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He was, for all intents and purposes, invisible. Not like the invisible man. If he talked, people answered. If he walked down the street, people didn’t run into him… much. He was simply unremarkable apparently. People never remembered his name or even remembered meeting him before in most cases. No one would say he was ugly, by any means. In fact, he sometimes thought that if he was ugly, extremely ugly, at least people would have something to remember about him.
He looked in the mirror and thought that maybe if he put on 400 pounds people would at least stare at him on the street. He shook his head and took off to work.
As usual, he arrived early. His card didn’t work and the people on Human Resources kept forgetting to issue a new one, probably they kept forgetting he worked there too, so Shige had to ask for a temporary one every week. He went up to the receptionist, who looked up and asked: “Can I help you?”
He sighed; they went through this every freaking week, “Good morning. I need a temporary pass. I still haven’t gotten mine.” The girl frowned a little. “We talked about it last Monday.”
Her face finally lit up in recognition. “Right, Koga-san”
“Kato, actually.”
“Right! Did you change your hair? I think that’s why I didn’t recognize you.” He hadn’t, of course, his hair was exactly the same and the receptionist always said something like that to explain why she didn’t remember. Shige simply gave a non-committal grunt and took the card from her.
“Have a nice day,” she chirped and Shige turned to leave.
He worked in the basement of a company that owned several magazines. Two years before, when he had started, he had dreamed of becoming someone more important. A photographer or maybe chief editor. However, when people didn’t remember who you were there weren’t likely to promote you. Plus, he never really figured out what he really wanted to do. As a result, he was stuck in a dead end job, cataloging old issues of the different magazines and unused articles that might be used on other issues or would probably be forgotten down there, much like him, really.
He sighed at that thought. He was having a pretty depressing day. He noticed the time, it was already 1. Lunchtime, then back to the office and then home.
Shige was back home and all that he wanted to do was get comfortable, open a beer and watch something really stupid and funny on TV. He changed into his old sweatpants and an old shirt with a couple holes in it, which was at least 3 sizes too big, but was the most comfortable piece of clothing ever. He ran his fingers through his hair roughly several times. It felt nice to mess up his hair. He was going to the kitchen to get the beer he’d been thinking about since that morning when he remembered he hadn’t gotten his mail on the way in. He thought about just getting it the next day but he was expecting an important letter.
Urgh, fine. The beer could wait a few more minutes. Just as he was he ran down the stairs and grabbed his mail before someone saw him in those clothes. He ran back up and when he went to the door, it would not open. He felt the side of his pants, which, now he realized, had no pockets. The keys were inside his apartment and he was outside.
He banged his head against the door. He couldn’t be that stupid! Ah, but he was. Cell phone? Inside. Shige took a deep breath. The only thing left to do was ask one of his neighbors to let him use the phone. He knocked on the door next to his.
“What are you selling? I don’t want anything!” His neighbor’s voice snapped.
“No, Nakamura-san. I’m your next door neighbor. I got locked out of my…”
“What? No, no, my next door neighbor is a very polite old man…” who had died a year before Shige moved in.
“No, Nakamura-san. I moved in a year ago. Remember? I say hello in the mornings?”
“Go away before I call the police!”
Shige left. It was no use. The woman didn’t remember him. He knocked on the other door, but nobody was at home.
“I see you roaming the hall!” Nakamura-san’s angry voice said. “I’m calling the police.”
“I’m leaving already!” Shige was losing his patience. He went up the stairs and knocked on the apartment just above him. He really didn’t want to. His neighbor was a flashy kind of man. He was shorter than Shige but still draw more attention than him. Oh, and Shige kinda had a crush on him… yes just from seeing him a few times. He always tried to get a glimpse of him and he had even shared a few elevator rides. He wasn’t stalking him or anything… well, maybe he did ogle a little when he saw him…
The door opened and his neighbor was fresh out of the shower and wearing only bottoms and a towel around his shoulders and was drying his hair with one end of it. He stopped and stared at him. He looked like an advertisement for… Shige didn’t know what for but he would buy one… for each person he knew, which weren’t really that many. And now he remembered exactly what he was wearing and exactly the way he looked and wished he had just slept on the floor in front of his apartment door.
“Um, if you are selling something…”
“No!” Shige said and it came out louder than he had intended. “No,” he repeated in a softer voice, “I’m Kato Shigeaki. I live downstairs. I got locked out of my apartment and I was wondering if I could borrow your phone?”
“Oh,” Tegoshi said opening those gorgeous eyes a little wider, “sure, come in,” he said stepping aside.
Shige went in and Tegoshi showed him to the phone. Shige hadn’t given a spare key to anybody. His family lived too far away to be any help and so he had to call a locksmith.
He hanged up. “Someone will come in one or two hours. Thank you so much for the phone,” Shige told Tegoshi and started walking to the door.
“Where are you going?” The other man asked.
“I’ll go outside to wait for the locksmith. I’m sorry I bothered you, Tegoshi-san.”
“Don’t be silly. Stay here. It’s already dark outside and cold. Just call them back and tell them to ring my apartment instead.”
“Um, okay. Thank you.”
“Sure.”
Shige called back. “Hi. I just called, I got locked out of my apartment and I needed someone to open it and I wanted to change the apartment number.”
“Your name,” the voice on the other side asked.
“Kato.”
“Mmhh… Kato… Kato… I have nothing here, are you sure you called us?”
“Yes, I’m sure. And I just talked to you .”
“Really? Sorry. Let me write it down.” Shige gave all the information again thinking that this was getting ridiculous. He was really cursed. He hanged up and went to sit on the couch.
“Want something to drink?”
“Sure.”
“Is a soda fine?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“I won’t charge you but you have to promise to give it back,” Tegoshi said with a smile and a wink. Shige laughed and promised to give it back.
Tegoshi told Shige that he really needed to finish some things for the following day so if he didn’t mind he would go to his computer and Shige could watch TV. Shige was fine with that, he couldn’t impose on the guy any more than he already had.
About 45 minutes later some guy came in to open Shige’s door and he thanked Tegoshi again and said goodbye.
*****
The following days weren’t remarkable at all. It was about a week after the door incident that Shige walked into his usual restaurant. He had been going there for the past 6 or 7 months at least twice a week for lunch. Shige wished that he could go into a place and order “the usual” but that never seemed to work for him. The waitress that usually took his order never knew what the “usual” was. The girl didn’t remember him ever eating there, actually, so he just ordered.
That day when he walked in he saw Tegoshi sitting at one of the tables. He looked Shige’s way and smiled and waved. He was about to wave back when a tall leggy brunette walked passed him calling Tegoshi’s name. She went straight to him and he stood up to greet her. She was a little taller than him, Shige noticed. She hugged him and kissed his cheek and then they both sat down.
It shouldn’t really bother Shige. A guy like that was probably surrounded by beautiful, legs-up-to-here women. And it’s not like they had anything going on. Probably he didn’t even like men. The man had only let him stay in his apartment just to be nice and they hadn’t even talked that much. He just sat at one of the tables away from them and just stopped thinking about it.
Two days later he was still thinking about it. Well, not about the thing in the restaurant but about talking to Tegoshi again. He made up his mind and grabbed a soda from the fridge and without thinking about it, lest he changed his mind, went to the next floor and knocked on his door.
“Yes?” Tegoshi said and looked at Shige with a smile “Are you selling something?”
“Um no, I live downstairs, Kato Shigeaki… I came last week… I… sorry to bother you…” He had known that there was a distinct possibility that the other man wouldn’t remember him but it was still a disappointment and it still kinda hurt and it definitely made him lose his nerve.
“You really look different, with the clothes and the hair I didn’t recognize you for a minute but you do clean up nice,” Tegoshi commented with a smile.
Shige gave him a half-hearted smile. “Yeah, s-sorry to bother you…” Shige started keeping his hands with the can behind him, giving him back the soda seemed like an extremely stupid idea now. “I… I was wondering if… if you had found in your mail a letter for me. I’m expecting a letter and it should have arrived but didn’t. I figured since you have the same apartment number only different floor maybe you got it by mistake…” Shige trailed off self consciously. This excuse worked no better than the soda.
“Sorry, no. I’ll keep my eyes open, though.”
“Thank you. Sorry to have bothered you. Again.”
“It’s no bother,” Tegoshi said and he even looked sincere so Shige left before he made even more of a fool of himself than he already had. “Wait…” Shige heard Tegoshi say and then a telephone started ringing. He just kept going.
In his apartment, Shige felt like the stupidest person on earth. Of course, he hadn’t expected Tegoshi to fall for him at first sight… or second, but he had honestly hoped he would at least remember seeing him even if he couldn’t recall his name. Really depressed he went to bed without eating and hoped he felt better the next morning.
He didn’t but he still went to work, which turned out to be very good because that day he discovered something that made him very happy.
He had some articles that wouldn’t be used but had to be saved for whatever reason when he saw a name that caught his attention. It was Tegoshi's. He worked in the same company and he had never seemed him or noticed. He was one of the journalists for the sports magazine. This was important because this way he could get his information and find his e-mail and write him… about what he didn’t know but it was something.
That night Shige got home and sat on his computer. What could he write that wouldn’t make him look like a stalker? Something work related… but what? Right!
Dear Tegoshi-san
My name is Akiyama Sora and I really admired your work. I got your e-mail from one of your senpais from university, whom I happened to know. I hope you won’t get mad at him for this. I only wanted to ask for your advice since I want to become a journalist too and our mutual senpai told me your opinion would be very valuable.
If this is too forward, you can ignore this e-mail, but I’ve heard much about you and would really appreciate any help you could give me.
Akiyama Sora
He wouldn’t use his name. He didn’t want him to know it was him and a big part of him that believed he wouldn’t remember his name and that would really hurt. He turned off his computer and went to bed with a small smile on his face.
*****
For two days nothing happened and Shige was starting to lose hope but on the third, he opened his email and there it was: Tegoshi’s reply.
Dear Akiyama-san
I have to admit that your message took me by surprise. I haven’t worked in the magazine for long but of course I’ll help you. I know everything about sports, especially soccer so you can ask me anything and I’ll help you if I can.
By the way, which of my senpais gave you my e-mail?
Tegoshi Yuya
Shige almost made a happy dance. He answered the email. He had done some research so that his questions weren’t so amateurish so he was pretty confident that he could keep up with the correspondence.
They talked by e-mail every day, several times a day and the topics started changing from sports and work to more personal issues and he started to like Tegoshi. He was a bit egocentric and even a little conceited but he didn’t seem to have bad intentions and Shige knew first hand that he could be generous and care for others, even a neighbor he didn’t remember he had.
Weeks went by and New Years was getting close and with it the New Year’s party. Shige hated it. Many co-workers got together at a rented house and had a party there. He never talked to anybody and he was pretty much ignored by everybody at parties so he had planned to skip it until Tegoshi commented in one of his messages that he would be going to it.
Now he was in the party and he wished he hadn’t gone. He was standing in a corner and nobody even looked his way.
Maybe I just stepped into a Twilight Zone episode where he saw everybody and nobody saw him. Well not nobody, there were a cat and a dog, maybe the house owner’s pets, and they were both looking at him. Well, animals always stared at the walls, right? So maybe he had become completely invisible. That’s how he always felt at parties.
He was pondering on all this when Shige saw him. He was walking and talking with a woman. Shige recognized her but didn’t know her name, they’d never met. The two were laughing. Shige wanted to go talk to the other man but didn’t know what to say really. He just stayed in his corner thinking of how to start a conversation.
“Hey, don’t I know you?” Shige lifted his head and looked at the voice. Tegoshi was standing there with that beautiful smile of his.
“Um… yeah… Your neighbor… Remember? Kato Shigeaki?” Great, the little courage he had was lost the moment Tegoshi didn’t remember him.
“Right,” Tegoshi said with a little laugh. “So, you work at the magazine too?”
“Yeah. Nothing important, just cataloging…” Shige trailed off.
“Cool. I had never seen you. Well anyway, how do you like working for a big company?”
And just like that, they were talking. They talked a lot about a lot of things and other people called Tegoshi to join them but he just smiled and said he’d be right there, although he never left Shige.
“This party is a little loud, isn’t it? I’m tired of having to shout everything. Do you want to go? Have a coffee or tea and talk a little more. I put on a smile and everything, but I don’t really feel comfortable with people I don’t know.”
Tegoshi had told him that in one of his messages to Akiyama Sora.
“I know,” Shige answered and saw Tegoshi frown a little. “I mean, I feel the same. Like I wish I was reading a book at home or something… Sure, we can go.” Shige finished before he said some more stupid.
They went back to their building and Shige invited him to his place and he made some tea. They sat down on his couch drinking but didn’t say anything.
“Ah, this is much better, now we can talk and hear each other.”
“Yes,” Shige answered oh so smartly.
“So, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Do you like me? I mean, like me like me?”
Shige choked on his tea. Tegoshi patted his back until he recovered.
“Mmh, I don’t know if that is good or bad,” Tegoshi mumbled with a chuckle that was just a teeny tiny bit nervous.
“I… I do…” Shige whispered looking down and rubbing the back of his neck.
“Good, I kinda like you too. I’ve been waiting, hoping you would come back to my apartment after that day with the door. I mean I gave you a great opening.”
“Eh?” Boy, Shige was sounding just like a genius today.
“Well, yeah! I told you that you should give back the soda I gave you. Great opening.”
“Oh, I thought of that! That day I told you about the letter I was expecting. I had a soda can behind my back but I lost my nerve.”
Tegoshi started laughing. “Stupid! I was still going to invite you in but you just escaped!”
“Well, I thought…”
“Well stop thinking.” And then he kissed him.
His hands went from Shige’s chest to the side of his face. Tegoshi licked his lower lip and Shige took a deep breath and they both deepened the kiss. Tegoshi let out a low growl and the next thing Shige knew, the other man was straddling him and Shige’s hands were on Tegoshi’s hips bringing him closer.
Would he remember who he was when they woke up in the morning? Shige thought. He couldn’t be that unmemorable, could he? What if he was? Some people he’d been with hadn’t called him back, maybe because they couldn’t remember…
Tegoshi bit Shige’s lip, not enough to draw blood but it did sting.
“Hey!”
“Are you back with me? Or is your head still wandering? I mean come on? Look at me. Are you really fantasizing about somebody else?” Tegoshi said but there was laughter in his voice.
“No, I wasn’t…”
“Okay, then I’ll aim to keep your mind right here,” Tegoshi said as he started to kiss Shige’s mouth and then made a path from Shige’s cheek to his ear and then from the hollow of his ear down his neck and then back to his lips.
Tegoshi only broke the kiss long enough to remove his shirt and help Shige take out his.
“So is that your bedroom?” Tegoshi asked eyeing the door.
“Uh huh,” was all Shige could manage. Tegoshi looked at him and smiled a very sexy smile and with a fast and fluid motion he stood up and moved to the door and turned around calling Shige with his index finger and a sultry smile. Shige had no other choice but to follow, of course.
****
The next day, Shige woke up to messy sheets and alone. He frowned. Had Tegoshi sneaked up on him? Shige remembered that Tegoshi had said he had to work early in the morning. He looked at the clock and it was nearly 10. He had probably gone off to work. Still, Shige felt a little bad that the other man hadn’t woken him up or anything.
When he went into his living room he saw a note.
Shige
Did you think I snuck out? Shame on you. I wouldn’t have gone until you made me breakfast but I really have to work and you look too cute and you have a very heavy sleep or was that my fault? Haha. Anyway, I didn’t want to wake you.
We’ll talk later.
Tegoshi
Okay, now Shige was smiling like an idiot probably. It was Saturday and he had nothing to do so he sat on his computer and answered Tegoshi’s email to Akiyama. He would tell him about this later, when they met.
However, Tegoshi didn’t call that day or the day after that.
“You may be overreacting. It hasn’t been that long, though he does leave right in the same building… Well, the guy’s an asshole,” Shige's sister stated with her usual finesse. “Forget about him, you are better than that.”
“But, he hasn’t even written Akiyama. I mean, even if he was gonna ditch me after one night why did he stop writing to Akiyama? And why leave the note? Maybe something happened.”
“Did you try his apartment?”
“Yeah, he wasn’t there.”
“Can you feel him moving around?”
“No, but I never could, so…”
“Well… It wouldn’t be the first time a guy just doesn’t call you… I’m sorry but you tend to choose people who…”
“It’s not that I choose them, it’s that I’m cursed and when people don’t see me enough they forget about me!” Shige snapped. His sister was silent for a moment.
“Shige, that’s not true. I remember you. I may not call very often, but I remember you.”
“Yeah, but it’s different with other people. We lived in the same house since I was born. of course, your brain eventually registered me. And mom did leave me in many stores when I was little.”
“She always came back. She is a scattered brain and you were always very quiet…”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Fine.” Shige heard her sister take a deep breath and knew what was coming. “Have you thought about my offer?” She had offered him a job with her. She had opened an art gallery and needed help. “If you take up photography again I promise I’ll let you exhibit it here. It’s not a big gallery but it’s not insignificant either.”
“I don’t know.”
“Just think about it. And for god sakes stop mopping around and go camp on the guy’s door until he comes back and gives you an explanation!”
Shige hung up.
His sister was right, sort of. So went up the stairs again and knocked on Tegoshi’s door. This time the door opened.
It was the leggy brunette, the one from the restaurant. She had to be a model. And she was wearing a very short skirt and one of Tegoshi’s T-shirts. He had seen him wearing it a couple of times. Shige took a deep breath. There might be a logical explanation.
“Can I help you?” The girl asked.
“Who is it Yuuko chan?” It was Tegoshi’s voice.
“I don’t know.” The girl moved back a little and looked at Tegoshi. “Do you know him?”
Tegoshi stared at him and he frowned just a little. “Umh…”
“I’m his neighbor, but I… I’ll come back later.” And Shige just run down the stairs and went into his apartment slamming the door. He put his forehead against it and just breathed. It was fine. It was nothing that hadn’t happened to him before. He would be fine. He just had to stand seeing him in the building and probably at work, since now he knew he worked there.
Shige punched the door and went to his bedroom with a resolute step. The guy had either used him as a one night stand (which wouldn’t have been that bad if Shige didn’t feel so much more for the other guy and if it wasn’t for the things they had both said that night together) or he had actually forgotten about him. He had seen the look on Tegoshi. Maybe he remembered afterwards when he said who he was but Shige was almost sure he hadn’t recognized him at first.
Why had Tegoshi said that he had hoped Shige would come back to his apartment? Well, duh, he wanted to get laid. And while they were both sprawled in bed, wrapped around each other still recovering their breath he had also said that he had wanted to do that with Shige for a long time. Well, maybe a few hours from the party until they finally kissed in his apartment was a long time for the other guy. Shige knew from his emails with him that Tegoshi pretty much got what he wanted fast.
Shige stopped thinking. I didn’t matter. He was done. He put his clothes and a few more things that he needed and his computer in a couple of bags and just left, not without noticing that Tegoshi hadn’t come to his apartment to explain things or to say “I didn’t forget about you, I just hit my head and was confused.”
He called his sister on his cell phone to tell her he was going crash at her place for a while. He had rented the apartment with the furniture, so that would stay and he could ask his sister’s husband to get the rest of his things to avoid the risk of running into Tegoshi.
Whether he was afraid about the confrontation or about the possibility of Shige having to remind Tegoshi of who he was, he wasn’t sure. What he was sure about was that he would quit his job and go work for his sister, at least she would remember who he was. he would just forget about other people. If they ignored him, he would ignore them right back.
****
He liked working in the art gallery and he did take photos but he was starting to get into painting. He wasn’t bad actually. He had quit his old job over the phone. It didn’t go so bad, mostly because the person he talked to couldn’t quite place him.
He hadn’t talked to Tegoshi in the two months he had stayed at his sister’s house. He had seen the e-mails Tegoshi sent Akiyama, but Shige didn’t even open them. He just erased them.
That didn’t mean that he didn’t miss the guy. He did, terribly. They hadn’t seen much of each other and only talked through messages and only had the one night, but Shige, who for a smart person had been an idiot in the whole Tegoshi thing, had started, and probably finished, falling for him.
It didn’t matter. Shige was moving into a new apartment. It was nicer than his old one and a little bigger. He needed to get furniture but he had a few chairs a table and a futon would be delivered the next day. His brother in law said he would go to his old apartment and get the rest of his stuff. The place hadn’t been rented out so he had left a few of his things there.
“Why did you just disappear?” Shige froze. He turned around and he found Tegoshi standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest, a frown and a really pissed off look.
“I… How did you get in?”
“The door was opened.”
“And how did you find me?”
“I found your brother in law getting your things. You know how much I had to beg and pout to get him to tell me where you were?”
“Just wait until I sic my sister on him.”
“Answer my question. Why did you just disappear?”
Shige looked down. “I’m sorry, I just needed…” Wait a minute, why was he apologizing? It should be the other man saying he was sorry, the arrogant bastard. “Why did I disappear? Oh, I’m sorry, after finding a woman in your apartment, in your clothes I might add, and you not recognizing me after only four days after being together I was a little upset,” Shige fired back.
Tegoshi opened his eyes, which still were gorgeous damn him, and dropped his jaw a little. “What do you mean I didn’t recognize you?”
“When she asked if you knew me you just frowned and said nothing. I mean, I get people forget about me, they always do but you could have at least recognize my face or after I said I was your neighbor you could have come and said something.”
“Okay, first of all I did, but you had left by then. Second of all, of course I recognized you, idiot. How could I forget about you? I told you I had wanted to be with you since we met.”
“Liar, you didn’t remember me. Every time we met I had to remind you who I was. Every time.”
“It was a joke. Granted not a very good one in retrospect and if I had known you had that notion that everybody forgets about you in your head, I wouldn’t have done it. I knew who you were. Honestly. I never forgot about you.” He said the last part in a soft voice that sent shivers down Shige’s spine and started to walk closer.
“That doesn’t explain the woman wearing your clothes. Yuuko-chan.”
Tegoshi took a deep breath. “It was only my t-shirt, the rest were her clothes. My sister showed up out of the blue the day after we were together and just wouldn’t leave. I should have at least called you, I know, but she is a lot to handle, if you think I never stay still… See? It wasn’t worth you hissy fit.”
“I didn’t throw a hissy fit! Okay maybe I did. It was just too much after the crappy year I’d had, I snapped.”
“Anyway, that day she dropped tea on her blouse and I lent her my t-shirt while it dried. And I hesitated because if she knew who you were, well… she would have freaked out and she would have freaked my mom out and they wouldn’t stop hounding me until they knew everything about you then met you, your family… Again, looking back, I shouldn’t have hesitated and I should have run after you like something out of a movie or something but I didn’t. I’m sorry.”
Somehow he had moved closer while talking and they were now very close. The other man was looking up at him since he was a few inches shorter. Tegoshi reached out and pulled Shige down to kiss him.
“Okay, I forgive you,” Shige said against Tegoshi’s lips.
“No, I forgive you .”
“I didn’t…”
“Shige, shut up. Do you have a bed here?”
“Not yet.”
Tegoshi shrugged. “The floor looks clean enough and I’ve already locked the door…”
They were both on the floor with a thick blanket so they wouldn’t freeze. Tegoshi was lying mostly on top of Shige, who was stroking Tegoshi’s arms lazily, tracing the ridges of the lean muscles there.
“Are you still going to sic your sister on your brother in law?” Tegoshi murmured against Shige's throat.
“Yes. I mean now I’m happy he told you where I was and I’m not angry but it’s just so much fun. You’ll see.”
“Do you really think people don’t remember you?”
“I know so. I’m pretty much invisible. I’m kinda cursed I guess.”
Tegoshi lifted his head and frowned down at Shige. “Cursed? By whom?”
Shige simply shrugged.
“You are not cursed…”
“You’ll see what I mean. Let’s just change the subject. As long as you see me and remember me I’m fine. If you forget I’ll remind you again.”
“Fine, Shigeo… or was it Shigeru?”
Shige pinched Tegoshi’s arm lightly.
“Okay, changing the subject. Why didn’t you answer my messages?”
“Eh?”
“I wrote you and you never wrote me back. It’s what made me so angry. I understood why you left but I explained things as apologized in my messages but you never answered.”
“I didn’t…”
“You are Akiyama Sora, aren’t you? Or did I confess and wrote some very sweet and embarrassing things and, later on, swore at a complete stranger?”
Shige still didn’t answer. He was honestly embarrassed by what he had done. Tegoshi bit the side of his neck and then soothed the sting with his tongue and Shige shivered a little. “Well?”
“I am Akiyama Sora. How did you know?”
“Well, you clearly didn’t know much about sports…”
“But I researched…”
“Not enough. And then, we did talk about a lot of personal stuff and that night after the party some things you said made me realize who you were and you never did tell me where exactly you got my e-mail so I just figured it out. It’s fine, I don’t mind. Still, it wasn’t a very nice thing to do.”
This time Tegoshi bit his earlobe a little harder.
Shige poked Tegoshi’s side, which he had found out was very ticklish, and the other man let out a loud laugh and tried to squirm away. Shige ended up pinning Tegoshi on the floor and looking down at him.
“Stop biting me.”
Tegoshi lifted his head and bit Shige’s collarbone. “Like you don't like it.”
Shige chuckled and kissed him. It was a slow, dragging and almost lazy kiss and they didn’t open the door until the next day to receive the futon.