No Surprises (1/15)
Author: ryosukekoibito
Pairing: Okajima, with some side Ariyama, Chiitaro, Takachii, Hikabu, and Inoo/Saya
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Genre: Romance
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from J&A.
Summary: Yuto's life has been planned out from the moment he was born, decisions most of the world got to make all predetermined by his parents. Now as an adult he has to decide if he's going to continue along the path they've lain out for him, or if he's going to abandon it all, risking leaving his family behind in the process.
Yuto stretched his arms, glad that classes were done for the day. Glad that it was Friday, and he had a weekend to look forward to. He knew that he chose university, but he was still happy it was over for the week. He called for a cab, giving the driver his address and cheerily chatting with her as they made their way across town. She dropped him off in front of a towering hotel in the middle of the city, only overlooked by the rival hotel sitting across the street. Yuto thanked her, paying dutifully and practically skipping as he made his way through the golden doors, the camera he nearly always kept with him bumping him in the chest with each little hop; but he paid it no mind, happy to just be home.
He greeted the suited men in the lobby, and those at the front desk, and their polite "Welcome back, Master Nakajima."'s were tinted with a warm familiarity that he loved. He flashed them all smiles as he made his way to the elevator, pushing the button for the penthouse and watching the elevator doors-shined within an inch of their life-slowly close, and he examined the rich, red carpet and the gilded walls of the elevator as it rose, taking him up, beyond where any temporary guest would stay, to the very top of the building, its doors swinging open to reveal a beautiful sitting room, the space holding a peculiar aura of grandeur mixed with an obvious air that it held within it's walls was a purely male household. Yuto exited the elevator, kicking off his leather loafers and slipping into his house shoes, calling out into the expansive space
"I'm home!"
"Welcome back!" A familiar voice called from the kitchen, Yuto smiling and dumping his bag next to the couch and placing his camera on the coffee table. A small, muscular young man with perfectly styled brown hair and a blinding smile peered around the door of the pantry, and Yuto waved, slumping down on the couch and craning his neck to look over the back of it and face his friend. Judging on the smudges of eyeshadow still left around his eyes, Yamada too had just gotten home.
Yamada Ryosuke was one of Yuto's two roommates. He was the only one among the three of them that didn't come from a ridiculously wealthy family, and he was also the only one that actually had a job. The older man had foregone pursuing a higher education, and instead he now worked as a professional fashion model, modeling for a wide variety of top fashion brands and magazines, although the bulk of his work was done for Yuto's mother's fashion line. Yamada and Yuto had been best friends since they could both remember, and Yuto couldn't help but smile as the smaller man came to join him on the couch, bringing with him two bowls of ice cream and handing Yuto one.
"Don't go near Chinen's bedroom." Yamada warned him, flopping down next to him and taking a bite of his ice cream. Yuto blinked in surprise at the warning.
"Why?"
"Ryutaro's over."
"But I thought Chii had dinner with Takaki tonight?" Yamada pursed his lips, glancing across the room to the hall that led to their bedrooms.
"Oh, he does." Yuto frowned. Chinen Yuri was the third occupant of their penthouse apartment. The youngest and tiniest of them all, he was also the wealthiest, his family owning a company that made high quality large, leisure boats-yachts and cruise ships and the like. He-unlike many of their friends, and Yuto himself-didn't have to worry about taking on the family business; his older sister Saya and her husband already were being groomed to take over once Chinen's father decided to retire. Yet, due to his family's wealth Chinen did have one cross he had to bear-an arranged marriage.
It was understood in wealthy families that marriage wasn't done for love, it was done for good business, and the Chinen family was no exception to that. Chinen's hand in marriage had been promised to the oldest son of the Takaki family a few months before his seventeenth birthday. Chinen didn't refute the marriage, easily referring to Takaki Yuya as his fiancé, and he even seemed to like the older man, the two of them quite affectionate when they were together. Despite this Chinen had a not-so-secret boyfriend; Ryutaro, a poor college freshman whom Chinen seemed to like very much.
Both of Chinen's significant others knew about each other, but neither seemed to care much that the petite young man was seeing someone else. Takaki seemed to feel that it was just a phase, and he was waiting it out; willing to pretend that Ryu did not exist, so long as when he was around, everyone else did too. Ryutaro meanwhile was convinced that Chinen didn't love Takaki, and he seemed to think that one day the two of them would run away together. The whole situation was delicate, and sometimes it made Yuto rather uncomfortable, but he never said anything to his friend, empathetic, as-although they handled it very differently-he too was being forced into an arranged marriage.
Yuto himself was the product of wealth, his mother a fashion kingpin and his father the owner and CEO of a company that created high quality furniture. His parents had decided before he was even born that he as the oldest would take over his father's company, while his younger brother Raiya would take on his mother's. Yuto had been groomed from birth to be the perfect heir, attending private schools and learning etiquette and business strategy from a young age. He had done his best to live up to his parent's expectations as a child, but as he'd grown older he had begun to dislike that there seemed to be no surprises in his life, and he began to rebel against some of the institutions imposed upon him, not liking that everything had been decided for him, wanting to have some say in his future.
That rebellion was a part of the reason he had forgone taking a position in his father's company and instead had made the decision to go to university. Yet furthering his education was a side show, his main battle the one over his arranged marriage. He had been aware of the institution his whole life, but he hadn't been told that he would have to comply to it until his second year of middle school, when his parents informed him that he was to marry the heir to the Nishi hotel corporation. The Nishi corporation was an extremely large, very high class chain of hotels that had been steadily branching out-not only across Japan, but Europe and Australia as well. Apparently the marriage agreement had been in the works for years before Yuto had been aware of it, and it had been solidified without his consent.
He had been furious, and from that moment on the future marriage had always been a source of grief for him and his parents. There had been many attempts at coercion, and yelling matches and demands and refusals on both ends. In the end the marital agreement still stood between Yuto and the future owner of the Nishi hotels, but Yuto refused point blank to meet his fiancé, choosing for the most part to pretend that the person didn't exist. Every few months his parents would contact him and try and make him do something he'd told them he wouldn't-and their relationship had become extremely strained as he'd gotten older and become an adult. It wasn't something Yuto was proud of, but he had his beliefs, and he wasn't going to give up on them easily.
His train of thought was interrupted by a squeal of laughter, and he and Yamada both turned to see Chinen stumble into the living room; Ryutaro-a tall young man much larger than their petite friend-on his back, clinging as if he were a baby animal. Chinen was obviously struggling with the weight, but he managed to carry his boyfriend all the way to the front door before Ryu climbed down, the young man waving politely at Yamada and Yuto as Chinen said smugly
"I told you I could do it."
"Okay Yuri, you win this round." Ryutaro said with a sigh, and Chinen beamed, grabbing the taller man by his shirt collar and pulling him in for a kiss. Ryutaro moaned appreciatively, and Yuto looked away in embarrassment until the two separated, Ryutaro slipping on his shoes and biding them all a good night before disappearing into the depths of the elevator. Once his boyfriend was gone Chinen sighed, throwing himself onto the couch on Yamada's other side, opening his mouth expectantly and giving the older man a pointed look until Yamada spooned some ice cream into it. Yuto checked their hanging wall clock, surprised that Chinen wasn't slightly frantically getting ready for his date at this point, and he asked
"When is Takaki-kun coming to pick you up?"
"Not until-" Chinen glanced at the clock. "-crap!" He jumped up, dashing for the bathroom, and Yuto chuckled as he heard the sound of the shower turning on. Yamada smiled, and when he and Yuto finished their ice cream he took the bowls into the kitchen, placing them in the dishwasher. As he did so he said
"So Dai-chan wanted to come over tonight. I figured he and I could make the three of us something for dinner; that way we don't have to order take out or room service, and you still get plenty of time to work on that essay you were talking about. How does that sound to you?"
"Awesome." Arioka Daiki was Yamada's boyfriend. A college senior, Daiki and Yamada had been together for about three years now, and they were-in Yuto's opinion-meant to be. Daiki obviously adored Yamada, and his feelings were not one sided. Yuto had never seen Yamada happier than he was when he was with Daiki, and the relationship seemed to be an extremely healthy one. Daiki, like Yamada, came from a working class family, and although he was definitely a friend to Yuto and Chinen, he seemed to have a hard time understanding some of the aspects of their lives. Regardless, Yuto had accepted Daiki a long time ago, and he knew that the older man's presence would be a welcome one.
It wasn't long before there was a chime announcing that Takaki had arrived to pick Chinen up, a moderately tall man with long brown hair and a stunningly handsome face stepping out of the elevator moments later. Apparently this dinner date was a formal one, Takaki dressed in a three piece suit, a bouquet of flowers in one hand. Takaki greeted Yuto and Yamada, the three of them making light conversation until Chinen emerged from his room, wearing a stunning silky suit and a dazzling engagement ring, and he smiled at the sight of the older man, Takaki handing him the bouquet and placing a kiss on his cheek, saying honestly
"You look amazing, Yuri." Chinen beamed.
"You too, Yuya." Takaki smiled, offering Chinen his arm.
"Shall we be going?" Chinen nodded, Yuto and Yamada wishing the two a farewell as they left. Chinen had placed the flowers on their dining table before he'd walked out the door, and Yuto busied himself with getting them into a proper vase, just completing the action as Daiki arrived, the older man announcing his presence by tackling Yuto in a hug from behind. Yuto laughed, greeting the older man warmly as he felt Daiki's arms loosening, turning his attention into his boyfriend. Yamada and Daiki hugged, Daiki announcing that he'd brought ingredients for the meal they'd apparently already planned out. Yamada smiled, giving his boyfriend a quick kiss and when he pulled away Daiki beamed, affection clear on his face as he went to retrieve his grocery bags from next to the front door.
Yamada and Daiki got to work on the meal, and Yuto retrieved his laptop and textbooks from his bedroom, putting the camera he'd carried all day on its shelf, his collection twinkling down at him, a whole wall of his room devoted to it. He smiled, going back to the kitchen and setting up a station at the dining table. He was nearly finished with his essay, only a few more pages to go, and he was sure he would finish on time. Therefore while he was focused, there was no intense frenzy to get his work done, this allowing him to watch his friends in the kitchen periodically. Yuto always enjoyed observing the two of them together. They would tease each other and make jokes and easy conversation, and the actions in themselves weren't anything that were special at face value. Yet the air of complete acceptance and trust, and the pure love that always seemed to emerge whenever they interacted always brought out a strange mix of emotions in Yuto's chest, a physical ache manifesting inside of him as he watched them cook, standing side by side in the kitchen; bodies brushing comfortably as they moved around each other, their voices light and unrestrained.
Watching Yamada and Daiki always made Yuto intensely happy, and-in the same moment-very sad. He thought it was amazing that Yamada and Daiki were so able to be completely open with each other. He thought it was wonderful how well they understood each other, and being a witness to their love made him hopeful, because perhaps one day he too could find someone that completed him the way they completed each other. Yet he knew that if he was to remain loyal to his family, then he would never get the chance to find his completing piece. He would remember that he could never have a happiness like theirs, because he was to marry a complete stranger, and even if he found his soulmate, he was not able to be with them. He yearned for a presence, a love in his life like the one Yamada had found in Daiki, and it physically pained him whenever he remembered that he would not get one. He knew, as he watched Daiki brush a loose strand of hair out of Yamada's eyes and wrap an arm comfortably around Yamada's waist that above all things he wanted that. But first he'd need someone to fall in love with.
Eventually Yuto gets wrapped up in the paper he's working on, and he's nearly finished when Yamada declares that dinner is ready. Yuto clears his things off of the table and helps them set out the china, and once the food is set out properly they sit down and eat, the three of them talking and laughing, and Yuto gets swept up into the conversation, enjoying his friends company. He let his long term problems settle into the back of his mind, and the evening was spent in good spirits. Daiki was a fantastic story teller, and he and Yuto loved comparing childhoods, the two of them both fascinated by the other's way of life. Yamada would listen to the stories, and occasionally embellish them or add in his own. They eventually move to the living room, Yamada and Daiki curling around each other on the couch, and they keep talking late into the night.
But eventually Yuto's eyelids begin to droop, and he knows he's not the only one, Yamada having fallen still, his head on Daiki's chest. It was only once they heard the chime of the elevator announcing Chinen's return from his date that anyone had the realization that perhaps they should just go to their beds. The noise woke Yamada, the young model starting suddenly, and Daiki rubbed his back comfortingly, murmuring warm words to him as the elevator doors opened and Chinen and Takaki came into view. The two were wrapped around each other, lips locked. Yuto blushed in embarrassment, quietly murmuring his good night to the two on the couch and slipping into his room. Within moments of crashing into his bed he was fast asleep.
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