Chapter Text
Illustration from Chapter 11 by OJ (@OrangeNotTangerine)
Majima stretched and lounged back against the window of the pachinko parlor, starting to get sleepy in the lazy afternoon sunlight.
“Hey, hey! You! Off of there!” the proprietor cried at him, shaking a broom, “No grease marks on the window!” The older man shook his head vehemently.
Majima sneered and rolled his eyes, slouching forward onto Saejima’s shoulder. “When ya said you were gonna spend all day doing this, I didn’t think ya meant all day,” he drawled, pouting down at Saejima’s gameplay.
Saejima shrugged him off. “Bro, you’re in my light.” He hit the button for another round of balls. “And I saved up for this,” Saejima smirked, “You can fuck off if ya want to or wait for me to be done, but I’m gonna be here until I’m out.”
Majima groaned, dragging his hands over his face and turning to face the window again. “But this is so boring ,” he whined, staring into the street at the trickle of passersby. “Can’t we at least start a fight? Maybe smash up a few machines-”
“Nuh-uh, no way,” Saejima cut him off sharply, spotting the edge of that manic grin on Majima’s face that always meant trouble, “Not after you got me banned from the last pachinko parlor.”
The proprietor poked his head up again, glaring at the misbegotten youths. Saejima smiled as reassuringly as he could manage, Majima just pouted, looking at the locals and odd tourist in their designer shorts and pastel blouses. “Ya never let me do anything fun,” Majima muttered.
“Your definition of fun is a misdemeanor,” Saejima reminded him, “Yes! That’s 500 for Saejima.” He grinned wide, collecting his tokens.
“Oh, like you’re such a saint.” Majima glanced at him snidely, before his attention was caught by a couple of new figures peering into the udon shop across the way. Two young men, about the same height and age. The first had shoulder length hair, a striped tank top, and white shorts that revealed well-toned legs. The second had close cropped hair and broader shoulders, which he showed off in his loose, pink t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off and absolutely tasteless cargo shorts. Apparently no one had ever told him he had an ass too.
The first one clapped an arm around the other and turned to him, smiling as he made a joke. The second one turned just enough that Majima caught his face, far too serious for someone so young, unwilling to smile. But he did smile, just barely, more of a light in his eyes than anything else. Majima’s eyes widened; he was gorgeous.
The two young men apparently were not in the mood for udon and turned to continue wandering down the street. Majima turned hastily to disguise the fact that he’d been staring. He focused very hard on whistling and massaging his cuticles.
Saejima looked over at him, starting to frown. “What’s-”
He was interrupted by the shop door jingling open and they both turned to see the two young men walk in. On closer examination, the one with longer hair was quite pretty himself, his features angular and sharp, like a painting. But Majima found he couldn’t really give a fuck, more drawn to the smooth stone of the stoic’s face. He looked like he came into this world frowning and Majima wondered what it would take to make him smile, really, truly smile.
The young men passed them heedlessly, chattering quietly. Or rather, the long-haired one chattered and the stony-faced one occasionally deigned to grunt in response. Majima licked his lips.
“Oh that’s what this is about,” Saejima muttered, turning back to his game.
Majima looked up. “What? I didn’t say anything.”
Saejima snorted. “Yeah, you didn’t need to. Already got his eye color and shoe size memorized?” he asked, grinning, pressing the button for another round.
Majima’s mouth dropped, affronted. “I was just admiring an attractive stranger, forgive me for having a sense of beauty!” He gesticulated outrageously, Saejima just smirked, shaking his head.
Majima collapsed onto the stool next to Saejima and sighed. “Besides, what’d’ya think my chances are?” He scratched his chin, looking over at the heads of the two young men, just a row over.
“Which one?” Saejima twisted around, frowning, trying to crane his head over to see.
“The hot one,” Majima complained, folding his arms.
Saejima just looked at him.
Majima rolled his eyes. “The one with deep chocolate eyes set in a face of granite, just waiting for the soft hand of romance to coax him into tenderness?”
Saejima blinked slowly and looked at him.
“The one with short hair,” Majima groaned, sulking.
Saejima turned his attention to the one with short hair, hopping off his stool for a second to get a better look at his face, his clothes. Majima took the opportunity to prop his feet up on Saejima’s stool.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Majima- oy!” Saejima grunted, pushing Majima’s feet back off as he turned back and settled onto his seat again. “But that one’s straight, the other one ya might have a shot with.” He shrugged.
Majima’s mouth parted. “Straight my eye!” he huffed, “He’s gay… he just doesn’t know it yet.” He pouted, folding his arms and determinedly putting his feet on Saejima’s lap instead.
Saejima rolled his eyes. “Same difference, you’ll never get him to convert,” he explained, swatting Majima’s feet away with only limited success.
“Who says I needed him to convert? I just need him into me ,” Majima leered, looking over at his quarry again who, for the first time, glanced up and caught Majima’s eyes. A thrill shot through Majima’s gut at the contact and his grin widened. The kid looked away fast, the faintest sneer of disgust moving his lips. Charming.
Saejima had adjusted Majima’s position in the meanwhile and was just sitting down on Majima’s ankles when Majima looked back. “I’ll- hey, hey!” Majima snapped, trying to pull his legs away, but too slow. He winced as Saejima sat directly on them, making himself comfy.
Saejima shook his head. “It’s a fool’s errand to tell a man what he wants, but if you want to make a fool of yourself, by all means,” he sighed, trying to refocus on the pachinko.
“I’ll be persuasive ,” Majima insisted, trying to squirm out from under Saejima. “I’m good at that, I’m great at being persuasive- C’mon!” he whined, “You can’t be comfortable sitting like that.”
“Mmm, persuade me I’m uncomfortable,” Saejima challenged, shooting him a look.
Majima glared back. “Not in the mood,” he replied testily and finally gave up on squirming. “Fine, I’ll put money on it,” he sighed.
Saejima perked up and turned towards him. “Oh? A wager?”
Majima broke into a wide grin. “Oh yes. A thousand yen says I can make him kiss me.” His eyes sparkled.
Saejima’s eyebrows rose. “A thousand yen you can make a stranger in a pachinko shop kiss you? Alright, I’ll take that bet,” he smirked, “This oughta be funny.”
“Done!” Majima beamed. “Now you can’t reasonably assume I can get that done with you sitting on my feet ,” he hissed, trying to pull his feet out from under Saejima by hand.
“I dunno bro, your prowess as a lover is… legendary,” he sniggered, finally lifting himself up to let Majima go.
Majima glowered, stretching his ankles and standing. “Yeah, yeah, you just keep that to yourself for the moment,” he growled, glancing over at his target and deciding the best route of attack, “I’ve got work to do.”
“Good luck,” Saejima muttered, still smiling, returning his attention to the pachinko game. He was quite sure that when this all went to hell he would hear it before he saw it.