Archive of Our Own ^beta

Damn.

Hokuto had known about the makeup before this promotional shoot. Their whole new song, “BRIGHTEST AWAKING”, had been produced for this collaboration, after all. He’d also known he was going to wear nail polish, Shouta would be getting eyeshadow, and Touma was supposed to wear lipstick.

He’d known all these things.

And still, all he could think was damn.

Because Touma had no right to look so alluring just because he wore a little more makeup than usual.

The focus that lipstick put onto his (very beautiful) lips was, of course, absolutely great for marketing the lipstick and also Jupiter themselves. It was not great for Hokuto’s composure whatsoever.

He and Touma had only been dating a few weeks, and they had agreed to keep a low profile for now. On set, displays of affection were inappropriate and unprofessional anyway, but they also couldn’t afford for fans to catch on to any of it. So they hadn’t even told Shouta yet and actually seen each other less since getting together, and as a result, nothing but a few short kisses had happened between them so far.

Which was totally okay, of course. He wouldn’t ever want to pressure Touma into doing anything he wasn’t ready for.

But oh, how much Hokuto wanted to kiss that lipstick right off again.

Forcing himself to look somewhere else, he couldn’t suppress a dry chuckle. His situation somehow matched the lyrics of BRIGHTEST AWAKING – He definitely yearned for that perfect kiss.

Which he should clearly stop thinking about. He was so not about to mess up this job by getting turned on on set.

He looked around the room searching for something to look at that was anything or anyone but Touma. Shouta maybe? Where was he, anyway?

“Boo!” he heard a familiar voice right behind him and he actually almost jumped a little. Damn that child. Trying to play it cool, he turned around to the youngest Jupiter member, who had a mischievous grin on his face.

“Spacing out, are we?”, Shouta asked. “Admit it, you just can’t take your eyes off our leader in that makeup.” Hokuto rolled his eyes. He loved Shouta like a little brother, but he was also as annoying as one. “Stop it. We’re at work.”, he tried to play it off. How did Shouta always manage to read him perfectly in the worst moments? “Exactly! Keep it in your pants, will you?”, Shouta grinned. “Anyway, you should check out my makeup too. Doesn’t this eyeshadow look just perfect on me?” He batted his eyes comically at Hokuto, who had to admit the statement wasn’t wrong. They had matched his eye colour perfectly. “You look great, Shouta.”, he said truthfully, now smiling genuinely at his junior. “These eyeshadows are going to be sold out in seconds.” “They better be!”, Shouta retorted.

“Ijuuin-san, please!” the photographer’s assistant called. “Guess we’re starting.” Shouta commented, and they made their way over to the set. Shouta stood a few meters behind the camera waiting, while Hokuto, who would be taking pictures first, took his place in front of it.

After a few years in the modeling industry, poses came to him naturally. He made sure to highlight his best angles while showing off his painted nails, and after about five minutes, the photographer thanked him and Touma was called on set.

He switched places with his unit mate and took his place next to Shouta, who smiled at him and softly said “Good work!” before turning his attention back to the set to observe Touma.

Together they watched while Touma struck pose after pose, each one putting more focus on the lips than the last. Hokuto smiled to himself at the thought of how far Touma had come since their very first photo shoot as Jupiter. He’d grown from an awkward teenager into a full fledged professional. Despite his efforts to focus on anything but Touma's lips, Hokuto couldn’t help but think that the photos would turn out even more seductive if the lipstick was just a little smudged.

When the photographer called Shouta over, Hokuto took a chance. “I have a little idea”, he quickly informed the staff. “Touma and I are going to go back to the changing room for a second, if that’s okay?” “Sure, you have a few minutes while we’re taking shots of Mitarai-san”, the photographer nodded. “But make it quick.” “Of course.” Hokuto smiled and glanced over at Touma, silently asking for confirmation. The younger man looked a bit puzzled, but nodded, and so they made their way out of the studio and along the hallway back to the changing room.

“So?”, Touma asked the second Hokuto closed the door behind them. “What’s your idea?” “I wanted to try smudging your lipstick a little.”, Hokuto explained, slowly advancing until he stood right before the younger man, “I think a freshly kissed look is going to give the pictures that special something.” Slowly, he extended his fingers towards his junior’s disbelieving face, in which he could make out a bright blush creeping in, even through the other’s makeup. “What do you think?”, he asked, fully knowing his implications might have been a little mean.

“Wh-what? We’re at work! What are you even thinking?!”, Touma stammered and took a quick step back. Hokuto chuckled. “I don’t know what you’re thinking. I was just going to run my finger along your lip – but if that’s too much for you to handle, we can absolutely just go back…” It really was too easy to tease Touma. How was Hokuto supposed to stop, when it just took two little sentences to turn his boyfriend into the most adorable blushing mess?

“Too much? Absolutely not! Express yourself more clearly, if you want people to understand, geez…” Touma tried to play it down, but Hokuto could see right through him and his bright red ears.

Oh, how he hoped Touma would never get used to his teasing. His pure-hearted reactions would be the end of Hokuto one day.

“Well, are you going to do it or not? The photographer said we should make it quick, remember?”, Touma asked. “Oh, desperate, are we?”, Hokuto smiled and came closer again. “Shut up, this is for Jupiter’s image.”, the younger man mumbled while Hokuto raised his hand and carefully cupped his boyfriend’s cheek. He could feel Touma tense up and layed his other hand on his shoulder to calm him a little. Softly, he touched Touma’s lower lip before dragging his finger away again to create a smudge effect.

Which did absolutely nothing.

“Huh”, Hokuto said, bending down a little to inspect up close, “That’s a really good lipstick. It doesn’t move whatsoever.” “Not at all? Well, what do we do?”, Touma asked, clearly now set on the idea. Hokuto did have experience with this type of shoots, so it made sense Touma trusted his intuition on this, he supposed. Unfortunately, it was hard to stay rational with his boyfriend’s face mere centimeters from his own. “What do you want to do about it?”, he asked suggestively, his voice barely above a whisper.

He managed to catch himself when he felt Touma tense up under his fingers again, just before their lips touched. He had barely noticed he’d been moving at all. Hesitantly, he straightened his back in an attempt to clear his head. Touma had made it clear he didn’t want this here. “We should probably get back.”, he said, every little part of him yearning for the opposite. “We’re at work, after all.”

Just as he said that, he was suddenly yanked back in Touma's direction by his shirt. He had to let go of the other’s shoulder and quickly place his hand on the wall behind him to stop his fall, while their lips finally connected in a shy but hungry kiss.

Having yearned for this the entire shoot, it was embarassingly hard for Hokuto to not moan into Touma’s lips seconds after they’d met his own. He really was losing the walls he’d built to conceal his feelings more and more with his boyfriend, which sounded like a good thing, but was also quite scary, when he really thought about it.

Which he absolutely didn’t want to do right now. Not when Touma’s lips moved against his like in a dance choreographed just for the two of them. Not when he could finally let go of his worry to do something Touma didn’t want and melt right into his boyfriend, because he’d been the one to kiss Hokuto.

Soon, his right hand left Touma's cheek, traveled down his neck and over his chest to land on his waist, while their kisses deepened. Hokuto lost every hesitation when he felt Touma's fingers slide into his hair. Every touch felt hot on his skin, and he cursed his outfit for having a high collar separating him from more skin-on-skin contact. If Touma would just use his left hand, which still clung to Hokuto's shirt, to unbutton it instead…

But his boyfriend had no experience with relationships, after all. He would learn all these things with time. Hokuto had absolutely no problem being patient with him. They slowly parted, both gasping for air, their faces still only centimeters apart. “Don’t just leave me hanging like that”, Touma complained, too embarassed to look Hokuto in the eyes. His ears were bright red and even his neck was a little flushed. It was adorable. “Then tell me to stop when you want me to”, Hokuto breathed, slowly sliding his leg in between Touma's. He could get used to this position.

“Wait, here?!”, Touma exclaimed, pushing Hokuto away at the chest. As he was forced to take a step back, their surroundings came back into Hokuto’s focus. Shit. He had clearly already gone too far.

“I’m so sorry”, he immediately apologized. He could have hit himself for letting go of his self-control like that. “I didn’t mean to- I got carried away. To be honest, I haven’t really been able to take my eyes off you today. Of course, that doesn’t justify doing anything you don’t want. I promise, it won’t happen again.”

Hokuto desperately hoped he hadn’t destroyed Touma's trust in him completely. He wasn’t entirely sure where his boyfriend's boundaries laid and he wasn’t keen on only finding out after overstepping them. As he looked into Touma's still furiously blushing face to check for any indicator of the other’s feelings, they heard a knock from the door, causing Touma to jump and Hokuto to quickly take another step away.

“Ijuuin-san? Amagase-san? We’re done with Mitarai-san’s pictures, if you wanted to retake anything!”, the voice of the photographer’s assistant sounded through the door. “Alright, thank you! He’s on his way!”, Hokuto replied. “Go”, he said to Touma. “Your lipstick looks exactly how I imagined.” It was killing him to leave the situation like this, when he had no idea how Touma felt about it all. But work had to come first. Jupiter was too important to him.

His boyfriend nodded and visibly tried to get his embarassment under control as he turned and went straight for the door. He reached out to the door knob, but then turned around again to face Hokuto. “...’ve never said I did’t want it…”, he mumbled, barely audible, his eyes fixed on the ground. As quickly as possible, he spun and was out the door seconds later.

A wave of relief washed over Hokuto and he had to sit down on the stool at the makeup table. Of course they would still have to talk about boundaries, he thought as he wiped faint lipstick stains from his face and touched up his foundation, but he was now fairly certain he hadn’t scared his boyfriend away. In fact, maybe this little incident would even bring them closer together – quite literally.