Chapter 10: Put your hand in mine and let's be in love until sunrise

For the second morning in a row, Jun wasn’t woken up by a wailing cat or a blaring alarm. It did mean that he was awake at an ungodly hour again, but it was worth it this time, knowing that he didn’t have to get ready for a long shift at work. On the other hand, knowing he’s now unemployed made his heart beat faster with anxiety. Luckily, Cheeseburger woke up right around then to get ready to beg for breakfast, so he climbed over Juudai, doing his best not to wake the other up as he did. By the snores still coming out of the pillow, it seemed like he’d managed.

 

He stayed with Cheeseburger while she ate, cross legged on one of the kitchen chairs. Getting off the floor was harder these days, though he still did it sometimes. He especially liked lying on the floor to think. He was too tired and still had too much of a post-cry headache to bother with the struggle of it now though.

 

When she’d finished eating he stopped staring into space, and got off the chair to go back to bed. There was no reason for him to still be up now that Cheeseburger had been fed, and he planned on taking full advantage of the extra sleep he could get.

 

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Falling back asleep proved to be harder than he would have hoped however, as he did his best not to stare at Juudai when he slept. He knew it could be considered creepy, and he really didn’t want to creep Juudai out, no matter if he ever tried to initiate a relationship or not.

 

Instead, he stared intently at the ceiling, with his cat purring straight into his ear like a tiny motorboat, the sound deafening at such close proximity. He kept his hand lightly scratching her soft fur, while his brain ran amok from the calm he needed to sleep.

 

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At some point, the sound of snoring stopped without Jun noticing. Jun was still staring at the ceiling, but Cheeseburger had fallen asleep at this point so he was no longer petting her. Instead he restlessly scratched at the skin of his collarbone. His mind had calmed a little bit since he initially woke up, but he had resigned himself to not getting any more rest this morning. 

 

He startled when fingers slotted between his, a warm hand covering the back of his own. He turned his head to look into Juudai’s big brown eyes as the brunette pulled his hand away from reddened skin that had started to shed blood without his notice.

 

“Oh.” 

 

Recently he’d started to do that, and he didn’t know why. He’d be trying not to think about a certain thing, and bam , blood.

 

He should have pulled his hand away from Juudai’s now that he was aware of it, but he didn’t. Instead, he looked into Juudai’s eyes, his face growing hot the longer his hand was held. He was embarrassed by how much he liked holding the other man’s hand, and after what felt like an eternity, he looked over at his phone to check the time in an attempt to distract himself. It was already 7, and he felt his heartrate pick up for half a second before he remembered that he didn’t have anywhere else to be right now. Juudai clearly caught sight of the time too, what with the slightly puzzled look on his face. “You’re not working today?”

 

“Right. Uh. I quit yesterday. So he fired me.”

 

Juudai gave him an even more confused look, shifting so he was lying on his side facing Jun. “How can you fire someone who already quit?”

 

Jun stayed where he was to avoid waking his snoozing cat, giving a tiny shrug of one shoulder. “Wanted the last word I guess. I was gonna cover the rest of my shifts to not be a piece of shit to my co-workers, but he banned me.”

 

“And you say I’ve grown up since high school. You never would’ve cared about that back then.” 

 

Jun snorts and rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. “Yeah, can’t be spoiled forever I guess.” He knew even then that he’d been acting like a spoiled brat, but when you grow up with zero attention and affection, you find different ways to act out. Money and low self esteem was all he’d had and he had to stay sane somehow.

 

This time he actually shifted to turn onto his side so he was properly facing Juudai, even though Cheeseburger let out a little annoyed chirp before she stuffed her nose into his hair again. “I talked to Tenjouin-san yesterday.”

 

Juudai nodded, and he rubbed his thumb against Jun’s palm. “I kinda figured. Did it go okay?”

 

He mulled it over for a few seconds. They’d both been crying for a majority of the phone call, but in the end he’d felt a weight coming off his shoulders. It had been one hell of a rollercoaster of emotions on both ends, and he could hear the congestion in Fubuki’s nose even before they were halfway through. But he still nodded, cheek rubbing against the fabric of his pillow. “Yeah. I… can’t wait to see him again.”

 

“I can’t wait to bring you back. They’re all going to be so excited to see you again. I bet Fubuki’s gonna hug you til you’re begging him to stop.”

 

“I hope so.” It wasn’t like he had gotten a lot of hugs while living here. Sure, he’d dated a solid one man and one woman and had a few one night stands sprinkled in between, but he hadn’t had a single friend. No one that he could truly relax with, what with being on guard for anyone figuring out who he actually was.

 

As if Juudai had read his thoughts, he shifted closer and looked him in the eye. “Can I hug you?” In this situation, that was essentially like asking if he wanted to cuddle, and Jun felt his face grow pink. At least it felt like his face was the same vivid pink as the sparkles emitted by Rei’s Maiden in Love. He hoped it wasn’t as prominent as he thought it was, but his paleness had rarely been his friend in times like these.

 

Trying to play it off like no big deal, Jun rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure.” Juudai gave him a huge grin before he scooted even closer to wrap an arm around his shoulders, the other letting go of Jun’s own hand only to carefully brush out Jun’s bedhead. It felt like the previous morning all over again when Juudai decided to say “your hair really is cute, you know. It suits you, all fluffy and soft.” Jun just grumbled under his breath, face even warmer than before.

 

“I can stop saying it if you want me to. If you don’t like it.”

 

Jun made a face, scrunching up his nose, and Juudai started to withdraw his hand out of his hair when Jun slapped his own on top of his. “No! Uh, I mean, I don’t mind it. You’re just… weird. Not in a bad way.”

 

“You too.”

 

“Now I know you’re messing with me.”

 

Juudai started to laugh, head moving forward with the motion until their noses bumped against each other. The light touch made both of them freeze, and they stared into each other’s eyes. Jun couldn’t pay attention to anything else but those deep brown eyes, as big and soulful as he’d found them all those years ago, when he’d been young and closeted and fallen hard without daring to make a single move.

 

Those big eyes closed, and Jun’s own followed suit. Their lips brushed together, soft like butterfly wings, when--

 

A furry bottom planted itself right between them, forcing them apart.

 

The moment was broken, Cheeseburger looking none the wiser about what she’d just made herself a part of. Juudai burst out laughing so hard he fell off the bed.

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