ENG - [YabuxInoo] - Merry-Go-Round Goes 1 - The Car
Title : Merry-Go-Round Goes
Chapter : 1/??
Pairing(s)/Fandom : Yabu Kota x Inoo Kei / Hey! Say! JUMP, NEWS, more to come
Author : ma_rendezvous
Genre : AU. Romance
Rating : mostly NC-17
Warning : This fanfic is nothing but a paraphrased version of Pretty Woman (1991)
Disclaimer : The main story belongs to Garry Marshall's team. I have the improvisations and other things. The rests are idols, everyone owns these idols. Ha ha!
A/N : So yeah. It starts from a headcannon that I had in mind for at least as long as I've been in this fandom. But I was super busy to even write anything, and due to my super busy schedule I almost forgot how to write. But I happened to finish this first chapter lol. Anyway, this is my own version of 'Pretty Woman'.
Summary : Based on the movie, Pretty Woman, here Inoo Kei is living a life as a hooker in Shinjuku Ni Chome, the infamous district for queers in the whole Tokyo. And one day, he met his fate; his prince, who happens to be a very wealthy businessman named Yabu Kota. It's just that with him, everything goes unlooked-for.
Merry-Go-Round Goes
- Chapter 1 -
Takaki Yuya bumped anyone-of men with best unwrinkled tuxedos and women with expensive sparkling dresses-who blocked up his way without even saying an apology like he had always been thaught of since he was born. He was running crankily after his client, a very important client of his, who had just walked away from the crowd and went out of the building as fast as a lightning, leaving all that hundred thousands yen worth party that had been prepared to welcome him home behind.
“Yabu, hey, Yabu! Where the hell do you think you are going?!” The lawyer shouted when he passed the front door in the lobby, of a skyscrapper where the party was being held. “Are you seriously leaving? It’s your company’s celebration and you're-”
“My father’s, not mine.” The tall man with parted, a bit wavy brown hair and grey suits and shiny and expensive dark brown loafers cut his lawyer mid-sentence as he casually climbed into a Chevrolet Camaro in front of the main entrance. “I need some fresh air, gonna go right back.” He said, half slamming down the car’s door right in front of Takaki’s nose.
“You’re gonna get lost!”
“That’s why they invented GPS.” Yabu shrugged.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Young Master! Isn’t this the first time you came back to Japan after-what, ten years? You can't even read advanced kanji!” Takaki furrowed his eyebrows, his voice had lost half of its lawyer’s manner because Yabu friggin' Kota-his client, who was coincidentally also his childhood friend-apparently had this unbelievable thirteen-years-old-brat unbelievable action as a half century old prosper. “Besides, it’s my car, what’s going on with yours?”
Yabu rested his right hand on the steering wheel. He tilted up his head a little and pulled down the visor and expected something would fall down onto him, but found none instead. He disappointedly turned his head to Takaki and said, “They’re still on their way to Japan. It’s kind of hard to ship them from New York City. Now will you ever lend me the keys or not?”
“You can’t just drive around here; you don’t have license and you can’t drive cars with wheels on the fucking right side!”
“Of course I can, I’m a left-handed by nature, I can deal with left-sided roadways. I’ll be fine.”
“That’s not the point!”
“You know you can’t stop me, Takaki. Now can I have the keys or not?”
There was a bitter pause between them that lasted longer than it truly was. The sound of the classical music played inside the building could somehow vaguely be heard from their place, and yet none of them could care less about it. Clicking his tongue in frustration at last, Takaki fished out his car keys and passed it to Yabu, who was then spreading a sly grin over his face as he caught the key and started the engine of Takaki’s Chevrolet without any more protest from the slightly younger guy.
For the umpteenth of times, Takaki was easily defeated by his friend slash client’s stubborn and unbelieavable wishes. And for the umpteenth of times in his life already, Yabu was leaving such important business parties to Takaki to handle alone, leaving him works that he wasn’t really supposed to do if not because Yabu was his friend. Yabu did pay him good extra money for that, which sometimes left the lawyer wonder if he ever were a real ‘friend’ to the said heir of Yabu Multinational Corporation or not. It’s not like he hated this certain Yabu guy, anyway. Sometimes he just pitied him too much he thought he’s actually spoiling him.
“Just don’t scratch it or I’ll kill you for sure.” Takaki said, trying to sound threatening but failed, because Yabu's grin grew wider after that.
The said heir of Yabu Multinational Coorporation then swung his two fingers in a salute manner before rolling up the car window, and as fast as another lightning that is Yabu Kota, he drove away from the city.
*-*-*-*-*
“How could you?!”
It was a yell that everybody could hear from across the dance floor. Some of the heads under the vividly colorful, hanging in the ceiling mirror ball averted their gaze to Inoo Kei and his sparkling yet smaller roommate, Tegoshi Yuya, who apparently had an argument over money like always. Indeed, the whole ‘bar’ had long to acknowledge that both Inoo and Tegoshi were always arguing about their seem-to-always-suddenly-disappear money every first week of the month, for almost a year already. It had been several years by then, yet they seemed like they never got bored over such issue.
“Calm down, Kei-chan” Tegoshi, dressing with pink oversized knit-wear on top of a ripped black tank-top and a somehow shabby denim rolled his eyes. He parted his platinum blonde hair behind his left ears, and Inoo could see how the long earing attached to his senior's earlobe was reflecting the lights of the mirror ball. "Your voice is louder then the DJ’s music, and you're creeping everyone out."
Tegoshi walked towards the bar and grabbed a plate before serving himself a cheese cake, ignoring the shout of 'That is not free, Tegoshi!' from a known bartender, and Inoo was following close behind him, still in rage.
“I don't care!" Inoo, who wore a rather modest style unlike other prostitute around him-with only ripped jeans, a deep v-neck black t-shirt, a pair of shabby boots, and a blonde wig adorning his head-shouted again. "It was our rent money for this month and you just spent it on some ridiculous shots, I can't believe it!"
“Should I remind you that it’s actually my apartment?”
“But I’m living there too, and we share the rent by half so I have the right to protest!”
"Look, Kei-chan," Tegoshi tilted up his head and stared at Inoo who was taller than him, his face annoyed and not the least seem to enjoy the cheese cake that he was eating. He was probably still high due to his newly consumed cocaine. "I gave you everything; my money, my place for you to stay, my advice so that you can survive. And it should at least teaches you some respect! That that's just not how you're supposed to treat me like!"
Clicking his tongue in frustration, Inoo threw his gaze away from his roommate, and instead ended up observing his messed up surrounding; the constantly changing UV like that hurt your eyes, the very loud music, the sight of people of the same sex dancing on the dance floor, some of them naked. This was 'the bar', the place where he usually hung around before got down to the street, the one of so many night clubs open around the infamous Shinjuku Ni Chome where people usually came to seek some 'pleasure service' from guys like either Tegoshi or Inoo.
Sighing, he grabbed a cheese cake and ate it in a bite before heading out of the filthy place.
*-*-*-*-*
The data was all re-set and the re-loading of the GPS system made him impatient. In his silent anger, Yabu slammed his large palm to the monitor on Takaki's car dashboard and resulted to an error message that were all written in a row of unreadable kanji. The road was all empty and it was only two hours before midnight, and Yabu wondered how could Japan survive any economic crissis if everything around the main street of Shinjuku were all closed right when the clock pointed to nine o'clock. Well, he did study economy in Columbia University and apparently, soon after graduated from the master program, he was given the task by his father to take care of his corporation branch in Tokyo. But he was so used to the seemingly immortal live of New York City, and everything that he saw on TV about Japan was probably some kind of delusion.
And to tell the truth, driving a car which wheel was completely the opposite of the kind of cars you usually drove on a right-sided roadways felt like hell. Yabu had almost collided into everything in front of him, and he had to admit that his left-handed nature was kind of useless in this situation.
Nevertheless, the hotel he was staying was supposed to be quite close to the main train station of the city. When he passed a street where he could see a rather familiar train station in there, so he just went along straight and carelessly passed a placard on the street that said: Shinjuku Ni Chome.
Under his silent curse, Yabu decided to just try and go along the narrowing street and ask whoever seen walking down the street.
*-*-*-*-*
The sound of two pairs of black boots-one pair was a knee-length latex boots while the other was a pair of ankle boots with messy lances-stepping on the asphalt surface of a very lonely neighborhood somehow reverberated, and Tegoshi's whine about food and how he was hungry and need to eat something almost drove Inoo mad. He kept silent and escaped into his own world, however, because there were nothing else for them to do but waiting for a 'customer' to stop their car and give them money after an hour of sex. Life was harsh and unfair, but Inoo was running out of option. They were poor and capitalism was simply evil.
But suddenly a car passed them and Tegoshi bumped Inoo from behind, making the younger almost fell onto his knees. Inoo stared wondrously at Tegoshi before he realized that the car was stopping some feet away in front of them.
"Isn't that a purple Bumblebee?!" Tegoshi whispered in excitement.
Inoo averted his eyes to the said car and noticed that yes, it's the car that he'd seen in movies, just different in colors-instead of yellow they were deep purple. He turned his eyes to Tegoshi again before biting his lower lip.
"That's gonna be one rich customer!" Tegoshi spun Kei around and made the younger face him. He patted Kei's blonde wig and stuck out some pink streaks in it, fixing his junior's appearance while grinning wickedly, before saying, "Okay, Kei-chan, you look hot like always, now go get that guy! And remember, don't sell yourself too cheap!"
Inoo's face was blank when Tegoshi pushed him towards the direction of where the car was stopping. He seemed like he didn't want to have any job that night, but they really needed money to survive or at least not to be kicked out by their apartment tenant. Therefore, after one, two, and the next few steps ahead, Inoo straightened his back and started to gain some self-confidence with the way he walk.
Approaching the mulberry Chevrolet Camaro that was parked carelessly on the empty street, Inoo had turned into another completely different kind of person.
*-*-*-*-*
"Hey, Mr. Gorgeous, looking for a date?"
Yabu was taken aback when he saw someone popping on his window out of the blue. The blonde guy rested his two hands on the open window, smiling sweetly with his glossy reddish lips. The guy wore a dark shade of eyeshadow on his eyelids, and Yabu could somehow see his long lashes, and he couldn't figure out himself whether those lashes were fake or not. As he bent his upper body, Yabu could slightly see his fine chest through his slightly open collar.
The tall brunette could easily guess, however, what job the blonde guy was having and why he suddenly came approaching him, asking him that significant question. He was an adult, and he had gone through streets where prostitutes were offering themselves in Hollywood and Las Vegas. But they were women, and this was Tokyo, and this person offering him a 'service' was particularly a guy.
A somewhat extremely pretty guy.
"No." Yabu shook his head yet couldn't stop himself from smiling in amusement. "But I'll be glad if you could show me an address. The GPS’ not working."
"Sure," The blonde guy chuckled. "Two thousand yen will do."
Yabu stared at the guy for a moment before drawing himself backward. His eyes narrowed and his smile fell by a half, the amusement became a sceptical emotion. However, none of them broke the eye contact.
"How entertaining."
"That'll make it four."
"... Is this how it works here in this country?" Yabu grinned, thinking that he was so not going to lose to this random Shinjuku prostitute. "That I have to pay to get back to my hotel?"
"You're not from around here, are you, Mr. Gorgeous?" The blonde chuckled almost mockingly, showing a smug, confident grin to Yabu Kota. "I see. Welcome to Tokyo, enjoy getting lost around the town."
The guy stood up straight and was about to leave Yabu alone when Yabu suddenly had this urge to call him back. Maybe it was because he wasn't familiar with Tokyo eventhough it was his birth place, maybe he was afraid that someone more terrible would approach him and do something bad to him, or maybe, just maybe, he was having this endless amusement towards the beautiful queer hooker.
"Hey, okay, wait,"
Yabu's voice immediately stopped the guy's feet from walking away from the violet car. He went back to the car, resting his two hands on the window again, spreading a smile that Yabu almost believed looking like an innocent one.
"I'll give you five thousands. Now, how does that sound?"
"Sounds like gotta take you to the hotel." He said as he, without being excused by the person behind the wheel, climbed into the mulberry Chevrolet and made himself comfortable in the passanger seat. "So, where was your hotel, again?"
"Park Hyatt." Yabu couldn't help himself scanning the other guy's ripped jeans. It was ripped large enough that he could see most of the smooth mily skin underneath the material. There was also this slightly open tore on the left thigh part and Yabu could almost see the blonde's crotch through it. No boxers, figured.
The prositute made an 'o' with his mouth, looking like he couldn't believe that Yabu didn't even know the best and one of the highest skyscrappest in the whole Tokyo. The peak of the skyscrapper could be easily seen from Shinjuku Ni Chome at days, but it was already dark so Inoo didn’t bother to explain. Besides, he just wanted the money.
He chuckled, then, and with a somewhat seductive face, he said, "That hotel's just on the other side of the Station."
"I won't hire you if I knew where it was." Yabu replied as he smiled, his lips slanting to the right side. "So, what's your name?"
"It's Inoo Kei."
"Is that your real name?"
"Depends whether you believe it or not." Inoo shrugged.
They stared at each other for a moment without saying anything. There was an icy cold atmosphere growing through that stare, of scepticism, of amusement, and of other somewhat undescribable emotions. Chuckling in unison to break the suddenly built ice between them, Yabu then changed the transmission and, starting slowing before increasing the speed of Takaki's car, drove away from the dark side of the district, away from the infamous territory for the queers.
On the way to the hotel, Inoo Kei happened to feel dizzy and thought his heart might jump off of his mouth because the way Yabu was driving was plainly horrible. The tall brunette was confused of almost everything; the road sign, the transmission, the roadblock's existence, and the fact that he was supposed to drive on the left side of the road didn't seem to gush into his brain. Inoo even remarked in his mind that Tegoshi's horrible way of driving was way better than this young master's.
"Mr. Gorgeous, can you really drive?" Inoo turned his head to Yabu, who surprisingly still had a calm visage on his face.
"This is my first time driving a right-wheeled car, to be honest."
"Aren't you even Japanese?" Inoo furrowed his eyebrows a little, but couldn't hide an amused smile on his face.
"I have Japanese passport."
"Does that mean you've been living in New York City or something your whole time?"
"I did. My father sent me here to do business."
"New York City?!" Surprised, Inoo half-jumped in excitement on the seat as he turned to face Yabu’s side, his grin had grown wider than before. “That’s rock! So you grew up in there? That’s just-like-super cool, there’re where cool people in the world live! Second after California, I guess?”
"Really?" Yabu smiled, focusing still to the road they were driving through. “All I saw in New York City was the Wall Street and stock market chaos.”
“Still, it’s awesome!”
Glancing at the excited prostitute next to him, Yabu chucled.
Unknown to the fake blonde, however, the young master was laready sweat-dropping under his white formal shirt. It was still too hard for him to adjust with the right-wheeled car, for after growing up in the United States, it was his first time to drive a vehicle with lots of opposite indeed. But his natural calm demeanor could at least make Inoo believe that he’d make it somehow; which was wrong-because as soon as they almost reached an intersection, Yabu stopped the car on the edge of the street and immediately turned off the machine. Inoo, who looked a bit confused as to why suddenly stopped altough the hotel was still a bit far, was about to ask a question to Yabu, but Yabu was faster to speak.
“So tell me, Kei,” Yabu rested his arm on the steer wheel and turned his head to Inoo. “Have you ever steered a Camaro before?”
“Mostly just old-modified cars. But I drove Subaru once,” Inoo smirked. “It’s my old friend’s car-and not a stolen one, trust me.”
“That’s nice.” Nodding lightly, Yabu then gestured his chin to the window behind him, saying, “This time you’ll have the honor.”
“…Are you joking?”
“I’m always serious with my words.”
Another sort of wide grin appeared on Inoo’s face before the two of them jumped out of the car and exchanged position-Yabu sat on the passanger seat, while Inoo sat behind the wheel. Still with so much excitement in himself, Inoo buckled the seatbelt and rested his two palms on the round steer, his grin never faded. After Yabu finished with his seatbelt himself, Inoo turned to him and his grin turned wider if possible, making Yabu wondered if he did right.
Inoo changed the transmission and started pushing the gas pedal with his right foot, exclaiming, “Here we go!!” to the air.
*-*-*-*-*
The two of them talked about some small trivias in their way to the destined hotel. Most was told by Inoo himself, who told lots of bad thing about Japan, especially Tokyo-about the governments which always tried it best to hide the truth about how Japan had already broken, and about two wings doctrine which Inoo thought is ‘stupid enough that squirrels won’t even eat’-to the newly-came-back-to-Japan-after-ten-years Yabu Kota. They also talked about money, and how Inoo had only started doing his current job for the last one and a half year, after previously almost got jailed for doing illegal street racing-like that of in Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift, just that it was real, and you got lots of money if you won, he had explained. Lucky he didn’t do drugs like the other racers.
“How much is your cost, in gross?” Talking about money, Yabu couldn’t help but ask.
“I don’t take less than thirty thousand yen.” Inoo answered, eyes still focused on the street in front of them. There was a proud tone in the way he told his price, which Yabu didn’t fail to catch.
“For a night?”
“Are you kidding? It’s for one hour.”
“… An hour?!” Staring at the guy behind the wheel, Yabu gaped in half disbelief. Thirty thousand yen is like two hundreds-something US dollars, and for a price of a street hooker, it was way too expensive. It was as if Inoo was almost as equal as those High-end prostitutes in Beverly Hills. “You got thirty thousand for an hour and you still have those condoms saved in your ankle boots after more than a year?”
“Hey, I have issues!” Inoo furrowed his eyebrows and shot a glance at Yabu. “Besides, everything in this country is fucking expensive! Even your tie is as expensive as a watermelon! And how much do you think my goddamned ankle boots cost?”
“Still, it’s thirty thousands and in yen. And for an hour.” Yabu rolled his eyes, turning his gaze to the roadways. “It’s pretty stiff.”
“Nah, I don’t think so.” Smirking without setting his eyes to Yabu, Inoo craned his left arm and reached out to the rich guy’s clothed groins, before purposefully stroking him in a circle in a very good way that could make any straight men got hard on him. “But it got a very high ‘potential’.”
Yabu Kota stared at that white, creamy, and soft hand set on his crotch for a moment, feeling his clothed manhood being stroked so professionally by the prostitute he hired as a replacement of Takaki’s broken GPS, before turning his gaze back to Inoo in a complete amusement. The hooker got a really brave treat in him, he noted in mind.
*-*-*-*-*
The car parked so smoothly in front of the main building of Park Hyatt hotel and both Yabu and Inoo got off of the car at the same time. A porter in red uniform came approaching Yabu immediately and asked whether he would need the car again in anytime soon, and Yabu quickly answered no, and he hoped he wouldn’t need to use Takaki’s car ever again. As the porter took the car key from Inoo and parked the car somewhere else, the blonde hooker chuckled to Yabu’s traumatized-by-right-wheeled-cars behavior but Yabu himself couldn’t care less. He was sure he would get used to Japan’s car system soon enough, he was fast in adaptation anyway. He then approached Inoo and, taking out some money from his wallet, gave him his promised five thousands yen.
“So, are you going to be alright?” Yabu asked, fishing his wallet back into his black pants’ pocket. He couldn’t help to ask such question, though he knew that Inoo had lived way longer in Shinjuku than him, and he practically knew everything about the city. He was also a nightfly, so it ended up his question sounded too retoric.
“Yeah. I’ll just go back to Ni Chome, with a cab, using this money, I guess?” Inoo just grinned as he did the same with his newly received money.
“I see,” Yabu nodded, but stood still anyway in complete silence, his eyes never left Inoo’s brown orbs.
“So, I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah, sure.” Yabu nodded, but not waving back when he saw Inoo raising his right hand and waved to him. The blonde was smiling brightly like nothing happened, before turning on his heels and withdrawing from the hotel’s building, to the luxurious front gate of Park Hyatt Tokyo.
Yabu was just watching as Inoo’s figure walking away from him. He watched Inoo’s back, his ripped all over shabby denim, his black boots, and eventually his fake hair. Yabu himself had been offered a hooker’s service several times in his life, and though he had never hired one, at least he knew how those people also had a standard of appearance. And for a prostitute, Yabu thought, Inoo had a perfect posture; he was lean and had a very nice collarbone. He was also very beautiful, even with that sort of heavy dark make up on, and still way prettier than other strumpets who had ever walked on him on other streets in the world.
A rather cold wind suddenly blew against his body and it sent chill down the young master’s spine. It was becoming a cold night, and probably would get colder later on, making him couldn’t help but wonder if Inoo ever felt cold with that seemingly very thin layer of v-neck black T-shirt.
Before Inoo could reach the gate, suddenly Yabu had this urge to call the prostitute again. Before he was aware of his own deed, Yabu Kota had already been half-running after Inoo Kei and touched his shoulder to get his attention. It was when Inoo turned his body to him, Yabu realized that; that was it, he could no longer back down.
“I was just thinking,” Yabu started, his calm demeanor never left his visage. “It was thirty thousands yen for an hour, right?”
“Yeah?” Inoo smirked.
There was a pause that Yabu made because he wasn’t quite sure of what he was trying to do himself. He was, however, immediately made sure by those sparkling brown eyes few moments afterward. Tonight he would do ‘business’, and it wouldn’t get too different with the way he usually handled his other businesses on any other days, he convinced himself. He also noted in mind that he’d deal with all the consequenses later.
“If you haven’t had any other appointment, I’d like you to come with me into the hotel.”
“Of course.” Smirking, Inoo grabbed Yabu by an arm and locked it together with his, before the both of them walked together back to the triplet skyscrappers. Inoo never lost his grin from his face. “So, Mr. Gorgeous, you got a name?”
“Kota Yabu.”
“Kota is your first name?”
“Yeah.”
“No way, isn’t that a really cool name?”
*-* To Be Continued *-*
A/N :
- I've been living in Japan for quite a while now, and believe me, everything here is so goddamn expensive.
- But I've never been to United States, so I dunno anything about anything there lol
- And, yeah, I finally made something out of Pretty Woman.
- This is my first time plagiarizing something.
- Well, I'd like to call it paraphrasing, though. It's more legal that way.
- Anyway don't get your hopes high, okay? I'm still as hopeless as ever.
Chapter : 1/??
Pairing(s)/Fandom : Yabu Kota x Inoo Kei / Hey! Say! JUMP, NEWS, more to come
Author : ma_rendezvous
Genre : AU. Romance
Rating : mostly NC-17
Warning : This fanfic is nothing but a paraphrased version of Pretty Woman (1991)
Disclaimer : The main story belongs to Garry Marshall's team. I have the improvisations and other things. The rests are idols, everyone owns these idols. Ha ha!
A/N : So yeah. It starts from a headcannon that I had in mind for at least as long as I've been in this fandom. But I was super busy to even write anything, and due to my super busy schedule I almost forgot how to write. But I happened to finish this first chapter lol. Anyway, this is my own version of 'Pretty Woman'.
Summary : Based on the movie, Pretty Woman, here Inoo Kei is living a life as a hooker in Shinjuku Ni Chome, the infamous district for queers in the whole Tokyo. And one day, he met his fate; his prince, who happens to be a very wealthy businessman named Yabu Kota. It's just that with him, everything goes unlooked-for.
Merry-Go-Round Goes
- Chapter 1 -
Takaki Yuya bumped anyone-of men with best unwrinkled tuxedos and women with expensive sparkling dresses-who blocked up his way without even saying an apology like he had always been thaught of since he was born. He was running crankily after his client, a very important client of his, who had just walked away from the crowd and went out of the building as fast as a lightning, leaving all that hundred thousands yen worth party that had been prepared to welcome him home behind.
“Yabu, hey, Yabu! Where the hell do you think you are going?!” The lawyer shouted when he passed the front door in the lobby, of a skyscrapper where the party was being held. “Are you seriously leaving? It’s your company’s celebration and you're-”
“My father’s, not mine.” The tall man with parted, a bit wavy brown hair and grey suits and shiny and expensive dark brown loafers cut his lawyer mid-sentence as he casually climbed into a Chevrolet Camaro in front of the main entrance. “I need some fresh air, gonna go right back.” He said, half slamming down the car’s door right in front of Takaki’s nose.
“You’re gonna get lost!”
“That’s why they invented GPS.” Yabu shrugged.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Young Master! Isn’t this the first time you came back to Japan after-what, ten years? You can't even read advanced kanji!” Takaki furrowed his eyebrows, his voice had lost half of its lawyer’s manner because Yabu friggin' Kota-his client, who was coincidentally also his childhood friend-apparently had this unbelievable thirteen-years-old-brat unbelievable action as a half century old prosper. “Besides, it’s my car, what’s going on with yours?”
Yabu rested his right hand on the steering wheel. He tilted up his head a little and pulled down the visor and expected something would fall down onto him, but found none instead. He disappointedly turned his head to Takaki and said, “They’re still on their way to Japan. It’s kind of hard to ship them from New York City. Now will you ever lend me the keys or not?”
“You can’t just drive around here; you don’t have license and you can’t drive cars with wheels on the fucking right side!”
“Of course I can, I’m a left-handed by nature, I can deal with left-sided roadways. I’ll be fine.”
“That’s not the point!”
“You know you can’t stop me, Takaki. Now can I have the keys or not?”
There was a bitter pause between them that lasted longer than it truly was. The sound of the classical music played inside the building could somehow vaguely be heard from their place, and yet none of them could care less about it. Clicking his tongue in frustration at last, Takaki fished out his car keys and passed it to Yabu, who was then spreading a sly grin over his face as he caught the key and started the engine of Takaki’s Chevrolet without any more protest from the slightly younger guy.
For the umpteenth of times, Takaki was easily defeated by his friend slash client’s stubborn and unbelieavable wishes. And for the umpteenth of times in his life already, Yabu was leaving such important business parties to Takaki to handle alone, leaving him works that he wasn’t really supposed to do if not because Yabu was his friend. Yabu did pay him good extra money for that, which sometimes left the lawyer wonder if he ever were a real ‘friend’ to the said heir of Yabu Multinational Corporation or not. It’s not like he hated this certain Yabu guy, anyway. Sometimes he just pitied him too much he thought he’s actually spoiling him.
“Just don’t scratch it or I’ll kill you for sure.” Takaki said, trying to sound threatening but failed, because Yabu's grin grew wider after that.
The said heir of Yabu Multinational Coorporation then swung his two fingers in a salute manner before rolling up the car window, and as fast as another lightning that is Yabu Kota, he drove away from the city.
*-*-*-*-*
“How could you?!”
It was a yell that everybody could hear from across the dance floor. Some of the heads under the vividly colorful, hanging in the ceiling mirror ball averted their gaze to Inoo Kei and his sparkling yet smaller roommate, Tegoshi Yuya, who apparently had an argument over money like always. Indeed, the whole ‘bar’ had long to acknowledge that both Inoo and Tegoshi were always arguing about their seem-to-always-suddenly-disappear money every first week of the month, for almost a year already. It had been several years by then, yet they seemed like they never got bored over such issue.
“Calm down, Kei-chan” Tegoshi, dressing with pink oversized knit-wear on top of a ripped black tank-top and a somehow shabby denim rolled his eyes. He parted his platinum blonde hair behind his left ears, and Inoo could see how the long earing attached to his senior's earlobe was reflecting the lights of the mirror ball. "Your voice is louder then the DJ’s music, and you're creeping everyone out."
Tegoshi walked towards the bar and grabbed a plate before serving himself a cheese cake, ignoring the shout of 'That is not free, Tegoshi!' from a known bartender, and Inoo was following close behind him, still in rage.
“I don't care!" Inoo, who wore a rather modest style unlike other prostitute around him-with only ripped jeans, a deep v-neck black t-shirt, a pair of shabby boots, and a blonde wig adorning his head-shouted again. "It was our rent money for this month and you just spent it on some ridiculous shots, I can't believe it!"
“Should I remind you that it’s actually my apartment?”
“But I’m living there too, and we share the rent by half so I have the right to protest!”
"Look, Kei-chan," Tegoshi tilted up his head and stared at Inoo who was taller than him, his face annoyed and not the least seem to enjoy the cheese cake that he was eating. He was probably still high due to his newly consumed cocaine. "I gave you everything; my money, my place for you to stay, my advice so that you can survive. And it should at least teaches you some respect! That that's just not how you're supposed to treat me like!"
Clicking his tongue in frustration, Inoo threw his gaze away from his roommate, and instead ended up observing his messed up surrounding; the constantly changing UV like that hurt your eyes, the very loud music, the sight of people of the same sex dancing on the dance floor, some of them naked. This was 'the bar', the place where he usually hung around before got down to the street, the one of so many night clubs open around the infamous Shinjuku Ni Chome where people usually came to seek some 'pleasure service' from guys like either Tegoshi or Inoo.
Sighing, he grabbed a cheese cake and ate it in a bite before heading out of the filthy place.
*-*-*-*-*
The data was all re-set and the re-loading of the GPS system made him impatient. In his silent anger, Yabu slammed his large palm to the monitor on Takaki's car dashboard and resulted to an error message that were all written in a row of unreadable kanji. The road was all empty and it was only two hours before midnight, and Yabu wondered how could Japan survive any economic crissis if everything around the main street of Shinjuku were all closed right when the clock pointed to nine o'clock. Well, he did study economy in Columbia University and apparently, soon after graduated from the master program, he was given the task by his father to take care of his corporation branch in Tokyo. But he was so used to the seemingly immortal live of New York City, and everything that he saw on TV about Japan was probably some kind of delusion.
And to tell the truth, driving a car which wheel was completely the opposite of the kind of cars you usually drove on a right-sided roadways felt like hell. Yabu had almost collided into everything in front of him, and he had to admit that his left-handed nature was kind of useless in this situation.
Nevertheless, the hotel he was staying was supposed to be quite close to the main train station of the city. When he passed a street where he could see a rather familiar train station in there, so he just went along straight and carelessly passed a placard on the street that said: Shinjuku Ni Chome.
Under his silent curse, Yabu decided to just try and go along the narrowing street and ask whoever seen walking down the street.
*-*-*-*-*
The sound of two pairs of black boots-one pair was a knee-length latex boots while the other was a pair of ankle boots with messy lances-stepping on the asphalt surface of a very lonely neighborhood somehow reverberated, and Tegoshi's whine about food and how he was hungry and need to eat something almost drove Inoo mad. He kept silent and escaped into his own world, however, because there were nothing else for them to do but waiting for a 'customer' to stop their car and give them money after an hour of sex. Life was harsh and unfair, but Inoo was running out of option. They were poor and capitalism was simply evil.
But suddenly a car passed them and Tegoshi bumped Inoo from behind, making the younger almost fell onto his knees. Inoo stared wondrously at Tegoshi before he realized that the car was stopping some feet away in front of them.
"Isn't that a purple Bumblebee?!" Tegoshi whispered in excitement.
Inoo averted his eyes to the said car and noticed that yes, it's the car that he'd seen in movies, just different in colors-instead of yellow they were deep purple. He turned his eyes to Tegoshi again before biting his lower lip.
"That's gonna be one rich customer!" Tegoshi spun Kei around and made the younger face him. He patted Kei's blonde wig and stuck out some pink streaks in it, fixing his junior's appearance while grinning wickedly, before saying, "Okay, Kei-chan, you look hot like always, now go get that guy! And remember, don't sell yourself too cheap!"
Inoo's face was blank when Tegoshi pushed him towards the direction of where the car was stopping. He seemed like he didn't want to have any job that night, but they really needed money to survive or at least not to be kicked out by their apartment tenant. Therefore, after one, two, and the next few steps ahead, Inoo straightened his back and started to gain some self-confidence with the way he walk.
Approaching the mulberry Chevrolet Camaro that was parked carelessly on the empty street, Inoo had turned into another completely different kind of person.
*-*-*-*-*
"Hey, Mr. Gorgeous, looking for a date?"
Yabu was taken aback when he saw someone popping on his window out of the blue. The blonde guy rested his two hands on the open window, smiling sweetly with his glossy reddish lips. The guy wore a dark shade of eyeshadow on his eyelids, and Yabu could somehow see his long lashes, and he couldn't figure out himself whether those lashes were fake or not. As he bent his upper body, Yabu could slightly see his fine chest through his slightly open collar.
The tall brunette could easily guess, however, what job the blonde guy was having and why he suddenly came approaching him, asking him that significant question. He was an adult, and he had gone through streets where prostitutes were offering themselves in Hollywood and Las Vegas. But they were women, and this was Tokyo, and this person offering him a 'service' was particularly a guy.
A somewhat extremely pretty guy.
"No." Yabu shook his head yet couldn't stop himself from smiling in amusement. "But I'll be glad if you could show me an address. The GPS’ not working."
"Sure," The blonde guy chuckled. "Two thousand yen will do."
Yabu stared at the guy for a moment before drawing himself backward. His eyes narrowed and his smile fell by a half, the amusement became a sceptical emotion. However, none of them broke the eye contact.
"How entertaining."
"That'll make it four."
"... Is this how it works here in this country?" Yabu grinned, thinking that he was so not going to lose to this random Shinjuku prostitute. "That I have to pay to get back to my hotel?"
"You're not from around here, are you, Mr. Gorgeous?" The blonde chuckled almost mockingly, showing a smug, confident grin to Yabu Kota. "I see. Welcome to Tokyo, enjoy getting lost around the town."
The guy stood up straight and was about to leave Yabu alone when Yabu suddenly had this urge to call him back. Maybe it was because he wasn't familiar with Tokyo eventhough it was his birth place, maybe he was afraid that someone more terrible would approach him and do something bad to him, or maybe, just maybe, he was having this endless amusement towards the beautiful queer hooker.
"Hey, okay, wait,"
Yabu's voice immediately stopped the guy's feet from walking away from the violet car. He went back to the car, resting his two hands on the window again, spreading a smile that Yabu almost believed looking like an innocent one.
"I'll give you five thousands. Now, how does that sound?"
"Sounds like gotta take you to the hotel." He said as he, without being excused by the person behind the wheel, climbed into the mulberry Chevrolet and made himself comfortable in the passanger seat. "So, where was your hotel, again?"
"Park Hyatt." Yabu couldn't help himself scanning the other guy's ripped jeans. It was ripped large enough that he could see most of the smooth mily skin underneath the material. There was also this slightly open tore on the left thigh part and Yabu could almost see the blonde's crotch through it. No boxers, figured.
The prositute made an 'o' with his mouth, looking like he couldn't believe that Yabu didn't even know the best and one of the highest skyscrappest in the whole Tokyo. The peak of the skyscrapper could be easily seen from Shinjuku Ni Chome at days, but it was already dark so Inoo didn’t bother to explain. Besides, he just wanted the money.
He chuckled, then, and with a somewhat seductive face, he said, "That hotel's just on the other side of the Station."
"I won't hire you if I knew where it was." Yabu replied as he smiled, his lips slanting to the right side. "So, what's your name?"
"It's Inoo Kei."
"Is that your real name?"
"Depends whether you believe it or not." Inoo shrugged.
They stared at each other for a moment without saying anything. There was an icy cold atmosphere growing through that stare, of scepticism, of amusement, and of other somewhat undescribable emotions. Chuckling in unison to break the suddenly built ice between them, Yabu then changed the transmission and, starting slowing before increasing the speed of Takaki's car, drove away from the dark side of the district, away from the infamous territory for the queers.
On the way to the hotel, Inoo Kei happened to feel dizzy and thought his heart might jump off of his mouth because the way Yabu was driving was plainly horrible. The tall brunette was confused of almost everything; the road sign, the transmission, the roadblock's existence, and the fact that he was supposed to drive on the left side of the road didn't seem to gush into his brain. Inoo even remarked in his mind that Tegoshi's horrible way of driving was way better than this young master's.
"Mr. Gorgeous, can you really drive?" Inoo turned his head to Yabu, who surprisingly still had a calm visage on his face.
"This is my first time driving a right-wheeled car, to be honest."
"Aren't you even Japanese?" Inoo furrowed his eyebrows a little, but couldn't hide an amused smile on his face.
"I have Japanese passport."
"Does that mean you've been living in New York City or something your whole time?"
"I did. My father sent me here to do business."
"New York City?!" Surprised, Inoo half-jumped in excitement on the seat as he turned to face Yabu’s side, his grin had grown wider than before. “That’s rock! So you grew up in there? That’s just-like-super cool, there’re where cool people in the world live! Second after California, I guess?”
"Really?" Yabu smiled, focusing still to the road they were driving through. “All I saw in New York City was the Wall Street and stock market chaos.”
“Still, it’s awesome!”
Glancing at the excited prostitute next to him, Yabu chucled.
Unknown to the fake blonde, however, the young master was laready sweat-dropping under his white formal shirt. It was still too hard for him to adjust with the right-wheeled car, for after growing up in the United States, it was his first time to drive a vehicle with lots of opposite indeed. But his natural calm demeanor could at least make Inoo believe that he’d make it somehow; which was wrong-because as soon as they almost reached an intersection, Yabu stopped the car on the edge of the street and immediately turned off the machine. Inoo, who looked a bit confused as to why suddenly stopped altough the hotel was still a bit far, was about to ask a question to Yabu, but Yabu was faster to speak.
“So tell me, Kei,” Yabu rested his arm on the steer wheel and turned his head to Inoo. “Have you ever steered a Camaro before?”
“Mostly just old-modified cars. But I drove Subaru once,” Inoo smirked. “It’s my old friend’s car-and not a stolen one, trust me.”
“That’s nice.” Nodding lightly, Yabu then gestured his chin to the window behind him, saying, “This time you’ll have the honor.”
“…Are you joking?”
“I’m always serious with my words.”
Another sort of wide grin appeared on Inoo’s face before the two of them jumped out of the car and exchanged position-Yabu sat on the passanger seat, while Inoo sat behind the wheel. Still with so much excitement in himself, Inoo buckled the seatbelt and rested his two palms on the round steer, his grin never faded. After Yabu finished with his seatbelt himself, Inoo turned to him and his grin turned wider if possible, making Yabu wondered if he did right.
Inoo changed the transmission and started pushing the gas pedal with his right foot, exclaiming, “Here we go!!” to the air.
*-*-*-*-*
The two of them talked about some small trivias in their way to the destined hotel. Most was told by Inoo himself, who told lots of bad thing about Japan, especially Tokyo-about the governments which always tried it best to hide the truth about how Japan had already broken, and about two wings doctrine which Inoo thought is ‘stupid enough that squirrels won’t even eat’-to the newly-came-back-to-Japan-after-ten-years Yabu Kota. They also talked about money, and how Inoo had only started doing his current job for the last one and a half year, after previously almost got jailed for doing illegal street racing-like that of in Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift, just that it was real, and you got lots of money if you won, he had explained. Lucky he didn’t do drugs like the other racers.
“How much is your cost, in gross?” Talking about money, Yabu couldn’t help but ask.
“I don’t take less than thirty thousand yen.” Inoo answered, eyes still focused on the street in front of them. There was a proud tone in the way he told his price, which Yabu didn’t fail to catch.
“For a night?”
“Are you kidding? It’s for one hour.”
“… An hour?!” Staring at the guy behind the wheel, Yabu gaped in half disbelief. Thirty thousand yen is like two hundreds-something US dollars, and for a price of a street hooker, it was way too expensive. It was as if Inoo was almost as equal as those High-end prostitutes in Beverly Hills. “You got thirty thousand for an hour and you still have those condoms saved in your ankle boots after more than a year?”
“Hey, I have issues!” Inoo furrowed his eyebrows and shot a glance at Yabu. “Besides, everything in this country is fucking expensive! Even your tie is as expensive as a watermelon! And how much do you think my goddamned ankle boots cost?”
“Still, it’s thirty thousands and in yen. And for an hour.” Yabu rolled his eyes, turning his gaze to the roadways. “It’s pretty stiff.”
“Nah, I don’t think so.” Smirking without setting his eyes to Yabu, Inoo craned his left arm and reached out to the rich guy’s clothed groins, before purposefully stroking him in a circle in a very good way that could make any straight men got hard on him. “But it got a very high ‘potential’.”
Yabu Kota stared at that white, creamy, and soft hand set on his crotch for a moment, feeling his clothed manhood being stroked so professionally by the prostitute he hired as a replacement of Takaki’s broken GPS, before turning his gaze back to Inoo in a complete amusement. The hooker got a really brave treat in him, he noted in mind.
*-*-*-*-*
The car parked so smoothly in front of the main building of Park Hyatt hotel and both Yabu and Inoo got off of the car at the same time. A porter in red uniform came approaching Yabu immediately and asked whether he would need the car again in anytime soon, and Yabu quickly answered no, and he hoped he wouldn’t need to use Takaki’s car ever again. As the porter took the car key from Inoo and parked the car somewhere else, the blonde hooker chuckled to Yabu’s traumatized-by-right-wheeled-cars behavior but Yabu himself couldn’t care less. He was sure he would get used to Japan’s car system soon enough, he was fast in adaptation anyway. He then approached Inoo and, taking out some money from his wallet, gave him his promised five thousands yen.
“So, are you going to be alright?” Yabu asked, fishing his wallet back into his black pants’ pocket. He couldn’t help to ask such question, though he knew that Inoo had lived way longer in Shinjuku than him, and he practically knew everything about the city. He was also a nightfly, so it ended up his question sounded too retoric.
“Yeah. I’ll just go back to Ni Chome, with a cab, using this money, I guess?” Inoo just grinned as he did the same with his newly received money.
“I see,” Yabu nodded, but stood still anyway in complete silence, his eyes never left Inoo’s brown orbs.
“So, I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah, sure.” Yabu nodded, but not waving back when he saw Inoo raising his right hand and waved to him. The blonde was smiling brightly like nothing happened, before turning on his heels and withdrawing from the hotel’s building, to the luxurious front gate of Park Hyatt Tokyo.
Yabu was just watching as Inoo’s figure walking away from him. He watched Inoo’s back, his ripped all over shabby denim, his black boots, and eventually his fake hair. Yabu himself had been offered a hooker’s service several times in his life, and though he had never hired one, at least he knew how those people also had a standard of appearance. And for a prostitute, Yabu thought, Inoo had a perfect posture; he was lean and had a very nice collarbone. He was also very beautiful, even with that sort of heavy dark make up on, and still way prettier than other strumpets who had ever walked on him on other streets in the world.
A rather cold wind suddenly blew against his body and it sent chill down the young master’s spine. It was becoming a cold night, and probably would get colder later on, making him couldn’t help but wonder if Inoo ever felt cold with that seemingly very thin layer of v-neck black T-shirt.
Before Inoo could reach the gate, suddenly Yabu had this urge to call the prostitute again. Before he was aware of his own deed, Yabu Kota had already been half-running after Inoo Kei and touched his shoulder to get his attention. It was when Inoo turned his body to him, Yabu realized that; that was it, he could no longer back down.
“I was just thinking,” Yabu started, his calm demeanor never left his visage. “It was thirty thousands yen for an hour, right?”
“Yeah?” Inoo smirked.
There was a pause that Yabu made because he wasn’t quite sure of what he was trying to do himself. He was, however, immediately made sure by those sparkling brown eyes few moments afterward. Tonight he would do ‘business’, and it wouldn’t get too different with the way he usually handled his other businesses on any other days, he convinced himself. He also noted in mind that he’d deal with all the consequenses later.
“If you haven’t had any other appointment, I’d like you to come with me into the hotel.”
“Of course.” Smirking, Inoo grabbed Yabu by an arm and locked it together with his, before the both of them walked together back to the triplet skyscrappers. Inoo never lost his grin from his face. “So, Mr. Gorgeous, you got a name?”
“Kota Yabu.”
“Kota is your first name?”
“Yeah.”
“No way, isn’t that a really cool name?”
*-* To Be Continued *-*
A/N :
- I've been living in Japan for quite a while now, and believe me, everything here is so goddamn expensive.
- But I've never been to United States, so I dunno anything about anything there lol
- And, yeah, I finally made something out of Pretty Woman.
- This is my first time plagiarizing something.
- Well, I'd like to call it paraphrasing, though. It's more legal that way.
- Anyway don't get your hopes high, okay? I'm still as hopeless as ever.