Fic
Title: Getting it Wrong
Pairing: NishiKato
Disclaimer: They aren't mine
Rating: PG
Summary: Nishikato at an Onsen. Contains gratuitous Ryo fail. Written for aimaw and originally posted here.
Ryo wasn't sure how this had come about, but he knew he wasn't comfortable. Sure, he'd gone to bath houses with the band (sans Massu) in the past but he'd never had to be alone with any of them. He'd always been able to hide behind Pi or let Tegoshi monopolise his attention. So when he'd opened his eyes in the middle of a secluded late night soak at the onsen, he wasn't sure quite how to react to the sight of Kato Shigeaki wading toward him.
"What? You think you're the only person that stays up past 10pm?" Shige grumbled as he relaxed against the rock on Ryo's right.
"No, I just ... I was enjoying the silence." Why did Shige have to look so hot wet?
"Hmm, so keep enjoying it. I'm not here to talk; I'm here to relax."
Ryo looked across at him. Shige had his eyes closed, neck stretched out to rest his head on the rock behind him.
Silence fell over them and Ryo sat forward a little; made more courageous thanks to Shige's lack of attention. There was something so enthralling about watching the little beads of sweat slowly gather on the younger man's throat. Ryo just couldn't look away.
They sat there like that for a fair while. In all honesty, Ryo had completely lost track of time. He'd possibly lost track of his sanity too as he contemplated just what might happen if he reached out and touched the sweat slicked skin before him.
"Why are you staring at me?"
"Huh?" Ryo looked up to see Shige staring straight into his eyes. Shit.
"Stop staring, it's making me uncomfortable." Shige complained as he moved to sit up properly while discretely moving a little further away from Ryo.
"Sorry, I was just... uh"
"You were what? Contemplating becoming a vampire? My neck really isn't that interesting."
"I know that. I wasn't really looking at what I was looking at. My eyes just came to rest there while my mind was somewhere else."
Shige snorted at that.
"So where was your mind then?"
In the gutter. "No where that concerns you."
"You know what? This is weird and your acting strange, so I'm just going to go." Shige announced as he stood up and went to move back toward the edge of the spring.
Ryo's hand automatically shot out to stop him from leaving. He had no idea what he was going to say or what reason to give but really didn't want Shige to leave. When was he ever going to get another chance like this? Not that he knew what to do with it.
"Don't go. I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make things weird. Just ... just sit down."
Shige looked down at him from over his wet, sculpted shoulder.
"I'm only staying if you're going to stop being such an ass."
Ryo tried to stop himself at that, but really what were the chances of Shige using that particular phrase when Ryo was so close to Shige's back and the water level was low enough to give a tantalising hint of the swell of flesh that is Shige's ass? He had no choice but to look down at that gorgeous expanse of bare skin and firm flesh.
"Ryo, don't stare at me like that. And let go of my leg."
Ryo pulled his eyes from the sight before him and tried to focus on Shige's words. Leg? What leg?
And then he realised that when he'd reached out to stop Shige from leaving, he had wrapped his hand around Shige's knee, beneath the water. A hand that was still in contact with Shige.
"Sorry, I didn't realise." He apologised and let his fingers slip away from Shige's skin.
Shige snorted at that and turned around to face Ryo properly, looming over him in all his glory.
"You know, I realise that you're not good with people and you get awkward when you don't have your friends around for back up, but I had hoped, after all these years, that you would have been able to sit beside me for a while without getting weird. I'm really not that scary you know."
"I know, you just make me a little nervous is all." Ryo hated to admit even that much.
"Why? Because I can speak Kansai-ben too? Because we both sing the lower ranges? Because we're both capable of having normal hair without management yelling at us to get a new style? The group isn't new anymore. They aren't going to get rid of anyone else. Just relax, okay. I am not your competition."
Ryo gaped at the man in front of him. He'd never considered even one of those things. Never thought of Shige as anything other than a kouhai in terms of work. He had no idea where any of that had come from. But by the time he organised his brain enough to deny it, Shige was already at the edge of the spring and climbing out.
"That's not what-"
"It's fine Nishikido, just," Shige made a generalised arm movement and sauntered, naked, to the door of the locker room, "take your time and relax."
And then he was gone.
Ryo sunk down into the water and tried to figure out what just happened.
Shige actually thinks that he's competition for Ryo.
Shige is oblivious to being hot.
Shige is oblivious to Ryo's sexuality.
Shige is an idiot.
And with that Ryo decided that it might be best if he erased tonight from his memory; he never did like to remember his failures.