Temporary Forever (Juntoshi)

[lilly0]

Title: Temporary Forever
Pairing: Juntoshi, guest-appearances by Nino, Sho, Aiba.
Rating: PG-15
One-shot
Genre: romance, bit angst, bit humour
Summary: Tired of all the silence between them and all the arguing, Jun and Ohno decide that they need to find the core of the problem in their relationship. They've been together since years after all... How could they possibly give up now?
Note: Written for sesquerdo for je_philippines auction! I hope you'll like this! <3

The moment Ohno angled for his hand for the first time felt even more overwhelming than the first kiss they shared a few moments later.

It was so intimate, so shy and careful.

It’s been seven years ago. There still is the memory of this feeling inside them but it’s been so long ago…

***

"Listen Jun, I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”

Jun just wishes that it wouldn’t be like that, that words between them wouldn’t be so heavy and difficult.

He sighs. He wonders how saying sorry is supposed to make things better between them. Sometimes he only wants to be out, leave the apartment and run. Run until he is exhausted. But then he shakes his head, because running away from their problems would be immature. It’s not something he can simply leave behind. Because this is his life, it’s his choice, it’s his relationship. And it’s Ohno, damn. There has been a time when everything was perfect, when things between them weren’t so tensed and frustrating. They were handling each other’s flaws better and able to open up towards each other. Jun still remembers these times, because it was so beautiful. So, Jun nods his head. “It’s okay,” he answers.

And they both know it isn’t.

******

Jun doesn’t ask for perfection. He really doesn’t. He never tells this anyone because he is pretty sure his friends will just laugh about this. Is there any bigger perfectionist than Jun? – But he means it, he asks for perfection from himself, but doesn’t demand it from everyone else. Especially not from Ohno.

There was a time when Jun was very demanding, not accepting any failure from anyone, getting mad when someone messed up. But these times are long over. He has grown up and learned that different people have different strengths and different flaws. And that no one is perfect – including himself.

It’s been hard for him to accept that and till now he has troubles with it. Everytime he misses a note or if he messes up some dance steps, when he loses at a game, it still drives him crazy. But he has learned to control this habit and to accept that he can’t always be perfect. In fact he has realized that others suddenly found him more appealing and less scary when he stopped being the always-perfect guy. So it is true after all: Some flaws are charming.

Even though he has still troubles with letting go of his perfectionist attitude, he has no problems anymore with accepting others’ flaws. There was a time when Aiba was almost scared of him, but this is long ago. Now he knows that everyone has points to cherish and that they weigh much more than the weak points they have.

Jun startles when someone pokes his forehead. “Nino?”

“No,” Nino jokes. “Santa Clause.” He frowns when Jun doesn’t react. “What? No snarky answer from you?”

“Nope,” Jun shrugs. “Sorry, not in the mood.”

Nino’s eyes look at him piercingly, trying to read his thoughts. Then he sighs in frustration. Reading Jun’s still not easy. “You know,” he starts, actually wanting to ask some piercing questions, but his right foot suddenly gives away and he stumbles. He can feel how Jun grabs his arm immediately to pull him up. “Damn. Thanks Jun.”

“Are you alright?” Jun looks at his friend in worry. “It’s your knee again, right? Did you hurt it?”

“No,” Nino shakes his head. “I think I only overdid it with our rehearsal today.”

“You should be careful,” Jun looks at him sternly. “You are always working too hard.”

“Yes, Mom,” Nino jokes, laughing slightly at Jun’s grumpy expression. He is glad that Jun lets go of his arm now, knowing that he doesn’t like it to be pampered too much.

“Funny,” Jun grumbles, but then he has to laugh too. “So, how bad is it, honestly?”

Nino shrugs. “It’s the weather I guess. And we’ve been rehearsing a lot. My knee is bitching around like crazy.”

“I could drop by at your place tonight,” Jun suggests. “I’ve had some problems with my shoulder a few months ago and my chiropractor gave me a lotion to massage into the skin. It loosens the muscles a bit. Believe me, it works miracles.”

“For real?” Nino asks, slight hope in his voice. “It helps?”

“Yes, apparently it’s made in Switzerland. But whatever, most important: it works.”

“Great,” Nino sounds seriously relieved when he pats his friend’s arm. “8PM at my place. I’ll prepare something to eat. You bring something to drink. AND this miracle-crème.”

Jun chuckles. “It’s so good to know how important I am to you. You’ll even prepare something to eat,” he jokes. “Lucky me.”

“Well, I need to bribe you,” Nino grins. “Otherwise you might change your plans.”

***

"Just leave me alone,” Jun huffs. “It’s not like I want to see you anyway tonight!”

“So,” Ohno sighs tiredly. “You are still mad.” He sounds so calm that it makes Jun even more worked up.

“Apparently I am.”

“Why did you say it’s okay then?” Ohno wants to know. “When I told you I’m sorry, you said it’s okay.”

“Yeah, guess what,” Jun’s voice is vibrating slightly. He isn’t all that sure himself what kind of emotions he is suppressing right now. “Maybe I lied.”

***

Nino doesn’t feel embarrassed at all when he sighs in pleasure the  moment Jun massages the crème in to his knee and leg. “You are right,” he mumbles. “It already feels better.”

Jun grins. “Call me genius from today on.”

“Yeah,” Nino snorts. “In your dreams.”

“Oh baby, in my dreams I’ve a lot of better things to do than to pamper you,” Jun shoots back.

Nino giggles. “Like… doing dirty things to Oh-chan?”

For a  moment Jun stays quiet, at a loss of words, then he forces a smile to his lips. “Yes, something like that.”

Nino frowns when he hears this answer, not missing the wary tune in Jun’s voice, no matter how good Jun is able to hide it. But Nino’s senses always work well and also this time they snap immediately. “You haven’t talked much to Oh-chan today,” Nino says all of a sudden, knowing that he hit a point the moment he looks into Jun’s eyes. He feels almost sorry though, because he hasn’t expected Jun to look that sad.

His words are standing in the room for a moment. Jun feels how they are pulling him down, making him feel dizzy. He hasn’t expected Nino to see and realize so much.

“Hm,” he merely answers, because he doesn’t know what else to say. “I didn’t realize.”

***

“Holy mess, you look tired.”

Jun has to chuckle for a moment, against all his intentions, because technically they still haven’t made up and technically he is still mad at Ohno. It’s just that Ohno can be so fun and charming when he wants to. “I do?”

“Sit down there,” Ohno demands, pointing at one of the chairs in their living room. The moment Jun sits, Ohno’s hands reach out for him, touching his shoulders and neck carefully. “You are so tense.” He sounds genuinely worried and slightly guilty.

“We’ve worked too much,” Jun answers warily. He doesn’t want to blame Ohno for everything, even though their current situation adds to his tension in a not too positive way.

“Yeah…” Ohno’s long fingers massage Jun’s neck. Jun can tell that he doesn’t believe him, that he is still feeling guilty. His fingers are skilled, wandering over Jun’s neck and shoulders, kneading and massaging the tense muscles until Jun feels dizzy. His head hurts a bit from the loosening tension, his body aching, still he doesn’t want to let go of these fingers yet. They feel so good and it makes him forget about everything else.

It’s moments like these that make Jun cling to Ohno and hope that not everything is lost between them.

***

When Jun raises his head, he can see Ohno lying next to him, his face looking peaceful and soft. Jun touches his cheek carefully, not wanting to wake him up. For a moment this feeling of intimacy and love washes over him. He loves Ohno. Still. After all these years.

Ohno has been so attentive during the last days, particularly attentive. Jun can tell that he is still feeling guilty for their fight. He likes the calm and soothing atmosphere at home right now, but at the same time he wonders how long it will last until they get into a fight again. Are they really able to change something when they don’t go down to the bottom of the problem?

Maybe they are both afraid of it.

***

Jun still remembers the times when he and Ohno had hot steamy make-up sex after each fight. Back then everything was different, it was more interesting. Jun was more forgiving - who wouldn’t forgive hot Ohno when he was smiling seductively and breaking dirty jokes? Jokes no one, including Jun, had thought he would even be capable of  – and back then Ohno didn’t annoy him with his jealousy whenever he went out with friends.

It wasn’t been perfect back then, never, but it was easier to ignore their problems. Now that they are already together since years, even living with each other, they can’t ignore it anymore.

Sometimes Jun wonders if he is better off alone. But when he thinks something like that, he feels guilty immediately. He hasn’t tried to solve their problem properly after all, how can he give up already?

***

Jun has no problems with someone – Ohno in this case – being slightly jealous, but he doesn’t like the possessive way of being jealous. It suffocates him.

What has he done to deserve this mistrust?

***

Ohno has cooked. Something that is not fish.

“Hm,” Jun nods his head, smiling winningly. “Tastes great!”

“You hate it,” Ohno states matter-of-factly.

“No,” Jun shakes his head fiercely. “I like it.”

Ohno chuckles slightly, his face lighting up in such a beautiful way that it makes Jun’s heart warm up immediately. “You can fake well, Jun, but I won’t buy it.”

“Oh really Satoshi?” Jun pulls an eyebrow up. “You have no idea how good I can fake.” It sounds dirty, just like it’s supposed to be. For a moment he waits for Ohno’s reply, but instead of an answer, he can suddenly feel the other’s hands on his shoulders, pushing him back against the table and kissing him heatedly. Ohno’s fingers are buried in Jun’s hair, tugging at it almost painfully, while Jun’s fingers are clenched to Ohno’s shoulders. For a moment Jun breaks free from the kiss. “The food?” he asks, gasping for air a bit.

“Who needs the food?” Ohno asks breathlessly. “It tastes horrible.”

“Fine,” Jun huffs. “Then give me something better to eat.”

“You can eat my butt,” Ohno suggests calmly. Jun still wonders how he can do that, say such things with such a calm and sleepy face. It’s his charm, definitely. “You could also suck my…”

Jun covers Ohno’s mouth with his hand, grinning brightly. “I will. So shut up and stop complaining.”

***

“What the hell happened to you?”

“Nothing,” Jun mumbles, stretching a bit.

“It doesn’t sound like nothing,” Sho argues. “You look tired.”

Jun chuckles. “Well, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

For a moment Sho stays silent, then he rolls his eyes in annoyance. “Things I never wanted to know!!”

Jun shrugs. “Then don’t ask.” He grins when Sho leaves the room, grumbling something about how nowadays youth (even funnier if he considers that Sho’s only two years older) is oh-so-bratty and how Jun was such a nice kid once (well, in Jun’s opinion Sho’s been an ass back then, so things definitely changed for the better), with respect for the elder (Elder? As in: Sho?)

“What’s going on?” Aiba asks when he sees Jun laughing.

“Nothing,” Jun grins. “Sho’s an idiot.”

“Oh,” Aiba chuckles, happy that Jun is in such a good mood. It’s been a while since he was that loose and dorky. “Tell me something new.”

***

Jun knows that when it gets more stressful, when they are drowning in work, they can’t keep up with each other. It’s always been like that. The moment they feel stressed and tensed they let it out on each other.

***

“Sorry guys, I’m late. Our manager talked to us about our upcoming tour and he…” Sho opens the door to their rehearsal room in hurry, blinking the moment he enters and only finds Aiba and Nino. “Where are Jun and Riida? Aren’t they here yet?”

Aiba and Nino exchange some glances. “Yes, they are.”

“So,” Sho pulls his eyebrows up. “As far as I’m concerned, your two faces are the only ones in the room. Don’t tell me they both went to the toilet… together.” He pauses, frowning slightly. “Oh dear, why am I even saying something like that. Things I never wanted to imagine…”

“I don’t think they are making out right now,” Nino explains.

“Seriously,” Sho eyes his friends curiously. “Is anyone of you going to fill me in? Or do I have to guess again?”

“I don’t know where exactly they are,” Nino answers. “Last time I checked they were yelling at each other.”

“I don’t understand why they are doing that,” Aiba muses. “I mean, they always got along so well. And they like each other. They can’t even let their fingers from each other on stage.”

“Yes,” Nino shrugs. “But sometimes that’s not enough.”

“What do you mean with that?” Sho wants to know.

“I’m just saying…” Nino answers warily. “I can’t spill their secrets. That would be mean and not really trustworthy.”

***

They both hate the feeling after a fight. Some people say a fight can clear the air, but for them it doesn’t work. They only feel exhausted and drained afterwards.

The air is still not clean the day after today… and also not on the day after the day after today, but eventually it fades into the background and they forget about it, or rather: let it go.

Occasionally they both wonder if they did that too often: Letting a fight go instead of discussing it properly.

***

It’s morning when Jun comes home, feeling tired from the long night. He smiles slightly when he sees Ohno. “Morning.”

“Hi,” Ohno’s smile seems strained. Jun can easily tell it. After all these years he knows Ohno just too well. “So, how was it at Ryo’s place?”

“Good,” Jun answers, trying to ignore the signs Ohno is giving him and pretends like nothing is feeling off. “Until the point where Yamashita started table dancing.”

“Eh?” Ohno is clearly surprised by that. “For real?”

“Yes,” Jun chuckles. “He dropped down of course and landed in one of the pizza boxes. Kamenashi’s pizza by the way. For the rest of the night these two disappeared somewhere… Makes one wonder where to.”

Ohno smiles slightly. “Really?”

“Yes,” Jun drops down on the sofa. “Really.” It’s silent between them for a moment. Ohno doesn’t say anything. Jun should be used to this by now, but he isn’t… he doesn’t know why it is like that between them, why Ohno doesn’t trust him, why he thinks that every time he is going out he will flirt and make out with someone else.

Jun’s never cheated on Ohno. He can’t understand his fear. And the more he thinks about this, the angrier it makes him. He doesn’t deserve it.

***

Ohno can see it in Jun’s eyes, how they suddenly get clouded, how the happy and laidback look in them (as faked as it seemed from the beginning on – Ohno just knows Jun way too well) changes and he is looking angry. And hurt.

Ohno doesn’t know how he can diffuse this look. How he can make things good between them again. He tries hard, but Jun doesn’t see the effort he puts into this. How he tries not to show his wariness too much. His – if he has to be honest to himself, he will say it – jealousy.

In fact, Ohno hates it himself.

***

It’s been a hard day, the filming for Arashi ni Shiyagare took almost forever. At least it feels like forever. And things between Ohno and Jun are still off and as much as they hate to admit it, it shows and it affects their work. They have to try double as hard as normally to mask these feeling up and pretend that everything is okay.

It ends with Jun clinging to Aiba for distraction. And Ohno to Sho.

And unfortunately they are both so off that they keep losing. Almost every game.

***

“Good work today,” Nino calls into the room cheerfully.

“Don’t even try it,” Jun huffs. He is lying on the sofa, cooling his aching head with an ice pack.

“It’s not been that bad, Jun-kun,” Sho tries to soothe him (he fails miserably at it, but Jun appreciates the effort).

“Yes, everyone has a bad day occasionally,” Aiba agrees (he makes his cheering-up job slightly better than Sho. But it’s his natural talent, so… it doesn’t really count) “And sometimes two people have a bad day at the same time.” He blushes when he says that, realizing that he has just hit the core of this whole incident. When Jun looks at him through these dark eyes, he almost wishes that he didn’t say anything at all.

But before Jun can answer, Nino jumps in, earning him Aiba’s eternal thankfulness. “I think Aiba-chan is right,” he sits down on the other side of the sofa, the part which is not covered by Jun and pats his legs. “Jun… are you happy?”

Jun is silent for a moment. “We can’t always be happy, can we?” He knows it won’t be answer enough for Nino, but it’s all he can say right now. He fears that he will burst into tears when he thinks about this for any longer.

“I don’t get it,” Sho bumps in. “You were so happy. What happened? What are you fighting about?”

“You know, Sho-kun,” Jun sits up, handing Nino the ice pack and angling for his bag, ready to leave. “The most difficult fights are those you don’t know what exactly you fight about. You’ve forgotten the reason since months already.”

***

“Well,” Ohno muses when he lies down next to Jun on their living room carpet. “Work was good today.”

“Yes, if you call never-ending loosing good, I guess it was good.” Jun answers snarkily, not in the mood for pretending things.

Ohno wavers obviously, then he sits up, looking down at Jun carefully. There is clear worry in his eyes. Jun hates to see that look, because it makes him feel sorry and guilty almost immediately. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t really fun,” Ohno admits, touching Jun’s forehead affectionately and brushes away his bangs. “We just had a bad day. Tomorrow will be better. Good that you are such a strong guy.”

“So being strong means that I don’t have any feelings?” Jun knows that he is twisting Ohno’s words here, but he is upset, since weeks already, and he can’t hold it back anymore. He sits up, looking at Ohno directly now. He wants to see him hurt, that’s why he said this. But when Ohno looks at him slightly shocked and clearly hurt, he feels sorry, realizing that it doesn’t make him feel better to let his frustration and anger out on his friend. Lover. Partner. They are so much to each other that sometimes Jun feels like cursing himself that they aren’t trying harder to make their relationship work. Loosing Ohno doesn’t only mean to lose his lover, but also to lose his best friend.

There is an awkward silence between them, before Ohno shakes his head. “Jun, that’s not what I meant.”

“I know.”

“Really?” Ohno wants to know. “Do you really know it or are you just saying it to avoid this talk?”

Jun thinks about this for a moment, then he sighs. “Both I guess.”

Unfortunately Ohno doesn’t back off this time. Maybe he is also tired of pretending things. Jun has already felt it for a few weeks… how Ohno’s defence slowly crumbles. “So, are you avoiding this for the sake of having some peace or are you doing it because you don’t want to talk to me?”

For a moment Jun stays silent, his long fingers brushing through his hair, feeling how the tips are curly from the shower he took just before. He feels tired all of a sudden. “I don’t know, Satoshi. I don’t know it anymore.”

Ohno looks at him in slight panic, reaching out his hand to touch Jun’s hand. Jun lets him; Ohno’s fingers feel warm on his. “What are you talking about, Jun?” the older one wants to know. He hasn’t sounded that soft since months already and Jun is actually surprised that he isn’t mad at all. It’s not like Jun was all that nice to him today and during the last couple of days.

Jun closes his eyes; he can only hear Ohno’s breath now, close to him, but not close enough. He suddenly longs for a hug, something that will warm him up again.

“Please tell me,” Ohno asks again, almost begging.

“I never betrayed you,” Jun opens his eyes, looking at Ohno directly now. “Not even once.”

“I know that.”

“If you know, why won’t you trust me?”

Ohno’s eyes widen in shock. He doesn’t know what to answer.

***

Jun’s not exactly a cry baby, but this time he cries. And it doesn’t help much that Aiba is trying to cheer him up. Or that Nino even suggests to invite them all out to an exclusive dinner (Nino…paying!)

He doesn’t want any of these lovely idiots, as much as he likes them. He wants his idiot. Ohno. And he wants to go back to what they were before.

***

“If you know, why won’t you trust me?”

Ohno looks so depressed that Sho feels almost bad himself.

“I feel mean,” Ohno says all of a sudden. “Stupid.”

“So basically… all this mess comes from you having no faith into your relationship?” Sho eyes Ohno in interest. He hasn’t expected Ohno to approach him out of all, but considering that Jun is bugging Nino and Aiba at the moment, he was his last option (Sho decides not to feel offended by being the last option.)  “Sorry for being so blunt, but you don’t exactly look like such a complicated type.”

“I guess we started off all wrong,” Ohno rubs his forehead tiredly. “When we got together we fell like crazy for each other and all these little problems we had, all these things that were standing between us, we chose to ignore them and never talked about them. I don’t know… like we were afraid to admitting that we have problems.”

“But every relationship has problems,” Sho interrupts his friend, his voice sounding clearly surprised. “Why would you avoid talking about them? Jun’s so eager to solve everyone else’s problems, but he is ignoring his own?”

“Yes, that’s how Jun is.” Ohno smiles for a moment. Jun’s kind. He really is.

“Yeah,” Sho rolls his eyes. “Then what about you? I can’t believe you never talked to each other.”

Ohno sighs tiredly. “You know, Jun was the first guy I really fell in love with. I just wanted it to work and be perfect. I don’t know… it sounds so stupid now, but back then I wanted him to be happy all the time.”

Sho pulls his eyebrows up in disbelief. “For real? But you do know that you can’t make another person happy twenty-four hours a day? It’s impossible.”

“I was young back then,” Ohno shrugs. “I believed I could. But you are right, it just made things worse. I guess it started with me being jealous. I don’t know… I think it was the start for this here. I got jealous easily, Jun got particularly offensive, I got more passive, Jun got annoyed, I got frustrated, he said something to hurt me, I did the same… You see the vicious circle?”

“I always thought they say jealousy is what keeps a relationship alive?” Sho smiles, trying to lighten up Ohno’s mood. He fails at it – again – like last week with trying to cheer up Jun.

“Yes, that’s what everyone thinks at the beginning. But soon you’ll find out that jealousy is what ruins everything.”

For a moment Sho stays silent, his thoughts wandering off  on their own. He wonders if it’s okay to ask this, but since Ohno is the one who approached him with his problem, he decides that it is. “Did Jun cheat on you?”

“No,” Ohno shakes his head. “And that’s what makes this so ridiculous. But one night, I think it was around a year ago, a drunk guy kissed him on a party, without Jun initiating it though.”

“And you saw it and got things wrong?” Sho wants to know. When Ohno merely nods his head, Sho bends forward a bit. “Didn’t you talk about it?”

“No, we fought because of it. It was awful. I can’t believe he actually forgave me for that. But if I think about it properly now, he might have never forgiven me. Not really.”

Sho tilts his head, his thoughts trailing off again. “Who was the guy kissing him?”

Ohno blushes slightly. “Promise me you won’t laugh?”

“Yes, yes,” Sho makes a dismissive gesture with his hand. “Just spit it out already.”

“It was Aiba,” Ohno explains, frowning when Sho starts to giggle. “Hey, you promised!?”

“Sorry, but…” Sho takes a sip from his drink to swallow down his laugh. It helps, a bit. “Oh please, Aiba-chan? Did you know that he also kissed me on our last party when he drank too much?” Sho shakes his head. “I don’t get it. Aiba is your friend. You were seriously thinking your buddy would betray you? Or that your partner would cheat on you with your friend?”

“Now it sounds stupid,” Ohno answers warily. “But at that moment I wasn’t able to think properly. I just realized how much I am in love with Jun and how hurt I would be if he left me. It made me wonder why he even stuck with me. Why he chose me.”

For a moment Sho stays awkwardly silent, his brows furrowed in highest concentration. “So in the end,” he finally answers. “You aren’t lacking any trust in Jun… but in yourself?”

“Maybe.”

***

“I’m not going to apologize this time.”

Jun looks up in surprise. “What?”

Ohno sits down at the other edge of the sofa, not wanting to intrude Jun’s private space. They are going to have a recording soon and the last thing he wants is to make Jun upset before that.

“I don’t think apologies are making anything better.”

Jun is silent, then he puts his newspaper aside, facing Ohno. “Finally.”

“Finally what?”

“I was waiting for you to realize that.”

Ohno blinks slightly, then he frowns. “Did it never cross your mind to tell me that you don’t want any apologies?”

“Apparently it didn’t cross my mind,” Jun answers dryly. To his own surprise Ohno has to chuckle slightly. He robs a bit closer to the other one, deciding that maybe he could invade a tiny bit of Jun’s space.

“Jun?”

“Hm.”

“I want you to know one thing,” Ohno looks at Jun insistently, sounding unusually earnest and awake. “I love you and I trust you.”

By the slight blush that crawls over Jun’s cheeks, he can tell that he said the right thing. Finally.

***

“So,” Jun continues their talk from two days ago. “You have faith in me?”

“Of course,” Ohno hands Jun a drink. They have tried their best to calm down a bit during the last couple of days. If you are together for such a long time, you won’t leave that easily. Not after a fight. That’s not how he and Jun are. Secretly Ohno is a bit surprised that Jun seems to feel the same: He doesn’t want to leave in the heat of an argument. “Of course I have faith in you,” he repeats. “It’s me I have not much faith in, not you.”

“Alright,” Jun frowns. “Before we are going to talk about you having no faith in yourself, let me verify this: You trust me?”

“I would tattoo it on my arm if you want me to,” Ohno suggests, smiling slightly when Jun grins.

“No, you wouldn’t!”

“Just imagine it: Your name on my upper arm. Wouldn’t that be hot?”

Jun laughs. “Add a picture of me to it and I’m in.”

Ohno grins. “Yes, you would like that. Your pretty face on my arm.”

“I wouldn’t need a mirror anymore,” Jun muses.

Ohno smirks. “Why do you even need a mirror? Just look at your stunning reflection in my eyes.”

For a moment Jun blinks at that, then he breaks down on his chair, laughing. “So corny. You being cheesy…it just doesn’t work! Where did you even get that from?”

“Sho,” Ohno answers dryly. “He gave me this very interesting book, about how to compliment your lover.”

Jun still giggles. “From Sho-kun? This information is priceless, I hope you know that.”

“Oh, I know,” Ohno smiles warmly. “I’m so glad Jun.”

Jun still feels a bit dizzy from all the laughing, but now he eyes Ohno curiously. “About what?”

“To see you laughing,” Ohno shrugs helplessly. “It’s been a while. And I missed your laugh.” He pauses. “I’ve been an idiot. Sorry.” A wary smile curls around his lips. “So, I apologized again.”

“We’ve both been idiots,” Jun answers after a while, then he smiles. “It’s okay.”

“Are you sure?” Ohno wants to know. “Or are you just saying it to make me feel better?”

“Both,” Jun answers honestly. “The correct answer would be: It will be okay.”

“You mean it?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it,” Jun looks at Ohno warily. “What about you? Are you sure you aren’t tired of all this drama?”

“Well,” Ohno sits down right next to Jun on the sofa chair. There is hardly place for him, even though Jun is shifting around to make place for him. In the end he and Jun are basically squeezed on the chair. He smiles when he angles for Jun’s hand, crossing their fingers. “The drama is tiring, but I think this here is worth it.”

***

“Give it a try,” Aiba tries to sound as encouraging as possible. “Imagine I’m Jun and do it like you read it in the book.”

“Hey Jun, I need to talk to you about my feelings. First of all you are a wonderful person, I cherish your presence and,” Ohno pauses, glaring down at the sheet of paper in his hand. “I sound like a girl!”

“No, you just sound like a very smart guy who tries to approach a problem,” Aiba argues.

Nino and Sho exchange some glances, before Nino clears his throat. “If you have this talk with Jun, could you please film it?”

“Eh, why?”

“Sho and I would really love to see how Jun drops down to the floor… laughing,” Nino and Sho giggle, their giggling getting louder when Ohno glares at them.

“You know what?” Ohno huffs all of a sudden. “Jun and I don’t need that,” he grabs the book, waving at Aiba. “I’m borrowing that one.”

“I thought you didn’t want to use it,” Nino sounds surprise. “What do you need it for?”

“Secret.” Ohno smirks when the others start pestering him with questions. They don’t need to know everything…

***

"I can’t…” Jun breaths out helplessly, gasping for air. He stretches slightly, feeling all warm and comfortable. He and Ohno are sitting in their king-sized bathtub, having a nice bubble bath together. “I can’t laugh any more. Please spare me.”

Ohno chuckles, turning a few pages of the book (he really needs to thank Aiba later, because his book – Imoto-sensei’s love advice – really helped, just not in the way Aiba thought it would. And Ohno needs to apologize, because some of the pages got slightly wet. He is in the bathtub after all). “Here is another one. To set the mood, compliment your partner on his hair and…”

“What kind of mood?” Jun grins. “If I get this correctly, no one will be in the mood for anything dirty after this.”

“So, you don’t want any of these?” Ohno wants to know.

Jun chuckles. He gets up on his knees, crawling closer to Ohno. Some water splashes down on the bathroom floor but he couldn’t care less now. It’s still a bit cramped here, though it’s a king-sized bathtub… but it’s still a bathtub. Once he reaches Ohno, he grabs his neck, pulling him closer with a tug. (This tease, sitting there and watching him crawl through the water and looking all ridiculous while doing so, instead of meeting him halfway.)

“Newsflash Satoshi,” Jun whispers against Ohno’s left ear, smirking when he sees how slight goosebumps appear on Ohno’s arms. “There is a reason why I’m together with you, not with What’s-his-name-Sensei.”

“Yeah? Good to know. For a moment I thought you would feel attracted to the 100 love-tips from Corny-is-the-basic-of-every-relationship-Sensei”

“Hm, it was tempting for a moment, especially the part about the flower-perfume bath. But on the other hand I really don’t want to smell like a bucket of roses for a whole day… just because you need to show me your gratitude.”

“In your beauty,” Ohno ads.” You forgot to say that the flower-perfume bath is not only to show you my gratitude but also to cherish my partner’s beauty.”

“As I said,” Jun grins. “There is a reason why I’m together with you, not with Your-relationship-is-like-a-flower-bed-if-you-don’t-use-enough-dung-it-will-die-Sensei.”

“Good to hear that,” Ohno smirks. “And here I was already doubting our new-found way to handle problems.”

“So, how do we handle problems from now on?” Jun wants to know, his fingers wandering over Ohno’s shoulders.

Ohno shudders slightly. Jun’s so close to him that he doesn’t know how long he can hold back anymore. “By talking,” he answers. “By learning, by discussing things instead of staying quiet or yelling, by accepting that we have problems.”

“Sounds good,” Jun chuckles. “You know it feels kinda good to solve a problem.”

Ohno pulls an eyebrow up when Jun shows him an almost dazzling smile. He wonders if Jun knows how alluring he can be. But a look into his eyes shows Ohno that he is very well aware of how seductive he is right now.

“So,” Jun continues, his lips brushing over Ohno’s neck. “Want to talk now?”

“Yeah,” Ohno nods his head earnestly. “But first I want to shower you with my gratitude and cherish your beauty.” He doesn’t even wait for Jun’s answer, he simply dashes forward and kisses Jun heatedly. It’s all messy and wet and slippery to kiss and touch Jun like this, but who the hell cares right now?

They don’t.

***

“You know what the worst is?” Jun lies on his stomach. The extra fluffy cashmere carpet was a very good idea. Well, it was his. Buying furniture was definitely his forte, not Ohno’s. (He still painfully remembers how the latter once bought this ugly green cupboard)

“What?” Ohno doesn’t look up from his painting, but he smiles slightly, showing Jun that he is listening.

“To fight in front of our friends.”

For a moment Ohno stays silent, he lowers his brush a bit. “That’s true. It was a low moment.”

“And embarrassing.”

“We are the Kings of embarrassing.”

Jun chuckles. “You are older than I am. Makes you the king of embarrassment. And me… your heir.”

“Yeah,” Ohno snorts. “Right.”

“Could we just do these things differently from now on,” Jun asks, all of a sudden sounding really earnest. “It really was a low moment.”

Ohno flinches slightly. “Yes, definitely. Let’s learn from this.” He shakes his head. “To think that I had to consult Sho instead of talking to you directly. It was beyond embarrassing.”

“Well,” Jun shrugs. “You at least only consulted him. I on the other hand cried on Nino and Aiba-chan.”

For a moment it is painfully quiet, before Ohno puts his brush aside, looking at Jun warily. “You cried?”

He looks so guilty that Jun feels sorry immediately that he told him about it. He didn’t want to make him feel guilty. “It was the nerves.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Ohno argues. “It was me.”

“Oh please,” Jun pulls his eyebrows up, looking at Ohno teasingly. “Don’t take yourself THAT important.”

Ohno smiles warmly. It’s so easy for him to look behind Jun’s snarky comments. “I won’t.”

***

“Thanks, this book helped me big time.”

Aiba rubs his forehead in surprise. “I thought you said it’s a piece of junk.”

“Oh,” Ohno chuckles. “I still think it’s a piece of junk. But it helped me. Big time. Thanks Aiba-chan.”

Aiba’s smile is genuinely happy. “So you two… things are getting better?”

“My, my,” Ohno teases, “Someone’s nosy.” Out of the corner of his eyes he can see how Sho is eyeing them insistently. “Anything wrong?”

“Just out of curiosity,” Sho tries to smile innocently. Big fail. “What did you two do with the book? Some pages are rippled.”

“Well,” Ohno shrugs. “Sorry, Aiba-chan, we had a bathtub malfunction.”

The other two exchange some glances. “A bathtub…what?” Sho frowns. “What were you doing in a bathtub anyways?” When Aiba starts to giggle and Ohno merely pulls his eyebrows up, he blushes slightly. “Why am I even asking…”

“So,” Aiba smiles brightly. “You found a way to talk to each other?”

“Yep,” Ohno stretches tiredly. “We found a whole new approach…”

***

“What are you doing here?” Jun asks in surprise when Ohno pushes him against the arm rest. He has to angle a bit, grabbing
Ohno’s neck, or he will drop down from the sofa.

"It’s my whole new approach. I decided,” Ohno pauses, his eyes gleaming unusually fiercely. “To turn my passive-aggressive jealous attitude into something positive.”

Jun pulls his eyebrows up, remembering loosely how Nino has clung to him the whole day. He grins, still not understanding Ohno’s fear, but his new approach has made him curious. “So… what are you planning to do?” He shivers slightly when he feels Ohno’s breath on his neck.

Ohno smirks, his lips already moving over Jun’s skin. “Marking my territory.”

“Idiot,” Jun huffs. “You are not a dog and I’m not your tree.”

The older one merely shrugs. “If it’s a complaint, put it on the list. We can talk about it later.”

“The list is getting too long,” Jun grumbles. He feels like he should be annoyed at Ohno now, but at the same time he doesn’t feel like it at all.

They still have their problems, but at least they are approaching them now, joking about them. It’s a start. Actually Jun doesn’t feel like complaining at all right now. Ohno’s right, they can still discuss this later. Besides… They didn’t have all that much sex during the last months.

They still have a lot of catching up to do…

******
Note: Dear friends and readers! Thanks so much for all your support <3  To thank you I opened up a Request Post. If you feel like requesting a one-shot with a specific pairing or situation you can do so HERE.