fic: Perfume Fusion - 8. Wine Fragrance (1/2)
Perfume Fusion
8. Wine Fragrance
“I like it,” Jin voiced his opinion quickly. “It’s good!”
“I think it’s fine,” Ryo said. “I wouldn’t be able to pull off a better one so I’m not complaining. And I don’t really know much about marketing. So I wouldn’t interfere with any of it.”
“I love it,” Yamapi said with his eyes wide. Jin slapped him in the head, mumbling ‘an idiot’ in a mean manner. Yamapi shot an angry look at him. Kame fidgeted on his chair.
After a week of working he had created several drafts of what the adverts could be like. He had been critical and he hadn’t enjoyed doing it - he was a lousy artist. His strength lied in literature. With drawing he could easily say that he was probably one of the worst. Thank god he didn’t have to create the final work.
So he had tried to use his own strengths. He had an eye for art and beauty, he just couldn’t produce it. He knew the shades of the colours he wanted, the shapes of the lines, how everything should be. He did have an artistic eye, that wasn’t something to question. He had done a few quick sketches trying to hide his lacking skills at arts and made tons of side notes about how he would want it to be.
“So… a model in here…” Jin said and pointed at the picture. “And what is she doing again? Holding the bottle to her chest?”
“And flowers? Do we have to have flowers in it?” Pi asked, earning another whack from Jin who muttered ‘it has a lily scent, you idiot, lilies in the advert only make sense.’
“I think we should make the lily its trademark. Lilies symbolize many things, including purity. And women love flowers, they’re romantic,” Kame stated. “Not to mention the scent is lovely. People won’t miss it if it’s being marketed with it.”
“I prefer the vanilla scent,” Jin complained but was silenced by Ryo’s hand slamming on his mouth to block it.
“Actually I think that’s a good idea. And purity is quite a hit right now with women, isn’t it? Being dirty is good and all that, but someone who can sensually pull everything off is respected and gently loved. Isn’t that what people are looking for?” he asked excitedly. “I’m starting to get it!”
“I still like the vanilla more -“
“Oh, shut up Jin,” Pi shot at him, pushing him out of the way to examine the draft better. “I know you’ve lately been fixated to vanilla but you have to let it pass. Vanilla’s too ordinary for marketing.”
“I find vanilla sensual like lilies as well! And it’s a delicious scent!” Jin argued but Kame sighed.
“Jin, vanilla is too ordinary for marketing. And it’s a dangerous element anyway. People rarely look for vanilla in their perfumes. Of course they’ll be thrilled about the scent in this one, but it can’t be marketed with it. Trust in me with this, will you?” he asked. “Apples are dangerous as well. I’m going with the lilies.”
“Marketing with flowers is so ordinary…” Jin muttered, crossing his arms. “Not that I don’t like the lilies and all but -“
“Ignore him,” Ryo said and patted Kame’s shoulder. “I think it’s good. It might get major editing with the final advert-creators but as an idea I think it’s quite good. It’s revealing but it’s not with bad taste. It isn’t really erotic.”
“I don’t find the scent erotic,” Kame stated his opinion. “I smell it as mostly gentle. So I wanted to market it with that. Gentleness, sensual flowers and beauty.”
Jin buried his face to the back of Kame’s neck, grumbling something silently as he wrapped his arms around his torso. Kame tensed and forced him to back away.
“Jin, stop molesting me. I don’t like it,” he snarled at the man, glaring at him warningly. “And don’t you even dare to use my scent as your excuse.”
Jin pouted and wrapped his arms around Pi, pouting and glaring back at him as he buried his nose in the other man’s shoulder. “Then I’m going to stay smelling Pi. He smells nice too, you know. He’s like cardamom.”
“Cardamom?!” Pi gasped furiously. “Jin, are you mocking me?!”
“I just told you that you smelled nice!” Jin disagreed loudly, grasping a better hold of his shirt. “Stop getting too worked up, it changes to ginger. It’s not as good.”
Ryo rolled his eyes at his friends and breathed out deeply, turning Kame away from the two bickering friends. Kame glanced over his shoulder, feeling somewhat weird and jumpy. Tense. Yes, he was feeling tense and paranoid. And why, that he didn’t know.
Because Jin was in such a close contact with Pi? Because Jin actually liked Pi’s scent? It wasn’t that big of a deal, not at all. Jin was a sucker for scents and Kame himself liked quite a lot of them as well. It was no wonder that Pi would smell good for him as well. Pi was his friend after all. The scent must’ve been homey.
Well, cardamom was quite a homey scent. And Kame was left wondering if he could smell it too if he would press his nose against Yamapi’s skin.
Wait, what was he thinking about? Jin was obviously driving him crazy. This was starting to get ridiculous. He couldn’t get as fixated on scents, it was Jin’s job. Let Jin do whatever he wanted, it was none of Kame’s business.
“So you think the logo should be like this?” Ryo asked him, snapping him back from his thoughts to the reality with stupid, messy drafts and presenting his work to the others. “It’s quite curvaceous.”
Kame nodded. “Thin lines. Curves, flowing like the wind. It has to look young, feminine and magnetic. It has to catch the viewers’ eyes. Being simple is in now, but I think with this you should break the boundaries. Make something beautiful that people remember.”
Ryo nodded. “I like it,” he admitted approvingly. “It fits the scent.”
“Like what?” Jin and Pi asked simultaneously, finally off each others’ backs and getting closer again. Kame shivered as he felt Jin’s breath on his ear.
This was getting out of hand. He did not like this. This stupid fixation that he had with Jin. It was growing too fast and it was becoming way too overwhelming. He was a complete sucker for Jin and it drove him crazy. He couldn’t be. Thank god he had the decency to stay away from him, no matter how he felt like doing the exact opposite.
He was not going to ruin everything because of it. Friends didn’t date each others. Friends didn’t do stuff that went through Kame’s mind. They just didn’t. And Kame needed Jin as his friend.
“I think it’s quite cool,” Jin said. “…It makes me stare at it.”
Pi slapped Jin, snapping him out of his trance with a whimper. “Jin, you’re acting weirdly again. You need to go and get laid. Do you need money?”
Kame looked at the three friends in complete and utter shock as Ryo rolled his eyes and pulled out his wallet, forcing some money in Jin’s hand and cocked his head towards the door. “Go, Jin. Be a good boy and deal with it so you can stop bothering us.”
“I don’t feel like getting laid,” Jin complained. “I just don’t feel excited like that.”
“Boobs, Jin! And naked women, moaning and screaming!” Yamapi tried, using ridiculously big hand effects to demonstrate his point. “Ah Jin, ah Jin!”
Kame didn’t know whether his or Jin’s face was more scarlet. What the hell was this… this… hell, whatever, this? How the hell was this house run, for god’s sake! They were worse than horny seventeen-year-old teenagers who had just found out and experienced the secrets of paid… love!
Jin shook his head. “No, I don’t feel like it. I don’t feel like getting laid at all.”
Pi’s face dropped and Ryo raised his eyebrow. “Jin, are you sick? Do you need to see the doctor?”
“I’M NOT THAT BAD!” Jin accused them furiously, crossing his arms. “YOU’RE MAKING ME SOUND LIKE I’M ALWAYS AFTER SEX!”
“…Well… maybe that’s because you are?” Pi tried. “Think about it. Every single time a pretty lady, or not even all that pretty, walks past you, you look after her. And I know exactly where you’re looking, Jin. And when you don’t get laid, you like getting physical with your friends. Please refrain from doing that, it’s awkward.”
“I’M NOT THAT BAD!” Jin argued. “Kame, tell them I’m not that bad! It’s not like I always get physical with my friends!”
And it hit Kame again. And it hit him harder than ever before.
Yes, Jin got clingy. Jin got very touchy and physical and somehow erotically sensual and was all over him all the time. But maybe he wasn’t attracted to him in the end, maybe it was something that Ryo and Pi had had to experience as well. Maybe it was just Jin suffering from a very bad case of sex deprivation. And Kame just happened to be on his way. And Jin just happened to have a strong thing for vanilla.
He felt his face harden as he tensed up.
Why did he suddenly feel like Jin was a big, fat liar? It wasn’t like Jin had ever said that he liked Kame like that. And it wasn’t like he had ever said he didn’t.
“You’re one of my three favourite smells in the whole world.”
Kame swallowed. Hard. And he calmed himself down, keeping himself fully collected as he let out an amused chuckle and snorted teasingly at Jin.
“I won’t back you up with this one, Jin. Don’t ask me to do that after playing around with me so much,” he mocked. “Just less than a minute ago you were breathing down my neck.”
“I totally wasn’t!” Jin disagreed. “…Your scent just pulled me in!”
“Doesn’t make a difference, does it?” Kame said, turning to collect his papers from the table and putting them neatly in a folder. “Go and get laid, Jin.”
Jin’s face dropped as he stared at him in disbelief. Like he had just casted his final judgement on him. But Kame didn’t bother thinking why. There was a countless amount of different reasons. The reason that Jin might actually like him seemed somehow improbable now.
Just a few minutes ago he had been so sure. Now he wasn’t. He wasn’t certain about it at all anymore, quite the opposite actually. Jin wasn’t to be trusted.
He needed to get laid. And then Kame would have to see again.
He pulled out his own wallet and put more money in Jin’s hand.
“With Ryo’s money you’ll just get a cheap whore. Go get a better one, you need it,” he said. “Now go.”
Jin opened his mouth to protest but Ryo and Pi grabbed him from his arms, starting to drag him towards the door, leaving Jin spitting furiously swearwords from his mouth and complaining loudly with a whiny attitude as he was thrown out of the house. Kame shut the door. Jin knocked.
“Come on, guys! Let me in! I really don’t feel like getting laid!” Jin wailed from outside the door. “I’ll go when I do!”
“Even Kame agrees with us in this so start running and get it done because you aren’t getting in before it’s done, Jin!” Pi yelled. “And just to remind you that you don’t have your coat with you and it’s getting cold. So the sooner you get it done, the faster you can come in. Oh, and the nights are supposedly really cold already.”
Jin swore heavily and Kame could hear his angry footsteps as he walked away. He stared at the door expressionlessly until Ryo patted his shoulder and pulled him further back inside the house.
And for the following several hours Kame wasn’t able to do anything, he noticed to his horror. Because each moment all he could think about was Jin getting laid with a sexy and curvy female. And he felt guilty for thinking about it, thinking about Jin in such a situation, so vividly and boldly.
He felt guilty for feeling actually jealous of the whoever whore somewhere out there. And it was wrong, he knew. Hell, he knew.
When Jin came back, his hair was all ruffled and cheeks slightly rosy as he sat before Kame, he poured both of them steaming cups of tea. Kame watched him work silently until he placed the cup before him and looked at him somewhat hesitantly.
“So was it a good one?” Kame managed to ask. Completely collected, chatting tone. Like he was starting a pointless small-talk. Maybe even asking Jin for recommendations. Jin shrugged as an answer, the red on his cheeks deepening. Kame pressed his lips tightly together and nodded.
He took a sip from his vanilla tea and looked out of the window to the darkening sky. He blinked as he realised the first-snow was falling. Jin noticed it as well, a small smile on his lips.
“She smelled like calendula flowers,” he finally said. “I don’t really like calendulas.”
Kame looked down at his tea cup, the warm and lovely scent of vanilla rising up his nose.
“Me either. Not really,” he answered. Jin looked up at him, seeming somehow lost. Kame smiled at him. And he smiled back, twirling the steaming liquid in his own cup.
When they went to bed, somewhere during the night Jin managed to fall off of his and land on Kame’s. And too tired to get up, he fell asleep again, cuddling Kame’s confused form in his sleep, pressing his face in Kame’s sheets.
And Kame fell for him again.
***
The first time Kame had a somewhat erotic dream of Jin was a week later.
For it he blamed the fact that the two of them had actually both fallen asleep on Jin’s bed while trying to watch a movie from Kame’s laptop. It had been a suspension film with lots of action, making Jin fidget next to him and squeal. Sometimes he even laughed.
Jin was funny company when watching something. Annoying if you wanted to watch quietly and in peace, but if you actually wanted someone who reacted and was one hundred percent into what he was watching at the particular moment then Jin’s company was unbeatable. Even Kame felt more excited about the film than he thought he would be.
Anyway in the end they hadn’t managed to stay up to its finish line. Jin’s eyelids had been drooping for quite some time until he had fallen asleep, his head leaning on Kame’s shoulder exhaustedly. And Kame didn’t really know exactly when, but at some point Jin’s warmth and scent managed to soothe him just a bit too much and make him join him in his sleep.
And when he woke up a few hours later, he could hear the noise of the running computer and feel an uncomfortable bulge in his trousers. Jin was lying next to him, sleeping soundly. And he smelled. He smelled like lilies and Kame had to sit up with a grimace before grabbing himself some clean clothes and rushing off to take a very cold shower.
But it was completely Jin’s fault, he decided as the cold water made him shiver. It was Jin’s fault for being Jin. Getting under his skin, forcing him to change and cling onto him. Getting so physical with him all the time, being so sensually and erotically attracting as he got too close for Kame’s complete comfort.
More water.
He sat on the floor, hearing the water going down the drain. And it felt calming. His body was slowly cooling down. Actually it was getting just a bit too cold and his teeth were clattering together. He rubbed his arms but his cold fingers didn’t really help.
But it was good like that. It was familiar. Although this time it didn’t feel as bad. Maybe because it wasn’t for the same reasons as usually. He smiled.
Now it was for something as simple and stupid as a wet dream. It felt really relieving.
After a few minutes he got up, rubbed himself towel-dry and dressed, drying the floor as best as he could. When he stepped out of the shower, Pi was standing before the door, rubbing his eyes.
“Thank you. Finally,” he grumbled half-asleep and stepped in, closing the door behind him. Kame stared at the door he had closed after him.
Hopefully Pi hadn’t had to wait for too long, he thought and felt sorry for the man as he slipped back to his and Jin’s bedroom, taking a hold of his computer and opening a new word file.
The power of a scent is interesting, he wrote. The air is flooded with different kinds of smells, artificial and the one’s found in nature purely. And those scents are an important part of our lives.
When you think about things, you don’t often go and think of their scents at first. No, scents are more subtle, more like little secrets that everyone possesses. The smell of the city, the pollution. The smell of different kinds of flowers. When you think what flower you’ll buy for the person you love, do you first think of its scent?
No. You don’t. You think about the shape, the colours. What they symbolise, what they tell, in what occasions they are given. It’s a rare case if you make your judgement based purely on scent.
Who would buy sweet lilies instead of roses for one’s love even though they do symbolise many beautiful things? We go with our norms and don’t waste another glance for the beautiful flower that triggers our sense of smell.
If you are going to remember a scent, it must be either really bad or connected somehow to something you purely love. Like your favourite place, favourite food. Someone close to you. Maybe even a strong memory of something where the scent was present.
But when you find the scents you get intoxicated with they serve as your drugs. And it’s somehow all too good, it takes over your mind way too strongly.
And you find yourself loving the scent.
Later, of course, you forget about it. Because imagining a scent is quite a difficult task. But that’s why you have to know where to get it, just to smell it one more time. And again. And again and again. Just so that you can remind yourself of it again, of the sweet scent it has.
Maybe you try to possess the scent. Maybe you try to find artificial products to compensate for it. Something like perfumes. Maybe a perfume of someone serves as the source of your intoxication, maybe you’ve bought a bottle of it that you keep hidden at home.
Maybe you were looking for such a long time before you found that stupid, annoying bottle of yours.
And you try to obtain it, try to possess it with all your might to keep it from slipping away. Because you need that scent.
It’s just the power that such a simple thing like scent holds over you. You don’t really even think much into it until you are too deep in it.
So, today, go out. Go out and breathe through your nose. Close your eyes and breathe in what you love.
Take in the scents today.
Because tomorrow they might be gone and all you have left is that memory of how good it smelled but you’re never able to create the smell from a memory, to experience it again without its source.
Cherish it.
Go out and experience scents, dear citizens. Let’s make it a happy day.
- K
And he sent it to his employer in Tokyo, adding a small note with it.
I’m out.
Kamenashi Kazuya
( PART II )