002. where are we hurrying to

[takasugi]

( to be lacking in new merchandise as an idol is dire, apparently, but without a decent photographer to call their own anymore, things have been rough. a couple handmade badges and flyers won't do it forever. the fans need something more personal, or so takasugi is very easily led to believe, and so who better to take up the task of learning the equipment than their tech savvy president? finding another augmented that can even come close to the way a certain someone had effortless portrayed their personalities like stories to canvas sounds daunting, at least, so he takes to the work with little complaint at first.

the studio is small, the garish light setup tilting as takasugi angles a black umbrella at the side for a softer hue.

the backdrop is a dark shade, and as he stands in front of rinne with hands raised together in a rectangular shape, his notched brow creases. )

You know, for as much as you two pushed for me to be the sexy one of the group, you would've filled the role easily.

( he steps forward, closing the gap with the ease of a man who always steps with the grace needed to draw at a moments hesitation.

at rinne's front, there's a beat. a single moment of pause before he starts undoing a tie, starts tugging open a collar so gently as to do nothing more suggestive than reveal the skin of the younger man's collarbone. he runs the edge of a claw lightly against bone, making sure the creases of fabric are pushed to the side just so. )

So maybe you could stand to be a little more.provocative in these. Everything about you reads as seductive to me, at least ... your very first fan.

Comments

[takasugi]

( oof. being called out for playing around during work hours. but shouldn't this be as fun as it is serious?

his eyes follow the tie, a useful tool, as it rips out of his weak grip. takasugi folds his arms acoss his chest, twisting a hand lightly. )

Of course I do. It's...

( think. sexy is the only thing he had in mind, so... let's see. )

You're, uhm... a creature of habitat inviting someone out on an afternoon spent in your embrace... a come hither gaze and everything. That's why it's important for your chest to be visible, clearly—so the fans can visualize where they're going to rest their heads... right?

[hanikamu]

[Your plan is as clear as day, Shinsaku!

...But after Takasugi took time out of his day to actually learn photography, Rinne's not in the mood to point it out.]

That what you wanna do?

[Rinne sits back down and relaxes into the loveseat in the middle of the set, one knee propped up while the other hangs off the edge. If Takasugi has a clear goal in mind, then he might have a better idea of what his fans want, too. With an amused smile, Rinne loosens his collar and beckons him closer with a hand.]

Come here. You're my first fan, yeah? Then help me out and find a good angle. It's kinda hard to do when I ain't got a mirror around.

[takasugi]

( how the tables turn. it feels like that often, lately: takasugi playing with the ends of rinne's hair like a cat might, edging ever closer to trap him into a game that rinne willingly buys into. it's not like he dislikes the shift. if anything, takasugi welcomes it just as much. it simply takes him by surprise every time, the hand reaching out towards his, where rinne's sudden lack of embarrassment makes him want to...

makes him want to try and treat this like with the seriousness it deserves.

takasugi closes the distance further, a hand hanging in front of him as eyes dart about to map the position he's thinking of, the stars in them gleaming with interest. he knows his preferences, but whether they align with their uptight karterian "friends" is a different story. his palm grazes rinne's biceps, giving a gentle push on his upper arm to signal how it should lift and fall back behind his head. there's obvious care in it, and he swallows, the pleasant scent of rinne on skin and shirtsleeve so close and tempting. it's a scent that's been inked with hands and tongue into his very core, takasugi always finding it as distracting as soothing, but... )

If you angle your gaze just right over your chest, it’ll come across as even more alluring. Use your eyes to draw them in, not your hands.

( takasugi rests in place, just basking in the airless nothing he wants to say. his hand flexes uselessly, drawing back. after a moment, he finally finds the words. )

That knee can stay put. Do you need onii-chan's help to unbutton the rest of your shirt, or are you good?

( a tease, takasugi trying to find some ground for himself again as the heat rises in his ears. he'll need to adjust the mounted lights, and... what else again? )

[hanikamu]

[Under the studio lights, the stars on Takasugi's eyes are like cherry blossoms dancing in the air. With just one look, Rinne is drawn into his world all over again, and his body moves along to his will. Of all the people who wanted his attention, capturing Rinne's gaze is something only Takasugi has ever managed to do with intention, with that handsome face and that disarming charm that makes maidens blush. The rustle of fabric and pressure of heat makes color spread across his chest, especially where the fabric stretches to define the heft of his muscles cleaving it in two.

Then Takasugi draws back and calls himself his brother, and Rinne gulps, expecting another devious attack. He peers at him with narrowed eyes from right above his chest...

Maybe Takasugi is enjoying himself too much.]

I don't wanna mess this pose up, so I think I got no choice.

[Well, Rinne, too.]

[takasugi]

( he is. he's having way too much fun.

he rests a full, heavy hand against the bare of rinne's neck before drawing it on down. buttons pop slowly, takasugi's gaze flitting dangerous to rest beneath the spot where everything dips to form the firm mounds of rinne's chest. he can trace with hungry eyes where he's cupped the heft of them in either hand, their fullness seeming fuller every-time he gets a chance to strip rinne bare. takasugi lets out a soft breath from his bottom lip. what started as simply releasing rinne from what contains him now makes him curious about the reaction rinne might take to being so exposed under the light, sleeves rolling past arms and shoulder to start freeing him from those, too. )

You won't mess it up. When have you ever looked bad, in fact?

( full confidence. the shirt goes to the floor, tossed away and aside from the fabric backdrop. pale places the sun hasn't found while they've been hidden away in the colder months are on display, and takasugi inhales again for it. he can feel the hair on the back of his neck standing up with excitement. relax, shinsaku. this is just work, for as much as he wouldn't mind doing more.

he leans in, adjusting rinne's upper arm so it's folded neatly behind his head again. his own exposed abs catch light, rising and falling easily as it absorbs into his skin. )

... You're stunning, Amagi-kun. The gear we're using for this photo-shoot is way more advanced than what I had back in the day, but honestly, you seem way more at ease with the shoot than you do with all my fussing. Have you already done something like this before?

[hanikamu]

Thanks. [He looks away, suddenly shy.] Something like it, yeah. But taking my shirt off's new to me.

[So is the photographer hovering over him, touching him without any sense of propriety. His producer would have fired him by now... But they have no such thing in Karteria, and it's not like Rinne minds. The back of his neck prickles with pleasure, and so does his exposed chest.]

Idols weren't promoted like this before. When I started out, they marketed me as the last old-school idol...

[He shudders with a sigh. Takasugi knows how that turned out. Idols like Yoshihide were more popular than him, and... Well, let's change the topic.]

You've had your photos taken before, yeah? When you were alive.

[takasugi]

( right. things didn't go so well back then.

for as much as he'd like to play and start feeling him up, takasugi behaves. he steps off, gesturing for rinne to lean back into the loveseat and look this way after he takes to adjusting the angle of the key light source. the actual camera feels vintage in his hands, held horizontally and ready to snap the moment the shutter button is pressed.

at the question though, he glances back up. it's clear from his awkward posture he isn't used to taking pictures. )

That's right. I only have a couple, but when there were merchants around with the technology, we could hardly resist getting our photo taken, even if half of the men said it would steal your soul. Honestly, the risk felt worth it. The idea of leaving something behind for everyone to see was really tempting, especially when we all knew...

( when you all knew the next day could be your last. takasugi winks from behind the camera, though, his smile bright. )

Okay, Amagi-kun. Look at me like you're inviting me to bed. Oh, and spread your thighs a little wider.

[hanikamu]

[Risking it all for a legacy, huh? The camera isn't alien to him now, but up until a century ago, no one had the means to preserve a memory as they saw it. Back then, he didn't even have the means to take it. Now that he's in another world, the Valentia has all the memories he could ever need.

And yet.

And yet...

He's trying to take this seriously, and yet...

On the outside, he reluctantly parts his thighs, hooks a thumb in his waistband, shyly looks up at the camera, and parts his lips.]

Like this?

[He tugs it just low enough to let Takasugi have a peek of both hipbone and hair.]

[takasugi]

( now, takasugi was prepared to joke as soon as he got turned down. he was ready to laugh and say, "i get that it's a challenging situation to imagine, but just put in your best effort" as soon as rinne brushed it off, asserting that he's a pervert to then ask for something more suitable. but that all dissolves the moment rinne peers at him almost kittenish, his plush lips catching his tongue with every word and the lighting smearing across him to make him glow in a way that's more alluring than any word. his eyes follow that trail of red, his body tethered in place to imagine where his own hands might fall in climbing the sides of rinne's hips, wanting, feeling the taut curves of muscle to then shimmy those pants down even further and free what's straining and pulsing to breathe and then—

and then... the urge to pull the camera aside and take flexes strong under his soot-black fingers.

if a part of takasugi's brain weren't so insistent on getting the job done, maybe his thumb wouldn't even more for the trigger in compliance. )

Just like that.

( takasugi coos, the sharp click of the camera as he takes a shot or two the only other sound. he ignores the heavy thump of his own heartbeat. )

You've been waiting all night for me to come home, brining with want until all the lust in you becomes warmth in your chest, and you can hardly wait any longer. ... That's good, Amagi-kun. Tilt your chin in a little, and I'll... ( a pause, to swallow the saliva gathering in the back of his throat, ) ... I'll just take a few more.

[hanikamu]

[He thought he could reel Takasugi in and get a hold of that camera, but every word tightens the burgeoning heat in his pants and... Okay, now Rinne's feeling rebellious.]

For someone serious about work, you sure love getting off on the clock. [His languid limbs finally find the energy to get up and push himself off his seat. He walks toward the camera.] Maybe I oughta delete those pics the hard way.

[takasugi]

Wha...

( scooting back with the camera... actually, should he lift it out of reach? he hugs it to him. )

No. Not after all the precious effort it took to convince you to take your shirt off.

[hanikamu]

[Well, Rinne doesn't want to destroy the camera, so his hands just hover there in wait.]

I'm glad you're putting your newfound photography skills to use, Prez, but are you even publishing this? Be so for real now.

( 1 / 2 )

[takasugi]

......

( he's really, seriously thinking about it. hold on. )

( 2 / 2 )

[takasugi]

I mean, ... maybe my personal interests have gotten in the way of the original subject a little. Maybe.

( he raps his claws alongside the plastic surface before holding it just in front of rinne. obviously, he doesn't want to break it either. )

But if we're not going to use this for money, are we sticking with our old bromides? This could have been something special. You've got to innovate in the business world, after all, so I thought that as idols, we should set our own trends. A spring-themed set, perhaps.

[hanikamu]

[He takes his hands back and rubs the back of his neck in thought. Innovation is how they're going to strike big in this world. In anything.]

I don't wanna waste all this for nothing, but...

[Quietly, he says,] There are just some things I want only you to see.

[takasugi]

( his ears perk up. the little admission tap-dances on his heart, distracting takasugi from all the serious matters and financial issues and even the desire to make fun. he taps the camera a couple more times absentmindedly again, his gaze drifting as he feels a bit sheepish about a simple truth he missed in all his excitement: that just like the photos meant only for him, there are spectacles that even rinne would keep hidden from the rest of the world. obviously, right? maybe not too obvious for a man who gets caught up in his fantastical imagination. he moves in to close the gap, lowering the camera next to rinne to show him the digital display. )

Ah, ... well ...

( rinne is so cute. why didn't he just say that? takasugi's affection levels are bouncing all over the place ⬆️⬆️⬆️. )

We can delete them, ... and just edit some of our old bromides and plaster flowers or whatever on the border.

( just photoshop it. easy. he lets his tail brush against rinne's in a sign of reassurance, holding it up so he can erase the contents freely. )

But before we return the equipment and finish for the day, ... that reminds me. I wanted to make a little request. You know, as... yours. Something I've been thinking about for a while now. I haven't had a good chance to ask what with our busywork and the public watching us outside the studio.

1/2

[hanikamu]

[Rinne smiles, relieved. He was hoping Takasugi would understand. Takasugi always does.

He fiddles with the camera, browsing through the photos in the display as he deliberates the deletion of each one. He stops at the photo with his thumb in his trousers. The same thumb hovers over the button now, hesitant. It's very good picture. Maybe even a little too good. At the very moment he hesitates, Takasugi calls himself the very word he's never sure how to feel about.

Yours.

It shouldn't rattle him as much as it does. It's not like he's forcing Takasugi to do anything. But when Takasugi holds himself back, he wonders if it'll always be a good thing. The words of his AI come to mind...]

2/2

[hanikamu]

Heh! Finally using your privileges? Kyaha! Go ahead, cutie. The great Rinne is all ears.

[He leans back, standing tall with one hand on his hip and both ears at attention.

He never deletes the picture.]

[takasugi]

( every picture with amagi rinne in it has a natural charm to it, in takasugi's opinion. he watches rinne thumb through the results, where the lighting captures the full contours of his face and the shadows of his coquettish stare, a glimpse of his lover, separated by time and distance against a backdrop of rose-red. but for all it enticed takasugi, when it really comes down to it... if someone made him choose between the two, he would say he prefers the ones rinne took for him specifically, without instruction and his own imagination as a gamble to trade for a private photo of takasugi's own.

he’s curious what rinne thinks he’ll ask for, though.

something desperate? something crazy? he’s never made a request like this, and for a fleeting moment, he imagines just turning around to walk away in embarrassment. there’s no space to pace here, but all the nervous energy is bubbling up in his feet, making him feel like he could bounce, and. when rinne calls him "cutie", it at least makes things a little easier. no one from his time could ever imagine him radiating with this much enthusiasm to ask for something, maybe, where takasugi had simply made demands instead. )

... I wanted to take what they call a "couples' selfie" together, so I can use it on my phone. You'll take one with me, right? Of course you will.

( great. cool. he says it boldly, a hand on his own hip and all the energy of a man who's struggling to keep it together when asking for something so...

commonplace. intimacy rolls off his tongue much easier, the poetry of it all coming so naturally, but when it comes to something like this? it's like attuning to a hug. )

After we get you cleaned up, though. And after... I don't know, we figure out how to pose together. I've been wanting to try this for ages now.

[hanikamu]

[Rinne had no expectations. Really. Whatever Takasugi had planned to ask, it surely wouldn't be anything he couldn't give him. Takasugi has been very, very careful about that. But even if Takasugi was as reckless as he often was, Rinne wouldn't have agreed to this entire arrangement if he knew he couldn't handle it. And a man of the Amagi clan can handle pretty much anything—or so they were taught.

A couple's selfie, though... A soft chuckle escapes him as he sets the camera down.]

That's been on your mind, huh?

[Rinne remembers, of course. Takasugi's slimmer frame had barely filled Rinne's shirt in, almost like a woman waking up in his own room the morning after. He looked so adorable next to Rinne then. No one would have guessed he could kill a man without hesitation.]

What, tired of your wallpaper already? [He leans in, hand on his hip.] Come to think of it, I dunno what you've got on that thing. You never lend me your phone...

[Does Takasugi have an opening Rinne can use to steal it?]

( 1 / 2 )

[takasugi]

( he doesn't need an opening. unlike last time, when takasugi felt embarrassed and tried to cover it up...

now, he flips the device out of his pocket and willingly slides it into rinne's grip. a smile of his own from nearly a year ago greets him, radiating the gentle warmth that sunflowers need to welcome the sun each morning. takasugi's never changed it from what his own AI snapped that very moment, always looking to it right before bed... before a performance... before packing a modicum of his personal items to move into their home... )

I wouldn't call it tired. I was planning to keep it the same for as long as possible until the image was permanently imprinted beneath my eyelids, actually.

( hello? )

But I don't have a lot of you to call my own, exactly. I don't have a lot to call my own in general. And I was thinking... if I have to gaze at you like this all the time, I’d like to be a bit selfish and see myself there too, even if just for a moment. Something I can hold with me irreversibly, like a timeless piece of the night sky. Not even a poem or a flower pressed against a page can evoke as much as a picture at times. That's why I keep saving all these bromides of you, and...

( 2 / 2 )

[takasugi]

( then he bumps into rinne's shouder, tapping a claw against the glass surface of his phone. )

Putting that aside, though, doesn't it just sound fun? Here. I'll lean into your neck, and—

1/2

[hanikamu]

[Rinne circles an arm around Takasugi's shoulders and lifts his jaw to force his gaze upon him, safflower pink looking up at sky blue. For a long time, under the studio lights, he doesn't say a word. In this life, Takasugi has nothing but this. What else can he say to that? Thank you feels like a mockery. Sorry does not even begin to describe it. He parts and wets lips as he looks at a point beyond his eyes, noses touching while he tries to find the words that can mend even a fraction of Takasugi's breaking heart.]

Why'd it take this long for you to ask?

[As if Rinne is someone he can't touch?

If anyone didn't deserve to be with anybody, it's...]

2/2

[hanikamu]

[No, he won't let that thought win now. With no one else watching within the four corners of this small studio, Rinne closes his eyes and presses their foreheads together.]

I'd do anything to tie my fate to you, you moron. That's what we talked about, didn't we?

You chose me. I wanna remember that.

[Even if this weren't a dying man's wish, it isn't as if he'd hate this side of Takasugi to be a memory. A picture will be proof of it.]

[takasugi]

( ah.

maybe he'll die now, actually. all the yearning one man can possibly have convalesces into a ball and bursts right in the center of his chest, threatening to choke him with happiness over being forced to look at what interests him the most in this world and the next. his cheeks feel so hot. the smile on his own face turns radiant, all the words like honey to a man who always tastes rinne's kindness like he's starving for it. and he is, always, starving in a sense. he doesn't really have a reason to be, but there are several reasons at the same time. this gross want to monopolize rinne for his own can't twist into something that traps him so violently like those other fans might, though.

this needs to stay something unique. rinne asked him to haunt him, but takasugi, he... he licks his bottom lip, fumbling for the phone to angle it towards them. )

Right. I am being pretty stupid about this, huh.

( pressing foreheads together is so good... so good. he could do this forever. but it doesn't make for an easy picture. he leans into rinne's neck, tilting his gaze and the frame. )

Actually, ... Amagi-kun. I still have a gift I haven't given to you for that holiday you were so eager about. White Day, it was? It's a little ways from here, though, on the shore. Something special I wanted to show you. Something I wanted to talk to you about. And, uhm... do you think you could be the one to drive us there, actually? My legs feel like jelly thanks to the smooth way you're always cupping my jaw. There should be a bike parked out front.

( from the very beginning, this "job" of theirs was just a setup. )