Mannequin Ch. 9: Happily Ever Afters
Title: Mannequin
Pairings: Matsumoto Jun x Sakurai Sho, Ohno Satoshi x Ninomiya Kazunari (and more as the story progresses)
Rating: NC-17
When Sakurai's father sends him to manage a small costume shop, he doesn't understand why he's being punished. He doesn't belong there-- he belongs in the heart of the city, leading his department and working his way towards being company president. But somehow he finds the queer little shop more intriguing than he anticipated, and he's especially drawn to one of the shop's mannequins. Which is pathetic, he knows, because the thing is an inanimate object...
Or is it?
Aiba Masaki was hungry. He was hungry, or maybe he was thirsty? He was definitely something, because he couldn’t sleep. He just couldn’t. The storm raging outside his window woke him, and it was seemingly impossible for him to fall back asleep.
Reaching for his sweater, he pulled the jumper over his head to cover his naked torso. The feeling that nagged at him and prevented his eyes from closing or his head from finding a comfortable place on the pillow was a familiar one. It was one he’d gotten pretty often since he was a kid, whenever something significant was going to happen. Good or bad, Aiba would get this weird itch at the nape of his neck or the back of his brain-- somewhere he couldn’t scratch, and it would whittle away at him until something happened.
And sometimes, it was a good something… but, other times, it was something really rather bad, and it was those times that made him terrified of the feeling. Like when he was eight and his grandmother’s cat died, or when he was a teenager and his motorcycle hit a stone, sending him flying into the pavement. That had taken a layer of skin clean-off the right side of his body. It wasn’t a memory he was especially fond of.
The feeling was intense that night-- more intense than Aiba had felt it in years. It almost gave him a migraine, the feeling was so relentlessly buzzing away at him. It was as if it wanted to alert Aiba to something important, except Aiba had no way of knowing what that was. Not until it happened.
Well, forever the optimist, Aiba came to the conclusion that getting something to eat or drink would help, so he rubbed his eyes and felt for the lightswitch.
Click. Click-click.
The hall light didn't turn on. Aiba blinked into the darkness and sighed. The storm must have caused an outage, but oh well. Maybe this is what the feeling was trying to tell him: he needed to replace a fuse. Well, too bad. This was the house he grew up in, probably the house he'd die in if he took over the restaurant like his parents wished, and he knew it well enough that he could make his way to the kitchen without the lights.
No big deal. He walked quietly down the hallway, mindful of the members of his family sleeping behind each door he passed. The wind had been blowing the branches awfully hard against his window in his room, and all the way down the hall, Aiba heard it howling through the rafters above his head… but as he approached the bottom of the stairwell, everything seemed to go suddenly still. It was so quiet, Aiba felt the prickling of the hairs on his arms stand on end, and the nagging of the feeling was surpassed by a creeping, irrational fear children get as they find themselves alone in the dark...and frantically hope they stay that way. Alone.
Forcing a tight, high-watt smile, Aiba shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. He was being foolish. Still, he walked faster as he strode into the kitchen and swung open the refrigerator. The light didn’t come on, and a voice in his head scolded him for letting the cold out, but he didn’t care. He grabbed an orange and a pitcher of tea. At the counter, he put down the fruit to grab a glass, and in his nervous hurry, he must have been a bit careless. Despite thinking he had left the orange motionless, it had rolled a good 35 cm down the counter. So he must have knocked it…
Aiba filled his glass and downed the cold tea in two gulps. Grabbing his orange, he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand while he walked back to the stairs. The room he had to cross through was pitch black, and the feeling was almost burning, it was so strong. Aiba sucked in a breath, clenched the orange, and moved even faster towards the stairs. Something was happening. Something wasn’t right. The feeling wasn’t right. It was too strong. It was--
Something moved.
Something moved in the room. He saw it out of the corner of his eye. Something was there. It had moved. It had moved fast. Aiba felt bile rise in his throat and he darted for the stairs.
Something moved again. Something in the shadows. Something large.
Aiba made it to the stairs, and he was taking them two at a time. He raised his head to look at his goal, he was a footfall away from the top--
It was there. Haunched and black. Moving and not moving. Aiba froze. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Whatever it was, it was watching him. He couldn’t see eyes, but Aiba knew it was watching him, watching it.
And then it lunged.
In a different world, Subaru was standing far too close to something he'd never thought he'd see-- something he had never wanted to see, and especially not when it had been a friend.
Cradled against Tegoshi's torn and bloodied chest was what appeared to be the cold, gray, lifeless body of Masuda Takahisa... except it wasn't right. The body practically hummed with magic--dark magic. Tegoshi had cast a spell, Subaru and Yasuda could feel it, and it was running through the veins of this almost-corpse.
"He's just asleep," Tegoshi whispered, but his body was quaking from shock, making his voice unsteady. His hand trembled as it moved to shield Massu from Subaru and Yasu's eyes-- as if it were possible to prevent them from seeing what Massu had become.
“Oh shit,” Yasu muttered as he moved to get a better look, “Oh no, Tegoshi. He’s gone. We can’t… That’s not him anymore.”
“He’s not gone!” Tegoshi’s voice rose, almost shrill, “I told you, he’s sleeping!”
“Yeah, well, he’s going to wake up, isn’t he?!” Subaru shot back, palms already glowing red, “And then what, Tegoshi?”
“It’s Massu,” Tegoshi whispered, eyes searching both of their faces for understanding--for sympathy, “It’s Massu. I swear.”
“It’s not, Yuya,” Yasuda sighed, and attempted to kneel back down beside his cousin, but, again, Subaru pulled him back. Yasu gave his lover a look before continuing, “He’s gone. He’s dead. That thing there… it’s not going to be him. No yosei can control that spell. Why did you use it? What were you thinking?”
“I didn’t have a choice. He was dying! That thing, she was killing him. Shota, she was killing him. I tried-- I tried to use the spell you used, but I didn’t have love left to borrow. I didn’t have power left to borrow. All I had was blood…” Tegoshi’s voice trembled, and Subaru had never felt so nauseous in his life.
Turning to Yasu, Subaru hissed, “I have to do it. Before it wakes up. Let me burn it.”
“NO!”
Tegoshi’s scream reverberated off the walls, and Subaru lurched backwards, pulling Yasu along with him.
“Quiet!” Subaru whispered harshly, but Tegoshi wasn’t.
“I won’t let you kill him! I won’t!” Tegoshi’s voice reached a terrible volume, and he repeated the screams of protest until Yasuda’s voice rose to meet his.
“The eyes!” Yasuda screamed, “Get out of there, Yuya! Get back!”
But Tegoshi Yuya didn’t get back. He didn’t move, except to lower his gaze to look upon the face he had pressed against his own chest. Looking back at him, glaring red with black where the eyes should have been white, was an awake Massu….. And for a second, even with the discolored eyes, Tegoshi had never seen anything so beautiful in his life as that face he’d feared he wouldn’t see again.
But then Massu opened his mouth-- revealing sharp, elongated teeth.
In an instant, Tegoshi found himself flat on his back, pinned down by Massu. Teeth snapped close to his throat, and Tegoshi scrambled to push Masuda from him. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t get enough air-- Massu was crushing him in his struggle to bite Tegoshi’s jugular.
And then Massu shrieked, an unholy sound that didn’t suit his voice as Tegoshi had known it, and leapt away. Tegoshi saw a flash of red flames, and then Yasuda was beside him, pulling him up to a sitting position. Subaru was poised over both of them, protectively as a Guardian, while Yasuda knelt with Tegoshi.
“Do you see now?” Yasuda whispered, “We have to destroy that thing. It isn’t Massu.”
“It is… I swear, he’s in there,” Tegoshi whispered back, pleading.
“Oh yes, I could tell,” Subaru sneered, eyes searching the shadows in the vast room.
“Please, please,” Tegoshi clung to Yasuda’s sleeve, “Please. Give me a chance. I can prove it to you that he’s still in there. I just need time and… power.”
“Power?” Yasuda murmured, not quite understanding.
“I can trap him-- Bind him to me, and then he’ll be my responsibility. He won't be able to escape. I just need the power. I’m drained,” Tegoshi urged.
“And what happens when he kills you? Hmm? Then he’ll be loose,” Subaru responded before Yasu could.
“He’ll die too. I promise. If I die, Massu will die.”
“That’s in the spell?” Yasuda sounded thoughtful and Subaru scowled.
“Don’t you even think about it, Sho,” Subaru’s voice was dark, “Vampires are forbidden. We have to kill it.”
“But Subaru….” Yasu reached out to hold softly on Subaru’s pant leg, “If the elders are right, and vampires are forbidden because the creatures are mindless with bloodlust, then it will die when it kills Tegoshi…”
“Which will take all of two seconds,” Subaru snorted, but then added seriously, “And it will be a waste of your power! The power you JUST got back. You can’t be seriously considering this, Shota!”
Yasuda looked down, pensive, and after a tense moment, he raised soft eyes to meet Subaru’s, “I’m a blue yosei, I only know how to protect life. I can’t take it.”
He then turned to look at Tegoshi, "You know how these spells work... If he kills you, he will die, but the same applies to you. Do you understand, Yuya? If he dies-- if he is slain, as is our law-- you, too, will die."
"I understand."
“No. Shota,” Subaru started, not liking where this was going, “If you want to save someone, save Tegoshi. That thing is going to kill him. Ah, your eyes are turning blue. Come on. Stop it, Yasu. Don’t do this. We need your power to face the yurei!”
But it was too late. Looking at the pain in his cousin’s eyes-- a cousin who had sacrificed so much for him-- Yasuda knew he owed this to Tegoshi. Under a rain of curses from Subaru, Yasuda lent Tegoshi the power he had regained.
Sunlight was peeking in when Sho's alarm went off, waking both of the men in his bed. Sho physically started, jerking awake, because he hadn't intended to sleep. He felt his tablet slipping from where it laid balanced on his chest after he’d passed out, and quickly grabbed it.
Jun had been using the laptop, but the newly-turned-human had fallen asleep on the keyboard somewhere around 4:30 in the morning, and Sho had gently slipped the computer from beneath his head. Sho had wanted to lay awake and try to continue the search for what they could do to break the spell while Jun slept... But Jun. Jun's eyelashes laid so soft and full against his pale skin. His lips, which Sho had been so drawn to in their carved perfection, would quirk or pout or press together or -- and this one made Sho's breath catch in his throat-- part and sigh what almost sounded like his name.
Jun's body even moved in his sleep. His hand would clutch Sho's fingers, then relax. His waist would twist, and Jun's legs would overlap Sho's and then move away…The loathsome crack that had so horrified Jun was nothing more than a thin, jagged scar running up the man's shin. It wasn't frightening, and it certainly didn't take away from Jun's beauty.
As a mannequin, Jun had been beautiful, but living? Jun was intoxicating. Sho couldn’t get enough of him-- couldn’t get close enough to him. He wanted to feel every inch of Jun pressed against him, while, at the same time, Sho wanted to be far enough on his side of the bed to be able to see all of Jun.
In the end, Sho remembers just staring at Jun as he’d lost consciousness and succumbed to sleep as the sun began to rise outside his little window.
Hours later and woken by the alarm, Jun proved he was truly awake by rolling over onto his stomach and pressing his face into the pillow, so all Sho could see beside him was mussed hair and a bare back that tapered beneath his bed sheet. Jun laid there like that, unmoving even though the clock was ticking, for several moments, as if he was waiting for Sakurai to say something.
For a moment, Sho held his breath, and then he leaned forward to brush the softly curling hair aside. His fingers weren’t as long or slender as Jun’s, and they hovered a second too long. Before he got the chance to touch--
BANG. Bang-bang! bang-bang-bang-bang...
It was the back door. Someone was banging on it. Jun almost rolled off the bed, he was so surprised at the sudden noise echoing up from the first floor, and Sho groaned. Whoever was at the door at terrible timing.
Rubbing his eyes, Jun scrunched his face at Sho, “Are you going to see who it is?”
Sho’s eyebrows irritatedly furrowed in response, and he pulled a fake pout, making Jun chuckle, but then he sighed, “Yeah.”
“I’ll come with you,” Jun sat up, rumpled and red on the cheek he’d slept on, and looked around for his pants. The banging was relentless on the door, and Jun looked up, surprised, when a pair of sweats landed in his lap.
Sho smirked, his eyes flashing, “Race you.”
With a grin spreading across his face, he pulled on the pants and was reaching for a shirt when the banging picked up volume. Forgoing the shirt, Jun and Sho scrambled for the apartment door instead. They were almost at the landing when Jun skidded to a halt on the stairs.
His eyes fixed on Nino answering the door.
“Oh shit,” Jun thought to himself, his mind humming nervously as Nino, with some serious bedhead, rubbed his eyes and undid the locks.
“Jun!” Sho grumbled behind him, “What are you doing? Let’s go downstairs and see who it is.”
“Nino,” Jun hissed back.
“Nino’s at the door?”
“NO. He slept here, remember?!”
“Oh yeah...What about Nino?” Sho retorted in a loud whisper.
“If he sees me, he’ll recognize me.”
“Well so what? He’s smart. Maybe he can help us.”
“If he recognizes me,” Jun whispered quickly, “He will be suspicious of Ohno, and Ohno doesn’t want Nino to know he’s--”
“Oh my god,” Sho spoke over Jun, and Jun dropped to a crouch, in a panicked attempt to hide.
“What?! Is he coming?” Jun hissed, trying to hide his face in Sho’s leg.
“No….Jun look,” Sho breathed, “It’s Captain.”
Jun stood up and looked just as a human and very half-naked Ohno Satoshi, or Captain, walked lazily to the door Nino had by then opened, and was talking to the person outside of it. Ohno just plopped his head down on Nino’s shoulder and looked at whoever Nino was talking to.
As if it was the most casual situation ever.
It was far less casual for Jun, who, immediately saw the missing circle on Ohno’s bare arm and shouted, “Captain?!”
Ohno lifted his head to acknowledge Jun just in time for Nino to turn on his heel and look too without cracking their heads together.. Nino’s mouth dropped open, and his eyes flicked between human Jun and Sho, and then over to Ohno.
“What the hell is going on?” he mumbled, very confused.
Sheepishly, Ohno gestured to Jun as the beautiful man was quickly walking towards him, “This is--” oof!-- “Matsumoto Jun.”
He oof-ed just as Jun had wrapped his arms around Ohno to hug him, hard. Very hard. His beautiful features crushing Ohno’s hair.
Nino was even more confused and much less pleased.
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Nino asked, darkly eying Jun run his fingers over where the spell’s blue circle no longer marked Ohno’s skin. Neither appeared to have heard Nino, as Ohno was pressing his lips together and shaking his head while Jun briefly showed the circle that remained on him.
“Absolutely Nino,” Sho said, noting the suspicious look on the shorter man’s face, “But first, let me handle whoever is at the door.”
“Oh, it’s just Aiba,” Nino said, letting the door swing open.
Sho saw him and motioned for Aiba to come in, figuring everyone might as well know, but Aiba didn’t move. He just stood there, wide-eyed and mouth open, staring at the former-mannequins.
Sho saw the look on Aiba’s face and realized the poor guy was probably the most shocked by this. He’d never heard Jun or Captain’s voice-- he wasn’t a telepath, and they’d never revealed themselves to him… So Aiba had worked for years alongside these mannequins without the slightest--
“...Jun?”
Aiba’s voice was soft, and all eyes snapped to him. Sho’s mind blanked. What? How? Why? Why did Aiba know Jun’s name? Subaru said Aiba didn’t know about the mannequins…
“You’re…...alive?” Aiba’s voice was breathy, disbelieving.
“Yeah,” Jun nodded his head, an awkward jerky motion, “Ohno is too.”
“The other mannequin,” Aiba whispered, “The dancer.”
“...How do you know that?” Nino asked then, his confusion practically radiating off him.
“How do you know my name?” Jun added, his voice joining Nino’s confusion.
Sho didn’t say so, but he was also very interested to learn what Aiba knew, and he physically guided the gangly shop attendant inside so he could shut the door behind him.
“So….how did you know?” Jun repeated.
Aiba looked panicked for a second, but then he said simply, “I just...I don’t know. I just know. I’m right, aren’t I? You’re Jun...and he is a dancer.”
Aiba gestured to him and Ohno just shrugged. Aiba was right.
“But...Are you magic?” Aiba’s voice reached an excited tone, “Tell me. What kind of magic are you? What ARE you?”
Aiba stepped closer to Jun, and might have touched him, but Jun stepped back and Sho took Jun’s hand in his.
“Are you magic?” Nino turned to Ohno.
“I’m not,” Ohno shook his head, “But Yasu is.”
“Who? Him?” Nino pointed, “I thought his name was Jun.”
“Not Jun,” Ohno amended, “Subaru’s, er, friend that he’s visiting…. Actually, Subaru is kind of magic too.”
“Kind of?” Nino’s eyebrow rose.
“He’s completely magic,” Jun corrected.
“Oh…” Nino and Aiba said, almost synchronized.
Ohno moved over to Subaru’s comfy spot in the back room and plopped down on a pillow. Waving a hand at Jun, he sighed, “Might as well start from the beginning…”
Jun grumbled that Ohno just didn’t want to have to explain to Nino himself, but as the others moved over to join Ohno on the cushions, Jun started with himself, and his bookstore that had belonged to his uncle, all those years ago.
As Jun spoke about the war, Nino and Ohno scooted closer together. Jun described how shadows seemed to haunt him after the first incident, with his arm, how he’d never felt quite right, and then he’d almost died. In these distant memories, the shadows seemed to have swallowed him whole, overpowering the deafening roar of the war as his life was stolen…
But then he had seen a blinding shade of blue, and in the haze of pain and screams and silence, Yasuda had cast a spell.
“Yasuda cast a spell?” Nino blurted.
“He’s...he’s not human,” Jun explained, “He’s yosei. He’s a blue yosei. They come in colors and ranks…”
“Oh,” Nino muttered, as if he could possibly relate, “Is Subaru yosei too?”
“Not exactly,” Jun responded, looking at Ohno for affirmation, “I think his mother was. A red, but Subaru isn’t completely, and he’s a lower rank.”
“Why lower?” Sho mused.
“Because his immortality derives from Yasu, I think,” Jun responded, “But I’m not sure. Anyway, Subaru is a Guardian.”
“A Guardian…” Aiba mumbled, low.
Jun continued then, explaining that Guardians are gifted magic in exchange for protection and services, and in Subaru and Yasuda’s case, love. He briefly depicted the years he’d spent before Ohno, saying that he had spent them mostly asleep.
When Jun reached Ohno’s portion of the tale, he faltered at the dancer’s near-death experience. “I’m not exactly sure what happened there,” Jun admitted, “I mean, I know I was there. I remember the performance… It was on my One Day, but…”
Jun paused, his expression almost pained in concentration as he tried to remember.
“I just remember the sound from the alley way -- your voice, Captain-- but…. it was a scream, and then there was suddenly so much darkness. Maybe I fainted. I think I did… I woke up in a temple with yosei friends of Yasu’s.”
“I remember the shadows too,” Ohno murmured, and Nino pressed himself tightly against him, “Something attacked me. Something in the shadows.”
“In the shadows?” Aiba quietly asked. His eyes were boring right into Ohno, and the dancer shifted uncomfortably.
“Yeah, but I don’t remember what it was…. I can’t remember.”
“Sure as shit wasn’t a burglar,” Nino grumbled, his thin lips pressed into Ohno’s neck and mufflling the sound. Ohno wrapped his arm around Nino. Sho looked over at Jun, who was leaning against the wall across from him. The storytelling was put on hold, giving Ohno and Nino a moment. It was a lot to take in.
Aiba fidgeted, catching Sho’s eye. His limbs were folded beneath him, but then Aiba shifted to sit on his heels. He was staring at Jun, too. Sho noticed, and he didn’t have time to think anything of it before Aiba was walking across the small space and closing the distance between himself and the former-mannequin.
And then Aiba took Jun’s face in his hands and kissed him.
“Hey!” Sho shouted, jumping up. Jun tensed, hands flying up to push at Aiba’s shoulders. In a second, they were separated, but Sho was still ready to haul Aiba out of there.
“I love you!” Aiba gasped, wiping his bottom lip, “I always have.”
“Yeah, ok, but you can’t just kiss him. You don’t even know him,” Sho scolded, pulling Aiba away from Jun.
“I do!” Aiba protested, “I’ve dreamt of him! I always have. That’s why…..That’s why I always talked to you, Jun. That's why I know your name. Because I love you. All these years."
Jun’s eyes were wide, and he kept running the back of his hand over his mouth. He swallowed, then began with, “I’m sorry, Aiba. I--”
“Jun!” Ohno shouted, and everyone jumped, “Your arm.”
“Wha...” the words died on Jun’s lips as he lifted his forearm and saw the blue circle disappearing into his skin.
The circle. It was gone. It was gone, and Aiba’s kiss made it happen.
The room went stunningly quiet. Everyone held his breath as all eyes were fixed on Jun, staring at his arm.
“Aiba…” Jun breathed, eventually, “I love you."
“What?!” Sho hadn’t meant to shout, but he did, and he could feel his blood pressure rising.
“It must be love. We’re in love… Aiba and I,” Jun’s voice sounded fragile and faraway, and the way his phrases were scattered and almost dreamlike made Sho feel cold.
“Only love-- true love-- could break the spell. Because… because Subaru always told us, the spell borrowed the greatest magic of all to save our lives, and it would only be broken when we’d returned it-- when we found our true love and could finally love him back. Aiba kissed me and the circle, the mark of the blue yosei spell, disappeared. Like Ohno and Nino, Aiba must be my--”
“No. Wait. Say that again,” Sakurai’s voice came sharp and low, cutting Jun off.
“A..About love?” Jun muttered, surprised at the outburst and uneasy tone Sho’s voice had taken. Jun’s head was still spinning, and he couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything except that the blue circle on his arm was gone, and it had been Aiba Masaki that made it disappear.
“Was that why you let me kiss you? Was it, Jun? Is that why you kissed me back?,” Sho’s voice was staccato and hard.
“You two kissed?” Nino blurted, but was ignored.
“Is that why you slept with me? Jun?” Sho’s voice boomed over Nino’s, “To see if it would break the spell?”
“I thought it would!” Jun’s eyes were wide, his voice practically pleading. “I was so sure it was you…”
“Yeah, well,” Sho swallowed a hard lump in his throat. The truth was out and it was a hard pill to swallow, “It’s not.”
Sho looked at everyone, then dropped his eyes to the floor before repeating quietly, “It’s not me.”
Jun just stood there, lips parted, after Sho stopped speaking. Nino’s face flushed bright red and he looked as if he wanted to say something-- anything-- to diffuse the situation, but he couldn’t decide what, and before he could, Ohno tugged the thin man’s sleeve and when Nino looked at him, Ohno just shook his head and kept his eyes down. It wasn’t a time for either of them to speak.
Aiba stepped forward, and in a shy, almost apologetic voice asked, “Isn’t it… Isn’t it okay that I love Jun? Jun’s so beautiful and I’ve loved Jun--” Aiba stopped himself and turned to Jun with searching eyes, “I’ve loved you for so long. Isn’t that okay?”
“Oh!” Jun stuttered before forcing out, “ Of course it’s okay. It’s more than okay, Aiba… You broke my spell. Only the heart from which true love’s magic was borrowed could make me human again. ”
Saying “true love” suddenly felt stupid and immature, but that’s what the spell had said. That’s what Subaru and Yasuda had always told him. So that’s what he kept saying,, because-- because even though he was feeling more numb than anything else, he must be in love with Aiba. And Aiba had to be in love with him.
It was what he had always wanted. Even when he’d been nothing more than a simple poet and book seller.
This was his fairy tale ending. “And they lived happily ever after…”