The Winter Quarters

by Anna Veriani

  “Hi, Mom,” Kai said, like he saw his mom in lingerie every day.

  “Sweetie!” she exclaimed in English. Someone off-screen handed her a coffee; she took it with the hand that wasn’t being manicured. “And—Hiro! What a lovely surprise. You look so handsome, Hiro.”

  “Hi, Ms. Takahashi.” He felt like he was a schoolboy visiting Kai’s house for a playdate. “Nice to see you.”

  “Oh, you two look simply scrumptious together. Turn around the phone, Carlos. Don’t they look scrumptious?”

  Kimi made a twirling gesture with her hand. The phone spun, dizzying, and then Hiro was looking into the face of a gorgeous, high-cheekboned Spaniard. His big dark eyes got even bigger when he saw Kai, as if he hadn’t understood who was on the phone. He waved good-naturedly and said something in Spanish.

  Kai greeted him, and then the phone turned back again to show Kimi and her makeup artists.

  “What are you getting done up for?” Kai asked.

  “A shoot promo-ing my new sonic line,” she said. Seeming to address Hiro, she added, “Sonic fashion, aural looks, you know. It’s my next big project.”

  He couldn’t imagine what this meant, but it was a pleasantly whimsical thought. “I love it,” he said.

  Kimi beamed, her teeth perfectly bleached. She held out her coffee, and it was immediately whisked away. “Do you see how this boy is? So easy to please. I like you, Hiro.”

  Kai shifted. “I kind of wanted to talk to you about something time sensitive.”

  “Oh?” One syllable like the pop of a champagne bubble.

  It was distinctly odd to be having this conversation with at least four random people around Kimi, but Kai seemed totally unaware of what Hiro considered a baseline expectation for privacy. He wondered how rarely Kai had real one-on-one conversations with his mother.

  “I, um….” Kai glanced at Hiro. “I’ve had a really amazing time away. And I wanted to discuss what you would think of… of me being with Hiro.”

  Her bright lips formed a beautiful O, and then she lit up like a chandelier. “Yay!” She pulled her hand from the manicurist and clapped daintily. “Oh, Hiro, you’re going to love being back in New York. It’s been so dull without you.”

  Kai looked alarmed. “Oh, Mom, I meant—”

  “When are you two coming?” Kimi asked. “I assume you made flight arrangements? Just let the network meet him, Kai. They’ll eat Hiro up. Viewers will love him. You’re so funny, Hiro!”

  “Mom,” Kai said desperately. “I want to stay here. With Hiro. At the Asada Inn.”

  Kimi’s long eyelashes fluttered. “For how long, sweetie?”

  Kai’s palm was wet and slipping in Hiro’s hand. “For a long time, Mom. Forever.”

  Forever. It echoed in Hiro’s head. It sounded like Kai really understood all that Hiro was asking of him—had to ask for them to be together at all.

  “You can’t do that, Kai. Hiro lives in the pit of Japan.” She smiled lightly. “No offense, Hiro.”

  Hiro went cold. He’d expected a conversation about lawyers, contracts, outrageous sums of money. He’d been prepared for the legalese of rich people, but he hadn’t readied himself for casual snobbism. Was this how Kimi always talked about him when he wasn’t around?

  Hiro often forgot Kai was rich; his fame was a silly punchline. But Kimi harbored a disdain for anyone who hadn’t chosen to be famous. This wasn’t silly. She was attacking Hiro’s home.

  “This isn’t an idea that just popped into my head,” Kai said. “I….” He looked at Hiro, and Hiro mentally willed Kai to stand up for him. For all of the Asadas, and for the inn. He did not live in a pit, but he didn’t want to have to be the one to say it. “I love Hiro, Mom. I intend to marry him.”

  Oh. Well. That was equally good.

  Kimi’s smile was growing more and more strained, now a plastic thing. “Hiro,” she said, “would you be the sweetest dear and step out of the room for a moment? I need to speak to my son alone.”

  That seemed rather rich, considering there was a small battalion of assistants surrounding her, but Kai squeezed his hand, smiling apologetically, so he got up and left.

  THE moment Hiro was gone, Kai felt like he could breathe. Hiro’s face had been filled with judgment, and Kai had felt so small.

  You’ve actually been James Duffy in a Kai disguise all along.

  Hiro had been joking, but it echoed Kai’s recurring nightmare too perfectly. What if there was truth in the joke? Not that Kai felt shallow—but what if Hiro saw him that way?

  Kai said, “I know you didn’t like living in Ishikawa, Mom, but that doesn’t make it a pit. And that doesn’t mean everyone is unhappy here. Maybe if you had had someone like Hiro in your life, you never would have left.”

  “Kai, what you’re saying is so sweet. But I’m older than you, dear,” she said. “I know exactly what it’s like to have someone try to hold you back. Your father wanted me to stay with him instead of moving to New York. I considered it—and then I left. It wasn’t easy.” Her eyes darted, and she murmured to someone off-screen, “No, that bronzer is too dark. I want something more pinkish.” She looked back at him. “You always get sad after you leave Hiro. But then you step out of it again. You’ll be happier here.”

  “No, Mom, I won’t be.” Kai couldn’t believe he was saying this, but it was easier to openly disagree with her when she was so blatantly wrong. “I love Hiro Asada. I love him. And he is not moving to New York, so I’m not staying in New York. I’m quitting the show.”

  Kimi stared at him. He could almost smell her perfume, mingled with the scent of her hair product. “You’re serious,” she said. “You actually want to stay there.”

  “I do.” Yet it somehow still hurt. He would miss her so horribly. She was his mom, and she’d helped him all these years, was the person to thrust him into the spotlight, but also the one to keep his secrets when he needed her to.

  “Okay….” She looked down, thinking. It was the same look she got when she had big ideas about fashion lines, gala events, business deals. When she looked back up again, she would have a fully formulated plan of action.

  She did.

  “You need to come back to New York immediately,” she said. “Our contract locks us in when filming starts again. You need to alert the network before the cameras start rolling. But we need to meet with Bryan first.” Kai’s lawyer. “We have exit clauses in our contracts, but they’re only in the case that a competitor outbids our network or another, more lucrative job comes our way. By any chance are the Asadas paying you billions of dollars, because that would, legally speaking, be very convenient.”

  He laughed weakly. She got it. He hadn’t backed down, and it’d clicked for her, and she was going to help him.

  “You think this is a bad idea,” he said.

  “Absolutely horrible,” she agreed.

  “But you’ll help me anyway?”

  “Kai.” She looked surprised. “You’re my son, and you’re in love, and you’re being very impulsive, which is quite unlike you but rather refreshing. Of course I’m going to help you. And I’m going to do that the best way I know how: with lawyers and private jets. I’ll arrange a plane to pick you up from Komatsu airport in the morning. The sooner you land here, the sooner we can get this sorted.”

  It seemed so simple when she said it like that. Like they were really going to figure this out.

  “God, Mom, I love you,” he said.

  She winked. “Right back at you, darling. Kisses and hugs. To you and your beau.”

  She blew him air kisses, and then Carlos fumbled with the phone until the call finally ended.

  “MY mom is going to help me,” Kai said. “And I need to consult my lawyer in person to see how my contract can be broken. But I’ll be back before Christmas. I promise.”

  Kai was still wearing his kimono from when he’d been working in the inn earlier. On his knees in the fine material, he looked too unfairly beautiful to be telling Hiro he was l
eaving.

  “Christmas is two weeks from now.” It wasn’t enough time to quit a TV show and move across the world. It just wasn’t. “That’s not the kind of promise you should make.”

  Kimi had called Hiro’s inn a pit. Whatever Kai thought, there was no way she’d help him get out of the contract, and the tiny hint Hiro had seen of her glamorous world, paired with the amount of money he now knew Kai was recently paid, meant he understood something Kai might not. The moment Kai set foot in New York, everything about Asada Inn was going to pale in comparison. Including Hiro.

  He couldn’t believe he had once fooled himself into thinking he had something good to offer Kai. Hiro’s world could never compare to Kimi’s.

  Hiro had been pacing the room for most of this discussion. He stopped now, standing before Kai.

  “You’re still dressed.”

  Kai craned his neck to see Hiro’s face.

  “Let me help you out of your kimono.” Hiro reached down and took Kai’s hand, hauling him up. Kai turned around obediently, slipping off his haori jacket so that Hiro could untie his obi.

  “Thanks,” Kai said, oblivious to the sudden heat coiling in Hiro’s belly.

  Hiro spun Kai slowly, unwrapping him from the belt. The kimono fell open, exposing his underclothing, so thin it was transparent. Hiro tossed the belt onto the kotatsu. Kai tried to take off the kimono himself, but Hiro pushed Kai’s hands aside and slipped the kimono from Kai’s shoulders.

  Kai nipples peeked through the thin white juban. Hiro untied Kai’s second belt and slipped off the undergarment, Kai’s breath catching as Hiro’s fingers grazed down his bare back.

  Kai parted his lips in surprise. He was suddenly bare before Hiro but for his boxer briefs.

  “You said that last night was a glimpse of everything you’d never had with me.” Hiro felt possessive. Kai said he was willing to fight all of New York to be with Hiro. Hiro wasn’t sure if that was true, but he needed to put up a fight himself.

  He slid his thumbs beneath the elastic band of Kai’s boxer briefs. Then he waited.

  Silently, Kai nodded.

  Hiro pulled them down, running his hands over Kai’s legs, then up the backs of his thighs, squeezing his plump ass. He remembered the warmth of his fingers inside Kai, how he’d finger-fucked him, made him come. It was almost better than coming himself, feeling that delicious, heady power he could have over Kai. Something he had never thought possible before.

  He loomed over Kai and pressed gently on Kai’s shoulders. Kai got the message and, to Hiro’s amazement, lowered himself to his knees. He looked good like that.

  Hiro was still fully dressed in jeans and a sweater, his feet bare. He unbuckled his belt and tossed it aside.

  “I want to give you a souvenir before you leave tomorrow,” he said. “Something you don’t have back in New York.”

  “Your cock?”

  Hiro ignored him and unzipped his jeans. The sight of Kai had made him hard; running his hands up Kai’s fat cheeks had made him rock-hard. His cock was straining against his boxers, and it was happy to slip out with little prompting.

  KAI shut up immediately.

  Big fucking perfect cock. Kai did not have Hiro’s big fucking perfect cock back in New York. He had never had it anywhere, but he intended to correct that right now.

  He dove in without hesitation, licking his way up Hiro’s thick length until he reached his briefs.

  “Holy hell, Kai,” Hiro said in surprise.

  Kai nuzzled Hiro’s crotch, breathing in Hiro’s intimate, rich scent.

  Kai was achingly hard. He took Hiro’s head between his lips, moaning as the first droplet of precome treated his tongue to Hiro’s salty taste. He moaned, bobbing his head rhythmically, taking in as much of Hiro as he could.

  “Oh, fuck, Kai.” Hiro’s voice was all bass. Kai couldn’t believe that before this trip, he had never known the delicious vocal range of Hiro’s arousal. He had never had Hiro’s thick fingers up his ass, never seen his hard cock up close, never tasted. His mouth watered, saliva dribbling down Hiro’s shaft. He grabbed Hiro’s cock, pumping it at the same time as he gobbled as much as he could between his lips.

  Hiro groaned, twining his fingers into Kai’s hair. He didn’t push, only kept a light, comforting pressure there.

  Kai looked up at him, and their eyes met.

  Thank you. Kai couldn’t stop sucking, insatiable, so he tried to communicate everything he felt with his eyes. He loved this vulnerability, the sheer trust he could put in Hiro. He loved Hiro’s harmless dominant streak—it was just enough to drive Kai crazy, to result in Kai exposed on his knees, serving Hiro’s cock.

  When they were in college, Kai used to jack himself off to a detailed fantasy. That was back when he thought Hiro was straight, and in his head, he would casually offer to suck Hiro’s cock.

  I know you’re straight, he’d assure Hiro. I’m just looking for someone I can practice with. No big deal.

  Kai pressed his tongue into the slit of Hiro’s cockhead, and Hiro hissed. He closed his eyes, clearly trying not to come.

  Kai slowed down. This needed to last. He popped Hiro’s cock from his mouth, a string of saliva hanging between its glistening head and Kai’s lips. Kai pulled down Hiro’s jeans and briefs, exposing his muscled thighs. Kai kissed Hiro’s legs, nuzzled his nose deep into the dark nest of Hiro’s thick pubes. Then he reached between Hiro’s legs, mouthing hungrily at his balls.

  He wasn’t touching his own cock—the thought of taking one hand off Hiro was unbearable—but he felt deliriously close to orgasm.

  “God, Kai…,” Hiro breathed. He redirected Kai to his cock, his hand on the back of Kai’s head.

  Kai fucking loved that. Hiro was his fucking boss.

  Kai moaned, squirming from his own pleasure. His untouched cock was leaking, smearing precome against his stomach.

  HIRO didn’t know what he’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t this. He never considered the idea before—of someone loving cocksucking quite so much. Kai was losing himself, eyes heavy with arousal, cheeks flushed. Hiro didn’t think Kai was conscious of it, but Hiro kept his hands on Kai’s head, pulling Kai gently back every time he nearly choked himself on Hiro’s cock.

  And fuck, it was so good his toes curled. Pleasure ran up his spine, up his neck, the crown of his head. Kai was relentless in his pleasure-giving. Hiro had fantasized about sex with Kai for a solid decade, and his brain had never conjured a version of Kai so happily high off his own servitude.

  Kai’s tongue swirled around the most sensitive part of Hiro’s cock, and Hiro stiffened, his muscles all contracting at once.

  “Coming!” he gasped, and he almost squeezed his eyes shut.

  He forced them to stay open, and he watched Kai watching him as he came. His own moans almost flushed out the sound of Kai’s helpless, needy whimpers as Hiro’s load filled Kai’s mouth. Kai swallowed greedily, Hiro’s cock still lodged between his lips, like he wanted every drop he could get.

  The pleasure rocked Hiro, an orgasm bright-hot white. For a moment he saw nothing before him but pleasure made manifest, pure light. The heat rushed through his veins, building waves crashing through him, Kai’s insatiable lips their origin point.

  Hiro stuttered, his cock abruptly sensitive. Kai slid off, Hiro’s cock dribbling its last white come on Kai’s departing lips.

  Kai collapsed at Hiro’s feet. Hiro almost followed, panting, but then pleasant, slight tickles ran up Hiro’s legs. A sweet puckering sound filled the room. Little kisses.

  Kai was kissing Hiro’s bare feet, as if in gratitude.

  This had to be some kind of dream, except in all of Hiro’s dreams, he was worshipping Kai, not the other way around.

  “Baby,” Hiro whispered. “You’re so beautiful right now.”

  Kai blinked up at him, looking dazed, his lips come-stained. His stomach was too, Hiro realized with a start. Splattered with his own come.

  Hiro finally kicked off his jean
s entirely, pulling his sweater over his head and joining Kai on the floor. Kai rested his head tiredly in Hiro’s bare lap. He breathed hard against Hiro’s softening cock, and Hiro stroked his hair.

  “You came,” Hiro said. Kai hadn’t touched himself even once.

  That was deeply psychological, wasn’t it? Sucking Hiro turned Kai on enough for him to come hands-free…. God. It seemed unbearable that he was leaving so soon.

  “Used t’think ’bout it,” Kai mumbled.

  “Hm, baby?” Hiro scratched behind his ears like he was a cat. He seemed to like it, leaning into the touch.

  “It was my fantasy,” Kai said more clearly. “When we were roommates. I’d be on my knees, and you’d paint my face.”

  Hiro froze. He never suspected.

  “Then afterward I’d get to kiss your feet and say thank you,” Kai said sweetly, looking up at Hiro from Hiro’s thighs. “And you’d lean down and kiss me and say, ‘You’re welcome.’”

  Hiro couldn’t help but laugh, trying to picture himself being that much of an asshole. It was a sweet idea, too, though. He never knew Kai had this side to him.

  “You laughed just like that in my fantasy, too,” Kai said sleepily. “Your Hiro-is-secretly-an-actual-bear laugh.”

  Hiro smiled. He leaned forward, tracing the outline of Kai’s red lips until Kai pushed himself up so their mouths met. They kissed long and slow and deep.

  “You’re welcome, baby,” Hiro whispered when they parted. He kissed Kai’s forehead just for good measure.

  “I want you to fuck me,” Kai sighed, although it sounded much more likely he was going to fall asleep in a few minutes.

  “Mm,” Hiro agreed. “That will be your treat for if you come back from New York.”

  “When I come back,” Kai objected. Then he collapsed against Hiro’s shoulder, eyes closed, surrendering to Hiro and trusting him to get them both to bed.

  Chapter Sixteen