An Unexpectedly Domestic Romance / Part 1: i know it’s my fault, but i’d rather blame you
TITLE: An Unexpectedly Domestic Romance / part 1: i know it’s my fault, but i’d rather blame you
PAIRING: Shige/Ryo
RATING: G - heavy R
WORD COUNT: 12,385 (aka, too long)
SUMMARY: Ryo needs a job; Shige needs a maid (and a cook wouldn’t hurt either). If only things had remained that simple.
NOTES: I can’t seem to write normal RyoShige… Also, I guess this is more or less answering this prompt at the Summer Smut Meme, which I didn’t realize even existed until several weeks after it had died. Go me.
Tuesday, May 19th -
It’s really no surprise that Shige’s apartment is as messy as it is. He’s a lawyer, the youngest in his firm, and there’s a lot expected of him. The Vice President sees potential in Shige, and gives him heavy loads of work, some easy quick cases and others that will take months, maybe years until their end. White-collar crime, child-custody and alimony, estate and inheritance, immigration - he sees it all, and he’ll probably see more soon, since there are rumors among the paralegals and secretaries that the Prefectural government has asked the firm to take on more Pro Bono work.
So, dirty clothes pile up in a corner of Shige’s bedroom, an ever growing mountain, because he has no time to do laundry. The fridge is empty, save for a few cans of beer and a sports drink (he doesn’t dare keep perishable foods, since he knows he’ll never get around to eating them, and maybe not even get around to throwing them out). His garbage is full of empty instant noodle bowls, and everyday he thinks he should take it out, but he never has the energy, and it just keeps piling up. Unimportant mail sits on a shelf near the door, since he only has time to deal with bills; magazines and other things are pushed away as Shige says, “I’ll deal with it on the weekend,” but on the weekend, he’s either in the office doing overtime, or doing the same things in his apartment, or maybe even at the café on the bottom floor of his office building where the chatty barista tries not to bother him and continually refills his cup.
It’s late - 11:30pm or so - and Shige’s just getting back to his apartment building, standing in the lobby waiting for the elevator when the building manager appears out of no where.
“Katou-san,” he says, formal and stiff. “Do you have a moment?”
Shige wants to say ‘no’. He just pulled a 12 hour work day, hasn’t eaten since lunch, wants a bath, a snack and then to sleep, but even so, he finds himself smiling and saying ‘yes.’
“You must be tired, so I’ll make this short. These are luxury apartments and we ask that the tenants keep their individual apartments in nice shape and clean. It has come to our attention that your occupation has made it difficult for you to keep this up.”
The man pauses here, like he expects Shige to inject with something, but he doesn’t, and after an awkward moment, he continues.
“I appreciate that you’re a busy man - I really do Katou-san - but if you cannot properly see to this situation, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to find new housing.”
He bows stiffly, walks away and the elevator beeps, its door opening.
Wednesday, May 20th -
Every morning, before he heads up to his office, Shige stops at the café on the first floor for breakfast. He tries to be good and get an apple or one of the yogurt and granola cups, but some days, the raspberry Danish or powdered donut calls to him, and he cannot deny it.
He stops as usual, but this time asks for another cup of coffee instead of any sort of food.
“Eh? Is everything okay, Shige?” The barista, Koyama, asks while he makes up the drink. He’s the only person in the building who calls Shige by a nickname; for the rest of the café staff and office workers, he’s Katou, the genius lawyer.
“You know when some one absolutely rips into you, but they do it really politely and you can’t do much about it?”
“Yeah,” he says, handing over the drink, but Shige keeps leaning against the little counter. “My one co-worker got mad at me yesterday for putting a kitty sticker on my nametag.”
Shige blinks, thinking their situations are a little different, but he continues anyways. “My landlord tells me I have to clean up my place or I’ll be evicted.”
“Eh?!” Koyama shouts, and then starts bowing in apology to the other customers. “Then just clean up!”
Shige makes a face, and then Koyama laughs. “Oh, right, lawyer and all that….”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Shige whispers and takes a drink. “I really don’t have the time to deal with this…”
“Ah, I know!” Koyama smiles. “Why don’t you hire a maid? There are agencies that you can call and then they send out some one to clean your place while you’re gone.”
Shige clicks his tongue. “Dammit, why didn’t I think of that?...”
Koyama puts another drink up on the counter, and a man reaches around Shige to grab it. “Cause you think too much, ne?”
Friday, May 22nd -
Two days later, Shige has everything with the maid service set-up and he’s expecting that night to arrive home and find the laundry done, garbage taken out and all those other little things he hasn’t been worrying himself over for the past few weeks. What he doesn’t expected is to find a young guy, college-aged sitting on his couch, watching a soccer game. Shige stands in the doorway for a moment, before he drops his briefcase in shock.
The kid turns around, and immediately breaks into a smile. “You have a really nice TV! And Nagoya’s winning!”
Shige sputters something that sounds like, “Who the hell are you?”
The kid is still smiling. “Tegoshi, from the cleaning agency.”
“Why are you watching my TV?” Shige growls.
“By the time I finished, there wasn’t time for me to get home before the game started so I figured…
Shige’s face twitches, and 30 seconds later, Tegoshi’s out in the hallway, knocking on the door, asking about the score and if he can stay until halftime. Shige realizes a horrified moment later that Tegoshi hadn’t even really cleaned at all. The dirty clothes had all been shoved into his closet and a lid put on top of the garbage in order to hide much was actually in there. And to top it all off, when Shige’s stomach starts rumbling and he opens the cabinet, there aren’t any instant noodles left.
Saturday, May 23rd -
The next day, Shige has a colorful conversation with a representative from the cleaning agency. A very colorful conversation. The man apologizes profusely for Tegoshi’s behavior and promises to send over one of their very best that day to straighten everything up.
Shige comes home to a surprise. The garbage is taken out, the laundry done, folded in drawers or hanging in his closet, four bills that arrived in the mail are placed on the dining table, along with a few other semi-important things, while the other letters are piled neatly on the shelf near the door. Shige smiles, and thinks that this new cleaner is going to work out well.
And it does, for about two weeks.
While Shige gets dressed in the mornings, he pulls things in and out of his closet and drawers, taking little care to put them back in neatly if he decides he doesn’t want to wear them, he lets shoes pile up in the genkan and doesn’t properly put things in the dirty clothes hamper. The second time the cleaner comes, he leaves a message for Shige.
I would appreciate it if you would keep things properly organized.
Your suits were sorted by color, material and maker, as were your shoes.
Also, when you put things back into drawers, fold them.
And you have a hamper. Use it.
Shige frowns, thinking that the cleaner sounds a bit too much like his mother. But the fellow is good what he does and Shige doesn’t want to have to go through the trouble of finding some one new. But by the end of the second week, five more visits from this same Obsessive Compulsive cleaner and five more passive aggressive notes, Shige calls the agency again and asks them to send back his key.
Monday, June 1st -
On Monday evening, Shige sits in the café, drinking tea, complaining at Koyama.
“This isn’t working out! These agency people… they’re just weird. The one didn’t clean at all, and the other… the other was practically dictatorial about it.”
“And there’s no way your work is going to calm down soon?” Koyama asks.
Shige shakes his head and stares out the window, “Maybe I should just find a different place where the apartment managers don’t breathe down your neck…”
Koyama hmms, and then walks over to the counter, taking and filling an older woman’s order before coming back to rejoin Shige, “Didn’t you say you were also thinking of hiring a cook?”
“It’d be a pain but…”
“Sick of instant noodles?”
“I’d rather die than eat out of another styrofoam bowl.”
“You should place an ad yourself,” Koyama finally says. “In one of those employment magazines. For a maid-cook.”
“Don’t you think a lot of weird people would call?”
“No,” Koyama says quickly. “Probably, you’d just get housewives. What other kind of person is going to answer an ad for that sort of stuff?”
Shige sips his tea and wonders if it would just be housewives.
Wednesday, June 3rd -
“I’m sorry, Nishikido-kun,” the manager says, with an absolute lack of sincerity. “But we’re over-staffed and you have the least experience of the guys here. I’m going to have to let you go.”
Inside, Ryo’s seething, pissed beyond belief. Yeah, okay, so he has the least experience - he also has the largest sales in the store. But he just plasters on a smiles and bows to the other man. “I understand. Thank you for the opportunity to work here.”
He stays calm the whole way back home, riding the train and walking the half mile back to his apartment and climbing the stairs to the fifth floor because the elevator is still broken. But once he’s inside, he swears, loudly, and hits the closest thing in range, which happens to be one of his roommates.
“What the hell!?” Jin yells, rubbing his head, and YamaPi just laughs next to him
“I got fired today,” Ryo whines sinking down onto the floor between them. “What am I going to do?”
“Oh, poor Ryo-chan,” Pi says, patting Ryo on the shoulder.
“That’s no reason to hit me,” Jin grumbles.
“… I guess I have to go job hunting tomorrow…”
“Why don’t you take a few days, Ryo-chan? Relax a little, figure out what kind of job you want to do?”
“But I’ll just get bored sitting around here,” Ryo says.
It’s quiet between them all for a minute, while Ryo thinks and YamaPi fiddles with his hands and Jin tries to come up with something funny to break the heavy silence. He does, eventually, but it’s less words and more his stomach rumbling. Pi laughs and Ryo sighs, standing up and going to the kitchen, starting on dinner, since it’s his turn.
Thursday, June 4th -
The next day, Ryo goes out to the convenience store at the corner and buys the biggest of the employment magazines. There’s a listing for every kind of work - modeling, sales, business internships, clerical, translation - but nothing jumps out at him until he reaches the back section titled simply, “miscellaneous”. It’s not a flashy ad by any mark and takes barely four lines in the magazine.
Lawyer in need of part-time maid/cook.
To start immediately; hours and pay negotiable.
Professional references welcomed, but not necessary.
Inquire for details.
He stares at it for a long time and before he even realizes it, is reaching for his phone. He’s surprised at the voice that greets him - deep, but talking in a youthful manner - and Ryo’s not sure what to make of him.
“Um, I’m calling about the ad you placed…,” Ryo says, feeling shy all of a sudden even though he can’t even see the guy.
“Oh, yes. What I’d need is basically what the ad said. Some one to do the cooking and cleaning around my place. You’d be making my dinners - not every night since that would be a tad unreasonable - and bento lunches. I can deal with breakfast on my own. It would be great if you could make it 5 days of the week…”
“… I could probably manage six.”
“Oh, wow,” the other says. “That would be- Well. Well for now, let’s not worry about that. Before I hire you, I’d like to try some of your cooking.”
“Yes, of course,” Ryo says, already thinking about which dish is his best, and if it will keep well on the trip from his apartment to where ever this guy is.
It’s set up for tomorrow, Ryo’s given directions, and is told to ask for Katou Shigeaki when he reaches the front desk on the 17th floor.
Friday, June 5th (afternoon) -
The next day, Ryo sits on the subway into town, clutching a bento in his hand. It’s a little awkward to be taking a home-made lunch to some one he’s never met. It’s a long ride all the way into downtown Tokyo, but he sits through it, knowing that this is a rare trek, since the lawyer mentioned his home station when they’d talked on the phone and it’s only a few minutes ride from Ryo’s.
When he steps out of the station in Otemachi, Ryo feels like a country-boy in the city, grey and glass buildings rising up all around him. He moves with the crowd as he crosses and street and then breaks away from them, following the directions and ticking off landmarks as he comes across them. It’s not long before he sees the final landmark - the sign for a café called “Good Morning, Good Evening” and he enters into the building. On the elevator ride up, he gets a few odd looks for his jeans and leather jacket and on the 17th floor, a secretary at the front desk gives him directions (down the hall, second left, third door on the right) to Katou’s office. He knocks on that door and enters, finding a young man sitting at a desk, several short piles of documents; he looks.
“You must be Nishikido-san. I’m Katou.”
Ryo almost chokes on his breathe, realizes from the sound of his voice alone, that this is the guy whom he talked with.
“Um, yes. I’m Nishikido.”
“Please, have a seat.” And the other gestures to a chair in front of his desk.
“You must be a good lawyer to have an office this nice,” Ryo says, smiling as he sits.
The lawyer snorts. “More like the higher-ups feel guilty for giving me so much work, so I’m given a nice office. Not that it really matters…”
It’s obvious that they’re both feeling awkward considering the circumstances, and with little finesse, Ryo holds out the wrapped bento box in his hands.
“Garlic Sautéed Calamari Pasta. It’s my specialty.”
Katou blinks in a shocked manner. “Garlic Sautéed…”
Ryo pales, “Is it… no good?”
“Oh, no, that’s not it at all!” Katou says, and bumps a stack of papers with his hand. “I was just… expecting something plain. Do you go to such trouble for all your potential employers?”
Ryo chuckles and feels the air clear a bit. While Katou unwraps the bento and pops it open, Ryo tries to looks nonchalant and like he’s not watching, but he totally is. This lawyer could obviously pay him well for an easy job, and he wouldn’t have to deal with pesky co-workers making him look bad. Katou takes the first bite, swallows and stares down at the bento.
“Is your cooking always like this?”
“Um, well. I’m good at it, if that’s what you mean. Both Japanese and Western food.”
Katou takes another bite and chews like he’s thinking. He sets down the chopsticks and takes a sip of water from a bottle.
“When can you start?”
Ryo smiles and he can feel crows feet around his eyes, but he doesn’t especially care. “Today.”
“Alright then,” Katou grabs a pad of paper and draws out little map, handing it to Ryo, “That’s how to get to my place. And here.” He reaches into his desk, pulling out what is obviously his wallet. “Is a key, and 10,000 yen to buy food. There’s nothing in there right now. Literally. Nothing. Get what you need to cook. I expect a receipt and change if any.”
Ryo nods, already thinking up a list of essentials.
“How is 35,000 yen a week to start with?”
“35-“ Ryo’s jaw drops, thinking about how that’s more than he made at the clothing store in a week and yet he’d be working fewer hours for Katou. “Really?”
“Yes. Remember that I’m also paying you to clean up and do laundry and such.”
“O-of course… What time do you normally eat dinner?”
“I don’t have a normal time currently…. Let’s plan on 7:30.”
They exchange a few pleasantries, and then Ryo leaves, so Katou can finish his lunch and he can go get an afternoon beer to celebrate.
Friday, June 5th (evening) -
When he walks in through the automatic doors of the lobby of Katou’s building, Ryo almost drops the grocery bags in shock. There’s a guy at the front desk in a crisp suit and he eyes Ryo cautiously. There’s a few couches set-up and a phone in the corner. The elevator is quick and quiet, taking Ryo up to the 8th floor where Katou’s apartment is. When he steps inside that, Ryo actually does drop the shopping bags (and bruises a few bananas in the process). The hardwood of the floor is shiny and polished to perfection, in the living room there are floor-to-ceiling windows, with a sliding glass door that leads out to a veranda. The bathroom is spacious with a tub large enough for a grown man to sit comfortably. In the hallway closet, there’s a washer and dryer, and when Ryo peeks into the bedroom, he groans in envy at the queen-size bed and large closet. But the best part, in Ryo’s mind, is the kitchen. It’s not crammed in the corner like his, and the appliances aren’t on the verge of death. It’s roomy, with space to stand; there are four burners and a full-size oven. The fridge is empty, like Katou said it would be, but it’s big and Ryo immediately thinks about all the food he could fit in there.
After 15 minutes of silently gushing over another man’s home, Ryo remembers the food in the genkan and goes to retrieve it, placing things in the fridge and cabinets. He manages to find a rice cooker under the sink and sets it up, putting in a little more rice than he could eat himself, since Katou had seemed taller, at the very least. And then, he starts dinner.
At 7:45, only a little late, Katou walks in. Ryo greets him, and Katou acts surprised, like he’d forgotten that he’d hired a cook. He wastes no time in sitting and eating, turning back only once, after the first bite of Ginger Pork, to tell Ryo it’s delicious, just like the pasta was. Ryo tries not to blush and works on finishing the bento for the next day, and then transferring the clothes from the washer into the dryer.
At 8:30pm, when there’s still nearly 15 minutes on the dryer’s cycle, Katou tells him to go home.
“I can manage folding some clothes. Putting them into the washer is the hard part that I never seem to get to,” he says.
“A-alright.”
“And let me know when the fridge starts looking empty. I’ll give you more food money.”
“Okay… I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
Katou waves to him, and Ryo leaves in a stupor.
Friday, June 5th (later evening) -
By the time Ryo gets home though, that stupor is gone, and instead, he feels the desperate need to tell some one about the gold mine he has stumbled upon.
“You won’t believe it!” Are the first words out of his mouth once the front door is closed.
“Ad-man is a perv? I totally called it,” Jin says from the living room.
“No!” Ryo shrieks. “He’s a complete dupe! I’m getting paid 35,000 yen!”
Yamapi opens the bathroom door, meandering out in a towel, wrapped around his waist. “A week?”
“Yeah!”
“To cook and clean?” Jin asks, and Ryo nods. “Sucker. Stupid rich kid.”
Ryo grins, grabbing a handful of chips from the bag at Jin’s side. “His place is so nice. The view is awesome, and the bathroom is big and his kitchen… he’s got four burners.”
YamaPi laughs. “It sounds like a place you’d never want to leave, Ryo-chan.”
“Why don’t you see if he’ll let you be a live-in,” Jin adds, but he’s laughing, and it’s most likely a joke rather than anything serious.
Ryo frowns. “There’s only one bedroom…”
Jin snorts. “Then seduce him.”
Ryo coughs up a chip, and Yamapi says, “But it’s mean to play with some one’s emotions like that.”
“It doesn’t matter anyways,” Ryo finally says. “He probably doesn’t go that way.”
Jin just shrugs, and goes back to eating and watching TV.
Monday, June 15th (evening) -
For the most part, Ryo forgets about Jin’s comment, since, in his opinion, a lot of stupid things come out of Jin’s mouth, and it would take far too much energy to remember all of them. So six days a week (he has Saturday’s off), Ryo makes a short trek to Shige’s place to make up his dinner and lunch for the next day. It’s not exactly a friendship that they have, but it’s something better than employee/employer. There’s a certain amount of banter between them, some of Ryo’s comments sharper than he means them to be, but Shige seems, as the least, to take it in stride.
Cleaning up doesn’t take very much time, and usually just does it while food boils or bakes, or while he’s waiting for Shige to come back. Granted, the first day, took a while, sorting his clothes into whites and colors, and then straightening up the genken and such, but after that first time, it’s easy, as long as he does a little bit everyday.
So, in his boredom, he takes on other tasks, such as moving the couch so he can vacuum under it or sweeping the veranda. On one day, while a small filet of salmon sits in the oven baking, Ryo meanders over to the TV, and starts putting away DVD cases properly on their shelf. He finds a DVD, sitting outside of it’s box, but when Ryo goes to put it away, he finds something else there, and so on, until every DVD case is spread out on the floor and he’s having to go through every single one to make sure they match up. Part way through, the oven beeps. He has to go take the fish out and set the table, but he goes straight back to work on the DVDs.
He’s almost finished - down to just four boxes - when he picks up a case for a romantic comedy and he laughs as he opens it, finding it absurd that a guy has such a movie. When the sees the name of the DVD sprawled across it, he stops laughs, staring at it, like it’s a trick of the light. But the words “Great Ass Time” don’t move or change and Ryo knows what this is, but he still finds himself not believing it. He looks at this watch - 7:17pm, he’s got time - and Ryo finds himself slipping it into the DVD player. The images that pop-up just with the main menu erase all other doubts, and in an almost guilty fashion, Ryo puts the porn DVD back into the romantic comedy case and places it on the shelf.
The last three boxes are like that one two. Some kind of movie that a young guy, or a guy at all, wouldn’t be caught dead watching, but might end up getting as a gift; but instead of that movie, it’s a porn, with some variety of “ass” or “cock” in the title.
By the time Shige arrives back at the apartment, all the DVDs are away, and Ryo doesn’t mention even having been near them. He tells Shige that his lunch is in the fridge, his grey suit is at the dry-cleaners, and then leaves.
Monday, June 15th (late evening) -
Ryo tells no one about the DVDs, and some how, feels embarrassed that he found them, which is odd in itself, because it’s not like Ryo has ever shied away from porn, whatever type it might be. And the reason he had shot down Jin’s idea wasn’t because he found the idea of sleeping with another man repulsive - he honestly didn’t think Katou went that way.
But as he sits with his knees pulled against his chest in the bath, then sorts his clothes into small piles to take to the laundromat during the day and finally, listens to Jin snore all night, Ryo thinks that maybe, finding a way to stay to Katou’s, even if it is through seduction, wouldn’t be so bad.
Tuesday June 16th -
The next day, while he’s cleaning up in the kitchen, and Shige sits at the table and watches TV as he eats, Ryo lets his eyes wander. He finds that Katou’s not entirely unattractive. His attitude is poor, and he could be a little pretentious, and his hair-style changed daily, due to his laziness and absolute inability to style it. But when it comes to his face and his build, Ryo can see the appeal that some might have, and to stay in as nice a place as this, Ryo thinks that fucking him would be a small price to pay.
Katou turns backs, a spoonful of curry held up. “What did you put in this? It’s so good…”
It’s at that moment, that Ryo decides to go for it, to see if he could make this work for him; “My secret herbs and spices.” And follows it up with a wink.
Katou stares for a long moment before nodding slowly and turning back to the TV.
Ryo frowns, wondering if maybe he’d lost his edge.
Wednesday, June 17th (afternoon & evening) -
As he’s getting dressed the following morning, Ryo realizes his mistake - he was trying too hard to act coy. I’m trying to seduce him, Ryo thinks, Not play hard-to-get. So before he leaves to go to Katou’s apartment, Ryo slips into the tightest pair of jeans he has and makes sure to wear a shirt that shows off his arms.
This, however, seems to fail to draw Katou’s attention as well. Ryo makes sure to “accidentally” drop things, or pick up heavy pots and pans when Katou’s looking in his direction, but the lawyer only lazily glances, if at all, and then returns to his dinner and the reading of a photography magazine.
Wednesday, June 17th (late evening) -
After these two failed attempts, Ryo needs to complain, whine to some one, and since it was Jin’s idea, Ryo decides to give him that privilege. It’s YamaPi’s own bad luck that places him at Jin’s side when this goes down.
“It’s not working!” Ryo snaps, standing in the door to the living room, still in his tight pants and sleeveless shirt.
“What isn’t?” Pi asks.
“Seducing Katou, obviously! If I was fucking him, I wouldn’t be fucking here, using our small as shit bath!”
There’s silence while Jin and YamaPi measure up Ryo’s anger, figuring out how smart-assed they can be while replying.
“Well,” Jin says, corners of his mouth tugging into a smile. “Maybe he’s asexual.”
Ryo throws a TV Guide at him.
Friday, June 19th -
His next plan goes horribly awry, and looking back, Ryo isn’t even sure what he was trying to do. All he knows is that as Katou walks in the door, a bottle goes flying, and Ryo ends up with sesame sauce all over his shirt, dripping onto his pants and smeared into his hair. Katou stands in the hallway, obviously trying not to laugh, and tells Ryo to take a shower while his stuff gets washed. With his face red, Ryo retreats into the bathroom, poking his head out a second later to tell Katou that the food is done, so he can eat it.
Now that he has the chance, Ryo decides to take advantage of Katou’s bathroom. He realizes that the showerhead has a ‘massage’ feature and spends five minutes standing under the spray, before he remembers that he’s supposed to be washing sesame sauce out of his hair. He eyes the bathtub longingly, wondering if Katou would mind if he took a soak, and decides to, betting on the generally reasonable attitude of the lawyer. He doesn’t take too long, just a few minutes to appreciate it and wonder if this seduction plan could actually work.
When Ryo comes out of the bath, he’s wearing an old navy bathrobe of Katou’s, tied loosely around his waist, more open around his chest than closed. The plates and silverware from dinner are sitting in the sink and Katou’s on the couch, frowning at several papers on the coffee table. At the sound of the bathroom door closely, Katou turns, regarding Ryo; he tries to act cool about the glance, but Katou can’t hide the blatant way to watches a drop of water run from Ryo’s hair, down his collar done and chest, and disappear into the robe. He turns back to his work, and Ryo just smirks.
Ryo takes a seat on the couch, leaning his head away from Katou a bit, to make it look like he’s trying to nap, but keeps his body language open; hands folded on his lap and shoulders relaxed. Katou fidgets on the couch, but doesn’t move otherwise. Ryo crosses his legs, feeling the robe fall open across a thigh, and he cracks an eye open just in time to see Katou’s head jerk back to the table and a blush creep up his neck.
After a few minutes of tense air between them and the sounds of paper moving, Ryo sits up, opening his eyes and scoots a little closer towards Katou.
“Do you have a big job coming up?”
He can hear Katou swallow, before replying, “Yeah, it’s a messy divorce case. The final hearing is coming up soon.”
Ryo scoots even closer, practically breathing into Katou’s ear. “How sad.”
Katou whips his head around, like he hadn’t realized Ryo was so close, and just blinks widely, mouth a tiny bit agape. Ryo smiles, trying to make it look genuine and kind, and lets his eyes fall, for just a fraction of a second, to Katou’s lips. Ryo leans towards him, lowering his eyelids, until they’re almost closed, the intention clear to even the blindest of people. Katou swallows again, and it’s more than Ryo’s imagination that sees him leaning in too-
The moment is interrupted by the beeping of the dryer, and the atmosphere is ruined. Katou hastily pulls back, looking uncomfortable and jumps up to grab Ryo’s things out of the dryer.
Sunday, June 21st -
As pathetic is it is to say, Ryo spent a great deal of time on his Saturday off thinking about ways to advance his plans. Jin, of course, offered awful suggestions like ‘cook in nothing but an apron’ and ‘shape all his food to look like penises’. But in the end, Ryo finds that there are certain tried and true methods, and for the time being, it’s probably best to stick with those.
Which is why, as Katou eats at the table and Ryo stands in the kitchen, he goes through the great trouble of stealthily cutting out messages in nori and placing them on the rice for the next day’s bento.
Monday, June 22nd (afternoon) -
At the firm, Shige’s senior doesn’t seem especially happy, and in fact, no one in the conference room is. The divorcing couple hates each other passionately and none of the opposing lawyers are fond of their counterparts. There’s a job to be done though before the hearing, and Shige, for his part (as his firm’s note-taker), does as much as possible to get it over with as quickly as possible.
Just as words start becoming violent between the couple, the lawyers all agree that a break for lunch would be prudent, and every one speedily retreats from the conference room. It’s sunny out, and desiring to get as far from the divorcing couple as possible, Shige heads down to the café where Koyama works. He sets up near one of the big windows and Koyama waves from the espresso machine, but looking at the line forming, Shige’s fairly certain that it won’t be possible to exchange more than a few words with him.
He pops opens the lid of his bento and looks down in horror as the message, “Do your best!” written in nori. He’s practically frozen in place, holding the cover in mid-air, wondering why in the hell Nishikido would do something like this.
“Ah, how nice,” someone says, and when Shige looks up, it’s one of the paralegals from his office. “I wish my girlfriend would make me bento for lunch… It’s always somehow uplifting, isn’t it?”
“Uhhh,” is the most eloquent thing Shige can manage to say.
The paralegals bows and walks off, and it’s only then that what he’d said catches up with Shige’s brain.
“Girlfriend?!”
Monday, June 22nd (evening) -
Ryo doesn’t even hear Katou enter the apartment; He’s too busy in the kitchen, cooking and meandering away with this thoughts. Katou appears though, stopping his foot and looking unhappy.
“Don’t write messages on my rice!”
Ryo just turns a bit, eyeing Katou as he stirs something around in a skillet. “What?”
“You!... You wrote a message in nori! Don’t do it again!”
“Why not? Who doesn’t like nori messages?”
Katou frowns. “It’s embarrassing. Everyone thought my girlfriend had made it and.”
“And?” Ryo grins, knowing he looks far too smug.
“And don’t do it!” Katou barks, flopping down on the couch.
The rest of the night is severely lacking in their usual friendliness. Katou eats on the couch, watching the evening news. Ryo takes his time washing up pans and dishes, stopping for minutes at a time to watch as well. But each time he goes back to washing, he can’t help but wonder if maybe, he stepped over the line, that he went too far, that, for the time being, nori messages are crossing a certain line. Those thoughts never last long though, because soon after, he thinks about the cramped bath and having to listen to Jin snore all night.
He re-commits himself to getting himself into this nice apartment, one way or another. Putting away the dishes and pulling out the bento box from the dishwasher, Ryo puts together the lunch, feeling particularly devious as he does, reaching for the kitchen scissors and a sheet of nori.
And for the second time that night, Katou sneaks up on Ryo, pulling the nori out of his hand. “Are you stupid?”
Ryo drops the scissors onto the counter and reaches for the nori. “Aw, c’mon. A normal lunch is no fun!”
Katou frowns, and pushes Ryo away with one hand when he tries to reach around for the nori. So Ryo tries his other hand, which Katou just dodges too. Ryo clicks his tongue, swears quietly and turns around; which is when Katou realizes there’s a whole pack of them on the counter, making his single sheet meaningless. Katou and Ryo practically dive for it at the same moment, shoulders and chests crashing into each other, and Katou gets a hand on it, and throws it into the living room instinctively. Using his body, he tries to block Ryo in the kitchen, which doesn’t work well either, since Ryo just tries to sneak under his arms. So Katou employs what little defense training he has (given to him by a police officer acquaintance), grabs both of Ryo’s wrists and knocks him face-first into the fridge.
With his cheek pressed against a magnet, Ryo leans back a little, and Katou allows it, obviously not interested in using his full weight to keep Ryo in place. Yet still, their bodies are nearly flush from shoulders to hips and Ryo sees what could only be a golden opportunity for seducing this lawyer.
He rolls his hips back, the denim of his jeans scrapping along the fabric of Katou’s slacks. It’s not the greatest of angles for such a thing, but the intent is clear, and Katou would have be deaf, dumb and blind to not understand the meaning Ryo’s placing behind it.
The only reaction from him though is a tightening of hands around Ryo’s wrist. He doesn’t run away or yell though, and Ryo takes that as a good thing, and grinds his hips back harder.
Katou makes a low noise in his throat, and asks, voice deeper than normal, “What are you doing?”
Ryo doesn’t answer, just cocks his head back, eyes half-lidded and bites his bottom lip in a coy fashion
Katou’s still seemingly weighing his options, trying to figure out Ryo’s deeper intent. But it must be too much work doing so, because once he lets go of Ryo’s wrist and steps away, all he says is, “No. Nori. Messages.” And then walks, very calmly, to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.
part 2: i fought the law and the law won
PAIRING: Shige/Ryo
RATING: G - heavy R
WORD COUNT: 12,385 (aka, too long)
SUMMARY: Ryo needs a job; Shige needs a maid (and a cook wouldn’t hurt either). If only things had remained that simple.
NOTES: I can’t seem to write normal RyoShige… Also, I guess this is more or less answering this prompt at the Summer Smut Meme, which I didn’t realize even existed until several weeks after it had died. Go me.
Tuesday, May 19th -
It’s really no surprise that Shige’s apartment is as messy as it is. He’s a lawyer, the youngest in his firm, and there’s a lot expected of him. The Vice President sees potential in Shige, and gives him heavy loads of work, some easy quick cases and others that will take months, maybe years until their end. White-collar crime, child-custody and alimony, estate and inheritance, immigration - he sees it all, and he’ll probably see more soon, since there are rumors among the paralegals and secretaries that the Prefectural government has asked the firm to take on more Pro Bono work.
So, dirty clothes pile up in a corner of Shige’s bedroom, an ever growing mountain, because he has no time to do laundry. The fridge is empty, save for a few cans of beer and a sports drink (he doesn’t dare keep perishable foods, since he knows he’ll never get around to eating them, and maybe not even get around to throwing them out). His garbage is full of empty instant noodle bowls, and everyday he thinks he should take it out, but he never has the energy, and it just keeps piling up. Unimportant mail sits on a shelf near the door, since he only has time to deal with bills; magazines and other things are pushed away as Shige says, “I’ll deal with it on the weekend,” but on the weekend, he’s either in the office doing overtime, or doing the same things in his apartment, or maybe even at the café on the bottom floor of his office building where the chatty barista tries not to bother him and continually refills his cup.
It’s late - 11:30pm or so - and Shige’s just getting back to his apartment building, standing in the lobby waiting for the elevator when the building manager appears out of no where.
“Katou-san,” he says, formal and stiff. “Do you have a moment?”
Shige wants to say ‘no’. He just pulled a 12 hour work day, hasn’t eaten since lunch, wants a bath, a snack and then to sleep, but even so, he finds himself smiling and saying ‘yes.’
“You must be tired, so I’ll make this short. These are luxury apartments and we ask that the tenants keep their individual apartments in nice shape and clean. It has come to our attention that your occupation has made it difficult for you to keep this up.”
The man pauses here, like he expects Shige to inject with something, but he doesn’t, and after an awkward moment, he continues.
“I appreciate that you’re a busy man - I really do Katou-san - but if you cannot properly see to this situation, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to find new housing.”
He bows stiffly, walks away and the elevator beeps, its door opening.
Wednesday, May 20th -
Every morning, before he heads up to his office, Shige stops at the café on the first floor for breakfast. He tries to be good and get an apple or one of the yogurt and granola cups, but some days, the raspberry Danish or powdered donut calls to him, and he cannot deny it.
He stops as usual, but this time asks for another cup of coffee instead of any sort of food.
“Eh? Is everything okay, Shige?” The barista, Koyama, asks while he makes up the drink. He’s the only person in the building who calls Shige by a nickname; for the rest of the café staff and office workers, he’s Katou, the genius lawyer.
“You know when some one absolutely rips into you, but they do it really politely and you can’t do much about it?”
“Yeah,” he says, handing over the drink, but Shige keeps leaning against the little counter. “My one co-worker got mad at me yesterday for putting a kitty sticker on my nametag.”
Shige blinks, thinking their situations are a little different, but he continues anyways. “My landlord tells me I have to clean up my place or I’ll be evicted.”
“Eh?!” Koyama shouts, and then starts bowing in apology to the other customers. “Then just clean up!”
Shige makes a face, and then Koyama laughs. “Oh, right, lawyer and all that….”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Shige whispers and takes a drink. “I really don’t have the time to deal with this…”
“Ah, I know!” Koyama smiles. “Why don’t you hire a maid? There are agencies that you can call and then they send out some one to clean your place while you’re gone.”
Shige clicks his tongue. “Dammit, why didn’t I think of that?...”
Koyama puts another drink up on the counter, and a man reaches around Shige to grab it. “Cause you think too much, ne?”
Friday, May 22nd -
Two days later, Shige has everything with the maid service set-up and he’s expecting that night to arrive home and find the laundry done, garbage taken out and all those other little things he hasn’t been worrying himself over for the past few weeks. What he doesn’t expected is to find a young guy, college-aged sitting on his couch, watching a soccer game. Shige stands in the doorway for a moment, before he drops his briefcase in shock.
The kid turns around, and immediately breaks into a smile. “You have a really nice TV! And Nagoya’s winning!”
Shige sputters something that sounds like, “Who the hell are you?”
The kid is still smiling. “Tegoshi, from the cleaning agency.”
“Why are you watching my TV?” Shige growls.
“By the time I finished, there wasn’t time for me to get home before the game started so I figured…
Shige’s face twitches, and 30 seconds later, Tegoshi’s out in the hallway, knocking on the door, asking about the score and if he can stay until halftime. Shige realizes a horrified moment later that Tegoshi hadn’t even really cleaned at all. The dirty clothes had all been shoved into his closet and a lid put on top of the garbage in order to hide much was actually in there. And to top it all off, when Shige’s stomach starts rumbling and he opens the cabinet, there aren’t any instant noodles left.
Saturday, May 23rd -
The next day, Shige has a colorful conversation with a representative from the cleaning agency. A very colorful conversation. The man apologizes profusely for Tegoshi’s behavior and promises to send over one of their very best that day to straighten everything up.
Shige comes home to a surprise. The garbage is taken out, the laundry done, folded in drawers or hanging in his closet, four bills that arrived in the mail are placed on the dining table, along with a few other semi-important things, while the other letters are piled neatly on the shelf near the door. Shige smiles, and thinks that this new cleaner is going to work out well.
And it does, for about two weeks.
While Shige gets dressed in the mornings, he pulls things in and out of his closet and drawers, taking little care to put them back in neatly if he decides he doesn’t want to wear them, he lets shoes pile up in the genkan and doesn’t properly put things in the dirty clothes hamper. The second time the cleaner comes, he leaves a message for Shige.
I would appreciate it if you would keep things properly organized.
Your suits were sorted by color, material and maker, as were your shoes.
Also, when you put things back into drawers, fold them.
And you have a hamper. Use it.
Shige frowns, thinking that the cleaner sounds a bit too much like his mother. But the fellow is good what he does and Shige doesn’t want to have to go through the trouble of finding some one new. But by the end of the second week, five more visits from this same Obsessive Compulsive cleaner and five more passive aggressive notes, Shige calls the agency again and asks them to send back his key.
Monday, June 1st -
On Monday evening, Shige sits in the café, drinking tea, complaining at Koyama.
“This isn’t working out! These agency people… they’re just weird. The one didn’t clean at all, and the other… the other was practically dictatorial about it.”
“And there’s no way your work is going to calm down soon?” Koyama asks.
Shige shakes his head and stares out the window, “Maybe I should just find a different place where the apartment managers don’t breathe down your neck…”
Koyama hmms, and then walks over to the counter, taking and filling an older woman’s order before coming back to rejoin Shige, “Didn’t you say you were also thinking of hiring a cook?”
“It’d be a pain but…”
“Sick of instant noodles?”
“I’d rather die than eat out of another styrofoam bowl.”
“You should place an ad yourself,” Koyama finally says. “In one of those employment magazines. For a maid-cook.”
“Don’t you think a lot of weird people would call?”
“No,” Koyama says quickly. “Probably, you’d just get housewives. What other kind of person is going to answer an ad for that sort of stuff?”
Shige sips his tea and wonders if it would just be housewives.
Wednesday, June 3rd -
“I’m sorry, Nishikido-kun,” the manager says, with an absolute lack of sincerity. “But we’re over-staffed and you have the least experience of the guys here. I’m going to have to let you go.”
Inside, Ryo’s seething, pissed beyond belief. Yeah, okay, so he has the least experience - he also has the largest sales in the store. But he just plasters on a smiles and bows to the other man. “I understand. Thank you for the opportunity to work here.”
He stays calm the whole way back home, riding the train and walking the half mile back to his apartment and climbing the stairs to the fifth floor because the elevator is still broken. But once he’s inside, he swears, loudly, and hits the closest thing in range, which happens to be one of his roommates.
“What the hell!?” Jin yells, rubbing his head, and YamaPi just laughs next to him
“I got fired today,” Ryo whines sinking down onto the floor between them. “What am I going to do?”
“Oh, poor Ryo-chan,” Pi says, patting Ryo on the shoulder.
“That’s no reason to hit me,” Jin grumbles.
“… I guess I have to go job hunting tomorrow…”
“Why don’t you take a few days, Ryo-chan? Relax a little, figure out what kind of job you want to do?”
“But I’ll just get bored sitting around here,” Ryo says.
It’s quiet between them all for a minute, while Ryo thinks and YamaPi fiddles with his hands and Jin tries to come up with something funny to break the heavy silence. He does, eventually, but it’s less words and more his stomach rumbling. Pi laughs and Ryo sighs, standing up and going to the kitchen, starting on dinner, since it’s his turn.
Thursday, June 4th -
The next day, Ryo goes out to the convenience store at the corner and buys the biggest of the employment magazines. There’s a listing for every kind of work - modeling, sales, business internships, clerical, translation - but nothing jumps out at him until he reaches the back section titled simply, “miscellaneous”. It’s not a flashy ad by any mark and takes barely four lines in the magazine.
Lawyer in need of part-time maid/cook.
To start immediately; hours and pay negotiable.
Professional references welcomed, but not necessary.
Inquire for details.
He stares at it for a long time and before he even realizes it, is reaching for his phone. He’s surprised at the voice that greets him - deep, but talking in a youthful manner - and Ryo’s not sure what to make of him.
“Um, I’m calling about the ad you placed…,” Ryo says, feeling shy all of a sudden even though he can’t even see the guy.
“Oh, yes. What I’d need is basically what the ad said. Some one to do the cooking and cleaning around my place. You’d be making my dinners - not every night since that would be a tad unreasonable - and bento lunches. I can deal with breakfast on my own. It would be great if you could make it 5 days of the week…”
“… I could probably manage six.”
“Oh, wow,” the other says. “That would be- Well. Well for now, let’s not worry about that. Before I hire you, I’d like to try some of your cooking.”
“Yes, of course,” Ryo says, already thinking about which dish is his best, and if it will keep well on the trip from his apartment to where ever this guy is.
It’s set up for tomorrow, Ryo’s given directions, and is told to ask for Katou Shigeaki when he reaches the front desk on the 17th floor.
Friday, June 5th (afternoon) -
The next day, Ryo sits on the subway into town, clutching a bento in his hand. It’s a little awkward to be taking a home-made lunch to some one he’s never met. It’s a long ride all the way into downtown Tokyo, but he sits through it, knowing that this is a rare trek, since the lawyer mentioned his home station when they’d talked on the phone and it’s only a few minutes ride from Ryo’s.
When he steps out of the station in Otemachi, Ryo feels like a country-boy in the city, grey and glass buildings rising up all around him. He moves with the crowd as he crosses and street and then breaks away from them, following the directions and ticking off landmarks as he comes across them. It’s not long before he sees the final landmark - the sign for a café called “Good Morning, Good Evening” and he enters into the building. On the elevator ride up, he gets a few odd looks for his jeans and leather jacket and on the 17th floor, a secretary at the front desk gives him directions (down the hall, second left, third door on the right) to Katou’s office. He knocks on that door and enters, finding a young man sitting at a desk, several short piles of documents; he looks.
“You must be Nishikido-san. I’m Katou.”
Ryo almost chokes on his breathe, realizes from the sound of his voice alone, that this is the guy whom he talked with.
“Um, yes. I’m Nishikido.”
“Please, have a seat.” And the other gestures to a chair in front of his desk.
“You must be a good lawyer to have an office this nice,” Ryo says, smiling as he sits.
The lawyer snorts. “More like the higher-ups feel guilty for giving me so much work, so I’m given a nice office. Not that it really matters…”
It’s obvious that they’re both feeling awkward considering the circumstances, and with little finesse, Ryo holds out the wrapped bento box in his hands.
“Garlic Sautéed Calamari Pasta. It’s my specialty.”
Katou blinks in a shocked manner. “Garlic Sautéed…”
Ryo pales, “Is it… no good?”
“Oh, no, that’s not it at all!” Katou says, and bumps a stack of papers with his hand. “I was just… expecting something plain. Do you go to such trouble for all your potential employers?”
Ryo chuckles and feels the air clear a bit. While Katou unwraps the bento and pops it open, Ryo tries to looks nonchalant and like he’s not watching, but he totally is. This lawyer could obviously pay him well for an easy job, and he wouldn’t have to deal with pesky co-workers making him look bad. Katou takes the first bite, swallows and stares down at the bento.
“Is your cooking always like this?”
“Um, well. I’m good at it, if that’s what you mean. Both Japanese and Western food.”
Katou takes another bite and chews like he’s thinking. He sets down the chopsticks and takes a sip of water from a bottle.
“When can you start?”
Ryo smiles and he can feel crows feet around his eyes, but he doesn’t especially care. “Today.”
“Alright then,” Katou grabs a pad of paper and draws out little map, handing it to Ryo, “That’s how to get to my place. And here.” He reaches into his desk, pulling out what is obviously his wallet. “Is a key, and 10,000 yen to buy food. There’s nothing in there right now. Literally. Nothing. Get what you need to cook. I expect a receipt and change if any.”
Ryo nods, already thinking up a list of essentials.
“How is 35,000 yen a week to start with?”
“35-“ Ryo’s jaw drops, thinking about how that’s more than he made at the clothing store in a week and yet he’d be working fewer hours for Katou. “Really?”
“Yes. Remember that I’m also paying you to clean up and do laundry and such.”
“O-of course… What time do you normally eat dinner?”
“I don’t have a normal time currently…. Let’s plan on 7:30.”
They exchange a few pleasantries, and then Ryo leaves, so Katou can finish his lunch and he can go get an afternoon beer to celebrate.
Friday, June 5th (evening) -
When he walks in through the automatic doors of the lobby of Katou’s building, Ryo almost drops the grocery bags in shock. There’s a guy at the front desk in a crisp suit and he eyes Ryo cautiously. There’s a few couches set-up and a phone in the corner. The elevator is quick and quiet, taking Ryo up to the 8th floor where Katou’s apartment is. When he steps inside that, Ryo actually does drop the shopping bags (and bruises a few bananas in the process). The hardwood of the floor is shiny and polished to perfection, in the living room there are floor-to-ceiling windows, with a sliding glass door that leads out to a veranda. The bathroom is spacious with a tub large enough for a grown man to sit comfortably. In the hallway closet, there’s a washer and dryer, and when Ryo peeks into the bedroom, he groans in envy at the queen-size bed and large closet. But the best part, in Ryo’s mind, is the kitchen. It’s not crammed in the corner like his, and the appliances aren’t on the verge of death. It’s roomy, with space to stand; there are four burners and a full-size oven. The fridge is empty, like Katou said it would be, but it’s big and Ryo immediately thinks about all the food he could fit in there.
After 15 minutes of silently gushing over another man’s home, Ryo remembers the food in the genkan and goes to retrieve it, placing things in the fridge and cabinets. He manages to find a rice cooker under the sink and sets it up, putting in a little more rice than he could eat himself, since Katou had seemed taller, at the very least. And then, he starts dinner.
At 7:45, only a little late, Katou walks in. Ryo greets him, and Katou acts surprised, like he’d forgotten that he’d hired a cook. He wastes no time in sitting and eating, turning back only once, after the first bite of Ginger Pork, to tell Ryo it’s delicious, just like the pasta was. Ryo tries not to blush and works on finishing the bento for the next day, and then transferring the clothes from the washer into the dryer.
At 8:30pm, when there’s still nearly 15 minutes on the dryer’s cycle, Katou tells him to go home.
“I can manage folding some clothes. Putting them into the washer is the hard part that I never seem to get to,” he says.
“A-alright.”
“And let me know when the fridge starts looking empty. I’ll give you more food money.”
“Okay… I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
Katou waves to him, and Ryo leaves in a stupor.
Friday, June 5th (later evening) -
By the time Ryo gets home though, that stupor is gone, and instead, he feels the desperate need to tell some one about the gold mine he has stumbled upon.
“You won’t believe it!” Are the first words out of his mouth once the front door is closed.
“Ad-man is a perv? I totally called it,” Jin says from the living room.
“No!” Ryo shrieks. “He’s a complete dupe! I’m getting paid 35,000 yen!”
Yamapi opens the bathroom door, meandering out in a towel, wrapped around his waist. “A week?”
“Yeah!”
“To cook and clean?” Jin asks, and Ryo nods. “Sucker. Stupid rich kid.”
Ryo grins, grabbing a handful of chips from the bag at Jin’s side. “His place is so nice. The view is awesome, and the bathroom is big and his kitchen… he’s got four burners.”
YamaPi laughs. “It sounds like a place you’d never want to leave, Ryo-chan.”
“Why don’t you see if he’ll let you be a live-in,” Jin adds, but he’s laughing, and it’s most likely a joke rather than anything serious.
Ryo frowns. “There’s only one bedroom…”
Jin snorts. “Then seduce him.”
Ryo coughs up a chip, and Yamapi says, “But it’s mean to play with some one’s emotions like that.”
“It doesn’t matter anyways,” Ryo finally says. “He probably doesn’t go that way.”
Jin just shrugs, and goes back to eating and watching TV.
Monday, June 15th (evening) -
For the most part, Ryo forgets about Jin’s comment, since, in his opinion, a lot of stupid things come out of Jin’s mouth, and it would take far too much energy to remember all of them. So six days a week (he has Saturday’s off), Ryo makes a short trek to Shige’s place to make up his dinner and lunch for the next day. It’s not exactly a friendship that they have, but it’s something better than employee/employer. There’s a certain amount of banter between them, some of Ryo’s comments sharper than he means them to be, but Shige seems, as the least, to take it in stride.
Cleaning up doesn’t take very much time, and usually just does it while food boils or bakes, or while he’s waiting for Shige to come back. Granted, the first day, took a while, sorting his clothes into whites and colors, and then straightening up the genken and such, but after that first time, it’s easy, as long as he does a little bit everyday.
So, in his boredom, he takes on other tasks, such as moving the couch so he can vacuum under it or sweeping the veranda. On one day, while a small filet of salmon sits in the oven baking, Ryo meanders over to the TV, and starts putting away DVD cases properly on their shelf. He finds a DVD, sitting outside of it’s box, but when Ryo goes to put it away, he finds something else there, and so on, until every DVD case is spread out on the floor and he’s having to go through every single one to make sure they match up. Part way through, the oven beeps. He has to go take the fish out and set the table, but he goes straight back to work on the DVDs.
He’s almost finished - down to just four boxes - when he picks up a case for a romantic comedy and he laughs as he opens it, finding it absurd that a guy has such a movie. When the sees the name of the DVD sprawled across it, he stops laughs, staring at it, like it’s a trick of the light. But the words “Great Ass Time” don’t move or change and Ryo knows what this is, but he still finds himself not believing it. He looks at this watch - 7:17pm, he’s got time - and Ryo finds himself slipping it into the DVD player. The images that pop-up just with the main menu erase all other doubts, and in an almost guilty fashion, Ryo puts the porn DVD back into the romantic comedy case and places it on the shelf.
The last three boxes are like that one two. Some kind of movie that a young guy, or a guy at all, wouldn’t be caught dead watching, but might end up getting as a gift; but instead of that movie, it’s a porn, with some variety of “ass” or “cock” in the title.
By the time Shige arrives back at the apartment, all the DVDs are away, and Ryo doesn’t mention even having been near them. He tells Shige that his lunch is in the fridge, his grey suit is at the dry-cleaners, and then leaves.
Monday, June 15th (late evening) -
Ryo tells no one about the DVDs, and some how, feels embarrassed that he found them, which is odd in itself, because it’s not like Ryo has ever shied away from porn, whatever type it might be. And the reason he had shot down Jin’s idea wasn’t because he found the idea of sleeping with another man repulsive - he honestly didn’t think Katou went that way.
But as he sits with his knees pulled against his chest in the bath, then sorts his clothes into small piles to take to the laundromat during the day and finally, listens to Jin snore all night, Ryo thinks that maybe, finding a way to stay to Katou’s, even if it is through seduction, wouldn’t be so bad.
Tuesday June 16th -
The next day, while he’s cleaning up in the kitchen, and Shige sits at the table and watches TV as he eats, Ryo lets his eyes wander. He finds that Katou’s not entirely unattractive. His attitude is poor, and he could be a little pretentious, and his hair-style changed daily, due to his laziness and absolute inability to style it. But when it comes to his face and his build, Ryo can see the appeal that some might have, and to stay in as nice a place as this, Ryo thinks that fucking him would be a small price to pay.
Katou turns backs, a spoonful of curry held up. “What did you put in this? It’s so good…”
It’s at that moment, that Ryo decides to go for it, to see if he could make this work for him; “My secret herbs and spices.” And follows it up with a wink.
Katou stares for a long moment before nodding slowly and turning back to the TV.
Ryo frowns, wondering if maybe he’d lost his edge.
Wednesday, June 17th (afternoon & evening) -
As he’s getting dressed the following morning, Ryo realizes his mistake - he was trying too hard to act coy. I’m trying to seduce him, Ryo thinks, Not play hard-to-get. So before he leaves to go to Katou’s apartment, Ryo slips into the tightest pair of jeans he has and makes sure to wear a shirt that shows off his arms.
This, however, seems to fail to draw Katou’s attention as well. Ryo makes sure to “accidentally” drop things, or pick up heavy pots and pans when Katou’s looking in his direction, but the lawyer only lazily glances, if at all, and then returns to his dinner and the reading of a photography magazine.
Wednesday, June 17th (late evening) -
After these two failed attempts, Ryo needs to complain, whine to some one, and since it was Jin’s idea, Ryo decides to give him that privilege. It’s YamaPi’s own bad luck that places him at Jin’s side when this goes down.
“It’s not working!” Ryo snaps, standing in the door to the living room, still in his tight pants and sleeveless shirt.
“What isn’t?” Pi asks.
“Seducing Katou, obviously! If I was fucking him, I wouldn’t be fucking here, using our small as shit bath!”
There’s silence while Jin and YamaPi measure up Ryo’s anger, figuring out how smart-assed they can be while replying.
“Well,” Jin says, corners of his mouth tugging into a smile. “Maybe he’s asexual.”
Ryo throws a TV Guide at him.
Friday, June 19th -
His next plan goes horribly awry, and looking back, Ryo isn’t even sure what he was trying to do. All he knows is that as Katou walks in the door, a bottle goes flying, and Ryo ends up with sesame sauce all over his shirt, dripping onto his pants and smeared into his hair. Katou stands in the hallway, obviously trying not to laugh, and tells Ryo to take a shower while his stuff gets washed. With his face red, Ryo retreats into the bathroom, poking his head out a second later to tell Katou that the food is done, so he can eat it.
Now that he has the chance, Ryo decides to take advantage of Katou’s bathroom. He realizes that the showerhead has a ‘massage’ feature and spends five minutes standing under the spray, before he remembers that he’s supposed to be washing sesame sauce out of his hair. He eyes the bathtub longingly, wondering if Katou would mind if he took a soak, and decides to, betting on the generally reasonable attitude of the lawyer. He doesn’t take too long, just a few minutes to appreciate it and wonder if this seduction plan could actually work.
When Ryo comes out of the bath, he’s wearing an old navy bathrobe of Katou’s, tied loosely around his waist, more open around his chest than closed. The plates and silverware from dinner are sitting in the sink and Katou’s on the couch, frowning at several papers on the coffee table. At the sound of the bathroom door closely, Katou turns, regarding Ryo; he tries to act cool about the glance, but Katou can’t hide the blatant way to watches a drop of water run from Ryo’s hair, down his collar done and chest, and disappear into the robe. He turns back to his work, and Ryo just smirks.
Ryo takes a seat on the couch, leaning his head away from Katou a bit, to make it look like he’s trying to nap, but keeps his body language open; hands folded on his lap and shoulders relaxed. Katou fidgets on the couch, but doesn’t move otherwise. Ryo crosses his legs, feeling the robe fall open across a thigh, and he cracks an eye open just in time to see Katou’s head jerk back to the table and a blush creep up his neck.
After a few minutes of tense air between them and the sounds of paper moving, Ryo sits up, opening his eyes and scoots a little closer towards Katou.
“Do you have a big job coming up?”
He can hear Katou swallow, before replying, “Yeah, it’s a messy divorce case. The final hearing is coming up soon.”
Ryo scoots even closer, practically breathing into Katou’s ear. “How sad.”
Katou whips his head around, like he hadn’t realized Ryo was so close, and just blinks widely, mouth a tiny bit agape. Ryo smiles, trying to make it look genuine and kind, and lets his eyes fall, for just a fraction of a second, to Katou’s lips. Ryo leans towards him, lowering his eyelids, until they’re almost closed, the intention clear to even the blindest of people. Katou swallows again, and it’s more than Ryo’s imagination that sees him leaning in too-
The moment is interrupted by the beeping of the dryer, and the atmosphere is ruined. Katou hastily pulls back, looking uncomfortable and jumps up to grab Ryo’s things out of the dryer.
Sunday, June 21st -
As pathetic is it is to say, Ryo spent a great deal of time on his Saturday off thinking about ways to advance his plans. Jin, of course, offered awful suggestions like ‘cook in nothing but an apron’ and ‘shape all his food to look like penises’. But in the end, Ryo finds that there are certain tried and true methods, and for the time being, it’s probably best to stick with those.
Which is why, as Katou eats at the table and Ryo stands in the kitchen, he goes through the great trouble of stealthily cutting out messages in nori and placing them on the rice for the next day’s bento.
Monday, June 22nd (afternoon) -
At the firm, Shige’s senior doesn’t seem especially happy, and in fact, no one in the conference room is. The divorcing couple hates each other passionately and none of the opposing lawyers are fond of their counterparts. There’s a job to be done though before the hearing, and Shige, for his part (as his firm’s note-taker), does as much as possible to get it over with as quickly as possible.
Just as words start becoming violent between the couple, the lawyers all agree that a break for lunch would be prudent, and every one speedily retreats from the conference room. It’s sunny out, and desiring to get as far from the divorcing couple as possible, Shige heads down to the café where Koyama works. He sets up near one of the big windows and Koyama waves from the espresso machine, but looking at the line forming, Shige’s fairly certain that it won’t be possible to exchange more than a few words with him.
He pops opens the lid of his bento and looks down in horror as the message, “Do your best!” written in nori. He’s practically frozen in place, holding the cover in mid-air, wondering why in the hell Nishikido would do something like this.
“Ah, how nice,” someone says, and when Shige looks up, it’s one of the paralegals from his office. “I wish my girlfriend would make me bento for lunch… It’s always somehow uplifting, isn’t it?”
“Uhhh,” is the most eloquent thing Shige can manage to say.
The paralegals bows and walks off, and it’s only then that what he’d said catches up with Shige’s brain.
“Girlfriend?!”
Monday, June 22nd (evening) -
Ryo doesn’t even hear Katou enter the apartment; He’s too busy in the kitchen, cooking and meandering away with this thoughts. Katou appears though, stopping his foot and looking unhappy.
“Don’t write messages on my rice!”
Ryo just turns a bit, eyeing Katou as he stirs something around in a skillet. “What?”
“You!... You wrote a message in nori! Don’t do it again!”
“Why not? Who doesn’t like nori messages?”
Katou frowns. “It’s embarrassing. Everyone thought my girlfriend had made it and.”
“And?” Ryo grins, knowing he looks far too smug.
“And don’t do it!” Katou barks, flopping down on the couch.
The rest of the night is severely lacking in their usual friendliness. Katou eats on the couch, watching the evening news. Ryo takes his time washing up pans and dishes, stopping for minutes at a time to watch as well. But each time he goes back to washing, he can’t help but wonder if maybe, he stepped over the line, that he went too far, that, for the time being, nori messages are crossing a certain line. Those thoughts never last long though, because soon after, he thinks about the cramped bath and having to listen to Jin snore all night.
He re-commits himself to getting himself into this nice apartment, one way or another. Putting away the dishes and pulling out the bento box from the dishwasher, Ryo puts together the lunch, feeling particularly devious as he does, reaching for the kitchen scissors and a sheet of nori.
And for the second time that night, Katou sneaks up on Ryo, pulling the nori out of his hand. “Are you stupid?”
Ryo drops the scissors onto the counter and reaches for the nori. “Aw, c’mon. A normal lunch is no fun!”
Katou frowns, and pushes Ryo away with one hand when he tries to reach around for the nori. So Ryo tries his other hand, which Katou just dodges too. Ryo clicks his tongue, swears quietly and turns around; which is when Katou realizes there’s a whole pack of them on the counter, making his single sheet meaningless. Katou and Ryo practically dive for it at the same moment, shoulders and chests crashing into each other, and Katou gets a hand on it, and throws it into the living room instinctively. Using his body, he tries to block Ryo in the kitchen, which doesn’t work well either, since Ryo just tries to sneak under his arms. So Katou employs what little defense training he has (given to him by a police officer acquaintance), grabs both of Ryo’s wrists and knocks him face-first into the fridge.
With his cheek pressed against a magnet, Ryo leans back a little, and Katou allows it, obviously not interested in using his full weight to keep Ryo in place. Yet still, their bodies are nearly flush from shoulders to hips and Ryo sees what could only be a golden opportunity for seducing this lawyer.
He rolls his hips back, the denim of his jeans scrapping along the fabric of Katou’s slacks. It’s not the greatest of angles for such a thing, but the intent is clear, and Katou would have be deaf, dumb and blind to not understand the meaning Ryo’s placing behind it.
The only reaction from him though is a tightening of hands around Ryo’s wrist. He doesn’t run away or yell though, and Ryo takes that as a good thing, and grinds his hips back harder.
Katou makes a low noise in his throat, and asks, voice deeper than normal, “What are you doing?”
Ryo doesn’t answer, just cocks his head back, eyes half-lidded and bites his bottom lip in a coy fashion
Katou’s still seemingly weighing his options, trying to figure out Ryo’s deeper intent. But it must be too much work doing so, because once he lets go of Ryo’s wrist and steps away, all he says is, “No. Nori. Messages.” And then walks, very calmly, to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.
part 2: i fought the law and the law won