a man with no principles draws little interest
Title: Making the Connection
Author: waxrose
Rating: R
Length: ~3,200 words
Pairing(s): Jun/Arashi and the kitchen sink. Figuratively speaking.
Author's Notes: For karadin, who prompted me to write MatsuJun in Vegas needs to test each band-mate to see who gives the best phone sex. I hope that you enjoy this! crazychickencow owns my soul (and my soul soul!) for being the best beta in the world and putting up with constant whiny e-mails about "I CAN'T WRITE PHONESEX GODAMMIT" or "I'M GETTING SQUICKED BY MY OWN WRITING AAAH.". ♥ ♥ ♥
It isn't until Jun flops down on the overwhelmingly soft, large hotel bed, sore, tired and disoriented from the long flight that he discovers the phone card in the back pocket of his jeans, with a little sticky note attached reading In case you get lonely~.
It's just like Aiba to act like he was going away for a month or something when he was just ducking away for a quick couple of days for some filming. It happened all of the time. Admittedly, this time he's ducking away to an entirely different continent, but it was still no big deal.
However, the card means that Aiba will definitely expect a phone call. Jun sighs and chucks it onto the bedside table of his hotel room before heading down to the lobby to meet his manager. Of course Aiba would manage to be troublesome, even an ocean away.
The filming schedule is intense and everyone is very focused. There is little room for error or fooling around when they have a limited amount of time to film on location. Vegas is nice, if a little overwhelming. Jun is starting to feel weeks of sleep deprivation and his busy schedule begin to niggle at the edges of his focus. He drinks black coffee, hot and bitter and tries not to yawn when the director discusses the scene with them. Mao looks tired too, but they still have time to laugh a bit between scenes.
Despite everything, Jun is enjoying himself. He's tired, but the scenes are interesting and it's fun to be filming in these casinos, while onlookers watch the film crew in bemusement and mild curiosity.
The phone card is still where he left it when he returns to his room, worn down and stretched thin from the endless round of takes and the quickly rising sensation of jetlag.
But he could dial Aiba's number in his sleep and he does practically that, lying back and letting his head sink into the soft, clean-smelling hotel pillows. The phone card is surprisingly uncomplicated, and he blinks sleepily at the ceiling while the ring of Aiba's line purrs low into his ear.
"I'm not lonely, you moron," Jun says finally, when he hears the click that means that Aiba has finally picked up.
"What? Matsujun, oh," Aiba sounds distracted, but happy. "You found the card!"
"Only the minute I tried to sit down." Jun rubs a hand across his tired eyes. He well aware that he sounds impatient and a little pissed off, but he can't seem to help it. Aiba knows him too well to let it bother him anyways. "Are you at work?"
"On break," Aiba confirms, "So, how's Vegas?"
"All right," Jun tries to swallow a yawn, borrowing his head a little deeper into his pillow, "S'not like I've been able to do much sight-seeing."
"We all miss you," Aiba sounds so genuinely sincere that Jun almost doesn't have the heart to tell that he saw him less than a day ago.
"I'm only gone for a few days," Jun points out, "I'm hardly going to get homesick."
"I know you - oh, hang on," Aiba says lightly and Jun can hear another voice in the background and he can't make out Aiba's reply. There's the quiet snick of a door closing and Aiba's voice comes back onto the line, warm and amused, "But Jun-chan is definitely all tired and stressed, right? I thought you might want to talk to someone instead of just snapping at the staff-san and going berserk with the coffee."
"I'm fine," Jun says automatically, a reflex from dealing with years of Sho's motherly suspicions and Aiba's somewhat invasive sympathy. "I'm not overdoing it."
There's a definite snort of laughter over the line and Jun's brow furrows. The frustrating thing about distance was that he couldn't hit Aiba for being an idiot. "I'm not," he insists.
"It's okay," Aiba's voice is low and soothing, "I just want you to relax, Jun."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" The next yawn nearly cracks Jun's jaw and he readjust his phone against his ear. "Sing me to sleep?"
"Something like that." There's almost no stopping Aiba when he sounds amused and secretive, all filled up with Ideas and breathl-
"Oh." Jun's brain clicks on, "Masaki."
"What?" Aiba asks innocently, "This will be good for your blood pressure, Matssun."
"No," Jun can almost picture Aiba, barricaded in some obscure dressing room, perched on a table and kicking his legs back and forth, grin growing wider as he teases Jun. "No, no, no. I am going to bed."
"Don't be like that," Aiba says cheerfully, "Come on, so - I'm taking off my pants-"
It was probably a bit rude to hang up, Jun supposed, but he fell asleep grinning anyways.
-
Jun doesn't like sleeping in strange beds. God knows he's gotten accustomed to it, after years of traveling and concerts and countless hotels. But he still wakes up at an ungodly hour, dizzy, sleepy and disoriented in the strange 4:00AM half-darkness of his too-cold, stark hotel room.
He takes advantage of his early rise for an extra-long shower, relishing the pounding, the red-hot spray soothing away his tense muscles and soreness. By 6:30AM, he's in a seat in the crew's main room, thumbing through his script with an extra-large cup of coffee on hand.
The day itself is pretty grueling. He still feels a little jet-lagged and he has to fight to not let it show in his expression or shake his focus. The scenes themselves are easy enough, but they seem to go on forever, until Jun feels coiled and tight, ready to snap.
By mid-morning, he's locked himself in a bathroom stall, dialing into his mobile phone and listening to the instructions of the automated phone card system before he even realizes what he's doing.
"There had better be a damn good reason why you're calling me at this time of night," Sho's groggy voice informs him, picking up after two rings.
"Sorry," Jun hugs his legs closer with his free arm. He definitely woke Sho up - but he has to admit that he likes the deep, growling note of Sho's voice, patient and infinitely pissed-off all at once. He wishes he were back in Tokyo, so he could pin Sho down and take full advantage of it - Sho was the most fun when you were able to get him all worked up.
It was all Aiba's fault for planting stupid ideas about getting lonely in his head anyways. Jun didn't miss his bandmates, not for being gone for such a short time.
"Jun?" Sho's voice sounds more worried than angry now. "Is everything all right?"
"Yeah," Jun says and he closes his eyes, tilting his head back against the wall. "Yeah, it really is. I just-"
There's a pause and Sho makes no effort to finish his thoughts for him, even though he knows that Jun won't. I miss you. I need to be there with everyone. I want you all to be here with me. Jun listens to Sho's breathing, even and deep over the line and he turns up the volume on his phone a little, pretending for a second that he's not ten thousand miles away, but that he could reach out and touch Sho.
"I wish I could touch you," Jun says, in what feels like a moment of blind recklessness and he feels a little shiver when he hears Sho's breath hitch in his throat across the line.
Sho is silent and Jun presses his lips together, thinking about the rapper lying twisted in his bedsheets, eyes still half-lidded in sleep and listening intently. He can almost see the rise and fall of Sho's chest, the wild mess of his sleep-tousled hair, him biting his lip as he tries to figure out the best way to talk about how scary it was to be an ocean away from everything familiar without poking at Jun's pride.
"When you get back," Sho says finally, "You owe me for having to placate Aiba-chan after you hung up on him yesterday."
Jun laughed, tension unwinding, "I bet he liked that."
"Oh, he did," Sho teases, "You got him really worked up. He pinned me to the door after practice, whispering some of the dirtiest things in my ear."
A coil of heat stirs in Jun's stomach. "Really?" he asks, trying to sounds nonchalant, clearing his throat a little. He can see it clearly in his mind, Aiba pressing against Sho, dark eyes and easy grin chipping away at Sho's resolve. His brain colors in the details gleefully - Sho's strong fingers digging into Aiba's shoulders, the elegant arch of Aiba's back as he presses against Sho.
Jun grips the edge of the toilet tank he's perched on with one white-knuckled hand, his cock straining against his too-tight pants, praying that his five-minute break hasn't gone overtime enough for anyone to come looking for him.
"Getting uncomfortable, Jun?" Sho's voice sounds raw and hot, scratchy still with sleep, "Or do you wish I was there? Touching you instead?"
"It does seem unfair that you're starting something that you can't finish, yes," Jun groans. Each syllable Sho says is sending jolts of heat through him.
"If I could," Sho says and he sounds serious, "I'd touch you slowly, and let you get nice and worked up still, because you look gorgeous when you're frustrated like that."
Jun frantically works at his zipper, trying not to completely embarrass himself by panting into the phone. "Keep talking," he orders, not even caring when Sho laughs at him.
It only takes him a minute to bring himself to climax. There's silence on the line while he quickly cleans himself up, though it sounds like Sho's breathing has quickened.
"Can I go back to sleep now?" Sho asks plaintively.
Jun laughs, feeling a great deal less tense now. "You think you can?"
"I will, since I have to be awake again in a little under four hours." The sound of sheets rustling in the background, like Sho is settling back down.
"Sorry for, you know, waking you up." Now that he feels a little less angry and crazy and lonely, there's a sudden wash of guilt.
"Don't be." Sho yawns, "I'd rather you called me if you weren't all right, y'know. We love you, MatsuJun. Make sure you get enough to eat, don't make life difficult for the staff - and come home soon, huh?"
"As soon as I can," Jun promises. He means it.
-
"So apparently you've been making the rounds faster than Tackey backstage on Shounen Club." Nino's smirk is almost audible. "So much for not being lonely."
"This is Leader's phone." Jun tries not to sound too annoyed. That would only make Nino happier.
"Satoshi-chan is busy right now." Nino sounds far to perky to be trusted, "What can I do you for?"
Jun sighed, giving in. "I've got ten minutes left on that damn card that Aiba-chan gave me."
"And what, it throws off your OCD to not use it?"
"Ye- No." Jun debates just hanging up, but reconsiders. Snarky bastard or not, it's nice to hear a familiar voice. Besides, wherever Nino was, Ohno was bound to follow.
"So, did you strike it lucky in Vegas?" Nino asks. There's a creak that sounds immistakably like their old couch in the regular break room and okay, maybe Jun is a little bit homesick.
"I worked, mostly." Jun checks his watch. He's due down in the lobby in fifteen minutes. "How about you? Did a stylist finally break down and attack you with a pair of scissors?"
"You wish." Jun is beginning to suspect that Nino is letting his hair grow long and scraggly just to piss him off. "Actually, I bought a whole package of new hair ties yesterday. Rainbow. And a scrunchie."
"Great." Jun's inner fashionista screams for mercy. "Look, if Leader isn't around, I've got to be going soon anyways, so..."
"Oh fine, just hang on." There's a shuffling in the background and Jun can very clearly hear Ohno's voice and Nino laughing, but before he can hang up, Ohno's voice crackles across the line, clear and strong. "Jun?"
"Hi, Captain." Jun fiddles with a loose thread on his sweater, "I thought Nino said you were busy?"
"No, I was just taking a nap," Ohno does sound a little bit sleepy - but with him, it was usually hard to tell, "I had my head in Nino's lap, but I think he's just didn't want to wake me up, ne. Or maybe he just really wanted to talk to you." There's an indignant squawking noise and Jun grins.
"How's everything been over there?"
"Eh, the same." Jun smiles. He could always count on Captain to be the steady one, unlike Aiba's melodramatic separation issues or Sho's incessant worrying. "Looking forward to having you back." There's a quiet snort from Nino in the background, but Ohno hushes him.
"I'll be back in a day," Jun sits down on one of the beds in his hotel room, crossing his legs.
"Good," Ohno says, "Good, uh...Nin-no."
There's a pause on the line and even though Jun strains his ears, brow furrowing, he can't make out Ohno's words or Nino's reply.
"Ne, Jun-chan." It's Nino's voice that finally breaks over the line, smug and smooth, "Can you hear him?"
"What?" He's got about five minutes left and Jun is just ready to just hang up the phone and chuck the damn card in the trash. "Fuck you, Ninomiya. Put Captain back on the line."
There's no answer except Nino's quiet chuckle and an almost inaudible sigh. Jun switches his phone to the other ear, and the breathy sighs continue, rising in pitch and becoming longer.
"God, you're so hot, Oh-chan," Jun feels an irrational stab of something between jealousy and frustration (and arousal, if he stand to admit it), because he knows that Nino is only saying this for Jun's benefit. Nino is never vocal and it frustrates Jun sometimes to no end, ignoring the silent, slow smirk of Nino's eyes as they move against each othe-
A beep signals the five-minute mark on his card time. Jun swears under his breath.
"I knew you wouldn't want to leave us out," Nino's voice sounds over the line again, "But you're not very good at asking for what you want, are you, Jun?"
Jun weighs his dignity against his curiousity and decides that he has plenty of time for revenge once he's back in Japan. "What are you doing to him now?" he asks, careful not to sound too interested.
"How much detail do you want?" Nino inquires perkily and Jun curses the fact that the distance between Las Vegas and Tokyo means that he can't throttle the little bastard right now.
"Nino, don't be difficult," Ohno's voice is faint, but audible across the line and there's no answer from Nino at all, no sound. Jun is about to say something or hang up, until he hears a faint, smacking and a rush of breath.
There's a muttered, "Oh-chan" on the line, Nino's voice awed and husky. It's frustrating, Jun realizes, because he doesn't just want to hear Captain, he wants to be able to see him and touch him and see his squishy beaming smile.
Jun feels tears prick the corners of his eyes and blinks furiously, grabbing at the tissues on the table beside the bed. It was stupid to be homesick after being gone only a couple of days, but it was ten million times more stupid when he was about an hour away from boarding a plane back home.
He hangs up without saying anything.
Jun sits cross-legged on his bed, shredding a tissue into tiny, exact pieces and refusing to cry, until his manager comes to tell him that it's time to head to the airport.
It isn't until they've gone through customs and are getting ready to board that Jun realizes he's still clutching the phone card in one hand, plastic edges cutting lines in his palm.
-
The jetlag isn't much better on the return trip, but at least Jun can collapse into his own bed, crisp sheets and soft pillows which feel and smell exactly right and familiar. From the way that his schedule looks for the next few weeks anyways, he would probably have to get used to the feeling.
Sho and Nino are already waiting in one of the conference rooms when Jun arrives, oversized sunglasses covering the bags under his eyes and armed with a giant coffee to face what was likely to be an entire morning of affectionate invasions of his personal space.
"Jun!" Sho is out of his chair, crosses the room and wraps him in a strong hug before Jun can even say a hello. "Welcome back."
"Thanks," Jun mutters against Sho's shoulder, squeezing back a little and feeling a little less lost.
"Did you bring us anything?" Nino is twirling around slowly in one of the executive chairs, eyes glued to his DS screen.
Jun sets his coffee down on the table and is about to shoot back a retort when he is suddenly hit from behind with enough force to nearly knock him flat onto the table.
"Aiba-chan," Sho scolds while Jun dazedly tries to regain his wind, half-aware of the giant weight still on his back, "You could have hurt him!"
"Jun-chan doesn't mind," Aiba replies brightly and Jun growls a little, trying to shake him loose - which isn't very effective, considering Aiba has his legs wrapped around Jun's waist and is clinging like a koala to a eucalyptus tree.
A warm hand slips into his and Jun blinks up to see Ohno beaming at him, chin still dotted with morning stubble and laugh lines crinkling the corners of his sleepy-lidded eyes.
"Welcome home," Ohno says quietly, squeezing Jun's hand warmly.
"We really missed you!" Aiba's voice is loud in his ear, his sharp chin digging into Jun's shoulder.
"You moron," Jun pries the fingers of his free hand under one of Aiba's knees, tickling until he lets go with an alarmed, giggly sort of screech and lands on the floor on his butt with an undignified thump.
"Didn't you like my present?" Aiba stays on the floor, knees bent and mock-pout firmly in place. "Nino said you used it up, so don't lie and pretend you didn't!"
"Your time must have cut off while you were on the phone with us, ne." Jun doesn't really have the heart to correct Ohno, so he just smiles weakly back at him and nods.
"What were you doing anyways, some kind of weird phonesex competition?" Nino turns off his DS and Sho turns bright red. "And did I win?"
"No," Jun says, and grins, fingering the cool plastic of the card still tucked securely in his back pocket. "Actually, I think I did."
end.
cross-posted to jent_fanfics
Author: waxrose
Rating: R
Length: ~3,200 words
Pairing(s): Jun/Arashi and the kitchen sink. Figuratively speaking.
Author's Notes: For karadin, who prompted me to write MatsuJun in Vegas needs to test each band-mate to see who gives the best phone sex. I hope that you enjoy this! crazychickencow owns my soul (and my soul soul!) for being the best beta in the world and putting up with constant whiny e-mails about "I CAN'T WRITE PHONESEX GODAMMIT" or "I'M GETTING SQUICKED BY MY OWN WRITING AAAH.". ♥ ♥ ♥
It isn't until Jun flops down on the overwhelmingly soft, large hotel bed, sore, tired and disoriented from the long flight that he discovers the phone card in the back pocket of his jeans, with a little sticky note attached reading In case you get lonely~.
It's just like Aiba to act like he was going away for a month or something when he was just ducking away for a quick couple of days for some filming. It happened all of the time. Admittedly, this time he's ducking away to an entirely different continent, but it was still no big deal.
However, the card means that Aiba will definitely expect a phone call. Jun sighs and chucks it onto the bedside table of his hotel room before heading down to the lobby to meet his manager. Of course Aiba would manage to be troublesome, even an ocean away.
The filming schedule is intense and everyone is very focused. There is little room for error or fooling around when they have a limited amount of time to film on location. Vegas is nice, if a little overwhelming. Jun is starting to feel weeks of sleep deprivation and his busy schedule begin to niggle at the edges of his focus. He drinks black coffee, hot and bitter and tries not to yawn when the director discusses the scene with them. Mao looks tired too, but they still have time to laugh a bit between scenes.
Despite everything, Jun is enjoying himself. He's tired, but the scenes are interesting and it's fun to be filming in these casinos, while onlookers watch the film crew in bemusement and mild curiosity.
The phone card is still where he left it when he returns to his room, worn down and stretched thin from the endless round of takes and the quickly rising sensation of jetlag.
But he could dial Aiba's number in his sleep and he does practically that, lying back and letting his head sink into the soft, clean-smelling hotel pillows. The phone card is surprisingly uncomplicated, and he blinks sleepily at the ceiling while the ring of Aiba's line purrs low into his ear.
"I'm not lonely, you moron," Jun says finally, when he hears the click that means that Aiba has finally picked up.
"What? Matsujun, oh," Aiba sounds distracted, but happy. "You found the card!"
"Only the minute I tried to sit down." Jun rubs a hand across his tired eyes. He well aware that he sounds impatient and a little pissed off, but he can't seem to help it. Aiba knows him too well to let it bother him anyways. "Are you at work?"
"On break," Aiba confirms, "So, how's Vegas?"
"All right," Jun tries to swallow a yawn, borrowing his head a little deeper into his pillow, "S'not like I've been able to do much sight-seeing."
"We all miss you," Aiba sounds so genuinely sincere that Jun almost doesn't have the heart to tell that he saw him less than a day ago.
"I'm only gone for a few days," Jun points out, "I'm hardly going to get homesick."
"I know you - oh, hang on," Aiba says lightly and Jun can hear another voice in the background and he can't make out Aiba's reply. There's the quiet snick of a door closing and Aiba's voice comes back onto the line, warm and amused, "But Jun-chan is definitely all tired and stressed, right? I thought you might want to talk to someone instead of just snapping at the staff-san and going berserk with the coffee."
"I'm fine," Jun says automatically, a reflex from dealing with years of Sho's motherly suspicions and Aiba's somewhat invasive sympathy. "I'm not overdoing it."
There's a definite snort of laughter over the line and Jun's brow furrows. The frustrating thing about distance was that he couldn't hit Aiba for being an idiot. "I'm not," he insists.
"It's okay," Aiba's voice is low and soothing, "I just want you to relax, Jun."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" The next yawn nearly cracks Jun's jaw and he readjust his phone against his ear. "Sing me to sleep?"
"Something like that." There's almost no stopping Aiba when he sounds amused and secretive, all filled up with Ideas and breathl-
"Oh." Jun's brain clicks on, "Masaki."
"What?" Aiba asks innocently, "This will be good for your blood pressure, Matssun."
"No," Jun can almost picture Aiba, barricaded in some obscure dressing room, perched on a table and kicking his legs back and forth, grin growing wider as he teases Jun. "No, no, no. I am going to bed."
"Don't be like that," Aiba says cheerfully, "Come on, so - I'm taking off my pants-"
It was probably a bit rude to hang up, Jun supposed, but he fell asleep grinning anyways.
-
Jun doesn't like sleeping in strange beds. God knows he's gotten accustomed to it, after years of traveling and concerts and countless hotels. But he still wakes up at an ungodly hour, dizzy, sleepy and disoriented in the strange 4:00AM half-darkness of his too-cold, stark hotel room.
He takes advantage of his early rise for an extra-long shower, relishing the pounding, the red-hot spray soothing away his tense muscles and soreness. By 6:30AM, he's in a seat in the crew's main room, thumbing through his script with an extra-large cup of coffee on hand.
The day itself is pretty grueling. He still feels a little jet-lagged and he has to fight to not let it show in his expression or shake his focus. The scenes themselves are easy enough, but they seem to go on forever, until Jun feels coiled and tight, ready to snap.
By mid-morning, he's locked himself in a bathroom stall, dialing into his mobile phone and listening to the instructions of the automated phone card system before he even realizes what he's doing.
"There had better be a damn good reason why you're calling me at this time of night," Sho's groggy voice informs him, picking up after two rings.
"Sorry," Jun hugs his legs closer with his free arm. He definitely woke Sho up - but he has to admit that he likes the deep, growling note of Sho's voice, patient and infinitely pissed-off all at once. He wishes he were back in Tokyo, so he could pin Sho down and take full advantage of it - Sho was the most fun when you were able to get him all worked up.
It was all Aiba's fault for planting stupid ideas about getting lonely in his head anyways. Jun didn't miss his bandmates, not for being gone for such a short time.
"Jun?" Sho's voice sounds more worried than angry now. "Is everything all right?"
"Yeah," Jun says and he closes his eyes, tilting his head back against the wall. "Yeah, it really is. I just-"
There's a pause and Sho makes no effort to finish his thoughts for him, even though he knows that Jun won't. I miss you. I need to be there with everyone. I want you all to be here with me. Jun listens to Sho's breathing, even and deep over the line and he turns up the volume on his phone a little, pretending for a second that he's not ten thousand miles away, but that he could reach out and touch Sho.
"I wish I could touch you," Jun says, in what feels like a moment of blind recklessness and he feels a little shiver when he hears Sho's breath hitch in his throat across the line.
Sho is silent and Jun presses his lips together, thinking about the rapper lying twisted in his bedsheets, eyes still half-lidded in sleep and listening intently. He can almost see the rise and fall of Sho's chest, the wild mess of his sleep-tousled hair, him biting his lip as he tries to figure out the best way to talk about how scary it was to be an ocean away from everything familiar without poking at Jun's pride.
"When you get back," Sho says finally, "You owe me for having to placate Aiba-chan after you hung up on him yesterday."
Jun laughed, tension unwinding, "I bet he liked that."
"Oh, he did," Sho teases, "You got him really worked up. He pinned me to the door after practice, whispering some of the dirtiest things in my ear."
A coil of heat stirs in Jun's stomach. "Really?" he asks, trying to sounds nonchalant, clearing his throat a little. He can see it clearly in his mind, Aiba pressing against Sho, dark eyes and easy grin chipping away at Sho's resolve. His brain colors in the details gleefully - Sho's strong fingers digging into Aiba's shoulders, the elegant arch of Aiba's back as he presses against Sho.
Jun grips the edge of the toilet tank he's perched on with one white-knuckled hand, his cock straining against his too-tight pants, praying that his five-minute break hasn't gone overtime enough for anyone to come looking for him.
"Getting uncomfortable, Jun?" Sho's voice sounds raw and hot, scratchy still with sleep, "Or do you wish I was there? Touching you instead?"
"It does seem unfair that you're starting something that you can't finish, yes," Jun groans. Each syllable Sho says is sending jolts of heat through him.
"If I could," Sho says and he sounds serious, "I'd touch you slowly, and let you get nice and worked up still, because you look gorgeous when you're frustrated like that."
Jun frantically works at his zipper, trying not to completely embarrass himself by panting into the phone. "Keep talking," he orders, not even caring when Sho laughs at him.
It only takes him a minute to bring himself to climax. There's silence on the line while he quickly cleans himself up, though it sounds like Sho's breathing has quickened.
"Can I go back to sleep now?" Sho asks plaintively.
Jun laughs, feeling a great deal less tense now. "You think you can?"
"I will, since I have to be awake again in a little under four hours." The sound of sheets rustling in the background, like Sho is settling back down.
"Sorry for, you know, waking you up." Now that he feels a little less angry and crazy and lonely, there's a sudden wash of guilt.
"Don't be." Sho yawns, "I'd rather you called me if you weren't all right, y'know. We love you, MatsuJun. Make sure you get enough to eat, don't make life difficult for the staff - and come home soon, huh?"
"As soon as I can," Jun promises. He means it.
-
"So apparently you've been making the rounds faster than Tackey backstage on Shounen Club." Nino's smirk is almost audible. "So much for not being lonely."
"This is Leader's phone." Jun tries not to sound too annoyed. That would only make Nino happier.
"Satoshi-chan is busy right now." Nino sounds far to perky to be trusted, "What can I do you for?"
Jun sighed, giving in. "I've got ten minutes left on that damn card that Aiba-chan gave me."
"And what, it throws off your OCD to not use it?"
"Ye- No." Jun debates just hanging up, but reconsiders. Snarky bastard or not, it's nice to hear a familiar voice. Besides, wherever Nino was, Ohno was bound to follow.
"So, did you strike it lucky in Vegas?" Nino asks. There's a creak that sounds immistakably like their old couch in the regular break room and okay, maybe Jun is a little bit homesick.
"I worked, mostly." Jun checks his watch. He's due down in the lobby in fifteen minutes. "How about you? Did a stylist finally break down and attack you with a pair of scissors?"
"You wish." Jun is beginning to suspect that Nino is letting his hair grow long and scraggly just to piss him off. "Actually, I bought a whole package of new hair ties yesterday. Rainbow. And a scrunchie."
"Great." Jun's inner fashionista screams for mercy. "Look, if Leader isn't around, I've got to be going soon anyways, so..."
"Oh fine, just hang on." There's a shuffling in the background and Jun can very clearly hear Ohno's voice and Nino laughing, but before he can hang up, Ohno's voice crackles across the line, clear and strong. "Jun?"
"Hi, Captain." Jun fiddles with a loose thread on his sweater, "I thought Nino said you were busy?"
"No, I was just taking a nap," Ohno does sound a little bit sleepy - but with him, it was usually hard to tell, "I had my head in Nino's lap, but I think he's just didn't want to wake me up, ne. Or maybe he just really wanted to talk to you." There's an indignant squawking noise and Jun grins.
"How's everything been over there?"
"Eh, the same." Jun smiles. He could always count on Captain to be the steady one, unlike Aiba's melodramatic separation issues or Sho's incessant worrying. "Looking forward to having you back." There's a quiet snort from Nino in the background, but Ohno hushes him.
"I'll be back in a day," Jun sits down on one of the beds in his hotel room, crossing his legs.
"Good," Ohno says, "Good, uh...Nin-no."
There's a pause on the line and even though Jun strains his ears, brow furrowing, he can't make out Ohno's words or Nino's reply.
"Ne, Jun-chan." It's Nino's voice that finally breaks over the line, smug and smooth, "Can you hear him?"
"What?" He's got about five minutes left and Jun is just ready to just hang up the phone and chuck the damn card in the trash. "Fuck you, Ninomiya. Put Captain back on the line."
There's no answer except Nino's quiet chuckle and an almost inaudible sigh. Jun switches his phone to the other ear, and the breathy sighs continue, rising in pitch and becoming longer.
"God, you're so hot, Oh-chan," Jun feels an irrational stab of something between jealousy and frustration (and arousal, if he stand to admit it), because he knows that Nino is only saying this for Jun's benefit. Nino is never vocal and it frustrates Jun sometimes to no end, ignoring the silent, slow smirk of Nino's eyes as they move against each othe-
A beep signals the five-minute mark on his card time. Jun swears under his breath.
"I knew you wouldn't want to leave us out," Nino's voice sounds over the line again, "But you're not very good at asking for what you want, are you, Jun?"
Jun weighs his dignity against his curiousity and decides that he has plenty of time for revenge once he's back in Japan. "What are you doing to him now?" he asks, careful not to sound too interested.
"How much detail do you want?" Nino inquires perkily and Jun curses the fact that the distance between Las Vegas and Tokyo means that he can't throttle the little bastard right now.
"Nino, don't be difficult," Ohno's voice is faint, but audible across the line and there's no answer from Nino at all, no sound. Jun is about to say something or hang up, until he hears a faint, smacking and a rush of breath.
There's a muttered, "Oh-chan" on the line, Nino's voice awed and husky. It's frustrating, Jun realizes, because he doesn't just want to hear Captain, he wants to be able to see him and touch him and see his squishy beaming smile.
Jun feels tears prick the corners of his eyes and blinks furiously, grabbing at the tissues on the table beside the bed. It was stupid to be homesick after being gone only a couple of days, but it was ten million times more stupid when he was about an hour away from boarding a plane back home.
He hangs up without saying anything.
Jun sits cross-legged on his bed, shredding a tissue into tiny, exact pieces and refusing to cry, until his manager comes to tell him that it's time to head to the airport.
It isn't until they've gone through customs and are getting ready to board that Jun realizes he's still clutching the phone card in one hand, plastic edges cutting lines in his palm.
-
The jetlag isn't much better on the return trip, but at least Jun can collapse into his own bed, crisp sheets and soft pillows which feel and smell exactly right and familiar. From the way that his schedule looks for the next few weeks anyways, he would probably have to get used to the feeling.
Sho and Nino are already waiting in one of the conference rooms when Jun arrives, oversized sunglasses covering the bags under his eyes and armed with a giant coffee to face what was likely to be an entire morning of affectionate invasions of his personal space.
"Jun!" Sho is out of his chair, crosses the room and wraps him in a strong hug before Jun can even say a hello. "Welcome back."
"Thanks," Jun mutters against Sho's shoulder, squeezing back a little and feeling a little less lost.
"Did you bring us anything?" Nino is twirling around slowly in one of the executive chairs, eyes glued to his DS screen.
Jun sets his coffee down on the table and is about to shoot back a retort when he is suddenly hit from behind with enough force to nearly knock him flat onto the table.
"Aiba-chan," Sho scolds while Jun dazedly tries to regain his wind, half-aware of the giant weight still on his back, "You could have hurt him!"
"Jun-chan doesn't mind," Aiba replies brightly and Jun growls a little, trying to shake him loose - which isn't very effective, considering Aiba has his legs wrapped around Jun's waist and is clinging like a koala to a eucalyptus tree.
A warm hand slips into his and Jun blinks up to see Ohno beaming at him, chin still dotted with morning stubble and laugh lines crinkling the corners of his sleepy-lidded eyes.
"Welcome home," Ohno says quietly, squeezing Jun's hand warmly.
"We really missed you!" Aiba's voice is loud in his ear, his sharp chin digging into Jun's shoulder.
"You moron," Jun pries the fingers of his free hand under one of Aiba's knees, tickling until he lets go with an alarmed, giggly sort of screech and lands on the floor on his butt with an undignified thump.
"Didn't you like my present?" Aiba stays on the floor, knees bent and mock-pout firmly in place. "Nino said you used it up, so don't lie and pretend you didn't!"
"Your time must have cut off while you were on the phone with us, ne." Jun doesn't really have the heart to correct Ohno, so he just smiles weakly back at him and nods.
"What were you doing anyways, some kind of weird phonesex competition?" Nino turns off his DS and Sho turns bright red. "And did I win?"
"No," Jun says, and grins, fingering the cool plastic of the card still tucked securely in his back pocket. "Actually, I think I did."
end.
cross-posted to jent_fanfics