Fanfiction: Oshiete, Jun-kun - Chapter 8

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CHAPTER EIGHT
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It was only 5 in the morning…but he was wide awake and staring at the ceiling. Jun had woken him up three hours ago with soft kisses on his face, telling him with such sad eyes that he had to leave for his movie shoot. Everything in him didn’t want to let Jun out of his arms, so he selfishly delayed him for ten minutes by simply refusing to kiss him properly. But in the end, Jun smilingly pressed a key into Sho’s hand, stole one last kiss and left. He brought the key to his line of sight now as Jun’s voice echoed in his head, “For you to see me anytime you like.” He buried his face in a pillow as a stupid grin began to spread, finding Jun’s scent on the pillowcase.

Here he was, in his lover’s apartment, lying naked on his bed with only a thin silk sheet covering his torso, smiling like an idiot. He felt like there’s nothing that could ruin this moment. Sitting in the silence, he stretched his arms and let his mind wander. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep again, a loud ring jolted him awake. Rolling his eyes, he forced himself to get out of bed, wrapping the sheet around his lower half to search for his phone. “Hello?” he answered, unable to get that annoyed tone out of his voice. “Sho-san? I’m sorry to be bothering you this early,” it was his manager on the other end and she sounded distressed.

“What is it?” he felt a strange prickle at the back of his neck, as if warning him of something bad about to happen. “It’s – it’s bad. A tabloid caught pictures of you and it’s creating quite a scandal,” she was flustered, he could tell. There were sounds of papers shuffling on the other end. News of scandal doesn’t faze him anymore: he has been an idol for almost a decade after all. “Calm down, I’m sure it’s just made up. If I’m innocent, there’s no need to get all worried,” he said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “The photos are of you entering an apartment…” she replied now. He could feel his blood turn cold: apartment? It can’t be Jun’s apartment, can it? But how could the tabloid have known this is Jun’s apartment…unless the concierge opened his mouth.

“Apartment?” he tried hard to keep calm, to tell himself that there’s no way they could’ve caught him entering this building and know he was with Jun. “Yes, the headline states that you spent the night there…engaged in…uh, activities,” his manager was stuttering now, sounding more nervous by the minute. He couldn’t ignore the knots forming in his abdomen either, but he didn’t want to worry himself for nothing. “This tabloid’s already on sale? Do the pictures have a clear shot of me?” he asked now. There were more paper-shuffling noises before a response, “I can tell your side profile but it’s somewhat obscured. There’s a photo of you here from your Junior days though…”

He had to see it for himself to be sure. “Alright, well, it’s just a tabloid; no one would believe it anyway. Relax, okay? I’m not doing any of those things,” he reassured her. “Y-Yes, well, I didn’t doubt you for a minute, Sho-san. I just thought I’d let you know about it, that’s all. I’m sorry for disrupting your sleep,” she apologized again. He had to laugh and told her its fine. They exchanged goodbyes and hung up.  Relief coursed through him now as he wiped the thin film of sweat off his forehead. That scared me… He had always been careful with his actions in public, knowing that he has more to lose than anyone else. Falling back onto the bed, he was sure that he’s not being paranoid. After all, he has to protect Jun too now.

Pushing himself out of bed after his heart had finally calm down, he decided to take that conversation as a wake up call. He couldn’t afford to be careless, even more so now when everything’s going well for him. Hopping into the shower, he found himself smiling as memories of last night flooded his thoughts. They didn’t speak a word of complaint about the other’s technique…truth be told, they didn’t speak much during the majority of the night. Chuckling to himself at the thought, he washed out his hair from the sweat (I sweated a lot last night). Curiosity made him take a sniff of Jun’s shampoo, feeling light-headed with the familiarity of the scent consisting of mint and a faint essence of lime.

Stepping out of the shower now, he wondered how he was going to go through the rest of the day without smiling like an idiot. He had places to visit and people to interview; he knew he had to retain a serious expression. But with last night’s scenes still playing in his head, he found that he smiling to himself again. “Sho, you have to get it together. What are you going to do if they find out what happened?” he asked himself, looking into a mirror. His reflection nodded at him, “You’re right. We can’t let anything happen to Jun. No one needs to know anything.” Grabbing his phone off the bed and the key Jun gave him, he took a deep breath and stepped out of the apartment.

When he was in the elevator, a thought occurred to him: how was he going to get past the concierge without looking suspicious? He spent the night here…alone with Jun and the concierge knows his face. No, no, just act normal. You’re innocent so there’s no need to hide anything. He straightened his back and walked out normally, ensuring that he give the man at the desk a short bow of the head before proceeding to head out the door. He was glad the concierge only smiled and nodded back instead of stopping him with questions. Pulling his jacket close, he decided to take a train to work. He couldn’t have asked their driver to pick him up at Jun’s apartment now, could he?

Noticing the crowd, he made a detour towards a newsstand and bought a newspaper, partly to catch up on the headlines and partly as a cover. It was then he noticed the tabloid magazine his manager had called him about. Picking it up, he saw the headlines in garish pink: “Sakurai Sho spotted entering unknown apartment. Could there be sex involved?” He was tempted to flip it open to see what the big deal was all about but the store clerk was eyeing him suspiciously. Putting it down again, he hurried into the train before the door closed.

It was only 9, so it was barely after rush hour. Sho could leisurely take up one seat near the door and read his newspaper. He caught up on several stories that he had been particularly interested in, keeping note of them to discuss with his co-workers in News Zero later. Finally, after twenty minutes, he alighted and headed towards the Jimusho office. As soon as he stepped through the door, someone called out his name: “Sakurai-san?” Turning, he spotted the receptionist, waving a piece of paper. “You’re needed in the conference room. Your manager told me to tell you as soon as you arrive,” she said, handing him the note. “Thanks,” he smiled, heading up. Frowning, he wondered what this could be about. He could only hope it has nothing to do with that scandal.

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He fidgeted with a pen that was on the table, looking from one person to the next. “Why are you looking so nervous? Something wrong?” asked one of the men sitting across from him. He shook his head quickly, wondering what they were waiting for. They didn’t want to tell him what was going on. When he had entered, they had told him to sit down and that they had something very important to discuss.

But that was it. Nothing was being discussed and everyone was busy jotting down notes or reading through papers. Just as he was about to ask, the door swung open and someone walked in. “Jun-kun?” he frowned, seeing a familiar face. A part of him was so proud to see Jun looking partially dishevelled and tired, but still maintaining that professional air.

“Have a seat, Matsumoto-san, and we’ll get started,” said Sho’s manager now. He felt nervous for some reason. This really could have something to do with that scandal after all…could they have found out about us already? “What’s going on?” asked Jun in a low voice. Sho could only manage a shrug: he obviously didn’t know either.

“Now, I’m sorry for calling the both of you here especially with your busy schedules, but we’ve already decided,” said one of the men, who had introduced himself as Hasegawa. He braced himself for some bad news or other. But it never came. Instead, his manager placed two booklets in front of him and Jun. “Aishite-mo ii?” read Jun out loud. Sho was reading the same thing that was printed on the front of the booklet.

“What is this?” Jun asked now. “A drama. We’ve decided to take the both of you as the leading roles. Now, I’m sorry for not informing you about this earlier, but we were observing different people that we thought were suitable and you two matched perfectly to the characters,” replied Hasegawa. “We understand completely if you don’t wish to undertake this project with everything you’ve got going on already,” interjected the man seated beside Hasegawa: Murakami.

“Hasegawa-san is the assistant director and Murakami-san is the writer for this drama,” explained his manager. Sho thought his heart was about to explode in his chest from his nervousness. All for just a drama? “Well, I have no problems doing a drama. My movies have already finished shooting and in the process of editing at the moment. I do have promotions to do in between everything else but it could work out,” Jun smiled as he opened up the script to the first page.

“What’s the story about?” asked Sho now, figuring he should at least be familiar with it first before undertaking it. “Unrequited love. The main character is in love with his best friend but always has trouble expressing it. He has the worst luck in the world though and there will always be something that gets in the way of him confessing,” explained Murakami.

“Love between men? That’s a first,” Jun nodded seriously. It was true: most television dramas stick to normal, heterosexual relationships between a male and female lead. “We’re experimenting with something different, as an approach to the popularity that ‘boy love’ manga has had through the years. It’s a taboo subject to be portrayed but it’s also reality. We’ll inject humour here and there as well to keep things light,” said Hasegawa, “What do you think?”

Sho glanced over at Jun who was looking back at him. “One more question: does this involve skinship at all at any part of the story?” Sho asked what they both were wondering. Hasegawa looked at Murakami now, like someone would when delivering bad news. “There’s only one scene that involves something like that, on the final episode. But nothing indecent,” Murakami spoke slowly at first, but that last line came out quickly as if afraid of being rejected.

Sho looked over at Jun again. “May we discuss this in private for a minute?” asked Jun, getting to his feet. Sho followed suit and they exited the conference room. “What do you think?” Jun asked. He had brought the script out with him and was frowning down at the pages. “I don’t know…risky?” Sho replied. “Mm, but no one knows about us and this might be a good opportunity to change our fans’ image of us being an ‘unlikely pair’. I think I’ll accept,” Jun smiled. “Then, if you’re accepting, I guess I’ll accept too,” Sho agreed.

“Are you sure it’s okay? I don’t want to jeopardize your newscaster career that you have going on right now. A boy love story might…put a dent in your credibility,” Jun looked down again at the script. “But I’m an idol first and foremost. Besides, I never turn down a job if I think I can handle it,” when he realized that Jun didn’t seem convinced, he tried again, “I’d like to work with just you for once. Even if it is a boy love story.”

Finally, Jun looked up at him with a smile. “Then I guess we’ll be working together, ne? Yoroshiku,” he joked. Sho laughed, slinging an arm across Jun’s shoulder as they headed back into the conference room. “We’ll be happy to take on the roles,” Sho said now. Hasegawa and Murakami’s faces lit up with joy: 180 turn from the glum, worried faces they had earlier. “We do have one small condition, though,” Jun spoke up, surprising even Sho.

“Name it, you can have anything,” they said in unison, eagerly. “No love triangle. It’s too common and people can predict it already,” Jun replied. The duo nodded and extended their hands out in excitement. “It’ll be a pleasure working with you two. Filming will start sometime next weekend. I’ll give your managers a call,” said Hasegawa, heading for the door now with Murakami following close behind. “Oh, I should give you a fair warning: there might be cameo appearances every now and again,” he said before the finally left.

They were finally left alone as his manager saw the both of them out. “Did you know about you being in the tabloids?” asked Jun now, still flicking through the script. “Mm, got a call about it this morning. Scared me though…” he stared at the table in front of him, feeling relieved that the meeting wasn’t about any scandal. “I got scared too. Someone mentioned it in the make-up room on set. I got a chance to look at the magazine though…turns out it was nothing at all. Still, if they had caught us together…” Jun trailed off.

"I know..." Sho nodded. He reached over slightly and squeezed Jun's hand as if to reassure him. Jun smiled and squeezed his fingers back before they released their hold. "Yoroshiku," they said in unison. After a pause, they replied, "Kochira koso," at the same time, making the other laugh. Aishite-mo ii... 'May I love you...' huh? 

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Author's note: Okay, no smut this time XD;; Things are more or less back to normal for now...well, except the whole dorama idea :P I have to admit, the first part of the chapter was partially inspired by the whole 'Sho-scandal' scare. I just found it ironic that after I had posted the steamy previous chapter, a scandal story pops up XD Does that mean that if I write about a dorama, there'll be an actual drama with Sakumoto in it??? ( O w O ) Ah, the imaginations of a fangirl~~~ Enjoy this one, minna~ *chu*