A crack in your mask
Jul. 15th, 2016 04:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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yume_to_ameTitle: A crack in your mask
Pairing: MatsuRyo, side: Aimiya, OhnoKame, appearances of the other Arashi-members, obviously Kame, and Yoko (if you squint :D)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, romance.
Summary: It’s Cracker’s fault that Jun and Ryo meet. Cracker, Ryo’s dog, not the food! From the first moment on Ryo feels attracted to the attractive and nice veterinarian. However, in a weird, twisted way, he feels like he has already met Jun before. But when and how?
Notes: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yuktisubute for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ryo_short exchange.
Ryo is used to getting woken up and dragged out of the bed by a huge nose and a wet tongue, tickling him and getting on his nerves. What he is not used to, however, is having an incredibly calm morning. No sound, no wet tongue, no-
Ryo is up his feet immediately. “Cracker?” he calls out in panic, roaming through his bedroom and corridor first before he reaches the living room.
Cracker is lying on the cold floor, panting heavily. Ryo hurries to his side, kneeling next to him anxiously. He pats his head carefully. Cracker looks up, licks over his hand swiftly before dropping his head down again.
This is not normal! Normally he would have dragged him out of bed, waltzed around him, made a mess and demanded as much of Ryo’s attention as he could possibly give him. And eat. Ryo frowns. Talking about food… wasn’t there a box with chocolate around yesterday night? He got it as a present from his co-worker and friend Kame, and put it on the table…
When Ryo checks said place he figures his chocolate is gone. There is some plastic lying on the floor though.
“Not again,” Ryo whines. “Cracker, you idiot.” He throws him a reproachful glance, but idiot or not… he needs to get him to the vet fast. He grabs his collar to help him up and move him to his car. Unfortunately no matter how hard he tries to pick Cracker up, he is so huge that Ryo doesn’t face a chance.
His first initial thought is to call his veterinarian and ask him to drop by personally but today is a Sunday and he has his practice closed. So he goes for his second idea, and takes his phone.
Nino sounds sleepy at the other end of the line. “What is it?” he grumbles. And- “It’s 7AM, I hope you know that!”
“Cracker ate a whole box of chocolate,” Ryo explains without further introduction. Nino is one of his closest friends from college days. He is pretty much used to Ryo’s way of feeding him incoherent information. “With paper and plastic.”
“That stupid dog,” Nino sighs. “Why didn’t you call your vet?”
“He is not here today.” Ryo looks around in panic. “Didn’t you say once you know a guy who is a vet?”
“Yes, one of my old school friends.” He can hear how Nino moves and apparently stands up from wherever he has been – probably his bed. “I’ll give him a call and ask him to go to your place.”
Ryo sighs in relief. “Thanks, I owe you!”
~~~
Nino’s old school friend turns out to be a man named Matsumoto Jun. He has long eyelashes and beautiful hands, has distinctive features and he is tall. Tall is good. Ryo himself is rather small, he has always felt a weird sense of attraction to tall men. Ryo stares at him while the other man takes a look at Cracker. Is that dude really a veterinarian? Or was it someone who planned to become one but decided to be a model instead? For a moment he feels sceptical and scared that Nino in his stingy attitude actually takes advice from a wanna-be vet, but then he sees how Matsumoto attends to his dog, how calm Cracker is and how he obviously starts feeling better. Ryo feels relieved immediately.
“Did he eat the all of the chocolate?” Matsumoto wants to know. His voice is low, and something inside Ryo’s stomach jumps slightly all of a sudden. This voice just reminds him of something or someone… It’s like he knows that voice, knows that man.
“Yeah, a box with the finest chocolate candies. My fault,” Ryo stutters, trying to focus. “He already did that twice. I didn’t believe he would reach the middle of the table to be honest.”
“A Leonberger breeding surely is huge.” Jun smiles. “Still it’s amazing that he even ate the plastic. Is it the only pet you have?”
“No, there is also Edmond.”
Jun looks around in confusion. “Edmond?”
“Edmond is my cat,” Ryo explains.
“A small cat?”
“No, he is huge and fat, but he sulks now because Cracker gets all the attention at the moment”
Jun smiles dazzlingly. Something about that smile strikes Ryo again. Did he see Jun somewhere before? He is sure he didn’t hear the name before, he is also certain that he didn’t meet him through Nino, but… there is something. Something in the way Jun talks and smiles reminds him of someone he knew. Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember who it was, he just remembers the feeling.
To distract his thoughts he offers Jun coffee, which he gladly accepts. Meanwhile Edmond apparently overcame his hurt feelings and joins them, rubbing his back against Jun’s legs until the latter picks him up. “You have a nice balcony, Nishikido-san.”
“Call me Ryo,” Ryo offers and blushes while he does so. Where did that come from? He puts the cup with coffee down in front of Jun.
Jun looks at him for a while before he smiles slightly. “Jun,” he says in return.
Ryo feels relieved that Jun took his offer so light-heartedly and didn’t get annoyed. He actually even seems to enjoy himself, leaning back in Ryo’s rocking chair on the balcony and looking up at the sky. “What a beautiful Sunday,” he muses.
“Particularly beautiful because you dropped by,” Ryo points out, and blushes again. What the hell is he even talking!? Why can’t he for once think before something slips his mouth? “I mean,” he stutters. “Because of Cracker and-“
Jun laughs. “You are fun,” he grins.
“Talking about fun,” Ryo decides to shift the topic, as skilfully as possible. Considering it’s him who does the topic-shifting it’s probably not skilful at all. “Do we know each other?”
Jun blinks. “What do you mean?”
“It feels like I know,” Ryo points out. “I’m sure I saw you somewhere before.”
Jun looks at him for a long while, like he is searching for something, and Ryo is sure he sees something in his eyes, something that makes him remember, but to his disappointment, Jun just shakes his head and smiles. “I’m sorry,” he says. “Maybe you mistook me for someone? Or maybe we just saw each other at a party or in a bar?”
Hm, Jun has distinctive features, so it’s possible that he remembers him even though he might have seen him for a short moment only. “Possibly,” Ryo admits. He isn’t convinced though. He is pretty bad with remembering faces and names, so there had to be a specific reason for him to remember Jun.
~~~
He meets Nino in the cheapest possible ramen store and bar that exists in Oda. Considering Oda is pretty small itself and the food for the locals is cheap most of the time, he has obviously outdone himself by finding something that costs… nothing.
“Did you sleep with the owner or why don’t we need to pay?” Ryo mumbles when the young owner named Aiba Masaki tells them the food is on the house.
“Yes.” Nino says.
Ryo gasps. “You are kidding me?”
“Why should I?” Nino leans back, grinning impishly. “I met him last week at the beach festival you forced me to go to, and when you were walking around and flirting, I found myself ordering a drink out of desperation. He brought the drink. We talked, got drunk, made out and fucked each other. Normal. And he is good-looking, so I’m still seeing him.” He takes a sip from his oolong tea. Ryo grimaces. He never understood how this beverage could be appealing to anyone.
“Now I’m feeling bad for taking advantage of your relationship and eating for free,” Ryo mumbles.
“Don’t be,” Nino chuckles. “Masaki-kun told me that my friends are his friends.”
“Then he is obviously too good for you,” Ryo mumbles.
“Yes, that’s definitely possible. So…” Nino digs into his free curry ramen. “How’s Cracker doing?”
“He is well,” Ryo chirps happily. “Jun-san was a huge help. Thanks for sending him to my place.”
“Probably the only person next to Masaki-kun nice enough to do something like that on his free day,” Nino points out casually.
Should he…or should he not ask? Well, basically he has nothing to lose, so… “Say, Nino-kun, I feel like I know this Jun-san. Did you already introduce us to each other?”
Nino grins. “Not sure. But then in your young wild days you were mostly drunk, so maybe I did and you can’t remember?”
“Idiot,” Ryo grumbles, and Nino giggles. “But seriously?”
Nino shrugs. “Not sure, Ryo-kun. He is an old friend, so I invited him to some of my parties for sure, but I’m pretty confident that I didn’t introduce you to each other officially. You might know him from somewhere else?”
Ryo frowns. It actually started as a feeling when he saw Jun, a simple feeling that told him he knows him. But with every time he talks to someone about it, it gets more and more mysterious. It’s not only a feeling anymore… he is sure that they have already met once.
~~~
“Good to hear that Cracker recovered well,” Kame helps Ryo with loading some boxes into their mini-van. “When does the gig start?”
“9 pm,” Ryo explains, checking his watch nervously. “Sho-san expects us to be there at 8 pm, latest. We’re never going to make it until 8 though. He’ll rip our heads off.”
“Nothing new,” Kame grins. “What is he organising anyway?”
“A bachelor party,” Ryo pats his guitar softly before closing the car. “It’s some business guy who is going to marry next week. Nino knows him too, he is also invited. We need to play there, a mix of pop and rock songs. Let’s not tell Sho we hardly practised.”
They both giggle, and Kame closes their banter with: “We are always awesome… and hot, don’t worry. They only want to see hot musicians anyway, not listen to good music.”
“Fine.” Ryo twinkles seductively. “I’ll make love to my guitar then.”
“Yeah, babe,” Kame licks his lips.
They giggle again, before they finally get into the car and start moving. He has dated Kame a few times when they were in college and they were both poor music students. It was nice to have someone to casually go out and sleep with. At one point they simply stopped sleeping with each other and remained friends. It’s so easy being friends with Kame, because…
“So, tell me about the hot veterinarian who you apparently know… and don’t know.” Kame opens a bottle of beer while Ryo drives the car to their destination.
… because Kame doesn’t make a fuss of such things and just talks about them openly with Ryo. They don’t need to hide anything from each other.
“He really is hot,” Ryo admits, and Kame giggles helplessly again.
~~~
Kame and Ryo both lost their shirts midway, and threw them into the group of people. The party started rather stiffly and quietly. A tall, pale-looking but handsome guy named Yokoyama who would marry in a week, a lot of his friends, quite some acquaintances, and unusual… also some of his lady-friends are present.
Sho threw hundreds of invisible daggers at them for being rather late, but now he looks rather content, as most of the people – including Yokoyama – are dancing and shaking their bodies on the dance floor. Some even throw money at Kame and Ryo. In the flash of the moment they even adapt their track list to the rising mood, and Ryo sings an erotic love song with his husky voice, while Kame shakes his hips and makes love to his bass.
They normally don’t do erotic jobs at all, but seeing this stiff gathering loosening up like that, gives both of them a kick. Out of the corner of his eyes Ryo can see how Sho has angled for a bottle of gin though, probably trying to soothe his strained nerves. He should do some damage prevention later, Ryo decides.
It’s when they have their break that he is able to do so. “Sho-san,” Ryo smiles his best charming smile. “You organized a wonderful party and-“
“Why are you two just always so unpredictable,” Sho whines. “Why can’t you just do what I told you to?”
“But this is why we three work so well together,” Ryo points out innocently. “You do the perfect organising, and Kazuya and I adapt to the mood.”
“Well, people are happy right now,” Sho admits and looks around, watching how Yokoyama, the groom, laughs and chats with his friends, and even his senior at work dances around happily. He might need more to convince Sho though. Ryo shifts his head a bit, searching the room until he finds the person he was looking for. Kame’s boyfriend and the fourth member of their party-organisation-company. He waves at him, and to his relief Ohno sees him immediately. He even grins slightly when he approaches them - he probably knows that Sho is upset. To Ryo’s relief Ohno pats Sho’s shoulder soothingly. “Awesome party, Sho-kun! You really know how to throw one heck of a crazy party. I’ve heard nothing but compliments up to now.”
Sho looks almost happy all of a sudden. Ohno is Sho’s childhood friend, they went to the same school, to the same college and now, they even work together. His opinion weighs a lot to Sho. Ryo flashes Ohno a thankful smile, and carefully retreats.
There are three things Ryo can do endlessly – play his guitar, play with his pets and eat. He is doing the latter now, standing at the amazing buffet Sho organised and putting quite a huge amount of delicacies on his plate.
“You can really eat all that?”
Ryo spins around in surprise when he hears a well-known voice behind him. “Jun-san?”
Jun smiles brightly. “The one and only,” he jokes, and Ryo has to chuckle.
“Yes,” he answers innocently. “To be honest I can eat and eat… and eat.”
Jun lets out a mock-dramatic sigh. “Without getting fat?”
“Some people are lucky,” Ryo teases. “I’ve a good metabolism.” He eyes Jun curiously. “Friend of the groom like Nino?”
“No,” Jun smiles. “Cousin of the bride. It’s a cool party by the way, and it’s nice to see Nino-kun here, and Ohno-san.”
“You know Ohno-san?”
“Yes, he and Sho-san were my seniors at college, Sho-san was tutoring me for my math classes, and Ohno-san was my regular philosophy-drink-buddy.”
“You know, I’m getting a whiplash from all your and Nino’s connections,” Ryo pouts. “I didn’t even know you were all connected.”
“Ryo-kun,” Jun laughs. “This is a small town.”
Well that’s true too, but up to now Ryo didn’t even know how much Nino was connected to his co-workers and to his own acquaintances. Now even Jun knows everyone.
“So, you have a job,” Jun says casually all of a sudden.
Ryo grins. “Yes, I’m not only Cracker’s and Edmond’s cleaning lady.”
“But you are not doing porn?” Jun teases. “You and your partner in crime up there-“ he points at the stage. “… really are something.”
“We are just friends though,” Ryo points out, happy that Jun at least doesn’t know that Kame and Ohno were connected to each other. It would have been too creepy if he knew that too. “I know him since my early college days though.” He blinks for a moment, before he blushes. “And no, I don’t do porn,” he stutters.
Jun smirks, and it sends a shiver down Ryo’s spine. “It was a joke.”
“I know that,” Ryo huffs.
Jun laughs even more. “So what exactly are you doing?” he wants to know, probably to distract Ryo from being pouty.
“Just like Ohno-san and Kame-kun, I’m Sho-san’s business partner,” he explains. “He is leading the Wallflower-organisation. Kamenashi and I are mostly responsible for the music of the parties he organises. We do have our own band, it has more members though, but it depends on the party if we take all of them along. Sometimes, it's not only our band which is playing.. Depends on the client’s wish. Last week there was a huge party for the 18th birthday of a rich girl. We had to organise some young-looking, pretty guys to dance some modern dances, a girl band, and she even wanted a musical in between.”
“What a waste of money to hire three different bands,” Jun says dryly.
“My thought exactly,” Ryo giggles. “That’s why Sho-san does the negotiating. He knows how to sell them things. Kame and I are rather… how should I say it…”
“No good as business men?” Jun helps him out pretty undiplomatically.
Ryo grins. He likes that. He is pretty snarky himself, and tends to talk without thinking. He is glad that Jun has a sharp tongue too. “You could say it like that. Or you could also say that we are huge failures as business men,” he admits openly.
Something in Jun’s face lights up at his words. Ryo doesn’t quite understand why Jun’s features suddenly softened. In fact he didn’t even realize that Jun was tensed and indifferent before… but now that he sees him smiling openly, he understands the difference. It’s finally a real smile.
Something inside Ryo’s stomach twitches.
~~~
Kame is lying on the sofa in the corner of Sho’s office, deeply asleep. They spent a long time up - until the cleaning up after the party in the early morning hours. Now Sho, Ohno and Ryo decide to have some morning coffee before going home and dropping into their beds.
After his nice chat with Jun , Ryo decides to finally take the courage and ask his friends bluntly. “Matsumoto Jun-san,” he starts.
Both Ohno’s and Sho’s heads snap up. They stare at him in sincere surprise, and finally Ryo has the feeling that someone can help him out. “Jun-san?” Sho asks carefully.
“Yes, the one who is a veterinarian. He helped Cracker when he was sick,” Ryo explains, checking the expression on Sho’s face with interest. “You know him, right?”
“A bit,” Sho answers warily.
Liar!
“He said you tutored him in college,” Ryo points out casually, grinning when Sho blushes slightly as his lie got discovered.
“I did.”
“He also said he was a drinking buddy of Ohno-san,” Ryo points out. “They used to have a drink when talking about philosophy classes.”
“True,” Ohno admits quietly.
For a while it’s silent between them, and Ryo uses the moment to eat half of his cheesecake (leftovers from the party) while he lets his friends think about what to say or do next.
“Why are you asking?” Ohno finally wants to know.
Ryo takes a sip of his coffee, tilting his head. “I feel like I know him,” he admits. “I mean, I know that I know him. But I don’t know where and how we met. And well… I’m pretty sure I’ve already met him, and it drives me crazy that I don’t know when and how.”
“Probably at college,” Sho points out. “I mean, we all went to the same college after all.”
“Hm,” Ryo hums. “I know Kame from college. And Nino. And later on when Sho-kun was tutoring the business class, I met Sho there, and you Ohno-kun.”
“Yes,” Ohno smiles fondly and looks at Kame who is still asleep. “The rest is history.”
“But I can’t remember Jun-san.” Ryo frowns so deeply that he feels he will get a headache soon. “It drives me nuts.”
“Where you with us at the field trip to Hokkaido?” Sho asks all of a sudden. When Ohno throws him a surprised glance, Sho shrugs helplessly.
Ryo nods. “I was mostly hanging out with Kame and Nino there though, because I didn’t know you guys well enough.”
“You probably know Jun from there,” Sho says straight-forwardly. “But I think Jun will be mad at me if I tell you more. Like really mad.”
“Yeah, and you haven’t seen him mad yet,” Ohno jokes half-heartedly.
Ryo wants to ask more and get specific information about that trip to Hokkaido but he knows that they won’t tell him more. Sho probably only told him as much already because they are business partners and friends, and he trusts Ryo.
Hokkaido. It was almost ten years ago. What happened there?
~~~
Cracker has the spirit of a rock and moves as slowly as a turtle, but Jun told Ryo after the last check-up that Cracker needs to do more sport. Ryo himself doesn’t mind, he loves sport, he works out at least thrice a week, goes jogging twice a week and surfing during summer. Kame makes fun of him because of that but Ryo is pretty proud of his six-pack.
It’s hot even though it’s morning and he has wrapped his shirt around his head, while he tries to convince Cracker to at least walk with him through the park. He originally wanted to take him for a light and slow run, but Cracker went on a strike after even five minutes of activity. The worst part is that unfortunately Cracker is so huge that Ryo has no chance at tugging him anywhere.
Ryo is about to decide that this is his worst Sunday morning ever, when he suddenly sees a man jogging in his direction. The man halts in front of him, his hair sweaty and sticking to his forehead, his body heaving because he is breathing so fast.
“Jun-san?” Ryo sounds way too happy even to his own ears.
Jun returns the smile that turns into a broad grin once he sees Cracker lying on the ground and grunting lazily. “Sports activity with Mr. Cracker?”
“You could say that,” Ryo whines. “But he only walked for five minutes. Now he is lying here like a rock… a huge rock, and won’t even move an inch.”
Jun giggles slightly. When Ryo throws him a glare, he laughs even more, but fortunately he calms down at one point and kneels down next to Ryo, patting Cracker’s back. “Let’s get him back to your apartment,” he offers kindly. “I’ll help you.”
With Jun’s help, a bag of treats and lots of soothing words, they manage to drag Cracker back to Ryo’s place. “You really need to find a way to make him exercise more,” Jun pants, while they try to shove Cracker up the stairs. “He is huge, even for his breeding.”
“Tell him, not me,” Ryo argues.
“At least the both of us are working out now,” Jun jokes.
Ryo giggles. “I know better ways to work out though.” It’s only when he said it that he realizes how suggestive his words sound. He blushes slightly, but to his relief Jun just laughs.
They need another ten minutes to convince Cracker to follow them. Once they reach Ryo’s apartment, they are completely exhausted. It’s only natural that Ryo invites Jun to stay for lunch and offers him to use his bathroom and gives him some fresh clothes.
When Jun comes back to the kitchen he is only wearing black shorts and one of Ryo’s shirts with buttons left open. He grins. “I’m pretty thin myself but there is no way I would fit into these trousers of yours.” He hands the pair of jeans back to Ryo. “Unbelievable. First I thought you would be a tiny, fragile guy, but your body is pretty stunning.”
“Really?” Ryo blinks, taking in Jun’s form. “You aren’t too bad yourself,” he says quietly.
“I am?” Jun asks, and his voice sounding husky. It sends tingles down Ryo’s spine, and he just can’t help it anymore.
He puts the vegetables he is cutting aside, and walks towards Jun. Nervously, like he is a teenager again. Jun closes the gap between them, wrapping his arms around Ryo. It’s all the invitation Ryo needs to surge forward and kiss Jun. Jun wraps one arm around Ryo’s hip, the other hand moves up his back and brushes over his neck. Ryo parts his lips slightly, allowing Jun’s tongue to enter, his own tongue engulfing in a battle with it. Before he even knows what he is doing, his hand moves from Jun’s hip over his chest, feeling the muscles beneath his fingertips. Before he can explore Jun’s body any further though, Jun moves away. He looks nervous all of a sudden, and shocked.
“I’m sorry,” he stutters. “I’m sorry for doing that.”
“What?” Ryo blinks. “But you didn’t do anything. I wanted to kiss you too, and-“
“I’m sorry,” Jun repeats, and the look in his eyes is blank all of a sudden. “I just… can’t.”
With that he grabs his keys and rushes out of the apartment, leaving a completely dumbfounded Ryo behind. Ryo’s heart clenches, and only remotely he wonders if Jun is actually alright with running through the streets only half-dressed.
~~~
“Do you have to bring that monster along?” Sho huffs when he almost stumbles over Cracker once he enters his office.
“Cracker apparently needs to work out more,” Ohno explains in place of Ryo who has done nothing so far but stare at his cup of tea completely depressed. He has been trying to reach Jun for days now, even called Nino and asked for help. But apparently Jun kind of took some days off and disappeared from everyone. To his relief Nino was equally surprised.
“Do we have a problem?” Sho asks.
Ohno rolls his eyes. “You are like an elephant sometimes, you know that?”
“Oh, excuse me,” Sho huffs. “But you had more time to understand the mood.”
“You don’t need to understand it, you need to read it,” Ohno explains mercilessly. “And-“
“It’s okay, everything’s good,” Ryo interrupts them before they can get into a fight.
“Do you want one of my onigiri?” Kame offers generously. “I made them last night.”
“No thanks, not hungry.”
Sho gasps. “You are not hungry? This has to be serious! What happened?”
When Ryo stays silent, Kame helps him out. “Jun-san disappeared.”
“Again?” Sho asks, frowning all of a sudden. He throws Ohno a worried glance.
Ryo’s head snaps up. “What do you mean with again?”
“This is not the first time this is happening,” Ohno explains. “When things get too much for him, he tends to disappear for a few days, and then he will come back.”
“Ah,” Ryo rubs his head. “I shouldn’t have kissed him.”
“Wait.” Sho’s eyes widen. “You did what?”
“Well, I was going for a walk with Cracker. You can pretty much imagine how that one worked out. Cracker stopped moving at one point. Jun-san passed me coincidentally, and helped me drag him back to my apartment. I offered Jun to use my bathroom then, and some of my clothes. When he came back-“ Ryo blushes. “He wasn’t wearing much because he didn’t fit into my trousers. And we flirted. He hugged me, and then I kissed him and-“
“He hugged you?” Sho breathes out. “He initiated body contact?”
“You are kidding?” Ohno blurts out. “Really?”
“Yes,” Ryo stutters, wondering why they are so surprised. Like… what the hell? He exchanges a look with Kame who just shrugs helplessly.
“Did he kiss you back?” Ohno wants to know.
“Of course, with tongue and all.” Ryo reassures him automatically “He even touched my back and my neck. Then he suddenly drew back, apologized and ran away.”
“Half-naked?” Kame asks in amazement.
Ryo nods and smiles slightly. “Only in black shorts and a half-opened shirt.”
Kame chuckles, and Ryo feels better almost immediately. In a weird twisted way Kame’s reactions can always make him feel better. “It’s cute, right? Just imagine him running down the streets, in his black pants and white unbuttoned shirt.”
“Like out of a drama,” Kame agrees and laughs.
“You two really have a unique way of seeing things,” Ohno points out in amusement.
“And what should I do now?” Ryo wants to know, eyeing the older two warily. After all, they knew a lot more about the situation than he did.
Sho clears his throat. “Jun didn’t have a relationship for years now. It’s the first time he opened up to someone, so please, don’t let him run away from it.”
Ryo grins and makes a peace sign. “Alright! I’m so going to get him.”
“Yes,” Kame exclaims. “Fighto~”
“Uh,” Ryo blinks. “That’s going to be the title of a new song!”
“Yes!” Kame agrees immediately, brushing through his messy hair and already angling for his pen and some paper.
“Sometimes I wish I could follow your trail of thoughts,” Ohno muses.
Sho grins. “No, you don’t. Two of them are enough.”
~~~
Ryo stretches on his sofa. And now? He was pretty encouraged by his friends’ talk but now that he is at home and has time to think, he wonders what to do. How should he make Jun answer his messages and calls? He-
Cracker’s wet nose nuzzling his neck stops his trail of thoughts. He touches his dog’s head softly, before his eyes widen. Yes! Cracker! That’s it… the perfect plan… While he roams around his apartment and searches for his phone, he is already working out the details of his plan.
Before he goes for his plan though he needs to talk to Nino. Unsurprisingly, he finds Nino together with Aiba at Aiba’s bar. “Nino-kun,” Ryo starts without further small talk. “Do you remember the field trip we went on in college. To Hokkaido. 2008?”
Nino blinks in surprise. “Yeah,” he finally says.
“Do you remember if anything happened there?”
“What do you mean?” Aiba joins their talk, robbing closer and eyeing them curiously.
Nino smiles at Masaki warmly. “Like Masaki said: What do you mean?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure, but I think something major happened there in secret. I just wasn’t part of the closer group around it,” Ryo explains impatiently. “Did you hear any interesting rumours back then?”
For a moment Nino frowns deeply, tilting his head. Then he nods all of a sudden. “Indeed, I actually did. Someone got hurt there, they later said it was an accident, but rumours say it wasn’t.”
“So.” Ryo scoots closer. “What did you hear?”
~~~
When Jun knocks at Ryo’s apartment, Ryo has already expected him. He opens the door. “Where is Cracker?” Jun calls out immediately. “Is he alright? You should have told me sooner that he has problems!”
Jun rushes into the living room and Ryo closes the door behind them. When he follows Jun, he can see how Cracker is wiggling into Jun’s direction happily. He is actually more fit than before because they go for a walk twice a day now. “He threw up before,” Ryo lies. “Guess with that he got rid of whatever he ate. I wasn’t able to reach you anymore and tell you not to come.”
Wow, he needs to win an award for lying so well. Jun blinks at him in confusion. His hair is slightly messy, but he looks good. So good. With his luscious lips and his dark eyes and…
Ryo stops his trail of thoughts and bows deeply. “Please allow me to make you coffee as a compensation for the trouble you went through to come here.” He shows Jun the best soothing smile he has, scared he will run again. But to his surprise Jun doesn’t run. He stays, watches how Ryo handles the coffee machine first and then takes some cake out of the fridge.
“Cracker never had a problem, am I right?” Jun finally asks, and his voice is surprisingly calm.
Ryo however almost drops the cake. “What?”
“You are way too composed considering this is your beloved pet. Also you prepared self-made cake, chocolate-strawberry, my favourite, which means one of my awesome friends – probably Satoshi-san or Sho-san, which I’m both going to slaughter later on – blabbed.”
“This is only half true,” Ryo admits nervously. “They didn’t tell me any details. Truth is, you reminded me of someone when I met you for the first time, remember? I even asked you… I knew that I saw you somewhere before, and it drove me nuts. I didn’t know you were…“
“The guy that got beaten up by his violent boyfriend and almost died in Hokkaido?” Jun helps him out. His voice sounds calm but strained.
“I…” Ryo pauses. “Yes,” he admits. “I didn’t make the connection at all. To be honest, I did saw you back then. The others told me that you knew Sho-kun and Ohno-kun well, but I had to learn your story to remember that I actually personally saw you sometimes. You looked so different back then. So pale and shy and broken.”
Jun sighs and sits down at Ryo’s kitchen table. “It got down on my nerves. My father was violent too, and I just had managed to escape him, and next thing that happened is I’m dating a guy who is even worse than my father ever was. It escalated back in Hokkaido. You might not know it, but Ohno-san and Sho-san basically saved my life. The police was involved too, and I spent weeks in hospital and even longer in psychological treatment to recover. Back then I swore to myself that it’s probably better for me to stay alone forever before I would meet another bad guy.”
Ryo puts the plate with the chocolate cake aside and takes a step closer towards Jun. He touches Jun’s shoulder carefully. “I’m a nice guy,” he says, blushing slightly. His voice quivers, he is not able to hide his nervousness “Well, not always. I can be a prick, and I talk before I think, and I’m stubborn, and actually a lot of work to handle, but I would never hurt someone deliberately.”
“I know.” Jun smiles slightly. “You are sweet towards your pets. I figured you are a nice guy from the first moment.” He takes Ryo’s hand. “That’s the problem.”
“What’s the problem?” Ryo asks, not sure where he lost the connection, but he just doesn’t get what Jun means.
“I’m going to hurt you,” Jun explains quietly.
“What?”
“Listen, I’m probably going to be dramatic and easily irritated, and not particularly trusting towards you,” Jun continues. “All of this is going to hurt you. You are a nice guy. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Ryo blinks. “You are a complicated man, Jun-san,” he says with a smile. “But I told you, I’m pretty difficult too. Whenever I drink too much, I’m turning into an annoying idiot. I tend to work too much. Actually you could say – I’m just like Cracker, in a human and slimmer form: I’m a spoiled brat.”
“I’m not quite sure if this makes it even though,” Jun muses.
“Can’t you let me decide this?” Ryo sits down on the chair next to Jun and takes the plate with the cake again. He hands Jun a piece. “You are making all the decisions without me, I don’t think this is fair.”
For a while Jun stays silent, eating half of the piece of chocolate cake. “I guess you are right,” he finally says.
“Does that mean you’ll give us a chance?” Ryo asks carefully, eyeing how Jun eats another spoonfull of chocolate cake. When Jun gets visibly nervous because of his question, Ryo reassures him immediately. “I'm talking about only dating and going out together at first. We can go slow.”
“Are you sure you have the time and patience to go slow?” Jun wants to know quietly.
“Told you, it’s also my decision!”
Jun says silent for another moment, then he shows a careful smile. “Fine, you bothersome brat. But don’t tell me later that I didn’t warn you!”
Ryo smiles happily, his stomach is jumping in relief and happiness. He is going to be the best boyfriend ever to Jun, so that he realizes that there are good people around too. He won’t make him regret his choice. He takes Jun’s hand, deciding not to overthink all of his moves. “Kame and I are playing at an event tomorrow. Are you coming too?”
Jun shows him a warm and sincere smile. “Of course.”
Pairing: MatsuRyo, side: Aimiya, OhnoKame, appearances of the other Arashi-members, obviously Kame, and Yoko (if you squint :D)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, romance.
Summary: It’s Cracker’s fault that Jun and Ryo meet. Cracker, Ryo’s dog, not the food! From the first moment on Ryo feels attracted to the attractive and nice veterinarian. However, in a weird, twisted way, he feels like he has already met Jun before. But when and how?
Notes: Written for
yuktisubute for ryo_short exchange.Ryo is used to getting woken up and dragged out of the bed by a huge nose and a wet tongue, tickling him and getting on his nerves. What he is not used to, however, is having an incredibly calm morning. No sound, no wet tongue, no-
Ryo is up his feet immediately. “Cracker?” he calls out in panic, roaming through his bedroom and corridor first before he reaches the living room.
Cracker is lying on the cold floor, panting heavily. Ryo hurries to his side, kneeling next to him anxiously. He pats his head carefully. Cracker looks up, licks over his hand swiftly before dropping his head down again.
This is not normal! Normally he would have dragged him out of bed, waltzed around him, made a mess and demanded as much of Ryo’s attention as he could possibly give him. And eat. Ryo frowns. Talking about food… wasn’t there a box with chocolate around yesterday night? He got it as a present from his co-worker and friend Kame, and put it on the table…
When Ryo checks said place he figures his chocolate is gone. There is some plastic lying on the floor though.
“Not again,” Ryo whines. “Cracker, you idiot.” He throws him a reproachful glance, but idiot or not… he needs to get him to the vet fast. He grabs his collar to help him up and move him to his car. Unfortunately no matter how hard he tries to pick Cracker up, he is so huge that Ryo doesn’t face a chance.
His first initial thought is to call his veterinarian and ask him to drop by personally but today is a Sunday and he has his practice closed. So he goes for his second idea, and takes his phone.
Nino sounds sleepy at the other end of the line. “What is it?” he grumbles. And- “It’s 7AM, I hope you know that!”
“Cracker ate a whole box of chocolate,” Ryo explains without further introduction. Nino is one of his closest friends from college days. He is pretty much used to Ryo’s way of feeding him incoherent information. “With paper and plastic.”
“That stupid dog,” Nino sighs. “Why didn’t you call your vet?”
“He is not here today.” Ryo looks around in panic. “Didn’t you say once you know a guy who is a vet?”
“Yes, one of my old school friends.” He can hear how Nino moves and apparently stands up from wherever he has been – probably his bed. “I’ll give him a call and ask him to go to your place.”
Ryo sighs in relief. “Thanks, I owe you!”
~~~
Nino’s old school friend turns out to be a man named Matsumoto Jun. He has long eyelashes and beautiful hands, has distinctive features and he is tall. Tall is good. Ryo himself is rather small, he has always felt a weird sense of attraction to tall men. Ryo stares at him while the other man takes a look at Cracker. Is that dude really a veterinarian? Or was it someone who planned to become one but decided to be a model instead? For a moment he feels sceptical and scared that Nino in his stingy attitude actually takes advice from a wanna-be vet, but then he sees how Matsumoto attends to his dog, how calm Cracker is and how he obviously starts feeling better. Ryo feels relieved immediately.
“Did he eat the all of the chocolate?” Matsumoto wants to know. His voice is low, and something inside Ryo’s stomach jumps slightly all of a sudden. This voice just reminds him of something or someone… It’s like he knows that voice, knows that man.
“Yeah, a box with the finest chocolate candies. My fault,” Ryo stutters, trying to focus. “He already did that twice. I didn’t believe he would reach the middle of the table to be honest.”
“A Leonberger breeding surely is huge.” Jun smiles. “Still it’s amazing that he even ate the plastic. Is it the only pet you have?”
“No, there is also Edmond.”
Jun looks around in confusion. “Edmond?”
“Edmond is my cat,” Ryo explains.
“A small cat?”
“No, he is huge and fat, but he sulks now because Cracker gets all the attention at the moment”
Jun smiles dazzlingly. Something about that smile strikes Ryo again. Did he see Jun somewhere before? He is sure he didn’t hear the name before, he is also certain that he didn’t meet him through Nino, but… there is something. Something in the way Jun talks and smiles reminds him of someone he knew. Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember who it was, he just remembers the feeling.
To distract his thoughts he offers Jun coffee, which he gladly accepts. Meanwhile Edmond apparently overcame his hurt feelings and joins them, rubbing his back against Jun’s legs until the latter picks him up. “You have a nice balcony, Nishikido-san.”
“Call me Ryo,” Ryo offers and blushes while he does so. Where did that come from? He puts the cup with coffee down in front of Jun.
Jun looks at him for a while before he smiles slightly. “Jun,” he says in return.
Ryo feels relieved that Jun took his offer so light-heartedly and didn’t get annoyed. He actually even seems to enjoy himself, leaning back in Ryo’s rocking chair on the balcony and looking up at the sky. “What a beautiful Sunday,” he muses.
“Particularly beautiful because you dropped by,” Ryo points out, and blushes again. What the hell is he even talking!? Why can’t he for once think before something slips his mouth? “I mean,” he stutters. “Because of Cracker and-“
Jun laughs. “You are fun,” he grins.
“Talking about fun,” Ryo decides to shift the topic, as skilfully as possible. Considering it’s him who does the topic-shifting it’s probably not skilful at all. “Do we know each other?”
Jun blinks. “What do you mean?”
“It feels like I know,” Ryo points out. “I’m sure I saw you somewhere before.”
Jun looks at him for a long while, like he is searching for something, and Ryo is sure he sees something in his eyes, something that makes him remember, but to his disappointment, Jun just shakes his head and smiles. “I’m sorry,” he says. “Maybe you mistook me for someone? Or maybe we just saw each other at a party or in a bar?”
Hm, Jun has distinctive features, so it’s possible that he remembers him even though he might have seen him for a short moment only. “Possibly,” Ryo admits. He isn’t convinced though. He is pretty bad with remembering faces and names, so there had to be a specific reason for him to remember Jun.
~~~
He meets Nino in the cheapest possible ramen store and bar that exists in Oda. Considering Oda is pretty small itself and the food for the locals is cheap most of the time, he has obviously outdone himself by finding something that costs… nothing.
“Did you sleep with the owner or why don’t we need to pay?” Ryo mumbles when the young owner named Aiba Masaki tells them the food is on the house.
“Yes.” Nino says.
Ryo gasps. “You are kidding me?”
“Why should I?” Nino leans back, grinning impishly. “I met him last week at the beach festival you forced me to go to, and when you were walking around and flirting, I found myself ordering a drink out of desperation. He brought the drink. We talked, got drunk, made out and fucked each other. Normal. And he is good-looking, so I’m still seeing him.” He takes a sip from his oolong tea. Ryo grimaces. He never understood how this beverage could be appealing to anyone.
“Now I’m feeling bad for taking advantage of your relationship and eating for free,” Ryo mumbles.
“Don’t be,” Nino chuckles. “Masaki-kun told me that my friends are his friends.”
“Then he is obviously too good for you,” Ryo mumbles.
“Yes, that’s definitely possible. So…” Nino digs into his free curry ramen. “How’s Cracker doing?”
“He is well,” Ryo chirps happily. “Jun-san was a huge help. Thanks for sending him to my place.”
“Probably the only person next to Masaki-kun nice enough to do something like that on his free day,” Nino points out casually.
Should he…or should he not ask? Well, basically he has nothing to lose, so… “Say, Nino-kun, I feel like I know this Jun-san. Did you already introduce us to each other?”
Nino grins. “Not sure. But then in your young wild days you were mostly drunk, so maybe I did and you can’t remember?”
“Idiot,” Ryo grumbles, and Nino giggles. “But seriously?”
Nino shrugs. “Not sure, Ryo-kun. He is an old friend, so I invited him to some of my parties for sure, but I’m pretty confident that I didn’t introduce you to each other officially. You might know him from somewhere else?”
Ryo frowns. It actually started as a feeling when he saw Jun, a simple feeling that told him he knows him. But with every time he talks to someone about it, it gets more and more mysterious. It’s not only a feeling anymore… he is sure that they have already met once.
~~~
“Good to hear that Cracker recovered well,” Kame helps Ryo with loading some boxes into their mini-van. “When does the gig start?”
“9 pm,” Ryo explains, checking his watch nervously. “Sho-san expects us to be there at 8 pm, latest. We’re never going to make it until 8 though. He’ll rip our heads off.”
“Nothing new,” Kame grins. “What is he organising anyway?”
“A bachelor party,” Ryo pats his guitar softly before closing the car. “It’s some business guy who is going to marry next week. Nino knows him too, he is also invited. We need to play there, a mix of pop and rock songs. Let’s not tell Sho we hardly practised.”
They both giggle, and Kame closes their banter with: “We are always awesome… and hot, don’t worry. They only want to see hot musicians anyway, not listen to good music.”
“Fine.” Ryo twinkles seductively. “I’ll make love to my guitar then.”
“Yeah, babe,” Kame licks his lips.
They giggle again, before they finally get into the car and start moving. He has dated Kame a few times when they were in college and they were both poor music students. It was nice to have someone to casually go out and sleep with. At one point they simply stopped sleeping with each other and remained friends. It’s so easy being friends with Kame, because…
“So, tell me about the hot veterinarian who you apparently know… and don’t know.” Kame opens a bottle of beer while Ryo drives the car to their destination.
… because Kame doesn’t make a fuss of such things and just talks about them openly with Ryo. They don’t need to hide anything from each other.
“He really is hot,” Ryo admits, and Kame giggles helplessly again.
~~~
Kame and Ryo both lost their shirts midway, and threw them into the group of people. The party started rather stiffly and quietly. A tall, pale-looking but handsome guy named Yokoyama who would marry in a week, a lot of his friends, quite some acquaintances, and unusual… also some of his lady-friends are present.
Sho threw hundreds of invisible daggers at them for being rather late, but now he looks rather content, as most of the people – including Yokoyama – are dancing and shaking their bodies on the dance floor. Some even throw money at Kame and Ryo. In the flash of the moment they even adapt their track list to the rising mood, and Ryo sings an erotic love song with his husky voice, while Kame shakes his hips and makes love to his bass.
They normally don’t do erotic jobs at all, but seeing this stiff gathering loosening up like that, gives both of them a kick. Out of the corner of his eyes Ryo can see how Sho has angled for a bottle of gin though, probably trying to soothe his strained nerves. He should do some damage prevention later, Ryo decides.
It’s when they have their break that he is able to do so. “Sho-san,” Ryo smiles his best charming smile. “You organized a wonderful party and-“
“Why are you two just always so unpredictable,” Sho whines. “Why can’t you just do what I told you to?”
“But this is why we three work so well together,” Ryo points out innocently. “You do the perfect organising, and Kazuya and I adapt to the mood.”
“Well, people are happy right now,” Sho admits and looks around, watching how Yokoyama, the groom, laughs and chats with his friends, and even his senior at work dances around happily. He might need more to convince Sho though. Ryo shifts his head a bit, searching the room until he finds the person he was looking for. Kame’s boyfriend and the fourth member of their party-organisation-company. He waves at him, and to his relief Ohno sees him immediately. He even grins slightly when he approaches them - he probably knows that Sho is upset. To Ryo’s relief Ohno pats Sho’s shoulder soothingly. “Awesome party, Sho-kun! You really know how to throw one heck of a crazy party. I’ve heard nothing but compliments up to now.”
Sho looks almost happy all of a sudden. Ohno is Sho’s childhood friend, they went to the same school, to the same college and now, they even work together. His opinion weighs a lot to Sho. Ryo flashes Ohno a thankful smile, and carefully retreats.
There are three things Ryo can do endlessly – play his guitar, play with his pets and eat. He is doing the latter now, standing at the amazing buffet Sho organised and putting quite a huge amount of delicacies on his plate.
“You can really eat all that?”
Ryo spins around in surprise when he hears a well-known voice behind him. “Jun-san?”
Jun smiles brightly. “The one and only,” he jokes, and Ryo has to chuckle.
“Yes,” he answers innocently. “To be honest I can eat and eat… and eat.”
Jun lets out a mock-dramatic sigh. “Without getting fat?”
“Some people are lucky,” Ryo teases. “I’ve a good metabolism.” He eyes Jun curiously. “Friend of the groom like Nino?”
“No,” Jun smiles. “Cousin of the bride. It’s a cool party by the way, and it’s nice to see Nino-kun here, and Ohno-san.”
“You know Ohno-san?”
“Yes, he and Sho-san were my seniors at college, Sho-san was tutoring me for my math classes, and Ohno-san was my regular philosophy-drink-buddy.”
“You know, I’m getting a whiplash from all your and Nino’s connections,” Ryo pouts. “I didn’t even know you were all connected.”
“Ryo-kun,” Jun laughs. “This is a small town.”
Well that’s true too, but up to now Ryo didn’t even know how much Nino was connected to his co-workers and to his own acquaintances. Now even Jun knows everyone.
“So, you have a job,” Jun says casually all of a sudden.
Ryo grins. “Yes, I’m not only Cracker’s and Edmond’s cleaning lady.”
“But you are not doing porn?” Jun teases. “You and your partner in crime up there-“ he points at the stage. “… really are something.”
“We are just friends though,” Ryo points out, happy that Jun at least doesn’t know that Kame and Ohno were connected to each other. It would have been too creepy if he knew that too. “I know him since my early college days though.” He blinks for a moment, before he blushes. “And no, I don’t do porn,” he stutters.
Jun smirks, and it sends a shiver down Ryo’s spine. “It was a joke.”
“I know that,” Ryo huffs.
Jun laughs even more. “So what exactly are you doing?” he wants to know, probably to distract Ryo from being pouty.
“Just like Ohno-san and Kame-kun, I’m Sho-san’s business partner,” he explains. “He is leading the Wallflower-organisation. Kamenashi and I are mostly responsible for the music of the parties he organises. We do have our own band, it has more members though, but it depends on the party if we take all of them along. Sometimes, it's not only our band which is playing.. Depends on the client’s wish. Last week there was a huge party for the 18th birthday of a rich girl. We had to organise some young-looking, pretty guys to dance some modern dances, a girl band, and she even wanted a musical in between.”
“What a waste of money to hire three different bands,” Jun says dryly.
“My thought exactly,” Ryo giggles. “That’s why Sho-san does the negotiating. He knows how to sell them things. Kame and I are rather… how should I say it…”
“No good as business men?” Jun helps him out pretty undiplomatically.
Ryo grins. He likes that. He is pretty snarky himself, and tends to talk without thinking. He is glad that Jun has a sharp tongue too. “You could say it like that. Or you could also say that we are huge failures as business men,” he admits openly.
Something in Jun’s face lights up at his words. Ryo doesn’t quite understand why Jun’s features suddenly softened. In fact he didn’t even realize that Jun was tensed and indifferent before… but now that he sees him smiling openly, he understands the difference. It’s finally a real smile.
Something inside Ryo’s stomach twitches.
~~~
Kame is lying on the sofa in the corner of Sho’s office, deeply asleep. They spent a long time up - until the cleaning up after the party in the early morning hours. Now Sho, Ohno and Ryo decide to have some morning coffee before going home and dropping into their beds.
After his nice chat with Jun , Ryo decides to finally take the courage and ask his friends bluntly. “Matsumoto Jun-san,” he starts.
Both Ohno’s and Sho’s heads snap up. They stare at him in sincere surprise, and finally Ryo has the feeling that someone can help him out. “Jun-san?” Sho asks carefully.
“Yes, the one who is a veterinarian. He helped Cracker when he was sick,” Ryo explains, checking the expression on Sho’s face with interest. “You know him, right?”
“A bit,” Sho answers warily.
Liar!
“He said you tutored him in college,” Ryo points out casually, grinning when Sho blushes slightly as his lie got discovered.
“I did.”
“He also said he was a drinking buddy of Ohno-san,” Ryo points out. “They used to have a drink when talking about philosophy classes.”
“True,” Ohno admits quietly.
For a while it’s silent between them, and Ryo uses the moment to eat half of his cheesecake (leftovers from the party) while he lets his friends think about what to say or do next.
“Why are you asking?” Ohno finally wants to know.
Ryo takes a sip of his coffee, tilting his head. “I feel like I know him,” he admits. “I mean, I know that I know him. But I don’t know where and how we met. And well… I’m pretty sure I’ve already met him, and it drives me crazy that I don’t know when and how.”
“Probably at college,” Sho points out. “I mean, we all went to the same college after all.”
“Hm,” Ryo hums. “I know Kame from college. And Nino. And later on when Sho-kun was tutoring the business class, I met Sho there, and you Ohno-kun.”
“Yes,” Ohno smiles fondly and looks at Kame who is still asleep. “The rest is history.”
“But I can’t remember Jun-san.” Ryo frowns so deeply that he feels he will get a headache soon. “It drives me nuts.”
“Where you with us at the field trip to Hokkaido?” Sho asks all of a sudden. When Ohno throws him a surprised glance, Sho shrugs helplessly.
Ryo nods. “I was mostly hanging out with Kame and Nino there though, because I didn’t know you guys well enough.”
“You probably know Jun from there,” Sho says straight-forwardly. “But I think Jun will be mad at me if I tell you more. Like really mad.”
“Yeah, and you haven’t seen him mad yet,” Ohno jokes half-heartedly.
Ryo wants to ask more and get specific information about that trip to Hokkaido but he knows that they won’t tell him more. Sho probably only told him as much already because they are business partners and friends, and he trusts Ryo.
Hokkaido. It was almost ten years ago. What happened there?
~~~
Cracker has the spirit of a rock and moves as slowly as a turtle, but Jun told Ryo after the last check-up that Cracker needs to do more sport. Ryo himself doesn’t mind, he loves sport, he works out at least thrice a week, goes jogging twice a week and surfing during summer. Kame makes fun of him because of that but Ryo is pretty proud of his six-pack.
It’s hot even though it’s morning and he has wrapped his shirt around his head, while he tries to convince Cracker to at least walk with him through the park. He originally wanted to take him for a light and slow run, but Cracker went on a strike after even five minutes of activity. The worst part is that unfortunately Cracker is so huge that Ryo has no chance at tugging him anywhere.
Ryo is about to decide that this is his worst Sunday morning ever, when he suddenly sees a man jogging in his direction. The man halts in front of him, his hair sweaty and sticking to his forehead, his body heaving because he is breathing so fast.
“Jun-san?” Ryo sounds way too happy even to his own ears.
Jun returns the smile that turns into a broad grin once he sees Cracker lying on the ground and grunting lazily. “Sports activity with Mr. Cracker?”
“You could say that,” Ryo whines. “But he only walked for five minutes. Now he is lying here like a rock… a huge rock, and won’t even move an inch.”
Jun giggles slightly. When Ryo throws him a glare, he laughs even more, but fortunately he calms down at one point and kneels down next to Ryo, patting Cracker’s back. “Let’s get him back to your apartment,” he offers kindly. “I’ll help you.”
With Jun’s help, a bag of treats and lots of soothing words, they manage to drag Cracker back to Ryo’s place. “You really need to find a way to make him exercise more,” Jun pants, while they try to shove Cracker up the stairs. “He is huge, even for his breeding.”
“Tell him, not me,” Ryo argues.
“At least the both of us are working out now,” Jun jokes.
Ryo giggles. “I know better ways to work out though.” It’s only when he said it that he realizes how suggestive his words sound. He blushes slightly, but to his relief Jun just laughs.
They need another ten minutes to convince Cracker to follow them. Once they reach Ryo’s apartment, they are completely exhausted. It’s only natural that Ryo invites Jun to stay for lunch and offers him to use his bathroom and gives him some fresh clothes.
When Jun comes back to the kitchen he is only wearing black shorts and one of Ryo’s shirts with buttons left open. He grins. “I’m pretty thin myself but there is no way I would fit into these trousers of yours.” He hands the pair of jeans back to Ryo. “Unbelievable. First I thought you would be a tiny, fragile guy, but your body is pretty stunning.”
“Really?” Ryo blinks, taking in Jun’s form. “You aren’t too bad yourself,” he says quietly.
“I am?” Jun asks, and his voice sounding husky. It sends tingles down Ryo’s spine, and he just can’t help it anymore.
He puts the vegetables he is cutting aside, and walks towards Jun. Nervously, like he is a teenager again. Jun closes the gap between them, wrapping his arms around Ryo. It’s all the invitation Ryo needs to surge forward and kiss Jun. Jun wraps one arm around Ryo’s hip, the other hand moves up his back and brushes over his neck. Ryo parts his lips slightly, allowing Jun’s tongue to enter, his own tongue engulfing in a battle with it. Before he even knows what he is doing, his hand moves from Jun’s hip over his chest, feeling the muscles beneath his fingertips. Before he can explore Jun’s body any further though, Jun moves away. He looks nervous all of a sudden, and shocked.
“I’m sorry,” he stutters. “I’m sorry for doing that.”
“What?” Ryo blinks. “But you didn’t do anything. I wanted to kiss you too, and-“
“I’m sorry,” Jun repeats, and the look in his eyes is blank all of a sudden. “I just… can’t.”
With that he grabs his keys and rushes out of the apartment, leaving a completely dumbfounded Ryo behind. Ryo’s heart clenches, and only remotely he wonders if Jun is actually alright with running through the streets only half-dressed.
~~~
“Do you have to bring that monster along?” Sho huffs when he almost stumbles over Cracker once he enters his office.
“Cracker apparently needs to work out more,” Ohno explains in place of Ryo who has done nothing so far but stare at his cup of tea completely depressed. He has been trying to reach Jun for days now, even called Nino and asked for help. But apparently Jun kind of took some days off and disappeared from everyone. To his relief Nino was equally surprised.
“Do we have a problem?” Sho asks.
Ohno rolls his eyes. “You are like an elephant sometimes, you know that?”
“Oh, excuse me,” Sho huffs. “But you had more time to understand the mood.”
“You don’t need to understand it, you need to read it,” Ohno explains mercilessly. “And-“
“It’s okay, everything’s good,” Ryo interrupts them before they can get into a fight.
“Do you want one of my onigiri?” Kame offers generously. “I made them last night.”
“No thanks, not hungry.”
Sho gasps. “You are not hungry? This has to be serious! What happened?”
When Ryo stays silent, Kame helps him out. “Jun-san disappeared.”
“Again?” Sho asks, frowning all of a sudden. He throws Ohno a worried glance.
Ryo’s head snaps up. “What do you mean with again?”
“This is not the first time this is happening,” Ohno explains. “When things get too much for him, he tends to disappear for a few days, and then he will come back.”
“Ah,” Ryo rubs his head. “I shouldn’t have kissed him.”
“Wait.” Sho’s eyes widen. “You did what?”
“Well, I was going for a walk with Cracker. You can pretty much imagine how that one worked out. Cracker stopped moving at one point. Jun-san passed me coincidentally, and helped me drag him back to my apartment. I offered Jun to use my bathroom then, and some of my clothes. When he came back-“ Ryo blushes. “He wasn’t wearing much because he didn’t fit into my trousers. And we flirted. He hugged me, and then I kissed him and-“
“He hugged you?” Sho breathes out. “He initiated body contact?”
“You are kidding?” Ohno blurts out. “Really?”
“Yes,” Ryo stutters, wondering why they are so surprised. Like… what the hell? He exchanges a look with Kame who just shrugs helplessly.
“Did he kiss you back?” Ohno wants to know.
“Of course, with tongue and all.” Ryo reassures him automatically “He even touched my back and my neck. Then he suddenly drew back, apologized and ran away.”
“Half-naked?” Kame asks in amazement.
Ryo nods and smiles slightly. “Only in black shorts and a half-opened shirt.”
Kame chuckles, and Ryo feels better almost immediately. In a weird twisted way Kame’s reactions can always make him feel better. “It’s cute, right? Just imagine him running down the streets, in his black pants and white unbuttoned shirt.”
“Like out of a drama,” Kame agrees and laughs.
“You two really have a unique way of seeing things,” Ohno points out in amusement.
“And what should I do now?” Ryo wants to know, eyeing the older two warily. After all, they knew a lot more about the situation than he did.
Sho clears his throat. “Jun didn’t have a relationship for years now. It’s the first time he opened up to someone, so please, don’t let him run away from it.”
Ryo grins and makes a peace sign. “Alright! I’m so going to get him.”
“Yes,” Kame exclaims. “Fighto~”
“Uh,” Ryo blinks. “That’s going to be the title of a new song!”
“Yes!” Kame agrees immediately, brushing through his messy hair and already angling for his pen and some paper.
“Sometimes I wish I could follow your trail of thoughts,” Ohno muses.
Sho grins. “No, you don’t. Two of them are enough.”
~~~
Ryo stretches on his sofa. And now? He was pretty encouraged by his friends’ talk but now that he is at home and has time to think, he wonders what to do. How should he make Jun answer his messages and calls? He-
Cracker’s wet nose nuzzling his neck stops his trail of thoughts. He touches his dog’s head softly, before his eyes widen. Yes! Cracker! That’s it… the perfect plan… While he roams around his apartment and searches for his phone, he is already working out the details of his plan.
Before he goes for his plan though he needs to talk to Nino. Unsurprisingly, he finds Nino together with Aiba at Aiba’s bar. “Nino-kun,” Ryo starts without further small talk. “Do you remember the field trip we went on in college. To Hokkaido. 2008?”
Nino blinks in surprise. “Yeah,” he finally says.
“Do you remember if anything happened there?”
“What do you mean?” Aiba joins their talk, robbing closer and eyeing them curiously.
Nino smiles at Masaki warmly. “Like Masaki said: What do you mean?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure, but I think something major happened there in secret. I just wasn’t part of the closer group around it,” Ryo explains impatiently. “Did you hear any interesting rumours back then?”
For a moment Nino frowns deeply, tilting his head. Then he nods all of a sudden. “Indeed, I actually did. Someone got hurt there, they later said it was an accident, but rumours say it wasn’t.”
“So.” Ryo scoots closer. “What did you hear?”
~~~
When Jun knocks at Ryo’s apartment, Ryo has already expected him. He opens the door. “Where is Cracker?” Jun calls out immediately. “Is he alright? You should have told me sooner that he has problems!”
Jun rushes into the living room and Ryo closes the door behind them. When he follows Jun, he can see how Cracker is wiggling into Jun’s direction happily. He is actually more fit than before because they go for a walk twice a day now. “He threw up before,” Ryo lies. “Guess with that he got rid of whatever he ate. I wasn’t able to reach you anymore and tell you not to come.”
Wow, he needs to win an award for lying so well. Jun blinks at him in confusion. His hair is slightly messy, but he looks good. So good. With his luscious lips and his dark eyes and…
Ryo stops his trail of thoughts and bows deeply. “Please allow me to make you coffee as a compensation for the trouble you went through to come here.” He shows Jun the best soothing smile he has, scared he will run again. But to his surprise Jun doesn’t run. He stays, watches how Ryo handles the coffee machine first and then takes some cake out of the fridge.
“Cracker never had a problem, am I right?” Jun finally asks, and his voice is surprisingly calm.
Ryo however almost drops the cake. “What?”
“You are way too composed considering this is your beloved pet. Also you prepared self-made cake, chocolate-strawberry, my favourite, which means one of my awesome friends – probably Satoshi-san or Sho-san, which I’m both going to slaughter later on – blabbed.”
“This is only half true,” Ryo admits nervously. “They didn’t tell me any details. Truth is, you reminded me of someone when I met you for the first time, remember? I even asked you… I knew that I saw you somewhere before, and it drove me nuts. I didn’t know you were…“
“The guy that got beaten up by his violent boyfriend and almost died in Hokkaido?” Jun helps him out. His voice sounds calm but strained.
“I…” Ryo pauses. “Yes,” he admits. “I didn’t make the connection at all. To be honest, I did saw you back then. The others told me that you knew Sho-kun and Ohno-kun well, but I had to learn your story to remember that I actually personally saw you sometimes. You looked so different back then. So pale and shy and broken.”
Jun sighs and sits down at Ryo’s kitchen table. “It got down on my nerves. My father was violent too, and I just had managed to escape him, and next thing that happened is I’m dating a guy who is even worse than my father ever was. It escalated back in Hokkaido. You might not know it, but Ohno-san and Sho-san basically saved my life. The police was involved too, and I spent weeks in hospital and even longer in psychological treatment to recover. Back then I swore to myself that it’s probably better for me to stay alone forever before I would meet another bad guy.”
Ryo puts the plate with the chocolate cake aside and takes a step closer towards Jun. He touches Jun’s shoulder carefully. “I’m a nice guy,” he says, blushing slightly. His voice quivers, he is not able to hide his nervousness “Well, not always. I can be a prick, and I talk before I think, and I’m stubborn, and actually a lot of work to handle, but I would never hurt someone deliberately.”
“I know.” Jun smiles slightly. “You are sweet towards your pets. I figured you are a nice guy from the first moment.” He takes Ryo’s hand. “That’s the problem.”
“What’s the problem?” Ryo asks, not sure where he lost the connection, but he just doesn’t get what Jun means.
“I’m going to hurt you,” Jun explains quietly.
“What?”
“Listen, I’m probably going to be dramatic and easily irritated, and not particularly trusting towards you,” Jun continues. “All of this is going to hurt you. You are a nice guy. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Ryo blinks. “You are a complicated man, Jun-san,” he says with a smile. “But I told you, I’m pretty difficult too. Whenever I drink too much, I’m turning into an annoying idiot. I tend to work too much. Actually you could say – I’m just like Cracker, in a human and slimmer form: I’m a spoiled brat.”
“I’m not quite sure if this makes it even though,” Jun muses.
“Can’t you let me decide this?” Ryo sits down on the chair next to Jun and takes the plate with the cake again. He hands Jun a piece. “You are making all the decisions without me, I don’t think this is fair.”
For a while Jun stays silent, eating half of the piece of chocolate cake. “I guess you are right,” he finally says.
“Does that mean you’ll give us a chance?” Ryo asks carefully, eyeing how Jun eats another spoonfull of chocolate cake. When Jun gets visibly nervous because of his question, Ryo reassures him immediately. “I'm talking about only dating and going out together at first. We can go slow.”
“Are you sure you have the time and patience to go slow?” Jun wants to know quietly.
“Told you, it’s also my decision!”
Jun says silent for another moment, then he shows a careful smile. “Fine, you bothersome brat. But don’t tell me later that I didn’t warn you!”
Ryo smiles happily, his stomach is jumping in relief and happiness. He is going to be the best boyfriend ever to Jun, so that he realizes that there are good people around too. He won’t make him regret his choice. He takes Jun’s hand, deciding not to overthink all of his moves. “Kame and I are playing at an event tomorrow. Are you coming too?”
Jun shows him a warm and sincere smile. “Of course.”
