fic; through the camera lenses | chapter eight
Title: Through the Camera Lenses | Chapter Eight
Pairing: RyoShige, KoyaShige, KoyaTego
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Photographer Kato Shigeaki’s never had to put up with a model like Nishikido Ryo.
Author’s Note: AU. Random plot bunny took over my brain. Instead of a fic with lawyer!Shige (which we see everywhere), how about fic with photographer!Shige. :)
Thanks to quiraikotsu and lizzfan for betaing. ♥
Chapter Eight
Koyama awoke to the smell of coffee and waffles in the air. He sat up in bed and confirmed his suspicions that Shige was already up and making breakfast. He stretched his arms over his head and got out from under the covers, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and shoving his arms though a t-shirt before meandering into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He felt ten times more awake, however, when laughter reached his ears and he found Shige making eggs on the stove while balancing his cell phone in the crook of his neck.
Koyama contemplated going back to bed when he heard Shige say, “Oh, come on, Ryo, I’ve told you I’m fine.”
Finding Shige talking to Ryo on the phone was not the first thing Koyama wanted to witness in the morning. He sighed and walked around the counter before leaning over and placing a kiss to Shige’s bare neck, the younger boy jumping slightly in surprise. He turned and gave Koyama a bright smile, which despite Koyama’s earlier annoyance, put a smile on his face as well.
“Good morning,” Shige mouthed and gave Koyama a kiss on the lips, to which Koyama wrapped his arms around his waist and kissed him back softly.
Koyama groaned with irritation when Shige pulled away quickly, laughing at Ryo shouting into his ear about making out while they were on the phone.
“Sorry, sorry,” Shige said. “But I have to go now, Ryo. We should start our shoots again tomorrow.” With a quick goodbye he hung up and gave Koyama an apologetic look. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s all right,” Koyama replied before looking over his shoulder to see what he was making. “Why’re you making breakfast? You hardly ever do.”
Shige shrugged and looked at the floor. “I’m just glad you’re back.”
Koyama stood up straight and stared at him, Shige refusing to meet his eyes. He smiled and pulled Shige into his arms. “I’m sorry, Shige,” he whispered into the other’s ear. “I’m not going anywhere now.”
“Good,” Shige answered, closing his eyes and sighing contently.
“What did Nishikido-san call you about?” Koyama asked as he stepped back and went to set the table.
“Just to check if I was feeling all right and wanting to know when to start shooting again,” Shige answered. “I said we could today, but he refused, saying I should rest, even though I feel perfectly fine.”
“No, Shige, he’s right,” Koyama said. “You should stay home and just rest today, okay?”
“Kei, I’m-” Shige began but Koyama put a hand over his mouth and gave him a stern, yet worried look.
“Please? Just stay home and rest. You just got out of the hospital last night, but that doesn’t mean you’re all better. Please? So I won’t freak out and cause another five-car pileup on the road again.”
“You did what?” Shige exclaimed, shoving his hand out of the way.
Koyama laughed. “I was kidding,” he said. “It should be I almost caused a five-car pileup.”
Shige stared at him wide-eyed and Koyama laughed again, patting his head.
“What? Did you expect me to actually sit in the traffic jam while you were in the hospital, in who knew what condition? I wasn’t going to take that.”
Shige smiled at him and said, “You’re cute.”
Koyama grinned and kissed his forehead before sitting down at the table. “Let’s eat,” he said and Shige nodded.
“You’re working today?” Shige asked.
“Yes, I should leave in a half hour or so,” Koyama replied.
“Will you be back by dinner?”
Koyama gasped, remembering something, and Shige stared at him expectantly. Koyama gave Shige an apologetic look and said, “I promised Tegoshi before that we’d go eat dinner together tonight.”
Shige’s face fell and he slowly chewed on his breakfast, not answering.
“But you should come too,” Koyama said brightly. “I don’t think Tegoshi would mind.”
“Are you sure?” Shige asked. “I don’t want to intrude-”
“Shige, you’re my boyfriend. You can never intrude.” Koyama smiled. “So, you should meet us there, okay? We’ll be at that restaurant down the street from the hospital.”
Shige nodded and said, “What time?”
“Seven thirty.”
“All right, I’ll be there.”
Koyama grinned and they lapsed into silence, eating their meals quietly. Shige watched Koyama discreetly, trying to get himself to ask what they’d mutually left on the backburner. He was glad to be back together with Koyama, but they hadn’t really talked about their argument yet, instead had soft of forgotten about it as Koyama was far too concerned about Shige’s wellbeing.
When Shige had been released from the hospital and they’d returned home, Koyama fussed over him like a mother hen, which, while enormously endearing, became just a bit too much; especially when Koyama didn’t think Shige could properly stand by himself and therefore in no way could shower and had suggested a sponge bath, to which Shige had promptly refused. He’d snapped at Koyama for being so overbearing, even though he knew it was just concern, and had told him that he was perfectly fine, and to prove it, had dragged Koyama to the bed and kissed him eagerly.
But Koyama, even though Shige knew he wanted it too, had immediately shoved him away, claiming Shige shouldn’t exert himself and then they had ended up spending the night watching reruns of really horrible movies on television just to make fun of them.
But Shige wanted to walk about what had happened, wanted to know where Koyama had gone, wanted to confront it before it had the chance to get worse.
“Uhm, Kei?” Shige finally spoke up, hesitant.
“Hm?”
“While we were fighting, where did you go?”
Koyama paused for a moment and then answered, “The hotel across from the studio.”
Shige stared at him, relief running through his veins. “You were that close?”
Koyama smiled. “Couldn’t stay away.”
“You were still away, Kei.”
“You never came home either.”
“I waited all night for you to come back!”
Koyama bit his lips and stared down at his plate. “I know,” he whispered somberly. “I’m sorry, Shige.” He looked back up and continued, “This is all my fault. I-I should have believed you right away instead of jumping to conclusions, but I-I just can’t help be worried about it.”
Shige sighed. “I love you, Kei. You don’t have to worry about anything else.”
“You accused me too, with Tegoshi,” Koyama pointed out.
Shige glanced away guiltily. “I was just…jealous.”
Koyama smiled. “That makes me happy.”
“What?”
“It makes me happy you’d get jealous.”
Shige rolled his eyes. “You’re weird.”
“You’re jealous.”
“You are too.”
Koyama shook his head. “No, I’m worried,” he corrected.
Shige blinked at him, not comprehending.
Koyama continued, “I feel that you like being with Nishikido-san better than being with me, and that makes me worried, not jealous.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Shige said.
“And you shouldn’t be jealous,” Koyama replied.
“So, where does that leave us?”
Koyama leaned over and kissed him. “As a couple of insecure idiots?”
Shige grinned. “Sounds good to me,” he said and kissed him once more, before adding, “You’re going to be late for work.”
Koyama got up so fast he knocked the chair to the floor. He made to grab the dishes, but Shige stopped him.
“I’ll do it, go get dressed.”
Koyama kissed his forehead and dashed off to the bathroom, Shige chuckling contently after him.
*
Ryo clenched the steering wheel tightly in his hand and stared out the windshield for a moment before leaning forward to smack his forehead on the wheel. He wasn’t sure what he was doing here, sitting in his car in front of the studio, where he knew Shige wouldn’t be since he’d told Shige to stay at home, but yet, there he was, sitting in his car staring blankly at the door. When he’d decided to go on a drive to clear his head, he hadn’t planned on coming to the studio, didn’t even remember taking any of the roads to get there in the first place and now he couldn’t seem to get himself to leave.
A sudden knock on the car window caused him to jump and then howl in pain as he hit his head on the roof of the car. Rubbing his new injury he looked out the window, preparing to tell whoever it was to start running because he was dead, but the words died in his throat when instead he found Shige peering curiously at him.
Ryo cursed inwardly, realizing he was going to have to explain what he was doing there, and that would be a problem since he had no idea himself. He opened the door and got out of the car, mumbling, “H-Hey.”
Shige stared at him with a raised brow. “What are you doing here?”
Ryo pretended to be suddenly very interested with the tires of his car and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, before realizing something of his own, and quickly glaring up at Shige. “What’re you doing here? Didn’t I tell you to stay at home and rest?”
Shige crossed his arms and replied evenly, “I work here. This is my studio. I can be here if I want to be. However, you do not work here, not technically, nor is this studio yours. Therefore, it’s really strange you’re here on a day we weren’t planning to meet.”
Ryo decided Shige was too smart for his own good sometimes and tried quickly to come up with a decent explanation. A moment of fast thinking granted him an idea. “I, uhm, uh, left my stuff here when you fainted and thought perhaps I would come and get it back.”
“Even though you know the door’s lock and you have no key?”
“So I was going to throw a rock at the window.”
“And then you’d be getting a call from my lawyer.”
“Well, I won’t mind if she’s really hot.”
Shige snorted and Ryo grinned, glad he’d managed to weasel his way out of that mess. Before Shige could ask him more, he said, “So, what are you doing here? You really should just stay home and rest, you know.”
Shige headed for the studio, unlocking the door and walking inside; Ryo following after. “I’m not a fragile porcelain doll. I’m perfectly fine and was really bored at home. I came down to get the projects I’m working on and then I’m going back so that Kei doesn’t realize I ever left.”
“Keeping secrets from the boyfriend isn’t good for a relationship,” Ryo commented.
“Would you know?” Shige asked.
“Yes, I would,” Ryo replied and Shige turned to look at him, surprised by his seriousness.
Ryo just shrugged. “Why else do you think Pi and I broke up?”
“What? You cheated on him or something?”
Ryo smiled deviously. “Or something.”
“Hey, not fair. Now you have to tell me,” Shige complained.
“Nope, not happening,” Ryo replied stubbornly as he headed to one of the tables where his things from a few days ago were still sitting. He grabbed them and made to leave but was stopped by Shige calling after him.
“What’re you doing for dinner tonight?”
Slightly surprised, but mostly pleased, Ryo replied, “Nothing, yet. Why? Are you asking me out, Shige-kun?”
Shige rolled his eyes. “You wish.”
“I do,” Ryo teased.
Shige smiled and continued, “Well, want to join me for dinner? I’m meeting Kei and-”
“Sorry, I don’t want to be a third wheel on your date,” Ryo cut in, suddenly annoyed.
“But Tegoshi’s going too. The two of them had already planned on dinner together and Kei told me to come along, but I don’t want to be a third wheel. So I thought I’d ask you.”
Ryo shook his head. Even if that situation was better than just him with Koyama and Shige, Ryo still wasn’t very eager to see Tegoshi. He wasn’t sure what the boy might do. “Sorry, but I’m not in the mood for a big group of people. If you want to ditch them and eat with me, I’m good with that, but otherwise, no.”
“Okay, then I won’t go meet them,” Shige responded and Ryo stared at him disbelievingly, not expecting Shige to so easily agree.
“I was kidding, you don’t have to do that.”
Shige shrugged. “I’d rather eat with you than be third wheel with Kei and Tegoshi.”
“W-Well, of course. Who wouldn’t want to eat with me?”
Shige rolled his eyes. “So, when?”
“I’ll meet you at your place around seven thirty,” Ryo replied. “I’ll bring food and we can eat there, I don’t really feel like going out.”
“That’s fine with me. I’ll see you then.” Shige smiled and Ryo cursed his traitorous heart for skipping a beat.
“Y-Yeah, later,” he said and quickly left, ignoring desperately the fact that (to anyone else) he’d just agreed to a “date” with Shige…and that thought made him more excited than he would ever admit.
*
“I’m surprised you actually came,” Tegoshi said as Ryo sat down in the chair across from him in the small coffee shop.
Ryo just shrugged and replied, “I thought you’d keep harassing me if I didn’t.”
Tegoshi smiled and stirred a spoon around in his cup of coffee. “Yes, I would have,” he said.
Ryo sighed and when a waitress came by and asked what he wanted, he declined saying he wouldn’t be staying long. Tegoshi frowned at him and took a sip of his drink, watching Ryo closely over the edge of the cup. Ryo leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.
“So, what do you want?” he asked.
Tegoshi set his cup down on the table with a clink, and folded his hands together on his lap as if getting ready for a very important business proposal, which Ryo realized, that’s what this really was to Tegoshi. “I want to thank you,” Tegoshi said.
Ryo blinked, slightly thrown. “F-For what?”
Tegoshi’s lips curved slightly. “For a few nights ago when I had dinner with Kei-chan. You kept Shige away, so thank you.”
Ryo stared at him, seemingly uncomprehending and Tegoshi explained further.
“I knew Kei-chan would ask Shige to join us for dinner, after all they are dating, it’s only natural,” Tegoshi continued. “But I suspected Shige wouldn’t want to be third wheel, and as expected asked you. And, however it came to be, you managed to keep Shige away from my dinner with Kei-chan.”
Ryo leaned forward and said, “What, you knew that was going to happen? Suddenly you’re all-knowing?”
Tegoshi only smiled deviously and brought his coffee to his lips, taking another small sip.
Ryo rested back against his seat again and asked, “I know that’s not all you wanted to talk to me about, so just get on with it.”
“I want to know if you thought about my idea at all.”
“You mean other than how much it sucks?” Ryo replied and Tegoshi glared.
“I’m trying to be nice, you know, offering to help you get together with Shige-”
“And breaking him up with his boyfriend in the process,” Ryo interrupted. “Don’t you know what you’re doing is wrong?”
“Wrong? What’s wrong?” Tegoshi said, blinking owlishly. “I’m only just spending time with Kei-chan.”
Ryo sighed. There was no getting through to his boy. He got to his feet and said, “I’m not taking part in your twisted plan. If I want to get together with Shige-which I don’t, by the way-I can do it myself.”
And with that, he left the shop, unaware of Tegoshi glaring after him.
*
The sun poured down in unbearable waves of heat, the sand was hot beneath bare feet and the rush of the sea rolling into shore reverberated in his ears. He pressed the button on the camera, heard the click of the shutter, called out for a pose change and took another shot.
Shige had been slightly apprehensive when Ryo had called to tell him they were having a location shoot on the beach for his photobook. Ryo seemed oddly excited about it, but Shige couldn’t be anything but nervous. He was nervous about spending a week in such close proximity with Ryo. And especially after how with each passing day, their friendship seemed to be getting stronger. He liked being with Ryo, and even though it was different than how he liked being with Koyama, Shige couldn’t help but be slightly frightened by these growing feelings.
Thankfully, Ryo was being surprisingly cooperative for the past few days. They had only three days left for the shoot and Shige was positive everything would go along smoothly until they had to leave.
Shige paused when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and called out for a ten minute break before he pulled it out and answered, “Kei, I’m working right now.”
“Are you okay?”
Shige rolled his eyes and sighed. “No, I broke my foot and it’s in a cast and now I think I’m going blind and-”
“Shige, that’s not funny!”
“Kei, I’m fine,” Shige insisted. “You’ve been calling me almost ten times everyday and asking the same thing. It’s just a location shoot! I’ll be back Saturday night, will you calm down?”
“I think I’ll come up there.”
“You can’t. You have work.”
“I’ll call in sick.”
“You’ve used up all your sick days,” Shige laughed as he sat down on a towel and uncapped a water bottle.
“I’m trying here,” Koyama said and Shige could almost hear the pout in his voice.
“And it was cute the first time, not the ten-thousandth,” Shige replied. He nodded at Ryo who came and sat down next to him, and swatted his hand away when he tried to grab Shige’s water bottle.
“I hate that you’re up there with him. Alone.”
“I’m not alone; most of the crew is here.”
“You’re sharing the same room.”
“And nothing’s happened!” Shige exclaimed and reached for his water bottle that Ryo had successfully grabbed. The model smirked and took a long sip from it, and Shige tried to grab it back, but Ryo held it out of his reach. “Ryo!” he snapped, annoyed.
“W-What! What did he do? Shige?”
Ryo tossed the now empty water bottle back at Shige, and as Shige tried to grab it, took Shige’s phone from his other hand. “Why, hello, Koyama-kun,” he said cheerfully into the speaker just as Shige let out a frustrated, “Hey!”
“Nishikido-san?”
“You don’t have to worry about a thing, Koyama-kun,” Ryo said while trying to fend Shige away from the phone with his other hand. “I’ll take very good care of him for the rest of the week and return him to you unharmed. But, you know, I can’t promise I won’t molest him on the beach or in his sleep if he keeps trying to feel me up like he is right now, oh, Shige-kun, you really shouldn’t be-”
“Kei, don’t listen to him!” Shige shouted into the phone, managing to get it back after smacking Ryo in the head.
The model just cackled and laid down on the towel, propping his head on Shige’s lap. Shige tried to shove him off, but gave up when Ryo wouldn’t budge.
“Kei, calm down, he’s just trying to cause trouble. Look, everything’s fine. I’ll talk to you later, I have work. Bye.” Shige hung up and smacked Ryo’s shoulder.
“What was that for?”
“For being a pain in the ass.”
Ryo smirked. “Just doing my job.”
“Get off me,” Shige replied.
Ryo didn’t move and instead asked, “Are we almost done with the shoots for today?”
“Yeah, just a little bit more. We should be done by dinnertime.”
“Good, then we can eat, I’m starved.” Ryo got back to his feet and stretched. “Let’s get back to work.”
Shige forced his eyes away from staring at Ryo’s bare chest and met his gaze, raising a brow. “You are being unusually cooperative.”
“When am I anything but cooperative?” Ryo replied, sounding offended. He grinned. “Come on, Shige-kun, let’s finish this roll and then we should go swimming. You’re not doing anything fun.”
“Because this is work, not a vacation,” Shige replied as he got to his feet.
Ryo rolled his eyes. “You are so boring.”
Shige kicked his shin and Ryo grinned. “Go fix your makeup. I can start to see the bags under your eyes.”
“I’m not falling for that again,” Ryo said, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.
Shige shrugged and went to change film in his camera. “Suit yourself,” he replied and tried not to smirk at how Ryo seemed to be forcing himself not to give in, clenching his fists and biting his lip.
Eventually he cracked, exclaimed, “What bags?” and stomped off towards the makeup artist.
Shige laughed after him and Ryo shot him a dirty look.
*
Ryo tried not to be terribly annoyed. After a few minutes of trying, the fact remained that he was terribly annoyed. He sipped slowly on his beer and stared over the rim of the glass at Shige who had been on the phone for almost an hour, laughing, giggling, and being all other irritatingly-dorky things that irritatingly caused Ryo’s blood to boil. Ryo tried to rationalize that he was only annoyed that Shige found more amusement in talking to his boyfriend over the phone than spending the evening with him on the excessive amount of alcohol he’d consumed, but he knew that was a stretch. Shige being irritatingly happy with his boyfriend always pissed Ryo off, and it was something he had to accept, no matter how much he didn’t want to or didn’t understand why it did.
Ryo downed the rest of his drink then stared into the empty glass, swirled the tiny drops that clung to the bottom, watched them slide round and round. He glanced back up at Shige and frowned when the photographer laughed, his eyes bright, at something funny Koyama must have said. Ryo wondered vaguely how angry Shige would be if he took the phone and dropped it off the veranda and into the pool five floors down. Knowing that that form of action wouldn’t put him in Shige’s good book, he opted instead for refilling his glass, propping his feet up onto the ledge of the table and trying to be inconspicuous about staring out the corner of his eyes at Shige.
And as he watched the way Shige’s eyes lit up at something particularly interesting his boyfriend had said, or would shift in his seat and pull a leg up to his chest, or how he would run a hand through his short hair, make it stick up in odd spikes but manage to look endearingly cute at the same time, or how the corners of his lips would twitch upward just before he laughed and-Ryo realized he was doing exactly what he’d been continuously denying.
He remembered what Yamapi had told him before he’d left for the location shoot.
“The longer you run from your feelings, the harder it’ll be to get what you want afterwards.”
“What if I have no feelings? Maybe my heart’s just made of stone.”
Yamapi had laughed, punched his shoulder playfully. “You have feelings. And you’re stubborn. Or you’d let yourself admit that the real reason you’re so excited for this shoot is not because you’re going to the beach, but because of who you’re getting to go with.”
Ryo hated when Yamapi was right; it was probably his biggest pet peeve. Being proven wrong, he hated that most, which was why not only did he resent Yamapi, but he hated Tegoshi too, hated them both for realizing before he could that perhaps he did have some feelings for Shige. Perhaps. He still didn’t want to admit it because that was harder to deal than anything else right now.
He sighed, slouched in his seat and turned to look at Shige, frowning when it seemed like the younger boy wasn’t getting off the phone any time soon. Ryo grabbed an unused napkin off the table, ripped it into a few pieces, scrunched them up into balls and chucked them at Shige’s head.
The photographer blinked and turned to look at him, mouthing ‘what?’. Ryo just shrugged and threw another napkin ball at him; it bounced off Shige’s forehead and fell into the drink in his hand. Ryo burst into a fit of laughter and Shige glared at him, muttered something that sounded vaguely like, “so insufferable,” and put his drink on the table, returning to his conversation.
Ryo pouted; his plan to get Shige off the phone had failed. He sighed and got to his feet, heading back inside, pausing momentarily to flick Shige’s forehead with his finger, the photographer swatting his hand away and frowning when he saw the dejected look on Ryo’s face as he returned to the hotel room.
Ryo flopped onto his bed, grabbed the TV remote and began flipping through the channels, figuring that if Shige wasn’t going to entertain him, he could use the opportunity to watch some free porn in the hotel.
A moment later, however, the TV was turned off and Shige stood before it, demanding, “How can you watch that stuff?”
Ryo shrugged and turned the TV back on with the remote. “You’re in the way, move,” he replied, sounding harsher than he meant.
Shige only turned the TV off, walked over and snatched the remote from Ryo’s hand before the model had the chance to turn it on again. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
Ryo shrugged again, leaned back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling. “Oh, nothing, nothing,” he lied. He cast Shige a glance before looking back at the ceiling. “Did you end your conversation with your boyfriend just to stop me from watching TV? Because that’s kind of stupid.”
“Except you’re the one sulking.”
“Because you were ignoring me.”
“What are you, five?” Shige asked. “Just because I was on the phone for awhile, doesn’t mean you can be upset I wasn’t talking with you. Not everyone waits on you hand and foot.”
Ryo sat up and glared. “Awhile? Try an hour and a half. I don’t care if you talk about dorky things with your boyfriend, but you could talk to him some other time that wasn’t during the middle of our conversation, our dinner.”
Shige blinked at him a few times, looking surprised and just a bit guilty. Maybe he should have been a bit more considerate about the circumstances, but still, Ryo wasn’t a baby, he could handle being on his own for an hour. “Look, I’m sorry, is that what you want?” Shige replied, exasperatedly. “I didn’t think you’d be so upset about it, because honestly, this is stupid. You don’t need to talk to me every single moment, do you?”
“Maybe I do,” Ryo said before he could stop himself. When Shige only stared at him, eyes widening slightly at the admission, he added, “Maybe that’s what I wanted.”
Shige looked slightly uncomfortable, Ryo noticed, as if he were unsure what to say. After a moment, he gave a short laugh and said, “Yeah, right, that’s just stupid.”
He turned to go back to the veranda but Ryo quickly caught his hand and pulled, at the same time leaning forward, their faces just barely an inch apart. Ryo heard Shige suck in a breath, his eyes widening and a blush faintly dusted his cheeks.
“What’s so stupid about that?” Ryo questioned and Shige only stared at him, mind having momentarily shut down.
When he couldn’t formulate a response quick enough, Ryo repeated, “What’s so stupid about that, Shige?”
Ryo could count the eyelashes on Shige’s eyes, watched closely as the younger boy tried to reply, his fingers clenching tighter around his wrist when he tried to wrench it away. He let his eyes fall to his mouth, watched as Shige bit his lip, and willed himself not to give into that sudden burning urge boiling in the pit of his stomach, because even if he did have some repressed feelings for the photographer, he knew that he shouldn’t do this.
But then Shige called his name, and Ryo saw his lips move to form the simple word, heard his voice ring in his ears, pleasantly, beautifully, and Ryo figured perhaps this once it might be okay, because this was how he could confirm whether or not those feelings he was harboring were just fleeting or something much more than that. Even if he already knew the answer.
Ryo lifted his gaze back up to meet Shige’s, the younger boy stared at him questioningly, and before he could rethink his decision, Ryo leaned forward and pressed their mouths together. He slipped his tongue past Shige’s lips when photographer gasped in surprise, and let himself explore the crevices of the other’s mouth, taking in the taste of alcohol and something sweet, something distinctly Shige, and Ryo reached his free hand up to thread through Shige’s hair, to pull him closer.
Before he had the chance to get any further, he was pushed back roughly by the shoulders and fell off the bed, narrowly managing to avoid hitting his head on the edge of the table. Ryo looked up quickly to see a flustered Shige glaring at him, hands clenched tightly into fists at his side as if resisting the temptation to punch him.
It felt like an eternity before either moved, and it was Shige who did first. Without a word, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, the door banged shut behind him and Ryo could only stare at the spot where Shige had been, rooted to the floor, and thinking that even if he had come to terms with his own feelings, he’d completely ruined all of his chances with that kiss.
→ Chapter Nine.
Pairing: RyoShige, KoyaShige, KoyaTego
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Photographer Kato Shigeaki’s never had to put up with a model like Nishikido Ryo.
Author’s Note: AU. Random plot bunny took over my brain. Instead of a fic with lawyer!Shige (which we see everywhere), how about fic with photographer!Shige. :)
Thanks to quiraikotsu and lizzfan for betaing. ♥
Chapter Eight
Koyama awoke to the smell of coffee and waffles in the air. He sat up in bed and confirmed his suspicions that Shige was already up and making breakfast. He stretched his arms over his head and got out from under the covers, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and shoving his arms though a t-shirt before meandering into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He felt ten times more awake, however, when laughter reached his ears and he found Shige making eggs on the stove while balancing his cell phone in the crook of his neck.
Koyama contemplated going back to bed when he heard Shige say, “Oh, come on, Ryo, I’ve told you I’m fine.”
Finding Shige talking to Ryo on the phone was not the first thing Koyama wanted to witness in the morning. He sighed and walked around the counter before leaning over and placing a kiss to Shige’s bare neck, the younger boy jumping slightly in surprise. He turned and gave Koyama a bright smile, which despite Koyama’s earlier annoyance, put a smile on his face as well.
“Good morning,” Shige mouthed and gave Koyama a kiss on the lips, to which Koyama wrapped his arms around his waist and kissed him back softly.
Koyama groaned with irritation when Shige pulled away quickly, laughing at Ryo shouting into his ear about making out while they were on the phone.
“Sorry, sorry,” Shige said. “But I have to go now, Ryo. We should start our shoots again tomorrow.” With a quick goodbye he hung up and gave Koyama an apologetic look. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s all right,” Koyama replied before looking over his shoulder to see what he was making. “Why’re you making breakfast? You hardly ever do.”
Shige shrugged and looked at the floor. “I’m just glad you’re back.”
Koyama stood up straight and stared at him, Shige refusing to meet his eyes. He smiled and pulled Shige into his arms. “I’m sorry, Shige,” he whispered into the other’s ear. “I’m not going anywhere now.”
“Good,” Shige answered, closing his eyes and sighing contently.
“What did Nishikido-san call you about?” Koyama asked as he stepped back and went to set the table.
“Just to check if I was feeling all right and wanting to know when to start shooting again,” Shige answered. “I said we could today, but he refused, saying I should rest, even though I feel perfectly fine.”
“No, Shige, he’s right,” Koyama said. “You should stay home and just rest today, okay?”
“Kei, I’m-” Shige began but Koyama put a hand over his mouth and gave him a stern, yet worried look.
“Please? Just stay home and rest. You just got out of the hospital last night, but that doesn’t mean you’re all better. Please? So I won’t freak out and cause another five-car pileup on the road again.”
“You did what?” Shige exclaimed, shoving his hand out of the way.
Koyama laughed. “I was kidding,” he said. “It should be I almost caused a five-car pileup.”
Shige stared at him wide-eyed and Koyama laughed again, patting his head.
“What? Did you expect me to actually sit in the traffic jam while you were in the hospital, in who knew what condition? I wasn’t going to take that.”
Shige smiled at him and said, “You’re cute.”
Koyama grinned and kissed his forehead before sitting down at the table. “Let’s eat,” he said and Shige nodded.
“You’re working today?” Shige asked.
“Yes, I should leave in a half hour or so,” Koyama replied.
“Will you be back by dinner?”
Koyama gasped, remembering something, and Shige stared at him expectantly. Koyama gave Shige an apologetic look and said, “I promised Tegoshi before that we’d go eat dinner together tonight.”
Shige’s face fell and he slowly chewed on his breakfast, not answering.
“But you should come too,” Koyama said brightly. “I don’t think Tegoshi would mind.”
“Are you sure?” Shige asked. “I don’t want to intrude-”
“Shige, you’re my boyfriend. You can never intrude.” Koyama smiled. “So, you should meet us there, okay? We’ll be at that restaurant down the street from the hospital.”
Shige nodded and said, “What time?”
“Seven thirty.”
“All right, I’ll be there.”
Koyama grinned and they lapsed into silence, eating their meals quietly. Shige watched Koyama discreetly, trying to get himself to ask what they’d mutually left on the backburner. He was glad to be back together with Koyama, but they hadn’t really talked about their argument yet, instead had soft of forgotten about it as Koyama was far too concerned about Shige’s wellbeing.
When Shige had been released from the hospital and they’d returned home, Koyama fussed over him like a mother hen, which, while enormously endearing, became just a bit too much; especially when Koyama didn’t think Shige could properly stand by himself and therefore in no way could shower and had suggested a sponge bath, to which Shige had promptly refused. He’d snapped at Koyama for being so overbearing, even though he knew it was just concern, and had told him that he was perfectly fine, and to prove it, had dragged Koyama to the bed and kissed him eagerly.
But Koyama, even though Shige knew he wanted it too, had immediately shoved him away, claiming Shige shouldn’t exert himself and then they had ended up spending the night watching reruns of really horrible movies on television just to make fun of them.
But Shige wanted to walk about what had happened, wanted to know where Koyama had gone, wanted to confront it before it had the chance to get worse.
“Uhm, Kei?” Shige finally spoke up, hesitant.
“Hm?”
“While we were fighting, where did you go?”
Koyama paused for a moment and then answered, “The hotel across from the studio.”
Shige stared at him, relief running through his veins. “You were that close?”
Koyama smiled. “Couldn’t stay away.”
“You were still away, Kei.”
“You never came home either.”
“I waited all night for you to come back!”
Koyama bit his lips and stared down at his plate. “I know,” he whispered somberly. “I’m sorry, Shige.” He looked back up and continued, “This is all my fault. I-I should have believed you right away instead of jumping to conclusions, but I-I just can’t help be worried about it.”
Shige sighed. “I love you, Kei. You don’t have to worry about anything else.”
“You accused me too, with Tegoshi,” Koyama pointed out.
Shige glanced away guiltily. “I was just…jealous.”
Koyama smiled. “That makes me happy.”
“What?”
“It makes me happy you’d get jealous.”
Shige rolled his eyes. “You’re weird.”
“You’re jealous.”
“You are too.”
Koyama shook his head. “No, I’m worried,” he corrected.
Shige blinked at him, not comprehending.
Koyama continued, “I feel that you like being with Nishikido-san better than being with me, and that makes me worried, not jealous.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Shige said.
“And you shouldn’t be jealous,” Koyama replied.
“So, where does that leave us?”
Koyama leaned over and kissed him. “As a couple of insecure idiots?”
Shige grinned. “Sounds good to me,” he said and kissed him once more, before adding, “You’re going to be late for work.”
Koyama got up so fast he knocked the chair to the floor. He made to grab the dishes, but Shige stopped him.
“I’ll do it, go get dressed.”
Koyama kissed his forehead and dashed off to the bathroom, Shige chuckling contently after him.
*
Ryo clenched the steering wheel tightly in his hand and stared out the windshield for a moment before leaning forward to smack his forehead on the wheel. He wasn’t sure what he was doing here, sitting in his car in front of the studio, where he knew Shige wouldn’t be since he’d told Shige to stay at home, but yet, there he was, sitting in his car staring blankly at the door. When he’d decided to go on a drive to clear his head, he hadn’t planned on coming to the studio, didn’t even remember taking any of the roads to get there in the first place and now he couldn’t seem to get himself to leave.
A sudden knock on the car window caused him to jump and then howl in pain as he hit his head on the roof of the car. Rubbing his new injury he looked out the window, preparing to tell whoever it was to start running because he was dead, but the words died in his throat when instead he found Shige peering curiously at him.
Ryo cursed inwardly, realizing he was going to have to explain what he was doing there, and that would be a problem since he had no idea himself. He opened the door and got out of the car, mumbling, “H-Hey.”
Shige stared at him with a raised brow. “What are you doing here?”
Ryo pretended to be suddenly very interested with the tires of his car and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, before realizing something of his own, and quickly glaring up at Shige. “What’re you doing here? Didn’t I tell you to stay at home and rest?”
Shige crossed his arms and replied evenly, “I work here. This is my studio. I can be here if I want to be. However, you do not work here, not technically, nor is this studio yours. Therefore, it’s really strange you’re here on a day we weren’t planning to meet.”
Ryo decided Shige was too smart for his own good sometimes and tried quickly to come up with a decent explanation. A moment of fast thinking granted him an idea. “I, uhm, uh, left my stuff here when you fainted and thought perhaps I would come and get it back.”
“Even though you know the door’s lock and you have no key?”
“So I was going to throw a rock at the window.”
“And then you’d be getting a call from my lawyer.”
“Well, I won’t mind if she’s really hot.”
Shige snorted and Ryo grinned, glad he’d managed to weasel his way out of that mess. Before Shige could ask him more, he said, “So, what are you doing here? You really should just stay home and rest, you know.”
Shige headed for the studio, unlocking the door and walking inside; Ryo following after. “I’m not a fragile porcelain doll. I’m perfectly fine and was really bored at home. I came down to get the projects I’m working on and then I’m going back so that Kei doesn’t realize I ever left.”
“Keeping secrets from the boyfriend isn’t good for a relationship,” Ryo commented.
“Would you know?” Shige asked.
“Yes, I would,” Ryo replied and Shige turned to look at him, surprised by his seriousness.
Ryo just shrugged. “Why else do you think Pi and I broke up?”
“What? You cheated on him or something?”
Ryo smiled deviously. “Or something.”
“Hey, not fair. Now you have to tell me,” Shige complained.
“Nope, not happening,” Ryo replied stubbornly as he headed to one of the tables where his things from a few days ago were still sitting. He grabbed them and made to leave but was stopped by Shige calling after him.
“What’re you doing for dinner tonight?”
Slightly surprised, but mostly pleased, Ryo replied, “Nothing, yet. Why? Are you asking me out, Shige-kun?”
Shige rolled his eyes. “You wish.”
“I do,” Ryo teased.
Shige smiled and continued, “Well, want to join me for dinner? I’m meeting Kei and-”
“Sorry, I don’t want to be a third wheel on your date,” Ryo cut in, suddenly annoyed.
“But Tegoshi’s going too. The two of them had already planned on dinner together and Kei told me to come along, but I don’t want to be a third wheel. So I thought I’d ask you.”
Ryo shook his head. Even if that situation was better than just him with Koyama and Shige, Ryo still wasn’t very eager to see Tegoshi. He wasn’t sure what the boy might do. “Sorry, but I’m not in the mood for a big group of people. If you want to ditch them and eat with me, I’m good with that, but otherwise, no.”
“Okay, then I won’t go meet them,” Shige responded and Ryo stared at him disbelievingly, not expecting Shige to so easily agree.
“I was kidding, you don’t have to do that.”
Shige shrugged. “I’d rather eat with you than be third wheel with Kei and Tegoshi.”
“W-Well, of course. Who wouldn’t want to eat with me?”
Shige rolled his eyes. “So, when?”
“I’ll meet you at your place around seven thirty,” Ryo replied. “I’ll bring food and we can eat there, I don’t really feel like going out.”
“That’s fine with me. I’ll see you then.” Shige smiled and Ryo cursed his traitorous heart for skipping a beat.
“Y-Yeah, later,” he said and quickly left, ignoring desperately the fact that (to anyone else) he’d just agreed to a “date” with Shige…and that thought made him more excited than he would ever admit.
*
“I’m surprised you actually came,” Tegoshi said as Ryo sat down in the chair across from him in the small coffee shop.
Ryo just shrugged and replied, “I thought you’d keep harassing me if I didn’t.”
Tegoshi smiled and stirred a spoon around in his cup of coffee. “Yes, I would have,” he said.
Ryo sighed and when a waitress came by and asked what he wanted, he declined saying he wouldn’t be staying long. Tegoshi frowned at him and took a sip of his drink, watching Ryo closely over the edge of the cup. Ryo leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.
“So, what do you want?” he asked.
Tegoshi set his cup down on the table with a clink, and folded his hands together on his lap as if getting ready for a very important business proposal, which Ryo realized, that’s what this really was to Tegoshi. “I want to thank you,” Tegoshi said.
Ryo blinked, slightly thrown. “F-For what?”
Tegoshi’s lips curved slightly. “For a few nights ago when I had dinner with Kei-chan. You kept Shige away, so thank you.”
Ryo stared at him, seemingly uncomprehending and Tegoshi explained further.
“I knew Kei-chan would ask Shige to join us for dinner, after all they are dating, it’s only natural,” Tegoshi continued. “But I suspected Shige wouldn’t want to be third wheel, and as expected asked you. And, however it came to be, you managed to keep Shige away from my dinner with Kei-chan.”
Ryo leaned forward and said, “What, you knew that was going to happen? Suddenly you’re all-knowing?”
Tegoshi only smiled deviously and brought his coffee to his lips, taking another small sip.
Ryo rested back against his seat again and asked, “I know that’s not all you wanted to talk to me about, so just get on with it.”
“I want to know if you thought about my idea at all.”
“You mean other than how much it sucks?” Ryo replied and Tegoshi glared.
“I’m trying to be nice, you know, offering to help you get together with Shige-”
“And breaking him up with his boyfriend in the process,” Ryo interrupted. “Don’t you know what you’re doing is wrong?”
“Wrong? What’s wrong?” Tegoshi said, blinking owlishly. “I’m only just spending time with Kei-chan.”
Ryo sighed. There was no getting through to his boy. He got to his feet and said, “I’m not taking part in your twisted plan. If I want to get together with Shige-which I don’t, by the way-I can do it myself.”
And with that, he left the shop, unaware of Tegoshi glaring after him.
*
The sun poured down in unbearable waves of heat, the sand was hot beneath bare feet and the rush of the sea rolling into shore reverberated in his ears. He pressed the button on the camera, heard the click of the shutter, called out for a pose change and took another shot.
Shige had been slightly apprehensive when Ryo had called to tell him they were having a location shoot on the beach for his photobook. Ryo seemed oddly excited about it, but Shige couldn’t be anything but nervous. He was nervous about spending a week in such close proximity with Ryo. And especially after how with each passing day, their friendship seemed to be getting stronger. He liked being with Ryo, and even though it was different than how he liked being with Koyama, Shige couldn’t help but be slightly frightened by these growing feelings.
Thankfully, Ryo was being surprisingly cooperative for the past few days. They had only three days left for the shoot and Shige was positive everything would go along smoothly until they had to leave.
Shige paused when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and called out for a ten minute break before he pulled it out and answered, “Kei, I’m working right now.”
“Are you okay?”
Shige rolled his eyes and sighed. “No, I broke my foot and it’s in a cast and now I think I’m going blind and-”
“Shige, that’s not funny!”
“Kei, I’m fine,” Shige insisted. “You’ve been calling me almost ten times everyday and asking the same thing. It’s just a location shoot! I’ll be back Saturday night, will you calm down?”
“I think I’ll come up there.”
“You can’t. You have work.”
“I’ll call in sick.”
“You’ve used up all your sick days,” Shige laughed as he sat down on a towel and uncapped a water bottle.
“I’m trying here,” Koyama said and Shige could almost hear the pout in his voice.
“And it was cute the first time, not the ten-thousandth,” Shige replied. He nodded at Ryo who came and sat down next to him, and swatted his hand away when he tried to grab Shige’s water bottle.
“I hate that you’re up there with him. Alone.”
“I’m not alone; most of the crew is here.”
“You’re sharing the same room.”
“And nothing’s happened!” Shige exclaimed and reached for his water bottle that Ryo had successfully grabbed. The model smirked and took a long sip from it, and Shige tried to grab it back, but Ryo held it out of his reach. “Ryo!” he snapped, annoyed.
“W-What! What did he do? Shige?”
Ryo tossed the now empty water bottle back at Shige, and as Shige tried to grab it, took Shige’s phone from his other hand. “Why, hello, Koyama-kun,” he said cheerfully into the speaker just as Shige let out a frustrated, “Hey!”
“Nishikido-san?”
“You don’t have to worry about a thing, Koyama-kun,” Ryo said while trying to fend Shige away from the phone with his other hand. “I’ll take very good care of him for the rest of the week and return him to you unharmed. But, you know, I can’t promise I won’t molest him on the beach or in his sleep if he keeps trying to feel me up like he is right now, oh, Shige-kun, you really shouldn’t be-”
“Kei, don’t listen to him!” Shige shouted into the phone, managing to get it back after smacking Ryo in the head.
The model just cackled and laid down on the towel, propping his head on Shige’s lap. Shige tried to shove him off, but gave up when Ryo wouldn’t budge.
“Kei, calm down, he’s just trying to cause trouble. Look, everything’s fine. I’ll talk to you later, I have work. Bye.” Shige hung up and smacked Ryo’s shoulder.
“What was that for?”
“For being a pain in the ass.”
Ryo smirked. “Just doing my job.”
“Get off me,” Shige replied.
Ryo didn’t move and instead asked, “Are we almost done with the shoots for today?”
“Yeah, just a little bit more. We should be done by dinnertime.”
“Good, then we can eat, I’m starved.” Ryo got back to his feet and stretched. “Let’s get back to work.”
Shige forced his eyes away from staring at Ryo’s bare chest and met his gaze, raising a brow. “You are being unusually cooperative.”
“When am I anything but cooperative?” Ryo replied, sounding offended. He grinned. “Come on, Shige-kun, let’s finish this roll and then we should go swimming. You’re not doing anything fun.”
“Because this is work, not a vacation,” Shige replied as he got to his feet.
Ryo rolled his eyes. “You are so boring.”
Shige kicked his shin and Ryo grinned. “Go fix your makeup. I can start to see the bags under your eyes.”
“I’m not falling for that again,” Ryo said, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.
Shige shrugged and went to change film in his camera. “Suit yourself,” he replied and tried not to smirk at how Ryo seemed to be forcing himself not to give in, clenching his fists and biting his lip.
Eventually he cracked, exclaimed, “What bags?” and stomped off towards the makeup artist.
Shige laughed after him and Ryo shot him a dirty look.
*
Ryo tried not to be terribly annoyed. After a few minutes of trying, the fact remained that he was terribly annoyed. He sipped slowly on his beer and stared over the rim of the glass at Shige who had been on the phone for almost an hour, laughing, giggling, and being all other irritatingly-dorky things that irritatingly caused Ryo’s blood to boil. Ryo tried to rationalize that he was only annoyed that Shige found more amusement in talking to his boyfriend over the phone than spending the evening with him on the excessive amount of alcohol he’d consumed, but he knew that was a stretch. Shige being irritatingly happy with his boyfriend always pissed Ryo off, and it was something he had to accept, no matter how much he didn’t want to or didn’t understand why it did.
Ryo downed the rest of his drink then stared into the empty glass, swirled the tiny drops that clung to the bottom, watched them slide round and round. He glanced back up at Shige and frowned when the photographer laughed, his eyes bright, at something funny Koyama must have said. Ryo wondered vaguely how angry Shige would be if he took the phone and dropped it off the veranda and into the pool five floors down. Knowing that that form of action wouldn’t put him in Shige’s good book, he opted instead for refilling his glass, propping his feet up onto the ledge of the table and trying to be inconspicuous about staring out the corner of his eyes at Shige.
And as he watched the way Shige’s eyes lit up at something particularly interesting his boyfriend had said, or would shift in his seat and pull a leg up to his chest, or how he would run a hand through his short hair, make it stick up in odd spikes but manage to look endearingly cute at the same time, or how the corners of his lips would twitch upward just before he laughed and-Ryo realized he was doing exactly what he’d been continuously denying.
He remembered what Yamapi had told him before he’d left for the location shoot.
“The longer you run from your feelings, the harder it’ll be to get what you want afterwards.”
“What if I have no feelings? Maybe my heart’s just made of stone.”
Yamapi had laughed, punched his shoulder playfully. “You have feelings. And you’re stubborn. Or you’d let yourself admit that the real reason you’re so excited for this shoot is not because you’re going to the beach, but because of who you’re getting to go with.”
Ryo hated when Yamapi was right; it was probably his biggest pet peeve. Being proven wrong, he hated that most, which was why not only did he resent Yamapi, but he hated Tegoshi too, hated them both for realizing before he could that perhaps he did have some feelings for Shige. Perhaps. He still didn’t want to admit it because that was harder to deal than anything else right now.
He sighed, slouched in his seat and turned to look at Shige, frowning when it seemed like the younger boy wasn’t getting off the phone any time soon. Ryo grabbed an unused napkin off the table, ripped it into a few pieces, scrunched them up into balls and chucked them at Shige’s head.
The photographer blinked and turned to look at him, mouthing ‘what?’. Ryo just shrugged and threw another napkin ball at him; it bounced off Shige’s forehead and fell into the drink in his hand. Ryo burst into a fit of laughter and Shige glared at him, muttered something that sounded vaguely like, “so insufferable,” and put his drink on the table, returning to his conversation.
Ryo pouted; his plan to get Shige off the phone had failed. He sighed and got to his feet, heading back inside, pausing momentarily to flick Shige’s forehead with his finger, the photographer swatting his hand away and frowning when he saw the dejected look on Ryo’s face as he returned to the hotel room.
Ryo flopped onto his bed, grabbed the TV remote and began flipping through the channels, figuring that if Shige wasn’t going to entertain him, he could use the opportunity to watch some free porn in the hotel.
A moment later, however, the TV was turned off and Shige stood before it, demanding, “How can you watch that stuff?”
Ryo shrugged and turned the TV back on with the remote. “You’re in the way, move,” he replied, sounding harsher than he meant.
Shige only turned the TV off, walked over and snatched the remote from Ryo’s hand before the model had the chance to turn it on again. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
Ryo shrugged again, leaned back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling. “Oh, nothing, nothing,” he lied. He cast Shige a glance before looking back at the ceiling. “Did you end your conversation with your boyfriend just to stop me from watching TV? Because that’s kind of stupid.”
“Except you’re the one sulking.”
“Because you were ignoring me.”
“What are you, five?” Shige asked. “Just because I was on the phone for awhile, doesn’t mean you can be upset I wasn’t talking with you. Not everyone waits on you hand and foot.”
Ryo sat up and glared. “Awhile? Try an hour and a half. I don’t care if you talk about dorky things with your boyfriend, but you could talk to him some other time that wasn’t during the middle of our conversation, our dinner.”
Shige blinked at him a few times, looking surprised and just a bit guilty. Maybe he should have been a bit more considerate about the circumstances, but still, Ryo wasn’t a baby, he could handle being on his own for an hour. “Look, I’m sorry, is that what you want?” Shige replied, exasperatedly. “I didn’t think you’d be so upset about it, because honestly, this is stupid. You don’t need to talk to me every single moment, do you?”
“Maybe I do,” Ryo said before he could stop himself. When Shige only stared at him, eyes widening slightly at the admission, he added, “Maybe that’s what I wanted.”
Shige looked slightly uncomfortable, Ryo noticed, as if he were unsure what to say. After a moment, he gave a short laugh and said, “Yeah, right, that’s just stupid.”
He turned to go back to the veranda but Ryo quickly caught his hand and pulled, at the same time leaning forward, their faces just barely an inch apart. Ryo heard Shige suck in a breath, his eyes widening and a blush faintly dusted his cheeks.
“What’s so stupid about that?” Ryo questioned and Shige only stared at him, mind having momentarily shut down.
When he couldn’t formulate a response quick enough, Ryo repeated, “What’s so stupid about that, Shige?”
Ryo could count the eyelashes on Shige’s eyes, watched closely as the younger boy tried to reply, his fingers clenching tighter around his wrist when he tried to wrench it away. He let his eyes fall to his mouth, watched as Shige bit his lip, and willed himself not to give into that sudden burning urge boiling in the pit of his stomach, because even if he did have some repressed feelings for the photographer, he knew that he shouldn’t do this.
But then Shige called his name, and Ryo saw his lips move to form the simple word, heard his voice ring in his ears, pleasantly, beautifully, and Ryo figured perhaps this once it might be okay, because this was how he could confirm whether or not those feelings he was harboring were just fleeting or something much more than that. Even if he already knew the answer.
Ryo lifted his gaze back up to meet Shige’s, the younger boy stared at him questioningly, and before he could rethink his decision, Ryo leaned forward and pressed their mouths together. He slipped his tongue past Shige’s lips when photographer gasped in surprise, and let himself explore the crevices of the other’s mouth, taking in the taste of alcohol and something sweet, something distinctly Shige, and Ryo reached his free hand up to thread through Shige’s hair, to pull him closer.
Before he had the chance to get any further, he was pushed back roughly by the shoulders and fell off the bed, narrowly managing to avoid hitting his head on the edge of the table. Ryo looked up quickly to see a flustered Shige glaring at him, hands clenched tightly into fists at his side as if resisting the temptation to punch him.
It felt like an eternity before either moved, and it was Shige who did first. Without a word, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, the door banged shut behind him and Ryo could only stare at the spot where Shige had been, rooted to the floor, and thinking that even if he had come to terms with his own feelings, he’d completely ruined all of his chances with that kiss.
→ Chapter Nine.