lotus_beauty

Title: Discretion
Author:

lotus_beauty
Rating: PG-13 (this part)
Pairings: ot3-ish
Warnings: AU, angst, slash
Summary: See Part 1
Disclaimer: w-inds. are not mine. Woe.

Discretion 1: Infatuation
Discretion 2: Determination
Discretion 3: Situation

Discretion 4: Continuation

Keita slowed his jog to a stop and watched Ryohei dribble the ball across the field to pass it to another teammate. He’d always thought the blonde was a charismatic nice person. He thought Ryohei was just being nice to him because he was new, and he was nice to everyone, but when the other man started to chat up Keita after practices and ask him to hang out, Keita was thrilled, and also scared to death. How would he manage to hold up a conversation with the blonde if he was always forcing himself not to stutter and think of a topic?

He leaned on his knees as the ball stayed on the other side of the field and stood again when he heard the coach blow his whistle, calling the end of practice. Keita stretched as one of the goalies, Ken caught up to Keita and squeezed his shoulder.

“Tachi-kun, hold up a second.”

Keita stopped at his familiar nickname among the team and turned, curious to know what the man wanted. “Did I do something wrong?”

Ken laughed. “Not soccer-wise,” he said with a grin and the taller frowned in confusion. “I noticed your eyes keep wandering to Chiba-kun.”

The rookie didn’t know what to say; speechless as to how Ken could tell.

The goalie laughed. “It might not be obvious to everyone else, since coach decided he was your senpai, but Ryohei and I have been friends for a while. And I noticed he tends to fluster you.”

Keita reasoned that he must be turning an amazing shade of red, since Ken told him to calm down and just listen to what he had to say. Flustered, he thought, was an understatement.

“He didn’t put me up to this, so relax. Do you want to know what he likes, and things you could talk about with him?”

“Yes!” Keita answered eagerly. He didn’t really know what Ryohei was interested in besides rock music similar to that of Ryuichi Ogata, so he hadn’t had a chance to really talk much with the shorter man.

“Well you already know he likes Ryuichi’s music, so I won’t bother telling you how much he loves that guy,” Ken said in an amused tone. Keita had a feeling he wasn’t telling him the whole story, but figured he would enjoy getting it from Ryohei himself. As they walked back to the locker room, Ken rattled off all of Ryohei’s interests and likes, a lot of which coincided with Keita’s. He was pleased to see how much they had in common and wondered which he should bring up in their next conversation.

He didn’t have to wait very long either! Just as Keita was pulling his shirt on after his shower, Ryohei asked if Keita had sisters. Responding that he did, the blonde asked if he would go shopping with him to help him pick out a birthday present for his sister. He admitted he was rather brainless about these things and begged for help. Ryohei didn’t have to beg, Keita was more than willing to go with him.

Ken had mentioned that though Ryohei was outgoing and fun during practice, he was really introverted and quiet outside without his teammates and friends he knew so well. Keita found this a little hard to believe, but once he and Ryohei were gone from practice and on the train to Shibuya, he noticed how silent the shorter man was. He was suddenly very glad Ken had mentioned this, because he might have thought he’d done something wrong with the abrupt silence. As they transferred trains at one station, Ryohei looked back to make sure Keita was following him and smiled. Somehow the little gesture made him melt and his face turn a brilliant red. Luckily, after making sure the younger man was following him, Ryohei had turned back to watch where he was going and never saw the blush.

“Sorry if I’m so quiet,” the blonde said as they sat down on the next train.

“It’s alright,” Keita replied, wondering if he should admit Ken had informed him about Ryohei’s tendencies.

“Do you mind if I listen to my mp3 player?” Ryohei asked.

Keita shook his head and watched as Ryohei pulled out the small device and placed the headphones in his ears. Soon he could hear Ryuichi Ogata’s voice echoing softly from the earpieces and couldn’t help rolling his eyes in amusement. What he didn’t expect was to soon hear other artists’ songs that were also some of Keita’s favorites.

As they finally left the train, there was a rush of people moving out and Keita had to grab onto Ryohei’s backpack to keep from getting separated. He heard the shorter man laugh as they pushed their way up the stairs and slowly out of the station. Keita was still hanging onto the other man’s backpack as they came to a stop at the corner, waiting for the traffic lights to change. When Ryohei took his headphones off, the taller man finally let go, knowing Ryohei would now hear him yell indignantly if they were separated.

“I was getting to like that,” the blonde admitted with a laugh. “Then I knew you were there.” He smiled.

Keita laughed. “It would look rather funny.” As Ryohei laughed at the comment, Keita imagined himself tagging along behind the blonde, looking like a very tall and out of place grade-schooler following his big—but shorter—brother around. He had a feeling that a similar image had popped into Ryohei’s mind.

“Alright, where should we start?” the blonde asked as he stowed his mp3 player in his bag.

“Well,” Keita started as he looked around, noting the rather large crowd of people outside the Shibuya station, remembering it was one of the most popular places for people to meet. The crowd made him wonder which way to go first of all. He didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of Ryohei, but suddenly, he blanked out on where he wanted to go.

“Something wrong?” Ryohei asked curiously.

“No, it’s just there’s so many people,” the taller replied a little frustrated. “I can’t think straight.”

Ryohei laughed lightly. “At least you can see!” He gestured at his height, making Keita laugh and apologize. “Don’t apologize, just go!” The blonde said, pushing the younger man through the crowd. “I can’t think either, but that’s because I’m so damn hungry!”

“Wait,” Keita turned and caught Ryohei as the shorter man stumbled into him at the abrupt stop. He looked down at the blonde, surprised to suddenly have Ryohei in his arms, staring up at him. He felt warmth creeping up his face and just knew he was blushing again, which embarrassed him to no end. Why did the gods curse him with such great blood flow to make him blush so damn much? Or maybe they cursed Ryohei with good looks to torment him, because Keita was so distracted by innocently curious look on the shorter man’s face that he couldn’t even begin to try to find something to say, or think for that matter.

“S-sorry,” he finally managed after what felt like an hour. “It… it’s just that… I’m hungry too,” he lied.

Ryohei didn’t miss a beat, thankfully. “Well then, I know a great place…” He jumped up to see over the people’s heads, causing Keita to laugh. “That way!” He pointed.

“You’re not that short!” Keita protested as he followed the blonde.

“I can’t add it for comedic effect?” Ryohei asked playfully.

The brunette could do nothing but laugh in reply as he grabbed Ryohei’s bag to keep from losing him in the crowd. The blonde weaved his way through the crowds and Keita finally let go of his bag when they reached less crowded streets. It wasn’t long before they went into a restaurant and were standing in line to order.

“McDonalds?” Keita asked in amusement.

Ryohei shrugged. “I couldn’t think of anything else,” he said sheepishly.

Keita laughed and turned to place his order before waiting for Ryohei to do the same. Soon enough they headed off, trays in hand to find a place to sit. Keita practically dragged the blonde over to a deserted corner, hoping he wouldn’t get embarrassed by something during their meal, and that the corner would hide it if anything.

During the meal, Ryohei couldn’t help but bring up the funny point of the day, which had been Ken tripping over his own feet as he tried to stop a ball in the goal. This topic of conversation had the two snickering and chortling over the event for quiet some time before they finally concentrated on their meal. Keita finished first and sat back to let his gaze fall over the rest of the place before it finally rested on Ryohei, who was sipping from the straw in his drink.

Keita couldn’t stop his eyes from latching onto Ryohei’s lips, nor help but think how luscious and kissable those lips looked. He realized he was staring but couldn’t tear his gaze away as the blonde nibbled on his lower lip before licking them both. It was then that Ryohei realized he had some mustard on his finger and put his finger in his mouth to suck it off, completely and utterly rendering Keita helpless. He wanted so badly to kiss Ryohei but could only force himself to grip his seat. He couldn’t do it now—not here in a public place. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if his reactions to Ryohei were obvious or not. Would it be possible for him to hide them? It was getting hard as it was.

“Hm?” Ryohei tilted his head at the brunette, noticing the stare.

“Ihavetogotothebathroom!” Keita blurted out before leaving his seat in a hurry to dart into the bathroom. God, if that wasn’t obvious, he’d eat his spikes.

After calming himself down—and well, other parts of himself—he finally made his way back to the table to find it cleared and Ryohei standing next to it waiting.

“Ready to shop?” he asked with a bright smile.

Keita almost wanted to ask if he’d noticed but thought better of it. “Yup!” he replied and followed the blonde out.

Much of the rest of the day was spend with Keita dragging Ryohei to various shops that his sister had dragged him to. He would ask if there was anything in the shop that coincided with the sister’s interests and help Ryohei price and pick out things. There had been a few times where he was distracted by the blonde just being himself and had neatly covered up his awkwardness. At one point during the day, Keita wondered if he was too good at helping girls pick out things. He also wondered if his sister had taken him out all those times because she thought he was gay and would be helpful in picking out things for her. Unfortunately, he’d never been interested in fashion, or fashionable things, which his sister often complained about. To be honest, all he liked was soccer, music, manga and Ryohei.

After a few hours, the two men were exhausted and headed back to the station. This time Ryohei followed behind Keita, holding on to the taller man’s bag as he weaved a trail through the crowd. Once they were on the train, the two found that they had to stand. Unfortunately for Ryohei, the sound of the tracks must have lulled him because not five minutes into the ride, Keita felt a weight against his side before he caught Ryohei, who was about to fall over, asleep. The blonde laughed and apologized as two girls got up and offered their seats to the men. Keita tried to refuse, but the girls pushed them over and made them sit. The brunette accepted his fate and settled to enjoy the ride. It wasn’t long before he heard the girls giggle and looked up. They pointed to his left and he noticed Ryohei was leaning against him, snoozing. He nearly busted out laughing, but managed to stay silent and put a finger to his lips to caution the girls to stay quiet. They only giggled and nodded. He had a feeling they had a weakness for pretty boys.

Keita almost had a mind to just stay there, riding the train until Ryohei woke up. He liked the warmth and the weight of the smaller man on his shoulder. It was almost comforting. He then realized his stop was coming up and sighed in defeat. Time obviously wasn’t on his side.

He shifted to carefully shake the blonde free of sleep and watched as Ryohei rubbed his eyes and yawned. Keita decided that was the cutest thing he’d seen since the bunny rabbit plushies that afternoon. Ryohei quietly apologized and laughed embarrassed before Keita admitted it was fine.

“I guess you’re easy to fall asleep with. You’re very comfy,” Ryohei commented as he gathered his things.

“What, I’m your pillow now?” Keita asked as the train slowed to a stop and they got up to leave.

“Ah, now that’s something I wouldn’t mind,” the blonde said as they stepped off the train. Keita moved ahead then stopped to wait as Ryohei stretched and started forward again. Just as Ryohei was yawning again, his foot slipped on a patch of the floor that had just been mopped and he went tumbling forward. Keita caught him just before he went down on the floor.

“I’m sorry! I’m not usually this clumsy!” Ryohei said as he lowered himself to kneel.

“It’s alright,” Keita laughed as he crouched down next to his teammate. “Are you okay? You seem really tired.”

The blonde shook his head. “I was just up really late last night.” A sparkle of mischievousness flashed in Ryohei’s eyes and Keita found himself wondering just what kept the young man up. He knew what he’d want to do to keep the blonde up til all hours of the night. The thought made him blush and before he could hide it, Ryohei smiled up at him.

“I like it when you blush.” His grin was so innocent, Keita couldn’t think of what to make of it.

The brunette coughed and helped Ryohei up to get them out of the way of all the other people on the platform. “Thanks,” he replied embarrassed as they started up the stairs.

Ryohei laughed and clapped his shoulder cheerfully and Keita found himself glowing in the innocent comment. When they waved goodbye, he walked out of the station almost amused by what had taken place that day. He wondered if his inability to hide his feelings would continue or if he would get control over them. At least he knew Ryohei found him endearing in some silly way. Now, all he had to do was find out why.

~***~