Drinks

During his time working at an office, Shinya had always disliked the obligatory drinking parties after work. He wasn’t good at casual socialising, and the time he spent at the restaurants was time he couldn’t spend on writing. In fact he had often been so exhausted, there had been weeks with not a single word written.

His debut novel had changed that. With the advance and the steady royalties the sales numbers predicted because of the hype around the drama, he had taken the plunge. Besides accompanying the drama shoot, he was already working on a sequel to ‘Pink Secret’. Well, he had been working on it. Standing in the doorway to the room in which the production staff was already merrily drinking around a long table that was sunken into the floor, he had flashbacks to his office life. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to write tonight…

“Ueno-san!”

Minato waved him closer to the end of the table, where he was sitting together with Saya. Shinya spotted no other unoccupied seat, so he had to comply. In fact he had planned on sitting as far away from Minato after his earlier… mishap, but the man seemed to have other ideas. Shinya sat down next to Minato at the last seat of the table, opposite Saya, who smiled happily at him.

“What do you like? Is beer alright?” Minato asked.

“Sorry, I’m very weak with alcohol. Just some soda for me, please.”

Minato didn’t even argue. He flagged down the waiter and ordered for Shinya immediately.

“To be honest, I’m also not good with alcohol,” Saya said. “But I let myself get wrapped up too easily. Kudos to you for sticking to it.”

“Uhm,” Shinya replied. “Just sparing you the embarrassment of having to carry me home after half a glass.”

Just then, Minato pressed his thigh against Shinya’s, hiding a smile in his glass. When their eyes met, Shinya got the strong impression that Minato wouldn’t mind carrying him home, which made him look pointedly ahead. He didn’t pull his leg away, though. He was no fool, who would let a chance like this go to waste, despite it all.

The conversation drifted naturally from then on, across themes like the upcoming shoot, scenes from the novels and life stories of anyone and everyone present. Shinya kept to himself, chiming in when asked a direct question—mostly by Minato, who listened to every answer intently. Even without the alcohol, Shinya felt himself relax into the atmosphere. It was different from his office drinking parties after all. Everyone here was a creative, coming together to launch a project they were invested in. As opposed to his earlier job, he was important here, even if he didn’t talk much. He felt… respected. The feeling threatened to choke him at times.

“Ueno-san?” Minato put a hand on his back.

“Huh?” Shinya asked and wiped at his eyes. “Oh, just the smoke. I don’t usually spend much time around smokers.”

“Want to get some air?”

The question hung between them. Everything in Shinya screamed to say yes. How often had he imagined this exact scenario? But that was exactly why he hesitated. The Minato in front of him was a real person, not the illusion in his head. He should’ve said no. Shinya wasn’t that strong.

“Sure.”

Minato led them outside into the small alleyway the bar was located in. It seemed to have rained slightly in the meantime, as the ground was wet, reflecting the colourful lights of the advertising signs all around. Shinya leaned against the cool wall with a sigh.

“Better?”

“Why are you so nice to me?” Shinya asked, before his nervousness could tie his tongue.

“Ah, was it that obvious? I’m sorry, I’m just excited to finally meet you,” Minato answered with a shy smile as he leaned against the wall next to Shinya.

“What do you mean? Me?”

“Mhm.”

“But I’m… me.”

“Exactly. I believe that you can learn a lot about a person when reading their work. The theme, the words, the care… their personality bleeds through. The respect I could feel for them characters in your book, the quiet acceptance and celebration… it was nice. I started watching some of your interviews and found a calm, wonderful person through them. So yes, I was looking forward to meeting you. A lot.”

Shinya was frozen. “I can’t believe that,” he stammered.

“So it’s alright if you’re my fan, but I can’t be yours? I wouldn’t have thought you that hypocritical.”

“I— Agh! Minato!”

Minato chuckled and bumped his shoulder into Shinya’s. “You called me by my first name.”

“I’m sorry—”

“No. Don’t apologise. It’s good. Shinya.”

He held out his hand and Shinya took it. It felt conspiratory. It felt good.

“Don’t be so nervous around me, Shinya. I’m a person just like you.”

But you’re not, Shinya thought, though he didn’t say it out loud. You’re so much more. And I hope the world will see it too after this drama.

“Okay. I’ll try,” he said instead.

“Are you coming back in? The director wants to do a toast and he can’t do that without you two.”

They turned around to see Saya poking her head out from the curtain in front of the bar.

“Or am I interrupting something?” she asked.

“No, nothing. I’m coming,” Shinya muttered and walked past her.

Saya gave Minato a calculating look. “You know they’re all about CP marketing these days, yeah? As long as you hang around with me enough for some rumour-mill photos during the shoot, I won’t stand in your way with whatever you’re trying to achieve here.”

Minato whistled. “You’re more perceptive than him, and he was there.”

“Yeah, well, you need to have an eye for people in this line of work. Now are you coming?”

“Of course, my dearest co-star.”

“You owe me at least three viral dance challenge videos for that.”

“Yes, yes.”

——

Shinya managed to go home unscathed that night. On the contrary, actually spending time with Minato made him somehow less threatening to his psyche. He was the warm and easy-going type, popular with everyone, outgoing and loud if he wanted to. The complete opposite of Shinya in a way. And yet he always made sure to include Shinya in the group’s conversations. Having someone looking out for him made it much easier to enjoy the party, and to let go a little bit.

At least until they said goodbye and Minato sneakily kissed his cheek while pushing Shinya into the waiting taxi.

“So you don’t misunderstand my intentions,” he said and closed the door.

Shinya sat with a blank-eyed stare until the taxi driver reminded him where he was and he nervously stammered his address.

——

“I hope you got his number,” Fukuhara said.

He held out his package of cigarettes for Minato, but the other refused.

“Don’t tell me you’re stopping because that guy doesn’t smoke?”

Minato shrugged. “It’s not a good habit anyway.”

“If you say so,” Fukuhara replied and let a cloud of smoke drift off into the cold night air. “His number?”

“Yeah. I got it.”

“Good. Don’t let this cool down in the two weeks until shooting starts. You know—”

“I know, I know.”

“Good if you do.”

Minato looked at his feet, where several changing lights were reflected in a puddle, shimmering like an artificial aurora. The plan was… simple, really. He didn’t like to do it, but it was nothing… immoral, was it?

The only problem was… he actually liked Shinya. Yes, he was shy and quiet, but those weren’t bad qualities to have. And… Well, Minato wasn’t gay. At least he thought he wasn’t. But it was fun to see Shinya flustered.

“Ugh,” he groaned.

“What?” his manager asked.

“Nothing. I’m gonna write to him.”

“Good. You take the car, I’m going by train. See you Monday!”

“See you Monday, Satoshi.”

Minato watched his manager walk away. When he exited the alleyway, he drew out his phone and brought up LINE. One new contact: Ueno Shinya.

[Minato] [Hope you got home alright.]

[Minato] [smiling bunny sticker]

No immediate reply. That was fine. Minato fidgeted with his phone for a moment, then patted his pockets and fished a pack of cigarettes from them.