When Lan Yu finally made it back to the dorm, feeling his way through the dark to climb into bed, he could barely remember how he had gritted his teeth and gotten through the MV shoot. He didn't have many solo lines to begin with; while he'd been rushed to the hospital, the others had hurried to film whatever they could, so there wasn't much left that truly required him.

That didn't mean it was an easy task for someone who had just been injured.

As the medication wore off, the pain grew distinct again. Lan Yu's brows knit tight with the ache.

He really was someone who feared pain.

He tried to think of something else to distract himself, to make the pain feel less specific.

He was the kind of person who would feel pain in his own body when someone got hurt in a movie. When Luke asked him " Can you really do this?", Lan Yu had wanted to answer "No." But he knew he didn't have a choice. In the company's eyes he was just a commodity waiting for the right bid; if he couldn't even properly participate in the debut MV, it was hard to imagine the company showing mercy and letting him stay in the group. He was merely expendable—replaceable at any time.

Even though debut hadn't been what he had planned, when he saw the CEO's name on the manager's phone screen, it felt like a reminder of the duty he was meant to observe. He only wanted to play his part well.

He was thinking that when arms wrapped around him from behind—at some point Kaede had slipped into the room and lain down behind him, pulling him close.

When he'd come back, Lan Yu hadn't even had the spare will to switch on the light, much less keep track of what Kaede did after the shoot. The embrace wasn't something he'd expected.

In the dark, unlit room, all Lan Yu could sense were Kaede's warm arms and the breath near him. That familiar touch and scent needed no glance over his shoulder; they were Kaede Fujiwara's. Too familiar, in fact—so much so that Lan Yu could almost guess the expression on Kaede's face right now.

Years of training meant injuries were inevitable; even if none had been quite as serious as this, every time Kaede simply lay at Lan Yu's side. He wouldn't ask how bad it was, wouldn't offer words of encouragement—he would just stay beside him, as if that presence itself were a signal, one only Lan Yu could tune to.

"Careful—you'll press on it." Kaede's arms circled him carefully so Lan Yu's waist wouldn't sag. "Why did you come out without even wrapping a back brace?" His question didn't sound like a scolding so much as genuine puzzlement at how far Lan Yu had pushed himself.

Held like that, Lan Yu let out a small laugh. "niisan couldn't expect me to shoot the MV with a brace on, right? That'd be way too unseemly."

Kaede didn't reply.

"Don't worry, niisan. I put proper medicated plasters on before discharge. I'll go back to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow too. If we don't have to shoot in the next few days, I'll wear the brace properly. In that setup today, if it got soaked, it'd be even more of a pain to deal with after, okay?" Lan Yu kept the conversation going on his own, like he always did.

「諦めたいの？」 After a while, the question reached him from the person behind him.

"Give up what? niisan, do you mean the music video shoot, or…?" Lan Yu truly didn't understand what Kaede's sudden question was pointing at.

In the darkness Lan Yu caught the faintest "ぜ"—just the start of a syllable—spill from Kaede's mouth, but he seemed to swallow whatever he'd been about to say right away, along with what little light there was in the room. In the gloom, Lan Yu couldn't tell if he'd imagined it.

If it wasn't his imagination, what had Kaede wanted to say? "全部"? For Kaede, what did Lan Yu's "everything" mean? For himself, what counted as his "everything"? Lan Yu chose not to answer Kaede's question.

The broken-off conversation made the room feel darker still.

Lan Yu had to admit he was beginning to realize that Kaede Fujiwara had changed somehow—and he wasn't sure when that change had begun. Was it after they both debuted? After they slept together? Or because they slept together right as they debuted?

Lan Yu had no clue, especially now that he was hurt. The flashes of pain kept reminding him this wasn't a good time to be thinking about it.

"It hurts, doesn't it." At some point when Lan Yu wasn't paying attention, Kaede's hand had moved to gently smooth over the space between his brows. The broad, warm palm rested there as if to iron out the crease pain had left.

A little too gentle, Lan Yu thought. He'd always known Kaede wasn't a cold person; silence didn't mean he couldn't feel for others—he just didn't like to express it. But hearing that care spoken aloud now, Lan Yu felt a strange unreality.

It was like having always looked down at the moon reflected on the surface of water—so used to the wavering image that, when he finally lifted his head to see the moon hanging bright in the sky, he had to wonder: has moonlight always been this bright? So bright it might expose all the dark corners he'd hidden so well.

After they'd restarted twice, the director finally said what the accident had kept him from saying—Lan Yu left nothing that lingered.

When Lan Yu heard the director's critique, he wasn't surprised. He only nodded lightly, apologized, and shot again. This time the director quickly called "pass." Lan Yu had long since prepared these parts in practice—he had just forgotten to put on the proper mask.

"niisan, are you going to give me an inspection?" There was a smile in Lan Yu's voice.

The only one who ever took off his mask was Kaede Fujiwara.

"Mm?" Kaede's warm breath and his low reply brushed the back of Lan Yu's neck.

"niisan, you're hard." Lan Yu could already feel the hefty thing pressing firmly against his ass.

Hearing the teasing in Lan Yu's tone, Kaede didn't answer. He only pulled Lan Yu in closer.

"Just move, niisan." As if he'd read Kaede's mind, Lan Yu reached for his own waistband to pull it down—only for Kaede to catch his hand.

"Then don't move. I'll do it." Kaede's voice dropped even lower, as if only that could keep other emotions from breaking the surface.

"niisan, do you like doing it with patients?" Lan Yu teased, watching Kaede fumble a little between wanting to undress him and being afraid of hurting him.

"Mm. At least this looks very healthy." In no time Kaede's hand slid into Lan Yu's crotch, reached in, and wrapped around the shaft that had already started to lift its head.

"Mm—ah…" Lan Yu couldn't hold back a moan.

"Easy. You're already arching your back—you'll be sore later." Kaede nipped at Lan Yu's earlobe and murmured there; the words were dirty enough on their own, and his breath in Lan Yu's ear made them even more provocative. His palm kept rubbing Lan Yu's glans until his hips wanted to arch, but Kaede's other arm, looped around him, tightened as if he'd seen it coming—pinning him so he couldn't move.

"niisan, y—you're really… such a… perv…" Lan Yu panted, face flushed.

"Mm." Kaede rested his head on Lan Yu's shoulder; the arm that had been around Lan Yu slid to the back, fingers finding their way with practice to the tight entrance there. When Kaede's long fingers pushed into his hole, Lan Yu's cock—already standing straight—twitched twice, clear fluid slinging off the tip.

"niisan, you just want to see me make a fool of myself, huh…" Lan Yu tried to toss the line back in a playful tone, but Kaede's fingers, navigating as if by muscle memory, pressed straight into that raised spot inside. A wave of tingling shot through Lan Yu's whole body. Shit.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Leaning on him, Kaede said what Lan Yu didn't manage to.

Lan Yu knew he couldn't argue. He reached a hand back, found the burning-hot length that had been throbbing in the dark, and guided it toward himself. "niisan… just put it in…"

Kaede, whose lifeline Lan Yu now held in his hand, simply withdrew his fingers from Lan Yu's body—and didn't go any further. "It's in your hand. Do as you please," he murmured in Lan Yu's ear.

Shit. Lan Yu thought, this guy is anything but easy. And I'm way too easy for Kaede to play.

When Lan Yu still didn't move, Kaede asked softly, "Don't want it now?"

Lan Yu really wanted to turn and glare at him, but with his shoulders pinned he couldn't look back. He could only obediently angle that huge thing toward himself, slowly—but he quickly realized that this behemoth wasn't something that could just slip into such a narrow place.

He felt the man behind him let out a small huff of a laugh. Lan Yu was about to say something to scold him when a cool slickness suddenly spread behind him. Kaede must have taken lube at some point and smeared it all over him. With Lan Yu's hand guiding it, the thick shaft slid in with a wet, smooth slide.

"Ah—" Compared to his fingers, Kaede's cock plugged him completely; Lan Yu felt like his abdomen was stuffed full. His own cock jerked even harder.

But once Kaede was inside, he didn't move. It was like his body was pressed right up against the finish line without ever crossing it. Lan Yu craved the rush of breaking through. He tried to shift his hips, to push back, but under Kaede's hold it was just a helpless rub right in front of the line, making the wanting even more intense.

Lan Yu knew Kaede was doing it on purpose. "niisan… please…"

"Please what?" At this point, just hearing Kaede's voice made Lan Yu feel like his pre-cum was going to drip non-stop—he was going crazy.

"Do it… f—fuck me… please…" The plea in Lan Yu's voice sounded more obscene than pitiful.

"Mm." Kaede snapped his hips forward in a hard thrust. Not only did a moan break out of Lan Yu's throat, but a spurt of cum was squeezed right out of him by the motion. "Like that?"

Shit. Kaede stroked Lan Yu's Adam's apple as he leaned in; their tongues twined. How is he this good at sex?

Whatever—pleasure first. Lan Yu shut his eyes and let himself drown in the fevered kiss, as moonlight, borne on the night breeze through the open window, lay over their entwined bodies.