It was never easy living the life of a public figure. Not even when you’re a mere backup dancer to your seniors. Living the life of a junior was hard despite lesser restrictions than those who already had a record label. Whatever you do, wherever you are, someone is always watching your every move. It’s even harder in the digital age. Everyone had access to camera phones that can take clear pictures even from afar.
No one can ever really escape rumors. Whoever blows up next will be the talk of the town but it does die down sooner or later. If you’re even more unlucky, a rumor might break out during rehearsal schedules and you’ll really feel the weight of the eyes around you.
Unfortunately, one unlucky junior had his card drawn from under his feet. While everyone else was busy taking a breather in between rehearsals, their phones all received a notification at the same time. The weekly tabloid decided to play their hand early this week and released an article about a junior getting caught eating at a restaurant with a close girl acquiantance.
Everyone’s attention was on their phones. The photos were blurred out on the faces but with them having spent a lot of time trapped together in one building, it was easy for them to identify who it was. It doesn’t help the said junior’s case when he ran out of the room in panic.
Kyomoto Taiga, on the other hand, could not care less. He did not even click on the notification and kept on scrolling through a hobby store’s website to check what they had newly stock.
“Of course you wouldn’t even bat an eye on tabloid features. It wouldn’t be a problem for you in the future, right? Not with you going straight to hobby shops or your place after rehearsals.” Tanaka Juri said as he sat on the empty space beside Taiga. He opened a bottle of water and handed it to Taiga before opening one to himself.
“I just think, he should have been more careful.” Taiga turned off his phone screen, not making eye contact with Juri as they continued to chat.
“Well, he is just a boy, you know? Whether we admit it or not, using just our hands could get lonely sometimes.”
"He should be more like you, right? You've never had a tabloid article about you when you're the one who always has a girl."
Juri laughed. "It helps when the relationship is purely sex. I wouldn't call her my girl. That implies a commitment. I'd have to get her gifts and do stuff like take her out to dinner. Which would make me susceptible to rumors."
"Point taken." Taiga nodded his head. He was aware that Juri was just fuck buddies with an actress they went to school with.
It has been going on for years because no matter how horny Juri was, he was also not one to spark controversies. Taiga's surprised the girl has not betrayed Juri even with the lack of commitment between them but at their age who would want to say no to a good fuck that wouldn't be caught by the paparazzi?
"Anyway," Juri said. "If you ever get lonely, make sure to come to me, alright? I know your father has influence but it never hurts to be careful. I know you haven't been getting some action since we graduated high school and you broke up with your girl. The one you actually dated and not just fucked."
Again, Juri was right about another point. Taiga has not been getting any action aside from his own hands. He has already tried alternating between his left and his right but lately it does not really give him the pleasure that he seeked.
But since Juri offered him some help. Taiga decided to see how far his good friend would really help him.
"Juri, want to stay over later? It's been a while."
Juri nodded. "Our schedule in the morning is open anyway since Jesse and Hokuto both need to shoot something."
"I'll tell my mom you're coming over. I know you miss her food."
"Alright,"
Dinner was filled with laughs and anecdotes. Taiga's parents had always been fond of Juri. With the two of them going to the same school and ending up in the same junior unit, Taiga's parents were used to having Juri over. Taiga's mother already had the guestroom cleaned and readied for Juri but Taiga insisted that they both stay at his room for tonight.
* * *
"Juri, what you said earlier," Taiga turned to his side to face Juri. His bed was big enough to fit them both and still have a few centimeters in between them. "About helping me out."
"Oh," Juri put down his phone, giving his full attention to Taiga. "That's why you asked me over. You want me to hook you up with someone?"
"Actually, no. I want to be more careful than that. Before anything else, you can say no, alright? I won't take it against you."
"Taiga, you don't mean..?" Juri raised his eyebrow.
"Just so you know, I wouldn't be asking this from anyone else."
Juri chuckled. "Of course. You even asking now kind of caught me off guard. But just so I'm not misunderstanding things, you are suggesting we fool around, right?"
Taiga abruptly sat up. He rested his elbows on his raised up knees and buried his face in his hands. "God! What am I even doing?!"
"Not enough, I guess." Juri sat up. His hands reach between Taiga's thighs and palms him over his sweatpants. "Are you even sure you want this?" He traced over Taiga's balls, teasing around to wake Taiga's flaccid cock up. "I've always known you're bi. Maybe, I'll be your bi-awakening."
"Fuck." Taiga said under his breath as Juri put his hand inside his pants.
Juri pulled Taiga down on the bed with his free hand, gently cushioning the fall with his arm around Taiga's shoulder blades. Juri wrapped his fingers around Taiga's growing erection, feeling his cock harden from his every touch. Juri started off with gentle tugs, slowly adding in pressure from time to time, and kept an eye on Taiga's reaction.
"Taiga, this is new to me too. I've never jerked anyone else off aside from myself. So tell me if it's good for you or not so we can both adjust to your preference." Juri pulled down Taiga's pants.
Taiga helped Juri out by kicking off his pants the rest of the way. He reached for Juri's pants as well, seeing for himself that Juri's body was reacting to their situation too.
Juri pulled Taiga closer. Taiga's shoulder was pressed on his chest. "Let me focus on you first."
Taiga gasped as Juri picked up his pace. The moans that escaped his lips were more than enough to encourage Juri to continue what he was doing and to assure him that Taiga was enjoying this. It was a good thing his room was at the other end of the hall away from his parents’ master bedroom. He wasn't quite sure if the walls were thick enough to muffle down his moans.
Taiga's breath was coming in heavier and heavier. He gripped on Juri's shirt as he felt himself getting closer and closer to bursting. "Juri… hhahh… fuck… I'm…"
Juri understood what Taiga was trying to say. He held him closer and kept with his current pace until Taiga reached his high. Juri milked out every last cum he could get out of Taiga despite how coated and sticky his hand was already.
Juri dropped down on the bed. His arms only know feeling the aftermath of jerking Taiga off.
As soon as Taiga had caught his breath. It was his turn to wrap his hand around Juri's cock which has been hard for a while now and crying for attention. It took him a few experimental tugs before they both found the pace and pressure Juri wanted from Taiga.
This time, it was Taiga's arm that grew tired and his hand covered in cum.
Having already jerked each other off, the two were not averse to cleaning off at the shower together.
"Thanks, Juri," Taiga said under the dimness of the room once they were back in bed. "You did a pretty good job for a first-timer." He joked to assure Juri that there was no awkward feeling from his side.
"I could say the same thing." Juri laughed. "If you ever get bored of your own hand again, you know who to call."
Taiga felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulder as he felt that there was no awkwardness on Juri's end as well.
"No one else but you, of course."
This setup was good. At least that's what Taiga told himself every time he decided to spend the night with Juri. They would be rumor-free as their duo is heavily publicized in magazines too, tabloids won't even bat an eyelash for how close they are even in their private time.
Juri has been pretty chill with the setup too. In the month that this has been going on, he had even asked Taiga to come over to his apartment to fool around too.
No one around them knew what was going on. No one ever asked. It was not unusual to see the two of them together anyway. Skinship between the two was a normal day-to-day occurrence.
The setup was foolproof. At least that's what Taiga wants to believe.
* * *
"Kyomo," Juri said as he stepped out of the shower.
Tonight they were at Juri's place. It was a small two-bedroom unit that was always nicely kept in shape by Juri. Having more privacy at Juri's, the two could hang around the living without having to be on guard whether or not someone might join them.
"Hm?" Taiga scooted over to make room for Juri on the sofa. He lowered the volume of the television so they could hear each other better.
Taiga did not normally bring his own necessities even when they talked about him staying over days prior. They always ended up smelling the same icy menthol smell of Juri's soap and shampoo. The familiarity of the smell brought comfort to Taiga. He always felt welcomed in Juri's apartment.
Juri reached for Taiga's nape, drawing circles of random sizes around the area. "You had to stay behind a little longer than anyone else. Do you want to turn in early for bed today?"
Taiga's body gravitated towards Juri. He was leaning his frame on Juri instead of the sofa. Juri moved his hand from his nape to his shoulder to keep Taiga close.
"They wanted me to do more solo acts," Taiga said as he got comfortable in his position. "I don't know if that is what I want."
"If you want to talk about it, you know I'm here." There was a certain comfort that Taiga felt in the way Juri speaks. It was a tone he rarely heard Juri speak in other than to him. "If you would rather not talk about work, I game for that too."
Juri had only ever been nothing but understanding towards Taiga. He has been for years now. Taiga had only ever been at peace when he was around Juri. No matter how moody and spoiled he got, Juri stayed beside him.
Recently - since this whole set-up started happening - Taiga was getting more comfortable being with Juri. As though Juri was his safe haven. Especially now, with the added pressure of getting pushed to perform more solo acts.
"Taiga," Juri shifted their position, letting Taiga rest on the sofa instead of on him. "Food, pleasure, or sleep? Which one do you need more?"
"Why must choices be so difficult?" Taiga chuckled. "But you look like you have a trick up your sleeve with the way you said the word pleasure. I'll choose that."
"Sit back and relax then." Juri knelt in between Taiga's knees. Without breaking eye contact, he pulled down Taiga's sweatpants along with his boxers. "Bear with me," he said with a smirk as he awakened Taiga's flaccid cock with a soft massage. "This will be a first for me." He said before working on Taiga's cock with his fingers and his tongue.
Taiga drew in a sharp breath at the first contact of Juri's tongue on his cock. He clawed on the sofa when his now hard cock was swallowed whole in Juri's warm mouth. Juri's teeth grazed him a little but the feeling of his tongue followed right after. He could feel himself growing harder inside Juri’s mouth.
Too much. The feeling was too much. The mixture of the warmth and softness of Juri's mouth was giving Taiga too much pleasure to even restrain himself. He moved his hips in time with Juri's movement. He thrusts his cock further inside Juri's mouth, feeling himself hit the back of Juri's throat.
Taiga grabbed a fistful of Juri's hair and reached under Juri's shoulder with his other hand. He pulled Juri up and crashed their lips together. Elated and filled with a rush, Taiga pushed Juri down on the sofa, getting on top of him and locking their lips together again. Their kiss was messy and sloppy. Tongues pushing on each other and teeth hitting each other.
Juri laughed in their current state and it brought Taiga back to his senses.
Taiga immediately pulled back. "Oh, god!" He buried his face in his hands.
Juri chuckled at the sight. "Cute."
"Fuck." Taiga hurriedly pulled up his pants and ran to the bedroom. He covered himself with the blanket from head to toe. Since he forgot to close the door, he could hear Juri cleaning up the living room before heading to the bedroom. He listened closely, pretending to be asleep.
The lights had been turned off. The temperature of the air conditioning unit was adjusted. The bed shifted with the added weight of Juri but Taiga kept still in his position.
Juri pulled down the blanket up to Taiga's shoulder. "You might have trouble breathing." He said without expecting an answer. He kissed the back of Taiga's head. "Dream of wonderful things, Taiga."
It might just be him misinterpreting things but Taiga really felt that Juri was extra affectionate tonight.
Taiga found himself observing Juri over the next days. How was it that the boy who has been branded and played along with the image of being a playboy acted that affectionately? Or maybe it was just that Juri was used to being like that because there really was a chance that he had playboy tendencies? He had seen him play flirt with the others before but Juri usually ended up laughing a fit right after.
But when it's just them, Juri's choices of words and tone when speaking were different. Or was he just overthinking and overanalyzing everything?
Taiga was walking behind Shintaro that was talking with Juri. They were all headed to the shower rooms. Taiga could care less about what they were talking about until he heard Shintaro ask Juri about his plans after rehearsals.
"If that's the case, why don't you come over to my place then?" Shintaro offered to Juri. Whatever lead to that question was something Taiga had no knowledge of as he tuned out.
"Sure!" Juri excitedly accepted the offer.
Taiga knew how close Juri and Shintaro were. Maybe even closer than Juri and him were. Just thinking about the two spending the night under one roof together irked Taiga. He knew he had no right to monopolize Juri's nights, it's not like they had plans tonight either. Still, he doesn't want him alone with Shintaro in his apartment.
* * *
Taiga had his bag of toiletries at hand but stood still at the end of the shower room and observed who entered which shower room. Memorizing which one Juri entered. Once the coast was clear, he headed for the cubicle that Juri was in and entered inside.
"Tai-"
Taiga's hand clasped on Juri's mouth before he could even finish. He put his finger over his lips to tell Juri to be quiet.
It was not an unusual sight for anyone in the shower room present that two boys shared a cubicle while taking a shower. In any case, if someone does take notice that there were two people inside, no one really cared as they got used to having some members share showers due to the inconsistent ratio of shower rooms during some rehearsal days.
Taiga reached for Juri's body wash and lathered it all over his body. Juri followed suit and did the same to Taiga. The icy menthol smell of Juri mixed in with Taiga's peach essence.
Taiga moved his hand a little further south, teasing around Juri's cock before wrapping his fingers around it. Juri had to bite down on his lip to prevent himself from making any sudden sensual noise.
Having two boys in one cubicle was one thing, it was a whole different thing when sensual sounds start coming from their direction.
Taiga backed Juri up on the wall, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Tell Shin that something came up and you can't come over tonight." He stopped the motion of his hands but gripped Juri with pressure, pressing his thumb down the head of Juri's cock.
Juri nodded in response. He tried taking even breaths when Taiga let go of him. "That's not fair. You have to finish what you started."
"Keep your end of the bargain first." Taiga winked before going under the shower to wash off properly this time.
Bags got thrown on the floor as soon as they stepped inside Juri's apartment. One item of clothing was shed off after another as the two blindly headed for Juri's bedroom while engaged in rough hurried kisses.
Fully naked by the time they reached the bed. Taiga pushed off Juri for a bit, of all the days his moral compass would activate it had to be tonight. Taiga does not know how fuck buddies actually worked, if it was considered cheating having more than one partner when you were in such a setup.
"Juri, are you still seeing her?"
Juri laughs, already knowing who Taiga meant with 'her' without having to ask for specifics. "I can't believe that's what you are concerned about while hard and fully naked on my bed." He swept back the strands of hair that stuck on Taiga's forehead. "To ease your mind, no, I have not seen her in months now and after that first night that I jerked you off, I officially broke things off with her. It's not like it was a relationship but I felt that it would ease your mind if I decently cut off the set-up with her before starting things off with you."
"Stop looking at me like that." Taiga hid half of his face with his hand palm up to Juri.
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Like how one would look at the stars and the moon after days of them being covered by clouds."
Juri pressed his lips on Taiga's palm. "I can't stop that. Don't worry, I'm not expecting anything in return." He caressed Taiga's side. "How do you want to do this?"
"I don't know." Taiga breathed out. "I tried reading about it, even watching stuff. But…could you do it first…like taking turns."
"It's not like I'm very well-versed with what should be done too. This is foreign territory to me as well." Juri stretched out to reach his drawer, pulling out a bottle of lube and condom packets. He settled the condoms on top of the nightstand. He coated his fingers with lube and rubbed them together to warm it up. "I need you to tell me if there's any discomfort, okay?"
Juri felt around Taiga's entrance first, circling his finger around before pushing it in. Taiga whimpered at the intrusion.
"Relax, Taiga." Juri kissed his jaw. "I'm pushing in another, okay?" Receiving a nod in response, Juri pushed in another finger.
Taiga's breath was coming in shorter at every movement of Juri's finger. His breathing always got interrupted by a moan trying to escape him whenever Juri decides to curl his fingers. He felt more relaxed now than earlier, he could tell Juri feels it too with the way he changes his fingers' motion.
"Can…can I put your condom on you?" Taiga said.
"Sure." Juri curled his fingers one more time before pulling them out.
Taiga's hands were steady as he placed the condom on Juri's cock. He laid back down on the bed, spreading his legs invitingly. Juri positioned himself, supporting his weight with his arms as he pushed the head of his cock inside Taiga.
"Ah!" Tears welled in Taiga's eyes as he got stretched out further by Juri's cock. It was undeniably painful the more Juri pushed in, his cock was a lot thicker than his fingers after all. But at the same time, Taiga felt a certain pleasure in having Juri's cock throbbing inside him.
Once Juri was fully sheathed inside Taiga, he began pulling back slowly and pushing in at a gruesomely slow pace. Juri was waiting for Taiga to ease up and relax first before moving faster.
"Shit, you're warm," Juri said under his breath. "Are you good?"
"It feels better when you're moving," Taiga let out an airy chuckle. "I never knew being on the receiving end of a fuck could both hurt this much but feel so good at the same time." He held Juri's waist, encouraging him to move at a faster pace.
The bed creaked louder every time Juri increased the speed of his thrusts. Taiga cried out Juri's name at every push and pull that Juri does. His head was filled with nothing else but Juri at the moment. Every brush of Juri's cock pleasured him in ways he had never felt before. The warmth of Juri's breath was tickling his skin. Taiga wanted nothing more but to feel more of Juri's warmth, so he pulled him down closer to him. Their chest deflated and rose together as their breaths synced.
"Shit. I don't think I can hold out for much longer." Juri lifted up Taiga's leg, looking for a deeper angle.
"Finish inside me, Juri." Taiga said.
It only took Juri a couple more thrusts before he came. Their warmth mixed together inside Taiga. Feeling the sensitivity from his orgasm, Juri slowly pulled out and collapsed on the bed.
"Juri, I want to make you feel just as good." Taiga rolled to his side. "You'll have to give me a pass if I mess up though. It's been a while since I moved my hips to fuck."
Taiga mimicked what Juri had done to him earlier. From warming up the lube to pushing his fingers in one after another. Juri in turn put Taiga's condom on for him, playfully kissing around Taiga's neck while doing so.
"Your giggles are always nice. It makes me feel that you're having a good time with me." Juri said as he helped Taiga line himself up to his entrance.
Still riding on the high of getting fucked, Taiga was not able to hold back the snap of his hips as he thrusts inside Juri. Despite feeling a bit of pain, Juri assured Taiga that he could go on. Taiga did not last that long, still a little too sensitive himself, and having not been able to do this for a while had him reaching his peak in no time when he roughly thrust into Juri.
They used what remained of their strength to clean themselves up and change the sheets of the bed. Both of them were averse to the thought of sleeping on a sticky bed with dried up cum from both of them.
Taiga snuggled close to Juri, still craving his warmth despite all that had happened tonight.
They have slept in the same bed and the same room together countless of times but tonight felt different. Tonight they felt more connected.
Juri woke up to a full-course meal ready on his dining table. He was not exactly one for heavy breakfast but he also did not want Taiga's effort to cook go in vain. They do have a couple of hours to kill before their work schedule.
"Juri," Taiga was the one to break the silence while eating. "When you said you can't stop looking at me like that, what did you mean?"
"Why did you stop me from coming over to Shin's?" Juri raised his eyebrows. He was amused at how blush crept up easily on Taiga's pale skin.
"I asked the question first!" Taiga pouted.
"Has anyone ever told you how adorable you are?" Juri said. "Don't play innocent. You know why I said that."
"I…I don't want to assume things. I mean, maybe it's just because we've been fooling around."
"Taiga, we just had sex last night. I wouldn't have done that if I wasn't the least bit attracted to you."
Taiga was caught off guard by Juri's statement. He had a hunch that Juri might be feeling an attraction towards him but he never thought Juri would be so forward about it.
"I like you a whole lot, Juri. But I have a lot of things on my plate right now -"
"I know," Juri cut him off. "I know because I keep a close watch on you. Waiting after rehearsals for you. Listening to you even in my supposed private time. We don't have to rush things, let's just go with the flow."
"I have run out of words to say." Taiga chuckled.
"Just relax, Kyomo. We'll see how things work out."