No Surprises (4/15)
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.
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3
It had been a little over a month since he'd met Keito when Yuto got the mail from the front desk on his way up to the penthouse and he pulled out three identical embossed envelopes, one for him and each of his roommates. Curious, he called out to his housemates as soon as he got home.
"Hey!" Yamada and Chinen both had their boyfriends over, Chinen watching as Yamada and Ryutaro duked it out on the Playstation 4, Daiki sitting nearby, a textbook in his lap. They all waved or made small noises of welcome, Yuto slipping off his shoes and plopping his school bag down by the couch, flashing the envelopes as he asked "Do you guys know what this is all about?" Both Daiki and Chinen shrugged, Yuto handing Chinen the envelope with his name on it, the tiny man sitting up from where he'd sprawled out across their couch to take it, looking curiously at it. Yamada didn't acknowledge that Yuto had said anything, his eyes focused on their television, fingers fast on his controller. Yuto joined Chinen on the couch as the smaller man ripped his envelope open, pulling out a gilded page and reading aloud
"Dear esteemed guest, you have been invited to attend this year's summer showcase for the Nakajima fashion line..." He trailed off, reading the rest to himself. Yuto blinked in surprise, tearing into his own envelope. Sure enough, he too had been invited to his mother's fashion show. There was one detail Chinen hadn't mentioned though.
"Yama-chan, why are you on my invitation?" Yuto asked, as on the TV screen Yamada's character died, the small man cursing and tossing his controller onto the carpet. Daiki looked up from his textbook at once, the older man's eyes shining with curiosity. Yamada, turned to look at him, confused.
"What?" Yuto showed him the page. In the image Yamada had heavy gold eyeliner on, and he was wrapped in lush reds and golds. He looked imperial, and he was lain out on a white couch, his image framing the header of the invitation. Yamada stared at it for a moment, taking in his own visage, a blush growing on his cheeks, before mumbling "I'm...well, I'm the cover model for the show. I'm kinda the top act."
"He's on my ticket too!" Chinen exclaimed, pulling out said ticket from his envelope. This one was just of Yamada's face, and it kept with the imperial style, Yamada staring seductively from the ticket's glossy surface.
"Yama-chan, that's amazing!" Yuto declared, Daiki reaching out to see the page, wanting get a good look at the pictures of his boyfriend. While Daiki ogled the pictures, Yamada ripped into his own envelope, extracting a letter and two tickets, smiling as he read.
"I can have two guests come to see me." He said, Daiki handing Yuto back his invitation and eagerly turning to the younger man. Yamada's grin grew when he saw the look on Daiki's face, and he extended his arm, holding out one of the tickets. "Will you come, Dai-chan?" Daiki's grin lit up his whole face, obviously extremely enthusiastic as he nodded, Yamada passing him a ticket. Yuto stood, laying the invitation and ticket out on his kitchen table, and taking a picture with his phone's camera, sending it to Keito immediately. Chinen hopped up from his place on the couch, and when he caught sight of what Yuto was doing, he said
"Oh, are you telling your man, Yuto?" Yuto barely looked up from his phone, typing out a message as he said
"He's not my man, Chinen. But yes, I'm telling Keito." He turned his attention back down to his screen when he heard his text tone, Keito having responded to the photograph at once, enthusiastically exclaiming his excitement for Yuto and Yamada. Yuto smiled, sending Keito back a quick thanks as Chinen said
"I wonder who else is going. I mean, if your mom's inviting me, then the rest of my family are definitely going. And Hika and Kota." Yuto shrugged. He hadn't heard anything from his family about the show at all. There was some speculation, Takaki's name avoided until Ryutaro left for the evening, and Yuto texted his brother, telling him he couldn't wait to go to the fashion show, Raiya responding enthusiastically, excited to see him. Yuto felt a pang of sadness, as he read Raiya's message; he missed his little brother.
That night after Yuto got into the shower he got another text from Keito, this one a casual greeting, and Yuto smiled, quickly texting back. They talked for over an hour, Yuto in the process of detailing to Keito just how amazing his little brother was when he fell asleep, phone still in his hand. He woke up to see that Keito had bid him good night a little over an hour after he'd stopped responding, and he felt embarrassed for falling asleep on his friend, texting him an apology and wishing him a good morning. Keito didn't respond right away, but it was early. Perhaps he wasn't awake yet. But then Keito didn't respond to him all day.
The lack of contact left Yuto feeling a little bit empty. He hadn't been talking with Keito for very long, but he'd already integrated the older man into his life, Keito's texts something he enjoyed. He sent a couple more messages throughout the course of the day, but those too went unanswered. He wondered if he'd made Keito angry, falling asleep in the middle of their conversation like he had, but honestly Keito didn't seem like the type to anger easily. He was rather disheartened when that evening he found himself working on his statistics paper after dinner, and was still without contact.
It was then however, that his phone lit up, jumping to life, his display informing him of an incoming call. He jumped in surprise, answering before he even looked at the screen properly. Who could be calling him at this hour? His parents? Maybe it was Raiya.
"Hello?" There was a small silence, before a voice he hadn't heard in weeks said tentatively
"Yuto?" Yuto blinked in surprise, the voice-while instantly familiar, not one he'd been expecting to hear-and he asked just as tentatively
"Keito?"
"Hi." Keito said, and Yuto could feel a smile blooming on his face, and he discarded his homework immediately, leaning back in his desk chair. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything. Do you have time to talk?" Keito still sounded a bit nervous, and Yuto quickly assured the other man that he wasn't interrupting anything, telling him
"I'm just surprised to hear your voice. It's a nice surprise."
"I just...I dropped my phone off of my balcony this morning and it broke, and so I haven't been replying to your messages. I just got my new one, and I didn't want you to think..." He trailed off, sounding apologetic, and Yuto hastened to console him.
"No! I'm so glad you called. I kinda missed you today." He admitted. There was a small silence, before Keito said
"Well...since we haven't talked yet today, and you're not busy, will you tell me about your day, Yuto? I missed you too." Yuto felt a little happy flip in his chest, his smile growing on his lips.
"Sure." He said. "But you tell me about yours first." There was a pause, Keito obviously thinking, before the other man announced
"I saw a poster for the Nakajima Summer Showcase today. I was thinking that the man on the front was your friend, Yamada-san." Yuto sat up a little, curious. He hadn't seen any of the posters yet.
"What did he look like?"
"Um...he had brown hair, and he was very pretty. He had muscled arms, and gold eye makeup. He was draped in red silk."
"That sounds like Yama-chan." Yuto conceded. He frowned a little at hearing Keito call Yamada pretty, not quite sure what to think about the slight pang of jealousy it put in his stomach, but those feelings were quickly erased when Keito asked
"Are you walking in the show? You'd make a good model." Yuto giggled.
"Me? No. They wouldn't have me do it."
"Well, despite that opportunity going to waste I'm sure it's going to be a success." Keito said. Yuto agreeing with him, getting out of his chair and splaying himself out on his bed in a more comfortable position, as he coaxed Keito into telling him more about his day. They passed questions back and forth for a bit, much like their time at the cafe, but it quickly evolved into more natural conversation, and they ended up talking late into the night, Yuto eventually bidding his friend good night when Keito-once again sounding rather apologetic-said that he had an early morning class at university, and that he really had to be getting to sleep. By that point Yuto too was tired, and he decided to leave his paper for another night, taking a quick shower and falling into his bed, content.
When he woke up the following morning, he checked his phone to see that Keito had already sent him a morning text, the words putting a smile on Yuto's face. They fell back into their usual routine of texting back and forth throughout the day, but after Yuto'd finished his essay, he found himself calling Keito regardless. He'd really liked talking with the older man, liked the way Keito thought about the world, liked the way Keito's deep voice had sounded pressed up against his ear, his accent making the plain words rolling off of his tongue sound somehow better. He didn't tell Keito all of this, when the other man asked in surprise what had brought on the call, instead just saying
"I like talking to you." Keito accepted that reasoning easily, and in the days to come Yuto spent every night before bed talking with Keito. It became natural to curl up under his sheets, his phone pressed between his pillow and his ear. He spent more and more time talking with Keito, thinking about Keito, a warm affection bubbling up in his chest whenever his phone-friend was mentioned. Keito just made him so happy. The way Keito made him feel wasn't a secret, and one evening Yamada caught him smiling down at his phone, the older man asking
"Is it him?" Yuto nodded.
"Keito went shopping today, he's sending me pictures of himself in the clothes he bought." He showed Yamada the photograph. "Look at how red his face is! I had to coax him into doing it. He's so shy, it's cute." Yamada pursed his lips, barely looking at the picture Yuto showed him, and he crossed his arms as he said
"Yuto...I'm worried about you." Yuto blinked in surprise, the concern in his friend's tone pulling his attention completely away from his phone.
"What? Why?" Yamada sighed.
"It's just that...you really seem to like this guy, and I want to be happy for you, but Yuto...you can't fall in love, remember? Regardless of if you're ignoring the individual or not, you do have a fiancé, and I just...I want you to be happy, and if this Keito guy is what makes you happy, then that's fantastic, but I want to make sure you understand just at what cost. I don't want you to make any decisions you're going to regret. I don't want to see you in Chinen's position." He was looking at Yuto with worry in his eyes, and Yuto could feel a churning unease in his stomach.
He hadn't really allowed himself to consider that he could potentially be falling in love with Keito, choosing to pretend that the warm tingles he felt whenever he heard the older man chuckle didn't mean anything special. He agreed with Yamada-he didn't want to end up in Chinen's position. And so he told Yamada not to worry, trying to assure his friend that he had everything under control, that Yamada's fears were unfounded. That Keito wasn't something Yamada needed to be so concerned about. But in the back of his mind, he knew that Yamada's concerns were far from unfounded, that he was developing feelings for Keito that were more than that of a platonic friendship, and it put a little ball of anxiety in his chest.
Meanwhile, Yuto's mother's fashion show was fast approaching. Yamada was busier than ever, working long days and coming home late every night. Sometimes he didn't even come home, instead crashing at Daiki's apartment, if he was really tired, as it was closer to the venue than the hotel. Yamada was extremely excited about it though, the only one perhaps even more excited than him his boyfriend, Daiki practically vibrating with energy whenever the subject was brought up. He'd apparently even gone out and bought a special outfit himself for the event, telling his university friends all about how he was going to see his future husband's fashion show. Apparently none of his friends actually believed that Daiki was dating a super model, much to Daiki's chagrin. Yamada, when he heard Daiki recount the tale, just giggled, a blush decorating his cheeks.
Yuto was very conflicted about the whole fashion show. He was excited for Yamada, and he was looking forward to getting to see Raiya, and the actual event was bound to be a good time. He hadn't seen his parents in quite a while, and he wished he could just look forward to getting to spend some time with his family, yet every meeting always seemed to end in strife, and he was dreading the forced conversations and the suffocating attempts at persuasion and the guilt he always felt after the fighting.
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