Being in Balance
NishiKato
NC-15
Summary: Shige has always been doing things alone in life, but one day he steps in to save a stranger.
Notes: I am terrible at writing summaries... originally posted here for Fic Games
It was almost like every other evening.
He pulled his coat tighter around him; the weather was slowly getting colder now that winter was slowly approaching. The park near where he lived had a beautiful range of colours, and it wouldn’t be long until they started to fall. Slowly he picked up his pace; this wasn’t the best part of town to walk slowly through after all. But with his current salary, this place was all he could afford, luckily the company paid for his travel expenses.
He hurried down the road when he heard a muffled groan from his right. For a moment he glanced over before carrying on, stopping a few steps further, finally registering what he had just witnessed. He cautiously stepped back, peeking around the corner, watching two guys crowding someone into the corner. They were talking in hushed tones so it was hard to make out what they were talking about. He was about to carry on walking when he saw it again, one of the men punching the person in the corner hard in the stomach. This time thought the person fell to their knees, soon followed by a kick to the chin.
He should walk away. It wasn’t like him to get involved in the roughness of the streets. If he managed to end up in something, news might get to the police, which would lead to them informing his work place, and then it would be back to job hunting. He didn’t think he could live through that hell again. He still found it a miracle that he was hired at all. But somewhere deep inside him he couldn’t just let himself walk away. He couldn’t just turn a blind eye.
“Excuse me” He uttered, the whine of the person on the floor nearly blocking out his voice. But despite that, one of the men turned around.
“What? Piss off, we’re busy!” he yelled aggressively. These were definitely not people he wanted to mess with. They were dangerous, their eyes containing that wild streak that he had grown to recognise. He scowled at them.
“Just thought I’d let you know that someone called the police, but since I should piss off I’ll just wander off and watch you guys get arrested.” He turned, only taking a couple of steps before one of the guys shouldered him out of the way as they ran. Idiots always believe stupid lies. He glanced back, the person they had cornered collapsed on the floor, trying to curl into a ball. Slowly, he walked over; he didn’t want to startle the other as he carefully crouched down.
“Hey, are you ok? Should I take you to the hospital?” The other moved slightly, groaning in pain, probably in the stomach region with all the kicks they were landing.
“No… hospital” the other rolled over weakly, his eyes were half closed and his face a little bloody, but he could see the other was ready to fight if he had to, regardless of his state. He sighed, leaning down to pick up the other guy and pulling him on his back.
“No… hospital, please” the other whined on his back.
“I know, I know, I’m just getting you out the streets. God knows what would happen to you out here.”
The other stayed silent and he took it as affirmation that he was right. After all the man could barely speak let alone move on his back. No matter how fierce his eyes are, he couldn’t fight back.
The man’s groaning as he woke up again woke him up as well. He raised his bleary eyes to see the now bandaged and cleaned up man lying on his bed while he lay on a futon on the floor. The other tried to move, but winced as pain spread through his body, clearly he wasn’t ready yet to get up.
“I wouldn’t move too much if I were you, you need to heal” The other man seemed to jump from the sound of his voice.
“Where am I?” It was a rough voice, probably laced with sleepiness and pain, but it was low and soft, almost gentle.
“You’re in my apartment, you didn’t want to go to the hospital, and I couldn’t leave you there.” The other glanced around quickly, before his eyes settled on him again, examining his face and his most likely bed hair. He couldn’t help that he tossed around a lot at night.
“Who are you?” The other asked quietly, as if asking would break something between them… or maybe he was just cautious, unsure how to deal with his rescuer-stranger.
“My name’s Kato Shigeaki. How about you?”
“Ryo… and your name is too long, I’ll call you Shige” Shige stared at him, ignoring that the stranger just renamed him… but just Ryo? Maybe the other feared that by giving his surname that he might look him up… so the guy didn’t trust people, or he had something to hide…
Interesting.
“Well rest up Ryo, you need it if you don’t want me to take you to the hospital” Ryo groaned at that, but slowly let himself drift back to sleep. The situation was new, the person beside him a stranger, but the bed was warm and his body was in too much pain to move…
So what the hell.
When he opened his eyes again, he was alone, a dull ache in his limbs the only thing to accompany him. He glanced around from the bed he was lying on and noticed a note lying on the bedside table.
Ryo
I had to go to work, there’s some food in the fridge but don’t move too much, you might make things worse.
Shige
Ryo let a small smile creep across his face before he slowly pulled himself out of the bed. He needed the bathroom, and he was pretty sure Shige, no matter how kind his heart is, would not appreciate him dirtying his bed. He slowly made his way out the bed and glanced around the small one room apartment where Shige lived. Good thing about small apartments like this, it was easy to find the bathroom. Ryo’s stomach still had a dull ache, he probably bruised some ribs, but he didn’t feel like anything was broken, it just hurt to move.
He rummaged through the fridge, finding inside some onigiri, but after biting into it, he realised that it contained salmon. He pulled a face and put it back, digging around for something else. Eventually he managed to put together a sandwich before seating himself gently on the bed.
He took a moment to glance around the apartment; there weren’t a lot of things, a few books on the shelf, some food in the kitchen, place to sleep and a table on the floor. The TV caught Ryo’s attention and soon started glancing around to find the remote. He had to kill time somehow; he couldn’t go out in his current condition. At least here was warm, and he had a soft bed.
Better than the streets.
The room was dark when Shige opened the door, he paused for a moment in the genkan, confused by the silence he was met with. It wasn’t that late… For a brief moment he thought Ryo had left, but the other shouldn’t be able to move easily yet, he wouldn’t have been able to go far.
Then again, maybe he went home, where ever that was… Shige sighed to himself, somehow he felt a little more lonely than usual, after all he was used to always coming home to an empty apartment, but for some reason, the idea that Ryo was there kind of made him feel a little less lonely.
He nudged off his shoes, reaching towards the light switch so that he wouldn’t have to fall over an abandoned pile of books or something.
As the lights came flickering on in his small apartment, a small groan accompanied it. Shige’s eyes quickly darted around the apartment, before they came to a rest on Ryo curled up on top of his bed, he let out a sigh of relief, blinking when he realised that he was glad the other was still there. It was just an impulse heroic act… but did he maybe do it for another reason…? Was Shige really that lonely?
He shook his head before letting his thoughts drift off any further, and approached Ryo.
“How you feeling?” He slowly settled on the bed, raising a hand to his forehead, checking that he didn’t have a fever.
“I’ll be fine in a few days” Ryo muttered, he let the other touch him, staring up at him from the bed, wondering why this man saved him.
“I hope so, anything weird happens, tell me and we will have to go to the hospital.” Shige frowned slightly, emphasising his words. Ryo pouted in response.
“Ne… why did you save me? So many people would just walk past and ignore a scene like that” Shige stared at him, how would he answer something like that? He wasn’t even 100% sure why he even stopped, why he stepped in, why he did that…
“I just did, I couldn’t just walk away” he finalised. What else could he have done? He wasn’t about to tell Ryo that he felt lonely and subconsciously saved him for a slightly selfish desire for someone to be there. Ryo stared at him, appearing to be analysing Shige’s answer, trying to find the real meaning behind it all.
“I guess I owe you one then” Ryo finalised, glancing off to the side. Shige stared at him, he didn’t really want Ryo to owe him anything…
“Don’t worry about it” Shige said as he stood up, moving over to the small kitchenette part of his flat, it was late, and they both needed to eat.
Ryo just stared after him, wondering what on earth he did to deserve a lucky chance like this. Somewhere to stay which was inside, someone making food for him… he glanced over towards the bathroom door.
“I think I’ll take a shower” he said, slowly standing and moving cautiously as to not cause any sharp pains to shoot through him. Shige stared at the door as it closed.
“I guess this is a start” he muttered to himself before turning his attention to the stove when he could hear the spray of the shower.
Living with Ryo seemed to make his days pass quicker. His boss even complimented his mood a few times at work. The whole idea of having someone to talk to when he got back in the evenings made things easier and brighter for him. After all Ryo was slowly turning into his motivation.
But when he got home to an empty apartment that evening, he felt something quietly crack inside of him. He moved over towards his bed, dropping down on to it, suddenly he was no longer hungry, he didn’t even spare a glance around the kitchen for food. He pushed away the thoughts of having curry tonight, cooking it with Ryo.
Instead he closed his eyes, attempting to numb out everything like he used to.
He wasn’t aware he fell asleep until he felt something poking his side. He groaned, swiping at it. But regardless of his fight against it, it kept poking him, muttering at him. It took a moment for the words to filter through his sleep fogged mind.
“Get up you idiot, you can’t sleep in your work clothes” Shige’s eyes fluttered open and he stared right into Ryo’s annoyed ones.
“You didn’t leave” Shige muttered quietly.
“No you idiot, I left you a note saying I went to work, didn’t you see it?” Ryo rolled his eyes, straightening himself up to look over towards the kitchen, frowning when he spotted the note. Clearly Shige hadn’t seen it. “Guess I should post it to the front door next time, you clearly don’t see things, you’re not blind are you?”
Shige laughed lightly, leaning up to loop an arm around Ryo’s neck, pulling the other down. It was a stupid act, one that shouldn’t happen between two people sharing a room, not one between two people who were on their way to becoming friends.
Shige paused, waking up properly. He pulled back from Ryo slowly; Ryo’s facial expression hadn’t changed, apparently not bothered by Shige’s random act of closeness.
“You smell different” Shige stated… he didn’t want to say what of because he knew that smell… and it wasn’t one he was happy to smell right now.
“Yeah, well I haven’t had a shower yet.” Ryo frowned at him before turning his back on him, pulling the t-shirt… Shige’s t-shirt off and moving over towards the door of the bathroom.
“Ryo…”
“hmm?”
“Why… err…”
“Spit it out Shige” Ryo raised an eyebrow at him. Shige stared straight at him, he wanted… needed to know.
“Why do you smell of sex?”
Ryo paused, dropping his eyes slightly, how was he to say this? He didn’t think he would bring it up so soon. Ryo lifted his eyes, a mischievous glint portrayed in them. He edged over towards Shige, dropping down in front of him. He stared up at Shige through his fringe.
“Will you let me stay here? I don’t have anywhere else to go” Ryo said softly, his tone gentle almost like that of melted chocolate.
“Huh? Are you avoiding my question now?” Shige stared down at Ryo.
“I guess if I stay, I should pay rent” Ryo dropped his eyes, before slowly trailing his hands up Shige’s thighs.
“Ryo… what are you…”
“I’ll pay, any way you want me to” Shige’s eyes widened in panic when he realised that Ryo had undone his trousers. He didn’t even notice him do it, or was Ryo starting to charm the pants off of him?
“Ryo… I don’t think this is a good idea…”
“Well someone seems to think it is”
“Oh dear God, Ryo stop whatever the hell you’re …” Shige bit his lip to stop the moan that nearly escaped. He didn’t think Ryo would swallow him in one go. Dear god it should be illegal to be that good with your tongue.
Shige slowly opened his eyes, unaware that they had slipped closed, and tried to glare down at the smirking Ryo. He lifted his hand, grabbing at Ryo’s hair, ready to push him away with force. To let Ryo know this was not what he wanted.
But then Ryo groaned around him; the vibrations slowly pushing Shige further into pleasure. His fingers just lacing more into Ryo’s hair, pulling him harder towards him, Ryo practically growled from pleasure.
Shige’s climax hit him like a train. He could feel himself coming completely undone while Ryo just carried on working him to his finish. He curled forwards, leaning over Ryo, groaning out nonsense while he tried to catch his breath.
But then his mind reconnected.
His eyes widened with panic as he jumped up, pushing Ryo backwards, and with weak knees, locked himself in the bathroom. His back leant against the door as he breathed; his fingertips still tingled from the afterglow. But deep down Shige felt disgusting.
This was not how you treat roommates.
A few minutes later, Ryo was knocking on the door.
“I don’t want to interrupt your freak out, but I really do need to shower.” Shige slowly unlocked the door, but the moment it opened, he’d pinned Ryo against it.
“House rules!” Shige growled in his face, “1. No jumping me, 2. No whoring yourself, get a proper job, I’ll let you stay so you’ll have an address. Got it?”
Ryo blinked back at him, taking a moment to understand what exactly just happened.
“If you say no, or break a rule, I’ll throw you out ok!” With that Shige let go of him, grabbing for his pyjamas and finally changing out of his work clothes. His head spun with the events, his thoughts clouding over him as he settled down into the bed. It was all a little much to process now.
They lived in a balance. A delicate balance, Shige would get up and go to work, and when he got home he would wait for Ryo who finished at 9. Shige didn’t know where he worked now, but he never smelt of sex, but instead of something more aromatic, something that would draw Shige’s senses towards Ryo.
They sat on the bed one evening watching TV, when Ryo decided to break the silence between them.
“I never said it, but thanks…” Shige paused, glancing sideways at him. He wasn’t too sure what was going on,
“About what?”
“Getting me off the streets, you aren’t like others”
“Oh… no problem… there were others?”
“Yeah… people who spoke of freeing me, but only wanted me for themselves.” Ryo grinned to himself, “You don’t want any of that.” Shige sighed, they really did live in a bit of a messed up world.
“Don’t worry about it; just do all you can to not go back there again. It’s too dangerous” Ryo stared at him for a long time after that, but Shige was determined to ignore him, continuing on watching the TV.
Shige found Ryo’s job out by accident one day. Him and a couple of co-workers decided to go out for lunch instead of staying in the stuffy atmosphere of the workplace. As Shige wandered into the coffee shop, the air smelt familiar and homely. He smiled to himself as his co-workers got a table and he wandered over to order drinks and sandwiches.
“Hi, how may I hel… eh?” Shige glanced up from the fridge displaying cakes next to him, and glanced up at the cashier.
“Ryo?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Lunch” Shige laughed a little to himself, so that was why he recognised the place’s smell.
“Oh… well… what do you want?”
“How about you surprise me, I’ll send the others over to order.” And with a small wave of the hand, Shige left Ryo staring after him. Ryo debated putting something in Shige’s food.
Instead, one (normal) chicken salad sandwich and delicious cinnamon cappuccino with whipped cream later (Shige raised his eyes at Ryo’s choice in coffee), he waved bye to Ryo, and heading back to the workplace.
“Someone you know?” a co-worker asked, “I think I’ve seen him before…”
“Yeah, someone I know.” Staring suspiciously at his co-worker, where would he have seen Ryo before? Instead he decided to not broach the subject; he sensed a headache he did not want.
Ryo was home before him today. He seemed almost to be bouncing around while Shige took off his shoes. Ryo was right in front of him when Ryo finally burst.
“They’re gonna train me to be a proper barista” Ryo buzzed. Shige stared at him rather surprised. Until he realised what Ryo had said.
“Congratulations” and maybe it was because of the smile on Ryo’s face at that moment, or the fact that the cappuccino was delicious. Or maybe it was cause Ryo was just so close to him. But Shige gently pecked him on the cheek.
They both stared at each other in shock for a moment, before Ryo blushed and turned away. And Shige feared that he may have just broken the delicate balance.
Ryo was quiet the rest of that night, but when Shige was lying in bed that night, questioning himself on how he could have let himself do that, he felt Ryo carefully slip in under the covers with him.
“The futon uncomfortable?” Shige asked quietly, and he felt Ryo jump a little.
“I thought you were asleep…” Ryo whispered shyly.
“So you wanted to sneak into my bed while you thought I was asleep… to do what…?” Shige questioned. But he could feel Ryo’s arm snaking around him and his nose snuggling into the back of Shige’s neck… “Ryo?”
A few moments passed in silence before Shige rolled over, finding himself centimetres from Ryo’s face.
“Ryo, what are you doing?”
“I just… wanted to… can’t I? you did… kiss me today” Even in the dark, Shige was sure that Ryo was blushing. He hadn’t seen this side of Ryo before, the shy bashful Ryo, it was hard to believe that the same man was whoring himself a few months ago.
“I’m sorry about that, I don’t know what came over me” Shige said quietly.
But then Ryo leaned forward, gently kissing him on the lips. Shige slid his eyes closed, carefully kissing him back.
And that moment, his heart decided to tell him that it was ok, that this was ok. As Ryo snuggled into him and fell asleep, he knew. Their balance wasn’t damaged. In fact, it was now better, and Shige didn’t want to let it go.
Ever.
NC-15
Summary: Shige has always been doing things alone in life, but one day he steps in to save a stranger.
Notes: I am terrible at writing summaries... originally posted here for Fic Games
It was almost like every other evening.
He pulled his coat tighter around him; the weather was slowly getting colder now that winter was slowly approaching. The park near where he lived had a beautiful range of colours, and it wouldn’t be long until they started to fall. Slowly he picked up his pace; this wasn’t the best part of town to walk slowly through after all. But with his current salary, this place was all he could afford, luckily the company paid for his travel expenses.
He hurried down the road when he heard a muffled groan from his right. For a moment he glanced over before carrying on, stopping a few steps further, finally registering what he had just witnessed. He cautiously stepped back, peeking around the corner, watching two guys crowding someone into the corner. They were talking in hushed tones so it was hard to make out what they were talking about. He was about to carry on walking when he saw it again, one of the men punching the person in the corner hard in the stomach. This time thought the person fell to their knees, soon followed by a kick to the chin.
He should walk away. It wasn’t like him to get involved in the roughness of the streets. If he managed to end up in something, news might get to the police, which would lead to them informing his work place, and then it would be back to job hunting. He didn’t think he could live through that hell again. He still found it a miracle that he was hired at all. But somewhere deep inside him he couldn’t just let himself walk away. He couldn’t just turn a blind eye.
“Excuse me” He uttered, the whine of the person on the floor nearly blocking out his voice. But despite that, one of the men turned around.
“What? Piss off, we’re busy!” he yelled aggressively. These were definitely not people he wanted to mess with. They were dangerous, their eyes containing that wild streak that he had grown to recognise. He scowled at them.
“Just thought I’d let you know that someone called the police, but since I should piss off I’ll just wander off and watch you guys get arrested.” He turned, only taking a couple of steps before one of the guys shouldered him out of the way as they ran. Idiots always believe stupid lies. He glanced back, the person they had cornered collapsed on the floor, trying to curl into a ball. Slowly, he walked over; he didn’t want to startle the other as he carefully crouched down.
“Hey, are you ok? Should I take you to the hospital?” The other moved slightly, groaning in pain, probably in the stomach region with all the kicks they were landing.
“No… hospital” the other rolled over weakly, his eyes were half closed and his face a little bloody, but he could see the other was ready to fight if he had to, regardless of his state. He sighed, leaning down to pick up the other guy and pulling him on his back.
“No… hospital, please” the other whined on his back.
“I know, I know, I’m just getting you out the streets. God knows what would happen to you out here.”
The other stayed silent and he took it as affirmation that he was right. After all the man could barely speak let alone move on his back. No matter how fierce his eyes are, he couldn’t fight back.
The man’s groaning as he woke up again woke him up as well. He raised his bleary eyes to see the now bandaged and cleaned up man lying on his bed while he lay on a futon on the floor. The other tried to move, but winced as pain spread through his body, clearly he wasn’t ready yet to get up.
“I wouldn’t move too much if I were you, you need to heal” The other man seemed to jump from the sound of his voice.
“Where am I?” It was a rough voice, probably laced with sleepiness and pain, but it was low and soft, almost gentle.
“You’re in my apartment, you didn’t want to go to the hospital, and I couldn’t leave you there.” The other glanced around quickly, before his eyes settled on him again, examining his face and his most likely bed hair. He couldn’t help that he tossed around a lot at night.
“Who are you?” The other asked quietly, as if asking would break something between them… or maybe he was just cautious, unsure how to deal with his rescuer-stranger.
“My name’s Kato Shigeaki. How about you?”
“Ryo… and your name is too long, I’ll call you Shige” Shige stared at him, ignoring that the stranger just renamed him… but just Ryo? Maybe the other feared that by giving his surname that he might look him up… so the guy didn’t trust people, or he had something to hide…
Interesting.
“Well rest up Ryo, you need it if you don’t want me to take you to the hospital” Ryo groaned at that, but slowly let himself drift back to sleep. The situation was new, the person beside him a stranger, but the bed was warm and his body was in too much pain to move…
So what the hell.
When he opened his eyes again, he was alone, a dull ache in his limbs the only thing to accompany him. He glanced around from the bed he was lying on and noticed a note lying on the bedside table.
Ryo
I had to go to work, there’s some food in the fridge but don’t move too much, you might make things worse.
Shige
Ryo let a small smile creep across his face before he slowly pulled himself out of the bed. He needed the bathroom, and he was pretty sure Shige, no matter how kind his heart is, would not appreciate him dirtying his bed. He slowly made his way out the bed and glanced around the small one room apartment where Shige lived. Good thing about small apartments like this, it was easy to find the bathroom. Ryo’s stomach still had a dull ache, he probably bruised some ribs, but he didn’t feel like anything was broken, it just hurt to move.
He rummaged through the fridge, finding inside some onigiri, but after biting into it, he realised that it contained salmon. He pulled a face and put it back, digging around for something else. Eventually he managed to put together a sandwich before seating himself gently on the bed.
He took a moment to glance around the apartment; there weren’t a lot of things, a few books on the shelf, some food in the kitchen, place to sleep and a table on the floor. The TV caught Ryo’s attention and soon started glancing around to find the remote. He had to kill time somehow; he couldn’t go out in his current condition. At least here was warm, and he had a soft bed.
Better than the streets.
The room was dark when Shige opened the door, he paused for a moment in the genkan, confused by the silence he was met with. It wasn’t that late… For a brief moment he thought Ryo had left, but the other shouldn’t be able to move easily yet, he wouldn’t have been able to go far.
Then again, maybe he went home, where ever that was… Shige sighed to himself, somehow he felt a little more lonely than usual, after all he was used to always coming home to an empty apartment, but for some reason, the idea that Ryo was there kind of made him feel a little less lonely.
He nudged off his shoes, reaching towards the light switch so that he wouldn’t have to fall over an abandoned pile of books or something.
As the lights came flickering on in his small apartment, a small groan accompanied it. Shige’s eyes quickly darted around the apartment, before they came to a rest on Ryo curled up on top of his bed, he let out a sigh of relief, blinking when he realised that he was glad the other was still there. It was just an impulse heroic act… but did he maybe do it for another reason…? Was Shige really that lonely?
He shook his head before letting his thoughts drift off any further, and approached Ryo.
“How you feeling?” He slowly settled on the bed, raising a hand to his forehead, checking that he didn’t have a fever.
“I’ll be fine in a few days” Ryo muttered, he let the other touch him, staring up at him from the bed, wondering why this man saved him.
“I hope so, anything weird happens, tell me and we will have to go to the hospital.” Shige frowned slightly, emphasising his words. Ryo pouted in response.
“Ne… why did you save me? So many people would just walk past and ignore a scene like that” Shige stared at him, how would he answer something like that? He wasn’t even 100% sure why he even stopped, why he stepped in, why he did that…
“I just did, I couldn’t just walk away” he finalised. What else could he have done? He wasn’t about to tell Ryo that he felt lonely and subconsciously saved him for a slightly selfish desire for someone to be there. Ryo stared at him, appearing to be analysing Shige’s answer, trying to find the real meaning behind it all.
“I guess I owe you one then” Ryo finalised, glancing off to the side. Shige stared at him, he didn’t really want Ryo to owe him anything…
“Don’t worry about it” Shige said as he stood up, moving over to the small kitchenette part of his flat, it was late, and they both needed to eat.
Ryo just stared after him, wondering what on earth he did to deserve a lucky chance like this. Somewhere to stay which was inside, someone making food for him… he glanced over towards the bathroom door.
“I think I’ll take a shower” he said, slowly standing and moving cautiously as to not cause any sharp pains to shoot through him. Shige stared at the door as it closed.
“I guess this is a start” he muttered to himself before turning his attention to the stove when he could hear the spray of the shower.
Living with Ryo seemed to make his days pass quicker. His boss even complimented his mood a few times at work. The whole idea of having someone to talk to when he got back in the evenings made things easier and brighter for him. After all Ryo was slowly turning into his motivation.
But when he got home to an empty apartment that evening, he felt something quietly crack inside of him. He moved over towards his bed, dropping down on to it, suddenly he was no longer hungry, he didn’t even spare a glance around the kitchen for food. He pushed away the thoughts of having curry tonight, cooking it with Ryo.
Instead he closed his eyes, attempting to numb out everything like he used to.
He wasn’t aware he fell asleep until he felt something poking his side. He groaned, swiping at it. But regardless of his fight against it, it kept poking him, muttering at him. It took a moment for the words to filter through his sleep fogged mind.
“Get up you idiot, you can’t sleep in your work clothes” Shige’s eyes fluttered open and he stared right into Ryo’s annoyed ones.
“You didn’t leave” Shige muttered quietly.
“No you idiot, I left you a note saying I went to work, didn’t you see it?” Ryo rolled his eyes, straightening himself up to look over towards the kitchen, frowning when he spotted the note. Clearly Shige hadn’t seen it. “Guess I should post it to the front door next time, you clearly don’t see things, you’re not blind are you?”
Shige laughed lightly, leaning up to loop an arm around Ryo’s neck, pulling the other down. It was a stupid act, one that shouldn’t happen between two people sharing a room, not one between two people who were on their way to becoming friends.
Shige paused, waking up properly. He pulled back from Ryo slowly; Ryo’s facial expression hadn’t changed, apparently not bothered by Shige’s random act of closeness.
“You smell different” Shige stated… he didn’t want to say what of because he knew that smell… and it wasn’t one he was happy to smell right now.
“Yeah, well I haven’t had a shower yet.” Ryo frowned at him before turning his back on him, pulling the t-shirt… Shige’s t-shirt off and moving over towards the door of the bathroom.
“Ryo…”
“hmm?”
“Why… err…”
“Spit it out Shige” Ryo raised an eyebrow at him. Shige stared straight at him, he wanted… needed to know.
“Why do you smell of sex?”
Ryo paused, dropping his eyes slightly, how was he to say this? He didn’t think he would bring it up so soon. Ryo lifted his eyes, a mischievous glint portrayed in them. He edged over towards Shige, dropping down in front of him. He stared up at Shige through his fringe.
“Will you let me stay here? I don’t have anywhere else to go” Ryo said softly, his tone gentle almost like that of melted chocolate.
“Huh? Are you avoiding my question now?” Shige stared down at Ryo.
“I guess if I stay, I should pay rent” Ryo dropped his eyes, before slowly trailing his hands up Shige’s thighs.
“Ryo… what are you…”
“I’ll pay, any way you want me to” Shige’s eyes widened in panic when he realised that Ryo had undone his trousers. He didn’t even notice him do it, or was Ryo starting to charm the pants off of him?
“Ryo… I don’t think this is a good idea…”
“Well someone seems to think it is”
“Oh dear God, Ryo stop whatever the hell you’re …” Shige bit his lip to stop the moan that nearly escaped. He didn’t think Ryo would swallow him in one go. Dear god it should be illegal to be that good with your tongue.
Shige slowly opened his eyes, unaware that they had slipped closed, and tried to glare down at the smirking Ryo. He lifted his hand, grabbing at Ryo’s hair, ready to push him away with force. To let Ryo know this was not what he wanted.
But then Ryo groaned around him; the vibrations slowly pushing Shige further into pleasure. His fingers just lacing more into Ryo’s hair, pulling him harder towards him, Ryo practically growled from pleasure.
Shige’s climax hit him like a train. He could feel himself coming completely undone while Ryo just carried on working him to his finish. He curled forwards, leaning over Ryo, groaning out nonsense while he tried to catch his breath.
But then his mind reconnected.
His eyes widened with panic as he jumped up, pushing Ryo backwards, and with weak knees, locked himself in the bathroom. His back leant against the door as he breathed; his fingertips still tingled from the afterglow. But deep down Shige felt disgusting.
This was not how you treat roommates.
A few minutes later, Ryo was knocking on the door.
“I don’t want to interrupt your freak out, but I really do need to shower.” Shige slowly unlocked the door, but the moment it opened, he’d pinned Ryo against it.
“House rules!” Shige growled in his face, “1. No jumping me, 2. No whoring yourself, get a proper job, I’ll let you stay so you’ll have an address. Got it?”
Ryo blinked back at him, taking a moment to understand what exactly just happened.
“If you say no, or break a rule, I’ll throw you out ok!” With that Shige let go of him, grabbing for his pyjamas and finally changing out of his work clothes. His head spun with the events, his thoughts clouding over him as he settled down into the bed. It was all a little much to process now.
They lived in a balance. A delicate balance, Shige would get up and go to work, and when he got home he would wait for Ryo who finished at 9. Shige didn’t know where he worked now, but he never smelt of sex, but instead of something more aromatic, something that would draw Shige’s senses towards Ryo.
They sat on the bed one evening watching TV, when Ryo decided to break the silence between them.
“I never said it, but thanks…” Shige paused, glancing sideways at him. He wasn’t too sure what was going on,
“About what?”
“Getting me off the streets, you aren’t like others”
“Oh… no problem… there were others?”
“Yeah… people who spoke of freeing me, but only wanted me for themselves.” Ryo grinned to himself, “You don’t want any of that.” Shige sighed, they really did live in a bit of a messed up world.
“Don’t worry about it; just do all you can to not go back there again. It’s too dangerous” Ryo stared at him for a long time after that, but Shige was determined to ignore him, continuing on watching the TV.
Shige found Ryo’s job out by accident one day. Him and a couple of co-workers decided to go out for lunch instead of staying in the stuffy atmosphere of the workplace. As Shige wandered into the coffee shop, the air smelt familiar and homely. He smiled to himself as his co-workers got a table and he wandered over to order drinks and sandwiches.
“Hi, how may I hel… eh?” Shige glanced up from the fridge displaying cakes next to him, and glanced up at the cashier.
“Ryo?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Lunch” Shige laughed a little to himself, so that was why he recognised the place’s smell.
“Oh… well… what do you want?”
“How about you surprise me, I’ll send the others over to order.” And with a small wave of the hand, Shige left Ryo staring after him. Ryo debated putting something in Shige’s food.
Instead, one (normal) chicken salad sandwich and delicious cinnamon cappuccino with whipped cream later (Shige raised his eyes at Ryo’s choice in coffee), he waved bye to Ryo, and heading back to the workplace.
“Someone you know?” a co-worker asked, “I think I’ve seen him before…”
“Yeah, someone I know.” Staring suspiciously at his co-worker, where would he have seen Ryo before? Instead he decided to not broach the subject; he sensed a headache he did not want.
Ryo was home before him today. He seemed almost to be bouncing around while Shige took off his shoes. Ryo was right in front of him when Ryo finally burst.
“They’re gonna train me to be a proper barista” Ryo buzzed. Shige stared at him rather surprised. Until he realised what Ryo had said.
“Congratulations” and maybe it was because of the smile on Ryo’s face at that moment, or the fact that the cappuccino was delicious. Or maybe it was cause Ryo was just so close to him. But Shige gently pecked him on the cheek.
They both stared at each other in shock for a moment, before Ryo blushed and turned away. And Shige feared that he may have just broken the delicate balance.
Ryo was quiet the rest of that night, but when Shige was lying in bed that night, questioning himself on how he could have let himself do that, he felt Ryo carefully slip in under the covers with him.
“The futon uncomfortable?” Shige asked quietly, and he felt Ryo jump a little.
“I thought you were asleep…” Ryo whispered shyly.
“So you wanted to sneak into my bed while you thought I was asleep… to do what…?” Shige questioned. But he could feel Ryo’s arm snaking around him and his nose snuggling into the back of Shige’s neck… “Ryo?”
A few moments passed in silence before Shige rolled over, finding himself centimetres from Ryo’s face.
“Ryo, what are you doing?”
“I just… wanted to… can’t I? you did… kiss me today” Even in the dark, Shige was sure that Ryo was blushing. He hadn’t seen this side of Ryo before, the shy bashful Ryo, it was hard to believe that the same man was whoring himself a few months ago.
“I’m sorry about that, I don’t know what came over me” Shige said quietly.
But then Ryo leaned forward, gently kissing him on the lips. Shige slid his eyes closed, carefully kissing him back.
And that moment, his heart decided to tell him that it was ok, that this was ok. As Ryo snuggled into him and fell asleep, he knew. Their balance wasn’t damaged. In fact, it was now better, and Shige didn’t want to let it go.
Ever.