Delicious Love Triangle

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“Shin-chan,” he said to Shinji.

Shinji looked at him sideways. He was now busy making a dough of some sort, rolling it around in his perfectly formed hands. Flour dusted his arms up to the elbows and his slim arm muscles flexed with his movements. “Yeah?”

Hiko ignored the tightening in his groin. He wondered if Shinji felt this way too and if the desire he felt pass between them now and then was his imagination. Maybe turning twenty-seven in a few months was affecting Shinji the same way. Or maybe it was the fact that Shinji had been a host. So many women. And getting paid to be nice to them and make them feel special. He’d finally burned out, glad to have saved enough money to start his catering business. Hiko knew that if Shinji was going to settle down with any woman, it would be Hana, someone he loved deeply and who was a good friend. If Hana wanted to remain only friends for the rest of their lives, Shinji would go along with it.

Hiko went to the end of the kitchen and peered around the corner. From this angle, he could hear the shower. Good, she wouldn’t hear their conversation. She’d probably raise a stink, so he’d better talk privately with Shinji first.

Satisfied, he went back to his spot at the counter a few feet away from Shinji and picked up the stereo remote. He turned the volume up a bit, enough to mask their voices. “I have an idea.” His gut tightened. “Hana should finish that manga she put aside in favor of her fashions.” He set down the remote and picked up his beer. “She’s just as good a mangaka as she is a clothing designer.”

Shinji paused, both hands in his dough. “Yes, she is.”

In the earlier days when Hana was making initial sketches of her characters, she’d had the two of them pose for her, clothed, of course. She’d made a countless really good sketches and had much of the graphic novel completed. But just before finishing, she’d stalled out. Not only had she been distracted by her interest in fashion, but she’d been oddly blocked. In drawing the male-male love scenes, the perfection she achieved in her other panels had eluded her. They weren’t bad, but they’d been missing a certain…something.

Shinji tilted his head. “You think we should offer to pose for her again?”

Hiko nodded. Heat flushed his cheeks, and more concentrated in his groin. His heartbeat rose. What he was about to propose was an entirely different matter. “She’s good enough to get published. She just needs to polish her…love scenes.”

Shinji stiffened a moment. The perfect smooth skin of his cheeks colored. He looked into his bowl and tore of a hunk of dough which he skillfully began to shape. “Well, um, that’s true.”

From Hiko’s vantage point, he could see the bulge in the front of Shinji’s boxer briefs had grown slightly larger. Apparently, the idea appealed to his friend, even 15

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though he wasn’t saying so. ”So, I was thinking we could pose…that way for her.

Maybe having live models would be more…inspiring.”

As if having a life of their own, Shinji’s fingers nimbly formed a small pastry cup.

He set it aside on the floured surface and pulled off another ball of dough. “I agree with that too,” Shinji finally said. He looked up again and pinned Hiko with his wide, intense gaze. Shinji had beautiful eyes, and wore the same expression as he had one day in a deserted parking lot nine years ago when they were going to fight it out for Hana.

Then and there, Hiko had known he couldn’t hit his friend. Nor could he lose him.

They’d gone nearly two weeks before that without talking. Two of the most miserable weeks of his life.

And Shinji’s life too, as Shinji had confessed when they’d reconciled. “So,” Shinji said, “you and I are willing to do it, but is Hana going to be willing?”

Hiko’s stomach jumped again. “If I know her, she’ll be willing if she doesn’t believe she’s imposing on us.”

Shinji remained silent, but Hiko knew him well. He was absorbing, processing, imagining. There was a deep trust between them. So many times Hiko had imagined they’d lived other lifetimes together. Maybe they’d even been fellow samurai. Two samurai who’d loved each other and fought in battle together, companions who remained deeply bonded until death. Maybe that’s why there was this bond between them. Even though Hiko wasn’t attracted to guys in general, he’d always felt drawn to Shinji.

Finally Shinji dipped his head, a brief nod that meant, Yes, that’s a good idea.

Hiko stepped in closer and put a hand on Shinji’s forearm. The current zinged between them, small tingles under Hiko’s fingertips. “It’s more than that, Shin-chan,”

he murmured.

Shinji’s eyes remained large, staring up. “What do you mean?”

Hiko sighed. The anxiety he’d felt when he thought that Hana and Shinji might have been fighting overcame him again. Instead of lifting his hand from Shinji’s arm, he squeezed it, not wanting to break the contact. “I mean that, well, I don’t want this setback of Hana’s to affect…us. The three of us, together.” He exhaled. “I don’t think I’m saying it right.”

“Yes, you are.”

The look in Shinji’s eyes made Hiko’s heart lurch. He’d seen it before but had always tried to dismiss it as his imagination. As if someone had taken a marker and written Shinji’s emotions across his forehead. Burning love and loyalty. “Thanks, Hiko.”

The unspoken message was clear. Shinji understood Hiko’s concern for him as well.

Shinji had always been grateful for Hiko’s friendship, that someone understood him and had been there for him in his worst times.

In that exact moment, Hiko knew deep in his bones that if he wanted to be with Shinji as more than friends, Shinji would agree. If he said, ‘Shinji, come to my bed right now, please,’ Shinji would nod and follow him, no questions asked.

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Hiko sighed. “So, it looks like you and I are in.”

Shinji smiled and nodded. “Yes,” he said softly.

Shinji’s willingness and trust gripped him. Need, like a ball of heat in Hiko’s middle, flared and spread through his body. Shinji was the other half of him. Since they’d become friends, Hiko had felt he could face anything life presented as long as Shinji was there. His gaze dropped to Shinji’s full lips. In that moment they looked lush and ripe, slightly parted.

Shinji’s lids lowered, the brush-like lashes nearly hiding his eyes. Whether he’d done that consciously or not, Hiko didn’t know, but the tiny movement pulled him in.

His beer in one hand, he lifted his other hand off Shinji’s arm and cupped the back of Shinji’s neck.

Leaning in, he touched his lips to Shinji’s. The other man’s lips were surprisingly soft, softer even than they looked. He rested there and caressed the seam of Shinji’s lips with the tip of his tongue. Shinji pulled in a breath and tilted his face so that their mouths rubbed together.

Hiko’s heartbeat thrummed in his breast. The skin of Shinji’s neck was warm and smooth against his fingertips. Shinji’s lips parted, inviting him in. He took the chance being offered and slipped his tongue inside. It met with Shinji’s and danced delicately against it. The other man tasted good, warm and erotic.

In the background, Hana’s shoji screen slid open. Hiko lifted away, his gaze and Shinji’s locked. He was breathing heavily and noticed the flush in his friend’s cheeks.

His vision blurred. His body pounded. Had Hana not been home yet, he would have been tempted to pull Shinji into his room for further exploration. Now it would have to wait.

Waiting for Hana to appear, Hiko remained in the same spot, willing the hot blood pounding through him to subside a bit. If he turned around now, Hana would see the raging hard-on pushing against his work pants, baggy as they were. He touched Shinji’s cheek. “I’ll set the table,” he murmured.

Shinji nodded and slowly turned back to his work.

Just then Hana came around the corner, looking cute as usual in her favorite baggy T-shirt with the Hello Kitty emblem over the breasts and her pink-checked pajama pants and bunny slippers. In spite of the cutesy girl thing she had going on, Hiko liked the way her breasts swelled against the thin material of her shirt. Though he’d never seen her naked, he often imagined the alluring slopes of her curves, the roundness of her ass and suppleness of her thighs. She’d tied back her chestnut-dyed hair into a pigtail at the crown of her head, which made her look sixteen instead of twenty-six.

Their love of stuffed animals and other little-girl things was a strange phenomenon he’d noticed about women. However, Hana looked cute and brought out his protective instinct even more strongly, especially since her large brown eyes were still red-rimmed. Knowing her, he guessed she’d done a bit of weeping in the shower, not wanting to trouble him and Shinji too much with her angst.

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All the more reason his plan was a good one. For too long she’d been absorbed in her work, not even having a boyfriend and spending minimal time with girlfriends.

Human beings needed balance. Life was too short and fragile to pour all one’s energy and devotion into any one thing. People, places and careers could be snatched away by any number of circumstances, as he’d learned by his father’s sudden death by disease when he was twelve. The experience had marked him deeply, which was why he made the most of his friendships with these two people he loved.

“How are you doing?” he asked Hana as they set the table together.

Misty-eyed, she sniffled but managed to nod. She gently set a pair of chopsticks at his place setting. “I’ll be all right.” She looked at him then at Shinji, her eyes wide. “I promise I’ll find something else as soon as possible. I don’t want to fall behind on my share.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” he told her. “Thankfully, we’re doing well.” He grinned at her and set down a bowl. “Besides, Na-chan, you’re our girl. We’ll take care of you.”

Her round cheeks colored and her full lips pouted. “Thank you,” she said, her voice nearly a whisper.

Though she’d accepted gratefully, Hiko sensed her distress. She didn’t want to be a burden. She’d always been this way, insecure about the solidity of love.

“Besides, Shinji and I have an idea.” He tried to act casual, though the kiss had left him feeling anything but.

Her eyebrows went up. “An idea?”

He nodded, his heart still beating heavily, as if he’d run on the track. “Yes. We’ll tell you during supper.” He didn’t want to keep her in suspense, but he needed a bit of time to compose his approach.

Hana’s stomach flip-flopped. What could Hiko and Shinji possibly have in mind for her? She fought asking them before they sat down to supper. Shinji was still busy preparing the food, which took concentration, and Hiko went to take a shower after the table was set. So she contented herself with sitting in the living room and staring out through the windows at the lights of Koenji’s shops and cafés twinkling in the dusky sky. From the top floor of this warehouse renovated into an apartment building, she could see nearly all of the city spread out below them.

Drawing her knees up, she rested her chin and stared out. In spite of the blow of getting fired and the cry she’d had in the shower, she no longer felt as crushed. That was definitely thanks to the two men who’d been here for her when she came home. As much as she loved her work, their love and support made her feel she could face anything. If they had an idea for something she could do, she would be willing to try it.

Hiko returned, in a T-shirt and baggy pants, the ones he always wore to lounge around in at home. His ebony hair was spiky and shining from his shower. He came over to her and sat down, bringing with him the fresh scent of soap and something 18

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spicy, like aftershave. The scent tickled her senses and that same tingling she’d experienced earlier began on her skin.

She smiled at him. “Are you ready to tell me your idea?”

“Wait for Shin-chan,” he said.

“I’m here.” Shinji appeared, now dressed in a form-fitting white T-shirt and long cargo shorts, and sat down in the chair at the end of the coffee table. A smudge of flour dusted one cheek, and he pushed back his bangs so that they fell to either side of his face. “We have to wait for the pastry to finish baking.” He exchanged a glance with Hiko.

Her stomach jumped again. “Okay. I’m so anxious now.”

“Na-chan,” Hiko said, “Shinji and I both feel strongly that you now have the perfect opportunity to finish that manga you put aside long ago. We both believe it will be good enough to get published with enough revisions.”

She blinked, looking from one man to the other, back and forth, as if they were playing tennis in front of her. “Really?”

Hiko chuckled. “I see we’ve shocked you.”

“No! I mean, yes.” The tingle in her skin spread rapidly into an invisible fire, up her arms, down her back…into her breasts. And then lower, in her core. Oh, no! She was getting wet from the mere mention of it, as if she’d been conditioned to associate the men in her drawings automatically with her two friends. She shifted in her seat, hoping to take the pressure off. “Um, do you really believe I could do that?” She tilted her head. “You’re not just trying to keep me busy so I won’t get depressed?” She saw Hiko exchange another look with Shinji.

“That’s not what we’re doing, we promise,” Hiko said. “But even if it were, is that so terrible? Why should you get depressed over that job when you have such a promising project right on your desk at home?”

“And,” Shinji added, “weren’t you voted best artist in the art club in school, if I remember correctly?”

Hana’s heart pounded. She remembered the untitled manuscript they were talking about. She had most of the story boards done, the dialogues and thought bubbles written. In fact, the entire manga was basically finished.

Except for the s*x scenes.

She’d drawn them, but they weren’t good enough to get published. She’d need at least to be halfway to the quality of a great mangaka like Kazuma Kodaka even to get considered.

Apparently, her two best friends believed wholeheartedly she was talented enough.

But those love scenes… Her heart leapt against her chest. She shook her head. “It’s not possible,” she murmured. “You’ve seen the drawings. The…love scenes, I can never get them right. You know how hard I’ve worked on them.”

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A strange feeling came over her, tickled at her insides. Hiko and Shinji knew of her difficulty. Why would they press her to try and get this manga published? It was almost as if they were trying to get her to ask them to…

No. Couldn’t be. They’d already posed for her. With clothes on. But the unspoken issue here was their posing…naked and together. Her cheeks burned as if she’d stuck her head in an oven. She pretended the scene out their living room window suddenly needed her undivided attention. Anything to avoid eye contact.

“Why do you say it’s impossible?” Hiko spoke in his determined voice, the one he used when he knew he was right and that was that.

“Well, because!” She crossed her arms, not only in a defensive pose but to hide her n*****s, which had hardened to points and poked at her shirt through her bra.

Hiko sat back. “Well, perhaps Shinji and I could help you. We could, say…pose for you and help you get those parts finished.”

A surge of heat scalded Hana’s cheeks. She glanced at Shinji. “I—I could never…that’s way too much to ask.”

“You weren’t asking, Na-chan,” Shinji said. His expression was similar to Hiko’s, only softer, because he was a softer person. “We’re offering.”

Just then, a bell went off in the kitchen.

“Dinner’s ready.” Shinji rose, heading toward the kitchen.

Hana become newly aware of the incredible aromas wafting through the open space. Shinji had made something with seafood, cheese and that pastry crust he’d been making. Whenever he had a catering job, he fed his roommates the same amazing food.

“It’s all right, Na-chan, we’ll keep talking about it over supper.” Hiko got up and nodded toward the table. Hana followed.

The oven door slammed. Hiko opened a bottle of white wine and began pouring it as Shinji approached the table with a platter.

“This,” Shinji said, “is just the beginning.” He set down a tray of pastry shells in which bubbled cheese and the just-distinct morsels of what was probably crab. Hana’s mouth watered in spite of the intense beating of her heart. Knowing Hiko as she did, he wasn’t finished with this conversation by far.

“A toast first,” Hiko said and picked up his glass. “To friends.”

Hana clinked her glass to Hiko’s and Shinji’s then sipped. She hadn’t eaten for hours and the first swallow already caused a pleasant tingling in her brain. Better to wait until she’d eaten a bit to have more wine.

Shinji served the steaming pastries and picked up his napkin. He’d set out forks for this course, rather than chopsticks for obvious reasons. “Just be careful. Don’t burn your mouths on the cheese. It retains heat for so much longer than the other ingredients.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Hiko said and gulped some wine, then looked at Hana.

“So, Hana, do you accept our offer?”

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She stared at them, her cheeks burning again. “I—I don’t know. I mean…it’s so kind of you to offer but…” She looked down, unable to finish.

Emotions swirled inside of her, a strange melt in which she couldn’t distinguish one feeling from the other. The world of Shinjuku and its fashion tribes had been a huge part of her life for years. Even before graduating college, she’d spent a great deal of time there, observing, sketching, dreaming. Somehow, in a way she didn’t understand, she felt that by staying at home to work on the manga she would be turning away from the fashion world.

Hiko shrugged. “I don’t see what the big deal would be. We’re all best friends.” He looked at Shinji. “What do you think?”

Shinji nodded. “I agree with you.”

Of course he does, Hana couldn’t help thinking. Since she’d known them, Shinji had always gone along with Hiko. She rarely saw them argue, and their relationship had always reminded her of superhero and sidekick.

“I know it’s fast, Hana,” Hiko went on, as if he’d read her mind. “But I also know you and how your mind works. It’s best if you don’t spend any time brooding. For your own sake. You can always go back to designing after you finish the manuscript. After all, you still have that French fusion line you’ve been working on. From what I understand, Tanaka is only introducing the first couple of designs.” Hiko frowned.

“He’s not going back on that, is he?”

Hana’s stomach jumped at the sudden fierce look in her friend’s eyes. Hiko had a tough edge at times. She wouldn’t put it past him to find her former boss and deliver a punch to his jaw in her defense. Frankly, the thought had a similar effect on her as seeing Shin-chan in his underwear earlier, but she forced her attention back on the conversation at hand. She shook her head. “No. He’s going to release those two pieces he agreed on.”

“What if they’re successful?” Shinji asked. “He’ll probably want you to contract the other pieces with him.”

“No. I can’t imagine that,” she said. “Not if he let me go because of his wife. She won’t be happy having me around again.”

“Perhaps you can go out on your own.” Hiko looked at her.

Hana froze, a hand around her wineglass. The mere idea of going out on her own was daunting. Renting a storefront would be impossible given the prices. “I can’t imagine how that would work.”

Hiko grinned. “I have some savings to invest. And if that’s not enough, I can be resourceful, as you know.”

Hana looked at Shinji but he only smiled at her. Both her friends had certain…connections, but they weren’t channels she would choose to utilize. Hiko had once done some renovations for some big shot gangster, and Shinji still knew some wealthy and powerful women, from his hosting days, who were only too happy to do him favors. “No, Hiko-kun. You know how I feel about them. Bad company.”

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“Just to get you started, Na-chan.”

She shook her head. “I can’t think about it right now.” Compared to the prospect of breaking out on her own, using money loaned to her by yakuza gangsters, the idea of Hiko and Shinji posing for her seemed much more feasible. “I guess, perhaps you’re right. I should finish the manga.”

“Don’t answer now.” Hiko sipped his wine. His dark eyes gleamed from the alcohol and his pale cheeks were tinged red. “Think about it some more over supper.

Shinji’s worked too hard on this meal not to take the time to appreciate it.”

“Okay.” She wouldn’t argue. Shinji was an incredible cook and the cheese and seafood-filled pastry cups melted in her mouth. The next course was negimaki, the tiny, tender rolls of beef captured with toothpicks and sprinkled with fresh scallions. Hana caught herself watching each man’s mouth as he put a piece of food in and chewed.

Both Hiko and Shinji had beautifully shaped lips. Hiko’s lips were…manly. That was the only word to describe them. Not full and not very thin, they were perfect. And Shinji’s lips were full and soft, pouty almost, giving him that real bi-shonen appearance that worked perfectly in her drawings.

The tingling between her legs sprang up again, a pressure that pushed at her, made her wet and ready. She watched Hiko finish chewing and swallow, his large Adam’s apple sliding with the movement. Dropping her gaze to her plate, she shifted in her chair to ease the pressure. More images of her two friends on a bed, naked, their bodies laced together, came to mind. In vivid detail she imagined Hiko’s larger, broadly muscled, pale body against Shinji’s slim, graceful frame and amber skin. “Yes!”

Hiko and Shinji’s looks whipped to hers. Shinji stopped chewing. Hiko’s wineglass froze in mid-lift.

Oh no! Had she said that out loud? She never could drink wine. Her face burned.

“Are you all right?” Hiko set his glass down without taking a sip.

She glanced down. “Yes. Fine. I…was thinking out loud.”

“What were you thinking?” Shinji asked.

Forcing herself to look up, she smiled. “I was thinking that your idea was very good. I’d…like to try it. That is, if you are okay with it.”

A moment of quiet passed. Then a grin spread on Hiko’s finely shaped lips. “I’m fine with it. No problem. Shin-chan? What about you?”

Shinji nodded. “No problem. We should definitely do it. How about after supper?”

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