Not By Blood
Title: Not By Blood
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Matsumoto Jun/Sakurai Sho
Summary: Jun wasn’t sure he could make it another year with Sho’s study light keeping him awake every night.
Notes/Warnings: For the Drabble-a-thon at sakumoto. Request from salwaphoenix who wanted Christmas with Sho/Jun as stepbrothers. So obviously a warning for this - AU, they aren't blood related, but in case that gives you the heebies, you've been warned.
Sho had the bottom bunk because he was scared of heights.
Which would have been kind of cute or fine or whatever in Jun’s mind, except for the fact that Sho was 17 and the bed wasn’t that far off the ground. But he’d be moving out for college next year, and then Jun would have the room - his room - back to himself since he was a year younger.
His mom and Sho’s dad had only been seeing each other a few months before they got married, and now the kid he’d only thought of as ‘Shuji-san’s son’ was his stepbrother, and they had to share a room. Which was unpleasant to say the least when you were their age. No privacy, especially when certain matters needed attending. He had to do that in the shower now or when Sho stayed out late, and it was just not fun.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like Sho. The guy was smart and funny and all, but he wasn’t really liking the guy sharing his living space. Their parents worked hard, but they didn’t have enough money for a larger place - they’d just have to deal one more year. But it had already been three months, and Jun wasn’t sure he could make it another year with Sho’s study light keeping him awake every night.
It was almost Christmas, and Sho came back from school with a shopping bag. Jun was studying at his desk, and Sho held out a jewelry box.
“You buy me a pretty necklace, Sakurai?”
“No,” Sho said immediately, almost too quickly. If Jun didn’t know any better, he’d say his stepbrother liked him. Which worried him, since his thoughts in the shower were drifting that direction lately - all the more reason for them to NOT, repeat, NOT share a bedroom. “It’s for your mom. Do you think she’d like it?”
Sho had bought his mom something? Jun was embarrassed - he hadn’t even thought to get Sho’s dad, no, his stepfather a gift. His mother was always telling him that the four of them were a family now - that Jun should work harder to accept his stepfather, accept his stepbrother. That was difficult when your stepbrother sometimes said your name in his sleep, waking none the wiser.
He only glanced at the necklace briefly, Sho’s cold fingers brushing his warm ones as he took it from his stepbrother’s hand. “She likes silver. Good choice.”
“Okay.”
That night, Sho was tossing and turning in his sleep, grinding his teeth. Jun listened for his name and didn’t hear it.
--
Christmas Day came, and Sho’s grandmother had fallen at her care facility. His stepfather and mother went off, leaving him and Sho alone in the apartment - Sho had wanted to go, Jun could tell. Was it because he was that concerned about his grandmother, or because he didn’t want to be alone with him?
Jun left Sho to worry in the living room, hopping into bed with some manga to read. The pictures and words blurred. Just another year. He could make it another year. He could make it. He could make it. He could make-
The bedroom door slid open, and Sho stood there, staring up at him on the top bunk. Jun felt all the thoughts in his mind slip away, and all he could see was the other boy in the room, his stepbrother. His stepbrother - his stepbrother, his stepbrother, he tried to remind himself as Sho moved to the ladder with a surprising confidence.
Jun closed the manga volume, slipping it on the little shelf that he’d stuck up above his bed. Sho had never been up on his bunk before, and he knocked his head on the ceiling a bit as he settled himself at the foot of the bed. Sho stared at him for a few moments, breathing heavily.
He didn’t know what to do, just closing his eyes when he felt the weight shift on the mattress, heard Sho coming close to lay beside him in the space between him and the wall. “We’re not related,” Sho said aloud, maybe to reassure himself more than Jun as his trembling fingers touched Jun’s lips.
“Not by blood anyway,” he whispered, Sho’s finger slipping and bumping against his teeth. He gave in, nipping Sho’s fingertip. He inhaled sharply as Sho’s mouth left a damp trail along his jaw. “You shouldn’t.”
“I know,” Sho mumbled, voice heavy, just as it was when he’d say Jun’s name during the night. “I know.”
Jun could have turned them so Sho would be close to rolling off the bed, scare him away. But he didn’t want to, not with the way Sho’s body felt under the pads of his fingers. He ignored the sound of his mother’s voice in his mind. We need to be a family now, Jun, okay?
This was probably not what their parents had in mind.
--
When his mother came back alone, he and Sho were in pajamas, playing a video game on the living room TV.
“Sho, your father is staying with your grandmother at the facility, just for the night.”
“Okay,” Sho said, scratching at his neck, at the purple mark Jun had left there.
His mother ruffled his hair. “Hope you boys stayed entertained.”
“We did, Mom.”
Sho’s game character fell off the cliff, and Jun blushed.
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Matsumoto Jun/Sakurai Sho
Summary: Jun wasn’t sure he could make it another year with Sho’s study light keeping him awake every night.
Notes/Warnings: For the Drabble-a-thon at sakumoto. Request from salwaphoenix who wanted Christmas with Sho/Jun as stepbrothers. So obviously a warning for this - AU, they aren't blood related, but in case that gives you the heebies, you've been warned.
Sho had the bottom bunk because he was scared of heights.
Which would have been kind of cute or fine or whatever in Jun’s mind, except for the fact that Sho was 17 and the bed wasn’t that far off the ground. But he’d be moving out for college next year, and then Jun would have the room - his room - back to himself since he was a year younger.
His mom and Sho’s dad had only been seeing each other a few months before they got married, and now the kid he’d only thought of as ‘Shuji-san’s son’ was his stepbrother, and they had to share a room. Which was unpleasant to say the least when you were their age. No privacy, especially when certain matters needed attending. He had to do that in the shower now or when Sho stayed out late, and it was just not fun.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like Sho. The guy was smart and funny and all, but he wasn’t really liking the guy sharing his living space. Their parents worked hard, but they didn’t have enough money for a larger place - they’d just have to deal one more year. But it had already been three months, and Jun wasn’t sure he could make it another year with Sho’s study light keeping him awake every night.
It was almost Christmas, and Sho came back from school with a shopping bag. Jun was studying at his desk, and Sho held out a jewelry box.
“You buy me a pretty necklace, Sakurai?”
“No,” Sho said immediately, almost too quickly. If Jun didn’t know any better, he’d say his stepbrother liked him. Which worried him, since his thoughts in the shower were drifting that direction lately - all the more reason for them to NOT, repeat, NOT share a bedroom. “It’s for your mom. Do you think she’d like it?”
Sho had bought his mom something? Jun was embarrassed - he hadn’t even thought to get Sho’s dad, no, his stepfather a gift. His mother was always telling him that the four of them were a family now - that Jun should work harder to accept his stepfather, accept his stepbrother. That was difficult when your stepbrother sometimes said your name in his sleep, waking none the wiser.
He only glanced at the necklace briefly, Sho’s cold fingers brushing his warm ones as he took it from his stepbrother’s hand. “She likes silver. Good choice.”
“Okay.”
That night, Sho was tossing and turning in his sleep, grinding his teeth. Jun listened for his name and didn’t hear it.
--
Christmas Day came, and Sho’s grandmother had fallen at her care facility. His stepfather and mother went off, leaving him and Sho alone in the apartment - Sho had wanted to go, Jun could tell. Was it because he was that concerned about his grandmother, or because he didn’t want to be alone with him?
Jun left Sho to worry in the living room, hopping into bed with some manga to read. The pictures and words blurred. Just another year. He could make it another year. He could make it. He could make it. He could make-
The bedroom door slid open, and Sho stood there, staring up at him on the top bunk. Jun felt all the thoughts in his mind slip away, and all he could see was the other boy in the room, his stepbrother. His stepbrother - his stepbrother, his stepbrother, he tried to remind himself as Sho moved to the ladder with a surprising confidence.
Jun closed the manga volume, slipping it on the little shelf that he’d stuck up above his bed. Sho had never been up on his bunk before, and he knocked his head on the ceiling a bit as he settled himself at the foot of the bed. Sho stared at him for a few moments, breathing heavily.
He didn’t know what to do, just closing his eyes when he felt the weight shift on the mattress, heard Sho coming close to lay beside him in the space between him and the wall. “We’re not related,” Sho said aloud, maybe to reassure himself more than Jun as his trembling fingers touched Jun’s lips.
“Not by blood anyway,” he whispered, Sho’s finger slipping and bumping against his teeth. He gave in, nipping Sho’s fingertip. He inhaled sharply as Sho’s mouth left a damp trail along his jaw. “You shouldn’t.”
“I know,” Sho mumbled, voice heavy, just as it was when he’d say Jun’s name during the night. “I know.”
Jun could have turned them so Sho would be close to rolling off the bed, scare him away. But he didn’t want to, not with the way Sho’s body felt under the pads of his fingers. He ignored the sound of his mother’s voice in his mind. We need to be a family now, Jun, okay?
This was probably not what their parents had in mind.
--
When his mother came back alone, he and Sho were in pajamas, playing a video game on the living room TV.
“Sho, your father is staying with your grandmother at the facility, just for the night.”
“Okay,” Sho said, scratching at his neck, at the purple mark Jun had left there.
His mother ruffled his hair. “Hope you boys stayed entertained.”
“We did, Mom.”
Sho’s game character fell off the cliff, and Jun blushed.