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An exasperated yet obnoxious sigh escaped Jouno’s lips as he waited for the man in front of him to finish his rambling; however Jouno's interruption, to his utmost delight, actually happened to shut the other up. His distaste for other people’s business had definitely not gone unnoticed by this point.
Waltzing into bars on his days out of work had become a recent hobby of Jouno’s, which was predominantly out of boredom he would suppose. Not to mention, relishing in his vice-commander’s annoyance every time she had received anonymous text messages of various men flirting with her had been all Jouno was looking forward to for the past few months. The highlight of his days.
Teruko Okura’s perpetual mental decline throughout the months as a result of a certain someone’s elaborate scheme of vexation. Jouno couldn’t count on two hands how many men must have her number instead of his by this point. It was most definitely his secondary pride and joy.
"You know, on another note, perhaps the reason people dislike you so much is that you never shut your fucking mouth." The hunting dog nonchalantly commented to the man before him who he hadn’t even queried the name of.
He absentmindedly toyed with one of the buttons of his cardigan with his thumb whilst propping his face up on his palm, elbow resting on the table as his brows pinched together in displeasure. The muted light pink fabric of the cardigan being the only colour to his attire aside from the earring he was never spotted without.
"And, please, your disgusting lips keep smacking together so loudly every sentence you shamelessly choose to utter.. you’re indebted to me at this point."
Of course, this was almost entirely false. He had grabbed the intoxicated man aside as soon as he stepped into the bar, ordering tea for himself on behalf of his new fan’s wallet after the waitress had denounced Jouno for scamming a drunk man, yet to no avail due to the cop’s persistence.
Jouno was well aware that the poor male was completely oblivious to his fraudulent scheme, too drunk to care. However, this did happen to be the case with many who found themselves in the bar late at nights like these. He had recognised the pattern soon enough, of course he would, given that he had been coming here for months. People would come and go, presumably having had a day that had warranted a drink. One drink that had turned into far too many. The common increase of blood pressure or heart rate of those he was surrounded with never went unnoticed. Whilst irritating, the concept of such a thing fascinated him just as much. The everlasting desire to drown in anything but one’s own self-loathing for a night, no matter the consequences faced. Of course Jouno fueled their bad habits for his own morbid fascination, yet he never drank anything alcoholic himself.
With a click of his tongue, Jouno continued on with his own spiel. He tended to talk about his work, his life, Tecchou, mostly Tecchou actually. More often than not it was negative though, he was sure of it. This time, Jouno was caught up in reminiscing about an event he recalled during his early childhood.
"And you know what, this moron had the obscene audacity to die in front of me, Saigiku Jouno, a vulnerable ten year old.." No doubt about it he wasn’t being listened to after how much he had been talking now even despite the nods he received from the dazed individual.
These ‘dates’ had never meant anything to him. Nor had the money he’d always manage to leave those intoxicated fools he was surrounded by without. A slip of his hand beneath the round table the two had been sitting at for the hours Jouno had taken a mental note of was all it took for him to snatch the wallet that had already been halfheartedly placed back into the pocket of the jeans he took it from. A grin briefly graced his complexion before it was replaced with a frown.
"This is embarrassing, you know.." He spat, fanning the money out in his hand to count it shamelessly right in front of the ‘scam-ee’.
"Uhm..my? Is that..?"
"Yes, it is your wallet."
"Are you.."
"Absolutely, I honestly just sat down here to leech off of you but it appears as though you’re worse off than I had initially thought."
The other male slumped over the coffee table, beginning to lose consciousness, to which Jouno responded with a kick of the shins, causing the other to jolt upwards again. The man began profusely apologising before he had recollected his thoughts, and thus, what had happened.
Jouno sat upright, slipping a number on a piece of card under the beer mat that was in possession of his date. Cracking a smile, he tilted his head at the question he was faced with.
"Are you leaving me?"
"Oh don’t worry sweetheart I’ll be right back for you." The sarcasm and malice lacing his words showed his insincerity, though it went unnoticed.
And with that, turning on his heel, Jouno simply left for the exit without a second thought. Before exiting, he flicked the doorman on the nose, grabbing his attention wholly.
"Please thank the kind gentleman who just offered his remaining life-savings to me. Inform him of his idiocy too."
"What a pathetic display of a human being." He grumbled, fiddling with a stolen watch in his hands, perhaps he’d feign a story of its importance to Tecchou and have him buy it off him.
—
Ah, yes, of course, another meeting met by his commander's absence. Which in turn meant doing absolutely nothing for two hours. The rule of remaining in the meeting room for some reason unbeknownst to Jouno seemed to apply to everyone but the commander. Was he surprised? No. Not at all. Though he still pondered the matter nonetheless.
His bemused colleagues were positioned around the room, the silence broken only by none other than his ever so bemused partner. Tecchou Suehiro. The living personification of a headache, was, yet again, 'working out' before the entire ensemble within the room. Swiveling around on the office chair he had seen himself to, Jouno dragged his heels and the chair with him across to Teruko, leaning over to her. It's not like he'd ever voluntarily initiate conversation. Because that'd insinuate his care for his colleagues. And he doesn't. He does not care for them. He starts disputes for his own amusement. What is one to do alone with the three biggest morons in the country other than that?
"Teruko, do you think Tecchou likes men?" Jouno spoke with a lowered voice.
The red-haired girl almost fell off of her seat, and Tachihara, who had been sitting next to her, simply opened his mouth and closed it again. Speechless.. for a reason Jouno couldn't fathom. Until of course, Teruko's smirk had allowed him to connect the dots.
"As a hypothetical.. I am all but curious of his sexuality, vice-commander. Who do you take me for?" The very concept of the thought he soon grasped that the two of them were thinking clearly repulsed him.
"And for what reason might you ask as a hypothetical? Are you gay, Jouno?" The girl stifled a giggle whilst Tachihara couldn't help but grin.
“No.. that man is completely and utterly unpalatable anyways. I cannot stand him. He is revolting.”
Before she could retort, a ping sounded on her phone. A message. Jouno turned his head to face the direction of Teruko's phone, awaiting her narration of the message.
"Why the fuck do people keep messaging me? And why are they all..men?"
"Uh, vice commander..might I ask why your biggest concern of randomers messaging you is the fact that they are men...and not that someone is handing out your number to other peo–"
"Because I am a misandrist, Tachihara." She rolled her eyes at him, closing her phone after presumably having replied with some snarky message as per usual.
"She doesn't know what that means, Tachihara." Jouno retorted.
"Yes the fuck I do you gravel chewing bitch. Speak to me like that again I dare you Jouno, I will hang your intestines on my wall as a display."
Soon enough, Jouno mumbled to himself before looking away, knowing too well there was no point in continuing his argument here. He already had one thing to be smug about anyways.
Sighing dramatically, part of a so-called elaborate scheme to garner attention, Jouno turned to Tecchou. This in turn, worked, as always.
"Why do you sound so irritated? Is something wrong?"
“Actually, Tecchou, there is. You’re too loud and to be brutally honest nobody loves you enough to listen to your shit every waking hour of every fucking day."
"Okay."
He swung at Tecchou for the lack of interaction he was receiving, only to be met by the hilt of Tecchou's sabre, which caused Jouno to yelp out in pain after assessing the newly found bruising to his knuckles.
"You are insufferable.." Jouno hissed, rubbing his pained hand.
—
The following night, Jouno sat, alone perhaps for the first time in months. On his own. In his apartment. He didn't care to be alone. It was his preferred instance to be in. Notwithstanding it all, Jouno didn't want to be lonely. And that realisation had more of an effect on him than for what he intended. Despite it all, a knock on his door startled him out of his thoughts. He already knew who it was, though he asked regardless, most likely habitually.
"Who is it?"
"We are work partners." Tecchou's looming stature would have enabled him to be near intimidating if it weren't for his stupidity.
Jouno swung the door open, almost smacking the other directly in the face if it weren't for his reflexes, an outcome unfavourable to the shorter man.
"I know your fucking name, Tecchou. And don't call us partners. What do you want?" His face was contorted into a mixture of disgust and partial amusement.
"My bed has collapsed. Help me fix it." Tecchou replied.
"Absolutely not. It is two in the morning and you have decided to come to me to aid you in repairing your bed." Petulance in his words, he dipped his head out of dissatisfaction towards the other male.
"Well I didn't want to sleep on the floor. And there was nowhere else.."
He knew for a fact Tecchou's apartment was devoid of anything that would have enabled it to seem homely. It simply consisted of his kitchen, a bed and an old television hoisted up onto the walls of his bedroom. There was nothing that gave it personality or significance, though, Jouno had thought that perhaps that suited Tecchou perfectly. Jouno brought his palm to meet with his forehead, dragging his hand down his face in disappointment, sighing before gesturing for the other man to step inside. Tecchou immediately took a seat on Jouno's couch, as if he thought of the place as a second home. The thought irked Jouno, and in turn he kicked Tecchou in the knee, evoking a grunt from the taller figure before he stood again, only to tower over Jouno.
"Don't act as if I am being nice to you right now. Do not act as if you are feeling safe and at home because you are not. Sleep on the couch. Do not get up. Do not go anywhere, especially not my kitchen. And do not open your mouth to me once about this you needling fool. Understand?" Jouno lectured, before receiving confirmation of what understanding Tecchou may have had from a nod which he heard via the swordsman's abhorrent muscles screeching together.
With that, Jouno crept away to his own room, leaving the door ajar. Perhaps it was the fact that someone else was there. Not Tecchou. Absolutely not because it was Tecchou. The thought was erased as soon as it was created..but Jouno felt somewhat safer. Usually, the nights he didn't spend out in bars, scamming hopeless men of their belongings, Jouno experienced relatively sleepless nights anyways. Mostly as a result of night terrors. Perhaps even, Jouno was just as bad as any of the other visitors of the bar. There to escape whatever plagued them absentmindedly. Tecchou had.. suspiciously enough, kept his word. Not a sound disturbed him in due course of the night for once. Aforementioned sleepless nights seemed unheard of.
—
Waking up to hearing such a familiar heart beat only a room away from him was.. something he could tolerate. Perhaps he best leave the fixing of his taller counterpart's bed til another occasion. He didn't mind this kind of company despite it’s minimalism. Whilst reluctantly, he actually welcomed the feeling. He didn’t feel so isolated for once.