The W-no-longer-IP Meme, Pt. 5 of 5!
And, finally, here is the obese overlord of all kinoface's Arashi works in progress: DREAMHOOKERS!!!!!
Like many of my fics, Dreamhookers was born from a text conversation with
l_elfie. I think we were probably talking about something ridiculous like how much better Inception would be if it were about having dream-sex, to which my predictable brain said "This sounds like a job for Super-S Jun!!", and thus: Dreamhookers.
The setting: Koda Kumi runs a business where clients can pay to have someone (called a dreamhooker in our hearts but not in the fic itself) plant them into a virtual reality where they have THE SEX OF THEIR DREAMS, involving everything from innocent fantasies they're embarrassed to act out in real life all the way to hardcore guro scenes they can't act out in real life. Jun, Nino, and Komatsu Ayaka are all dreamhookers. Izumi Rika is their cutie-pie receptionist. Aiba and Sho are clients. Subaru is in there somewhere.
The story: Jun is great at what he does but is starting to feel burnt out... and that's when Ohno shows up. DREAM-SEX IS FAKE, BUT JUNTOSHI IS REAL!!!
Here are all the words I have written that resemble fic, with some extra words of explanation in italics to help string the parts together. I planned Dreamhookers as an epic; this post is going to be long.
. . .
you gather 'round your friends
the connection that you feel when the night has not yet died
you are new with the promise of a love
you will probably never find
and touch that you can really feel
Bright Eyes, "Touch"
~
It was near closing time and Rika-chan had already been sent home with a cold, so Jun was standing in the front office with Nino and Ayaka as they chatted about their weekend plans. It was November and the nights were chillier than usual; Jun remembers this because he remembers how odd it was when a man he didn't recognize walked in looking warm and rumpled, as if he'd just rolled out of bed and wasn't sure this was where he was supposed to be.
"Welcome," Jun greeted, stepping away from the desk where Nino was swinging his legs in Rika-chan's chair. When the man said nothing, Jun asked, "Can I help you?"
The man just looked at him.
"Is this your first time here?" Jun tried.
At that, the man seemed to blink awake. "Ah - yes."
"Would you like to make an appointment?"
The man fished around in the pockets of his shoulder bag and finally pulled out a plastic card. "My friend got me this for my birthday..."
"Excellent! Step right over here and I'll get you set up." Jun shooed Nino out of the chair and took the man's card, swiping it to open the sign-up screen on the computer. "All right, so your friend has gotten you a free consultation and one follow-up session. Unfortunately we're booked all through Friday, but I can schedule you for next week...?"
The man nodded wordlessly, so Jun handed him an electronic tablet on which he could enter his information. It was pretty basic - his name, a password, whether he preferred to work with men or women, boxes where he could check any particular interests he might have and lines where he could fill in any that weren't listed - but he went over it so slowly and with such concentration that Jun couldn't help but be endeared. The way his eyebrows arched and furrowed above his sleepy eyes, above the curves of his round cheeks, was nothing short of adorable.
When he handed the tablet back, Jun glanced over it to make sure everything was filled out, and to see the man's name. "Thank you, Ohno-san," he said as he brought up next week's schedule on the computer. "Do you have a preference as far as who you'd like to work with? Did your friend suggest anyone in particular?"
"With you is fine," Ohno answered, completely straight-faced.
Jun was unbearably charmed.
By the time the appointment was made and Ohno was walking out the door, it was already past closing time. Jun powered down the computer and turned off the neon sign in the window.
"He was cute," Nino said, already bundled up and ready to leave.
"Very," Ayaka agreed. "What do you think - plain vanilla or freaky nasty?"
"Oh, he'll be a total psycho," Nino said, clearly using the term affectionately. "You're in for a treat, J."
≈
[At the end of the week, Nino tries to get Jun to go out for drinks with everyone.]
"Aya-chan will be there~"
Jun turned away from the computer to fix him Nino a stare. "Is that supposed to drag me out?"
"Well," Nino said, shrugging and leaning against the door frame, "I figured it would be better than her coming over to tell you I'd be there."
Jun laughed, but he didn't budge. "Thank you for the offer, really. I'm just not in the mood tonight."
Nino quirked his mouth into a scowl and said, "You're never in the mood to hang out with us." When that got no reaction, he huffed a sigh of great frustration and stepped into Jun's office, grabbing his arms and hauling him out of his chair. "I didn't want it to come to this," he said gravely, "but if you come out tonight, I will even pay for your drinks."
"No you won't!" Jun had heard that one before. "You'll just keep promising until the end of the night when we go to close the tab, and then you'll reach into your pockets and say, 'Whoops, I forgot my wallet at home.'"
"It's the thought that counts, right?"
Jun let himself be dragged a few feet, but at the doorway he dug his heels in. "Nino," he said sternly. "I'm sorry. Not tonight."
Nino glared and tugged for a moment longer, but when it became clear that Jun was serious, he gave up and stepped back, straightening out his coat. "Fine," he grumbled. "No one wants to hang out with a mood-ruiner, anyway." The look on his face softened, simultaneously more kind and more serious. "At least promise me you'll go home and sleep at a decent hour instead of working all night."
"I promise."
Nino narrowed his eyes like he didn't quite believe it, but he didn't press the issue. "All right. I'll see you on Monday then."
Jun waved him off, and stepped out into the hall just long enough to make sure Nino turned all the lights off and locked up on his way out. He went back to his computer and worked for the next few hours, forgetting his promise to Nino, and finally decided to call it a night when his eyes were so tired that his vision started to blur.
At his apartment, he brewed a cup of tea and took a warm shower, and he considered jerking off, but it was late, and he was tired. When he tried to summon some kind of image to get him started, all he could come up with were bland scenarios and blank-faced characters, all the details from all the files he had sitting on his computer at work. He gave up, turned off the water, and reached for his towel.
He climbed into bed, and his sheets were cold, just like the rest of his apartment, just like the rest of the city.
When he woke up the next morning, he didn't remember his dreams.
≈
November rolled into December, and Christmas decorations lit up every inch of space. Jun felt blinded by them all. He threw himself more than ever into his work, into making every scene perfect. His big project at the time was the new code he was writing specially for Aiba, one of his favorite clients.
[Exposition here about the kinds of clients they work with, including Sho; he's dating Keiko but is too embarrassed to bring up his cosplay fetish with her, so instead he comes to Ayaka and does these scenes where he's her butler, her student, etc. Then there's Aiba, one of Jun's clients; they first met at a bar, and when Jun told Aiba what he did for a living, Aiba was super excited and demanded a business card so he could come check it out. He's been coming to see Jun ever since.]
With Aiba, it was always some crazy idea he'd thought up and shared excitedly with Jun, or something Jun had brainstormed on his own and decided to run with because it seemed just ridiculous enough to catch Aiba's fancy. The first time Aiba had come to see Jun, he'd wanted to know what it would be like to have sex while submerged in a huge terrarium full of corn syrup, and his fantasies had only escalated from there.
≈
[A scene or two to show how burnt out Jun is, how he feels accomplished when he works tirelessly to make the perfect code but how hard he crashes when it's finally done and he has to find a new project to bury himself in, which is what's happening now that he's done with Aiba's scene. He can't even work up the energy to be turned on anymore because his life is just so over-saturated with sex and porn and none of it is what he really wants. All of this leads up to the following revelation.]
It occurred to him how ironic it was that the one thing he wanted was the one thing the program could not give him. It could mimic any sensation, could paint any landscape, could bring any fantasy to life for as long as someone was plugged in, but once the program ended, that fantasy ended as well. People came to him and told him their deepest secrets, the ones they'd been afraid their whole lives to admit, because he could make them real until he turned the program off, and then every sore muscle, every bruise, every sensation, every fleeting sense of accomplishment - it all faded away.
People came to him because they wanted their dreams to come true, but they didn't want to feel them the next day.
And sometimes it seemed as if the only thing Jun wanted was to feel it the next day.
[Some time after that scene (directly after? maybe a bit later?), we come to the present where Jun is in the middle of a session with Ohno.]
≈
In the virtual world, Ohno is on his elbows and knees. His ankles and wrists are held in place, with his wrists spread shoulder-width apart and his legs spread much farther than that, by unbreakable shackles that have grown seamlessly from the floor. The setting this time is almost blank, just a dark floor that stretches on forever, and then emptiness all around them. There is nothing for Ohno to look at or focus on or distract himself with: Jun is his entire world.
"That's it, just a little more. You can take a little more for me, can't you?"
Some part of Ohno tries to respond, but all he can manage is a broken, shuddering moan as Jun thrusts in again. This is not the first time today Jun has taken him. Ohno has lost count. All he knows anymore is that he is already so full of come that he can feel it trickling out of him even as Jun drives right back into him.
"Gonna fill you up," Jun promises, and then he's coming, and coming, and coming, so much more than he ever would be able to in the real world. He fills Ohno up, and Ohno is already so full, so full that come is spilling out of him and dripping down his thighs, and still there is more -
So much that he can feel it seep into every last crevice inside of him -
So much that he fears he might burst apart -
So much that he begins to choke.
≈
After the session ends, Jun gives Ohno some time to rest while he closes the file and locks the computer. Some clients need time to ease out of the experience, and Jun has met with Ohno enough times now to know that this is true for him in particular. Physically he's fine, absolutely the same as when he walked in the door - but that in itself can be jarring after an hour or longer of such intense, exhausting sensation.
So he lets Ohno lie there and decompress, and when Ohno is ready, he opens his eyes and smiles a little blearily at Jun. It's January now, and Jun thinks to himself that he is just as charmed by Ohno's round cheeks and his sleepy eyes as he was that first night in November.
"How was that?" he asks, handing Ohno the water bottle he set aside before the session. "Anything that should have been different?"
"No, no." Ohno's turns lazily on the chaise and takes the water. He drinks some, and then he stretches, yawning. "It was perfect."
Jun smiles, proud and grateful. "Thank you, Ohno-san."
Gradually, Ohno slinks his way out of the chaise and gathers his bag and coat. He yawns again as he pulls his coat on. He says quietly, "The only thing," but then he stops to think.
"Hm?" If it's something he can do to improve the program or Ohno's experience, Jun wants to know.
"It's just..." Ohno frowns, at a loss for words, and searches a bit longer. "It's not really the same," he says finally. "Don't you think?"
Jun waits, but nothing follows. He prompts, "The same as?"
"Real life." Ohno is still turned in Jun's direction, but he's not really looking at Jun anymore. "It feels great when we're in the program, but when it's done, it's just... gone." Jun feels his stomach twist a little at those words, but he stays silent. He doesn't know what he could possibly say in response. Then Ohno shifts his gaze, and now he's actually looking at Jun again. "Sometimes I just want to feel it the next day, you know?"
Jun's heart does a funny little dance in his chest.
"Yeah," he says, near breathless. "Yeah. I know."
≈
[In the middle of all this, there are bits and pieces of information about one of the clients Nino is meeting with, someone who's becoming creepier by the session and starting to push boundaries. Nino insists everything is fine, but it's clear to Jun and Ayaka that it's stressing him out, and they start to worry about him.
On the other hand, Jun is doing much better now that he's meeting with Ohno regularly. They talk more at the beginning and end of each session, and Jun learns that Ohno does something that earns him a lot of money without much work, which is how he's able to see Jun so often; maybe he's a successful, reclusive artist. He's into all this super extreme stuff, the kind of scenes he HAS to do with the program because it would be dangerous or impossible in real life - the kinds of things Jun used to fantasize about on his own before he got this job, only he fantasized about being the one to do these things, and Ohno wants them done to him. In that way they fit together perfectly, but they click in so many other ways ways as well, and Jun is starting to feel a connection with Ohno. It's something he's never felt with anyone before, definitely not a client. But of course this is Jun so he remains stoic and professional always.
Until...]
≈
[One night he goes out with Nino and Ayaka for drinks, something he's been doing a lot more now that he's feeling happier. They're sitting in a booth and have been drinking long enough that they're all pleasantly buzzed.]
Ayaka says, "By the way, Nino, your next few rounds are on me; you won the bet."
Nino shouts triumphantly, raising his beer for a toast. Ayaka clinks her bottle with his and explains to Jun, "You know that client of mine, the one who likes to be my butler?" They're very careful not to use names where other people can overhear. "Today he asked to be my maid."
Nino is still grinning. "Called it."
[They keep laughing and chatting, and then...]
Ayaka notices first. "Jun-kun," she stage-whispers over the top of her beer. "Don't look now, but that guy at the bar is staring at you."
Jun doesn't turn immediately to look, just takes a sip of his drink, then turns as if to reach for something in his jacket pocket. When he glances at the bar, what he sees makes his heart skip a beat.
It's Ohno.
He can't help it: he turns fully in his seat to look, long enough that their eyes meet across the room, before he catches himself and turns back to face the table.
Nino isn't even bothering to hide his scowl. "Is he following you?"
"I'm sure he's not," Jun says, waving the idea off. He takes another swig of his beer and stands.
When he gets to the bar, Ohno greets him with a wide, warm smile. His cheeks are rosy and his body language is loose, relaxed. He's drunk.
"Matsumoto-san," he greets Jun, reaching out for a handshake.
"Ohno-san." Jun takes Ohno's hand in his without second thought, and when Ohno uses that hand to pull Jun closer, until they're touching all along their arms, Jun doesn't mind that either.
Ohno has to stand up on his toes, leaning in against Jun for balance, to whisper in Jun's ear: "Come with me. I have something to show you."
Jun catches Nino's disapproving look on his way out, but he doesn't care.
Outside, everything seems more clear: the lights are on and the air is crisp, and the noise from the bar is muffled once they close the back door. The gravel under their feet as they move, the grain of the wall when Ohno leans up against it, the flush of his cheeks, the feel of his hands - cool from the drinks he'd been holding - as they slip around Jun's neck and up into his hair: everything is so clear.
"Matsumoto-san," Ohno breathes, and then they're kissing.
[They make out pretty heavily; eventually Jun, who has become a bit obsessed with the idea of tasting Ohno for real, gets on his knees and bites Ohno's thigh through his pants, earning him a startled moan. He's just about to get Ohno's pants undone when something startles them - maybe someone else stumbles out of the bar, maybe it's Ayaka and/or Nino, or one of Ohno's friends? In any case, Jun is startled enough that he regains SOME of his professionalism and decides that he and Ohno should totally hook up, just not behind a bar while their friends are waiting inside. So Ohno gives Jun his address and tells him to come visit some time~~~ and they part ways for the night.]
≈
[And then as soon as I figured out exactly how I wanted it to end, I jotted it all down in a fit of inspiration. The last of my notes are as follows.]
Jun goes back to work with a new skip in his step. A few days pass without hearing from Ohno, but Jun is so caught up with his other clients that he's not worried at all. But he still can't stop thinking about Ohno and what it'll be like to finally be with him for real, to finally taste him.
He's at home one night, relaxing after work and thinking about Ohno and starting to get turned on. He's on the verge of sticking his hand down his pants when the phone rings. It's Nino, and all he says is "I need you to pick me up." At the sound of his voice, Jun's hard-on withers and dies. Something is wrong.
When he gets to the address Nino gives him, he finds that it's some high-end, super-crowded restaurant he would never imagine Nino frequenting on his own. As soon as he gets inside, Nino comes rushing towards him, clearly ready to leave. "Take me to your place," he says, speaking quietly and moving fast as he tugs Jun out the door. "I'll explain when we get there, let's just GO."
At Jun's apartment, Jun sits Nino down on the couch and asks if he's okay - he's shaking - but Nino just says, "I think I might throw up." Jun goes to make him some tea, and after Nino drinks it and has some time to calm down, he explains what happened: he stayed in his office late to work on a scene, and when he finally left and headed to the train station, he thought he saw someone following him but convinced himself it was his imagination; when he got off the train to transfer, though, he saw that it was definitely that creepy client. He didn't end up transferring onto his train home but instead beelined for the nearest crowded, brightly lit place - the restaurant he called Jun from.
Jun is horrified. He does his best to comfort Nino and they talk about it for a while longer until Nino finishes his tea and starts yawning. Jun hauls him up and says, "You're all right now. You'll stay here for the night, and in the morning we'll go tell Kuu what happened, and she'll help us figure it out from there, okay?". Nino makes some comment about sleeping on the couch, but Jun dismisses it. "Just don't drool on my pillows."
Nino says, "I'm going to drool on ALL your pillows. Both sides."
After he gets Nino settled, Jun lies down on the couch and starts thinking about what happened, about Nino, how badly it could have gone and that he's glad Nino called him. And then he starts thinking about Ohno again. Did Ohno know Jun was going to be at the bar that night? Did he really follow him there? Even if he didn't, isn't Jun making the wrong decision by trying to hook up with a client? What happened to staying professional? If this thing with Nino proves anything, it's that the boundaries Kuu set in place are there for a good reason.
He manages to freak himself out but decides that now isn't the time to think about it. He has to be strong for Nino, not get swept up in his own drama.
In the morning he makes them breakfast (something small for Nino, of course) and drives them in to work, but when they get there, there are police officers and squad cars and yellow tape. Jun feels panicky and can tell just from looking at Nino that he's not feeling great either. They get out and approach slowly, and Ayaka rushes up to meet them. They find out either from her or Kuu that late last night, someone broke in to the office; the alarm went off and the cops showed up before anything could be damaged or taken, but they found the person - that creepy client - in Nino's office.
Nino looks ill, but Jun urges him to tell the police about what happened last night. So Nino tells them, and Jun and Ayaka are there to offer comfort (maybe Ayaka is holding his hand), and afterwards Kuu comes up and hugs him and apologizes for not seeing it earlier and kicking that bastard out. The police assure him that the client is in custody, that all the employee information is on the computers and the client wasn't able to access any of it so Nino will be safe at home, etc etc.
Kuu sticks around but sends Nino home, so Jun takes Nino back to his place and lets him crash there. "You can stay as long as you need to."
Eventually - later that day when Nino takes a nap, or that evening? maybe after a few days if Nino really needs to be with someone he trusts for a while? - Jun starts thinking about Ohno again and works himself up into such a frenzy that he heads over to Ohno's place to confront him. He doesn't call Ohno ahead of time but luckily Ohno is home, surprised when he finds Jun standing at his door. He lets Jun in, concerned because obviously Jun is upset about something. Jun doesn't waste time, just jumps right into it: "Did you know I was going to be at the bar that night?" Ohno is shocked, says no, he was just there with some friends. Jun wants to believe it but keeps pressing him for details until Ohno says something about that being the bar he goes to with his friend Aiba-chan. Jun is shocked and a little scared. "You know Aiba?" His suspicion grows - has Ohno even been following around his other clients? Is that even possible? Ohno explains that Aiba is the one who suggested he try out Kuu's establishment in the first place, he got Ohno that card for his birthday. "Why didn't you tell me?!" "I thought you knew! He said he talked to you about it!" And Jun remembers a brief exchange with Aiba all those months ago; Aiba had mentioned that he recommended a friend but didn't mention any names.
They've been standing there yelling at each other in the middle of Ohno's apartment, but all of the suspicion and fear and anger just leaves Jun in one overwhelming rush as he realizes he's been worried over nothing. He moves forward, then stops himself just short of reaching for Ohno - "Ohno-san, can I kiss you?"
Instead of answering with words, Ohno closes the distance between them.
They make out, Jun touches Ohno all over, apologizing between kisses, telling Ohno how sorry he is for coming over like this, for yelling at him, for doubting him, for making him worry, and Ohno finally tells him it's fine, everything is fine, just don't stop. Jun leads them over to the couch so he can push Ohno down onto it and sink to his knees in front of him. Jun doesn't even have to ask permission, just looks at Ohno and Ohno is already gasping out yes, please, yes. Jun bites his thigh through the jeans he's wearing, just like outside of the bar, then works the jeans open and bites him for real this time, hard enough to make Ohno gasp, hard enough to leave a mark. He feels like he could devour Ohno if Ohno told him it was okay.
He finally gets his mouth on Ohno's cock, finally tastes him, and can't help but moan when Ohno gasps and gets a hand in Jun's hair. Jun keeps going, dragging his fingernails down Ohno's thighs as he takes in more and more. It's been a long time since he's done this for real, but it starts to come back to him, how to work around his gag reflex until he's swallowing Ohno down to the root and Ohno is breathing shakily above him.
Jun's thoughts are racing: he wants to bring Ohno off with his just mouth - wants to bring him off with just his fingers deep inside - wants to bring him off just by fucking him - wants to hold him down and make him come until he can't think anymore, until he can't breathe anymore, until all he can do is writhe and sob and the only word he can manage is Jun's name. He wants too much - he wants so much - and it feels like even if they started now and kept going forever, there would never be enough time to do everything he wants to do to Ohno.
He pulls back and asks, "Ohno-san, what do you want?"
Ohno has his head thrown back against the couch, eyes shut. He shakes his head, he doesn't want to say it.
Jun worries that for Ohno, this won't compare, won't be as good as the program. He gets up off his knees and moves onto the couch, gets a hand in Ohno's hair and kisses him hard and then says, "I need you to tell me what you want." It's close enough to what he really means: I need you to tell me you want this. I need you to tell me that you want me.
Ohno pulls him into another kiss, takes his time like he's working up the courage.
Finally he looks Jun in the eye and tells him, "Make me feel it."
They move to the bedroom and have hot, rough sex~! Things are a little weird/awkward at times because they've pretty much been having sex for months anyway but they're used to the program where everything is ready to go and right where they need it. But they laugh about the weird parts and move past them and have fun learning each other's real bodies for the first time.
Later on that night, they shower and order food (because, Jun is horrified to find, the only actual food in Ohno's fridge is from his mother) and sit around Ohno's table, half-dressed, to eat. (Something in there about Jun admiring all the marks he's left on Ohno's body. Maybe Ohno gets up and reaches for something and laughs because wow, he really is feeling it now!) They talk about where they want to go from here, and Ohno says he doesn't really know - he's never been one to plan things - but then he smiles shyly and pauses, clearly working up to say something. In that little stretch of silence, Jun thinks about everything they've done, how comfortable he feels with Ohno, how he's never felt like this with anyone else, and how'll go back to being professional if that's what he has to do but he can't imagine anything better than coming home to Ohno at the end of the day.
Ohno finally speaks up, just a simple "I like you," and Jun laughs and says "I sure hope so! I like you too~"
≈
At the bar, Jun and Nino and Ayaka are laughing and having a good time. Ayaka asks how long Nino's going to take off from work; he says he's not sure exactly, but he'll probably be back soon. He needs video game money after all!! Ayaka and Jun laugh, assure him they'll take care of his other clients in the meantime. Ayaka says something like, "Besides, I'll need some new people now that my maid has left." Apparently Sho came by to tell her that because of her encouragement, he finally confessed to Keiko, who was completely accepting and cool with it, so he doesn't really need Ayaka's services anymore.
She seems a little disappointed, but Jun tells her, "That's great! You helped him, Aya-chan. He's a happier person now because of you."
Ayaka makes a show of looking unconvinced, but Jun can see the way her mouth curls up at the corners. "I guess~~"
She brings up the rumor that Jun's been ~helping out~ one of his clients as well. Jun waves it off, unwilling to talk about it just yet when he and Ohno are still getting used to things, but he's obviously very happy.
The truth is that he does still see Ohno as a client, but it doesn't happen nearly as often anymore since they now see each other quite regularly outside of Jun's work. Since the whole thing with Nino is still fresh, he made sure to approach Kuu about it, and she told him that as long as he's careful about it, and as long as they don't go telling the whole world how they got together (because as far as she's concerned, none of their clients should think about hooking up with an employee even as a possibility), then they have her approval - as long as Ohno-san still pays up when they use the program, of course!
≈
[The final scene is something like: it's the weekend, and Jun and Ohno are indulging in some kind of crazypants kidnapping fantasy or something, and the little bit shown would be intense but their love will shine through~~~]
. . .
I mourn Dreamhookers every day of my life because it is a story I am so deeply in love with, but the honest truth is that I will probably never finish it. It's just too big, and even if I did have enough faith in my abilities to believe that I could finish it, I love it so much that I'm terrified I'd just fuck it up. Sad trombone music~~~ But I'm not giving up on it entirely, and no matter what, it will always exist in my heart as a story that is inherently about porn and kink positivity and the idea that yes there are some creepy people out there but it has nothing to do with someone's preferred method of doing sexy stuff with other consenting adults. Most of all, it is a story about Juntoshi's deep, true love.
I want "Dream-sex is fake, but Juntoshi is real" carved on my tombstone: the end.
Crossposted here on Dreamwidth. You can comment there anonymously or using OpenID. ♥
Like many of my fics, Dreamhookers was born from a text conversation with
l_elfie. I think we were probably talking about something ridiculous like how much better Inception would be if it were about having dream-sex, to which my predictable brain said "This sounds like a job for Super-S Jun!!", and thus: Dreamhookers.
The setting: Koda Kumi runs a business where clients can pay to have someone (called a dreamhooker in our hearts but not in the fic itself) plant them into a virtual reality where they have THE SEX OF THEIR DREAMS, involving everything from innocent fantasies they're embarrassed to act out in real life all the way to hardcore guro scenes they can't act out in real life. Jun, Nino, and Komatsu Ayaka are all dreamhookers. Izumi Rika is their cutie-pie receptionist. Aiba and Sho are clients. Subaru is in there somewhere.
The story: Jun is great at what he does but is starting to feel burnt out... and that's when Ohno shows up. DREAM-SEX IS FAKE, BUT JUNTOSHI IS REAL!!!
Here are all the words I have written that resemble fic, with some extra words of explanation in italics to help string the parts together. I planned Dreamhookers as an epic; this post is going to be long.
. . .
you gather 'round your friends
the connection that you feel when the night has not yet died
you are new with the promise of a love
you will probably never find
and touch that you can really feel
Bright Eyes, "Touch"
~
It was near closing time and Rika-chan had already been sent home with a cold, so Jun was standing in the front office with Nino and Ayaka as they chatted about their weekend plans. It was November and the nights were chillier than usual; Jun remembers this because he remembers how odd it was when a man he didn't recognize walked in looking warm and rumpled, as if he'd just rolled out of bed and wasn't sure this was where he was supposed to be.
"Welcome," Jun greeted, stepping away from the desk where Nino was swinging his legs in Rika-chan's chair. When the man said nothing, Jun asked, "Can I help you?"
The man just looked at him.
"Is this your first time here?" Jun tried.
At that, the man seemed to blink awake. "Ah - yes."
"Would you like to make an appointment?"
The man fished around in the pockets of his shoulder bag and finally pulled out a plastic card. "My friend got me this for my birthday..."
"Excellent! Step right over here and I'll get you set up." Jun shooed Nino out of the chair and took the man's card, swiping it to open the sign-up screen on the computer. "All right, so your friend has gotten you a free consultation and one follow-up session. Unfortunately we're booked all through Friday, but I can schedule you for next week...?"
The man nodded wordlessly, so Jun handed him an electronic tablet on which he could enter his information. It was pretty basic - his name, a password, whether he preferred to work with men or women, boxes where he could check any particular interests he might have and lines where he could fill in any that weren't listed - but he went over it so slowly and with such concentration that Jun couldn't help but be endeared. The way his eyebrows arched and furrowed above his sleepy eyes, above the curves of his round cheeks, was nothing short of adorable.
When he handed the tablet back, Jun glanced over it to make sure everything was filled out, and to see the man's name. "Thank you, Ohno-san," he said as he brought up next week's schedule on the computer. "Do you have a preference as far as who you'd like to work with? Did your friend suggest anyone in particular?"
"With you is fine," Ohno answered, completely straight-faced.
Jun was unbearably charmed.
By the time the appointment was made and Ohno was walking out the door, it was already past closing time. Jun powered down the computer and turned off the neon sign in the window.
"He was cute," Nino said, already bundled up and ready to leave.
"Very," Ayaka agreed. "What do you think - plain vanilla or freaky nasty?"
"Oh, he'll be a total psycho," Nino said, clearly using the term affectionately. "You're in for a treat, J."
≈
[At the end of the week, Nino tries to get Jun to go out for drinks with everyone.]
"Aya-chan will be there~"
Jun turned away from the computer to fix him Nino a stare. "Is that supposed to drag me out?"
"Well," Nino said, shrugging and leaning against the door frame, "I figured it would be better than her coming over to tell you I'd be there."
Jun laughed, but he didn't budge. "Thank you for the offer, really. I'm just not in the mood tonight."
Nino quirked his mouth into a scowl and said, "You're never in the mood to hang out with us." When that got no reaction, he huffed a sigh of great frustration and stepped into Jun's office, grabbing his arms and hauling him out of his chair. "I didn't want it to come to this," he said gravely, "but if you come out tonight, I will even pay for your drinks."
"No you won't!" Jun had heard that one before. "You'll just keep promising until the end of the night when we go to close the tab, and then you'll reach into your pockets and say, 'Whoops, I forgot my wallet at home.'"
"It's the thought that counts, right?"
Jun let himself be dragged a few feet, but at the doorway he dug his heels in. "Nino," he said sternly. "I'm sorry. Not tonight."
Nino glared and tugged for a moment longer, but when it became clear that Jun was serious, he gave up and stepped back, straightening out his coat. "Fine," he grumbled. "No one wants to hang out with a mood-ruiner, anyway." The look on his face softened, simultaneously more kind and more serious. "At least promise me you'll go home and sleep at a decent hour instead of working all night."
"I promise."
Nino narrowed his eyes like he didn't quite believe it, but he didn't press the issue. "All right. I'll see you on Monday then."
Jun waved him off, and stepped out into the hall just long enough to make sure Nino turned all the lights off and locked up on his way out. He went back to his computer and worked for the next few hours, forgetting his promise to Nino, and finally decided to call it a night when his eyes were so tired that his vision started to blur.
At his apartment, he brewed a cup of tea and took a warm shower, and he considered jerking off, but it was late, and he was tired. When he tried to summon some kind of image to get him started, all he could come up with were bland scenarios and blank-faced characters, all the details from all the files he had sitting on his computer at work. He gave up, turned off the water, and reached for his towel.
He climbed into bed, and his sheets were cold, just like the rest of his apartment, just like the rest of the city.
When he woke up the next morning, he didn't remember his dreams.
≈
November rolled into December, and Christmas decorations lit up every inch of space. Jun felt blinded by them all. He threw himself more than ever into his work, into making every scene perfect. His big project at the time was the new code he was writing specially for Aiba, one of his favorite clients.
[Exposition here about the kinds of clients they work with, including Sho; he's dating Keiko but is too embarrassed to bring up his cosplay fetish with her, so instead he comes to Ayaka and does these scenes where he's her butler, her student, etc. Then there's Aiba, one of Jun's clients; they first met at a bar, and when Jun told Aiba what he did for a living, Aiba was super excited and demanded a business card so he could come check it out. He's been coming to see Jun ever since.]
With Aiba, it was always some crazy idea he'd thought up and shared excitedly with Jun, or something Jun had brainstormed on his own and decided to run with because it seemed just ridiculous enough to catch Aiba's fancy. The first time Aiba had come to see Jun, he'd wanted to know what it would be like to have sex while submerged in a huge terrarium full of corn syrup, and his fantasies had only escalated from there.
≈
[A scene or two to show how burnt out Jun is, how he feels accomplished when he works tirelessly to make the perfect code but how hard he crashes when it's finally done and he has to find a new project to bury himself in, which is what's happening now that he's done with Aiba's scene. He can't even work up the energy to be turned on anymore because his life is just so over-saturated with sex and porn and none of it is what he really wants. All of this leads up to the following revelation.]
It occurred to him how ironic it was that the one thing he wanted was the one thing the program could not give him. It could mimic any sensation, could paint any landscape, could bring any fantasy to life for as long as someone was plugged in, but once the program ended, that fantasy ended as well. People came to him and told him their deepest secrets, the ones they'd been afraid their whole lives to admit, because he could make them real until he turned the program off, and then every sore muscle, every bruise, every sensation, every fleeting sense of accomplishment - it all faded away.
People came to him because they wanted their dreams to come true, but they didn't want to feel them the next day.
And sometimes it seemed as if the only thing Jun wanted was to feel it the next day.
[Some time after that scene (directly after? maybe a bit later?), we come to the present where Jun is in the middle of a session with Ohno.]
≈
In the virtual world, Ohno is on his elbows and knees. His ankles and wrists are held in place, with his wrists spread shoulder-width apart and his legs spread much farther than that, by unbreakable shackles that have grown seamlessly from the floor. The setting this time is almost blank, just a dark floor that stretches on forever, and then emptiness all around them. There is nothing for Ohno to look at or focus on or distract himself with: Jun is his entire world.
"That's it, just a little more. You can take a little more for me, can't you?"
Some part of Ohno tries to respond, but all he can manage is a broken, shuddering moan as Jun thrusts in again. This is not the first time today Jun has taken him. Ohno has lost count. All he knows anymore is that he is already so full of come that he can feel it trickling out of him even as Jun drives right back into him.
"Gonna fill you up," Jun promises, and then he's coming, and coming, and coming, so much more than he ever would be able to in the real world. He fills Ohno up, and Ohno is already so full, so full that come is spilling out of him and dripping down his thighs, and still there is more -
So much that he can feel it seep into every last crevice inside of him -
So much that he fears he might burst apart -
So much that he begins to choke.
≈
After the session ends, Jun gives Ohno some time to rest while he closes the file and locks the computer. Some clients need time to ease out of the experience, and Jun has met with Ohno enough times now to know that this is true for him in particular. Physically he's fine, absolutely the same as when he walked in the door - but that in itself can be jarring after an hour or longer of such intense, exhausting sensation.
So he lets Ohno lie there and decompress, and when Ohno is ready, he opens his eyes and smiles a little blearily at Jun. It's January now, and Jun thinks to himself that he is just as charmed by Ohno's round cheeks and his sleepy eyes as he was that first night in November.
"How was that?" he asks, handing Ohno the water bottle he set aside before the session. "Anything that should have been different?"
"No, no." Ohno's turns lazily on the chaise and takes the water. He drinks some, and then he stretches, yawning. "It was perfect."
Jun smiles, proud and grateful. "Thank you, Ohno-san."
Gradually, Ohno slinks his way out of the chaise and gathers his bag and coat. He yawns again as he pulls his coat on. He says quietly, "The only thing," but then he stops to think.
"Hm?" If it's something he can do to improve the program or Ohno's experience, Jun wants to know.
"It's just..." Ohno frowns, at a loss for words, and searches a bit longer. "It's not really the same," he says finally. "Don't you think?"
Jun waits, but nothing follows. He prompts, "The same as?"
"Real life." Ohno is still turned in Jun's direction, but he's not really looking at Jun anymore. "It feels great when we're in the program, but when it's done, it's just... gone." Jun feels his stomach twist a little at those words, but he stays silent. He doesn't know what he could possibly say in response. Then Ohno shifts his gaze, and now he's actually looking at Jun again. "Sometimes I just want to feel it the next day, you know?"
Jun's heart does a funny little dance in his chest.
"Yeah," he says, near breathless. "Yeah. I know."
≈
[In the middle of all this, there are bits and pieces of information about one of the clients Nino is meeting with, someone who's becoming creepier by the session and starting to push boundaries. Nino insists everything is fine, but it's clear to Jun and Ayaka that it's stressing him out, and they start to worry about him.
On the other hand, Jun is doing much better now that he's meeting with Ohno regularly. They talk more at the beginning and end of each session, and Jun learns that Ohno does something that earns him a lot of money without much work, which is how he's able to see Jun so often; maybe he's a successful, reclusive artist. He's into all this super extreme stuff, the kind of scenes he HAS to do with the program because it would be dangerous or impossible in real life - the kinds of things Jun used to fantasize about on his own before he got this job, only he fantasized about being the one to do these things, and Ohno wants them done to him. In that way they fit together perfectly, but they click in so many other ways ways as well, and Jun is starting to feel a connection with Ohno. It's something he's never felt with anyone before, definitely not a client. But of course this is Jun so he remains stoic and professional always.
Until...]
≈
[One night he goes out with Nino and Ayaka for drinks, something he's been doing a lot more now that he's feeling happier. They're sitting in a booth and have been drinking long enough that they're all pleasantly buzzed.]
Ayaka says, "By the way, Nino, your next few rounds are on me; you won the bet."
Nino shouts triumphantly, raising his beer for a toast. Ayaka clinks her bottle with his and explains to Jun, "You know that client of mine, the one who likes to be my butler?" They're very careful not to use names where other people can overhear. "Today he asked to be my maid."
Nino is still grinning. "Called it."
[They keep laughing and chatting, and then...]
Ayaka notices first. "Jun-kun," she stage-whispers over the top of her beer. "Don't look now, but that guy at the bar is staring at you."
Jun doesn't turn immediately to look, just takes a sip of his drink, then turns as if to reach for something in his jacket pocket. When he glances at the bar, what he sees makes his heart skip a beat.
It's Ohno.
He can't help it: he turns fully in his seat to look, long enough that their eyes meet across the room, before he catches himself and turns back to face the table.
Nino isn't even bothering to hide his scowl. "Is he following you?"
"I'm sure he's not," Jun says, waving the idea off. He takes another swig of his beer and stands.
When he gets to the bar, Ohno greets him with a wide, warm smile. His cheeks are rosy and his body language is loose, relaxed. He's drunk.
"Matsumoto-san," he greets Jun, reaching out for a handshake.
"Ohno-san." Jun takes Ohno's hand in his without second thought, and when Ohno uses that hand to pull Jun closer, until they're touching all along their arms, Jun doesn't mind that either.
Ohno has to stand up on his toes, leaning in against Jun for balance, to whisper in Jun's ear: "Come with me. I have something to show you."
Jun catches Nino's disapproving look on his way out, but he doesn't care.
Outside, everything seems more clear: the lights are on and the air is crisp, and the noise from the bar is muffled once they close the back door. The gravel under their feet as they move, the grain of the wall when Ohno leans up against it, the flush of his cheeks, the feel of his hands - cool from the drinks he'd been holding - as they slip around Jun's neck and up into his hair: everything is so clear.
"Matsumoto-san," Ohno breathes, and then they're kissing.
[They make out pretty heavily; eventually Jun, who has become a bit obsessed with the idea of tasting Ohno for real, gets on his knees and bites Ohno's thigh through his pants, earning him a startled moan. He's just about to get Ohno's pants undone when something startles them - maybe someone else stumbles out of the bar, maybe it's Ayaka and/or Nino, or one of Ohno's friends? In any case, Jun is startled enough that he regains SOME of his professionalism and decides that he and Ohno should totally hook up, just not behind a bar while their friends are waiting inside. So Ohno gives Jun his address and tells him to come visit some time~~~ and they part ways for the night.]
≈
[And then as soon as I figured out exactly how I wanted it to end, I jotted it all down in a fit of inspiration. The last of my notes are as follows.]
Jun goes back to work with a new skip in his step. A few days pass without hearing from Ohno, but Jun is so caught up with his other clients that he's not worried at all. But he still can't stop thinking about Ohno and what it'll be like to finally be with him for real, to finally taste him.
He's at home one night, relaxing after work and thinking about Ohno and starting to get turned on. He's on the verge of sticking his hand down his pants when the phone rings. It's Nino, and all he says is "I need you to pick me up." At the sound of his voice, Jun's hard-on withers and dies. Something is wrong.
When he gets to the address Nino gives him, he finds that it's some high-end, super-crowded restaurant he would never imagine Nino frequenting on his own. As soon as he gets inside, Nino comes rushing towards him, clearly ready to leave. "Take me to your place," he says, speaking quietly and moving fast as he tugs Jun out the door. "I'll explain when we get there, let's just GO."
At Jun's apartment, Jun sits Nino down on the couch and asks if he's okay - he's shaking - but Nino just says, "I think I might throw up." Jun goes to make him some tea, and after Nino drinks it and has some time to calm down, he explains what happened: he stayed in his office late to work on a scene, and when he finally left and headed to the train station, he thought he saw someone following him but convinced himself it was his imagination; when he got off the train to transfer, though, he saw that it was definitely that creepy client. He didn't end up transferring onto his train home but instead beelined for the nearest crowded, brightly lit place - the restaurant he called Jun from.
Jun is horrified. He does his best to comfort Nino and they talk about it for a while longer until Nino finishes his tea and starts yawning. Jun hauls him up and says, "You're all right now. You'll stay here for the night, and in the morning we'll go tell Kuu what happened, and she'll help us figure it out from there, okay?". Nino makes some comment about sleeping on the couch, but Jun dismisses it. "Just don't drool on my pillows."
Nino says, "I'm going to drool on ALL your pillows. Both sides."
After he gets Nino settled, Jun lies down on the couch and starts thinking about what happened, about Nino, how badly it could have gone and that he's glad Nino called him. And then he starts thinking about Ohno again. Did Ohno know Jun was going to be at the bar that night? Did he really follow him there? Even if he didn't, isn't Jun making the wrong decision by trying to hook up with a client? What happened to staying professional? If this thing with Nino proves anything, it's that the boundaries Kuu set in place are there for a good reason.
He manages to freak himself out but decides that now isn't the time to think about it. He has to be strong for Nino, not get swept up in his own drama.
In the morning he makes them breakfast (something small for Nino, of course) and drives them in to work, but when they get there, there are police officers and squad cars and yellow tape. Jun feels panicky and can tell just from looking at Nino that he's not feeling great either. They get out and approach slowly, and Ayaka rushes up to meet them. They find out either from her or Kuu that late last night, someone broke in to the office; the alarm went off and the cops showed up before anything could be damaged or taken, but they found the person - that creepy client - in Nino's office.
Nino looks ill, but Jun urges him to tell the police about what happened last night. So Nino tells them, and Jun and Ayaka are there to offer comfort (maybe Ayaka is holding his hand), and afterwards Kuu comes up and hugs him and apologizes for not seeing it earlier and kicking that bastard out. The police assure him that the client is in custody, that all the employee information is on the computers and the client wasn't able to access any of it so Nino will be safe at home, etc etc.
Kuu sticks around but sends Nino home, so Jun takes Nino back to his place and lets him crash there. "You can stay as long as you need to."
Eventually - later that day when Nino takes a nap, or that evening? maybe after a few days if Nino really needs to be with someone he trusts for a while? - Jun starts thinking about Ohno again and works himself up into such a frenzy that he heads over to Ohno's place to confront him. He doesn't call Ohno ahead of time but luckily Ohno is home, surprised when he finds Jun standing at his door. He lets Jun in, concerned because obviously Jun is upset about something. Jun doesn't waste time, just jumps right into it: "Did you know I was going to be at the bar that night?" Ohno is shocked, says no, he was just there with some friends. Jun wants to believe it but keeps pressing him for details until Ohno says something about that being the bar he goes to with his friend Aiba-chan. Jun is shocked and a little scared. "You know Aiba?" His suspicion grows - has Ohno even been following around his other clients? Is that even possible? Ohno explains that Aiba is the one who suggested he try out Kuu's establishment in the first place, he got Ohno that card for his birthday. "Why didn't you tell me?!" "I thought you knew! He said he talked to you about it!" And Jun remembers a brief exchange with Aiba all those months ago; Aiba had mentioned that he recommended a friend but didn't mention any names.
They've been standing there yelling at each other in the middle of Ohno's apartment, but all of the suspicion and fear and anger just leaves Jun in one overwhelming rush as he realizes he's been worried over nothing. He moves forward, then stops himself just short of reaching for Ohno - "Ohno-san, can I kiss you?"
Instead of answering with words, Ohno closes the distance between them.
They make out, Jun touches Ohno all over, apologizing between kisses, telling Ohno how sorry he is for coming over like this, for yelling at him, for doubting him, for making him worry, and Ohno finally tells him it's fine, everything is fine, just don't stop. Jun leads them over to the couch so he can push Ohno down onto it and sink to his knees in front of him. Jun doesn't even have to ask permission, just looks at Ohno and Ohno is already gasping out yes, please, yes. Jun bites his thigh through the jeans he's wearing, just like outside of the bar, then works the jeans open and bites him for real this time, hard enough to make Ohno gasp, hard enough to leave a mark. He feels like he could devour Ohno if Ohno told him it was okay.
He finally gets his mouth on Ohno's cock, finally tastes him, and can't help but moan when Ohno gasps and gets a hand in Jun's hair. Jun keeps going, dragging his fingernails down Ohno's thighs as he takes in more and more. It's been a long time since he's done this for real, but it starts to come back to him, how to work around his gag reflex until he's swallowing Ohno down to the root and Ohno is breathing shakily above him.
Jun's thoughts are racing: he wants to bring Ohno off with his just mouth - wants to bring him off with just his fingers deep inside - wants to bring him off just by fucking him - wants to hold him down and make him come until he can't think anymore, until he can't breathe anymore, until all he can do is writhe and sob and the only word he can manage is Jun's name. He wants too much - he wants so much - and it feels like even if they started now and kept going forever, there would never be enough time to do everything he wants to do to Ohno.
He pulls back and asks, "Ohno-san, what do you want?"
Ohno has his head thrown back against the couch, eyes shut. He shakes his head, he doesn't want to say it.
Jun worries that for Ohno, this won't compare, won't be as good as the program. He gets up off his knees and moves onto the couch, gets a hand in Ohno's hair and kisses him hard and then says, "I need you to tell me what you want." It's close enough to what he really means: I need you to tell me you want this. I need you to tell me that you want me.
Ohno pulls him into another kiss, takes his time like he's working up the courage.
Finally he looks Jun in the eye and tells him, "Make me feel it."
They move to the bedroom and have hot, rough sex~! Things are a little weird/awkward at times because they've pretty much been having sex for months anyway but they're used to the program where everything is ready to go and right where they need it. But they laugh about the weird parts and move past them and have fun learning each other's real bodies for the first time.
Later on that night, they shower and order food (because, Jun is horrified to find, the only actual food in Ohno's fridge is from his mother) and sit around Ohno's table, half-dressed, to eat. (Something in there about Jun admiring all the marks he's left on Ohno's body. Maybe Ohno gets up and reaches for something and laughs because wow, he really is feeling it now!) They talk about where they want to go from here, and Ohno says he doesn't really know - he's never been one to plan things - but then he smiles shyly and pauses, clearly working up to say something. In that little stretch of silence, Jun thinks about everything they've done, how comfortable he feels with Ohno, how he's never felt like this with anyone else, and how'll go back to being professional if that's what he has to do but he can't imagine anything better than coming home to Ohno at the end of the day.
Ohno finally speaks up, just a simple "I like you," and Jun laughs and says "I sure hope so! I like you too~"
≈
At the bar, Jun and Nino and Ayaka are laughing and having a good time. Ayaka asks how long Nino's going to take off from work; he says he's not sure exactly, but he'll probably be back soon. He needs video game money after all!! Ayaka and Jun laugh, assure him they'll take care of his other clients in the meantime. Ayaka says something like, "Besides, I'll need some new people now that my maid has left." Apparently Sho came by to tell her that because of her encouragement, he finally confessed to Keiko, who was completely accepting and cool with it, so he doesn't really need Ayaka's services anymore.
She seems a little disappointed, but Jun tells her, "That's great! You helped him, Aya-chan. He's a happier person now because of you."
Ayaka makes a show of looking unconvinced, but Jun can see the way her mouth curls up at the corners. "I guess~~"
She brings up the rumor that Jun's been ~helping out~ one of his clients as well. Jun waves it off, unwilling to talk about it just yet when he and Ohno are still getting used to things, but he's obviously very happy.
The truth is that he does still see Ohno as a client, but it doesn't happen nearly as often anymore since they now see each other quite regularly outside of Jun's work. Since the whole thing with Nino is still fresh, he made sure to approach Kuu about it, and she told him that as long as he's careful about it, and as long as they don't go telling the whole world how they got together (because as far as she's concerned, none of their clients should think about hooking up with an employee even as a possibility), then they have her approval - as long as Ohno-san still pays up when they use the program, of course!
≈
[The final scene is something like: it's the weekend, and Jun and Ohno are indulging in some kind of crazypants kidnapping fantasy or something, and the little bit shown would be intense but their love will shine through~~~]
. . .
I mourn Dreamhookers every day of my life because it is a story I am so deeply in love with, but the honest truth is that I will probably never finish it. It's just too big, and even if I did have enough faith in my abilities to believe that I could finish it, I love it so much that I'm terrified I'd just fuck it up. Sad trombone music~~~ But I'm not giving up on it entirely, and no matter what, it will always exist in my heart as a story that is inherently about porn and kink positivity and the idea that yes there are some creepy people out there but it has nothing to do with someone's preferred method of doing sexy stuff with other consenting adults. Most of all, it is a story about Juntoshi's deep, true love.
I want "Dream-sex is fake, but Juntoshi is real" carved on my tombstone: the end.
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