Me without you Chapter 13 (Junba, Sakumiya)

[lilly0]

Title: Me without you 13/?
Pairing: Junba, Sakumiya, Ohno/?, others possible
Rating: up to R
Genre: AU, romance
Plot: Although they are both young students at college, both the youngest brothers within three, and both part of high society, there are worlds between Jun and Masaki. Jun comes from a rich, traditional and conservative family, while Masaki's family gained wealth and fame by luck. Masaki is cheerful and enjoys life to the fullest. Jun is unusually earnest and distanced. Although part of the same glamorous world, their paths would have never crossed, they would have never even talked, but then Masaki's brothers decide he needs to catch up with his studies, and hire Jun as his tutor. With being so different it seems they will never get closer, until they realize that they both hold a sad secret.
Note: This is dedicated to yukitsubute. I had (and still have) a lot of fun writing this, and I wonder where it takes me to. I can promise you some fluff, some fun and some drama (the usual ^^) There might even be some hurt & comfort.


He has expected Takuya to either get mad at him or deny it, but to his surprise Takuya didn’t react in any way back in the kitchen. He just looked to the side for a while, then he grabbed two bowls with salad. “Let’s take them outside,” he said before he threw Shingo a thoughtful glance. “Later.”

Now it’s later, and Masaki and Nino decided to stay behind and help Jun and Sho with cleaning up, while Satoshi decided to take some of the younger ones home in his car. Satoshi has told him that he has something to do later on. Shingo isn’t just sure what it is. But Satoshi doesn’t waste many words normally, and when he keeps entirely silent about something he has to respect it.

It’s good to finally be all alone with Takuya though, because when the door behind them closes and they are alone in Takuya’s apartment, he can finally ask what he wants to know so badly. Just that it’s so difficult now when he can’t be spontaneous anymore.

He sighs, taking two glasses and a bottle with wine. “Drink?” he asks.

Takuya smiles. “Fine.”

They settle down on the sofa, meaning Shingo stretches down on the sofa, while Takuya takes the sofa chair.

“I was right, wasn’t I?” Shingo starts, because if he drags it any longer he won’t ask. Ever. “Your father abused you, didn’t he?”

A tiny hopeful part of him almost wishes that Takuya wouldn’t say something, but he does. “I think as a child it’s really difficult to tell if it’s abuse or not. Even when you grow up, it’s still not clear.”

“And your brothers?” Shingo wants to know. “What do you feel when you think about how your father treated them?

Takuya’s eyes narrow, getting darker all of a sudden. “Then I get majorly pissed, and am very glad that my father already passed away, because I’m sure I would have killed him myself otherwise. Unbelievable how he treated Sho. If only I had opened my eyes earlier.”

“And Jun?” Shingo asks carefully.

“I’m not sure, to be honest,” Takuya answers. “My father loved Jun’s mother, and it seems he never beat her or Jun. But he suffocated her, and maybe also him.”

“Your mother killed herself?” Shingo inquires further, not sure how far he can go.

“No, Jun’s. Mine and Sho’s gave up and at one point died of an illness. Jun’s mother committed suicide.”

“But,” Shingo stutters. “You said he loved Jun’s mother.”

“I said, he loved her too much,” Takuya corrects him. “I can’t tell what truly happened. But I’m sure something did.” He pauses. “She ran away once and took Jun with her. He was twelve back then. Shortly afterwards she killed herself,” he adds quietly.

Shingo stays silent, one part of him wants to ask for details, but the other knows he can’t ask for more and he probably won’t get more information for now anyways. Takuya telling him as much already means a lot. He takes a sip from his glass, when it finally dawns on him. “Is this why you don’t want to be in a relationship?” he asks, eyes widening when Takuya looks at him in shock. “It is! But…”

“Listen,” Takuya says with insistence. “They say kids that grew up in a violent environment will get violent too. And I don’t want that to happen.”

“You are not your father,” Shingo intervenes.

“You don’t know that, and I don’t know it either,” Takuya points out in a matter of fact tone. “I don’t want to hurt anyone I love.”

“But I’m not scared of you,” Shingo argues. “You are actually really kind and soft-hearted. You just hide it well.”

Takuya has to smile slightly at the last comment. “You are delusional,” he comments dryly. “Come, let’s grab that bottle of whisky and get drunk.”

Shingo nods weakly. There is a lot he wants to say about everything Takuya told him, voice his support and his understanding, tell him how mad he feels that his father was such an awful man and that he can sympathize with his worries, but he is weirdly spellbound. He just can’t say anything.

Takuya turns around a bit and hands him two whisky glasses. “Help me?” he asks, smiling slightly.

Shingo is up his feet immediately, grabbing the two glasses while wrapping his arms around Takuya’s waist. Takuya lets out a sigh. “Don’t be cheesy now. And… oh my god, don’t tell me you are crying! That’s one of my best sweaters!”

“It’s just so unfair. Life’s unfair,” Shingo huffs and ignores Takuya’s complaints and hugs him tighter, ignoring Takuya’s wriggling as well.

“I didn’t tell you all that stuff so that you would get a nervous breakdown,” Takuya huffs.

“I just wish you had a happy childhood,” Shingo says, nuzzling his nose into Takuya’s hair.

Takuya stays quiet for a while. “I’m happy now,” he finally admits. “It’s not like everything is good, but I have my job which I like, friends, my lovely brothers, and a puppy.”

“A puppy?” Shingo blinks. “You’ve got a puppy?”

“Yeah,” Takuya snorts. “A pretty big one. It won’t go away no matter what.”

Shingo smirks. “Then you don’t have a puppy but some virus sticking to you.” He raises his hands in a zombie-like manner, walking after Takuya into the kitchen. “Let me infect you!”

Takuya chuckles.


~~~

Satoshi stares at the street in highest concentration, although there is no traffic at all, but he is scared to face the truth. He has dropped everyone at their homes except for Ryo. It’s just a feeling he has, and he has nothing to prove it. He has only seen this kid twice up to now. One time at Sho’s work, then today.

“You know,” Ryo chats. “You could have let me get out at that bus station.”

“No,” Satoshi says firmly.

“I’ve a long drive home,” Ryo argues. “Really, I’m going to crash at a friend’s place.”

“Is this friend of yours at home?” Satoshi asks.

“Nope.”

“You have a key to his apartment?”

“Nope.”

“What?” Satoshi’s eyes widen. “Where are you going to sleep then? In front of his front door!?”

Ryo shrugs. “Why not?”

“Oh my god,” Satoshi breaths out. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation right now.”

“I’m doing this all the time when I’m out late,” Ryo tells him with a chuckle. “I do have a place on my own, but when it’s past midnight I don’t have a bus home anymore. It’s like one and a half hour drive from here, so just drop me at that corner there.”

“No way,” Satoshi intervenes with a huff. “We are driving to my place!”

“To yours?” Ryo laughs, like Satoshi is the one being ridiculous here.

“You are worse than Masaki,” Satoshi sighs.

Ryo chuckles. “I’ve just learned to enjoy my life. You know, we only have this one.”

Yes, Satoshi knows. It can’t be though. Ryo can’t be the kid he knew from that time. His hair is too dark, although hair colour can easily be changed, and he didn’t have that many moles before, and his face is too edgy. Of course one could grow into features… The smile however, it’s this wide-teethed grin that makes Satoshi feel so uncomfortable. Can it be a coincidence?

They drive to Satoshi’s and his brothers’ place in silence. Shingo told him he wouldn’t come home over night (he added a hopefully to it, so Satoshi takes a wild guess he is with Takuya) and Masaki is still hanging out with his new addiction – Jun.

Satoshi parks the car in the garage, and leads Ryo through the path in the garden to the backdoor. “Why,” Ryo says all of a sudden. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you are sorry for something,” Ryo points out, surprisingly sharp. Partly covered by the darkness of the night he almost looks a bit mysterious and his quirky and dorky attitude is suddenly gone. “Like you want me to forgive you.”

“You are reading too much into my attitude.” Satoshi manages to say once he recovered from the initial shock. How can this kid be so sharp? “I’m not that deep really.”

Ryo laughs all of a sudden. “Then we have something in common,” he jokes, and he is his usual self again. “You have a nice house,” he muses. “Masaki-kun invited me once and I was pretty stunned.”

“Only half as big as the Kimura residence.” Satoshi points out.

“Well, no one can quite compare to that family though,” Ryo jokes.

Satoshi chuckles. “To be honest, we weren’t always rich. Shingo won lottery, and we invested the money wisely, and we worked our butts off. I wanted to grant Masaki a good and hopeful future.”

“So all of your money goes to the house, investment and family,” Ryo muses.

“A huge part, yes, but there is also quite a sum remaining for myself. I use it for my art. And as there are not many things I actually want to buy – I’m not into cars or clothes, I like things simple – I donate some of my money.”

“Really?” Ryo asks in surprise. “Where to?”

Satoshi leads him through the living room to the kitchen to prepare some tea for them. “Some children hospital,” he says casually, secretly scanning Ryo’s expression. But unfortunately this kid has a poker face.

“Then you are a good guy.” Ryo smiles.

There it is again. This smile. Satoshi hands him a cup of tea, eyes pinned to Ryo’s shining eyes and wide-teethed smile. “I want to paint you.”

Where the hell did this come from? Weirdest move ever. What does he even want from this kid? He isn’t attracted to him in a sensual way, it’s something else… Now however this kid is probably thinking he is an idiot and-

“Sure,” Ryo agrees. Then he his lips tug into a nervous smile. “Funny. The circle of life.”

Satoshi isn’t quite so certain what he means.


~~~


Masaki half lies on top of Jun on the sofa, his lips roaming over his neck, before meeting his lips. It feels wonderful, Jun thinks, he has never imagined that kissing someone could be so wonderful. He had really missed out something in life.

“What are you thinking?” Masaki whispers into his ear.

“That I should have made out in High School,” Jun answers dryly. “I obviously missed out a lot.”

“You are not allowed to think of other guys while you make out with me,” Masaki pouts. He is so cute, it’s unbelievable.

“Don’t worry,” Jun grins. “It’s not like I had anyone in High School who I liked.”

“But you like me?” Masaki wants to know.

“Obviously.” Jun snorts.

“Good because I like you too,” Masaki says with emphasis.

Jun’s heart jumps happily, but at the same time he can’t help but feel doubtful. “Are you sure? Because if you are not, it’s fine too.” No it’s not, but he rather wants to know it now before he gets even deeper into this thing with Masaki. He doesn’t want to get hurt, and he doesn’t want to hurt someone else.

“It is?” Masaki pulls his eyebrows up. “Well, then…”

Jun sits up a bit, pulling away from Masaki’s arms. Something inside his chest hurts all of a sudden. Masaki doesn’t pull away though, instead he is sitting on Jun’s lap now. He brushes with all ten fingers through Jun’s hair, and then grabs his face. “Why do you always doubt me?” he asks softly, and the gesture and his voice are so sweet that Jun can’t push him away. He doesn’t even sound angry, just soft. Jun’s heart races. Is it possible that he finally, really, got lucky and is allowed to fall in love? “Don’t doubt me, Jun-kun. I don’t meet someone else aside of you. I don’t want to meet anyone else. And I like only you.”

“I’m sorry,” Jun says, wrapping his arms around Masaki’s waist. “I know it’s stupid. Nino-kun is your friend, just like Kiko and Shun are mine. It’s not even about Nino, it’s just…”

“What is it?” Masaki wants to know, nuzzling his nose into Jun’s hair from above.

“It feels weird that I’m suddenly, I don’t know, somehow happy. It’s like a bubble, and I’m scared it’s going to burst and you’ll be away. A dream, you know? And once I wake up, I’m alone, and the situation with my brothers is the same as before, not like it’s now. And you won’t be here either, and there is no one who can understand me like you do and-”

“Jun-kun,” Masaki interrupts him, surprisingly earnest. “It’s not a dream. Your brothers love you, and always will. And I’m not going anywhere.”

Jun sighs. He knows Masaki tells him the truth, simply because Masaki wouldn’t lie to him, to anyone. But at the same time feeling happy is so rare for him that he doesn’t quite trust it. He is almost scared of this feeling. He knows where it comes from, but he is afraid to face it, scared of ripping open old wounds.

“Don’t go,” he hears himself say to his own horror. How pathetic. “Just don’t leave me.”

“I won’t,” Masaki says softly, pulling him into a warm and comforting hug. “Jun, I won’t leave you. I’m going to stay. Please believe me.” He pauses, his voice shaking slightly. “Jun, promise me you won’t leave me either.”

Jun looks up in surprise at the sudden change of atmosphere. Now it’s Masaki looking at him slightly scared. “Of course I won’t leave.”

“You’ll stay with me, won’t you? I’m good enough for you?”

Jun tries not to let his confusion show too much because to him Masaki is perfect and deserves the best. How can he believe he isn’t good enough to be with Jun out of all? It’s not like Jun is anything special. Jun wraps his arms around Masaki tighter, nodding. “Of course I will stay!” He smiles carefully. “How about we try to trust each other?” he offers.

Masaki nods. “I would like that,” he admits.

Jun looks at him carefully, wondering if he should ask about Masaki’s weird behaviour. There is something he hides, Jun has realized long ago when he met Masaki for their tutoring lessons only. But he doesn’t quite understand what it is. “Masaki,” he says softly.

“I know,” Masaki’s lips tug. “I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it. I don’t know how to say it, you know?”

Jun knows pretty well what Masaki means. “We still have time,” he finally says.

Masaki nods in relief, pecking Jun’s lips softly. “You know what else would be great?” he finally asks.

Jun looks at him curiously. “What?”

“Food!”

Jun chuckles. “Well, that’s something we can definitely work on.”


~~~

Unfortunately Masaki can’t stay overnight. Or rather: He could, but Jun feels too unsure about having someone actually sleep at his place, and then wake up and have breakfast with him and his brothers. No, that would be too much awkwardness for Masaki.

One step after another. It’s Sunday, but when he eyes his typical Sunday yukata, he decides to challenge himself for once and do something differently. He doesn’t even want to wear that thing, never did, so why not go for a simple pair of jeans, a white shirt and a comfortable sweater.

His heart beats nervously when he pads downstairs, walking particularly slowly once he sees the salon and can hear Sho’s and Takuya’s voices. He is about to turn around and head back upstairs to change, when unfortunately one of the maids sees him and greets him happily. Okay, now they know he is here.

He swallows slightly when he enters the salon. Here goes nothing. If they scold him, he will try not to get into a fight with them and-

“Good morning!” Sho greets him with a smile, he is in his bathrobe while Takuya is still wearing the clothes from yesterday evening.

“Ah, Jun-chan,” Takuya says, obviously in a completely unknown weird, but apparently also good mood. “I can see both my cute little brothers today for breakfast. How nice.”

“Wait, are you also calling me cute?” Sho asks in disbelief.

“Not as cute as Jun,” Takuya argues.

“I’m not cute at all!” Sho says with emphasis.

“You are my brother, younger than me, it means you are cute,” Takuya says in a voice that lets no room for discussion.

Jun can’t help a grin. “Morning,” he says, forgetting his former uneasiness and sitting down with a relieved smile. His eyes immediately catch the huge plate with poached eggs and fried ham. “Western style?” he asks.

“Yes,” Sho smiles. “I was hungry.”

“You are always hungry,” Jun points out dryly, biting down on his tongue immediately afterwards. He didn’t mean to insult Sho. To his surprise though Takuya chuckles and Sho grins.

“If you are too cheeky, I might just accidentally eat your share of the eggs,” Sho teases.

“Sorry,” Jun says and doesn’t meant it at all. He can’t believe they are having fun. It’s an entirely different atmosphere.

“Are you meeting someone today?” Sho asks after a while.

Jun shakes his head. “No, Shun has a date, Kiko is sick, Masaki has work.” Jun tilts his head. “Oh, and Nino too.” Sho almost spills some of his tea at the mention of Nino’s name. Jun blinks in surprise. “Anything wrong?”

“No, just… hot…” Sho coughs. “Tea.” Takuya and Jun exchange a glance at Sho’s weird rambling. “Well, as you are free, how about we do something together?”

Jun’s head perks up. “Really?”

“I want to watch movies,” Sho points out.

“Well, in that case I could cook something for us…” Jun suggests hopefully.

“I’ll help,” Takuya offers.

Jun looks at the both of them sceptically. “I think it’s a great idea, but… I don’t know… don’t you have a life you would rather like to attend to today?”

Sho grins. “You do realize you are part of our life too?” He tilts his head. “And well, aside of you two and Satoshi, no, I don’t think I have a life.”

Jun blinks. That sounded sad. “Then I’ll cook your favourite dish today,” he offers.

Takuya laughs all of a sudden. “Now he is feeling sorry for you, Sho.”

Both Sho and Jun blush.


~~~


Satoshi can basically see Masaki’s surprise written all over his face. His little brother was more than surprised to find Ryo in the apartment, and realize he stayed overnight. “Ryo-kun didn’t have a place to go back home to.”

“That’s not true,” Ryo argues. “Your brother was just being complicated.”

Shingo snorts in amusement, biting into his piece of toast. He already got the details from Satoshi. He turns to Masaki. “Yes, of course, your friend does have a place to stay, but after midnight there is no bus or subway taking him there anymore. He wanted to crash at a friend’s place, though the friend wasn’t at home.”

“Said he would sleep in front of his door,” Satoshi explains.

“Are you for real, Ryo-kun?” Masaki asks in disbelief and much to Satoshi’s relief, sleeping somewhere on the ground outside (except for camping) doesn’t seem to appeal to Masaki either.

Ryo shrugs. “I always find a place,” he says casually, nodding thankfully when Satoshi hands him a bowl with soup.

“And when you have your gigs?” Masaki wants to know.

“Oh, I hang out with the others, sleep on one of their sofas, or just don’t go at sleep at all. YOLO, you know.” Ryo sounds almost innocent, fascinating Satoshi by the way he can say all this stuff and sound all convincing.

“Why don’t you get an apartment closer to the city?” Masaki asks.

“Thank you,” Shingo sighs out. “I already asked the same.”

“It’s difficult,” Ryo explains. “It needs to be somewhere where I can practise my music, at the same time safe, because I tend to come home late. I definitely need a bus in the morning to go to work. Oh, and I have two dogs. And it shouldn’t be too expensive. I’m not rich at all.”

“Wow,” Shingo breaths out in deepest amazement. “We’ve found someone who is even more happy-go-lucky than you Masa!”

“I’m not happy-go-lucky,” Masaki argues. “May I remind you that I even passed my exam last week!”

“We knew you would be able to make it,” Satoshi says with a proud smile. When Masaki told him he gave this important exam a go and made it thanks to Jun’s help, he felt so happy and proud.

Ryo smiles too. Obviously not wanting to interrupt their happy family moment any longer, he gets up. “Thanks for your kindness, Satoshi-san,” he says. “I guess I should leave you alone now. I never meant to crash at your place.”

“Is your bus already driving back?” Shingo asks, eyeing Ryo questioningly.

Ryo shifts around a bit, making Masaki frown. “What?” he asks sharply. “What’s the problem?”

“You know, my apartment is two hours away from my work,” Ryo says weakly. “To be honest, I’m not driving back at all during weekdays. There is also no bus back in the mornings. But that’s okay. I think I’ll take a walk and visit Subaru, my band-mate. The problem is he has three girlfriends at the moment, and they are not supposed to know from each other, but one of them apparently found out and now he tries to stop her from going hysteric. Or something like that. I have a sleeping bag.”

Satoshi’s mind goes almost blank. What’s with this kid, seriously? How can anyone be so carefree? He even works for Sho in  his law-firm, but his lifestyle is a complete mess. “Don’t you have family, Ryo-san?”

“Nope,” Ryo shakes his head. “Just my sister. We are living together.”

“Doesn’t she work?” Shingo wants to know.

“Oh, she does,” Ryo points out. “She has also a few friends in town and-“

“Okay!” Satoshi interrupts him with a sigh, not wanting to hear how a young woman lives such a dangerous lifestyle. “Okay, let’s make a deal. I’m going to help you and your sister find a cheap and good apartment in town as exchange for your agreement to let me paint you.”

Ryo tilts his head for a moment, looking surprised. Then he nods a bit. “Okay,” he accepts. “But you don’t need to do that.”

“I know, but I want to,” Satoshi says, ignoring the surprised glance Shingo throws him. He knows it’s pathetic, because it’s impossible that Ryo is this kid from hospital back then when he was a teenager himself, but still… he reminds him of it, and he wants to help his doppelganger now, maybe by doing something good now, he can erase his mistakes from the past.


~~~


“You know,” Sho says, he has emptied two bowls with soba and demands a third now. “I love soba. Soba is everything.”

“Good that we know our position in your life then,” Takuya teases. “Soba, drag queens and then us.”

They have first tried to choose movies they all like. It’s impossible of course so Jun suggested they could each choose a movie of their own taste and the others weren’t allowed to complain. Exception is extremely gross stuff and movies over three hours. Jun chose Harry Potter, well aware that he is probably straining Takuya’s and Sho’s nerves with it, Takuya chose Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Sho Priscilla. A movie he hasn’t seen himself, but he likes Hugo Weaving and said, he wanted to see it so badly. It’s a movie about drag queens, and seriously the weirdest and most awkward movie Jun has ever watched, especially since he has to watch it with his two older brothers. He needs to show it Masaki though. It’s full of sexual jokes and references.

“I really didn’t know it’s like this,” Sho tries to defend his honour.

“Why? It’s awesome,” Jun argues.

“You really think so?” Takuya asks sceptically.

“Yes, totally awesome. I’ll definitely watch it with Masaki-kun,” Jun explains light-heartedly. Takuya and Sho exchange a weird glance which Jun can’t quite grasp. “Anything wrong?” he asks.

“You know,” Takuya starts so carefully that Jun sits up immediately. What’s all this about? “Sho and I have been thinking… and talking…”

Sho nods. “We don’t mind you and Masaki being together,” he says.

“But?” Jun asks nervously. The fact that these two actually guessed something about him and Masaki turns him into a strained bundle of nerves immediately.

“I…” Sho looks at Takuya helplessly.

The latter just shrugs. “You might want to get…eh… curious for certain things.”

Jun tries to process his words, wondering what the hell they are talking about when it finally dawns on him. He stares at them in horror. It can’t be that they want to talk with him about sex! “We are not going to have that kind of talk now!? Are you serious?” he huffs, his nervousness from before flying out of the window.

“It’s just so you know that…” Sho starts, all serious. “...If you have any questions, you can always come and ask us. It’s not like I’m such a pro though but at least I had my share of experience. I’ve had a few hot encounters in my wild years.”

“Oh my god,” Jun breaths out. “Don’t go any more into detail!”

“Your wild years?” Takuya snickers. “Your wild years probably only lasted for two months!”

Sho pouts. “That’s not true. It was half a year, maybe even longer! And why are you teasing me all the time. You said I’m your cute little brother, tease Jun too!”

“No way,” Takuya chuckles. “ Jun is the youngest and therefor automatically the cutest. You don’t tease your cute little brother.”

Jun doesn’t join their talk, glad that it’s going into a different more silly direction. He believes he is off the hook when Sho looks at him again. “What I wanted to say is: You can always ask us for advice or talk to us about your problems, also in this field.”

“There is no way I would ever come to you and ask about sex!” Jun says in mere horror. Even the thought of it already freaking him out.

“There is not?” Sho asks, looking disappointed all of a sudden.

“No!” Jun huffs.

“And other than that, everything goes well?” Takuya asks curiously, making Jun wonder since when his brothers are actually so nosy.

“I guess,” he answers warily.

“If you want to lead a successful relationship,” Takuya says out of the blue. “Not that I have experience in that field, but… judging from the people around me… you should always be open.”

“Easier said than done,” Jun says almost automatically, realizing too late that he almost slipped. Gladly his brothers didn’t really notice.

“Yes,” Takuya muses. “That’s true.”

“Maybe the first step should be being honest to us,” Sho says all of a sudden, and it’s actually not a bad advice, just that it’s impossible to tell them about everything. Jun doesn’t want to hurt them, and he knows they would feel hurt. “If you are honest to us and open up more, it would be easier to do so in front of someone you like, right Takuya?”

Takuya is surprisingly quiet… for a surprisingly long time. He sighs. “Since we are already talking about being honest,” he pauses, frowning slightly. “I’m not sure what it is and where it’s going to, but I’m kind of meeting Shingo-kun on a regular basis.”

Sho blinks at least four times. “You mean, Satoshi’s older brother?” He squeals in surprise when Takuya nods. “That’s the type of person you like!? He is super casual and loud and eats a lot, he has a shirt with obscene mottos on it, he just blabs without thinking and-“

“You do know that most of this description fits on your own person too,” Takuya comments dryly. “Minus the shirt.”

Jun laughs. When Sho blushes furiously, he holds back his amusement. “But we love the gluttonous silly you,” Jun tells him. “It’s so much cooler than how you were before. You are actually fun when you don’t hold back.”

“He is right,” Takuya agrees with a smile. “Being yourself suits you well.”

“Really?” Sho asks, blushing slightly at their compliments. “It’s still a bit weird though… You and Shingo out of all…”

“I’m not sure if we are a we, to be honest,” Takuya tells them. He looks at Jun curiously. “You aren’t surprised.”

“I had a feeling,” Jun says. “He already told me how he finds you cute. And he looks at you like he wants to squish you all the time.”

“Means he has courage,” Sho says dryly, making Jun chuckle. Indeed.


~~~


Nino yawns tiredly when he walks home. He has just met with Masaki and Kame and got filled in with the homeless-news about Ryo. It’s been a long week and he is looking forward to having some relaxing time at home.

When he is about to open the door to his apartment building, he can feel his phone vibrating. It’s a message from Sho. Picking you up for the musical on Wednesday! Or would you rather like to meet right there?

Having Sho pick him up sounds like a dream! He is not going to let this chance slip. If you picked me up, it would be really convenient. Thank you!! :-)

He puts his phone back, blinking suddenly when he hears something rustling in the park at the other side of the street. He turns around, squeezing his eyes. For a moment it feels like there is a shadow watching him. Nino feels uncomfortable all of a sudden. It’s in the middle of the night and he is all alone. It’s probably just his imagination, but still… He takes his phone again, pretending to pick it up. “Yes, dad, I’m almost at home!” he says into his phone although his father is somewhere in Prague at the moment for business, and when he is in Tokyo he isn’t living with him anyways. “Please open the door, I’m coming in!”

With that he hangs up, hoping that in case someone has indeed been watching him, he has been scared away now.



A/N: I'm kind of getting nervous and excited now, because... maybe you noticed but I pushed some plot parts into a certain direction and I'm soon going to get down to a few loose ends and reveal a few things. Kind of anxious how you all will react to a few things ^^
First of all: We have a bit more about Satoshi here - I feel like I neglected his character too long and I hope you still remember that moment when he met with Sho at Sho's work and saw Ryo? This here is finally the continuation of it. Something in his past still influences him. (sorry for neglecting him for so long)
Meanwhile Takuya is brutally honest towards Shingo and answers his question, and also reveals why he doesn't want to have a relationship. And... he even says something about Jun's mother.
I realized I'm still using Sho as comedic relief, but now that he stopped being so stiff around his brothers, he just became so fluffy (Priscilla is an awesome movie by the way. :D Imagining Takuya's expression while watching it... ^^) It's fun writing the Jun-brothers now that they are open towards each other, and even want to talk about sex *lol* (who would have thought they are alright with Jun and Masaki dating?)
And someone follows Nino?