[Title] Stay
[Rating] R
[Notes] My
je_holiday submission! Matsumiya taking care of each other.
Jun was exhausted. He honestly wasn't sure his feet were still moving forward. He'd stepped out of the car in front of his apartment building and stared blankly ahead, trying to remember what floor he lived on. After a fifteen hour day, all he wanted was to take a nice hot bath and fall into his bed face-first and sleep.
Except his feet actually weren't moving.
"Come on," Nino voice said from somewhere over his shoulder. "Let's get you home." His small hands settled on Jun's lower back and elbow, guiding him up the stairs to his apartment. He fished Jun's keys out of his jeans pocket deftly, unlocking the door and steering Jun inside. As Jun toed out of his shoes, Nino darted inside ahead of him, turning on lights and starting the bath running.
Jun knew he should probably question Nino's presence, but it seemed like more energy to argue than he could muster. And as embarrassing as it was to admit, he did generally trust Nino to not destroy his house or kill him in his sleep. Once his shoes were off, he padded across his apartment in socked feet, encountering the couch and flopping down on it. Nino came out of the bathroom and went for the couch too.
"Don't fall asleep on me yet," Nino told him, unbuttoning Jun's shirt for him. "You'll be super cranky tomorrow morning if you don't wash before you sleep."
"M'not sleeping," Jun muttered, eyes closed. He raised a hand to bat Nino's fingers off, but somehow all the motion he could manage was to rest his hand across the back of Nino's as he continued undressing Jun.
"Of course you're not," Nino answered. Jun registered his voice as slightly annoyed, but tinged with a soft fondness. It pleased Jun, somehow. Usually he was the one taking care of people; Nino was one of the few people allowed to take care of Jun.
The electric-bath chirped to let them know it was full; Nino knelt by the side of the couch, slipping an arm under Jun's shoulders and heaving him upwards. Nino was considerably stronger than people expected of him, and he had only minor trouble carrying most of Jun's practically limp weight. Together they shuffled down the short hallway to the bathroom; Nino had already gotten his shirt undone and his belt off. He knew better than to try and take Jun's pants off for him, though. His hands were clumsy, but Jun managed that himself. He wasn't totally helpless, after all.
Nino was stripping himself as well; Jun looked at him, bleary-eyed and confused.
"Why are you naked?" he heard himself asking. Nino laughed and gestured at the bath.
"I'm your lifeguard," he informed Jun. "I'm going to make sure you don't fall asleep and drown." Jun accepted this explanation grudgingly, but saw the merit in it when Nino sat him down and started washing his hair for him. He even remembered to leave the conditioner in for a few minutes; he filled the time by washing Jun's back, slow and firm, almost a massage.
"You're a very handsy lifeguard," Jun informed him, and Nino laughed, his forehead coming forward to rest on Jun's shoulder.
"Why does everyone think I'm some sort of walking sexual assault?" he said. "I never molest when it isn't appreciated."
"Noted," Jun said. Nino rinsed the conditioner from his hair and the soap from his back before steering him into the bath. It was only big enough for one person, so Nino pulled the shower stool over and sat down to watch over Jun as he soaked. Every so often, he'd run his fingers through Jun's hair and brush it out of his face. As Jun eased further and further into a relaxed unconsciousness, Nino decided it was time to pull him out.
"Wake up," he ordered softly. "Towel, then bed for you." Jun stood up obediently, allowing Nino to towel him dry and shoulder him into his bedroom. He was handed a pair of boxers and a t-shirt to sleep in, and he dressed mechanically without full awareness. He dragged himself up the bed until he could slip under the duvet. Nino tucked him in, his movements suggesting he was mimicking something that had been done to him, which he remembered fondly. He started to move away, but Jun's hand flew out and caught him by the wrist.
"Where're you going?" he mumbled.
"Home," Nino replied. Jun didn't answer; his grip on Nino's wrist loosened. He withdrew his hand and felt the dark waves of deep sleep washing over him.
"Goodnight," Nino said, but Jun didn't hear him.
Nino had a cold. He was pretending he didn't; he was just as attentive and playful as ever, but his voice was scratchy and Jun caught him staring into space with a glassy, fevered expression several times. He came up behind Nino sometime in the afternoon and placed his palm flat on Nino's forehead.
"You have a fever," he informed Nino. Nino hummed his agreement; evidently, he already knew.
"Just a little one," he argued, but Jun was already frowning at him. He went to his bag and dug out a tea bag. Nino's nose wrinkled in preemptive disgust. He knew Jun's teas usually helped, but they didn't smell very good and they tasted even worse. Sometimes he felt like he'd rather just have a cold.
Jun spent the rest of the afternoon following Nino around, making sure he was sitting down and drinking tea regularly. It didn't seem like much, but staying on Nino's tail when he was feeling sick was not an easy task. Nino tended to dodge people trying to take care of him quite deftly. He wasn't fond of being fussed over, but Jun couldn't help himself.
"You need to take better care of yourself," he scolded Nino gently, sitting on a couch in the green room with Nino's head pillowed in his lap. "You make trouble for people if you're sick."
"Sorry, Mom," Nino said before he sat up to sneeze violently. Jun appreciated it; it meant he wasn't covered in Nino's sneeze-germs. Nino settled back down in his lap again once the sneeze-fit was over.
"Do you have food at your place right now?" Jun asked, because he knew that Nino went grocery shopping once in a blue moon and usually just bought a dinner at the combini to microwave. When you got home at 2am after 11 hours of work, it was often the most effort you could muster just to push the microwave buttons. But if Nino was sick, he'd need to eat a little better than that.
"I don't know," Nino said, which Jun interpreted as 'no.' He brushed Nino's bangs off his face and frowned.
"I made soup yesterday," Jun told him. "I'll bring some over, you can heat it up." It wasn't an offer so much as Jun was informing Nino of an inevitable event. Nino seemed to understand this completely and hummed in agreement.
"Do you have crackers?" he asked. "I ate all of mine last night."
"I will bring you crackers," Jun promised. He kept it; two hours after Nino got home, Jun was letting himself in and carrying a large tupperware of homemade soup. Nino was lying down on his couch; he couldn't content himself with pure rest, and was playing Mario on his Wii. Except he was a bit fuzzy from the fever and kept dying.
"How many times have you died?" Jun asked as the fatal music played and Nino smashed the 'try again' button.
"Seven. Maybe eight."
"...How many times have you tried?" Jun followed up.
"Eight," Nino said before the music played again. "Nine."
"Right," Jun said, rolling his eyes. "I'm going to heat up your soup."
When he came back to the couch with the soup and some crackers, Nino had kicked off his sweatpants and was curled in a ball in his t-shirt and boxers on one side of the sofa. He'd turned off the video game and looked up at Jun when he walked over. Jun set the tray down on the coffee table and tried not to squirm under Nino's intense, glassy gaze.
"See?" Jun said at last, pointing at the tray. "Crackers."
"Sit with me," Nino said. Jun got the feeling Nino was planning something. He sat down anyway, but Nino stayed on his little corner of the couch and looked at the food tray with some concern. He sat up a little straighter, but didn't reach for it.
"Problem?" Jun asked patiently. Nino looked at him for only a second before his gaze fell.
"I'll eat as much as I can, okay?" he said quietly. "No promises I can finish."
Jun nodded his understanding. Nino had a small appetite at the best times; sick, it was reduced even further between nausea and a general feeling of overall malaise. He'd nibble, but full meals would just make him feel sicker if he pushed it. Jun placed the tray in Nino's lap for him.
"As much as you can," he agreed. He waited until Nino seemed finished, watching him and taking stock of his apparent health. Nino looked tired and pale, but his attention span was decent and his hands weren't shaking. Good signs, in Jun's book. He took the tray back to the kitchen, and when he returned, Nino was already falling asleep on the couch. Jun grabbed a blanket from Nino's bedroom and laid it over him.
"Will you be gone when I wake up?" Nino asked softly, his eyes closed.
"Yes," Jun said, kissing his forehead.
Jun didn't invite him, but Nino followed him home anyway. Jun wasn't surprised; Nino had slid up behind him in the dressing room, pressing their bare skin together as he ghosted a breath across Jun's ear. Nino was like that, sometimes. He liked the tease, he liked the tension that would build between them as each pretended they weren't thinking of all the many ways they could devour each other given half an hour and a flat surface.
Jun would have been lying if he said he didn't get a thrill out of it.
As soon as they stepped in the door, Jun was ready for Nino's pounce. They didn't say word to each other; this had happened often enough for speech to be unnecessary. Nino's hands held Jun's face as they kissed and Jun's palms were skating up Nino's back. Nino dragged his tongue across the roof of Jun's mouth and Jun pulled Nino's hips snug against his by his belt loops.
Jun walked them backwards, looking for either the couch, his bed, or a carpeted portion of floor if it came down to it. They found the bedroom by sheer chance and Jun had dragged Nino down with him. Clothing was thrown off into dark corners and Jun rolled them until Nino was on his back beneath him. For a moment, they paused, staring at each other in the near-darkness.
Jun felt like he was waiting for permission. To what, he didn't quite know. But Nino did.
"Go," he said firmly. "Please."
They were kissing again, and now there was nothing but bare skin against bare skin. Nino hooked a leg over Jun's hip and Jun thrust against him. It burned deliciously and yet it wasn't enough. He broke the kiss to slid down Nino's body, dragging his tongue across Nino's nipple. Nino arched off the bed, his hands twisted in Jun's hair and a ragged cry leaving his throat. He was, Jun knew, extremely sensitive. Jun lavished attention on each, and Nino's erection was hot and hard against Jun's stomach. His own cock was throbbing between his thighs, every noise Nino made winding up the coil of need in is belly even further.
Nino was keen to return the attention, but he knew that Jun was far more sensitive around his ears and jaw. He blew across Jun's ear, licking the shell and sucking his earlobe between his teeth. Jun groaned, his brows knit as he concentrated all of his focus to not coming right there. Nino's mouth migrated to just below Jun's jaw, and he kissed and bit at Jun's skin, soothing each bite with his tongue. Jun's hands were planted on either side of Nino's waist, holding him up, and he ground their cocks together. The friction was amazing and they both moaned, shaking with the effort of keeping it together.
"Fuck," Jun growled. Nino echoed the sentiment before snaking a hand between them and holding their cocks together. They thrust against each other with increasing fervor until they lost any semblance of rhythm. Only a few seconds off, they came messy and hot in Nino's hand. Jun let his right arm buckle so he dropped onto his side, half of his body still draped across Nino.
"I needed that," Jun confessed, still panting. Nino laughed. They laid in the bed in silence for a while, both waiting for strength to return to their limbs and their breathing to slow. As soon as Nino felt steady, he kissed Jun on the cheek and sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.
He was leaving.
"Wait," Jun said. Nino froze; Jun ran a hand down the bumps of Nino's spine. The touch was tender, somehow. "Why are you leaving?"
"I always leave," Nino said, his voice betraying no emotion. Jun couldn't see his face in the dark; he wished he could.
"Why?" Jun asked.
"You've never asked me to stay," Nino said simply, and Jun had to admit it was true. He hadn't.
"Neither have you," he pointed out. Nino's shoulders hunched, slightly guilty.
"I didn't think you wanted me to," Nino said, and this time his voice came out a little wobbly and unsure. He looked over his shoulder at Jun, his face confused and slightly hopeful. Jun wrapped his hand around Nino's wrist, his thumb stroking Nino's pulse point in quiet contemplation.
"Stay," he said finally, seriously.
Nino hesitated only a heartbeat before pulling his legs back under the duvet. Tentatively, he turned to face Jun and put and arm over Jun's waist. Jun welcomed it and made sure Nino had plenty of blankets to tuck around himself.
"Okay," Nino said with a smile.
And every time after that?
They stayed.