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Isagi was sweating buckets. It wasn’t even that hot despite it being July. Then again, it was only four in the morning. Ness’ plane would be landing soon, and if Isagi wasn’t there on time, Ness would hold it over his head for the remainder of his stay. Or worse, he’d pretend his work visa had expired. He’d start locking the bathroom door. He’d stop sneaking in while Isagi showered just to sit on the toilet lid and talk his ear off. Maybe there’d even be Abendbrot instead of warm meals.
Isagi pressed heavily on the gas pedal in stretches where he knew there were no speed cameras, squeezing the steering wheel at every traffic light as if that alone could make the green light appear faster. Eventually, he arrived– a few minutes late but so was Ness’ plane and the bouquet had survived the drive, too, looking only slightly worse for wear.
A security guard was escorting Ness, professional soccer player privileges and all, even though he was comically smaller than him.
Isagi quickly checked his reflection in the rear-view mirror, fixing a few stray strands of hair. He was halfway to opening the door when Ness suddenly sped up and waved him down with an unmistakable sit-still gesture.
Isagi’s first instinct was still to get out. Is this a test?
But then he noticed the growing crowd behind Ness, and it clicked that there were probably too many fans already starting to gather so he stayed put. Soon the familiar sound of the car door unlocking echoed through the vehicle as Ness finally climbed inside, exhaling like he’d been holding his breath for sixteen hours straight. He barely settled properly before launching himself into Isagi’s embrace, making his heart stutter for a moment. For a split second, Isagi genuinely thought Ness might miss and hit the dashboard. He quickly checked whether Ness had set the handbrake off. Thankfully, they weren’t rolling away.
“Finally, you’re here,” Alexis complained immediately, spoiled rotten as he was.
Isagi let him burrow closer and flicked his earlobe lightly. “What do you mean, finally?” he asked.
Ness pulled back slightly, smiling to himself as if he was deep in thought. Isagi knew him well enough to recognize that charade; he was inspecting the interior of his car while pretending not to.
“The flight was so long. My legs hurt. Then I went for a walk, and then they told me I’d wake the others, which is ridiculous because they’ve been asleep for hours, so I had to sit back down, and then–”
He continued chirping away while Isagi reversed out of the parking spot and merged onto Tokyo’s still half-asleep streets.
The quiet hum of the radio suddenly seemed unnecessary, so Isagi switched it off. Not that he could have focused on it anyway, especially not with how giddy he felt with Ness staring at him.
“Good thing your perfect fiancé came to pick you up, then.”
Ness seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood. Twirling a strand of hair around his finger, he tilted his head.
“I don’t know…” he mused. “Sixteen hours is still a very long time.”
Isagi sighed dramatically, leaning into it. “And what exactly am I supposed to do about that?”
“Hm.” Ness pretended to think about it. “A pilot’s license as a side hustle should still be manageable.”
He buried his face in his shoulder, lips pursed in that familiar way they always were whenever he was trying to hide a mean smile.
Isagi's turn signal flashed right, secretly stealing glances at Ness.
Taking a turn wider than necessary, he sent Ness sliding across the passenger seat until he bumped lightly against the door.
Ness still loved getting on his nerves, engaged or not, and it seemed to amuse both of them somewhat. He maintained his offended pout for a full five minutes before finally spotting the enormous bouquet resting in the back seat.
“Lilies? For me?” Immediately, he leaned halfway across the car to grab them in a maneuver that was definitely safe and absolutely not distracting for the driver.
He hugged the flowers to his chest before reaching over to leave a wet kiss on Isagi’s cheeks with the same concern for public safety he always showed.
“Oh stupid, you didn’t have to!” He said which was a complete lie, by the way. Isagi absolutely had to. They both knew it.
“I wanted to.” He replied. That earned him another kiss.
Not long afterward, Ness fell suspiciously quiet and a few seconds later, Isagi’s phone vibrated with a notification.
When Isagi glanced over and found Alexis asleep against the window with his Dior lip oil balanced in his lap, which he was sure hadn’t been there ten minutes ago, he already knew exactly that the bouquet had probably made it onto Instagram.
(And he had been right. Later that night, after he had carried Ness to bed, even though he knew the other was either giggling in his sleep or just pretending. There it was: the perfect Alexis-esque low-exposure selfie illuminated only by passing streetlights and the glow of the dashboard. The bouquet was clutched carefully in his right hand– of course the right hand, because the ring needed to be visible. The brim of his cap cast most of his face in shadow, leaving only the soft shine of his glossed lips visible as they curled into a secretive smile.
He hadn’t tagged Isagi, never did, but fans knew exactly whose car it was, which was a little insane to post, still. Isagi was in love.)
—
The first few times they had spent time together in Japan had been genuinely exhausting. Ness was easily excitable and wanted to do every tourist activity imaginable, so naturally they did it all: the temple visits, strawberry cream sandwiches, onsen and to top it all off, Isagi had once caught Ness taking pictures of random electricity lines. After surviving those unskippable side quests, things gradually started to feel less like a vacation and more like coming home together. At least for Isagi as he no longer had to keep an eye on Ness every second to make sure he hadn’t wandered off somewhere or suddenly grabbed Isagi by the sleeve to drag him toward whatever had caught his attention.
After spending a week at Isagi’s place, things had started to calm down, well not before they got worse because it had taken an absurd amount of convincing for Ness to actually stay over.
(“Yoichi, you idiot, we can’t just sleep in your parents’ house!”
“It’s my house too, you know.”
“That’s so rude!”
“Trust me when I say it isn’t.”
“No! Besides, I probably wouldn’t even fit in your tiny little bed.”
At that point Isagi had lost all patience. “Then stop baking cake every night and lose-”
Ness shoved him. In the end, they did stay at Isagi’s family home.
For the first two days, Isagi had to reassure him every five minutes that his parents did not secretly hate him.
One quiet afternoon in the kitchen, after having lunch with Isagi's parents, Ness suddenly leaned closer and whispered,
“Yoichi.. think they like me? Am I normal?” He was still overthinking whether they’d have to break up because Ness maybe could have somehow passed the salt the wrong way.
“The most normal person in the world, baby.” Amused, Isagi whispered it right back while loading the dishwasher.
Ness didn’t look particularly reassured. Still, he kissed Isagi’s cheek before nudging him aside with his hip.
“Move. I want to do that.”
“Are you crazy? You’re the guest.”
“Oh, shut up. What is your mother going to think if she walks in and sees me standing around doing nothing?”
“Alexis, there literally isn’t anything to do.”
Then they heard footsteps and Ness hurriedly turned towards the sink.
The second his mother appeared in the doorway, Ness immediately grabbed a plate that had already been cleaned and started washing it again. Isagi nearly collapsed from trying to keep it together.
“Oh, Alexis, thank you. There was no need for all this.” His mother hurried over, clearly trying to stop him.
Ness simply continued his performance, carefully polishing the plate while smiling like an angel.
Isagi had to bend over to hide his laughter. Without looking away from the plate, Ness pinched the fat at his waist. Immediately, Isagi straightened up and composed himself.
Isagis parents ended up loving him, Ness had made sure of that.)
—
After three years together, the excitement of a foreign culture wore off, but Isagi’s heart still fluttered when he saw his boyfriend adapting to him. Sure, they had gotten engaged, but something about Ness’ accented ‘okaeri’ in their Munich apartment felt as if Isagi had successfully clawed his place in Ness’ heart, the same way having matching slippers or having their toothbrushes next to each other did.
The first time Isagi found light brown curls in his hairbrush, he had to take a seat on the edge of the bathtub to process it all. He felt crazy at first but it seemed to be mutual, as Isagi had caught Ness sitting on the floor sorting through clothes, smelling Isagi’s clean laundry before folding it into neat piles. Sometimes when Isagi dressed in the morning, he imagined Ness smelling the shirt he was about to put on, and the rest of the day would usually feel as if he were walking on clouds.
That being said, every day with Ness, as mundane as it could be, still felt special, and Isagi could proudly call himself somehow resistant to Alexis Ness now or at least he liked to pretend he could.
Except for that one time they spent the weekend in Okinawa in a cozy holiday apartment, when Isagi returned from grocery shopping with his hair still wet from bathing and called out for Alexis, only to find the other soaking in Isagi’s bath water as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Isagi dropped the pastries he had bought for him in sheer surprise as Ness remained completely unbothered, idly playing with the water, submerging his hands and lifting them out again while watching as it dripped slowly from between his fingers in long, careless trails that made Isagi feel all the more insane for overreacting.
Ness flinched in surprise before his shoulders sank again, his peaceful expression shifting into an annoyed pout.
“Hey, you dropped my cakes!” he said, shifting to the edge of the tub and crossing his arms over it like a mermaid stuck in a bucket.
“Hello?”
“Stupid Yoichi,” Alexis muttered, throwing the loofah at his head, and Isagi finally snapped out of it.
“Sorry, uhm, here...” he apologized, before lifting them up on autopilot and sitting down on the small stool to watch Ness stuff his face in silence.
Alexis rolled his eyes. “Whatever, stupid.” He leaned back again, sinking into the water until it lapped gently at his lips, water riveting down his neck pooling in his collar bone as he leaned back with a satisfied little sigh. The light brown of his hair had darkened significantly contrasting against his skin.
Yoichi suddenly found it very important to shift in his seat, crossing his legs without being able to bring himself to leave. Alexis already thought he was crazy perverted anyway– he had to at least uphold the last shred of his dignity.
After Ness finished eating and Isagi still hadn’t said a word, Ness finally remembered that Isagi was there too. “Hey, Yoichi…”
Isagi had a hard time replying while still taking in the way Ness lay completely relaxed in the bath.
“I love you and all,” Ness started.
Isagi’s heart beat louder in his ears.
“But how hard did you hit your head on the way home? Like genuinely, what’s wrong–”
“You’re bathing,” Isagi interrupted.
“I know you’re a bit slow but-”
“That’s like… my water, you know that?”
Ness’s expression sank. “The resources of this earth belong to no one-”
“No, I mean I sat in that water.”
“Oh. You mean that. Don’t you do that in Japan? You said you wash off before so.. oh my god, don’t say you lied to–”
“No! I did wash off!” Isagi was quick to cut that one out but Ness was already rising from the water with a big splash, wetting Isagi on purpose and wrapping himself into the biggest towel he could find.
—
It was their last weekend in Japan, and to make the most of it, Ness wanted to go shopping. Isagi didn’t get it, they could get whatever sponsored items they wanted, but Ness insisted anyway, saying, “The weather is perfect for a shopping day.”
It was 36 degrees. Isagi begged to differ, but couldn’t say no to seeing Ness put on a fashion show. Except it somehow turned into Ness shopping for clothes for Isagi, and Isagi being unable to refuse because:
“You would look so handsome in this.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
And when that didn’t work after the fifth time, it eventually turned into, “Oh, I love this model!”
“You mean likel… the cut of the shirt, right?”
“No, the guy.”
“Alexis…”
“Well, if you think you look better, then..”
That’s how Isagi ended up with an arm full of hangers–trousers, dress shirts, ties, blouses, jackets, even scarves and hats–while Isagi just let it happen because he liked being praised by Ness too much. About fifty shops later, Ness squeezed into the cabin with him and the curtain closed again. The “cabins” were actually just pieces of cloth with gaps at the sides.
Yoichi didn’t really care, but Alexis did or at least pretended to, pulling them properly closed before sitting on the tiny seat meant for Isagi and fixing his hair in front of the mirror.
“Baby, please, it’s like 100 degrees and I can barely fit myself in here.”
“Don’t be dramatic, it’s not that small,” Ness said while fanning himself with Isagi’s credit card.
“Can you put on those first. The ones with the few buttons?”
Isagi was already dripping sweat just from taking off his shirt, until Alexis took mercy on him and gently fanned Isagi by blowing air onto his neck. It was 38 degrees at midday. The cabin was small. Alexis was wearing something like a sleeveless top with a high neck and a scarf while his face was still Isagi’s favorite in the world, and Ness wouldn’t stop eyeing his body, so yes, maybe some of the pants did not fit right in certain areas anymore, but Isagi swore he had it under control. They were just here to shop.
“Oh, it’s a little big, unfortunately–the shirt,” Isagi exhaled, moving quickly on to the next item and starting to undress, when Ness also began undressing himself. Isagi immediately pushed him back into his micro chair.
“Woah.”
Beads of sweat were already dripping down his chin. Could Alexis please just sit down? Isagi felt like he was about to short-circuit from overstimulation alone. On top of everything, they were still playing Dance Monkey in the background, making the entire situation feel even more unreal.
Alexis clicked his tongue. “I want to try it instead, I really liked the design..”
“Alexis, baby, I’m sure you’d look great in it, just buy it.”
“No, I want to try it first.”
“It’s too small in here, please just sit down.”
“I’ll be quick.” Stubborn as always ,he took off his shirt anyway, and the weak air conditioning did nothing to help, and Yoichi just couldn’t take it anymore.
He could still make out the voice of a young boy next to them, and Isagi was suddenly pulled back to reality. Without thinking, he reached out and pulled Alexis into a hug, stopping the other from creating any friction.
Except Alexis actually let out a small moan and has the guts to look shocked. “Don’t brush against… them,” Isagi nodded, swallowing hard.
Isagi quickly turned back to the pile of clothes, and thankfully only one set was left–a light summer pair of dress pants and yet another button up which he was just about to take off before remembering to ask Ness for his final opinion.
Ness was already pressing against him again.
“You look so good.”
They were still playing Dance Monkey in the background. Isagi would not cave in.
“Thank you, baby,” he replied calmly. Ness had to audibly huff, as if Isagi was too dense to fully catch what he was implying.
“Like, really good,” Ness continued, pressing his chest lightly against Isagi’s and absentmindedly running a hand over his biceps.
Isagi smiled without it reaching his eyes,“What a great buy this will be, right?”
Yeah. So normal, Yoichi. Good one..
He turned away to pack the clothes into a single pile, unbuttoning his pants to change back into his own clothes, when Ness groaned.
“Stupid Yoichi! I mean like this good,” he said, suddenly dropping down to his knees–
And yes, the 10 cm gap beneath the curtain was still there.Isagi immediately dropped down with him and grabbed him under the armpits like a child, trying to pull him back up.
Not here, alright?” Yoichi tried to appease him, but Alexis slapped his hand away.
“Got it,” Alexis said through clenched teeth, as if Isagi was the worst finance in the world for not letting him have his way in a small town fitting room.
Yoichi thought he would have to fight more, but Ness actually put his clothes back on, clasped the back of his shoes together in silence, and then ruthlessly opened the curtain while Isagi was still standing there in his underwear.
Isagi couldn’t care about anything anymore and just closed the curtain behind Ness. They ended up buying three bags worth of stuff. Ness didn’t talk much afterward, didn’t even want ice cream when asked, but ate all of Isagi’s.
(Later that night, just as Isagi was about to fall asleep at home, Ness suddenly spoke up.
“Am I undesirable?”
He was lying beside him, his skin still faintly glowing from his skincare routine, smelling like vanilla lotion, and wearing Isagi’s old team shirt.
Isagi stared at him for a moment, before thinking, very briefly, that he should answer yes and then throw Alexis out of the window.
“Of course no-”
“Then why?”
“This is my hometown… I can’t just do that here.”
“But in the changing rooms in Germany, it’s fine.”
“It’s a little better, yes,” Yoichi murmured thoughtfully, sinking into his thoughts with a hand on his chin, genuinely considering it.
“You don’t do that kind of thing anywhere then!” Ness pulled all of the blanket toward himself and over his head. “Crazy, stupid, perverted hypocrite.”
Isagi moved to peek underneath it, but Alexis wouldn’t let him.
“Uh… we can do it now?”
“No, we can’t,” Alexis said, peeking out from under the blanket. “This is Saitama.”
“Oh, Alexis, come on–”
“No. Wait until we’re in London or something stupid”
—
On the plane back to Germany, Isagi actually wore the outfits that had previously had Ness clawing at him in the H&M fitting room,
The airplane lights dimmed–night, probably, and with their surrounding quieting down Ness was an easy target. Isagi pressed closed and Ness got easily excited whenever Isagi whispered whatever nonsense he could think of into his ear, every warm exhale against his skin sending him subtly deeper into his seat until he looked like he was trying to disappear into the narrow airplane window itself.
Isagi had the confidence of the night on his side, and the fact that he had been left hanging for too long. Eventually, he whisked Ness away into the tiny airport bathroom, Ness gripping his arm tightly and his legs twisting together in protest.
“Not here… that’s disgusting,” Ness whispered.
And Isagi agreed- it was. But desperate times.
“Please, just this once, hm?” Isagi murmured, already unbuttoning his pants, pressing in closer, when Ness suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“Not all the way, you stupid–”
Isagi groaned in frustration. “Anything, please.”
He pressed in as close as possible, but he could feel it- Ness was getting turned off by the minute. Ness really hated public bathrooms.
And then Isagi saw the exact second a mean idea sparked in his head.
“But Yoichi… we only started flying not too long ago. We might still be in Japan, or Saitama for all we know.”
Isagi couldn’t believe it. “Don’t do this to me.”
Ness calmly buttoned himself back up, checked his reflection, washed his hands, and pulled out a sheet mask. He pressed one into Isagi’s hand.
“This one is yours.” It was an ugly frog.
(Thank you soooo much, Alexis.)
And then he left. He would never let him live this down