Gift fic for lunamond

Title: Better late than never
Pairing: Akanishi/Kamenashi
Rating: pg-13… I guess?
Warnings: None
Summary: Kazuya’s been crushing on the same guy for a year now. No big deal. He just doesn’t know a thing about him other than he likes to run, read, and that he wears glasses. His best friend thinks he needs an intervention but Kazuya insists that staring at the handsome stranger is perfectly acceptable.
Notes: Here’s to fluff, humour, and whatever happened in this. Santé! Note for lunamond: I hope you found this to your liking :) Not gonna lie, it was hard to get together! My ideas were all over the place and I had no idea where I was going with this fic. But, in the end, I’m pretty happy with the result :) I got a bit attached to this Kame, considering the procrastinator that he is and as I’m writing this, the deadline is technically passed (sorry mods!) Bref, once again, I hope you liked it :)


8:32 Kazuya
He’s here!

8:35 Rei
ur gonna have to be way more specific. it’s 8:30 kame. who’s where?

Looking at the message on his phone, Kazuya sighed quietly and looped his arm around the pole that was in the middle of the train to stabilize himself as he typed an answer for his friend, lifting his gaze every second or so to look at the man that was currently sat near him, reading a book.

8:35 Kazuya
Who else do i talk about?! /him/ Rei, /HIM/

8:36 Kazuya
The guy who runs near my place!!!! He’s on my train. ON MY TRAIN REI

8:36 Rei
jfc calm the fk down.

8:36 Rei
u’ve never even spoken to the guy - now’s ur chance. go!

8:37 Kazuya
R U CRAZY!?!?! I CAN’T TALK TO HIM. IT’D BE WEIRD.

8:37 Kazuya
Hi, I’m kame and i’ve been watching u run for a year or so now and might i add that when u run ur ass looks rly nice?!?!

8:38 Rei
I’d open w/ smt like that ya. seems about right.

Kazuya gaped. He couldn’t believe that his best friend wasn’t giving him anything good. This was serious! The guy on whom he had a crush was in his train! It had to be destiny!

Almost every night for a little bit over a year, while Kazuya was walking home after having taken the bus from school, a guy ran passed him. Not every night, but enough so that Kazuya noticed him. It wasn’t much and it never lasted more than 10-15 seconds. (Basically the time that Kazuya watched him run off, his eyes normally set on the man’s backside.) And even if it was just that, Kazuya had somehow managed to come up with a whole scenario involving the mystery runner and he’d developed a crush. He knew it was stupid, obviously, but he couldn’t help it.

But now that he’d finished high school and he wouldn’t be taking that bus home anymore, Kazuya figured that he’d never see the guy again. Well, unless he went for a run. Otherwise it was the end of their non-existent relationship for which Kazuya may or may not have planned the next ten years in detail.

8:39 Kazuya
Be srs Rei! He’s rly hot and I thought I’d never see him again!

8:42 Rei
*snort* u mean other than in ur dreams~~~~~~

8:42 Rei
Lover boy~~~~

8:43 Kazuya
ur the worst friend ever. i should’ve texted koki or maru -__-

8:43 Rei
U WOULDN’T DARE. KAZUYA. NO.

8:45 Kazuya
then b nice 2 me :(

8:47 Rei
FINE. JEEZ. it’s not like u can just go up to him. that would b weird. ummmmmmmm

8:47 Rei
I’ve got nothing. sry o-o

Looking at his phone, Kazuya sighed and decided that his best friend wouldn’t be able to help him. It’s not like there was much to do anyways. He could Google ‘how to approach your crush on a public transport’ but it would be weird.

He didn’t know anything about the guy and to be honest, it was the first time he was seeing the guy in clothes that weren’t meant to be worn while running. Kazuya had to admit that it was a nice change.

Instead of track pants, the man was wearing dark jeans and instead of a cotton vest he was wearing a button down shirt with a black coat over it. He had pair of black framed glasses on his nose and he was reading, earphones in his ears.

Even if Kazuya wanted to know what the man was reading, there was no way to tell with the way that the man was holding the book. Kazuya noticed that the man kept pushing his glasses back up higher on his nose with the tip of his index and every time the man did that, Kazuya's heart did a flip. He'd always had a thing for good looking guys with glasses so this really wasn't helping.

Kazuya bit down on his lower lip as he looked away. If he stared too much, the man would noticed and it would just be weird. He tried to think of a few ways he could approach the man but nothing came to mind. At some point, Kazuya took a step forward but ended up grabbing the pole that was in the train and twirled around it once, holding himself back so he wouldn’t start hitting his head on the pole for being such an idiot. The guy probably wasn’t into dudes anyways. It wasn’t worth it.

But at the same time, Kazuya really wanted to talk to him.

He thought about it for the rest of the train ride. His earphones were in his ears but he hadn’t even pressed play on his music so really - he wasn’t listening to anything other than his stupid thoughts. When Kazuya had thought of the best possible opening line, he took a step forward and froze once he saw that the man was looking up to check his surroundings.

He quickly lowered his head and pretended to look at his phone but kept his eyes on the man, following his every move. When he saw that the man was getting up and that he got out at the next station, Kazuya let out a sigh and went to sit down at the nearest seat possible. He slumped down it in and looked at his phone before frowning when he saw the time.

He looked up and read the name of the station they were at and watched as the train started to leave and that’s when his mind clicked. That had been his stop too. Kazuya had been so busy trying to figure out how to speak with the man that he’d forgotten to get off.

Sighing, Kazuya got up from his seat and walked over to the door, ready to get out at the next stop. It wasn’t all that far from the university so he’d be fine - going over to the other side of the tracks and waiting for another train to pass just for one stop would take almost just as much time as walking. And besides, fresh air could do him some good.

For the rest of the day, Kazuya wondered where the man had gone to after getting off the train. This was just the first week of this semester so he’d probably have the chance to see the man again at some point. Maybe. Hopefully.

Kazuya didn’t see the man around school so he figured that the guy just stepped off at the same stop as him - which would be totally possible, it’s not because they got off at the same stop that they were going to the same place. Sure, that’s what Kazuya wanted but it sure as hell wasn’t going to be that easy.

Over the next few weeks, Kazuya stayed alert in the train. He realized that the man took the train with him three times per week. On Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays. Once in awhile, he was also on Kazuya’s train home on Fridays but it wasn’t regular. Kazuya had also noticed that the guy was a student at the same university as him. He had no idea what the guy was studying but at least Kazuya knew that they were going to the same places.

Feeling his phone vibrating in his pocket, Kazuya tore his eyes off of his crush and fetched it out.

8:25 Rei
Still staring at mystery man?

8:26 Kazuya
Yes :-( He’s reading atm. Seems like a good book o-o Falling Skies. He’s reading in English too. O3O
8:26 Kazuya
I googled the title looks rly good. I KNOW WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS :D

8:26 Rei
Ok. If you’re close enough to see what he’s reading, U’RE TOO CLOSE.
8:26 Rei
YOU NEED AN INTERVENTION

Kazuya huffed at the message and started to type his reply. He was fine. He didn’t need an intervention. He was perfectly fine. It’s not like he was taking pictures of the stranger, he was just looking at him from afar. That was good enough… ish.

He looked out the window of the train sighed, his arm loosely wrapped around the pole. He wanted to look at the stranger but at the same time he knew that if he looked for too long, he’d get discovered and he’d probably have to change schools. Probably. Kazuya didn’t really know what happened in these types of situations and he really didn’t want to risk it.

Just as he straightened up and took one arm off from the pole to get something in his back pack, he felt the train shift and the next thing he knew - he was slammed into the wall and something heavy fell on him.

When he opened his eyes, a woman was hovering over him, gently patting his cheeks to help him along. When she noticed that he was looking at her, she smiled, “Good, you’re awake. You hit your head pretty hard so don’t try to get up.”

“What happened?” Kazuya asked, bringing a hand up to his forehead.

“They won’t say,” The woman replied as she looked around. “Word is: someone jumped in front of the train…” she said quietly, forcing a smile onto her face as she looked at Kazuya. “I think our conductor pulled the emergency break to try and stop before the person and that’s why we got hurt instead,” she added, looking around before she looked back at Kazuya. “I don’t think too many people here are injured… a few hit their head, like you, and I think one man passed out but that’s it. I don’t know about the other coaches though.”

Kazuya chuckled dryly and sat up a little bit, “You’re making it sound like it’s the apocalypse.”

The woman laughed a little bit and placed a hand on Kazuya’s back to help him, “With all the screaming earlier, it sounded like that. People started to panic, not that I blame them. One would’ve thought that it was a nuclear attack or something,” she said, forcing out a nervous chuckle. “Not… Not that we can tell anyways, considering we’re underground and all…”

“Yeah, let’s not talk about the end of the world like that,” Kazuya said with a nervous chuckle as he looked around.

People were talking together, mostly in hushed voices but there were a few kids that were scared and that were crying. At first glance, Kazuya couldn’t find the mystery man he’d been starting at. But to be fair, he couldn’t see much anyways.

The lights were flickering and his glasses were broken. Kazuya shrugged and took them off to look at them properly. The lens was cracked but that was it, at least. He clicked his tongue with annoyance and put his glasses back on. It would take weeks to get new ones - he’d have to start wearing contacts again.

Kazuya took out his phone and cringed a little bit when the light hit his eyes. With all of the lights closed, paired with the fact that they were currently in a tunnel, it was way too bright. He changed the brightness level and opened his messages.

Just as he was replying to one of Rei’s messages, he noticed that nearly an hour had already passed since he’d sent his last message - meaning that he was late to class. Rei, being the smart girl that she was, had noticed his absence and had sent him a few thousand messages about it.

8:46 Rei
R u mad at me? U always reply to my txts - even when I’m mean OAO

8:53 Rei
Okay i get it u like him what ever no intervention jeez can u just stop ignoring me??

8:55 Rei
Still staring at mystery man?

8:56Rei
Dude classes starts in 4 minutes where the fuck are you???

9:04 Rei
Kazuya this isn’t funny. where r u?!?!?!

9:10 Rei
Can’t even concentrate in the bloody class dude wtf are u pissed or smt?

The messages went on but Kazuya simply hit reply, he didn’t need to read them all to figure out that his friend was worried about him.

9:17 Kazuya
Sorry XP Train had a small accident… braked and well, long story short I hit my head but i’m fine - i won’t be coming to class tho. i’ll txt u later :)

They stayed in the train for about an hour. Someone came to speak to them and they were told that it had been a break malfunction. During that time, Kazuya managed to text Rei a few times and once the wounded had been evacuated, everyone else was allowed to leave.

He called his father once he was out and the man picked him up as soon as he was able to. There was no way that Kazuya would be attending his classes without being able to see. It would just be ridiculous.

At least it was Friday - so after skipping the whole day of classes, Kazuya stayed home for the weekend. His mother managed to get him contacts in time for Monday and even though he was happy he could see properly again without some huge line in the middle of his lense, Kazuya wouldn’t have minded missing a whole week of classes.

On Monday, Kazuya got on the train and sat down. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the trains any more - well, maybe a bit of that, but on Mondays he knew that he didn’t see the handsome stranger and he normally sat down to read or to play a stupid game on his phone. Really - it was just a coincidence.

When he got to school, Kazuya learned that his lecture had been cancelled. A few people had turned up to class, only to be greeted by a paper taped to the door, saying that their teacher was sick. After checking his e-mail, Kazuya realized that their teacher had sent them a message but that he just hadn’t seen it.
He groaned and dragged his feet to the cafeteria. His next lecture was in three hours but getting home was about an hour and a half so he had no choice but to stay at school.

In the cafeteria, Kazuya quickly grabbed a sandwich with a juice box and went to find himself a table. He took his laptop out of his bag, placed in on the table and decided to start working on his essays… which obviously meant that he looked at videos of people receiving puppies for Christmas for about an hour before writing one sentence and going back to animal videos.

Sipping at his juice, Kazuya kept re-reading the same sentences he’d written in the past hour. None of it made sense and he couldn’t concentrate. But even so, he kept at it. So much that when a figure stopped in front of his table, he didn’t even look up. He didn’t even notice that the person was talking to him. Well. That and Kazuya was way more interested in finding out more about how to know when your hard boiled egg is ready instead of working on his essay. Obviously.

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” a man said. When Kazuya didn’t react, he chuckled and cleared his throat. “Is this seat taken?” He asked, to which Kazuya simply waved his hand and kept his eyes on his screen.

The caf was full so Kazuya didn’t mind if someone decided to sit with him… provided they shut up and let him work on his essay. Which he was totally going to do once he found out how to French-braid hair.

“You’re really concentrated, aren’t you?” The man said with a chuckle, placing his bag on the table, right in front of Kazuya’s computer.

“Shh,” Kazuya simply replied, “I have to figure out how they’re doing it.”

“Doing what….?”

“Braids. They’re a mystery,” Kazuya said, shaking his head a little bit.

The man snorted, “I have three younger sisters and one older. I learned how to braid at a young age. Had it done on me as well.”

“What’s the secret then?” Kazuya asked, finally looking up, his eyes going wide the second he did. “Hi,” he simply said, not really knowing what to say. For some reason his handsome stranger was sat at his table, talking to him.

Clearly, Kazuya could now refer to him as his handsome acquaintance. Rei would totally be fine with that, that’s for sure.

“Hi,” The man said, chuckling again as Kazuya closed the screen of his laptop, still seemingly in awe. “I can teach you to braid hair, if you want~”

“I… what?” Kazuya said, blinking a little bit as he looked around, wondering if his friends had put the other up to this. “Really though, what?”

“You are the guy from my train, yeah?” The man asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Well, I mean. If I answer yes what happens?”

The man laughed and leaned back on his chair and crossed his legs. “Not much. I just need to make sure I’m talking to the right person. If I am in fact talking to the right person, than I have to say that you look different without your glasses - I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“G-Good different or bad different?” Kazuya asked, frowning a little bit as he furrowed his brow, making a move to push his glasses up his nose with his index… only to realize that he didn’t have any. He still wasn’t used to that.

“I feel like it’s neutral, you look good with or without them,” the man replied, causing Kazuya to blush.

Kazuya wasn’t quite sure what to say at this point. He was nearly convinced that his handsome acquaintance was flirting with him but when he looked back at his old relationships and how they’d started, he wasn’t too sure. Instead, he found himself frowning as he fixated the man’s lower lip.

“Oh yeah, that,” the man chuckled, passing a finger along his lip.

“Sorry!” Kazuya hurried to say, looking up to stare into the man’s eyes instead. “I didn’t mean to stare,” he said, cringing a little bit, “It’s just… it looks painful.”

“Three stitches, not so bad, if you ask me,” The man explained simply, passing his fingers on the stitches as he did. “When the train braked I accidently bit my lip so hard it split. Blood was everywhere on me, my book, and the seat. Some guy pulled me to the back to give me something to put on it while we waited, at least, but it wasn’t what I’d expected from my Friday morning.”

“Ouch,” Kazuya said, grimacing a little bit. “I took the easy way out,” he added, chuckling a little bit when the man frowned, question marks nearly appearing above his head. “I hit my head on the pole I was holding onto, passed out, and broke my glasses. Woke up like, forty minutes later or something, don’t really know,” he said, shrugging right after as he brought his hand up to his bangs to move them. “Got myself a nice lump as a souvenir.”

“At least you won’t get a scar… which I still hope I won’t get either,” the man said with a chuckle. “I’m Jin, by the way.”

“Kamenashi,” Kazuya replied, his heart beating fast in his chest. “You can call me Kame, or well, Kazuya… considering that that is my name,” he added, chuckling nervously at his horrible rambling. To keep himself from going on for too long, Kazuya grabbed the sandwich that had been on his plate since he’d learned how make different types of chocolate chip cookies, and took a bite, only to pause when he sunk his teeth in when Jin spoke up again.

“Is that a cheese, tomato, and ham sandwich?”

Kazuya looked at Jin and went through with his bite, placing his hand over his mouth as he hurried to chew before he replied. “Well, minus the tomatoes, yeah,” he said, pointing the paper plate on which he had placed the three slices of tomato that had been in his sandwich. “Why?”

“That’s what I normally take,” Jin said, pouting at Kazuya. “And today they were out.”

“Oops,” Kazuya simply replied, chuckling a little bit. “Didn’t mean to~ To be honest, normally I have a class at this time but destiny wanted me to come to school, realize that my class had been cancelled, and come here to buy a sandwich while I pretend to work on my essay.”

“Fair enough,” Jin said with a laugh, reaching for one of Kazuya’s tomato slices. It was only when he ate it that he saw that Kazuya was looking at him with wide eyes - obviously, Jin had made a mistake. “Sorry,” he said, cringing a little bit as he waited for Kazuya to tell him to leave. “It’s just, I’m hungry and I figured you didn’t like tomatoes… but it’s obvious that you were keeping them for later, I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you.”

To that, Kazuya couldn’t help but laugh quietly. “And how would you do that? You’d buy me a tomato? Is that it?” He asked, arching an eyebrow at his new friend.

“I, well,” Jin licked his lips before he went on, “If that’s what you want, sure. I can totally buy you a tomato.”

“Don’t bother,” Kazuya said, waving his hand at Jin as he laughed again, “I actually hate tomatoes so if you want the others, as well as the other half of my sandwich, go ahead. I’m just snacking because I’m bored anyways.”

“I… couldn’t,” Jin replied, looking at Kazuya with wide eyes. “It’s your sandwich, you bought it.”

“That’s true. You’re very perceptive.”

“I do have a high school diploma, after all,” Jin replied teasingly, winking at Kazuya quickly.

“Ah~” Kazuya said, nodding a little bit, trying to make sure that Jin’s wink didn’t affect him. “That makes sense. But yeah no, go for it, really. I have like, five granola bars in my bag. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to eat them and they’ve been there for like ten years but still. I have them.”

“Seems like a legitimate plan you have there,” Jin chuckled, slowly reaching out for the un-touched half of Kazuya’s sandwich, placing the tomatoes back in before he picked it up, “I hoard wet-wipes from restaurant,” he said, taking a bite from the sandwich. “The kinds you get in little at the end of a meal?” He said, his mouth still full. “I have like,” he took a second to swallow and chuckled, “Thirty in my car.”

“To be honest, I didn’t even think you owned a car, considering you take the train every day,” Kazuya said, chuckling a little bit. “Well, like that or by running.”

“Running?” Jin repeated, cocking his head to the side.

“Well, I mean, you’ve been running for long time and I just noticed cause you ran by me when I used to take the bus and stuff.”

Chuckling, Jin put down the rest of the crust from his sandwich and smiled at Kazuya, “I had a feeling that that was you back then as well. I guess we just keep running into each other.”

“I guess we do, yeah,” Kazuya chuckled, keeping up Jin’s gaze.

Looking down at his watch, Jin groaned and sat up, “I’ll see you around - I have to get to my class. Thanks for sharing the sandwich~” He said, winking at Kazuya quickly before he left.

When he was sure that Jin was out of sight, Kazuya grabbed his phone and quickly started to text Rei again. Too much had happened in so little time and he needed to get it out of his system before he burst.

13:10 Kazuya
REI REI REI REI REI REI REI. CODE RED

They didn’t use ‘code red’ so Kazuya figured that as soon as Rei would see this, she’d either answer or call him… which is exactly what she did.

13:11Rei
RED?? WHAT HAPPENED. WHO DIED. KAZUYA WHAT HAPPENED

13:12 Kazuya
HIS NAME IS JIN

13:12 Rei
WHO’S JIN?!

13:12 Kazuya
FFS REI. Mystery Man. Handsome Stranger.

Really, Kazuya had figured that she would catch on quicker than this. It’s not like he met men left and right. The only guy that had mattered recently had been Jin. And by recently, Kazuya did mean the last few months (and years, if he counted the fact that he used to stare at the guy when he was in high school.)

13:15 Rei
Ohhhhhh~~~ you learned his nammeeeee~~~~ howww??
13:15 Rei
Kame please tell me you didn’t do smt illegal to get it
13:18 Rei
Kame you aren’t answering. WHAT DID YOU DO.

Snorting at the message. Kazuya let her panic for a little while he finished his juice, chuckling every time he got a new message.

13:25 Kazuya
I broke into the school’s archives, looked at every picture of every year until I found him and then I wrote his name down. so now I know his name, address, age, blood type, relationship status and even his allergies.

13:26 Rei
KAMENAHSI KAUYA

13:26 Rei
I DON’T CARE IF I SPELT YOUR NAME WRONG. TELL ME YOU’RE FUCKING JOKING RIGHT NOW”

13:27 Kazuya
OFC I’M JOKING JESUS WOMAN
13:28 Kazuya
We ran into eachother at the caf cause my class got canceled ovo so now i know his name ovo

13:29 Rei
u nearly gave me a fucking heart attack. I hope you’re happy

Funny thing was, Kazuya was happy. But mostly about the part that he now had Jin’s name.

13:30 Rei
Did u get his number?

As he read the message, Kazuya’s eyes went wide. No. He’d totally forgotten about that. But… then again, how could he have asked? It’s not like they’d planned on meeting for coffee or something, they’d only talked that one time.

13:31 Rei
I’m gonna take that as a no. *SIGH* All in good time… i guess. you better sit next to him on the train the next time u see him or i swear 2 god kazuya, i’ll smack you right across the head

13:32 Kazuya
OAO THAT’S SO MEAN THOUGH I THOUGHT YOU LIKED ME

13:33 Rei
I LIKE YOU WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR ACT TOGETHER SO I DON’T HAVE TO INTERVENE ALL THE TIME. MY BOYFRIEND DOESN’T APPRECIATE IT EITHER. SO JUST GO DATE HIM ALREADY

13:35 Kazuya
I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF HE’S GAY OAO

Although yes, Kazuya was pretty sure that Jin had a thing for him, considering the flirting. Unless he’d been hearing and seeing things. But he was pretty sure that Jin had been flirting with him.

Like, 99% sure.

Maybe 60%.

The more he thought about it, the less he felt like he’d been flirting with Jin. And if he had been, he was just wondering if Jin had understood it.

Maybe he had and that’s why he’d left. Maybe Jin didn’t even have a class but Kazuya had scared him off with his weird flirting. Kazuya didn’t even remember what he said.
He tried to think back and it was just blank. He could remember something about braids, dogs, and Jin taking his tomato slices and that was it.

Kazuya groaned and let his head fall against the table, moaning in pain when it hurt his bruise. Rei did have a point though. He had to go see Jin now if he saw him in the train.

As it was, Kazuya saw Jin on the train the very next day. As always, he was reading. He was holding the book with one hand and he was leaning forward, an elbow on one of his knees and his chin in his hand as he read, his glasses low on his nose.

Kazuya didn’t want to disturb Jin in his reading but at the same time, if he just stayed there, doing nothing, and Jin saw him, Jin would think that he’s avoiding him.
When the doors of the train closed behind him, Kazuya took a deep breath and mustered all of his courage to walk up to Jin, avoiding a woman stepping on his foot a second later by taking a sudden step back, causing him to bump into a man that was standing behind him.

“Sorry,” he hurried to say, his eyes going wide. “So sorry,” he added, chuckling nervously as he turned back to face Jin, his face going red a second later when he saw that Jin was looking at him. “You saw all of that, didn’t you?” He asked, deciding that it was better to find out now rather than later.

“I did,” Jin chuckled, putting his bookmark in his book to save his page, putting his book back in his bag and placing it on his lap so that Kazuya could sit next to him. “That woman did nearly step on your foot though,” he added quietly, looking up at the woman in question before looking at Kazuya again. “I would’ve done the same thing.”

“What? You mean back up into someone else and embarrass yourself?”

“That’s exactly what I would’ve done, yeah.”

“Good to know,” Kazuya laughed, leaning back on his seat a little bit as he kept his eyes on Jin.

After that small incident, conversation was flowing between them. They got off the train and walked to the university together, only stopping when they realized that they had to go separate ways. Without Kazuya even having to speak up, Jin asked for his number and Kazuya gladly gave it to him.
They exchanged a quick text to make sure they had the right numbers and they were on their way.

As soon as he left, Kazuya started to wonder how long he needed to wait until he could text Jin without seeming completely obsessed. He didn’t want to text Rei because he didn’t want to tell her that he’d exchanged numbers with Jin.
He knew that the moment she knew about that, she’d start asking when their first date was and Kazuya just couldn’t take the pressure.

Thankfully, Kazuya didn’t have to wait long as Jin was the one to text him first a few moments later.

Then ended up texting throughout their next class and Kazuya was smiling the whole time. Which was a bit weird, considering he was in an economics class.

At the end of the week, Rei managed to convince Kazuya to go out for karaoke with her, her boyfriend, and a few other friends. They hadn’t done anything in awhile and Kazuya liked her friends so he figured why not.
He got there with her and her boyfriend and they waited in the room for the others to arrive, siping at their drinks and looking through all of the songs they could sing.

“I think we’re only missing one person,” Rei said as her friend Shizumi sat down next to her, her boyfriend going with Rei’s. Another couple had came it with Shizumi but Kazuya hadn’t paid attention to their names - he’d learn them at some point during the evening.

“Who’re we missing?” Rei’s boyfriend asked, looking around to try and figure it out on his own.

“Jin,” Shizumi replied, causing Kazuya’s eyes to go wide as he looked at his best friend.

When she saw him looking at her, Rei simply grinned. “He’s a guy from one of my classes. You’ll get along great,” she said, winking at Kazuya.

Kazuya didn’t even have time to reply. Sure, he didn’t exactly know what to reply but still. One moment he was looking at Rei and the other the door was opening and Kazuya was turning to see if the Jin in question was in fact ‘his’ Jin.

“Hey,” Jin grinned, waving at the people that were already there before seeing Kazuya. “Kame?” He asked with a small frown, cocking his head to the side.

“H-Hi,” Kazuya chuckled, getting up so quickly it made his head spin. He shook it off and smiled awkwardly at Jin. “Wasn’t expecting to see your here.”

“That’s what I was gonna say,” Jin replied, biting on his lip before he spoke up, Kazuya talking at the same time as him. “You go,” he laughed, blushing a little bit.

“So I take it you know Rei?” Kazuya asked as they went to sit down at the end of the couch while the others decided on the first song to sing.

“I do yeah,” Jin replied, eying the girl for a second before he looked back at Kazuya. “We’ve had a few classes together for a few years now and she asked me if I wanted to come karaoke tonight cause they were an uneven number.”

“She said the same thing to me. Also mentioned that I don’t go out enough and that it would be good for me… or something like that,” Kazuya said, chuckling a little bit.

“And… how do you know her?” Jin asked, cocking his head to the side, trying to ignore the fact that Rei was looking at them. She was too far away to hear what they were saying but still.

“She’s actually my best friend,” Kazuya said with a chuckle, playing with his fingers as he spoke. “Childhood friend even - been stuck with her for as long as I can remember.”

“So you're the childhood friend,” Jin said, nodding a little bit. “She’s mentioned you. Never said your name though… but now I’m thinking that was on purpose.”

“She’s mentioned me?!” Kazuya asked, looking back at Rei to glare at her. She wasn’t even looking at him and Kazuya saw her flinch. After she turned around and slowly looked at him, waving at him nervously, Kazuya looked back at Jin. “Sorry to say, she’s never mentioned you… although now I think I know why,” he added quietly under his breath.

“I’m sorry?” Jin said, frowning as he hadn’t heard the last part of the sentence.

“N-Nothing,” Kazuya hurried to reply, smiling nervously at Jin. He really didn’t want to tell the other that he’d been talking to Rei about everything for the past few months. He’d seem like a weirdo.
Although if Rei had talked about him, maybe that meant that Jin had said something to her as well. He was just overthinking it, that much he knew.

Just as he was going to say something else, Kazuya felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he took it out to check, “Sorry, just gotta check this,” he muttered, question marks appearing in his eyes as he saw that Rei had been the one to message him.
He looked at her for a second and she just grinned, so he figured he needed to look at the message.

22:37 Rei
He’s gay - I already asked

22:37 Kazuya
WTF?! GET OUT OF MY HEAD I WAS THINKING THAT OAO

22:37 Rei
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
22:38 Rei
He’s talked about u ya know ;D Said that at some point, he was staring at the pretty stranger on the train and only realized at the end of the train ride that his book had been upside down the whole time ;DDDD

“Are you alright?” Jin asked, causing Kazuya to look up from his phone. “You seem… concerned.”

“It’s nothing,” Kazuya hurried to say, waving his hand dismissively at Jin. “Really. Just a stupid friend, saying stupid things and acting-”

“Stupid?” Jin suggested with a chuckle.

“Yeah,” Kazuya grinned, stuffing his phone into his pocket. “Stupid.”

They stayed in the karaoke place until half past midnight. The only reason they left was because the placed had closed at midnight and they’d been basically thrown out. They ended up in a pub to take a few drinks and at two am, they all decided that it was getting late.

Kazuya carried Rei on his back until they reached the train station as her own boyfriend was too drunk to walk straight. Sure, Kazuya was piss drunk as well but concentrating on not dropping Rei was helping.
They parted ways at the train station and it was only at that point that Kazuya realized that he was going in the same direction as Jin.

He didn’t know if it was because of the booze or because he knew that Jin talked about him, but them being together felt awkward. They were sitting on the last train home and neither of them was speaking. Kazuya just didn’t know what to say anyways.

Kazuya looked at Jin and chuckled quietly when he realized that the other was sleeping. He couldn’t blame him. With how drunk he was, that was also what he wanted to do. Considering the fact that his phone was dead and he had nothing else to do, Kazuya shifted a bit closer to Jin and he let his head fall onto the boy’s shoulder as he quickly drifted off to sleep.

~

“Wake up,” a distant voice said, causing Kazuya to groan and stir.

“Not now,” Kazuya muttered.

“Yes now,” the voice chuckled, causing Kazuya to open his eyes.

“Why am I awake? I’m still drunk - I need to sleep more,” he muttered, pushing the person away.

“Kaaamme,” the person whined. “We’re at the terminus. We have to get off the train.”

Train? Kazuya thought… terminus?

His eyes shot open and he got up, his hands immediately grasping the pole that was in front of him. “What?!”

“We fell asleep,” Jin said, going to stand next to Kazuya, swaying slightly. “And we forgot to get off the train,” he said making sure that Kazuya understood.

“Shit, what time is it?” Kazuya asked, looking at his watch quickly. “Damn. This was the last train. What should we do? We’re like an hour away from home. By train.”

“Actually,” Jin started, chuckling a little bit. “We’re at like, twenty minutes from my place. I live really far, I know,” he said, noticing the look on Kazuya’s face. “It’s nearly three thirty, we should be at my place by four, maybe. I don’t have the cash for a taxi and even less cash for a hotel so it’s pretty much our only option.”

Kazuya nodded a little bit as he thought it over.

Jin was right. That was their only option. Sure he had a bit of money but he didn’t mind walking - it was warm out and he was still a bit tipsy so that was probably going to go well. “Let’s walk,” he said, grinning at Jin.

Ten minutes in, Jin was going on about something that had happened at school and Kazuya could’ve sworn that he’d been listening all along but he just didn’t understand a thing of what Jin was saying. He was nodding along saying things like ‘mhm’ and ‘uh-huh’, but he had no idea what was going on.
He remembered Jin saying something about a library in the beginning and now, for some reason, Jin was going on about his mother’s roses and Kazuya couldn’t for the life of him remember why.

At some point, Jin turned around and tripped on his own feet, only to end up on his ass on the ground, laughing. Trust a drunk man to fall in the streets at nearly four in the morning.

Kazuya tried to help him up but he started laughing as well and the both of them, laughing, was just getting them no-where. Neither of them was able to stop and Kazuya just gave up and sat on the ground with Jin to laugh with him. They were in the middle of the street but he didn’t care - no-one was up at this hour.

Well, maybe a few families that lived in the area, seeing as they were laughing so loudly. But he didn’t care. Their laughter was genuine and Kazuya hadn’t had this much fun in a long time.

It took them a few minutes to calm down, after which Kazuya got up and helped Jin to his feet. He took a few steps forward and suddenly, Jin’s hand was on his shoulder.

“I think I hurt my ankle,” Jin said with a hiss, putting his foot down onto the ground to put weight on it, only to curl his fingers on Kazuya’s shoulder a second later as he was in pain. “Yup, sprained it. Fuck.”

Chuckling, Kazuya went in front of Jin and helped the other onto his back, “Just don’t fall asleep - otherwise I won’t know where to go,” Kazuya said, chuckling a little bit as Jin’s arms fell limp on either side of Kazuya’s head and he placed his chin down onto his arm.

“No worries~” Jin replied, “I’m totally awake.”

“For now,” Kazuya added with a snort.

“Yeah okay sure I fell asleep in the train, but now I’m awake. I woke up before you, I’ll have you know,” Jin said in a childish grumble, causing Kazuya to snort once more. “Oi, be nice. I’m hurt.”

“Oh, you poor, poor child,” Kazuya laughed, hoisting Jin up on his back as he walked. “You’re just a drunk idiot.”

“So are you.”

“And so am I,” Kazuya agreed. “I ain’t contradicting that at nearly four in the morning.”

“I have to admit that this is not how I thought I’d be spending my Friday night,” Jin confessed quietly, his cheek pressed against his arm.

“No?” Kazuya asked, turning to look at him a little bit. “How did you expect it to go?”

Jin shrugged, “Something in the lines of going to karaoke with friends and being home by midnight.”

“You sound disappointed by the outcome.”

“Na,” Jin replied, shaking his head a little bit, “Opposite of disappointed. Sure okay, I could’ve gone without the sprained ankle but I had a lot of fun. I’m happy you turned out to be the one creating the odd number~ I was already looking forward to seeing you on Monday on the train.”

“You were?” Kazuya asked, happy to know that Jin couldn’t see just how much he was blushing just then. Sure he’d been thinking about what he could say to Jin when he saw him on the train the next Monday but he wasn’t going to admit that.
Besides, they would’ve probably texted a bit on Saturday and Sunday, considering that they’d been texting every day since they’d gotten each other's numbers.

“I was,” Jin answered, nodding against his arm. “I was thinking about maybe asking you out and watch it!” He hurried to add as Kazuya had almost fallen. He chuckled and straightened up, “Only need one person with a sprained ankle.”

“S-Sorry,” Kazuya simply said, having been totally caught off guard. He hadn’t expected Jin to say something like that. Sure the guy was pretty bold when he was sober but because of that, Kazuya wasn’t sure if Jin was saying that because it was in his nature or if it was because he was drunk.
Either way, as long as it was true, Kazuya didn’t mind at all. As long as it happened. “So, something about asking me out?” He asked, poking at the subject a little bit.

“Yeah,” Jin replied as he looked up at the sky, smiling a bit when he saw that the sun was starting to colour it a little bit. “Reckon you’d say yes if I did?”

“Course I would,” Kazuya replied matter-of-factly. “Just name a time and place and I’ll be there~”

Before he replied, Jin broke into a fit of giggles and Kazuya couldn’t help but look over at the other, wondering if he’d said something wrong. “I’m sorry,” Jin said, still chuckling a little bit. “I just imagined myself saying: my place - ten minutes, as a joke, but that sounds like a total booty call.”

Kazuya snorted and rolled his eyes. “A bit late for a booty call, innit? I’d say four in the morning is pretty late,” he added as he kept walking, his arms starting to hurt a little bit.

“Na, never too late if you ask me,” Jin replied, looping his arms properly around Kazuya’s neck as he leaned forward a little bit so he could look at Kazuya. “Ya know, provided the other person you’re booty-calling is awake and all.”

“Not sure ‘booty-calling’ is an actual term though, just saying.”

“Shh,” Jin said, poking Kazuya’s cheek as he did. “For real though. What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Kazuya repeated, Jin nodding as a reply. “Like tomorrow as in today? Like, Saturday or Sunday?”

“Um…” Jin thought it over for a few seconds before he replied. “Tomorrow as in today,” he said, nodding as if to confirm what he was saying. “Like, we wake up, go for a super greasy breakfast to fight of the hangover, walk around and see where the day takes us.”

“That’s pretty simple,” Kazuya said, frowning slightly as he thought about it. “I like it. I like simple,” he said, grinning at Jin. “I’m in.”

“Great. I’d say I’ll call you, but well, you’ll be sleeping at my place in a little bit anyways.”

“You’re just full of funny jokes today, aren’t you?” Kazuya asked, chuckling a little bit. “Though if you’ve sprained your ankle - I doubt that we’ll be able to walk all day.”

“Na, probably just bruised. It hurt but it’s probably fine. I’m sure I can walk now also.”

“Too late,” Kazuya said, tightening his grip on Jin’s legs. “I’ve committed to carrying you home.”

“Which, by the way, is like, twenty minutes that way,” Jin said, pointing at a building south-east of them, causing Kazuya to groan loudly.

“Why didn’t you tell me we had to turn at some point?!”

“I forgootttttt,” Jin whined, pouting at Kazuya. “I’m a horrible guide. You’ll learn to hate that about me~”

“Yeah? Well it’s a good thing that you’re pretty,” Kazuya muttered as he did a 180 and started to walk in the opposite direction.

“I’m what now?” Jin asked, now grinning at Kazuya. He’d heard that the other had said, he just wanted to hear it again.

“Nothing,” Kazuya grumbled, narrowing his eyes a little bit as he looked at Jin, his features softening a second later when he saw the look that was on the man’s face.

~

Kazuya woke up later that day and already he was feeling horrible. He had no idea what time it was but he knew that he wanted to go back to sleep.
He brought the blankets over his head and groaned quietly. He could remember everything that had happened the night before, at least. And he knew that he was currently in Jin’s bed while Jin had taken the couch.

They’d debated on that for about thirty minutes - so much that in the end, Kazuya had just agreed and flopped down onto Jin’s bed. He’d planned on going to the couch while Jin brushed his teeth but Jin’s been had the fluffiest duvet ever and the next thing he knew, he was under the blankets, nearly moaning at how comfortable the bed was - he could only imagine that Jin was very uncomfortable right now.

Kazuya dragged his ass out of bed and glanced at the time: nearly two pm. They’d gone to bed at nearly six so he figured that eight hours of sleep was… acceptable.

With a groan, he walked out of the room, his eyes half opened as he walked down the main corridor of Jin’s flat. He made it to the bathroom and pushed the door open, only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw that Jin was showering.

Now he could hear it.

The water was running.

And Jin was in the shower.

And Jin’s shower was one of those fancy showers that had glass doors.

So Kazuya could see.

He could see everything.

The ass he’d been looking at for a year was right there.

And he was staring right at it.

Blushing bright red, Kazuya hurried to close the door and all but ran back to Jin’s room to hide under the blankets. Sure there’d been mist and the glass had been foggy but Kazuya had still seen at least Jin’s ass. And right now, he couldn’t think about anything else.
So much that he forgot about his headache and just groaned quietly at how horrible a person he was. He didn’t know how he was going to face Jin after that.

He heard the water being turned off and Kazuya stopped moving. Hell, he even stopped breathing. The door of the bathroom opened and he heard footsteps coming his way.

The door was opened and Jin was in his bedroom. Kazuya placed a hand on his mouth to keep himself from breathing too loudly but at this point, he was mostly scared that Jin would hear his heartbeat, seeing as it was beating so hard Kazuya was sure that it was going to burst out of his chest.
He heard shuffling in the room and the next thing Kazuya knew, Jin was by the bed, looking straight at him through the gap there was in the blankets. “Um…” Kazuya simply said, his eyes wide as he looked up at the man who was now wearing a white t-shirt and sweatpants.

“I knew you were awake,” Jin chuckled. “No-one is that still or that quiet when they sleep. You could’ve gotten-”

“I saw you naked I’m sorry!” Kazuya hurried to blurt out before Jin could say anything else. “I was sleepy and I was going to the bathroom to get a glass of water and I didn’t hear the water running and I’m sorry!”

Just as Kazuya was expecting Jin to kick him out, Jin burst out laughing again. “You make it seem like a such a big deal!” Jin said, grinning from ear to ear. “It’s fine, don’t worry. I’ll be in the living room - get up whenever and we’ll decide what to do today~”

“Anything but drinking,” Kazuya said as he sat up, the duvet falling from his body as he did. He followed Jin with his eyes as the man walked and he couldn’t help but bite his lip.

“Anything but drinking,” Jin repeated, looking back at Kazuya for a second. “Unless you mean water.”

“Oh no, lots of water,” Kazuya chuckled. “Please.”

“Great. So we’re on the same page.”

“I guess so~”

The rest of the day passed in a blur and Kazuya couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so much. They didn’t even do anything. They stayed in Jin’s flat until five pm and ended up walking to the nearest Chinese Food restaurant they could find - which ended up being thirty minutes away by foot.

They ate and chatted and once they’d had enough, they decided to take the train back - considering they were both pretty sure that they were going to roll back to either one of their flats anyways.

The night was young so they decided to go into town while it was still nice out. Kazuya had texted Rei at some point during the day to tell her that he hadn’t even gotten home yet and he’d let her panic on her end, wondering what had happened.

Just that entertained them for a while as she started to text Jin, asking him if he was with Kazuya - to which Jin had replied a simple yes, and stopped it at that. They both got angry messages from the girl, saying that it wasn’t funny, but to them it was the funniest thing ever.
Well, next to Jin tripping on his own feet at three in the morning that is. Or the fact that they’d actually had a funny face contest in the train when they left the restaurant.

Really, Kazuya’s sides were hurting from how much he’d laughed in one day only.

At ten pm, the both of them decided that they were done for the day. They grabbed an ice cream each and went towards the train station. Afterall, they’d only gotten a few hours of sleep - of course they were exhausted.

Once they reached their line, Jin threw away what was left of his ice cream and turned to look at Kazuya, simply smiling as he watched the other eat.

“What?” Kazuya asked, blushing a little bit when he saw that Jin had been staring at him.

“You have ice cream on your nose,” Jin chuckled as he looked at Kazuya while they waited for the train.

“Where?” Kazuya asked as he went cross-eyed to try and see where the ice-cream was. “I can’t see it!” He whined, laughing right after. He tried to get it with his tongue but it was no use. “Can’t gettit,” he muttered, unable to speak properly with his tongue out like that.

“Let me,” Jin said, wetting his thumb to wipe the substance off of Kazuya’s nose, causing the other man to scrunch up his face as he did.

“Did you get it?” Kazuya asked, opening one eye to look at Jin, slightly taken aback when he realized that the other was just that close to him.
Spotting a trash can that was just a meter away from him, Kazuya quickly disposed of his treat and turned to look at Jin again. Neither of them was saying anything and Kazuya knew that the timing was right.

He slowly brought a hand up to Jin’s chest to curl his fingers on the material of the man’s shirt and pulled at it as he leaned in, still staring into Jin’s eyes as he did.
He felt Jin wrap his arms around his body and Kazuya brought his other hand up to Jin’s jaw to cup it.

Their lips were brushing but for now, they weren’t kissing.

The moment Kazuya saw Jin close his eyes, he closed his own and pressed his lips against Jin’s breathing in the other as soon as their lips touched. He felt Jin melt in his arms and he did the same, barely aware that they were at the train station and everyone could see them.

Obviously, neither of them cared, seeing as they kissed for so long that two trains had time to pass.

At some point, they pulled back but stayed in each other's arms, both laughing quietly.

“Wow,” Jin said, placing his forehead against Kazuya’s.

“Yeah,” Kazuya simply replied, yet another train passing by them. “I’m dizzy,” he confessed quietly, chuckling right after.

“Which is why my head is against yours,” Jin said, licking his lips a little bit. “Not sure if it’s the kiss or the fact that I’m tired. But I’m leaning towards the kiss.”

“Actually,” Kazuya said, taking a small step back, causing Jin to follow. “You’re leaning towards me~”

“Ha-ha, very funny~” Jin said as he poked Kazuya in the ribs gently.

They pulled apart after a few minutes but held hands the rest of the time, neither of them really wanting to let go. They knew that they’d had to at some point but they just weren’t ready.
Hell, Kazuya didn’t even mind riding the whole way to Jin’s flat if it meant he could stay with him just a little bit longer - even if he’d have to take the train home alone right after.

“I’ve been watching you a year,” Kazuya confessed quietly as they sat down on the train. He felt Jin’s head on his shoulder and he looked down at their hands and their intertwined fingers. “For a year I’ve made stories to keep me entertained. Wondering who you really were. I never thought you paid attention to me - considering you’re always reading and all.”

“You were the reason I ran pass that bus stop every evening,” Jin said, looking up at Kazuya through his eyelashes. “Now that we’re in the same train in the morning, I don’t even run there anymore,” he added, chuckling a little bit as he sat up straight.
He pushed his glasses up on his nose and smiled at Kazuya, “It sounds a bit creepy when I say it like that, doesn’t it?”

“I’m leaning towards romantic actually,” Kazuya replied, giving Jin’s hand a quick squeeze.

“Well, that’s just because you’ve been lusting after me for as well~”

“My point exactly,” Kazuya chuckled, leaning in so that their lips were brushing, “And I’m happy I did.”

“I’m happy you did too,” Jin replied, giving Kazuya’s lips a quick peck. “And who knows, if the train hadn’t come to a stop, maybe we wouldn’t even have met.”

Kazuya shrugged and pulled back a little bit. “Maybe. Rei probably realized you were the guy I liked when I told her your name. Otherwise it might’ve taken her a bit longer… but I reckon we would’ve found a stupid way to end up together.”

“Like walk right into each other?” Jin suggested, a playful smile on his lips.

“Probably something stupid and idiotic like that, yeah,” Kazuya agreed, grinning at Jin. “Better late than never I guess.”

Jin’s smile grew and he brought Kazuya’s hand to his lips to kiss it, “I’ll take late over never any day,” he said, causing the other to blush.

“Happy to hear it,” Kazuya replied.

He could still feel his phone, vibrating in his pocket, reminding him every other minute that Rei existed, but really, Kazuya couldn’t care less about his best friend right now. He had a boyfriend to deal with and for now, that’s all that mattered.
Besides, he already knew that as soon as he got off the train, he was going to either call or text her everything. So yeah. She could wait a bit longer. He knew that she wasn’t going to mind anyways, considering what he had to say. She’d done the same when she’d started to go out with her boyfriend so Kazuya figured he could do the same to her because right now, all he wanted to do was kiss Jin again and that was exactly what he was going to do.