“You’re gonna love it,” Jesse enthused, for about the twentieth time as they entered the elevator. “It’s the fanciest club I’ve ever seen.”
“Listen to him,” Juri snorted, nudging Shintaro’s arm with his elbow. “It must be quite something.”
Shintaro grinned at them, concentrating hard on not pushing his hands into the pockets of his pants as the elevator crawled up. Juri and Jesse didn’t need to know that he was actually quite nervous.
It was hard to explain. There should have been nothing to be nervous about. He was just going to meet some friends of his friends. He liked meeting people. He liked to have a few good drinks. He liked dancing at a club. And if it happened to be a gay club, well. It was still just a club.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened, and they walked out into the short corridor where a staff member took their coats and a bouncer checked their IDs before letting them in through a pair of glass doors.
Night club Leather and Lace was indeed every bit as fancy as Jesse had made it sound. There were two separate rooms: the bar, and the one with the dance floor. The electronic dance music thumping in the next room was loud, but not uncomfortably so - near the bar it was possible to talk and hear without shouting. While colorful lights flashed from the dance floor, the bar space was lit with a huge, dazzling chandelier made out of thousands of small, transparent glass beads hanging from thing strings and glimmering with warm led lights. The three-dimensional shape of the installation made Shintaro think of a shooting star. Two of the walls were fully covered with artistically cut gold-and-brown tinted mirror tiles while the other two were painted matte black. Around the room there were wonderfully inviting sectional sofas and round leather stools for people to sit on, and in the middle there was a crowded, rectangular bar surrounded with bar stools.
Shintaro let his eyes run across the people sitting around the room. They all seemed so…stylish and sparkly. He would never mention it to Juri or Jesse, but now that they were in, he felt a bit like an impostor; like anyone at the club could throw only one look at him and immediately know he wasn’t one of them.
He had never been one to worry about fitting in anywhere. Guess he had never really needed to, having always easily met the norms and expectations set for him. It was probably only healthy for a guy like him to feel like an outsider for once, but knowing that didn’t make him feel any less nervous. He was glad he had followed Juri and Jesse’s instructions about the club’s voluntary-yet-strongly-recommended dress code: leather or lace of any kind. A person without either would indeed have stood out. Also, he really wanted Juri and Jesse's friends to like him.
That’s why he had actually gone shopping in hopes to find something wearable. He had bought a loosely fitting, short-sleeved button-up shirt made out of black lace fabric. With it, he had chosen a simple black tank top from his own wardrobe and borrowed tight, white trousers from his brother’s. He had even found a nice silver necklace with black details that he thought went well together with earrings and the lace shirt. As far as he was concerned, he was quite pleased with his outfit.
His friends looked rather cool as well. Juri’s long-sleeved black shirt was made of sheer mesh lace. The slim fit of the shirt made a nice contrast with his extremely loose-legged black pants, and his pair of golden earrings glimmered beautifully in the light of the chandelier.
Jesse, of course, had chosen to be as audacious as ever with a sleeveless and high-collared, extremely tight leather top that left his well-toned arms and shoulders bare for anyone to look. The tight pants made his long legs look even longer, and the black gloves that reached past his elbows added an interesting detail. He had also put on a liberal amount of eyeliner, artistically smudged around his eyes to make a smoky look. It was admittedly a great look on him.
Following Juri and Jesse’s lead, Shintaro moved to the bar. He had barely managed to open his mouth for his order when Jesse interrupted him.
“You can have beer later in the evening,” he announced, like he already knew what Shintaro was about to go for. He wasn’t wrong, either. “The first drink should be something fancy! Let me choose the best things for the both of you.”
Amused, Shintaro nodded to the bartender and stepped aside. Jesse carefully studied at the menu before ordering. His words were drowned in the noise of the music and people chatting when he turned to talk to the bartender, so Shintaro didn’t catch the name of the drink. Whatever it was called, it was an actual piece of art when it was given into his hands. The cocktail was layered with colors of a rainbow, starting with the red at the bottom and seamlessly blending into orange, yellow, green, blue and purple before reaching the brim of the glass.
“Happy pride week!” Jesse announced to Shintaro and Juri, raising his glass for a toast.
Shintaro grinned. “Happy bride week!” he and Juri wished at the same time. The rainbow cocktail tasted good too, he noticed when taking a sip.
“Now, we gotta find the others,” Jesse said, looking around, but Juri nodded towards the back right corner of the room.
“There. Taiga just sent me a message. They saw us, see?”
As Shintaro looked across the room, he saw three smiling faces looking and waving at them from one of the sofas. He took a deep breath and smiled back. Alright, time to make his friends proud by charming their friends off their feet.
Rushing across the room as fast as possible without spilling his drink, Jesse strode over and grabbed each of his friends into huge hugs once he reached them. Juri, having followed more calmly with Shintaro went for a row of fist bumps. Standing aside, Shintaro smiled at the delighted meet-up and waited to be introduced. Not that he couldn’t do it by himself, but how could he ever rob Jesse of the joy?
“It’s been a while, huh?”
“Can’t believe we all finally made it here!”
“Have you hit the dance floor yet?”
“Nope, came here just before you.”
As expected, Jesse soon straightened his posture and cleared his throat like he was about to give a speech in a graduation ceremony. “Listen, everyone! Tonight, Juri and I have brought you a special guest,” he said with an excessive hand movement towards Shintaro. “Our very good comrade of a very long time, Morimoto Shintaro! Applauses, please!”
The other four clapped politely, as if everyone hadn’t already known Shintaro was going to tag along. He knew Juri had messaged these three beforehand, making sure it was alright.
“This is Taiga,” Jesse said, pointing at the first man from the left. “He sings in a band and just released a new album last month!”
The man, Taiga, had quite a long hair and delicate features. He was wearing black pants and a patterned, space-themed button-up shirt that he had tied in a knot at the waist so that his lace mesh crop top was visible underneath. At Jesse’s introduction he pursed his lips in an amused smile and raised two fingers for a greeting.
The next man had a short hair and mirthful eyes. His dark wine-red colored dress shirt and very slim-fit black leather waistcoat looked exquisite on him. “Here’s Kochi,” Jesse continued, “he goes hiking like every weekend.”
“I wish I did,” Kochi sighed. “With my current workload I’m lucky if I get to the mountains once a month. Nice to meet you, Shintaro!”
“And this is Hokuto; a high school history teacher by day, an aspiring novelist by night.”
The last man rolled his eyes and shook his head, but it looked like he was trying to stifle a smile, so Jesse was probably telling the truth. He was also wearing all black; loose-fitting pants and a cropped knitted shirt with sleeves that ended just at the elbow, showing off his arms and highlighting the thin lace gloves he had on his hands.
“Hi, Shintaro,” Hokuto said, smiling at him , and Shintaro felt rather dazzled by how friendly and good-looking his friends’ friends were. He didn’t have any qualms about admitting it to himself. Pretty was pretty, alright.
Hokuto was very pretty.
“How come we’ve never met you before?” Kochi asked as soon as Shintaro, Jesse, and Juri sat down.
“Because he is s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t,” Juri spelled in a loud whisper, glancing around like he was telling a great secret. Everyone laughed at him, and Shintaro tilted his head like he was admitting to a slightly embarrassing truth. He didn’t mind being the butt of the joke.
“Hope you’re prepared for guys approaching you though,” Taiga said, giving Shintaro a long, appreciative run-over from head to toes. “There’s absolutely no way you’ll avoid getting hit on when you march in here looking like that.”
Cheeks burning with a strange combination of satisfaction and embarrassment, Shintaro nodded. So he hadn’t made a fool of himself with his clothes at least.
“Yeah. I’m totally fine with that,” he managed and took a haphazard sip from the straw in his drink. Across the glass he accidentally met Hokuto’s eyes. Hokuto raised a brow, and though he didn’t say anything, his gaze felt so deliberately observant, Shintaro had to quickly look away, his spine tingling with awkward bafflement.
Jesse slapped a hand on his shoulder, grinning like a proud older brother. “There’s our Shintaro. Told you he’s a fine guy.”
Everyone laughed and threw out agreeing comments again, and Shintaro felt all warm and relieved. It felt good to be accepted so easily.
The others launched into a lively conversation. It had apparently been a couple months since they had all met together, and everyone wanted to know how everyone else was doing. They also asked him about his hobbies, and he got to tell them about going surfing and snorkeling. Kochi sounded especially interested in both, and Shintaro gladly invited him to join along whenever he had the time.
“I’d love to go diving,” Taiga mused, rolling his glass of wine in his hand. “But I’d probably die,” he added with a wry smile. “I’m a terrible swimmer.”
“Don’t worry. You’re great at other things,” Jesse said. The tone of his voice made Shintaro glance at him, but he immediately averted his eyes again. Whatever the two of them were communicating via gazes only, it kind of made him feel like he was seeing something private he wasn’t supposed to see.
“Don’t mind them,” Juri whispered into his ear from his other side. “Come on, ask Hokuto about his new book. He just finished writing and is trying to find publishers. He’s dying to talk about it but he’s afraid he’s bored us all to the limit already.” That said, he stood up and poked at Shintaro’s arm and feet until Shintaro moved from the leather stool he had been sitting on to the sofa, next to Hokuto.
Hokuto smiled with polite surprise when Shintaro settled by his side. Shintaro took a sip of his drink and nodded towards Juri’s direction.
“So, Juri tells me you’re hoping to find a publisher,” he started, and the way it made Hokuto’s smile light up made his belly twist with the pleasure of hitting a nail on the head.
It was a good thing too that he liked to listen to people talking about things they were passionate about, because Hokuto turned out to be very passionate about his book, rambling on and on for minutes until he suddenly halted and looked down at his drink.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “That’s way more information than you asked for.” His cheeks turned a charming shade of pink, and Shintaro rushed to reassure him.
“No, no!” he said, nudging Hokuto’s shoulder with his own. “It really was interesting.”
Hokuto’s smile brightened again, and Shintaro felt the warmth of his smile deep inside his guts. It was nice to make someone smile like that.
Eventually, he even got the beer he had been hoping for The bar had an excellent assortment of craft beers from which he took his sweet time choosing. And while Hokuto didn’t seem to have much to say about the topic of beer, he was a delightfully attentive listener when Shintaro and Jesse enthused about the different brands and types, leaning closer whenever it was harder to hear over the noise. Thrilled by the realization that Hokuto seemed to be genuinely interested in things he said as well, Shintaro couldn’t help his smile widening whenever Hokuto’s arm pressed against his own.
Juri had switched places with Jesse too, now sitting heads together with Taiga and Kochi, and even though Shintaro couldn’t quite hear what they were talking about, it was nice to look at him with interact with his friends. As Taiga talked, Juri rested his arm on Taiga’s shoulder in the same relaxed way Shintaro was so used to him doing with him as well. And when Kochi said something funny, Juri’s face spread into a wide, gleeful grin, also familiar to Shintaro. Seeing both Juri and Jesse behave exactly the same way with these other friends as they did with him, made it easier for him to blend in with them all without feeling so different.
“Hey, let’s take a photo!” Jesse suddenly suggested, leaping from his stool to the sofa. The others instinctively flocked together, throwing arms around each others’ shoulders. Jesse flipped up his phone and leaned back against Shintaro, squeezing him tight between himself and Hokuto.
“Closer, Juri’s head is falling off the screen,” Jesse demanded, and Shintaro felt all four people shift closer behind him. Hokuto’s chest was warm and solid against his back. “Alright, if you see the camera, the camera will see you!”
Hokuto placed his chin on Shintaro’s shoulder, and Shintaro’s eyes flickered to look at his face on Jesse’s screen. Hokuto’s smile was warm and relaxed. He really was ridiculously pretty. Jesse’s phone made a clicking noise, and Shintaro almost flinched. Having completely forgotten to check his own face, he could only hope he didn’t look too weird in the photo, ogling at Hokuto’s face like some creeper.
A loud cheer from the other room interrupted Shintaro’s thoughts, and the others also turned to look over their shoulders. The DJ had put on one of the latest dance hits, and many people seemed to eagerly rush towards the dance floor.
“I love this song!” Jesse enthused, encouraging the others to join him. Shintaro was about to stand up when Hokuto leaned closer again. He wasn’t smiling, but it wasn’t a frown either. In fact, it was impossible to read his expression.
“Will you dance with me?” Hokuto asked in a low voice. Shintaro inhaled sharply. Yes, he did want to dance. And dancing with Hokuto sounded like an especially attractive idea. He nodded.
The dance floor was absolutely packed with people when the six of them weaved their way in the middle of it. Grinning, Juri and Kochi immediately grabbed each others’ hands and started to dance, clearly enjoying themselves immensely. Jesse and Taiga did the same, and it was quite easy to follow their example and take Hokuto’s offered hands.
Shintaro, having only danced with women before, was used to take the lead while dancing with a partner, but Hokuto seemed to want to lead as well, and it took them a while to figure things out. Their first steps were far from synchronized and they pulled each other to different directions, until Hokuto yanked their bodies together, one hand on Shintaro’s waist, other on his hand, and shook his head exasperatedly.
“Come on, let me,” he shouted into Shintaro’s ear over the music. Shintaro flashed him an apologetic grin and tried to relax into Hokuto’s hold. Hokuto smiled at him, and Shintaro could read the clearly articulated ‘thank you’ from his lips before they tried again.
Hokuto’s moves were natural and expressive, his touches firm and purposeful. Shintaro stepped back and forth, left and right as guided. It was a strange yet exhilarating feeling, to be maneuvered around like that, but he soon found he enjoyed it just as much as leading himself.
The next song was darker in tone, its beat more intense. It was a familiar one, he had danced to it many times before. Following the rhythm, Shintaro moved his hands to Hokuto’s hips and boldly rolled their bodies together like he usually would. Hokuto seemed to chuckle at him but allowed him to take the lead in turn, easily following Shintaro’s directions.
The crowd was so packed around them, other people’s backs were pressing against theirs on every side. Jesse, Juri, and the others had drowned somewhere into the sea of people, nowhere to be seen. Hokuto tightened his hold where his hands rested on Shintaro’s sides and looked directly at him, making Shintaro’s breath catch. Hokuto’s eyes were completely black in the darkness of the room, only flashing with vivid color whenever the rotating pink, blue, and green lights directly hit his face.
Suddenly, Shintaro was feeling heated from more than just dancing, his chest glowing warm and his heart pounding in his throat. It was confusing as hell. Yet, he didn’t want to let go.
The beat of the song dropped. Hokuto twirled around, pressing his back against Shintaro’s chest and lifting his hands up in the air to swing with the rhythm. Doing that he, accidentally or on purpose, rolled his ass against Shintaro’s front, and Shintaro gasped in shock and arousal, his fingertips digging into Hokuto’s hips. The music roared in his ears, the blindingly flashing lights blurring everything but Hokuto out of his vision.
He loved dancing. He loved to flirt with his partner over alluring dance moves, meeting her eyes and keeping the steady eye contact until she blushed and looked away. But Hokuto wasn’t like that. He didn’t look away. Spinning around with graceful steps, he met Shintaro’s gaze steadily, like he knew what Shintaro was thinking about. How could he possibly know? They had known each other for about an hour and a half.
The last beats of the song hit the whole crowd hard, letting everyone breathe for the whole of three seconds of silence before the spell was broken by loud cheering and the DJ fading in the next track.
Finally, they had some room to take a step back. Shintaro couldn’t help staring at Hokuto. His chest was heaving and he looked back for a moment more before glancing towards the door. Then he took Shintaro’s hand and pulled, and Shintaro followed him back to the bar without a question.
“Let’s go out for a moment,” Hokuto said as soon as he could do so without shouting and led Hokuto out to the hallway past the bouncer. Shintaro raised a brow, seeing where Hokuto was leading him.
“I don’t smoke,” he said, not very eager to stand in the small room full of bitter smoke even for Hokuto’s sake.
Hokuto grinned at Shintaro’s assumption. “Me neither. But there’s a stairway to the rooftop terrace behind the smoking room. Some fresh air would be nice.”
So Shintaro followed after Hokuto, his cheeks burning and his mind reeling as he stared at the back of the other man climbing the stairs and tried not to stumble into his feet. What was he doing? He had just come here in order to meet friends and their friends. He hadn’t meant to pick one and grind into them like some shameless teenager. But hadn’t Hokuto initiated it? And of the two of them, wasn’t Hokuto supposed to be the only one who enjoyed and welcomed attention from another men?
The cooling night air felt so good on his face, he sighed as he stepped out from the door to the rooftop terrace. There were simple strings of lights that circled around the terrace railings, and a few benches and tables sprinkled around the space. However, only few people had opted to come up here, probably because of the lazy drizzle from the thick clouds on the sky. The drizzle wasn’t heavy enough to immediately drench anyone, but just enough to make the rooftop terrace slightly unappealing at the moment.
They found a corner behind huge exhaustion vents and leaned against the railing. Despite the rain, the city below was alive and sparkling with the energy of a Saturday night. People on the streets were walking with opened umbrellas, and a deep beat of music carried from somewhere nearby, perhaps through the open doors of a bar at the street level.
“You’re a good dancer,” Hokuto said as they stared down.
“Oh. Thanks.” Not the smoothest answer, but he honestly didn’t know what else to say. He felt Hokuto’s warmth radiate through their shirts where their arms were touching each other. How were they standing so close even now?
“Say,” Hokuto said, and when Shintaro glanced at him, he was looking back thoughtfully. “Have you ever kissed another man?”
Shintaro swallowed, overwhelmed by Hokuto’s gaze but unable to look away. He even felt his body move on its own, turning towards him.
He hadn’t. He hadn’t even considered doing so, ever. Well, he had thought about if of course, who hadn’t? But he had never planned or expected to kiss a man in his life.
His eyes dropped to Hokuto’s lips, shiny, lush, and slightly parted. They looked so soft.
He shook his head slowly.
Carefully studying Shintaro’s reactions, Hokuto raised a hand, slowly sliding his fingers up the open button plate of Shintaro’s lace shirt, up to the collar.
“Would you like to?” he asked even more quietly, his breath warm against Shintaro’s cheek, his fingertips lightly stroking the skin of Shintaro’s neck just below his ear.
Shintaro inhaled sharply, swaying forward. His nose gently brushed against Hokuto’s, making his heart hammer in his chest. How were they so close?
“Yeah,” he breathed.
Hokuto slipped a hand behind his neck and leaned in to press his lips on Shintaro’s, kissing him slow and deep, running his tongue along Shintaro’s lower lip and slipping in when Shintaro opened his mouth. And the thing was, it felt right. Like all the kisses he had shared with women had only been practice for the real thing. Hell, he had never quite understood why people made such a big deal of kissing, when he merely found it vaguely pleasant.
He understood now.
His head spinning, Shintaro’s whole body suddenly felt burning hot with the need to have more, feel more, do more. His hands instinctively rose to Hokuto’s waist, pulling their bodies together chest to toes. Hokuto’s lips curved up against his in a sharp, smiley inhale as he leaned into Shintaro’s hold even more and reached up to bury his both hands into Shintaro’s hair. The raised arms made the short hem of his shirt ride up, and suddenly Shintaro only had Hokuto’s bare, hot skin under his palms.
“Fuck,” Shintaro groaned against Hokuto’s mouth, firmly sliding his hands up and down the arch of his back, letting his fingers slip under Hokuto’s shirt to feel the smooth skin over the firm muscle. Hokuto let out a high, shuddery noise that went directly down to Shintaro’s pants. In a rush of need and arousal he rolled his hips against Hokuto’s in a slow grinding movement, his mind blanking as he realized Hokuto was as hard as he was.
“Don’t stop,” Hokuto whined, his head falling back. Shintaro’s eyes followed the elegant arch of his long neck, the prominent Adam’s apple, the sharp cut of his jawline, his reddened lips, and fuck, he didn’t want to stop, but.
Shintaro pulled Hokuto’s face near his again, mouthing his lips and chin. “I have to,” he grunted in frustration. “We’re out in public.”
“Take me home with you, then?” Hokuto’s voice was low, but his eyes looked so sincerely hopeful, it made butterflies flutter in Shintaro’s stomach.
The idea was absolutely terrifying, but also exhilarating. He had never considered himself being anything but straight. Yet the truth was, he now wanted this man more than he had ever wanted anyone in his life. He was most definitely not ready to think what that would make of him.
Shintaro swallowed and took a deep breath.
“Alright. I’m taking you home. Now.”
Hokuto’s smile was dazzlingly beautiful.