Chapter 3: We hate to think about the good times that we missed out on while staying in

It was with a loudly beating heart and the sound of blood rushing in his ears that he unlocked his front door and invited Juudai inside. The man looked around curiously, until he was distracted by a loud meow and an orange cat hopping her way to them and stroking her side against Jun’s side as he greeted her, before turning her attention to the stranger in their midst. She was a very friendly cat despite the misfortune that had befallen her in her early life, and she padded right on over to Juudai’s outstretched hand, sniffing it before rubbing against it. Juudai grinned from ear to ear at the affections, scratching her behind her ears, cooing at her as she purred up a storm.

 

Jun decided to go put his gym clothes in the hamper while he let the two get acquainted, filling up Cheeseburger’s water bowl as he passed it on the way back to the front door. “You two gonna sit there all afternoon or what? I need to make food.”

 

Juudai looked at him as he stood up, happy cat in his arms. “Want any help?” He didn’t really need any help, but it’d been ages since anyone offered to help him (his latest ex hadn’t exactly been the most helpful) so he felt kind of off balance. He already did from meeting someone from his past, but he also knew he was starved for company that wasn’t a customer being shitty toward him, so he nodded his agreement. “You can cut the vegetables, I guess.” If he remembered correctly, Juudai hadn’t really been a great cook, but neither had he, so things could change.

 

Things fell into a comfortable silence, only broken by the low sound of the music on the radio and the occasional comment on where to find things in the kitchen. He hadn’t felt so relaxed around anyone in years, and it felt conflicting, because Jun knew that Juudai showing up in his life meant that things were inevitably going to change. There was no way Juudai would be able to keep this information from his friends forever, and really, did Jun want this life for himself forever? Of course he didn’t, but it wasn’t til he was faced with someone so close knitted to his past that he was faced with how much he had given up on everything. What was he going to do now? He was completely lost. The silence got a little bit more uncomfortable after that.

 

️

They ate together in silence, Juudai seeming to have gotten a bit better at social cues and figured out that Jun needed time to think. The brunette himself seemed to be thinking things over as well, judging by the look on his face as he watched Jun out of the corner of his eye, thinking Jun hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t until they were doing the dishes that either of them finally spoke up.

 

“So uh,” Juudai started as he handed Jun the clean pot to towel dry, “you know I gotta tell the others that I found you, right? I can’t not tell them when they bring you up. And we kinda do that a lot. Think about you, I mean.”

 

Jun was silent as he dried off the pot and put it away in its rightful place, uncertain about how to proceed. “Yeah, I know.” It made his heart ache, knowing that they still thought about him, even though they hadn’t heard anything from him in so many years. He’d seen his name come up maybe once or twice on their instagrams, but it had been very rare to see it there, and he’d thought they might have forgotten about him by this point. “Tell Tenjouin-san that I’m sorry I missed his wedding.” It felt awkward remembering the time he had spent calling the man ‘shishou’, but he also remembered the man fondly. He’d been odd but a great friend all that time ago. It had hurt seeing that Fubuki had wanted him to be his best man along with Asuka being his best woman but he’d been unable to find him. Apparently when he got in contact with Jun’s brothers they’d told him that he was abroad somewhere but never given any specifics and refused to give him his phone number, claiming he didn’t want to talk to him. The reasons had been obvious to Jun, but Fubuki would have had no clue. Jun had looked at the videos and pictures from when Fubuki and Ryo got married thousands of times.

 

“You wanna call one of them together? I talk to them all the time.”

 

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

 

️

Time passed pretty easily after that, focusing on other things than the inevitable conversations with their high school friends. Juudai played with Cheeseburger and went through the books Jun had in his rickety bookshelf while Jun read the one he was currently working on, until the time finally came for Jun to get ready for work. Juudai got up from where he too had started reading, Cheeseburger grumbling at her seat going away, and he followed Jun to the door, picking up his oversized backpack.

 

Jun uncertainly looked at him, emotions rolling around in his stomach as he watched the man put on his jacket and shoes. “You can… stay here while I’m at work.” Juudai looked up from his shoelaces in surprise, but the other continued before he could say anything; “Cheeseburger would get mad at you if you didn’t.”

 

What a poor excuse. But he was stupid with loneliness, and he didn’t want the man to go away. He was worried it’d be another ten years before he had any sort of meaningful contact with anyone he cared about again. He felt the shame burn on his cheeks, and he instantly wanted to take the words back. What if he said no? 

 

Juudai rubbed the back of his head in a gesture that was so familiar it sent a pang of longing for the past through Jun’s heart. “I wouldn’t wanna make Cheeseburger mad.”

 

️

Work was stressful. It was the weekend, so a lot of people came to buy snacks, drinks and trashfood. It didn’t help that his mind was filled with the thoughts of what Juudai was doing alone in his apartment. Was he talking to the others? What if he left anyway?

 

Closing down the store and cleaning before being able to go home had never felt so torturous before.

 

️

When he came back home around midnight he was expecting the apartment to be empty, but he was met with the lights on, and Juudai singing along with the music. The song was one he wasn’t familiar with, with an upbeat tune in a foreign language, making it obvious that Juudai was listening to something on his phone. Jun was greeted by Cheeseburger before going into the kitchen where the sounds were coming from.

 

Juudai was wearing his apron and cooking something in the oven, something else bubbling in the pot. It smelled like curry. Since when did he have the ingredients to make curry?

 

“You’re home! I’m almost done with dinner!” The phone beeped, signaling a timer going off, and Juudai pulled bread out of the oven. “I just heated the bread, but I made the curry myself. I’ve actually learned how to do a crapton of cooking while travelling, it’s one of my favourite things about it.”

 

“I don’t remember having any of this stuff except the rice…”

 

“I went shopping. Cheeseburger told me to.” That little rascal. Blaming the cat because he would have known it would have embarrassed Jun if he said it was because the fridge was almost empty. And most of the time, an embarrassed Jun was a loud Jun.

 

“...I’ll accept it cus Cheeseburger told you to.”

 

Juudai’s smile was blinding.

Back to top