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Sho punched in the passcode to let himself onto Nino's property, pausing to make a face at the security camera just because he could. His shoulders and forearms felt tight from the long drive and heavy stress of his job, which today had entailed arguing with the producers of Nino's next drama. They were angling to get Nino to lose a few pounds and Sho had argued with them for more than an hour about Nino's health and how he'd won the Galaxy award last year, he could easily act sickly without having to actually make himself sick. Sho had beaten them back on this issue as thoroughly as he could because he didn't want them to mention it to Nino, who wouldn't argue and instead eat even less than usual. Being Nino's manager included making sure Nino ate enough to keep body and soul together, Sho had always thought, and he wasn't about to change his mind.
After parking next to the small car in front of Nino's house he turned, taking in the pretty house across the driveway with stylish pure-white curtains and cheerful yellow paint before looking at the mint-green house at the end of the small cul-de-sac, the biggest of the three. The houses were fairly close together but separated by several large trees and Sho squinted at the green house, wondering if he should be noticing anything different about it. It was the only one of the three that had a garage so he couldn't divine anything from the lack of vehicle outside and Sho let it go in favor of finding out from Nino.
Sho made his way into the dark blue house, toeing off his shoes in the entryway and heading straight for the living room. Nino spent most of his time in his living room, which was a cozy room at odds with the gleaming sprawl of the kitchen and dining room. It had a beat-up couch, more comfortable than Sho would ever admit to Jun, who loathed it, all of Nino's gaming apparatus, and a futon in the corner that Nino slept on most nights. Nino had a perfectly good bedroom (three, technically, though one was in use as the music room) but it was covered over with sheets of music paper, notebooks of lyrics, and his guitar and keyboard. His drum set was kept in the converted music room, which was where Sho thought all the rest of it should go, too, but Nino seemed set on conserving the space he used.
As expected, Nino was on the couch playing Mario and didn't turn when Sho greeted him. Sho was used to this, especially when Nino was set to start a drama soon. Having drama filming for more than twelve hours a day, plus promotions and magazine shoots and the time it took to travel, meant that Nino barely got enough time to sleep and eat while in the thick of it. For the weeks leading up to a drama Nino was fiercely possessive of his free time, usually not leaving the house for anything. He made Sho have meetings with him there and made Jun cook every meal instead of going out once in a while. He gamed more than he slept and wore the same clothes for nearly a week at a time. Sho didn't begrudge him these phases and might do the same if he could, considering how deeply tired he always got when Nino was working on a drama or movie. His other clients didn't magically stop needing him just because Nino was so busy but he knew Nino relied on him the most.
Sho thought that Nino might have been better in a different aspect of the entertainment industry, rather than as an actor, if he was less of a solo act and had more people around him to support him and depend on him in turn. Sho also thought that Nino needed more friends. Nino had Sho, of course, and Jun, but his other friends were more colleagues than anything, and while Sho was glad of Nino's lack of scandals he worried about Nino's love for his own home and free time dampening his natural impulses for things like dating and marriage. Nino liked to retort that he didn't see Sho shacking up and making babies but Sho always looked so pained when he did that Nino only said it when he couldn't take any more of Sho's nagging.
Sho leaned against the curving wall that bordered the two steps of stairs leading down into the den-like room. Even though he hadn't spoken for several seconds after coming in Nino still hadn't turned his head and Sho looked at his bedhead and tense shoulders fondly. He'd known Nino for nearly eight years now, having started with him at a tiny agency and having been brought with him when Nino was signed to a much larger one. Nino was his first client and his best friend and he didn't regret a second of the time he'd spent that day politely telling those producers to shove it. He came farther into the room and flopped down next to Nino on the cushions.
"I brought you your scripts, episodes two through four," he said, eyes tracking the movement of Nino's character on screen. He put the scripts on the table next to Nino's feet and noticed that one sock had a large hole over the big toe. He flicked the toe and held in a laugh as Nino just twitched angrily in his direction. Nino let him put an arm around his shoulders, though, and Sho leaned close, not caring that Nino had smelled better and was moving spasmodically under his arm. He wondered when Nino had last bathed but held in the question, choosing not to bring it up in the long-standing hope of finding out just how long Jun would wait before tossing Nino in the bath himself.
"What time is lunch? Invite me to lunch, Nino," he whined. He was not generally needy but five minutes in a room with an ignoring Nino could turn him that way, and there was the prospect of Jun's food to consider.
"Lunch is in ten minutes," said Jun from the doorway, startling Sho. "You're invited. It will be nice to have someone around who appreciates my food." He started back toward the kitchen then paused. "Bring Nino or neither of you get anything to eat."
Luckily Nino beat his game with thirty seconds to spare and they made it into the dining room to find lunch just being set on the table. Sho meant to make sure Nino ate a lot but was distracted by how tasty the food was and Nino and Jun discussing the concert Jun had gone to the night before. Nino hadn't entered the music industry but Sho knew how much he worked on his songs. He'd tried to get Nino to release one, or at least sell the rights to someone so people could hear his music, but Nino was stubborn, insisting he was an actor, not a songwriter.
The only time Sho got to hear Nino's music was on his birthday, for which Nino wrote him a song every year, and now that Jun was around he'd gotten to hear one for Jun's birthday as well. Nino had even coerced him into rapping for it and Sho thought it had really broken down the the biggest of the walls between the two of them and Jun, who had cried a little and then snapped at them for taking a picture. Sho gazed fondly at Jun, who was laughing with Nino over something or other, and ate another bite of his pasta. He should have known how much he'd come to like Jun when he'd first eaten his food. No one who could cook like that could be anything less than a friend to Sho.
The next day Sho was back, around lunch time again on purpose, this time with an offer for a new commercial for Nino. Commercials were how Nino made most of his money, both from doing a lot of them and being paid a lot for the ones he did. Everyone wanted him to promote their product because he sold it thoroughly and so charmingly that viewers didn't even hold it against him. He managed to slip in product placement when he went on variety shows and he had, more than once, seamlessly done the same in his dramas. His acting roles were why he was so famous but his commercials had paid for his ridiculous estate and Sho's salary as well.
He found Nino in the living room again, looking pensive rather than gaming, for once. Sho came to sit next to him, concerned and Nino smiled at him wryly.
"My mom finished moving out today," he said, looking at his hands. When Nino had bought the property more than a year ago he'd given the biggest house to his mother. It had two living rooms, one of which Nino had deemed her parlor, at which she'd always swatted him, and four bedrooms, into which he'd tried to cajole his sister and her husband. He'd been roundly rejected, with his sister letting him know she would not be moving into his "hippie compound" no matter how many hot butlers he hired. (Jun objected strongly to being called a butler and, although he gave in begrudgingly to being called a "housekeeper", was termed the "estate manager" on his contract. Sho and Nino liked to call him the king when he wasn't in the room, and Nino had bought him an expensive t-shirt with a sequined crown on the front for his birthday that he swears he can see Jun wearing through the curtains on his house by dint of the sheer sparkle involved.)
Nino had recently become an uncle, though, and his mom had decided to move in with his sister and brother-in-law in order to help with the baby. It had been an ongoing process but it seemed like she was finally gone and Sho took Nino's hand comfortingly. Nino gave him a mournful look and Sho felt a growing suspicion that he only ignored because Nino looked so cute when he was putting on an act.
"You still have Matsumoto-kun," he said soothingly, trying not to smile at Nino's unwaveringly woeful expression.
Jun snorted from the doorway and Sho wondered how the hell he always appeared without Sho noticing. "Don't buy it, Sakurai-san," he said. "Nino sent her off with a smile and a wave and then came in and started plotting."
"Plotting?" Nino said with his best hurt tone. "I am devastated."
"Why don't you just tell him what you want?" Jun said flatly. Nino stared at him, woebegone, before turned to Sho and giving a wobbly smile. He stood up, Sho's hand still in his, and pulled him out of the room and down the hall, up the stairs and into his bedroom. Except it wasn't his bedroom, it was the empty bedroom next to his, and he was looking up at Sho beseechingly.
"Since I am so lonely without my dear old mother--" Nino started.
"He told her to kiss the baby and not drop him on his head like she did her own kids," Jun interjected from behind them.
"And since I miss you desperately every time you are not around--" Nino continued, with a distinct wheedling inflection.
"When he knows you're coming and doesn't want to have to listen during the meeting he makes sure to start a game that will last a long time and take all of his attention," Jun said, enjoying himself greatly.
Nino didn't spare him a glance. He finished, "Won't you please move in with me?" He batted his lashes at Sho and then threw his arms around Sho's torso, clinging like a koala. "You are my only friend!" he cried. Sho knew enough about Nino to know that he'd said this for Jun's benefit and was now making rude expressions, if not gestures, at him behind Sho's back.
"Nino, I have an apartment. And your mom lived in your guest house, not in your guest bedroom. Why aren't you asking me to move into her old house?" Sho asked, bemused.
"He wants to get someone who will pay rent on that house, for the money," Jun said. Nino let go of Sho and stepped back, and Sho could see the pretense of sorrow slip from his features. He shrugged at Jun, unashamed, and turned back to giving Sho his best pleading look. Sho closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I have an apartment," he repeated. He couldn't see Nino but he could feel his lack of capitulation by the absence of any sort of irritable noises. "And if it came down to it, if you really wanted me here, I could pay rent on the guest house," he gave in, feeling like a pushover.
Nino gave a huff. "I don't want your rent money, Sho-chan. Your money is my money!" Sho opened his eyes, wide, and opened his mouth to argue but Nino added quickly, "And vice versa."
No one who knew Nino could take a statement like that as anything less than a declaration of deep friendship. Jun gave an exasperated sigh as Sho reached for his phone to find the number of a moving company.