Fic: The Camera Eye: Superstar [Aoi X Ruki, Aoi X Kazuki, NC-17]
Title: The Camera Eye: Superstar
Chapter: Fifth in The Camera Eye series, preceded by The Camera Eye. The Camera Eye: Going Major, The Camera Eye: Hearts and Flowers and The Camera Eye: Star Grabbing
Author: Boots
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Porn industry AU, drama, smut, romance
Warnings: Male/male sex, polyamory, exhibition/voyeurism (since the characters work in the porn industry), dirty talk.
Pairing: Aoi X Ruki (main), Aoi X Kazuki
Disclaimer: Boys belong to PS Company, I own the story only.
Summary: Aoi has always been the one member of the PSC Productions crew that has had no ambitions but stripping and porn - until he gets a role in a mainstream movie. However, his experience working with a mainstream superstar has unexpected results.
Comments: Fifth in a planned porn star AU series that will bring in guys from GazettE, SCREW and Alice Nine. This fic isn’t intended to be a portrait of the actual JGV industry - if anything, the industry presented here is sort of a fusion of the Eastern and Western ones. (Just a note that there is a homophobic character in this story, for those sensitive to such things).
Uruha was sitting at his desk, reading over the script for the first video in a new line, when he got the phone call.
Seeing a number he didn’t recognize on his caller ID was nothing uncommon at all - it happened all the time, in fact. Most of the time, he didn’t pick them up. If they had legitimate business with him, they’d leave a message.
What made him pick this one up, though, was the name on top of the number - “Festival Productions.” That was a mainstream film company. They made heavy-duty blockbusters with name actors, including several that had gotten international releases.
What on earth. Uruha thought, would they want with a porn production company?
He picked up the receiver. “Hello, this is Uruha,” he said. “May I help you?”
“Hello, this is Shito Masahiro from Festival Productions,” said a voice at the other end. “How are you doing?”
Uruha frowned - this was getting even more curious. Shito Masahiro was a pretty heavy-duty producer. “I’m doing well,” he said. “And you?” Translated: Why the hell are you interested in a porno company?
“Oh, quite well,” Shito said. “I was wondering if your company can do us a favor. We’ve got a film in development for Dice. It’s primarily an action movie, but it’s got strong erotic elements - there’s some female porn stars appearing in it.”
“Our company doesn’t do straight porn, Shito-san,” Uruha said. “We are strictly a male-on-male outfit.” And this was getting more and more curious. Dice - full name, Kodohara Daisuke - was a hugely popular action star. He’d even appeared in a few scenes in Western films, usually as the ace hitman the hero had to take down.
“I know that,” Shito said. “The film is going to include a scene set in a gay strip bar, We want an actor to do a striptease onscreen and then do a makeout scene - some suggestiveness that sex is going on - with another actor. I asked around as to who was hot and happening in gay porn, and everyone I asked said it was your company’s Aoi.”
“You want Aoi to appear in your film?” Uruha said.
“If that would not be too much trouble, yes,” Shito said.
Uruha thought a moment. This was a very big deal, all right. Porn actors rarely got asked to appear in mainstream productions. A credit in a “real” film would make it easier for Aoi to transition to the other side of the industry, if he ever chose to do so.
But there was also the matter of preserving their company’s brand. “If we agree,” Uruha said. “I want the words ‘Aoi appears courtesy of PSC Productions,’ with our URL, in all publicity materials. That includes in the credits of the film, and on the DVD box.”
“But of course,” Shito said. “I expected something like that.”
“And he is to be treated with respect at all times,” Uruha said. “Not like some novelty item.”
“Believe me, we would do nothing less,” the other producer said. “We know he is highly regarded in your industry.”
“I still need to run this by our head of production,” Uruha said. “And, of course, Aoi.”
“Do what you must,” Shito said. “And I will have our people call your people.”
Now, those were words Uruha didn’t think he’d ever hear. People in porn were genuine and straightforward - they dealt with everyone they had business with personally. There was no “my people will call your people” involved.
All he said was, “We’ll be here.”
He hung up, still not quite believing what he’d just heard. The mainstream was interested in one of their actors? He never thought he’d see the day. Still, Aoi was a good choice. He was every inch the superstar. True, he had an ego, but was professional, he was charismatic, and he also happened to have a background as a stripper - just what they were looking for.
He picked up the phone to call his boss right away. This wasn’t something they should just sit on. This could have a huge effect on the company as a whole - not just Aoi.
* * *
Aoi sat at his regular table in his favorite bar, a place he’d sat hundreds of times before. He had a beer in front of him, and was surrounded by several other actors - including his roommate, favorite costar, and, well, favorite offscreen costar, Kazuki.
Today, however, he felt like a fucking king sitting on a throne with his subjects around him, drinking the goddamn nectar of the gods.
“So it’s final?” Kazuki said. “It’s a done deal? It’s really going to happen?”
“They worked out the fine details today,” Aoi said. “Signed, sealed, delivered. I’m going to be on the big screen with Dice.”
“Actually with him?” said Kai, who was sitting on Aoi’s other side. “I mean, you’re doing the scene with Dice himself?”
“Well, I don’t know if he’s the guy I’m supposed to be fucking,” Aoi said, “but yeah, we’re in a scene together. His character questions mine about a murder. Supposedly, I’ve got a piece of important evidence in my apartment.”
“This is exciting,” Kazuki said. “I can’t wait to see it!”
“I’d be excited if it were me,” said Shou, who was sitting next to Kai. “How did they find you, anyway?”
“The producers asked some people to come up with a gay porn star who was hot,” Aoi said. “So, of course, a superstar like me is the obvious choice.” He pulled out his phone and looked at it. “I even have the date I’m supposed to be shooting. It’s the 9th, and I’m supposed to be on the set early - like, 6 a.m. Fuck, most porn stars are just getting to bed at that hour!”
“Speak for yourself,” Ruki said. “And aren’t you and I supposed to be doing a scene on the 9th?”
“Uruha’ll move it,” Aoi said, dropping the phone back on the table. “He’s really happy about this. He thinks it’ll bring our films to a wider audience.”
“Yeah, if they like gay porn,” Ruki said.
“Well, Uruha does have ideas to broaden our viewership,” Kai said. “He had fliers for our fairy tale series passed out on Otome Road” - the fangir/yaoi mecca in Ikkebukuro. “And he did come up with the romance series.” (Romantic Moments was their latest video line, aimed at women who enjoyed romantic/erotic yaoi manga and doujinshi but hadn’t taken the porn video plunge yet).
“Still not the audience who would go see a Dice movie,” Ruki said.
“There’s going to be gay men in the audience. And the straight guys who go to his films are probably going to have wives and girlfriends with them,” Shou said.
“You got it,” Aoi said. “And I’m going to leave them wanting more. They’ll seek out my own videos.”
‘I hope that’s what happens,” Kai said. “We could use the publicity.”
“We’re not doing that badly,” Shou reminded him. “Our last two videos were number ones, remember?”
“But we could always use more,” Kai said. “We still have competition.” Like the companies that Ruki and Aoi themselves worked for before coming to PSC.
“Hey, once I’m done with my film?” Aoi said. “They might ask us all to do real movies. Every one of us could be a bonafide star!”
Oh, yes, he was quite pleased with himself, indeed. Hey, he was doing an important thing for them all, wasn’t he? He was helping everyone out!
And getting to see his own face as tall as a building wasn’t exactly going to hurt, either.
* * *
Unlike most of the guys who worked for PSC Productions, Aoi didn’t have any great ambitions for his life before he got into the business.
He came to Tokyo from Mie with a bunch of friends after high school, just to get a change of scenery. He didn’t know what he was going to do when he got there - he figured he’d get some sort of job, then work out what his real path was down the line.
The job came about when he noticed a gay strip club down the road from the tiny apartment the group was cramming themselves into. He figured, hey, he could dance, and he wasn’t exactly shy. Why not give it a shot? And so, he went for an audition.
That led to him very quickly becoming the most popular performer in the club. Which led to bookings in other clubs. Which then led to him being scouted by a porn company. Did he want to audition? He actually did have to give it some thought - dancing and stripping for guys was one thing, being photographed having sex was another.
Then he realized how much more money he could be making, and he took the plunge.
He started out doing a single scene on a reigning superstar’s DVD. The company got more E-mails about him than about the star. A couple more co-starring gigs later, he found himself a leading man, and he hadn’t looked back since.
There were people who asked Aoi what his goals were, and he always said to enjoy the ride while it lasts. After the ride was over? Well, he and Kazuki had talked about taking their porn money and opening up the biggest, splashiest club they could possibly afford to open. Kazuki would be the DJ, of course, since that’s what he “really” wanted to be. As for Aoi, he figured he’d be the host - the guy who wandered around the room to make sure everyone was having a good time and arranged for special treatment for the VIPs. (They’d hire someone else to handle the actual business side of things).
But suddenly, he found his view of his future changing. A role in a mainstream movie? Maybe leading to even more? Maybe, just maybe, he’d be one of the few performers to break out of porn and find success in the mainstream?
Suddenly, there seemed to be more to life than “just enjoying the ride.”
* * *
He surprised himself by getting up even before the alarm went off on the day he was to film his scenes. He kissed the still-sleeping Kazuki and said, “I’m off to be a star. A real one. Wish me luck?”
His answer was a long groan. He took that as a yes.
He was humming as he went outside, preparing to hail a cab (because, yes, this was a special occasion, it called for a cab, not the train). To his surprise, a black van pulled up in front of him. A man wearing a neat suit and tie, owlish glasses covering his face, got out.
“Aoi-san?” he said.
“That’s me,” Aoi said. “And you’re?”
“Matazaki-san, from Festival Productions. We’ve come to pick you up for today’s shooting.”
“A van?” Aoi looked behind the man. “You’re kidding me. You actually sent a van for me?”
“At the request of Shito-san,” said Matazaki. “We wanted to make sure you were on time.”
“This is terrific!” Aoi said, looking behind the other man into the vehicle. “Nobody’s ever done this! Okay, so Kai and Hiroto have given me rides when we’re shooting on the same day, but . . .” He hopped into the door Matazaki was holding open for him. “Do you always do this?”
“Only for, shall we say, guest performers,” Matazaki said, closing the door and going around to the driver’s seat. “For leads, we send a limo.”
“A limo?” Aoi said. Oh, hell, he didn’t need a limo. He felt like a king right now.
They drove off to the set, and he looked out the window like a child excitedly gazing at the passing scenery on the way to Disneyland. Maybe, just maybe, he’d have that limo someday.
* * *
Aoi checked the time on his phone. He’d been in this dressing trailer how long? Two hours? Three? He was going to need another charge on this thing pretty soon.
Things had gone great when he first arrived on the set. He’d been greeted by person after person - the director, the assistant director, the second assistant director, a couple of cameramen and assistant cameramen and second assistant cameramen . . . there were more people working this shoot than were employed by all of PSC Productions.
The first thing they did was shoot his striptease. This was done pretty much like when he’d done strip scenes for porn - run through the dance a couple of times so the crew knew where to put the cameras, then have him do it “for real.”
Except he’d never had so many cameras on him before - he really had to remember which one was where, and which one he was playing to at any given moment. He’d also never had assistants who rushed over to him at every pause in shooting to comb his hair and patch his makeup. In porn, shooting pauses were called “You get a mirror and see what needs fixing.”
“Okay, that’s it for that scene,” the director told Aoi. “Next, you’ll film your dialogue with Dice . . . as soon as he gets here.”
Aoi looked around. “He’s not here yet?”
“He makes his own hours,” the lead cameraman told him. “You know how it is with superstars.”
“He’ll be here eventually,” the director said. “We’re all used to it by now.”
Aoi wanted to say that he was a superstar, and he didn’t make his own hours. He wasn’t allowed to. Pornos were shot fast; it wasn’t uncommon for a leading actor to do two videos in three weeks. If he pulled the diva act, he’d be out on his ass, star status or no star status.
But, hey, this was a different world, where people could get away with that kind of thing. Fine, he’d wait.
Only problem was, he was waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more. He’d already checked his Twitter several times, played several different games, and texted Kazuki, who was working with the former Nine Films crew on an installment of their vampire series starring Tora. “I get to be bitten,” Kazuki said.
“Cool,” Aoi said. “So far, I get to wait.”
He went over his script yet again. His stripper character was to be introduced to Dice’s detective character. Dice would question him about the murder victim, he would be elusive - but he’d drop a hint that he had an important piece of evidence at his apartment. Then a friend of Dice’s would approach him, saying he would help him get the evidence . . . and setting up the suggested sex scene between Aoi and the friend.
He knew every word of both the club scene and the apartment scene forwards, backwards and sideways by now. He knew every piece of dialogue every character spoke.
Finally, a knock came at his door. “Aoi-san? The star is here. We’re going to shoot the scene.”
Aoi took a deep breath. He felt like it had been years since he’d been before the cameras last. “Coming,” he said.
He walked out into the set to see Dice surrounded by a small army of people. There were three people fussing with his hair and makeup. There was another tugging at his wardrobe. There was a small documentary crew filming all this for the “making-of” on the DVD extras. Off to the side, a couple of his assistants barked into their phones, setting up his schedule for his off-camera hours.
It was like seeing an old European king being attended by his court. A small thrill of excitement ran through Aoi - was this going to be him someday? Could he really be the first guy to truly bust out of porn and establish himself in the mainstream?
In that instant, Aoi, always the guy without the huge dreams, the one who lived pretty much in the moment, found himself with very big dreams indeed.
Dice suddenly noticed Aoi and pointed to him, like a crime victim fingering someone in a police lineup. “You’re the costar for today, right?”
Aoi bowed. “I’m Aoi,” he said. “And I’m very pleased to be working with . . .”
The celebrity waved his hand. “Yeah, whatever, let’s just get on with this,” he said. “I have a date later.”
“Maya Avaki,” one of the assistant directors whispered to Aoi. “That’s who he’s dating.”
Aoi remembered the name - she was a European model who frequently worked in Japan and spoke at least passable Japanese. “Lucky guy,” he said - and then noticed a couple of flat panels being wheeled onto the set, just out of range of the cameras. “What are those?” he said.
“Teleprompters,” said the assistant director. “Dice has them all over the place during any of his scenes. He just does a couple read-throughs of his scene before he shoots, and when it comes time to go before the cameras . . .” The crew member gestured toward the screens.
“You’re kidding,” Aoi said. “He doesn’t memorize his lines?”
“Why should he?” said the assistant director, his voice fairly dripping with sarcasm. “He’s a superstar.”
Aoi couldn’t believe what he was hearing. After he memorized every word of the scene? After he memorized every line of the scripts he was given for porn? Hell, he’d been learning two scripts - one for this film, one for the video he’d go back to working on with his home crew after he finished here.
Apparently, these people had a slightly different idea of what made a superstar than he did.
* * *
The scene itself turned out to be easier to shoot than Aoi thought - but then again, how could it not, with Dice sneaking looks at the teleprompter whenever he could? No danger of him flubbing lines if he had them in front of him.
There was something about the man’s entire air, though, that made Aoi uncomfortable. He gave off an impression of owning the room and everyone in it, and that they should all feel honored to be in his presence. (Aoi didn’t feel honored. Not at all.)
During pauses in filming, Dice would bark orders at anyone and everyone - from the director (“Can we get a softer light on my face?”) to the makeup artists. (“Use a lighter powder, I don’t want to feel like my face is being bricked over.”) And he’d completely ignore Aoi - as if he was some inconvenience in his way.
Aoi was all too glad to move on to the apartment scene next door to film the semi-sex scene with Murata Hiroki, the actor playing the friend of Dice’s character. At least he was nice. “I’m very pleased to meet you,” he said, bowing to Aoi. “Please treat me well.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, too,” Aoi said, bowing in return - and then pointed at Dice. “Is he always such an asshole?”
“Oh, sometimes he’s worse,” Hiroki said. “You should be on the set when he’s been drinking. I saw him throw a folding chair at an assistant once.”
“Drinking?” Aoi said. “Chair-throwing?”
“It happens quite frequently,” Hiroki said. “More than you’d think. But somehow . . .”
“He gets away with it, right?” Aoi said. “Let me guess - because he’s a superstar?”
“He does make an awful lot of money for an awful lot of people,” Hiroki said. “They’re willing to overlook things then.”
“I’ll bet,” Aoi mumbled. And as fast as they came, those “that could be me” dreams were fading away. No way in hell did he want to be in a position where he would abuse people. To him, that wasn’t being a superstar. Hell, it was the opposite.
* * *
The sex scene was a breeze. Hiroki was definitely a looker - dyed blond hair, athletic body and soft features - so it was no trouble at all for Aoi to make out with him lustily, both of them only in their underwear. There were a few super close-ups with the two in a pose that suggested frottage, if not full-out intercourse (tame for Aoi, who was very used to going full-out with beautiful men in full view of the camera).
When that was done, they shot the bit where Aoi was lying on the bed asleep, and Hiroki - framed from the waist-up to give the impression he was nude - snuck out of the bed and carefully rummaged through Aoi’s drawers until he found the flash drive that contained the vital clue to the movie’s mystery.
Finally, the director called, “Cut! That was terrific, Aoi. We hired you for a reason.”
Aoi hopped up from the bed and bowed low. “I’ll deliver anytime,” he said. “Especially with a guy who looks like him.” He winked in Hiroki’s direction. Hiroki blushed a little.
“You’re done,” the director said, reaching for a kimono that was draped over a chair and handing it to Aoi. “Get dressed and we’ll get a van to take you home - and tell your producer thanks.”
Aoi looked over his shoulder at Hiroki. “Coming with?” he said.
Hiroki shook his head. “I have one more scene to film,” he said. “With Dice - the part where I pass him the flash drive.”
“You have my sympathies,” Aoi said. He waved at the other actor. “It’s been real - see you at the premiere! I’ll bring along my friends and introduce you to them.” Hiroki was cool, he imagined he’d fit along well with the porn people.
Aoi donned the kimono and slipped out of the room, heading toward the dressing trailer. He heard voices coming from the room next door - one of which was Dice. He was going to just ignore it and move on (the less said about that guy, the better) until he heard Dice say, “Yeah, I have to shoot getting the drive from Hiroki, and then scenes of me looking through the window.”
“Watching them get it on?” said one of the other guys.
“Supposedly,” Dice said. “Thank God I didn’t have to actually watch them. If I had to watch two faggots going at it, I’d get sick to my stomach.”
Aoi suddenly froze in his tracks and whirled in the direction of the voices. Did he just hear . . .
“That guy who plays the stripper,” said one of the other voices, “he’s really a gay porn star?”
“Oh, yeah,” said Dice. “They said I’d have to have one of them if I were to have the women from real porn. Equal opportunity and all that. So in order for me to get my hands on some famous tits, we had to have a cocksucking fag. Just as long as I don’t have to touch him.”
“Hey, you touch all kinds of people,” one of the flunkies said. “What’s wrong with him?”
“You don’t know what kind of diseases those people are carrying,” Dice said. “Seriously, they could have anything. Even if they’re not porn stars, those fags sleep with everyone. No discretion. And come on, sticking it up a guy’s ass?”
“You’d stick it up a woman’s ass,” said another flunky.
“Yeah, but women are a lot cleaner than guys,” Dice said. “I’m a guy - I know.”
During all this, Aoi had been getting more and more angry. When Dice used the homophobic F-word, his hand clenched into a fist. When he mentioned diseases, the fist banged into the wall. And when he made his remarks about cleanliness, he couldn’t take it anymore. He barged into the room, still wearing only the kimono over underwear.
“Say all that to my face, asshole,” he said to Dice.
“Oh, you heard that?” Dice said. “Sorry, but that’s how I feel. No offense.”
“No offense?” Aoi said. “You fucking said all that homophobic bullshit and then you say no offense? Have you ever gotten to know any gay people? Do you know what we’re really like? Or do you just swallow and spit out a line of homophobic bullshit?”
Dice leaned over toward Aoi, jabbing a finger at his chest. “Let me tell you something. I work with gay people. I have to in this business - you’re everywhere. And I think I’m pretty damn tolerant, considering.”
Aoi smacked the hand away. “Tolerant? Bullshit on that. You think your little tirade now was tolerant?”
“I didn’t intend for you to hear it,” he said.
“Do you think that makes you any less of an asshole?” Aoi retorted. “Let me tell you about the people I work with - the gay porn stars you think are disease-ridden creeps. We’re always on the set on time - unlike you. We always know our lines - I’ve never known a gay porn star who had to use a teleprompter. Oh, and we don’t sit around badmouthing our costars behind their backs, either.”
Dice just stood there looking like stone, his jaw set. “You talk to me like that?” he said. “Do you know who I am?”
“Oh, I know all too well who you are,” Aoi said. “Earlier, I was thinking that I wanted to be a superstar like you. I wanted the limo and the starring roles in ‘real’ movies. But if people in the mainstream are like you? Then fuck it, I don’t want any part of it.”
He spun around on his heel and stomped out of the room, not stopping until he got back to the dressing trailer. Sure, it was fancier than the get-changed-in-the-bathroom conditions on porn sets. But on porn sets, you weren’t surrounded by jerks.
When he had his clothes back on, he pulled out his phone and made two calls. The first was to Kazuki. “Hey,” he said. “I’m done. I’ll be headed home in a few minutes. Let’s go out for ramen, I’m starved.”
“Oh, sure,” Kazuki said. “How did it go?”
“Let’s just say I like our own sets better,” he said. “Oh, and Kazuki? We’re gonna talk about that nightclub tonight.”
“Really?” Kazuki sounded genuinely happy. “You didn’t seem that interested before.”
“Well, I’m interested now,” Aoi said. “We’re going to put money away for it from now on, so when we retire? We’re going to open the best fucking nightclub ever.”
“Aoi!” He could almost hear the sparkles in the other man’s voice.
“See you in a few,” he said, before hanging up and calling Uruha. No answer, he was probably still shooting. He left a message. “Hey, Uruha? I’m done with the Dice movie. My part’s still open in the video you’re shooting, isn’t it? I want to do it tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’ll be raring to go.”
He hung up, and glanced out the trailer window. The same van from this morning was pulling up, ready to take him from his brief stay in mainstream movieland to the world he knew.
It was a trip he was ready and willing to make. He knew now where his true home was.
* * *
Next day, he was back in familiar surroundings. Same apartment they’d used as a set many times before. Same few cameramen, same Lolli girl doing his makeup. Same kind of decent-for-porn script that Saga usually wrote.
Kai was playing a put-upon salaryman in love with Shou, a guy who worked in another office in the same building. Ruki was Kai’s uptight boss who kept making him work late so he couldn’t see his love. And Aoi was Kai’s mischievous friend, who decided to make Kai’s life a lot easier by seducing the uptight boss. (The whole thing ended up as a double love story, as Ruki’s character ended up falling for Aoi’s. This was going to be the first video in the romance line).
“So what happened on the Dice film?” Ruki said, standing over Aoi as the latter’s makeup was finished. “You never told any of us.”
“I did a strip act, filmed some dialogue and made out with a guy who wasn’t as hot as you,” Aoi said. “That’s about it.”
“That’s it?” Ruki said. “You didn’t do anything else?”
“Nothing worth talking about,” Aoi said. Because Dice, that asshole, definitely wasn’t worth talking about.
Uruha wandered over to them. “You sure you’re up to this, Aoi? You did have a big day yesterday, you know.”
“Ready as I’ve always been, and I’ll ever be,” Aoi said. “Have I ever let you down?”
“Never,” Uruha said.
“And I’m not going to let you down, either,” Aoi said, clapping Ruki’s shoulder. “You can bet on that.”
“You’re confident,” Ruki said.
“Of course I am,” Aoi said. “I’m a superstar.”
But it wasn’t just that. His confidence came from being in surroundings he felt comfortable with, with warm, welcoming people. Right now he was, well, home.
He’d rather be here than on a million big-budget, “real” movie sets.
“Okay,” Uruha said. “We’ll go, then. Ruki, you’re sitting in your apartment when Aoi comes in, and you take it from there. Places!”
Ruki, in his suit, tie and glasses, slipped into the persona of the uptight boss, and sat in an easy chair, flipping through a business publication. After Uruha yelled, “Action!” Aoi knocked on the door, and Ruki looked up, then went back to his reading. Aoi knocked again, louder and more insistent, and Ruki put down his newspaper with a sigh, answering the door.
“Oh,” he said. “You.”
“Yes, me.” Aoi pushed into the room and shut the door behind him. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“I’m not surprised,” Ruki said. “You’re the kind of person who’d just barge into someone’s home uninvited.”
“You gave me your card,” Aoi said. “You wanted me to come here.”
“That was a business card,” Ruki said, primly. “It just happened to have my home contact information on it as well.”
“Do you give that card to everyone?” Aoi leaned in toward him. “Or just . . . special business associates?”
Ruki looked away, shifting uncomfortably. “I think you should leave,” he said.
Aoi’s character had an answer for this, of course. He grabbed Ruki by the staid, prop tie and pulled him toward him, pressing his lips against the other man’s. Ruki, as the script dictated, pulled back, looking shocked.
“Out,” Ruki said. “I want you out of this room right now.”
“No, you don’t,” Aoi said.
“I meant what I said, and I said that I want you to leave,” said Ruki.
Aoi folded his arms and just looked nonchalant. “No, you don’t,” he said again.
“If you don’t get out of here,” Ruki said, “I’ll . . . I’ll . . .”
And then, he took two steps toward Aoi, and Aoi pulled him into an embrace again. This time, Ruki put up no resistance, and he was the one who kissed Aoi back hungrily, pulling back from him just enough so the camera could capture his tongue sliding into the taller man’s mouth.
Aoi moved away from Ruki so he could begin undressing his costar in full view of the lens, Ruki panting and looking wanton, lustful. God, he was so fucking hot. There were times, like this, when Aoi just knew he had the best job in the world.
The staid tie hit the floor, followed by the jacket and button-down shirt. Aoi leaned over and licked a nipple, then pulled it into his mouth, sucking. Ruki let out a growl, head falling back, hands tangling in Aoi’s hair.
Aoi reached down and unbuckled Ruki’s belt, then unzipped his pants - and pushed them down, revealing black silk boxer shorts. “Look at this,” he said. “You’ve been an animal waiting to be set free all along, haven’t you?”
Up until now, Aoi had followed the script - but the time felt right for a little improv. He slid a hand down, cupping Ruki’s crotch and rubbing it through the smooth material. “You want this,” he murmured. “You want me. You’ve been waiting for the right guy to set all that pent-up lust free . . .”
Aoi pulled away, grabbing Ruki’s hands and leading them to his buttons, guiding the other man in undressing him, Ruki suddenly stopping when he had Aoi stripped down to his briefs. “I . . . I’ve never done this to anyone before,” he said.
“Good, glad I could be your first,” Aoi said, before stripping off his own underwear, then Ruki’s. The camera lingered lovingly on the two newly-revealed cocks, before Aoi dropped to his knees, running his fingers along Ruki’s growing hardness.
“Look at that,” he said. “What a shame to keep that to yourself. It’s far better to share, isn’t it?” And the camera followed his tongue as it swept from the bottom of Ruki’s cock to the top, flicking over the tip.
Another camera was on Ruki’s face, to catch his reaction to the very special attention he was receiving - eyes closed, the back of his hand pressed to his mouth. He was incredibly beautiful in the heat of passion, and one thing Uruha always believed was that facial reactions were just as sexy as closeups of body parts in action. Sometimes, they were even sexier.
Aoi kissed the head of Ruki’s cock. “I can tell how much you want it,” he murmured, before licking around the tip. “How much you want me. This is throbbing, you know that?” He took it in his mouth and started to suck, careful of his position, making sure the cameras could capture everything.
“Oh,” Ruki moaned. “Oh, my God . . .”
“I know what you really want,” said Aoi, before licking downward again. He paused, halfway down the shaft, and said, “You want me to fuck you. You want my cock up your ass, hard and fast.” And he licked downward again, and kept going, until his tongue was tracing the shape of Ruki’s balls.
Ruki was making animal sounds now - wanton and lustful, and definitely not acting. He was into what Aoi was doing, what he was saying, the fantasy of it all. Aoi stood up, kissing his nipples again as he went, and grabbed Ruki, pulling him down on the bed.
“Show me the real you,” Aoi said in a near growl, his lips centimeters from Ruki’s. “Show me the animal I know you are.” He closed the distance between them, and kissed Ruki passionately again.
That was Ruki’s cue to flip them both over so he was on top, kissing down to Aoi’s chest, running his tongue back and forth over a nipple before sucking with a little growl, pulling his head back so the hard peak would pop out of his mouth.
“Oh, yeah,” Aoi moaned. “That’s it. Don’t hold back . . .”
Ruki swept his tongue down over Aoi’s stomach, a long, slow lick. He couldn’t do his usual impressive deep-throating, since his character was supposed to be inexperienced with men, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t lick up and down the other man’s hardness . . .
Which was exactly what he did. Ruki’s talented tongue made its way up Aoi’s shaft, rubbing back and forth, exploring it, tracing ridges and veins - and the moans Aoi made in response were as real as Ruki’s had been.
“Fuck,” Aoi gasped. “Oh, yeah, you’re good, you’re so good, baby, this is what you really are, isn’t it? You’re a dirty cocksucker. Keep going . . .”
Ruki took the head of Aoi’s cock in his lips, as if the words from Aoi’s character had finally helped his own character unleash his inner beast. He sucked, taking it in little by little, stopping when the tip was fully engulfed, moving his head back and forth . .. .
Both men were moaning - Ruki because it was so damn hot to suck Aoi, he just felt and tasted so good, even after having sucked untold numbers of cocks, Aoi because Ruki was just so goddamn talented, even when having to rein his abilities in for the sake of the role. It was going to be very hard to stop, but . . .
“You want me to fuck you?” Aoi murmured.
Ruki lifted his head. “Yes,” he said.
“Yes, what?” said Aoi. “I want to hear you say it.”
“I want you to fuck me,” Ruki said.
“What else?” Aoi said.
“I want to feel your cock in me,” Ruki said. “I want you to fill me until I think I’m going to explode.”
“Good,” Aoi said. “Now, on all fours.”
He reached for the lube on the nighttable. The prepping process was one part of the sex act that was heavily edited in the final video - usually just a few shots were used, enough to tell the audience it had taken place. But that didn’t mean the two men couldn’t enjoy it as it was happening.
Aoi slicked a finger and pressed it into that delicious ass - oh, yes, wonderfully tight. He heard Ruki let out a little purr as he moved it in and out.
“It’s only going to get better,” he said as he pushed the second one in, gently scissoring them, wanting to open Ruki up quickly - but also knowing that going in without proper prep could be disastrous. The idea was for the uke to experience ultimate bliss throughout the act - no visible pain. No way was he wrecking the scene.
Ruki was moaning and wriggling against his fingers by the time the third one was in. “You’re eager,” Aoi said. “You must really want to get fucked.”
“Yes!” Ruki gasped.
“Well, then, you’re going to have to wait just a second,” Aoi said. “But imagine how it’s going to be. Think about my big, hard cock pushing into you, filling you up . . . like nothing you’ve ever felt before . . .”
He finally pulled the fingers out, and slicked his cock. He paused, watching cameras swing into place, waiting to capture the moment of initial penetration . . . he started to slide in, and oh, yes, it was marvelous, Ruki felt so goddamn good, why did his mouth get all the attention when his ass was so glorious, so tight and hot and seeming to grip onto him.
Aoi could hear Ruki’s moan, but he focused on his own pleasure as he paused, breathing deeply, that sheath still clutching him. He made sure the position they were in showed the best of both of them, that it would showcase both Ruki’s face and his ass, that it would show Aoi’s torso and face and, of course, his pistoning cock . . .
That organ began to move, slowly, as Aoi pulled back, moaning at the sensation of his hardness slipping through Ruki’s passage, and he lost himself in the heat, the luscious tingles, the sounds coming from the other man . . .
He started pumping faster, and Ruki moaned, “God, so fucking big . . .” which just made another ripple of pleasure run through Aoi’s body.
“Oh, yeah, it’s big, and it’s all for you.” Aoi picked up speed, little by little. “As much as you can take. Do you want me to fuck you harder?”
“Yes,” Ruki moaned.
“Say it again,” Aoi said.
“Fuck me harder,” said Ruki. “I want you to pound into me.”
Aoi couldn’t turn down a request like that. He moved faster, and harder, and deeper, his breath getting heavier, sweat running down his body in glistening rivulets, his moans matched only by those coming from Ruki.
“More,” Ruki gasped. “Fuck, so good, so good . . .”
Aoi was now just about pounding into him, like Ruki had asked, and Ruki was thrusting back against him as well. Both men were now fully bathed in sweat, Ruki’s hands frantically grabbing at the sheets, one of Aoi’s sliding up to tease and caress his own nipples.
“Oh,” Ruki gasped. “I’m close . . . I’m close . . .”
“Do you want to come?” Aoi gasped.
“Yes! Please!”
“Ask again.”
“Please, please . . . .” Ruki’s voice was almost a choked sob.
Aoi pulled Ruki’s body upward, so the other man was kneeling and leaning back against him - a position designed to allow the camera to capture the uke’s orgasm. He grabbed Ruki’s cock in his hand and began to stroke it, hard and fast, running his thumb over the tip . . .
Ruki let go, crying out as come fairly shot from him, pouring down over Aoi’s fingers.
He sagged forward, back into the all-fours position, and Aoi grabbed his hips, pushing into him hard, over and over . . . until he felt the pleasure cresting in him. He pulled out, grabbing his own cock and giving it a few quick strokes, and the orgasm burst. Aoi let out a long cry as he shot come all over Ruki’s ass in long, white ribbons, and wasn’t that a beautiful sight?
The two men collapsed to the bed together, kissing, as the camera panned away from them, slowly. Uruha yelled “Cut!” and Aoi sank even further down, all the way to the mattress, as if he were melting.
He felt wonderful, great, terrific. Relaxed, mellow, delicious. Oh, God, there was nothing like this job in the world. Nothing.
Fuck that homophobic asshole Dice. He would never know the joy of a moment like this. His loss.
Ruki turned toward Aoi, panting. “Okay, you were right,” he said. “You didn’t let me down.”
“Have I ever?” Aoi said. He wrapped an arm around Ruki, pulling him closer.
“No,” Ruki said. “But don’t let it get to your head.”
“You know me better than that,” Aoi said.
“On the contrary,” Ruki said. “I know you too well.”
Aoi hopped off the bed, yawning and stretching. “I’m getting a shower,” he said. “Coming with?”
“You just want round two,” Ruki said.
“Not really,” Aoi said. “I already know I have that coming - we’re filming you sucking me off later, you know. But I’m not going to complain if you want to give me extra.”
Ruki sighed. “You can’t get enough, can you? Christ, I don’t think there’s ever been anybody in the world more suited for porn.”
Aoi smiled to himself. Yes, he was suited for porn. He knew that now. It really was his calling, his home. And all the Dices in the world couldn’t take that away from him.
* * *
When the Dice movie premiered, Aoi and his friends got to go to the event. He posed for red carpet pictures with the female porn stars and they got to eat fine quality sushi and drink Dom Perignon at the afterparty (much to Uruha’s delight). Hiroki did, indeed, get along with the porn stars swimmingly; the rest of the mainstream actors avoided them. Aoi didn’t mind one bit.
The movie, however, sank like a stone when released to the general public. Dice’s first real flop, people said. There were whispers that he’d gotten too big for his britches, that he made the movie just to play out sex scenes with female porn stars.
Aoi just laughed. Especially since PSC Productions’ romance line was launching to great success just as Dice’s film was flopping. And hey, they even got some first-time buyers contacting the company who said they saw the PSC URL in the publicity materials for the movie.
Plus, one more good thing came out of his ill-fated sojourn into the mainstream. At the premiere, he and Kazuki met two guys, a couple who ran a very happening Shibuya nightspot. They offered to put the two in touch with people that would help them start their club when the time came, putting Kazuki one step closer to his post-porn dream.
And Aoi would be right there with him, running that club, when the time came. He’d rather do that than act in the mainstream any day.
But until that day came, he’d just enjoy his wild ride through the porn industry. Amazing that it took a homophobic asshole to make him realize that he didn’t need to look for his place in the world - he was already right where he belonged.
Chapter: Fifth in The Camera Eye series, preceded by The Camera Eye. The Camera Eye: Going Major, The Camera Eye: Hearts and Flowers and The Camera Eye: Star Grabbing
Author: Boots
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Porn industry AU, drama, smut, romance
Warnings: Male/male sex, polyamory, exhibition/voyeurism (since the characters work in the porn industry), dirty talk.
Pairing: Aoi X Ruki (main), Aoi X Kazuki
Disclaimer: Boys belong to PS Company, I own the story only.
Summary: Aoi has always been the one member of the PSC Productions crew that has had no ambitions but stripping and porn - until he gets a role in a mainstream movie. However, his experience working with a mainstream superstar has unexpected results.
Comments: Fifth in a planned porn star AU series that will bring in guys from GazettE, SCREW and Alice Nine. This fic isn’t intended to be a portrait of the actual JGV industry - if anything, the industry presented here is sort of a fusion of the Eastern and Western ones. (Just a note that there is a homophobic character in this story, for those sensitive to such things).
Uruha was sitting at his desk, reading over the script for the first video in a new line, when he got the phone call.
Seeing a number he didn’t recognize on his caller ID was nothing uncommon at all - it happened all the time, in fact. Most of the time, he didn’t pick them up. If they had legitimate business with him, they’d leave a message.
What made him pick this one up, though, was the name on top of the number - “Festival Productions.” That was a mainstream film company. They made heavy-duty blockbusters with name actors, including several that had gotten international releases.
What on earth. Uruha thought, would they want with a porn production company?
He picked up the receiver. “Hello, this is Uruha,” he said. “May I help you?”
“Hello, this is Shito Masahiro from Festival Productions,” said a voice at the other end. “How are you doing?”
Uruha frowned - this was getting even more curious. Shito Masahiro was a pretty heavy-duty producer. “I’m doing well,” he said. “And you?” Translated: Why the hell are you interested in a porno company?
“Oh, quite well,” Shito said. “I was wondering if your company can do us a favor. We’ve got a film in development for Dice. It’s primarily an action movie, but it’s got strong erotic elements - there’s some female porn stars appearing in it.”
“Our company doesn’t do straight porn, Shito-san,” Uruha said. “We are strictly a male-on-male outfit.” And this was getting more and more curious. Dice - full name, Kodohara Daisuke - was a hugely popular action star. He’d even appeared in a few scenes in Western films, usually as the ace hitman the hero had to take down.
“I know that,” Shito said. “The film is going to include a scene set in a gay strip bar, We want an actor to do a striptease onscreen and then do a makeout scene - some suggestiveness that sex is going on - with another actor. I asked around as to who was hot and happening in gay porn, and everyone I asked said it was your company’s Aoi.”
“You want Aoi to appear in your film?” Uruha said.
“If that would not be too much trouble, yes,” Shito said.
Uruha thought a moment. This was a very big deal, all right. Porn actors rarely got asked to appear in mainstream productions. A credit in a “real” film would make it easier for Aoi to transition to the other side of the industry, if he ever chose to do so.
But there was also the matter of preserving their company’s brand. “If we agree,” Uruha said. “I want the words ‘Aoi appears courtesy of PSC Productions,’ with our URL, in all publicity materials. That includes in the credits of the film, and on the DVD box.”
“But of course,” Shito said. “I expected something like that.”
“And he is to be treated with respect at all times,” Uruha said. “Not like some novelty item.”
“Believe me, we would do nothing less,” the other producer said. “We know he is highly regarded in your industry.”
“I still need to run this by our head of production,” Uruha said. “And, of course, Aoi.”
“Do what you must,” Shito said. “And I will have our people call your people.”
Now, those were words Uruha didn’t think he’d ever hear. People in porn were genuine and straightforward - they dealt with everyone they had business with personally. There was no “my people will call your people” involved.
All he said was, “We’ll be here.”
He hung up, still not quite believing what he’d just heard. The mainstream was interested in one of their actors? He never thought he’d see the day. Still, Aoi was a good choice. He was every inch the superstar. True, he had an ego, but was professional, he was charismatic, and he also happened to have a background as a stripper - just what they were looking for.
He picked up the phone to call his boss right away. This wasn’t something they should just sit on. This could have a huge effect on the company as a whole - not just Aoi.
* * *
Aoi sat at his regular table in his favorite bar, a place he’d sat hundreds of times before. He had a beer in front of him, and was surrounded by several other actors - including his roommate, favorite costar, and, well, favorite offscreen costar, Kazuki.
Today, however, he felt like a fucking king sitting on a throne with his subjects around him, drinking the goddamn nectar of the gods.
“So it’s final?” Kazuki said. “It’s a done deal? It’s really going to happen?”
“They worked out the fine details today,” Aoi said. “Signed, sealed, delivered. I’m going to be on the big screen with Dice.”
“Actually with him?” said Kai, who was sitting on Aoi’s other side. “I mean, you’re doing the scene with Dice himself?”
“Well, I don’t know if he’s the guy I’m supposed to be fucking,” Aoi said, “but yeah, we’re in a scene together. His character questions mine about a murder. Supposedly, I’ve got a piece of important evidence in my apartment.”
“This is exciting,” Kazuki said. “I can’t wait to see it!”
“I’d be excited if it were me,” said Shou, who was sitting next to Kai. “How did they find you, anyway?”
“The producers asked some people to come up with a gay porn star who was hot,” Aoi said. “So, of course, a superstar like me is the obvious choice.” He pulled out his phone and looked at it. “I even have the date I’m supposed to be shooting. It’s the 9th, and I’m supposed to be on the set early - like, 6 a.m. Fuck, most porn stars are just getting to bed at that hour!”
“Speak for yourself,” Ruki said. “And aren’t you and I supposed to be doing a scene on the 9th?”
“Uruha’ll move it,” Aoi said, dropping the phone back on the table. “He’s really happy about this. He thinks it’ll bring our films to a wider audience.”
“Yeah, if they like gay porn,” Ruki said.
“Well, Uruha does have ideas to broaden our viewership,” Kai said. “He had fliers for our fairy tale series passed out on Otome Road” - the fangir/yaoi mecca in Ikkebukuro. “And he did come up with the romance series.” (Romantic Moments was their latest video line, aimed at women who enjoyed romantic/erotic yaoi manga and doujinshi but hadn’t taken the porn video plunge yet).
“Still not the audience who would go see a Dice movie,” Ruki said.
“There’s going to be gay men in the audience. And the straight guys who go to his films are probably going to have wives and girlfriends with them,” Shou said.
“You got it,” Aoi said. “And I’m going to leave them wanting more. They’ll seek out my own videos.”
‘I hope that’s what happens,” Kai said. “We could use the publicity.”
“We’re not doing that badly,” Shou reminded him. “Our last two videos were number ones, remember?”
“But we could always use more,” Kai said. “We still have competition.” Like the companies that Ruki and Aoi themselves worked for before coming to PSC.
“Hey, once I’m done with my film?” Aoi said. “They might ask us all to do real movies. Every one of us could be a bonafide star!”
Oh, yes, he was quite pleased with himself, indeed. Hey, he was doing an important thing for them all, wasn’t he? He was helping everyone out!
And getting to see his own face as tall as a building wasn’t exactly going to hurt, either.
* * *
Unlike most of the guys who worked for PSC Productions, Aoi didn’t have any great ambitions for his life before he got into the business.
He came to Tokyo from Mie with a bunch of friends after high school, just to get a change of scenery. He didn’t know what he was going to do when he got there - he figured he’d get some sort of job, then work out what his real path was down the line.
The job came about when he noticed a gay strip club down the road from the tiny apartment the group was cramming themselves into. He figured, hey, he could dance, and he wasn’t exactly shy. Why not give it a shot? And so, he went for an audition.
That led to him very quickly becoming the most popular performer in the club. Which led to bookings in other clubs. Which then led to him being scouted by a porn company. Did he want to audition? He actually did have to give it some thought - dancing and stripping for guys was one thing, being photographed having sex was another.
Then he realized how much more money he could be making, and he took the plunge.
He started out doing a single scene on a reigning superstar’s DVD. The company got more E-mails about him than about the star. A couple more co-starring gigs later, he found himself a leading man, and he hadn’t looked back since.
There were people who asked Aoi what his goals were, and he always said to enjoy the ride while it lasts. After the ride was over? Well, he and Kazuki had talked about taking their porn money and opening up the biggest, splashiest club they could possibly afford to open. Kazuki would be the DJ, of course, since that’s what he “really” wanted to be. As for Aoi, he figured he’d be the host - the guy who wandered around the room to make sure everyone was having a good time and arranged for special treatment for the VIPs. (They’d hire someone else to handle the actual business side of things).
But suddenly, he found his view of his future changing. A role in a mainstream movie? Maybe leading to even more? Maybe, just maybe, he’d be one of the few performers to break out of porn and find success in the mainstream?
Suddenly, there seemed to be more to life than “just enjoying the ride.”
* * *
He surprised himself by getting up even before the alarm went off on the day he was to film his scenes. He kissed the still-sleeping Kazuki and said, “I’m off to be a star. A real one. Wish me luck?”
His answer was a long groan. He took that as a yes.
He was humming as he went outside, preparing to hail a cab (because, yes, this was a special occasion, it called for a cab, not the train). To his surprise, a black van pulled up in front of him. A man wearing a neat suit and tie, owlish glasses covering his face, got out.
“Aoi-san?” he said.
“That’s me,” Aoi said. “And you’re?”
“Matazaki-san, from Festival Productions. We’ve come to pick you up for today’s shooting.”
“A van?” Aoi looked behind the man. “You’re kidding me. You actually sent a van for me?”
“At the request of Shito-san,” said Matazaki. “We wanted to make sure you were on time.”
“This is terrific!” Aoi said, looking behind the other man into the vehicle. “Nobody’s ever done this! Okay, so Kai and Hiroto have given me rides when we’re shooting on the same day, but . . .” He hopped into the door Matazaki was holding open for him. “Do you always do this?”
“Only for, shall we say, guest performers,” Matazaki said, closing the door and going around to the driver’s seat. “For leads, we send a limo.”
“A limo?” Aoi said. Oh, hell, he didn’t need a limo. He felt like a king right now.
They drove off to the set, and he looked out the window like a child excitedly gazing at the passing scenery on the way to Disneyland. Maybe, just maybe, he’d have that limo someday.
* * *
Aoi checked the time on his phone. He’d been in this dressing trailer how long? Two hours? Three? He was going to need another charge on this thing pretty soon.
Things had gone great when he first arrived on the set. He’d been greeted by person after person - the director, the assistant director, the second assistant director, a couple of cameramen and assistant cameramen and second assistant cameramen . . . there were more people working this shoot than were employed by all of PSC Productions.
The first thing they did was shoot his striptease. This was done pretty much like when he’d done strip scenes for porn - run through the dance a couple of times so the crew knew where to put the cameras, then have him do it “for real.”
Except he’d never had so many cameras on him before - he really had to remember which one was where, and which one he was playing to at any given moment. He’d also never had assistants who rushed over to him at every pause in shooting to comb his hair and patch his makeup. In porn, shooting pauses were called “You get a mirror and see what needs fixing.”
“Okay, that’s it for that scene,” the director told Aoi. “Next, you’ll film your dialogue with Dice . . . as soon as he gets here.”
Aoi looked around. “He’s not here yet?”
“He makes his own hours,” the lead cameraman told him. “You know how it is with superstars.”
“He’ll be here eventually,” the director said. “We’re all used to it by now.”
Aoi wanted to say that he was a superstar, and he didn’t make his own hours. He wasn’t allowed to. Pornos were shot fast; it wasn’t uncommon for a leading actor to do two videos in three weeks. If he pulled the diva act, he’d be out on his ass, star status or no star status.
But, hey, this was a different world, where people could get away with that kind of thing. Fine, he’d wait.
Only problem was, he was waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more. He’d already checked his Twitter several times, played several different games, and texted Kazuki, who was working with the former Nine Films crew on an installment of their vampire series starring Tora. “I get to be bitten,” Kazuki said.
“Cool,” Aoi said. “So far, I get to wait.”
He went over his script yet again. His stripper character was to be introduced to Dice’s detective character. Dice would question him about the murder victim, he would be elusive - but he’d drop a hint that he had an important piece of evidence at his apartment. Then a friend of Dice’s would approach him, saying he would help him get the evidence . . . and setting up the suggested sex scene between Aoi and the friend.
He knew every word of both the club scene and the apartment scene forwards, backwards and sideways by now. He knew every piece of dialogue every character spoke.
Finally, a knock came at his door. “Aoi-san? The star is here. We’re going to shoot the scene.”
Aoi took a deep breath. He felt like it had been years since he’d been before the cameras last. “Coming,” he said.
He walked out into the set to see Dice surrounded by a small army of people. There were three people fussing with his hair and makeup. There was another tugging at his wardrobe. There was a small documentary crew filming all this for the “making-of” on the DVD extras. Off to the side, a couple of his assistants barked into their phones, setting up his schedule for his off-camera hours.
It was like seeing an old European king being attended by his court. A small thrill of excitement ran through Aoi - was this going to be him someday? Could he really be the first guy to truly bust out of porn and establish himself in the mainstream?
In that instant, Aoi, always the guy without the huge dreams, the one who lived pretty much in the moment, found himself with very big dreams indeed.
Dice suddenly noticed Aoi and pointed to him, like a crime victim fingering someone in a police lineup. “You’re the costar for today, right?”
Aoi bowed. “I’m Aoi,” he said. “And I’m very pleased to be working with . . .”
The celebrity waved his hand. “Yeah, whatever, let’s just get on with this,” he said. “I have a date later.”
“Maya Avaki,” one of the assistant directors whispered to Aoi. “That’s who he’s dating.”
Aoi remembered the name - she was a European model who frequently worked in Japan and spoke at least passable Japanese. “Lucky guy,” he said - and then noticed a couple of flat panels being wheeled onto the set, just out of range of the cameras. “What are those?” he said.
“Teleprompters,” said the assistant director. “Dice has them all over the place during any of his scenes. He just does a couple read-throughs of his scene before he shoots, and when it comes time to go before the cameras . . .” The crew member gestured toward the screens.
“You’re kidding,” Aoi said. “He doesn’t memorize his lines?”
“Why should he?” said the assistant director, his voice fairly dripping with sarcasm. “He’s a superstar.”
Aoi couldn’t believe what he was hearing. After he memorized every word of the scene? After he memorized every line of the scripts he was given for porn? Hell, he’d been learning two scripts - one for this film, one for the video he’d go back to working on with his home crew after he finished here.
Apparently, these people had a slightly different idea of what made a superstar than he did.
* * *
The scene itself turned out to be easier to shoot than Aoi thought - but then again, how could it not, with Dice sneaking looks at the teleprompter whenever he could? No danger of him flubbing lines if he had them in front of him.
There was something about the man’s entire air, though, that made Aoi uncomfortable. He gave off an impression of owning the room and everyone in it, and that they should all feel honored to be in his presence. (Aoi didn’t feel honored. Not at all.)
During pauses in filming, Dice would bark orders at anyone and everyone - from the director (“Can we get a softer light on my face?”) to the makeup artists. (“Use a lighter powder, I don’t want to feel like my face is being bricked over.”) And he’d completely ignore Aoi - as if he was some inconvenience in his way.
Aoi was all too glad to move on to the apartment scene next door to film the semi-sex scene with Murata Hiroki, the actor playing the friend of Dice’s character. At least he was nice. “I’m very pleased to meet you,” he said, bowing to Aoi. “Please treat me well.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, too,” Aoi said, bowing in return - and then pointed at Dice. “Is he always such an asshole?”
“Oh, sometimes he’s worse,” Hiroki said. “You should be on the set when he’s been drinking. I saw him throw a folding chair at an assistant once.”
“Drinking?” Aoi said. “Chair-throwing?”
“It happens quite frequently,” Hiroki said. “More than you’d think. But somehow . . .”
“He gets away with it, right?” Aoi said. “Let me guess - because he’s a superstar?”
“He does make an awful lot of money for an awful lot of people,” Hiroki said. “They’re willing to overlook things then.”
“I’ll bet,” Aoi mumbled. And as fast as they came, those “that could be me” dreams were fading away. No way in hell did he want to be in a position where he would abuse people. To him, that wasn’t being a superstar. Hell, it was the opposite.
* * *
The sex scene was a breeze. Hiroki was definitely a looker - dyed blond hair, athletic body and soft features - so it was no trouble at all for Aoi to make out with him lustily, both of them only in their underwear. There were a few super close-ups with the two in a pose that suggested frottage, if not full-out intercourse (tame for Aoi, who was very used to going full-out with beautiful men in full view of the camera).
When that was done, they shot the bit where Aoi was lying on the bed asleep, and Hiroki - framed from the waist-up to give the impression he was nude - snuck out of the bed and carefully rummaged through Aoi’s drawers until he found the flash drive that contained the vital clue to the movie’s mystery.
Finally, the director called, “Cut! That was terrific, Aoi. We hired you for a reason.”
Aoi hopped up from the bed and bowed low. “I’ll deliver anytime,” he said. “Especially with a guy who looks like him.” He winked in Hiroki’s direction. Hiroki blushed a little.
“You’re done,” the director said, reaching for a kimono that was draped over a chair and handing it to Aoi. “Get dressed and we’ll get a van to take you home - and tell your producer thanks.”
Aoi looked over his shoulder at Hiroki. “Coming with?” he said.
Hiroki shook his head. “I have one more scene to film,” he said. “With Dice - the part where I pass him the flash drive.”
“You have my sympathies,” Aoi said. He waved at the other actor. “It’s been real - see you at the premiere! I’ll bring along my friends and introduce you to them.” Hiroki was cool, he imagined he’d fit along well with the porn people.
Aoi donned the kimono and slipped out of the room, heading toward the dressing trailer. He heard voices coming from the room next door - one of which was Dice. He was going to just ignore it and move on (the less said about that guy, the better) until he heard Dice say, “Yeah, I have to shoot getting the drive from Hiroki, and then scenes of me looking through the window.”
“Watching them get it on?” said one of the other guys.
“Supposedly,” Dice said. “Thank God I didn’t have to actually watch them. If I had to watch two faggots going at it, I’d get sick to my stomach.”
Aoi suddenly froze in his tracks and whirled in the direction of the voices. Did he just hear . . .
“That guy who plays the stripper,” said one of the other voices, “he’s really a gay porn star?”
“Oh, yeah,” said Dice. “They said I’d have to have one of them if I were to have the women from real porn. Equal opportunity and all that. So in order for me to get my hands on some famous tits, we had to have a cocksucking fag. Just as long as I don’t have to touch him.”
“Hey, you touch all kinds of people,” one of the flunkies said. “What’s wrong with him?”
“You don’t know what kind of diseases those people are carrying,” Dice said. “Seriously, they could have anything. Even if they’re not porn stars, those fags sleep with everyone. No discretion. And come on, sticking it up a guy’s ass?”
“You’d stick it up a woman’s ass,” said another flunky.
“Yeah, but women are a lot cleaner than guys,” Dice said. “I’m a guy - I know.”
During all this, Aoi had been getting more and more angry. When Dice used the homophobic F-word, his hand clenched into a fist. When he mentioned diseases, the fist banged into the wall. And when he made his remarks about cleanliness, he couldn’t take it anymore. He barged into the room, still wearing only the kimono over underwear.
“Say all that to my face, asshole,” he said to Dice.
“Oh, you heard that?” Dice said. “Sorry, but that’s how I feel. No offense.”
“No offense?” Aoi said. “You fucking said all that homophobic bullshit and then you say no offense? Have you ever gotten to know any gay people? Do you know what we’re really like? Or do you just swallow and spit out a line of homophobic bullshit?”
Dice leaned over toward Aoi, jabbing a finger at his chest. “Let me tell you something. I work with gay people. I have to in this business - you’re everywhere. And I think I’m pretty damn tolerant, considering.”
Aoi smacked the hand away. “Tolerant? Bullshit on that. You think your little tirade now was tolerant?”
“I didn’t intend for you to hear it,” he said.
“Do you think that makes you any less of an asshole?” Aoi retorted. “Let me tell you about the people I work with - the gay porn stars you think are disease-ridden creeps. We’re always on the set on time - unlike you. We always know our lines - I’ve never known a gay porn star who had to use a teleprompter. Oh, and we don’t sit around badmouthing our costars behind their backs, either.”
Dice just stood there looking like stone, his jaw set. “You talk to me like that?” he said. “Do you know who I am?”
“Oh, I know all too well who you are,” Aoi said. “Earlier, I was thinking that I wanted to be a superstar like you. I wanted the limo and the starring roles in ‘real’ movies. But if people in the mainstream are like you? Then fuck it, I don’t want any part of it.”
He spun around on his heel and stomped out of the room, not stopping until he got back to the dressing trailer. Sure, it was fancier than the get-changed-in-the-bathroom conditions on porn sets. But on porn sets, you weren’t surrounded by jerks.
When he had his clothes back on, he pulled out his phone and made two calls. The first was to Kazuki. “Hey,” he said. “I’m done. I’ll be headed home in a few minutes. Let’s go out for ramen, I’m starved.”
“Oh, sure,” Kazuki said. “How did it go?”
“Let’s just say I like our own sets better,” he said. “Oh, and Kazuki? We’re gonna talk about that nightclub tonight.”
“Really?” Kazuki sounded genuinely happy. “You didn’t seem that interested before.”
“Well, I’m interested now,” Aoi said. “We’re going to put money away for it from now on, so when we retire? We’re going to open the best fucking nightclub ever.”
“Aoi!” He could almost hear the sparkles in the other man’s voice.
“See you in a few,” he said, before hanging up and calling Uruha. No answer, he was probably still shooting. He left a message. “Hey, Uruha? I’m done with the Dice movie. My part’s still open in the video you’re shooting, isn’t it? I want to do it tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’ll be raring to go.”
He hung up, and glanced out the trailer window. The same van from this morning was pulling up, ready to take him from his brief stay in mainstream movieland to the world he knew.
It was a trip he was ready and willing to make. He knew now where his true home was.
* * *
Next day, he was back in familiar surroundings. Same apartment they’d used as a set many times before. Same few cameramen, same Lolli girl doing his makeup. Same kind of decent-for-porn script that Saga usually wrote.
Kai was playing a put-upon salaryman in love with Shou, a guy who worked in another office in the same building. Ruki was Kai’s uptight boss who kept making him work late so he couldn’t see his love. And Aoi was Kai’s mischievous friend, who decided to make Kai’s life a lot easier by seducing the uptight boss. (The whole thing ended up as a double love story, as Ruki’s character ended up falling for Aoi’s. This was going to be the first video in the romance line).
“So what happened on the Dice film?” Ruki said, standing over Aoi as the latter’s makeup was finished. “You never told any of us.”
“I did a strip act, filmed some dialogue and made out with a guy who wasn’t as hot as you,” Aoi said. “That’s about it.”
“That’s it?” Ruki said. “You didn’t do anything else?”
“Nothing worth talking about,” Aoi said. Because Dice, that asshole, definitely wasn’t worth talking about.
Uruha wandered over to them. “You sure you’re up to this, Aoi? You did have a big day yesterday, you know.”
“Ready as I’ve always been, and I’ll ever be,” Aoi said. “Have I ever let you down?”
“Never,” Uruha said.
“And I’m not going to let you down, either,” Aoi said, clapping Ruki’s shoulder. “You can bet on that.”
“You’re confident,” Ruki said.
“Of course I am,” Aoi said. “I’m a superstar.”
But it wasn’t just that. His confidence came from being in surroundings he felt comfortable with, with warm, welcoming people. Right now he was, well, home.
He’d rather be here than on a million big-budget, “real” movie sets.
“Okay,” Uruha said. “We’ll go, then. Ruki, you’re sitting in your apartment when Aoi comes in, and you take it from there. Places!”
Ruki, in his suit, tie and glasses, slipped into the persona of the uptight boss, and sat in an easy chair, flipping through a business publication. After Uruha yelled, “Action!” Aoi knocked on the door, and Ruki looked up, then went back to his reading. Aoi knocked again, louder and more insistent, and Ruki put down his newspaper with a sigh, answering the door.
“Oh,” he said. “You.”
“Yes, me.” Aoi pushed into the room and shut the door behind him. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“I’m not surprised,” Ruki said. “You’re the kind of person who’d just barge into someone’s home uninvited.”
“You gave me your card,” Aoi said. “You wanted me to come here.”
“That was a business card,” Ruki said, primly. “It just happened to have my home contact information on it as well.”
“Do you give that card to everyone?” Aoi leaned in toward him. “Or just . . . special business associates?”
Ruki looked away, shifting uncomfortably. “I think you should leave,” he said.
Aoi’s character had an answer for this, of course. He grabbed Ruki by the staid, prop tie and pulled him toward him, pressing his lips against the other man’s. Ruki, as the script dictated, pulled back, looking shocked.
“Out,” Ruki said. “I want you out of this room right now.”
“No, you don’t,” Aoi said.
“I meant what I said, and I said that I want you to leave,” said Ruki.
Aoi folded his arms and just looked nonchalant. “No, you don’t,” he said again.
“If you don’t get out of here,” Ruki said, “I’ll . . . I’ll . . .”
And then, he took two steps toward Aoi, and Aoi pulled him into an embrace again. This time, Ruki put up no resistance, and he was the one who kissed Aoi back hungrily, pulling back from him just enough so the camera could capture his tongue sliding into the taller man’s mouth.
Aoi moved away from Ruki so he could begin undressing his costar in full view of the lens, Ruki panting and looking wanton, lustful. God, he was so fucking hot. There were times, like this, when Aoi just knew he had the best job in the world.
The staid tie hit the floor, followed by the jacket and button-down shirt. Aoi leaned over and licked a nipple, then pulled it into his mouth, sucking. Ruki let out a growl, head falling back, hands tangling in Aoi’s hair.
Aoi reached down and unbuckled Ruki’s belt, then unzipped his pants - and pushed them down, revealing black silk boxer shorts. “Look at this,” he said. “You’ve been an animal waiting to be set free all along, haven’t you?”
Up until now, Aoi had followed the script - but the time felt right for a little improv. He slid a hand down, cupping Ruki’s crotch and rubbing it through the smooth material. “You want this,” he murmured. “You want me. You’ve been waiting for the right guy to set all that pent-up lust free . . .”
Aoi pulled away, grabbing Ruki’s hands and leading them to his buttons, guiding the other man in undressing him, Ruki suddenly stopping when he had Aoi stripped down to his briefs. “I . . . I’ve never done this to anyone before,” he said.
“Good, glad I could be your first,” Aoi said, before stripping off his own underwear, then Ruki’s. The camera lingered lovingly on the two newly-revealed cocks, before Aoi dropped to his knees, running his fingers along Ruki’s growing hardness.
“Look at that,” he said. “What a shame to keep that to yourself. It’s far better to share, isn’t it?” And the camera followed his tongue as it swept from the bottom of Ruki’s cock to the top, flicking over the tip.
Another camera was on Ruki’s face, to catch his reaction to the very special attention he was receiving - eyes closed, the back of his hand pressed to his mouth. He was incredibly beautiful in the heat of passion, and one thing Uruha always believed was that facial reactions were just as sexy as closeups of body parts in action. Sometimes, they were even sexier.
Aoi kissed the head of Ruki’s cock. “I can tell how much you want it,” he murmured, before licking around the tip. “How much you want me. This is throbbing, you know that?” He took it in his mouth and started to suck, careful of his position, making sure the cameras could capture everything.
“Oh,” Ruki moaned. “Oh, my God . . .”
“I know what you really want,” said Aoi, before licking downward again. He paused, halfway down the shaft, and said, “You want me to fuck you. You want my cock up your ass, hard and fast.” And he licked downward again, and kept going, until his tongue was tracing the shape of Ruki’s balls.
Ruki was making animal sounds now - wanton and lustful, and definitely not acting. He was into what Aoi was doing, what he was saying, the fantasy of it all. Aoi stood up, kissing his nipples again as he went, and grabbed Ruki, pulling him down on the bed.
“Show me the real you,” Aoi said in a near growl, his lips centimeters from Ruki’s. “Show me the animal I know you are.” He closed the distance between them, and kissed Ruki passionately again.
That was Ruki’s cue to flip them both over so he was on top, kissing down to Aoi’s chest, running his tongue back and forth over a nipple before sucking with a little growl, pulling his head back so the hard peak would pop out of his mouth.
“Oh, yeah,” Aoi moaned. “That’s it. Don’t hold back . . .”
Ruki swept his tongue down over Aoi’s stomach, a long, slow lick. He couldn’t do his usual impressive deep-throating, since his character was supposed to be inexperienced with men, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t lick up and down the other man’s hardness . . .
Which was exactly what he did. Ruki’s talented tongue made its way up Aoi’s shaft, rubbing back and forth, exploring it, tracing ridges and veins - and the moans Aoi made in response were as real as Ruki’s had been.
“Fuck,” Aoi gasped. “Oh, yeah, you’re good, you’re so good, baby, this is what you really are, isn’t it? You’re a dirty cocksucker. Keep going . . .”
Ruki took the head of Aoi’s cock in his lips, as if the words from Aoi’s character had finally helped his own character unleash his inner beast. He sucked, taking it in little by little, stopping when the tip was fully engulfed, moving his head back and forth . .. .
Both men were moaning - Ruki because it was so damn hot to suck Aoi, he just felt and tasted so good, even after having sucked untold numbers of cocks, Aoi because Ruki was just so goddamn talented, even when having to rein his abilities in for the sake of the role. It was going to be very hard to stop, but . . .
“You want me to fuck you?” Aoi murmured.
Ruki lifted his head. “Yes,” he said.
“Yes, what?” said Aoi. “I want to hear you say it.”
“I want you to fuck me,” Ruki said.
“What else?” Aoi said.
“I want to feel your cock in me,” Ruki said. “I want you to fill me until I think I’m going to explode.”
“Good,” Aoi said. “Now, on all fours.”
He reached for the lube on the nighttable. The prepping process was one part of the sex act that was heavily edited in the final video - usually just a few shots were used, enough to tell the audience it had taken place. But that didn’t mean the two men couldn’t enjoy it as it was happening.
Aoi slicked a finger and pressed it into that delicious ass - oh, yes, wonderfully tight. He heard Ruki let out a little purr as he moved it in and out.
“It’s only going to get better,” he said as he pushed the second one in, gently scissoring them, wanting to open Ruki up quickly - but also knowing that going in without proper prep could be disastrous. The idea was for the uke to experience ultimate bliss throughout the act - no visible pain. No way was he wrecking the scene.
Ruki was moaning and wriggling against his fingers by the time the third one was in. “You’re eager,” Aoi said. “You must really want to get fucked.”
“Yes!” Ruki gasped.
“Well, then, you’re going to have to wait just a second,” Aoi said. “But imagine how it’s going to be. Think about my big, hard cock pushing into you, filling you up . . . like nothing you’ve ever felt before . . .”
He finally pulled the fingers out, and slicked his cock. He paused, watching cameras swing into place, waiting to capture the moment of initial penetration . . . he started to slide in, and oh, yes, it was marvelous, Ruki felt so goddamn good, why did his mouth get all the attention when his ass was so glorious, so tight and hot and seeming to grip onto him.
Aoi could hear Ruki’s moan, but he focused on his own pleasure as he paused, breathing deeply, that sheath still clutching him. He made sure the position they were in showed the best of both of them, that it would showcase both Ruki’s face and his ass, that it would show Aoi’s torso and face and, of course, his pistoning cock . . .
That organ began to move, slowly, as Aoi pulled back, moaning at the sensation of his hardness slipping through Ruki’s passage, and he lost himself in the heat, the luscious tingles, the sounds coming from the other man . . .
He started pumping faster, and Ruki moaned, “God, so fucking big . . .” which just made another ripple of pleasure run through Aoi’s body.
“Oh, yeah, it’s big, and it’s all for you.” Aoi picked up speed, little by little. “As much as you can take. Do you want me to fuck you harder?”
“Yes,” Ruki moaned.
“Say it again,” Aoi said.
“Fuck me harder,” said Ruki. “I want you to pound into me.”
Aoi couldn’t turn down a request like that. He moved faster, and harder, and deeper, his breath getting heavier, sweat running down his body in glistening rivulets, his moans matched only by those coming from Ruki.
“More,” Ruki gasped. “Fuck, so good, so good . . .”
Aoi was now just about pounding into him, like Ruki had asked, and Ruki was thrusting back against him as well. Both men were now fully bathed in sweat, Ruki’s hands frantically grabbing at the sheets, one of Aoi’s sliding up to tease and caress his own nipples.
“Oh,” Ruki gasped. “I’m close . . . I’m close . . .”
“Do you want to come?” Aoi gasped.
“Yes! Please!”
“Ask again.”
“Please, please . . . .” Ruki’s voice was almost a choked sob.
Aoi pulled Ruki’s body upward, so the other man was kneeling and leaning back against him - a position designed to allow the camera to capture the uke’s orgasm. He grabbed Ruki’s cock in his hand and began to stroke it, hard and fast, running his thumb over the tip . . .
Ruki let go, crying out as come fairly shot from him, pouring down over Aoi’s fingers.
He sagged forward, back into the all-fours position, and Aoi grabbed his hips, pushing into him hard, over and over . . . until he felt the pleasure cresting in him. He pulled out, grabbing his own cock and giving it a few quick strokes, and the orgasm burst. Aoi let out a long cry as he shot come all over Ruki’s ass in long, white ribbons, and wasn’t that a beautiful sight?
The two men collapsed to the bed together, kissing, as the camera panned away from them, slowly. Uruha yelled “Cut!” and Aoi sank even further down, all the way to the mattress, as if he were melting.
He felt wonderful, great, terrific. Relaxed, mellow, delicious. Oh, God, there was nothing like this job in the world. Nothing.
Fuck that homophobic asshole Dice. He would never know the joy of a moment like this. His loss.
Ruki turned toward Aoi, panting. “Okay, you were right,” he said. “You didn’t let me down.”
“Have I ever?” Aoi said. He wrapped an arm around Ruki, pulling him closer.
“No,” Ruki said. “But don’t let it get to your head.”
“You know me better than that,” Aoi said.
“On the contrary,” Ruki said. “I know you too well.”
Aoi hopped off the bed, yawning and stretching. “I’m getting a shower,” he said. “Coming with?”
“You just want round two,” Ruki said.
“Not really,” Aoi said. “I already know I have that coming - we’re filming you sucking me off later, you know. But I’m not going to complain if you want to give me extra.”
Ruki sighed. “You can’t get enough, can you? Christ, I don’t think there’s ever been anybody in the world more suited for porn.”
Aoi smiled to himself. Yes, he was suited for porn. He knew that now. It really was his calling, his home. And all the Dices in the world couldn’t take that away from him.
* * *
When the Dice movie premiered, Aoi and his friends got to go to the event. He posed for red carpet pictures with the female porn stars and they got to eat fine quality sushi and drink Dom Perignon at the afterparty (much to Uruha’s delight). Hiroki did, indeed, get along with the porn stars swimmingly; the rest of the mainstream actors avoided them. Aoi didn’t mind one bit.
The movie, however, sank like a stone when released to the general public. Dice’s first real flop, people said. There were whispers that he’d gotten too big for his britches, that he made the movie just to play out sex scenes with female porn stars.
Aoi just laughed. Especially since PSC Productions’ romance line was launching to great success just as Dice’s film was flopping. And hey, they even got some first-time buyers contacting the company who said they saw the PSC URL in the publicity materials for the movie.
Plus, one more good thing came out of his ill-fated sojourn into the mainstream. At the premiere, he and Kazuki met two guys, a couple who ran a very happening Shibuya nightspot. They offered to put the two in touch with people that would help them start their club when the time came, putting Kazuki one step closer to his post-porn dream.
And Aoi would be right there with him, running that club, when the time came. He’d rather do that than act in the mainstream any day.
But until that day came, he’d just enjoy his wild ride through the porn industry. Amazing that it took a homophobic asshole to make him realize that he didn’t need to look for his place in the world - he was already right where he belonged.