Playing Games With The Billionaire (KageHina)

26 - Promises

The date had been amazing even with the whole 'meet the family' thing.

Shoyo lay stretched out on one couch, headphones in and playing on his hand-held gaming device.

Lev sat reading on a couch while another couch was occupied by Koshi, the man was going over through some documents that has nothing to do with the TV show. While Hitoka sprawled out on the floor in front of a low coffee table carefully painting her nails.

It was the kind of quiet peacefulness that was so hard to find.

Forced away from their normal worries and now missing the bitchy contestants, they had all fallen into these nice, relaxed evenings. It didn't seem like it would be particularly exciting for the viewers but Koshi only grinned when he had asked about that earlier.

It seemed like there were still some things he was missing out on. But he had his own worries beyond what the others were doing although if they happened to involve Tobio, then it probably should concern him.

Annoyingly, any time he complained about Tobio and the end of the competition, he would just receive a giggle or a pat on his head from his friends like he was a kid.

Saeko had her full day date with Tobio that day and Shoyo didn't even realize they had finished until Tobio himself was moving him so he could sit with Shoyo's head in his lap.

Shoyo pulled his headphones out and peered up at the other man with a small smile. "Welcome home."

Tobio smiled down at him, one large hand stroking gently through his hair as he replied, "I'm back."

A soft sigh sounded from across the room and Shoyo turned to see Saeko and Hitoka sitting and leaning against each other, watching them with matching dreamy expressions.

"If anything ever happens between you two, I'd love to have Shoyo as my house wife."

Saeko barked a laugh at Hitoka's comment. "You're not exactly packing the right gear."

Hitoka shrugged in return. "He's still always welcome to stay in my house. I can only dream of having someone look at me the way Shoyo looks at Tobio."

"Or food," Lev piped up and sent everyone chuckling as Shoyo pouted, warmth flooding his cheeks. "But I'm sure Tobio can deal with Shoyo's ongoing love affair with food."

"You have to still come over and keep helping me learn how to cook, Shoyo! You make the tastiest food."

"Yeah! Me too! We should have sleep overs!"

Shoyo laughed as he promised that he would keep in touch with the girls even outside of the show.

Feeling a little shy suddenly, he sat up more and looked over to Lev who watched them chatter with a slight smile. He caught Shoyo's eye and raised an elegant eyebrow at his worried expression.

"Can... Can we keep in touch too?"

Lev looked genuinely surprised before smiling warmly back. "Of course. You are always welcome to visit my house as well."

Shoyo grinned as relief flooded through him. "I'm glad, I was worried that I might not get to keep in touch with all of my new friends."

The man paused at that before laughing out loud. "Friends, huh? That has a nice ring to it. You are something special, Shoyo, to make friends with so many so easily," he turned to throw a look at Tobio that was part threat, part promise. "You need to take good care of him or you'll have me to answer to."

"That goes for me too," Koshi interjected and ended the staring contest before it even began. "You also have to answer to me if you make Shoyo cry."

"You should come for the sleep overs too, Lev!"

The man threw up his hands in mock defeat. "Looks like I've gained more than I ever expected coming on this show."

Shoyo grinned at him, warm and wide. "You're always welcome to come visit us in our houses too."

Lev's face softened completely, and he suddenly looked much younger. "Thank you, Shoyo."

*****

Shoyo lay on the roof top once again, deep in thought.

Tomorrow was the day of reckoning.

Tobio would hand his one final rose to the person he would keep in his life going forward. As for the rest, they would be going back to their lives as before but a few friends richer.

The other three were all excellent people that deserved happiness and it must be a hard decision for Tobio to pick only one of them.

Surely there was nothing in their contract about cutting off contact after the show but it might be awkward for Tobio to keep in touch with those that he had effectively dumped on national television.

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar figure climbing through the window and settling down beside him.

Dark blue eyes caught the late afternoon light and almost seemed to glow.

"Are you okay? You've been up here for a while."

"Yeah... It's just..." Shoyo worried his lip in thought. "It's just that everything will change tomorrow. No matter what happens, it's all going to be very different."

"For the better though."

He turned to look at Tobio in askance.

"You have a number of new friends for a start."

"That's true."

"Do you regret coming on the show?"

Shoyo shook his head. "I thought I would," he admitted ruefully. "I really thought it would be a waste of time. Yet here we are, the day before the final. My sister is never going to let this go now."

"It'll be worth it. I promise."

"I'll hold you to that."

Tobio reached out his hand to caress along Shoyo's cheek as he leaned in to press a kiss to his lips.

It was soft and sweet, not chaste but not deep either. However, it held a promise that had Shoyo's nerves tingling in anticipation.

"Why is it that every time you both go missing, I end up capturing you making out on the roof top?" Yamaguchi's voice called from the edge of the roof.

Shoyo jumped and Tobio hooked an arm around him to pull him even closer.

"And if you don't mind, we are rather busy."

Yamaguchi chuckled and hefted his camera. "All right, you know the deal. Give me the money shot and I'll leave you to it."

Shoyo half sat on Tobio's lap and a hand tilted his head back. They lingered there, just staring into each other's eyes for a few endless moments. He let his eyes flutter closed as Tobio leaned forward to close the distance.

The kiss was passionate in a different way to their usual heated moments. Same as the one before, it lacked the desperation of earlier kisses but held a greater feeling of intimacy.

It stole his breath with the sheer intensity. They sat together just sharing the same breath until Tobio's eyes flicked to the side.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going."

Shoyo looked to the side in time to see Yamaguchi disappearing back through the window.

"Now," Tobio held his chin with his thumb and forefinger and turned his face back so they were almost nose to nose, "where were we?"