Chapter 26

Fubuki couldn’t sleep. Ever since the news broke about Jun’s situation, he’d wanted to rush over to Misawa and Jun’s apartment. The problem was that the media had looked into Jun’s past, and knew about the man’s old friends, so now they were trying to get comments from anyone who used to know the youngest Manjoume brother.

 

They’d talked on the phone at length earlier, but Ryo had managed to stop him from barging out and yelling at the journalists that rang their doorbell every so often. Luckily, Misawa hadn’t been that awfully close to Jun back at Duel Academy, so they had yet to stalk him too. If that happened and they found out where Jun currently lived, things would get messy.

 

Jun hadn’t left the apartment all day, understandably, but he’d have to leave eventually, which seemed to cause him a lot of stress. Fubuki had spent a lot of the day talking with Asuka and Ryo on how they could best be there for Jun without drawing the attention of the media to his hiding spot. While Ryo had been home with Fubuki most of the day, as his husband was known for having been one of Jun’s closest friends before his disappearance, so the media had tried to get in touch with him most of the day.

 

Peeking out the window, Fubuki saw the same car that had been parked down the street, that he knew had two reporters in it, still in the same spot as a few hours earlier.

 

With a groan, he headed to the kitchen, not turning on any lights so as not to tip the reporters off that someone was awake in the building. In the complete darkness he poured himself a glass of water, staring into the night sky outside. He wanted to rush over to Minato, and just take his friend into his arms and hug him like it would make all the world’s problems go away. It made him pissed at himself that if he left to be there with him right now he’d only make it worse, considering the car outside.

 

Curling in on himself, he felt like he was being punched in the head with a rapidly growing headache. He knew it was one of the things that happened sometimes with his depression, but the timing of it all was unwelcome, especially while being very aware that taking pain medication didn’t help much.

 

The floor creaked, and he felt himself get wrapped in a warm blanket. Looking up, he met Ryo’s eyes. He felt numb after everything he’d been feeling all day, which in turn made him feel guilty. It wasn’t like he was the one who was going through the worst of it. God, how selfish could he be-

 

“Hey. How about I read to you for a little bit? I’ll make you some tea.”

 

Staring blindly into his husband’s eyes, it took him a few seconds to register what had been said. Slowly, he nodded, and Ryo pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, cupping his cheeks between his hands. “Jun won’t blame you for feeling overwhelmed. We all are. We haven’t even known about any of this for a whole month yet, things are progressing really fast. You know he looks up to you, he’d never blame you for this.”

 

Fubuki placed his hands on top of Ryo’s, closing his eyes as he leaned into the touch of his husband’s cold hands. “I know…” He looked back into Ryo’s eyes again, his own still dulled but not as terrifyingly so as when the teal haired man found him on the kitchen floor. “Tomorrow I’ll find a way to go over there. I just need to figure out a disguise or something.”

 

Rubbing his thumbs across Fubuki’s cheeks, Ryo kissed him on the lips before standing back up to prepare the aforementioned tea. “I’ll have to go to the office since I didn’t go today. I’ll smuggle you out and you can disguise yourself once you’re in the building. I know you can get there unseen if you put your mind to it.”

 

Taking an offered hand to get back on his feet, Fubuki tightened the blanket around himself. “Thank you. I love you so much, Ryo.”

 

Ryo gave him a warm smile back. “I love you too, Fubuki.”

 

️

When Asuka woke up she was met with a message from her older brother, asking her to bring her grey pencil skirt and matching blazer. Back when Asuka and Ryo were trying to get their business off the ground her mother had insisted she get a grey suit, and it was the first one she saw, and so she bought it without even checking the size. She was never planning on wearing it, as grey wasn’t really a colour she wore, she just wanted to show her mum that she’d done as asked. It had ended up too big on her, though it fitted Fubuki pretty well. It wasn’t his style or colour either, it being far too plain for him, so it had just stayed stowed away in her closet for her to deal with at a later date.

 

She sent him a question mark, putting the phone to the side so she could kiss her girlfriend awake. As Mizuchi stretched like a sleepy cat in their bed, Asuka put her feet in her slippers and stood up, stretching from side to side with her arms above her head.

 

Her phone buzzed as Mizuchi got up to pull a robe over her nightgown, and Asuka looked it over while they both headed to the kitchen.

 

I’m putting together a disguise so I can go visit Jun. Ryo is sneaking me out so the reporters outside don’t see me leave. It’s something no one would ever guess I’d wear, so it’s perfect.

 

She shot back a quick affirmation and started preparing breakfast.

 

️

Jun hadn’t been surprised when he hadn’t been able to get even an ounce of sleep the night before. He was unbelievably stressed, Watanabe had called, giving him an update. They still had no idea who leaked his files to the press, but the police had managed to get some sort of gag order on them for some parts of the information. At this point most things were out there already, but at least for now no other news sources aside from the ones who broke the story had his number, so that was something. Having finally remembered the block number function on his phone he could now relax a bit more when it came to having it turned on, though he occasionally had to block a new number once in a while.

 

The worst thing was that he was now just sitting in the apartment, practically waiting for his brothers to show up. Misawa already had a security camera at the door, and there was always someone working in the lobby, so people couldn’t really sneak in as easily. Still, he couldn’t stop worrying.

 

For a large portion of the night he had been held by both boyfriend and roommate, both men having tried their best to keep his anxiety from rising. It hadn’t helped much this time, despite their best efforts. He’d ended up with a panic attack and a lot of tears, until he was completely exhausted. Even so, he’d been unable to sleep.

 

So when the doorbell rang around ten saturday morning, his entire body locked up. He fumbled with his phone when it started buzzing, and he stared at the caller ID. Fubuki? They had talked a lot yesterday… Answering the call, he had to clear his throat several times before he was able to speak. “H-hello?”

 

“I’m the one ringing the doorbell. I guess you didn’t see my text, huh?”

 

Jun pulled the phone from his ear, and could indeed see a message from his sempai, with an image attached to it. It read ‘ omw 2 u, like my disguise?’

 

He stared at the image. If he hadn’t been told who was in the photo, he would never have guessed it was the older man on the phone with him right now. “I, uh, I’ll let you in.”

 

Hanging up, he stood on wobbly legs, heading for the door. Looking at the little camera display next to the door just to be safe, he saw the same person as in the photo. Relieved, he unlocked the door, allowing Fubuki to slip inside. Once the door was locked behind him, Fubuki wrapped his arms around his friend in a gentle hug.

 

“I’ll stay here as long as you need me to, okay?”

 

Jun nodded into the long strands of hair tickling his nose.

 

Then he pulled back, looking at the man in front of him. “I never would’ve known it was you if you hadn’t sent me that picture. You look so different.”

 

“You bet! I’m not gonna let anyone find your home, so I made myself look as different as possible.”

 

Jun took in the knee length grey skirt with the matching blazer. He looked like any tired business woman he’d seen thousands of times before. The shoulder length black-brown wig looked like it had grown out of his head, and the makeup was flawless.

 

“Do you think… you can help me look that different?”

 

“Of course. I’m always happy to teach you anything you want me to, and today I kind of planned to teach you this. I brought a bunch of stuff.” He placed the business looking bag on the kitchen table, opening the clasps. “I brought a few wigs, some clothes, makeup. I couldn’t fit any shoes, but I’ll help you with that too.”

 

“Now,” Fubuki patted one of the chairs. “I’ll get the mirror Misawa practices speeches in front of and then we’ll check the wigs out to see which one suits you the best.”

 

️

When Juudai returned to the apartment after having bought food, determined to make some of Jun’s favourite food to maybe bring him some comfort, he spotted low heeled women’s shoes and an unknown blazer in the entrance. For a moment his pulse rose, but then he could hear a familiar voice. Relaxing again, he smiled at Winged Kuriboh who cooed at him before fading into the background again.

 

Stepping into the kitchen he was met by a clutter of makeup brushes, eyelash curlers, wigs and clothes. He blinked in confusion when he didn’t recognise the two people sitting at the table, but squinting, he realised one of them was none other than his boyfriend. The other one clearly had to be Fubuki, considering the voice.

 

“Wow, I thought I was in the wrong apartment for a second!”

 

Fubuki turned around, hands pausing where they had been fluffing up the cute brown bob wig Jun was wearing. “Doesn’t he look cute?”

 

Juudai grinned, putting the grocery bags on the counter before coming over to get a closer look, and so he could give his partner a kiss. He could feel the taste of lipstick, ignoring the half-hearted ‘you’re gonna smudge it’ from Fubuki. “Extremely cute.”

 

Jun pouted, tugging at a lock of brown hair to distract from how flustered he was. “I’m supposed to look plain, not cute.”

 

“Impossible, you look cute no matter what you look like.” Fubuki nodded in agreement.

 

“ You’re impossible,” Jun argued, hiding his face behind the empty makeup bag.

 

-

 

Two tones rang before someone picked up on the other end.

 

Shoji tapped his foot impatiently as he waited, greeting the person before delving right into the problem at hand. “I need you to find Jun’s whereabouts. You’re the best one for the job. Can you have it done before monday?”

 

A chuckle could be heard through the line, the sound grating on Shoji’s nerves. Get on with it already. Will you do it or not?

 

“Of course, of course. Don’t you worry, I’ll find him for you soon. You know what my fees are. I look forward to doing business with you again.”

 

Their goodbye was quick, and for now, all the man could do was wait, and plan. Soon enough he’d be able to make his move. There was no way he’d let anyone get in the way of his world domination. No one .

Back to top