Work Text:
toothpaste kisses
A four-hour drive during one of the hottest days of the year wasn’t exactly what Dylan or any member of Mars was expecting. Their schedule had been packed for days, and they were spending a considerable amount of time on the road.
Anyone observing the musical group from the outside, with their produced performances and members wearing luxury clothes, had no idea of the group’s real financial situation. The situation not only affected the members’ salaries but also meant that they had several benefits cut—all members, except for Thame. While Thame had a suite exclusively for himself, the other Mars members stayed in shared rooms. The rooms had been divided as follows: Nano and Dylan; Pepper and Jun. However, with the check-in at a new hotel, the management team had made some changes to facilitate the organization of the schedule, and now Dylan had a new roommate.
Jun and Dylan hadn’t been on the best terms for quite some time. Their whole connection was very confusing, and even the members of Mars couldn’t explain what had happened. Their relationship had been reduced to constant teasing and arguments, which always ended with Dylan locked in his room for hours. At the beginning of the group, when they were still trainees, Jun and Dylan had ignored each other’s existence. However, things began to change when Thame became a close friend of Dylan. From one day to the next, Jun was always around.
At first, Dylan couldn’t stand Jun being so close. He was always around, invading his room in the middle of the night, sending him messages throughout the day, and taking his things without permission. Eventually, the younger boy got used to the constant teasing and excessive physical contact—so much so that his whole world fell apart when the teasing stopped abruptly. While Jun did his best to appear indifferent to the situation, Dylan couldn’t hide his disappointment. He had let the older man get close to him and become a fundamental part of his routine, only for Jun to walk away without any explanation. The situation only worsened with the news of Thame’s departure to Korea and the exit of the members from the group home. Dylan isolated himself from everyone and had never been alone with Jun again.
When Dylan learned who his new roommate would be, he made no effort to hide his disappointment. A characteristic pout appeared on his lips, and he crossed his arms, avoiding confronting Jun. The older man couldn’t hold back the laugh in his throat when he saw the younger man’s sulky expression. Dylan always behaved the same way when he was upset about something. Jun, however, found his behavior adorable.
Despite his indifferent attitude, Jun was dying inside. There was a reason why he had distanced himself from Dylan, and he wondered if he would be able to resist spending so many hours alone with the younger man. Falling in love with his groupmate had been a mistake, and Jun had done his best to fix the situation and prevent it from affecting the group. Although they had never kissed, they had both crossed all the boundaries of intimacy with caresses and confessions. He missed the moments with Dylan. Jun missed cuddling him and patting his hair before bed—a fuel to fight the insomnia that had plagued him for years. He was screwed up and exhausted from fighting his feelings.
When Dylan went to his room, Jun did not mention following him. He respected the younger man and knew Dylan needed time to digest the situation. The older man decided to spend some time in the hotel bar and drank a shot of liquor to get up the courage to go to the room they would be sharing.
When Jun entered the room, Dylan was already in his pajamas and smelled clean. The younger man was sitting on one of the double beds, with noise-canceling headphones in his ears, while he scribbled something in a notebook. If Jun had to bet, he’d say Dylan was devastated.
“Are you having dinner?” Jun asked. No answer.
Jun sighed, gathering his strength to face the younger man. He removed his shoes and walked toward Dylan, touching his back with his left hand. Dylan stopped scribbling in his notebook.
“Dylan, can you talk to me?”
“Now you want to talk to me?” Dylan removed his headset, but still stood with his back to Jun. “We are only sharing a room, we don’t need to talk.”
“I know there’s no excuse for what I put you through. I understand and I accept my mistake.” Jun sat down next to Dylan on the bed — “I just want you to know that I still feel the same way about you.”
“And how do you feel?” Dylan finally looked him in the eye. His tone of voice, however, was not at all sympathetic. “You never told me how you felt.”
Dylan got out of bed and walked toward the shared bathroom, carrying his toiletry bag with him. Jun followed him, preventing Dylan from locking himself in the bathroom. The younger man snorted and picked up his toothbrush.
“Leave me alone,” Dylan protested, putting some toothpaste on his toothbrush. “I want to sleep.”
Dylan started brushing his teeth. To avoid making contact with Jun, he stared at his reflection in the mirror throughout the process. The older man, however, was not willing to give up.
“Okay, you don’t have to talk to me, but I need you to listen to me. I’m sorry, okay?” Dylan continued brushing his teeth while staring at his reflection in the mirror. “I thought I was protecting the group, and that it was the best choice. When I found out about Thame going to Korea, my world fell apart. I dismissed the person I loved to protect something that was already doomed to fail.”
Dylan stopped brushing his teeth and analyzed Jun’s expression through the mirror. He had never said he loved him.
“I like you, Dy. So much so that I can’t stand being around you if I can’t be with you the way I want to.” A solitary tear trickled from Jun’s eyes, and Dylan followed it all the way.
Dylan spat out the excess toothpaste in his mouth and dropped the toothbrush on the sink. He was serious, but he still approached Jun and put his hands around the older man’s shoulders. It wasn’t an ideal situation, and he was still very hurt, but every molecule in his body was begging for a little physical contact right now. Dylan knew he could deal with it later.
“Okay,” Dylan said simply, and Jun stared at him in confusion.
“What do you mean, okay?”
“Just shut up,” Dylan held Jun’s face with both hands and pressed their lips together.
Dylan’s mouth tasted strongly of mint, and the excess of toothpaste that hadn’t been rinsed off made Jun’s lips burn, but he didn’t mind. It was a calm, slow kiss, carrying a baggage of unexplored feelings. Now that they were kissing, there was no going back to what they felt. Jun wrapped his arms around the younger man’s waist and deepened the kiss. He leaned Dylan against the bathroom sink and let the younger man pull at his hair in an ungentlemanly way. If Dylan was still angry with him, he’d let him take it out in any way the younger man saw fit.
“You haven’t even rinsed your mouth,” Jun protested, still with his hands around Dylan’s waist.
“Stop complaining,” Dylan began a session of toothpaste-soaked kisses all over Jun’s face. The older man smiled.
They hugged.
“I’m still mad at you. It’ll be a while before I get over what happened,” Dylan smiled. “But for tonight, hold me until I smell like you. That’s enough.”
That night, they exchanged long hugs, complicit glances, and slow kisses. Jun and Dylan believed, even if only for a few hours, that love could solve anything.