Asami was content to sit and observe as drinks were consumed and pleasantries exchanged despite the time of night it was, it looked as if none of them had any intention of going home anytime soon, so he settled in for an all nighter as well, with Suoh and Kirishima on the couch either side of him.
Ben fussed over a lap top on the coffee table as he knelt on the floor, picking songs and making a play list, Koga caught up with Takeo – the previous owner of ageha – and the few other club owners and people from the music scene that'd come with him.
Akihito's other friends blended in with it all, including Sudou, and Asami noticed how it was all completely natural, as if this scene had played out time and time again, everyone seemed at ease, laughing and drinking, if not for one person.
Akihito leant against the island bench with his beer in hand, clearly weary of him as he pretended to laugh with the others. His eyes would dart back to Asami every few moments before he'd join in conversation with his friends again.
Asami could see him about to say something, do something, and then he'd take one look in his direction and his mouth would snap shut, or he'd promptly lean back against the bench and just watch instead. That was not the Akihito he knew, the Akihito he knew was impulsive and prone to speaking without thinking first.
Koga was completely and utterly right, Asami's very presence had Akihito on edge, as if he were afraid Asami might react badly to something and snap like he had with the newspaper incident that started this mess. In the past, he might have done, he cringed inwardly as he admitted it to himself.
For that reason alone, Asami would stay his hand tonight and forget about tonight events. He needed Akihito to know he was more reliable than that, at least. The entire conversation with Koga in the car rang in his ears.
"Oi, Akihito!" said person's voice rang in his ears again as Koga barked from his cushion on the floor in front of others on the couch.
"Hah? What?" Akihito startled against the bench, he'd been looking at Asami for a while now with an utterly confused expression on his face. Asami knew that face, the one where he had no idea where he stood, the face where he thought Asami was just playing. He thought of the words Akihito yelled at him before the condo door slammed shut a week ago. 'You went right back to being the bastard that I hate.'
Back then, he'd always confused Akihito in the worst ways possible, he knew and had never chosen to do anything about it, because it was always something he'd wanted Akihito to realize on his own, so that the photographer could come to terms with his own feelings as well, then maybe it wouldn't have been so hard for him to deny Asami's feelings too. It'd taken a long time, but Asami was patient, and in the end he thought they'd finally got there.
Maybe not. There was a little bit missing, Asami knew now, and Koga had brought it to light. Friendship. It wasn't something Asami ever thought about, because it wasn't something he ever needed. He needed Akihito though, so he would confuse Akihito in all the right ways this time, and try exactly as Koga said.
That in itself, told Asami just how much power Akihito had over him still, because he was taking relationship advice from an obnoxious DJ who was much too close to Akihito than what he cared for, he could almost laugh, but now wasn't the place.
So looking right back at Akihito, he raised his own bottle to his lips in nonchalance, as if he was just another person at their after gig gathering, and the bewilderment on Akihito's face only grew. At least Asami had some form of entertainment still.
"Stop being a loner over there and spacing out and shit, come sit down, Ben and I want to see that song from earlier!" Koga's laugh broke their silent conversation, as Ben patted the floor in between the pair with a goofy grin. Seriously, they really were all alike.
Akihito glanced one more time in his direction, as if seeking permission, and that one really struck a chord, had he weighed Akihito down that much? He shrugged his shoulders, as if saying what are you looking at me for?
The DJ scratched his head wryly before swirling his near empty bottle in his other hand, he sloshed the liquid round and round the bottom of the bottle as he spoke. "Ah, yeah I'll just get another drink. Anyone else need one?" he called to the room.
A chorus of yeah's or nah's came in answer, Asami needed a drink too, so he got up to help as Akihito went to the double door fridge in the kitchen and took an armful of cold beers out.
Partly hidden from view from those sitting in the lounge by the large fridge door, he stood next to Akihito and took out a drink for himself, and his two men.
He saw Akihito's jaw clench at their proximity, and noticed how the blonde made an effort not to look in his direction now that they were this close.
"Akihito." Asami breathed, he near sighed it in fact, because it'd been too long since he'd talked to that very person, and the way Akihito's name rolled off his tongue was always satisfying.
"Don't." was the reply he got through gritted teeth. Akihito's jaw was trembling, and maybe the glow from the fridge was high lighting the moisture in those hazel eyes that refused to look at him. He didn't know.
But it was perhaps the most hurt he'd ever seen Akihito, apart from the look of anguish shot at him before the door slammed in his face a week ago. "Whatever you're going to do, just…. Not in front of my friends... Please."
Akihito was still refusing to look at him, and out of everything; that was one of the things Asami disliked the most. Akihito needed to look at him, to glare at him or challenge him like he always did, show Asami his spirit and his fight, looking away meant it was a lot worse than Asami thought.
"I'm not going to do anything." He murmured.
Akihito kept looking into the fridge at nothing in particular, he had all he needed now after all, so he stood there, his mouth opening and then closing as he tried and failed to say something back.
Gently, so to not wind the already uptight DJ even further, he touched Akihito's elbow reassuringly, just enough for it to be felt.
"Your fingers are fucking cold!" Akihito hissed in a whisper as the fingers that'd previously been holding Asami's beer touched the bare skin of his arm.
That was a little more the spicy hellion he knew, Asami chuckled. "I'm not going to do anything. Trust me, Akihito."
This time those wide hazel eyes did turn to look at him with a face cocked to the side and one brow raised as if Akihito thought he was hearing things.
"Trust me." Asami repeated under his breath. It was amazing how seeing that genuine discomfort from Akihito wiped the slate clean, sucked all past grievances dry and made Asami want to sort things out the proper way. Really, Akihito did terrible things to his character and the blonde had no idea. Probably better off that he didn't, anyway.
Before he could get a reply though, that obnoxious DJ Koga opened his mouth and piped up, breaking their moment hidden behind the fridge door. "Hey! I don't know what shady deals you two are cocking up over there, but hurry up with my fucking beer!"
"Mine too, I'm gonna die of thirst, Akihitooo!" Ben chorused in agreement.
Asami growled at them both under his breath "Fucking DJs", to which Akihito laughed, and his shoulders loosened a little as some of the tension drained and broke their stalemate.
"I was the one who worked tonight." Akihito retorted as the fridge door shut, "You should be getting me a drink."
"You offered, you numb nuts." Koga deadpanned as he took the offered beer anyway, and cracked it open with a practiced flick of his wrist.
Akihito sat down on the floor between the other two DJs with an abashed look on his face, "Because your hospitality is shit!"
"You fucking live here most of the time, get your own shit. Plus, I am your senpai remember, do what I say." Oozing sarcastic superiority, Koga puffed out his chest with pride.
"A really shitty senpai." Akihito, Kou, Takato and Yoshida all flat lined in unison, like they'd had this conversation before.
They must have, because Koga put on an offended pout, while everyone in the room cracked up laughing, hooting and jeering at the crest fallen DJ who it turned out was rather easy to make fun of.
"Whatever, I was only your senpai for one year before I left school and left you noobs to fend for yourselves anyway." The black haired DJ tried to play it cool, and took a casual sip of his beer. "And you still hung around me like a bad smell, Akihito!" he quipped at the end with a jab of his finger.
"Did not! You were the one who dragged an under aged kid to all the fucking clubs in Tokyo!" Came the retort from Akihito, who slammed his beer down on the coffee table in indignation, Asami apparently forgotten as he continued to bicker with his best friend.
"Yeah, and look where that got you huh, you'd be nothin' if it weren't for me. Thank you, Koga senpai, you're the greatest, Koga senpai." He snarked mockingly.
"Oh, thank you, Koga Tanihara senpai!" Akihito wailed with his hands in the air in feigned salvation, a feral smile on his face as he finally seemed to give in to the presence of his friends and relax.
"Oho! What the fuck did you just call me?!" the black haired DJ looked akin to a rooster that'd had its feathers unscrupulously ruffled at the call of his first name.
"You wanna go?" Akihito puffed out his chest as well, "Tanihara kun." He drawled that name so condescendingly it made Asami proud, and prod Koga pointedly in the forehead with his index finger.
"Takaba Akihito, I swear to god, you know I hate my first name. I will fuckin' take you out with the trash." The smile at the corner of Koga's eyes gave his seriousness away, and Asami was beginning to understand why he used to come to see Akihito in their hotel room while they were overseas after gigs. This was their tradition, and he was happy to have it back. By the looks of it, they all were.
"Just try me. No homo, though." Akihito stated, his own smile cracking his features, until the both of them gave up the act and it was all a mass of flying arms with noogies and play fighting.
"Ah, I've missed this so much!" Ben broke in, glomping down over the two of them and sweeping up the smaller bodies in his arms to end up in a pile of limbs on the floor.
That's when Akihito's uneasy face showed itself again as he squirmed in the DJ sandwich, his eyes snapped to Asami as the other two laughed, and when the blonde saw inaction from him, only then did Akihito relax again.
"Besides." Hazel eyes blazed stubbornly as Akihito managed to push them away and cross his arms in defiance, "I'm perfectly happy being nothing anyway, fuck you very much."
"Not if tonight's set was anything to go by." Ben and Koga both shot back in unison.
Takeo Nijima leaned forward from the couch then with a feral grin, and ruffled Akihito's hair rather forcefully, "I'd say, thought you'd been tamed lately eh, didn't know you still had it in ya! I still remember this scrawny little blonde bringing down the roof years ago." The previous owner of ageha looked at Asami then, and gave him a knowing wink.
Akihito sputtered and lost all his stubborn ferocity, blushing up to his ears at the praise, and obviously at the notion of being tamed, because he could see Asami smirk at him from across the table.
Suoh and Kirishima both even grunted a laugh at that, those two couldn't tame Akihito if they tried, and they had indeed tried, so of course the very mention of Takaba Akihito being tamed would amuse them.
"Takeo san, I'm not a kid anymore, but…" Akihito smiled fiendishly back at Asami with a little of the fire he remembered before continuing, "there is plenty more where that came from." he flipped open his laptop which Sudou had just passed over.
The model/manager then seated himself on the floor too, at the head of the long table and stretched his long legs out in front of him with a sigh.
Even Sudou Shuu of all people was friends with everyone in the room, completely himself and at ease with his shoes kicked off, his jacket thrown over the couch somewhere and his sleeves rolled up, they did spend a lot of time together, after all.
Was this all Akihito really wanted from him too, as Koga said in the car?
The room went quiet as Koga plugged the auxiliary cord from the massive sound system into Akihito's laptop, and all three DJs stared at the one screen as the opening song Akihito had composed played out once again.
Asami knew what they were looking at, bars and graphs on the screen as the composition looped on itself, he'd watched Akihito make songs for hours once, watched him stuck in his own little world with his oversized headphones on, his glasses that Asami found he really had a thing for, and that ever present hand cupping one side those headphones.
Now, all three of them were in that world, all thoughtful faces as they mulled it over and listened with their skilled ears, and even though it wasn't as loud as it was in ageha, the sinister vibe was still there as it built up, higher and higher the tension grew, and the grandeur as the beat dropped had them all cracking smiles like high school idiots, which Asami supposed they were.
They all pointed to bits on the screen, talking to each other about beats and rhythms at certain points, rewinding a section and listening to it again, only to smile like simpletons every single time, on and on it went.
"Oh my god, you guys! Would you please just let the song play out?! You do this every day after a gig and I just want to listen to one song properly for once." Sudou cut in without a second thought, shoving Koga with his foot in emphasis. And Asami saw something rare, he saw Sudou Shuu laugh and smile genuinely, not the fake thing he put on for clients at Dracaena or Fuse, but the face you showed to friends and people closest to you.
"You love us really, or you wouldn't be back." Koga jibed back.
"Of course!" Sudou said proudly, "I'm Midnight Kid's manager and number one fan." He finished with a wink.
"Shuu." Akihito put in then, not even bothering to look away from the screen as he clicked away on the mouse at something Ben was telling him about on screen, "You're meant to say cos you're our friend. Duh." And Akihito was serious too, so matter of fact, as if saying grass was green or the sky was blue.
"Yeah, Shuu-chan, duh!" Koga repeated.
A dazed expression took over Sudou then, and he sat speechless before Akihito's regular friends gave him a pat on the back from their seats on the floor or on the couch, saying he was always welcome, and to call any of them any time.
"You guys…" was all Sudou managed in thanks, before it fell into silence, and the song was allowed to play out as Sudou asked.
Asami knew that newspaper article had been so far off the mark now, and maybe because of his 'possession issues' to quote Akihito, he'd blown it a little out of the water, as he did with anything to do with Akihito.
Once it was finished, people broke off into groups of conversation, but Asami watched as Ben sat back on his hands and let out an impressed whistle, "Wow, you're really something, Akihito. Koga said you gave it up for a while, and the thought of that physically pains me after hearing this."
With an elbow that sent Ben sprawling, "D-don't just say stuff like that, shit." Akihito flushed, "You taught me a lot, it's not just me."
"Na uh, we all have our different styles, this is yours. I have nothing to do with it." Ben smiled fondly as he sat back up and threw an arm around Akihito's shoulder, "So, what'd you decide to call it then? Something like that has to have a name."
It grated on all Asami's instincts to let Akihito remain that close to someone else, and beside him he could feel Suoh's and Kirishima's bodies tense as they both looked on as well.
But there it was again, the Akihito he'd never seen before, talking to someone who he had things in common with, the passion in his eyes fervent and bright as Ben returned the conversation in kind, there was no romance in it at all, as Koga said, just friends who got along like the proverbial house on fire.
Akihito looked up to Ben though too, the adoration was clear, after all Ben was of the music world what Asami was to the underworld, and he was loathe to admit that maybe they were suited to each other. It certainly looked like it, another thing that damn Koga was right about. A foreign emotion curled in his gut, one that'd reared its head when he saw the picture of Sudou and Akihito in the paper.
Jealousy. He quashed it as soon as it had come though, jealousy made men do stupid things.
Akihito thought for a few moments with a bite of his lip and a cocked head, until his face lit up, and determination graced his eyes with ambitious hazel energy.
The hairs on the back of Asami's neck stood on end, like they did when something big was going to happen. His instincts never lied, and sure enough Akihito looked at him right in the eye as he voiced his answer.
"I'll call it Resurrection."
Unbeknownst to them all, everyone had stopped to hear that answer, and the response from everyone could only be described as ecstatic chaos.
From Koga especially, Akihito's black haired counterpart stole the blonde from Ben's hold with arms around his waist and an incredibly emotional smile on his face, because like Koga said, more than anything, people like them valued friendship. "Does that mean I have my best friend back proper, like the old days?" his words only proved it.
The hairs on his neck were still on end though, the moment was far from over, he could feel his heart beat in his ribcage as their gaze stayed locked, and Akihito was asking him for an answer with his expression, solemn, and hopeful, as if saying can you trust me too?
Even now, Akihito was still thinking about him first, seeking out Asami's approval as if he were afraid what the answer might be, vulnerable and insecure inside as he tried to put a brave face on and really find out where they stood, even though he was probably terrified of the answer.
It wasn't Asami's usual way of dealing with things, they'd hardly been in each others presence, in the same house, let alone spoken over the last week, but now was a good a time as any.
He gave Akihito a slight dip of his head, a lowering if you will, something he'd never done before, the one thing Akihito was bound to understand.
And he did. The answering grin he got was better than any smile Akihito had shown anyone else tonight, and it was all for him.
As long as that smile was only for him, he could deal with anything else, the closeness of Akihito and his friends, even the fact that one of them was someone that Akihito had previously been with, they could work on the rest.
"Yeah, I guess so." Akihito sighed to his friend as the last of the rigidity drained from his body.
"Oh, thank fuck for that!" Koga laughed, because it was the answer he'd been waiting for as well.
It was sometime later, 6am to be precise, some people had gone home, some had crashed out on the floor or in the spare rooms, and some were still up drinking, namely Akihito, Sudou and his two DJ friends, they'd been reminiscing all night, looking at the laptop and testing out new songs, laughing and generally just what you'd call 'hanging out'.
Suoh and Kirishima had found a shogi set from somewhere, and were currently seated on the floor, in the middle of a shogi war, with Sudou as the witness.
Those two could go for hours at shogi, and surprisingly most of the time it was Suoh that came out on top, much to Kirishima's frustration, it was always amusing to watch, especially when Asami threw a pay rise in the works.
Koga was at this point and time, sprawled next to him on the couch, slurring drunkenly about the ridiculous things he and Akihito used to get up to in high school.
"Hey, hey, Salami!" came the slur.
"Yes, Tanihara-kun." He smirked back, he had ammunition to use against the DJ now, and Koga's disgusted face delighted him to no end, from across the room he heard Akihito laugh as he saw the exchange. His body warmed at the sound.
"Don't call me that. Oi. I'm being seriousss. Look at him, look at how happy he ish. You did that!" Koga had the nerve to lean against him then, as if they were old chums.
He looked regardless, to find Akihito still seated next to Ben, where they'd been making new songs all night, sharing a pair of headphones and smiling like dolts whenever they came up with something they liked.
At first it'd irked him to watch, but then Akihito would look up, his eyes would search the room for Asami, and he'd get that smile or a silently mouthed 'thank you', and it was all the reminder he needed.
"Thank you, Asami san." Koga said then, with no hint of drunken lilt.
Asami said nothing out loud, but in his head he was thinking that perhaps he was the one who should be doing the thanking, he excused himself for a long over due cigarette instead, and stepped out onto the balcony by himself.
He wasn't expecting it to remain that way, but as he turned to see who was opening the sliding door behind him, the sight of Ben Austin stepping through the door with a serious expression was the last thing he would have thought to see.
"So." The American began as he placed his hands on the rail and looked over the city, "You and Akihito huh?"
"You picked up on it then?" Asami queried though a puff of smoke.
"Ha, it's pretty hard to miss. He's been off all week, not the same Akihito I knew, but you show up and he smiles like that. You guys have a fight last week or something?" Ben continued looking out over the city as he asked.
"You could say that." It was much more than a simple fight, in truth.
"No offense, but you're not his type."
"I know." Asami admitted. He'd seen evidence enough of that tonight, it changed nothing however.
"I am his type." Ben stated.
"I know." Asami admitted again.
"I don't know what you guys have been through, to make him change so much, but if you slip up again, I will take him off your hands faster than you can blink, and he would probably come with me too." Still they both looked at the Tokyo city lights. The sun would be up soon.
"He probably would, but I would never let that happen." Some of his possessive intent must have shone through in his tone, Ben looked at him, his face wry.
"So you're that kind of guy then. You wouldn't let him go even if he wanted to."
"No, I'd simply make it so that he'd never want to leave. There's a difference." He met Ben's gaze with all the resolve he could muster, and impressively enough the DJ held his own without flinching.
"Um… What are you guys talking about?" in the midst of their conversation, Akihito had quietly opened the door enough to poke his head through, and was now looking back and forth between them with concern.
"Nothing important." Ben stepped from the rail and winked, "I was just tellin ya boyfriend here how I'd love to sweep you off your feet and take you away with me." He gave Akihito a sloppy wet kiss on the cheek as he pushed his way back inside, leaving a stupefied Akihito alone with Asami on the balcony.