Work Text:
Jun's heavy eyelids slowly, surely, but very slowly, lifted themselves.
In front of him, his laptop, full brightness, open on his browser, with the browser open on a post editor.
After a good eye rub, Jun checked the time.
Twelve AM sharp. August Thirty-first, two thousand and nine.
So that's how it is...a good nap, waking up mere minutes after your birthday ends, not having written anything proper for it.
All Jun could do was stare.
Stare at the insert text cursor that was flickering over and over and over.
He lazily reached out his hand to his laptop's keyboard, then his other hand followed. His head naturally lifted itself up, slowly forcing him back into the upright position he usually took whenever blogging. It wasn't ergonomic or healthy by any means, but it was decent enough to keep him writing. He picked a few pictures out of the several he took from the concert earlier that day; one of the cake given to him at the concert, then the one he got afterwards from his bandmates and staff.
Then, almost like a natural response, embedded deep in the workings of his nervous system, he started typing.
Vigorously typing.
The silence, occassionally interrupted by the sound of other people and young cats from the street outside, was finally broken by the sound of keys clicking back-to-back in a strange pattern.
That'll do. Jun softly smiled to himself as he published the post, a lengthy one that he finished in seemingly record time. It's not like he was slow; but sometimes he had his habits. Slacking off, opening other tabs...but blogging seems much more serious when you're doing it on a laptop and not your tiny phone.
As Jun proofread his already-published post, he felt a vibration in the pocket of his pants. His eyes darted from his laptop screen to his pocket as he reached for it, feeling around and finding his phone.
It was a text from none other than Kenji.
Skimming it, Jun could make out a few key words. Something about skipping work.
Then another text came in.
If you do end up skipping, I'll come over to your place...on my motorbike, obviously. There's something I wanna give you (๑･̑◡･̑๑)
Jun scrunched his brows looking at the message. "What the..."
Sighing, he types a reply; one almost as confused as he was. But the truth was, Jun really wouldn't have minded taking a day off, and he especially wouldn't have minded it if Kenji tagged along.
Sure, as comforting as loneliness was, it's not like the two met each other much outside of the ocassional izakaya visit or what Kenji called "dates"; with the "dates" being whenever the two were together during shoots, together backstage, little moments of togetherness in between the overwhelming part-time job of being bandmen.
Thinking deeper and deeper, Jun really couldn't help but recall every detail of those dates.
"It's really just a joke. We're coworkers after all, right? I mean..."
Kenji's voice kept echoing in his mind. Replaying all the things he told him, all the food they shared, all the on-stage gags...does all that still make them coworkers? Best friends? But just as quickly, Jun regained focus and started to weigh his options; either miss out on whatever work he had for Kenji and his mysterious (and probably very, very perverted) birthday gift, or go to work and make Kenji sad; after all, Kenji's probably used to the people around him crushing his feelings.
...
It's flickering again.
The insert text cursor.
It's flickering.
He hasn't replied...and Kenji didn't double text.
...out of the kindness of his heart, of course.
Sure
What the hell are you talking about though www are you gonna give me an AV and make me watch it or something
Jun giggled to himself.
He kept giggling and giggling, all until his phone vibrated again.
Don't give me ideas (｀_´)ゞ It's something else entirely!!!
I'll come as soon as I can~
That's fine by me~
Thanks for today. I'm gonna go to bed now
Good night!!!!
Good night~
----
As it always did, the sunlight from the window hit Jun's face, waking him up. Usually, this was what woke him up whenever he didn't have alarm after alarm to do so. He opened his eyes, sitting upright on the bed to try and ease himself into the process of waking up. Almost like instinct, Jun reached for his phone to check for any texts he may have missed out on when he was asleep.
There were a few from his other bandmates; Sho and Yutaka, asking where he was, asking where Kenji was, none of which he really wanted to answer. Looking further down, he saw a text from Kenji himself; he'd be coming soon.
That message was sent about 15 minutes ago.
Jun rushed to look presentable, fixing up his hair, wearing decent clothes, doing his usual makeup, and ending it all by putting his color contacts in, just in case. He hurried out of his room and ran to the door, looking through the peephole to see a vague figure in front of his house. Looking closer, pushing his eye so close it hurt, he saw this vague figure pulling up and getting off of what looked like a motorbike, walking towards the door, and ringing the doorbell.
Without any hesitation, Jun opened the door, and before he knew it, the man in front of him had taken him into a tight, rib-crushing hug.
Jun was practically helpless, trying to hug him back, to no avail. As the two let go of each other, Jun took his breath, his hands on his knees. He was almost laughing from how sudden it was, it didn't even take a second before he was hugged.
"Gosh, Kenji, are you crazy? You could've killed me!!", Jun cackled, his hands covering his mouth.
Flustered, Kenji giggled to himself. "Ah hah...maybe I just got too excited. Sorry about that. I'm just really happy to finally see you outside of work...and outside of the izakaya too."
"Pfft. You idiot. Come on in, the living room's not too far from here.", Jun softly replied, holding Kenji's non-occupied hand.
The two then fell down onto the couch, getting closer to each other.
Without a word, Kenji placed the bag he brought with him on the table-- he wasn't planning on telling the other man just yet what his gift was, why he brought it with him, and why it took him longer than planned to bring a gift on his own volition. It didn't take long before Jun noticed it.
It was one of those bags with the aluminum lining on the inside designed to keep things colder for longer; by process of elimination, Jun had guessed that whatever Kenji had gotten for his special gift must've been something cold. Something like a drink?
Jun pointed to the bag in front of him.
"That's what my gift is, right? A red bag for me to keep my drinks cool throughout the day?"
Kenji couldn't even get himself to answer to that. All he could do was put his hand on his mouth, start chuckling, and maybe lean forward to try to conceal just how bad his laughter was. "No...it's inside. Open the bag. And look inside."
Unzipping the bag and sticking his arm in, Jun felt around the interior until he was touching what seemed like a plastic cup, placing it on the table.
The plastic cup was a homemade attempt at a parfait by none other than Kenji; from the bottom upwards, it was a layer of dark chocolate mousse, blackberry compote, white chocolate mousse, and one final layer of blackberry compote.
At the very top, slightly squished against the plastic cap, was a scoop of ice cream, perfectly split between chocolate and vanilla. Rotating the cup, Jun noticed that Kenji had also drawn a face on the cup itself-- a crude, cute, and somehow endearing charicature of Jun's face with a message underneath.
Thank you for all the dates ♪
Happy b-day!
"I...oh my god...wow...Kenji, you made this?!"
Kenji nodded. "Yep. All me. Sho told me you liked parfaits, so I bought a bunch of conbini desserts, ice cream, chocolate melts...and put em all in a plastic cup I borrowed from whatever coffee chain let me borrow a plastic cup. It's not up to maid cafe standard, but it's what I could manage, haha..."
"...that's really..."
"Oh, and I made the blackberry compote. I was, uhm...hoping it'd be purple...but I didn't wanna overthink. I spent a ton on the blackberries since they were imports...god, how much were they? Probably like-"
Kenji felt something pressing against his body. He wasn't really bothering to process what, or rather, who it was pressing against him so tightly, but he also didn't bother finishing his sentence.
Looking down, a crying, wailing Jun met his eyes. His face dug deep into Kenji's chest, his arms wrapping around Kenji's back, his tears staining Kenji's sweater, his hiccups and sobbing gently echoing through Kenji's shoulder.
Slowly letting go, Jun wiped his tears on his arm. "I...I really couldn't have asked for anything more. I don't...". Barely able to finish his sentence, Jun had gone silent, doing nothing but swallowing his own snot to try and clear his throat.
"...don't know what I did to deserve you doing something like this, Kenji..."
"It's not a matter of you doing anything, Jun."
Kenji said it so matter-of-factly, as if he didn't want Jun arguing with that statement whatsoever. But Jun was far too distraught to believe it. Him and Kenji were only just starting to get close, they were only just starting to hang out together outside of work, so now, the question was why.
Why did Jun deserve something so nice from someone he thought barely liked him? Maybe it was dense-ness, maybe it was incompetence, but Kenji's kindness, something as sacred as his own personal time, his presence, should've stayed out of Jun's reach. What was worse was that if it weren't for Kenji's reply, his strangely comforting, saddening reply, he probably would've calmed down by now.
Jun swallowed his thoughts and for a moment, took another look at the parfait.
Only Jun could start sobbing and overthinking over a parfait of all things.
Only Kenji's words could make Jun cry so much.
His voice still hoarse, Jun spoke.
"What makes you think that?"
"Not everything has to be conditional...you're cute and you're nice to be around. Just you being with me is enough of a gift."
"I'm gonna cry again...stop..."
"Why do you think I even call every moment we're together a date, Jun? I want you to tell me why."
Jun's gaze shifted, and now he could only get himself to look at the couch cushions in between him and Kenji.
"Because you were joking, right? We're coworkers?"
He could feel it. He could feel his heart.
His heart beating through his chest.
Jun was just relaying what Kenji told him all those months ago.
To his surprise, Kenji was calm.
"Sure. But you've grown to be a lot more than that to me, Jun."
Jun could only say it again.
"I'm gonna cry..."
"Maybe it was that movie, but, even before that...you were pretty kind to me. I still remember when you called me Kenjicchi for the first time..."
Kenji's reply felt as soft as ever. He brought it up so casually, something he somehow remembered, something he wanted to remind Jun of; a proof of Jun's own kindness.
"You still remember that? Haha...I honestly had no idea if you even liked nicknames like that..."
"I thought it was cute...really."
Jun looked up to find Kenji had now stretched his arms out, waiting for Jun to make his way to them; it didn't take long before the two were now close again, and Jun enjoyed being so close to Kenji's chest again. The spot where he cried still felt wet against his cheeks, but now, there was no crying to drown out the soft noise of Kenji's heartbeat. As Kenji spoke again, his voice, strangely enough, reverbrated through his shoulders.
"You really are a crybaby, aren't you, Junjun?"
Jun chuckled to himself. It wasn't like Kenji was lying. "Shut up!"
"The ice cream on the parfait's melting..."
Jun looked at the table again. The ice cream wasn't fully melted, but it was starting to lose it's structure. "Wait here, Jun."
Kenji reached into the bag, fetching two plastic spoons.
"Here you go!"
Their spoons dug into the parfait, Jun reaching for only the ice cream, compote and mousse underneath it while Kenji was essentially stabbing his side to try and get as much as possible on his spoon.
Once Jun had eaten his portion, he really couldn't help but smile.
"The compote's really good...so is the mousse."
Looking to his side, Jun was met by Kenji loudly swallowing a huge portion of the parfait, taking the spoon out of his mouth, and without hesitation, digging it back into the cup, before realizing Jun was speaking to him. "Oh, the compote? Thanks. I made it myself~"
Digging his spoon into the parfait, getting close to Kenji again, Jun whispered into his ear.
"You're cute when you're gross."
"Let me eat already~"
"Whatever you say..."
Jun lifted his own spoon up to Kenji's mouth.
"Nice. Two portions, just for me...~"
"Just eat it before I change my mind!"