Chapter Text
Meguro takes a glance at his watch for possibly the tenth time just this hour.
Well, it’s more appropriate to call it staring at this point.
Meguro wants to remain calm, he really does, but for some reason, the idea of waiting for Abe to go through those airport arrival doors has gotten him so antsy. And it’s not like they haven't communicated recently—they even talked literally a few minutes before each of them got on their respective flights, though of course, it’s about almost a day now because Abe lives so far away and therefore got on the plane about 15 hours ago.
Maybe this is why Meguro’s so nervous. The long flight must’ve not been easy for Abe.
And now he feels bad. He was the one who suggested this trip in the first place, and while Abe didn’t really object to any of it, Meguro feels like he put his boyfriend up to it.
Abe is never going to say that, though. He’s too good like that.
It’s no wonder Meguro has fallen for this man so easily. Sometimes he wishes he could be as nice as Abe—and he always tries his utmost best—but to him, literally nobody can match Abe’s kindness out of anyone in this world.
“Meme!”
That same kind voice breaks through his thoughts for a second, as if on cue.
Meguro’s smile cannot be any wider.
“Abe-chan!”
Meguro almost sprints towards Abe, who’s dragging a suitcase behind him, but Abe beats him to it when he runs towards Meguro’s arms and wraps his own around Meguro’s waist.
Meguro is taken aback by Abe’s suddenly affectionate actions but smiles again. That warmth radiating from Abe’s body is just ever so inviting. It’s going to be hard, letting go. “I hope you weren’t too tired from your flight,” Meguro whispers with so much care that he secretly hopes Abe will be able to tell how worried he has been.
Abe looks up to Meguro without letting go. God, those round, adorable… flirty eyes. “It is tiring, but I’m super excited to be here. And to be with you finally.”
Meguro can’t resist giving Abe’s head a pat or two. “You survived it, so great job.”
Abe giggles and rests his head on Meguro’s shoulder. Somehow, Meguro thinks Abe is almost a different person at this point for how affectionate he’s being. Maybe Abe did miss him quite a lot.
Meguro did too. So, so much.
Meguro arrived the night before. Safe to say he was too excited to sleep, but he was also working with nerves he bore for some reason.
Since New York (and especially Manhattan) can be quite an expensive place to stay in, another model friend suggested to Meguro that he should just rent an apartment for him and Abe for the week, rather than stay at a luxurious hotel when all they’d do there is sleep and shower anyway.
Maybe Meguro is nervous for this reason.
The truth is, this will be the first time Meguro and Abe are sharing a room. Together.
Back in Barcelona, they actually ended up sleeping in different hotel rooms—Meguro back then didn’t want to invade Abe’s privacy. Abe was actually open about sharing (“To save costs,” he even said), but Meguro wanted to play it safe at the time. Like he always has with Abe.
Though of course, that did not stop Meguro from being painfully curious about what went on. As much as he was aware that Abe didn’t keep anything from him, Abe would also be quiet when Meguro didn’t talk to him about anything.
They say the mysterious is always attractive, and in this case, Meguro wholeheartedly agrees with that.
As the two of them enter said apartment, Meguro leads Abe to the living-dining-kitchen hybrid area of the unit. Meguro is nervous for one more reason.
“Huh? Meme, what is this for?” Abe slowly approaches the table with the bouquet of roses and other pretty flowers sitting on top of it.
Meguro feels like his heart is about to jump out of his chest. He quietly breathes out before saying, “Uh, you should read the card attached to it, Abe-chan.”
Abe gives him a slightly dubious look before picking up the flowers and reading the card out loud, “‘Congratulations on your TV debut. I am and will always be proud of you.’ But that was months ago, Meme.”
Meguro shrugs, his right hand touching his nape with feelings of nerves. “It’s just, I never properly congratulated you. Besides, nothing like giving you this in person and seeing your reaction for myself. Sorry for being selfish like that.”
Meguro can see Abe blush and get embarrassed, the way he always does when Meguro does something special for him. Meguro has always liked making Abe feel this way, because then he knows Abe appreciates it. Even if the man himself never says it out loud, Meguro can feel it all.
“You’re not selfish, quite the opposite in fact. A-And thank you.” Abe gives Meguro a quick hug. “You did not fail to congratulate me, though.”
Abe isn’t lying—when Abe got the job a month ago, Meguro was the first person Abe told, and as soon as Meguro saw the message, he immediately called Abe to congratulate him.
Meguro knew how much this mattered to Abe. While he was aware of the progress (at least as much as Abe told him), he also knew it was something that caused Abe a lot of stress. This was when Meguro truly felt that long-distance relationships were difficult—forget that he couldn’t see Abe whenever he wanted to, it was the fact that he couldn’t console Abe when he was feeling down was the most frustrating part of it all.
So even if it was already a month ago, Meguro wanted to make it up to Abe here and now.
“It’s still better to do it in person,” Meguro says as Abe pulls away.
“Ahh, what would I do without you, Meme?” Abe takes the bouquet and goes inside the bedroom. When Abe comes back out, he continues, “I didn’t completely realize it before I auditioned, but doing TV reports is so much more nerve-wracking than just sitting at a desk and doing computations, you know.”
“But you don’t look nervous at all,” Meguro says as the two of them sit down at the dining table. “You’ve been killing it.”
Abe raises an eyebrow. “Wait a sec, how do you know that?”
“I always watch your reports. Didn’t I tell you this before?” Meguro gives Abe a knowing smirk.
“No, you didn’t," Abe’s eyes now are narrowing in disbelief. “How are you watching it?”
Meguro laughs. “I have my ways, Abe-chan. Besides, I don’t want to miss out on the most popular TV weather reporter in Japan.”
Abe chuckles shyly, “Stop. You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”
Meguro shakes his head. “The last report you did before you came here, you were wearing an ash gray suit with a blue-and-white striped shirt, right?”
Abe chuckles again, trying to hide his flustered reaction as much as he can, and he’s failing and it’s just so endearing. “Why didn’t you tell me that you’ve been watching?”
Meguro shrugs. “I didn’t want you to be distracted when you did your reports.”
Abe scoffs, though his smile remains to be sweet. “And how are you so sure that I would be distracted?”
He also does the cute head tilt that always, always gets to Meguro.
“T-That’s not what I meant,” Meguro looks away for a bit, just to give a bit of a reprieve for himself, allow himself to breathe before Abe tries to take it away again. “I don’t want to add to your worries, is all.”
Abe now tries to meet Meguro’s averting eyes. And because Abe rarely does this, Meguro’s breath starts to pick up—this proves to be much harder to hide than his heart beating loudly against his chest.
“Either way, you’re not a distraction to me, Meme. It’s a good thing to know that I always have your support.”
With Abe’s attempt to meet Meguro’s line of sight, Abe inches closer to his face, his neck slightly bent in an angle just to match Meguro. Meguro swallows nervously. No matter how many times they’ve kissed (and it’s not a lot even at this point), there’s still something about the way Abe does things—the simplest things—that sends Meguro’s heart aflutter.
Meguro ends up bobbing his head out of rhythm.
Abe quickly moves away and giggles. “Thank you for watching everyday. I really appreciate it.” He then grabs his luggage and drags it to their room. “I’ll just organize my stuff in here, okay?”
He leaves a frozen Meguro, whose heart conversely still hasn’t calmed down one bit.
Aside from being left flustered, Meguro can’t help but think… would it really have been better if Meguro had told him earlier that he religiously watched Abe’s weather reports? Even now, Meguro can’t truly tell if Abe expressed slight disappointment and expected more from him somehow.
Meguro sighs. As much as Abe claims that Meguro can accurately read his mind, Meguro still ends up feeling a bit frustrated when he can’t decipher what thoughts linger on in his partner’s head.
And with a person who’s so mysterious and yet so enchanting, sometimes Meguro wonders if he’s doing everything right by Abe. Of course, Abe’s positive responses have been clear-cut, even his subtle ones, but is Meguro doing enough?
How do you make someone who doesn’t tell you everything he thinks and feels… happy?
Meguro looks at his watch for the first time since he met with Abe today. It’s now a little after lunch time. Meguro bets they’re both hungry.
“Abe-chan?” Meguro calls out once he’s gathered his composure.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to go out and eat lunch with me?”
Abe comes out of the room again. “Of course I do,” he is smiling and it’s somehow contagious, since Meguro is now smiling too.
While riding the train, Meguro gets jolted awake by a giggling Abe so close to his ear.
He obviously fell asleep, apparently his head unintentionally but softly landing on Abe’s.
“Oh, sorry,” Meguro hastily sits upright, only fueling Abe’s giggle fits much more.
“It’s okay,” Abe looks at Meguro with the kindest eyes he has ever seen. He will probably never get tired of being charmed by these eyes, and that only makes Meguro love this feeling even more. “Your jet lag is that bad, huh?”
Meguro shrugs. “Maybe… I also didn’t sleep that well last night.” He waits for Abe to react—a curious expression then emerges on Abe’s face. “I was too excited to sleep because I knew I would get to see you today. Again. Finally.”
Abe chuckles nervously, looking down on his hands. “You really know how to say the right words, Meme.”
Meguro chuckles as well. “It’s true though! We haven’t seen each other since Barcelona and really, I was just too excited to sleep last night.”
Abe’s shy smile persists. Then Meguro feels a warm hand hold his, tighter than he’s ever felt before. He can feel his breathing halt for one second.
“I was excited too. I couldn’t sleep on the plane because all I could think about seeing you again, and to be honest, I was nervous as well. Didn’t know how you’d react.”
Abe then leans on Meguro’s shoulder.
“Then somehow, I found myself rushing to hug you, like all those worries and nerves had melted away. You have that effect on me, Meme.”
Meguro smiles at that, returning the tight squeeze Abe has on his hand. “As long as you’re happy, then I am too, Abe-chan.”
After they finished their rather normal lunch of club sandwiches at a diner-themed restaurant, the couple then decided to go to a famous pie store in Manhattan. Abe mentioned he wanted something sweet after, and he had researched some really good places to possibly try out. Meguro is impressed, as always—nothing really stops his man from knowing about all the things.
Once they enter the store, Abe gestures for Meguro to find a place for them to sit.
“So I don’t get to choose what I want?” Meguro teases as he follows Abe’s suggestion anyway and looks for a place to sit.
Abe laughs. “I want to surprise you this time.”
Meguro could swear he saw Abe wink at him—if his heartbeat almost stopping is any indication. It may not be that obvious to Abe, but Meguro is weak against Abe’s charms, too.
Devastatingly, helplessly, and irredeemably so.
He’s heard Abe speak English a few times, even when they were in Spain, but here, for obvious reasons, Abe has had to rely on that skill for all of his interactions. (Except when talking to Meguro, of course.) And whenever he does, Abe seems like a different person to Meguro. He may not voice his concerns about this a lot, but Meguro wonders until now how he’s ended up with an incredibly intelligent person like Abe, someone who impresses Meguro every minute of every day.
“Thank you very much!” are the only words Meguro can understand from Abe as he moves to approach the table with a tray in hand and two pies on it.
“What did you get?” Meguro curiously asks.
As he sits down beside Meguro, Abe displays that kitten-like smile. “Hmm, well… they all look so good, but these two in particular caught my eye: chocolate cream pie and banana coconut cream pie.”
Meguro gets quickly distracted by how cute Abe is being.
Abe suddenly looks worried, possibly because of Meguro’s lack of response. “I didn’t know which one you’d like, so anything you won’t eat, I’ll take.”
Meguro quickly shakes his head, “No, no! Take whichever you like. You know I’m not really picky.”
“I guess that’s true. Well, we can also share…”
And there it goes again. It’s like a switch that turns on whenever Abe looks straight into Meguro’s eyes. Abe has admitted to him that Meguro’s stares tend to be super intense, but the truth is, Meguro can’t handle looking into Abe’s eyes just the same. Those round, soft and kind eyes that always make Meguro’s stomach flutter every time he takes a moment to stare into them.
Meguro simply nods as he fails to remember what the suggestion was in the first place.
“You’re not listening, are you Meme?” Abe laughs heartily.
“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry. I got distracted by your beautiful eyes… what was it again?”
Abe bows his head as he chuckles shyly. Why is he being so unbearably cute?
“I said, we can share each of the pies so we can both have a taste.”
Meguro just nods again, but this time he’s heard Abe clearly.
“Alright,” Abe gently pushes the banana coconut cream pie over to Meguro’s side. “Here, since you don’t want to pick.” His eyes almost disappear when he gives Meguro another adorable smile. “We’ll switch later.”
Meguro nods one last time before digging into his dessert. He doesn’t know if Abe just has good taste, or if this store only makes delicious pies, but his tastebuds feel like they’re in heaven right now. “This is amazing!” His eyes widen in utmost surprise.
Abe’s eyes are just as big. “Mmm, right?! I could eat a dozen of these…”
Meguro enthusiastically agrees as he shoves more pie into his mouth. He’s about to reach halfway through one pan, when—
“Here Meme, say ah~”
“Eh?”
Abe offers a spoonful of the chocolate cream pie to Meguro. The man himself cannot process Abe’s decision to do this gesture at the moment, though he does end up opening his mouth and taking a bite off from Abe’s spoon anyway.
“Mmm s’good!” is all Meguro can say with the same wide-eyed expression, making Abe chuckle.
“Right? I’m glad I picked these.”
Meguro can’t completely comprehend why Abe is being openly affectionate, but again, he resorts to the reasoning that they literally haven’t seen each other in months. For two people who feel strongly about each other as they do, seeing each other again after so long can make them do weird things.
Well, weirder than usual, at least. Who knows what Meguro is actually trying to hold himself back from doing, really.
…like kissing those lips, which, that smack of cream on the top of Abe’s lips is emphasizing so much of.
Meguro then hears Abe laugh as the other rests his chin on his free hand, as if there haven’t been enough gestures devised to destroy Meguro’s heart already.
“What, what’s funny?” Meguro asks as if he’s more interested in the answer than gazing at those luscious lips.
“Nothing, you look so spaced out right now and not paying—”
Meguro quickly and masterfully lands a peck on Abe’s lips; the notorious cream on those damn lips has now somewhat transferred a bit on Meguro’s. Meguro tries to hide it, but he eventually gives in and makes a smug and all-too-proud face.
“You had whipped cream on your lips,” Meguro says as he licks his own to get rid of that damn temptation. Meguro looks again—the kiss undoubtedly removed some of it, but there’s still a small spot that remains untouched. And while Meguro is more than enticed to kiss Abe again, he can definitely hold himself back a little more until later comes.
Instead, he picks up a piece of napkin and cleans the remnants on Abe’s lips.
“Shame the kiss didn’t remove all of it,” Meguro then says afterwards. He shifts his attention to Abe’s face: beet red and seems to be frozen. Meguro suddenly becomes slightly worried, “Abe-chan? Are you okay?”
“T-Thanks, Meme,” Abe touches the hand that has the napkin. “You need to warn me when you do that.”
Meguro bites his lips. “Trust me, even I was surprised at myself.”
Meguro can see Abe’s lips quiver as he tries to smile. “Sometimes I think you’re not good for my heart, Meme.”
“I feel the same way, Abe-chan,” Meguro raises an eyebrow, “You’re really bad for my heart… but in a good way.”
Abe shakes his head, chuckling. “I can’t believe you.”
Meguro smirks as he watches Abe finish one of the pies. He also can’t believe this is happening right now, and he couldn’t even be more delighted.
They spent the entire afternoon walking towards and around Times Square, and for most of Broadway Street. Before they knew it, the sun was already setting and it’d be dark real soon.
“Winter nights are always so long,” Meguro hears Abe say as they stand in the middle of Times Square, taking in all the scenery around them, all the lights from the giant screens and the people from all walks of life. “It’s only 4:00 PM.”
“Yeah,” Meguro responds.
Then he looks over at Abe, who has his hands around his arms, his shoulders shrinking and visibly shaking from the cold.
Meguro hastily takes off his black trenchcoat and immediately drapes it over Abe’s shoulders without saying a word.
Abe turns his head to Meguro as soon as he does it. “Meme, you’re going to be cold.”
Meguro waves a hand. “I’m going to be fine. I have a couple of layers of shirts on. You’re shivering, so you obviously need it more than I do.”
Abe’s breaths hasten as the mist from it gets more visible. “Thank you.”
Meguro chuckles quietly and pats Abe’s head. Abe snugly sinks into his fluffy dark green scarf.
He’s so adorable.
They get back to the apartment thirty minutes later, deciding that buying food on the way home is the smarter idea than staying outside in the cold for long. Especially with the nights getting unbearably colder, as well as Abe’s innate sensitivity to cold temperatures.
During dinner, the two of them talk more about Abe’s new TV gig and how it’s much more difficult than his previous desk job—something Meguro already hears about a lot of times in their video calls and text messages, but never gets tired of. There’s something about Abe’s calm and soothing voice that never fails to draw Meguro in.
As they finish washing the dishes together (as no one wanted to give in to the other), Meguro suddenly realizes that he and Abe will now share a bed and that sets off his nerves, something he forgot he was feeling earlier today, too.
It’s a weird thought pattern, but somehow, it makes him think of the future and how much he wants this to be a permanent setting. Living together. Maybe the persisting nerves are because Meguro isn’t sure that Abe feels the same way too. Of course, there’s a huge chance that he does—they seem to agree on a lot of things even if they’re unsaid—but if there’s even a slight chance of doubt in Abe’s mind, Meguro knows they might have to deal with this situation for a while.
Not that he’s not willing to go through all of this just to make Abe happy… anything to make Abe happy. Meguro will not forgive himself for the rest of his life if he lets Abe be sad or upset even for one second.
The incident that happened during Meguro’s job in Madrid already made him regret putting Abe through that.
“Meme,” Abe puts a hand on Meguro’s arm.
“Huh?” Meguro snaps out of it. “W-What is it, Abe-chan?”
Abe chuckles. “You’re zoning out again. What are you thinking?”
Then Abe puts a finger on his own lips and tilts his head a little bit; again, something that sends Meguro’s heartbeats into overdrive.
“U-Uh, uh…” Meguro becomes totally lost for a second. He then sighs. “I’ll be honest, Abe-chan,” then he takes Abe’s hand that was previously on his lips and holds it tenderly, “if you’re uncomfortable with us sharing a bed, I can sleep on the couch tonight.”
Abe resorts to looking at the two hands with fingers intertwined, his cheeks getting redder as he chuckles nervously, “It’s fine, Meme. I’m not uncomfortable at all. Is this what you’re worried about?”
Well, Meguro is worried about a few more things if he’s being honest.
Abe chuckles again, “I mean… isn’t the purpose of us renting one apartment is so that we can be together?”
Meguro avoids looking at Abe’s eyes, afraid he’s offended him. “Yeah, but…”
“No but’s,” Abe finds a way to make Meguro look at him, chasing Meguro’s eyes with his own. “Meme, it’s our time to be together. We’ll spend it together as much as we can, okay?”
It’s nice to hear that from Abe, from someone who isn’t used to expressing their inner emotions outwardly, and from someone Meguro considers a significant part of his life.
Meguro smiles, finally. “I’m glad you said that because I didn’t know I needed to hear it.”
“I’m glad I said it, too,” Abe smiles back. “Besides, we haven’t seen each other in so long.”
Abe saying the last sentence suddenly reminds Meguro of the last kiss they had in Barcelona, and all of the emotions he felt back then. Before that day happened, Meguro had never felt so much yearning, with all this fire and electricity coursing through his body all at once.
And two months ago, they promised each other that there would be another kiss. Meguro now feels this sudden urge to just grab Abe’s face and kiss it for as long as humanly possible.
“Meme,” Abe’s sweet voice breaks through Meguro’s thoughts again. “Do you remember the charger you borrowed from me when we were in Barcelona? You brought it with you, didn’t you?”
“Oh crap,” Meguro hurriedly runs back to the bedroom and scrambles through the piles of clothes on top of his luggage. (He can hear Abe laughing from the kitchen as he does so.) He had taken it out of his belongings this morning to use it, but had hastily removed it from the electrical socket shortly before he picked up Abe and had thrown it on his already unruly mountain of stuff. Thankfully he finds it immediately because of the ridiculously long cord attached to it. There!
The moment Meguro turns to hand it to Abe, he gets the surprise of his life when he sees Abe already standing behind him.
“Thanks,” Abe takes the charger from Meguro’s hand before he can even react. Abe walks over to the nearest nightstand to look for the same electrical socket and proceeds to plug the charger in.
Meguro realizes something at that moment.
The fact that Abe is literally with Meguro, right here, right now…
Meguro really, truly has an immense desire for that kiss. He wants it. Now.
“Thanks Meme—”
Meguro pins Abe down on the wall behind him with Meguro’s left arm, their faces as close as Meguro likes them to be. The closest they can be without their lips touching.
“You don’t know how much I want to kiss you. So bad .”
Biting his own lip, Meguro whispers as his breathing starts to pick up.
“Meme…” He can feel Abe’s breathing start to pick up as well—somehow, their breaths together feel intoxicating to Meguro, like he can’t simply get enough of it. His heart may as well explode if this goes on but he just has to do it.
He wants this more than anything.
Meguro then pulls Abe by his waist and as their lips collide, Meguro feels something in his chest he hasn’t felt in a while: Euphoria. Desire. Longing. His hunger becomes undeniable. Abe instinctively throws his arms around Meguro’s neck as the kiss gets more intense, more passionate. He doesn’t remember Abe’s lips being this soft, this sweet, this inviting. Their bodies have never been closer. And yet, his grip on Abe’s waist gets tighter. His hair becomes messier as Abe’s fingers carelessly ruffle through it. Meguro begins to explore every corner of Abe’s lips, as if he hasn’t kissed him there before. As if he hasn’t kissed Abe before.
He’s waited a long time to do this again, and it’s absolutely worth every second.
A kiss just as heartracing as the first one, and just as exhilarating as the last one.
A few more moments, then Abe abruptly breaks it off to say, “Meme… I need… to catch my breath…”
Which makes Meguro realize how heavy his own breathing has become. All of a sudden, he feels light-headed, but for a damn good reason.
“Sorry,” Meguro says without thinking, resting his head on Abe’s shoulder in an effort to catch his breath.
Abe’s chuckles alternate with his panting. “Don’t be sorry. I like it. You got my heart racing for a good while there.”
Abe then traces a finger on Meguro’s lips. He doesn’t say anything else and that makes Meguro’s heart want to jump out of his chest even more.
“It’s so like you to do this, Abe-chan. It’s really unfair,” Meguro chooses to look at the finger on his lips rather than at Abe’s eyes. He doesn’t think he can handle any more intense gazes.
Abe chuckles again, this time a little less laborious on his breathing. “Look at the full moon outside, Meme.” Meguro lifts his head to look at the window beside them, without moving it far away from Abe’s face. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
Meguro hums his answer, “Yeah.”
“Do you know what the word ‘moonstruck’ means?”
“Moonstruck?” Meguro hasn’t heard that word before.
“It’s being affected by the moon mentally, though it’s mostly associated with being ‘madly in love,’” Abe says as he continues to look outside. “It’s such a poetic word and I love that about it.”
Meguro sometimes doesn’t understand how Abe’s mind works, and sometimes, that troubles him. But more often than not, it fascinates him beyond his own comprehension.
And that’s okay, because maybe, this is what being moonstruck feels like.
Meguro wonders how he will be able to sleep tonight, in a good way.
END OF CHAPTER