Work Text:
“Cut!”
The crew buzzed around as Sho opened his eyes again. In front of him was his co-star, Matsumoto Jun, who pulled back with an annoyed expression. It was the fifth time that day they had to do that scene because the director was never happy with the result, and Sho was getting tired of having to repeat the same lines over and over again – and most of all he was getting tired to kiss Matsumoto.
He grimaced. He hated kiss scenes in general, but when his co-star was one of his exes… it was awkward to say the least.
The AD approached the set and bowed. “Thank you for your work,” she said. “It’s a wrap for today.”
Sho sighed inwardly and turned to his co-star to thank him. Always professional, Matsumoto thanked him too and wished him a good evening.
Relieved, Sho walked off the set to find his manager, who was on the phone.
“Yes, of course. We’ll be there right away, sorry for the inconvenience,” he heard him say.
“Is there a problem, Aiba-san?” he asked as his manager hung up.
“I was able to buy you some time till the start of your interview,” Aiba replied. “Let’s go.”
Seeing Aiba look so stern was a rare sight. Without waiting for Sho, he bowed to the crew thanking them for their work and walked away.
Sho rushed to keep up. “What’s the hurry?”
Aiba looked at him coldly and quickened his steps. “We’re going to be late if we don’t leave like 5 minutes ago.”
“Hey, you stole my line,” Sho joked, trying to defuse this weird tension that was lingering between them.
However, Aiba ignored him and kept walking straight ahead until they reached the empty garage. Their steps resonated in the lot, making their silence feel even louder. Sho wasn’t sure what was happening, or why his manager was mad at him. Usually, Aiba didn’t have any issues just telling him what Sho had done to make him angry, but it seemed like he was really pissed about something this time, because as he opened the door to his car, his face was hard as a rock, and his stare was icey.
Sho got in the backseat and frowned. Aiba was as cheerful as ever when they got there three hours ago. Whatever had happened, must have happened while Sho was filming. But what was it? Was it because the filming ran late? No, he never cared about these things. Then what? How did his manager expect him to fix whatever he’d done if he didn’t tell him?
“Aiba-san,” he started, looking at him in the rearview mirror, “did something happen?”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” his manager replied in an ill-concealed sarcastic tone.
Deterred by the reply, Sho decided to keep silent.
Sho was outside the door to his apartment two hours later.
As always, he stepped aside when he opened the door, letting Aiba go in first. He got inside a second later, closing the door behind him and taking off his shoes immediately.
“Okay, we’re home now,” Sho said, throwing his keys in the bowl in the entrance. “Will you tell me what’s going on now?”
Aiba made a non-committal sound and walked straight to the bedroom. Sho sighed and followed him. As he entered the room, he found Aiba undressing in silence.
“Come on,” Sho sighed as he sat down on the mattress. “You’ve been like this for hours, and we agreed when we started dating that we wouldn’t let our job come in between our relationship,” he said. “I spent the whole day with my manager Aiba, and right now I just want my boyfriend Masaki.”
Aiba opened Sho’s closet and got a hanger from it so he could hang his clothes. “Your manager isn’t angry at you. On the contrary, he thinks you did your job all too well today.”
Sho blinked in confusion. “What does that mean?”
Aiba hung his gilet and loosened his tie to take it off without untying it. “You know what it means,” he said. He grabbed his duffel bag from the floor, took out his clothes for the night, and then walked out of the room.
Sho was lost. He thought that Aiba was mad at him for something he had done at work, but he was saying that he was angry at him not as his manager but as his boyfriend? He really had no idea what had happened that day that was different from any other day, unless…
“Does this have to do with the delayed filming?” he asked as he walked to the kitchen, where Aiba was getting some water from the fridge.
Aiba glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes. “Maybe,” he conceded.
“Does this have to do with the reason why it was delayed?” Sho asked, thinking out loud. Aiba stopped and turned to look at him at that, and a thought crossed Sho’s mind. “Wait. Don’t tell me.” It was impossible, wasn’t it? “Are you… jealous?”
Aiba crossed his arms but didn’t reply.
“You are!” Sho exclaimed. “Are you serious?”
Aiba scoffed. “I’m not.”
“Yes, you are!” Now that he understood what this was about, Sho felt so relieved he just wanted to laugh. “I can’t believe you. It’s ridiculous.”
Aiba’s nostrils flared. “Is it? Ridiculous. Really?”
“Well, yeah,” Sho said, taken aback. “There’s a reason why Matsumoto and I broke up.”
Aiba shook his head at the mention of that name and looked away. “He’s handsome.”
“I guess he is,” Sho said.
“So you admit it?”
He raised his arms defensively. “I’m just being objective here. I did date him, you know.”
Aiba glared at him. “I know all too well,” he said, sharply.
“But you know I also was the one who broke up with him, right?”
“I guess. But that doesn’t mean I like seeing you kiss him like that five times.”
Sho bit back a laugh. It was rare for Aiba to be jealous. As his manager, he saw men and women fawn over Sho every day, but he’d never shown so much as a spark of jealousy. So to see him like this was something new, and something Sho couldn’t really say he minded.
“If you’re so angry at me, why are you still sleeping over?” he asked, cheekily.
Aiba fixed him with his gaze. Sho lifted his eyebrows, teasing him. It wasn’t often that he had the upper hand in their relationship, and he was going to milk every second of it.
“I’m not planning on sleeping over.”
“You’re not?”
Aiba stepped closer to him, only stopping when he was right in front of him. “I’m planning on refreshing your memory.”
Sho could feel his hot breath on his lips by now. “I’m an actor,” he said, distractedly. “I have a good memory…”
“Then I stand corrected,” Aiba said, as he slipped one on his hands on Sho’s nape and started walking his fingers all over it, making him shiver. “I’ll have to make you forget what it feels like to kiss any lips other than mine.”
“Yeah?” Sho asked, breathless from the anticipation.
Aiba didn’t reply. Instead he leaned forward and caught his lips in an intense and possessive kiss that made Sho moan immediately. But then, as soon as he was beginning to get lost in it, Aiba pulled away. He looked into Sho’s eyes, dark moons looking into black wells, and started walking away. When he reached the door, he turned around and raised his eyebrows.
“What are you waiting for?”
Sho took off his shirt in a hurry and threw it on the floor. Excited, he followed Aiba back to the bedroom, making a mental note to send the director a basket of fruit over the next few days to thank her for that blessing in disguise.