Chapter 8: You make me feel nice

Jun and Fubuki stayed on the phone with each other for nearly two hours. By the time Jun came back to the apartment his face was red and blotchy, and he felt disgusting, but oddly light. He’d done a lot of crying throughout his life, but it had never felt so cathartic before this. He’d tried to do what he usually did; cry quietly so no one would notice, but in the end he’d broken down completely, just openly sobbing on the park bench, strangers staring at him when they passed. The surprising thing was that he didn’t give a damn about it. He’d been so used to caring that no one knew how badly he was doing, what with his brothers mocking him at every turn and harassing him when he dared to cry, but now? Let them look. He wasn’t going to get a panic attack because someone saw him cry like a child anymore. They weren’t important. What was important was Fubuki and what they were talking about, even though they were both a mess by the end of it.

He came home to a wonderfully smelling apartment, Juudai and Cheeseburger curled up together on one end of the couch. Juudai was doing something with his deck, that Jun couldn’t see from the angle he came from, but put it down when he saw Jun’s face. He looked unsure about what to say at first, like he wasn’t sure if he should ask or leave him alone. In the end, he seemed to settle on distracting him, as to not get him to cry again. Juudai too knew how exhausting crying could be. “Hey, Cheeseburger knocked a box over and I found makeup in it. Is it okay if I paint your nails?” 

Jun laughed, his sore eyes scrunching up as he smiled a tired smile. “Yeah, okay.” He’d accumulated a small collection of makeup, though most of it was nail polish. There was one eyeshadow palette, one tub of eyeliner and one mascara, and maybe one or two lipsticks, but really, he enjoyed nail polish the most of those things. He just hadn’t had the time to play around with it in a while. “Let me take a shower first. Pick a colour while I do, I guess.”

Juudai gave a happy whoop as Jun turned to go to the bathroom for a well deserved shower. The feeling of dried tears and snot on his face was less than pleasant. He turned the heat all the way up and let himself relax into it, the heat fogging up his brain and letting his mind slow down for once. Having gotten used to quick showers had him out of it pretty soon though, his body scrubbed squeaky clean and his hair damp and smelling like cheap shampoo.

He found Juudai still on the couch, though he had clearly moved as there was now a steaming bowl of rice and stew on the living room table. The sight of it had his stomach growling, and he didn’t need to be told twice to dig in. Once he’d eaten his fill, Juudai carefully took one of his hands, opening the bottle of nail polish. It was a vibrant red, that had reminded Jun of the Slifer colours, though he wouldn’t tell Juudai that. It was embarrassing how much he missed that run down dorm even after he’d complained so much about it back in the day. Jun relaxed his hand, feeling the touch of Juudai’s skin against his slender fingers as Juudai got started. “I’m not good at this,” Juudai warned, “but I think it’s fun to do it anyway, so don’t get mad if I mess up.”

Jun snorted, a sleepy grin on his face. “You’re admitting that there’s something you’re not good at? I’m surprised even you have grown up since school.” That had Juudai cracking up. “Yeah, you can’t be amazing at everything.”

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, Cheeseburger purring where she loafed between them, whipping up a storm with her bees. The only sound was her and their breathing, and the occasional tap when Juudai got more of the polish out of the bottle. It was calming, and Jun felt himself about to nod off when Juudai lifted his hands to his face to blow on them, careful to not blow too hard and ruin them. “Do you usually paint your toes too, cus I can do that if you want me to.”

He got a sleepy nod in response, and Jun shifted as slowly as he could to not disturb his now sleeping cat. It was a bit awkward when he put his feet on Juudai’s lap, but he was too tired to do more than feel his cheeks flush. It felt oddly intimate when Juudai picked one of them up, and started painting the big toe. The touch tickled a little, but his grip was firm enough for it to not be annoying. He leaned his head against the backrest of the couch, watching Juudai work with the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth in concentration. Winged Kuriboh was watching too, but didn’t make any noise as to not startle Juudai and make him mess up.

When he moved on to the second foot, Jun felt himself almost fall asleep again, and before he knew it, he was being nudged with a coo in his ear. He must have actually fallen asleep, but it seemed like it hadn’t been for too long, as Juudai looked at him with a gentle smile that had Jun’s stomach flip around with emotions, and Winged Kuriboh was in Jun’s ear waking him up. “I think they’re dry now,” Juudai said quietly, his hand resting on Jun’s lower legs, that were stretched across his thighs.

Jun gave his fingers and toes a proper good look. They were kind of messy, but not the worst job he himself had done back when he’d started experimenting with makeup. “It’s a masterpiece, were you lying to me, slacker?” Juudai grinned at him, and propped his head up against his hand, elbow over the back of the couch. “Yep, I was just being modest.”

Jun grinned back, before moving his feet off the brunette’s lap. “We should go to bed. I’m exhausted.”

“You’ll let me share the bed again? I didn’t kick you in my sleep so much you got fed up with me?” Jun’s cheeks flushed again at the thought of the way he’d woken up in the morning. Either Juudai didn’t notice, or chose not to point out the redness on his cheeks.

“Call it bed probation.” Juudai laughed again, and stood up, Cheeseburger chirping as her back rest disappeared, and she lifted a sleepy head. She soon realised they were both heading to the bedroom, and she was quick to follow.

All three of them were out like a light in mere minutes.

Previous Next

Back to top