Episode One
He really disliked morning rush-hour. That was Kame’s usual thought as he was hustled along with the crowd into the JR train carriage, just like every other morning. White shirt buttoned up, his black tie and suit blended in with the rest of the working crowd that bundled themselves onto the train at Ikebukuro. Adjusting his bag, Kame was trying to breathe in the tight space he had between a balding middle-age guy and a couple, when the couple stepped backwards, further encroaching on his space. Argh. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to ignore the discomfort of the human sardine situation he was in as the train sped towards the next station.
Meijiro station. As the train doors open and some people alighted, Kame felt the cool rush of spring morning air still tinged with the icyness of winter. That moment of comfort was brief however as the new crowd poured in, causing the couple to encroach on his space further. To avoid ending up in a compromising position against the balding middle-age guy on his other side, Kame tried to move further along the carriage. Unfortunately, just as he was moving, the incoming crowd surged, pushing the couple into him, causing him to lose his balance. Before he could try to regain his footing, he felt another hard elbow in his back, causing him to hurtle forward towards the corner of the carriage. Ite! Seconds later, a scowling Kame muttered a muffled curse, sure that he must have bruised his face considering he had been pushed towards the walls of the train carriage. However, blinking, he realised after the initial impact that he hadn’t hit the hard plastic of the train wall, but something warm… and breathing?
His opened eyes met with the black fabric of a suit. Another person’s suit. He had been shoved into another person, who must be cursing him for slamming into him at the moment! In reflex, he tried to move away and apologize, but in truth, he was pinned against this other black suited body by the rest of the crowd. Hesitantly, he tilted his head upwards, rather embarrassed at having to apologize from this distance and position. But what he saw when he looked up caused the apology he had ready to be forgotten. Kame was literally gaping.
Kawaii… Iie Kirei… The face that met his line of sight was a vision of skin lightly tinted by a glow of a tan. Brown hair fell in wisps about the other’s face, his features relaxed, eyelashes lining shut eyes. If Kame hadn’t been staring at the utter prettiness of the guy he had been shoved against, he would definitely still be in shock that the other could still be asleep after having another person slammed against him. But those eyes remained shut, those features relaxed, the lifting and lowering of other’s chest Kame could feel against his own was in sync with someone that was asleep.
Another shove pushed Kame even closer, causing his hips to grind against the other. Uso! Kame could feel the heat rising on his checks, unsure how to take this embarrassing situation. This guy’s sure to wake up and think I’m a hentai! But as Kame peered up hesitantly at the other’s face, unbelievable as it was, the other had no reaction or any indication that he was going to wake up any sooner. Could anyone really sleep through all this… provocation? Kame tried to steady himself, glad that no one else noticed him getting flustered. Kame didn’t know whether to curse or thank his luck.
Shinjuku. The electronic voice of the automated announcement system jolted Kame. He had reached his stop. It was where most of the other passengers were getting off as well, and Kame could feel the crowd behind him dissipating. No longer pinned, Kame started to make his way out.
As he left the carriage and hurried down the steps of the station, Kame’s only thought as the cold spring breeze hit him was ‘hot’.
A smile tickled his lips. He loved morning rush hour.
* * * * *
“What’s with that stupid look on your face?” Jin’s remark greeted Kame as he put his things down on his work desk.
“I don’t have a stupid look.”
“Eh? Who has a stupid look?” Yuichi peered in enthusiastic curiosity over the low cubicle wall.
“Kame. He has this really silly smile on his face and I think he’s going to drool. It’s quite disgusting.”
“Urusai.” Kame scowled.
“Now he’s gone all ugly and scowling.”
“Urusai, baka.” Swiping his cup from his desk, Kame decided to ignore Jin and made his way towards the pantry, where he could be alone in peace.
He was stirring his cup of tea when he heard a commotion from the office.
“Ah, kakkoii!”
“Suteki na hito ne!”
Curious at what the girls in his office were gushing about, he poked his head around the pantry doorway, to peek into the office, where he saw apart from where the girls were gathered, Jin pointing dramatically at someone.
“ARE! Yamapi! Nande koko ni iru!?!”
Kame almost dropped his cup of tea. Standing right where his colleague was pointing was the guy from the train this morning. Instinctively he retreated a few steps into the pantry. Uso!
Ehhh?! Nande? What’s he doing here?! To say that Kame was stunned was to say the least. How coincidental could it be that the guy he had felt up rubbed up against a “close” encounter with this morning was now in his office! Kame seriously hoped that that guy was indeed truly asleep. If he wasn’t… Argh, how embarrassing!
“Kamenashi?”
Na-Nani? Kame backed against the wall when he heard his name being called. Bareta ka? Kyaa, does everyone now think he’s some densha chikan?!?!?! Wait, wait. Calm down. No matter what, it’s one’s word against the other. Whatever they say I’ll deny it. Deny it!
“Kame? Are you in the pantry? Buchou’s calling you. He wants you to come out and brief the new guy.” Kame relaxed slightly as he heard Yuichi. They just wanted him to go out there and brief the new guy- They just want me to brief the new guy? That guy’s our new colleague?!
“Kame?! Oi Kamenashi!” Jin’s loud voice called out. “Omae kitten da yo?! Okada-san’s looking for you! Kamenashi-”
“Was someone looking for me?” Kame asked as returned from the pantry, appearing composed, when in actual fact he was praying really hard that he wasn’t recognised. He squeezed past Jin and the girls to get to his seat, and placed his cup of hot tea on his desk as he settled down and reached for a file, acting like he had not noticed that the desk next to him was no longer vacant. Nope, he was going to ignore the girls who were still flocking around and asking his new next door neighbour inane questions.
“What took you so long, Kame?” Jin half-grumbled. “Buchou already went back in his office. You mean I wasn’t loud enough? Okada-san said you’re suppose to brief my kouhai here-”
“I thought I told you girls to get back to work?” Okada, the said manager opened his office door. “Where’s Kame?”
“Hai, Okada-buchou?”
“Kame, do brief Yamashita-kun about the Tsubasa project, since you’ll be working closely with him on it. We’ll have a meeting in the afternoon. Nakamaru, Akanishi, come in with me for a second to discuss the new lip balm range we’re pushing out. ” Okada said as he walked back into his room, with the two guys following behind him.
“So, where do we start?”
Kame instinctively shifted backwards in his seat as the other had suddenly poked his head really close.
“Ah, erm. Yeah. Basically we’ve gone through the first round of pitches and selected the creative agency for this product launch. Xen Creative Direction is a creative agency we’ve worked with previously before for other product launches. We picked them this time because they came up with a CM/PV idea and got the singer Asami Yuri to endorse the new Tsubasa range. Today, we’re meeting them to see the final presentation on the launch setup and CM/PV treatment. Just read those files to get updated first.” Kame finished his brief succinctly, before turning away to look engrossed at whatever’s on his laptop screen.
“Ok.” Yamapi nodded. “I’ll get started on these files then.”
Noticing that the other had rolled his seat back to his own cubicle, Kame let out a small sigh of relief, glad that the other didn’t seem to recognise him from this morning. He had almost gotten a heart attack when Yamapi suddenly poked his head right next to his face. Cute as the other was, seeing the face right up close was a little intimidating. Not to mention the fact that he was already worried about being recognised. Luckily, it seemed that the morning’s incident was only known to himself. It would have been too embarrassing to work with each other otherwise.
Even so, he found it difficult to concentrate on his work, considering the close proximity. Kame shook his head, as if trying to shake any weird mental images he had at the moment out of his mind. Work! Work! It was time for him to get back to what he did best.
* * * * *
“Hai, Kamenashi desu.”
“Kazuya! Free for lunch?”
“Eh? Today?”
“Yah, in half an hour. It’s your lunch time right? I’m in the area.”
Cradling the phone receiver against his neck, Kame glanced at his watch. “Er, actually I was thinking of eating in. Need to check up on some stuff.”
“Huh? Is your boss bullying you? You don’t even have time for a proper lunch? Lemme talk to your boss.”
“Ah? No, no, er, I have another call now. Talk to you another time, ‘kay? Bye.”
Putting down his phone, Kame rested his head on the table, letting out a sigh. He managed to get out of meeting up again but he wondered how long his luck would hold out.
“Kamenashi-kun?”
Kame felt a tap on his shoulder and immediately sat up. “Hai?”
“Could you explain this?” Yamapi pointed to a page of the folder he held.
Kame glanced down quickly at the contents, muttered an answer quickly, before turning back swiftly to his laptop. He could sense that the other was going to ask him another question when Okada walked out of his room.
“Kame, let’s go for lunch.”
“Eh? Now?” Kame glanced at his watch. “It’s still early.”
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s go. Hurry.”
“Oh, okay.” Kame replied, a little distracted by Yamapi’s enquiring look. Kame found it hard to think clearly whenever the other person was too close. Getting out of the office now was probably a good idea.
* * * * *
Getting out of the office was a bad idea.
Kame rubbed his face as he was on his way back to the office. He should have just told Okada that he wasn’t free and hide in the pantry where he wouldn’t see Yamapi.
He should have suspected it! When Okada suddenly came out and asked him to go for an early lunch. “Lemme talk to your boss.” He should have guessed that his cousin wasn’t kidding.
It wasn’t that he hated his cousin and didn’t want to meet Nino, but he knew that Nino had been put up by his mother to check up on him and to ask him to go for some matchmaking session. In fact, Nino didn’t actually seem serious about wanting Kame to go for the matchmaking sessions. Rather, it appeared that Nino was thoroughly amused and just wanted to make fun of him about it.
As Nino’s senpai in university, Okada should really have more resolve and not keep doing Nino’s bidding!
“Hey! Give it back!”
Kame heard a familiar voice coming from the direction of the cafe nearby. He spotted Yuichi trying desperately to get his mobile phone back from Jin.
“This will teach you to pay attention to me instead of playing with your keitai.” Jin remarked as he shoved a large spoonful of pasta into his mouth. Just as he was distracted, he felt his hand lose grasp of Yuichi’s phone as it was snatched from his fingers.
“Jin, it’s not nice to take people’s things y’know.” Kame messed Jin’s hair as he returned Yuichi his mobile phone.
“Hey, don’t touch the hair.” Jin whined.
“Kamenashi-kun, weren’t you with Okada-san?”
Kame had not noticed Yamapi at the table earlier when he spotted Jin and Yuichi. He stared at Yamapi, wondering again why he left the office for lunch.
“Kame-chan? Kame-chan?” A hand waved in front of him. Kame jerked out of his reverie, realising that Yuichi was waving at him. “Kame-chan, daijoubu? You look a bit flushed. Come, sit here.” Yuichi indicated at the empty seat between himself and Yamapi. Kame hesitated, but sat down anyway.
“So how come you’re not with Buchou?” Jin asked in between mouthfuls.
“Eh, he met a friend, so I left first.”
“Ah, Kame, we were just saying that you’re Okada-san’s favourite ne.” Jin managed to say in between chewing.
“Sonna koto nai da yo.” Kame chuckled.
“But Okada-san is always full of praise for you. And he calls you ‘Kame’ in a very friendly way, not like how he calls us. So stern. ‘Akanishi’. ‘Nakamaru’. Oh, oh, oh!” Jin pointed a finger at Kame, which Kame swiped away. “Don’t tell me there’s something going on between the two of you?!”
“What the heck are you thinking?!” Kame whacked Jin on the head.
“Yuichi! He hit me!” Jin whined.
“You deserve it for saying such stupid things.”
“Yuichi, even though you’re siding Kame, I know you love me.” Jin pouted.
“…”
“Anyway, even if Okada-san’s favourite is Kame, I’ll always pick Yuichi over Kame ne! Cos Yuichi’s yasashii. And your hands are so pretty like a girl’s. If you were a girl I’ll marry you.”
“Who wants to marry you? Wait, that’s not the point. I’m not a girl. Stop saying I’m a girl!” Yuichi complained.
“But Jin’s right. Yuichi has such beautiful hands like a girl, and you’re so kind too. Sometimes I can’t help forgetting that you aren’t a girl. But if you don’t want to marry Jin, then you’ll marry me right?”
“I feel insulted, considering that the people who just called me a girl look more like girls than I do. Right, Yamashita-kun?”
Yamapi chuckled as Jin protested. “Pi looks even more like a girl than I do!”
Getting up from his seat, Kame patted Yuichi on his head. “Maa, I gotta get back to the office now. Need to gather my files before the presentation later.”
“Then I better get going too, right?” Yamapi said, gulping down the last of his drink before getting up.
Kame didn’t say anything. It wouldn’t have made any sense for him to tell Yamapi that the latter couldn’t go back to the office with him. But Kame was hoping that he could avoid being alone with Yamapi for as long as he could, because to say the other was a distraction was a big understatement. They walked back to the office, with Kame keeping silent, only nodding politely or giving short curt replies when Yamapi asked him a few questions.
As the two stepped into the lift, a whole group of men speaking in Chinese followed them in, and the two found themselves squashed to the back of the lift, with Kame’s back against the wall, and Yamapi pressing against him, their faces only inches apart.
Kame held his breath, looking away to avoid making eye contact with the taller boy.
They stayed that way, quiet, until the bell rang to indicate the lift had reached one of the floors and the other lift passengers shuffled out noisily, leaving the two of them alone in the lift. They remained that way for a few more seconds though, before Yamapi finally moved away, totally unaffected. Kame wasn’t sure if it was just him or whether Yamapi took longer than needed before moving away, but brushed it off as his wild imagination, considering how utterly distracted he was by Yamapi being so close to him for the second time today.
When the lift reached their floor, the two walked forward to exit, but both stopped at the same time to give way to the other.
“Dozo.” Yamapi said, lifting his hand to indicate to Kame to exit the lift first. Kame walked out briskly, even though he knew that just made him look even more flustered, but considering how fast his heart was beating when Yamapi was pushed up against him, he figured that the other boy wasn’t dense enough to not notice.
He headed straight to his desk, pretending to be busy packing his table and searching for his files as Yamapi lazily strode into the office. Stop looking at him! Kame scolded himself as he took a quick glance at the taller boy, before returning to flip through his file. Not that he knew what he was really reading, as he was lost in his own thoughts.
“Kamenashi-kun?”
Yamapi’s voice interrupted Kame’s subconscious, and almost caused the other to jump as during his inattentiveness, Yamapi had not just sat back down in his seat, but had moved the chair right up next to his.
“Ah!” Kame quickly shifted his seat away a little.
“Gomen, didn’t mean to scare you.” Yamapi nodded apologetically. “But Okada-san is already back and he just told us to go to the conference room. The Xen Creative team is here.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Why don’t you go in first?” Kame said as he picked out the required files. “I’ll be there in a sec.”
“Okay.”
From the corner of his eye, Kame watched as Yamapi moved back, took a few files and headed for the conference room. He sighed, then took a deep breath, before getting his own things and headed to the meeting.
* * * * *
Kame sighed as he reached the train platform, taking off his tie. He was proud of himself for being able to stay focused during the meeting with Xen Creative Direction. Now that they were getting to the next stage of the launch, most of the time it’d just be him and Yamapi working together alone to coordinate everything, so it wouldn’t be good if he kept getting distracted.
Right now though, he was just dead tired as he boarded the train. Acting all cool and nonchalant in front of Yamapi was a tough job when all he wanted to do was… nevermind.
“Kamenashi-kun?”
Kame held his breath as he heard the familiar voice behind him. He turned his head slightly to see Yamapi next to him, looking a bit breathless. Or was he the one who was left breathless? Kame thought, before mentally smacking himself once more. Keep calm, keep cool, Kame told himself.
“Oh Yamashita-kun, I thought you were going with Jin for karaoke?”
“Iie. Normally I would, but I’m kinda tired today.” Yamapi replied with a smile. “By the way, you can just call me Yamapi.”
“Ah, uh, okay.”
“So which is your stop? I’m dropping off at Ikebukuro.”
Kame was about to answer, then he paused. Same stop? Kame wasn’t sure whether he should be happy or be scared. He realised he must have gone into a trance as Yamapi tapped him on his shoulder and was staring intently at him.
“Kamenashi-kun, daijoubu?”
“Ah, hai. I’m just a little distracted.” Kame said, before adding quickly. “Because I’m tired. Gomen.”
“Iie, it’s okay.” Yamapi smiled once more, his eyes twinkling in amusement.
Ikebukuro. The train doors opened and both alighted, brushing against each other as they did so. Kame quickly moved away slightly to avoid contact. But he couldn’t help stealing a glance at Yamapi, and realised it was a mistake as their eyes locked. Yamapi had a look of surprise, probably because he hadn’t quite expected such a coincidence that they dropped off at the same station. Kame broke the eye contact, trying his best not to look nervous about it.
“Ah, erm, I’m heading for the East exit.” Kame said as he was about to turn to leave as fast as he could.
“I’m going that way too.”
Uso! With the number of coincidences today, Kame wouldn’t be surprised if the next thing Yamapi told him was that he was his new neighbour. Though Kame was quite sure his neighbour hadn’t moved out so the possibility of that happening was small. His mind started to wander, thinking about all those romantic dramas and movies he often watched, and wondering if this was what they called destiny. Matte! What the heck am I thinking about?!
“Kamenashi-kun?”
Yamapi’s voice broke his thoughts once more. Kame shook his head, as if trying to give himself a clear mind.
“Ah, gomen nasai, I spaced out again.” Kame nodded in apology, as they walked out of the station together.
The rest of the way back was a silent one. But it wasn’t the sort of uncomfortable silence between strangers, which when Kame noticed, made him feel a little confused. Then he started to guess when Yamapi would finally head towards a different direction, especially since they were reaching his house soon. Unless of course Yamapi was actually walking him home, but that would be stupid.
As they reached the small junction across from Kame’s apartment building, Kame decided he should just stop thinking too much and maybe he’ll wake up tomorrow to find that Yamapi didn’t really exist. He crossed the junction, not realising that Yamapi wasn’t next to him anymore, until he heard a voice behind him.
“Totsuzen…”
Kame turned around to see that Yamapi was standing in the middle of the road. “What are you doing? Why are you standing in the middle of the road?”
“Totsuzen dakedo suki.”
“Huh?” Kame raised his eyebrows, wondering if he misunderstood what Yamapi had just said. “Just cos all of a sudden, you like to stand in the middle of the road, doesn’t mean you should. Abunai ne.”
“Iie.” Yamapi shook his head, still refusing to move from his spot. “Kamenashi-kun suki dakara. Tsukiatte kudasai!”
Kame took a few seconds to comprehend what Yamapi had just said to him. His jaw dropped slightly. Was he hearing things? It was possible. Right now, he could hear the sound of an oncoming truck, and see lights flashing from a distance. He looked at Yamapi again, then realised that if the latter wasn’t gonna budge, he would be knocked down by the truck.
“Oi, koi!”
“Iyada. I’m not moving until Kamenashi-kun says ‘yes’, even if I get knocked down…” Yamapi said defiantly at first as the truck got closer, before suddenly rushing towards Kame and falling to the ground in mock relief. “…or so I thought. Ah, I thought I was going to die there.”
Disbelief was written all over Kame’s face. He should have guessed that Yamapi was just joking around, messing with him. Yamapi probably could tell that Kame was more than a little distracted by him and was teasing him! Kame felt that maybe he should get angry, but couldn’t quite muster the strength to do so as he watched Yamapi panting and acting all melodramatically after his ‘near-death experience’.
“Kamenashi-kun… I can’t get up. I’m… I’m in too much of a shock.”
“Really?” Kame chuckled as he couldn’t help but be a little amused by the other. He offered his hand to help Yamapi up, but instead, found himself pulled down into Yamapi’s arms. Before he knew it, Yamapi’s mouth met his.
Kame’s eyes widened in shock as he pulled away immediately, his hand raising to slap Yamapi. Then he pulled back his hand immediately, realising what he had just done.
“ITAI!” Yamapi’s hand flew to his own cheek, rubbing it.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!” Kame apologised quickly. “I mean, you kissed me! I was shocked. It was a reflex. I really didn’t mean to hit you.”
Yamapi continued rubbing his cheek, pondering for a while, before speaking up. “So you slapped me as a reflex only cos you were shocked?”
“Hai. Gomen!”
“Ah… Does that mean I can kiss you again then?”
“Eh?”
Without waiting for Kame’s reply, Yamapi leaned forward once more, sealing the space between them, stealing another kiss.
* * * * *
© Copyrighted by O-Baka! | Home
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@Chapter 1
Aaaaaaaaaah, you posted already! *_______*
*jumps around happily*
Does that mean u also have a couple more chapters written already or did I just annoy u enough with my begging to post it immediately to post right away anyway? *laughs*
Either way, I’m so glad you did! ^o^~
And wow, u sure changed quite a lot from what I can still remember of the first chapter back then. But I guess that’s a good thing considering Pi and Kame kinda got together at the end of first chapter already X3 (It’s kinda amusing to see Yuichi there, now ^.~)
Didn’t u have some parts from Pi’s POV as well, back then? Now it’s all Kame’s so far, but that’s ok since it helps building up the suspence if we don’t know what’s going on in Pi’s head *g*
Pi seems kinda ‘normal’ (aka nice) so far, tho, apart from some minor craziness and some egoism, so I’m wondering how exactly he’ll be all the things u warned me of. Can’t wait to see some of them in action *winks* *runs*
@Chapter 1
YAY I am excited for a new story and also excited that Okada is in it since V6 kidnapped my brain and won’t let it go now.
And I like Kame’s PV since the majority of the PiKame relationship in Double Fault was from Pi’s, no?
But. HEE. *happy*
@Chapter 1
am so surprised that mina can remember the previous chapter one because i certainly can’t remember ANYTHING. lol
All i remember was kame falling down and was lying on top of yamapi and that’s all i remember….lmao
But omg i love the bickerings of jin and yuichi~ it is oh-so-fun!!! XD
You know what? while I was reading it, i was thinking that yamapi pretty sure remember kame in the train in the morning…because if i were him and a good looking guy falls on top of me, I SURE WILL REMEMBER THAT. LOL
like what mina said, pi seems so “normal” that i so don’t believe it *lol* And then when i read the end, and thinking, “ah there’s the actual normal yamapi” XD
okay, now i have to go out for dinner.
Am going to wait patient for your next chapters. But If I’m impatient, i’ll just go bug mina
——@Mina:
You’re super fast dude. Have to say that the next update might not come until AFTER my exams are over, which is about 2 weeks. But by then you should be able to figure out why I describe Pi that way.
Btw, when will you be updating 30 Kisses? And my YusukeRyu fic as well?? Wasn’t the latter supposed to be my birthday fic for THIS year?! My next birthday is not too far off you know. o_O
——@Justine:
Okada can be such <3 Did you see him doing air vocal in Gakkou? XD
And yeah, have a tendency to write from Pi’s POV, but it might be because it’s easier to get Pi-muse working (just give him lots of niku). Kame-muse is harder to please! D: Which is why I have a tendency to write from the other person’s POV instead of Kame’s! But this time, gonna try to have way more of his POV. XP
——@Maggie:
Well, what you read was less than what Mina read cos I can’t remember why I had to let her read some extra stuff. o_O
Oh, do you know that it was originally supposed to be RYO not Yuichi?! XD But ah, decided not to write Ryo this time… ^^;;
@Chapter 1
Muhahahar, I’m always fast when it comes to reading ur fics X3 Ok, most of the time *laughs*
Looking forwards to that update then ^___^
Yeah, it was supposed to be for this year’s bday, but if I keep this up, I might manage to give u one chapter every year, or something *gets killed*
And I got to read extra stuff becos you love me? ^.~ No, actually I think I was just bugging u as usual for more to read and u gave in eventually to make me shut up *lol*
Gnah, u went off so fast I couldn’t even wish u good luck for tmr anymore ~.~
So: Good luck!
@Chapter 1
Wow! I’m so happy you decided to write another fic ^_^ I read it only today because a friend said about it. Gomen. I liked a lot this first chapter, simply amazing, wonderful… please update soon… I miss PiKame so much *puppy dog pleading eyes* (^3^) *chu*