Hajime no Ippo, "Telling Tales," Miyata/Kimura, et.al., R?
THIS STORY TOTALLY BREAKS MY SHOW-IT-DON'T-TELL-IT RULE AND I DON'T CARE. It'd be an epic arc of a story otherwise and I don't really want to write an epic arc but the idea was TOO EPIC and wouldn't leave me alone so I'm writing it in the quickest way I know and that way happens to go against my very soul and I DON'T CARE.
/total bullshit
I hope someone likes this. I like it. It makes me lol. If I could write a comic strip, or rather draw one, I'd do this in that style instead of how it is here but I CAN'T DRAW so this is what you get. The end.
Oh, and it's all sailormac's fault. Double-date and all that. Go blame her, lemme alone. >:[
Telling Tales
by mistr3ss Quickly
Miyata carries the secret with him until the night of his thirtieth birthday, and on that night, he tells only because Ippo laughs and tells him that it's all right, that he doesn't mind others knowing. Hugs him as he says it, pats him on the back in a gentler version of Takamura's usual "manly" embrace. Thanks him for keeping it a secret as long as he has.
Miyata hugs his friend back, that night. Doesn't say that he would've taken the secret to his grave, even though it's the truth. He would have. Without regret.
But with his friend's permission to tell he can no longer honestly refuse to share the secret with his lover and his lover knows that, the glee of knowledge written clear on the man's face after the last of the guests leave their flat, the last calls of happy birthday replaced with the quiet hum of the overhead light, the shh of Miyata's feet as he moves about, clearing away empty plates and cups and wrapping paper from the sitting room floor. He frowns when his lover mentions it the first time. Sighs a bit more loudly than is perhaps necessary when the man nudges him and mentions it again, kissing him before going in to take his bath. Relents finally when he's lying in bed, his lover's arm draped across his belly, the request whispered warm against his ear.
"It's not even a very good story," he says.
"I'll judge that. Come on, tell me."
So Ichiro Miyata, thirty years old, draws a deep breath and begins his story. Tells the secret he's carried nearly ten years, his voice soft in the dark of the bedroom, his lover lying warm beside him, awake and practically trembling with excitement.
"All right," he says. "You know Ippo and Kumi tried to date several times, back when he was first starting to make a name for himself."
"Of course. Made for good gossip at the gym."
Miyata rolls his eyes. "I can only imagine. Why Ippo went to Takamura for advice when he first discovered who Kumi was related to is beyond me, but he did, at least, learn his lesson after that. Went to someone far more mature, the next time he had questions. Which didn't do him any good, but it at least kept you monkeys from picking on him."
"Hey! I'm not a monkey, that's Aoki, and what do you mean he went to someone more mature, he never came to me for advice."
"No, I wouldn't say he went to someone mature if he'd gone to you, you're no better than Takamura, and you're a romantic sap on top of that."
His lover growls and smacks him on the stomach, hard enough that Miyata flinches, gets kissed for it. Laughs and rubs the spot he smacked, kisses Miyata again, a longer kiss that ends only when his curiosity catches back up to him.
"So. Who'd he go to, then?"
Miyata sighs. "Eiji Date," he says. "Successful boxer, happily married, good father ... not a bad choice, I think, for a young man in need of dating advice. From what he told me, he actually grew enough of a spine to contact Date himself, didn't want to get anyone else involved, after what happened with Takamura. They set up a double-date, kind of. Date and his wife, Ippo and Kumi. Went out to some restaurant or something, I don't really know."
"Ippo double-dated with the guy who tried to stop his heart in the ring," his lover interrupts. "That's kind of funny, if you think about it."
"Accurate, too," Miyata says. "Unfortunately. From what Ippo told me, they finished the meal and parted ways, only for Kumi to start crying because Date and his wife seemed so happy, which she attributed to Date's retirement. She told him to choose between his boxing career and his relationship with her, and damned if Ippo didn't stand there stuttering long enough for her to realize he was going to choose boxing."
His lover snorts. "Well of course he chose boxing," he says. "The Geezer'd have his head if he'd quit just for some girl."
Miyata lifts an eyebrow, glances at his lover, the man's face just visible in the glow from the street-lamp outside coming through the curtains. "He didn't have your head when you quit at my urging, Tatsuya," he says.
His lover shrugs. "Different, I didn't have it in me to go for the world belt." He kisses Miyata on the jaw, slides his arm around the younger man's body, holding him closer. "Besides, you were worth it."
"And you're a romantic sap," Miyata says. "Anyway. That's just what Ippo told me, I wasn't there. I was out doing roadwork. Which is how I found him, he was sitting by the river, all hunched in on himself, trying to act like he wasn't crying. Probably the most pathetic thing I've ever seen, he was so crushed. Really liked her, even back then."
"And you call me a sap."
"You are a sap. I'm just stating fact. Anyway."
"Indeed. Continue."
Miyata clears his throat. Shifts a little, one leg bent, his toes wiggling softly against the cotton cover of the futon.
"I went over to see what had him so upset, ended up holding him while he cried," he says. "You know how Ippo is, doesn't know the meaning of 'personal space.' Not that I really cared, but we were on the route Takamura used for his roadwork, and I knew that would just make things worse for Ippo, so I suggested we go somewhere, get Ippo a beer or something to help calm him down. Would've been okay with anywhere other than the river-side there, but he liked the idea of getting a drink, so we ended up in a bar."
"Don't tell me you got him drunk, Ichi. Do not tell me you got him drunk, you know as well as I do that Ippo can't hold his drink, gets drunk like a skinny woman after a beer or two."
Miyata squirms. "I didn't know that back then, actually," he says.
His lover's horror is nearly palpable in the darkness. "Oh god."
Miyata glares at the ceiling. "He made it through three beers before it became obvious that he wasn't fit to be in public anymore. He wasn't loud or rude or anything, just ... not very steady. And very wet, he kept crying on me. So I paid for our drinks and took him home, couldn't very well trust that he wouldn't get lost if I sent him home alone. Got him inside the front door and almost had his shoes off when we heard ... noises."
"Noises?"
"Yeah. Noises. Like someone moaning in pain."
"At Ippo's place."
Miyata nods. "Scared him pretty bad. His mom had just gotten out of hospital for exhaustion a year or so before, you remember when that happened. Couldn't walk on his own very well, though, so I went with him, got back to his mom's room and helped him open the door, figured I could call an ambulance for them if need be, you know."
"Uh-huh. Get the feeling you didn't need to."
"No. We didn't."
A moment. His lover moves, props himself up on his side, and stares down at him. "What?" he says. "Come on, finish the story."
Miyata glares at him. "It was ... Ippo's mom thought he'd be out later. Going out with Date and all, then he was supposed to go to the gym afterwards, I guess. And I was living on my own back then, so it wasn't like I knew where my dad was or anything, so-"
"What's your dad got to do with it?"
Miyata looks away. Glares at the far wall of the bedroom. "He was there," he says. "With Ippo's mom."
"Yeah? So? What, were they-oh. Oh." A bark of laughter. "Oh you've gotta be kidding."
Miyata shakes his head, glancing at his lover before closing his eyes. "No," he says. "Unfortunately. They were together, Ippo's mom ... well we got an eyeful of her, before we realized what was going on and closed the door. She was up ... you know. On top. Of my dad."
He shudders. Shoves his lover away when the man tries to kiss him.
"Not now, Tatsuya."
His lover laughs. "You're thirty years old and it still bugs you that you saw your best friend's mom riding your dad like a pony," he says. "That's sad, Ichiro."
"It-shut up."
"Aw, sorry." A kiss, pressed to the shell of his ear. "I can see how that would be awkward, yes."
"It was awful," Miyata says. "And poor Ippo, he was so drunk, he decided that everyone in the world but him was having sex with girls, started saying so over and over, very loudly. Didn't shut up 'til I had him back in his shoes and out the door, and then he only shut up because I told him that no girl would sleep with a guy who got jealous over his mother's ... sex life."
"With your dad. God, that's weird."
"Very weird," Miyata says, nodding.
"So that's the 'big secret' you've been keeping all these years?" his lover says. Hesitates. Grins. "It's not, is it. There's more."
Miyata closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. Opens his eyes and fixes his lover with a steady gaze. "Do you remember, when we first ... well, after the first time. You wanted to know when I knew I was ... interested. In men. Remember?"
"'Course," his lover says. "You said it didn't matter." A chuckle. "And then you fucked me within an inch of consciousness, just to keep me from pestering you about it. My ass hurt for a week after that."
"It didn't, you were fine the next day," Miyata says, coloring up.
His lover laughs. "Not after the way you fucked me, the next day," he says. "Nevermind. I'm guessing Ippo had something to do with the answer to my question, then? No wonder you didn't want to tell me, I wouldn't've wanted to tell me, either. You sleep with him or something? Prove to him he wasn't incapable of getting laid?"
Miyata stiffens. "Go sleep on the balcony," he says, coldly. "Get out of my bed, go sleep on the balcony."
He struggles when his lover kisses him, puts up enough of a fight that the kisses dissolve into laughter, breathed warm against his mouth and chin and throat. Stops struggling after his lover's apologized but doesn't stop sulking, his lips sealed in a thin line when the older man tries once again to kiss him.
"Fine, you didn't sleep with him then," his lover says. "What, then? Had to be something, if you-"
"I took him home to my apartment, we fell asleep because we'd been drinking already, and because it was cold, Ippo ended up cuddling up next to me-you know how he is, doesn't care at all about personal space-and so when my dad came snooping around to make sure I was okay, that's what he walked in on. Me and Ippo. In bed together. Cuddling."
"Lord. That why you're so uptight about locking the door the minute you get home?"
Miyata shakes his head. "No, that's habit from Takamura crashing in when I was younger. He wanted to take me out drinking when I was still in middle school, big oaf. Worried my dad, so we started locking up all the time."
"How'd your dad get in, then?"
"Had a spare key to my place."
"Oh. That sucks."
"Mmm."
"So ... how'd that make you gay?"
Miyata rolls his eyes. "It didn't make me gay, Tatsu," he says. "My dad thought it did. He went back and told Ippo's mom that walking in on them ... doing stuff had turned us both gay. That was a fun mess to unravel, especially when I came out about us, you and me. Ippo's mom was just waiting for Ippo to do the same, after my dad told her that I really am gay. She was so surprised when Ippo and Kumi announced their engagement. Don't think she ever saw that coming, all because we fell asleep together once."
"Uh-huh. You're dodging my question."
A sigh. "I'd never ... that was the first time I'd ever felt another man in my bed. Another anyone in my bed. It was weird because it was Ippo, but it cleared up some things for me. I knew I wanted to feel that again, and then when you ... well. I didn't resist when you happened."
"Happened? You make me sound like a natural disaster."
"Mmm-hmm. Anyway. That's the secret, the big story."
"Not much of a secret. We all knew years ago that your dad and Ippo's mom were together. He's the one who got her to go to Ippo's matches, held her hand all through it. They didn't try to keep it very secret."
"No, but the ... poor Ippo, he was so embarrassed that he'd seen his mom having sex. That, and the whole getting drunk thing, ending up sleeping with a gay man. Sleeping in bed with a gay man, we didn't-"
"I knew what you meant."
"Yeah. Well. That's the secret part. Don't know why Ippo decided I could tell, tonight, unless he's told Kumi and felt bad because he didn't keep his word and I did, didn't tell you."
"Which you shouldn't've. Meanie."
"Mmm. I promised."
"Yeah, yeah. It's not that bad of a story, anyway. Not as bad as our story, you ever tell Ippo-po about us?"
"No, and if you ever do, if you ever tell him or anyone else, I'll kill you and dump your body in the ocean."
His lover laughs. Rolls atop him and kisses him, one hand gently cupping Miyata's cheek, the pad of his thumb rasping over the rough hint of stubble growing along Miyata's jawline.
"You'd miss me, if you did," he says.
"I wouldn't bank on that saving you, Tatsuya," Miyata says. "Besides, that's our story, not theirs. We'd never hear the end of it from That Oaf if he found out, and I don't want him doing that to something like that. Not to us."
His lover smiles, bending to kiss him once again, a gentle press of lips against lips. "And you call me the romantic," he says.
"Mmm," Miyata sighs. "I've been around you long enough, it was bound to rub off on me eventually."
"I could rub something else off on you, if you'd like," his lover says with a suggestive rock of his hips. Grins and rocks his hips again when Miyata groans, hands going down to grip the older man's hips, tight enough to leave marks. "Is that a yes, Birthday Boy?"
Miyata nods. "Yeah," he says. "As long as you don't mention Ippo while we do it."
"Promise," his lover says, pulling at the waistband of Miyata's pants. "Won't think of anything but you. Never do anyway."
"Sap," Miyata says.
His lover kisses him. "Love you, too," he says.
But he keeps his word, doesn't tell anyone the details surrounding the beginning of his relationship with Ichiro Miyata. Comes to treasure the secret, as the years go by, grinning rather broadly when, during his lover's fortieth birthday party, Ippo asks to hear the story and is dismissed with it's not interesting, nothing to tell, really.
Some secrets, after all, are well-worth keeping.
/total bullshit
I hope someone likes this. I like it. It makes me lol. If I could write a comic strip, or rather draw one, I'd do this in that style instead of how it is here but I CAN'T DRAW so this is what you get. The end.
Oh, and it's all sailormac's fault. Double-date and all that. Go blame her, lemme alone. >:[
Telling Tales
by mistr3ss Quickly
Miyata carries the secret with him until the night of his thirtieth birthday, and on that night, he tells only because Ippo laughs and tells him that it's all right, that he doesn't mind others knowing. Hugs him as he says it, pats him on the back in a gentler version of Takamura's usual "manly" embrace. Thanks him for keeping it a secret as long as he has.
Miyata hugs his friend back, that night. Doesn't say that he would've taken the secret to his grave, even though it's the truth. He would have. Without regret.
But with his friend's permission to tell he can no longer honestly refuse to share the secret with his lover and his lover knows that, the glee of knowledge written clear on the man's face after the last of the guests leave their flat, the last calls of happy birthday replaced with the quiet hum of the overhead light, the shh of Miyata's feet as he moves about, clearing away empty plates and cups and wrapping paper from the sitting room floor. He frowns when his lover mentions it the first time. Sighs a bit more loudly than is perhaps necessary when the man nudges him and mentions it again, kissing him before going in to take his bath. Relents finally when he's lying in bed, his lover's arm draped across his belly, the request whispered warm against his ear.
"It's not even a very good story," he says.
"I'll judge that. Come on, tell me."
So Ichiro Miyata, thirty years old, draws a deep breath and begins his story. Tells the secret he's carried nearly ten years, his voice soft in the dark of the bedroom, his lover lying warm beside him, awake and practically trembling with excitement.
"All right," he says. "You know Ippo and Kumi tried to date several times, back when he was first starting to make a name for himself."
"Of course. Made for good gossip at the gym."
Miyata rolls his eyes. "I can only imagine. Why Ippo went to Takamura for advice when he first discovered who Kumi was related to is beyond me, but he did, at least, learn his lesson after that. Went to someone far more mature, the next time he had questions. Which didn't do him any good, but it at least kept you monkeys from picking on him."
"Hey! I'm not a monkey, that's Aoki, and what do you mean he went to someone more mature, he never came to me for advice."
"No, I wouldn't say he went to someone mature if he'd gone to you, you're no better than Takamura, and you're a romantic sap on top of that."
His lover growls and smacks him on the stomach, hard enough that Miyata flinches, gets kissed for it. Laughs and rubs the spot he smacked, kisses Miyata again, a longer kiss that ends only when his curiosity catches back up to him.
"So. Who'd he go to, then?"
Miyata sighs. "Eiji Date," he says. "Successful boxer, happily married, good father ... not a bad choice, I think, for a young man in need of dating advice. From what he told me, he actually grew enough of a spine to contact Date himself, didn't want to get anyone else involved, after what happened with Takamura. They set up a double-date, kind of. Date and his wife, Ippo and Kumi. Went out to some restaurant or something, I don't really know."
"Ippo double-dated with the guy who tried to stop his heart in the ring," his lover interrupts. "That's kind of funny, if you think about it."
"Accurate, too," Miyata says. "Unfortunately. From what Ippo told me, they finished the meal and parted ways, only for Kumi to start crying because Date and his wife seemed so happy, which she attributed to Date's retirement. She told him to choose between his boxing career and his relationship with her, and damned if Ippo didn't stand there stuttering long enough for her to realize he was going to choose boxing."
His lover snorts. "Well of course he chose boxing," he says. "The Geezer'd have his head if he'd quit just for some girl."
Miyata lifts an eyebrow, glances at his lover, the man's face just visible in the glow from the street-lamp outside coming through the curtains. "He didn't have your head when you quit at my urging, Tatsuya," he says.
His lover shrugs. "Different, I didn't have it in me to go for the world belt." He kisses Miyata on the jaw, slides his arm around the younger man's body, holding him closer. "Besides, you were worth it."
"And you're a romantic sap," Miyata says. "Anyway. That's just what Ippo told me, I wasn't there. I was out doing roadwork. Which is how I found him, he was sitting by the river, all hunched in on himself, trying to act like he wasn't crying. Probably the most pathetic thing I've ever seen, he was so crushed. Really liked her, even back then."
"And you call me a sap."
"You are a sap. I'm just stating fact. Anyway."
"Indeed. Continue."
Miyata clears his throat. Shifts a little, one leg bent, his toes wiggling softly against the cotton cover of the futon.
"I went over to see what had him so upset, ended up holding him while he cried," he says. "You know how Ippo is, doesn't know the meaning of 'personal space.' Not that I really cared, but we were on the route Takamura used for his roadwork, and I knew that would just make things worse for Ippo, so I suggested we go somewhere, get Ippo a beer or something to help calm him down. Would've been okay with anywhere other than the river-side there, but he liked the idea of getting a drink, so we ended up in a bar."
"Don't tell me you got him drunk, Ichi. Do not tell me you got him drunk, you know as well as I do that Ippo can't hold his drink, gets drunk like a skinny woman after a beer or two."
Miyata squirms. "I didn't know that back then, actually," he says.
His lover's horror is nearly palpable in the darkness. "Oh god."
Miyata glares at the ceiling. "He made it through three beers before it became obvious that he wasn't fit to be in public anymore. He wasn't loud or rude or anything, just ... not very steady. And very wet, he kept crying on me. So I paid for our drinks and took him home, couldn't very well trust that he wouldn't get lost if I sent him home alone. Got him inside the front door and almost had his shoes off when we heard ... noises."
"Noises?"
"Yeah. Noises. Like someone moaning in pain."
"At Ippo's place."
Miyata nods. "Scared him pretty bad. His mom had just gotten out of hospital for exhaustion a year or so before, you remember when that happened. Couldn't walk on his own very well, though, so I went with him, got back to his mom's room and helped him open the door, figured I could call an ambulance for them if need be, you know."
"Uh-huh. Get the feeling you didn't need to."
"No. We didn't."
A moment. His lover moves, props himself up on his side, and stares down at him. "What?" he says. "Come on, finish the story."
Miyata glares at him. "It was ... Ippo's mom thought he'd be out later. Going out with Date and all, then he was supposed to go to the gym afterwards, I guess. And I was living on my own back then, so it wasn't like I knew where my dad was or anything, so-"
"What's your dad got to do with it?"
Miyata looks away. Glares at the far wall of the bedroom. "He was there," he says. "With Ippo's mom."
"Yeah? So? What, were they-oh. Oh." A bark of laughter. "Oh you've gotta be kidding."
Miyata shakes his head, glancing at his lover before closing his eyes. "No," he says. "Unfortunately. They were together, Ippo's mom ... well we got an eyeful of her, before we realized what was going on and closed the door. She was up ... you know. On top. Of my dad."
He shudders. Shoves his lover away when the man tries to kiss him.
"Not now, Tatsuya."
His lover laughs. "You're thirty years old and it still bugs you that you saw your best friend's mom riding your dad like a pony," he says. "That's sad, Ichiro."
"It-shut up."
"Aw, sorry." A kiss, pressed to the shell of his ear. "I can see how that would be awkward, yes."
"It was awful," Miyata says. "And poor Ippo, he was so drunk, he decided that everyone in the world but him was having sex with girls, started saying so over and over, very loudly. Didn't shut up 'til I had him back in his shoes and out the door, and then he only shut up because I told him that no girl would sleep with a guy who got jealous over his mother's ... sex life."
"With your dad. God, that's weird."
"Very weird," Miyata says, nodding.
"So that's the 'big secret' you've been keeping all these years?" his lover says. Hesitates. Grins. "It's not, is it. There's more."
Miyata closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. Opens his eyes and fixes his lover with a steady gaze. "Do you remember, when we first ... well, after the first time. You wanted to know when I knew I was ... interested. In men. Remember?"
"'Course," his lover says. "You said it didn't matter." A chuckle. "And then you fucked me within an inch of consciousness, just to keep me from pestering you about it. My ass hurt for a week after that."
"It didn't, you were fine the next day," Miyata says, coloring up.
His lover laughs. "Not after the way you fucked me, the next day," he says. "Nevermind. I'm guessing Ippo had something to do with the answer to my question, then? No wonder you didn't want to tell me, I wouldn't've wanted to tell me, either. You sleep with him or something? Prove to him he wasn't incapable of getting laid?"
Miyata stiffens. "Go sleep on the balcony," he says, coldly. "Get out of my bed, go sleep on the balcony."
He struggles when his lover kisses him, puts up enough of a fight that the kisses dissolve into laughter, breathed warm against his mouth and chin and throat. Stops struggling after his lover's apologized but doesn't stop sulking, his lips sealed in a thin line when the older man tries once again to kiss him.
"Fine, you didn't sleep with him then," his lover says. "What, then? Had to be something, if you-"
"I took him home to my apartment, we fell asleep because we'd been drinking already, and because it was cold, Ippo ended up cuddling up next to me-you know how he is, doesn't care at all about personal space-and so when my dad came snooping around to make sure I was okay, that's what he walked in on. Me and Ippo. In bed together. Cuddling."
"Lord. That why you're so uptight about locking the door the minute you get home?"
Miyata shakes his head. "No, that's habit from Takamura crashing in when I was younger. He wanted to take me out drinking when I was still in middle school, big oaf. Worried my dad, so we started locking up all the time."
"How'd your dad get in, then?"
"Had a spare key to my place."
"Oh. That sucks."
"Mmm."
"So ... how'd that make you gay?"
Miyata rolls his eyes. "It didn't make me gay, Tatsu," he says. "My dad thought it did. He went back and told Ippo's mom that walking in on them ... doing stuff had turned us both gay. That was a fun mess to unravel, especially when I came out about us, you and me. Ippo's mom was just waiting for Ippo to do the same, after my dad told her that I really am gay. She was so surprised when Ippo and Kumi announced their engagement. Don't think she ever saw that coming, all because we fell asleep together once."
"Uh-huh. You're dodging my question."
A sigh. "I'd never ... that was the first time I'd ever felt another man in my bed. Another anyone in my bed. It was weird because it was Ippo, but it cleared up some things for me. I knew I wanted to feel that again, and then when you ... well. I didn't resist when you happened."
"Happened? You make me sound like a natural disaster."
"Mmm-hmm. Anyway. That's the secret, the big story."
"Not much of a secret. We all knew years ago that your dad and Ippo's mom were together. He's the one who got her to go to Ippo's matches, held her hand all through it. They didn't try to keep it very secret."
"No, but the ... poor Ippo, he was so embarrassed that he'd seen his mom having sex. That, and the whole getting drunk thing, ending up sleeping with a gay man. Sleeping in bed with a gay man, we didn't-"
"I knew what you meant."
"Yeah. Well. That's the secret part. Don't know why Ippo decided I could tell, tonight, unless he's told Kumi and felt bad because he didn't keep his word and I did, didn't tell you."
"Which you shouldn't've. Meanie."
"Mmm. I promised."
"Yeah, yeah. It's not that bad of a story, anyway. Not as bad as our story, you ever tell Ippo-po about us?"
"No, and if you ever do, if you ever tell him or anyone else, I'll kill you and dump your body in the ocean."
His lover laughs. Rolls atop him and kisses him, one hand gently cupping Miyata's cheek, the pad of his thumb rasping over the rough hint of stubble growing along Miyata's jawline.
"You'd miss me, if you did," he says.
"I wouldn't bank on that saving you, Tatsuya," Miyata says. "Besides, that's our story, not theirs. We'd never hear the end of it from That Oaf if he found out, and I don't want him doing that to something like that. Not to us."
His lover smiles, bending to kiss him once again, a gentle press of lips against lips. "And you call me the romantic," he says.
"Mmm," Miyata sighs. "I've been around you long enough, it was bound to rub off on me eventually."
"I could rub something else off on you, if you'd like," his lover says with a suggestive rock of his hips. Grins and rocks his hips again when Miyata groans, hands going down to grip the older man's hips, tight enough to leave marks. "Is that a yes, Birthday Boy?"
Miyata nods. "Yeah," he says. "As long as you don't mention Ippo while we do it."
"Promise," his lover says, pulling at the waistband of Miyata's pants. "Won't think of anything but you. Never do anyway."
"Sap," Miyata says.
His lover kisses him. "Love you, too," he says.
But he keeps his word, doesn't tell anyone the details surrounding the beginning of his relationship with Ichiro Miyata. Comes to treasure the secret, as the years go by, grinning rather broadly when, during his lover's fortieth birthday party, Ippo asks to hear the story and is dismissed with it's not interesting, nothing to tell, really.
Some secrets, after all, are well-worth keeping.