Take Me Places!

Chapter 1: Wataru

The plane had a disgusting odor, as Wataru stepped on, like newly applied car wax. He scrunched up his face and attempted to shove his way through the crowed plane aisle to get to his seat. "I swear I'd never do this for fun if this wasn't my job" he thought as he flopped down into the window seat. Looking through the sad excuse of a window, he sighed as he saw all the other planes taking off. "What I wouldn't give just to stay home..." He sighed again and pulled his headphones over his ears, turned up the music to the maximum volume. He closed his eyes in the hopes that he'd be able to fall asleep and wake up when the flight was over, though those dreams were short lived as a flustered looking flight attendant came up to him. "Excuse me, sir?" Her chubby cheeked face turned crimson as Wataru openly glared at her through his light green eyes, “I’m sorry sir, but you’re going to have to turn off your music until we’re fully in the air.” She smiled nervously as he removed them reluctantly. "Thank you sir, I hope you enjoy your flight!" Her light blue skirt fluttered as she turned around and continued down the aisle.

“Idiot," Wataru thought as he slowly slid his headphones back over his ears, "How can anyone be enjoy being in a plane, all the noise and these stupid people everywhere?" He tugged his beanie over his head; he pulled his headphones back over his ears and closed his eyes once again: "Why did things have to turn out like this?" And he let himself be carried off by sleep. 

After about two hours, Wataru grudgingly opened his eyes, his legs were aching from sitting in the same position and his head was pounding because he'd fallen asleep with his music volume to the max. He let out a low moan as he stretched himself out as much as he could in his seat and then prodded awake the man next to him muttering  "Gotta pee…”. "Oh, sure,” The man groggily stood up and Wataru slid out of his seat, he grunted his thanks to the man before he walked down the narrow airplane aisle and entered bathroom.

"It's good to get up once a while," he thought as he examined his tired looking face in the minuscule bathroom mirror. His normally tan skin looked pasty and pale in the bathrooms florescent lighting. "I look like a mess,” he groaned, splashing water on his face, he took off his gray beanie and combed through his thick blond hair with his fingers; he traced the bags under his eyes and grimaced. "This trip is destroying my looks and we haven't even landed yet! Why’d I even agree to go to New York anyway!" He slapped his hand against the bathroom cabin wall, and sighed.

A light "knock-knock" came from the door, "Sir, are you alright in there? Do you need some assistance?" asked a worried stewardess. Wataru rolled his eyes in disbelief and opened the door to the bathroom; the stewardess hurriedly stepped backwards to avoid getting hit. "I'm fine, now go away” he gnarled, pulling the door shut again once more and preceded to take his time cleaning himself up. Two minutes later another knock came on the door as he was readjusting his pants. His face twisted with annoyance as he pulled open the door only to hiss "GO AWAY!" into the face of the most handsome men he'd ever seen in his life. The man was wearing a black suit and had a musky fragrance, smooth alabaster/ivory skin, hair black as night that graciously arranged to frame his rectangular face, his cheekbones were well defined and his mouth was well rounded, but stern. Though, what really took Wataru's breath away were his stormy gray eyes. It felt as though he could drown in them. His face turned crimson as the man before him took a step back, "Oh," said the man, "I'm terribly sorry, I'll wait until you're done…" he blushed a bit as he ran his hand through his hair and glanced at the floor.

"No, no, no," Wataru shook his hands in the air, making the man look even more uncomfortable "I'm sorry, it's because, you see uh, I thought you were the stewardess and-" As Wataru glanced once more at the man once more and saw how flustered he looked so, clasped his hands together and bowed "Anyway, I'm terribly sorry!" the man relaxed a bit as he watched Wataru stand up straight again and offered him his hand.

"It's quite alright young man," the corner of the man's lips twitched lightly as he held back a smile "It's good to be, 'woken up' after such a boring and tiresome flight, my name's Amamiya, Nakahashi" He released Wataru's hand and really smiled this time. Wataru felt his throat close up with nervousness, Amamiya-san's face could probably light up the entire world with it's beauty.

"I'm, uh, I'm" Wataru swallowed deeply "Fuyori Wataru, it's nice to meet you Amamiya-san?" he smiled at Amamiya-san tentatively.

"Please call me Nakahashi."

A silence fell over the two of them as Wataru realized that Nakahashi-san was still waiting to use the bathroom.

"Oh, well it was nice to meet you!"  He blushed again, as he step sided past Nakahashi-san taking one last subtle inhale of his musky scent before speeding back to his seat.

Once he'd sat down he couldn't help but daydream about the possibilities between Nakahashi and him if they hadn't met on a plane,which after they’d left they'd probably never see each other ever again. Wataru let out a weary sigh and attempted to suppress all of his thoughts concerning his future Nakahashi-san as he drifted back to sleep.

Chapter 2:

Nakahashi brushed back his hair in bewilderment as he returned to his seat; he’d never been so drawn in by a person in his life! “I practically stalked him with my eyes when I was walking back,” tapping himself on the forehead, slumping down into his chair in first class, he murmured “Idiot. You’re too old for this.” Remarking a flighty stewardess coming his way he waved her over, “Would it be possible to have a glass of wine?”

Batting her eyelashes, she leaned on the corner of his seat and hushed, “Of course sir, one moment please” before walking back to the helm of the plane; Nakahashi couldn’t help but noticing her awkward hip bounces as she tried to draw his attention. “Women truly don’t change from one country to the other do they?” frowning he closed his eyes. His thoughts drifted back to “…Wataru…that’s right, his name was Wataru” repeating his name he traced his lips with his fingertips, imagining the feel of Wataru’s lips on his own, the gaze of those grassy green eyes meeting his own, the touch of his hands running through Wataru’s hay colored hair—“Whoa, get a hold of yourself you old uncle, he’s just a kid, he’d never like an old man like you. Never mind the obvious age difference.” After turning thirty-nine in the past year, Nakahashi was finally experiencing the fatigue that came with age and had even more difficulty completing his growing workload. “Being a company’s vice president isn’t so bad, but my silly ambition to become president might kill me!” Loosening his tie, he leaned back into his seat; his transfer from Okinawa to New York was really wearing him down. Popping open his travel kit, he twisted open an Advil bottle and swallowed two pills; he’d grown tired of working in Tokyo and his divorce was a perfect excuse to transfer. Unfortunately at the time all that had been running through his head was “If you get out of Japan maybe you can start over again, get a new wife and family, and get rid of all the strange feelings you have!” but then again at the time he hadn’t realized how difficult starting anew might be… ”Well at least that means there’s a chance I might meet Wataru again…” Realizing where his train of thought was taking him once again he tsked himself as he crossed his arms. “What am I a pervert? What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I just stop thinking about him? I can’t be interested in him, we just met in front of an airplane bathroom!” He raked his hands through his hair once more “It’s these kinds of feelings that made me lose my wife and here they come again! Why can’t I just stop these feelings completely and do my work in peace!” The stewardess came back and tapped him on the arm, her manicured nails pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Here you are sir, and I’ve given you and extra packet of pretzels courtesy of our airline, I hope you enjoy the rest of your flight.” She smiled and as she turned to walk away, she looked back at him “I’m Natasha, if you need anything else please, don’t hesitate to ask.” She then winked, and flounced her way back down the aisle. His face twisted in disinterest, even with the aid of the Advil, he slowly felt his headache returning. “Darn it, when well this flight be over?” he thought as he struggled to get comfortable in his seat.

Chapter 3:

A year had passed since Wataru had landed in the busy city of New York and started working as a professional photographer. After arriving he’d installed himself in a loft in the Dumbo district of Brooklyn and started working for his new agency, “Picture That!”. Shaking his head as he climbed out of bed, he strode over to his mirror proudly admiring his newly acquired features; within the year, his hair had grown longer, his muscles were thicker but his physique was still lean, his eyes, surprisingly enough had also changed into a more oval shape which only made his green eyes more seductive, so now instead of looking like a young adolescent fresh off the plane, he'd grown into a mature 24 year old looking man. Slamming his bedroom door open Wataru laughed out loud as he threw himself down on his couch, "Which picture did they use from me today?" he smirked while flipping through one of the many newspapers. He’d known a great success since he’d arrived in New York and his artworks were being published in every magazine, heck, half of the fashion industry wanted him as a full time photographer! As it was a Friday morning he searched for his most recent photographic conquests in the business section of the New York Times, he happened upon an article concerning a very popular clothing company's grand opening. The article read:

YOKOHAMA THREADS MAKES A COMEBACK!

"Yokohama Thread's makes a stunning  grand opening on 5th avenue after the company’s last store burnt down, toasting all its merchandise to a crisp! With a new company president, Nakahashi, Amamiya the companies stocks have skyrocketed and sales have never been better! With it’s newly added teen section and it’s refreshingly new architecture style, people have just been flooding into the store non-stop! After receiving over $70000 on it’s initial reconstruction plan in a day the investors within the company are certainly getting what they paid for! One of their sponsors, Mr. Evan Green was kind enough to spare a moment of his day to tell us a little more about the future project ideas of the company---“

“Blah, blah, blah, blah, expanding in size, hoping to add another section by next fall” Drawing out every syllable he skimmed through the rest of the article to find his picture, but his eyes wouldn’t let him focus on his art as they kept drawing him back to two words within the article.

“Amamiya...Nakahashi?”  Flicking back his newspaper, he stared at the article blankly, “Where have I heard that name before?”  Furrowing his eyebrows and frowning, he wondered where it was he’d heard the name before…“Oh well,” he shrugged and sipped his coffee “if he’s that important I’ll meet him at tonight’s opening party.” He smirked, folded the newspaper, and contentedly threw it against his coffee table. He got up from the couch and mussed his wavy bed head hair “Alright, time to move out.” Pulling off his pajama top, he strode back into his room and tugged open his wardrobe, “Right Wataru, today you’re shooting the grand opening of Yokohama Threads new store, you want to look laid back but,” Wataru gleamed, pulling out a dark red long sleeved shirt and a sleeveless vest “Classy.” Rummaging around the rest of the room he managed to find a pair of black skinny jeans, a matching striped red tie, a couple of varying leather bracelets, and his own addition to fashion, his mark, and his constant accessory, his gray beanie.  Sprinkling himself lightly with cologne, he brushed his teeth, smoothed down his hair poking out from under his hat, stuck a piece of buttered bread in his mouth, grabbed his camera bag and keys and , slamming his apartment door shutwith his foot, ran hurriedly out of his loft. His face was lit up with excitement as he raced to begin his day with his usual goal in mind, “I’m going to be even more famous today than yesterday!”

Chapter 4: Nakahashi

Blinds drawn, lights out, a glass of alka seltzer and Advil on his right, arms covering his head, Nakahashi rested his head on his desk. After pulling three all nighters in a row while sorting last minute files for today’s grand opening, he’d gone a little over board in his little celebration last night. No one had drunk as much as he had, his friends couldn’t stop him, and now he was paying for it ten fold. His headed throbbed as three light taps came from the door, he moaned in pain as his secretary tried to tiptoe his way towards him.

“Sir…” Stevens stood in front of his desk, he usual dark green suit and black tie perfectly in position, his hair swept back, and with his young face it turned into a rather dorky looking bowl cut. He’d hired the kid as a favor to his old neighbor and he seemed to be doing well except for his incorrigible shyness when it came to speaking with him, “Excuse me, President Amamiya, Sir,” He timidly tapped his arm. “Probably checking to see if I’m not dead, poor kid, stuck working for an old geezer like me” Nakahashi thought. “Hmmm?”

“You have a call on line one from Mr. Green, Sir…” Nakahashi could hear the boy pulling at the edges of his suite readjusting his shirt subtly, the obvious anxiety in his voice as he stood before the president of one of the largest fashion companies in the world and he chuckled softly.  He urged his mouth to at least crook in the same sense of a smile at the boy, but it seemed that it only scared the poor squirt more. He sighed and recalled that he wasn’t presently living through one of his best moments, “Thank you Stevens, I’ll pick up, I apologize for my appearance, please transfer the call to line 4”

“Y-Yes Sir!” Stevens stammered as he attempted to hurriedly walk out of his boss’s darkened office, but it became more of a stumble when Nakahashi called out before he could reach the door “And while you’re at it Stevens, bring me a coffee!”

“O-of course Sir!” He bowed and shut the door softly behind him as he left, an audible sigh of relief following his escape. Nakahashi grinned as he quickly took a swig of Alka seltzer and his two Advil then picked up his phone on line 4.

“Amommyiyyaaaaa! My Japanese protégée! Welcome back to the real world! How was the rest of night?” Evan’s smug voice hit his pounding headache like flaming projectiles. They had been friends since university and they were about the same age, now is business partner and best friend, Evan’s loud voice mocked him through the phone.

“First of all Evan Green, you know for a fact I’m hung over you lousy excuse for a best friend, abandoning me completely out of my mind in front of a bar at the mercy of New York City the night before our company’s grand opening, without a way to get home just because you wanted to chase after some chick leading you on.” Evan’s hearty and well amused laughter was extremely nerve wracking through the phone, “I swear to you the next time we go out you’re paying for psychological damage if that happens again!”

Nakahashi gritted his teeth as Evan’s laughter turned into one of wild cackling, he could just imagine the tears of amusement falling down his angular face.

“What are you even saying? I paid for your taxi home! Come on, don’t tell I’m not a great buddy I made sure you were safe on your way home before I left with Janice!”

Nakahashi scoffed, “Yeah, only after you found me completely passed out in the alley beside the bar!”

Nakahashi pulled the phone away from his ear, Evan’s laugh couldn’t get any louder and Nakahashi could hear him gasping for air between his cackles. “I’ll hang up this phone if this is all you’ve called me for, I have other more important calls waiting,” he twiddled his pen around in his finger. “ I don’t really, they’re all just people calling to congratulate me before the actual opening this afternoon, but that doesn’t mean I have all morning to waste you.And the girl you took home, her name was Jenny not Janice.”

Evan’s sarcastic gasp echoed through the receiver and his laughter died down, “Who cares, she’s one girl of many that I won’t even remember by tomorrow-“

“You’re an enemy to woman kind everywhere, you know that?” Nakahashi imagined Evan’s sly grin on the other end of the phone line and groaned as Evan was chuckling again.

“Come on Miya, bare with me, I’ll settle down in a couple of years, then you’ll see.”

“Right, now was there a point to this ridiculous call?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Evan exclaimed, Nakahashi swiveled in his chair as he buzzed Stevens, who peeked in, he motioned for more Advil and the boy nodded and closed the door “Guess who managed to snag the best and most popular photographer in New York, for someone who’s been calling me a jerk all morning?”

Nakahashi scratched his head; as far as he was concerned he’d hire at least a hundred photographers why would one make a difference? “

You?”

“BINGO!”

“OW, DAMN IT EVANS KEEP IT DOWN!”  He rubbed his ears, Stevens stepped in and placed a saucer of tea with two more Advil on the side next to him, Nakahashi nodded gratefully, “ What’s so special about this photographer anyway? And how’d you manage to snag him if no one else could?”

Evan tsked him, “Now, now, I didn’t embezzle any money in hiring him-“

“So what did you promise him?” An unusual silence, “Evan Green, what did you promise him?”

“…I gave him access to tonight’s exclusive opening party.”

“Evan.”

“Amamiya.”

“It’s supposed to be for business partners and close friends and family! What are we going to do if he shows up and is some sort of commoner? It’s not really a party then is it?”

“I KNOW, oi Miya, I’m not stupid, but I’m telling you his work is worth it he has an extraordinary talent with a camera, his photos will be hung all around and will mark our company’s history!” Evan’s loud pleas were finally starting to get the best of his pounding headache.

“Fine, fine, he can come, but you’re responsible for any indiscretions caused by him”

“Egg-cellant.”

“What?”

“It’s a breakfast pun, I’m starving”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I know, but at least I got you to watch my little rich boy back!”

Nakahashi chuckled, “Yeah, you loser of course you do.”

“Alright, old man I’m going to go to the kitchen and as for some eggs, I’ll see you at the opening in three hours.”

“Three hours—ITS 1 PM HOW LONG WAS I ASLEEP?“ Nakahashi jerked up from his chair and saw his mounting collection of paperwork to be done before the ceremony “ARGH, STEVENS WHAT IS THIS? WHY DIDN’T YOU WAKE ME UP!” He could hear stacks of papers falling from the young boys desk outside his office and then the shuffling of adolescent feet shuffling across the office as they ran away from their desk. Nakahashi recoiled from his outburst his head throbbing in pain.

Evan’s cackles emerged once more “Alright Amamiya, I’ll leave you to your work,” Nakahashi’s groans were drowned out by Evan’s insolent laughter “Oh, and the photographers name is Wataru Fuyori, make sure to put him on the list.”

“Wait, Wataru Fuyori, I’ve heard of him before…”

“Of course you have he’s famous! I have to go otherwise Cook’s going to yell at me! Have fun!” The line cut off as Evan hung up, but Nakahashi just let the phone sit on his desk. “Wataru Fuyori…I’ve heard that name somewhere before, not from the magazines but…where?” Nakahashi frowned; he didn’t have time to think about the name now. He groaned and dropped a stack of paperwork in front of himself. “I swear, when I think I did this to myself I have to wonder about my mental health!” He then hung up his phone and began to fill out his forms. “I don’t know if three hours let alone three days will be enough for this! Someone save me!”

Chapter 5: Wataru Fuyori

“Excuse me, I’m sorry, if I could just get to the front!” Wataru coughed as he was finally able to breach through the mob of people forming in front of the new Yokohama Thread Store. It had taken him a half an hour just to push his way through the crowd all the way from his bus stop two blocks away. His company had called him suddenly as he was getting off the bus and told him that they’d sent Miles, his photo development partner along with an album they needed him to authorize before they sent it to the printers, “Is this really the time and place to call me out for minor working details? That stupid company of mine!”  He swore once again as he skimmed the crowd for the top of Mile’s head, even if African man was someone who stood out with his ridiculous height and loud voice, but this crowd was just too much!  “Humph, forget about meeting up with him, the ceremonies about to start and I have to take my place, I’ll find him later.” Turning back towards the gated area of the makeshift podium, he went and showed his “back stage” access to the guard and made his way to the isolated photographer section.

“Fuyori? Wataru Fuyori?”

“Yes?”

The man walking towards him smiled, wearing a black trimmed suit with matching shoes, a light blue tie and glasses, the guy reeked of a high society bourgeois. Wataru grasped the man’s outstretched hand and caught a whiff of extremely potent (but excellently chosen) cologne.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you I’m Evan Green,” He released his steel tight grasp on Wataru’s hand.

“I’m pretty sure he’s broken at least four of my fingers! He was too close to breaking my tools of trade!” Wataru thought as he rubbed his hands and ground his teeth together to keep him from yelping in pain.

“The pleasure’s all mine, I want to thank you again for offering me this wonderful opportunity and-“

“Oh, no that’s where I have to stop and thank you,” Mr. Green his smile growing even wider, Wataru was even sure that he’d vaguely seen the face of a grinning fox in his light hazel eyes, “I’m so glad that you were available at the last second and were willing to come through this large crowd in order to get here! I apologize that I wasn’t able to find the subventions to fund your whole team.”

“Yeah right you creepy fox-man, you’re lucky that I like parties you big ol’ cheapo.” Wataru grinned back at him devilishly, “Oh, no Mr. Green I’m afraid you’re apologizing for nothing, I was glad to come - never mind the team, and your pay is it’s own benefit even if it’s not necessarily direct cash.”

Evan saw the wicked gleam in Wataru’s cat like eyes and right away this new feisty little cat would make the perfect addition to the Yokohama Thread family. Evan’s sinister sniggers filled the air as he clapped Wataru on the back.

“Please, call me Evan,” Wataru buckled under the larger man’s whack on the back and ended up being bent over out of breath, “Welcome to the family Fuyori-san.” Wataru glanced up in surprise as Evan’s greeted him in Japanese.

“Why, t-thanks I look forward to working with you…” He replied in Japanese as well. This was the first time anyone from America had even uttered a word in his native tongue other than cheesy anime catchphrases or silly songs.

Evan’s eyes lit with amusement as he watched Wataru’s confused gaze fall on his mouth, he seemed to be verifying if what’d he’d heard was true.

“A friend of mine that I used to go to school with got tired of speaking English with me, so he forced me to learn Japanese,” Pushing his glasses, Evan’s began emitting some sort of strange ‘cool guy’ aura, and switched back to English, “What you’re hearing is the practiced result of 4 years of nagging and hard work.”

“Oh, I see well that’s very impressive Mr. Green-“

Evan frowned, his cheery disposition turning somewhat haunting while he quickly corrected Wataru, “Evan.”

“Evan, right my apologies.”

“Right then, now that the introductions have been done,” His lips crooking into a small smile, and light humor returning, “I leave you to your work, I can’t wait to see the results.” He waved as he began to saunter away, “Make sure to get good shots of our press/president?, he gets very touchy about pictures.” Wataru lost sight of him, as he was lost in the large crowd.

“Maybe he’s not as bad as I thought…” Wataru smirked as he scratched his head, and stuck out his tongue in his direction, “Still a bit weird though.”

An upbeat music suddenly filled the air through the over speakers overhead, the music riveted the street and sunshine bounced off the shimmering silver walls of the new Yokohama building.  The blowing wind matched the force of the chattering crowd as the unveiling began.

“Right, time to get ready!” Wataru quickly set up his camera and placed himself directly in front of the president’s podium and focused his camera. Loud cheers filled the air, the speakers boomed, “NOW PRESENTING YOKOHAMA THREAD’S NEW ESTABLISHMENT, EVERYONE PLEASE WELCOME OUR COMPANIES NEW PRESIDENT MR. NAKAHASHI!” A tall man walked on to the stage and waved at the crowd, his bright smile warmed the crowd, and Wataru hastily adjusted his camera focus just as the president’s face came into full view. His camera shutter clicked wildly taking as many shots of the man as possible. Fingers nimbly adjusting the light settings, he tried to get one close of shot of the president. Wataru’s gaze finally took in the face of the man who was standing behind the podium, arms stiffening, he moved the camera aside he absorbed the president with his eyes. His breath completely taken away by him, stunningly good-looking, his handsome features had refined themselves in the passing year. Even his eyes had changed, instead of a storm they now caged in a whirling tempest. His eyes widen in astonishment, lips barely moving, the next almost winded eight syllables fell out of his mouth like heavy stones, softly murmuring the name of the man with tempest’s eyes that he’d longed for 3 months after he’d gotten off the plane that had brought him here. “Naka…hashi…Ama…miya?”

Chapter 6:  Nakahashi

Besides almost passing out from exhaustion while exiting the podium, the opening ceremony had gone off without a hitch; he’d made his opening speech, waved and had leaving the stand for the next speaker, blowing kisses. “Now, all that’s left is tonight’s party.” Nakahashi thought as he stepped out of the shower. Ruffling with his head with his towel, his black hair dripped water everywhere. He lounged on his sofa a towel wrapped around his waist.  “Ahhhh…” he moaned, “there’s no way in hell I’m going to make in through tonight.” Covering his face he groaned, he’d tried taking a nap several times but sleep wouldn’t wash over him like it usually did.  “Ok! Think positive Amamiya, its only one night, you’ll say hi to some people, greet some wives, accept a bouquet, look over photos…” he groaned once again, “Shoot, I forgot to inspect the Fuyori kid before the ceremony, I have no idea what he’s like! He might be a liability to the evening.” Slamming his fist on the counter he swore. “I never should’ve let Evan make such a ridiculous bargain! All of our backers are going to be at that party tonight!” Shaking his head he paced around his kitchen. “No, no, no, calm down Nakahashi, you’re a full fledged business man, you can organize a whole company in two minutes flat! You can deal with a stupid kid…or wait.” Stopping in his tracks he grinned, “No, you, you can deal with a kid no problem, but EVAN IS THE ONE WHO’S GOING TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR HIM, HA!” Howling with laughter he snatched his cell phone and flipped it open. Fingers tapping away furiously, he texted Evan:

‘Oi, Evan…you’re the one who’s responsible for the kid, I don’t want see him, AT ALL during the evening. If you fail, I’ll kick you off the board of directors. Good luck!’

Exhaling he felt his shoulders drop and his calm returned; not only had he gotten his vengeance on Evan, he’d gotten rid of dealing with the kid. A wave of drowsiness engulfed him. He yawned loudly, “I could use with a nap…” glancing at the clock mounted on his wall, 5 o’clock, “I’ve got time, three hours should be enough to get my face back to normal.”  His cell phone vibrated suddenly, it’s screen flashing rapidly as texts from Evan began flooding in.

‘Aww, come Miya don’t do this to me! All of the belles of the world are going to flooding into that party, don’t stick me with the kid I’m begging you!’

‘Miya, I know you’re there answer me!’

‘I’m sorry I left you the other day! REALLY SORRY! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME WITH THE KID!’

‘You’ll see his photos were really well done! Plus he seems like an extremely well behaved guy! He doesn’t need a guardian!’

‘You rotten jerk; you’re doing this on purpose. There’s no way I’m taking care of that kid’

‘OI, MIYA ANSWER ME’

‘手名輪　あなた輪　大機だい！I’M EVEN WRITING IN YOUR STUPID LANGUAGE ANSWER ME’

Nakahashi’s grin was ear to ear; he closed his bedroom door on his friend’s distressed messages. “Ahh, victory the sweetest platter served by text.” Donning a pale blue pajama after setting his alarm clock for 8:30 he slid into bed.

“Tonight will be just fine.”  He murmured into his pillow before a warm feeling washed over as he fell asleep.

Chapter 7: Wataru

“Wataru? Are you alright man?” Miles jabbed him in the ribs bringing him back to reality. After the ceremony was done he’d tottered mindlessly into a café where Miles had found him after searching for 2 whole hours and they were now heading back to the office in a cab.

“Yeah, no, I’m totally fine…”

Miles’s long dreads bobbed along with his head, leaning forward he tried to meet Wataru’s distracted gaze, obvious concern etched the contours of his angular face.

“Wataru, you’re not sick or anything right? ” Miles brought his hand up to forehead, and Wataru nudged it off.

“I’m totally fine!”

“Well then start acting like it,” Miles leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms, “You’re really starting to freak me out.”

“Huh?” Wataru’s confused regard fell on him and then went right back to being completely zoned out again.

“See? That’s what I’m talking about!” Miles frown as he pulled on Wataru’s cheeks, the cabbie staring at them with curiosity scoffed from the front seat; they were acting like a mother and son.

“What!”

“Wataru, you’ve been staring into space since I found you!” Miles sighed, “Wataru, I found you as you were about spill coffee all over your camera, it's like a child to you! I’ve never seen you this dazed!”

“I’m not dazed, I’m just thinking…there’s nothing wrong with that.” Wataru huffed; he slid down as much as he could so his knees were hitting the chair in front, and stretched his beanie down over his eyes. He couldn’t help it, seeing Nakahashi-san again was…incredible. His cheeks turned red as they burned with anticipation. Tonight he’d see him again, he’d definitely be at the party, “I wonder if he even remembers me… I’d totally forgotten about him months ago until now…what should I do when I see him?”

Miles patted him on the head lightly and said “Don’t worry man, I’m sure what ever it is that you’re worrying about will turn out fine in the end.” Wataru peeked up at him from under his beanie, lips quivering and eyes beginning to tear up, he yanked at his friends t-shirt and hugged him. Miles though initially shocked at such an obvious sign of affection from his friend shrugged and hugged him back.

“ I’m so nervous…what should I do, Miles. It’s been months!” He cried into his friend’s shirt, excitement was out weighed by his frustration at his own reaction; the fear of potential rejection was completely overriding his brain and the outcome, an even heavier flow of tears. “I don’t even know why I’m worrying! There’s no way Nakahashi-san is gay, and he’d never be into someone as plain as me!”

“Oh, I see,” Miles a deep throated chuckle erupting from his mouth, his dark face lit with delight, here was one of the most confident people he knew, crying, over a girl, “Is there someone you like coming to visit you here from Japan? An old fling?”

Wataru stopped his hiccupped crying momentarily and feebly replied “Sort of, I guess you could say I haven’t seen them in a while…and they are from Japan…”

Turning his head back into the crook of his friends arm “But he’s not my girlfriend and he’s most definitely not a girl.” Recalling Nakahashi’s eyes, Wataru felt his face grow warm yet again.

“Well, if they’re here today, why don’t you invite them to the Yokohama party? Your invite did say you could bring someone.”

“They’re, they’re already going to be there…”

“Oh really? A wealthy girlfriend then, and you’re going to see each other tonight? ” Miles wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, they looked like dancing caterpillars. Wataru smacked him in the gut, giggling as his friend struggled to suck air back into his lungs.

“Shut up you perverted Rasta,” Miles’s annoyed look, penetrated through his turmoil of emotions, making him beam, his stuck out his tongue, “All that teasing you definitely had it coming.”

The taxi pulled over next to their office, Wataru jumped out and Miles paid the driver, together they walked into the large red building and went all the way up to the fourth floor. Entering the office all one could see were stacks and stacks of paper, piled up, fluttering in the air (people dropped their piles very often), and scattered on the floor. This, was PictureThat! one of the top photography agencies in New York City let alone America and here it was looking like a pig’s pen.

“What’s going on in here?” Wataru watched with annoyance as an intern knocked over one of his many framed paintings on the wall.

“Just ignore it, unlike you a lot of the photographers don’t get their work done before the deadline and have to rush their photo developments in order to get their albums done. It’s been like this since last month after you left for paid vacation.” Miles answered signing them both into the company attendance book.

“Oh.”

“ Either way, we’re not even going near that section of the office,” Hitching his arm under Wataru’s, Miles directed them towards the editing room “ Since you already took the photos today we can go directly to editing!”

Sitting themselves down in one of the larger editing cubicles, Wataru uploaded all of the photos from the opening ceremony on the computer.

“Wow, you took some top quality one’s today…” Rubbing his chin Miles scrutinized the photos in detail, “Especially of President what’s his name, Nakakna-“

“Nakahashi…” Wataru’s eyes were glued on the screen, hundreds of pictures of Nakahashi, all of them flooding in to the computer system, each and every one capturing his face, his eyes, the sway of his hair in the wind—

“Wataru? Earth to Wataru, anyone there?” His partner waved his hand in front of Wataru’s face snapping him back into reality.

“Sorry, I was just looking at the…” His eyes unfocused and Wataru lost himself once more in his dream world.

Miles followed his gaze to the computer screen where his friend’s eyes traced every aspect of the president’s angular face, lingering on the man’s eyes. He smirked, stroking his chin, “So, this is the cute Japanese girlfriend we were talking about earlier…hmm, interesting…”

“Look Fuyori, you have less than two hours to get you ready and then present these photos to,” roughly pressing his fingers against the computer screen Miles tapped the image of Nakahashi “That guy right there,” Pulling down on his partner’s ear gently, he watched Wataru’s gaze shift and refocus on him, his face turning a bright crimson red, beaming Miles ruffled his hair through his beanie “So, would you mind getting it together?”

Chapter 8: Nakahashi

“A-MA-MI-YA!” Evan leaned over into the driver’s section of his limo and leaned down on the car horn, “Lets go! Come on, you slept all afternoon! You’re going to make us late to the party of the century!” “Honestly, sitting here in this limo and wrinkling my favorite Ralph Lauren suit with your awkward secretary isn’t all I have to do with my time!” Outside of Nakahashi’s apartment Stevens and Evan waited impatiently in his private white stretch limo.

“April 7th 2010, 8:30 pm,” Nakahashi muttered sliding into the gaudily white stretch limo. Wearing a black custom made Anderson & Sheppard suit, with matching loafers, his hair was fashionably combed so that his bangs hung stylishly not quite covering up his eyes; he truly was a sight for sore eyes.

“Eh? What? Speak up.” Evan said handing a matching glass of Armand de Brignac.

“Today is April 7th 2010 and it is exactly 8:30 pm.” Nakahashi slamming the door shut, downed the entire glass of champagne in one go, his eyes gleaming, his laughter echoed throughout the limo, Evan’s annoyed face and Stevens confused stare watched him.

“A-are you alright Sir? I have a bottle of Advil here if you need it!” Stevens reached his hand into a little satchel he was carrying and fished out the bottle of painkillers.

“Don’t worry about him squirt,” Evans scoffed, “The old man must’ve downed a bit to much of the liquid courage before coming here. Just be prepared to take him home tonight before he makes a fool of himself.” Sipping his champagne, Evan didn’t feel Nakahashi’s heated glare until the man slid right up to him and whacked him behind the head.

“Ow! Damn it! Now you’ve done it, the champagne is all over the upholstery!” Splotches of champagne sunk into the cracks in Evan’s seat. Evan wiped excess champagne dribble on his chin and dabbed at his golden tie with a cloth napkin. He looked like a frivolous swan in his white suit and the tie wasn't helping, “No wonder women love him,” thought Nakahashi, “He looks good but he’s got the mind of an idiot that they can manipulate freely without worry.”

“No, I’m not laughing because I’m in a state of intoxication you idiot,” His frown transforming into a content grin, Nakahashi pulled his arms over his styled hair and leaned back into his seat, “No, I’m laughing because I’m HAPPY.”

“Well of course you are,” Evan grumbled, “You’ll be spending the evening with beautiful women while I,” Deciding that he’d just have to change ties, tossed his tie and wet napkin into Nakahashi’s lap, “have to babysit.”

Steven’s muffled giggle from the isolated corner of the seating area mixed in with Nakahashi’s boisterous laughter, piqued Evan snarled “Alright fine! I’ll bite! What’re you so happy about you ridiculous grandpa?”

“First of all,” Nakahashi flicked his friend’s nose, “We’re the same age, if I’m a grandfather you must be a grandmother, second of all, I’m happy because today I officially become President of Yokohama Threads!”

Stevens blushing in the corner adjusting his glasses, squeaked, “E-excuse me President Nakahashi, um Sir? Maybe I’ve been misinformed but I believe that you’ve been the president of the company for almost a year now…”

Nakahashi’s gentle smile turned to the young man and chuckled, “I know that Stevens, but what I meant was, in all the time I was working for Yokohama Threads I’ve never made a public appearance, this is the first time I’ll be known outrightly as the official president of this company.”

“Oi, I really do think you had a bit to much to drink before getting in.”

Nakahashi made a swipe at Evan once again but Evan ducked and stuck out his tongue at Nakahashi’s agitated expression and poured himself another drink.

“Don’t drink too much Mr. Green, remember you’re looking after a child this evening!”

Evan growled from the rim of his glass and downed it just as quickly as he had  the past two, “All the more reason for me to be drinking now rather than later.”

They all laughed and the driver pulled up to the Plaza Hotel, the amount of cars and lights surrounding the whole event were ridiculous, the minute Nakahashi stepped foot out of the car the reporters were on him like flies on sugar. They bombarded him with questions as the hired security escorted him and his company through the excited mass of people.

“Mr. Nakahashi could you tell us about your plans in the future?”

“What’s it like to be the president of one of the most successful companies--"

“Mr. Nakahashi we love you! Please turn this way for a photo!”

Smiling gratefully and waving at the crowd, they made their way inside the dining hall.

“Well that was ridiculous.” Evan loosened his tie and handed it to one of the maids, “Please have that brought to Suite C, thank you.” He winked at the astonished maid watching her scamper off clutching his tie.

“You’re never going to get it back you know. The fans like to dress up as maids and steal personal items like that” Nakahashi remarked.

“It's fine, it’s a ruined tie anyway.” Evan shrugged, “I’m going to find the kid, be back in ten.”

The ballroom was immense in size: golden walls with beautiful decorations varying in   forest greens, auburn reds, and caramel brown hues, it was magnificent sight to behold the architecture was monumental! Arches on the ceiling and white marble columns lined with dusty golden curtains lead to different areas of the dining hall. The orchestra and a crystal chandelier also made wonderful adornments to the hall that was starting to look like a royal palace.

“Sir, please be sure to find Mr. Fuyori and make sure you authorize the album he makes before partaking in too many of this evenings festivities.” Stevens shifted his feet, he looked like a scrawny kid in this crowd, with his black bow tie and over sized gray suit. Nakahashi followed his gaze to a group of well-known secretaries chatting and he patted the boy on the head.

“Get going before I find some work for you to do.”

“Thank you Sir!”

Grinning as he watched his secretary being embraced warmly by the others in the group, he felt a bit of his nervousness fall away. “Maybe I should’ve had more to drink after all,” he thought as he began to make his formal rounds to all of his clients and partners.  Hours later a drunken Evan called him over.

“Oi, President Sir!” Evan waved to him; Nakahashi excused himself from his conversation and walked over to the column where Evan waited alone.

“You said ten minutes you liar, where’s Fuyori?” Nakahashi glanced at his friend, “Did you even find him before you started drinking?”

“Oh knock it off he’s right—“ Evan whirled around and looked behind him, “Well, he was right here…”

“What does he look like?” An exasperated Nakahashi sighed, scanning the crowd for some who looked like a photographer.

“A little bit like…oh!” Evan’s squinted eyes spotted a hand poking out from behind the column, “There he is!” Evan tugged him out from behind his hiding spot roughly and swung his arms around the kids shoulder beaming like they were the best of friends.

Nakahashi did a once over of the young man’s clothes before looking at his face noting that he was, wearing a classical Yokohama suit; perfect for the man’s lean yet muscled frame, a black tie, some black dress shoes and some leather bracelets that surrounded his wrists making his fingers look longandelegant. Judging him to be dressed well enough for the occasion he extended his arm to shake hands with his new part time employee.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, thank you for aiding my com-pa-ny…” Nakahashi’s words stumbled out as he paused observing the photographers face. Meeting the tentative regard of the young man’s soft, passionate light green eyes, his golden hair, his (blushing) heart shaped face, his thin yet enticingly well shaped lips that emitted a light fragrance of a fruity alcohol. “That would explain the blushing…wait…blushing?” Searching his memory, he divulged the origin for the warm emotions that he had for the young man and the recollection of a first encounter months ago came rushing back to him as he finally recognized the person before him.

“Good evening,” Wataru bowed and grasped his hand, his blush becoming an even deeper shade of red, “My name is Wataru Fuyori, I look forward to working with you.”

Chapter 9: Wataru

Yanking on the hand, Mr. Evans had tugged Wataru to stand right next to him just as he was going to make a run for it. Wataru and Miles had arrived at the party shortly after it began, entering through the side doors as low class guests, but were immediately separated after a young lady asked Miles for a turn on the dance floor. Waiting for his partner to come back proved to be a longer charge than he’d anticipated. His impatience was getting the better of him and so he decided to wander around the hotel a bit. He walked through the long hallways admiring the hotel’s beautiful interior and art collection  until he came across Mr. Evans chatting up a maid in the corridor, who readily abandoned his clearly annoyed female companion for the strikingly well dressed Wataru’s company. They returned to the party mingling with the crowd, they consumed numerous extravagant drinks being distributed throughout the ballroom by elegant waiters and waitresses, occasionally rejecting dance offers from young ladies whom Evans deemed to be to young to humor and. Mr. Evan’s mood grew merrier by the minute as dozens of beautiful women flocked over to him, not to mention with every sip of alcohol he took he became less and less focused on his mission of helping him find Nakahashi. It’d taken Mr. Evans around three hours to figure out that he’d been leaning against a wall totally heated and tipsy, that he needed to bring him to see his boss.

“You! There! Kid!” He grinned releasing his serpent like grip on his female entourage, much to their disappointment. “WE,” jabbing his finger into his chest, “that is to say me and you, you and I, need to go find my dearest supervising grandpa! ‘Cause you have something to show him right? Right?” Pulling on the satchel he had on his waist, Wataru bobbed his head up and down. He felt his body leaning precariously forward as he was tugged along by the drunken man’s tight grip.

They’d staggered the ballroom for 20 minutes before Mr. Evans spotted Nakahashi talking to a group of people. Wataru’s fixated gaze fell on the President’s white smile, his lips curved into a polite smile that lit up the conversers' faces as they all laughed and spoke together. “Charismatic and gorgeous…wow.”

“There he is, wait here for a second I’ll go get him.” He patted the young photographers head and stumbling more and more with each step made his way towards Nakahashi.

“Wait, he’s coming here…to see me?”  Wataru blushed, intertwining his fingers he imagined the sensation he’d feel when their hands met for a second time. “Maybe he’ll remember me by the feel of my hands and say my name just like the first time we met. Or we’ll both feel those special sparks they talk about when they come in movies.”  Giggling at the frivolity of his thoughts he took a bashful glance in Evan’s direction, he’d already starting talking with Nakahashi.

“Wait! He’s coming? Over here?” Slipping behind the column he caught a glimpse of his bleary eyes and flushed face in one of the many mirrors hung throughout the hall “Why’d I drink so much! I look like an idiot with my face like this! A stupid youngster who’s totally out of his league! Shoot!” Covering his face with his hands he hesitated, the thought of making a break for it became more and more enticing. “It's not like I’d have anything more to lose, all I’d have to do is find Miles and have him give him the photos for me! It’s no big deal!”  There was a clear get away path between a cluster of gossiping old ladies to his right where he could easily sneak out of the room through one of the archway exits. “Alright, let’s do this, ready, set, g-“

Suddenly he felt the tight grip of Mr. Evans brusquely yanking him out of hiding and placing directly in front of the President of Yokohama Threads. Evan draped his arm over his shoulder nonchalantly.  “Amamiya Nakahashi…” He felt his cheeks redden as the president gave him a once over. Shrugging off Evan’s arm, Wataru bowed his head and took the initiative to shake hands with the president and introduced himself.

He swallowed hard, face flaming red, voice trembling and hands beginning to feel a little sweaty from the president’s strong hands he managed to get out, “My name is Wataru Fuyori, I look forward to working with you.”

“Naka, you look like you’ve seen a ghost, you alright?” Evan released his monstrous hand from Wataru’s shoulders and lightly tapped spaced out President’s face.

The president’s stood before him frozen his eyes had widened, lips parted slightly he muttered something under his breath.

“What didja say? Come on Naka, speak up!”

Nakahashi shook his head, refocusing his attention he smiled gently “I look forward to working with you as well, I hope we work well together.” Bowing his head, “ I understand you have some pictures to show me.” He tilted his head towards the rest of the crowded dance room, “ And I think we’d be better off viewing them in a more private place, please follow me to the study.”

Wataru nodded timidly and held tightly to his satchel strap making his way towards the exit of the ballroom. Evan began to follow suit, but Nakahashi stopped him with a wave of his hand.

“Evan, if I leave somebody has to stay here and take care of the ladies while I’m gone,” Nakahashi smiled, a evident chill rippled through Evan’s body at his superiors chilly glare, “You could do that for me right?”

“I-I, uh…Definitely!” Evan’s eyes joyfully lit up, staggering towards a group of young women who’d all been waiting their turn to talk with Nakahashi, he called  “Ladies, Ladies, I’m afraid to inform you that our most competent president, has a short meeting to attend to, allow me to entertain your beautiful minds instead.” Then he vanished within the clump of chattering ladies.

Silently making their way to the top floor of the hotel in the elevator, Nakahashi opened the door to a large office space a little ways down the corridor, inviting Wataru in by holding the door open. The space was huge, and a large window allowed them to see the whole of Manhattan in one frame, the towering edifices glistened with the reflections of all the lights on in the thousands of tiny apartments as people settled in for the evening. “Truly the city that never sleeps.” Wataru thought as he stood motionless and mesmerized before the window. He barely heard the door click closed behind him as Nakahashi came in.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Nakahashi said seating himself in front of the large desk on the far side of the room.

“Hmm? Yeah…” Wataru whispered, he snapped out of his daze as he heard the president’s deep chuckle echo throughout the office, “Oops, sorry!” He hurriedly took a seat in front of Nakahashi and removed all the folders he needed from his satchel of he of the shoots he’d taken previously that day.  Spreading them out on the desk he separated the photos into three piles.

“These one’s are of the crowd, these one’s are of the building and basic landscape, and this last pile…well it’s supposed to be the pile with pictures of all the speakers, but…” Squirming a bit in his chair he spread out the photos of the third pile individually in front of him, “They’re mostly just of you.” Few of the photo’s actually depicted anyone else other than Nakahashi, feeling somewhat embarrassed he watched silently as Nakahashi observed each picture from the third pile slowly. Whereas for the pictures of other people he muttered his approval and complimented them with a light nod or gesture, his face was completely unreadable as he picked up his own photos. His face reddened a bit and he’d cover his mouth with his hands like he was trying to conceal a frown/ “Or a smile for all we know,” Wataru bit his lips nervously as the president picked through the photos, yelp when he selected one photo and abruptly stood up.

“This one,” Nakahashi turned the photo towards Wataru, “it’s amazing, how’d you manage to get my eyes to sparkle like that?”

“What?” Puzzled Wataru stood and examined the picture, “I don’t know, haven’t they always been like that: silver, stormy, captivating, etc. what’s the problem---oh…umm…”

Nakahashi gapped at him incredulously, shoving his chair from behind his desk he rushed over to stand beside Wataru and grabbed both of his hands.

“So, you do remember?” Nakahashi eyes bore into his own, and drowning sensation that Wataru had fantasized about for months finally rippled through his body. It was magnetizing the more he stared the more he wanted to lean forward and cling to him, at the same time his embarrassment was doubled considering he was already drunk and the heat of their hands touching was truly making him lose his mind. “You remember me from the plane don’t you? We met in front of the bathroom didn't we? Fuyori-san?”

“I, uh, I just…” Wataru’s eyes began to water heavily and tears poured out little by little. “Jeez, his eyes are silver they’re like a werewolf…magicallll”

“Fuyori!”

“I, guh, muu---“ Losing control of his neck Wataru felt his body fall forward as the world started to spin around him. “Maybe he’s an angel or something fallen from heaven cursed to seduce humanity for eternity? Hehe.”

“Fuyori are you alright? Are you sick? Hold on, I’ll get you some water!” Feeling his legs fall from underneath him, he fell down on top of a surprised Nakahashi who was already struggling to keep him standing

“Why are you spinning Nakahashi-kun I thought we were frie—“ Then suddenly everything was black.

Chapter 10

Wataru passed out, his hat sliding off his head, fell letting his full body fall on top of Nakahashi who was already struggling to keep even half of him up.

“No, no, no, no.” Heaving Wataru’s body up onto his shoulders he could he carried him over to the couch in the center of the office and laid him down.  Wataru’s head lolled sideway’s hanging off the couch while Nakahashi tried to get the bottom half of Wataru’s body to stay still on the couch instead of drooping off. Nakahashi swore, with a final pull he dragged Wataru’s torso up onto the couch he managed to get his body to stay completely on the couch.

“We definitely don’t want you to catch a cold and have a hangover at them same time.” He said taking off his suit jacket and draping it gently over Wataru’s shoulders. “There, now don’t move.”

Shaking his head, Nakahashi raked his fingers through his hair, “I knew I’d get stuck with the kid, so much for counting on Evan.” Picking up the hotel phone on his desk, he dialed for room service. A bored woman’s voice responded on the other end.

“Good evening, Ritz Hotel operator, my name is Amanda how may I be of service to you this evening?”

“Good evening, this is Amamiya Nakahashi from office and suite 1-C,” loosening his tie, he slumped down into his black desk chair and began to swivel from side to side, “In my office, there is a guest who is…asleepon my couch-“

“Would you like me to dial for security sir?”

“Oh no, it’s nothing like that!”

“Then how may I be of assistance?”

“Umm, Could you please send somebody up to…” Lowering his voice and he coughed lightly, “move him to my suite?”

“I’m sorry sir, could you please repeat that?”

“…Would it be possible for him to be moved to my suite?”

“Of course sir, and might I ask if you need us to prepare your suite for your guest? Will another towel be necessary? Or a late changing of your sheets?”

“No!” He cried, his fingers white from his tight clutch on the receiver, “No, that shall not be necessary, just please have someone up as quickly as possible.”

“Yes sir, someone will be up to help you shortly.”

“Thank you.” Dropping the receiver back in its holder he tentatively ambled back to Wataru.

“What’ve I gotten myself into?”  Bending down, he gently brushed aside the golden hair covering his face and studied Wataru’s features intently, and watched Wataru’s mouth open and close slightly with each breath he took, “He’s so relaxed…“I feel like some sort of pervert…”

Nakahashi yelped and fell backwards as Wataru groaned and nudging his head forward so that their faces were almost touching. Wataru’s mouth quirked into a smile and relaxed completely snuggling the suit and bringing it up to his face and nuzzling it like a child nuzzles their favorite toy, mumbled, “Naka-kun, smell good…” and returned to his comatose like slumber.

“Naka-kun?” Nakahashi stared at the drooling golden haired Adonis snoring away on his couch, “Nakahashi-kun?” “Is he dreaming about me?” Blushing intensely he moved back to his previous position and whispered into his ear, “Say it again. Say Naka-kun again.” Leaning in once again he traced Wataru’s light pink lips with his finger and though they were gathering drool at their corners, they seemed just as inviting as before.

“Say my name please…” Closing his eyes, Nakahashi tenderly kissed Wataru’s forehead, his eyelids and slowly moved down to the nape of his neck, he paused at the lips waiting for to see if there’d be any response to his affections, but Wataru remained in his comatose slumber.

“If there is a god, please let him forgive me for all this.”  Nakahashi thought as he pressed his lips softly against Wataru’s, they were soft and tasted sweetly of wine.  The sensation of their lips meeting was euphoric and stroked a fire deep within the pits of Nakahashi’s stomach. Wataru stirred a bit, and without waking his mouth began to move along in unison with the movements of Nakahashi’s. Tilting Wataru’s chin up and his placing his hands on either side of Wataru’s shoulders, Nakahashi deepened the kiss much to Wataru’s apparent pleasure. Then, Nakahashi’s mind went blank, the tingling from their feeling completely scorched on the inside he was surprised to find that Wataru’s kiss, even while asleep, was incredibly passionate and “effective”, with each subconscious moan and mumbled syllable of his name Nakahashi grew bolder in their embrace. He almost neglected to here the knocks at his door as the room service had arrived. Ending their kiss, Nakahashi pulled back and smiled crookedly as Wataru frowned his lips pursuing and un-pursing searching for the source of the heat that had enveloped them moments ago.

“Naka, where’d you go?” He heard Wataru mutter, as he stood up to go open the door, his face burned as he bent over and gave Wataru’s lip one final peck, ruffled his hair and whispered “I’m right here, you stupid kid, you just sleep.”

Opening the door, he watched the room service guys to enter and quietly lift Wataru, who was still clutching his suit like a newborn and carry him with ease all the way to his suite where they let his body fall gently into canopy bed, his head placed comfortably against the goose feathered pillows. Tipping the men, he thanked them for their help and shut the door behind them leaning against the door, he remembered that he still had a party to attend, glancing at the now snoring body on his bed, he smirked and shrugged “I’ll see you around anyway, Wata-kun. Sleep tight.” Quickly straightening his hair and tie in the bathroom, he grabbed as spare suit from his drawer and left shutting the door quietly behind him.

Sunlight drifted in through the partially opened curtains, turning back and forth in the snug bed he was sleeping in, Wataru realized he wouldn’t be going back to sleep anytime soon, sitting up he stretched in the bed and rubbed his eyes vigorously.  Still wearing the clothes he’d had on since the night before, he found himself surrounded by piles of beautiful decorative pillows and soft green comforter sheets, sliding of the large canopy and admired the large room. The theme was obviously green in the bedroom as everything in the room from the pale olive wall color to the dark forest green of the carpeted floor varied in shades of green. There were two additional rooms; one was a sort of dining room with white walls inscribed with golden ivy vines where a large television was hung up on the wall in front of the table and at the end of the table there were large pale yellow curtains that covered a huge door leading to balcony. The other room, was obviously a bathroom but it had a large Jacuzzi bathtub with a whirling water switch and a “step-in” shower where a glass screen had been fit to have a TV built into it’s wall. “Who watches television when they shower? Jeez, what a waste of a television.” The rest of the bathroom was pretty standard but they cream colored ceramic tiles really made it look dazzling.

“That being said…” Striding back into the dining hall and examining the extravagant room, “Why am I in here?” A light tapping at the door disrupted his thoughts.

“Ex-cu-se me, Mr. Fu –yo-ri?” Inquired the maid, when he opened the door she pronounced every syllable then looked up at him and beamed.

“Does she think I’m some sort of illiterate idiot because I have an Asian name?”

“Yes, that would be me? Are you here to clean the sheets?”  Spitting out every syllable just as slowly.

She cringed, her hands began to tremble as his light green eyes shot daggers at her, “Yes, well um, no, I’m not here to clean, I mean I am, but…” Taking the small envelope she’d been holding out with her trembling hand, he watched with amusement as she hurried back down the hall with her giant yellow cleaning cart.

Chuckling, he closed the door to the room, he went out to sit on the balcony. It wasps beautiful and captivating as the view from Nakahashi’s office but , as he dangled his legs through the black iron rails that were preventing from falling off and feeling that warm summer breeze flowing thorough his hair, he decided that the balcony was ten times better.  Ripping open the envelope, it read:

Dear Fuyori-san,

I’m afraid last night you had a bit of a mishap in regards to maintaining your conscience state  while presenting your photos to me. I hope it wasn’t to bold of me, but I had you placed in my suite and you spent the night there. I’m sorry I cannot be present to review the photos with you this morning, but as you know today is the second day of our new store’s grand opening campaign, so I’m afraid we’ll have to postpone our next meeting until next time. I hope we can continue to work well together, feel free to contact me anytime and I’ll have my secretary arrange a meeting for just the two of us. Till then airplane boy, I look forward to our next meeting.

Best regards,President Nakahashi Amamiya (the one with silver eyes)

Crumpling up the paper in embarrassed frustration and throwing it back into the apartment he stuck his head in between the rails and pouted. “What on earth did do after that? I can’t even remember!” His brain boiled trying to recall what happened after he’d let slip his “airplane boy”, identity he smacked himself in the forehead, “What was I thinking! How could I get so drunk?” Pulling his head out from between the rails he slid his feet back onto the balcony and went inside. Sitting on the couch in the living room he grabbed his satchel and rifled through the bag till he found his cell phone.  “Hopefully Miles will back awake by now.”

To:Miles                                     

4/8/2013    11:44

Subject: Come and get me you unfaithful ass

Message:

You left me all alone last night, when you told me you wouldn’t. See if I ever invite you out ever again, pssh, some date you were. Anyway, come and get me, I’m still in the hotel and I’m hung over, and you’re the one nursing me back to health. All of this is your fault. Be here in 20, I’ll be waiting.

Wataru (your jilted lover) (4/8/2013    11:44am)

Leaning backwards letting his head hit the base of the bed, Wataru closed his eyes and let out and exasperated breath. He thought of Nakahashi’s surprised face after he’d supposedly passed out, “If I’d fallen on the floor I’d probably have some bruises or something right? But, nothing hurts…did he catch me?” Redressing himself in the couch, he imagined Nakahashi carrying him into the suite and placing him gently on the plush bed, his lips began to tingle intensely, picturing the older man slightly bent over him and leaning over his body to kiss him gently, the faint smell of tabacco and a faint musk filling nostrils as he felt Nakahashi’s lips move down from his mouth to graze over the sensitive spots around the nape of his neck.  Letting his mind wander, he felt Nakahashi’s hands moving up and down his skin and his silvered eyed gaze lit up with passion as he also became aroused.

“Humm—Wait!” “Why on earth am I getting turned on here? What’s wrong with me?”  He opened his eyes and put his head between his knees, “That’s right Wataru, Nakahashi is a BUSINESS PARTNER! Aha ahahahaha!” Body shaking and eyebrows furrowed together, his erratic laughter filled the air with self-inflicted tension. “What on earth is wrong with me?”  Head hung over in despair he checked his phone. He had one new message from Miles:

To: Wata-melon                                                     4/8/2013    11:53

Subject: RE: Come and get me you unfaithful ass

Message:

OH DEAREST LOVER FORGIVE ME, *leans you backwards like that move in the tango, leans in real close and whispers* I’m sorry my love, I shall never leave you again.  Just kidding, and fine I’ll come save you from your dungeon. Which by the way, totally isn’t a dungeon cause you’re in one of the finest rooms in the Ritz. Jeez, you should be grateful that I lost you! I’ll be there in five, get your dress on my lady I don’t want to open the door to see you in an indecent state.

To: Miles                                                              4/8/2013    11:52

Subject: RE: Come and get me you unfaithful ass

Message:

*Waits patiently in tower for absolutely brain dead prince “charming” to come get her with his dashing blue horse (aka your ugly stinking Prius)* You’re late enough as it is, no need for the snaky role play. Besides, who’s indecent? I’m totally dressed, and how do you know that I’m in Nakahashi’s suite?

Wataru (you hung-over and totally annoyed princess)

To: Wata-melon                                                     4/8/2013    12:04

Subject: RE: Come and get me you unfaithful ass

Message:

A prince is never late, his princess is simply early. I got an email from his secretary this morning; I was able to get back home last night to check it. It basically says, that the photo presentation was disturbed due to very vague reasons. But wow, you’re telling me he got you up to his suite? Jeez, I know you’re in love with him but you were pretty easy weren’t you? How much did you actually drink last night? Did you get to confess?

Miles (I’m in on my way to your room)

To:Miles                                                              4/8/2013    12:06

Subject: RE: Come and get me you unfaithful ass

Message:

WHAT ON EARTH DO YO…

Three knocks on the door, letting Miles in, Wataru deleted the unfinished text message. Miles stood in the doorway, casual his denim jeans and white t-shirt totally contrasting with the intricate and elegant design of the room. Sweeping off his black fedora, Miles bowed and took his hand, “Your prince has arrived my lady,” he smirked as Wataru whacked him, “So? How was it?”

“I have no idea how you found out about my feelings for Nakahashi and I don’t particularly care, but--“

“I may or may not have witnessed your absolutely horridly red colored,” Miles tapped his cheeks and Wataru felt his own heat up, “and stuttered introduction to the president. Put anyone else in front of Nakahashi, sure they’d be nervous but they wouldn’t be blushing like a bride on her wedding day at every word he’d said. Plus you said someone from your country was going to be at that party, Nakahashi was the only Japanese guy that I’d seen in the ballroom that wasn’t completely irrelevant or in a couple so, put two and two together and it was pretty obvious that he’s that old Japanese girlfriend you were talking about.” He shrugged nonchalantly and grinned at his own cleverness.

“If you’re talking about sex,” Wataru continued glaring at him, hearing Mile’s laugh while he grabbed his satchel and scanned the room for any other forgotten objects, “there wasn’t any because, 1. I didn’t get to confess, and 2. Nakahashi would never do something like that because he’s probably straight, and 3.,” Whacking Miles again roughly with his arm, “Because I passed out!” He picked his beanie up off the bedroom floor and continued his room check.

Miles’s knees buckled as he began laughing, tears had even managed to find their way to the corners of his eyes and dribble down his cheeks, he repeatedly hit his thigh, his laughter grew softer and softer as he lost his breathe. Wataru rolled his eyes and went to check in the other rooms for stuff he’d forgotten.

“Oh, my, goodness, you are such a kid!” Wiping away the remainders Miles stood up and walked over to the bed, he quirked his eyebrow as he picked up a black suit coat that was mixed up in the jumble of sheets around the bed. A smug crooked smile stretched across his face, “No sex, huh? You’re sure about that?”

“Of course I’m sure you dolt, you think I wouldn’t notice if I had-“ Striding back into the bedroom he stopped in his tracks as he saw the coat, “Is that yours?”

Miles shook his head, his eyes glowing even brighter with obvious and devious amusement.

“Didn’t think so…” He mumbled softly snatching the coat out Miles’s hands, “Get your grubby mitts off of it, I have to return this, it looks really expensive…” He slid the cloth around in his fingers, forgetting Miles’s cocky smile and hesitantly sniffed it. Indulging in the feel and the scent of the coat, Wataru distinguished the traces of Nakahashi’s smoky fragrance mixed with light hints of alcohol that lingered on the fabric making him recall his morning daydream. His face heated up with embarrassment and frustration when he saw Miles stifling a chuckle with his elbow.  He threw a pillow and knocked his friend’s fedora right off his head.

“Let’s just go!” Tugging his beanie over his disheveled bed-head with one hand, clutching the coat tightly against his chest he stalked out of the room.

“You are so flipping weird, you’re like what stalkers are before they become stalkers in the first place.” Miles called, chuckling while he shook his head slowly, closing the door to the suite and followed his flustered friend down the hall.

“Oh shut up already you lousy prince and take me home. I need an Advil, your disgusting laughter has plagued me with a serious headache.”

“As my lady wishes.” Miles snickered as Wataru’s loud and annoyed groan echoed through the hallways.

“You and your stupid role playing I swear.”

“I only do it with those I love most,” He pulled Wataru closer by draping his arms around his shoulder, “Right, princess-san?”

“That’s 姫様 to you peasant.” Both of them grinning they checked out of the hotel, each of them cracking a silly royalty joke here and there while Miles drove him home. After walking up four flights of dirtied warehouse stairs with a wicked hangover, Wataru opened to doors to his loft, took off his shoes, dropped his satchel next to his own couch and with the suit coat in hand plopped down onto his bed. “At least I’ll get to see him again…” He thought bringing the coat back up to his nose and inhaling. “Next time I won’t mess up…I can’t wait to see you again Nakahashi…”  Closing his eyes he pulled his blankets around him and slept.

Chapter 12

Wataru’s smile shone brightly in the sunlight his laughter making the flowers flair up around them, the grass was green and comfortable, and pink cherry blossom petals rained down from the trees above, isolated on an old country field in his hometown Nakahashi served Wataru some tea and fed him little Japanese pastries. With every bite the cute blond took, Nakahashi thought he kept getting more and more adorable.

“Naka-kun, I love you!” Wataru smiled and leaned forward so that Nakahashi could kiss the crumbs that he’d purposefully left on his lips. Their lips met and the scenery changed they were exiting a haunted house ride at a carnival and Wataru’s light mossy green eyes were filled with tears, “Naka-kun, that was so scary! I was so glad that you were there to protect me from all those scary monsters!” Nakahashi pulled him into his arms and kissed the top of Wataru’s head as the young man nuzzled himself against his chest. He held him close and Wataru looked up at him his wide eyes now dazed; he leaned up and kissed him

“I’d never let anything happen to you Fuyori-san.” Nakahashi whispered into his ear softly, breaking their kiss momentarily. Another scene change, and now they were lying in his apartment kissing on his couch as they “watched” a horror movie. This time Wataru seemed distracted and Nakahashi stopped, concern filled his voice as his partner shifted underneath him with unease, “What’s wrong Fuyori? Did I do something wrong?”

Wataru slid out from under him and tapped his lips lightly, reaching up he pull his hand tenderly through his black hair “No, I mean, it’s nothing Naka-kun just my name…” Wataru shifted positions and was now straddling him.

“Hmm? What about it?” Caressing his face with his two hands he felt Wataru push his cheeks against the warmth of his palms.

“My name, you always call me, Fuyori-san like we’re back in Japan.” He blushed his face heating up and buried his head in the nape of his neck, “Can’t we call each other by our first names instead?”

He grabbed Wataru’s chin with index finger and thumb and pecked him lightly on the lips, watching as Wataru’s eyes opened and looked at him expectantly.

“Alright, then from on I’ll call you Wataru-“

“Wata-kun!” Eyes brimming with happiness Wataru threw his arms around Nakahashi and locked lips with him excitement guiding their embrace; scene change they were now in his bed…

“Sir?” Stevens tapped him lightly rousing him from his nap; imprints of folders lined his crumpled face. “Sir, do you just want to take the day off? You seem exhausted and you’ve been working non-stop for a week…all of your appointments were cancelled today, because you wouldn’t wake up earlier, so you’re basically free to-- ”

“Wataru? Where’d you go?” He mumbled disoriented, squinted and his eyes focused on a dark green suit, then he the outline distinguished his secretary’s face, “Stevens? What on earth are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be…at work?…” He sat up, his desk and his piles  of paperwork were amassed around him, and he realized he’d fallen asleep for the fourth time that day while working, “I fell asleep again, didn’t I?”  Stevens nodded tentatively as he pulled off a paperclip stuck to his forehead. He let out an exasperated breath and massaged his temples. “Stevens?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Please arrange an appointment with my masseuse, I’ll need at least an hour, and as for the meetings, ” Stevens opened his agenda and hastily started writing in the rescheduled appointments and when he was about to shut the books and go back to his desk, Nakahashi added “Oh, and Stevens?”

“Yes, Sir?”

“Please bring me some coffee and arrange a meeting with Mr. Fuyori from the photography company it’s urgent. Have him meet me at that restaurant I like, you know…what’s the name?” He waved his hand in the air and prompted Stevens to flip through his agenda.

“Uh, that would be Aureole? Right?”

“Yes that one, please make reservations for two tonight if at all possible.”

“Alright Sir, but what if Mr. Fuyori isn’t available?” He pushed his glasses up, and clearly puzzled he thought, “Mr. Nakahashi only takes his high class female business associates to Aureole…why on earth would he want to take a young man from a photography company there?”

Nakahashi let his head fall and hit the desk with a loud “bang”, Waving his hand towards the door and with a tired voice muttered, “Please just figure something out Stevens, I just need to meet with him soon.”

“Alright, I’ll let you know by the end of today if he’ll accompany you this evening to Aureole…” Stevens grasped the doorknob to go back to his office but hesitantly turn around, “Sir,” he beseeched, “If you’re not feeling well enough to work right now, please consider taking a quick repose on your couch? I’m sure it’ll do you some good.” Closing the door lightly he hurried out of the office.

“The problem isn’t falling asleep it’s staying awake.” Nakahashi thought as he began filing through the hundreds of documents on his desk, he groaned and began stacking and reviewing the papers. About thirteen project proposals later, in his boredom he let his thoughts drifted once again to Wataru. “I’ve never been bored at work before, what’s happening to me?” Throwing his pen down he stared out his window in frustration; even the beautiful scenery couldn’t calm him. “I should just tell him how he makes me feel at least that way if my advances disgusted him, he could get away from me before I put myself in a coma because of my desire for him.” He stacked his completed work and handed it to Stevens who came back in with a coffee and an appointment slip from his masseuse and confirmed appointments for three rescheduled meetings.

“Nothing from Fuyori?” He asked burning himself lightly with the scorching beverage.

The secretary picked up the papers he’d stacked for him and scuttled towards the door, “I haven’t called him yet sir, it’s taken me two and a half hours just to re-arrange your agenda, please be patient.”

“I’d like to know within the next hour please.”

“Yes, sir.” Tittering and tottering he made his way through the door and barely managed to close it behind him. The clatter of scattered papers falling from the other side of the door was unmistakable as well as one or two swears following from his usually mild mannered assistant. Nakahashi chuckled and felt himself relax a bit. He’d waited two weeks for Wataru to call, drop by, or at least leave a message, he’d even called his company’s office to schedule a meeting only to be told that Wataru had been sick and was going to take some time off.  “They said he’d be back this week, but the kid hasn’t so much come out from underneath his rock of a hiding place since our meeting…” He frowned and singling out a project proposal and stamped it with his “REJECTED” stamp. “He still has my coat, I mean, I left it there so he’d have to bring it back! I mean I guess I wasn’t too clear about that, but you’d think,” He tossed another file into the garbage angrily and busily started signing un-finalized contracts, “That he’d at least say thank you for it!”  He began slamming down the “REJECTED” stamp on some of his proposals so hard that on one of the forms that the ink began to bleed through the paper. Swearing loudly he tossed the form into his growing re-print pile, letting out a frustrated growl, swerving himself in his chair and slapping his hands over his face, “Why couldn’t he have just been fully awake during that damned kiss? I wouldn’t have to feel like a stupid elementary kid who’s pining after some other stupid kid anymore!” A long sling of swears followed suit before he saw a trembling Stevens gaping at him in the doorway.

Nakahashi drew a deep breath and fiddled with his tie, “What is it Stevens?” he grunted, looking down and aimlessly shifting his papers around his desk.

Stevens’s loud gulp could be heard from the other side of the room, he pointed to the phone and squeaked, “Line two sir, there’s Miss Patrica Lo’ffet, and umm…” he hesitated hearing his boss’s exasperated moan, “Sir?”

“Yes? What else Stevens?”

Smiling tentatively, he shuffled over to Nakahashi’s desk and placed an appointment card in his hand, “You have reservations for two tonight at Aureole, and Mr. Fuyori will be meeting you there at 7:30.”  Bowing lightly he hurried back out of the office, closing the door with a tiny *click * behind him.

Nakahashi stared the little white card blankly for a moment and then felt himself light up and fill with warmth, “He said yes…it’s…a date…sort of. Kind of.” He picked up the card and held it against his chest and sighed softly, closing his eyes “Maybe it wasn’t a date or a meeting but it was something…it was going to happen…tonight!”

“Shoot! I’ve got to finish this work!” Flustered he began to sort out his piles again and straighten up his desk, checking off appointments, files to be sent to the printing company and circled the people he needed to call in his agenda, “I still have to figure out what I’m going to wear and what scent I’m going to put on and…” Face steaming he stopped, he leaned his head against his hand and thought, “Wait, I’m not a girl…what on earth am I saying…” Hearing Stevens chuckling softly on the other side of the door he jerked off his shoe and threw it, it hit the door with a loud *smack* and Stevens yelped, there was a thud once again the sound of a knocked over paperwork resounded from beyond his end of the door.

Nakahashi got up from his desk and opened the double-fogged glass doors to see Stevens groaning and rubbing his behind while he got up from the floor.

“Now, now Stevens.” Nakahashi mocked with a sly smile from his doorway, “One mustn’t take such breaks with all the work we have to do. Please do hurry and clean up this unsavory mess.”

Stevens glared at him and Nakahashi snickered loudly retreating to his office, watching his secretary pick up all the papers with an almost sadistic pleasure through an open door, “That’ll teach you to eavesdrop you little mouse.”  He thought and calmly began finalizing his work. “Till tonight Wataru.”

Chapter 13: Wataru

His trembling hands clutched his cell-phone, verifying that there had indeed been a five minute where he’d been invited by Nakahashi’s secretary to a special business dinners to one of the finest restaurants in New York City, he gulped loudly running fingers through his bed head and glancing down at his ratty white t-shirt and boxers. “This is a dream…there’s no way this is actually happening.” Quickly checking the time on his cell, 4:37, he threw his phone on his wreck of a bed. Stripping, while trying to run into the bathroom he tripped several times before he was able to limp into the small walk in shower. Washing his hair with his sweetest smelling shampoo and scrubbing every inch of his body twice over, he stepped out with his skin glowing a light red hue and feeling almost raw. “I wonder if he’ll notice,” he thought, mindlessly plastering himself with a mango smelling lotion. Wrapping a towel around his waist he dried his hair and spiked it. “I look like a kid.” He scrunched his face with disgust and mused his hair rapidly letting fall around his forehead, “Something’s missing…” Stepping out of the bathroom he opened the draw next to his bed dug out his gray beanie, standing in the doorway of the bathroom he looked in the mirror; patting his hair down flat he shoved his beanie on his head, positioning his bangs so they stuck out in an orderly fashion from under his hat he smiled, “There perfect. He’ll probably think it’s a refreshing younger style! He might even think its attract-…” Wataru gave his head a light slap, “No! Focus!” Pulling on a pair of random boxers and swinging open his wooden wardrobe, he hurriedly began sifting his hands through his numerous suit and tie ensembles, “It’s just a business meeting, just a place for two professionals to meet and discuss business, right? Or maybe it’s something else?” His daydreams popping up he gripped his suits and pulled them off their hangers, they clumped together at the bottom of the already cluttered wardrobe, “It’s for business Wataru, don’t you dare think otherwise!”  His frog shaped clock’s blinking lime green lights flashed the time, quarter past six, “Forget the suit Wataru!” He growled in annoyance at the wrinkled mass in his closet he’d created. Agitatedly he yanked out a pair of black skinny jeans, a gray short-sleeved vest with black buttons, and a long sleeved white button up shirt, pulling them on quickly he rolled the cuffs of the white shirt up to his elbows.  “Ok, and a tie to stay classy.”  He thought as he knotted a diagonally striped black and white tie around his neck. Throwing the files with the pictures in them, grabbing his keys, cell phone, wallet he raced out the door to his loft and practically leaped into the taxi waiting for him below. After reciting the address of the restaurant from the piece of paper Stevens had faxed him to the cabbie, Wataru sank back into his seat. His heart racing as they drove over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, the city glittered, the gaggle of people walking around on the streets made the entire borough seem like a crowded party, lights flashed brightly as they maneuvered their way through the myriad streets of Manhattan. Pulling up to a brownstone with an iron gate surrounding it, with a chic heading “AUREOLE” with letters that shone silver, Wataru paid the cabbie and stepped out of the taxi. Looking in through the large glass window, Wataru admired the beautiful and modern styled restaurant, it screamed upper class only and its extravagant decor with all its fashioned wood and sculpted iron would probably make any interior designer pass out in awe. Suddenly turning around at the sound of his taxi’s tires as they screeched away from the curb made him uneasy, “Stevens said to go in ahead of Nakahashi if I didn’t see him walking in but I’m a bit early, plus I’d look a bit out of place if I walked in and ordered by my self wouldn’t I.” Turning back around to look into what he had thought had been elegance and beauty, Wataru gulped uncomfortably at the sight of the restaurant, “Did he want me to go in ahead because he didn’t want to risk being seen with me?”  He eyed the people sitting inside, their outfits all fit within the black tie dress code perfectly without exception, glancing down at his casual dress he felt a creeping unease, looking again he saw the men in suits laughing at their glamorously gowned female companions conversations, “There’s probably not two men eating together casually in that restaurant.” He thought and dismay washed over his entire being, he couldn’t go in there, not with all those people, let alone couples, who’d probably all stare him, a silly misplaced commoner down. Wataru felt his hands tremble against his satchel, which hung on his waist, what would he say to Nakahashi? Maybe Nakahashi would call him foolish and just tell him not to bother with the whole dinner in general and leave him there without a second thought; or maybe he’d make him eat in there anyway because he couldn’t digest anything that his rich palette was used to. “What am I even doing here?”  Taking a final glance at the fancy eatery, he crossed to the other side of the street and paced indecisively, “If I leave now Nakahashi’ll probably be insulted, heck he might not even speak to me again!” Squatting down on the steps of another brownstone he leaned his head against the iron railings. “But if I stay, I might embarrass him in front of a whole restaurant of people who might be important clients or friends of his.” Sighing despairingly he watched as a sleek black Porsche parked itself in front of Aureole. A familiar silhouette stepped out and Wataru saw a finely dressed Nakahashi stepping out of his car taking a worried glance at his silver wristwatch and scanning the sidewalk. “Is he looking for me?” Tentatively standing up Wataru slipped behind the cover of a car and watched as Nakahashi paced earnestly in front of Aureole, then stop open his car door pull out a bouquet flowers, stare at them, shake his head and then shove them back onto his car seat. “Did he buy me roses? Don’t you buy roses for your girlfriend? Is someone else supposed to be coming? No, Steven’s said a private meeting so…Oh my god. No way.” Wataru grinned and barely contained his laughter as he watched Nakahashi brush the pollen from his suit. “We’re both men, but he bought me roses!” He slid down against the car to the hard concrete sidewalk, “He bought me roses…” Clutching his satchel to his chest he felt his face heat up, and he giggled,  “Amamiya Nakahashi, the president of one of the largest international fashion companies in the world bought me flowers. He’s now worriedly walking in front of a restaurant we’re supposed to be eating at together like a nervous teenage boy waiting for his first date to begin…” He stood up abruptly and waited to cross the street, “And even though I’m a man he seems to like me enough to buy me flowers. I shouldn’t be this nervous, I’ve been gay my entire life and for the first time, the supposedly straight guy I’ve liked is attempting to make the first move.” Red light, time seems suspended and with every step across the black pavement Wataru felt his heart beat faster and faster, “Who am I to stick him up on the first date.”  A couple more steps and he’d be face to face with Amamiya Nakahashi, President of Yokohama Threads, a dashing bachelor who’d been sought after by hundreds of wealthy heiresses for years now, the man who’d been kind enough to buy him flowers, the guy who was attempting to spoil him with lavish foods and the one who cared for him when he was completely out of it.  Tapping on his shoulder he smiled widely as Nakahashi turned around and smiled back at him nervously his face tunring slightly red as his eyes flitted between his car seat and Wataru.

“Sorry I was late, I-I umm, let’s go inside shall we?” His shy smile amused Wataru as he pulled open the door for Wataru.

“Thanks.” Wataru stepped into the reception area and standing next to Nakahashi smiled to himself and thought, “He’s the guy I love.”

Chapter 14

Take Me Places!

Chapter 1: Wataru

The plane had a disgusting odor, as Wataru stepped on, like newly applied car wax. He scrunched up his face and attempted to shove his way through the crowed plane aisle to get to his seat. "I swear I'd never do this for fun if this wasn't my job" he thought as he flopped down into the window seat. Looking through the sad excuse of a window, he sighed as he saw all the other planes taking off. "What I wouldn't give just to stay home..." He sighed again and pulled his headphones over his ears, turned up the music to the maximum volume. He closed his eyes in the hopes that he'd be able to fall asleep and wake up when the flight was over, though those dreams were short lived as a flustered looking flight attendant came up to him. "Excuse me, sir?" Her chubby cheeked face turned crimson as Wataru openly glared at her through his light green eyes, “I’m sorry sir, but you’re going to have to turn off your music until we’re fully in the air.” She smiled nervously as he removed them reluctantly. "Thank you sir, I hope you enjoy your flight!" Her light blue skirt fluttered as she turned around and continued down the aisle.

“Idiot," Wataru thought as he slowly slid his headphones back over his ears, "How can anyone be enjoy being in a plane, all the noise and these stupid people everywhere?" He tugged his beanie over his head; he pulled his headphones back over his ears and closed his eyes once again: "Why did things have to turn out like this?" And he let himself be carried off by sleep.

After about two hours, Wataru grudgingly opened his eyes, his legs were aching from sitting in the same position and his head was pounding because he'd fallen asleep with his music volume to the max. He let out a low moan as he stretched himself out as much as he could in his seat and then prodded awake the man next to him muttering  "Gotta pee…”. "Oh, sure,” The man groggily stood up and Wataru slid out of his seat, he grunted his thanks to the man before he walked down the narrow airplane aisle and entered bathroom.

"It's good to get up once a while," he thought as he examined his tired looking face in the minuscule bathroom mirror. His normally tan skin looked pasty and pale in the bathrooms florescent lighting. "I look like a mess,” he groaned, splashing water on his face, he took off his gray beanie and combed through his thick blond hair with his fingers; he traced the bags under his eyes and grimaced. "This trip is destroying my looks and we haven't even landed yet! Why’d I even agree to go to New York anyway!" He slapped his hand against the bathroom cabin wall, and sighed.

A light "knock-knock" came from the door, "Sir, are you alright in there? Do you need some assistance?" asked a worried stewardess. Wataru rolled his eyes in disbelief and opened the door to the bathroom; the stewardess hurriedly stepped backwards to avoid getting hit. "I'm fine, now go away” he gnarled, pulling the door shut again once more and preceded to take his time cleaning himself up. Two minutes later another knock came on the door as he was readjusting his pants. His face twisted with annoyance as he pulled open the door only to hiss "GO AWAY!" into the face of the most handsome men he'd ever seen in his life. The man was wearing a black suit and had a musky fragrance, smooth alabaster/ivory skin, hair black as night that graciously arranged to frame his rectangular face, his cheekbones were well defined and his mouth was well rounded, but stern. Though, what really took Wataru's breath away were his stormy gray eyes. It felt as though he could drown in them. His face turned crimson as the man before him took a step back, "Oh," said the man, "I'm terribly sorry, I'll wait until you're done…" he blushed a bit as he ran his hand through his hair and glanced at the floor.

"No, no, no," Wataru shook his hands in the air, making the man look even more uncomfortable "I'm sorry, it's because, you see uh, I thought you were the stewardess and-" As Wataru glanced once more at the man once more and saw how flustered he looked so, clasped his hands together and bowed "Anyway, I'm terribly sorry!" the man relaxed a bit as he watched Wataru stand up straight again and offered him his hand.

"It's quite alright young man," the corner of the man's lips twitched lightly as he held back a smile "It's good to be, 'woken up' after such a boring and tiresome flight, my name's Amamiya, Nakahashi" He released Wataru's hand and really smiled this time. Wataru felt his throat close up with nervousness, Amamiya-san's face could probably light up the entire world with it's beauty.

"I'm, uh, I'm" Wataru swallowed deeply "Fuyori Wataru, it's nice to meet you Amamiya-san?" he smiled at Amamiya-san tentatively.

"Please call me Nakahashi."

A silence fell over the two of them as Wataru realized that Nakahashi-san was still waiting to use the bathroom.

"Oh, well it was nice to meet you!"  He blushed again, as he step sided past Nakahashi-san taking one last subtle inhale of his musky scent before speeding back to his seat.

Once he'd sat down he couldn't help but daydream about the possibilities between Nakahashi and him if they hadn't met on a plane,which after they’d left they'd probably never see each other ever again. Wataru let out a weary sigh and attempted to suppress all of his thoughts concerning his future Nakahashi-san as he drifted back to sleep.

Chapter 2:

Nakahashi brushed back his hair in bewilderment as he returned to his seat; he’d never been so drawn in by a person in his life! “I practically stalked him with my eyes when I was walking back,” tapping himself on the forehead, slumping down into his chair in first class, he murmured “Idiot. You’re too old for this.” Remarking a flighty stewardess coming his way he waved her over, “Would it be possible to have a glass of wine?”

Batting her eyelashes, she leaned on the corner of his seat and hushed, “Of course sir, one moment please” before walking back to the helm of the plane; Nakahashi couldn’t help but noticing her awkward hip bounces as she tried to draw his attention. “Women truly don’t change from one country to the other do they?” frowning he closed his eyes. His thoughts drifted back to “…Wataru…that’s right, his name was Wataru” repeating his name he traced his lips with his fingertips, imagining the feel of Wataru’s lips on his own, the gaze of those grassy green eyes meeting his own, the touch of his hands running through Wataru’s hay colored hair—“Whoa, get a hold of yourself you old uncle, he’s just a kid, he’d never like an old man like you. Never mind the obvious age difference.” After turning thirty-nine in the past year, Nakahashi was finally experiencing the fatigue that came with age and had even more difficulty completing his growing workload. “Being a company’s vice president isn’t so bad, but my silly ambition to become president might kill me!” Loosening his tie, he leaned back into his seat; his transfer from Okinawa to New York was really wearing him down. Popping open his travel kit, he twisted open an Advil bottle and swallowed two pills; he’d grown tired of working in Tokyo and his divorce was a perfect excuse to transfer. Unfortunately at the time all that had been running through his head was “If you get out of Japan maybe you can start over again, get a new wife and family, and get rid of all the strange feelings you have!” but then again at the time he hadn’t realized how difficult starting anew might be… ”Well at least that means there’s a chance I might meet Wataru again…” Realizing where his train of thought was taking him once again he tsked himself as he crossed his arms. “What am I a pervert? What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I just stop thinking about him? I can’t be interested in him, we just met in front of an airplane bathroom!” He raked his hands through his hair once more “It’s these kinds of feelings that made me lose my wife and here they come again! Why can’t I just stop these feelings completely and do my work in peace!” The stewardess came back and tapped him on the arm, her manicured nails pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Here you are sir, and I’ve given you and extra packet of pretzels courtesy of our airline, I hope you enjoy the rest of your flight.” She smiled and as she turned to walk away, she looked back at him “I’m Natasha, if you need anything else please, don’t hesitate to ask.” She then winked, and flounced her way back down the aisle. His face twisted in disinterest, even with the aid of the Advil, he slowly felt his headache returning. “Darn it, when well this flight be over?” he thought as he struggled to get comfortable in his seat.

Chapter 3:

A year had passed since Wataru had landed in the busy city of New York and started working as a professional photographer. After arriving he’d installed himself in a loft in the Dumbo district of Brooklyn and started working for his new agency, “Picture That!”. Shaking his head as he climbed out of bed, he strode over to his mirror proudly admiring his newly acquired features; within the year, his hair had grown longer, his muscles were thicker but his physique was still lean, his eyes, surprisingly enough had also changed into a more oval shape which only made his green eyes more seductive, so now instead of looking like a young adolescent fresh off the plane, he'd grown into a mature 24 year old looking man. Slamming his bedroom door open Wataru laughed out loud as he threw himself down on his couch, "Which picture did they use from me today?" he smirked while flipping through one of the many newspapers. He’d known a great success since he’d arrived in New York and his artworks were being published in every magazine, heck, half of the fashion industry wanted him as a full time photographer! As it was a Friday morning he searched for his most recent photographic conquests in the business section of the New York Times, he happened upon an article concerning a very popular clothing company's grand opening. The article read:

YOKOHAMA THREADS MAKES A COMEBACK!

"Yokohama Thread's makes a stunning  grand opening on 5th avenue after the company’s last store burnt down, toasting all its merchandise to a crisp! With a new company president, Nakahashi, Amamiya the companies stocks have skyrocketed and sales have never been better! With it’s newly added teen section and it’s refreshingly new architecture style, people have just been flooding into the store non-stop! After receiving over $70000 on it’s initial reconstruction plan in a day the investors within the company are certainly getting what they paid for! One of their sponsors, Mr. Evan Green was kind enough to spare a moment of his day to tell us a little more about the future project ideas of the company---“

“Blah, blah, blah, blah, expanding in size, hoping to add another section by next fall” Drawing out every syllable he skimmed through the rest of the article to find his picture, but his eyes wouldn’t let him focus on his art as they kept drawing him back to two words within the article.

“Amamiya...Nakahashi?”  Flicking back his newspaper, he stared at the article blankly, “Where have I heard that name before?”  Furrowing his eyebrows and frowning, he wondered where it was he’d heard the name before…“Oh well,” he shrugged and sipped his coffee “if he’s that important I’ll meet him at tonight’s opening party.” He smirked, folded the newspaper, and contentedly threw it against his coffee table. He got up from the couch and mussed his wavy bed head hair “Alright, time to move out.” Pulling off his pajama top, he strode back into his room and tugged open his wardrobe, “Right Wataru, today you’re shooting the grand opening of Yokohama Threads new store, you want to look laid back but,” Wataru gleamed, pulling out a dark red long sleeved shirt and a sleeveless vest “Classy.” Rummaging around the rest of the room he managed to find a pair of black skinny jeans, a matching striped red tie, a couple of varying leather bracelets, and his own addition to fashion, his mark, and his constant accessory, his gray beanie.  Sprinkling himself lightly with cologne, he brushed his teeth, smoothed down his hair poking out from under his hat, stuck a piece of buttered bread in his mouth, grabbed his camera bag and keys and , slamming his apartment door shutwith his foot, ran hurriedly out of his loft. His face was lit up with excitement as he raced to begin his day with his usual goal in mind, “I’m going to be even more famous today than yesterday!”

Chapter 4: Nakahashi

Blinds drawn, lights out, a glass of alka seltzer and Advil on his right, arms covering his head, Nakahashi rested his head on his desk. After pulling three all nighters in a row while sorting last minute files for today’s grand opening, he’d gone a little over board in his little celebration last night. No one had drunk as much as he had, his friends couldn’t stop him, and now he was paying for it ten fold. His headed throbbed as three light taps came from the door, he moaned in pain as his secretary tried to tiptoe his way towards him.

“Sir…” Stevens stood in front of his desk, he usual dark green suit and black tie perfectly in position, his hair swept back, and with his young face it turned into a rather dorky looking bowl cut. He’d hired the kid as a favor to his old neighbor and he seemed to be doing well except for his incorrigible shyness when it came to speaking with him, “Excuse me, President Amamiya, Sir,” He timidly tapped his arm. “Probably checking to see if I’m not dead, poor kid, stuck working for an old geezer like me” Nakahashi thought. “Hmmm?”

“You have a call on line one from Mr. Green, Sir…” Nakahashi could hear the boy pulling at the edges of his suite readjusting his shirt subtly, the obvious anxiety in his voice as he stood before the president of one of the largest fashion companies in the world and he chuckled softly.  He urged his mouth to at least crook in the same sense of a smile at the boy, but it seemed that it only scared the poor squirt more. He sighed and recalled that he wasn’t presently living through one of his best moments, “Thank you Stevens, I’ll pick up, I apologize for my appearance, please transfer the call to line 4”

“Y-Yes Sir!” Stevens stammered as he attempted to hurriedly walk out of his boss’s darkened office, but it became more of a stumble when Nakahashi called out before he could reach the door “And while you’re at it Stevens, bring me a coffee!”

“O-of course Sir!” He bowed and shut the door softly behind him as he left, an audible sigh of relief following his escape. Nakahashi grinned as he quickly took a swig of Alka seltzer and his two Advil then picked up his phone on line 4.

“Amommyiyyaaaaa! My Japanese protégée! Welcome back to the real world! How was the rest of night?” Evan’s smug voice hit his pounding headache like flaming projectiles. They had been friends since university and they were about the same age, now is business partner and best friend, Evan’s loud voice mocked him through the phone.

“First of all Evan Green, you know for a fact I’m hung over you lousy excuse for a best friend, abandoning me completely out of my mind in front of a bar at the mercy of New York City the night before our company’s grand opening, without a way to get home just because you wanted to chase after some chick leading you on.” Evan’s hearty and well amused laughter was extremely nerve wracking through the phone, “I swear to you the next time we go out you’re paying for psychological damage if that happens again!”

Nakahashi gritted his teeth as Evan’s laughter turned into one of wild cackling, he could just imagine the tears of amusement falling down his angular face.

“What are you even saying? I paid for your taxi home! Come on, don’t tell I’m not a great buddy I made sure you were safe on your way home before I left with Janice!”

Nakahashi scoffed, “Yeah, only after you found me completely passed out in the alley beside the bar!”

Nakahashi pulled the phone away from his ear, Evan’s laugh couldn’t get any louder and Nakahashi could hear him gasping for air between his cackles. “I’ll hang up this phone if this is all you’ve called me for, I have other more important calls waiting,” he twiddled his pen around in his finger. “ I don’t really, they’re all just people calling to congratulate me before the actual opening this afternoon, but that doesn’t mean I have all morning to waste you.And the girl you took home, her name was Jenny not Janice.”

Evan’s sarcastic gasp echoed through the receiver and his laughter died down, “Who cares, she’s one girl of many that I won’t even remember by tomorrow-“

“You’re an enemy to woman kind everywhere, you know that?” Nakahashi imagined Evan’s sly grin on the other end of the phone line and groaned as Evan was chuckling again.

“Come on Miya, bare with me, I’ll settle down in a couple of years, then you’ll see.”

“Right, now was there a point to this ridiculous call?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Evan exclaimed, Nakahashi swiveled in his chair as he buzzed Stevens, who peeked in, he motioned for more Advil and the boy nodded and closed the door “Guess who managed to snag the best and most popular photographer in New York, for someone who’s been calling me a jerk all morning?”

Nakahashi scratched his head; as far as he was concerned he’d hire at least a hundred photographers why would one make a difference? “

You?”

“BINGO!”

“OW, DAMN IT EVANS KEEP IT DOWN!”  He rubbed his ears, Stevens stepped in and placed a saucer of tea with two more Advil on the side next to him, Nakahashi nodded gratefully, “ What’s so special about this photographer anyway? And how’d you manage to snag him if no one else could?”

Evan tsked him, “Now, now, I didn’t embezzle any money in hiring him-“

“So what did you promise him?” An unusual silence, “Evan Green, what did you promise him?”

“…I gave him access to tonight’s exclusive opening party.”

“Evan.”

“Amamiya.”

“It’s supposed to be for business partners and close friends and family! What are we going to do if he shows up and is some sort of commoner? It’s not really a party then is it?”

“I KNOW, oi Miya, I’m not stupid, but I’m telling you his work is worth it he has an extraordinary talent with a camera, his photos will be hung all around and will mark our company’s history!” Evan’s loud pleas were finally starting to get the best of his pounding headache.

“Fine, fine, he can come, but you’re responsible for any indiscretions caused by him”

“Egg-cellant.”

“What?”

“It’s a breakfast pun, I’m starving”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I know, but at least I got you to watch my little rich boy back!”

Nakahashi chuckled, “Yeah, you loser of course you do.”

“Alright, old man I’m going to go to the kitchen and as for some eggs, I’ll see you at the opening in three hours.”

“Three hours—ITS 1 PM HOW LONG WAS I ASLEEP?“ Nakahashi jerked up from his chair and saw his mounting collection of paperwork to be done before the ceremony “ARGH, STEVENS WHAT IS THIS? WHY DIDN’T YOU WAKE ME UP!” He could hear stacks of papers falling from the young boys desk outside his office and then the shuffling of adolescent feet shuffling across the office as they ran away from their desk. Nakahashi recoiled from his outburst his head throbbing in pain.

Evan’s cackles emerged once more “Alright Amamiya, I’ll leave you to your work,” Nakahashi’s groans were drowned out by Evan’s insolent laughter “Oh, and the photographers name is Wataru Fuyori, make sure to put him on the list.”

“Wait, Wataru Fuyori, I’ve heard of him before…”

“Of course you have he’s famous! I have to go otherwise Cook’s going to yell at me! Have fun!” The line cut off as Evan hung up, but Nakahashi just let the phone sit on his desk. “Wataru Fuyori…I’ve heard that name somewhere before, not from the magazines but…where?” Nakahashi frowned; he didn’t have time to think about the name now. He groaned and dropped a stack of paperwork in front of himself. “I swear, when I think I did this to myself I have to wonder about my mental health!” He then hung up his phone and began to fill out his forms. “I don’t know if three hours let alone three days will be enough for this! Someone save me!”

Chapter 5: Wataru Fuyori

“Excuse me, I’m sorry, if I could just get to the front!” Wataru coughed as he was finally able to breach through the mob of people forming in front of the new Yokohama Thread Store. It had taken him a half an hour just to push his way through the crowd all the way from his bus stop two blocks away. His company had called him suddenly as he was getting off the bus and told him that they’d sent Miles, his photo development partner along with an album they needed him to authorize before they sent it to the printers, “Is this really the time and place to call me out for minor working details? That stupid company of mine!”  He swore once again as he skimmed the crowd for the top of Mile’s head, even if African man was someone who stood out with his ridiculous height and loud voice, but this crowd was just too much!  “Humph, forget about meeting up with him, the ceremonies about to start and I have to take my place, I’ll find him later.” Turning back towards the gated area of the makeshift podium, he went and showed his “back stage” access to the guard and made his way to the isolated photographer section.

“Fuyori? Wataru Fuyori?”

“Yes?”

The man walking towards him smiled, wearing a black trimmed suit with matching shoes, a light blue tie and glasses, the guy reeked of a high society bourgeois. Wataru grasped the man’s outstretched hand and caught a whiff of extremely potent (but excellently chosen) cologne.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you I’m Evan Green,” He released his steel tight grasp on Wataru’s hand.

“I’m pretty sure he’s broken at least four of my fingers! He was too close to breaking my tools of trade!” Wataru thought as he rubbed his hands and ground his teeth together to keep him from yelping in pain.

“The pleasure’s all mine, I want to thank you again for offering me this wonderful opportunity and-“

“Oh, no that’s where I have to stop and thank you,” Mr. Green his smile growing even wider, Wataru was even sure that he’d vaguely seen the face of a grinning fox in his light hazel eyes, “I’m so glad that you were available at the last second and were willing to come through this large crowd in order to get here! I apologize that I wasn’t able to find the subventions to fund your whole team.”

“Yeah right you creepy fox-man, you’re lucky that I like parties you big ol’ cheapo.” Wataru grinned back at him devilishly, “Oh, no Mr. Green I’m afraid you’re apologizing for nothing, I was glad to come - never mind the team, and your pay is it’s own benefit even if it’s not necessarily direct cash.”

Evan saw the wicked gleam in Wataru’s cat like eyes and right away this new feisty little cat would make the perfect addition to the Yokohama Thread family. Evan’s sinister sniggers filled the air as he clapped Wataru on the back.

“Please, call me Evan,” Wataru buckled under the larger man’s whack on the back and ended up being bent over out of breath, “Welcome to the family Fuyori-san.” Wataru glanced up in surprise as Evan’s greeted him in Japanese.

“Why, t-thanks I look forward to working with you…” He replied in Japanese as well. This was the first time anyone from America had even uttered a word in his native tongue other than cheesy anime catchphrases or silly songs.

Evan’s eyes lit with amusement as he watched Wataru’s confused gaze fall on his mouth, he seemed to be verifying if what’d he’d heard was true.

“A friend of mine that I used to go to school with got tired of speaking English with me, so he forced me to learn Japanese,” Pushing his glasses, Evan’s began emitting some sort of strange ‘cool guy’ aura, and switched back to English, “What you’re hearing is the practiced result of 4 years of nagging and hard work.”

“Oh, I see well that’s very impressive Mr. Green-“

Evan frowned, his cheery disposition turning somewhat haunting while he quickly corrected Wataru, “Evan.”

“Evan, right my apologies.”

“Right then, now that the introductions have been done,” His lips crooking into a small smile, and light humor returning, “I leave you to your work, I can’t wait to see the results.” He waved as he began to saunter away, “Make sure to get good shots of our press/president?, he gets very touchy about pictures.” Wataru lost sight of him, as he was lost in the large crowd.

“Maybe he’s not as bad as I thought…” Wataru smirked as he scratched his head, and stuck out his tongue in his direction, “Still a bit weird though.”

An upbeat music suddenly filled the air through the over speakers overhead, the music riveted the street and sunshine bounced off the shimmering silver walls of the new Yokohama building.  The blowing wind matched the force of the chattering crowd as the unveiling began.

“Right, time to get ready!” Wataru quickly set up his camera and placed himself directly in front of the president’s podium and focused his camera. Loud cheers filled the air, the speakers boomed, “NOW PRESENTING YOKOHAMA THREAD’S NEW ESTABLISHMENT, EVERYONE PLEASE WELCOME OUR COMPANIES NEW PRESIDENT MR. NAKAHASHI!” A tall man walked on to the stage and waved at the crowd, his bright smile warmed the crowd, and Wataru hastily adjusted his camera focus just as the president’s face came into full view. His camera shutter clicked wildly taking as many shots of the man as possible. Fingers nimbly adjusting the light settings, he tried to get one close of shot of the president. Wataru’s gaze finally took in the face of the man who was standing behind the podium, arms stiffening, he moved the camera aside he absorbed the president with his eyes. His breath completely taken away by him, stunningly good-looking, his handsome features had refined themselves in the passing year. Even his eyes had changed, instead of a storm they now caged in a whirling tempest. His eyes widen in astonishment, lips barely moving, the next almost winded eight syllables fell out of his mouth like heavy stones, softly murmuring the name of the man with tempest’s eyes that he’d longed for 3 months after he’d gotten off the plane that had brought him here. “Naka…hashi…Ama…miya?”

Chapter 6:  Nakahashi

Besides almost passing out from exhaustion while exiting the podium, the opening ceremony had gone off without a hitch; he’d made his opening speech, waved and had leaving the stand for the next speaker, blowing kisses. “Now, all that’s left is tonight’s party.” Nakahashi thought as he stepped out of the shower. Ruffling with his head with his towel, his black hair dripped water everywhere. He lounged on his sofa a towel wrapped around his waist.  “Ahhhh…” he moaned, “there’s no way in hell I’m going to make in through tonight.” Covering his face he groaned, he’d tried taking a nap several times but sleep wouldn’t wash over him like it usually did.  “Ok! Think positive Amamiya, its only one night, you’ll say hi to some people, greet some wives, accept a bouquet, look over photos…” he groaned once again, “Shoot, I forgot to inspect the Fuyori kid before the ceremony, I have no idea what he’s like! He might be a liability to the evening.” Slamming his fist on the counter he swore. “I never should’ve let Evan make such a ridiculous bargain! All of our backers are going to be at that party tonight!” Shaking his head he paced around his kitchen. “No, no, no, calm down Nakahashi, you’re a full fledged business man, you can organize a whole company in two minutes flat! You can deal with a stupid kid…or wait.” Stopping in his tracks he grinned, “No, you, you can deal with a kid no problem, but EVAN IS THE ONE WHO’S GOING TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR HIM, HA!” Howling with laughter he snatched his cell phone and flipped it open. Fingers tapping away furiously, he texted Evan:

‘Oi, Evan…you’re the one who’s responsible for the kid, I don’t want see him, AT ALL during the evening. If you fail, I’ll kick you off the board of directors. Good luck!’

Exhaling he felt his shoulders drop and his calm returned; not only had he gotten his vengeance on Evan, he’d gotten rid of dealing with the kid. A wave of drowsiness engulfed him. He yawned loudly, “I could use with a nap…” glancing at the clock mounted on his wall, 5 o’clock, “I’ve got time, three hours should be enough to get my face back to normal.”  His cell phone vibrated suddenly, it’s screen flashing rapidly as texts from Evan began flooding in.

‘Aww, come Miya don’t do this to me! All of the belles of the world are going to flooding into that party, don’t stick me with the kid I’m begging you!’

‘Miya, I know you’re there answer me!’

‘I’m sorry I left you the other day! REALLY SORRY! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME WITH THE KID!’

‘You’ll see his photos were really well done! Plus he seems like an extremely well behaved guy! He doesn’t need a guardian!’

‘You rotten jerk; you’re doing this on purpose. There’s no way I’m taking care of that kid’

‘OI, MIYA ANSWER ME’

‘手名輪　あなた輪　大機だい！I’M EVEN WRITING IN YOUR STUPID LANGUAGE ANSWER ME’

Nakahashi’s grin was ear to ear; he closed his bedroom door on his friend’s distressed messages. “Ahh, victory the sweetest platter served by text.” Donning a pale blue pajama after setting his alarm clock for 8:30 he slid into bed.

“Tonight will be just fine.”  He murmured into his pillow before a warm feeling washed over as he fell asleep.

Chapter 7: Wataru

“Wataru? Are you alright man?” Miles jabbed him in the ribs bringing him back to reality. After the ceremony was done he’d tottered mindlessly into a café where Miles had found him after searching for 2 whole hours and they were now heading back to the office in a cab.

“Yeah, no, I’m totally fine…”

Miles’s long dreads bobbed along with his head, leaning forward he tried to meet Wataru’s distracted gaze, obvious concern etched the contours of his angular face.

“Wataru, you’re not sick or anything right? ” Miles brought his hand up to forehead, and Wataru nudged it off.

“I’m totally fine!”

“Well then start acting like it,” Miles leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms, “You’re really starting to freak me out.”

“Huh?” Wataru’s confused regard fell on him and then went right back to being completely zoned out again.

“See? That’s what I’m talking about!” Miles frown as he pulled on Wataru’s cheeks, the cabbie staring at them with curiosity scoffed from the front seat; they were acting like a mother and son.

“What!”

“Wataru, you’ve been staring into space since I found you!” Miles sighed, “Wataru, I found you as you were about spill coffee all over your camera, it's like a child to you! I’ve never seen you this dazed!”

“I’m not dazed, I’m just thinking…there’s nothing wrong with that.” Wataru huffed; he slid down as much as he could so his knees were hitting the chair in front, and stretched his beanie down over his eyes. He couldn’t help it, seeing Nakahashi-san again was…incredible. His cheeks turned red as they burned with anticipation. Tonight he’d see him again, he’d definitely be at the party, “I wonder if he even remembers me… I’d totally forgotten about him months ago until now…what should I do when I see him?”

Miles patted him on the head lightly and said “Don’t worry man, I’m sure what ever it is that you’re worrying about will turn out fine in the end.” Wataru peeked up at him from under his beanie, lips quivering and eyes beginning to tear up, he yanked at his friends t-shirt and hugged him. Miles though initially shocked at such an obvious sign of affection from his friend shrugged and hugged him back.

“ I’m so nervous…what should I do, Miles. It’s been months!” He cried into his friend’s shirt, excitement was out weighed by his frustration at his own reaction; the fear of potential rejection was completely overriding his brain and the outcome, an even heavier flow of tears. “I don’t even know why I’m worrying! There’s no way Nakahashi-san is gay, and he’d never be into someone as plain as me!”

“Oh, I see,” Miles a deep throated chuckle erupting from his mouth, his dark face lit with delight, here was one of the most confident people he knew, crying, over a girl, “Is there someone you like coming to visit you here from Japan? An old fling?”

Wataru stopped his hiccupped crying momentarily and feebly replied “Sort of, I guess you could say I haven’t seen them in a while…and they are from Japan…”

Turning his head back into the crook of his friends arm “But he’s not my girlfriend and he’s most definitely not a girl.” Recalling Nakahashi’s eyes, Wataru felt his face grow warm yet again.

“Well, if they’re here today, why don’t you invite them to the Yokohama party? Your invite did say you could bring someone.”

“They’re, they’re already going to be there…”

“Oh really? A wealthy girlfriend then, and you’re going to see each other tonight? ” Miles wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, they looked like dancing caterpillars. Wataru smacked him in the gut, giggling as his friend struggled to suck air back into his lungs.

“Shut up you perverted Rasta,” Miles’s annoyed look, penetrated through his turmoil of emotions, making him beam, his stuck out his tongue, “All that teasing you definitely had it coming.”

The taxi pulled over next to their office, Wataru jumped out and Miles paid the driver, together they walked into the large red building and went all the way up to the fourth floor. Entering the office all one could see were stacks and stacks of paper, piled up, fluttering in the air (people dropped their piles very often), and scattered on the floor. This, was PictureThat! one of the top photography agencies in New York City let alone America and here it was looking like a pig’s pen.

“What’s going on in here?” Wataru watched with annoyance as an intern knocked over one of his many framed paintings on the wall.

“Just ignore it, unlike you a lot of the photographers don’t get their work done before the deadline and have to rush their photo developments in order to get their albums done. It’s been like this since last month after you left for paid vacation.” Miles answered signing them both into the company attendance book.

“Oh.”

“ Either way, we’re not even going near that section of the office,” Hitching his arm under Wataru’s, Miles directed them towards the editing room “ Since you already took the photos today we can go directly to editing!”

Sitting themselves down in one of the larger editing cubicles, Wataru uploaded all of the photos from the opening ceremony on the computer.

“Wow, you took some top quality one’s today…” Rubbing his chin Miles scrutinized the photos in detail, “Especially of President what’s his name, Nakakna-“

“Nakahashi…” Wataru’s eyes were glued on the screen, hundreds of pictures of Nakahashi, all of them flooding in to the computer system, each and every one capturing his face, his eyes, the sway of his hair in the wind—

“Wataru? Earth to Wataru, anyone there?” His partner waved his hand in front of Wataru’s face snapping him back into reality.

“Sorry, I was just looking at the…” His eyes unfocused and Wataru lost himself once more in his dream world.

Miles followed his gaze to the computer screen where his friend’s eyes traced every aspect of the president’s angular face, lingering on the man’s eyes. He smirked, stroking his chin, “So, this is the cute Japanese girlfriend we were talking about earlier…hmm, interesting…”

“Look Fuyori, you have less than two hours to get you ready and then present these photos to,” roughly pressing his fingers against the computer screen Miles tapped the image of Nakahashi “That guy right there,” Pulling down on his partner’s ear gently, he watched Wataru’s gaze shift and refocus on him, his face turning a bright crimson red, beaming Miles ruffled his hair through his beanie “So, would you mind getting it together?”

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~So this is where the blog preview ends guy owo sorry! Im doing this because my book has finally reached completion and is now availble online to purchase! I thank you for all the support i've gotten from you up to now, and i hope you'll continue to support me by considering to buy my book and continue reading my future stories! I love you guys very much, and thanks again!
Raindrop <3 

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