Gift fic for zhelchimarquez
Gift fic for: zhelchimarquez
From: newsficcon
Title: More of You
Rating: PG
Pairing: Yamashita Tomohisa x Kato Shigeaki
Warnings: None
Summary: Yamapi has some serious problems with his age.
Author's Notes: I really hope you’ll like this, zhelchimarquez! :)
"Jin… Let’s go home, okay?”
“Not yet,” Jin drawls, clinging onto Yamapi’s coat, barely able to stand on his feet anymore. “I’m hungry!”
Yamapi rolls his eyes. “Jin, we just went to three bars. I think it’s time to go home.” He hoists his best friend back onto his feet, so he won’t drag Yamapi with him to the ground.
“Pleaaase?” Jin whines in Yamapi’s ear. “I’m really, really hungry and I feel it’s a matter of life and death if I don’t get food straight away.”
What best friends won’t do for each other, Yamapi thinks with a sigh, as he finally gives in to Jin’s whining. “Okay, I guess we could grab some ramen before we go. But no more beer for you, understood?” He gives Jin a strict look.
Jin nods obediently. “I get it, Pi. No more beer.”
“Good.”
While they walk, Yamapi looks out for a ramen stand and sighs in relief when he finally sees one. He practically has to drag Jin inside, because the guy is too drunk to stand on his own damn feet. He sets Jin down on one of the stools at the bar and sits down himself.
“Two ramen,” he orders, before chunking down the water the shop owner had just set down for him. He rubs his eyes and undoes his tie, then stuffs it into his coat pocket.
It had been a tough week. Some things went terribly wrong at his and Jin’s work yesterday, causing them to work overtime the entire night, not to mention Jin got dumped by his girlfriend a few days before. Yamapi thinks Jin has a very good reason to get totally smashed, but still: a drunk Jin is an annoying Jin.
“Here you go, guys,” the shop owner says with a grin, before putting down two huge bowls of ramen in front of them. Yamapi pays for it, before nudging Jin, who’s resting his head on the bar.
“Jin, your food is here.”
“Oh, food!” Jin says happily, like he only just noticed the bowl of noodles. He attacks the ramen immediately, eating as fast as possible.
“Wow, you were hungry,” Yamapi says, more to himself than to Jin. He starts eating his own ramen, when he feels something on his shoulder.
“Um, excuse me…”
Yamapi looks around with his mouth still stuffed with ramen. In front of him there’s a guy, looking shy and uncomfortable. He has black hair, a gentle face, but doesn’t look older than a high school kid. Yamapi wonders what business a high school kid has in Shibuya at three in the morning. He also wonders why he’s talking to him.
“Hmm?” he hums as an answer.
The boy holds something black in his hand. “Your tie. You dropped it.”
“Oh!” Yamapi laughs, feeling very stupid. “Thanks so much. It must’ve fallen out of my pocket.” He takes the tie from the boy and puts it safely in his trouser pocket this time.
“And who is this!” Jin calls out happily to the boy, pointing at him with his chopsticks.
The boy backs away a little, but can’t, because Jin has swung an arm over the boy’s shoulder and pulls him closer. “Want some ramen?”
“Um…” the boy says, clearly feeling uncomfortable and Yamapi feels that he needs to rescue him, before Jin does something ungodly to him.
He just wants to pull Jin away, when- “Oh.”
“My clothes…” the boy murmurs, looking down as his wet clothes, drenched in miso soup. Strings of ramen slide down his chest.
“Jin!” Yamapi scolds his best friend, who had promptly fallen asleep and knocked his bowl of ramen of the counter, right into the boy.
“God, I’m so sorry!” Yamapi jumps from his stool, before fishing his handkerchief out of his other pocket and making an attempt to clean up the boy’s clothes. “He’s such an idiot. I told him not to drink too much, but now look at him …” he starts rambling. “I can pay for dry cleaning, of course!”
The boy laughs nervously. “Oh, you really don’t have-”
“Yes, I do!” Yamapi interrupts him. “Or rather, Jin does.” He wipes the ramen from the boy’s shoulders. “You’re completely wet, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” the boy answers with a nod.
Yamapi slides a hand through his hair. “I’m really sorry-”
Thud.
They both turn around to see Jin has fallen of his stool and is now sleeping on the ground. Yamapi raises an eyebrow. “I think he fell asleep.”
“He definitely fell asleep,” the shop owner agrees with a nod.
“How the hell am I ever going to get him home?” Yamapi pouts.
“I-I could help?” the boy offers shyly, making Yamapi look up to him. “I mean - he looks…heavy.”
“Would you really? That’d be so awesome. He actually is pretty heavy. I keep telling him to lose some weight, but-” Yamapi stops talking when he sees the boy staring at him. “Oh, I’m being uninteresting again. Well, if you could help me get him to his feet…”
Together they hoist Jin back onto his feet and drag him out of the restaurant.
“You want to get a cab?” the boy asks, swaying a little under Jin’s weight.
Yamapi shakes his head. “Our apartment is just around the corner.”
“Our?” the boy questions.
“Oh,” Yamapi lets out a nervous laugh. “We’re not like that, if that’s what you think. We’re just living together for the time being.”
The boy shrugs. “That’s okay. I live together with my best friend too.” He grabs Jin’s arm a little tighter to prevent him from falling on the ground.
“Hmm,” Yamapi smiles, then remembers something. “Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet! Yamashita Tomohisa, nice to meet you. And this idiot here,” he gestures to Jin with his head, “is Akanishi Jin. We’re colleagues, roommates and best friends, but nothing more.”
The boy laughs. “Nice to meet you, Yamashita-san. I’m Kato Shigeaki.” He wants to give Yamapi a hand, but both his hands are preoccupied by holding up Jin.
“We’re almost there,” Yamapi tells Shige. “Just a little further…” They’ve left the crowded street a long time ago; they’re now walking in a more quiet neighborhood. After a few more minutes, Yamapi stops at a high building. “Ah, here we are.”
He opens the door with his key and drags Jin to the elevator. Shige stands there a little awkwardly, looking like he doesn’t know if he should come too.
“Hey, now I think about it, want to wash those clothes at my place?” Yamapi says, then falls still, realizing how weird that question just sounded. “But only if you want of course…”
“Y-yes, that’d be nice,” Shige says quickly. “Thank you.” The doors of the elevator slide open and they step into the small cabin.
A few awkward moments later, they get out at the ninth floor and Yamapi tries to open the door with one hand. Finally, the door swings open and they stumble into the genkan.
“Oof, so heavy,” Yamapi pants, yanking Jin towards the living room, before dumping the man onto the couch. Jin hasn’t noticed a thing; he turns onto his side and sleeps on like nothing happened.
Shige is still standing in the genkan, watching how Yamapi stumbles back and changes his shoes for house slippers.
“Well, come on in, Kato-kun,” Yamapi smiles at him. “Let me make you some coffee.”
-
Thirty minutes later, Yamapi and Shige sit at the dinner table (because Jin is still hogging the couch), having a cup of coffee. Shige’s dressed in some of Yamapi’s clothes, since his clothes are currently in the washing machine.
“It’ll take another half hour before they’re clean and then they still have to dry,” Yamapi tells Shige, while sipping his coffee. “You don’t have anywhere you need to be, right?”
Shige shakes his head. “It’s four in the morning, I have nowhere to be.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Yamapi laughs, then remembers something. “Aren’t you a little young to be wandering around in Shibuya at night?
“Not really,” Shige replies, “I’m twenty.”
“Really?” Yamapi asks, completely shocked. “I-I thought you were eighteen or something…”
Shige chuckles. “Yeah, I hear that a lot. But really, I’m twenty.”
“So you’re a student, then?” Yamapi can’t help being curious.
“Yep,” Shige answers with a nod. “I’m in my second year.”
“Ah, I remember when I was still a student,” Yamapi says dreamily. “Sleeping all day, going out all night, not having a care in the world…” Then he sees Shige watching him with an amused look on his face and adds quickly, “Not that it’s been that long of course. Just a few years…”
Shige looks curious now and Yamapi sighs, “Okay, maybe it’s been six years already. I feel so old all of the sudden.”
“Don’t feel old, Yamashita-san,” Shige says gently. “You’re just… twenty-six?”
“Twenty-eight,” Yamapi moans. “Believe me, once you’re done with college, the years just fly by.”
Shige just gives him a smile and Yamapi feels himself grinning back. Shige is kind of nice. Okay, not just nice. He is really nice. And kind of handsome too… But he does look young. Maybe Shige lied about his age? Yamapi used to do that all the time too - no wait, he still does that. He’s just wondering if Shige likes guys, when a hand is waving in front of him.
“Um, Yamashita-san? Your coffee is getting cold.”
“What? Oh yeah,” Yamapi says quickly, picking up his coffee and downing it one go, then shivers. “Ugh, already cold.”
“Cold coffee is the worst thing ever,” Shige agrees with a nod, but his words transform into a yawn and he quickly covers his mouth.
“You must be tired huh,” Yamapi says, while picking up the mugs to bring them to the kitchen. “I’d offer you my couch, but since Jin already crashed there…”
“Oh, that’s fine,” Shige says a little drowsily. “Just a few more,” Another yawn, “hours.”
Yamapi shakes his head. “It wouldn’t be right if you didn’t get any sleep tonight. After all, it’s our fault you’re here now. You know what, you can take Jin’s bed, he won’t mind.”
They both glance at Jin, sprawled out on the couch and completely dead to the world.
“A-are you sure?” Shige doesn’t seem to be convinced.
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Yamapi says with a grin. “Besides, he probably doesn’t wake until three in the afternoon. He won’t notice at all.”
“Oh um, well…” Shige does, but Yamapi is already dragging him to the bedroom.
“Really, we don’t mind,” he tells him with soft eyes - the ones that make Jin always do chores he doesn’t like doing - and it has the same effect on Shige, because the college student is finally giving in.
“Um, yeah, okay,” Shige agrees.
“Good,” Yamapi says satisfied. “I hope Jin changed his bed sheets lately.” He walks to Jin’s closet to get him some pajamas and gives them to Shige.
“Well, then. Goodnight, Kato-kun,” he says to the boy. He can just hear him say, “Goodnight, Yamashita-san,” before closing the door.
Outside Jin’s room, Yamapi leans against the wall and closes his eyes. Well, fuck him. He’s just fallen in love with a college kid.
-
“Yamapi!”
Yamapi wakes up next morning by the yelling of his lovely roommate at eight in the morning.
The door barges open, showing a very angry Jin.
“Nngh?” Yamapi grumbles sleepily, barely having his eyes open yet.
“Why is there a strange guy sleeping in my bed?” Jin demands, walking up to Yamapi and looking down at him.
“Well…” Yamapi starts out slowly. “That’s because you wanted ramen.”
“…What?”
Ten minutes later, he and Jin are sitting on the couch, accompanied with a cup of steaming hot coffee.
“Yeah, okay, I guess it’s only fair you offered him a sleeping place,” Jin agrees with a pout, as he rubs his forehead with his fingers. “I just don’t understand why it had to be my bed.”
“Because you were already hogging the couch?” Yamapi groans. His head hurts from the lack of sleep and since this is his only day off this week, he’d like to get back to bed, thank you very much.
Jin just pouts some more. “My head hurts,” he then whines, still rubbing his forehead.
“Don’t care. I’m going back to bed.” Yamapi gets up to put his empty coffee mug onto the kitchen counter and is about to walk back to his bedroom, when he sees Shige appearing from Jin’s.
“Oh good morning,” Yamapi smiles polity, while his stomach does a double back flip. “We didn’t wake you up, did we?”
Shige shakes his head sleepily. “Just a little,” he yawns and no, he doesn’t look cute, damn it.
“Sorry,” Yamapi says, sliding a hand through his bed hair. “Can I offer you some coffee instead?”
“Okay,” Shige replies. He follows Yamapi back into the kitchen.
“I thought you were going back to sleep-” Jin yells at him from the couch, but then he notices Shige. “Oh, so you are the college kid,” he says, leaning on the arm rest of the couch and staring at Shige.
“This is Kato Shigeaki-kun,” Yamapi says. “And shouldn’t you be apologizing? You splashed him with ramen!”
“Oh right,” Jin says, like he only just realized it. “Sorry,” he then shrugs. “I was really drunk.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Shige murmurs, while taking the mug of steaming hot coffee from Yamapi.
Yamapi rolls with his eyes. “Jin, go take a shower already.”
Jin grumbles some more, but does listen to his roommate and takes off to his bedroom, while Shige sits down at the kitchen table.
“What time is it?” he asks Yamapi.
“Uh, almost half past eight,” Yamapi answers.
Shige’s eyes widen. “Really?! Oh shit, I have to hurry. My shift begins at nine.” He tries to down the coffee in one go, but burns his tongue in the process. “Ouch, that hurts.”
“Don’t worry,” Yamapi says quickly, taking the mug from the boy’s hands. “I can drive you if you want?”
“You sure?” Shige asks slowly. “I don’t want to bother you…”
“Oh not at all,” Yamapi smiles, but inwardly he curses himself. He doesn’t even know the boy for a day and he’s already offering to drive him around. It seems he really does have a crush. “You go dressed, I bet your clothes are dry now.”
“Thanks, Yamashita-san,” Shige smiles, before going to the bathroom.
Yamapi bangs his head against the fridge. “Great job, Yamashita,” he mutters to himself. “Only you could fall for a college student.”
-
“This is it.”
Yamapi pulls into a small street with a lot of book and clothing shops and stops the car, when Shige points at a tiny coffee shop on the corner.
“Here you go,” Yamapi says. “With five minutes to spare.”
Shige reaches for his bag near his feet. “Thanks you so much, you really saved me.”
“No problem!” Yamapi says, then cringes; he sounds way too cheerful. “Have a nice day.”
“You too, Yamashita-san.” Shige gives him a smile, before opening the door and getting out of the car.
“Yamapi,” Yamapi quickly says.
“What?”
“You can call me Yamapi… If people call me Yamashita-san, I always feel so old.” He is old.
“Oh, okay,” Shige smiles. “Then see you around, Yamapi.” He gives a little wave, before running off to the coffee shop.
Yamapi stares at Shige, until he disappears into the shop and the car behind him starts blaring his horn, making clear he should drive on. He jumps in his seat and quickly starts the engine. He can’t believe he’s actually fallen for Shige… It’s been such a long time since he last had these kind of feelings for someone. Too long. And so quick, too. He didn’t know he could still like someone that quickly. It’s almost as if he’s back in high school. But back then he still pretended to like girls.
He gives the shop a last look and starts driving away. Then he realizes something. He forgot to ask Shige’s phone number. Well, fuck.
-
The rest of the day, Yamapi can’t stop thinking about Shige. He thinks about him during work (earning him a scolding from his boss and colleagues), during lunch (worrying Toma, his long-time friend from college) and when he’s making dinner (letting burn his dinner and having to get take-out).
Okay, it’s not just that day. Make it a week. Shige just won’t leave Yamapi’s mind. His face, his smile, his voice. Yamapi keeps seeing him before him and it’s not really helping at all. He really wants to Shige again, talk to him again, but work is busy (thanks to his fuck-up from last week) and he hasn’t had time yet. Besides, what is he going to say? It’s not like Shige will actually like him back. The age difference is a little too big. Shige is almost nine years younger than him…
So for the entire week, he’s getting scolded, he pisses off his friends and he lets the dinner burn. That is, until Jin gets sick of it.
“Why don’t you just call him?” Jin says, when he’s stuffing his face with rice. They’ve abandoned the stove for the fourth time that week and moved over to the couch with take-out Thai food, since Jin doesn’t trust Yamapi near the kitchen anymore, after he almost accidentally set the entire place on fire.
“Huh what?” Yamapi says, snapping out of his thoughts (which were obviously with someone else, again).
“That kid, of course.”
“I’m not thinking about that kid,” Yamapi mutters, poking in his own box with his chopsticks.
“Yeah and you were totally not drooling over him that morning.”
Yamapi looks up. “Am I that obvious?”
“Fucking obvious,” Jin nods. “Besides, I’m your best friend. Of course I notice when my BFF likes someone.”
“Great,” Yamapi sighs. He sets down his box on the coffee table - his stomach won’t allow him to eat anymore.
“So. Why haven’t you called him yet?” Jin finishes his rice and starts on Yamapi’s left-over dinner.
“Because it’s like you said, he’s a kid,” Yamapi answers, grabbing his beer from the table and taking a long swig. “He’s only twenty. I’m like - ancient.”
Jin rolls his eyes. “If you are ancient, what am I, deceased?” When Yamapi doesn’t answer, he sighs exaggeratedly and gives Yamapi a look. “Pi, you’re not ancient. If you like him, go do something about it. Or at least give him a call.”
“Yeah, about that…” Yamapi tells him about this morning and him forgetting to ask Shige’s number.
Jin face palms. “Leave it to the pro to get someone’s number. Whatever - go visit his little coffee shop or something.”
“But-”
“No buts!” Jin interrupts Yamapi’s protests. “You’re going. Tomorrow. It may sound weird coming from me, but I’m kinda getting sick of take-out food. So get your shit together and cook me something good again.”
-
So that’s why the next day, after work, Yamapi sets off to the little coffee shop in Shibuya. He doesn’t even know if Shige’s working today (well, he actually doesn’t know anything about Shige, apart from his name, age and occupation), but he decides he has to try, anyway. Even though he feels a little nervous.
But when he opens the door and steps into the shop, he hears a cheerful, “Welcome!” from behind the bar. It’s Shige, dressed in a green apron with a smiling cookie on the front.
“Hi,” Yamapi smiles, walking to the bar. “One coffee, please.”
“Y-Yamashita-san!” Shige stutters, eyes widening when he realizes who his customer is. “Uh hi. Nice to see you again.”
“It’s Yamapi,” Yamapi says with a smile, because it’s so good to see Shige again. His heart is already hammering in his chest again. “And you too.”
“A coffee, you said? Coming right up.” Shige turns to the coffee maker behind him and starts filling a cup, while Yamapi searches for his wallet.
“Hmm, so you’re Yamashita-san,” a male voice says behind him. Yamapi starts and turns around quickly. The one who spoke must’ve been the young man with dyed hair sitting at a table near the bar, since he’s the only other customer. He looks friendly, with a big smile on his face.
“Um, yeah,” Yamapi nods. “How do you know my name?”
“Shige told me,” the boy says. “He told me all about you.”
“Shut up, Kei,” Shige mutters, suddenly flushing red.
The boy named Kei gives Yamapi a grin. “Hi. I’m Koyama, Shige’s best friend.” He takes a sip from his own latte.
Yamapi gives a little bow. “Nice to meet you. I’m Yamashita. You must be Kato-kun’s roommate, then?”
Koyama nods. “The one and only.”
Shige hands Yamapi his coffee. “There you go.”
Their hands briefly touch and Yamapi almost drops the coffee, but he can catch it just in time. “Oh, it’s hot,” he laughs nervously.
“Yeah,” Shige says. “So, um - what brings you here?”
“C-coffee,” Yamapi stutters, holding up the cup. But that’s not exactly true. Okay, it’s not true at all. Of course he came here just to see Shige, but he won’t tell Shige that. Not yet, at least.
“Hmm,” Koyama hums with a mysterious smile on his face. “Shige, isn’t it time for your break?”
“What?” Shige says. “Oh, yeah.” He takes off his apron and sits down at Koyama’s table.
Yamapi does the same, sipping from his coffee. He feels kind of out of place, in his black business suit with matching suitcase, while Koyama is dressed in a checkered shirt and chinos, while Shige sports a hoodie under his apron and jeans. He quickly loosens his tie and runs a hand through his hair.
“So, Yamashita-san,” Koyama says, setting down his cup.
“Yamapi,” Yamapi interrupts, not wanting to feel even older. “Please call me Yamapi.”
“Okay, Yamapi,” Koyama smiles. “Are you also coming to our party?”
Yamapi frowns. “Party?”
Shige grins shyly and shrugs. “It’s nothing. Just a summer barbeque me and Kei are organizing. Some guys from college are coming as well.”
“You should come too!” Koyama says excitedly. “Right, Shige?”
“Um,” Yamapi begins, hesitating, because he’s quite sure he’s going to be the only salary man there. He wonders if it would be such a good idea to go… But then Shige gives a little nod, agreeing with Koyama and he hears himself saying yes.
“Okay, I’ll come.”
Koyama beams at him. “Great! We’ll put you on our guest list.”
“Kei, we don’t even have a guest list,” Shige mutters, but Koyama isn’t even listening.
“We should exchange e-mail addresses and phone numbers,” Koyama says, pulling out his phone. “Shige, give me yours.”
As Yamapi pulls out his own phone, he steals a glance at Shige, just when the boy looks up at him. Yamapi can feel his heart speed up again and he can’t help give Shige a smile. To his surprise and happiness, Shige smiles back. Yamapi is suddenly very happy he agreed going to the party. Because now he has a good excuse to see Shige again.
-
“I told you!” Jin grins when Yamapi comes home with Shige’s number stored in his phone and a huge smile on his face. “You’re so lucky I’m your best friend. If I hadn’t kicked your ass, you now wouldn’t have a date.”
“It’s not a date, Jin,” Yamapi says, opening the fridge to get a beer, but he’s still grinning. “It’s just a barbeque.”
“Whatever,” Jin shrugs. “So, when is it?”
Yamapi plops down on the couch next to him with a beer in one hand and a conbini bento in the other. “In two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Jin calls out. “That’s way too long. I bet he won’t even remember you in two weeks.”
“Then what do you suggest I do?” Yamapi says. He opens his bento and starts stuffing his face.
“Call him, of course.”
“Already?”
Jin sighs. “Do you want to fuck him or not?”
Yamapi almost chokes on a bit of meat. “Jin! He’s like - twenty.”
“What? Twenty year olds also fuck. It’s not like he hasn’t yet.”
Yamapi knows that. But still. “Besides, I don’t even know if he’s gay.”
Jin snorts. “Oh believe me, he’s gay.”
“Besides, why do you care if I get laid?” Yamapi frowns.
“Because,” Jin starts explaining, “ever since my girlfriend has dumped me, I don’t have anything better to do.” When Yamapi doesn’t answer, he steals some egg from Yamapi’s bento and pops it into his mouth. “Calling him won’t hurt, you know.”
“Alright, alright,” Yamapi says a little groggily. He fishes his phone from his pocket and flips it open. But just when he wants to look up Shige’s number, the phone starts vibrating. He quickly opens the e-mail.
Yamapi, it says,
I still want to thank you for driving me to work the other day. Do you want to meet for a cup of coffee tomorrow?
Kato.
Yamapi makes an excited noise. Shige wants to have coffee with him. Tomorrow. “Jin, look at this,” he says, shoving his phone in Jin’s face.
Jin reads the message and starts grinning. “Pff, thanking you, yeah right. But I’m happy for you, dude. And this one totally counts as a date.”
“Yeah, it does,” Yamapi says. He quickly types back a reply, saying he’d love to meet up. Then he realizes something. “Oh my God.”
“What?”
“What am I supposed to wear?!”
-
To say Yamapi is nervous is an understatement. Because Yamapi is very nervous. Palm-sweating, hand-shaking, breath-taking nervous. He doesn’t even know why he is this nervous. He’s been on dates before. He’s kissed guys before. Hell, he even slept with a few. So why he’s practically dying right now is a great mystery.
Maybe it’s because he really likes Shige, he realizes.
Oh.
While he waits for Shige to show up, he straightens his pants. Jin picked out Yamapi’s coolest and youngest clothes for him. He’s wearing a plaid button-down and blue chinos and his hair is hopefully not boring looking. Jin told him he looks hot and also very young, but Yamapi doesn’t really believe him. He’s convinced Jin only said that because he’s obliged to - he’s his best friend.
Just when he runs another hand through his hair, he sees Shige emerging from the crowd. “Yamapi!” he calls out, running towards him with a big smile on his face.
“Kato-kun!” Yamapi grins, feeling how his heart speeds up again.
Shige stops in front of him. “Uh, I wouldn’t mind if you called me Shige.”
“Um, okay, S-Shige,” Yamapi stutters. He mentally slaps himself for acting so stupid, but it seems Shige doesn’t even notice, because he says,
“You look very different in casual clothes.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Yamapi asks, worried.
Shige laughs and shakes his head. “Not at all. You look cool.”
Oh. Well, that’s a relief. Shige thinks he’s cool. That’s cool. “Thanks,” he grins shyly. “You too.”
“Thanks. Let’s go?” Shige says, nodding at the busy street in front of them.
Yamapi agrees and follows the college student through the crowd. Soon they stop at a very small and cute place, kind of like the place Shige works at, only it isn’t a coffee shop, but a café. They go in and find a table at the back of the café.
“It’s nice here,” Yamapi says, because he doesn’t know what else to say. His heart is still hammering in his chest and he has to do his best not to stare at Shige all the time. He’s still a little nervous.
“Yeah, I come here often,” Shige says. “Usually to study.”
A waiter comes by to take their orders and as they wait for their coffee to arrive, Yamapi asks Shige what his major is.
“Law,” Shige grins shyly.
“Wow, isn’t that like - really difficult?” Yamapi says, impressed. He himself studied Economics at Meiji University and he had a lot of trouble getting his degree. But that might also be because of Jin, dragging him to every single party.
“A bit,” Shige answers. “But that’s what I like about it.”
As they sip their coffee, they talk about school and work. When Yamapi orders them another coffee and cake to go with it, they become much more casual with each other, losing the formal talk and joking around with each other. Yamapi feels at ease with Shige, like he’s known him much longer than a week. Like they’re really good friends. But Yamapi doesn’t just want to be friends. He wants to be so much more than just friends.
After an hour or three, they finally leave the café, having had way too much coffee.
“I have to get to work,” Shige confesses. “My shift almost starts.”
“Oh,” Yamapi says, cringing at the disappointment audible in his voice. He doesn’t want to leave Shige yet; he’s having way to much fun.
“But um - maybe we can walk there together?” Shige quickly says.
Yamapi can’t help but smile. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
They start walking towards the coffee shop. Yamapi wonders if he should kiss Shige at the end of their date (he really wants to kiss Shige), only there’s one little problem… He doesn’t even know if this is a date. Neither of them said something about it. He doesn’t want to look like a giant creeper, suddenly kissing Shige out of the middle of nowhere. Maybe Shige really is just thanking him for the other day. After all, he did pay for the coffee.
Besides, isn’t Shige way too young for him? He’s only twenty. Okay yes, it is legal, but still. Yamapi feels kind of really old next to Shige, even in his cool clothes.
“What are you thinking of?” Shige’s voice suddenly gets him out of his thoughts.
“What?” Yamapi says. “Oh nothing.”
Then Shige stops walking and Yamapi realizes they’re standing in front of the coffee shop. Shige smiles. “I had a nice time today. We should do it again sometime soon.”
Yamapi nods. “Yeah, absolutely.” Really soon.
“Well then…” Shige says and it looks like he’s hesitating, stretching time, maybe even leaning forwards, but the next moment he’s reaching for the door and Yamapi quickly leans back again. “See you later.”
“Bye Shige.” Yamapi gives him a little wave and watches him getting inside. Then he turns around to walk back to the train station, wondering if he just missed his big chance.
-
“Tell me!” Jin shrieks in his ear a few hours later. “Where, when, what position?”
“What are you talking about?” Yamapi says, holding his phone from his ear, in case Jin shrieks again.
“Come on, like you didn’t fuck him,” Jin says and Yamapi can almost see him wiggling his eyebrows. “So, did you do him in the bathrooms?”
“I didn’t do him at all, Jin.” Yamapi rolls his eyes. “We just had coffee and talked about…stuff.”
“Oh,” Jin says, almost sounding disappointed. “Wait, you’re not going to tell me that-”
“I didn’t kiss him.”
Jin huffs. “Have I taught you nothing at all, Yamashita?”
“I wanted to!” Yamapi protests. “But the moment was over before it was even there. And I’m still not sure if he likes me…”
“Did he say anything about a next time?”
“Well, yes…”
“He likes you.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. Oh, I gotta go, my train’s here. What’s for dinner?”
“Curry.”
“Awesome. At least you didn’t lose your mind completely.”
A beep, beep, beep lets Yamapi know Jin has hung up and he stuffs his phone back into his pocket. Frowning, he returns to the kitchen to check on the curry. He wonders if Jin is right, if Shige does like him back. He hopes so. He also hopes he didn’t ruin it with Shige. Maybe he expected him to kiss him this afternoon… He sighs. Why is this dating shit so hard?
-
Unfortunately, it seems that there’s no dating shit going on at all. Because even though he and Shige meet up frequently over the next days, it still feels rather friendship-y to him. He isn’t really convinced Shige likes him. And if he does, he definitely doesn’t show it, because there hasn’t been another Big Moment.
And there’s the age issue. Yamapi wonders if he’s making a too big of a deal out it. Jin seems to think so, at least. But one time, when Shige had invited Yamapi over to his room for dinner, Yamapi really noticed how huge their age difference is. Shige still lives in a small two-room apartment, lives off instant noodles and has to study every night. Oh and of course there’s that friend of his, Tegoshi, who had asked if ‘Yamapi was Shige’s uncle’.
Time’s going fast and before he knows it, it’s the night of the barbeque. Yamapi really hopes he won’t seem out of place with all those college students. He tries his best to look as young and hip as he possibly can, with a plain white t-shirt and some faded jeans.
“Pi, you have to promise me one thing,” Jin says, when Yamapi is about to leave.
“What? I’m not getting you some college girl’s phone number if that’s what you’re hoping for,” Yamapi replies. He’s not even sure there will even be girls at all.
“Of course not!” Jin tries to sound offended. “That would’ve been nice, though,” he adds in a mutter. “Anyway, promise you’ll tell him.”
Yamapi doesn’t reply, but chews on his lip instead. He wants to tell Shige, but maybe it’s too soon. He doesn’t want to rush into things, they’ve only known each other for about two weeks now.
“Stop thinking!” Jin yells, getting him out of his thoughts. “You think too much. If you like him, tell him. Get it?”
“Yes, yes,” Yamapi says quickly. “I got it.” Almost.
“Good. Now go and don’t come back till you’ve gotten laid.” Jin practically pushes him out of the door and closes it, before Yamapi can protest.
As Yamapi leaves the building, he thinks maybe Jin is right. Maybe he is thinking too much. Then he finally decides. He’s going to tell him. Tonight. And nothing is going to stop him.
-
Well, except for a few little things.
As he arrives at Shige’s building and rings the door bell, a cheerful guy opens the door. “Hi!” the guy says happily. “You must be Yamashita-san, right? Come in.”
Yamapi follows the guy through the hallway to the backyard. “It’s Yamapi,” he says quickly.
“Okay. I’m Massu,” Massu grins, his eyes scrunching up.
“Yamapi!” Koyama bounces to him the moment Yamapi enters the backyard. “We weren’t sure if you’d still come.”
“I promised I would, didn’t I?” Yamapi says, quickly scanning the yard for Shige and spotting him near the barbeque, which he’s trying to get working. Shige notices him and gives a little wave.
“Yes, but since-” Koyama suddenly shuts up and turns around. “Want a beer?”
“Sure,” Yamapi nods. He has a feeling he’s really going to need it. Well, he’s probably going to need something stronger, but starting with a beer sounds good. He takes the cold bottle from Koyama and takes a sip.
“Come, I’ll introduce you to everyone,” Koyama says, gesturing to the other guys sitting at a picnic table. “You’ve met Massu… That’s Ryo-chan. Don’t worry, he looks scary, but he’s a softie on the inside. Same goes for Koki. That’s Kame-chan and I believe you already know Tegoshi?” He points at the guy standing next to Shige. He’s standing a little too close to Shige to Yamapi’s taste.
“Um yes,” Yamapi says uncomfortably. Tegoshi was the guy who thought he was Shige’s uncle.
“Guys, this is Yamapi. He’s Shige’s…friend. Be nice to him, okay?” Koyama pats Yamapi on the shoulder, before going back inside the building, probably to get food.
“Nice to meet you, Yamapi!” The guy named Koki says. “Come join us.”
“That’s an unusual name,” Kame notices, as Yamapi sits down next to Massu.
“It’s just a nickname,” Yamapi explains. “Everyone calls me Yamapi.” He can’t shake the feeling that he’s extremely old next to all these guys, especially Tegoshi, who looks like he’s eighteen.
Then Koyama appears again with plates full of burgers. “Meat’s here!” he sing-songs, skipping to the barbeque. “Come get some if you want.” As he takes over Shige’s place and starts grilling the burgers, Shige walks over to the table.
“Hi,” he says a little shyly to Yamapi. “I see you’ve already met everyone?”
Yamapi nods, smiling. “Yeah. You’ve got a lot of friends.”
Shige shrugs. “Not really, they’re mostly Koyama’s friends.” He sits down next to Yamapi.
“They’re all very nice,” Yamapi says politely. And young.
“Yeah,” Shige smiles.
“We are,” Koki grins, wrapping his arm around Shige’s neck, almost choking him. “So, Yamapi. What do you do for a living?”
As Koki joins them in their conversation, Yamapi explains he works at an idol agency as an accountant. Koki seems really impressed, but Yamapi doesn’t really feel impressive. All these guys are still in college, doing their own thing, while he has to get up at seven every morning, put on his boring, grey suit and take off to work until seven at night. It’s a pretty boring life, actually. He can think of a few (one in particular) things to make his life a little less boring, but he’s not sure if that’s even possible.
After a while Kame and Ryo also join and the subject slowly changes to classes and college and partying and Yamapi feels a little left out. He excuses himself to get some more food.
“Here you go,” Koyama smiles broadly, practically throwing a hamburger onto Yamapi’s plate. Koyama kind of reminds Yamapi of his own mother, in his pink shirt and frilly apron. “Like it?”
“Yeah, the food’s great,” Yamapi nods, pouring some sauce on his burger.
“I meant the party,” Koyama says. “I know we’re not your usual crowd, but Shige was really excited when you agreed on coming.”
“Really?” Yamapi says, surprised.
Koyama nods. “Really.”
Then Kame comes up to them. “My turn,” he says with a shrug, taking the spatula from Koyama.
Yamapi can’t help but smile, when he returns to the other guys. So Shige wanted him to come over… Maybe he does like him, after all. But when he sees Tegoshi sitting in Shige’s lap, he stops dead-track in his steps. What was Tegoshi doing there? And why did he have his hand in Shige’s hair?
“Oh there he is,” Tegoshi says. “Yamapi, we were just asking ourselves - how old are you exactly?”
Yamapi can feel himself flush red in record time. “Um,” he says, taken aback. How old he is? Is this some sort of a joke?
“I-I really gotta go,” he stutters. He sets down his plate and bottle. “Thanks for the food,” he says with a bow, before turning around.
“Yamapi!” he can hear Shige call after him, but he pretends he doesn’t hear it. He opens the front door and leaves the building. It was a stupid idea to come here, anyway.
Walking in a quick pace, he stares at his feet. He doesn’t understand why Shige wanted him to come, if he obviously already has something on with that Tegoshi. Well, at least they’re the same age… Whatever, it’s not like he cares.
But as he slows down, he realizes he does care. Of course he cares. It’s Shige he cares about.
“Yamapi!” he then hears behind him. Shige. He almost turns around, but then remembers why he even walked out in the first place and picks up his pace again.
“Yamapi, stop!” Shige calls again, running after him. Yamapi almost starts running as well, but then stops when he feels a hand closing around his wrist, making him turn around. He looks straight into Shige’s red and sweaty face.
“I’m sorry,” Shige immediately says. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to - I mean, Tegoshi sometimes does that. He likes to sit on other people’s laps. It’s usually Kame’s lap though. And about that question…. He can be-”
“A real prick?” Yamapi finishes his question before he can stop himself.
Shige lets out a short laugh. “Yes. Yeah, he can be. I’m sorry. Please don’t leave.”
Yamapi shrugs, shuffling with his feet. “I’m not sure if I should. I’m a bit too old, don’t you think?”
To his surprise, Shige shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“You don’t?” Yamapi says, frowning.
“Of course not,” Shige says, but then falls silent, trying to find the right words. “Um… I - I mean, um…”
Yamapi stands there, waiting for Shige to finish his sentence.
“Oh whatever,” Shige says, before throwing himself on Yamapi and pressing their lips together.
For a moment, Yamapi’s brain doesn’t process what’s going on. But then he feels Shige’s lips on his and all he can do kiss back. A moment later, it’s over and Shige’s already pulling away again.
“I - you - I mean,” Yamapi stammers, staring at Shige.
Shige gives him a shy smile. “Yeah. I like you. Since your friend threw ramen all over me, but I was too shy to say anything. Stupid huh.” Awkwardly, he runs a hand through his hair.
“Oh,” Yamapi says, staring at Shige. “Oh.”
Shige just shrugs at him, still with that smile on his face. “I’m not too young for you, am I?”
Yamapi shakes his head. “Nah, I don’t think so. If you don’t have any problems with me being ancient.”
“No problems at all,” Shige says, before wrapping his arm around Yamapi’s back and capturing Yamapi’s lips again.
Then it’s okay, Yamapi thinks as he smiles against Shige’s lips and deepens the kiss. He takes a mental note to text Jin later tonight, tell him what just happened. But for now, he’s pretty happy here, kissing Shige and not feeling old at all.
From: newsficcon
Title: More of You
Rating: PG
Pairing: Yamashita Tomohisa x Kato Shigeaki
Warnings: None
Summary: Yamapi has some serious problems with his age.
Author's Notes: I really hope you’ll like this, zhelchimarquez! :)
"Jin… Let’s go home, okay?”
“Not yet,” Jin drawls, clinging onto Yamapi’s coat, barely able to stand on his feet anymore. “I’m hungry!”
Yamapi rolls his eyes. “Jin, we just went to three bars. I think it’s time to go home.” He hoists his best friend back onto his feet, so he won’t drag Yamapi with him to the ground.
“Pleaaase?” Jin whines in Yamapi’s ear. “I’m really, really hungry and I feel it’s a matter of life and death if I don’t get food straight away.”
What best friends won’t do for each other, Yamapi thinks with a sigh, as he finally gives in to Jin’s whining. “Okay, I guess we could grab some ramen before we go. But no more beer for you, understood?” He gives Jin a strict look.
Jin nods obediently. “I get it, Pi. No more beer.”
“Good.”
While they walk, Yamapi looks out for a ramen stand and sighs in relief when he finally sees one. He practically has to drag Jin inside, because the guy is too drunk to stand on his own damn feet. He sets Jin down on one of the stools at the bar and sits down himself.
“Two ramen,” he orders, before chunking down the water the shop owner had just set down for him. He rubs his eyes and undoes his tie, then stuffs it into his coat pocket.
It had been a tough week. Some things went terribly wrong at his and Jin’s work yesterday, causing them to work overtime the entire night, not to mention Jin got dumped by his girlfriend a few days before. Yamapi thinks Jin has a very good reason to get totally smashed, but still: a drunk Jin is an annoying Jin.
“Here you go, guys,” the shop owner says with a grin, before putting down two huge bowls of ramen in front of them. Yamapi pays for it, before nudging Jin, who’s resting his head on the bar.
“Jin, your food is here.”
“Oh, food!” Jin says happily, like he only just noticed the bowl of noodles. He attacks the ramen immediately, eating as fast as possible.
“Wow, you were hungry,” Yamapi says, more to himself than to Jin. He starts eating his own ramen, when he feels something on his shoulder.
“Um, excuse me…”
Yamapi looks around with his mouth still stuffed with ramen. In front of him there’s a guy, looking shy and uncomfortable. He has black hair, a gentle face, but doesn’t look older than a high school kid. Yamapi wonders what business a high school kid has in Shibuya at three in the morning. He also wonders why he’s talking to him.
“Hmm?” he hums as an answer.
The boy holds something black in his hand. “Your tie. You dropped it.”
“Oh!” Yamapi laughs, feeling very stupid. “Thanks so much. It must’ve fallen out of my pocket.” He takes the tie from the boy and puts it safely in his trouser pocket this time.
“And who is this!” Jin calls out happily to the boy, pointing at him with his chopsticks.
The boy backs away a little, but can’t, because Jin has swung an arm over the boy’s shoulder and pulls him closer. “Want some ramen?”
“Um…” the boy says, clearly feeling uncomfortable and Yamapi feels that he needs to rescue him, before Jin does something ungodly to him.
He just wants to pull Jin away, when- “Oh.”
“My clothes…” the boy murmurs, looking down as his wet clothes, drenched in miso soup. Strings of ramen slide down his chest.
“Jin!” Yamapi scolds his best friend, who had promptly fallen asleep and knocked his bowl of ramen of the counter, right into the boy.
“God, I’m so sorry!” Yamapi jumps from his stool, before fishing his handkerchief out of his other pocket and making an attempt to clean up the boy’s clothes. “He’s such an idiot. I told him not to drink too much, but now look at him …” he starts rambling. “I can pay for dry cleaning, of course!”
The boy laughs nervously. “Oh, you really don’t have-”
“Yes, I do!” Yamapi interrupts him. “Or rather, Jin does.” He wipes the ramen from the boy’s shoulders. “You’re completely wet, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” the boy answers with a nod.
Yamapi slides a hand through his hair. “I’m really sorry-”
Thud.
They both turn around to see Jin has fallen of his stool and is now sleeping on the ground. Yamapi raises an eyebrow. “I think he fell asleep.”
“He definitely fell asleep,” the shop owner agrees with a nod.
“How the hell am I ever going to get him home?” Yamapi pouts.
“I-I could help?” the boy offers shyly, making Yamapi look up to him. “I mean - he looks…heavy.”
“Would you really? That’d be so awesome. He actually is pretty heavy. I keep telling him to lose some weight, but-” Yamapi stops talking when he sees the boy staring at him. “Oh, I’m being uninteresting again. Well, if you could help me get him to his feet…”
Together they hoist Jin back onto his feet and drag him out of the restaurant.
“You want to get a cab?” the boy asks, swaying a little under Jin’s weight.
Yamapi shakes his head. “Our apartment is just around the corner.”
“Our?” the boy questions.
“Oh,” Yamapi lets out a nervous laugh. “We’re not like that, if that’s what you think. We’re just living together for the time being.”
The boy shrugs. “That’s okay. I live together with my best friend too.” He grabs Jin’s arm a little tighter to prevent him from falling on the ground.
“Hmm,” Yamapi smiles, then remembers something. “Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet! Yamashita Tomohisa, nice to meet you. And this idiot here,” he gestures to Jin with his head, “is Akanishi Jin. We’re colleagues, roommates and best friends, but nothing more.”
The boy laughs. “Nice to meet you, Yamashita-san. I’m Kato Shigeaki.” He wants to give Yamapi a hand, but both his hands are preoccupied by holding up Jin.
“We’re almost there,” Yamapi tells Shige. “Just a little further…” They’ve left the crowded street a long time ago; they’re now walking in a more quiet neighborhood. After a few more minutes, Yamapi stops at a high building. “Ah, here we are.”
He opens the door with his key and drags Jin to the elevator. Shige stands there a little awkwardly, looking like he doesn’t know if he should come too.
“Hey, now I think about it, want to wash those clothes at my place?” Yamapi says, then falls still, realizing how weird that question just sounded. “But only if you want of course…”
“Y-yes, that’d be nice,” Shige says quickly. “Thank you.” The doors of the elevator slide open and they step into the small cabin.
A few awkward moments later, they get out at the ninth floor and Yamapi tries to open the door with one hand. Finally, the door swings open and they stumble into the genkan.
“Oof, so heavy,” Yamapi pants, yanking Jin towards the living room, before dumping the man onto the couch. Jin hasn’t noticed a thing; he turns onto his side and sleeps on like nothing happened.
Shige is still standing in the genkan, watching how Yamapi stumbles back and changes his shoes for house slippers.
“Well, come on in, Kato-kun,” Yamapi smiles at him. “Let me make you some coffee.”
-
Thirty minutes later, Yamapi and Shige sit at the dinner table (because Jin is still hogging the couch), having a cup of coffee. Shige’s dressed in some of Yamapi’s clothes, since his clothes are currently in the washing machine.
“It’ll take another half hour before they’re clean and then they still have to dry,” Yamapi tells Shige, while sipping his coffee. “You don’t have anywhere you need to be, right?”
Shige shakes his head. “It’s four in the morning, I have nowhere to be.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Yamapi laughs, then remembers something. “Aren’t you a little young to be wandering around in Shibuya at night?
“Not really,” Shige replies, “I’m twenty.”
“Really?” Yamapi asks, completely shocked. “I-I thought you were eighteen or something…”
Shige chuckles. “Yeah, I hear that a lot. But really, I’m twenty.”
“So you’re a student, then?” Yamapi can’t help being curious.
“Yep,” Shige answers with a nod. “I’m in my second year.”
“Ah, I remember when I was still a student,” Yamapi says dreamily. “Sleeping all day, going out all night, not having a care in the world…” Then he sees Shige watching him with an amused look on his face and adds quickly, “Not that it’s been that long of course. Just a few years…”
Shige looks curious now and Yamapi sighs, “Okay, maybe it’s been six years already. I feel so old all of the sudden.”
“Don’t feel old, Yamashita-san,” Shige says gently. “You’re just… twenty-six?”
“Twenty-eight,” Yamapi moans. “Believe me, once you’re done with college, the years just fly by.”
Shige just gives him a smile and Yamapi feels himself grinning back. Shige is kind of nice. Okay, not just nice. He is really nice. And kind of handsome too… But he does look young. Maybe Shige lied about his age? Yamapi used to do that all the time too - no wait, he still does that. He’s just wondering if Shige likes guys, when a hand is waving in front of him.
“Um, Yamashita-san? Your coffee is getting cold.”
“What? Oh yeah,” Yamapi says quickly, picking up his coffee and downing it one go, then shivers. “Ugh, already cold.”
“Cold coffee is the worst thing ever,” Shige agrees with a nod, but his words transform into a yawn and he quickly covers his mouth.
“You must be tired huh,” Yamapi says, while picking up the mugs to bring them to the kitchen. “I’d offer you my couch, but since Jin already crashed there…”
“Oh, that’s fine,” Shige says a little drowsily. “Just a few more,” Another yawn, “hours.”
Yamapi shakes his head. “It wouldn’t be right if you didn’t get any sleep tonight. After all, it’s our fault you’re here now. You know what, you can take Jin’s bed, he won’t mind.”
They both glance at Jin, sprawled out on the couch and completely dead to the world.
“A-are you sure?” Shige doesn’t seem to be convinced.
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Yamapi says with a grin. “Besides, he probably doesn’t wake until three in the afternoon. He won’t notice at all.”
“Oh um, well…” Shige does, but Yamapi is already dragging him to the bedroom.
“Really, we don’t mind,” he tells him with soft eyes - the ones that make Jin always do chores he doesn’t like doing - and it has the same effect on Shige, because the college student is finally giving in.
“Um, yeah, okay,” Shige agrees.
“Good,” Yamapi says satisfied. “I hope Jin changed his bed sheets lately.” He walks to Jin’s closet to get him some pajamas and gives them to Shige.
“Well, then. Goodnight, Kato-kun,” he says to the boy. He can just hear him say, “Goodnight, Yamashita-san,” before closing the door.
Outside Jin’s room, Yamapi leans against the wall and closes his eyes. Well, fuck him. He’s just fallen in love with a college kid.
-
“Yamapi!”
Yamapi wakes up next morning by the yelling of his lovely roommate at eight in the morning.
The door barges open, showing a very angry Jin.
“Nngh?” Yamapi grumbles sleepily, barely having his eyes open yet.
“Why is there a strange guy sleeping in my bed?” Jin demands, walking up to Yamapi and looking down at him.
“Well…” Yamapi starts out slowly. “That’s because you wanted ramen.”
“…What?”
Ten minutes later, he and Jin are sitting on the couch, accompanied with a cup of steaming hot coffee.
“Yeah, okay, I guess it’s only fair you offered him a sleeping place,” Jin agrees with a pout, as he rubs his forehead with his fingers. “I just don’t understand why it had to be my bed.”
“Because you were already hogging the couch?” Yamapi groans. His head hurts from the lack of sleep and since this is his only day off this week, he’d like to get back to bed, thank you very much.
Jin just pouts some more. “My head hurts,” he then whines, still rubbing his forehead.
“Don’t care. I’m going back to bed.” Yamapi gets up to put his empty coffee mug onto the kitchen counter and is about to walk back to his bedroom, when he sees Shige appearing from Jin’s.
“Oh good morning,” Yamapi smiles polity, while his stomach does a double back flip. “We didn’t wake you up, did we?”
Shige shakes his head sleepily. “Just a little,” he yawns and no, he doesn’t look cute, damn it.
“Sorry,” Yamapi says, sliding a hand through his bed hair. “Can I offer you some coffee instead?”
“Okay,” Shige replies. He follows Yamapi back into the kitchen.
“I thought you were going back to sleep-” Jin yells at him from the couch, but then he notices Shige. “Oh, so you are the college kid,” he says, leaning on the arm rest of the couch and staring at Shige.
“This is Kato Shigeaki-kun,” Yamapi says. “And shouldn’t you be apologizing? You splashed him with ramen!”
“Oh right,” Jin says, like he only just realized it. “Sorry,” he then shrugs. “I was really drunk.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Shige murmurs, while taking the mug of steaming hot coffee from Yamapi.
Yamapi rolls with his eyes. “Jin, go take a shower already.”
Jin grumbles some more, but does listen to his roommate and takes off to his bedroom, while Shige sits down at the kitchen table.
“What time is it?” he asks Yamapi.
“Uh, almost half past eight,” Yamapi answers.
Shige’s eyes widen. “Really?! Oh shit, I have to hurry. My shift begins at nine.” He tries to down the coffee in one go, but burns his tongue in the process. “Ouch, that hurts.”
“Don’t worry,” Yamapi says quickly, taking the mug from the boy’s hands. “I can drive you if you want?”
“You sure?” Shige asks slowly. “I don’t want to bother you…”
“Oh not at all,” Yamapi smiles, but inwardly he curses himself. He doesn’t even know the boy for a day and he’s already offering to drive him around. It seems he really does have a crush. “You go dressed, I bet your clothes are dry now.”
“Thanks, Yamashita-san,” Shige smiles, before going to the bathroom.
Yamapi bangs his head against the fridge. “Great job, Yamashita,” he mutters to himself. “Only you could fall for a college student.”
-
“This is it.”
Yamapi pulls into a small street with a lot of book and clothing shops and stops the car, when Shige points at a tiny coffee shop on the corner.
“Here you go,” Yamapi says. “With five minutes to spare.”
Shige reaches for his bag near his feet. “Thanks you so much, you really saved me.”
“No problem!” Yamapi says, then cringes; he sounds way too cheerful. “Have a nice day.”
“You too, Yamashita-san.” Shige gives him a smile, before opening the door and getting out of the car.
“Yamapi,” Yamapi quickly says.
“What?”
“You can call me Yamapi… If people call me Yamashita-san, I always feel so old.” He is old.
“Oh, okay,” Shige smiles. “Then see you around, Yamapi.” He gives a little wave, before running off to the coffee shop.
Yamapi stares at Shige, until he disappears into the shop and the car behind him starts blaring his horn, making clear he should drive on. He jumps in his seat and quickly starts the engine. He can’t believe he’s actually fallen for Shige… It’s been such a long time since he last had these kind of feelings for someone. Too long. And so quick, too. He didn’t know he could still like someone that quickly. It’s almost as if he’s back in high school. But back then he still pretended to like girls.
He gives the shop a last look and starts driving away. Then he realizes something. He forgot to ask Shige’s phone number. Well, fuck.
-
The rest of the day, Yamapi can’t stop thinking about Shige. He thinks about him during work (earning him a scolding from his boss and colleagues), during lunch (worrying Toma, his long-time friend from college) and when he’s making dinner (letting burn his dinner and having to get take-out).
Okay, it’s not just that day. Make it a week. Shige just won’t leave Yamapi’s mind. His face, his smile, his voice. Yamapi keeps seeing him before him and it’s not really helping at all. He really wants to Shige again, talk to him again, but work is busy (thanks to his fuck-up from last week) and he hasn’t had time yet. Besides, what is he going to say? It’s not like Shige will actually like him back. The age difference is a little too big. Shige is almost nine years younger than him…
So for the entire week, he’s getting scolded, he pisses off his friends and he lets the dinner burn. That is, until Jin gets sick of it.
“Why don’t you just call him?” Jin says, when he’s stuffing his face with rice. They’ve abandoned the stove for the fourth time that week and moved over to the couch with take-out Thai food, since Jin doesn’t trust Yamapi near the kitchen anymore, after he almost accidentally set the entire place on fire.
“Huh what?” Yamapi says, snapping out of his thoughts (which were obviously with someone else, again).
“That kid, of course.”
“I’m not thinking about that kid,” Yamapi mutters, poking in his own box with his chopsticks.
“Yeah and you were totally not drooling over him that morning.”
Yamapi looks up. “Am I that obvious?”
“Fucking obvious,” Jin nods. “Besides, I’m your best friend. Of course I notice when my BFF likes someone.”
“Great,” Yamapi sighs. He sets down his box on the coffee table - his stomach won’t allow him to eat anymore.
“So. Why haven’t you called him yet?” Jin finishes his rice and starts on Yamapi’s left-over dinner.
“Because it’s like you said, he’s a kid,” Yamapi answers, grabbing his beer from the table and taking a long swig. “He’s only twenty. I’m like - ancient.”
Jin rolls his eyes. “If you are ancient, what am I, deceased?” When Yamapi doesn’t answer, he sighs exaggeratedly and gives Yamapi a look. “Pi, you’re not ancient. If you like him, go do something about it. Or at least give him a call.”
“Yeah, about that…” Yamapi tells him about this morning and him forgetting to ask Shige’s number.
Jin face palms. “Leave it to the pro to get someone’s number. Whatever - go visit his little coffee shop or something.”
“But-”
“No buts!” Jin interrupts Yamapi’s protests. “You’re going. Tomorrow. It may sound weird coming from me, but I’m kinda getting sick of take-out food. So get your shit together and cook me something good again.”
-
So that’s why the next day, after work, Yamapi sets off to the little coffee shop in Shibuya. He doesn’t even know if Shige’s working today (well, he actually doesn’t know anything about Shige, apart from his name, age and occupation), but he decides he has to try, anyway. Even though he feels a little nervous.
But when he opens the door and steps into the shop, he hears a cheerful, “Welcome!” from behind the bar. It’s Shige, dressed in a green apron with a smiling cookie on the front.
“Hi,” Yamapi smiles, walking to the bar. “One coffee, please.”
“Y-Yamashita-san!” Shige stutters, eyes widening when he realizes who his customer is. “Uh hi. Nice to see you again.”
“It’s Yamapi,” Yamapi says with a smile, because it’s so good to see Shige again. His heart is already hammering in his chest again. “And you too.”
“A coffee, you said? Coming right up.” Shige turns to the coffee maker behind him and starts filling a cup, while Yamapi searches for his wallet.
“Hmm, so you’re Yamashita-san,” a male voice says behind him. Yamapi starts and turns around quickly. The one who spoke must’ve been the young man with dyed hair sitting at a table near the bar, since he’s the only other customer. He looks friendly, with a big smile on his face.
“Um, yeah,” Yamapi nods. “How do you know my name?”
“Shige told me,” the boy says. “He told me all about you.”
“Shut up, Kei,” Shige mutters, suddenly flushing red.
The boy named Kei gives Yamapi a grin. “Hi. I’m Koyama, Shige’s best friend.” He takes a sip from his own latte.
Yamapi gives a little bow. “Nice to meet you. I’m Yamashita. You must be Kato-kun’s roommate, then?”
Koyama nods. “The one and only.”
Shige hands Yamapi his coffee. “There you go.”
Their hands briefly touch and Yamapi almost drops the coffee, but he can catch it just in time. “Oh, it’s hot,” he laughs nervously.
“Yeah,” Shige says. “So, um - what brings you here?”
“C-coffee,” Yamapi stutters, holding up the cup. But that’s not exactly true. Okay, it’s not true at all. Of course he came here just to see Shige, but he won’t tell Shige that. Not yet, at least.
“Hmm,” Koyama hums with a mysterious smile on his face. “Shige, isn’t it time for your break?”
“What?” Shige says. “Oh, yeah.” He takes off his apron and sits down at Koyama’s table.
Yamapi does the same, sipping from his coffee. He feels kind of out of place, in his black business suit with matching suitcase, while Koyama is dressed in a checkered shirt and chinos, while Shige sports a hoodie under his apron and jeans. He quickly loosens his tie and runs a hand through his hair.
“So, Yamashita-san,” Koyama says, setting down his cup.
“Yamapi,” Yamapi interrupts, not wanting to feel even older. “Please call me Yamapi.”
“Okay, Yamapi,” Koyama smiles. “Are you also coming to our party?”
Yamapi frowns. “Party?”
Shige grins shyly and shrugs. “It’s nothing. Just a summer barbeque me and Kei are organizing. Some guys from college are coming as well.”
“You should come too!” Koyama says excitedly. “Right, Shige?”
“Um,” Yamapi begins, hesitating, because he’s quite sure he’s going to be the only salary man there. He wonders if it would be such a good idea to go… But then Shige gives a little nod, agreeing with Koyama and he hears himself saying yes.
“Okay, I’ll come.”
Koyama beams at him. “Great! We’ll put you on our guest list.”
“Kei, we don’t even have a guest list,” Shige mutters, but Koyama isn’t even listening.
“We should exchange e-mail addresses and phone numbers,” Koyama says, pulling out his phone. “Shige, give me yours.”
As Yamapi pulls out his own phone, he steals a glance at Shige, just when the boy looks up at him. Yamapi can feel his heart speed up again and he can’t help give Shige a smile. To his surprise and happiness, Shige smiles back. Yamapi is suddenly very happy he agreed going to the party. Because now he has a good excuse to see Shige again.
-
“I told you!” Jin grins when Yamapi comes home with Shige’s number stored in his phone and a huge smile on his face. “You’re so lucky I’m your best friend. If I hadn’t kicked your ass, you now wouldn’t have a date.”
“It’s not a date, Jin,” Yamapi says, opening the fridge to get a beer, but he’s still grinning. “It’s just a barbeque.”
“Whatever,” Jin shrugs. “So, when is it?”
Yamapi plops down on the couch next to him with a beer in one hand and a conbini bento in the other. “In two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Jin calls out. “That’s way too long. I bet he won’t even remember you in two weeks.”
“Then what do you suggest I do?” Yamapi says. He opens his bento and starts stuffing his face.
“Call him, of course.”
“Already?”
Jin sighs. “Do you want to fuck him or not?”
Yamapi almost chokes on a bit of meat. “Jin! He’s like - twenty.”
“What? Twenty year olds also fuck. It’s not like he hasn’t yet.”
Yamapi knows that. But still. “Besides, I don’t even know if he’s gay.”
Jin snorts. “Oh believe me, he’s gay.”
“Besides, why do you care if I get laid?” Yamapi frowns.
“Because,” Jin starts explaining, “ever since my girlfriend has dumped me, I don’t have anything better to do.” When Yamapi doesn’t answer, he steals some egg from Yamapi’s bento and pops it into his mouth. “Calling him won’t hurt, you know.”
“Alright, alright,” Yamapi says a little groggily. He fishes his phone from his pocket and flips it open. But just when he wants to look up Shige’s number, the phone starts vibrating. He quickly opens the e-mail.
Yamapi, it says,
I still want to thank you for driving me to work the other day. Do you want to meet for a cup of coffee tomorrow?
Kato.
Yamapi makes an excited noise. Shige wants to have coffee with him. Tomorrow. “Jin, look at this,” he says, shoving his phone in Jin’s face.
Jin reads the message and starts grinning. “Pff, thanking you, yeah right. But I’m happy for you, dude. And this one totally counts as a date.”
“Yeah, it does,” Yamapi says. He quickly types back a reply, saying he’d love to meet up. Then he realizes something. “Oh my God.”
“What?”
“What am I supposed to wear?!”
-
To say Yamapi is nervous is an understatement. Because Yamapi is very nervous. Palm-sweating, hand-shaking, breath-taking nervous. He doesn’t even know why he is this nervous. He’s been on dates before. He’s kissed guys before. Hell, he even slept with a few. So why he’s practically dying right now is a great mystery.
Maybe it’s because he really likes Shige, he realizes.
Oh.
While he waits for Shige to show up, he straightens his pants. Jin picked out Yamapi’s coolest and youngest clothes for him. He’s wearing a plaid button-down and blue chinos and his hair is hopefully not boring looking. Jin told him he looks hot and also very young, but Yamapi doesn’t really believe him. He’s convinced Jin only said that because he’s obliged to - he’s his best friend.
Just when he runs another hand through his hair, he sees Shige emerging from the crowd. “Yamapi!” he calls out, running towards him with a big smile on his face.
“Kato-kun!” Yamapi grins, feeling how his heart speeds up again.
Shige stops in front of him. “Uh, I wouldn’t mind if you called me Shige.”
“Um, okay, S-Shige,” Yamapi stutters. He mentally slaps himself for acting so stupid, but it seems Shige doesn’t even notice, because he says,
“You look very different in casual clothes.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Yamapi asks, worried.
Shige laughs and shakes his head. “Not at all. You look cool.”
Oh. Well, that’s a relief. Shige thinks he’s cool. That’s cool. “Thanks,” he grins shyly. “You too.”
“Thanks. Let’s go?” Shige says, nodding at the busy street in front of them.
Yamapi agrees and follows the college student through the crowd. Soon they stop at a very small and cute place, kind of like the place Shige works at, only it isn’t a coffee shop, but a café. They go in and find a table at the back of the café.
“It’s nice here,” Yamapi says, because he doesn’t know what else to say. His heart is still hammering in his chest and he has to do his best not to stare at Shige all the time. He’s still a little nervous.
“Yeah, I come here often,” Shige says. “Usually to study.”
A waiter comes by to take their orders and as they wait for their coffee to arrive, Yamapi asks Shige what his major is.
“Law,” Shige grins shyly.
“Wow, isn’t that like - really difficult?” Yamapi says, impressed. He himself studied Economics at Meiji University and he had a lot of trouble getting his degree. But that might also be because of Jin, dragging him to every single party.
“A bit,” Shige answers. “But that’s what I like about it.”
As they sip their coffee, they talk about school and work. When Yamapi orders them another coffee and cake to go with it, they become much more casual with each other, losing the formal talk and joking around with each other. Yamapi feels at ease with Shige, like he’s known him much longer than a week. Like they’re really good friends. But Yamapi doesn’t just want to be friends. He wants to be so much more than just friends.
After an hour or three, they finally leave the café, having had way too much coffee.
“I have to get to work,” Shige confesses. “My shift almost starts.”
“Oh,” Yamapi says, cringing at the disappointment audible in his voice. He doesn’t want to leave Shige yet; he’s having way to much fun.
“But um - maybe we can walk there together?” Shige quickly says.
Yamapi can’t help but smile. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
They start walking towards the coffee shop. Yamapi wonders if he should kiss Shige at the end of their date (he really wants to kiss Shige), only there’s one little problem… He doesn’t even know if this is a date. Neither of them said something about it. He doesn’t want to look like a giant creeper, suddenly kissing Shige out of the middle of nowhere. Maybe Shige really is just thanking him for the other day. After all, he did pay for the coffee.
Besides, isn’t Shige way too young for him? He’s only twenty. Okay yes, it is legal, but still. Yamapi feels kind of really old next to Shige, even in his cool clothes.
“What are you thinking of?” Shige’s voice suddenly gets him out of his thoughts.
“What?” Yamapi says. “Oh nothing.”
Then Shige stops walking and Yamapi realizes they’re standing in front of the coffee shop. Shige smiles. “I had a nice time today. We should do it again sometime soon.”
Yamapi nods. “Yeah, absolutely.” Really soon.
“Well then…” Shige says and it looks like he’s hesitating, stretching time, maybe even leaning forwards, but the next moment he’s reaching for the door and Yamapi quickly leans back again. “See you later.”
“Bye Shige.” Yamapi gives him a little wave and watches him getting inside. Then he turns around to walk back to the train station, wondering if he just missed his big chance.
-
“Tell me!” Jin shrieks in his ear a few hours later. “Where, when, what position?”
“What are you talking about?” Yamapi says, holding his phone from his ear, in case Jin shrieks again.
“Come on, like you didn’t fuck him,” Jin says and Yamapi can almost see him wiggling his eyebrows. “So, did you do him in the bathrooms?”
“I didn’t do him at all, Jin.” Yamapi rolls his eyes. “We just had coffee and talked about…stuff.”
“Oh,” Jin says, almost sounding disappointed. “Wait, you’re not going to tell me that-”
“I didn’t kiss him.”
Jin huffs. “Have I taught you nothing at all, Yamashita?”
“I wanted to!” Yamapi protests. “But the moment was over before it was even there. And I’m still not sure if he likes me…”
“Did he say anything about a next time?”
“Well, yes…”
“He likes you.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. Oh, I gotta go, my train’s here. What’s for dinner?”
“Curry.”
“Awesome. At least you didn’t lose your mind completely.”
A beep, beep, beep lets Yamapi know Jin has hung up and he stuffs his phone back into his pocket. Frowning, he returns to the kitchen to check on the curry. He wonders if Jin is right, if Shige does like him back. He hopes so. He also hopes he didn’t ruin it with Shige. Maybe he expected him to kiss him this afternoon… He sighs. Why is this dating shit so hard?
-
Unfortunately, it seems that there’s no dating shit going on at all. Because even though he and Shige meet up frequently over the next days, it still feels rather friendship-y to him. He isn’t really convinced Shige likes him. And if he does, he definitely doesn’t show it, because there hasn’t been another Big Moment.
And there’s the age issue. Yamapi wonders if he’s making a too big of a deal out it. Jin seems to think so, at least. But one time, when Shige had invited Yamapi over to his room for dinner, Yamapi really noticed how huge their age difference is. Shige still lives in a small two-room apartment, lives off instant noodles and has to study every night. Oh and of course there’s that friend of his, Tegoshi, who had asked if ‘Yamapi was Shige’s uncle’.
Time’s going fast and before he knows it, it’s the night of the barbeque. Yamapi really hopes he won’t seem out of place with all those college students. He tries his best to look as young and hip as he possibly can, with a plain white t-shirt and some faded jeans.
“Pi, you have to promise me one thing,” Jin says, when Yamapi is about to leave.
“What? I’m not getting you some college girl’s phone number if that’s what you’re hoping for,” Yamapi replies. He’s not even sure there will even be girls at all.
“Of course not!” Jin tries to sound offended. “That would’ve been nice, though,” he adds in a mutter. “Anyway, promise you’ll tell him.”
Yamapi doesn’t reply, but chews on his lip instead. He wants to tell Shige, but maybe it’s too soon. He doesn’t want to rush into things, they’ve only known each other for about two weeks now.
“Stop thinking!” Jin yells, getting him out of his thoughts. “You think too much. If you like him, tell him. Get it?”
“Yes, yes,” Yamapi says quickly. “I got it.” Almost.
“Good. Now go and don’t come back till you’ve gotten laid.” Jin practically pushes him out of the door and closes it, before Yamapi can protest.
As Yamapi leaves the building, he thinks maybe Jin is right. Maybe he is thinking too much. Then he finally decides. He’s going to tell him. Tonight. And nothing is going to stop him.
-
Well, except for a few little things.
As he arrives at Shige’s building and rings the door bell, a cheerful guy opens the door. “Hi!” the guy says happily. “You must be Yamashita-san, right? Come in.”
Yamapi follows the guy through the hallway to the backyard. “It’s Yamapi,” he says quickly.
“Okay. I’m Massu,” Massu grins, his eyes scrunching up.
“Yamapi!” Koyama bounces to him the moment Yamapi enters the backyard. “We weren’t sure if you’d still come.”
“I promised I would, didn’t I?” Yamapi says, quickly scanning the yard for Shige and spotting him near the barbeque, which he’s trying to get working. Shige notices him and gives a little wave.
“Yes, but since-” Koyama suddenly shuts up and turns around. “Want a beer?”
“Sure,” Yamapi nods. He has a feeling he’s really going to need it. Well, he’s probably going to need something stronger, but starting with a beer sounds good. He takes the cold bottle from Koyama and takes a sip.
“Come, I’ll introduce you to everyone,” Koyama says, gesturing to the other guys sitting at a picnic table. “You’ve met Massu… That’s Ryo-chan. Don’t worry, he looks scary, but he’s a softie on the inside. Same goes for Koki. That’s Kame-chan and I believe you already know Tegoshi?” He points at the guy standing next to Shige. He’s standing a little too close to Shige to Yamapi’s taste.
“Um yes,” Yamapi says uncomfortably. Tegoshi was the guy who thought he was Shige’s uncle.
“Guys, this is Yamapi. He’s Shige’s…friend. Be nice to him, okay?” Koyama pats Yamapi on the shoulder, before going back inside the building, probably to get food.
“Nice to meet you, Yamapi!” The guy named Koki says. “Come join us.”
“That’s an unusual name,” Kame notices, as Yamapi sits down next to Massu.
“It’s just a nickname,” Yamapi explains. “Everyone calls me Yamapi.” He can’t shake the feeling that he’s extremely old next to all these guys, especially Tegoshi, who looks like he’s eighteen.
Then Koyama appears again with plates full of burgers. “Meat’s here!” he sing-songs, skipping to the barbeque. “Come get some if you want.” As he takes over Shige’s place and starts grilling the burgers, Shige walks over to the table.
“Hi,” he says a little shyly to Yamapi. “I see you’ve already met everyone?”
Yamapi nods, smiling. “Yeah. You’ve got a lot of friends.”
Shige shrugs. “Not really, they’re mostly Koyama’s friends.” He sits down next to Yamapi.
“They’re all very nice,” Yamapi says politely. And young.
“Yeah,” Shige smiles.
“We are,” Koki grins, wrapping his arm around Shige’s neck, almost choking him. “So, Yamapi. What do you do for a living?”
As Koki joins them in their conversation, Yamapi explains he works at an idol agency as an accountant. Koki seems really impressed, but Yamapi doesn’t really feel impressive. All these guys are still in college, doing their own thing, while he has to get up at seven every morning, put on his boring, grey suit and take off to work until seven at night. It’s a pretty boring life, actually. He can think of a few (one in particular) things to make his life a little less boring, but he’s not sure if that’s even possible.
After a while Kame and Ryo also join and the subject slowly changes to classes and college and partying and Yamapi feels a little left out. He excuses himself to get some more food.
“Here you go,” Koyama smiles broadly, practically throwing a hamburger onto Yamapi’s plate. Koyama kind of reminds Yamapi of his own mother, in his pink shirt and frilly apron. “Like it?”
“Yeah, the food’s great,” Yamapi nods, pouring some sauce on his burger.
“I meant the party,” Koyama says. “I know we’re not your usual crowd, but Shige was really excited when you agreed on coming.”
“Really?” Yamapi says, surprised.
Koyama nods. “Really.”
Then Kame comes up to them. “My turn,” he says with a shrug, taking the spatula from Koyama.
Yamapi can’t help but smile, when he returns to the other guys. So Shige wanted him to come over… Maybe he does like him, after all. But when he sees Tegoshi sitting in Shige’s lap, he stops dead-track in his steps. What was Tegoshi doing there? And why did he have his hand in Shige’s hair?
“Oh there he is,” Tegoshi says. “Yamapi, we were just asking ourselves - how old are you exactly?”
Yamapi can feel himself flush red in record time. “Um,” he says, taken aback. How old he is? Is this some sort of a joke?
“I-I really gotta go,” he stutters. He sets down his plate and bottle. “Thanks for the food,” he says with a bow, before turning around.
“Yamapi!” he can hear Shige call after him, but he pretends he doesn’t hear it. He opens the front door and leaves the building. It was a stupid idea to come here, anyway.
Walking in a quick pace, he stares at his feet. He doesn’t understand why Shige wanted him to come, if he obviously already has something on with that Tegoshi. Well, at least they’re the same age… Whatever, it’s not like he cares.
But as he slows down, he realizes he does care. Of course he cares. It’s Shige he cares about.
“Yamapi!” he then hears behind him. Shige. He almost turns around, but then remembers why he even walked out in the first place and picks up his pace again.
“Yamapi, stop!” Shige calls again, running after him. Yamapi almost starts running as well, but then stops when he feels a hand closing around his wrist, making him turn around. He looks straight into Shige’s red and sweaty face.
“I’m sorry,” Shige immediately says. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to - I mean, Tegoshi sometimes does that. He likes to sit on other people’s laps. It’s usually Kame’s lap though. And about that question…. He can be-”
“A real prick?” Yamapi finishes his question before he can stop himself.
Shige lets out a short laugh. “Yes. Yeah, he can be. I’m sorry. Please don’t leave.”
Yamapi shrugs, shuffling with his feet. “I’m not sure if I should. I’m a bit too old, don’t you think?”
To his surprise, Shige shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“You don’t?” Yamapi says, frowning.
“Of course not,” Shige says, but then falls silent, trying to find the right words. “Um… I - I mean, um…”
Yamapi stands there, waiting for Shige to finish his sentence.
“Oh whatever,” Shige says, before throwing himself on Yamapi and pressing their lips together.
For a moment, Yamapi’s brain doesn’t process what’s going on. But then he feels Shige’s lips on his and all he can do kiss back. A moment later, it’s over and Shige’s already pulling away again.
“I - you - I mean,” Yamapi stammers, staring at Shige.
Shige gives him a shy smile. “Yeah. I like you. Since your friend threw ramen all over me, but I was too shy to say anything. Stupid huh.” Awkwardly, he runs a hand through his hair.
“Oh,” Yamapi says, staring at Shige. “Oh.”
Shige just shrugs at him, still with that smile on his face. “I’m not too young for you, am I?”
Yamapi shakes his head. “Nah, I don’t think so. If you don’t have any problems with me being ancient.”
“No problems at all,” Shige says, before wrapping his arm around Yamapi’s back and capturing Yamapi’s lips again.
Then it’s okay, Yamapi thinks as he smiles against Shige’s lips and deepens the kiss. He takes a mental note to text Jin later tonight, tell him what just happened. But for now, he’s pretty happy here, kissing Shige and not feeling old at all.