Written on 8/9/2014 for stephanericher on tumblr for the AU ficlet meme:
23. meeting on a train ride au
There are a lot of things that Shuuzou missed about Tokyo, but being squashed on the train was not one of them.
The worst part was that he still had a while to go before he could get off the train, too. When had he gotten so much more conscious of personal space? It must have been a thing he picked up in America.
The doors open, and Shuuzou holds onto the handle as people surge around him.
When the doors close, and the train is no less packed than before, Shuuzou takes a moment to look around again, and he notices that there's a stupidly beautiful man standing right next to him. It's been a while since he's seen someone who was so ridiculously fortunate in the genetic lottery.
The train car bumps and the same moment Shuuzou realises the guy doesn't have anything to hold onto is the same one the guy falls on him.
Shuuzou's pretty strong; his grip was good and his feet had been firmly planted, so this wasn't as much of a disaster as it could have been. He grabs the handsome man with his free arm to steady him, and is rewarded with a smile that blows him away.
holy shit
"Thank you," the stranger says. "You can let go."
Shuuzou made sure he was standing up straight and balanced before he let go.
"I hate trains," he said, for lack of anything else to say. The beautiful stranger smiled again.
"I have to admit, I have other ways I prefer to travel," he responded. He looked Shuuzou over as well as he could how close they were standing, but his face didn't give away anything about what he might be thinking.
"Nijimura Shuuzou," he introduced himself.
"Himuro Tatsuya," the other man answered, and when Shuuzou felt some very familiar calluses on Himuro's hands as they shook them, he decided right then and there that he was going to give this beautiful guy his number before he got off the train.