[03/04] A Prelude to Number Six?
title. A Prelude to Number Six?
pairing. akame (je)
rating. r
word count. 04510 (overall: 17990)
Jin brings him home that evening and Kame steps out of the car wearing a striped pullover that falls off his shoulders and sweatpants that have seen better days. Jin insistently thrusts a wool overcoat at him, tells him that he shouldn't be outside in the snow without a decent jacket. He's steely against Kame's protest that the front door to the apartment complex is less than ten meters away.
"Your body is fragile." Jin emphasizes every syllable of the last word, grins wide as he leans over in the passenger seat to talk to Kame through the half-open window. "You just recovered from a fever," he explains slowly, and the other rolls his eyes.
"What fever?" Kame snatches the jacket through the window. "Thanks." He puts it on and bows deeply, looks ridiculous in the coat that has sleeves that go centimeters past his fingertips and ends below his knees. "Thank you for taking care of me," he finishes, and means it. Kame doesn't remember the last time he let someone take care of him.
"That's what friends do."
Kame says it to fill the silence that follows. "Do you want to come inside?"
And Jin doesn't decline, turns the key in the car's ignition and steps into the frigid night air. When he breathes, there are puffs of white condensation. "Since you got to see my place in all of its unkempt glory, I should be able to see yours, right?" he asks, sounds like he's trying to justify going upstairs. They walk to the entrance shoulder to shoulder, Kame buried in the coat and Jin fighting the elements with a long-sleeve t-shirt.
"It's a little messy," Kame says after he unlocks the door to his apartment and opens the door.
"Messy?" Jin asks, kicks off scruffy sneakers and looks around the wide airy space. It's reminiscent of a loft, with open doorways and boldly painted walls. Something from a contemporary furniture magazine. Large black and white photo prints hang from the walls. "It’s nice. Photography pays this well?" He appears incredulous.
"The landlord is a family friend," Kame explains, gingerly removes his own shoes and places them in a neat row beside the door. "Want anything to eat or drink?" He plays host as he leads Jin to the living room and hurries to the coffee table, straightens a pile of photographs and magazines into a neat pile in the corner. "Sorry," he breathes, rushes to collect a bowl and a spoon and a glass on the floor beside the couch. "I'm a mess." He laughs.
"Are you kidding me?" Jin asks. "I don't even have any dishes in my cabinets because they're all in the sink or on the floor or in the bathroom-." He stops his train of thought. "Are the photos on the walls yours?" He asks, pays particular attention to one of a sleeping salaryman sitting on a bench, presumably waiting for the morning's first train. "I mean, did you take them?"
"Yeah." Kame says. "Did you say you wanted anything from the kitchen?" He motions toward it. "I'm going to clean up a little bit, so watch TV, okay?" Kame leaves the other to his own devices as he makes sure that there are no dirty clothes in plain sight and no scummy dishes to pick up.
Kame wonders what he’s going to do, because he hadn't meant to invite Jin inside, certainly hadn't expected the other to accept his invitation at such a late hour (he checks a clock on the wall-nearly midnight). And he hasn't played host in a long time and he doesn’t have anything to entertain his guest with and-
"Kame?" Jin asks and he's standing in the kitchen looking more at home than the other.
"Sorry," Kame says apologetically. "I haven't had guests in a while, so I don't clean as often as I should." The words rush out of his mouth. "And I was trying to think of something to do, but there's not much to do at midnight."
"We could watch TV together," Jin suggests, shrugs his shoulders. "Or you could show me all your cool photography equipment." His eyes light up.
There's something about Jin, Kame thinks, that attracts people like moths to a flame. Maybe it's just a combination of everything-from his charming smile to his sincere personality and apparent quest to befriend everyone who crosses his path.
Kame ends up showing Jin all of the different types of photography equipment he has until three in the morning, until Jin nearly falls asleep on his feet and Kame has to half-drag him to the tiny guestroom.
"Good night," Kame says. He yawns through his fingers and snorts when he captures a glance of Jin. He looks like a huge kid, tucked beneath thick covers with limbs splayed in all directions.
"Kame," Jin says, softly, and Kame almost thinks he's hearing things. "Hey, Kame."
"Yes?" Kame asks, and the air is so quiet he can hear their breaths.
Jin hesitates-Kame can hear him inhale a breath and hold it. "I forget," he says finally, and laughs. Kame rolls his eyes to the dark and shoves the mattress with one knee.
"Stupid," he jests.
---
Jin is a little bit like Emi, worming his way into Kame's life without Kame really realizing how. They both bring something fresh and new, Emi with her jibing ways and sisterly affection and Jin with his willingness to simply be there.
There is, of course, a difference. Kame is still apprehensive of Jin, a little bit. He's known him for a whole three weeks, maybe, and Emi has been one of Kame's assistants since he began working full-time at Shibui.
But, Kame finds, they both like to worry about him a lot.
He almost thinks that Emi won't bring up his little episode with Jin, nearly reaches the one-week mark before she stops by his desk with that girly smile on her face.
"I wanted to come see you that day, but Jin insisted that you needed your rest," she recalls, leans her elbows on Kame's desk and twirls a strand of hair with a finger. "And he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, so I decided that you were in good hands," she chirps. "How'd he cure you?" She adds a few moments later, and leans in like Kame will tell her a juicy secret.
He raises an eyebrow instead. "He let me sleep in his bed until I wasn't tired anymore," Kame says blandly, shuffles through photographs and memos and piles of papers and stacks of magazines that balance his cameras precariously. "How do you know he knew what he was talking about?" He asks, crumples up old notes and practices shooting them into a wastebasket beside a co-worker's desk. "What if he was doing everything wrong?" He leans back in his chair and stretches his hands above his head.
"Did he?" Emi asks, motions flicking Kame in the forehead. "He's a good friend, Kame," she half-admonishes, voice lowering to little more than a whisper. "He really thinks of you as a friend, and I think you think of him as a friend, but you keep finding reasons to make your relationship less than what it is." She pauses in her lecture. "He really cares about what's good for you, even though you haven't known him for a long time. I don't think you heard our entire conversation the other day, but he was really worried."
"He's that type of person," Kame insists. "He's the type of person who would give up the entire world for one of his friends."
"In any case," Emi says in that voice that means she's too tired to argue, that means she has better things to do (surf the internet and look for cheap sales in the immediate Tokyo area), "He's good for you. You're happier, lately, I noticed."
"There's not as much work to do, lately. I'm more relaxed."
"Do you know how long you've been relaxing?"
"Since there's been less work to do?"
"Since Jin."
"Shut up. That's a coincidence."
---
Jin calls Kame often. And often means everyday. He asks him how he's doing and if he's feeling well, asks how work is and if anything interesting has happened in the glamorous life of a fashion photographer ("You're the famous one!" Kame says exasperatedly). He himself babbles about writing lyrics and composing music, about meeting with public relations and record executives.
One of them always invites the other to go out, but their schedules always conflict. Jin has a voice lesson when Kame asks him out to lunch and Kame has an important meeting when Jin asks him to if he wants to go to a karaoke bar with a few of his friends.
It's only a few days before the February release of Shibui when neither of them is busy, and Jin invites Kame to a hyped nightclub in a popular section of Shibuya. "I wonder," he says thoughtfully over the phone, after giving Kame directions to a proposed meeting place, "if this will be one of the last times I can go out without getting mobbed."
"You'll be okay," Kame assures. "You'll just have to get used to wearing big floppy hats and bug-eyed sunglasses."
---
Kame decides that Jin is one of those people who is inherently late. Maybe not by much, a few minutes at most, but never on time. The other approaches him only after Kame has the opportunity to pull out his cellphone, once, twice, consider texting the other (he counts the number of couples he sees walking by instead).
"You look a lot better," Jin tells Kame, grins widely as he approaches him and stands in sharp contrast against the milling crowd. He walks casually, hands in the pockets of dark jeans, long-sleeved dress shirt half buttoned and pressing against his body in the right places, black flats clicking against the pavement.
"Do I look bad usually?" Kame asks, raises an eyebrow as he flips his cell phone shut. He wears more layers than Jin, but he suspects that the other is somehow impervious to the cold air. Skinny gray jeans and black boots, a deep-cutting v-neck shirt and close-fitting red blazer.
"I meant from when you were dead in my bed forever, stupid," Jin says and laughs. "You look healthier, I mean," he says and gestures toward Kame's face. Kame feels self-conscious because Emi noticed the same thing. Something about glow and radiance and what love did to people etcetera etcetera (Kame blocks her out sometimes).
"You look tired," Kame offers in return, and Jin leads the way, says that he knows the owner of the club and everything will be free, don't worry. The music is good and the people love to dance. It's sure to be a fun time, especially since several prolific DJs are going to provide the music.
It's with all of Jin's words that Kame realizes that he hasn't spent a night out in a long time, and his heart beats anxiously. He knows they're nearing the club when the pavement feels like it's shaking, when Jin leads him down a small street that has a queue of people dressed and undressed in shine and sparkles and makeup.
They stop at the front of the line, the bouncer preoccupied with talking to a girl who stands there with several of her friends. Jin taps the man on the shoulder, whispers something in his ear and there's a nod and a raised finger to gesture for them to wait a second, he'll be with Jin and Kame right after he takes care of these kids.
The man lets the girls in before turning to Jin and Kame. Kame notices that the girls look at Jin in awe and he smiles back at them.
When the bouncer turns to them, he unclips the velvety red rope easily and lets them step in front of the queue and before the dark doors of the club. "Long time no see," the bouncer says to Jin, nods his head in acknowledgement of Kame. "Where've you been, Jin?"
"I'm busy lately," Jin drawls, links his fingers behind his head and turns to Kame. "This is my first free night in a while. This is Kame. Kame, this is Taka."
"Nice to meet you, Taka," Kame says, and bows. Taka laughs.
---
When Kame drinks, he feels loose. He feels free and uninhibited. He smiles easily, lets strangers buy him drinks and feed him drunken pick-up lines. He dances with women with lithe bodies and heavy makeup and men who boldly approach him. Kame flits from person to person and smirks like he knows a secret, presses his hips against men and women who want to learn it.
He lives in his own little bubble, forgets that Jin is even there until he accidentally bumps into the other pressed against a girl with bleached blonde hair and clothing that leaves little to the imagination. His head is thrown back and his eyes are shut, his hands are on her hips and he moves against her easily, like rolling his hips is the most natural thing in the world.
Kame has to give him credit for that, for the way he moves his hips, for the way his charming smile transforms into a seductive smirk and attracts the attention of all living beings within a certain radius.
He rests a friendly hand on Jin's shoulder, makes him aware of his presence before he swaggers toward someone new, forgets everything as the bass ripples through his body and the heat envelopes him until he's drunk on alcohol and people and music.
He finds someone. A pretty little thing with light brown hair and big round eyes. She sounds sweet and looks cute, and when Kame sees her sitting alone at the bar, he buys her a drink and forgets about dancing in favor of serenading someone that he will never see again. She giggles at his jokes and Kame admires her style. They leave together after little more than twenty minutes, and Kame makes sure that he catches Jin's eye before the girl drags him out the door.
Jin's eyes widen a little in surprise, his mouth upturning into a smile and he offers a wink before turning back to his own partner.
She leads him to a love hotel and Kame thinks that she just pretends to be coy and shy. She feels soft under his hands and under his body. When they kiss, she pushes her tongue into his mouth and she tastes like stale alcohol and old breath mints, but he likes the way that she worms her skinny arms around his neck and pulls him closer.
Kame buries a hand in her hair, leans in close and presses his thin lips to her neck, bites and licks the skin there and relishes in her high moans and ticklish giggles. She wraps her legs around his waist, then, gasps light and airy and shuts her eyes tight when he presses inside her, presses his mouth in her wavy hair and mumbles all things incoherent because his brain is fuzzy and he can't do much more than feel.
So of course, when he comes, he doesn't remember her name, just says the first one that comes to mind.
She doesn't seem to care very much, follows him over the edge with long red marks down the line of his back and breathless moans that fill the silence in the air.
---
"You left your jacket at the club," Jin says when he calls him the next afternoon. Kame woke up to find her gone, a note mentioning something about class and a phone number with a name written in cute, bubbly hiragana. He hadn’t taken it with him when he’d left the hotel. "I got it for you, so don't worry," he says, and laughs. "You looked like you were having a good time."
"It's been a long time since I went out like that," Kame says, and doesn't know what to say next.
Jin combats the quiet for him. "She was cute," he mentions. "Not my type, but, you know."
"The girl?" Kame asks, sounds surprised. He didn't think that Jin would remember what she looked like. "Yeah," he says, bites his bottom lip and thinks a moment. "Yours had big boobs. Real?" He asks, and laughs. It's awkward and uneasy and he feels like he's in high school again.
"I don't remember," Jin says. "I was really gone. And I didn't leave with her either."
"Oh," Kame says, and they leave it at that.
---
The February issue of Shibui hits shelves and it's barely a day before Jin's face is plastered all over the morning and evening news. The news anchors discuss how they half-expected him to be more average, more like a salaryman, but he has the looks to rival any male idol, and newspapers boldly call him the antithesis to the manufactured pop groups of various talent agencies.
He appears on billboards and in commercials, endorses everything from Coca-Cola to DoCoMo cellphones. It's hard to get away from him.
Kame sees how fast the fame and recognition comes to fruition. The next day, there is a tabloid with a large image of Jin plastered on the front. He's giving a cold glance at the camera, isn't wearing bug-eyed sunglasses or a floppy hat, and looks angry to be intruded upon.
Jin doesn't call him for a few days, and when he finally does, Kame asks how he is.
"All right," Jin says, sounds more tired than usual, and it's only nine in the evening. "I just got home. We're shooting new promotional videos for the first three singles now. You know, videos that feature me rather than actors." He sounds breathless, maybe overwhelmed.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Kame asks again, after a few seconds of silence.
"Yes,” Jin says, slowly, drawls out the word. And then, hesitantly: "Hey, I need a drink-I know this place-"
"I'll meet you there."
---
Jin, when drunk, is less restricted, more open. He says things that Kame is pretty sure he wouldn't say otherwise (at least, not to him).
"I don't get to see my friends a lot," Jin says lamely, takes another shot and drums his fingertips on the bar top. "Especially lately. If my workload is like this all the time, I won't have a free day for the rest of my life," he says, and runs his hands through his hair.
"You'll get used to it." Kame takes a sip of his beer, raises an eyebrow as Jin asks for another shot. "Maybe you should stop," he says, and reaches out to grab Jin's forearm.
"You sound like my mom," Jin whines, pushes Kame's hand away. "I miss my mom's cooking." He pouts. "I should visit my family, but-"
"You're busy," Kame says, and pushes Jin's arm down as he tries to wave for the bartender. "Stop it," he says. "Every time you want another drink-" He pauses.
"Every time I want another drink what?" Jin asks, folds his arms on the bar and lays his head down, looks up at Kame. "Every time I want another drink-" he says, and waits for Kame to finish the sentence.
"I get to ask you a question," Kame says finally, and smiles.
"Do I have to answer it before I get my drink?" Jin asks.
"Yes," Kame says, and flicks Jin in the shoulder. "That's the entire point. So you don't drink the entire bar dry before one in the morning," he deadpans.
"I can afford to buy the entire bar," Jin announces, "But I wouldn't have the time to use it," he finishes and grimaces, buries his head in his arms. "Ask a question," he murmurs, sounds muffled through his jacket.
Kame sounds hesitant. "I don't know."
"We can't play this game if you don't have questions. Can I ask you a question?" Jin asks.
"Okay," Kame says, "then I get a drink."
"You're not done the one you have right now," Jin says. He sits up straight, turns on his stool so that he faces Kame. He plants his hands on his thighs and looks up at the ceiling as if in thought.
"You're putting a lot of effort into this," Kame says, takes a sip and narrowly avoids Jin's toe connecting hard with his shin.
"Okay," Jin says, looks at him with hazy eyes. "Why are you so lonely?" He asks, and smiles sweetly to offset the question.
"I'm not lonely." Kame laughs a little incredulously, feels the hairs on his skin standing on end and a headache permeating his mind.
"You look lonely," Jin says. "That's what I noticed when I first saw you. You looked lonely." He blinks. "And the second time I saw you, you were really lonely. And the third time-at the club-you weren't lonely, but that's only because you were drunk and probably forgot you were lonely. And you left with a girl, so how could you possibly be-"
"Shut up," Kame says, gulps down the rest of his alcohol. "You're drunk," he says. "I'm taking you home." He shakes his head as Jin reaches for his wallet. "I'll take care of it."
Jin stumbles a little when he walks, and Kame steadies him with an arm around his waist. They hail a cab and Kame tells the driver where Jin lives.
It starts to rain outside.
They're at a stoplight before either says anything. "You smile more when you're drunk," Jin says suddenly, and Kame's lips immediately form a thin line. "You look happier," Jin continues, and he looks at Kame through the fringe of his hair.
Kame doesn't answer, but he supposes Jin is a little right, because when he's drunk, everything seems a little more optimistic. Lights seem brighter, his mind seems clearer, and the world feels like it's standing still so that he doesn't have to worry very much about anything.
There's silence in the cab as it makes its way toward Jin's apartment complex. Kame looks out the window at the rainy, gray sky and wet sidewalks, and Jin shifts uncomfortably in the seat. He opens his mouth to say something else, but Kame cuts him off before he has the chance.
"That was a compliment, right?" Kame asks, draws patterns in the condensation on the window. He laughs, and he can see Jin's reflection in the glass.
"Of course it's a compliment," Jin says, eyes widening a little as he stretches his arms. "You should smile more. It's a cute smile."
"Aren't you too forward when you're drunk?" Kame jokes, "You might say something you'll regret."
"But," Jin replies, "I'll tell you a secret." He unbuckles his seatbelt and scoots to Kame's side of the car, breaches the boundaries of Kame’s personal space as he wraps an arm around the other’s shoulders. Kame can feel Jin's breath on his ear and a musical lilt to his voice. "If I say something I regret," he drawls, "I could just blame it on being drunk. Or," he pauses, and squeezes Kame closer, "I could just pretend that I forgot what happened."
"That would be cowardly." Kame feels something funny in the pit of his stomach.
"I've never done it before," Jin admits, and sidles back over to his side of the cab just as it stops in front of his apartment complex. Kame pays and exits, watches Jin fumble out of the taxi.
"I think we should probably get you in bed," Kame murmurs, and he leads the way up to Jin's apartment.
"Are you staying?" Jin asks while they're in the elevator, rests his head on Kame's shoulder and Kame blinks.
"I don't know," he says, laughs, steals a glance at Jin. "I just didn't want you to pass out in front of your building or in the lobby or something." And he laughs again as Jin bumps him with his hip and fumbles for his keys.
"If you stay," Jin says, and the elevator bell dings as they reach his floor. "If you stay," he repeats, "You can have the bed." And Kame notes hesitation between the words that signal caution.
"Okay." Kame takes the keys from Jin, unlocks the door as the other hums a song that Kame doesn't recognize. "Where will you sleep?" He asks, and leans against the doorframe, turns back toward Jin as he clicks the door open.
"I don't know," he says, parrots Kame and laughs too. "Where do you want me to sleep?" The words are suggestive.
Kame feels trapped between Jin and the apartment.
"I'll just go home," he says, one hand holding the keys out to Jin as he runs the other through his hair. Jin shrugs, takes the keys from his hand. "Good night," Kame says, and waits for Jin to move out of the way.
Not that he expects him to, really, but Kame also doesn't really expect Jin to move toward him. And his stomach drops and Jin is pressed against him, one thigh pressed between Kame's legs and both hands gripping Kame's forearms.
"I like you." It's like in the car, but Jin's warm, alcoholic breath is on Kame's mouth rather than on Kame's ears. Jin leans in, slowly, and Kame tries to melt into the doorframe as the other presses wetted lips against the corner of his mouth.
Kame feels a hand drift from his forearm to his hip, grab tightly as Jin presses closer, and Kame jerks his head away when he feels tongue, pushes Jin's hands away and the other moves back. They stay in the doorway with their hands at their sides.
Jin scratches his nose. "Sorry," he says, blinks and there's a sharp clarity in his eyes, none of that hazy drunkenness. He runs his hands through his thick hair, tilts his head back and Kame can see his Adam's apple bob as he swallows. "Sorry," he repeats. "I'm drunk," he offers.
"I think," Kame says, and shoves his hands into his back pockets, feels himself shaking so he leans harder against the doorframe. "I think that if you can use that as an excuse, then you aren't drunk enough for it to be valid." He says, and remembers what Jin said in the cab. "And you're lying, anyway," he mumbles, and his eyes search the other's.
"Yeah," Jin breathes, and an embarrassed smile graces his face. Kame's heart pounds in his ears.
"I don't-" Kame begins, but the words die in his throat.
"I know." Jin smiles wanly this time, and Kame moves out into the hallway so that he can enter his apartment. "Sorry," Jin offers again, and shuts the door.
Kame stands there for a few moments, tries to collect his thoughts and his erratic heartbeats before he finally turns away to leave.
PART 02 // PART 04