"Ah... hah... mmh... niisan... s-stop... ah... don't... don't do this..."

Lan Yu locked his arms around Kaede Fujiwara's neck, tilting his face up like he was coming up for air, cheeks hot, breath ragged. The cramped supply closet felt even smaller with their bodies crushed tight; sweat kept dripping from their hair and spattering across Lan Yu's bare skin.

I'm losing it. He stared at the thick length driving in and out of him.

A second ago they had been in the conference room, celebrating the debut.

"What are you thinking?" Kaede dipped to his ear, teeth catching lightly on the lobe as he murmured.

"I..." Lan Yu started, but Kaede snapped his hips forward and hit that hidden spot inside. Lan Yu jolted; the words at his mouth collapsed into breathy nonsense. "Ah... ah... aren't we... supposed to be... in the conference room... getting ready... for the debut...?"

As if that wasn't the answer he wanted, Kaede didn't bother replying. He only widened his stroke and drove harder. The slick, wet sounds of his cock working in and out of Lan Yu grew louder, threading through their gasps.

Fuck, this is insane. Lan Yu gave up on trying to talk and hooked his thighs tighter around Kaede's waist.

Catching on, Kaede asked at his ear, "Isn't this what you wanted? You said once we debuted together, we'd be friends-with-benefits."

Damn it. The words hit the sore spot square in Lan Yu's chest.

Yeah, just half an hour ago, they debuted as members of MEG Entertainment's boy group, collAGE.

MEG is the largest entertainment company in Korea and all but dominates the industry. Singers, actors, idol groups—acts from MEG routinely crowd the top ten of the charts, to the point that an industry joke has hardened into consensus: debuting at MEG doesn't guarantee stardom, but not being at MEG makes it unlikely. That's why every move MEG makes draws scrutiny. For the past year, the most-watched project has been the new boy group the company has been quietly assembling. To push K-pop's global reach, MEG decided to launch a more international-facing team, expand activities worldwide, and step outside the traditional boundaries of K-pop.

collAGE became the name of that experiment. A year ago, MEG pulled twelve trainees from its vast pool to form a debut unit. Lan Yu and Kaede Fujiwara were among them.

Kaede's debut had felt like a foregone conclusion from the start. No one knew why a zaibatsu scion chose to cross the sea alone to become a trainee in a foreign country, but few doubted he would debut. It wasn't only the Fujiwara name—though the company did tread carefully around it. Lan Yu knew the real reason: Kaede carried a must-debut resolve.

Of course he knew. Lan Yu lowered his head, watching the thrusting beneath him, and let out a quiet sigh. He'd come this far for one reason: he knew all too well what Kaede Fujiwara would choose.

Lan Yu and Kaede Fujiwara had met four years ago. Kaede joined the company as a trainee almost a year after Lan Yu, yet from the day he pushed open the practice-room door, Lan Yu's gaze fixed on him. He still remembered the unsmiling coolness Kaede carried, a chill that seemed to take a degree off the overheated room. Kaede's eyes, as dark as his hair, swept the room once, and when they passed over Lan Yu, a shiver ran through him. It was a kind of cold he'd never felt before—the effortless disregard of someone who never has to care.

Thinking back, he must have been out of his mind; he didn't know where he found the nerve to step forward, bow, and try a greeting in his halting Japanese.

Who wouldn't be drawn to Kaede Fujiwara? Lan Yu stared up, dazed, at Kaede's weight over him. Unlike the iceberg he'd first met, Kaede's face was flushed now with pleasure—like spring showing through a thawing glacier. The severe lines of his features softened; long lashes trembled; and eyes that were usually unreadable looked like dark chocolate now—something that might melt on the tongue, something he couldn't help wanting to taste.

"What, you can zone out while you're having sex with me?" Kaede's sudden line made Lan Yu flinch. "Or are you regretting this?"

"N-no! It's because..." Lan Yu shot back, then swallowed the rest before it escaped. He glared up at Kaede, cheeks burning. Because it feels too good and I can't focus, okay? He was the one who'd said they should be friends-with-benefits if they debuted together, but he hadn't expected this: one minute in the next-room conference hall while they announced the final lineup; the next, Kaede claimed a stomachache and dragged him out—straight into the supply closet—yanking down his pants and getting to it, with no apparent fear of being caught.

And what could Lan Yu say? He was the one who'd brought it up. He'd known his feelings for Kaede for a long time. Maybe it was that reckless greeting on their first day, but for years after, no matter how cold Kaede was to other people, he never turned a hard face on Lan Yu. After they were assigned to the same dorm, they were almost never apart. Two strangers grinding it out in a foreign country—no matter how far apart their backgrounds were—always ended up sharing the same kind of loneliness. Soon enough, Lan Yu realized the man beside him meant more than a niisan-younger bond. He wanted more than to train side by side and debut; he wanted something further with Kaede—mind and body both.

A year ago, when a company planning team swept through the practice rooms, they picked out Lan Yu and Kaede and sent them to another studio to prepare. That was when Lan Yu learned the company was rolling out a new boy group—and this time they were throwing endless resources behind it—and that the two of them would be reserves. The news kept him up all night. Around four in the morning, still tossing in bed, he noticed Kaede standing at the window. The moon stretched his back into a warped silhouette, and for some reason it brought back the chill of their first meeting. Lan Yu eased out of bed and walked up behind him. Kaede heard the movement but didn't turn, didn't speak, just stood there. Night air slipped in through the half-open window and brushed across both their faces. Lan Yu stared at the strands of Kaede's hair lifting in the breeze.

"niisan, I like you."

Like moonlight pouring from a silver platter kicked askew, the feeling he'd kept down for years burst out as a single, short confession. Even Lan Yu froze at his own words.

Ah... I said it.

What would he say? Would he be disgusted? Had he already guessed? Kaede didn't move. With only his back to read, Lan Yu couldn't get anything from him. He even wondered if he'd imagined it all, mistaking his inner voice for something he'd actually said aloud.

Lan Yu scratched his head. If he hadn't really said it, then fine—pretend it never happened. He started to lie back down; training from tomorrow was packed end to end.

"I don't do romance." Kaede's reply seemed to drift from somewhere unreachable—weightless, colorless, thinning in the wind. If they weren't the only two in the dorm, Lan Yu wouldn't have been sure those words were meant for him.

"Why not, niisan?" Lan Yu asked. It wasn't a direct rejection so much as a rule he lived by.

"..." Kaede didn't pick it up.

"niisan, I've liked you for years. At first I really did see you as my big brother in a foreign place—you looked after me, and I'm grateful. Maybe I'm greedy, but I can't deny how my feelings changed. You became different to me. I don't want to stop at a brotherly bond. I never dared to say it because I didn't know if you felt the same. If I said it and we could never be brothers again, I wouldn't know how to face you. Maybe I got carried away tonight after hearing I might debut with you. I blurted it out without thinking. But I also want to seize this. I want to debut with you—and I want to be with you. Please don't be mad at me for being impulsive. If you don't want this, let's pretend tonight never happened, okay? We'll keep training and eating together like before, okay?"

He didn't know how he'd poured out so much. Even after all that, Kaede seemed unmoved.

Lan Yu let out a long breath. Kaede had quiet days—most meals were Lan Yu fishing for topics while Kaede listened—but this was different, in a way he couldn't name.

After a long silence, Kaede finally said, "You know we might debut, right?"

"I know." And you'll definitely debut, Lan Yu thought.

"In a boy group, dating is a big no-no. You know that."

"I know."

"And this would be between two guys."

"Yeah."

"My only goal has always been debut. I can't let anything else get in the way."

So that's it. Lan Yu had always known Kaede's fixation on debut. He wanted it just as badly, but he had to admit Kaede's effort and the price he paid were unmatched—even if everyone assumed that with his background, joining the company basically equaled debut. Still, he hadn't expected Kaede to give up the possibility of romance for it.

After hearing him out, Lan Yu didn't feel the sting of rejection so much as a new dilemma: should he say the plain truth?

"Are you angry?" Kaede asked when Lan Yu stayed silent.

"Uh..." Lan Yu was surprised he'd ask about his feelings; that only made it harder. He'd meant to drop it, but that simple question pushed him to be honest. "But, niisan... you're hard."

The air seemed to stall. The room felt thrown into a black hole that swallowed sound and light. Lan Yu pressed his forehead. Great. I said it anyway..

The truth was, not long after the confession, Kaede's loose pajama pants had pitched a tall tent. They were glued together most days; there was no way they hadn't seen each other naked—bathhouse scrubs, hot springs, all of it. Lan Yu had gotten used to Kaede's body. And after walking in on him a few times in the bathroom, he knew that, despite the ascetic face, Kaede had a very active libido.

Still—getting hard during a confession?

"... don't worry about it."

Bad. He was angry—seriously so. At this rate, forget dating; Lan Yu wouldn't be surprised to disappear from the dorm by morning. He had to fix this.

"Then, niisan—if you're afraid dating would hurt the debut, after we debut I can be your friends-with-benefits."

"..." Kaede still didn't answer, but the tent under his pants climbed higher.

"I've known you for years. Dating can get caught on camera. But if you went to other partners—or worse, paid for it—the fallout would be worse, right? I know you can give up a lot for debut, but you can't bottle up a need like sex forever. If you don't mind, let it be me after we debut. It's a lot safer than trusting someone else, isn't it?"

God, I'm getting ridiculous, Lan Yu thought. This is insane.

What he didn't expect was Kaede finally turning, meeting his eyes, and saying, "Okay."

Lan Yu stared, stunned, at Kaede haloed in moonlight—and at the heavy shape straining the front of his pants.

Damn it, we really ended up as friends-with-benefits. Lan Yu lay across the desk, teeth clenched. But his grumbling never lasted ten seconds before Kaede's huge cock drove in and popped it like a balloon—his anger leaking away along with the pre-cum beading at the tip.

"Ah... shit... this is... so, so good..." Lan Yu couldn't help moaning.

"Yelling this loud—aren't you afraid someone will hear?" Kaede cupped the back of his head and slammed forward, burying himself deep.

"... No... it feels so good..." Lan Yu cried out, "... I want more... niisan, fuck me..." If we get heard, we get heard.

"Um..." A stranger's voice sounded in the room. "Excuse me, are you two having sex?"

Lan Yu and Kaede jerked their heads toward the doorway, where a backlit figure stood. As Lan Yu's eyes adjusted, he made out Luke—the leader who'd just been sitting with them, celebrating their debut.

"Am I interrupting?" Luke asked, tilting his head.

Ah, shit. For the first time, Lan Yu wanted to turn his debut day into the anniversary of his death.