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Shingo drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel of his EG6 impatiently. Takeshi, clipboard in hand, carefully ran through the packing list for a second--no, third time with the determination of a man who’s life goal was to only ever need one trip to the auto parts store. What the hell was taking him so long anyway? It was only a weekend getaway at a beach town, nothing to sweat about. Sayuki, who had initially invited Shingo on the strict condition that he bring a plus one, had already booked a cabin. “The more the merrier,” she said. Right. He glanced in his rearview mirror to see Takeshi re-arranging bags in the hatch.
“Hurry up man, I want to beat traffic!” Shingo groaned. Losing his patience, he stepped out of the car to see what all the fuss was about.
“I’m having a hard time closing the hatch…” Takeshi gestured towards the boxes of food and their duffel bags.
“Yeah, well, you packed too much shit. Here…” Shingo grabbed one of the duffle bags and threw it carelessly over the rear strut brace. It made a thud as it hit the floor. Shingo smiled triumphantly as he closed the hatch. “See? Now let’s make like a plane and fuckin’ fly. It’s going to get really hot today, and you know I don’t have AC.”
“You don’t?! Shit.” Takeshi took his seat next to Shingo.
“Weight reduction.” Shingo smirked, knowing his boyfriend didn’t really need to compromise on such amenities when he had one of the most powerful cars on the mountain. Boyfriends…is that what they were now?
Finally reaching cruising speed on the highway, Shingo let his eyes wander over the figure next to him. Staring out of the window, chin in hand, Takeshi wore a dreamy-eyed expression. He was dressed in one of Shingo’s rare black shirts and his hair was still mussed from the previous night. The whole picture, Shingo realized, screamed ‘morning after’. A discerning eye, say Sayuki, would definitely pick up on the vibe. Something tightened in Shingo’s chest and he was struck with the sudden urge to ask, Hey man, what the fuck are we? Are we like, together, or something? To Shingo’s knowledge, neither of their friends knew anything was going on between them. Hell, they’d never even directly acknowledged it to each other.
~~~
Their first kiss had been fueled by the rush of adrenaline and euphoria that came from watching one of the craziest street battles of their lives. Shingo hadn’t been aware that he was slumped against his rival, breathing hard. Takeshi turned to him, a dazed look in his eyes. “Why are you so close to me? People might think…” His voice lacked its normal confidence, speaking more out of habit than out of conviction.
“Well if it bothers you so much, why don’t you move?” Shingo trailed off at the end, distracted by how close Takeshi’s face was to his own. He couldn’t recall which one of them initiated the kiss. It all happened so fast. Suddenly Shingo’s hand traced Takeshi’s jaw and Takeshi’s fingers were tangled in his hair. The incident ended just as quickly as it began when Takeshi bumped Shingo’s injured arm making him wince.
“Sorry…”
The heat of the moment had passed, and awkward silence filled the void as their brains caught up to what their bodies had just done. Shingo stood up and walked back to his car, muttering a terse ‘see you later,’ under his breath. He was too embarrassed to look back at Takeshi who was too stunned to speak, let alone try to stop his moody teammate.
What could be chalked up to a mistake quickly morphed into a habit. Every race Shingo spectated, he found Takeshi to be already waiting at the spot he picked out. Nuts! Neither one of them would budge. It turned into a game of chicken until they were making out all over again, then hooking up in Takeshi’s car. Somewhere in that mess, genuine affection had developed between them. It showed when Shingo turned up unannounced at Takeshi’s apartment with a bag of takeout in one hand and a movie in the other. Or when Takeshi had been the first person Shingo called one night when he got a little too drunk and needed a ride home.
When it was just the two of them, there had never been any need to discuss what this thing was between them. But out in public, or in front of the other NightKids was an entirely different story.
Shingo didn’t care that much about the guys finding out that he was not into girls like that. He knew Miyahara was cool with it. Having gone to University, the guy was fairly open-minded. Anyone else who couldn’t handle it, Shingo could easily destroy on the downhill. Ultimately, skill was the only thing that granted respect to anyone on the mountain.
He wasn’t so sure how Takeshi felt about being open. In the years they’d known each other, Shingo never heard Takeshi utter a peep about his personal life. The man always steered clear of any untoward conversations with the guys. Shingo figured he was trying to set a good example, uphold his reputation, or some crap like that.
But hell, all of the sneaking around was starting to get on Shingo’s nerves. Maybe he didn’t want it to act like it was some dirty secret. Maybe it did bug the shit out of him the way Takeshi ignored him during meets. Shingo realized that they’d never been out together in public before…during daylight hours…on, say a date or something. Sheesh.
~~~
The drive went by quickly as Shingo pondered these things. Before he knew it, he reached their destination. He spotted a blue SilEighty from across the parking lot.
“Takeshi…we’re here.” Shingo glanced over to see the other man rub his eyelashes and blink a couple of times. He’d managed to doze off on the long drive. “Listen, Takeshi…” Shingo swallowed, mouth suddenly dry.
“Hmmmmm yeah?” Takeshi said while yawning. When he heard no response, he realized it must be serious. “Is something wrong?” He asked, looking at Shingo with those big brown eyes.
“Are you…it’s just that…” Fuck, this was hard. Shingo’s stomach was twisting in knots at the thought of being the first to show his hand. “Are you ashamed to be with me or something?” Shingo fiddled with his key in his pocket, looking straight ahead through the windshield.
Takeshi paused, searching for the right words. He was scared. Scared of what people would think, scared of what it would cost him socially to be with another man. Is that so different from feeling ashamed? A voice in his head asked. No, not ashamed. Never. “What makes you think that?” He asked softly.
“Fucking, hell. You’re really going to make me spell it out?! Because we never see each other when the sun is up! ”
The words almost knocked Takeshi over. He knew this conversation was overdue, but perhaps he’d waited too long. He never meant to make Shingo feel anything other than wanted. “I know. I’m sorry…” Takeshi reached over and gave Shingo’s hand a squeeze. “I didn't know that’s what you wanted…until now. I’m glad you invited me, really.”
Shingo startled from the unexpected contact. “Really?” He asked, unable to hide his skepticism.
“Yes, really. C’mon, those look like your friends over there.”
Sure enough, a tall girl wearing a sunhat and a pretty baby-blue swimsuit cover-up stood holding a couple of folding chairs. A slightly shorter auburn-haired girl wearing a polka dot bikini struggled to balance beach umbrellas under her arm while also carrying a large cloth bag. “Oi, Shingo! Give me a hand, will you?!” Sayuki shouted from across the parking lot.
“Yeah, yeah. Just give me a second!” he shouted through his open window. He turned back to Takeshi, pausing for a brief moment to see if the other man was ready. Maybe, it’s me who’s not ready, Shingo thought.
“You go ahead, I’ll catch up,” Takeshi said as he gave Shingo’s leg a light pat of encouragement. Shrugging, Shingo tossed him the keys to the EG6 before hurrying over to greet Sayuki. He glanced back to see Takeshi carefully unloading their supplies. It dawned on him how normal it felt to hand his keys to that man. His car was the one thing in his life he had complete control over. Well, most of the time at least. And he just handed Takeshi the keys, like it wasn’t a big deal. Like he trusted him or something…huh.
Later that day, Mako staked out a prime location to set up the volleyball net. Shingo and Mako won the first two rounds before they decided to reshuffle teams. According to Sayuki, their team was ‘too stacked, from an athletic standpoint’.
“Hear that, Shouji-kun?” Mako yelled as she landed a perfect overhand serve, scoring yet another point.
“Hell, yeah! This game is ours!” Shingo matched her enthusiasm and high fived her so hard her hand went numb.
“Ow.”
“My bad, Mako-chan.” Shingo flinched apologetically. He and Sayuki swapped sides for a final ‘girls vs guys’ game. Sayuki raised the stakes by adding that the losing team had to buy everyone a round of drinks.
While the girls were strategizing, Shingo and Takeshi huddled face-to-face, foreheads pressed together.
“Ok so here’s the deal…” Shingo began, taking a firm hold of Takeshi’s shoulder. A little pride with maybe a touch of some other cardinal sin bloomed in his chest when Takeshi leaned in to his touch. Focus, dammit! “Our teams are about evenly matched. Maybe they have a slight advantage because Mako is such a beast. Whatever. We can still win this, we just gotta play to our strengths. Takeshi, you suck at diving and saving the ball…”
“I do not!” Takeshi shot back, looking quite unamused at this indictment of his skill.
Shingo chuckled. “Chill man! I was going to say that your returns are decent. I’ll make the dives and I’ll set you up to spike it, ok?”
Takeshi nodded in agreement.
“And one more thing. Sayuki is not good at covering the front. You should aim for the front corners. If Mako gets the ball…”
“We’re fucked.” Takeshi deadpanned, finishing Shingo’s sentence.
“Shit, man. I must be rubbing off on you or something,” Shingo said as he gave Takeshi a playful shove.
As predicted, the two teams stayed neck-and-neck up until the last point. Shingo could tell that the girls were starting to get fatigued, but he and Takeshi weren’t going to hold out much longer. They rallied back and forth until Mako made an excellent save, passing the ball to Sayuki who set it up for Mako’s attack. She spiked the ball hard. Shingo dove for it and landed flat on his stomach, but he made the save. Realizing this was their one chance to win the game, Takeshi sent it back over the net with all of his remaining strength. It wasn’t a great shot, but the girls weren’t expecting the boys to be able to return the ball. It landed on the boundary line that Mako had drawn in the sand.
“No way!” Mako shouted.
“They won,” Sayuki said, giggling at the look of shock on Mako’s face. Any sort of sport really brought out her competitive side. “We celebrated too early, let our guard down.”
Panting, Shingo pushed himself up and sat back on his heels. “I can’t believe you pulled that off, Takeshi. Fuckin’ wicked man!”
Takeshi strolled over with a smug look on his face. He lent Shingo a hand, pulling him to his feet too quickly. Shingo lost his balance and stumbled forward until he ended up right where Takeshi wanted him--chest to chest. Takeshi dropped his right hand and brought it up to Shingo’s shoulder. “We pulled it off,” Takeshi corrected, speaking just above a whisper into Shingo’s ear.
Shingo couldn’t help but shiver. They were embracing, in a more romantic way than just a hug, and it was making him lose his goddamn mind. “Shit, Takeshi. You’re making it hard for me to stop…”
“Then don’t.” Takeshi went in for a slow passionate kiss that left both men breathless. When they finally parted, Takeshi’s smug, always-in-control demeanor was gone. He was as equally worked up as Shingo. Beet red, he simply grabbed Shingo’s hand and led him back to where the girls were cooling off under their umbrellas.
Shingo rolled his eyes in response to the all-knowing smirk plastered across his best friend’s face. “Don’t even think about it, Sayuki.”
“I knew it! Shingo, you liar, you owe me 10K Yen!” Sayuki pointed an accusing finger at him.
“I don’t owe you shit! Stop sticking your nose in other people’s business,” Shingo clapped back. It was all bark and no bite on his part. He knew she suspected something was going on between him and Takeshi when the three of them had met for coffee to discuss those Lan Evo jerks from outside of Gunma.
Mako giggled, whispering something in Suayki’s ear.
“Eh, you got something to say too, Mako-chan?” Shingo asked, sounding just mildly annoyed now. He pinched his brow, bracing for whatever embarrassing revelation she was about to bestow him.
“I was just saying, I think it’s sweet, that’s all. You two are so alike, Shouji-kun…”
“Now hold on!” Takeshi exclaimed.
“That’s right, we are nothing alike!” Shingo said, taking a full step away from Takeshi.
Takeshi, in turn, crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. “Yeah, we are completely different,” he said, backing up Shingo’s assertion.
“Yeah, yeah, sure you are.” Sayuki waved her hand dismissively. Mako was still giggling and doing a bad job of hiding it behind her hands.
~~~
As the day drew to a close, Shingo felt more relaxed, more weightless. He could finally enjoy his time with Takeshi without worrying if he was standing too close to his stupid secret boyfriend. Boyfriend. The more he bounced the word around in his brain, the more it felt natural to think of Takeshi that way.
The sun was almost below the horizon. They’d gone out for one last swim, but had ended up just floating on their backs, riding the crest of each wave. It was fun as hell, especially when they were holding hands as the water started to swell beneath them. Shit, this is kinda romantic or something, Shingo thought. What’s gotten into me? He wanted to stop time so he could enjoy this feeling forever.
By the time they made it back to the cabin it was long after dark. Mako and Sayuki had already called it a night, no doubt wanting to get a full night’s rest before embarking on whatever Sayuki had planned for the foursome tomorrow. There was only one room left to claim. Shingo sighed, knowing that Sayuki had presumed that he and Takeshi would be sharing a room. He didn’t think they were that obvious.
Shingo showered quickly, trying to scrub the smell of the sea out of his pores. When he returned, Takeshi had laid their futons right next to each other. Cute. He crawled under the comforter and was about to drift off when he felt Takeshi slide in next to him.
“Sorry, were you asleep?” Takeshi asked.
“Not really. Just waiting for your slow ass.” Shingo rolled onto his back and folded his hands behind his head. He grinned up at Takeshi who looked slightly embarrassed.
“I was just…” Takeshi started to say something but Shingo cut him off.
“Yeah, yeah. Just get over here!” Shingo wrapped his arms around Takeshi, pulling him half onto his chest. He felt nothing but warm skin along his bare thigh as his boyfriend settled in, conforming to his shape. Shingo began rubbing gentle circles into Taleshi’s shoulders. He knew they’d both be sore tomorrow after that volleyball game. His free hand made its way down Takeshi’s back, all the while eliciting content sighs. Curiosity getting the better of him, Shingo let his hand wander to Takeshi’s bare hip. “Shit, are you naked?”
“Perhaps,” Takeshi said, mid-sigh. He felt so relaxed he could melt into a puddle.
“Fuck, man. You’re such a tease.” The desire that Shingo had barely kept in check earlier in the day was starting to build again. He pressed up slightly, letting his lover know that he was very much awake now.
“I wasn’t…” Takeshi paused to plant an affectionate kiss on Shingo’s chest… “trying to be…” then in the crook of his neck, “…a tease.” The last part he spoke softly into Shingo’s ear while he reached across and took a firm hold of his hip. Takeshi slid his other hand under his waistband and left it there, awaiting further direction.
“Shit…” Shingo was not able to hold back any longer. He rolled them over so he was hovering above Takeshi, arms on either side of his lover’s head. “Can you keep quiet?”
“I’ll try…no promises,” Takeshi said through labored breathing. His heart was hammering a mile a minute. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been looking forward to this all day.
~~~
Shingo slept like the dead until 10am. Mako and Sayuki had already eaten and gone out to find some super secret hot springs in the area. Fully awake now, he shifted and rolled onto his back. He had been spooning Takeshi all night, but it was starting to get warm and both men were glued together with sweat.
“So how long have you been awake?” Shingo mumbled, carefully unsticking himself and shifting into his back. Takeshi was usually an early riser.
“Not long.” Takeshi stretched and rolled over onto his other side, giving Shingo a sleepy-eyed smile.
Shingo scoffed. “Liar.”
“No, really! Only 15 minutes I’d say. I didn’t want to wake you…Hey listen, Shingo. About what we were talking about yesterday…in the car…” Takeshi wore a thoughtful frown.
“Don’t worry about it…forget I said anything.” Shingo understood how the other man felt on some physical level. They didn’t need to communicate with words if Takeshi didn’t want to. Shingo had little doubt in his mind that Takeshi was not about to run off with some floozy and pretend this never happened.
“Wait. Here me out. I think we should tell someone…about this.” Takeshi gestured awkwardly back and forth between them. Shingo grabbed his hand and placed it over his own heart. He wanted Takeshi to feel how his words affected him.
“And what exactly is this?” Shingo asked softly.
“Shit, I mean us. We should tell someone about us…because…” Takeshi bit his lip. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, preparing for the worst. “Shingo, I…”
Shingo grew antsy. Takeshi was taking too damn long to get to his point. Compelled by some force he didn’t completely understand, Shingo pressed Takeshi’s hand down into his sternum, willing his heart to chill the fuck out before blurting out, “I love you. You know that, right?”
Stunned silence followed. Takeshi’s eyes snapped open. “Dammit Shingo! That’s what I was trying to say! I love you too, ok?!”
The relief of their mutual confession flooded Shingo and he was struck by how ridiculous their situation was. He burst out laughing while Takeshi just stared at him, looking slightly miffed. “Damn, why’da gotta sound so angry about it?” Shingo asked, when he got a hold of himself.
Takeshi sighed, shaking his head back and forth. “I was waiting for the right moment to tell you. I had a whole speech…”
“A speech?! You’re such a dork. Besides…I said it first. Which means I won, just like if you and I were to race.” Shingo turned his head to give Takeshi a shit-eating grin.
“Don’t write checks you can’t cash, Shingo…” Takeshi was interrupted by Shingo pulling him into a kiss.
They stayed like that for a few minutes longer, exchanging small gestures of affection before Shingo’s hunger got the better of him. He offered to make breakfast for the two of them, while Takeshi gratefully showered first.
When they left the cabin to rejoin their friends, Shingo remarked to himself that nothing much had changed between their dynamic. They’d cared about each other in that way longer than he wanted to admit. But, unbeknownst to him, there was an air of giddiness between the two NightKids that would certainly not go unnoticed by their friends.