AN: Hello again!
This is another short chapter; I honestly just wanted to get this update out of the way so I could work on WAR! Which is out to beta by the way so you can expect the update sometime tomorrow. I hope to write a longer chapter for this fic next time, I would like to finish this fic in one or two more chapters so depending on how far along I get on the next one and how long it is this fic might be done soon.
Thanks to fifteenfeb for betaing.
I own nothing.
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Host Nights Chapter 3
They walked together down the street, she had a hat and huge sunglasses on, obscuring her facial features and preventing people from recognizing her, and accosting them both with millions of pictures and questions. He vaguely noticed her body getting closer to his as they walked, and the occasional touching of their fingertips as she tried to subtlety tell him that it was okay to hold her hand. Akihito was completely unaware and absolutely obtuse when it came to women. All he could think of was how long he could keep this charade going before Asami found out about his new place of employment and whether or not he would have enough money put together by the time the man made him quit.
Ai, on the other hand, not being one for long attempts at subtlety, which were so obviously not working, decided to go for a much more direct approach. She went ahead and wrapped her arm around his, resting her hand on his elbow. Akihito looked at her confused for a minute but thought nothing of it since they were just friends. He smiled at her and kept walking once more, completely oblivious. His friends would have found it painful to watch and Akihito would have had no clue whatsoever about why, he just did not see things that were blatantly in his face when it came to the opposite sex.
As they walked down the streets, Ai confirmed that she had called the owner of the club while she was in the bathroom and had everything worked out. Now all Akihito had to do was to go in and have an interview with the man and come in at 2am that same night for his very first night as a host, provided that the owner liked him of course.
He dropped her off at her building's lobby and left before the goons had time to catch up with him. The last thing he needed was Asami bothering his friend and it had taken him hours to lose the men, without actually acting like he was being followed and freaking Ai out. He had four hours until his interview and he was planning on swinging by the condo to pick up some nice clothes from the closet filled of things Asami kept buying him but he never wore. After that he would swing by the hair salon and get his hair styled, because he honestly needed it, and then he would go to the interview.
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So it wasn't as bad as he had imagined, it actually wasn't that bad at all. He actually liked the owner and the man did not in any way, shape, or form resembled Sakasaki, which was one of his main concerns. There were no gorillas milling about looking menacing and scaring the workers though there were two bouncers making sure rowdy bunches didn't make it into the place and ruin the atmosphere. There were chandeliers and soft instrumental music, a smoking and a non-smoking section, comfortable sitting arrangements for couples, small and large groups. Most of the patrons were people he had actually seen before because they were mostly actors, actresses and models. People that were famous, but were not important enough to get into Sion and rub shoulders with the elite unless they were one of the elite's arm candy for the night. Some of them he had worked with, which was not a prospect he was too happy about. But hey, he had to make a living somehow, right?
He had gotten there at 1:30am and had just enough time to change into the clothes he had gathered from the condo, in a dressing room the club kept for the hosts. He introduced himself to the other hosts and learnt that because the club catered to both men and women, there were male and female hosts as well, such that it made it seem less threatening to him somehow. At exactly two in the morning, his shift started and when he came out of the back, Ai was already sitting on one of the small sitting areas in a balcony upstairs. All he had to do was make it from the door he was standing in front of through the main floor, up the stairs, through the second floor and to the opposite end of the damn place to where Ai was sitting without someone noticing him and asking for his company. Why the hell did she not make it easier to get to her?
He made it halfway there before someone did notice him. Akihito was at the top of the stairs when a scathingly clad woman touched his shoulder and spoke into his ear, asking him if he was available to keep her some company. As much as he tried to tell her he was already booked, she just would not get the message. He tried to find a way out of the situation by discreetly trying to walk away but only succeeded in being chased until he had been cornered by the woman. He found himself between her and the railing that surrounded the second floor, and nearly panicked when the obviously inebriated woman grabbed his junk in front of everyone. Thankfully, Ai had signaled one of the bouncers and the man had gently removed the crazy, junk-grabbing drunk from the club and placed her into a cab.
From there, Ai escorted her host to her reserved sitting area and apologized profusely to him while he proceeded to blush crimson and try to hide his face from the world.
"I swear I didn't know that would happen, I'm so sorry." She said. "I reserved this table so we could be away from everyone else and could have some privacy without people bothering you and then you get accosted on your way here. I swear tomorrow I will wait by the changing room door and we can walk up together, okay? Please, please don't quit. I really want to hang out with you more."
He promised he would still give the place a try if she swore to wait near the door so he did not have to deal with handsy drunk women ever again. After many more apologies and promises from Ai, he just laughed it off and changed the topic of the conversation because frankly it wasn't something he wanted to think of or experience ever again.
They talked and laughed for the rest of the time. Ai's previous regular host was none too happy about the new guy taking away his chance at hooking up with a rich pretty girl, who could give him an easy life, but the two friends were too engrossed in their playful banter to pay attention to the young man sitting at the opposite end on the second floor, on top of a fat older man's lap and glaring daggers at Akihito's head.
Around five in the morning, Akihito heard an indignant squeal come from the other side of the floor and directed his eyes towards it. A young man, about his age with two piercings on his left ear and spiked brown hair, was trying to shove the large hand which had crept way too close to his groin away from him. In the end, it only served to make the customer angry and raise a fit which prompted the same bouncer to come and calm things young man stormed away from the customer and into the back room, where the owner was likely throwing a fit of his own for causing such a scene. The club might not have been as bad as one of Sakazaki's seedy places but Akihito was starting to think that the patrons were just as bad.
At six o'clock, he was already walking into the changing room to dress in his casual clothes and get out before Asami sends his hounds to sniff for him all over Tokyo. Suddenly, a pair of hands pushed him against his locker and held him there by the collar of his shirt. Right in front of him was a very pissed off brown-haired host.
"Listen here, you little shit. I don't know who you think you are or how the hell you wormed your skinny blond ass into Momohara-san's good graces, but you are as stupid as you look if you think you are taking my best client away right under my nose. Stay away from Momohara-san or I will make sure to fuck up your pretty face so no one will like you ever again."
"Chill man, what the hell is wrong with you?" Akihito pushed the brown-haired host away from him and the young man almost stumbled with the force of the push. "Listen here, Ai-chan and I have been friends for a couple years already and she's requesting me as a favor so I can get out of a rough spot. So you can take your territorial bullshit somewhere else because I don't particularly care for it and if she knew what you were really like, there would be no way she would request you again after I'm done working here." The venom that dripped from Akihito's words was so corrosive it would have melted metal, but the other young man was apparently not one to back out.
"You little fuck; I don't punch you in the face right now because I am already in enough trouble with the boss as it is. I don't care if you are her friend or her brother. I don't care. She's mine and you are staying away from her. You are not ruining my chancesat getting a better life, so fuck off."
"Go to hell." Akihito replied as he shoved the other host away and walked out. Suddenly, this job was not as good as it seemed. He should have known it was too good to be true.
The last thing in his mind as he stomped out of the establishment was the fact that in his angry haste, he almost ran over Kuroda Shinji, who came to deliver the owner some legal papers concerning one of the patrons.
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Oh boy, first day as a host and Aki is already causing problems… kid's got some epic bad luck. Will Kuroda tell Asami? Maybe… maybe not… next chapter will tell.
Ah, I am so glad I got this done. I wanted to work on WAR! Soooooo bad, I should be asleep in a NyQuil induced coma so I can hopefully beat this cold that has me looking like a hen killed with a broom… instead I'm thinking of fanfiction and complaining that I have nothing to read despite being following a bazillion fics. *Sigh* I hate exam times, there are not many updates because people have to study.
Let me know what you think about the chapter.
Next up:
*WAR! – Already done and sent to beta, should be up soon
*Loyal – Chapter outline ready
*Dragon – Chapter outline ready
*Video-calls – Outline still not done
*Unexpected – Outline still not done
*Wild – Outline mostly done
*Ride – Outline and several sections done
*Secret – Outline done
Oneshots/twoshots I'm working on:
**Prowl – Sequel to Other – 1k+ words done
**Henna – Sequel to Turn off the lights – 1k+ words done
**Hey Mom! – Kind of related to Unworthy – 1k+ words done
Other Stuff:
***Hybrid – AU about Aki – 2k+ words done (this will actually be a short fic of 5 or 6 chapters)