Once the intensity went down, he managed to blink and look around the living room realizing he was on his own. He could hear his pulse in his ears, his chest moving up and down from panting. Could it be that…? He didn’t have to question it though… not when he could feel it. Ashamed of himself, he looked lower. The stained pair of trousers and the stickiness he could feel between his legs was leaving no doubt of what had just happened. Sho let his head fall back on the sofa. He was still there with his pc open in front of him and his coffee untouched next to it, obviously fallen asleep.

His mind was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Yes. It had been too many months without a physical touch but was that a reason to be like a teenager who cannot hold his hormones and cum in his clothes because of a dream? He was in his thirties for God’s sake. He’d usually get a quick relief during his night shower when it felt unbearable… he had never experienced something like that; at least not since he was seventeen. He pressed his eyes closed. Was it because of him? But even if it was… why?! How can you dirty him in your mind like this? Damn it! The more minutes were passing by, the more Sho felt anger grow in him; anger and frustration.

He checked the clock on the wall to see what time it is. 6:45 in the morning?! He ran to his bedroom to shower away his shame. Ten minutes later, and once he made sure he looked decent again, he got out of his room to search for the other. He’d lie if he said, he didn’t feel nervous but he could deal with himself later. The most important was if the man was awake or not. He checked the guest room but there was no one inside. He frowned. So, he’s awake? Sho bit his lower lip, shaking his head fast as if that would help him get rid of such thoughts. I’d have heard something… I’d have woken up… A deep sigh escaped from his lips.  

He knocked on the bathroom door inside the guest room before opening it slowly, again nothing. Has he already left? But there’s no way he could- His thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang, followed by a muffled painful moan. “That’s coming from…” He rushed to the small entrance hall and switched the lights on.  His eyes caught a glimpse of the small-figured man, dressed back in his ripped clothes, having fallen on the floor right next to the door of his apartment, his one hand holding his swollen ankle and with the other trying to reach the doorknob; his face contracted from the intense pain he must have been feeling.

Sho felt his blood rising, forgetting all the nervousness at once. Did the other want to hurt himself? Before he could control himself, he came closer to the man, took a hold of him by the armpits and turned him around so that the latter could look him in the eye. “What the hell are you doing?”

The other, after a few seconds of clear shock, found back his composure, staring back at Sho with an unreadable gaze. “That’s my business, mister.”

“As long as you’re in my house, it’s not just your business!” his voice louder than he expected. He couldn’t help it. There was an apathy and an audacity in the other’s tone that was almost challenging.

The man said nothing for several minutes.

“Hmmm… I’m wondering… Are you angry because you woke up realizing that it was only a dream or because your dream didn’t last much? Or is it both?!” the other was speaking in a sarcastic tone.

Sho gasped. So, his shame wasn’t only his? Did that mean that the other heard him and seen him?

“What? Cat got your tongue?” the man asked, his mocking smirk having grown bigger. “Look. Whatever the reason for these nerves of yours might be, it’s not my fault. If you finished in a record -even for horny teens- time, it’s only yours!” The small-figured man replied ironically, after a while, his eyes locked into Sho’s wide ones.

“Wh… what?” Sho felt losing the ground under his feet, staring at the other blankly with his mouth agape, unable to form a concrete sentence. He lowered his eyes, not being in position to meet the other’s challenging, in a way, gaze any longer. The man in front of him was provocative, ironic… not afraid of showing him his desire to mock him openly.

“If only you could look at yourself… moaning out loud like some bitch in heat, thrusting your hips up in the air desperate to get some friction… poor guy…! Look. I get it in a way. Overworking… sexually deprived… lonely… Pitiful. But no matter how pitiful you may be, there’s no way I’m staying here! If an accidental touch of mine during your sleep caused… that, I don’t dare to imagine what might happen in a different situation and I’m not interested in finding out either.”

Accidental touch? The last phrase clicked in Sho’s mind. “What… what do you mean?”

The stranger, for several seconds, kept staring at Sho with the same cheeky smirk written all over his face. It felt as if he challenged Sho to do, say something he might regret so that he could use it against him. At some point, he raised an eyebrow, not afraid of the intense eye contact. “I mean… I kind of brushed over your crotch once, when you decided to move in your sleep without warning!” There it was again; the same attitude.

“You…?” Sho asked in a tiny voice, feeling even more ashamed. So, had this happened because of the other? And had his subconscious to torture him like that? He gulped.

“I admit it took me by surprise that me searching in your trousers’ pockets would result to you moaning but it’s not my fault! I needed to find your damn keys!” Of course, the keys… Sho thought realizing that the keys were on the door.

“I’m sorry…” Sho mumbled, as he was still holding the stranger by his arms. He wasn’t sorry only for being caught but for thinking of the other the way he had... for everything. “I am pitiful… no doubt about it. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t have put it better but would you-” he didn’t have the chance to finish his words when the other spoke again, this time leaning closer.

“Not that you’re not handsome or anything, mister,” the other continued in the same tone “but I’m not interested.”

“What?” The other had got the businessman once again lost. Not interested in what? Involuntarily, Sho’s eyes focused on the other’s lips that had curved into a smirk.

The smirk turned wider as the man tilted his head on one side. “I know that I’m cute and I guess that’s what you thought when you saw me in order to bring me here but unfortunately you got the wrong person. Others may be willing to do many things… It’s not like every day that you find a cow to milk, and what is more a young one,” the other remarked as he roamed his eyes on Sho from head to toe right before he focused back to Sho’s face “…but those others aren’t like me. I’d suggest you get rid of any sick ideas might have crawled up in your mind. I may be many things but certainly not as pitiful as you! Got me?”

“What the hell do you imply?” Sho asked again, this time, his voice firm, his eyes narrowed. The grip on the man’s arms had also tightened but the latter didn’t even flinch, as if there was no touch at all.

The other frowned, losing the smirk Sho hated so much. “You don’t know? Do you really think that I don’t know how rich people like you think? You believe you own anyone you have decided that they’re in your need. Not having any photos in your apartment, had me suspicious that you are a lonely wolf… after your small accident earlier, I knew I was right. Tell me… Did you fantasize me going down on you?” Sho sighed when he saw the other brushing his lower lip with his tongue tantalizingly.

“Stop it.” he said in a way that made the other gasp.

“Why? Truth hurts?” the other said in an accusing way. Sho could see his eyes glittering from angry tears that threatened to fall. “Or is it that you wish you could fuck me right against the so-”

“I said STOP IT!” Sho said louder this time. He was angry; very angry… from the very first moment the man had started talking. He didn’t like the way the man was talking; not so much because he was accusing him but because a small part of those accusations wasn’t exactly without a base even if it was only his imagination tricking him, probably because of all the events. He took a deep breath before he spoke again, not loud this time. “I didn’t help you because I wanted you to pay me back… in any way…  or whatever it is you may have thought of. You may be convinced about it but I will disappoint you. I did it because I couldn’t leave you there in that state. Simple as that!” Sho did speak the truth.

“So, what? You’re saying that you did it out of pity? Did you pity me?” the stranger also sounded angry. “Again, you chose the wrong person, Mr. Want-to-play-the-hero! I don’t want your pity! I don’t need it!”

“No.” Sho replied sharply. “I didn’t do it because I felt pity for you. I did it because someone else had done that for me many years ago… because I used to be like you; scared yet proud to ask for help.”

“Bullshit!” The other snapped angrily at Sho, pushing the latter away with a surprising force. “You fucking know nothing about me. Are you listening to me? Nothing! I didn’t ask for your help! I don’t want yours or anyone’s help! Now, if you wish to play the role of the good Samaritan because you feel you owe it to this friend of yours or to the past or I don’t know what, I fucking don’t care! Go and choose someone else! It has nothing to do with me! Nothing!” He was about to turn around and leave but, once again, his foot wouldn’t allow him to, causing him too much pain. He almost fell on the floor if it wasn’t for Sho to catch him in time.

“You’re right…” Sho replied in a calmer tone, this time, his arms holding the other securely. “I don’t know anything about you. I thought you may be proud but, now, I can tell that above everything you’re stubborn.”

“I will pay you. Tell me how much you have spent on the doc and medicine and I swear, one day, I will pay you. What I hate the most is to be indebted!”

 “The doctor told me that you shouldn’t put weight on your leg until the swelling goes down or you’ll face more serious problems. So, I’d suggest you follow his advice and do that. The same goes with the pills that he wrote as a prescription.”

“But I-”

Sho didn’t wait for the other to finish. He picked him up the same way he had last night and brought him back to the guest room.

“What the…?”

He placed him on the bed and went to bring some clean clothes from his wardrobe. He went back to the guest-room and to his surprise, the other was still there. He hadn’t moved an inch, probably out of shock, exactly like he hadn’t shown any trace of defense the moment he was carried to the room.

Sho threw him the clothes. “You can go in there and have a shower. I believe you can alone, by hoping on one foot and leaning against the wall. And please, do me a favor and take off these clothes. They’re ripped and covered in dirt and blood.” No reply came. Sho was about to open the door and leave the man alone when he stopped and turned around to look at him. “And don’t worry. Even if I’m pitiful and sexually deprived, to use your words, I’m still not fond of forcing anyone! I’m not fond of sleeping with people I’m not emotionally attached with either. Because likewise… you know nothing about me!”

The small-figured man was looking at Sho with a surprised look portrayed on his face. It was obvious that he hadn’t expected that. Without waiting for an answer, Sho closed the door and leaned against it, before letting out a deep sigh. His head was a mess. He had expected many things when the other woke up but this…? Never. This was surreal… Everything was surreal… The other had been attacking him like an injured, scared animal. He had caught the moments the other looked back at him, with a small frown, right before it was being replaced by a smirk, obviously fake. Sho wanted to ask the other why. That why applied to many things… Why were you hit like this? Why are you allowing people to treat you like this? Why didn’t you want me to help you? Why didn’t you want to go to the hospital?  Why are you speaking like this? Why are you attacking everyone trying to come closer? Why are you running away?

As he went to the kitchen to prepare a tea to calm down a bit, he couldn’t stop thinking about the pain he could see in the other’s gaze. The other had tried his best to cover it behind the mask of cheekiness and audacity but Sho could see deeper… The pain was there, the cry for help was there and for some reason, despite everything, he still felt as if this cry was destined to him.

---

Half-an-hour later, Sho knocked on the guest room door. No reply came. He opened it slowly to find no one. He frowned. Did he leave…? He was about to get out when he saw with the corner of his eye the dirty clothes of the other placed on the chair at the corner of the room and heard the door of the bathroom open.

The other had indeed taken a shower and was wearing the clothes Sho had given him. They were a bit too buggy for him but at least, they were clean. The small-figured man was hoping on one foot but stopped when he realized that Sho was there, staring at him.

“What, now?” the other asked angrily or more correctly, defensively. “You changed your mind?”

It took a couple of seconds for Sho to get what the other implied. “No. Don’t worry. I haven’t and I won’t. I just wanted to tell you that I’ll be out.” Sho told him knowing he couldn’t stay in his apartment any longer; not after everything that had happened. He needed space to think clearly. “You can open the fridge and eat anything you want.”

“I don’t-”

“You’re free to go if you want it this much.” Sho continued in the same calm tone.

“But?” the other said. “Because I can tell there’s a but coming…”

Sho chuckled. “But I’d appreciate if you didn’t, at least, not until your foot is better.”

“What are you…?”

“I simply ask you to stay here until you feel better. I helped you and I want it not to be in vain. I didn’t take you to a hospital, as you wished me not to and I respected it. So, now it’s time to respect my wish, too. I just want to see you gone once you really can. I don’t want your money. So, if you do not want to be indebted to me, then you should stay here until you can walk properly. That’s all.”

“But-”

“I’ll go now.” Sho cut him off.

The other only nodded, the small frown having returned on his forehead.

Sho was about to leave the room when he stopped and looked at the other over his shoulder. “Really… you should eat something. You are too thin.” And with that left the small-figured man alone.

***

“Jun, I’m lost…” Sho whispered not daring to look at his friend. “If only you could see the pain in his eyes… He tried to hide it almost desperately but I could see it… he needs help.”

“Sho, are you even listening to yourself? You’ve told me that you know nothing about him. He spoke to you the way he did! He has all these bruises and marks. He has been beaten unconscious.”

“I know… I know all that, Jun, but still… I want to do something for him… the same way you did for me. Back then, you didn’t know me yet you stood up for me!”

“I didn’t but it was school. The bullies were some fucked-up teenagers who thought they could rule the world. In this case, though, Sho, we’re talking of someone who may be involved in situations that could be life-threatening dangerous! Don’t you think it’s alarming that even when you did so much for him, he still tried to escape without saying a word?! This guy can be dangerous and you have left him alone in your apartment! What if he’s a thief? What if there are other people waiting for you when you go back!”

Sho said nothing in reply. He had lowered his head like a kid that got scolded by his father. He hadn’t dared to speak to Jun of what had happened with him this morning. He was too ashamed to.

Jun sighed. “Why do you want to help him this much?”

“His touch… when he was still unconscious. He didn’t want me to leave his side. And then… his eyes…” Sho replied in a whisper, his eyes locked on his lap. “His eyes were begging me to help… behind all that façade of arrogance I could clearly see it…” he looked up to his friend who was staring back at him. “Jun, for some reason that I can’t even explain to myself, I don’t have the power to ignore that begging. I just can’t.”

“And what are you planning to do?” Jun asked with a sigh, knowing he couldn’t change Sho’s mind.

“Honestly? I have no idea… but I know only one thing, Jun. I want to help him.”

---

Jun sighed, still thinking of Sho’s last words. He had never seen him like this… and that was scaring him. He was staring blankly outside his window.

“I think he’s fallen in love, even if he hasn’t realized it yet.”

Jun turned around, his eyes meeting those of his lover. He hadn’t realized he was there.

“I’m afraid that he’s but it’s dangerous, Masaki. It’s too dangerous. What if the other proves to be…?” he couldn’t even finish his line. He knew that Sho sometimes was naïve, seeing things only from one perspective, wanting to believe in people, unlike him who always kept some questions.

Masaki wrapped his arms around Jun’s waist, bringing their bodies closer. “I have faith in Sho-kun. I think that if he chose to fall in love with someone, this someone deserves it. Sometimes, the looks deceive, Jun. Don’t you know the saying ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’?”

“I do… It’s just that-”

Masaki hushed Jun with a soft peck on his lips. “Have faith and don’t forget that Sho-kun isn’t alone. He has you, us. Nothing bad will happen… We won’t allow it to happen. And who knows? Maybe this man is the one for him!”

“So, you’re saying it was fate that brought him to Sho’s life?”

Masaki smiled, leaning closer to his lover’s face, “Maybe it was… just like it was fate for me to meet you. Even diamonds when found are rough… Have faith, Jun!”

“I hope so…”

“You should…” Masaki replied with a warm smile that always managed to make Jun’s heart melt.

“I love you…” Jun whispered on Masaki’s lips before locking them together.

Deep inside he wished his boyfriend was right; not only because he wanted Sho to be safe but also because he wanted him to be happy.

***

When Sho came back to his apartment, he had half expected to see the other gone. It was only when smells of curry reached his nostrils that he realized that the other had cooked. Hesitantly, he came to the kitchen. No one was there, apart from a plate of curry rice waiting for him on the table. So, he cooked and left? Sighing disappointed, he sat and tasted the cooked meal. It was delicious. Sho was a terrible cook and had given up of properly using his kitchen except for sandwiches and toasts. He finished it fast and took the plate to the sink where he found another one. A shy smile appeared on his face. The other had eaten.

He was about to head to his bedroom when he realized the door of the guest-room was half-opened. Curious he threw a glance inside. The stranger hadn’t left; he was still there. Sitting on his bed, his eyes locked at the tree outside his window. He looked lost in his thoughts… broody…

Sho knocked on the door gaining the other’s attention. “I see that you didn’t leave…” he said in a low voice as he entered in the room.

“You asked me not to leave and I didn’t. I told you, mister. I don’t want to be indebted to you.”

His tone was once again hostile but Sho didn’t comment on it. “I would like to thank you for the curry rice. It was delicious.” The other was looking at him with an unreadable gaze. “You should take your pill before you sleep, if you haven’t already, ok? And if… you feel unsafe, you can lock the door.” Sho mumbled before turning around, ready to leave the room. He had his hand on the doorknob when he spoke again, this time a little lower. “I’m Sakurai Sho by the way.”

He didn’t know why he had revealed his name to the other. He just didn’t want so much unanimity between them; at least, from his part. He knew there was no way he’d get a reply from the other so, he didn’t wait. He was about to step outside when it came… unexpectedly…

“You can… call me… Nino…”

TO BE CONTINUED…

A.N. Sooo minna here’s part 3!!! ^^ I hope here your confusion is finally solved! Nino didn’t touch Sho. It was only a too vivid dream… But it’s important for Sakumiya’s relationship. It will affect – in the beginning at least – both sides! You’ll understand more in the next chapter! ;)
It’s not an easy start but it couldn’t be one. I didn’t want to write from Nino’s POV yet. It will come later! Here, I only put some hints concerning his thoughts on Sho! :) Both sides have their issues but we’ll see how things will go on from now on! In a way I think, Sho has managed to come a little closer!

I really hope you enjoyed it and as always, your comments, even the short ones, are <333!!! 

See you soon,
Andy ^^