A raindrop for Saana_13!

[stormies]

Title : Perfect Stranger
Pairing(s) : Sakuraiba, Juntoshi if you squint
Genres : AU, Romance, Comedy
Rating : NC-17
Summary : Aiba finds himself at the Rakuen resort for a weekend as a gift from his friend Nino. With no job or relationship to speak of, he has no hope to truly enjoy himself. Until a fateful chance with a stranger turns things around.
Warning(s) : None
Author’s Notes : Hello Saana_13, I’m your pinch-hitter! I had a lot of time actually since your original writer gave an early heads up to the mod, however, I still ended up finishing late because I had to discard the first draft I had made lool. I’m happy with this one though, and I hope that you will like it as well!
To my lovely beta, thank you for always supporting me even if you’ve got a lot going on as well. I’ll be forever grateful.

Friday

He wanted to shut his mind off. This was the only thing he desired as we walked down the hallway. He didn’t even remember which part of the resort he was in. He had been at the Friday night party, and had drunk way too much, and after that he’d begun to wander around.

When Nino had gifted him a weekend of relaxation in a resort in Okinawa, Aiba knew that his state must have been horrible. For someone as stingy as Nino to do that, then it meant that he was in desperate need of help. And how to blame him, since he had been miserable since he lost his job. Again.

Aiba had been going through many job applications and interviews for all his life, and in the rare case that someone would hire him, then he would be fired just some time later. When he thought he’d finally got a steady employment, he was fired for a mistake he didn’t even make. One of his colleagues decided to put the blame on him for his own miss, and since it was quite the miss, which cost a lot to his department, Aiba was sent off without a chance for appeal.

On the verge of his 40s, Aiba had lost his will to try. This time, he couldn’t find it in him to stand back up again, so he had been living like a waste of space for the past month. He had to move to Nino’s house, where he offered to at least help with the house chores until he would get back on track, but at this point, Aiba had just become Nino’s manservant.

Even if Nino could support him if Aiba’s funds would finish, he knew that it wouldn’t be right to his friend. And surely, even Nino didn’t want to see him having to rely on him that much, so that’s why he sent him there.

“I think that a vacation could help you. You just need to clear your head,” he had said, giving him a plane ticket and a leaflet of the resort.

Aiba had arrived that day, and he still didn’t know if this vacation could help him, but he was sure about a way to have him forget his problems at least for tonight: alcohol and a one night stand.

Now, the alcohol bit had been taken care of perfectly, so now he needed someone. In the huge reception hall where the party was held, he had talked with some people but no one had caught his interest. So, he decided to go explore the resort and search for someone that could spark his attraction. He went to the pool, to the bar, even on the terrace and all the other places where people usually hang out. However, no one did the trick, and he found himself dragging his body to his room, unstable and having to keep his balance with his hands on the walls from time to time.

He finally reached the elevator and pushed the button for his floor. There, at once, everything became black and the last thing his eyes saw was the floor.



Aiba opened his eyes slowly, feeling his head heavy and dizzy. Judging by the fluffiness under his back, he realized that he was on a bed. Now the question was: to whom did that bed belong?

He looked around the room, but he recognized it to not be his. The window was on the right there, while in his room it was on the left. Everything else was the same though, so he must be in one of the rooms on his floor, just on the opposite side.

When he was about to sit up, a man exited the bathroom. He was wearing black suit pants and a white shirt, which had its sleeves rolled up. The man checked his phone with his back on Aiba. After a few seconds, he threw a glance over at him, finding out that he had woken up.

“Ah, you’re up.”

Aiba sat up, and said with his raspy voice, “Yeah… Hello.”

“I found you in the elevator, you’ve probably passed out there.”

“I-I see,” he coughed, suddenly embarrassed. He then bowed, “Thank you for helping me.”

“No problem,” the man placed down his phone and went to sit on the other side of the bed. “This is my room by the way, I couldn’t find your room card on you, so…”

He immediately touched his jacket’s pockets, and verified that he indeed had lost it. He facepalmed himself, while he leaned on the wooden headboard. “Just my luck.”

“Hey,” the man stretched his arm to nudge his leg in a reassuring way, “It’s fine, you can get another one at the front desk. The staff will find the other one eventually.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just—” Aiba sighed deeply, “It’s not really a good time for me.”

“Bad day?” the other asked.

“Bad day, month, year, everything’s bad.”

“You must have been through quite some shit.”

“Exactly,” he replied. He pointed his finger to the man, “‘Shit’ is the right word.”

Aiba closed his eyes and sighed again, trying to relax, which was the whole point of that trip. Downsides of the night: he was already hungover and he had lost his keycard. Upsides: he was finally resting on a comfortable bed, and the man who had rescued him seemed nice by far.

He opened his arms and legs widely, careful to not hit the stranger, and took in all the comfort that the soft mattress was giving him. His body was slowly releasing all the tension he had gathered that day, but unfortunately he couldn’t say the same thing for his mind, which was still upset. He wished that he could empty his brain and get rid of all those uneasy emotions.

His mother used to say that with hardwork and a smile on his face, his wishes would be granted and he would have what he desired. He had trusted those words, but when he was an adult he had to face the harsh reality. The world was unfair, and you never got what you wanted when you asked for it.

“I guess I’ll just stop trying. Whatever the universe throws at me, I’ll accept it.”

“Look, I don’t know what happened, but there’s nothing that a good night of rest can’t fix,” said the stranger.

“Yeah, sure,” he snorted.

The man tilted his head to the side, “Want to talk about it?”

Aiba narrowed his eyes at him, “With a stranger?”

“Exactly because I’m a stranger. It’s not like I know you and can judge you, and even if I do, who cares? We’re not going to see each other after this, aren’t we?”

He didn’t know if it was because of what he said, or because of his trustworthy smile, but the man inspired trust and Aiba felt drawn in. He figured that he could say a bunch of stuff to him, at least just to get them off his chest.

“Alright,” Aiba started, “I got fired for the umpteeth time and for a mistake that wasn't even mine. I thought that that workplace would finally be the one for me, since I’ve been through something like 10 companies by now. I’m tired, and hopeless, and on top of it I’m staying at my best friend’s, so I’m even burdening him.”

The man whistled, “Quite a mess.”

“Indeed.”

“I hope that at least your love life is going better?”

Aiba laughed out loud, genuinely amused by that comment, “One of the requirements to be attractive is to have a salary, and a good one moreover, so…” he trailed off, since he knew he didn’t need to add anything else.

Usually, this is when people would contradict him. They would say that love had nothing to do with money, because it was what’s inside that counted. As much as he believed that to be true, that wasn’t the case when you were trying to meet someone for the first time. He had been on many first dates where the other person had looked disappointed when he said that he was currently looking for a job, and that he was still unemployed.

He was ready to listen to the man give him a ‘life lesson’ and feed him the same lies everyone always did, but instead the other just nodded with a sad smile on his lips, and affirmed, “Love does come with money.”

Aiba was surprised by that reaction, and wondered if the man didn’t have any personal reason to say that. “It’s the first time that someone agrees with me.”

“Really?” the other simply said. His gaze was on his hands, while he was playing with the bed’s covers.

He took that chance to study the man’s features. Even if his sight was still slightly blurred, Aiba could distinguish the other’s sharp jaw, clenched because of some invasive thought or memory perhaps. His teeth were biting on his own plump lips, while his round eyes were empty of any kind of emotion.

“So, my sore point is work. Yours is love I suppose?”

The man chuckled before looking at him, “You can say so, I guess.”

“Want to talk about it with this stranger?” he half-quoted him.

Pondering on it, the other eventually spoke, “Well, let’s say that if people don’t come to you because you don’t have money, then for me the opposite is true.”

“People love your money more than you?” he asked, getting the hang of the other’s problem immediately.

“Precisely.”

Aiba raised his fist, “It sucks.”

The man stared at his hand for a second, before bumping it with his own fist, “It sucks, yeah.”

“Are you also here because someone told you that you needed to clear your head, then?”

“Oh, no, I’m not. I’m here for work,” he explained.

“So, you weren’t at the party,” Aiba stated.

“No, I was talking with a client over dinner.”

“That’s why, then.”

The man furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, not understanding what Aiba was implying. “That’s why what?”

Aiba licked his lips, “That’s why I haven’t approached you there.”

The other’s lips curved up, but only a corner, a hint of a smirk, “If I had been there, you would have done that?”

“Of course.”

“Why so?”

Aiba took in the whole figure of the man, his shoulders, his fit torso, the veins on his exposed forearms that ran down to his hand, and his long fingers, which were now resting on his toned thighs.

He crawled towards him and stopped when he was in front of him, only a few inches away from his face. “Because you’re breathtaking.”

“If that’s how you hit on people, then I understand why you’re still single,” the man teased, but thanks to the faint light of the lampshade, Aiba could see that he was blushing.

Aiba’s eyes fell on the other’s lips, and his heartbeat started to accelerate as he anticipated the moment in which he would savor them. “Want to have sex with his stranger?”

The man didn’t skip a beat. “The name’s Sho.”

Aiba briefly shifted his gaze to look at the man who, upon seeing his confusion, repeated, “My name is Sho.”

“I’m Masaki,” he said.

Then, without hurry, they got closer, inch by inch, before their lips finally touched. They deepened the kiss almost immediately, as Sho’s hand went to lock itself in Aiba’s hair. He ran his hands on the other’s body instead, gradually making him lie down so that he could climb on him.

As he unbuttoned Sho’s shirt to reveal his collarbones, so that he could kiss them and nibble on them, Aiba smirked. And now, even the sex is taken care of.

Saturday

Aiba woke up to the sound of birds chirping, rather than Nino’s usual morning grunts as he made coffee. Surely refreshing, but it didn’t push him to get out of bed to prepare breakfast. He didn’t even need to do that since he was on ‘vacation’, so he could have really stayed in bed all morning if he wished.

Opening his eyes and reminding himself where he was gave him a reason to get up though. He had slept in Sho’s room last night, collapsing just after finishing. Even if he didn’t remember the details, Aiba knew that it had been good, so he guessed that the man deserved a good morning, unlike other one night stands.

However, when he rolled over, his eyes didn’t meet Sho’s figure, but the empty bedsheets next to him.

“Where did he go?” he asked himself, while looking around.

Sho wasn’t on the balcony, and no sound was coming from the bathroom. Checking the clock on the wall, Aiba saw that it was still 8 am. True, Sho was indeed here for work, but wasn’t it still too early to be already up and functioning? Perhaps, that was difficult only for him, since he had no motivation whatsoever.

It still let him down, though. Not that Sho and he had grown close in the span of one night – he still considered him a stranger – but he hoped to at least chit-chat some more before they eventually split, never again crossing paths.

“Whatever,” he mumbled, forcing himself to sit straight and get his brain to work.

He was badly hungover, but he still gathered all his willpower to stand up and collect his clothes scattered on the floor. He then went to the bathroom to wash his face, hoping that it would help him with his drowsiness.

Checking that he had everything on him and that he wasn’t leaving anything behind, he exited the room and he realized an unfortunate fact. His room, number 1996, was before his eyes, making Sho’s room number 1995.

“Great,” he grumbled.

He set aside that problem for the moment, and went to the front desk to ask for another keycard. After taking it, he didn’t waste any time and returned to his floor, because if Sho had yet to return, then there would be less chances for him to meet him once there. Also, he was eager to shut himself in his room and take a bath.

To his irritation, when he approached his room he saw Sho’s door opened.

“So, he has returned,” he commented. That information wasn’t of any use to him though, since the man hadn’t even left a note for him when he went out. So, Aiba turned his back on Sho’s room and inserted his card in his door.

Just when he opened it, though, he heard his name being called.

“Ah, Masaki-san!”

Turning around, he saw a way-too-neat-for-early-morning Sho, wearing casual clothes, coming towards him.

“Good morning,” the man said. He replied with a nod, so Sho continued, “I couldn’t find you when I got back, so I figured that you might have gone to the front desk and I waited for you.”

“Yeah,” he replied, raising his room card, “I wanted to get a replacement as soon as I could.” Usually, he would let the conversation die there, but Aiba found himself aiming a jab at Sho, for no particular reason. Maybe. “I also didn’t see you when I woke up, and there wasn't any message either. I reckoned that it was time to return to my room.”

“Oh, I had gone to get breakfast,” Sho explained, pointing behind him.

As the man shifted so that Aiba could see inside his room, his eyes caught a plate with some sandwiches on it.

“I also got some painkillers from the staff, since you must have a terrible headache right now.” Sho passed the box he had in his hands to Aiba, who took it.

So, he didn’t leave… He found himself thinking. But he shook that away from his mind. Sho was a stranger, and putting too many expectations on him was wrong and stupid. Even if he had left it wouldn’t have been a big deal, so there was no reason for Aiba to feel sorry to have gone out of his room before the man came back.

He shook the painkillers’ box in his hand, “Thank you for this. I’ll take it after having a bath.”

“You’re not going to eat breakfast first?”

“I’m not really hungry.”

“You should eat something though—”

“Sho-san,” he cut him off, “I want to rest. Sorry.”

The other nodded, “Sure, I apologize. Have a good rest.”

“It was nice meeting you,” he said, before walking into his room.

“Ah—It was nice, y-yeah.”

He caught a veil of dismay in Sho’s eyes, but he didn’t bother to feel bad for it. He wasn’t looking for something there, and he hadn’t asked him to have sex last night because he hoped for that something to happen. It had been sex – very good sex, sure, but nothing more than that. And if Sho wasn’t of the same mind, then it was his duty to not lead him on and make him understand the current state of their relationship. Or, well, non-relationship.

It might have looked cruel from a third-party’s perspective, but it was the right thing to do.

— — — — —

Aiba sighed relieved after he exited the bathroom. That bath had soothed his uneasiness, so now the only thing left to deal with was his headache. He moved to the desk to take a glass of water and a painkiller, the only thing that connected him with Sho, before laying down on his bed.

“I need to sleep,” he said, and was ready to hide under his covers, when he heard a knock on his door. “Cleaning staff already?”

It should have been too early for that, but he got up anyway, and went to answer the door. When he didn't see anyone from the staff before his eyes but a flustered Sho, he realized he still had only a towel wrapped around him.

“Sorry, I just got out of the bath, I didn’t have time to change,” he said, awkwardly.

“Don’t worry,” Sho assured, before adding as a matter of fact, “It’s not anything new for me anyway.”

“True,” he chuckled, since the other was right. “So, what can I do for you?”

“I think we mixed up our underwear.”

“What?”

Sho raised his hands to show a pair of black boxers with a golden elastic band, “This must be yours. We have the same ones so I got confused when picking them up from the floor.”

Aiba looked at the underwear, which was the exact same type as his, but there was still something that didn’t add up. When he had put on the underwear, he didn’t feel uncomfortable. “You’re a size M too?” he asked.

“Yeah. I thought you were a size S since you look slimmer than me, so I just checked the tag for the size and didn’t bother to look for my name.”

He tilted his head to the side, the man’s words making him curious, “Your name?”

Sho sighed, rolling his eyes, “I lived in a sharehouse back in my university days, and I picked up writing my name on my stuff as a habit. Can I have my underwear back now, please?”

“Ah—Sure.”

He didn’t want to pry into Sho’s personal business, but the other couldn’t expect to drop something that hinted to a detail of his life and not have Aiba ask about it. He was a curious person after all, and would ask anything if he saw an opening.

Aiba picked up the underwear from the pile of clothes he had left in the bathroom. Looking through them, he did find something written. ‘Sho’ it read, and it was on the other side of the tag. He brought it back to the man, and they exchanged their boxers.

He was glad to have taken a bath after returning to his room, since, otherwise, he would have worn someone else’s underwear all day. He wondered if Sho had realized before taking a shower too, but at that moment he noticed that the man was wearing a swimsuit. He might have realized upon changing, then, he thought.

“Thank you, and sorry for the trouble,” Sho said.

“It’s fine, no worries,” he reassured him. Then, crossing his arms and becoming nervous all of a sudden, he added, “So, you’re going for a swim?”

“That was the plan, yeah.”

“Cool.”

Sho nodded in acknowledgement before returning to his own room to put his underwear back. At that moment, Aiba noticed the cleaning staff coming to their floor. He didn’t know what had been the process in his mind, but what he knew was that he called Sho’s name when the man had started to walk away.

“Sho-san!”

The man turned around surprised, “What is it?”

He bit his lips for a few seconds before speaking, “Can I come along?”

Even if he was far away, he could see that Sho had just thrown him a confused stare, “By the way you ended our conversation earlier, you didn’t look so eager to have me around.”

“W-Well, that’s because—” He leaned on the door frame with his hand, and tried to act nonchalant, “That was the end of our first encounter. This is the start of our second encounter, so, I should say: Hello, want to hang out?”

As the man narrowed his eyes at him, he felt stupid. What the hell was he doing, asking for what was basically a date to his one night stand? When he had even made clear that he didn’t want to further their acquaintance previously? Sho was surely going to tell him to go to hell, and he would have all the right to do that.

“I don’t like to repeat myself, but,” Sho started, “Again, I understand why you’re single, if this is how you hit on people.”

“I’m not hitting on you!” he hurried to clarify. “I’m just being friendly with my neighbor.”

Sho rolled his eyes, sighing deeply, and put his hands in his swimsuit’s pockets. He then looked once more at Aiba, holding his gaze for a while, and only when Aiba averted his gaze embarrassed, did he reply, “I’ll wait for you in the lobby, neighbor.”

— — — — —

Aiba leisurely walked next to Sho, letting himself be led by the other, who was bringing them to the pool. He had discovered that Sho had been there for almost a week by now, since he had some conference to attend there. On the previous night he had his last work dinner, meaning that the rest of the weekend was the true vacation for him.

“And what do you plan to do these two days?”

“For a change, I decided to not schedule much. I just noted down some activities I’d like to do.”

“What kind of activities?”

Sho stopped in his tracks and looked at Aiba, since his question had aroused his curiosity, “Are you perhaps interested?”

“Well,” Aiba cleared his throat, putting his hands behind his back and clasping them together. He shrugged, “I’m all alone here, might as well have some company.”

“You don’t know me, though. What if I’m a massive jerk?” Sho asked, smirking.

Aiba returned that mischievous grin, coming closer to the other’s face, “Someone who looked after me can’t be a jerk.”

“Maybe I want something in return.”

He made a face at the other, “Sho-san, I thought you realized that I have nothing to offer.”

“Let me be the judge of that,” Sho teased, before walking ahead of Aiba, and towards the entrance of the pool area.

Aiba didn’t understand if the man was simply joking, or if he meant those words for real. Nonetheless, he didn’t give them too much attention, and instead focused on the pleasant sight he had before his eyes.

The pool was wide and long, an oval which got slightly narrow in the middle; children and their parents were splashing around on the shallow end of the pool, while older and single people were enjoying swimming on the deep end. There was also a smaller pool a few meters away, even less deep, where more kids were enjoying themselves while their relatives watched over them.

He began scanning the area for a vacant seat, but Sho beat him to it, as he pointed to his far right. There, under a beach umbrella, there were two loungers separated only by a table. Luckily, they had arrived early enough, and the place wasn’t as crowded as it should have been yet.

When they arrived and placed their bags on the chairs, Aiba was quick to remove his shirt and flip-flops, ready to dive into the water. He waited for Sho to do the same but, contrary to his expectations, the man took out his tablet and settled down on his lounger.

“What are you doing?” he asked, “Weren’t you going to go for a swim?”

Sho looked at him, his sunglasses still on, “Later. I still haven’t read the news after all.”

“Can’t you do that later instead?”

Frowning and sighing deeply, Sho eventually put his tablet back in his bag and took his shirt off. He left his flip-flops neatly next to his lounger, and finally removed his sunglasses as well.

“Didn’t know I had a clingy boyfriend,” he said, placing his hands on his hips and looking over the pool. “Well, there’s not many people swimming for now, so I guess now’s good timing.”

“I’m not a clingy boyfriend, I was just asking,” Aiba bothered to justify himself, but the other wasn’t interested in that, since he had gone ahead and walked to the edge of the pool.

Aiba bit his lips mischievously, ready to take the chance that Sho had unconsciously given him. He approached him slowly, but before he could even think of placing his hands on the other, his plan was already blown up.

“Don’t you dare push me,” Sho threatened.

He put on an innocent expression, “I wasn’t going to.”

Sho didn’t appear to trust him, and rightly so, but he did his best to act as guiltless as possible. The man did look over his shoulders a few more times though, even shoving Aiba away when he felt that he was coming too close.

It amused him how wary Sho was of him, as if he had already got that Aiba was one of those guys who would pull a prank on you whenever they had the chance. They hadn’t interacted that much, and yet he had already caught on his playful side.

Finally, Sho seemed to relax as he eyed the ladder, ready to enter the pool. And at that moment, Aiba swiftly put his hands on Sho’s bare back, and pushed him into the water.

“Jerk—” was Sho’s last scream before falling and disappearing underwater. As he came up, with his hair still glued to his face, but his glare visible to Aiba, he hissed, “I knew it.”

Still giggling, Aiba took a running start before jumping and landing close to Sho, who moved his head to the side, so that the splashes wouldn’t hit him. As Aiba resurfaced, he pushed his hair back, off his face, while throwing his head back in the process. The sunrays hit him and he felt just like a plant receiving energy from the sun.

His headache was already partly gone thanks to Sho’s painkillers, and now the water and the sun did the rest. And even thanks to what he had witnessed now, since Sho had just removed the tufts of hair from his face – an action that captured his gaze too much for his liking.

But he couldn’t do anything about that. Aiba had seen it last night after all; the man was handsome, and he had charisma too. Not like he himself was lacking in that department, but charming people would always win him over.

That’s why he found himself doing what he did after. He grabbed Sho’s neck with his hand and dragged him underwater with him, pecking his lips. Sho was gaping at him when they got back to the surface, astonished, while he looked around to ensure that no one had seen them.

Then, he asked, “Why did you do that?”

“My apology for having pushed you,” Aiba replied, with a toothy smile.

“An ‘I’m sorry,’ would have been enough.”

“Sho-chan,” he chirped. He moved dangerously close to the other, who kept him at a distance by putting his hands on his shoulders. Aiba laughed at that, and covered Sho’s hands with his. “I’m not just someone who goes for the ‘enough’.”

“What does that even mean?” the man snorted.

He limited himself to a smirk, “You’ll see.”



After what could have been 15 minutes, in which they swam back and forth from one pool end to the other, and enjoyed the fresh water cooling them down from the sun’s heat, Sho went underwater one last time before resurfacing close to the ladder.

“I’m heading out,” he told him.

Aiba replied with a nod, as he watched Sho going to fetch his towel and dry himself. He swam until the edge, where he rested his elbows. Sho threw him a quick glance, acknowledging his proximity but not commenting on it. He then proceeded to spread his towel out on the lounger, on which he lay down with his tablet.

“Is reading news that crucial to your job, or do you just like to keep updated?” he spoke loudly enough so that the man could hear him, but quiet enough that other people wouldn’t pick up on their conversation.

“I guess both.”

“Are you perhaps a journalist?”

Sho looked over his tablet briefly, “I’m a lawyer.”

“Ah! I understand now!” he exclaimed excitedly. He pushed on his hands and got out of the water. He grabbed his towel and passed it all over himself as he spoke, “That’s why you said that people love your money.”

Aiba threw his towel on his bag as he laid down, his head tilted in Sho’s direction. “You must be a hotshot.”

“Would you look at me differently if I was?”

He was surprised at that question and the depth of it. Was Sho asking him that because everyone would change their attitude with him upon discovering his true identity? Would they flatter him, or treat him harsher perhaps, thinking that he would look down on low commoners like them? Or perhaps, they would only see him as a big fat check therefore making Sho feel like a mere tool to money and success?

Aiba couldn’t help but wonder just how influential Sho was if his hunch were to be correct. And then, something hit him. He snapped his fingers, “That’s why you didn’t give me your last name yesterday.”

“Yeah, but you still didn’t answer my question, though.”

At that, Aiba shifted to his side, placing his elbow on the armchair and resting his chin on his hand. “Sho-chan,” he called him. The other simply stared at him, waiting for an answer, and still not rejecting the familiarity the other was showing. Aiba liked that. “Why would such a thing matter to me? You’re a perfect stranger to me.”

Sho’s lips slowly curved up in a smile, as he nodded satisfied, “Good answer.”

“‘Good answer’?” he beamed, “Then, do I get a reward?”

“For someone who should be at his lowest point in life, you’re considerably lively.”

Aiba wasn’t surprised to hear that, because he had noticed that too, just some minutes before. When he had arrived at the Rakuen resort, he didn’t feel any positive vibe at all. Every smile was strained, every laugh forced. But since last night, since he met Sho, something had sparked in him and he was no longer feeling downcast.

Could it be that the mere presence of Sho had cheered him up? Someone who wasn’t Nino, and so someone whom he couldn’t see as being a bother to. He felt that he could be free of all his worries with him, because never once had Sho’s eyes judged him for his current situation.

However, he didn’t want the other to notice that he himself, too, had noticed that detail, so he looked away, stuttering a bit, “I--Is that so?”

He didn’t know what the other’s reaction was, the only thing he saw after that was a notebook being passed to him. He took it but stared at it questioningly.

“Your reward.”

“What?” he said, still lost.

Sho sighed, “You asked me what activities I noted down. Well, here’s the list.”

Aiba smiled, surprised, not expecting Sho to do such a thing. Not because he looked like the secretive type, but he still gave him one of his personal belongings. Either he trusted Aiba to not peek at other pages but the one he had opened for him, or there wasn’t any kind of secret information there to begin with.

To confirm that, on the page next to the list named ‘Activities for the weekend’, Aiba noticed some random doodles or notes, of no particular importance.

“What’s this notebook for?” he couldn’t help but ask, still analyzing it with his eyes.

“Just where I write what I have on my mind when I need to.”

“And you need to write down ‘check condoms’ flavor’?”

Sho’s head snapped in his direction, not embarrassed or in panic, just annoyed that, probably, out of everything written there Aiba had to read that one out loud. The man eventually lowered his gaze, and justified himself, “I was waiting for my conference to start.”

“Weren’t you afraid that people could read this?” he asked, astonished.

“There was no one near me.”

“Why?”

A tired grumble reached his ear as Sho gave him one last glance, and said, “Just read it would you?” Afterwards, he finally returned to his tablet, scrolling the articles in the digital newspaper from time to time.

Aiba accepted the wall that the man had built between them, and finally started to read Sho’s notes. Some were scratched, while some had a ‘canceled’ written next to them. Among all this, the ones which still remained untouched on the paper were five.

Trekking on the promontory.

Boat ride and dolphin watching (reservation not required. A boat sails every three hours – the first is at 7am).

Sumo Tube. (?)

Hot spring.

Fireworks Sunday night (would like to stargaze too though).

All were activities Aiba would like, but that he didn’t know were happening. Unlike him, Sho must have studied everything that the resort could offer, aiming to enjoy his free weekend to the fullest.

On the other hand, Aiba hadn’t looked up anything before arriving there. Not like he planned to stay in his room all the time, but he would have probably just sat by the pool or on the seashore while contemplating why his life had to suck that much.

They had in common an unfortunate love life, but as for work life, Sho was surely more successful than he had ever been and would ever be. There was no reason for someone like Sho to waste a vacation just to feel down, but the only difference in Aiba’s everyday life was that he would be sulking in front of the ocean instead of the TV.

But something moved in him, something that told him that he didn’t want to think about his problems again. That he was tired of feeling sorry for himself. He was in an awesome resort, with awesome weather and with an awesome person sitting on the lounger next to him. He might be a good-for-nothing unemployed man in Tokyo, but there, in Okinawa, nothing of that had to matter.

Nino had given him this chance to clear his head, to shut off from the reality that was suffocating him, and he should make the most out of it.

“Alright,” he closed the notebook with a thud, drawing the other’s attention to him. “We don’t have much time, so let’s start with what we can do now.”

“What do you mean?” Sho watched him with a scowl on his face.

Aiba got up and began to put everything back in his and Sho’s bags, even going as far as taking the liberty to tear the tablet away from the other man’s hands.

“Let’s have some fun!” was the last thing he said, before he dragged Sho with him towards the beach.

Checking his watch, Aiba saw that it was almost 10am, hence a boat for the dolphin watching would sail soon. That’s why he was leading Sho on the seashore, and later on the harbor that he saw as soon as they stepped on the sand.

Even if he whined at first, Sho ended up following Aiba without any more complaints. After all, it was an activity he wanted to do, and he must have figured out that the news could have waited. Or he could have just been a compliant person surprisingly – or not that surprisingly, as some flashes from the night before crossed Aiba’s mind, in which Sho had followed every order he had given him.

He turned towards Sho, studying him. He looked like a person who liked to lead, to always be in control, but Aiba had yet to witness that side of him. Could it be that there was more than met the eyes? Aiba was eager to investigate, and he would do so as soon as he would get the chance.

When they arrived in front of the boat, they saw some guests of the resort already on it, while a man who must have been the captain was exchanging some words with them. He seemed friendly, unlike a stern boatman who was standing at the end of the gangway, with his arms crossed.

They approached the said man, a bit frightened by his looks, but Sho was good at hiding that behind his polite smile. “Hello, we would like to join the dolphin watching.”

The man hummed and turned around to look at the boat, “How many seats are left?”

The captain raised his index finger, “One.”

“I’m afraid only one person can ride,” the boatman told them, apologetically.

“There’s nothing you can do about it?” Sho asked.

“I’m sorry, but no,” was the negative and definitive answer from the other.

He saw Sho’s shoulders lowering in defeat, but he soon raised them up, and gave Aiba what was an obvious strained smile, “You go, Masaki-san, don’t worry about me. I can catch another boat some other time.”

“I can do that too, you know,” he told him. “You wanted to do this, and there’s no meaning in going without you.”

Sho patted his shoulder and insisted, “It’s alright, just go.”

But Aiba couldn’t leave him behind. This was something of Sho’s list, not his, and he wouldn’t rob him of that. Moreover, if he went alone, then he would be left alone again with his thoughts, and that couldn’t happen.

They could have gone some other time, sure, but what about the rest of the list? The only thing they could have switched the boat ride with was sumo tube, but throwing a glance at what should have been the place where it was held, he couldn’t see anyone yet.

“Sir, we’ll be sailing in a bit. Have you decided yet?” the captain asked them from his boat, making Aiba focus on what was in front of him again.

He stared at the man, tanned and not so tall. His face evoked warmth, his eyes gentleness, and Aiba knew that this man was one of those people who could have turned a blind eye if it was necessary – he was one of those people himself after all.

Swiftly, Aiba slid his hand into Sho’s, who stiffened at the sudden touch. The man became an actual rock though when Aiba wrapped his hand around his arm, and moved his head close to his.

“Captain, this is the last trip before we get married next month. Wouldn’t you give us an early wedding present?” he pleaded, trying to make the most out of the puppy eyes that his mother had gifted him with.

“You’re getting married? Where?” was the captain’s answer.

“London,” he immediately replied, without letting himself hesitate, before their covers blew up, “It’s really a pity to not be recognized in your own homeland, but the legalization could happen even after our deaths, knowing Japan. And we didn’t want to wait anymore.”

It was when the two men’s gazes softened, when they looked at each other with a veil of understanding, that Aiba’s caught an important detail he had missed. The two men were wearing two silver bands on their ring fingers, and if the fondness in their stares was anything to go by, he would say that they were more than simple co-workers.

“There’s only one seat though. What will you do if you have to sit down for safety reasons?” the captain asked.

“That’s not a problem! I’ll sit on my fiancé’s lap.”

They chuckled at Aiba’s response, and eventually the captain let them on board with a huge movement of his arm, encouraging them to get in. He was dragging Sho by his hand, which had become sweaty. He tilted his head towards his ear so that only he could hear, in an attempt to reassure him.

“They won’t find out.”

“You really had to say that? We could have found another way.”

“Stop complaining, and play your part.”

They arrived where the other guests were, and Aiba signalled to Sho, with a huge grin on his lips, to sit down. To everyone else there, Sho must have looked embarrassed, but Aiba knew that he was instead reluctant to put up with that farce. Probably, the lawyer wanted to find an honest way to ride that boat, and that made his heart a little weaker, witnessing such earnestness.

As soon as Sho had sat on his seat, Aiba settled down in his lap unceremoniously. It was so abrupt that he felt how the other was taken by surprise, and he gained a nudge on his head, followed by a hissed, “Idiot.”

He laughed that off, focusing on the captain who was about to explain what they could or couldn’t do on the boat while it was sailing.

“In the case of an incoming storm, things might get a bit rough. If that happens, you should all get back to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.” The captain shifted his gaze on the two of them briefly, an amused smile on his face, “Or hold on for dear life to your fiancé’s arms.”

He heard Sho force a laugh, and at that Aiba decided to tease his companion just for fun.

“Heard that, Sho-chan?” He said, before he took Sho’s arms and wrapped them around his waist, bringing the other’s hands on his own lap. He covered them with his, squeezing them, “Hold me tight.”

Sho swallowed and averted his gaze nervously, giving only a nod as a reply. Now that he was staring at him, Aiba noticed that the man looked somewhat flushing, and that had him blurt out a “Cute.”

Luckily, the other didn’t seem to have caught that, and Aiba composed himself and watched ahead of him. As they sailed, he focused on the beach that was becoming more distant by the second, and on the sea that had now surrounded them.

The captain drove for a while, at least ten minutes, before he told them that they could stand up and reach the bow. Aiba was about to get up but Sho’s arms held onto him, keeping him down. He turned, confused, and saw Sho look even redder than how he had left him.

“What is it?”

“Wait.”

And he did. Only when the last guest was on the bow, did Sho give him the green light to stand up. When he did, though, Sho still kept him by his hips. The man was basically glued on his back, not leaving much space between them.

“Sho-chan, what the heck?” he whispered, slightly bothered.

“Stay ahead of me, don’t look back and just walk,” was the order that came from behind.

“What?” he couldn’t help but ask, perplexed.

He heard an annoyed groan and then Sho’s ashamed voice, “I have a boner.”

“You have a—”

“Shut up and go ahead, would you,” Sho burst out.

Aiba couldn’t hold back his laughter as he managed to sneakily glance at Sho’s face, and then his groin. He chewed on his lips to calm himself, but as they started to walk and he felt Sho right behind him, hiding, amusement came back and he had to gather all his willpower to not burst out laughing.

When they joined the others, Aiba was careful to go on one side of the bow, staying a bit far from the rest. When he placed his hand on the boat’s handrail, that gave Sho the chance to sneakily slide to his side, with his body facing the sea. That way, no one should notice his ‘little’ problem.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize that I was touching you,” Aiba said. He was sure that the other didn’t miss the trace of amusement in his tone, and that’s why he glared at him the second after. He made a face, “Did I?”

Sho cleared his throat, looking away, “You didn’t touch me.”

“Then, how?”

“You kept on fidgeting left and right, following either some fish in the sea or some birds in the sky. Also, when you and that guest started a conversation about baseball, you became excited and couldn’t stay still even one second,” Sho explained. His eyes went on Aiba, “All that did stuff to me.”

Aiba clasped his hands together, bringing them in front of his face, as an apology, but there was no way Sho could have taken it seriously since he was whickering behind his joined hands. He dared to peek at Sho’s groin, and saw that the situation hadn’t changed much yet, so he looked around before leaning in to whisper in his ear.

“Do you perhaps want to go to the bathroom?”

“It will go away eventually. Now, shut up.”

“Why are you so angry at me? I didn’t give you a boner on purpose,” he pouted.

Sho wrapped his hands around the handrail, refusing to look him in the eye, “But you’re surely having fun, aren’t you?”

When Sho turned to him and saw Aiba’s smirk, he playfully pushed him with his hand. Aiba was going to tease him some more, just to see Sho’s cheeks blush, but his attention was caught by a sound he had only heard in movies or in aquariums.

His head snapped towards the water, and right under his eyes, there was a dolphin coming in and out of the sea. As he looked better, there were even more, which told him that they had encountered a pod of dolphins.

“Sho-chan, look!” he shouted excitedly. He pulled the other in by his arm, pointing to the pod’s direction.

Sho gaped as he saw the dolphins swimming, his open-mouth transforming into a wide smile as he witnessed that sight in awe. “It’s even better than what I had imagined.”

“Now, aren’t you happy that I lied to get here?”

The other finally looked at him, and his previous embarrassment was now replaced by contentment, “Yes, I’m happy.”

— — — — —

The dolphin watching had been amazing, and Aiba managed to take some videos of it to keep that memory for as long as he could. Now, they were almost back at the harbor, and this time Aiba had been careful to not move an inch, so as not to give Sho another problem to solve again.

Sho was the one to casually throw his arms around Aiba’s waist though, and he wondered if it was still part of the farce, or if it was just because he wanted to keep him in place. Nonetheless, they gained some stares and if before Aiba didn’t pay attention to it when he had teased the other, now he suddenly felt self-conscious.

Even if he wouldn’t have minded it in normal circumstances, in that instance, Sho’s sudden touch had reminded him that for the onlookers they were a couple, and since no one had seemed suspicious, they must have looked convincing. They were simply strangers to each other, though, so either they were surprisingly good actors, or people simply weren’t questioning the nature of their relationship.

“We must have built an amazing chemistry for them to believe us,” he told Sho once they got to the harbor and were getting off the boat.

“You acted all lovey-dovey at first, what did you expect?” Sho started, but when he realized that Aiba might mistake his tone for annoyance, he added, “It was worth it though. So thank you.”

Aiba ruffled Sho’s hair affectionately, “Thanks to you for letting me come along.”

“Guys!”

They turned simultaneously at the voice that called for them. It was the captain, looking at them from his boat. “Best of luck, with everything.”

“All the best,” the boatman added.

“You too!” Aiba replied excitedly.

When they were far enough, Aiba glanced at the boat once more and, seeing the boatman leaving a kiss on the captain’s hair, he realized that his guess had been indeed correct.

“It’s almost lunch time, so we should head to the resort’s restaurant.”

He shifted his attention to Sho, “And what about sumo tube?”

“We can do that in the afternoon—” Sho stopped suddenly, gulping and correcting himself, “I mean, if you still want to stick with me. I can go alone—Or not at all. After all there was a question mark next to it because I wasn’t sure if I should do it or not—”

Aiba grabbed Sho’s cheeks to put a halt to his blabbering, chuckling at the other’s nervousness. “It just so happens that I like your company, Sho-chan, so, yes, I’ll come with you.”

“Great—I mean, not ‘great’—”

“Chill down, will you?” he teased. He figured that the man didn’t want to make Aiba feel pressured to hang out with him, that’s why he was trying to build some distance – but what kind of distance when they had already spent a night together and pretended to be engaged? Even if they were strangers, they were still linked by these little things, and at that point it would have been weirder to cut ties. “I have fun with you, so I would like to spend the weekend together.”

Sho’s eyes filled with something that must have been joy and surprise, but Aiba couldn’t wrap his head around the reason why. He didn’t have much time to reason on it, though, since the man looked away, “Alright then, let’s go to lunch.”

“With pleasure,” he said, before he grabbed Sho’s chin with his fingers and shook it lightly, “I will honor you with my presence.”

Sho rolled his eyes, pushed away Aiba’s hand, and mimicked him, cupping his chin, “I’ll honor you with my presence.”

Aiba didn’t know why, but everything was easy with Sho. The only other person he had hit it off immediately with was Nino back in their first year of primary school, after which they had become inseparable. Contrary to what it might look like, for Aiba it was difficult to create deep relationships with people unless they had always been around him – almost all of his friends were people he had met during his childhood or his teens.

He was used to having a close but small circle of friends around him, with whom he felt safe and at ease. It would take a while for him to feel that way with people he had just met, and yet, since the very beginning, Sho had made him feel exactly like that. As if they had known each other for years, as if they could understand each other with just a glance.

Even at lunch, they talked normally, without any awkwardness. Even the silences were enjoyable and not uncomfortable. He didn’t know how that connection was created, but it happened, and he found himself wondering if he would miss Sho once he went back to Tokyo. It could be easy to just ask for the other’s phone number if he wanted, but that was a line that shouldn't be crossed, or at least not for now.

Maybe he could try to get some information out of Sho about his personal life, and what he did other than being a lawyer. However, he had to do that subtly, or after the other let his guard down, since he still remembered the wall Sho had put between them in the pool area.

An idea popped up in his mind as they were getting to the sumo tube area after lunch.

“Let’s make a bet,” he started off.

“A bet?” was the intrigued question that came from Sho.

“Yeah, whoever wins will owe the other three favors.”

Sho looked at him skeptically, “Why does it seem all part of a plan?”

He pouted innocently, “I was just thinking that it could have been fun. There’s no trick to it.”

The man kept his doubtful gaze on him, his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows furrowed. A few seconds after, he shook his head, “No, ain’t doing that.”

Aiba didn’t let that bring him down, because if he had understood something during dolphin watching, it was that Sho was a competitive person just like him – he had gone to the extent of checking all sides of the boat just to count more dolphins than Aiba.

So, he cut in front of him and blocked his path. With hands clasped behind his back, head tilted and a scoffing smirk on his face, Aiba declared, “You could have simply said you’re afraid of losing.”

“Me? Afraid of losing?”

Aiba cheered inside as he got the reaction he wanted, and more than welcomed Sho’s challenging stare.

“You clearly seem to be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Really? Then, why don’t you accept?”

Sho bit his lip before snorting, “Alright, I’ll show you. I never lost in my life, and I never will.”

“There’s always a first time.”

“Not for me,” were the man’s resolute words before they approached the sumo tube’s staff.

They both were unwavering as the staff were helping them put on their wetsuits and the colorful inflatable vest. Then, they got on a boat which drove meters away from the beach. After having reached what must have been the starting point, they were lowered into the water. Exchanging one last glance, both Sho and Aiba held tight on their handles.

The boat set off and they soon began bouncing on the water. It was probably one of the funniest things Aiba had ever done, and judging by Sho’s excited screams, it must have been so for him as well. Despite that, they didn’t forget that they were in a match and when their inflatable vests began clashing with each other, the battle started.

Aiba had to close his eyes since drops of water were splashing onto his face. He tried to keep his grip as firm as possible, as much as he could, and only when the presence next to him vanished and the boat slowed down, was he able to open his eyes again.

He saw Sho far from him, floating in water and wearing a face crumpled in frustration. It was so evident that Aiba could see it even from where he was.

When they returned to the boat, Aiba waited for Sho to get on, before bringing a fist to his mouth, as if it were a mic, and asking, “Sho-chan, trying out sumo tube and losing a match. This was your…?”

Sho sighed, defeated, “First time.”



After sumo tube, Sho and Aiba spent some more time on the beach, with mainly Aiba commenting on how dejected the other looked because of his loss, teasing him in the process.

They had just finished drying themselves after a swim, and it was close to 7pm when they decided to head back.

“So, these three favors, go ahead,” Sho said. Even if he wanted to appear reluctant, it didn’t work out too well for him since he seemed more dejected because he’d lost and not because of whichever favor Aiba could ask of him.

Aiba raised his index finger, “First one is for you to meet me in front of our rooms in an hour.”

“I knew that you had a plan,” Sho whispered, scowling at Aiba.

“It’s nothing freaky. I promise.”

“Alright,” Sho nodded, still dubious though. “What about the others?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

Sho stopped on his tracks, “Masaki-san, just what on Earth are you scheming?”

Aiba dismissed Sho’s worry with a nudge and a smile, “Nothing, I told you!”

“Still…”

“Trust me,” he said, “See you in an hour.”

Before Sho could ask him anything else, he rushed off to prepare for tonight. Maybe what he had in mind was too cheesy considering he’d met Sho for the first time not even 24 hours ago, but he was sure that it would create the right atmosphere to have Sho loosen up. He was now sure that he didn’t want Sho to be just a perfect stranger to him.

— — — — —

Aiba exited his room and was met with a Sho in camo shorts and a white V-neck shirt. When the man noticed that Aiba was still wearing his flip-flops, unlike him who had loafers on, he asked, “Should I change my shoes as well?”

“We’re going to the beach, your choice.”

Sho’s head then peeked at Aiba’s back, and made another question, “Should I bring a backpack as well?”

“Again, your choice.”

Sho might have reasoned over that for a while, since he chewed on his lips pensively while his gaze went from the shoes to the backpack. In the end, he opted to just stick with his current outfit, and he let Aiba lead the way to wherever he was taking him.

Aiba clutched his hands around the backpack’s straps upon reaching their destination. He put it down and took out everything he’d brought in it, and when Sho saw sandwiches and beers on the carefully spread tablecloth on the sand, he laughed.

“Is this a romantic picnic? Like, a date?”

“It’s what you want it to be,” Aiba replied simply, crouching down.

“And what do you want this to be?”

He held Sho’s gaze while smiling, not knowing himself the answer to that question. He grabbed a sandwich and started to unwrap it, and after giving it a bite, he said, “I’ll tell you once I find out myself.”

“What kind of answer is that?” said an amused Sho, who eventually sat down next to him to join him. He picked up a sandwich, “Reminds me of the ones you didn’t eat this morning.”

Aiba choked on his food, and drank a sip of beer. With an ashamed lopsided smile on his face, he muttered, “I hoped you wouldn’t bring that up.”

“Sorry, then.”

“I deserved it, I guess,” he admitted, “But anyway, stop talking about that and have a picnic by the beach with me.”

Sho tilted his head, “Is that an order?”

Aiba smirked and shook his head, sure of himself, “Nope. It’s what you have to do. It’s the second favor.”

Opening his mouth and humming, Sho nodded his head. “Alright, I see, so that was the plan, huh?”

Aiba supported himself with a hand on the tablecloth, and went dangerously close to Sho’s face, his breath crashing onto his face. “You don’t like it, perhaps?”

The man was motionless for a few moments in which he stared down at Aiba's eyes, so much that he wondered whether Sho had lost himself in them, and if that made his heart leap or not.

Sho finally talked, never breaking their eye contact, “I do. I really like… this.”

“Good,” Aiba found himself whispering, still close to his face. He became self-conscious of their proximity though, and moved back.

With the corner of his eye, he caught Sho starting to eat his sandwich, and he asked, “So, how’s that?”

“Not bad, but nothing compared to the ones I nicked from the restaurant.”

“I bought everything at a convenience store. Sorry that I’m not a bad boy like you,” he teased.

Sho looked at him and arched his eyebrows teasingly, “I’ll be the judge of that.”

Aiba chuckled softly at that before going back to his sandwich.

When they were done eating, Aiba stretched his arms out in the air. The boxes where the sandwiches and some cookies – because Aiba’s sweet tooth couldn’t pass up the opportunity for dessert – were previously stacked, were now empty, and they were both finishing their beers now.

Their mood was up, and Aiba saw his chance. He laid down on the tablecloth, sliding his arms behind his head, and resting it on top of them. Sho followed right after.

“Stargazing was on the list, right?”

“It was.”

“Another one down. The remaining ones should be trekking and hot springs?”

“Yeah. We can go tomorrow morning. After coming back from the promontory, we can go to the resort’s hot spring.”

“Great, I’ll be looking forward to it.” Aiba paused then, taking in the beauty of the stars above them, before speaking again. “Time for my third favor.”

“Go ahead.”

Aiba turned his head to the side, to look at Sho, “Tell me about yourself.”

He saw the other’s lips twitch imperceptibly, a mere movement that Aiba caught only because his gaze was fixed on Sho. He didn’t know what that meant, if the other welcomed his question or was debating on whether to answer or not.

“I just know that you’re a rich lawyer, and that you’re obsessed with camo,” he added, hoping to diffuse any possible tension that had built between them.

Sho chuckled, “I’m not obsessed with camo.”

“I’ve known you for only 24 hours and I already saw camo on your bag, flip-flops, swimsuit, and shorts,” he pointed out.

“I do like camo, but it’s my friend the one who has made burying me in camo stuff his life mission,” Sho explained.

“So, these are all gifts?”

“Not everything. These shorts aren’t, for example.”

“Ah,” he said, before closing his mouth and holding back his laughter.

Sho noticed that and finally returned his gaze, eyebrows furrowing. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Aiba replied, “Was just noting that you’re the one to blame for the bad taste in clothes this time.”

Sho moved to flick him on the forehead at that, and he closed his eyes, expecting a sharp pain hitting his skin. However, the touch was rather gentle and that surprised him. He had wanted to comment on that, but seeing how Sho’s head had shifted back again and the man had returned his gaze on the stars, he dropped that thought and went back to stargazing as well.

“I’m from Gunma, but I moved to Tokyo after high school. Alone. That’s the reason for the sharehouse. My family followed only after I graduated. My mom is a teacher, while my father has a law firm. They have always worked since I was a child, so loneliness has always been part of my daily life.”

Aiba let out a hum, not knowing if Sho was waiting for a question or was reasoning on what he could and wanted to disclose to him. He waited a few minutes, and when he was about to open his mouth, Sho continued.

“I also have a brother and a sister, but they’re both abroad. So, as the eldest and only son in Tokyo, I’ll have to take over my father’s law firm. Not like I don’t want to, but that place has been the only thing I’d ever known. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever want to be elsewhere. To try out new things.”

“Like your own law firm?”

“I don’t know, but that would be stupid of me.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Working in a well-known law firm is already a great thing, but being the president’s son is more than that. I’ve hit the jackpot just by being born. Not everyone has this luck, I’m well aware of that, so I don’t want to waste it.”

Sho had always appeared to him as a very confident person, so Aiba hadn’t expected to see this extremely humble side of him. Sho knew his privileges perfectly, and that his reality, and what for him was normal, wasn’t for everyone else. Probably, not wanting to ‘waste’ all that was out of respect to them, to people like Aiba.

However, it didn’t sit right with Aiba that Sho was willing to let go of his dreams because of that. No matter how hard it could get, Aiba believed that people should always follow their dreams, even if they had to fall and stand up again many times.“It’s not your fault if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. If you want to do something different from what you’re doing now, then you should give it a try, if that’s your dream.”

“I wouldn’t consider that a ‘dream’, but I’ll keep in mind what you said,” Sho said, a grateful tone in his voice. “You seem to be speaking from personal experience, though.”

Aia stayed silent, but soon a finger poked his cheek. He turned, and saw Sho’s knowing stare, “I’m right, am I not?”

He sighed, “Yeah, you are.”

Sho was a sharp person, as a lawyer was expected to be, so he guessed that it hadn’t been that hard to catch the reasons behind his words.

“Don’t tell me you’re a rich kid as well,” Sho joked, faking a shocked tone.

“I’m not, unfortunately,” he laughed out loud, “My family owns a chinese restaurant in Chiba. It’s a normal restaurant, though business is good.”

“I can sense a ‘but’ here.”

He chuckled at that; the other could read everything for real. “But I have never wanted to run it. It was my brother’s dream to do that.”

“What’s your dream, then?”

“Working in a fashion magazine.”

“Well, that explains why your outfits always look so on point. At least, style can’t be the reason why they’re always firing you.”

Aiba accepted the compliment and then went on, “Well, I guess I just haven’t been lucky enough. I’d like to say that I don’t know if I’ll keep on trying or not, but I know myself, so I know that I’ll do that until I succeed. I love that job that much.”

He felt something brushing his fingers, and when he looked down, he saw Sho’s hand on his. He looked at him, in question.

“For what it’s worth, that does you credit. Many people would have given up by now. Either you’re a fighter, or you hate that restaurant a lot.”

Aiba burst out laughing, dragging Sho with him. What the man said wasn’t really that wrong though, “Just like yours, my parents have always worked since I was born. I couldn’t spend much time with them as a kid, so maybe that had an influence.”

“And on top of that, you’ve even been unlucky.”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe I robbed luck from you.”

Aiba gasped, acting outraged, “Then you’d better do something about it.”

He heard rustling sounds next to him, and when he threw a glance to his left, he saw that Sho had shifted to his side. “Could it be that everything you did to me was payback for this?”

He moved on his side as well, facing him, “It could be. You have to make it up to me, then.”

“Excuse you,” Sho exclaimed, “You still have to make it up for having dragged me into a fake engagement, and giving me a boner.”

“Is that so,” Aiba simply said, before his hand went behind Sho’s nape. He licked his own lips and then wasted no time in closing the distance between them.

It was a slow, deep kiss. Sho’s hand went on Aiba’s hip to bring him closer, as he tilted his head so that he could have more access to the man’s mouth. He sucked on Sho’s bottom lip a few times, but the other looked eager to still explore his mouth, and so he let him lead the kiss; Sho’s tongue was fiercely dancing with his, as if he hadn’t had enough last night.

Aiba withdrew only when he felt Sho’s leg going over his, signaling that the other wanted something more. Not that he wasn’t ready to give it to him, but he enjoyed teasing him too much to give up so quickly.

“Are we even?” he whispered, still so close to his mouth that their lips brushed as he talked.

“Oh, Masaki, you will have to do more than a kiss to make up for that.”

He smirked and ran his lips until Sho’s ear, his hot breath causing the man goosebumps. “Let’s move to my room then, so I can do that.”



Aiba slammed Sho on the wall first thing after closing the door. The backpack long forgotten on the floor, Aiba attacked the other’s neck, feeling Sho shivering under his touch. Although feeling his back being scratched by the man’s nails under his shirt was arousing enough, Aiba wanted to hear him moan.

He adjusted himself so that his leg was on Sho’s groin, and he began to move it up and down on purpose, while pressing on him. As he heard the moans he had waited for, he understood that he needed Sho on a surface, to better gain access.

Sho was eventually dragged to the first thing that Aiba found in his path, the desk below the mirror. Aiba smiled in the kiss as he felt Sho opening his legs, so that their crotches could touch and gain some friction.

The man had slid his hand inside Aiba’s shorts, when he felt the familiar sound of a calling. He groaned and left Sho’s mouth to take out his phone from his pocket. “It’s Nino—My friend,” he affirmed, throwing the phone on the desk roughly.

He searched for Sho’s lips again, but the other dodged him. “A-And, do you have to pick it up?”

That question caused a heartfelt laugh to escape his mouth. “Sho-chan, I do answer to calls whenever I can, but sex always comes first. Don’t you think so?”

Sho’s face seemed nervous somehow, so Aiba grabbed the man’s member with his hand over the fabric of his shorts. That of course gained a surprised and loud gasp from him, who gulped and let Aiba throw him on the bed.

Throwing his shirt away, Aiba climbed onto Sho, who tossed away his own as well. Since he had already given Sho’s neck enough attention – the red marks on it were proof of it – he moved to his chest, biting and licking his nipples, while feeling his abdomen tensing up with one hand.

He straddled his hips, and lowered his waist so that they could continue to rub against each other. Sho seemed to appreciate that since he grabbed Aiba’s butt and pushed him onto himself. Aiba left a trail of kisses on Sho’s upper body, before he crawled higher, took Sho’s hands and brought them over his head.

Intertwining their hands together, Aiba lowered his head to kiss Sho again, as they moaned in each other’s mouths. He broke that contact almost immediately though, his lips still hovering on Sho’s.

“Since I’m making it up to you, I’ll give you the honor to top me.”

Sho’s eyes were dark, but they seemed more lost in something that wasn’t lust. So, Aiba repeated, “Top me. I’m for real.”

A few moments passed, in which they halted their movements and only stared into each other’s eyes. Then, finally, Sho turned them around, and lingered with his gaze on him for a while.

For a lot of time, actually, since Aiba could feel his aching erection screaming for attention in his pants. However, Sho had stopped all his movements, he was just hovering over Aiba without shifting an inch. He just looked at Aiba, and now he understood what he was lost in – thought.

“Sho-chan?” he called for him, caressing his cheek with one hand. “You okay?”

It took Sho a few more seconds to come back to Earth, blinking his eyes frantically, looking troubled.

“Sorry, I-I can’t do this. I can’t.”

He left Aiba’s body and stood up, picking up his shirt from the floor and wearing it. Aiba pushed up with his elbows on the mattress, and stared at Sho from there. “Sho-chan, what happened?”

Sho turned towards him, his face apologetic, “I’m sorry, this is not right. Not this way. Sorry,” were his last words before he went out of Aiba’s room.

He was left there, high and dry, and puzzled. What could have happened? What could have triggered Sho and made him run away? Recalling the last minutes, he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong.

Putting his hands on his face, Aiba groaned in frustration, eventually standing up from the bed as well. He threw a glance at his phone, and he saw his notifications’ led flashing. He grabbed it and saw a text from his friend.

‘I called you to check in with you. How's it going?’

Aiba texted back, his fingers pressing way too harshly on his keyboard, showing his distress.

‘Was going fine until now.’

He left the phone there and went to take a shower, both to freshen up and finish the work that Sho had left undone. It couldn’t be that the man didn’t want to have sex with him, since he had been the one to suggest that in the first place, after the kiss. He couldn’t wrap his head around Sho’s behavior and probably he never would, since it had been too sudden.

The only thing he could do that night was to go to sleep, and wait for Sho’s explanation the next morning. He checked his phone one last time, but Nino hadn’t replied yet, so he just turned off the lights and laid on his bed, waiting for sleep to come.

Sunday

Aiba’s sleep was interrupted by someone knocking on his door. He rubbed his eyes drowsily, grumbling that he had to leave the comfort of his bed, and reluctantly stood up.

When he opened the door, he found a looking-not-so-relaxed Sho with melon bread in his hands.

“Good morning. I already brought you sandwiches yesterday, so today I opted for melon bread.”

Aiba leaned on the door frame, crossing his arms, and yawned. He arched his eyebrow then, and interrogated Sho, “Is that all you have to say?”

“I’m also sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have left like that.”

“Why did you do that?”

Sho took a deep breath, “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“I…” the man trailed off, gulping down. Somehow, whatever this thing he had to say was, it was really bugging him and making him nervous. Aiba could see the distressed face of the other, and if what he was seeing under Sho’s eyes were dark circles, then this thing didn’t even let him get some rest that night.

Sho’s eyes were anywhere but on Aiba’s face, while his tongue would lick his lips every now and then. However, every time he seemed ready to talk, the man would go silent again.

Aiba didn’t like to see Sho that way, and surely if this ‘something’ was making him that uncomfortable, then Aiba wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it in the hallway. So, he snatched the melon bread from the other’s hands, and said, “You can tell me after trekking, right?”

“Ah—What?”

“Trekking. We had to go today, didn’t we? Though, I don’t have the right equipment for it.”

Sho bit his lower lip before sighing, maybe giving up and accepting the idea to talk later. “We can buy it. There should be a store in the resort.”

“See you in twenty minutes,” Aiba said, and without waiting for a reply, went inside his room to eat his breakfast and change himself.



He knew that he probably made a mistake not to press Sho to talk right there and then when he had the chance, and the more they continued on their path to the summit, the more he regretted it. But at the same time, he was scared of what he was going to hear.

They were having a lot of fun together, but if something had stopped Sho from continuing it, to leave just before they could have even more fun, then the reason must have been serious. Even if he still hoped that it was not and that the man had freaked out just because he had run out of condoms or something. Or because he had never topped, which could have also been the case judging by the fact that he had happily let Aiba be the one to top their previous sexual encounter.

Whoever is listening, please, tell me he’s just nervous about topping someone else. He thought, directing his gaze to the sky and hoping for his wish to go through.

Even if Sho looked a bit tense, and Aiba’s mind was running through all the possible scenarios of Sho’s ‘confession’ in his mind, the landscape around them was beautiful, and Aiba was left agape at the unspoiled nature their eyes were witnessing.

He saw Sho taking some pictures here and there, and a, ‘Can you send them to me later?’ almost slipped from his mouth. It was too early to ask for an eventual phone number, and before that he had to listen to what Sho had to say.

The truth he had to face that night, when he was trying to get some sleep, was that he indeed wanted to see Sho again after this Okinawa adventure. Even if just as friends – or sex friends; it would have been fine by him. He just genuinely enjoyed having Sho around, and it was rare to click with someone that well and that soon.

If then this was all the result of the famous red string, then he didn’t know, and he didn’t care as of now. The only thing he wanted to be sure of was that he could keep on seeing or hearing from Sho once they had left that resort.

“Masaki-san, look!” Sho said, making him focus on what was before their eyes.

Aiba followed the direction of Sho’s finger, and saw that the trees were decreasing and that up ahead there was the summit they had been walking to. When they finally reached it, they were both in awe at the wonderful panorama they were witnessing. From up there, they could see the limitless sea, and the fair beach that ran along it. In the distance, he could catch a glimpse of their resort, which looked like a tiny spot on a map from there.

Sho put down his bag and went to take a video. He was then going to take a selfie, but Aiba took the phone from his hand, and offered to take the picture himself. Sho posed with his hands in his pants’ pockets, and a proud smile on his face.

“How boring,” Aiba commented, looking at the picture. “Do a better pose.”

The man wore a confused expression, “What do you mean?”

“Something just out of a magazine.” Since the other was still lost on what Aiba was asking of him, he gave him some directions. “Turn on your side, then raise your chin and do that same smile as before, but just more smug.”

Sho did as he was instructed, and Aiba exclaimed content at the result, “See! This is so much better! This can easily be the cover of a magazine.”

“You think so?” the man asked, skeptically.

“Of course. You better use this as your profile pic for LINE, and if you post it online remember to thank me,” he said, as he passed the other his phone.

“I’ll remember that,” Sho promised, still laughing at his antics.

Then, after Sho took a picture for Aiba too, they sat down by a tree to rest and have their lunch. They were probably too tired and too busy with their food to talk, and so they kept silent. The only sounds around them were the chirping of the birds, the breeze that would occasionally brush their faces, and the sea’s waves crashing against the rocks.

It was all very idyllic, and Aiba felt peaceful, if not for those intrusive thoughts about Sho’s words. He was afraid that whatever he had to say could burst the happy bubble he had created for himself, and stain the good memories he had made there.

Even just for a few more hours, he wanted to keep on being cheerful, and not having any problems. He was going to be stressed in Tokyo anyway, so at least for one more day he wanted to be at ease.

So, that’s why he found himself saying, “Are you in a relationship?”

He gained a perplexed stare from the other, rightly so, who asked, “What?”

“Are you in a relationship, and so you’re cheating on your partner?”

“What?!” Sho exclaimed loudly, “No! Of course not!”

Aiba only nodded, and continued with his questioning, “Are you one of those ‘straight’ guys who likes to sleep with men from time to time, then?”

“What the hell are you talking about—Of course not. I’m gay, if you had any doubts, and most importantly out.”

“Are you from the yakuza?”

“No.”

“Are you some kind of spy on a classified mission?”

“No.”

“Are you a serial killer?”

Sho grabbed Aiba’s face and made him look at him. “Masaki-san, what’s happening?”

Aiba freed himself from his grip, and looked down. “If what you have to say is nothing that I have mentioned, then I don’t want to know. Or at least for now.”

“But—”

“Not buts. You’ll tell me tonight.”

Sho wanted to retort something, but Aiba didn’t give him the chance since he leaned on the tree behind him and closed his eyes.

“I’m full and now I’ll take a nap.”

He heard Sho’s whispering, “Okay,” before he drifted to sleep.



Aiba felt a finger poking his cheek, then his nose, and then drawing a path from his forehead to his lips, where it lingered. There, it traced his lips, and soon after another pair of his lips claimed his, gently, sweetly, feather-like.

Opening his eyes slowly, he found Sho’s, only a few inches away from his. He didn’t mind that, he noticed, and instead nestled against him further, clutching his arm around his.

A chuckle echoed in his ear, and then, a whisper, “We can’t stay here all day, Masaki-san.”

He whimpered against his sloping shoulder, rubbing his head over it, “Let me stay like this.”

“We’re going to stay here all afternoon?”

“I don’t mind it if it’s with you.”

He felt Sho’s hand, which was apparently resting on Aiba’s leg, tightened in a fist, before the man freed himself from his grip and stood up. Only at that moment did Aiba open his eyes, just to be met with Sho’s back.

“Come on, let’s get going,” the man said, stretching his arms and legs.

Aiba did the same, without saying anything, still not understanding what he could have said that had Sho react that way. He was stretching his arms high up when he noticed, with the corner of his eye, Sho staring at him – more precisely, at his hips. He looked down, and saw that his stretching had made his shirt uncover some bits of skin.

He smirked, “It’s nothing you didn’t see already, right?” he said, quoting the man’s words from yesterday.

Sho averted his gaze with blushing cheeks, since he got caught red-handed, but nonetheless grinned and threw Aiba’s bag at him.

They followed the same path on the way down, but coming down was definitely more slippery than climbing. Sho had to hold on to some trees at times, and once he even spontaneously took Aiba’s hand, which was closer. They didn’t fall, but Aiba suggested for them to hold hands until they reached the resort, and Sho didn’t say anything against that.

He expected him to protest, but instead he found Sho even casually swinging their hands in the air when they walked on even ground. Aiba was genuinely confused at Sho’s behavior. The man had stood up when he was cuddling with him, but now he had accepted to hold hands like it was nothing.

Aiba tried to tease him to see his reaction. “For someone who got mad about faking our relationship, you sure look happy holding my hand like that.”

“I just don’t want to fall, that’s it,” Sho replied, looking ahead.

“I can keep on acting as your fiancé if you want,” he continued, and then pulled Sho in, having him crash against his body. He stayed close enough to make the other feel his breath on him, but far enough that he would crave for more if Aiba’s gestures awakened something in him. “I may get dumped a lot, but I make for a good lover.”

Sho’s gaze fell on Aiba’s lips, the ones he had pecked just before, when they were still up at the summit. He saw the man swallow, the thirst for Aiba clear in the way he looked at him, but his gaze eventually moved to Aiba’s eyes, “I’ll think about that.”

It was Sho’s turn to pull him this time, to drag him along the path so they could return to the resort, which they reached in another hour, tired and sweaty. They stopped by their rooms shortly, just to set down their trekking equipment and take everything they needed for the hot springs.

The place was large. Tons of lockers filled the first room, most of them closed, showing how many guests were enjoying a good thermal bath. They stripped down and hung a towel around their hips. Aiba was not ashamed to admit that he groped Sho’s butt as fast as lightning when the man had crouched down to grab his shoes to put in his locker, gaining an annoyed but still cheerful scolding from the man.

They entered the next room, full of rows of showers and the usual wooden stools in front of them. They found two vacant seats next to each other, and after having showered, they moved to the baths. Aiba had eyed one outside, which was surprisingly empty, and he had immediately gone for it. Sho trailed behind him.

He sighed content when he was finally in the warm water, feeling that all his tiredness was being washed away. He heard Sho let out the same kind of sigh while swimming to an edge of the pool, placing his arms on it and resting his head on his chin. He scooted closer and did the same.

On the horizon, the sun was starting to set and this caused the ocean to become orange-ish, and that was reflected in Sho’s eyes, which he found way more interesting to look at than the panorama. That was why he turned his back to the edge and focused his gaze on Sho.

The man eventually felt like he was being stared at, and he turned towards Aiba, “Why are you watching me?”

“I just like the way the sun makes your eyes shine,” he replied earnestly.

He saw the man’s eyebrow arch up, while his lips failed to hide his amusement, “If I didn’t know any better, I would believe that you’ve been hitting on me today.”

“If I didn’t know any better,” he retorted, while placing one of his elbows on the pool’s border, and getting closer to Sho’s one, brushing it. He leaned in with his face to whisper his words, “I would think that you’re liking it.”

Sho laughed out loud. Then, he returned his gaze to the horizon with a veil of sheepishness that wrapped his face as he asked, “Would that be bad?”

“No, why?”

The other shrugged his bare shoulders, “No reason.”

He nudged him, “Your words always have a reason. Come on, what is it?”

“Sometimes, they could not have one.”

“Or maybe, they can’t reveal it,” he teased, and surely he didn’t expect Sho’s head to turn towards him, thoughtfully.

Sho’s eyes were looking at him as they never did before, carrying a depth that made Aiba shiver, because he understood that at the center of it there was himself. Just looking into his round, brown eyes, Aiba could tell that Sho’s thoughts at the moment were all about him, that he was seeing him and no one else.

It was strange to say that, but Aiba did feel at that moment as if, perhaps, he was all of Sho’s world. Or maybe, he didn’t feel that, but wished to. He wanted to be on the receiving end of Sho’s attention, caresses, embarrassed smiles, annoyed scoldings, laughter, secret aspirations, kisses. It pained him to think that once in Tokyo, Aiba wouldn’t be allowed to have any of that, and that Sho could someday belong to someone that wasn’t… him.

Aiba’s body moved on its own, and approached Sho’s, facing him. The hand that had moved underwater with this shift resurfaced once again, and went to cover Sho’s ones, who were resting on the border. Sho’s head had since long left the palm of his hands, and was now moving towards Aiba as well.

They both knew that whatever had snapped between them at his very moment was different than the other times. It wasn’t lust, passion, craving, no, it wasn’t any of that. It was longing, but for what, Aiba still had to grasp it fully. He had an idea, he of course had understood where his mind was going with his thoughts, but he was going to address those later on. Right now, he only wanted to kiss Sho’s lips, to show everyone that the man in front of him was his for the taking.

Aiba gulped in anticipation, his lips already parting and his breath becoming uneven. His hand clasped around Sho’s, evidence of the tension that was currently running in him.

A loud laughter made them jump away from each other abruptly, and they both cleared their throats as if to dissolve all the emotions that were left between them.

Aiba turned to the cause of their interruption, and saw some men chatting lively and entering the pool. He looked away, before they would realize Aiba’s death stare for having stopped them.

The moment was gone, and Sho was the first one to look away. “Shall we go?”

“Alright, let’s go,” he agreed.

Aiba stood up still dazed by the previous minutes, but was dragged down in the water immediately. He looked at Sho, the one who had grabbed him by his arm and pulled him. The next second, his bath towel was thrown at him. “Hide it, for God’s sake! There’s people around.”

He realized at that moment that, as absent-minded as he was, he had forgotten to bring his towel with him while coming out of the water. That made him amused, and maybe it was the tension leaving their bodies now, but they found themselves laughing out loud. Aiba proceeded to stand up holding his towel, but still not hiding his groin, which caused Sho to yell after him once more.

“Cover it!”

— — — — —

“Just how much of an exhibitionist you are?” Sho asked, sipping his coffee.

“Quite uncommon to find a Japanese who is a prude,” Aiba bit back.

“I’m not a prude, but going around with your little friend swaying back and forth is not something everyone likes to see. It’s a public space after all.”

Aiba put down his cup and rested his arms on the table, ready to retort. “First of all, if you go to a hot spring then you should be already prepared for such sights. Second, may I talk to Friday night’s Sho-chan? I would like to ask him if my friend is indeed little.”

Sho didn’t waste any time and nudged Aiba’s head vigorously, admonishing him with his wide eyes, looking around to check if anyone in the resort’s café had heard him. Sho wasn’t mad though, because he struggled to hold back his smile.

When he was about to continue with his innuendos just to annoy Sho some more, the other’s gaze went on a point behind him and it immediately darkened. He was going to turn around when his wrist was grasped before he could move.

Sho had his eyes fixed on the table, “Don’t look. He’s an ex of mine. I would really like for him not to notice me. Finish your drink and let’s go.”

He nodded, and they drank their coffees as fast as they could. They swiftly paid for their orders and were headed towards the exit, when unfortunately they were spotted. Or, well, Sho.

“Sho-kun!”

The man bit his lips, as his eyes moved to Aiba, “I’ll take you up on that offer.”

Aiba barely had the time to ask what was going on when Sho put on an obvious fake smile while he held Aiba’s upper arm with his hand, his fingers gently wrapped around his skin.

“Kakeru-kun,” Sho acknowledged, nodding in his direction.

A tall man approached them, together with a woman who trailed behind him. Even when they were in front of them, Aiba noticed that the two didn’t show any kind of skinship, unlike them, with Sho gradually gluing to Aiba’s body more and more.

“It’s been a while,” the man stated. “How have you been?”

“Very well,” Sho replied, “And you?”

“Same,” the man named Kakeru said, even if his voice didn’t seem too sure of his words. Then, the man seemed to remember that Aiba and what should have been his partner were there too, and he continued. “Natsuru-san, this is Sho-kun, an… old friend of mine. Sho-kun, she’s my wife, Natsuru.”

“Yasui Natsuru, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My husband has talked about you,” the woman beamed, bowing politely.

“Nice to meet you as well. And,” Sho tugged at his upper arm with emphasis, “He’s my fiancé.”

Aiba panicked, and not because he had to act as Sho’s fiancé, since he already did after all, and he had also offered himself that morning – Sho’s words of before made sense now – but because he had to introduce himself to the couple, and Sho didn’t know his last name.

To be honest, he didn’t care about that, he was okay with the other knowing his full name, but Sho had previously stated that he preferred to hide his identity, so what if he didn’t want to know Aiba’s as well? However, with two pairs of expecting eyes on him, he had to act quickly, and he found no other choice.

“I’m Aiba Masaki, nice to meet you.” He said, and he felt Sho’s grip tightening around him, but he promptly fixed that, helping Sho with the situation, since he told the man,“I’m afraid that I can’t say I’ve heard much about you though, Yasui-san.”

The man laughed, but the twinkle of sadness in his eyes wasn’t invisible, “I see that Sho-kun is still the same as always.”

“Too focused on the present and the future to think about the past, yeah,” Aiba ended his statement with a glance at Sho, who raised his hand.

“Guilty.”

“So, you’re here for a vacation?” Yasui asked, abruptly changing the topic.

“I came here for work, but I had the weekend off so Masaki-san followed me here so we could enjoy some time together,” Sho explained, “How about you?”

“Vacation. We took some time off,” Yasui said.

“Kakeru-san is always stuck in his office, so busy that he usually leaves last. But I finally managed to get him to rest,” the woman told them, and her happiness was showing in her expression and voice.

“She even convinced me to play a game,” Yasui commented.

Aiba saw how Sho’s eyebrows arched suggestively, “Oh, really? Kakeru-kun? The one who wouldn’t join any contest no matter how much I begged?”

Yasui strained a chuckle, as the woman nodded, “Yeah, that Kakeru-kun.”

“What kind of game is it?” Aiba asked, casually sliding a hand behind Sho’s back, “We love games, so it’s a surprise that we haven’t heard of anything.”

“It will be hosted shortly, just before dinner, in the Sunshine hall. It’s just like the Newlyweds Show, and the prize is a night in a suite room,” the woman told them. “I think that sign-ups are still open, so you should still be able to participate!”

Aiba turned towards Sho enthusiastically, “What do you say?”

“What do I say? That we’re signing up of course,” Sho replied with the same enthusiasm.

“Great! Then, we’ll see you there!” Natsuru exclaimed. “May the best couple win!”

“We’ll make it difficult for you two, so be prepared,” Aiba warned, smugly, before holding Sho’s hand, “Let’s go sign up.”

“Yeah, let’s,” Sho nodded, and then gave one last glance at the other couple, “It was nice to meet you again. Now, excuse us.”

“We’ll see you there,” were Yasui’s last words as they exited the café and headed towards the Sunshine hall.

Aiba didn’t let go of Sho’s hand, because he could feel that rage was surging in him. He limited himself to tightening his grip, and caressing the palm of his hand with his thumb. At that moment, Sho didn’t need any word of comfort, he just needed someone to hold him. And that’s what he did, even stroking his forearm gently with his free hand.

Next to him, Sho took a deep breath, and calmed down after a while. “Thank you.”

“No worries. As we discovered this weekend, I’m good at faking my relationship with you,” he joked.

“Not only that,” Sho shook his head, “For calming me down, for reassuring me. And for telling Kakeru-kun that I don’t talk about him at all.”

He chuckled, “Well, I guessed that that’s what he deserved. Right?”

“Well… Uhm, yeah,” the man replied.

Aiba bit his lips to hold back his question, which came out of his lips anyway, before he could even realize, “How did you two break up?” However, he hurried to add, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“It ended just the way many homosexual relationships end in our ‘world’.”

He tilted his head, “What do you mean?”

Sho stopped and tugged at Aiba’s hand, to signal him to come closer. Then, he started whispering his story, “He has to inherit his parents’ company, who are very conservative. He’s a closeted gay man, and when his parents gave him an ultimatum, he didn’t have the strength to rebel against them and he broke up with me, went forward with the arranged marriage and married an heiress, who was also forced to enter the marriage cause her family was after the Yasui family’s money...”

“What?” he asked, bewildered.

“Even if she’s an heiress, her family’s business wasn’t going too well,” Sho explained. “They needed money, and that’s what Yasui’s family had. She has power, he has success. She needs money, he needs a cover. Everyone was happy, and our relationship continues to be a secret.”

Aiba was sad to hear that, not only because Sho was left alone, but because Yasui had to live his life as a lie now. He couldn’t even imagine what it felt like to marry someone he couldn’t love. But just as Sho had said, that was their ‘world’, where marriages were still seen as a way to do business. It was something far from his reality, something he couldn’t understand.

“It’s not like I blame him or anything, I understand the pressure he must have gone through—I remember how many frustrated tears he’s shed, but it still hurts, you know,” Sho looked away, maybe not able to hold Aiba’s gaze anymore, “To not be the one who was chosen. And he was even the only one who loved me for what I was and not for what I had.”

For the first time since he met him, Aiba was seeing Sho vulnerable, needing support, needing affection. Every time he had talked about the other people in his life, Sho had always had a resigned smile on his face, like he had already come to terms with everything he had lived. However, that didn’t mean that his past still didn’t hurt him.

Slowly holding his chin between his fingers, Aiba searched Sho with his eyes and once he did, he kissed him sweetly. He just wanted to let him know that he was there, with him and for him, even if it wasn’t going to be forever. Even if Sho wouldn’t want to hear about him after getting on his flight for Tokyo. But in that moment, at that very instant, if Sho was going to fall, then he was ready to catch him with open arms.

“I’m here,” he told him firmly, to make sure that the other had got his message loud and clear.

Sho shook his head, “You don’t even know who I am.”

“I don’t need to know. You’re Sho-chan, and that’s what matters for now.”

“About that,” Sho sighed, deeply, “Before you said your real last name, didn’t you? Even if you don’t know mine—”

“I’ve already told you that I don’t care.”

“It’s important.”

“Then you’ll tell me once we’ll be in the suite room after our victory.”

The man furrowed his eyebrows, “You really want to join?”

Aiba smirked, “Sho-chan, wouldn’t you want to beat them and snatch that suite room just under their eyes?”

Sho’s lips curved in a grin, a mischievous one, “I’d love to. I also can’t say no to a competition, as you already know.”

“Perfect,” he said simply, dragging Sho to the Sunshine hall to register their names.

Aiba convinced him to just write down ‘The Aibas’, and to do an intensive session of warm-up, where they told each other everything that could come up as a question. Favorite food, city, sport, room in the house, part of their body; they also agreed on where their first kiss and first time should have been. They then proceeded to do a quick summary of their families and friends, before moving to some anecdotes of the past.

They went over everything they could think of, and when the game was starting, and the couples were being called over, they could only feel confidence running in their veins. They would win, get that suite room, and show Kakeru that Sho had found someone better, Aiba thought as he saw the Yasuis being called on stage.

“And now, our final contestants are the Aibas! Come up on stage!” the host, a certain Ikuta, introduced them, and a round of applause accompanied their entrance. “Where are you from?”

“Tokyo,” they had agreed that Sho would be the one to reply to eventual questions for the both of them, since he was definitely more used to speaking in front of many people.

“How many years have you been dating?”

“5 years.”

“That’s quite a lot! Any thoughts on marriage?”

“We’re engaged actually.”

The host started another applause, “Congratulations. Wish you all the best!”

After their brief introduction, Ikuta went on to explain the rules. There were going to be four rounds at the end of which the finalists would be chosen: the two couples with the most scored points.

The first round was a simple questions game: answer correctly and gain one point. Luckily, thanks to their ‘training’, they managed to guess a lot of questions, and score a total of 11 points. The second game was similar to the first, but this time they had to guess what their partner’s answer to a certain question would be.

They chose Sho to be one who had to guess, and Aiba really didn’t know how he did it – maybe he was inside his mind and that was the secret he had to tell him – but Sho managed to score full points for that round, making them skyrocket to the first place with a total of 16 points.

Aiba’s time to shine came with the third game, ‘Read my lips’, where he managed to guess all the words but one. Thanks to him, they went up to 22 points, and when they heard what the last game was, they knew that the final was theirs.

It was the pocky game, but a different version than the usual one. Every couple would try to eat a pocky from both ends, trying to leave a small bite of it. The couple with the shorter stick at the end of the round, would gain 10 points. Second place would score 5 points, while third place 3 points.

They had Aiba and Sho go last, since they had the most points out of everyone. Without any hesitation, they each took an end of the biscuit into their mouth, and soon began to bite carefully so as to not break the pocky. They came as close as brushing their lips, but they didn’t care, they wanted to win and the evidence was the short stick that Aiba was now holding with his fingers.

“Look how far these two went just to win! We have a very competitive couple here!” Ikuta commented.

After comparing everyone’s stick, the host began to list the winners. The third place went to a lovely couple of newlyweds, who however didn’t have enough points to reach the finals, since the second place went to the Yasuis, and the first place to them.

“The two couples who will compete for a night in the Honeymoon Suite suite are the Aibas with a total of 32 points, and the Yasuis with 27 points!”

The eliminated couples went off the stage and only the four of them plus the host remained there. Aiba could feel Sho as excited as him next to him, and he exchanged a quick look with him, their eyes saying the same thing, ‘We’re gonna win.’

“Our last game will be ‘Feel your partner’. One part of the couple will be blindfolded, and I’ll choose about seven people who will come on stage to join them. The partner who will recognize his or her lover in the shortest time, will win.”

That was something they could do. Sure, they met only three days ago, but they had touched a lot, and that was going to pay off here. They could win this.

“Our first couple will be the Yasuis and,” Ikuta moved closer and after inspecting them both, he pointed to the woman, “We’ll have you here on stage. Dear husband, please step down.”

Ikuta carefully chose some women from the audience, and even from the other contestants, and placed Natsuru in the middle, the 7th person. They all had similar facial features and height, so finding her could have been difficult for Kakeru.

The challenge started, and Kakeru was trying to focus on the women’s hair and jaws, probably something that he found particular in his wife. After having checked them all, and pondering on Natsuru and the woman in the 3rd position, he chose Natursu, successfully completing his challenge.

“And the time is… 1 minute and 15 seconds!”

Now, that was unexpected. They were fast. Their marriage might not have been blessed by true love, but they were a real married couple and they did know each other, showing that they shared their daily life.

“Now, onto the next couple!” Ikuta exclaimed, and then eyed them from his spot. “Alright sloping-shoulders, you’ll be blindfolded. The other fiancé can come up on stage instead.”

“Of course he wouldn’t have chosen you,” Aiba complained, since Sho would be indeed too easy to recognize.

Sho sent him off with a pat on his back and a, ‘Trust me, I’ll find you even among a myriad of people,’ whispered in his ear.

After having put people with similar bodies as Aiba in a row, Ikuta put him in the 4th position. He relaxed, and decided to have faith in Sho and in his words. He will find me, he thought, confident.

“And… Start!”

Sho went quickly for the first person’s face, placing his left hand on the man’s cheek and rubbing a portion of it with his thumb. Some seconds later and he was already onto the second person. Third one. Sho shook his head and reached for Aiba.

The man’s finger traced some circles in an area close to his right eye. They stopped abruptly though, probably feeling something under their touch. Sho then cupped Aiba’s face with both his hands, for some seconds, and then lowered a hand to hold his. Sho squeezed his hand, and smiled before turning around and raising their linked hands.

“It’s him,” he affirmed.

“You may want to check the others—”

“No, it’s him, I know it,” Sho was unwavering with his choice, and Aiba’s heart skipped a beat at the man’s determination.

“Alright, then, stop!” Ikuta said, and pressed the button of his timer. He looked at them, still in disbelief at what just happened, and then at his hands. His eyes, if possible, became even wider. “Everyone,” he started, towards the audience, “I don’t know what to say. 57 seconds! The Aibas are tonight’s winners!”

Sho and Aiba exploded in a mess of excitement and adrenaline, hugging each other and jumping around, celebrating. Aiba removed Sho’s blindfold and asked, incredulous, “How could you tell?”

“It didn't take much time to notice the mole close to your right eye and that your body’s temperature is relatively high. As for your hand, well, yours is the only one that makes my heart leap every time.”

Aiba joined their foreheads together for some seconds, hoping that this could make up for the kiss that he couldn’t give him right there and then.

“Here are your prizes, congratulations!” Ikuta passed them the keycard for the suite and a tiny 1st place trophy.

They bowed to the audience who was applauding them, and while doing so, Aiba caught Kakeru’s stare on Sho. He wasn’t jealous, nor sad. He looked genuinely happy. Sho was right, Kakeru really loved him for who he was, and that gaze was the proof that, despite everything, he was glad that Sho had found his happiness.

— — — — —

The tray was filled by now empty plates, standing next to the still set table. They were told that the staff would take care of everything else, so Aiba and Sho enjoyed the food offered by the resort – part of their prize – and had now moved to the balcony.

A firework exploded in the night sky, coloring it red. Soon, others followed and the sky became a rainbow for a while. They were watching the show in awe, their noses upward, guessing what the next color would be.

When the fireworks stopped, they clapped their hands, even if the staff that worked on the show couldn’t hear them.

“And now, your list is complete!” Aiba exclaimed.

“It’s the first time that clearing a list has been this fun,” Sho admitted.

Aiba immediately smirked, “Who do you have to thank for that, I wonder…”

“A drunk person who passed out in the elevator, I guess?”

He laughed, thinking that he had started that weekend hopeless and at his lowest, while now he was standing back up again, his willpower finally rushing through his veins once again.

“You know, I feel like trying again once in Tokyo,” he confessed. He put his hands on the balcony’s railing and looked ahead of him. “I knew that I would have done that anyway eventually, but now I’m sure. I do want to accomplish something.”

Sho’s hand went on his shoulder, patting it, “I’ll be cheering you on.”

He thanked him with a smile, which withered as soon as it bloomed, as it dawned on him that it was already Sunday evening. Their time at the resort was coming to an end, and that could be the last time they saw each other.

“What time is your flight tomorrow?”

“In the morning,” Sho breathed out, as if it was difficult even for him to think that he had to catch that plane. “The earlier I go back, the earlier I can go back to work. You?”

“Afternoon,” he only said.

Silence fell between them, but not their usual one. A sad, heart-wrenching silence in which their happy faces faded, and a gloomy aura surrounded them. Aiba tightened his grip around the railing, trying to gather up all his courage to ask the man if they could see each other again; if he could meet Sho’s gaze once again, and hear his voice, and feel his touch.

Aiba realized it while having dinner with him before. When Sho had casually asked him if he could pass him the wine. A normal, domestic action that had him think ‘I want this person in my life.’

“Masaki-san.”

“Sho-chan.”

They turned at the same time and that made them laugh, averting their gazes shyly.

“Can I go first?” Aiba asked, afraid that he would lose his courage if he had to wait longer.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Aiba took a deep breath, and began, “I wanted to thank you for these amazing two days. If I hadn’t met you, I would have just stayed in my room, wallowing in self-pity, and getting nowhere. But thanks to you, everything changed. And I know that it’s stupid, that it’s irrational, but you made me strong. You ‘healed’ me, Sho-chan, and no matter what happens from now on, you’ll always be in my heart.”

With a trembling hand, he touched Sho’s face, holding his cheek. “In your eyes, I might be only a nuisance that decided to annoy you for two days, but in mine, you’re the person I can see myself falling in love with.”

Sho’s eyes widened and his breath stopped, the air stuck within him. The man’s face, already fair, became even paler, while his body froze. Sho stared at him motionless for quite a while, a second so long that he himself felt the air missing from his lungs. And then, in the blink of an eye, Sho grabbed his face roughly and crashed their lips together. The breath they were holding was released inside each other’s mouth, as they wasted no time in deepening the kiss.

Their moves were rushed, and it showed in how their feet tripped over their steps, having them land on the bed badly. But they didn’t care, and hurried to remove each other’s clothes, the need to not have anything separating them too strong to resist.

Skin against skin, they rolled over the bed in what seemed a battle of dominance at first, but when Sho pinned Aiba down and looked at him, he understood the man’s haste, the urgent desire that was burning inside him.

“Make me yours, Aiba Masaki.”

Aiba didn’t need to hear it twice, as he threw himself on him, changing their positions. Even if his body was urging him to take the other man right there and then, unceremoniously, he took his sweet time. He didn’t remember much about Friday night after all, so he wanted to commit this night to his memory for as long as he could.

He kissed every inch he could reach of his body, until he stopped on the man’s inner thigh. There, he started to nibble and he smirked satisfied as he caught a glimpse of Sho’s hand wrapping around the sheets. He didn’t let that bother him though, and continued with his sucking, until he left a hickey there.

Sho’s throat released a frustrated moan when he hovered with his open mouth over his cock, sending his hot breath on the sensitive skin. His tongue started to lick slowly, going up and down, following the bulging veins. When Aiba heard a feeble, ‘Please,’ he engulfed Sho’s hard-on fully. However, he only conceded a long suck, which gained a loud moan from Sho, and then he released it.

When he went up, he chuckled at the man’s confused stare. He lowered his face until their noses brushed, and then whispered, “Don’t you still owe me a reward for that good answer?”

Aiba shifted and kneeled on the bed, while bringing Sho with him holding him by his nape. He pushed his head against his crotch, before ordering, “Suck.”

Sho’s hands found their way to Aiba’s hips, and his lips to his erection. Without wasting time, Sho sucked on Aiba at a steady rhythm, using his tongue to put friction on his tip. He soon began thrusting forward, his fingers clutching around Sho’s hair and keeping him in place as he fucked his mouth.

He felt Sho’s nails dig into his skin, and he took his dick out of his mouth. Panting, Sho lay down, closing his eyes to regain his breath. Aiba only left him for a few seconds, as he went to grab a condom and lube from his backpack – they hadn’t brought their whole luggage with them since they only had to stay for the night.

“Spread your legs,” Aiba commanded as soon as he was back on the bed.

Sho complied, and soon the two fingers that were inserted in him made him moan. Aiba added a third finger when he began to stroke Sho’s member, touching even his balls from time to time.

Out of all the stunning sights he had seen that weekend, he had to admit that a panting, moaning Sho under him, with his bangs glued to his sticky forehead and his dick trembling for him, was the best out of them all.

Aiba had never felt such a strong desire to claim someone as his, and when he entered Sho’s hole with a swift, blunt thrust, he found himself biting on his lips to stay focused, and not lose immediately himself into pleasure. However, Sho’s tight walls around him were too much for him and he couldn’t help but thrust right after.

He held the other man’s hips as he set a slow pace to start with, and his eyes locked on Sho’s, who had his hands at the side of his head, squeezing the pillow as he moaned. Aiba didn’t know why it felt so right with him, he didn’t know why Sho was different from all the others he had known until now.

Somehow, it was as if Sho had erased everyone that came before him, as if Aiba had discovered love and pleasure only with Sho. The sensations that were running in his body were stronger, deeper, more powerful than when he had sex with others. And he couldn’t wrap his head around it, how this man had come into his life and carved a spot for himself in it, even if he had to stay only a stranger.

He didn't want to see him again at first, and now here he was, searching for his sweet spot to make him cry in pleasure. He wanted Sho to feel good, really good, he wanted to erase the others for him as well. He wanted Sho to remember him and only him.

Aiba bottomed out twice before pulling out and lowering on the other, to reach his ear. “Next position. Show me.”

Sho moved to his side, and Aiba immediately glued his chest to his back, before putting his dick inside him again. Then, Sho took Aiba’s hand and passed it under his own leg, bringing it on his erection. His other free hand went to lose itself in Aiba’s hair. In that way, Sho was at his complete mercy, and that sent him a sparkle of immense adrenaline through his whole body, and there, he let himself drown in pleasure.

Aiba used his free hand to support himself, and then bit down on Sho’s exposed neck as his thrusts became more desperate, continuing his search for Sho’s sweet spot. When the man arched his back abruptly and he let out a moan louder than the other ones, he knew to have found it and began to hit it fast and hard.

Aiba moved his lips to the other’s earlobe, licking and biting that area, before muttering, “Scream my name.”

Even over his moans, Sho heard his low voice and stuttered, “M-Masaki.”

Aiba suddenly tightened his hand around Sho’s dick, which caused the other to moan in both pain and pleasure. “Scream, I said.”

The commanding tone in his voice really must have had an effect on Sho, since Aiba could feel how his member’s throbbing intensified. Sho wouldn’t last long, and neither would he, especially when Sho used all his strength to scream at the top of his lungs his name.

Every ‘Masaki!’ was in sync with his deep thrusts, the next one louder and needier than the previous. At once, too much was happening around him, as if every single thing was driving Aiba crazy and closer and closer to his climax. Sho’s chanting, his hole wrapped around his cock, Sho’s hand firmly holding Aiba’s wrist as he jerked him off. But the thing that was the most powerful was knowing that Sho was screaming for him, that those shouts were all for him, and no one else.

And then, everything went blank, as he bit Sho’s shoulder while riding his orgasm inside him, which sent the man to the edge as well, spilling in Aiba’s hand and screaming his name one last time. After that, everything ceased. The headboard stopped hitting the wall, the bed stopped cracking, their throats stopped producing incoherent sounds. The only sounds that echoed in the room were now their heavy breaths, as Aiba crashed next to Sho, and a tired smile formed on his face.

— — — — —

Aiba couldn’t hold back an embarrassed giggle as Sho’s stare wasn’t leaving him for even one second. “What is it?” he asked the man on the other side of the bath.

“Nothing,” Sho replied. He took Aiba’s ankle, resting on the bath’s edge, and kissed it, caressing it after. “I was just admiring you.”

“Or you were silently asking for round two?” he teased.

Sho didn’t reply, only arched his eyebrows suggestively, “After all, I still haven’t had the chance to top you yet.”

That had Aiba burst into laughter, before sitting up in the bathtub and, taking Sho by his neck, pulling him in a kiss. Still smiling, he joined their foreheads together then, and his free hand went to remove some tufts of hair from Sho’s eyes, before it was clasped by the other, who intertwined their fingers together.

And then, finally, Aiba pronounced the words he had wanted to let out since that afternoon. “Can I keep seeing you once we’re back in Tokyo?”

Sho’s lips twitched slightly, before curving up in a smile. Sho kissed the hand he was holding in his, and replied, “Yes, definitely.”

Aiba felt his heart exploding with joy, and he kissed the man again, even if he couldn’t hold back his huge grin of happiness. He finally had the certainty that he would see Sho again, that he wasn’t going to be just a past memory once he had left that resort.

He didn’t know if they would end up being an item or not, but he was sure that he would cherish every moment he had with Sho, and that he would do his best to be good enough for him, to be someone he would be proud to have by his side.

Just as he was sucking on the other’s bottom lip, they heard a cell phone ringing. He groaned, withdrawing, “It must be mine.”

“I have the same ringtone, it could be mine as well,” Sho informed him.

“Alright, I’ll go check and then return here as soon as possible.”

He had one leg out of the bath when Sho tugged at his arm. “You really have to go?” he whined, “Who cares who it is.”

“But Sho-chan,” he started, making a face, “What if it’s my mom? You can’t not pick up your mother’s call.”

Sho let him go, laughing at what he said. It was a joke, but he knew that it was also true for Aiba.

“I’ll be back soon,” he told him, wearing a bath towel around his hips and moving to the bedroom.

He found their cell phones on the table, and since the one ringing had ‘Nino’ as the caller ID, he quickly took it without a second thought and picked up the call.

“Nino,” he hissed, angrily, “The hell you’re calling for now? It’s going great now, no need to worry.”

“Aiba-kun? Huh?” asked Nino’s surprised voice on the other end of the line. Then, a snicker, “What? You’ve gotten so close that you even pick up Sho-kun's calls?”


“What?”

“Oh, please, don’t play dumb,” Nino snorted, “I get it, tonight you managed to go all the way. That’s great news.”

“Nino, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. What’s happening?” he said, this time in a serious tone – the tone that would cast a chill even on his friend, and that would make everyone understand when the charade was over.

He heard Nino’s thoughtful breath, and then a sigh, “He hasn’t told you yet.”

“Nino,” he said, urging his friend.

“Talk with him, he’ll explain everything. Tell him that I’m sorry that I outed him so carelessly,” were Nino’s words before hanging up.

As Aiba looked down at the phone, he saw that the wallpaper was a forest – a picture Sho had taken while they were on the promontory. That wasn’t his phone, it was Sho’s, and he had Nino’s number saved on it. He… knew Nino.

He stomped toward the bathroom, fuming.

“Who was—”

“What’s this?” he questioned, showing him the phone screen, which was showing that the call had ended. Nino’s contact was displayed at the top center.

He saw Sho widening his eyes in panic as he grabbed the bath’s edges with his fidgeting hands, “I can explain.”

“Then do that, and do it fast before I leave and never come back. You know Nino, so, you know me? Huh? You do?” he pressed. Then, as he saw the man hesitating, he shouted, “You know me?!”

“I do, I do. Yes! I know you!” Sho yelled back.

“How? What—” Aiba’s mind was so confused that he thought about the weirdest but still most likely scenario, “Did Nino pay you and send you here? Are you, like, a gigolò or something?”

“What—No! Of course not!” Sho exclaimed, finally getting out of the bath and wrapping a towel around his hips. “Everything I told you about me is true.”

“Then… Who are you?” he whispered, looking at him from the door frame, not daring to take one more step.

Sho sighed, his shoulders lowering as his gaze dropped to the floor. “Does the name ‘Sakurai’ ring a bell?”

Aiba inserted that name in his mind, searching among his memories and… it did. It freaking did ring a bell. A flashback from 3 years ago appeared before his eyes. Nino had asked him to accompany him to a boring Christmas party organized by one of his old friends. Since he would have spent the night alone without Nino at home, he decided to accept and went with him. There, aside from other people, they met someone who was a childhood friend of Nino, back when the man had attended a private middle school.

“Sakurai as in… Sakurai Sho,” he stated. “Nino’s childhood friend, and heir of the most important law firm in Tokyo.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” the man replied, his tone far from happy to hear those words.

“So, as Nino asked you a favor or…?”

“Do you remember that night?” Sho said, ignoring Aiba’s question.

“That night? At the party?” When he saw the man nodding, he continued, “Kind of, why?”

Sho crossed his arms, and started to narrate, “You were a bit tipsy, and when Nino left us to pick up a call, you told me how nice it must be to be me. To have everything. But I didn’t, since, like I told you on Friday night, it was difficult to find someone who wanted me, and not what I represented.”

“Kakeru-san and you had already broken up at the time?” he found himself asking.

“Yeah,” Sho bit his lip, “That’s why I was even more down than usual. Because even the one who loved me for me had left. So, I said something along the lines of ‘I guess even if people met me without knowing who I am, they would end up staying for the rest,’ and you, Aiba Masaki, you replied with something that I still cherish in my heart.”

Aiba waited for him, as the man recalled that moment emotionally. A bright and moved smile on his face.

“You said, ‘I’ll be honest, I would approach you for the money as well, Sakurai-san, but I would end up staying for the person.’”

Aiba didn’t remember that line, but he could see himself saying that. After all, even with just a bit of chit-chat on Friday night, Sho had got under his skin. Probably, if Nino hadn’t returned from his call, Aiba would have started falling for Sho in the same way he did that weekend. But it didn’t happen, and they only exchanged some more words before the man excused himself to go greet other people.

“You know,” Sho continued, “No one never really said such things to me, so what you said hit me profoundly. I thought you were only being kind, but your eyes were earnest, and for days after that, you were the only thing that I could think of. My mind would always drift to you and to that night, and before I realized it, I had fallen in love,” the man confessed. A sad smile was on his lips though, showing that something was painful for him though.

So, he asked, “And what happened then?”

“I met Nino some months later, and when I asked about you, he told me that you got a new job and a boyfriend.” Sho chuckled, “My love story had finished before it could have even started, so I just kept my feelings inside me, waiting for them to go away. But whenever I would meet Nino, I found myself asking about you, and, well, I guess he realized pretty soon what I felt for you.”

Sho and Nino had made a habit of meeting once a month, to catch up, so they wouldn’t drift apart like they did in the past. However, Aiba had never joined any of these hangouts, so he only knew that Nino would go meet this Sakurai friend of his, and nothing else. Probably, that’s the reason why he hadn’t recognized him when they met on Friday.

“Did you plan this out with Nino, then?”

“No, no, I didn’t,” Sho hurried to specify. “I had to come here for a conference for real – I was the host, by the way – and a few months ago I just simply talked about it with him. Then, this Thursday, Nino called me to tell me that he had sent you here for a vacation, and that you were as single as ever, so that it could be my chance, and such.” Sho shook his head amused, probably remembering his friend’s excited tone, since his next words were, “‘You have to check Friday’s night party out! I’ll convince him to be there, so be sure to go find him after your dinner!’”

“And did you do that?” he said, his voice a whisper.

Sho licked his lips, shyly, “I didn’t want to follow his plan at first. But eventually, I found myself going to the party. But when I didn’t spot you at first glance I just left. I didn’t look for you properly, because I had chickened out at the idea of actually seeing you again, but then, when I was taking the elevator to go to my room, I found you there… Must have been destiny, wasn’t it?”

Despite himself, Aiba felt his heart skip a bit. “What did it feel like to meet me again?”

“Honestly? I was glad that you woke up after I regained my composure,” Sho confessed, sincerely, “I had the person I loved sleeping on my bed, and even if he was wasted, he still looked handsome – plus, I didn’t even remember that you were as hot as hell.”

Aiba failed to hold back a smug grin, and averted his gaze, bringing it to the sink. That was presumably the first time that Sho had complimented him so directly, and sure it didn’t help his already flying butterflies in his stomach since he found out that not only his feelings were returned, but had bloomed even way before his.

Although tremendously happy to know that Sho loved him, Aiba couldn’t find himself to be completely fine with all this revelation. It didn’t sit right with him that Nino had plotted behind his back, and that Sho went along with it and didn’t tell him the truth. Even if at first was reluctant, he ended up doing it and hiding his identity from Aiba.

Yes, Aiba had told him that he didn’t want to know, but that was when he thought that it was just Sho going to reveal that he was a member of some noble family and that he couldn’t stay with Aiba because he was engaged to a prince or such – hypothesis that formed in his mind only after they met Kakeru and Sho had referred to his reality as ‘their world’. Was it absurd? Yes. But Aiba was at a loss on the reason why Sho was this secretive at first, and he still couldn’t understand why.

“Why did you hide all this? Why didn’t you tell me straight away that you were Sakurai Sho?”

“I—I…” the man tried, stuttering, trailing off though. He ran a hand through his wet hair, ruffling it, as his cheeks flushed,“It’s stupid, really.”

“Tell me,” he insisted.

Sho locked his eyes with his, “I didn’t want you to see me as just Nino’s friend. I was afraid that you wouldn’t have wanted to be something more with someone who was your best friend’s friend.”

“That wouldn’t have happened—”

“And what if it did?” Sho cut him off abruptly, “What if you would have considered me a friend as well? What if the only chance I had to get close to you would have blown up just like that?”

“So, that gives you the right to lie to me?” he blurted out.

Sho stayed silent, looking at Aiba with clear regret in his eyes. He spoke after taking a deep breath, “Masaki-san—”

“It’s Aiba-san for you,” he told him, coldly.

Sho nodded and swallowed a knot in his throat, before starting again. “Aiba-san, I apologize for having lied to you. I was actually planning to tell you while we were on the balcony, but after you confessed to me, I was afraid to ruin everything.”

“Didn’t you anyway?”

The man’s eyes bulged open, “What?”

He crossed his arms and looked up, sighing deeply, and then proceeded to put down Sho’s phone on the sink, “Look, Sho-chan. I’m not a fan of relationships starting with a lie. I also hate it when someone treats me as a fool. Many times it has happened, and if I can brush it off when it’s a stranger who does it, I just can’t do it when the other person is someone I care about.”

Sho grabbed his wrist, “Aiba-san, I wasn’t trying to fool you. I told you, didn’t I?”

“I still feel like a fool though. Even if it wasn’t your intention, even if you and Nino had only my best in mind, I do still feel like the big ass idiot in town,” he finally said, letting out all his frustration. “All this time trying to not make you uncomfortable over your name, when instead you were only hiding from me.”

Aiba freed his wrist from Sho’s grip roughly, and went to the bedroom. Sho followed him and at once hugged him from behind, placing his firm and strong hands on Aiba’s body. He placed his forehead on his back, and said, “I love you, Aiba Masaki. And I know that I was wrong and that I made a mistake, but please, don’t stop being a part of my life.”

Sho’s hot breath sent shivers down his spine, but he managed to clasp Sho’s hands to remove them from him. “I never was, Sakurai-san.”

Aiba began to gather his clothes, but Sho stopped him, not for the reason he was expecting though. “I’ll go. I’ll be leaving early anyway.”

He watched as Sho, face as tense as ever and eyes blinking away a few tears, collected all his belongings before looking at Aiba one last time. His gaze was heavy, piercing, full of Sho’s painful feelings.

“Goodbye,” the man said, and then he went out of the room, as Aiba let himself fall on the bed, as crushed as him.

— — — — —

Aiba entered Nino’s apartment and dragged his luggage to his room, and he heard a ‘Welcome back!’ coming from the living room. Soon, that was followed by footsteps, and just when he put his luggage on the bed to unpack and keep his mind busy with something, he found Nino on his doorstep.

“Hello,” the man said. His tone wasn’t excited, it was cautious, as if checking if Aiba was up for a conversation.

“I don’t know if I want to talk with you right now,” he admitted.

“Listen, Aiba-chan, alright, I’m sorry. But come on, was it really that bad? Didn’t you have fun with Sho-kun?”

“I did, but this doesn’t change the fact that you tricked me.”

Nino crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at him, “Tricked? And into what, exactly?”

“W-Well,” he stuttered, “Spending time with him and such.”

“I thought that it was you who first asked him for sex and then kept on following him around? He didn’t force you to do anything if you think about it.”

He stopped and stared at him surprised. Not only was that true, but how did he know? So, he questioned, “Who told you?”

“I called Sho-kun this morning and he told me everything, since I only knew about Saturday.”

“Wait, what?”

“Ah, right,” Nino snapped his fingers, as if remembering only at that moment a detail he had omitted, “I didn’t text you back last Saturday night because as soon as I read your reply, I called him to know what had happened.”

Now that he thought about it, Sho had never told him what had gone wrong that night. If he was meant to confess about this secret, then was that something related to their plan?

“Do you know what happened?”

Nino nodded, and went to sit on the edge of Aiba’s bed, “He felt bad for keeping his identity from you, and he didn’t want to have sex with you knowing that he was lying to you. You know, sense of guilt,” the man explained.

Sho-chan stopped because… of that?

“You said he felt bad?” he asked to be sure.

Nino hummed positively in reply, and then brought his hands behind him, stretching himself a bit, “He said something like ‘I don’t want to touch him while I’m not being honest with him,’ and such. I guess he really loves you a lot.”

And indeed, Sho had shown him as much. Every touch, every gaze, every word, everything he did was filled with something he was never able to pinpoint but that now seemed as clear as the sun. Sho loved him, and he loved him so much that he had accepted Nino’s freak plan just to have his chance.

Aiba sat next to his friend, exhaling deeply, letting out all the frustration he had inside him. Because no matter how much he tried, how much he fought, his heart had already forgiven Sho the moment he had returned to his room and saw that the number 1995 was vacant.

A hollow feeling had pierced his heart at that sight, and when he was on his plane, he had searched for Sho online. He was indeed from Gunma, he had indeed studied in Tokyo, he was indeed out. Everything Sho told him was true, so right now he should be running to him and not diddling his fingers. But how could he, after finding out in detail about Sho’s family and status?

He didn’t know what that man saw in him, but he was definitely out of Aiba’s league. If they were to be dating, how could he stay by his side, when he was nothing compared to him? If maybe in a passing thought he had thought he was hard working enough to be able to stand by Sho’s side proudly, after reading all those articles, he didn’t know if that was true.

“I’m not suited to be with him,” he found himself blurting out.

“Aiba-chan, don’t you think you should let him be the judge of that?”

A memory crossed his mind at those words.

“Sho-san, I thought you realized that I have nothing to offer.”

“Let me be the judge of that.”

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked at Nino, who gave him a reassuring and encouraging smile before getting up to leave the room.

— — — — —

3 months later…

Aiba had fantasized about meeting Sho again a lot during the past months. Would it be at a coffee shop? At a clothes store? At a convenience store? There were so many scenarios in his head, and a new one would pop up every time something happened.

After he had heard the news about Sho’s leaving his father’s law firm to pursue his dream to be a magistrate, Aiba started to think that maybe he would bump into him whenever he walked in front of the court of law, which was coincidentally very close to Aiba’s usual barber shop.

Seeing Sho taking his advice and actually trying something new gave him the motivation to return to his job hunting, which proved to be fruitful, because he was able to get a position as editor in the popular fashion magazine Star. He had also managed to find an apartment for himself, and another scenario appeared in his mind: Nino telling Sho about the great news, and the man making a surprise visit to him.

“If you want to see him, you can just ask me for his phone number,” Nino had told him once, when he caught Aiba lurking on the internet to search for any news of Sho.

He did want to see him, but he had yet to be and feel ready enough for that. There were still some things he wanted to get done before meeting with him. Buying a car, finishing to decorate his apartment, returning to his fit self. If he was going to meet Sho again, then the man should see the new and back-on-track Aiba.

That’s why he surely didn’t expect to find Sho as his interviewee. The man was as shocked as him, and started to fidget with the hem of his tie nervously. He approached the gazebo where the interview had to take place and introduced himself to Sho, even if there wasn’t really the need to.

He took out his business card, and passed it over, “Hello, Sakurai-san, nice to meet you. I’m Aiba Masaki from Star and I’ll be the one interviewing you today.”

When his colleague had got down with a fever and had asked him to cover for her that day, he could never have expected that he had to interview none other than Sakurai Sho. He just took the woman’s notebook and rushed to the location, only focusing on making it in time.

“Nice to meet you as well, Aiba-san,” Sho said, with a professional tone that betrayed his anxiety.

After exchanging their cards, Aiba was informed that the photographer had already done his photoshoot, so Aiba could take his time with the interview. He took out his recorder and his colleague’s notebook, and began his interview, which was for the ‘Never too late’ column of that month.

It was nerve racking to have Sho so close to him but having to act as if he didn’t know him. It was hard to focus when his eyes would fall on Sho’s hands and his mind would recall how comforting it had felt to hold them; or when he caught a glimpse of Sho’s vein on his neck, and remembered how Sho would always tilt his head backward so he could have more access.

He hoped that no one could see the way Aiba’s eyes devoured Sho, and how the man’s own did when he thought that Aiba wasn’t looking. Their attraction was obvious though, so if the others really did notice it, he prayed that at least they wouldn’t comment on it.

“And now, last question, Sakurai-san,” Aiba started, reading the last note in his colleague’s notebook, “You said that you always thought that the ones who could really help people are judges, and not lawyers. So, I’d like to ask, why now? Why this timing?”

Sho brought his hands on the table, clasped them together, and hinted a smile, “I recently met a person who encouraged me to pursue my dream, no matter what. At the time, I told him that I would keep that in mind, but when I found myself actually reasoning over those words, I understood that he was right, that I had to do something, and that I wanted to make him proud.”

“I’m sure that he’s proud of you, Sakurai-san,” Aiba replied immediately.

“Really?” Sho whispered, his lips now a full smile.

“Yeah, I’m sure of it.”

Aiba lowered his gaze on the notebook, pretending to write down some notes while trying to hide his embarrassment. He could feel Sho’s burning stare on him, clearly on cloud nine, and he was about to curse himself for what he had said. But the truth was that he didn’t regret it. He was really proud of Sho, and he wanted him to know.

However, that cost him to end the interview not meeting his gaze with Sho’s once, too afraid that he would just throw himself at him over the table, hugging and kissing him. He was weak to Sho’s eyes after all. He wondered if the other felt the same, and if that was why his fingers were holding his phone tightly right now.

Aiba packed his things while Sho was going towards his car, where his assistant was waiting with his folded hands. The man threw a glance over his shoulder and locked his gaze with his, and there, his body moved its own and the last thing he knew was that he was walking towards him.

Sho did the same and when they were finally in front of each other they breathed at the same a, “Hello.”

“I didn’t know you were working at Star. It was a surprise,” the man said.

“I’ve only been here for one month and a half, so I’m still waiting for my usual bad luck to strike anytime,” he joked.

“It won’t happen, I’m sure that this time everything’s going to be alright.”

“Why are you so confident about it?”

“Because I’ve been praying for you to find stability soon.”

Aiba furrowed his eyebrows, “You’re kidding, right?”

Sho chuckled, and shook his head, “No, I’m for real. I went to a shrine to pray for good fortune for my new start, but I ended up praying for you.”

He recalled when he had hoped to be Sho’s whole world back at the resort, and he smiled unconsciously, seeing how that was actually the truth. Even if 3 months had passed, even if Aiba hadn’t yet reached out to him, Sho still loved and cared about him.

“Thank you,” he replied, shyly.

Sho eyed Aiba’s badge before returning to his face, “You should be proud of yourself as well.”

“‘As well’? You mean you are?”

“Of you? Of course.”

Those were the words that he had wished to hear in these past months. He had lived for that moment. Knowing that he had made Sho proud as well, that he had managed to get back on his feet and that he was now running again, made him understand that he was, indeed, ready.

“Sakurai-san!” the man’s assistant called for him and signalled to his watch.

Sho nodded in his direction and then smiled apologetically to Aiba, “I have to go now, I have an appointment and—”

“What if we start all over again?” he asked before Sho could go away.

With a lost face, the other stared at him in confusion, “What?”

Aiba cleared his throat, “Let’s act as if the resort hasn’t happened, and we’re meeting each other today for the first time.”

Sho seemed to ponder over that suggestion for a while, crossing his arms and chewing on his lips. Then, he leaned in, “And how would we do that?”

He smirked, “Starting with a coffee, maybe? You have my number now, it’s on my business card. I’ll clear my schedule for you.”

“Shouldn’t that be my line?” Sho retorted, amused.

They stared at each other intensely, because there was so much that they wanted to say. However, Sho’s appointment was impending and Sho had to excuse himself, not before sneakily winking at him. Aiba watched as Sho got in his car, and his assistant drove away.

Behaving as if the Rakuen resort hadn’t happened was surely going to be tough, but the Aiba and the Sho that had left that place were now gone. Today’s Sho was going to be a magistrate, while today’s Aiba had got his life back on track and was now standing tall, leaving behind all the negativity that people had brought him in the past.

It was time to fill his life with things that made him happy, and at the top of his list, there was surely Sakurai Sho.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I can't resist not reading a NC-17 Sakuraiba fic. This was wonderful from start to finish! I loved the subtle Arashi and Chiba date hints. ^_^