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The shake the other man caused sitting on the car seat and closing the door was quiet and almost imperceptible but suffice to wake him from his agitated nap, prompting him to cough and sneeze into his mask. It had a little G pen printed on the corner.
He felt a little disoriented with the total darkness, even with his eyes opened.
“Sorry, did I startle you?” asked Josuke, pushing his headband away from his eyes and offering him a box of tissues that was over the dashboard. Rohan took two, blew his nose and threw them in the little plastic bin fixed in front of the glove compartment.
He hated spring.
“My headband is not a sleeping mask, stop doing this.” he complained, adjusting the item properly, trying to glare at the other but managing only to look pouty, while the younger snickered.
“Looks like you sleep better this way.” Josuke said, a big smile on his face. He didn’t like when Rohan had his crippling hay fever crisis but he looked adorable when he was helpless like that.
The older only clicked his tongue, squinting, the red and yellow lights from the long line of cars ahead them at the entrance of the town hurting his eyes.
“Thought we were home already. Did something happen?”
“Earthquake. Another.”
“Didn’t feel it.”
“Wasn’t strong but it made a road sign to fall over a family’s car some meters in front of us. Just came back from it.”
“Was it serious?” he asked, covering his face back with the mask and taking another tissue to wipe his teary eyes.
“The mother and their youngest kid were injured. I helped them but couldn’t do much for the car or the sign, it would be weird, people would panic. Everybody is already freaking out because of all the tremors, don’t want to add to the mass hysteria. Better wait for the Traffic Bureau to take care of it.”
Rohan smirked at the other man. His face was concealed by the mask but his eyes became more slanted.
“Mr. paramedic firefighter, always on duty.”
Josuke turned his face to recline his own seat to be more comfortable but Rohan knew it was to hide his embarrassment. “We will be here for awhile before they come to organize the traffic. There’s no one injured but everybody is just so jumpy.”
Some years before and he would have fix everything in front of everyone without any care of what people would think, repeating it was more important to help than to maintain the appearance of normality, but now he was mature enough to think about the consequence of his actions and keep a low profile. Widespread panic was never good. It was a thing his job taught him when he was out rescuing. Plus you never know when a crazy stand user may appear or when an emergency occur, better to save energy.
“I told you you didn’t need to come pick me, I could have taken the train. You should have gone straight to home after visiting your mother.”
“No, it’s okay. If I was home something worse could have happen.”
“You should be resting.”
“Hey, stop complaining, let me do this.” he admonished the older. “It’s not everyday I have a day off.”
Rohan shifted his position a little. It was true. Josuke was dedicated to his job. Well, it was more of a duty than just a job. The younger was so devoted to protect the town his chief forced him to take some days off. While it was important to have committed people in these hard times and inspiring others with their hard work, it was more important to have them alive and not overworking themselves to death.
He snuggled better in his reclined seat, the outside sounds buzzing like white noise in his ears.
“Can you turn on the radio?”
It wasn’t because Rohan liked to be spoiled when he was in that state his allergies left him, it wasn’t only because of that, but the radio of Josuke’s car zapped him more than one time when he tried to turn it on. For some reason he refused to fix that thing (he never explained how it became like that), maybe just to annoy Rohan and don’t let him to change his Prince CDs.
The younger fidgeted with some wires until the anchorman’s voice was finally clear.
“... Seiten Birdies’ rising star Iwakiri Atsunori, who suffered from an injury in his right shoulder and had announced his retirement last year, made an incredible comeback. After some exams-”
“Now that’s some good luck.” Rohan commented, frowning. “Aa-kun was about to retire and now he’s the most valuable player in this season. All major teams want him.”
“Heeeeh.” Josuke hummed, pensively. He wasn’t a big fan of baseball, all the knowledge he had about it came from when he played OH THAT’S A BASEBALL!! in his teenager years (he was very bad at it) and only watched to keep company to Rohan and cuddle with him. But since Aa-kun’s health condition was being reported in the news for almost 2 years he knew his injury wasn’t something simple to treat. Medical care was his field afterall. “He strained his shoulder too much in his last season. Tendinitis, rotator cuff tear and shoulder bursitis are gone in one go? How did he recover so fast from a surgery? How is he in such a good shape?”
“Maybe miracles happen, who knows?” Rohan shrugged. “Maybe he found a stand who cured him. Maybe he has a stand.”
“Maybe it’s not that simple. Maybe he found something, I don’t know, dangerous?”
“Well, who cares, he recovered and now is living the life.” Rohan shrugged again, yawning. “The day he leaves the Seiten Birdies is the day I’ll stop giving a damn about him anyway.”
“… Those were the Morioh Evening News of this Friday, 15 of May of 2011. Thanks for listening.”
Josuke turned the radio off when the ads started to play.
“Oi oi oi oi. I was still listening. Don’t you want to hear Help Me, Midnight Discussions! today?”
“I’m not in the mood.” the younger mumbled.
Rohan snickered when he realized why Josuke turned it off.
“Don’t want to hear your little cousin asking for some love advice?” Rohan chuckled while Josuke groaned. “C’mon, it’s the best part! I bet it’s Kai Harada’s favorite part too! ‘She is not responding any of the dozen emails I sent to her!’, ‘What do I do, she’s going out with another guy even after I was so nice to her!’, ‘I took her out for coffee and suggested her to skip the whipped cream so she could keep from getting fat and now she’s not talking to me!’, ‘I just showed her my expertise in french kiss using a cherry, why is she avoiding me?’.”
“Stop, stop, stooooop!” Josuke begged while Rohan laughed that annoying laugh of his. “He is so entitled, I can’t stand hearing about him anymore! If I was that Yasuho girl I would definitely report him to the police! And he writes every single program! So much second hand embarrassment.”
Rohan kept laughing until he was out of breath, coughing as result, which prompted Josuke to give him little pats on his back and offer the tissue box again.
“Feeling better?” he asked after the older blew his nose again and coughed a little more.
“My head is kinda heavy. I was okay most of the day. But at the end of the meeting someone had the brilliant idea of shoving a bouquet on my face. Izumi-kun saw me crying and thought I was being emotive. At least didn’t sneeze on anyone.”
Josuke reclined back to his seat, observing the long line of cars in front of them. At the horizon the sea, which was easily seen before the cataclysms that struck the little town, was now blocked by a strange land formation that littered at all the coastline.
Most of the people returning to Morioh that hour were having their first contact with the ‘wall eyes’ at that moment. Many seemed afraid while others were puzzled. The people who didn’t evacuate, like them, thought of the formations as just another addition to the landscape since apparently they didn’t offer any danger.
Hopefully.
Well, too bad Rohan’s meet and greet in S city was the same day all those evacuated people decided to return home.
It was going to be a loooooooong ride home.
“Wanna go to my mom’s house? I can phone her asking if we can stay.”
“No, you were there today already, I don’t want to trouble her.”
“It’s not trouble, you know she likes when you visit. We can go home when we wake up tomorrow.”
“No, it’s past midnight, I don’t want to disturb your mother. And I don’t feel comfortable with you making moves on me when we have to sleep next to her room.”
Hearing that, Josuke gave the other a sly grin.
“Like we did at your grandma’s inn?”
“You respect my late grandma, stop waggling your eyebrows.”
Josuke stopped and sighed, tired.
“You’ll get worse in that house.”
“That house is our house and I’ll have to return to it sooner or later. We have to feed the dog or he will eat strange stuff again and barf all over the place.” he took two more tissues and blew his nose again. “We made a mistake buying that house in the mountains? Yes, we did but now we have to live in it, the housing problems in Japan are big and we should be grateful we have somewhere safe to live after all the earthquakes and tsunami that happened.”
“I know but it stinks so much.” Josuke covered his face, grimacing. “That goddamned agent didn’t say anything about the monkeys.”
“They’re clever, those estate agents. They’re like makeup artists: put emphasis on the strong points while hiding the weak, bad ones. We got so excited to buy that big house at such low price we didn’t realize how old it was or the bad odor.”
“Never buy a house in winter is the moral, I guess.”
“But anyone would prefer monkeys than those creepy wall eyes.”
“I know. It’s really troubling. We have to remind people daily to not stick their heads or any part of their bodies into the faults...” he then trailed off while slowly turning his face until he finally looked at Rohan’s.
“What?”
“You didn’t stick your head inside the faults, did you?”
“What do you take me for, Josuke?!”
“Did you?”
Rohan turned his head away.
And clicked his tongue.
“Goddamn, Rohan.”
“Look, it’s a phenomenon that was reported only in Morioh! I need to collect its data for my manga!” he turned to face the other again, trying to justify his reckless actions.
“No is no, Rohan. We don’t know the reason of those formations, we don’t know how dangerous they can be. Stop your strange mangaka obsession with it and act like a proper adult.” Josuke said, resolute, ending the discussion.
“Tch, fine, Mr. firefighter.” Rohan retorted, just to have the final word.
It wasn’t fine actually. Rohan hated when someone reprimanded him and he hated when this someone was Josuke, who was younger than him and most of the time was more irresponsible and childish than him.
But being scolded by him with that authoritarian enticing voice was kinda hot so he let it slide.
“Got you hot and bothered, huh?” the younger sneered, waggling his thick eyebrows again.
The enticement was gone.
“It’s impressive how the police never arrested you when you have this habit of routinely kill the mood you accidentally create in cold blood, Josuke.” he sulked, crossing his arms while looking outside of his open windows, trying to feel the night breeze.
“You wouldn’t be with me all this time if I didn’t goof a little.” he said, grinning at the moody man. “Ah, I made a mix CD when I was at Okuyasu’s, wanna hear?”
“Mix CD? What is this piracy? Next you’re gonna offer me your punk zine and wear some ugly t-shirt you dyed yourself.” the mangaka mocked. “Okuyasu has too much free time for someone who’s in the middle of his doctorate in quantum physics. You two still act like schoolboys when you’re together.”
“As does Koichi.”
“You two are worse, Koichi-kun is now a serious and responsible man with a job and a family.”
“You’re so defensive, what are you, his friend or his mother? One day I’ll come home to find out you adopted him.”
“No, I would have to adopt Yukako-kun and the twins too. It would be too much when I already have a big needy, slobbering animal to annoy me. And a dog.” he stretched a little, turning back to face the other.
Josuke just rolled his eyes, not wanting to extend the discussion, and put the CD in the player.
Rohan frowned, ready to hear yet another Prince song. He didn’t have anything against Prince, he even liked some of his songs.
But when you have to hear nothing but Prince.
Every.
Single.
Day.
It tires you.
He braced himself and-
It wasn’t Prince, that he was sure.
He knew that intro. He knew that instrument. Some kind of marimba. No, it was a...
“Flapamba. It’s a variant of the marimba but unlike it the sound is not as focused tonally, it’s a bit more percussive.” he mumbled to himself, to which Josuke grinned. He loved to see the older man enter into his encyclopedia mode.
The flapamba or whatever was called got progressively quieter to give place to a bass riff.
He closed his eyes for a moment to better appreciate the melody.
He loved that bass riff.
“Did you know Steely Dan borrowed this riff from a song called Song for My Father?”
“Had no idea, tell me more, you big nerd.” Josuke smiled to him while the singer sang But if you have a change of heart.
Rohan didn’t take the bait. Instead he just nodded his head quietly, listening to the chorus of Rikki Don’t Lose That Number. It always made him feel nostalgic.
“Why don’t you tell me something about it instead?”
Josuke drummed the steering wheel along the rhythm.
“Well, I do know the ‘number’ in the song is not weed.”
That got Rohan off guard, making him snort, resulting in a mess that thankfully was covered by the mask.
“Where did this come from?” he wheezed, cleaning his face with more tissues.
“I mean, we have so many western songs alluding to drugs in the most obvious manners, why he would refer to marijuana as a ‘number’? It’s clear the singer just had a crush on this Rikki girl. Am I right?”
“You certainly are.” he waited to see Josuke finish inflating his ego before prickling it with his words. “Because you probably read it online somewhere.”
And then the ego deflated.
“You’re so not fun to play with, Rohan-sensei.” he hunched over the wheel, inflating his cheeks in a childish way, annoyed.
“I’ve been in this game of collecting information for a long time, it’s not a quick search on the english wikipedia that will beat me, Josuke-kun.” the mangaka replied, poking one of the inflated cheeks before reclining back over his seat.
They got silent again, listening to the song grow more louder and complex until the end of the chorus when everything stopped and only the bass played.
And then the backing vocals overlapped themselves.
Rikki Don’t Lose That -
Rikki Don’t Lose That -
Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.
The silence took place for awhile before a saxophone started playing a soft melody.
Percussion and bass.
And finally Brian Ferry’s smooth, dreamy voice.
While My Heart Is Still Beating.
“It’s been a long time since I heard Roxy Music. I love this album.”
“So is my selection approved?”
“It’s good so far… This is turning into one of those ‘Songs to make love to’ compilations, isn’t it?”
Josuke laughed, sheepish. The younger was so obvious.
“It could be, couldn’t it?”
“If Why Did I Break Your Heart play then it definitely is.”
“Right after C’est La Vie.”
“It is a ‘Songs to make love to’ compilation, no doubt about it.”
Josuke still smiled but it wasn’t a carefree one now. Something changed subtly in his expression.
He left his seat to hover over Rohan, one of his knees between the other’s thighs, his hands on both sides of the other’s head, pining him.
He looked almost predatory wasn’t for his soft clear eyes.
“My nose is running.” Rohan’s voice trembled unintentionally in expectation.
The tension and anticipation before their lips met was always unbearable.
“Like snot ever stopped me before.” Josuke huffed a laugh, voice deep and entrancing.
It was like that since their first kiss, it was still like that after so much time.
Josuke lowered himself-
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNK!!!!!!!!!!!
He jolted, startled with the sudden sound, hitting his head on the car roof and going through it when he accidentally activated Crazy Diamond.
“Shitshitshitshitshit!” he cursed, sitting back on his seat, regulating it to a proper position, and closing the hole with his stand while trying to fix his hair and putting the safety belt at the same time.
“Calm down, nobody saw it.”
“Hope no one filmed it too.” he said, igniting the car only to advance some meters and stop again. Last thing he needed was someone posting on the internet a video of his car ‘fixing itself’ and some weirdos tracking down his plate. “Shit, can’t get distracted for a minute.”
“Stop flirting while driving.”
“Guess I’ll have to.” he pouted, hunching over the steering wheel but still with a hand over the other’s thigh, which amused Rohan. “Dude behind us got all worked up just to advance a little bit. Asshole. Can’t wait to arrive to our sweet, monkey scented house.”
“Me too. I really need to take a hot bath, a painkiller and sleep.”
Josuke looked at him like he had been betrayed by the older.
“We can cuddle too if you want, Josuke.” he sighed, like he was making a great sacrifice.
The younger man lightened up a bit. It was obvious his intentions didn’t stop at cuddles. Rohan didn’t really have anything against something more but he couldn’t resist messing with the other to just throw him the bone he was going to give him anyway.
“By the way, it’s in the glove compartment. Can you get it to me?” the younger asked, advancing the car a little more. Never had he seen the Traffic Bureau as clumsy as it was now.
“Did you clean it as I asked- Not yet, I see.” the mangaka opened the compartment and was greeted by a colorful clutter of pamphlets and candy wrappers.
“I was going to.”
“You had the whole day, Josuke.” He admonished, shuffling through the mess until he found a little velvety box he gave the younger.
Josuke opened it. Inside was a simple gold ring.
Like the one in the younger’s left hand.
“Give me your hand, Rohan.” he asked, making a gesture of ‘gimme, gimme’ with his free hand.
The older obliged. Josuke took it, sliding the golden band on the other’s ring finger.
Rohan smiled. No malice nor sneer, just affection.
“Maybe I should come out publicly already. It’s troublesome to still hide it after all these years.”
‘It’s heartwrenching to take off this ring everytime I have to go out’ was left unsaid but was still implied.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Josuke replied, softly.
He then kissed the finger where the ring was and gave the other a big, child-like smile.
“It’s like we’re getting married everyday.”
Something stung and burned the older’s eyes.
Josuke’s smile grew bigger.
“I would still have proposed to you even if I had seen your nose running like this.”
Rohan snorted, trying to laugh it off, wiping his puffy red eyes with the back of his hand.
When did that spoiled brat become such an attractive, mellow man?
He wasn’t being emotive, it was just his allergies acting up.
He really hated spring.
“And I still would say ‘I do’.”