Three Wishes

Hiroki started suddenly when he heard the bathroom door bang open and his lover's feet start to patter towards him. Hurriedly he flipped the pages of the newspaper over so that Nowaki wouldn't see what he'd been reading.

Cute – but pointless, Nowaki thought to himself with a smile as he dropped into the chair next to Hiro-san. He knew Hiro-san was hiding something from the guilty blush on his face; plus, Hiro-san was the least sporty person Nowaki had ever known, and there was no way that he had actually been reading the ins and outs of the latest Tokyo-Osaka football match as he was now pretending to do; and anyway, even though Hiro-san always denounced such things in public as being a load of tripe, Nowaki knew his lover was secretly a keen follower – of horoscopes. Sure enough, Hiro-san's hasty shuffling of the pages hadn't been sufficient to hide the fortunes of people born under the sign of Scorpio.

Still, as always, he pretended that he didn't know of Hiro-san's secret interest. So he was surprised at Hiro-san's sudden question.

"Nowaki… do you believe in superstition?"

"Er…" he blinked. "No, not really. I guess I always found that science satisfied enough answers for me. Though I always enjoyed the folk tales and stories of magic they told all the kids at the orphanage!"

Hiroki frowned. "What kinds of stories?"

"Well, you know, the usual ones from all round the world… Hansel and Gretel, the Little Mermaid, the Labours of Hercules, Aladdin and the Genie in the lamp… all those kinds of stories."

A tiny smile pricked at the corners of Hiroki's mouth.

"Hmm. And what would you have done if you were Aladdin? What did he get, three wishes from the genie or something? What do you think you'd do with three wishes, Nowaki?"

The taller man thought for a second and then smiled. "I know exactly what I'd do if I could have three magic wishes!"

Hiroki looked at him in surprise. "That was fast! Come on then, let's hear them."

"Well…" Nowaki started, looking a little guiltily at Hiroki. "My first wish… would be for Miyagi-kyouju to get a great promotion!"

"A promotion?" Hiroki frowned in confusion.

"Yeah… In Sapporo or Kumamoto or somewhere…"

"Ah." Hiroki rolled his eyes, suddenly understanding. "As far away from Tokyo as possible… You know, there's nothing going on between him and me, he's got his own boyfriend, he doesn't want me."

"I know, Hiro-san," Nowaki replied softly. "But still… I don't like him. He tried to kiss you… Plus, he always gives you too much work to do, it worries me to see you so pressured."

Hiroki sighed. Deciding not to fall back into the same old lines of discussion they always had about his boss, he prodded Nowaki to explain his second wish.

"My second wish would be that gay marriage is legalised in Japan – but only in Okinawa! And if the couples return to mainland Japan from Okinawa, their marriage would be annulled."

"Huh?! That's bizarre! And why Okinawa?!" Hiroki exclaimed in bewilderment.

"Well… You see, as much as I'd love to be able to marry you, Hiro-san, I know that you'd hate the intense heat in Okinawa so much that you'd never be able to bring yourself to move there permanently. So we'd stay in Tokyo. But Usami-san… he'd be desperate enough to marry Takahashi-kun that they'd definitely move to Okinawa. And then he'd have to stay there… And you'd be safe from him forevermore."

Hiroki stared at Nowaki in disbelief. Of course he knew that Nowaki had always harboured feelings of insecurity and jealousy, but he had clearly never fully realised the extent of those feelings. Nowaki's wish was so elaborate, and just to get rid of two men he needlessly perceived as rivals?

Drastic times called for drastic measures. Hiroki reached out and tenderly took Nowaki's hand in his own.

"Nowaki…" he said sadly. "Really, you don't have to feel this way! You have no reason to feel so threatened!"

"Hiro-san, it's not just jealousy. Usami-san's always turning up out of nowhere, always borrowing your books, making you check his work, bothering you whenever he feels like it, when he's not caught up in his own relationship to the neglect of everything and everyone else. I just want to protect you, that's all."

Hiroki bit his lip. True, Akihiko was sometimes a bit of a bother, but really, he didn't mind checking his novels – in fact, he felt quite proud that Akihiko always came to him first before even getting his editors to read his work. Besides, Akihiko was an old friend. Even if Hiroki did get annoyed sometimes, he never minded helping his dear friend out. He wondered what Nowaki's last wish would be – did he want to ask?

In the end, Nowaki spoke before he even had a chance to ask.

"Then my third and final wish… Would simply be that Hiro-san would continue to enjoy my company enough to always choose to remain by my side."

Hiroki's eyes widened. The great big sap…always knew what to say to hit him right in the heart.

Squeezing Nowaki's hands in his own, Hiroki stared at the table in front of him as he forced out in a small voice,

"Well, you may as well forget about the first two, Nowaki – that really is just wishful thinking, and a waste of your wishes anyway when you really don't need to worry about either Miyagi or Akihiko… But, don't worry about the third wish either… because that one's already come true."

A.N. Woohoo, first Ego drabble :) I've not written much of this pair, they're the hardest for me to write, so hope it was ok - please bear with me, hopefully I'll get more comfortable with them and write them better with practice. Constructive criticism is very welcome!