[Kinki Kids, TOKIO, T&T, V6] Equilibirum
title: Equilibrium
rating: pg13
pairing: tsuyoshi/koichi
warnings: none
notes: at the end.
e·qui·lib·ri·um /ˌikwəˈlɪbriəm, ˌɛkwə-/
Pronunciation[ee-kwuh-lib-ree-uhm, ek-wuh-]
1. a state of rest or balance due to the equal action of opposing forces.
2. equal balance between any powers, influences, etc.; equality of effect.
3. mental or emotional balance; equanimity: The pressures of the situation caused her to lose her equilibrium.
4. Chemistry. the condition existing when a chemical reaction and its reverse reaction proceed at equal rates.
"Takizawa said that for his birthday, he wants me to take you out to some remote fishing village and spend the weekend," Koichi reported solemnly to Tsuyoshi, smile twitching at the corner of his mouth and amusement sparkling bright in his eyes.
"That's because he wants to get into Tsubasa's pants," Tsuyoshi kindly explained. "So he's trying to get me in your pants so I won't notice."
"My pants are kinda tight," Koichi lamented. "I can't get Wardrobe to buy them any bigger."
"That's because they're already too big." Tsuyoshi pointedly tugged on one of Koichi's belt loops. The pants slid down two inches, much to Koichi's squawking indignation.
"You're still not going to fit in there with me."
Tsuyoshi smiled blandly from about three inches away, fingers resting casually in Koichi's belt loops. "I think the point is for both of us to be pantsless."
Koichi blinked slowly. "On the beach, while fishing? Pervert."
"You just don't understand how spiritual an experience it can be," Tsuyoshi said dryly and reached up to pat Koichi on the head. "Never mind. It's not happening."
"Because there would be chaffing," Koichi said agreeably. "But do you want to go fishing with pants on?"
"You're undermining my efforts to protect my little brother's virtue."
"I'm undermining your efforts because my default kohai figure is never going to get any any other way." Koichi smiled his best stage smile and took a half step back. "That wasn't a no, though."
"I assume Takizawa's going to be funding this?"
"I think Tsubasa stole all his credit cards again, actually," Koichi said thoughtfully, losing his fake cheesy smile for something more genuine. "But we can always use yours?"
"Isn't this your birthday present to Takizawa?"
A haughty, disdainful sniff. "You don't appreciate me enough."
"I don't appreciate you at all," Tsuyoshi corrected blandly. "Do we even have a few days off together?"
"I have mysterious connections and powers," Koichi said grandiously. "So I think I can get us a few days off in uh... maybe three weeks?"
Tsuyoshi tilted his head consideringly, looking Koichi up and down. "You mean you haven't taken a day off in so long that the staff are forcing you into downtime?"
"It's magical how I do that, isn't it?" said Koichi agreeably. "So, fishing?"
"You sort of hate fishing," Tsuyoshi felt obliged to point out. "Didn't you say after you were done with the Sushi Ouji filming, you never wanted to see a fish again unless it'd been magically sushi-ed into edibility?"
Koichi made huge doe eyes at Tsuyoshi. "Isn't it touching what partners will do for each other?"
"I'd tell you to call me when you've finished arranging everything, but you don't have my number," Tsuyoshi said mildly.
"I'd never call it anyway," Koichi answered, every word ringing sincere. "My manager or maybe one of the staff will call you, or I'll just show up at your house." He paused, tilting his head quizzically, all bright smile and eyes. "Where do you live again?"
"Telling you would put me in danger," Tsuyoshi said serenely. "Let me know at work."
"I'll tell you on national TV," Koichi said cheerfully and bounced off when one of the staff, frantic and frazzled, called him into make-up.
"Koichi-san," Takizawa asked plaintively down the phone line. Koichi could almost imagine the hangdog look that accompanied it. "Did it work?"
"I think Tsuyoshi is onto us," he said, only a touch cruel. "But he said yes. Maybe yes. Maybe if you brought him sacrificial offerings. He likes fish but I hear you're doing a roaring trade in juniors."
"Koichi-saaaaan."
Koichi stifled an amused snort. "Sorry, Takizawa. It's fine, Tsuyoshi agreed that we both needed a little vacation, what with all the solo activities we've been doing. We haven't been spending much time together."
"It's important for partners to bond," Takizawa said, hopelessly sincere.
Sometimes, Koichi could hardly believe that only a few years separated them, though a year in the entertainment business probably equated five elsewhere. "I don't think we're going to be doing the same type of bonding you are." Koichi smirked and prodded at his laptop. "I'll send a proposed itinerary and hotel choices your way to make the final bookings?"
"You'd be surprised."
"Excuse me?" Koichi blinked distractedly at his monitor.
"Sure, send everything over," Takizawa said promptly.
"Mmmmhmmm," Koichi hummed. "So what's Tsubasa's thoughts on all this?"
The silence was almost deafening. "Uh. Well. ... Uhhh," Takizawa stuttered awkwardly. "I haven't really told him that much. Yet. But I will?"
"Good luck," Koichi said without the slightest hint of sympathy. "You're going to need it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go out and distract my partner from abandoning our honeymoon to crash yours."
Takizawa whimpered. "I owe you one, Koichi-san."
"That's okay," Koichi said with the Zen of a Tibetan monk. "Tsubasa lent me one of your credit cards." And promptly hung up with an evil cackle.
"Kampai~" Nagase cheered, roughly knocking glasses with Tsuyoshi so that the foamy beer almost spilled down their fingers. "Here's to another week alive."
"Kampai," Tsuyoshi said grimly in return. "Koichi's taking me to a hotel for a few days."
Nagase choked.
"Well, Takizawa asked Koichi to take me out of town for a few days," Tsuyoshi corrected, bland as milk.
Nagase gaped for a second before spitefully stealing Tsuyoshi's beer. There was a pause as he gulped it down, a satisfied gasp of breath, then: "Maybe you should take the opportunity to trip him into bed."
"You've tried picking him up and throwing him into bed before."
"He bounced," Nagase agreed sadly. "And laughed it off."
"He does that, doesn't he?" For a suspicious second, Tsuyoshi sounded almost fond. Koichi's near-hysterical high-pitched laughter when cornered was too familiar to both of them.
"It might work this time?" Nagase shrugged fatalistically. "He does like you. Like that."
"Are you sure you should be encouraging me?" Tsuyoshi's mouth curved slightly, soft and sweet. "I know he does. And he should know I do too. We're not high-schoolers anymore."
Nagase smiled down at his hands, spinning an empty glass on the edge of its base. "Could I stop you?"
"Sometimes, things change direction with a nudge." Though, Tsuyoshi was discovering, a habit of over ten years was hard to break.
"Besides," Nagase said, cheerful as he signaled for another two drinks. "If you two get together, my ultimate dream of having a Domoto sandwich will be one step closer to coming true."
"I'm kinda selfish," Tsuyoshi said contemplatively.
Nagase's smile was wide and easy. "I'm not. Kampai?"
"Kampai."
"Tsu-Tsuyoshi-san!" Takizawa's voice cracked almost painfully and the expression on his face was nothing short of hunted. "What a surprise, bumping into you here!"
"... Yes," Tsuyoshi said carefully. He glanced briefly at the door to make sure he hadn't been mysteriously transported to somewhere that wasn't a step outside the Kinki Kids green room. "It is. Being outside my dressing room and all."
Takizawa laughed nervously and began to back away. "That it is. Um. I. I need to go that way. Now."
"Stop."
Takizawa stopped.
"I never thanked you for your thoughtful suggestion for your birthday," Tsuyoshi drawled casually, advancing. Takizawa whimpered.
"You're. You're welcome?"
"It was a nice touch, sending Koichi to ask," Tsuyoshi said contemplatively. "But he's never been good at holding secrets from me." Most of the time, Koichi didn't even try, spilling out his thoughts with the trust of long, long association.
"I just thought that maybe the two of you could do with a holiday, since you're both very busy and haven't seen each other lately?" Takizawa rattled it off like machine gun fire. "Partners should spend time with each other."
Tsuyoshi gave him a long assessing look. "We're not your counterparts."
"You're our role models," Takizawa protested.
"We're learning from each other," Tsuyoshi said, easy twist to his mouth. "And there's no beaten path to follow."
"E-eh?"
"Things will go their own way." Tsuyoshi shrugged. "Give my regards to Tsubasa, will you?"
"I um. Yes?" Takizawa said helplessly. "It was nice talking to you?"
"Wasn't it?" Tsuyoshi said blandly and disappeared into his dressing room, leaving Takizawa gaping in the hallway.
"So what was that all about?" Koichi laughed, looking up from where he was sprawled half across the low table, seated cross-legged on the floor. He stretched leisurely, the muscles in his back rippling from the effort.
Tsuyoshi watched appreciatively, a hint of a smile lingering around his pursed mouth. "Nothing in particular, just giving some advice to a kohai."
"Takizawa's my pet, isn't he?" Koichi asked lazily. "I always thought you claimed Tsubasa as yours."
"Owning people is against the law, Koichi-san."
Koichi looked up through his eyelashes. "That's never stopped you before."
"It's different when people consent." Tsuyoshi let their eyes meet, unsurprised when Koichi looked away first. "Tsubasa isn't mine."
"No, I guess not." Koichi exhaled, long and slow. "Not that way."
"Some claims are more important than others."
A long silence followed, strangely not awkward as Tsuyoshi headed towards the mirrors to do his hair and consider his make-up. By all appearances, Koichi who had been steadily wearing himself thinner and thinner with hard work all month, had dozed off. Tsuyoshi was almost glad for the promised vacation even if only because Koichi would have the chance to loll about all day, forsaking any promise to go fishing for a few more hours of catching up on lost sleep.
It wasn't hard to sleep in a strange hotel rooms anymore, not after so many years of practice and when the sterile white sheets and blandly coloured walls had become almost as familiar as their own apartments.
"Hey." Koichi's voice, soft and slightly raspy startled Tsuyoshi from his thoughts. "Are you looking forward to the trip?"
"It'll be nice to have a vacation," Tsuyoshi said, gentle.
Koichi's mouth curved at the corners, slow and sweet. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"We did stay in hotels for our concert tour," Tsuyoshi pointed out, slightly amused. He stole a glance at Koichi through the mirror, hand paused in the act of touching his hair.
"But that's different. We don't normally do this in private." Koichi's eyes were still closed, the darkness of his eyelashes accenting the smudgy shadows beneath them, still uncovered by the thick layers of make-up to come.
Tsuyoshi smiled, drifting over to sit at the table across from Koichi; close enough to touch Koichi's stretched out arms, his fingers strangely delicate and vulnerable-looking, starkly pale against the dark wood. "We've been busy."
"We're always busy."
"We won't be too busy in a few weeks," Tsuyoshi promised, his words hanging almost tangible in the air in the silence that followed.
"Hey," Koichi said again, more an exhale than a word. A long pause followed. Tsuyoshi was almost ready to give Koichi up for having fallen asleep again when Koichi moved, turning his face to bury it against his outstretched arms. Voice muffled, half incomprehensible, he asked softly: "Do you think it would be different if we'd been friends all along?"
Tsuyoshi shrugged, the set of his shoulders as nonchalant as his eyes were intense. "Things change."
Koichi lifted his head finally to look at Tsuyoshi full in the eye, show smile at its most brilliant. "I should go get ready. The cameras are waiting."
Tsuyoshi's face didn't change as he twitched his shoulders carelessly. "Aren't they always?"
Bzzzzt! The sudden vibration of his phone made Koichi almost fall off his couch, scrambling for his bag and then laptop as it threatened to take a nosedive onto the hardwood floors. "Domoto speaking," he huffed a moment later, flipping open his phone without even checking who was calling.
"KOU-CHAAAAAN!" Nagase hollered cheerfully.
Koichi winced and moved the phone so it was at least a foot away from his ear. "Nagase."
"Come out and eat with me, Kou-chan," Nagase coaxed, all sweet promises. "I'll make it worth your while?"
"It's two in the morning," Koichi complained. He flailed as he teetered precariously on the edge of the couch, trying to right himself without breaking something irreplaceable whether it be his limbs or his precious computer.
There was an expectant pause. "That's a yes, right?"
"Let me put on pants and I'll be right out," Koichi agreed promptly. He set his laptop carefully on the table and rolled to his feet. "Where are you?"
The tick-tick-ticking of Nagase's brain working was almost audible. "I could always come to you and you could skip putting on pants?" Nagase suggested brightly.
"Some people actually like wearing clothing in front of their friends," Koichi explained for what was likely the fiftieth time in very recent history. At least on the phone, he couldn't see whether or not Nagase was actually wearing pants at this very moment though the answer was probably no. Koichi wasn't stupid enough to ask.
"Never understood," Nagase grumbled with great disgruntlement. "I'll meet you at the yakiniku place you like? The one that's open until 4am?"
"Twenty minutes?"
"Twenty minutes. You can leave the pants at home."
Koichi could almost see the sultry-eyed look Nagase had to have on, to match the husky bedroom voice. "I'd get arrested," he said with a laugh, slightly breathelessly shrill, "But I'll see you there." He hung up without waiting for an answer and went to hunt for clothing.
Half an hour later, Koichi slumped companionably against Nagase's side, watching the meat sizzle with a Zen-like aura. "Did Tsuyoshi tell you?" he asked lazily, casual. He stole a glance at Nagase through his eyelashes before looking quickly away. "We actually managed to gets days off. Consecutive days off. Where we don't have to work."
"You'll be running off to Hawaii without me?" Nagase nudged Koichi with his shoulder, surprisingly gentle.
Koichi laughed quiet and low. "You know I don't like going overseas. I'd spend the entire time following Tsuyoshi around."
"That's not a bad thing, is it?" Nagase said, so mild that Koichi nodded then started in surprise a few seconds later. "Ah!" Nagase said cheerfully. "The meat's done. You need to eat more, Kou-chan."
"Maa," Koichi grumbled, subsiding obediently. "You always say that." He snagged a piece of meat with his chopsticks anyway and chewed at it only a little petulantly.
"That's because you never listen." Nagase's voice was warm and the look in his eyes so soft that Koichi had to look away. The conversation lapsed into companionable silence as they focused on eating, then: "We should go out and do something too."
"I see you all the time, Occhan!" Koichi gave a soft huff of startled laughter. "You can come over whenever you like."
"Maybe the three of us should do something," Nagase suggested. "My two favourite Domotos and me."
Koichi snorted, narrowing his eyes. "We're the only Domotos you know."
"Hey," Nagase protested. "I might be hiding more. I could be running an illicit trade in Domotos. You'd never know. My plans are too ingenious."
"You make me fear for my safety," Koichi said, wide-eyed with earnest sincerety and gave a kindly pat to Nagase's knee.
"Do you want to come over to my secret lair afterwards?" Nagase leered exaggeratedly. "I'll take my pants off."
"Is that a threat or a promise?" Koichi laughed and draped himself lazily against Nagase's shoulder, replete with good food and easy companionship. He stretched slow and comfortable then curled back against Nagase's side. "Shouldn't you be promising me your best behaviour?"
"Who'd actually want me to keep my pants on?" Nagase said, indignant at the very thought. Koichi promptly raised his hand with his best guilelessly blank look. "You don't count," Nagase explained haughtily. "You'll come around."
"To your house, to your not wearing pants or to my not wearing pants?" Koichi asked, peeling himself off Nagase's shoulder to peer at him with hugely innocent eyes.
"All three," Nagase said firmly. The set of his mouth was strong and resolute, even with the smudge of sauce decorating his chin. "But in the interests of my shining reputation, you can come over first and then strip. We can fight crime. And zombies."
A beat passed. "You got a new game?" Koichi asked sweetly. He propped an elbow up on the counter and his chin on his palm, tilting his head to give Nagase a sidelong look. A smile played around the corners of his mouth, smirkily smug.
"That's off topic!" Nagase sniffed, then grinned. "You're in, right?"
"I'd never say no," Koichi promised and smiled, luminous bright.
"Tsuyoshi-kun," Tsubasa said anxiously, peering at the bubbling pot on the stove. "I think this is almost done?"
Tsuyoshi hummed consideringly, coming over to poke at it with a long pair of cooking chopsticks. "Give it two minutes and it should be okay. Could you go set the table?"
Tsubasa nodded, all bright smile and huge eyes, and scurried off with a clank of cutlery and flatware. The wine glasses, with an open bottle of wine settled to breathe next to them, were already out on the table. "Ne, Tsuyoshi-kun," he called from the other room. "Hide-kun was telling me, you and Koichi-kun are going somewhere next, next week?"
"Mmm," Tsuyoshi said. "We are. Enoshima, some beach-side ryokan." He came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands dry on a tea towel. "Takizawa's idea, wasn't it?"
Tsubasa's eyes slid guiltily away. "It's nice that you and Koichi-kun are spending time together?"
"Nice," Tsuyoshi repeated with absolutely no inflection at all. "Isn't it?"
"Well." Tsubasa nodded resolutely. "Hide-kun and I have been spending a lot of time together because-" He stopped when Tsuyoshi held a hand up.
"Is this going to destroy my perception of you as twelve years old and prepubescent?" Tsuyoshi asked dryly. "My psyche is fragile."
Tsubasa gave him a reproachful look. "I thought since we were all reasonable adults, we could talk about reasonable adult things?"
Tsuyoshi stared back at him. There was a long silence, then:
"Hide-kun likes to sleep naked," Tsubasa said, all in a rush. He smiled guiltily. "I think he's really hot."
Tsuyoshi pointed at the door. "You. Out of my house." He disappeared back into the kitchen after making his proclamation, rattling pots and pans. A minute later, he came out again carrying two plates. "Why are you still here?"
"Because you like me?" Tsubasa said hopefully. He eyed off the plates with a distinctly sharkish air, at odds with the puppy eyes he was trying to project.
"I wonder," Tsuyoshi grumbled but set the plates down and motioned Tsubasa to sit down before him. "So you're going to tell me everything about your new boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend makes it sound like we're fifteen years old and met for the first time last week!" Tsubasa protested but stopped when Tsuyoshi just looked at him, one eyebrow pointedly raised. "... He's really nice?"
Tsuyoshi sighed. "I'm happy for you, but you know how these sorts of things can get in the business, don't you...?"
"Of course!" Tsubasa said indignantly, then calmed down straight away, slightly abashed. "We've thought about it a lot and it's taken a long time for us to get this far but well, we thought that if we were just going to keep going the same way, both of us would be miserable..." He looked down at his plate. "Keeping things the same wasn't going to work forever." He snuck a brief look up at Tsuyoshi before looking away, biting his lip.
"It's a big risk," Tsuyoshi said neutrally.
"I'm - we're willing to take it," Tsubasa said, staring hard at his plate. "Don't you think it's better to try to be happy?"
A long silence followed, only broken by the soft clink of cutlery against their plates, the sound of a wine glass being raised and placed down and the constant ambient noise of the multiple fish tanks bubbling away, casting a muted, blue glow about the room.
"I know what you're doing," Tsuyoshi said, the slightest smile showing only in his eyes. "But your relationship has nothing to do with us. Koichi and I are different people."
"It's not like that!" Tsubasa frowned at his wineglass. "I just-"
"People in love always want everyone else around them to feel the same, but sometimes they forget a few things in their happiness," Tsuyoshi said gently. "I appreciate it, but-"
"Tsuyoshi-kun!"
Tsuyoshi rocked back at Tsubasa's uncharacteristic outburst, blinking rapidly a few times.
"Tsuyoshi-kun," Tsubasa repeated, a bit softer. "It's not like that. It really isn't. I just... you deserve happiness, too. Isn't it time...?"
It was Tsuyoshi's turn to look away, studying the fish tank against the wall intently. Delicately finned angelfish in brilliant colours next to the almost awkward shapes of the fish that had escaped the effects of change over time - not exactly beautiful but fascinating all the same. "I'm working on it."
*
"I promise the train won't hurt you," Tsuyoshi said patiently as he adjusted his hat one final time for a perfectly rakish angle in the reflection of Koichi's mirrored sunglasses.
Koichi pulled a face. "I can't even use my Pasmo for these tickets."
"Your life, so sad," Tsuyoshi commiserated and reached out to tug Koichi's sleeve to pull him towards the ticket machines. He ignored the tiny flinch at his movement, given that Koichi never went so far to move away. "Your Pasmo will survive being unused for another year or ten."
"I have a car," Koichi informed him artlessly. "It saves on these things?"
"Be adventurous."
There was a contemplative pause, and then, "I have a very fast car?"
"That would count if I didn't know you babied that thing worse than a first born child. And if you drove it more than once a year."
Koichi's eyes rounded. "It scares me when you know everything."
Tsuyoshi was silent for a moment as he navigated the ticket machine, mouth twisted in a sharp line. "Not everything." He handed a ticket to Koichi, nodding at the subdued 'thanks,' and herded him towards the ticket gates.
Boarding itself was a somewhat complicated affair, accomplished with a flurry of confusion and baggage (mostly Tsuyoshi's except for Koichi's strangely fashionable - "It was a gift," he explained, somewhat shamefaced, to Tsuyoshi's questioning look - messenger bag, a modest choice compared to Tsuyoshi's matching set of bags. "What's all that stuff anyway?" Koichi had demanded, attacking before his own amount of luggage could be attacked.
"Hair products," Tsuyoshi had said, bland). Koichi had almost been lost for good were it not for Tsuyoshi's quick reflexes in snagging him back by the shirt from wandering onto the wrong train, an express bound for the opposite direction.
"I should put you on a leash," said Tsuyoshi grimly after he'd safely deposited Koichi in the window seat.
Koichi stretched, squirming a bit at the cramped space. Tsuyoshi's eyes tracked the hem of his long t-shirt riding up. "I thought you said those things were inhumane?"
"That was for Kenshiro."
A short, contemplative pause. Then Koichi tilted his head curiously, eyes narrowed. "So about this leashing peopl-"
THWACK.
"Ow," said Koichi mournfully, detaching the magazine from where Tsuyoshi was holding it against his nose. Then "Oh!" in much more pleased and surprised tones when it turned out to be the latest edition of a car magazine that he hadn't had the time to read yet.
"Thank you," Koichi beamed and with every appearance of making himself comfortable, flipped open his magazine and settled into his seat, kicking off his shoes and curling up bonelessly. His sunglasses, expensive and fashionable, were abandoned carelessly in one of the pockets of his bag. Tsuyoshi opened his mouth as if to say something, but shut it soundlessly as a rush of inexplicable fondness filled him and he was reduced to looking with helpless affection instead.
Tsuyoshi pulled out his own magazine - fishing, of course - and spent a few pleasant moments basking in the ambient noise of the train settling around them; the sound of the conductor reading the boarding announcements and other passengers settling their luggage, Koichi lazily flipping through the pages besides him.
The train pulled out of the station with barely a jerk, picking up speed until they were hurtling through the country side. Tsuyoshi glanced through the window - and covertly at Koichi, curled against it, seemingly absorbed in his magazine - to watch the blur of concrete buildings give way to wide tracts of land, spaces filled with unrealised possibilities.
"We haven't done this for a long time, have we?" Tsuyoshi said, quiet and contemplative. He stared past Koichi, studiously avoiding his eyes.
Koichi shrugged. "Never without the cameras." He ostensibly flipped a page over.
"Things have changed since then."
A corner of Koichi's mouth tilted up, quieter and far more sincere than normally seen. "Haven't they?"
There really was nothing more to say to that, so Tsuyoshi turned back to his reading, discontent with unsettled expectations. Watching him, Koichi closed his own magazine and set it aside with a few sharp, economical movements.
"Heeeey," Koichi said, dragging out the syllable, suspiciously bright eyed. "Tsuyoshi. Tsuyotsuyotsuyoshiiiiiiiiiii," he repeated with a hint of a whine, more of a laugh, when Tsuyoshi tried to ignore him.
The persistent tap-tap-tap of Koichi drumming his fingers on the arm rest as he hovered in wait, back straight and smile so genuinely pleased that his eyes were little more than crinkled lines, finally made Tsuyoshi snort and lower his magazine after a few minutes.
"Koichi-san," he said, extremely patient.
"Tsuyoshi." Koichi blinked innocently.
"Was there something you wanted, Koichi-san?" Tsuyoshi said repressively, tamping down on the smile that threatened to twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"Do you think there'll be a rose bath this time?"
Tsuyoshi rolled his eyes. "It's barely the end of March, and this isn't exactly Japan Walker we're going with. Real people don't do rose baths when the cameras aren't rolling." Real people didn't exactly have cameras on them at all.
The drumming slowed to a stop, making Tsuyoshi look up sharply. "They don't get to do a lot of things." Koichi shrugged and smiled brighter.
"Wouldn't it be worth it?" The train moved so fast that everything outside blurred together, strangely unfocused to Tsuyoshi's eyes. "To be without the cameras?
"You'd disappoint your fans?"
"There are some things more important."
"Romantic," accused Koichi, only a little serious.
"Realist," Tsuyoshi shrugged.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Koichi said lightly but Tsuyoshi only smiled, rare for its sincerity, and turned away.
The inn was tucked away behind the main road, up a discrete path lined with bamboo and strangely hushed. A train, a bus and a small, winding walk from Tokyo; an entire lifetime away. The attendants were soft voiced and clad in yukata, pale shades of green and blue and lilac, with tabi'd feet that slipped soundlessly across the polished wood floorboards and the click of the sliding door sounded loud in the silence they left behind.
Koichi stood awkwardly by the door, suddenly inexplicably shy. Their bags were already arranged in neat piles by the wall, the open doors to the garden let in the breeze and revealed the small private onsen, steam rising up in spiralling columns.
Tsuyoshi was already gone, through the main room and into the smaller room where the futons would be spread.
Slowly, slowly, dragging his socked feet on the tatami floor, Koichi meandered his way over stopping to look out the window, at the small table, the texture of the wallpaper. Really, he wasn't stalling at all.
Or not stalling enough. He was at the door before he had time to think, but time to convince himself that maybe, maybe now it's a bad idea. Funny how on the way up here, he'd been so sure - that everything had been leading up to this but now...
Koichi looked up from his feet into the room and his breath catching because Tsuyoshi was looking back at him, eyes wide and dark and almost magnetic in their intensity. Koichi could feel his heart starting to pound in his chest, almost dizzy with the force, and he wanted to step back but there was nowhere to go.
The door was still open behind him and he pressed against the frame, felt it dig against his back along his spine. Tsuyoshi moved forward and suddenly, he couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't think.
They'd been closer than this. For dramas, variety shows, a hundred different photoshoots and Tsuyoshi wasn't even in his personal space yet - half a metre away, he could reach out and touch without having to bend his arm.
Tsuyoshi's hand came up and Koichi's eyes closed. His own breathing was loud in his ears, barely audible over the thump of his heart. Tsuyoshi's hand was warm and sure, gentle as it touched his forehead, trailed down the bridge of his nose like he was memorising the shape of Koichi's face. He wasn't - they'd known each other so long, so well, that such things were pointless - and continued skimming past his chin, neck, collarbone to rest for one breathless, eternal moment against his heartbeat.
"I'm going to shower," Tsuyoshi said softly, something undefined in his voice. A little rough and it caught in the still air between them.
Koichi nodded, not opening his eyes.
A slight pressure on his chest and the warmth was gone; Tsuyoshi brushed past him too close, enough to feel the heat of his body and Koichi waited motionless for his soft footsteps to fade away and the door to click behind him.
Tsuyoshi leaned back against the closed door and exhaled, long and slow. Controlled.
Moving methodically, he placed his towel and ryokan-provided yukata on the bench, shedding his clothes in a heap uncaring of the wrinkles that would form.
He picked up his jeans, meaning to fold them but his hands wouldn't cooperate and they dropped to the ground, crumpled. Kept breathing, in and out, steady like a two beat count.
The water was still cold when he stepped into the shower.
Phantom heat from Koichi's body lingered, spurring him to move faster and faster. He scrubbed his hair impatiently, careless of tangles, ran a soapy cloth down his body until his own touch made him shudder and stop.
He braced his hands against the wall and let the water beat down on his shoulders, biting his lip hard.
Thoughts of Koichi filled his head: Koichi's hands on the guitar sliding easy and confident, Koichi's smile when he happy, Koichi's laugh, the sharp bones of his hips and the curve of his spine, the way he was just a little too light in Tsuyoshi's arms or when carried around on his back.
Tsuyoshi abruptly wrenched the water back to cold.
"Your turn."
Koichi didn't move, sitting on the edge of the porch with his legs dangling off casually. A magazine was unopened besides him, an untouched glass of cola beaded with condensation.
"Koichi?"
"Tsuyoshi." Koichi slowly got to his feet, looking out at the garden. His lips were red and swollen, like he'd been biting them the entire time. Like he'd been kissed within an inch of his life.
There was a long pause. Then, gently, "You don't need to shower if you don't want to."
Koichi's smile was bright and slanting as he turned around. "I've set out the futons." A trickle of water dripped from Tsuyoshi's hair and made its slow, leisurely way down his neck. Koichi's eyes tracked it and he swallowed hard, Adam's apple bobbing. He cleared his throat. "You should go unpack."
"Ah," Tsuyoshi said and watched as Koichi, starkly graceful, scooped up his folded yukata and made his way towards the shower.
The futons were spread right next to each other, not even an inch between them. Tsuyoshi lingered by the door for a long moment: Koichi had done this. Koichi.
Koichi who was only a few metres and a door away.
Tsuyoshi took a deep measured breath and went to lock the main door.
It was long minutes before the sound of the shower stopped, longer minutes until the door creaked open. Bare feet on tatami hardly made a sound and Tsuyoshi, determined, didn't turn, didn't let himself make a move until there was a whisper: his name.
Tsuyoshi turned around and Koichi, still scrubbing at his hair with a towel, let it fall out of his lax hand. His skin was damp, flushed with the heat of the shower, hair in a dishevelled mess and Tsuyoshi thought he had never looked better.
He never remembered afterwards who had made the first move.
Koichi propped himself up on an elbow, looking down at Tsuyoshi's face suspiciously bright eyed. Tsuyoshi blinked back at him, unwilling to move when his heart rate was finally calming down. The flush hadn't even died from Koichi's face.
"Naa, Tsuyoshi," Koichi said, ignoring how Tsuyoshi's eyes were heavily lidded. "I knew you couldn't resist me."
"Really," Tsuyoshi deadpanned. He stifled a yawn and stretched lazily. "I thought it was the other way around."
"Nope," Koichi said cheerfully. "Definitely your baser instincts." A smile played around his mouth. "But you still respect me, don't you?"
It figured that Koichi, so lethargic most of the time and so exhausted the rest, would be disgustingly chipper after sex. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
"I always have."
Tsuyoshi looked up sharply, forcing open his eyelids that he couldn't quite remember when they'd closed. Koichi smiled back and placed a hand on his cheek, the rough skin scraping a little on his stubble. "Naaa, you'll call me in the morning, right?"
"You'd have to give me your number first," Tsuyoshi pointed out. Koichi's fingers stroked along his cheekbone.
"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Mostly lighthearted, a little edged.
"No more than this is." Tsuyoshi reached up and trapped Koichi's hand in his own, bringing it down to rest on his own chest.
"Don't you have it already?" Undeterred, Koichi twisted his hand out of Tsuyoshi's grip, laying it flat against his chest. Tsuyoshi's hand moved to cover it.
"It doesn't mean anything if it wasn't from you."
Koichi just smiled, infinitely sweet. "Maa, ne. When do you think they'll be serving dinner?"
Tsuyoshi rolled his eyes then - exercising great restraint - rolled over onto Koichi, pinned him and kissed him until he squeaked.
Three days after the arrived home - to separate apartments but the same recording studios, enough work backlogged from their vacation that there was barely enough time to sleep let alone think - Tsuyoshi received an email.
from: Prince Koichi-sama
subject:
Softbank to Softbank messages and calls are free.
Tsuyoshi laughed, startled, and ignored the curious chirping of his latest drama costar asking what it was. When had Koichi managed to get hold of his phone, anyway? Let alone figured out how to use it.
Smiling, he pressed a few buttons on his phone then flipped it shut and slid it back into his pocket.
"Nothing special," he said with a careless shrug, not even his infamous poker face managing to hide his amusement. "Just an old friend."
from: Tsuyoshi
subject:
omake
Koichi fumbled for his keys, so tired that his eyes were barely open. They'd come back on the train to be spirited straight away to the studio for an exhausting round of production meetings and recordings, late into the night until he'd fallen asleep face first into the meeting room table. They'd let them go then, his manager driving him home and delivering him to his front door.
All part of the Johnny's Jimusho service.
"Kou-chan~!" a tall, dark shadowy figure screamed, jumping out from next to the doorway when Koichi walked in. And he was lucky -so very damned lucky - that years of being inJE had desensitised Koichi against being manhandled (by naked men thankfully not so much) or otherwise, Nagase would be dead.
Or at least more maimed.
There was a very naked arm wrapped around him which, Koichi thought with a growing tinge of hysteria, was not actually that unfamiliar. He hoped it was developing bruises. And that his teeth had left a mark.
"Nagase."
"Kou-chan!"
"You're naked."
"Welcome back!" Nagase said exuberantly, squeezing Koichi tighter.
"This is a sign for you to let go now," said Koichi calmly.
"Where's the other Domoto?" Nagase looked over Koichi's head at the firmly closed door. Unfortunately for him, the x-ray vision he'd been trying to spontaneously develop since they were juniors didn't kick in.
Koichi dug a pointed elbow into Nagase's ribs. "Home."
Nagase blithely ignored it. "No Domoto sandwich?"
"No Nagase filling, at least," Koichi said repressively, kicking at Nagase's ankle.
"Why not?" Nagase made a hugely sad face.
"You're too big."
"That just means I'm man enough for the both of you," Nagase said, instantly cheering up. "At once!"
"I," Koichi said with great dignity despite how he was almost dangling off the floor. "Prefer Okada. He's compact."
"Kou-chan," Nagase whined, looking awfully betrayed. "Do I at least get video footage?"
"Leave now."
Chuckling, Nagase untangled himself from a clearly not-protesting-enough-which-was-as-good-as-agreeing Koichi. "I'm going to make myself a sandwich. I'll make you one too."
Koichi blinked, then laughed and laughed until Nagase came back - sandwich abandoned in the kitchen - and hugged him tight enough to hurt.
Nagase didn't go home that night.
"I got a phone-call the other day," Okada said carefully into the phone, each word measured and precise. Tsuyoshi could almost hear him rubbing the bridge of his nose, long suffering.
"That happens to me sometimes," he agreed cautiously.
"It was Nagase."
"Was he drunk?"
"I couldn't tell."
"That happens too."
"He told me," Okada said calmly, trying to ignore his forming headache. "That I should 'live the dream' and 'go have a threesome with the Domoto Kyoudai'." The quotation marks were very much audible.
Tsuyoshi paused. Paused a little longer. "Now that, he's never said to me before."
"He wanted video."
"Did you agree?"
"Well," Okada said, decidedly casual. "Koichi is kind of cute. In an overly excitable way."
"He can do that hip thing in bed." Tsuyoshi didn't miss a beat.
"And that was more than I ever needed to know."
Tsuyoshi smiled blandly at the wall. "No one will blame you if you feel the the need to tell Nagase filthy, filthy lies," he said kindly. "Some unscrupulous people will even back them up."
Okada laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."
There was a short easy silence, then a tentative: "Everything's going alright, then?"
Tsuyoshi shrugged, heedless that Okada couldn't see him. "As well as they always are."
"Okada!"
Okada looked up from his latest drama script as Koichi thumped gracelessly into the seat opposite him in the jimusho cafeteria. "Koichi-kun...? Hello."
"Tsuyoshi said you wanted to talk to me," Koichi said, peering curiously at Okada's lunch. He snagged a croquette, Okada obligingly sliding his tray a bit closer.
"I... did?"
Koichi shrugged and flashed him a smile. "Something about acrobatics and a collaboration...? Tsuyoshi wasn't very clear."
Okada choked, spluttered and desperately tried to drown himself in his glass of water.
tackey&tsubasa extras
+ t&t fic that ties in by inocchiroo: The Simplicity of Love
+ missing scene
"I," Tsubasa announced grimly. "Need to know what's happening."
Wary from the experience of many long years of being partners, Hideaki nodded and stuffed another mouthful of pepperoncini pasta into his mouth. If he was chewing, he couldn't say the wrong thing.
"And," Tsubasa looked even grimmer, "Tsuyoshi-nii won't say."
"You know what would distract you?" Hideaki said brightly. His bowl of pasta was sadly empty.
Tsubasa ignored him. "They're just not good with relationship," he fretted. "And Koichi-kun isn't very good at picking up the subtext."
"No, really," Hideaki said as he put down his bowl with a decisive clink on the table. "It would be perfect."
"Maybe I should call them. Tsuyoshi-nii would like the moral support, wouldn't he? I bet he would. He's always there for me, after all." Tsubasa paced back and forth on the carpet, spinning around neatly on his heel each turn with the flair of Higashiyama in Shock.
"You might interrupt them if they're in the middle of something," Hideaki suggested cautiously. "That would be bad, wouldn't it?"
"AAARGH," Tsubasa yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "They've been gone forever!"
"It's been a whole... day?"
Tsubasa spun around and stared suspiciously at him. Hideaki blinked back innocently.
"There's nothing we can do now," Hideaki said reasonably. 'Thank God,' he didn't say out loud. "So we should just do something else while we're waiting."
"Something else," Tsubasa repeated, eyes narrowing.
"Like our relationship?" Hideaki said hopefully.
"What about our relationship?" Tsubasa stalked closer, a dangerous shadow of a smirk playing about his mouth.
Hideaki wondered how dignified it would be to say, 'Lets have sex now, you're really hot when you're angry or you know, when you breathe.' He opened his mouth but the only sound that came out was a squeak.
"Like that, hey?" Tsubasa looked amused but given that he was about six cm away from the tip of Hideaki's nose, Hideaki wasn't exactly in the best position to observe. "Well," Tsubasa drawled. "We could always go and... distract ourselves."
"Eep," Hideaki said. He nodded frantically.
Tsubasa looped his arms around Hideaki's neck, leaning in close enough for an eskimo kiss. "Too bad," he whispered breathily. "That I'm too worried."
Hideaki blinked.
"Now go and call Koichi-kun and find out what happened," Tsubasa ordered, detaching himself quickly and professionally. "I'll go put some coffee on."
Hideaki blinked again.
Tsubasa turned around at the kitchen doorway to smile at him, taking pity on the woebegone look on Hideaki's face. "Then we'll have all the time in the world to do everything else... later."
notes
* No clue what phone servers they're on. For my sake, they're on Softbank because that's what I used and I know they have these specials. It's probably Docomo as the most popular server in Japan, though. XD;
* Daigo on SDK was the idiotic guru that said that when messaging a girl you like for the first time, you shouldn't rush and use heart emojis. Instead, you should use a cherry or an apple - at first it looks like a heart, but then when you look closer, it's not!! ... yeahwell. He's also THIRTY and kinda out of touch.
* Japanese people shower before sex, after sex but generally not during sex. :| it is their JUNBI NO KOKORO or uh, preparation of the heart and their clean freak thing.
* The rose bath is from Japan Walker, where they went to a billion onsen and Koichi was made to eat a rose from his rose bath. Tsuyoshi stood on the sidelines and watched, nibbling on a petal. Koichi took a bite from a giant rose.
* The scene from the hotel is, of course, a reprise of Phi con's Harmony of December, my favourite piece of fanservice ever.
* emoji
I am SO GLAD this is over and done. Thanks to lovespiral for telling me which bits read like trashy romance novels ("CUT THAT OUT. NOW." ";;; kay~" "OH MY GOD, YOU. THERE'S SOMETHING VERY WRONG WITH YOU." ";;;;") and much handholding ("don't wanna write equi. >:0" "fine, go and write something for the t&t ficathon instead." "!!!") and loving abuse. Also to diamondsjack for beta'ing and listening to me even though it's very much not her fandom and desecrateregret who talked me out of drowning Koichi in the bathtub though the temptation was high.
Originally posted in two parts for Kinki's anniversary here and here.
rating: pg13
pairing: tsuyoshi/koichi
warnings: none
notes: at the end.
e·qui·lib·ri·um /ˌikwəˈlɪbriəm, ˌɛkwə-/
Pronunciation[ee-kwuh-lib-ree-uhm, ek-wuh-]
1. a state of rest or balance due to the equal action of opposing forces.
2. equal balance between any powers, influences, etc.; equality of effect.
3. mental or emotional balance; equanimity: The pressures of the situation caused her to lose her equilibrium.
4. Chemistry. the condition existing when a chemical reaction and its reverse reaction proceed at equal rates.
"Takizawa said that for his birthday, he wants me to take you out to some remote fishing village and spend the weekend," Koichi reported solemnly to Tsuyoshi, smile twitching at the corner of his mouth and amusement sparkling bright in his eyes.
"That's because he wants to get into Tsubasa's pants," Tsuyoshi kindly explained. "So he's trying to get me in your pants so I won't notice."
"My pants are kinda tight," Koichi lamented. "I can't get Wardrobe to buy them any bigger."
"That's because they're already too big." Tsuyoshi pointedly tugged on one of Koichi's belt loops. The pants slid down two inches, much to Koichi's squawking indignation.
"You're still not going to fit in there with me."
Tsuyoshi smiled blandly from about three inches away, fingers resting casually in Koichi's belt loops. "I think the point is for both of us to be pantsless."
Koichi blinked slowly. "On the beach, while fishing? Pervert."
"You just don't understand how spiritual an experience it can be," Tsuyoshi said dryly and reached up to pat Koichi on the head. "Never mind. It's not happening."
"Because there would be chaffing," Koichi said agreeably. "But do you want to go fishing with pants on?"
"You're undermining my efforts to protect my little brother's virtue."
"I'm undermining your efforts because my default kohai figure is never going to get any any other way." Koichi smiled his best stage smile and took a half step back. "That wasn't a no, though."
"I assume Takizawa's going to be funding this?"
"I think Tsubasa stole all his credit cards again, actually," Koichi said thoughtfully, losing his fake cheesy smile for something more genuine. "But we can always use yours?"
"Isn't this your birthday present to Takizawa?"
A haughty, disdainful sniff. "You don't appreciate me enough."
"I don't appreciate you at all," Tsuyoshi corrected blandly. "Do we even have a few days off together?"
"I have mysterious connections and powers," Koichi said grandiously. "So I think I can get us a few days off in uh... maybe three weeks?"
Tsuyoshi tilted his head consideringly, looking Koichi up and down. "You mean you haven't taken a day off in so long that the staff are forcing you into downtime?"
"It's magical how I do that, isn't it?" said Koichi agreeably. "So, fishing?"
"You sort of hate fishing," Tsuyoshi felt obliged to point out. "Didn't you say after you were done with the Sushi Ouji filming, you never wanted to see a fish again unless it'd been magically sushi-ed into edibility?"
Koichi made huge doe eyes at Tsuyoshi. "Isn't it touching what partners will do for each other?"
"I'd tell you to call me when you've finished arranging everything, but you don't have my number," Tsuyoshi said mildly.
"I'd never call it anyway," Koichi answered, every word ringing sincere. "My manager or maybe one of the staff will call you, or I'll just show up at your house." He paused, tilting his head quizzically, all bright smile and eyes. "Where do you live again?"
"Telling you would put me in danger," Tsuyoshi said serenely. "Let me know at work."
"I'll tell you on national TV," Koichi said cheerfully and bounced off when one of the staff, frantic and frazzled, called him into make-up.
"Koichi-san," Takizawa asked plaintively down the phone line. Koichi could almost imagine the hangdog look that accompanied it. "Did it work?"
"I think Tsuyoshi is onto us," he said, only a touch cruel. "But he said yes. Maybe yes. Maybe if you brought him sacrificial offerings. He likes fish but I hear you're doing a roaring trade in juniors."
"Koichi-saaaaan."
Koichi stifled an amused snort. "Sorry, Takizawa. It's fine, Tsuyoshi agreed that we both needed a little vacation, what with all the solo activities we've been doing. We haven't been spending much time together."
"It's important for partners to bond," Takizawa said, hopelessly sincere.
Sometimes, Koichi could hardly believe that only a few years separated them, though a year in the entertainment business probably equated five elsewhere. "I don't think we're going to be doing the same type of bonding you are." Koichi smirked and prodded at his laptop. "I'll send a proposed itinerary and hotel choices your way to make the final bookings?"
"You'd be surprised."
"Excuse me?" Koichi blinked distractedly at his monitor.
"Sure, send everything over," Takizawa said promptly.
"Mmmmhmmm," Koichi hummed. "So what's Tsubasa's thoughts on all this?"
The silence was almost deafening. "Uh. Well. ... Uhhh," Takizawa stuttered awkwardly. "I haven't really told him that much. Yet. But I will?"
"Good luck," Koichi said without the slightest hint of sympathy. "You're going to need it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go out and distract my partner from abandoning our honeymoon to crash yours."
Takizawa whimpered. "I owe you one, Koichi-san."
"That's okay," Koichi said with the Zen of a Tibetan monk. "Tsubasa lent me one of your credit cards." And promptly hung up with an evil cackle.
"Kampai~" Nagase cheered, roughly knocking glasses with Tsuyoshi so that the foamy beer almost spilled down their fingers. "Here's to another week alive."
"Kampai," Tsuyoshi said grimly in return. "Koichi's taking me to a hotel for a few days."
Nagase choked.
"Well, Takizawa asked Koichi to take me out of town for a few days," Tsuyoshi corrected, bland as milk.
Nagase gaped for a second before spitefully stealing Tsuyoshi's beer. There was a pause as he gulped it down, a satisfied gasp of breath, then: "Maybe you should take the opportunity to trip him into bed."
"You've tried picking him up and throwing him into bed before."
"He bounced," Nagase agreed sadly. "And laughed it off."
"He does that, doesn't he?" For a suspicious second, Tsuyoshi sounded almost fond. Koichi's near-hysterical high-pitched laughter when cornered was too familiar to both of them.
"It might work this time?" Nagase shrugged fatalistically. "He does like you. Like that."
"Are you sure you should be encouraging me?" Tsuyoshi's mouth curved slightly, soft and sweet. "I know he does. And he should know I do too. We're not high-schoolers anymore."
Nagase smiled down at his hands, spinning an empty glass on the edge of its base. "Could I stop you?"
"Sometimes, things change direction with a nudge." Though, Tsuyoshi was discovering, a habit of over ten years was hard to break.
"Besides," Nagase said, cheerful as he signaled for another two drinks. "If you two get together, my ultimate dream of having a Domoto sandwich will be one step closer to coming true."
"I'm kinda selfish," Tsuyoshi said contemplatively.
Nagase's smile was wide and easy. "I'm not. Kampai?"
"Kampai."
"Tsu-Tsuyoshi-san!" Takizawa's voice cracked almost painfully and the expression on his face was nothing short of hunted. "What a surprise, bumping into you here!"
"... Yes," Tsuyoshi said carefully. He glanced briefly at the door to make sure he hadn't been mysteriously transported to somewhere that wasn't a step outside the Kinki Kids green room. "It is. Being outside my dressing room and all."
Takizawa laughed nervously and began to back away. "That it is. Um. I. I need to go that way. Now."
"Stop."
Takizawa stopped.
"I never thanked you for your thoughtful suggestion for your birthday," Tsuyoshi drawled casually, advancing. Takizawa whimpered.
"You're. You're welcome?"
"It was a nice touch, sending Koichi to ask," Tsuyoshi said contemplatively. "But he's never been good at holding secrets from me." Most of the time, Koichi didn't even try, spilling out his thoughts with the trust of long, long association.
"I just thought that maybe the two of you could do with a holiday, since you're both very busy and haven't seen each other lately?" Takizawa rattled it off like machine gun fire. "Partners should spend time with each other."
Tsuyoshi gave him a long assessing look. "We're not your counterparts."
"You're our role models," Takizawa protested.
"We're learning from each other," Tsuyoshi said, easy twist to his mouth. "And there's no beaten path to follow."
"E-eh?"
"Things will go their own way." Tsuyoshi shrugged. "Give my regards to Tsubasa, will you?"
"I um. Yes?" Takizawa said helplessly. "It was nice talking to you?"
"Wasn't it?" Tsuyoshi said blandly and disappeared into his dressing room, leaving Takizawa gaping in the hallway.
"So what was that all about?" Koichi laughed, looking up from where he was sprawled half across the low table, seated cross-legged on the floor. He stretched leisurely, the muscles in his back rippling from the effort.
Tsuyoshi watched appreciatively, a hint of a smile lingering around his pursed mouth. "Nothing in particular, just giving some advice to a kohai."
"Takizawa's my pet, isn't he?" Koichi asked lazily. "I always thought you claimed Tsubasa as yours."
"Owning people is against the law, Koichi-san."
Koichi looked up through his eyelashes. "That's never stopped you before."
"It's different when people consent." Tsuyoshi let their eyes meet, unsurprised when Koichi looked away first. "Tsubasa isn't mine."
"No, I guess not." Koichi exhaled, long and slow. "Not that way."
"Some claims are more important than others."
A long silence followed, strangely not awkward as Tsuyoshi headed towards the mirrors to do his hair and consider his make-up. By all appearances, Koichi who had been steadily wearing himself thinner and thinner with hard work all month, had dozed off. Tsuyoshi was almost glad for the promised vacation even if only because Koichi would have the chance to loll about all day, forsaking any promise to go fishing for a few more hours of catching up on lost sleep.
It wasn't hard to sleep in a strange hotel rooms anymore, not after so many years of practice and when the sterile white sheets and blandly coloured walls had become almost as familiar as their own apartments.
"Hey." Koichi's voice, soft and slightly raspy startled Tsuyoshi from his thoughts. "Are you looking forward to the trip?"
"It'll be nice to have a vacation," Tsuyoshi said, gentle.
Koichi's mouth curved at the corners, slow and sweet. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"We did stay in hotels for our concert tour," Tsuyoshi pointed out, slightly amused. He stole a glance at Koichi through the mirror, hand paused in the act of touching his hair.
"But that's different. We don't normally do this in private." Koichi's eyes were still closed, the darkness of his eyelashes accenting the smudgy shadows beneath them, still uncovered by the thick layers of make-up to come.
Tsuyoshi smiled, drifting over to sit at the table across from Koichi; close enough to touch Koichi's stretched out arms, his fingers strangely delicate and vulnerable-looking, starkly pale against the dark wood. "We've been busy."
"We're always busy."
"We won't be too busy in a few weeks," Tsuyoshi promised, his words hanging almost tangible in the air in the silence that followed.
"Hey," Koichi said again, more an exhale than a word. A long pause followed. Tsuyoshi was almost ready to give Koichi up for having fallen asleep again when Koichi moved, turning his face to bury it against his outstretched arms. Voice muffled, half incomprehensible, he asked softly: "Do you think it would be different if we'd been friends all along?"
Tsuyoshi shrugged, the set of his shoulders as nonchalant as his eyes were intense. "Things change."
Koichi lifted his head finally to look at Tsuyoshi full in the eye, show smile at its most brilliant. "I should go get ready. The cameras are waiting."
Tsuyoshi's face didn't change as he twitched his shoulders carelessly. "Aren't they always?"
Bzzzzt! The sudden vibration of his phone made Koichi almost fall off his couch, scrambling for his bag and then laptop as it threatened to take a nosedive onto the hardwood floors. "Domoto speaking," he huffed a moment later, flipping open his phone without even checking who was calling.
"KOU-CHAAAAAN!" Nagase hollered cheerfully.
Koichi winced and moved the phone so it was at least a foot away from his ear. "Nagase."
"Come out and eat with me, Kou-chan," Nagase coaxed, all sweet promises. "I'll make it worth your while?"
"It's two in the morning," Koichi complained. He flailed as he teetered precariously on the edge of the couch, trying to right himself without breaking something irreplaceable whether it be his limbs or his precious computer.
There was an expectant pause. "That's a yes, right?"
"Let me put on pants and I'll be right out," Koichi agreed promptly. He set his laptop carefully on the table and rolled to his feet. "Where are you?"
The tick-tick-ticking of Nagase's brain working was almost audible. "I could always come to you and you could skip putting on pants?" Nagase suggested brightly.
"Some people actually like wearing clothing in front of their friends," Koichi explained for what was likely the fiftieth time in very recent history. At least on the phone, he couldn't see whether or not Nagase was actually wearing pants at this very moment though the answer was probably no. Koichi wasn't stupid enough to ask.
"Never understood," Nagase grumbled with great disgruntlement. "I'll meet you at the yakiniku place you like? The one that's open until 4am?"
"Twenty minutes?"
"Twenty minutes. You can leave the pants at home."
Koichi could almost see the sultry-eyed look Nagase had to have on, to match the husky bedroom voice. "I'd get arrested," he said with a laugh, slightly breathelessly shrill, "But I'll see you there." He hung up without waiting for an answer and went to hunt for clothing.
Half an hour later, Koichi slumped companionably against Nagase's side, watching the meat sizzle with a Zen-like aura. "Did Tsuyoshi tell you?" he asked lazily, casual. He stole a glance at Nagase through his eyelashes before looking quickly away. "We actually managed to gets days off. Consecutive days off. Where we don't have to work."
"You'll be running off to Hawaii without me?" Nagase nudged Koichi with his shoulder, surprisingly gentle.
Koichi laughed quiet and low. "You know I don't like going overseas. I'd spend the entire time following Tsuyoshi around."
"That's not a bad thing, is it?" Nagase said, so mild that Koichi nodded then started in surprise a few seconds later. "Ah!" Nagase said cheerfully. "The meat's done. You need to eat more, Kou-chan."
"Maa," Koichi grumbled, subsiding obediently. "You always say that." He snagged a piece of meat with his chopsticks anyway and chewed at it only a little petulantly.
"That's because you never listen." Nagase's voice was warm and the look in his eyes so soft that Koichi had to look away. The conversation lapsed into companionable silence as they focused on eating, then: "We should go out and do something too."
"I see you all the time, Occhan!" Koichi gave a soft huff of startled laughter. "You can come over whenever you like."
"Maybe the three of us should do something," Nagase suggested. "My two favourite Domotos and me."
Koichi snorted, narrowing his eyes. "We're the only Domotos you know."
"Hey," Nagase protested. "I might be hiding more. I could be running an illicit trade in Domotos. You'd never know. My plans are too ingenious."
"You make me fear for my safety," Koichi said, wide-eyed with earnest sincerety and gave a kindly pat to Nagase's knee.
"Do you want to come over to my secret lair afterwards?" Nagase leered exaggeratedly. "I'll take my pants off."
"Is that a threat or a promise?" Koichi laughed and draped himself lazily against Nagase's shoulder, replete with good food and easy companionship. He stretched slow and comfortable then curled back against Nagase's side. "Shouldn't you be promising me your best behaviour?"
"Who'd actually want me to keep my pants on?" Nagase said, indignant at the very thought. Koichi promptly raised his hand with his best guilelessly blank look. "You don't count," Nagase explained haughtily. "You'll come around."
"To your house, to your not wearing pants or to my not wearing pants?" Koichi asked, peeling himself off Nagase's shoulder to peer at him with hugely innocent eyes.
"All three," Nagase said firmly. The set of his mouth was strong and resolute, even with the smudge of sauce decorating his chin. "But in the interests of my shining reputation, you can come over first and then strip. We can fight crime. And zombies."
A beat passed. "You got a new game?" Koichi asked sweetly. He propped an elbow up on the counter and his chin on his palm, tilting his head to give Nagase a sidelong look. A smile played around the corners of his mouth, smirkily smug.
"That's off topic!" Nagase sniffed, then grinned. "You're in, right?"
"I'd never say no," Koichi promised and smiled, luminous bright.
"Tsuyoshi-kun," Tsubasa said anxiously, peering at the bubbling pot on the stove. "I think this is almost done?"
Tsuyoshi hummed consideringly, coming over to poke at it with a long pair of cooking chopsticks. "Give it two minutes and it should be okay. Could you go set the table?"
Tsubasa nodded, all bright smile and huge eyes, and scurried off with a clank of cutlery and flatware. The wine glasses, with an open bottle of wine settled to breathe next to them, were already out on the table. "Ne, Tsuyoshi-kun," he called from the other room. "Hide-kun was telling me, you and Koichi-kun are going somewhere next, next week?"
"Mmm," Tsuyoshi said. "We are. Enoshima, some beach-side ryokan." He came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands dry on a tea towel. "Takizawa's idea, wasn't it?"
Tsubasa's eyes slid guiltily away. "It's nice that you and Koichi-kun are spending time together?"
"Nice," Tsuyoshi repeated with absolutely no inflection at all. "Isn't it?"
"Well." Tsubasa nodded resolutely. "Hide-kun and I have been spending a lot of time together because-" He stopped when Tsuyoshi held a hand up.
"Is this going to destroy my perception of you as twelve years old and prepubescent?" Tsuyoshi asked dryly. "My psyche is fragile."
Tsubasa gave him a reproachful look. "I thought since we were all reasonable adults, we could talk about reasonable adult things?"
Tsuyoshi stared back at him. There was a long silence, then:
"Hide-kun likes to sleep naked," Tsubasa said, all in a rush. He smiled guiltily. "I think he's really hot."
Tsuyoshi pointed at the door. "You. Out of my house." He disappeared back into the kitchen after making his proclamation, rattling pots and pans. A minute later, he came out again carrying two plates. "Why are you still here?"
"Because you like me?" Tsubasa said hopefully. He eyed off the plates with a distinctly sharkish air, at odds with the puppy eyes he was trying to project.
"I wonder," Tsuyoshi grumbled but set the plates down and motioned Tsubasa to sit down before him. "So you're going to tell me everything about your new boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend makes it sound like we're fifteen years old and met for the first time last week!" Tsubasa protested but stopped when Tsuyoshi just looked at him, one eyebrow pointedly raised. "... He's really nice?"
Tsuyoshi sighed. "I'm happy for you, but you know how these sorts of things can get in the business, don't you...?"
"Of course!" Tsubasa said indignantly, then calmed down straight away, slightly abashed. "We've thought about it a lot and it's taken a long time for us to get this far but well, we thought that if we were just going to keep going the same way, both of us would be miserable..." He looked down at his plate. "Keeping things the same wasn't going to work forever." He snuck a brief look up at Tsuyoshi before looking away, biting his lip.
"It's a big risk," Tsuyoshi said neutrally.
"I'm - we're willing to take it," Tsubasa said, staring hard at his plate. "Don't you think it's better to try to be happy?"
A long silence followed, only broken by the soft clink of cutlery against their plates, the sound of a wine glass being raised and placed down and the constant ambient noise of the multiple fish tanks bubbling away, casting a muted, blue glow about the room.
"I know what you're doing," Tsuyoshi said, the slightest smile showing only in his eyes. "But your relationship has nothing to do with us. Koichi and I are different people."
"It's not like that!" Tsubasa frowned at his wineglass. "I just-"
"People in love always want everyone else around them to feel the same, but sometimes they forget a few things in their happiness," Tsuyoshi said gently. "I appreciate it, but-"
"Tsuyoshi-kun!"
Tsuyoshi rocked back at Tsubasa's uncharacteristic outburst, blinking rapidly a few times.
"Tsuyoshi-kun," Tsubasa repeated, a bit softer. "It's not like that. It really isn't. I just... you deserve happiness, too. Isn't it time...?"
It was Tsuyoshi's turn to look away, studying the fish tank against the wall intently. Delicately finned angelfish in brilliant colours next to the almost awkward shapes of the fish that had escaped the effects of change over time - not exactly beautiful but fascinating all the same. "I'm working on it."
*
"I promise the train won't hurt you," Tsuyoshi said patiently as he adjusted his hat one final time for a perfectly rakish angle in the reflection of Koichi's mirrored sunglasses.
Koichi pulled a face. "I can't even use my Pasmo for these tickets."
"Your life, so sad," Tsuyoshi commiserated and reached out to tug Koichi's sleeve to pull him towards the ticket machines. He ignored the tiny flinch at his movement, given that Koichi never went so far to move away. "Your Pasmo will survive being unused for another year or ten."
"I have a car," Koichi informed him artlessly. "It saves on these things?"
"Be adventurous."
There was a contemplative pause, and then, "I have a very fast car?"
"That would count if I didn't know you babied that thing worse than a first born child. And if you drove it more than once a year."
Koichi's eyes rounded. "It scares me when you know everything."
Tsuyoshi was silent for a moment as he navigated the ticket machine, mouth twisted in a sharp line. "Not everything." He handed a ticket to Koichi, nodding at the subdued 'thanks,' and herded him towards the ticket gates.
Boarding itself was a somewhat complicated affair, accomplished with a flurry of confusion and baggage (mostly Tsuyoshi's except for Koichi's strangely fashionable - "It was a gift," he explained, somewhat shamefaced, to Tsuyoshi's questioning look - messenger bag, a modest choice compared to Tsuyoshi's matching set of bags. "What's all that stuff anyway?" Koichi had demanded, attacking before his own amount of luggage could be attacked.
"Hair products," Tsuyoshi had said, bland). Koichi had almost been lost for good were it not for Tsuyoshi's quick reflexes in snagging him back by the shirt from wandering onto the wrong train, an express bound for the opposite direction.
"I should put you on a leash," said Tsuyoshi grimly after he'd safely deposited Koichi in the window seat.
Koichi stretched, squirming a bit at the cramped space. Tsuyoshi's eyes tracked the hem of his long t-shirt riding up. "I thought you said those things were inhumane?"
"That was for Kenshiro."
A short, contemplative pause. Then Koichi tilted his head curiously, eyes narrowed. "So about this leashing peopl-"
THWACK.
"Ow," said Koichi mournfully, detaching the magazine from where Tsuyoshi was holding it against his nose. Then "Oh!" in much more pleased and surprised tones when it turned out to be the latest edition of a car magazine that he hadn't had the time to read yet.
"Thank you," Koichi beamed and with every appearance of making himself comfortable, flipped open his magazine and settled into his seat, kicking off his shoes and curling up bonelessly. His sunglasses, expensive and fashionable, were abandoned carelessly in one of the pockets of his bag. Tsuyoshi opened his mouth as if to say something, but shut it soundlessly as a rush of inexplicable fondness filled him and he was reduced to looking with helpless affection instead.
Tsuyoshi pulled out his own magazine - fishing, of course - and spent a few pleasant moments basking in the ambient noise of the train settling around them; the sound of the conductor reading the boarding announcements and other passengers settling their luggage, Koichi lazily flipping through the pages besides him.
The train pulled out of the station with barely a jerk, picking up speed until they were hurtling through the country side. Tsuyoshi glanced through the window - and covertly at Koichi, curled against it, seemingly absorbed in his magazine - to watch the blur of concrete buildings give way to wide tracts of land, spaces filled with unrealised possibilities.
"We haven't done this for a long time, have we?" Tsuyoshi said, quiet and contemplative. He stared past Koichi, studiously avoiding his eyes.
Koichi shrugged. "Never without the cameras." He ostensibly flipped a page over.
"Things have changed since then."
A corner of Koichi's mouth tilted up, quieter and far more sincere than normally seen. "Haven't they?"
There really was nothing more to say to that, so Tsuyoshi turned back to his reading, discontent with unsettled expectations. Watching him, Koichi closed his own magazine and set it aside with a few sharp, economical movements.
"Heeeey," Koichi said, dragging out the syllable, suspiciously bright eyed. "Tsuyoshi. Tsuyotsuyotsuyoshiiiiiiiiiii," he repeated with a hint of a whine, more of a laugh, when Tsuyoshi tried to ignore him.
The persistent tap-tap-tap of Koichi drumming his fingers on the arm rest as he hovered in wait, back straight and smile so genuinely pleased that his eyes were little more than crinkled lines, finally made Tsuyoshi snort and lower his magazine after a few minutes.
"Koichi-san," he said, extremely patient.
"Tsuyoshi." Koichi blinked innocently.
"Was there something you wanted, Koichi-san?" Tsuyoshi said repressively, tamping down on the smile that threatened to twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"Do you think there'll be a rose bath this time?"
Tsuyoshi rolled his eyes. "It's barely the end of March, and this isn't exactly Japan Walker we're going with. Real people don't do rose baths when the cameras aren't rolling." Real people didn't exactly have cameras on them at all.
The drumming slowed to a stop, making Tsuyoshi look up sharply. "They don't get to do a lot of things." Koichi shrugged and smiled brighter.
"Wouldn't it be worth it?" The train moved so fast that everything outside blurred together, strangely unfocused to Tsuyoshi's eyes. "To be without the cameras?
"You'd disappoint your fans?"
"There are some things more important."
"Romantic," accused Koichi, only a little serious.
"Realist," Tsuyoshi shrugged.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Koichi said lightly but Tsuyoshi only smiled, rare for its sincerity, and turned away.
The inn was tucked away behind the main road, up a discrete path lined with bamboo and strangely hushed. A train, a bus and a small, winding walk from Tokyo; an entire lifetime away. The attendants were soft voiced and clad in yukata, pale shades of green and blue and lilac, with tabi'd feet that slipped soundlessly across the polished wood floorboards and the click of the sliding door sounded loud in the silence they left behind.
Koichi stood awkwardly by the door, suddenly inexplicably shy. Their bags were already arranged in neat piles by the wall, the open doors to the garden let in the breeze and revealed the small private onsen, steam rising up in spiralling columns.
Tsuyoshi was already gone, through the main room and into the smaller room where the futons would be spread.
Slowly, slowly, dragging his socked feet on the tatami floor, Koichi meandered his way over stopping to look out the window, at the small table, the texture of the wallpaper. Really, he wasn't stalling at all.
Or not stalling enough. He was at the door before he had time to think, but time to convince himself that maybe, maybe now it's a bad idea. Funny how on the way up here, he'd been so sure - that everything had been leading up to this but now...
Koichi looked up from his feet into the room and his breath catching because Tsuyoshi was looking back at him, eyes wide and dark and almost magnetic in their intensity. Koichi could feel his heart starting to pound in his chest, almost dizzy with the force, and he wanted to step back but there was nowhere to go.
The door was still open behind him and he pressed against the frame, felt it dig against his back along his spine. Tsuyoshi moved forward and suddenly, he couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't think.
They'd been closer than this. For dramas, variety shows, a hundred different photoshoots and Tsuyoshi wasn't even in his personal space yet - half a metre away, he could reach out and touch without having to bend his arm.
Tsuyoshi's hand came up and Koichi's eyes closed. His own breathing was loud in his ears, barely audible over the thump of his heart. Tsuyoshi's hand was warm and sure, gentle as it touched his forehead, trailed down the bridge of his nose like he was memorising the shape of Koichi's face. He wasn't - they'd known each other so long, so well, that such things were pointless - and continued skimming past his chin, neck, collarbone to rest for one breathless, eternal moment against his heartbeat.
"I'm going to shower," Tsuyoshi said softly, something undefined in his voice. A little rough and it caught in the still air between them.
Koichi nodded, not opening his eyes.
A slight pressure on his chest and the warmth was gone; Tsuyoshi brushed past him too close, enough to feel the heat of his body and Koichi waited motionless for his soft footsteps to fade away and the door to click behind him.
Tsuyoshi leaned back against the closed door and exhaled, long and slow. Controlled.
Moving methodically, he placed his towel and ryokan-provided yukata on the bench, shedding his clothes in a heap uncaring of the wrinkles that would form.
He picked up his jeans, meaning to fold them but his hands wouldn't cooperate and they dropped to the ground, crumpled. Kept breathing, in and out, steady like a two beat count.
The water was still cold when he stepped into the shower.
Phantom heat from Koichi's body lingered, spurring him to move faster and faster. He scrubbed his hair impatiently, careless of tangles, ran a soapy cloth down his body until his own touch made him shudder and stop.
He braced his hands against the wall and let the water beat down on his shoulders, biting his lip hard.
Thoughts of Koichi filled his head: Koichi's hands on the guitar sliding easy and confident, Koichi's smile when he happy, Koichi's laugh, the sharp bones of his hips and the curve of his spine, the way he was just a little too light in Tsuyoshi's arms or when carried around on his back.
Tsuyoshi abruptly wrenched the water back to cold.
"Your turn."
Koichi didn't move, sitting on the edge of the porch with his legs dangling off casually. A magazine was unopened besides him, an untouched glass of cola beaded with condensation.
"Koichi?"
"Tsuyoshi." Koichi slowly got to his feet, looking out at the garden. His lips were red and swollen, like he'd been biting them the entire time. Like he'd been kissed within an inch of his life.
There was a long pause. Then, gently, "You don't need to shower if you don't want to."
Koichi's smile was bright and slanting as he turned around. "I've set out the futons." A trickle of water dripped from Tsuyoshi's hair and made its slow, leisurely way down his neck. Koichi's eyes tracked it and he swallowed hard, Adam's apple bobbing. He cleared his throat. "You should go unpack."
"Ah," Tsuyoshi said and watched as Koichi, starkly graceful, scooped up his folded yukata and made his way towards the shower.
The futons were spread right next to each other, not even an inch between them. Tsuyoshi lingered by the door for a long moment: Koichi had done this. Koichi.
Koichi who was only a few metres and a door away.
Tsuyoshi took a deep measured breath and went to lock the main door.
It was long minutes before the sound of the shower stopped, longer minutes until the door creaked open. Bare feet on tatami hardly made a sound and Tsuyoshi, determined, didn't turn, didn't let himself make a move until there was a whisper: his name.
Tsuyoshi turned around and Koichi, still scrubbing at his hair with a towel, let it fall out of his lax hand. His skin was damp, flushed with the heat of the shower, hair in a dishevelled mess and Tsuyoshi thought he had never looked better.
He never remembered afterwards who had made the first move.
Koichi propped himself up on an elbow, looking down at Tsuyoshi's face suspiciously bright eyed. Tsuyoshi blinked back at him, unwilling to move when his heart rate was finally calming down. The flush hadn't even died from Koichi's face.
"Naa, Tsuyoshi," Koichi said, ignoring how Tsuyoshi's eyes were heavily lidded. "I knew you couldn't resist me."
"Really," Tsuyoshi deadpanned. He stifled a yawn and stretched lazily. "I thought it was the other way around."
"Nope," Koichi said cheerfully. "Definitely your baser instincts." A smile played around his mouth. "But you still respect me, don't you?"
It figured that Koichi, so lethargic most of the time and so exhausted the rest, would be disgustingly chipper after sex. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
"I always have."
Tsuyoshi looked up sharply, forcing open his eyelids that he couldn't quite remember when they'd closed. Koichi smiled back and placed a hand on his cheek, the rough skin scraping a little on his stubble. "Naaa, you'll call me in the morning, right?"
"You'd have to give me your number first," Tsuyoshi pointed out. Koichi's fingers stroked along his cheekbone.
"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Mostly lighthearted, a little edged.
"No more than this is." Tsuyoshi reached up and trapped Koichi's hand in his own, bringing it down to rest on his own chest.
"Don't you have it already?" Undeterred, Koichi twisted his hand out of Tsuyoshi's grip, laying it flat against his chest. Tsuyoshi's hand moved to cover it.
"It doesn't mean anything if it wasn't from you."
Koichi just smiled, infinitely sweet. "Maa, ne. When do you think they'll be serving dinner?"
Tsuyoshi rolled his eyes then - exercising great restraint - rolled over onto Koichi, pinned him and kissed him until he squeaked.
Three days after the arrived home - to separate apartments but the same recording studios, enough work backlogged from their vacation that there was barely enough time to sleep let alone think - Tsuyoshi received an email.
from: Prince Koichi-sama
subject:
Softbank to Softbank messages and calls are free.
Tsuyoshi laughed, startled, and ignored the curious chirping of his latest drama costar asking what it was. When had Koichi managed to get hold of his phone, anyway? Let alone figured out how to use it.
Smiling, he pressed a few buttons on his phone then flipped it shut and slid it back into his pocket.
"Nothing special," he said with a careless shrug, not even his infamous poker face managing to hide his amusement. "Just an old friend."
from: Tsuyoshi
subject:
omake
Koichi fumbled for his keys, so tired that his eyes were barely open. They'd come back on the train to be spirited straight away to the studio for an exhausting round of production meetings and recordings, late into the night until he'd fallen asleep face first into the meeting room table. They'd let them go then, his manager driving him home and delivering him to his front door.
All part of the Johnny's Jimusho service.
"Kou-chan~!" a tall, dark shadowy figure screamed, jumping out from next to the doorway when Koichi walked in. And he was lucky -so very damned lucky - that years of being inJE had desensitised Koichi against being manhandled (by naked men thankfully not so much) or otherwise, Nagase would be dead.
Or at least more maimed.
There was a very naked arm wrapped around him which, Koichi thought with a growing tinge of hysteria, was not actually that unfamiliar. He hoped it was developing bruises. And that his teeth had left a mark.
"Nagase."
"Kou-chan!"
"You're naked."
"Welcome back!" Nagase said exuberantly, squeezing Koichi tighter.
"This is a sign for you to let go now," said Koichi calmly.
"Where's the other Domoto?" Nagase looked over Koichi's head at the firmly closed door. Unfortunately for him, the x-ray vision he'd been trying to spontaneously develop since they were juniors didn't kick in.
Koichi dug a pointed elbow into Nagase's ribs. "Home."
Nagase blithely ignored it. "No Domoto sandwich?"
"No Nagase filling, at least," Koichi said repressively, kicking at Nagase's ankle.
"Why not?" Nagase made a hugely sad face.
"You're too big."
"That just means I'm man enough for the both of you," Nagase said, instantly cheering up. "At once!"
"I," Koichi said with great dignity despite how he was almost dangling off the floor. "Prefer Okada. He's compact."
"Kou-chan," Nagase whined, looking awfully betrayed. "Do I at least get video footage?"
"Leave now."
Chuckling, Nagase untangled himself from a clearly not-protesting-enough-which-was-as-good-as-agreeing Koichi. "I'm going to make myself a sandwich. I'll make you one too."
Koichi blinked, then laughed and laughed until Nagase came back - sandwich abandoned in the kitchen - and hugged him tight enough to hurt.
Nagase didn't go home that night.
"I got a phone-call the other day," Okada said carefully into the phone, each word measured and precise. Tsuyoshi could almost hear him rubbing the bridge of his nose, long suffering.
"That happens to me sometimes," he agreed cautiously.
"It was Nagase."
"Was he drunk?"
"I couldn't tell."
"That happens too."
"He told me," Okada said calmly, trying to ignore his forming headache. "That I should 'live the dream' and 'go have a threesome with the Domoto Kyoudai'." The quotation marks were very much audible.
Tsuyoshi paused. Paused a little longer. "Now that, he's never said to me before."
"He wanted video."
"Did you agree?"
"Well," Okada said, decidedly casual. "Koichi is kind of cute. In an overly excitable way."
"He can do that hip thing in bed." Tsuyoshi didn't miss a beat.
"And that was more than I ever needed to know."
Tsuyoshi smiled blandly at the wall. "No one will blame you if you feel the the need to tell Nagase filthy, filthy lies," he said kindly. "Some unscrupulous people will even back them up."
Okada laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."
There was a short easy silence, then a tentative: "Everything's going alright, then?"
Tsuyoshi shrugged, heedless that Okada couldn't see him. "As well as they always are."
"Okada!"
Okada looked up from his latest drama script as Koichi thumped gracelessly into the seat opposite him in the jimusho cafeteria. "Koichi-kun...? Hello."
"Tsuyoshi said you wanted to talk to me," Koichi said, peering curiously at Okada's lunch. He snagged a croquette, Okada obligingly sliding his tray a bit closer.
"I... did?"
Koichi shrugged and flashed him a smile. "Something about acrobatics and a collaboration...? Tsuyoshi wasn't very clear."
Okada choked, spluttered and desperately tried to drown himself in his glass of water.
tackey&tsubasa extras
+ t&t fic that ties in by inocchiroo: The Simplicity of Love
+ missing scene
"I," Tsubasa announced grimly. "Need to know what's happening."
Wary from the experience of many long years of being partners, Hideaki nodded and stuffed another mouthful of pepperoncini pasta into his mouth. If he was chewing, he couldn't say the wrong thing.
"And," Tsubasa looked even grimmer, "Tsuyoshi-nii won't say."
"You know what would distract you?" Hideaki said brightly. His bowl of pasta was sadly empty.
Tsubasa ignored him. "They're just not good with relationship," he fretted. "And Koichi-kun isn't very good at picking up the subtext."
"No, really," Hideaki said as he put down his bowl with a decisive clink on the table. "It would be perfect."
"Maybe I should call them. Tsuyoshi-nii would like the moral support, wouldn't he? I bet he would. He's always there for me, after all." Tsubasa paced back and forth on the carpet, spinning around neatly on his heel each turn with the flair of Higashiyama in Shock.
"You might interrupt them if they're in the middle of something," Hideaki suggested cautiously. "That would be bad, wouldn't it?"
"AAARGH," Tsubasa yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "They've been gone forever!"
"It's been a whole... day?"
Tsubasa spun around and stared suspiciously at him. Hideaki blinked back innocently.
"There's nothing we can do now," Hideaki said reasonably. 'Thank God,' he didn't say out loud. "So we should just do something else while we're waiting."
"Something else," Tsubasa repeated, eyes narrowing.
"Like our relationship?" Hideaki said hopefully.
"What about our relationship?" Tsubasa stalked closer, a dangerous shadow of a smirk playing about his mouth.
Hideaki wondered how dignified it would be to say, 'Lets have sex now, you're really hot when you're angry or you know, when you breathe.' He opened his mouth but the only sound that came out was a squeak.
"Like that, hey?" Tsubasa looked amused but given that he was about six cm away from the tip of Hideaki's nose, Hideaki wasn't exactly in the best position to observe. "Well," Tsubasa drawled. "We could always go and... distract ourselves."
"Eep," Hideaki said. He nodded frantically.
Tsubasa looped his arms around Hideaki's neck, leaning in close enough for an eskimo kiss. "Too bad," he whispered breathily. "That I'm too worried."
Hideaki blinked.
"Now go and call Koichi-kun and find out what happened," Tsubasa ordered, detaching himself quickly and professionally. "I'll go put some coffee on."
Hideaki blinked again.
Tsubasa turned around at the kitchen doorway to smile at him, taking pity on the woebegone look on Hideaki's face. "Then we'll have all the time in the world to do everything else... later."
notes
* No clue what phone servers they're on. For my sake, they're on Softbank because that's what I used and I know they have these specials. It's probably Docomo as the most popular server in Japan, though. XD;
* Daigo on SDK was the idiotic guru that said that when messaging a girl you like for the first time, you shouldn't rush and use heart emojis. Instead, you should use a cherry or an apple - at first it looks like a heart, but then when you look closer, it's not!! ... yeahwell. He's also THIRTY and kinda out of touch.
* Japanese people shower before sex, after sex but generally not during sex. :| it is their JUNBI NO KOKORO or uh, preparation of the heart and their clean freak thing.
* The rose bath is from Japan Walker, where they went to a billion onsen and Koichi was made to eat a rose from his rose bath. Tsuyoshi stood on the sidelines and watched, nibbling on a petal. Koichi took a bite from a giant rose.
* The scene from the hotel is, of course, a reprise of Phi con's Harmony of December, my favourite piece of fanservice ever.
* emoji
I am SO GLAD this is over and done. Thanks to lovespiral for telling me which bits read like trashy romance novels ("CUT THAT OUT. NOW." ";;; kay~" "OH MY GOD, YOU. THERE'S SOMETHING VERY WRONG WITH YOU." ";;;;") and much handholding ("don't wanna write equi. >:0" "fine, go and write something for the t&t ficathon instead." "!!!") and loving abuse. Also to diamondsjack for beta'ing and listening to me even though it's very much not her fandom and desecrateregret who talked me out of drowning Koichi in the bathtub though the temptation was high.
Originally posted in two parts for Kinki's anniversary here and here.