Gift Fic for amh1988

[aibamods]

Title: Your Guardian
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 15,000 ~
Pairing: Sakuraiba
Warnings: -
Summary: After getting threat messages from anonymous source, the head of the entertainment agency hired a bodyguard for one of his famous model, and his son, Aiba Masaki. Aiba hate being followed by someone, everywhere. But shortly after, feelings start to grow up between the two of them.
Notes: Dear amh1988, I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it. I tired to combined various genres you may like, like adding slightly of humor, fluff, angst, and a tiny little bit of action thriller(?). Aiba may not be 'mature' in this story as you asked for, but he has a completely different personality than his real self, he isn't a lovely person here, but I hope you'll like the new version of him. A huge thanks to my beta and to the mods for being patient with me.




Smile.

Sounds of clicking cameras and flashes, lights of various colors, smell of electricity and smoke. Filming set, cameras, complicated gears, and wires were all over a small room of a cheap hotel. A little apartment decorated with old-fashioned furniture contains colors of white and brown. And there they are, a couple of professionals surrounding a dirty beige-colored couch, placed close to a small window at the corner of the room, where a young man lay down.

The man wears an oversized white shirt, the first buttons were unbuttoned showing a clear view of his smooth chest, as it slipped a little exposing his right shoulder. His right leg was swaying down on the couch, and the left one rested comfortably on the pillows of the couch. His tight light blue jeans show how slim his lower part is. Putting on a sexy face for the camera, with his mouth slightly open, and his idle eyes looking sharply at some point in the air. His arms raised above his head, letting the shirt lift showing his belly button, his long slim fingers are softly holding a branch of a lavender plant.

“Good boy, look at the camera now.” The photographer orders, and the man in white does as he says, giving the camera a killing stare and a little smirk. But there is something pissing the guy off, it was the man in charge of the lighting settings. He must be a 40-something year old man, standing behind the photographer, holding the light. His mouth waters as he stares into the model with a perceivable boner in his pants.

'Disgusting pervert'. Thought the model after noticing how he is looking at him, hungrily. Feeling unsafe in a small and closed place, he immediately gets out of the room after taking few more photos, without even changing his clothes.

“Aiba-kun, you can’t run away with those clothes on you.” The man that runs behind him said, he carries a big sports bag on his left shoulder, a laptop bag on the other and a backpack. His hands are busy holding a notepad, two phones, a notebook and a pencil. He can barely walk with all this weight on him, after all, he is the model’s manager.

“Don’t worry, Aoki, I’ll take them off in the van. It’s not like I want these dirty clothes,” Aiba said, and he didn’t lie because, once he enters the big black van, he tears the shirt into two pieces and takes off those uncomfortable pants. Aoki, Aiba’s manager, just arrived at the van to get rid of all the weight he had on him, but he is totally shocked by the naked man inside, and the torn shirt. “Aiba-kun!” He cried out.

“It’s worth nothing,” Aiba simply said. He takes the sports bag from his manager and pulls out some white hoodie and comfy black sweatpants. Once he finished dressing, he starts to play with his phone and the van begins to move.

“Next, you have a meeting with the head of the agency, then a lunch break, then an interview for the previous photoshoot.” Aoki who was sitting in the passenger seat informs Aiba, while he goes through his schedule.

Aiba inches closer to Aoki from behind and says clearly; “No, we’re going to an electronic shop because I need to buy a new phone, then we’ll have lunch. Later on, the meeting.”

“B-but, the meeting is urgent!” Aoki said worryingly, afraid of the consequences it may bring him for not being on time.

“Not my problem.” He said, returning to his seat, and playing with his phone.

“You can’t do this! I’m the only manager who sat with you for three months without a problem and I can’t let you make me lose my job!” Aoki argued.

“Excuse me?” Aiba takes his eyes off his phone, and rose his eyebrows at him, with a chuckle “You’re fired.”

“What?”

“Sooner or later you’re going to lose your job, so I’m making it sooner.” He said plainly, then he looks at his chauffeur through the reflex of the mirror. “Sato.” He just calls him, and the driver already knew what he had to do.

Sato stopped the car by the side of the road and got off, just to walk up to the passenger’s seat and open the door, pulling Aoki from his arms.

“Y-you can-n’t do this!” Aoki struggled and tried to push Sato away, but Sato was stronger. He easily pulls Aoki away and closes the door, Aoki kept on knocking on the backseat’s window until the car moved away leaving him behind on the road. The last thing Aiba heard from Aoki was him calling Aiba ‘asshole’. That’s what he’s been all his life, the arrogant famous model, Aiba Masaki.






Aiba spent an one hour and a half in the electronic store, searching for a new phone and transferring all his data from the old phone to his new one, looking for any excuse to waste his own time. After that, he goes to a fancy Indian restaurant and eats curry rice. Then he visits the small coffee shop beside it. And since they were still far from the agency, he simply slept throughout the car ride.

Finally, he arrives to his urgent 12pm meeting at 4pm. Aiba enter the agency building with confidence, wearing his sunglasses indoors, as if he was never late. Once he enters the elevator, he takes his spectacles off. He’s alone now, without anyone blabbing on his head about his schedule or complaining about how he’s too late and that he may get in trouble. It’s quiet and peaceful, and Aiba feels relaxed.

Aiba closed his eyes for few seconds then open them to a huge poster hanging on the wall of the elevator, it was an advertisement poster of an album of the most popular singer in Japan, his Senpai, Ohno Satoshi. Aiba looks at the poster with a bitter, and sad smile. He touches the poster softly with the back of his hand, but immediately removes it once he reached his floor.

Rushing out from the elevator, Aiba goes toward the meeting room just to find it was empty. Of course it’s empty, he never expected people would still wait for him, and that was exactly what he intended. Aiba sits on the table, and eat a KitKat bar. He was too lazy to move. Shortly after, two men entered the room, followed by a shout.

“I told you the meeting was urgent!” The first man yelled, a tall and thin man with black hair and beard with white tufts. His cheeks bones are outstanding, and he has little wrinkles over his face. There are handsome vibes to him, as if he were a 50-year-old idol, although he’s older than that.

“I came now, so let’s start.” Aiba said, crossing his leg and taking a bite from his KitKat.

“Don’t get all sassy, Ma-chan.” The other says, a 34-years-old young man with a teenager face, people normally mistake him with a child. He has black short silk hair, and a smooth milky skin. He looks small beside the old man, as if he were his grandson. The young man sits on the table beside Aiba, his legs almost touching the floor, he puts his short arm around him. Aiba shake his shoulder, refusing the touch.

“Do people normally do meetings at 12pm? It’s lunch time and I can’t skip my meal.” Aiba said, making an excuse for his absence. The old man sighed.

“Where is your manager?” Asked the old man, and looks around the room in hopes to find him.

“I fired him, no need to scream on his face” Aiba said.

“You what? He was your sixth manger this year! One of the best we had and you fired him? You can’t go around and fire everyone you don’t like!” The old man yelled in disbelieve, holding his head.

“Uncle, relax. You know Ma-chan better than anyone. He doesn’t like to be around the same people for too long.” Said the short man.

“Your cousin is going to give me a heart attack, Kazunari!” He said.

“So, I suggest we stop his activates until we find another manager” Kazunari said. “Also, to deactivate his credits cards as a punishment” He suggest, with an innocent look.

“As if you can!” Aiba laughs.

“Well, I can. If you attended this meeting you’ll know, I can do that.” Kazunari said, with a devilish smile.

“What do you mean?” Aiba asked, looking at the old man in front of him, his father.

“Curious?” Nino teased.

“I assigned him to be heir of this agency” Said Aiba’s father, the current boss.

“You what!? Shouldn’t I be the one who takes over this company? I’m your son!” Aiba shouted in disbelieve as it was his dream to take over the agency, to control people.

“Yes, you are my son, but you lack leadership skills and you do what pleased you without considering other people’s feeling.” Their boss explained.

“But choosing Nino? He’s not better than me, you are wrong!!” Aiba tried to convince his father.

“At least, he came on time! He knows how to talk and convince people, he listens to other, knows how to solve problems, and makes thoughtful decisions. Besides, he’s my nephew, the closet person to me after you and I trust him” His father explains, making Aiba roll his eyes, and sigh deeply.

“Whatever, it’s not like I really want this job.” Aiba grunted. He tries to leave, but not until he remembers something and turns towards them again. “Will you really deactivate my cards?” He asks, and Nino nods his head with a smirk on his face.

“Also, you are banned from going outside your house until we tell you otherwise.” His father said. “You will go home now, a ne-” Before he was able to continue, Aiba leaves the meeting room with a furious face.

“As if I will listen to you!” He shouts from outside.

“Masaki! Come back! I need to tell you something important!” His father shouts back, but Aiba ignores him and leaves. He entered the elevator and pressed the ground floor. Once again, he was alone in the elevator. He is so angry, and he doesn’t know why.

Suddenly the elevator stopped in the wrong floor, Aiba let out a sigh, he doesn’t want anyone to be with him, at least not right now. But then, the one who entered was the same man in the poster, his senpai, Ohno. Aiba fix his posture, to look polite. Ohno brightly smiles at him, but Aiba can see how tired the man was from his eye. He pressed the ground floor, and now they are both alone. Whenever Aiba was alone with Ohno, he feels awkward, and gets butterflies in his stomach.

“Did you hear about what happened to Matsumoto?” Ohno said, looking straightly at the door. Aiba sighed at hearing this name, he hated the guy named Matsumoto. He’s his kohai and has been his enemy ever since they chose Matsumoto over him to be in Ohno’s new music video.

“What happen?” He replies, not showing any kind on interested in knowing.

“He got in a car accident, he’s fine now although his activities will stop for the next three months.” He said with pity.

“Oh, is that so?” Aiba said, trying to act sadly, but he failed at showing it.

When they reached the wanted floor, both walk out from the elevator and go toward the gate of the building. They wait for their drivers to come and pick them up, Ohno’s driver came but not Aiba’s, Aiba looks around searching for Sato but there was no sign of him.

Before Ohno got on his car, he turns around and asks Aiba: “I’m going to visit him now, will you go with me?” Aiba looks around few times before he answers.

“Fine.” Ohno’s driver open the other door for Aiba. Before Aiba entered the car, he felt he was being watched by someone, so he looks around to find no one is staring at. He raises his eyebrow in wonder, maybe it’s a wrong feeling, or the soft breeze that hits him made him feel like that.

Aiba did not intent to visit Matsumoto, he just wants to spend more time with Ohno. But soon enough, he regrets it. All their talk was about Matsumoto. Ohno talks about him charmingly, with sparkles in his eyes, and Aiba hates it.

He wants to be the one Ohno talks about. But nothing goes as he wishes, nothing.

Once they reach the hospital, they go to a small store beside it that sell flowers, each of them buy a bouquet of flower, Ohno take a bouquet of sunflowers, while Aiba bought a bouquet of red roses. Then they go to Matsumoto’s room.

Matsumoto wasn’t in a good condition as Aiba thought. His head and left eyes were covered in bandages, small cuts and bruises are all over his face and neck, his right leg lifted with a bandage on his thigh, but his leg isn’t broken or any bone at that fact. Matsumoto’s seemed tired, but he smiled once he saw them.

“Senpai” A hint of brightness shows on his face. Aiba felt sorry for him, the guy does get on his nerves sometimes, but seeing him in this hopeless condition makes him pity him, and turn on his humanity.

A conversation starts between Matsumoto and Ohno about different topics while Aiba stays and listens, occasionally nodding his head in agree, or faking a smile. He didn’t know what to say, he felt left out. So he excuses himself first, leaving the two lovebirds behind to take their time together.

Aiba calls Sato three time, but he gets no answer. So, he had to take a taxi to go back home, which he hated it the most because of the silly conversation the taxi driver would start. He calls for one and while he’s waiting, he gets that feeling again. The feeling of being watched by someone. Aiba feels uncomfortable and terrified, he hopes the taxi will come quicker.

The taxi arrives, and a young man gets down for the driver seat to open the door for Aiba. Aiba is amused by how young the driver was. He wore glasses and a cap but Aiba could tell how handsome he was. The ride was silent, no talks happened between the two men, and the car radio played classical music. The atmosphere of the car helps him relax and, without noticing, Aiba falls asleep in the car.

Aiba wake up by a faint and a soft voice calling him. “Aiba-san,” Aiba opens his eyes slightly, everything was blurry for a moment. “Aiba-san,” The same voice called him again. Aiba rubs his eyes, but he closes them again by a sudden brightness and gradually opens them instead.

“Aiba-san, we’re here now.” Said the same man again. Aiba raised his head to meet the eyes of the driver through the car mirror. He straighten himself and cracked his neck, then he looks outside the window, he is in front of his apartment building. Aiba throws 10,000 yen on the drivers.

“Keep the change.” Aiba said, before he rushed out from the car, and walked inside the building.

All Aiba could think about right now was on taking a hot shower and sleep for two days straight. Stopping his activities until they found him another manager was actually a good idea. It’s not like Aiba liked his job. But it hasn’t been five minutes since he entered his house and someone’s already knocking on his door.

Aiba puts on the chain of the door before he opens it, and peeking through the gap of the door, he faced a familiar face. The man in front of him smiled and bent politely. “The taxi driver, right?” Aiba asked, from behind the door, and the man nods.

“The money wasn’t enough?” Aiba gulps nervously, because why the hell would a taxi driver know his apartment number.

“No, I’m here for you.” The man said, and Aiba’s eyes widen.

“Excuse me? I suggest you leave before I call the cops” Aiba warned him, and he closed the door, but the man’s foot prevented him from closing it. Aiba takes a step back from the door startled.

“I’m sorry if I scared you, but I’m your new bodyguard, I guess your father already told you about me.” He said.

“My father never said anything about a bodyguard,” Aiba said. “So, leave.” He tried to close the door, but the man prevents it again.

“I can’t leave, I’m here to protect you” Said the man, still fighting to keep the door open.

“From who? I don’t need any protection, now LEAVE!” He said, and closed the door with all his might, sighing and returning to his apartment.

Aiba takes a long, warm shower, relaxing his mind and muscles after spending a long exhausting day of work. He gets out from the bathroom wearing only sweatpants and a towel to dry his hair. He was going to drink a cup of milk when he hears another knock on his door. He feels furious, so he didn’t answer it. Not until hears a shout from behind the door.

“It’s me, open this damn door!” A familiar voice shouts, it’s his father.

Lazily, Aiba went to open the door, and there he found, his father, and the same taxi man standing behind him.

“Yes?” Aiba asked, not even opening the door fully, or inviting his own father inside.

“I guess you met this man shortly before.” He starts, “He’s your bodyguard, please let him inside” He said directly and Aiba roll his eyes.

“Can we discuss this tomorrow? I’m tired.” Aiba said.

“Yeah sure, but let him inside for tonight” His father said, firmly.

“Why would I let a stranger inside my house” Aiba objected.

But his father didn’t care, “Masaki! I have no time to discuss with you now, let him inside.” He said then he turns around and point at the other man. “Do whatever it takes,” he gives him the permission before he leaves.

Aiba looks at the man’s eyes. “Listen…” He stopped, he doesn’t know his names, he waits for the other to say something.

“Oh, I’m Sakurai Sho, nice to meet you.” He introduces himself, and extends his hand for a shake.

“Yeah, right, right.” Aiba shakes his hand “Listen, Sakurai. I’m really tired and I need to sleep, can you go to your house now and let me sleep in peace.” Aiba asks hopelessly.

“I’m afraid I can’t, I have to stay with you.”

“Okay, I don’t understand why my father hired a bodyguard for me, and I don’t want to know that right now, I’ve had enough of this” He complains. “I want you to leave and we’ll talk tomorrow.” He adds.

“No, I can’t leave.” He said firmly.

“Then sleep in the lobby.” Aiba said and close the door, but again, Sakurai prevent him.

“No, I need to protect you, from the inside as well.” Sakurai stated.

“Protect me from who? From myself?” Aiba guessed.

“Yes, if I must” Said Sakurai.

“No one’s inside, and no one will get inside my house if you are outside it, right?” Aiba said.

“What if someone breaks in from the balcony?” Sakurai pointed out.

“No one can do that.” Aiba droned.

“Yes, some people can do that, human beings are scary after all.” He said pushing the door to open it fully. He invited himself inside, as if he were in his own house.

“Hey!” Aiba shouts, while the man enters his house carrying a backpack.

Sakurai wanders around the rooms studying the place with a weird walk, almost like a robot’s, with his arms swaying along, and he takes regular steps with equal spaces. Aiba throws himself on the couch, while watching the robot man walk all around his own house.

“There is no one here, alright?” He asserted.

“Yes, I know, I just making sure of that.” Sakurai replied, still wandering around. He stands in front a room and points at it. “I’ll take this room”. It was Aiba’s office room, that had a desk and a bookshelf full of his magazine and books.

“No! Who said you’ll sleep here?” Aiba stand in front of the man and protests.

“I thought you didn’t want to discuss anything now.” He said teasingly, but with straight face.

“Ugh, now I really feel unsafe. Why are you here?” Aiba asks.

“I’m not allowed to reveal any secrets. If you want answers, ask the boss.” Sakurai told him.

“Listen, I’m going to sleep now, if I hear any sound from you, even your breathing, you’re fired.” Aiba warns him.

“Alright,” He said, and enters the room.

“Wait you’re going to sleep?” Aiba asked loudly enough from behind the door. Sakurai peeks out from the room again.

“Of course, I’m going to sleep, I’m human.” He replied.

Aiba looks at him in disbelief and says, “Then there is no need to stay in my house if you’re going to sleep!”

“I sleep lightly, any single move wakes me up. Don’t worry about your safety under my protection.” He articulates, and Aiba rolls his eyes in annoyance.

“Whatever just go and leave me alone” He grumbled and returned to his own room. Aiba lays down on his bed. Without a second thought about the man who slept next door, he falls asleep.











The next morning, Aiba wake up earlier at 7am, he’d already slept enough yesterday. He feels energetic unlike any other mornings. Aiba goes to his kitchen to drink a glass of water, and it is there where he founds the supposed-to-be-his-bodyguard roommate, Sakurai. Aiba gets a little annoyed by the sight of him. He dislikes it when someone sees his bed hair and ugly morning face.

“Good morning” Says Sakurai, who’s sitting on the kitchen counter, sipping a cup of expresso, and eats waffles with chocolate syrup. Aiba gets excited over seeing the waffles and chocolate. He never had a proper homemade breakfast before, so he thinks having this man here may have advantages for him.

“Morning!” He say excitedly, with a stupid smile on his face. “Make me one of these.” He orders, and sits beside him on the counter, waiting passionately for him like a kid.

“I didn’t make this, my friend send it to me.” He says and takes a bite of his waffles.

“Whatever, just cook for me, I’m sure you can.” Aiba orders, and waits.

“No.” Sakurai says, taking another bite.

“Are you disobeying me?” Aiba says in disbelief, and Sakurai swallows his bite and takes a sip from his coffee.

“I think you got the wrong idea of me” He smirks. “I’m your bodyguard not your butler. My job is to protect you not to follow your orders.” He said, and takes a long sip from this drink before he leaves the table.

“We’ll leave after one hour, be ready by then. I’ll wait for you downstairs,” He says and carries on his long black coat that was placed on the couch. He turns around and points at him. “There is another point I want to make clear.” He adds. “I don’t take orders from you, but you take orders from me. Now, be a good boy and get down by 8, otherwise I’ll force you to.” He said, and leaves without letting Aiba any chance to complain.

Aiba feels his face getting red from anger. He slams the table knowing this next few days will be nightmarish. His devil mind starts to work, he needs a quick way to fire this man. He likes this game after all, to take the control of the people inside his live.






After Aiba gets ready, they both go to Aiba’s agency. Aiba felt annoyed by Sakurai who was stuck on his back. He wasn’t walking few inches away, he is right behind him that their shoulder bumped into each other a few times. Aiba continues walking and says nothing.

When they both arrive to the meeting room, they find Aiba’s father, head of the agency, was already there, Ninomiya, the heir and Aiba’s cousin, and two more men, probably their assistants.

“For the first time in the history, Ma-chan came on time.” Nino says jokingly, making the assistants hide their laughs. Aiba pinches Nino’s arm before he sits beside him, and Sakurai sits in the seat in front of Aiba.

The meeting begins, and everyone was listening careful to what the head needs to say except for Aiba who was drawing in the paper in front of him. The meeting was about explaining what Sakurai is allowed to do in case any danger happened and what his job was about. But the meeting never mentioned why they hired him.

“But why a bodyguard?” Aiba interrupts.

“We’ve been getting angry mail from the fans, so we hired him for your safety, in case anything happened.” The head explains, but Aiba hardly understands.

Aiba gets shouted by either his father or Nino when he protests about anything. He couldn’t have control, he doesn’t even have the right to fired Sakurai, which makes him collapse on his chair and accepts the fact that there will be a man following him everywhere, even inside the bathroom.






3 weeks since the excessively protective bodyguard Sakurai starts to work for Aiba, 3 weeks since Aiba keeps getting constantly annoyed and exhausted by Sakurai. He can’t get any rest because of him, he was a pain in the ass. Aiba can’t do anything to the man, can’t fire him, order him, reschedule his work, or even be one minute late. He was forced to follow every single order that came from him, and in his free time, he followed him. How could a man change his life to a living hell? Aiba hated it, and needed it to stop.

In one ordinary morning, Sakurai enters Aiba’s room and wakes him up as usual. It was the same routine every day. Sakurai opens the curtain, and pulls the blanket away from Aiba.

“Wake up sleeping beauty, you have a photoshoot in 45 minutes, you need to hurry.” He orders, and claps his hand to wake him up. Aiba cover his face with his extra pillow.

“5 more minutes” Aiba moans. He isn’t a morning person, he always fall asleep a couple of minutes after he wakes up, these couple of minutes gives him energy, or at least that’s what he believed. But, for the past 3 week, these minutes were taken violently from his life.

“5 minutes for sleeping, 15 minutes for a shower, 10 minutes for preparing yourself, 10 minutes for eating breakfast, and 10 minutes for the car ride. In total, you’ll take 50 minutes, and you’ll be 5 minutes late. So, no. No more five minutes, wake up.” Sakurai turns the 5 minutes subject into an article as always. He tries to pull the pillow from Aiba, but Aiba’s hold it stronger.

“We already lost 5 minutes with your stupid speech. You need to shut up!” Aiba suggest and turns around to the other side of the bed, avoiding the sun rays.

“You leave me no choice.” Sakurai strongly pulls the pillow, and Aiba covers his face with his hand, he gets shocked by Sakurai’s strength.

Sakurai forcedly takes Aiba over his shoulder. “Hey!” Aiba shouts, and struggles, but the grip of the man was strong. He carries him to the bathroom, and throws him on the bathtub.

“Shower and change. 20 minutes. We’ll grab breakfast on our way to the photoshoot.” He says, and turns on the cold water, as it soaks Aiba.

“IT’S COLD! Are you planning to make me sick? It’s 10 degrees outside!” Aiba shouts, but Sakurai just walked away from him. He returns to change the temperature of the water, then leaves the bathroom.

He only hears Aiba shouting again. “IT’S FUCKING HOT!”.




Aiba and Sakurai reach the photoshoot place by a roof top of a Tokyo skyscraper. The weather is cold and windy, with scattered cotton clouds over the sky. Aiba is dressed with a black tank top, a black bomber with golden dragon embroidery on the back, some tight scratched black jeans and long black boots, along with gold accessories.

Cold breeze hits Aiba, making him sneeze and cough. Sakurai worriedly looks at him, and asks “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, it’s just too cold outside.” Aiba answered, and wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

The shooting starts and Aiba had to take shoots with and without the bomber. Thought it was cold outside, nobody cares about him, he had to do his work as a professional and give them sexy poses, regardless of what he wore. Sakurai feels bad for the model upon seeing his bare arms and neck.

After the shooting finishes, Aiba changed his clothes on the roof as well. His jacket was too light to warm him up. Sakurai notice this so he takes off his own jacket and gives it to Aiba. “Takes this, you need something thicker, you’re shivering, and your lips are blue.” He offered, but Aiba turned around.

“I’m fine” He mumbles, and leaves the place.

Once they are on the car to go to their next activity, Aiba asks. “What’s next?”.

“Hospital appointment.” Sakurai says. Aiba rise his eyebrows.

“For what?” He asks in wonder.

“Check-up.”

“You never told me before” Aiba said.

“Because I just booked it” Sakurai answered.

“I told you I’m fine” Aiba said.
“You coughed, and it didn’t sound normal, and for someone who had a history of lung diseases, you need a checkup.” He explained.

Aiba sighs, he can’t do anything but obey the man. Then he asks, “Next?”

“I delay the next shooting for later evening, so you’re free this afternoon” Sakurai answered, making Aiba jump in excitement.

“Sometimes, you’re not that bad” He smiled.




“You have throat congestion, and your body temperature is a little bit high, nothing too serious, you’ll be fine after taking some medicine.” Says the doctor sitting behind his desk, facing Aiba while Sakurai stood behind him. “Take this prescription to the pharmacist, have a nice day.” The doctor lends Aiba a small piece of paper, but before Aiba could grab it, Sakurai takes it from him.

“Thanks doctor.” Sakurai says, and both left the office.

They go to the nearest pharmacy the found. While Aiba lays on his seat, he closes his eyes and pretend to be sick and tired but he isn’t. “I’ll not be late.” Sakurai said, and left the car. Aiba was observing him from the corner of his eyes, and makes sure he enters the pharmacy. Aiba thought this is the best chance to run away from him, it’s bad to have so much free time but have such bad company. He thought he could enjoy his free time alone. Without Sakurai.

Aiba sneaks out of the car and runs to take the first taxi he finds. Once the car begins to drive, he sighs in relief.

It’s a perfect time to go shopping and buy new clothes, Aiba thought, so he decides to go to Ginza. He enters various stores and stops at a restaurant, sits by a table, and orders his meal. A tap on his shoulder stopped him from taking the first bite of his burger, and he feels a shiver.

“Naughty, aren’t you?” A voice he knows so well, says.

“Sakurai…” He sighs, relaxing his muscles. “How did you know I was here?” He asks, and takes a bite of his food.

“I saw you sneaking out,” He said, and take one of Aiba’s fries. “But, I thought of giving you some time alone, though I was watching you closely.” He said.

Aiba smiled. “Why are you always stuck on my ass?”

“My job.” He said, then placed a plastic bag on the table. “Your medicine, take it after you finish your lunch.” He orders.

“Yeah sure whatever,” Aiba said, and takes a bite from his burger. He keeps on playing on his phone all the time during his meal. Then he says, “Hey, I’ll meet up with some friends gathering later tonight, can you please not come?” Aiba asked nicely, with an innocent smile.

“And who allowed you to go?” Sakurai laughed, leaving Aiba in shock.

“You can’t prevent me from seeing my friends! I’ve been working nonstop for the past 3 weeks without contacting any of them.” He argued, as his face turned red from anger. “You can’t make me prisoner in my own place!”

“I have orders to not let you have any connection with anyone, until everything is safe.” Sakurai said.

“I don’t understand what’s making the agency so scared. I’ll be fine, I’ll protect myself. It’s only one night.” Aiba says.

“I said no!” Sakurai says, slamming the table, making Aiba jump in surprise.

Aiba stand up and slam the table as well, and he looks at Sakurai in the eyes deeply. “Why am I even asking for your permission? You can’t stop me from going anyway.” He laughs wryly, and left the restaurant, just to be followed by Sakurai.

Sakurai takes Aiba’s arm, twisted it and put it behind his back. Aiba cried in pain. “I’m allowed to use force on you if I had too.” He whispered in Aiba’s ear, and drag him to the car.

“You’re fired!” Aiba shouts at him while Sakurai pushes him on the passenger’s seat.

Sakurai starts the car and began driving, while Aiba keep on shouting at him and threatening him. “I’ll make sure you get fired by the end of the day! I’ll sue you for assaulting me!”

“You can’t sue me for doing my job” Sakurai shouts back. “You can’t fire me, because you need me!”

“I DON’T! You’re here because my father makes big deal over small things! This whole protection thing is just a lie to keep me away from my friends, I know my father!” He said. “So, stop the fucking car NOW!”

Sakurai press the brakes suddenly, making Aiba hit his own head. “You Asshole!” Aiba yelled, rub his forehead. “What was that for?!” Sakurai takes few deep breaths, to calm himself. Aiba tried to get out of the car but the door was locked.

“One hour.” Sakurai says, and Aiba is confused. “You may go to that gathering for one hour. I’ll come with you and you’ll be by my side all the time.”

“But-” Aiba tries to object, but Sakurai interrupts him.

“Then forget about it” He says.

“Okay, fine,” Aiba agrees and smiles wickedly, with all the intention of running away from him again. “Thanks.” He mumbled.




At evening, both Aiba and Sakurai dressed their fancy clothes and go to Aiba’s friends gathering. It was located in a privet park, beside the river. There was around 20 of his friend and people from the same agency having BBQ dinner party.

Aiba’s entrance to the park draws attention from everyone, they start to gather around him and greet him by shaking his hand or hugging him. Sakurai protectively stood in front of Aiba, trying to prevent anyone from getting closer, but Aiba ignores him.

A short man came to Sakurai and puts his hand on his shoulder. “Relax buddy, no one would hurt him here.” He said. Sakurai turns around to meet him, he was Ninomiya, the heir of the company.

“I can’t allow physical contacts with strangers” He said.

“Don’t worry, let him enjoy his time. It’s an order.” Nino said. Sakurai couldn't do anything but nod since he had to obey the young man. Aiba witness the whole thing and he mumbled ‘thank you’ to Nino. Nino charmingly winked at him and told him to enjoy his time.

At the beginning of the party, Sakurai was stuck on Aiba’s back, he couldn’t leave him alone, he didn’t even allow him to drink alcoholic drinks, bringing his sickness as an excuse. Aiba didn’t like it of course, so he starts to interact with others to get away from Sakurai.

The distance between Aiba and Sakurai gets bigger and bigger by the time, but that didn’t interrupt Sakurai from doing his job, he was observing Aiba’s every move and the people around him, his eyes were glued at Aiba in fear he’ll lose him.

Then, the one hour they planned to spend there turns into three hours, the time was almost 11pm and it was already late. Sakurai thinks of leaving, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask Aiba, the view of him smiling and enjoying his time stopped Sakurai from interrupting him. This was the first time Sakurai saw Aiba like this, throwing his fake personality and stubbornness aside, acting nicely and innocently with other, sharing his fascinating smile and laugh, and being himself. It warms Sakurai’s heart seeing him like this.

But one thing disturbed Sakurai, it was the man beside Aiba. He was all over Aiba, getting closer to him, whispering in his ears, placing his arm around him, and touching his thigh, but Aiba was smiling and everything was normal to him. Seeing them was infuriating, the intention of the man was very obvious, and Sakurai couldn’t stand watching them. He was ready to go and drag Aiba out of this mess, but someone stopped him for a question.

“You’re Aiba-senpai’s bodyguard, right?” Asked a crippled man, who has faint scratches on his face. Sakurai nods at him.

“Yes, so what?” He said in angry tone.

“You’re not doing your job properly, you’ve been drinking since you came here, what if something happened while you’re away? Bad things can happen in less than one minutes.” He scolds him.

“So, you are Matsumoto Jun, the kid who was beaten up?” He laughs wryly. “I’m sorry to hear about what happened to you, but don’t you dare to compare me with your guards, I know how to do my job.”

“Oh really? Then where is Aiba now?” He said. Sakurai look at where Aiba was sitting earlier, but he was gone. He looks around him but there was no sign of him. He meets Jun’s eyes, who was smirking at him. “You’re worse than them.”

Sakurai gives Jun an angry stare, then runs around to search for Aiba. He hears mumbles coming from the cars parking, it was dark to see who was there but he can recognizes the voices very well, one of them belongs to Aiba. Sakurai gets closer to see clearly, and there they are, Aiba who was trapped between a car and his mate, they are sharing jokes and laughs, before their faces get closer to each other and they end up kissing.

Sakurai can hear the dirty noises they made, it blinds him with rage. He didn’t think twice, because the next thing he did was pulling the man away from Aiba and punching him in the face with his fist, making a cut on the corner of his mouth. The man and Aiba screamed at Sakurai for his abrupt action.

“We agreed, no physical contact.” He said, rubbing his fist.

“But hitting him?!” He says, but Sakurai grabbed him from his wrist and pulls him away.

“Party’s over. Time to go home.” Sakurai said, Aiba couldn’t do anything but to get annoyed at him. Once they reach their house, Aiba locked himself in his room, he felt angry to discuss anything with Sakurai, who was already angry at him. He wrote a text message to his friend apologizing before he falls asleep.

Meanwhile, Sakurai wash his face with cold water, losing his temper wasn’t one of his habits. He didn’t know why he was so angry in the first place. Was it because of what Jun said to him? Or Aiba breaking his orders and running away again? Or seeing Aiba make out with someone? It drives him crazy. He falls asleep thinking about everything that happen today.




The next day, Aiba has no work until late afternoon, he spends his morning time sleeping, and after, they go to a variety tv show filming. The filming takes 3 hours, but it ends faster than Aiba imagined. The next activity he had was a magazine interview, and between the filming and the interview, he had a one-hour break.

Aiba waits for the interview in one of the waiting rooms in the channel building, along with Sakurai. Jun share the same room as them, but he and Aiba never talk, each were sitting on opposite sides of the room. They aren’t close as everyone thought, the mood between them was always awkward.

Aiba takes one of the magazine that was one the small table beside him. He randomly opens pages, but a page with red, bold headline draw his attention. The title was [Ohno Satoshi dating a man?], Aiba jaw dropped. There was two pages full of details about Ohno and his dating rumors, but no supporting photos. Aiba literally read every single word written in the pages, about people spotting Ohno going on a date with someone and kissing him publicly a couple of times.

Reading the article made Aiba sick, he feels gripes on his stomach, and his heart aches. He was very sure that the man mentioned in the article was Matsumoto, the same man who’s sitting in the opposite side of the room. A part of Aiba wants to slap Jun on the face, and a part of him want to breakdown. He slams the table, taking the attention of the two people inside the room. He stands and wants to leave.

“Where are you going?” Sakurai asks.

“Bathroom” Aiba said, simply. Sakurai was ready to follow him to the bathroom as well.

“Do you want to see me pissing? For god’s sake Sakurai, give me some space!” He said angrily. Sakurai froze on his place, and Jun tries to hide his laugh. He didn’t move and watches Aiba leave. He was already pissed off and there is no need to make him angrier.

10 minutes passed, and Aiba hasn’t come back from the bathroom. Sakurai is still in the room, he feels worried about Aiba who hasn’t come back, he doesn’t understand what Aiba was so angry about, but he believes he needs some time alone. He thought of going and checking on him after 5 minutes.

“I know how to do my job” Jun mockingly imitates Sakurai from the previous night. Sakurai throw an angry stare at Jun.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sakurai said.

“He been away for 10 minutes, and you didn’t go to check on him? Do you really know how to do your work?” He mocks.

“He needs time alone, and it’s not like something will happened to him here.” He said, trying to prove Jun wrong. Jun’s laughs mockingly.

“Everyone think what happen to me was a car accident, but it wasn’t, I was kidnapped. That day I had tv show shooting, we had 10 minutes break between changing to another set, I used the time and went to the toilet.” He starts telling his story, dramatically. “Meanwhile, the electricity cuts off, and at that very moment, I was drugged by someone who drag me away, outside the building and beats me up. Everything that happened to me was planned, there was no taken footages, no evidence, and no suspects. I was taken from a place full of people, and everything happened in less than 10 minutes” He gulped, remembering the details of what he been through. “The kind of people we’re dealing with are professional, so you better watch out and be careful even in high security places such as this building.” He ended his speech with a warning, there was no hint of a joke in his tone.

Jun’s talk wakes up some sense in Sakurai, he realizes what kind of people they were dealing with. He’s was the only one who knew, so he takes his talk seriously. Sakurai rushes out the room to the bathroom. But, for his luck, Aiba wasn’t in the toilet, he nervously checks all the cabins twice, but there is no trace of Aiba. He angrily kicks the door, feeling so stupid about himself for trusting Aiba and leaving him alone.

He calls him once, but obviously he didn’t answer. Then, he remember installing a tracking app in Aiba’s phone and connects it with his. He opens the map and searches for Aiba, the arrow points at somewhere outside, near the building they were in.

Feeling worried of what may happen to Aiba, he didn’t think of taking his car, he runs like crazy until he reaches the wanted place. Surprisingly, the place he reached was a bar. Sakurai looks at the tracker then at the place, it was the right place. He rushes inside to find many people there although it was early evening. It didn’t take from him long time to spot Aiba, who was on the bar counter, doing shots.

Violently, Sakurai take off the glass from Aiba’s hand. “I’ve been worried sick about you, and you’re here drinking!” He scolded him, with an angry tone.

“Sorry not sorry.” Aiba said with a straight face. “I need to drink until I blackout.” He says and tries to take the glass from Sakurai, but Sakurai pulls it away.

He’s angry at him for leaving like this, but he takes few deep breaths to control his anger. ‘At least he’s safe’ he thought. Sakurai softly stroke Aiba’s back. “Let’s go back home, you can drink as much as you want there.” He promised. Being in a close place with just the two of them there is safer than here.

Aiba nods and lets Sakurai lead him to their house. On their way back home, they bought a bottle of vodka for the depressed model. Once they are there, Aiba nicely asked Sakurai to leave him alone. Sakurai enters his room while Aiba stays on the living room, drinking as much as he can, trying to forget about his stupid crush on Ohno.

After an hour, Sakurai leaves his room to check on Aiba, who was deadly drunk, he can’t even keep his head straight. He tried to pour for himself another glass but he accidentally pours it on the floor. Sakurai brings a towel and wipes it clean. Aiba looks at him with his half opened eyes, but says nothing.

Sakurai held Aiba from his elbow and tried to make him stand up. “That’s enough, you need to sleep.” He said softly. But Aiba’s semiconscious self couldn’t stand on his own feet and he falls down. Sakurai take his arm and puts it around his shoulder, holdling him close from his waist.

Taking few steps until they reach Aiba’s room, Aiba throw himself on his bed, dragging Sakurai with him and making the bodyguard fall on top of the drunk model. Aiba smiled stupidly, thinking it was funny.

Sakurai’s heart beats rapidly upon seeing his smile, his face dangerously gets closer to Aiba’s, as he see the sparkles in the pupil of his eyes and his drunk smile. He softly puts his hand on Aiba’s right cheek, brush his pinkish lips with his thumb. Aiba stopped laughing for a second, his hand traveling Sakurai’s back, to his nape, and taking him into sudden kiss leaving Sakurai in a shock. He softly sucks Sakurai’s upper lip, and holds his cheeks with his palms. The kiss gets deep, passionate and Aiba sucked Sakurai’s lip loudly. It lasts a while, becoming hotter and wetter.

Sakurai’s kisses goes from his mouth to his cheek to his neck. A soft moan escaped from Aiba’s mouth from the tenderness of their kiss. Sakurai raised his head to look at the pretty face beneath him, just to find the man had fallen asleep already. He was deadly tired to even stay up for one more minute. Sakurai looked at him with a hurtful stare, but then he covers him with a blanket and leave him. Hoping the next morning he’ll remember nothing.




The next morning, Aiba wake up earlier than usual, he has a strong headache from drinking so much last night, he barely remembers anything but memories keep coming back to him one by one starting with Ohno’s article, ending with Sakurai…




Sakurai canceled Aiba’s actives for today, he thought maybe the kid needs time to rest after the rough night. Sakurai takes pills and a glass of water to Aiba’s room for his hangover. He couldn’t open the door easily as he does every day, this time it was different, he hesitates. So, he knocks on the door softly.

“What?” Aiba mumbles from behind the door, Sakurai can feel the tiredness in his tone.

He opens the door and steps inside, leaving the pills on the bedside table. “Take these pills” Sakurai says, his voice was ten times softer than ever, which makes Aiba angry.

Aiba jumps out from the bed, holding Sakurai from his collar, pushing him against the wall. “How dare you?” He whispers angrily, without making eye contact with Sakurai.

“What?” Sakurai gulps knowing exactly what Aiba meant. Aiba laughs.

“You kissed me?” He says, looking into his eyes, then whispers hopelessly “How could you?”.

Sakurai couldn’t deny any of Aiba’s words, or say anything, he was speechless. He just looks at Aiba with a straight face and a hurtful stare.

“And leaving a hickey?” Aiba mocks. “What were you thinking?!” He yells, rocking Sakurai back and forth, and yelled again. “Using me while I’m drunk, you jerk!” He frees Sakurai from his grip. Sakurai just stood there unable to utter a word, he doesn’t know what to say because he doesn’t know why he did it, he didn’t understand his own feeling.

He opens his mouth to say the first thing that come to his mind, but Aiba raise his hand, stopping him from speaking. “I don’t want to hear anything from you. You’re fired!” He says firmly. “Out of my house, I don’t want to see your face again.” He says, and turns his back to Sakurai. Aiba doesn’t hear a thing expect the sound of the main door opening and closing again.

He falls on the floor, holding his chest tightly, trying to calm his heart which is about to burst out from his chest. It feels weird, and Aiba hates it.




Three days after, Aiba didn’t hear or see anything about Sakurai, as if he completely disappeared from his life. Aiba hardly manages his schedule, it was hard for him to work without a manager, and he didn’t ask for a new one, avoiding the huge number of questions he would receive.

Aiba looks at his place, before he heads to work. Silence pervades through the room. The only thing Aiba feel is emptiness and loneliness. Many things had changed when Sakurai left. Aiba still can see Sakurai drinking his morning coffee on the table, or hearing him blabbing above his head about his schedule, or feeling his warmth on his lips. Aiba touches his lip but immediately shakes his head when he regains himself. He rushes out of his house and heads to work.

The rest of the day was normal, and his work helps on distracting him, so he doesn’t have to think about Sakurai. Once Aiba finished, he thought of walking to his home instead of taking a taxi, since the weather was nice.

He is walking alone on an empty street, he thought of going to the grocery story close to his house, before two men stopped him. “What?” Aiba asked, he stepped backward just to bump into a third man, who holds him tightly from his arms. “Get off me!” He yells, and struggles to get of the man’s strong grip but he couldn’t.

“SAKURAI” He shouts his name, hoping he’ll come and do his job for the first time, but it was hopeless. He tried to scream again, but the man shuts him up with a cloth wetted with hypnotic, he falls unconscious between dirty hands.




Hearing the birds tweet, and feeling the warmth of the blanket, Aiba opens his eyes slowly, as his eyes fixed to the sunlight. For a moment, everything was bright. ‘Am I in heaven?’ He wonders. His eyes go right and left, but his vision was still blurry. He could feel someone standing above of him, as his sight clears.

“Morning. Coffee?” A familiar voice offers. Aiba blinks twice before he realizes where he is. He inhales deeply, as everything comes back to him in a flashback.

“Where am I?” He asked in shock.

“You’re house, duh!” Replied the man.

“Sakurai...” Aiba called him, and rubbed his head when he notices a band-aid on his forehead. “What happened? Why are you here?” He asked, a little bit confused.

“You were attacked, I saved you.” He said naturally, as if nothing had happened between them the last couple of days. Aiba looked at him without blinking, which made Sakurai look at him in wonder and add. “You’re welcome.”

Aiba looked away shyly, he takes the cup of coffee from Sakurai’s hand and mouthed a “thank you”.

“What happened, seriously? I remember two guys blocked my way, then I blacked out.” Aiba said, trying to remember the smallest detail. “You weren’t there.” He was sure of that.

“I was there after you blacked out.” Sakurai said, pulling out a chair to sit beside Aiba’s bed.

“H-how did you know I was in danger?” He wonders.

“When you screamed my name” He snickered, smiling weirdly. When Sakurai’s words bring this memory back to Aiba, he feels his face burn in embarrassment.

“I didn’t” Aiba denied.

“You did.” Sakurai teased.

“I didn’t, but honestly, how did you know?” Aiba asked again.

“You forget the part in the contract that says you can’t fire me?” He recalled, “I’ve been watching you closely for the past three days, so…” Sakurai told Aiba, looking at him innocently.

Aiba hit his own head, feeling so stupid for forgetting. “Does that mean you witnessed the whole thing?” Aiba pointed out and Sakurai nodded slowly, hoping the man will not get angry. “But you didn’t save when I was struggling, you asshole!” He cursed and threw a pillow at Sakurai, who smiled.

“I didn’t want you to think I was following you.” He said. They both smiled softly at each other until suddenly, the mood between them became quiet, and awkward. Aiba wants to talk about what happened the previous night, but he didn’t utter a word, not until someone knocked on his front door. Sakurai takes a last look at Aiba’s troubled face before he goes to open the door for their visitor. It was Nino.

Nino didn’t wait for Sakurai to invite him, he rushed inside the house to find Aiba. He sees him sitting on his bed, with a pale face. “Oh my god! Are you ok?” He asked worriedly, touching the band-aid on Aiba’s head. “Weren’t you supposed to look after him? Where were you?” Nino yelled at Sakurai, who was standing behind them regretfully.

“I’m fine, I hurt myself while he was saving me from those muggers.” Aiba said, covering for Sakurai.

“No, they weren’t just muggers! He knows how serious the situation is, and he should’ve never let you alone!” Nino said, furiously.

“What do you mean, serious?” Aiba asked.

“You’re in serious danger! We didn’t heir a professional bodyguard so he can stand behind you and DO NOTHING.”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting paranoid over some silly fan-mail.” Aiba said jokily, but his laugh faded when he noticed the serious look on the other two.

“They weren’t only fan-mails, Ma-chan.” Nino said, this time calmly.

“What do you mean?” Aiba asked.

“We’ve been getting threat messages and warnings, for the past 2 months.” Nino said.

“From who? Why?”

“I don’t know who, but they want a 100 million yen, otherwise they’ll kill you.” Nino answered.

Aiba looked at the two men before him and bursts out laughing. “And you believe them? Seriously? You guys are so naive.”

“Right, we were so stupid for not believing them at first until they hurt Jun-kun.” Nino taunted.

“What happened to Matsujun was a car accident, right?” Aiba queried.

“No, it was a cover-up, so no one would freak out. He was kidnapped, beaten up and stabbed on his leg!” Nino admitted in a penetrating voice.

“You’re definitely trying to scare me.” Aiba’s voice became croaky, he could hardly swallow.

“You think I would lie about Jun? We had him sleeping in the hospital for 2 week because of his leg injury, and he can barely even walk now!” Nino snapped. “YOU were supposed to be in his place! You should be thankful for having someone protecting you!” He said with all his anger, after seeing Aiba was not taking anything seriously.

“Why don’t you call the police then?” Aiba asked.

“We did, they’re working on finding the person who caused all this. Until then, you should be safe as long as you stay with your bodyguard.” Nino stated and adds. “This is serious. You better watch your back” He turns around and point at Sakurai. “And you better do your job right, before I fired you.” He warned him. Nino walks out, leaving the two people in an awkward mood.

“You need anything?” Sakurai asks softly.

Aiba shook his head, Sakurai was ready to leave, but not until Aiba stopped him. “Wait!” He said. Sakurai turns around and looks at him, he seems troubled. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times. “F-forget about that night, n-nothing happened between us.” Aiba stammered and adds. “It meant nothing.” Sakurai wants to object, to say something. But he nodded obediently and left the room.




Days passed, the mood between Aiba and Sakurai was still strange. Sakurai hardly spoke to Aiba about things unrelate to work. He was always around Aiba but at the same time apart, enough to not make him suspect anything. The relationship between them becomes professional and strict, at least more than it was before.

On an ordinary day, Aiba was being interviewed for a magazine by a woman. It was just the two of them while Sakurai stood on some corner of the room, until he decided to excuse himself to go to the bathroom. He hadn’t returned, which made Aiba quite nervous, considering Sakurai had to watch him 24/7, it angers him.

After half an hour, when the interview finished, Aiba walks out of the room looking for Sakurai. He checked in the bathroom first, but no one was there. ‘Isn’t this supposed to be the other way around?’, Aiba thought to himself, thinking maybe Sakurai went to get coffee for them. So, instead of looking for him, he goes to a waiting room, where his stuff was placed.

He opens the door, to get the attention of two half-naked men inside the room. Sakurai who was about to put on his shirt, and Matsumoto, who’s sitting on a couch. “What the heck?” He mumbles, looking at the two men with disgust. He couldn’t believe his own eyes.

Neither of the half-naked guys sound surprised, scared, or had something to explain. “How dare you!” Aiba shouts, his face turned red with fury, he didn’t wait for an explanation and just storms out of the room. Sakurai understood why Aiba was angry, but he runs after him, wearing his unbuttoned shirt. He holds him from his arms, but Aiba shakes him off.

“Wait!” Sakurai said, but Aiba ignored him. Sakurai pulled Aiba strongly from his elbow, and dragged him to the nearest toilet room. “What’s wrong!” His voice crackles with anger.

“Huh!” Aiba said, pushing Sakurai away. “Seeing you... Like this!” He waves his hand, pointing at Sakurai’s exposed chest. “With THAT!” he points outside. “I thought you felt something for me!” He said in disappointed, pushing Sakurai again. Sakurai looks at him confusedly, still not getting what Aiba meant.

“You were getting intimate with him! Don’t try and lie to me! I saw how warmly you smiled at Matsujun! How could he do this to Ohno-kun? How could you do this to me!?” He screamed at Sakurai, who was annoyed by Aiba’s speech. And he finally understands.

“So, what if something happened between me and him? It’s not like I need your permission before I date anyone.” Sakurai snapped.

“We kissed! We had something!” Aiba protested, hitting his own chest.

“Weren’t we supposed to forget about that kiss? You’re the one who deny everything to begin with, so stop being so jealous over something you don’t know nothing about!” Sakura said angrily.

Aiba unconsciously slapped Sakurai across his face, leaving a red spot on Sakurai’s cheek. It didn’t make him feel any better, if only it made him feel worse. ‘I’m not jealous’, he said to himself, but couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.

He ran out of the room to bump into the last person he wanted to see, Matsumoto. The weak man, fell on his back with the collision. At first, Aiba hesitates if he should help him or leave the unfaithful man on the floor, struggling. He felt bad, so he extended his hand, looking at him with pity.

Jun could see the pain in Aiba’s eyes, he smiled warmly at him and held his hand, then said. “I broke the sink in the bathroom and made a mess. I wet myself and Sakurai who was beside me, washing his hand.” He knows what Aiba is thinking, so he explained before things got worse. “We went to the waiting room to dry our clothes. You just happened to arrive at the worst timing and misunderstood the situation.” He added, smiling at Aiba.

Aiba didn’t say anything back, he felt relieved over hearing Jun. He smiled back, mumbling and apology and leaving.




On the way home, Aiba and Sakurai share no words. The mood was extremely silent. Sakurai had nothing more to say, and Aiba is embarrassed to apologies to Sakurai for his misunderstanding. It was complicated for him to express his feeling.

Once they were at home, Aiba tried to rush to his room but he was immediately stopped by Sakurai. “We need to sort things out, you can’t tell me to forget about that kiss then bring it up to cover your jealousy.” He said. Aiba stopped in his place.

“Nothing happened, remember.” He muttered, without turning around to meet the other.

Sakurai feels his blood boil and rush though his veins. He angrily gripped Aiba and turned him around, pushing him on the wall. “You can’t escape from what you want by denying it.” He yelled.

“I don’t know what I want, neither do you.” Aiba laugh wryly.

“I know.” He said breathy, closing the distance between them. His hand moved up from griping Aiba’s arms to his nape. “You want this.” He whispered.

Aiba froze in his place and closed his eyes tightly. “No.” He answered, holding into Sakurai’s wrist, trying to remove them.

“Then,” Sakurai’s face got closer, until their noses touched, and Aiba feels the hot breath of the other man. “Why don’t you do anything about it?” He says, breathing against his face.

“S-stop.” He mutters, tighten his hold on Sakurai’s wrist, but Sakurai’s grip on his face becomes stronger.

“I know you want it.” Said. He keeps breathing against Aiba’s cheeks, and mouth. But their lips never touched. Aiba feels the heat between them, he opens his eyes, and stares at Sakurai’s pouty lips. Those lips that curved into a smirk after seeing his thirsty eyes.

“Fuck, just do it.” Aiba said, holding onto Sakurai’s face, and locking their lips together into a deep kiss. Sakurai can feel Aiba smiling as their tongues played with each other. Without breaking the kiss, they go to Aiba’s room. Sakurai pulled away to catch his breath.

“Are you sure?” Sakurai asked breathy. Aiba nod and pushed Sakurai on the bed, climb over him. Before he kisses him again, deeper.




In the middle of the night, Aiba couldn’t sleep, he keeps on staring at Sakurai’s bare back. Thousands of thoughts hit Aiba from everywhere. What are they? What would happen the next morning? What would happen when Sakurai’s job ends? Will they be able to separate their personal life from their business life? Does Sakurai love him?

Love.

Aiba stopped thinking for a second. ‘Love’. He repeated to himself, he extended his hand, and touched Sakurai’s back when the latter jumps in surprise by his cold touch.

“I’m sorry if I woke you up” Aiba apologies, drawing back his hand. Sakurai turns to face the other side, looking at Aiba. He takes his hand, and hold it between his palms.

“I wasn’t sleeping, I couldn’t” He said. Rubbing their hands together to create heat, then he brings it to his mouth, kissing it softly. “I don’t want to sleep, because the moment I close my eyes this will be left in the past.” He said.

“What are we going to do?” Aiba asks, bring his head closer to Sakurai until their foreheads touched.

“I don’t know, but don’t ask me to forget about it.” Sakurai replied.

“I won’t” Aiba said.

“You will.” He said, as if he was sure of it. “The next morning, you’ll realize what happened was a mistake.”

“Why are you so sure about that?” Aiba asked.

“Because you’re too scared to trust anyone, to open yourself and be loved.” Sakurai let go of Aiba’s hand and touched his cheek. “You’re scared to be hurt, so you prefer isolating yourself.”

“How do you know?”

“I haven’t been with you for too long, but I kind of know your true self” He said. “You’re fragile, lonely, and depressed. You pretend to be a strong and dominating person, so people will be afraid you, so no one would hurt you.” Sakurai said, as if he was reading an open book, making Aiba smile sadly. “Why?” Sakurai asks. And with croaky voice Aiba began.

“I’ve been hurt many times. I stopped trusting on everyone, even less being with anyone. In high school, I used to love this kid from the soccer club. He liked me back and we shared something. But he was so ashamed to admit who he was, so he bullied me. Thank god Nino was there for me, he kicked his ass and made him cry.” He said and laughed, trying to be humorous and break their serious mood.

He went on. “When I was in college, I got into an affair with a married man, who obviously chose his wife over me after being in a relationship for months. I felt stupid, and brokenhearted. So when my father forced me to join the entertainment world…”

“You were forced?” Sakurai interrupts.

“Yes, I wanted to be a history teacher, but my father never thought I would be good enough.” He acknowledged.

“History teacher?” Sakurai snorted, “Sorry, but you don’t look like one.”

“But I love history.” Aiba admitted, and poked Sakurai’s shoulder with his finger playfully.

“So?” Sakurai said, asking Aiba to continue.

“So, I promised myself I will never let anyone hurt me again. I drew lines around myself, and if anyone tried to cross them, I fired them. For the first time in my life, I felt powerful, and unbreakable. But that never compensated for the fact that I felt lonely.” He ended his speech with a repentance. Then he added. “That’s why I didn’t trust you, because I knew the moment I let you inside my life, you would hurt me.”

“I wouldn’t.” He countered.

“Everyone does.” Aiba voice cracked, and a single tear streamed down on his cheek, but Aiba immediately wiped it off.

“Not me, I promise” Sakurai said, and hugged Aiba, who broke down the moment he felt his gentle affection.

“B-but if you finish job?” He asked, his voice was toneless.

“I will never leave you” He promised. “I’ll be by your side all the time, I’ll protect you from anyone, I will love you like no one else.”

“You love me?” Aiba wondered. Sakurai broke the hug and to glance into Aiba’s eyes.

“I love you” He confesses, and kisses Aiba softly on his forehead. “I do, and I will always do”. He promised but Aiba said nothing back, he smiled weakly at him, before he let himself sleep on his embrace, hoping everything will be fine tomorrow.




Aiba woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee, and a smiling man sitting on the edge of the bed. “Morning,” He said, placing one mug on the bedside table and holding another one in his hand.

“Morning,” Aiba replied as he stretched his body. He sat on the bed, giving the happy man a kiss on the cheek.

“What was that for?” Sakurai asked, smiling. Aiba rested his back on the head of the bed, and took his coffee.

“Nothing.” He smiled.

Sakurai felt he owned the world once he saw Aiba’s beautiful smile. He placed his hand on Aiba’s knee and said. “I canceled all your work today, how about we go have lunch in a fancy restaurant and spend the rest of the day in a hotel.” He suggested.

“Why in a hotel? Can we just stay here?” Aiba laughs.

“Hotel sounds more romantic.” He said. Aiba laughed and agreed.

Three hour later, Aiba and Sakurai went to an Italian restaurant and shared a nice lunch together. Later, they booked into a hotel near the restaurant, to spend the rest of the day there. As a nice surprise, Sakurai brought a wine bottle from the bar to their hotel room, which they immediately open and shared while talking.

But soon enough, Sakurai starts to complain from a headache which Aiba felt as well. “I want to sleep.” Sakurai moaned, and lied down on the bed and Aiba next to him, both falling asleep as soon as they rest their heads on the pillows.




“WAKE UP YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” A scream and a slap on the face, made Sakurai wake up in panic. He puts his hand on his burning cheek, and look at the angry man in shock.

“What?” He said, wondering what he has done to make the man angry. “Wait, why are you all here?” He asks after realizing that man wasn’t alone, but he is with another five men.

“Where is Aiba-can!? We’ve been calling you for hours, we had to track your phone to find you here SLEEPING!” Shouts the man again. Sakurai snapped when he didn’t find Aiba beside him.

“Oh my god!” He gasped. “Ninomiya, where is Aiba?” He asked in panic, getting up from the bed to check the bathroom and founds nothing. He walks back into the room to get another punch from Nino, on the same place as before.

“I’m the one who should be asking! Where is my fucking brother you fucking asshole!” He shouts again, then sit on the bed, holding his head worriedly.

“What’s going on?” Sakurai asked.

“THEY TOOK HIM! I don’t know how but they did, if we don’t hand them the money by the end of the day, they’ll kill him, AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” Nino shouts, and pushes Sakurai with all his might. Meanwhile, Sakurai can only stare in shock. He thinks.

“We need to stay calm.” He said, he knew getting panicked was not going to help. He walks in a circle around the room. “Does the boss know?” He asked.

“Yes, he’s with the police in the company trying to track down the voicemail they left us.” Nino said, trying to calm himself down.

“Did you check the hotel’s cameras?”

“We just did but the cameras weren’t working at the time of the kidnapping.” Nino explained.

Sakurai tries hard to think of something, but nothing comes mind. He tried to remember everything that happened before they fell asleep. How did they even fall asleep in the middle of the day?

‘The wine.’

“We were drugged.” He mumbled firmly, and ran out of the room.

“By who?” Nino asked and ran after him, he has no idea what Sakurai plans to do.

They both went to the bar downstairs inside the hotel. Sakurai finds two bartenders behind the counter. He walks into the bar, looking for someone he barely remembered. He stopped a passing man. “Where is the bartender with the long mustache?” He asked, but the man looked at him confused.

“None of have a long mustache.” Said the young man. Sakurai angrily kick the nearest box he finds.

“Who are you searching for?” Nino asked.

“The man who sold us the wine bottle! He isn’t working here, I should have notice sooner!” He said and held his head.

“Let’s go and check the camera of the bar, maybe we’ll find something. Come on.” He said, and pulled Sakurai along with him.

Sakurai and Ninomiya take hours searching and digging on the hotel footage. They found the wanted man and found what car he used by searching the parking cameras and observe from the first moment he entered the hotel. They send all the details they found on the car he came from to the police. All they are left to do now is wait for any news.

They sit on one of the park’s benches closest to the hotel. Sakurai’s leg couldn’t stop shaking which got on Nino’s nerves. “Stop it, you’re making me nervous as well!” He said, hold his leg down.

Sakurai stood up and kicked the ground a few times before he let out a loud scream. He falls down hugging himself and crying his heart out. “It’s all my fault!” He blames himself, He stood up again and paced around. Nino remained speechless and couldn’t say a word to comfort the other man, whose face was wet in tears.

“No, no, I can’t stay here, I need to search for him.” He said to himself, and was ready to leave, before he was stopped by a phone call coming from Nino’s phone.

“They’re calling!” Nino said, he couldn’t answer the phone because of the nervousness, making Sakurai take the phone from his hand and answer it. It was a call from the detective telling them about the place they found, the police were already there, surrounding the place.

Sakurai and Nino immediately head off to the place. It was an abandoned coffee shop in an old and empty neighborhood, the police were everywhere around the place, but no one had broken in yet, they all waited for orders from their chief.

“What are you doing? Just go in now!” Nino screamed at the one of the officers.

“We can’t. The one inside has threatened to burn the place if anyone steps in, the building is drenched with gasoline.” He explains desperately.

“You have half an hour before midnight. Tick Tock!” A voice came from inside the building, teasing the police with his hysterical laugh.

“You tried the back door?” Sakurai asks.

“Yes, it has two guards.” The officer answered. Sakurai observed the whole place while he stood on his place. The building has an upper window opposite to the next building’s window. Sakurai think it’s the best way to go in.

“How many are inside?”

“Not sure, 3 or more maybe?” Said the officer. Sakurai nodded, and told Nino to be ready for his phone call, then goes to sneak inside the next building. It was old and worn out, he thought if the other building was in the same condition, it’ll burn easily. He went upstairs to the room opposite to the others. The distance between the two windows is long, any mistake and Sakurai could fall fatally.

He takes a deep breath before he dashes and jumps to the next window, luckily, he gets inside but with a very loud crash. “Who’s upstairs?” One of the kidnappers wondered and asked his mate to check. Sakurai hid behind the door of the room, getting ready to fight whoever came.

The man slowly entered the room to find it empty, he steps inside where Sakurai can see him. He gave him a strong hit on his neck from behind, making the man falls unconsciously. Sakurai went to the stairs, where he can see the whole living room. Four men surrounded Aiba, who’s lying down in pain.

Sakurai swears to himself he’ll kill them after saving Aiba, but now he has to find a way how. There is a window in the living room, it’s the nearest and the best exit from the room, now he has to find a way to distribute those people.

He called Nino and asked him to make the police disturb the kidnappers from the back door. And they did as he told them. Two of the men go to the back door in the kitchen, trying to warn back the police as the other two remained in their place.

Sakurai had no choice but to fight the two of them alone. He waits until both gives him their backs. Without losing another second, Sakurai hits the first man on his back, and the other one on his neck. One falls tumbling in pain while the other was ready to hit Sakurai, until he gives him a blow on his stomach, and leaves him groaning on the ground.

Sakurai rushes to Aiba and carries him before he even checks his condition. He heard one of the men scream ‘Burn!’. The moment Sakurai jumps out of the window, holding Aiba, an explosion goes off.



“Ma-chan, wake up! Please open your eye!” Ninomiya said, shaking the body laying the stretcher, with a breathing tube covering his nose and mouth. Two nurses are drawing the bed while a doctor checked Aiba’s pules.

“It’s low.” The doctor mumble, but Nino heard it.

“What!” He cried out. The doctor gave Nino a sorry stare, as they all rushed to the emergency room. One of the nurses stopped Nino from entering, so he stood in front the room, hopelessly.

Nino paced outside the ER, worried sick. Aiba’s condition wasn’t good when the paramedics arrived. He had been beaten up bad, to a point where Nino couldn’t recognize him at first because of the bruises and blood on his face. He felt terrible, as if the world collapse upon him, he didn’t know if to breakdown crying, or beat the hell out of the person who caused this.

“Where is he?” Nino follows the direction of the new voice, it belonged to his uncle, Aiba’s father.

“I-inside.” Nino said with a husky tone, he’s torn and feels like crying when his uncle takes him in a fatherly hug.

“It’s going to be fine, I know my son, he’s strong, he’ll be fine.” He said, trying to comfort his nephew and himself. As much as he tried to act strongly, he was still a father whose son was fighting for his life. Still he thought crying will never bring any benefit to him or others, so he kept on praying, internally.

He broke the hug, and looked at Nino with a warm smile. “Christmas is near, and you know how much Masaki loves this day. He’ll never leave and let us celebrate this day alone, right?” He cheers. Nino nods. Not until a third person interrupted them.

“I-is he fine?” He asks worriedly. Aiba’ father couldn’t stand seeing the sight of this person, he walks up to him and punched him in the middle of his face, making him fall down, and his nose bleeds. He totally ignored the miserable state of the man, who had bandages all over his left arm.

“Son of a bitch! And you have the courage to be here!” The father snapped at the poor man’s face, and was ready to give him another punch until Nino stopped him.

“Uncle, he’s already been hurts.” Nino tried calming him down, he wasn’t trying to defend the man with a broken arm, but he believed fighting wouldn’t bring any help but more stress. “He saved Ma-chan. His job is done.” He said, taking the old man back.

Uncle pushes Nino away softly, and pointed at the person on the floor with his forefinger. “I trusted you.” He began, with a disappointed tone. “You were supposed to protect him, but you SLEPT with him!” He snapped.

“W-we…” Sakurai felt troubled, he couldn’t confirm anything nor lie.

“Don’t deny it! I’m not stupid! Booking a hotel in the middle of the day when he has no work! You’re playing with my son!” He said. “MY OWN SON!” He reiterated.

“I’m not playing with him.” Sakurai protested, and stood up.

“Then what do you call that! One-night stand?” Said, the old man. “Oh, since you’re not in serious danger right now, how about we have sex, I’m bored.” He sneered.

“No, it’s not like that!” He tried to object but the old man yelled at him.

“THEN WHAT!”

“I LOVE HIM!” Sakurai yelled back, looking at him in the eyes deeply.

“You call that love? Take him to a random place to pleasure yourself then put him in danger?!” The old man mocks him.

“I love him, and if I ever knew something like this would happened I would have never taken him there.” Sakurai said, trying to fix things between the two of them. But nothing seemed to be fixed.

“So, you love him, and let’s suppose he loves you back, then what? What about when we don’t need your service anymore?” Asked, Aiba’s father with a smirk. “You haven't told him about you going back to China after this, have you?” He laughed when Sakurai’s face turned pale.

“I h-haven’t, but I will” Sakurai stuttered, but the old man kept on laughing until his face became red. In a second his face turned serious and he yelped at him.

“But, in the end you will leave him, and you’ll hurt him, you will hurt MY SON!” He said angrily.

“I won’t, you have to believe me.” Sakurai pleaded. The old man couldn’t stand the sight of the bodyguard, he took a step back and turned around.

“You broke my trust in you once you failed to do your job, so leave.” He said.

“I want to see him.” Sakurai said in a wobbly tone, his jaw shakes, as if he was about to cry, but the man didn’t answer him. Nino came between them and asked Sakurai nicely.

“Sakurai, leave, you’re not helping here.” Sakurai looked at him with pitiful eyes, but Nino shakes his head. Sakurai leaves with his head down, and Nino can hear the man sob softly as he disappeared away.

Few minutes later, the doctor came out from the emergency room, Nino and his uncle immediately asks him about Aiba’s condition. He smiled at them. “He has received quite a few fractures, it’ll take some time to heal, but it’s being taken under control. He’ll recover.” Both Nino and Uncle sign in relived and asked to see him, but he was sleeping and resting for now.




Aiba gradually opens his eyes to see everything around him dyed in white, he can hear the sound of pulse reader, and smell the scent of sterilizer. Two people stand beside him and Aiba can see the smile on their faces, he wonders what’s happened.

“I’m glad you’re fine.” His father said gladly, and Nino jumps on him on the bed, making him cry in pain because of the aches in his body. Nino gets off him and apologies, but still smiled.

Aiba tried to sit up but he couldn’t do it alone. Upon seeing him struggle, Nino helped him gently. Aiba looked around the room. “Where is Sakurai?” He asked, eyeing Nino who seemed troubled, then at his father who avoided him.

“Something happened to him?” He asked worriedly.

“No, he’s fine, it’s just…” Nino said, and looked at his uncle, waiting for him to say something.

“What?” Aiba said.

“His job with you is done, there is no more danger so there is no need for him to stay with you.” His father said, calmly.

“But he’s still my manager” He commented.

“I know, I fired him, we’ll find you another one.” His father informed him

“But I don’t want another one. I want him.” Aiba implored. His father shook his head and sit beside Aiba on the bed. He held him by his arms firmly, and looked at him in the eyes.

“He is no good for you.” He said.

“I’m the one who decides what good for me!” Aiba yelled, and moved slightly, making his wound hurt, and he cried in pain.

“Masaki, calm down, you’re going to hurt yourself.” Nino advise him, but Aiba looked at him and point at his father.

“He fired him without even discuss it with me.” He said in anger.

“I know what going on between the two of you.” His father revealed. Aiba looked at him toughly, and with a smirk he said.

“We love each other and there is nothing wrong with that.”

“It’s wrong, you’re being with someone who doesn’t separate his personal life with his business life, and he has puts you in danger because of that!” His father protested.

“No, he didn’t, you’re the one who put me in danger!” Aiba corrected. “Everything started because of you. The one who was behind all these attacks told me.” He starts, since he knew about everything now. “He was your partner when you first opened the agency, but because of some discussion between the two of you, you fired him.” Aiba said, and he notice his father face get pale. And how he tried to say something, but he couldn’t.

“He lost his job, his family, and his house. He lost everything because of you! And that’s why he came after me, for revenge, he was planning to hurt me whether you gave him money or not. Everything happened because of your selfishness. You’re always think about yourself.” Aiba blames him, his father covered his mouth with his hand in shock. Aiba added. “You knew who he was but you didn’t tell the police because you were afraid he was going to expose you and your filthy money laundering and drug dealing.” He pronounced clearly with a hateful look.

“T-that was in the past,” His father said in a low voice, regretfully.

“But that’s what stopped you from saving me, a stupid mistake from the past.” Aiba said, plainly. His father kneeled beside the bed, holding Aiba’s hand.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized heartily. But Aiba looked elsewhere.

“Sorry isn’t going to fix anything, isn’t it?” He said.

“I’m so sorry, all these things happen in the past, I’ll never ever do something like that again, so please, forgive my mistakes.” He promised, crying on Aiba’s hands. Then he faintly added “Please.” Aiba said nothing. He saw his father breakdown, asking for forgiveness.




A week after, Aiba was discharged from the hospital on a wheelchair, his injures still needed more time to heal. The first thing Aiba wanted to do is search for Sho, to find him, and thank him properly. It takes days until he finally knows where to find him.

Aiba goes to a park in the middle of the town, it was quite crowded considering it was Christmas Day, and there is a festival for kids. There is a person in bunny costume selling balloons to the children. Aiba goes to him and bumps into him with his wheelchair, making him stumble and fall, releasing the balloons from his hand, but he still manages to catch two of them. Red and green balloons.

“I guess we know each, don’t we usagi-san?” Aiba said jokingly to the other. The bunny man removed his mask and looked at the man in shook.

“A-Aiba, how did you know I was here?” Sakurai asked in wonder.

“It wasn’t hard, what are you doing here anyways?” Aiba smiled. Sakurai stood up and brushed off the dirt from his legs. He looked at Aiba with a pitiful smile.

“I lost my license because after breaking one of my company’s rules, that states to not have sexual relationship with our client.” Sakurai said. He looked down in embarrassed.

Aiba rolled back and forth on his wheelchair and sighed. “Ahh, you always break rules and promises.”

“What do you mean?” Sakurai asked, looking at him confusedly.

“You broke your promise to me.” Aiba stated, raising his eyebrow at Sakurai, who didn’t understand what he meant. “About never leaving me. Ah I feel stupid I should never have trusted anyone.” He added.

Sakurai immediately shake his hand, and denied it. “I meant it!”

“And I should never have trusted your ‘I love you’.” Aiba sighed again, but he doesn’t act angrily or anything, he’s calm.

“But I love you!” Sakurai confessed.

“You left me.”

“I had no choice.” He claimed, but Aiba smiled warmly, making him scared a little bit.

“Whatever, I don’t need a bodyguard anymore.” Aiba said, and turned himself around to leave.

“Don’t do this.” Sakurai asked him faintly, he wants to stop him but can’t.

“Thanks for saving me, Nino told me about your epic role.” Aiba joked, but Sakurai looked at him sadly.

“Don’t leave.” He said, hopelessly, but the man moved away with his wheelchair. It hurt him to see him leave. He fell on the floor, and tears roll from his eyes when Aiba said “Bye bye”. He looked at the ground and watches his own tears falling down, but not before the same man shouts from behind.

“Oh right, I remember something.” He said, and get closer to Sakurai, who wipes his tears, and look at him in confuse. “After few months I’ll be back to work and I need a manager.” Aiba asked.

“A-are you asking me?” Sakurai asked back, he doesn’t know if he should smile or what.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to” Aiba said.

“I want to, but you father...?” Sakurai said puzzlingly, making Aiba roll his eyes.

“Yes or no?” He asked once again.

“Yes, of course yes!” Sakurai immediately answered, he stood up from the ground, and smiled at Aiba stupidly. Aiba smiled back making Sakurai feel warm. Aiba took a golden bag that lay on his lap and hands it to Sakurai, who looks confused.

“Merry Christmas” Aiba said. Sakurai looked at him then at the bag. He takes it and sees what’s inside. It was a red sweater. “I thought it would look good on you.”

“Thanks.” Sakurai felt ashamed for not bringing anything for Aiba, so he gives him the two balloons he has. “Merry Christmas.” He smiled at him.

“And?” Aiba said, making Sakurai let out a soft ‘huh’ in wonder.

“Merry Christmas and?” Aiba said again, waiting for Sakurai to say something back, but he looked at him in confused.

“I don’t get it.” Sakurai smiled wryly and looked troubled.

“You know I have a history of lung disease, but you never know the date of my birthday?” Aiba commented, but Sakurai shook his head.

“I don’t…” Sakurai felt stupid for never knowing his birthday.

“Never mind, it was yesterday.” Aiba said not letting it bother him, although he’d been hoping for something.

Sakurai leaned forward to Aiba, when he noticed Aiba did nothing about it, he placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Happy Birthday.” He whispered in his ears. Aiba wraps his arms around Sakurai’s neck, hugging him. He smiled.

Sakurai hugs him back, and cry out “I love you, I love you, I love you.” He tightened his hug, making Aiba cry in pain, but he never let him go. “This time I swear I’ll never ever leave you.” He promised and Aiba rubbed his back, lovingly.

“You better not, you need to give me a proper birthday present next year.” He warned him, and laughed. Sakurai broke the hug and looked at Aiba. They laughed together and Aiba smiled gently at Sakurai.

“I love you too.”

Comments

[amh1988]

OMG my story!

Right, I'm on my phone, but I have a lot to say, so this might be rambling and full of typos; apologies in advance.

Firstly, allow me to reassure you that I am totally fine with your characterisations here. People are shaped by their experiences and circumstances, so it makes sense in an AU that changes their history they would have developed different ways of seeing the world. I think you showed that especially well with Aiba, and the glimpses we got of his back story. And through it all there were the hints at the side of him that we (as readers) are more familiar with.

I loved the idea of the story too. And all the parts left unsaid, like the full story of Aiba's crush on Ohno and his ensuing rivalry with Matsumoto. There's just so much more to be explored!

Nino showed his strength and his softness in the story too. I liked how he was the first person who really hand a hand on the unruly Aiba by going after his wallet. But he was also the person most focused on Aiba's wellbeing throughout. That was sweet.

Speaking of sweet. Sakurai knew what he wanted didn't he!? I liked that he could be so open and honest about his feelings. And, even though it didn't work out, I enjoyed the part where he was basically trying to take Aiba on a proper romantic date after Aiba opened up about his insecurities. I felt like that was a very 'Sho' thing to do.

Dearest anon, you were breaking my heart near the end there, but you came through and Aiba got his happy ending on his own terms, which was cool. (Also, lol at mascot bunny Sho.)

Thank you for the wonderful story!

[piggywhale]

OK, this one is certainly different from the usual Aiba story, but hey, I find this very enjoyable and also very amusing 😆 You made me laughed quite a few times seeing these two hurting each other. Well, it might not be your intended effect but seriously it’s highly enjoyable. I think I really love seeing Aiba and Sho behaving badly and hurting each other even though it’s obvious that they were attracted and had feelings for each other. Aiba was being quite childish and Sho was equally unprofessional only added to the bitter (yet fun) element of this story. Of course, it may be very different from Aiba’s usual image, still, I can imagine him in this role perfectly well. He had layers of personality too, which was wonderful for the story. I think how you portrayed Aiba here fitted very well with the story and the plot. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

By the way, I LOVE Nino here. LoL Fine, he did scream and shout A LOT. But he’s capable and endearing. Who would have thought Nino would be the most solid character-wise? I really like this. And the Ohba here was totally A+++. You made my angsty Ohba heart screamed with joy. The unrelinquished love Aiba had, and the longing that he felt for the no-clue Ohno was angstily wonderful. Thanks for including that here.

PS. Jun was V. cute ;) lol

[nicefinalbeam]

Aiba was so different in this story, he definitely had layers :D I really liked toward the end that even though his father had been a little hard on him - and didn't pick him to be heir of the company - he was still protective of Aiba and cared about him enough to warn Sho about hurting him. He didn't want Aiba to get involved with someone who would leave and break his heart. Aww! Even though he was misguided about Sho being the one to put Aiba in danger, and it was really his own acts, I'm glad that deep down he wants his son to be safe.

Sho had a sort of aggressively seductive approach to winning Aiba's heart - wow! But it worked for him ;D And the end was really cute with their declarations of love and wanting to stay with one another. ♥

[ica_90]

this is nice!!!!!

Aiba was such an asshole at the beginning, i have to say i'm kinda annoyed. but then when Sho came, i just sajfldskjfgbddfhabds. thank god Sho had this stubbornness and didn't really follow aiba's order.

i like how you write this story. The suspense, the romance part. and the ending, thank god!!! hopefully the father won't be in their way.

nice story. thanks for this author-san. :)

[wjktl1999]

This is thrilling & touching