow. “If you didn't mean it like that, you should have been more specific.”
“This is breaking and entering, you know,” Kame points out, trying to stifle a grin, “I could sue you.”
“You do that,” comes the muffled reply. “Idol prosecutor Kamenashi Kazuya puts band-mate in prison. Yeah, I could totally see that happening.”
Kame shuffles through his drawers until he finds a clean pair of sweatpants and one of those t-shirts his mother keeps buying; they're always a few sizes too big for him. “If you're going to sleep in my bed, at least go take a shower,” he says, and throws the bundle of clothes at Jin's head, where it's met with an unenthusiastic groan. “You smell like a bar.”
“Fiiine.”
There's no need to follow Jin to the bathroom―he's spent enough time in Kame's apartment to know where to find towels and shampoo―so Kame turns the lights off and slips back into bed. Then, he thinks better of it and leaves the bedside lamp on so Jin won't trash his bedroom on the way back.
Hopefully there'll be no more distractions tonight. Or rather, this morning. By now, Kame is just very glad he doesn't have to be up before noon.
He starts when the mattress dips beside him. That was quick, and unexpectedly stealthy for Jin, who's lying on his side, with the sheets pulled up to his neck like it's December instead of June, and a shy little smile on his face.
He looks amazing. Jin's always had such striking features, Kame loves how his eyelashes frame his eyes―long and dark―he loves the contrast against Jin's pale skin. And Jin's skin feels so good too...
Kame shakes himself. He has no idea where that thought came from, but it's not...
Maybe he shouldn't do that. Think about stuff like that with Jin here, soft and dishevelled and in Kame's bed.
“Hey,” Jin says into the silence, “I thought you were asleep.”
“Mmm.” Kame closes his eyes again. Maybe he was, sort of; it's all a bit hazy. “You have your own place now. Why are you really here?” he asks softly. There must be a reason.
“I like it here,” Jin says, and Kame frowns, but doesn't open his eyes.
“Well, so do I.”
“Great! We can share then. Glad that's settled,” Jin says. Cheerful and final.
Kame sighs heavily and makes a mental note to talk to Jin once Jin's sober. Once Kame is awake.
He still doesn't know what prompted this, but he can't let Jin move in just like that. Not because he doesn't like having Jin here―living alone does get a bit dull after a while―but it's not the kind of decision that should be taken lightly, or made while intoxicated. Most importantly, it's not a decision Jin gets to make on his own.
Kame liked living with Jin back then, when they were filming. He liked it in spite of Jin's exasperating tendency to leave his stuff lying all over the place, but it was also terribly complicated. Jin was everywhere, and Kame kept getting mixed up. Forgetting Jin was a friend and... nothing else.
That's not going to happen again.
“Stop that,” Jin whines, “can't sleep when you're thinking so loud.”
Kame snorts, kicking Jin's shin under the sheets. “You were the one who wanted to be here. Now suck it up.”
#
It's late. That Myojo interview took an eternity and a half to get through, and afterwards he still had to stick around for the shoot and the usual formalities. Everyone's gone off to lunch by now. Everyone but Kame, and he's starving, but he couldn't wait to wash all that sticky glittery stuff off his face.
He lightly pats his skin dry with a hand towel and brushes his hair back, away from his eyes. It's sticky too, strands of it glued together in clumps of dried gel. It's annoying when he keeps forgetting not to touch it, but it'll have to wait until he's home.
He comes across Jin when he drops by the changing room to pick up his stuff. He's standing next to Kame's designer bag, looking fidgety and like he's up to no good. Kame eyes him doubtfully. “Hey,” he says, “thought you'd be gone by now.”
Everyone else is.
“I was waiting. I, uh...” There's an awkward half-shrug, and then Jin's thrusting a small box at Kame's chest. “Wanted to give you this,” he mumbles.
The box is red and shaped like a heart, with Kame's name scrawled across its lid in messy malformed kanji. It's one of the tackiest things Kame's ever seen, and that's saying something.
“Well?” Jin prompts. “Take it?”
Kame casts another wary glance at the box. “What is that anyway?”
Jin shifts his weight from one foot to the other, and seems to ponder something deeply before finally taking a long breath and saying, “Chocolate. For you. I made it.”
It comes out so rushed it takes Kame a while to even make out the words, and then he's sure lack of sleep has finally caught up with him. He's clearly hallucinating. Jin couldn't possibly have said he's made chocolate, because Jin couldn't possibly make chocolate. He can barely cook instant ramen without setting his own kitchen on fire.
“You made me chocolate?” he asks. And put it in a Valentine's box to boot.
“I... yeah.” Jin nods. “No. Well, Pi helped a little,” he adds, squirming uncomfortably, “there were a few failed attempts before we got it right.”
Well, at least that last part is far from shocking, though Kame has no idea if Yamashita's help is likely to make Jin's cooking more or less deadly.
“Are you going to take it or not?” Jin asks in a small voice.
Kame tilts his head.
There's obviously some connection between this and whatever the guys are refusing to tell him. In fact, it could even be related to why Kame had to explain to Jin one does not simply move into their friend's apartment without even letting them know―because seriously, what are the chances of so much weirdness going on in one week?
Kame's still not sure how it all fits together. If this were Jin trying to ask him a favour, there'd be no reason to involve his band-mates, and he doubts Jin would be willing to be used as bait if it were the other way around.
Still, it should be easier to get Jin to talk, he's never been all that great at deception...
“I'll take it,” Kame says at last, “if you tell me why you're giving me chocolate half a year after Valentine's.” It's not like he has to eat the thing, he can accept it and quietly dispose of it later.
“I could hardly give it to you back then,” Jin says evasively, “we weren't talking.”
“I think you mean you weren't talking to me,” Kame corrects. “Wait, does that mean this has been sitting around in your kitchen since February?”
Perhaps he got it all wrong and Jin is simply trying to poison him.
“What? No!” Jin frowns. “Would you stop looking at it like that already? It won't bite.”
“Okay, let me rephrase this. You're not a girl, we're not dating... why are you giving me chocolate at all?”
“Are you breaking up with me?” Jin asks seriously.
“Huh? No, I meant―”
“Good,” Jin cuts him off firmly, “that'd be kind of a jerk move, you realise. Dumping your boyfriend right after he's given you chocolate. It was hard to make.”
For a moment there, Kame feel lost, slow, like he's been thrown into a stage halfway through the show and no one's bothered to show him the set-list, but he shakes that thought off.
So Jin wants to pretend there's more between them than there actually is? Well, for now, Kame is more than willing to play along. He can have a bit of fun, and at the same time use this to his advantage―surely this won't be the reaction Jin's expecting, it might even make him uncomfortable enough to slip.
Kame can act with the best of them, and if Jin wants out, all he has to do is come out with the truth.
He wraps one of his arms around Jin's shoulders, pulling him closer. It's a bit uncomfortable with the box sort of squished between them, but it'll have to do. “You know I'd never break up with you,” he murmurs, resting his forehead against Jin's.
Jin tenses up immediately. “What are you doing?”
“Not okay?” Kame asks, feigning surprise. “I thought, since we're together...”
“Yeah, but,” Jin bites his lip, the way he often does when he's nervous, “we're still at the agency, anyone could walk in.”
Jin has a point, but Kame's finding it awfully hard to concentrate on anything with Jin's lips so close to his face. They're very distracting lips. Kame wonders what would happen if he moved closer, just a bit closer and...
By the time Kame catches up with reality again, Jin has managed to extricate himself from Kame's hold. He stands a few metres away apologising profusely, saying something about meeting Pi for drinks.
Kame nods numbly, but Jin is already gone.
This isn't what he was expecting. He'd expected Jin to freak out and tell him what was going on―that he'd lost a bet with one of the guys and now had to pretend to be dating Kame for a week, or some such thing. Instead, for a moment there it had almost looked like Jin would have stayed, with the way he was holding himself so still, focused on Kame's lips like he was waiting for something.
It looked like Jin would have kissed him back.
Kame reaches for his bag only to realise he's still holding on to the box with the chocolate. He had forgotten all about it. Out of curiosity, he lifts a side of the lid to take a peek inside. Jin's chocolate doesn't look half as bad as he'd expected. Feeling daring, Kame breaks off a tiny piece of it and takes a small bite, munching on it thoughtfully.
It's far from the best chocolate he's had, but it's still pretty good. Of course it is, his mind rushes to inform him, Jin made it for you, remember?
It takes Kame a few tries to successfully resist the urge to bang his head against the wall, or yell at his mind some variation of shut up, shut up, shut up.
Tomorrow, he'll find out what the hell is going on, whatever it takes.
#
Kame blinks his eyes open slowly.
There's an arm curled possessively around his waist and a warm chest pressed firmly against his back. It's cosy, comfortable under the covers and he doesn't really feel like moving.
He starts a bit when the hand slides up, splaying over his chest, then down again―short nails raking across hot skin. It tickles slightly, makes his muscles tense sharply at the sensation... but it also feels good, new, different. It makes his heartbeat speed up, his blood-flow change directions, go lower and lower still.
If it weren't for the urgency building up steadily, Kame wouldn't mind just lying like that forever.
He bites his lip when the hand finally settles on his side, pulling him in, closer. The body behind him keeps rocking against him, and there are lips moving on his neck, over his shoulder. It makes Kame feel both edgy and light-headed. He wants more, now, this, a thousand other things... He's endlessly glad he's already lying down.
It feels so much better than all those other times before. It didn't work out as intended back then, but perhaps this time...
Though it's not the best angle for that.
It'll never go anywhere like this, he keeps getting closer but he's never going to get there. There isn't much he can do like this, but if he rolls over and throws a leg over... yeah. That should make everything easier.
Unfortunately, Kame's leg gets tangled in the sheets and he winds up losing his balance, giggling giddily with his face plastered to a long smooth neck. Still, the new angle works much, much better, he decides as he grinds down experimentally.
He gives the skin there a slow teasing lick, feeling the vibrations of a shudder against his tongue. He tastes heat, salt... when he pushes himself up on his elbows, there's a smile on a pair of perfect lips he just wants to kiss again and again and...
Kame's eyes snap open. He sits up with a jerk, looking around shakily―his face feels tight, his back is bathed in cold sweat. It's still dark, but the first rays of sunlight are filtering through the blinds, painting abstract patterns on his sheets. He's in his bedroom. Alone.
It was all just a dream, a particularly sticky one that's left his bedsheets a mess. He'll have to change them; it makes him feel all of fifteen, he really thought he was over this and yet here he is, dreaming of Jin. Again.
Kame sighs. He really should have seen this coming. He's not made of ice. Playing into Jin's game is clearly the worst idea he's had in... possibly ever.
#
Kame is endlessly glad when, for once, his interview doesn't run longer than it should. He's been trying to talk to Jin all day, but couldn't seem to get a moment alone with him. Now he has a few free hours to find Jin and clear things up. He decides to start by looking in their dressing room.
He's just walking past the old recording studios, the ones no one ever uses anymore, when Jin's voice floats over from inside one of the rooms. “I'm not sure it's working. I mean, I tell him we're dating and he just kind of... rolls with it?”
It makes Kame still, leaning against the wooden door. This can only be about him.
“I thought that was what you were hoping for,” someone else says, and Kame is sure he knows that voice from somewhere.
“Well, yes, but not like this. It feels like he's just humouring me, somehow,” Jin says. “He was supposed to confess. Or at least be mad, or shocked, or something, you know.”
The other person hums. “Yeah, I guess it's a bit weird.”
“See?”
“Don't look at me like that, I told you your plan was crap,” the stranger says. “Why couldn't you just ask him out like a normal person?”
Jin's reply is so faint Kame's still trying to make out the words when the door springs open. He suddenly finds himself face to face with a very wide-eyed Yamashita.
“Oops,” Yamashita says. There's a nervous chuckle as Kame moves aside to let him out. “Well, I guess I'll just... leave you guys to talk.”
Jin quickly tries to dash past Kame, into the corridor, but Kame grabs him by the wrist and pulls him back into the room. “So that's what all this was about, huh?” he says once the door is closed again. Yamashita's footsteps can't be heard anymore.
Jin simply stands there, with his cheeks glowing red and his arms crossed over his chest like a sulky child. “It's rude to eavesdrop, you know.”
It's also rude to talk about other people behind their backs, but Kame isn't here to talk about manners. “So why is it you didn't just ask me out, then?” he asks, before the silence can stretch too long.
“I meant to! It's just, I didn't know how. I kept waiting for the right time, and it just wasn't happening, and then I got desperate and asked the guys for help and they said―” Jin swallows audibly, looking everywhere but at Kame. “They said the easiest way would probably be to do what management does when they want to get something done. And I thought, why not? Since, you know...” He trails off while making an aimless sort of motion with his free hand. “It works for them. With you.”
Kame blinks, twice. “What do you mean?”
“You know how they'll tell you something's a done deal and then you'll willingly go along with it?”
Yes, okay, he does that but...
Kame shakes his head. “That's...” So convoluted it's utterly ridiculous. It could have been so easy. “You're such a freak!”
“Oi! It was their idea,” Jin snaps.
Kame chuckles. “An irresponsible freak, too. At least own up to it.”
Kame fists his hand in the soft material of Jin's sweatshirt and pulls steadily, and Jin's reply―whatever it was―is lost in Kame's mouth. Silenced.
“Freak,” Kame whispers in Jin's ear a while later, and it's kind of cute how Jin's neck turns a light shade of pink.
#
“Your boyfriend called,” Koki says as soon as Kame walks into the room, “he said―”
Kame cuts him off with a grin, “Whatever it was, I'm sure my boyfriend can tell me himself when I get home.”
There's a surprised intake from Maru, and Koki quickly moves over to pat Kame's back in congratulation. Meanwhile, Ueda's relieved look says thank you for not sharing louder than words ever could.
Author: ___clash
Pairing: Kame/Jin
Word count: ~4400
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Sleep-deprived Kame, lots of people thinking they're being sneaky, insane amounts of stupid.
Notes: Set sometime after Gokusen, before Nobuta.
Dear Linda, I really, really hope you'll find something to like, somewhere in there.
With endless thanks to P ando J for not killing me being so patient with me when I kept missing every deadline, and to the kizuna-exchange mods, who put up with me being... troublesome. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.
Summary: Jin really should know better than to listen to the guys.
Kame likes being punctual. He doesn't mind quite as much that others aren't, of course it bothers him―no one likes to be kept waiting, after all―but he's not going to hold a grudge over that. Or at least not a life-long one.
He doesn't like the way people stare at him when he arrives to an appointment a few minutes too late. It's not really about the looks; Kame is an idol―a rather well-known one too, ever since he did Gokusen with Jin―and he's used to being the centre of attention. It's about those looks, specifically. The ones that judge him, expect him to be late because he's now famous, to make them wait just because he can. Like he's some sort of conceited prima donna.
Kame is determined to prove them wrong, so he's always the first one at the scene.
That's why he pauses with his hand on the doorknob to KAT-TUN's changing room. He can hear muffled voices coming from inside, and he wonders, for one panicked moment, if there's been some change of schedule no one has warned him about. It's not like his band-mates to be this early, especially when Kame's solo shoot is the first thing happening today, and that won't be for another half-hour.
Slowly, he pushes the door open. The guys are huddled together in the far corner of the room, arguing over something or other in hushed tones. Whatever they're talking about must be fascinating; none of them even seem to notice Kame walk in.
“Good morning!” he says loudly, and notes with some satisfaction that Maru's shoulders give a startled little jump. Kame drops his bag on the nearest bench with a soft thud, and bends over it to fish out his phone.
It's only then that he notices the odd silence―how quiet it's become, how no one has even bothered to return his greeting. When he turns around, his band-mates are still crouching at the exact same spot, but now they're all staring at him strangely.
He brings his hands up to pat his hair, carefully rearranging a few strands. He thought it looked okay when he checked the mirror before leaving home, but maybe... They've all seen his bed hair before, it must be really something to get him this much attention.
Eventually, Ueda straightens up, clearing his throat.
“Your boyfriend called,” he says, looking vaguely put out. “Said he's going to be late. Stuck in traffic, apparently.”
“My what called, now?” Kame asks. He must have heard wrong. He hasn't been seeing anyone since those few tentative dates months ago, and while he wasn't particularly intent on checking at the time, he's still pretty sure that one didn't have boy's bits. Perhaps part of the problem, his mind supplies helpfully.
“You know, about this tall, not too bright, shrieks like a girl?” Koki offers with a vague sort of gesture. When Kame just blinks, he repeats, “Your boyfriend,” like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh for god's sake, Akanishi,” Ueda drawls, and Kame just looks at him. Keeps looking.
The Jin infatuation thing is so old. Kame no longer believes Jin is this amazing creature that fell from the sky, with his perfect singing voice and his perfect smile. One would think his friends would notice that much.
“That's hardly news, Jin's always late,” Kame says. “He's also not my boyfriend.”
His band-mates simply share a long meaningful look at his words.
“Yeah, well.” Koki shrugs. “We thought you might say that.”
“It's actually what we meant to talk to you about,” Maru says carefully. “You seem to have some sort of problem with the word 'boyfriend'. As your friends and colleagues, we want you to know there's nothing to be ashamed of.”
“What,” Kame deadpans.
He thought this was some harmless prank, but perhaps his band-mates are finally crumbling under the stress of waiting forever to debut. Kame warned Johnny about that possibility, but of course the old man wouldn't listen to a junior.
“We understand you hiding it from the press, even the agency,” Maru is saying, “but you don't need to keep it a secret from us as well.”
“Yeah, we're happy you guys finally worked things out,” Koki adds solemnly, and then ruins it by grinning widely as he steps closer to ruffle Kame's hair. “Took you long enough, huh?”
Kame raises an eyebrow. “I appreciate your support, really, but we're really just friends.”
Ueda snorts. “Please, the thing with Jin is so painfully evident a blind man could see it.” He pauses, staring down at his perfectly manicured fingernails in careful concentration. “I don't get why you're still trying to deny it.”
“Because there is no Jin thing!” When did Kame's life start feeling like a press conference?
“You guys had another fight?” Koki pats Kame's shoulder condescendingly.
“What? No! We were just never an item to begin with.”
Across the room, Maru sighs. “Kame...” He hesitates briefly, but then nods, looking determined. “Have you considered seeing someone about those trust issues of yours?”
“I don't―” Kame crosses his arms over his chest. This is too weird even for them. “Okay, what's really going on?”
There's a quick panicked look between Maru and Koki, but then Ueda lets out a very fake-sounding gasp and says, “Oh my, look at the time! Don't you have somewhere else to be?”
Kame spares his watch a quick look and swears loudly. Nice save there, but it's not like they're going anywhere; he'll be back after the shoot, have his answers then. Kame can be patient.
#
Kame doesn't usually have trouble sleeping; it's hard to actually find the time to sleep, but he's had a few years to get used to it by now. And yet, all he seems to manage tonight is restlessly rolling around in bed.
It's been such a long day, with everyone being weird and unpredictable and refusing to explain even when Kame kept asking. By all means, he should be exhausted, and he is, but he's also wide awake.
He's desperate enough to be considering getting up and doing something productive―trying to write lyrics, or perhaps picking up one of those books he's never finished―when the doorbell rings.
Kame rolls onto his back to check the time display on his alarm clock. Two thirty. He's not expecting anyone, much less in the middle of the night. Must be some tipsy neighbour who got disoriented, he decides. They'll go away.
He's almost forgotten all about it when it rings again. And again. And then it just won't stop―one insistently prolonged buzz that goes on and on and on forever...
By now, Kame is more than a bit annoyed, not to mention not looking forward to the noise complaint his neighbours are sure to place. Eventually, he pulls on a pair of sweatpants and stumbles to the door, managing to open it after some fumbling. Then he just stares.
Jin.
Standing in the darkness of the hallway, with his hood pulled up and his hair a mess, Kame can only make out the bottom half of his face. But it's him, no doubt; Kame would recognise those lips anywhere. Just, why...
“Hey,” Jin says, shouldering right past Kame and into the house, kicking his sneakers off in the genkan.
“What the fuck, Jin? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“Yeah, hang on a minute,” Jin slurs. He's glaring at his wrist like it's offended him somehow. “I swear I had a watch.”
“You're so drunk,” Kame says. Jin doesn't deny it, just tips dangerously to one side when Kame pokes him in the shoulder to prompt him to stop blocking the way.
Kame makes his way back to his bedroom, with Jin trailing clumsily behind him like a dazed puppy. It's an amusing sight, but he's also slightly concerned. He really hopes Jin doesn't have work to do in the morning, which reminds him...
“What are you doing here anyway?” Kame asks.
Jin blinks slowly. “Huh?”
“This is my apartment. It's the middle of the night,” Kame explains. “And you never said you'd be dropping by.”
“I live here too.” He sounds defensive, staring off to the side, like Kame's bedside table is just that interesting―and Kame isn't even sure what he means to say, or if he's saying what he means at all, but he has to admit Jin looks kind of cute, standing there sulking like that.
“You want to crash here tonight?” Kame asks, just for clarification. Prodding and rephrasing sometimes helps with Jin's language skills.
“Well, you did say I could move in,” Jin says, still not making eye contact.
“I did?” Kame doesn't remember doing that, unless... But Jin can't be talking about that, it was ages ago.
“When?”
“You know, when we were doing Gokusen,” Jin says.
So it's that after all.
“We were filming together at the time, it was convenient.” Kame hadn't meant it as a permanent arrangement; it never even occurred to him Jin could take it as such. “You know you can drop by whenever you want, but I really didn't mean that as an invitation for you to move into my place.”
Jin looks at Kame. Looks at Kame's bed. Then simply walks up to the bed and gracelessly tumbles onto it. “'M tired,” he mumbles into the pillow. “If you didn't mean it like that, you should have been more specific.”
“This is breaking and entering, you know,” Kame points out, trying to stifle a grin, “I could sue you.”
“You do that,” comes the muffled reply. “Idol prosecutor Kamenashi Kazuya puts band-mate in prison. Yeah, I could totally see that happening.”
Kame shuffles through his drawers until he finds a clean pair of sweatpants and one of those t-shirts his mother keeps buying; they're always a few sizes too big for him. “If you're going to sleep in my bed, at least go take a shower,” he says, and throws the bundle of clothes at Jin's head, where it's met with an unenthusiastic groan. “You smell like a bar.”
“Fiiine.”
There's no need to follow Jin to the bathroom―he's spent enough time in Kame's apartment to know where to find towels and shampoo―so Kame turns the lights off and slips back into bed. Then, he thinks better of it and leaves the bedside lamp on so Jin won't trash his bedroom on the way back.
Hopefully there'll be no more distractions tonight. Or rather, this morning. By now, Kame is just very glad he doesn't have to be up before noon.
He starts when the mattress dips beside him. That was quick, and unexpectedly stealthy for Jin, who's lying on his side, with the sheets pulled up to his neck like it's December instead of June, and a shy little smile on his face.
He looks amazing. Jin's always had such striking features, Kame loves how his eyelashes frame his eyes―long and dark―he loves the contrast against Jin's pale skin. And Jin's skin feels so good too...
Kame shakes himself. He has no idea where that thought came from, but it's not...
Maybe he shouldn't do that. Think about stuff like that with Jin here, soft and dishevelled and in Kame's bed.
“Hey,” Jin says into the silence, “I thought you were asleep.”
“Mmm.” Kame closes his eyes again. Maybe he was, sort of; it's all a bit hazy. “You have your own place now. Why are you really here?” he asks softly. There must be a reason.
“I like it here,” Jin says, and Kame frowns, but doesn't open his eyes.
“Well, so do I.”
“Great! We can share then. Glad that's settled,” Jin says. Cheerful and final.
Kame sighs heavily and makes a mental note to talk to Jin once Jin's sober. Once Kame is awake.
He still doesn't know what prompted this, but he can't let Jin move in just like that. Not because he doesn't like having Jin here―living alone does get a bit dull after a while―but it's not the kind of decision that should be taken lightly, or made while intoxicated. Most importantly, it's not a decision Jin gets to make on his own.
Kame liked living with Jin back then, when they were filming. He liked it in spite of Jin's exasperating tendency to leave his stuff lying all over the place, but it was also terribly complicated. Jin was everywhere, and Kame kept getting mixed up. Forgetting Jin was a friend and... nothing else.
That's not going to happen again.
“Stop that,” Jin whines, “can't sleep when you're thinking so loud.”
Kame snorts, kicking Jin's shin under the sheets. “You were the one who wanted to be here. Now suck it up.”
#
It's late. That Myojo interview took an eternity and a half to get through, and afterwards he still had to stick around for the shoot and the usual formalities. Everyone's gone off to lunch by now. Everyone but Kame, and he's starving, but he couldn't wait to wash all that sticky glittery stuff off his face.
He lightly pats his skin dry with a hand towel and brushes his hair back, away from his eyes. It's sticky too, strands of it glued together in clumps of dried gel. It's annoying when he keeps forgetting not to touch it, but it'll have to wait until he's home.
He comes across Jin when he drops by the changing room to pick up his stuff. He's standing next to Kame's designer bag, looking fidgety and like he's up to no good. Kame eyes him doubtfully. “Hey,” he says, “thought you'd be gone by now.”
Everyone else is.
“I was waiting. I, uh...” There's an awkward half-shrug, and then Jin's thrusting a small box at Kame's chest. “Wanted to give you this,” he mumbles.
The box is red and shaped like a heart, with Kame's name scrawled across its lid in messy malformed kanji. It's one of the tackiest things Kame's ever seen, and that's saying something.
“Well?” Jin prompts. “Take it?”
Kame casts another wary glance at the box. “What is that anyway?”
Jin shifts his weight from one foot to the other, and seems to ponder something deeply before finally taking a long breath and saying, “Chocolate. For you. I made it.”
It comes out so rushed it takes Kame a while to even make out the words, and then he's sure lack of sleep has finally caught up with him. He's clearly hallucinating. Jin couldn't possibly have said he's made chocolate, because Jin couldn't possibly make chocolate. He can barely cook instant ramen without setting his own kitchen on fire.
“You made me chocolate?” he asks. And put it in a Valentine's box to boot.
“I... yeah.” Jin nods. “No. Well, Pi helped a little,” he adds, squirming uncomfortably, “there were a few failed attempts before we got it right.”
Well, at least that last part is far from shocking, though Kame has no idea if Yamashita's help is likely to make Jin's cooking more or less deadly.
“Are you going to take it or not?” Jin asks in a small voice.
Kame tilts his head.
There's obviously some connection between this and whatever the guys are refusing to tell him. In fact, it could even be related to why Kame had to explain to Jin one does not simply move into their friend's apartment without even letting them know―because seriously, what are the chances of so much weirdness going on in one week?
Kame's still not sure how it all fits together. If this were Jin trying to ask him a favour, there'd be no reason to involve his band-mates, and he doubts Jin would be willing to be used as bait if it were the other way around.
Still, it should be easier to get Jin to talk, he's never been all that great at deception...
“I'll take it,” Kame says at last, “if you tell me why you're giving me chocolate half a year after Valentine's.” It's not like he has to eat the thing, he can accept it and quietly dispose of it later.
“I could hardly give it to you back then,” Jin says evasively, “we weren't talking.”
“I think you mean you weren't talking to me,” Kame corrects. “Wait, does that mean this has been sitting around in your kitchen since February?”
Perhaps he got it all wrong and Jin is simply trying to poison him.
“What? No!” Jin frowns. “Would you stop looking at it like that already? It won't bite.”
“Okay, let me rephrase this. You're not a girl, we're not dating... why are you giving me chocolate at all?”
“Are you breaking up with me?” Jin asks seriously.
“Huh? No, I meant―”
“Good,” Jin cuts him off firmly, “that'd be kind of a jerk move, you realise. Dumping your boyfriend right after he's given you chocolate. It was hard to make.”
For a moment there, Kame feel lost, slow, like he's been thrown into a stage halfway through the show and no one's bothered to show him the set-list, but he shakes that thought off.
So Jin wants to pretend there's more between them than there actually is? Well, for now, Kame is more than willing to play along. He can have a bit of fun, and at the same time use this to his advantage―surely this won't be the reaction Jin's expecting, it might even make him uncomfortable enough to slip.
Kame can act with the best of them, and if Jin wants out, all he has to do is come out with the truth.
He wraps one of his arms around Jin's shoulders, pulling him closer. It's a bit uncomfortable with the box sort of squished between them, but it'll have to do. “You know I'd never break up with you,” he murmurs, resting his forehead against Jin's.
Jin tenses up immediately. “What are you doing?”
“Not okay?” Kame asks, feigning surprise. “I thought, since we're together...”
“Yeah, but,” Jin bites his lip, the way he often does when he's nervous, “we're still at the agency, anyone could walk in.”
Jin has a point, but Kame's finding it awfully hard to concentrate on anything with Jin's lips so close to his face. They're very distracting lips. Kame wonders what would happen if he moved closer, just a bit closer and...
By the time Kame catches up with reality again, Jin has managed to extricate himself from Kame's hold. He stands a few metres away apologising profusely, saying something about meeting Pi for drinks.
Kame nods numbly, but Jin is already gone.
This isn't what he was expecting. He'd expected Jin to freak out and tell him what was going on―that he'd lost a bet with one of the guys and now had to pretend to be dating Kame for a week, or some such thing. Instead, for a moment there it had almost looked like Jin would have stayed, with the way he was holding himself so still, focused on Kame's lips like he was waiting for something.
It looked like Jin would have kissed him back.
Kame reaches for his bag only to realise he's still holding on to the box with the chocolate. He had forgotten all about it. Out of curiosity, he lifts a side of the lid to take a peek inside. Jin's chocolate doesn't look half as bad as he'd expected. Feeling daring, Kame breaks off a tiny piece of it and takes a small bite, munching on it thoughtfully.
It's far from the best chocolate he's had, but it's still pretty good. Of course it is, his mind rushes to inform him, Jin made it for you, remember?
It takes Kame a few tries to successfully resist the urge to bang his head against the wall, or yell at his mind some variation of shut up, shut up, shut up.
Tomorrow, he'll find out what the hell is going on, whatever it takes.
#
Kame blinks his eyes open slowly.
There's an arm curled possessively around his waist and a warm chest pressed firmly against his back. It's cosy, comfortable under the covers and he doesn't really feel like moving.
He starts a bit when the hand slides up, splaying over his chest, then down again―short nails raking across hot skin. It tickles slightly, makes his muscles tense sharply at the sensation... but it also feels good, new, different. It makes his heartbeat speed up, his blood-flow change directions, go lower and lower still.
If it weren't for the urgency building up steadily, Kame wouldn't mind just lying like that forever.
He bites his lip when the hand finally settles on his side, pulling him in, closer. The body behind him keeps rocking against him, and there are lips moving on his neck, over his shoulder. It makes Kame feel both edgy and light-headed. He wants more, now, this, a thousand other things... He's endlessly glad he's already lying down.
It feels so much better than all those other times before. It didn't work out as intended back then, but perhaps this time...
Though it's not the best angle for that.
It'll never go anywhere like this, he keeps getting closer but he's never going to get there. There isn't much he can do like this, but if he rolls over and throws a leg over... yeah. That should make everything easier.
Unfortunately, Kame's leg gets tangled in the sheets and he winds up losing his balance, giggling giddily with his face plastered to a long smooth neck. Still, the new angle works much, much better, he decides as he grinds down experimentally.
He gives the skin there a slow teasing lick, feeling the vibrations of a shudder against his tongue. He tastes heat, salt... when he pushes himself up on his elbows, there's a smile on a pair of perfect lips he just wants to kiss again and again and...
Kame's eyes snap open. He sits up with a jerk, looking around shakily―his face feels tight, his back is bathed in cold sweat. It's still dark, but the first rays of sunlight are filtering through the blinds, painting abstract patterns on his sheets. He's in his bedroom. Alone.
It was all just a dream, a particularly sticky one that's left his bedsheets a mess. He'll have to change them; it makes him feel all of fifteen, he really thought he was over this and yet here he is, dreaming of Jin. Again.
Kame sighs. He really should have seen this coming. He's not made of ice. Playing into Jin's game is clearly the worst idea he's had in... possibly ever.
#
Kame is endlessly glad when, for once, his interview doesn't run longer than it should. He's been trying to talk to Jin all day, but couldn't seem to get a moment alone with him. Now he has a few free hours to find Jin and clear things up. He decides to start by looking in their dressing room.
He's just walking past the old recording studios, the ones no one ever uses anymore, when Jin's voice floats over from inside one of the rooms. “I'm not sure it's working. I mean, I tell him we're dating and he just kind of... rolls with it?”
It makes Kame still, leaning against the wooden door. This can only be about him.
“I thought that was what you were hoping for,” someone else says, and Kame is sure he knows that voice from somewhere.
“Well, yes, but not like this. It feels like he's just humouring me, somehow,” Jin says. “He was supposed to confess. Or at least be mad, or shocked, or something, you know.”
The other person hums. “Yeah, I guess it's a bit weird.”
“See?”
“Don't look at me like that, I told you your plan was crap,” the stranger says. “Why couldn't you just ask him out like a normal person?”
Jin's reply is so faint Kame's still trying to make out the words when the door springs open. He suddenly finds himself face to face with a very wide-eyed Yamashita.
“Oops,” Yamashita says. There's a nervous chuckle as Kame moves aside to let him out. “Well, I guess I'll just... leave you guys to talk.”
Jin quickly tries to dash past Kame, into the corridor, but Kame grabs him by the wrist and pulls him back into the room. “So that's what all this was about, huh?” he says once the door is closed again. Yamashita's footsteps can't be heard anymore.
Jin simply stands there, with his cheeks glowing red and his arms crossed over his chest like a sulky child. “It's rude to eavesdrop, you know.”
It's also rude to talk about other people behind their backs, but Kame isn't here to talk about manners. “So why is it you didn't just ask me out, then?” he asks, before the silence can stretch too long.
“I meant to! It's just, I didn't know how. I kept waiting for the right time, and it just wasn't happening, and then I got desperate and asked the guys for help and they said―” Jin swallows audibly, looking everywhere but at Kame. “They said the easiest way would probably be to do what management does when they want to get something done. And I thought, why not? Since, you know...” He trails off while making an aimless sort of motion with his free hand. “It works for them. With you.”
Kame blinks, twice. “What do you mean?”
“You know how they'll tell you something's a done deal and then you'll willingly go along with it?”
Yes, okay, he does that but...
Kame shakes his head. “That's...” So convoluted it's utterly ridiculous. It could have been so easy. “You're such a freak!”
“Oi! It was their idea,” Jin snaps.
Kame chuckles. “An irresponsible freak, too. At least own up to it.”
Kame fists his hand in the soft material of Jin's sweatshirt and pulls steadily, and Jin's reply―whatever it was―is lost in Kame's mouth. Silenced.
“Freak,” Kame whispers in Jin's ear a while later, and it's kind of cute how Jin's neck turns a light shade of pink.
#
“Your boyfriend called,” Koki says as soon as Kame walks into the room, “he said―”
Kame cuts him off with a grin, “Whatever it was, I'm sure my boyfriend can tell me himself when I get home.”
There's a surprised intake from Maru, and Koki quickly moves over to pat Kame's back in congratulation. Meanwhile, Ueda's relieved look says thank you for not sharing louder than words ever could.