FicWad

Takamiya walked back to the King's Hotel in a thoughtful mood, mentally cataloguing what remained for him to do in order to check out of his suite. Talking to Aoe about Izumi had quickened Takamiya's desire to complete the move into his new apartment. Though that morning, he had considered staying through Saturday at the hotel, Takamiya had managed to accomplish more than he had expected. The phone service and other utilities were up and running. The apartment was ready for habitation. If he put his mind to it, he just might be able to start his new life tonight.

He'd have to pack his clothing, shaving gear, toothpaste, cologne and such, plus some other personal effects. Then there was the manuscript, the dictionaries, and all the books he'd accumulated in the past three months. It sounded like a lot, but it probably didn't amount to more than his original three suitcases-worth and four, maybe five boxes of books.

"Tomorrow begins today," he chuckled quietly as he picked up the pace.

When he entered the hotel lobby, he went directly to the desk and arranged to get some help in carrying his luggage and boxes. He asked the clerk to book him a rental car, and an hour or so later he was back at the desk settling his account. He pulled out of the parking area with a feeling of excited anticipation in his heart and by nine o'clock that evening, he was hauling his belongings into his new apartment.

The first thing he unpacked was the tea maker. He brewed a cup of Earl Grey and sipped it happily as he moved about his spacious surroundings.

He connected his computer and peripherals, and shelved the volumes he had brought with him. Then he energetically set about organizing the books from the thirty odd boxes that the movers had brought out of storage. The work might have gone faster, but he found himself pausing several times to flip through the pages of some of his old favorites. Chaucer. Mallory. Shakespeare. Byron. Shelley. Such difficult writers to translate well, he thought. Such a joy to read in the original.

After an hour of working like that, he paused to brew another cup of tea and take stock of where he stood.

There were still a good many things to do. He would finish unpacking the rest of the books the next day. In the meantime, he ought to hang his clothes before they wrinkled.

When he finished that chore, he placed his toiletries in the medicine cabinet, the towels and washcloths he had purchased earlier in the week on the shelf in the bathroom. Then he assessed what else he might need as he explored the rest of the living area. He had only the basics in terms of house wares. It was enough to get by on for a day or two.

Though he probably wouldn't be doing a great deal of food preparation, still, he ought to buy a rice cooker, at the very least, and a toaster, though he could use the oven, for the time being for his beloved crumpets. He started a list. Rice cooker. Toaster. Crumpets. Marmalade. Butter.

Yes, he ought to equip the kitchen. A few potted plants would make the place homier. He added that to his list. Maybe he could find the items he needed in the shops in his new neighborhood. He would go exploring first thing in the morning. Maybe he could find a café where he could have breakfast and even get some bookwork done. He'd spent many a morning and afternoon in Oxford teashops and coffee houses, working on his translations. Speaking of tea...He brewed another cup to stave off his growing fatigue.

He went into the bedroom and made up the bed with the crisp new white sheets he had purchased and the downy soft comforter, picturing Izumi snuggled up next to him and smiling as he did so. His mind soon jumped to other activities.

"Better buy an extra set of sheets," he laughed and jotted it down on his list. "And some more towels."

As he undressed for bed, his thoughts drifted as they invariably did, to the question of how he was going to win Izumi over. Of course, living in the neighborhood would increase his chances of running into the boy, but spring break would be over soon. His mother had said the new semester was starting on Monday.

Takamiya had no idea what after-school activities Izumi might be involved in. He hadn't mentioned having a job. But even so, it seemed that the only chance he'd have to see Izumi would be in the evenings. He wondered if the boy might benefit from some English language tutoring. Was he even taking English? What had his mother said at dinner that night? He couldn't quite remember. Most students studied English. Maybe he should give the mother a call and make the offer. Or was that too forward? Would she suspect something amiss? She would probably invite him to dinner again anyway. And if she did, Takamiya was certain that things would go better with her son than they had the last time.

"He called me a jerk that night, but this morning, he forgave me and that makes all the difference," Takamiya marveled as he slid between the sheets, pulled the covers up and lay on his back continuing his happy train of thought.

Izumi had been so beautiful and vulnerable the night before. Aoe was way off base calling the boy a brat. Well, maybe Izumi had cut up a little rough, but he'd had a difficult week, and anyway, Aoe had been quite starchy when he first met Shiki. Takamiya smiled. "Maybe it takes one to know one."

"Then again, sometimes when you find the one you love, you just know. Like I know with Izumi."

Takamiya closed his eyes and fell asleep with the hope that someday soon, Izumi might be lying next to him, sharing the bed.

In the dream, he was walking along the High Street in Oxford, nose in a book, head in the clouds, as usual, when something moved behind him and he turned.

"Izumi?"

There was no one there though he looked and looked... up at the steeples... up at the trees...up at a lark arrowing across the sky.

"Hail to thee, blithe spirit!"

The sentence that sprang to his lips astonished him. The dreaming translator tried to frame a translation, but the Japanese came out garbled. It was sublime! Such piercing emotion! Tailor-made for his Izumi, so lithe and bonny...the sheen of health blooming on his cheeks...gleam of sun on his thick-cropped, sweet-smelling hair....

Look at the sky he said as their horses walked side by side... Then there was only one horse, a broad-backed bay that carried them over a flowered meadow. Had he been there before?

They shared a saddle. Izumi in front, himself behind, the two of them rocking ...rocking... with the horse's soft whicker in his ears... they slipped from the saddle to soft turf, bodies twined in heat and friction while the rocking went on, and their cries roused coveys skyward-soaring larks.

"Hail to thee, blithe spirit!"

Takamiya murmured in his sleep," I love you, Izumi."



Izumi came home from his job at the café almost exhausted after a day of unaccustomed work. His mind was full of the sights and sounds of his day. He had a slight headache, and thought he'd just lie down for a little with the lights off to see if it would pass. He had work again on Saturday and Sunday. School was starting up on Monday. He had mixed feelings. New classes. New teachers. The past week he had had enough novelty to last a lifetime. Whatever had possessed him to get into Takamiya's car on Tuesday?

"I was so naïve and embarrassed. God, what a dummy. Drinking and carrying on. Was I flirting with him at the restaurant? I act like it was all on his side, but..."

Even now, the physical memory of the intimacy of the sex felt hard-wired in him. That feeling of fullness and then the emptying when he came to climax. Fuck. It had been the most intense sexual experience of his life, and God knows, out of what reserves of shame or self-respect he had managed to stop Takamiya from fucking him again just last night. He didn't want it and yet...he could see how he might have given himself to the act just for that incredible feeling again.

And the very thought of it gave him a hard-on. Thinking of Takamiya at a time like this was not a good idea a small part of his conscience warned. The other part set him a riddle. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

There was another part in hand just at the moment, thank you very much, and shut up.

He didn't need Takamiya to feel good.

His hand had always been a good friend until he'd gotten a load of Konno's porn stash. That stuff was stupid. He couldn't understand why he hadn't been able to masturbate to it just because Takamiya had...

The kinesthetic memory of the man's mouth on his cock came back to haunt him and Izumi got even harder as he lay in bed. His mouth had been so wet...so hot...His tongue...

I shouldn't be thinking of him while I'm doing this, Izumi considered again, as he wet his palm with saliva and slicked his penis with it, but somehow he just knew he was going to come hard if he did and he couldn't resist the temptation.

"It's nothing to worry about. It's just a fantasy. I've taken steps to cut him out of my life. Just this once," he promised himself as he started to stroke to completion.

In a few minutes, with the thought of Takamiya's hard strong body fucking him, Izumi finished with a groan.

"There, it's done. I'll probably never see him again, and if I do or don't, who cares? Now, I can sleep."

But sleep proved elusive. Somehow, he couldn't put Takamiya's kind embrace out of his mind. It made him ashamed to try. He would never forget the man's kindness as long as he lived.

"I do care," he whispered as tears stung his eyes, "but I'm not a homo. I'm not."

He didn't cry long. A half-minute, no more. Finally, having assured himself that his declaration was true, he slipped into dreamless sleep.


To be continued