The Only Colour Better Than Black Is Transparent Chap 4
A.N. You know when your Ethics professor can see your wings... you're either very VERY bad at hiding 3m worth of black feathers or he's just not normal.
Nakamaru Yuichi looked up at the top entrance of the lecture hall, where the copper-haired boy was leading a complaining guy out by his sleeve.
Ueda Tatsuya… Why do you have wings?
“Sensei,” Tanaka Koki waved his hands to get the older man’s attention, “What’s up prof? Whatcha starin’ at?”
“Nothing Tanaka-kun,” the professor smiled calmly, “I just thought I saw something, that’s all.”
Normal humans shouldn’t have black wings, should they?
A week passed, and as promised, the tall idiotic dancer never turned up to bother Ueda once. In fact, After the last lecture, Ueda’s feet would sometimes take him to the Faculty of Performing Arts and lurk in the shadows, but he never saw Junno once. On Friday, the angel snapped.
“Excuse me Miss,” he mustered up his sweetest smile and called out to a nearby student, “have you any idea where Taguchi Junnosuke from Contemporary Dance might be?”
“It’s all over the campus,” the girl replied like it was obvious, “some asshole from Med pushed him into the pond on Monday and he hasn’t turned up at school since… We’re all pretty worried about him but admin won’t give out his personal details! Apparently he’s at home…”
“Thanks,” Ueda forced himself to smile at her while clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.
What the hell! Somebody saw the whole thing happen and they didn’t bother to help him out of the damn pond?! What kind of a useless bastard stays a week at home after falling into a fucking PUDDLE?! Why the hell was I even worried?! Ugh, I’m so gross.
“Oi Tats!” Ryo waved at him when he finally returned home, “All my equipment turned up today! And you won’t BELIEVE what I found! The mail that came on Monday night!”
“How do you know what came in the mail Monday night?” Ueda snapped, irritated, “We went out all Monday night to buy you a wardrobe, a Lamborghini and slept in a flippin’ hotel!”
“Well it was in the mailbox that morning and I just chucked it into a corner… I only found it again today!!” Ryo complained, waving a set of live wires around.
“Be careful with that!” Ueda backed away, “You may be immortal here, but my human body will die if I get hit with that thing! And why are you setting up a bloody server room in my lounge?! Didn’t I give you the basement to work with?!”
“I’ll teleport it to the basement after I get it set up I promise!!” Ryo clapped his hands together in a begging pose, “There’s not enough space to put it together down there~
“Whatever. And what about the post?” Ueda asked.
“I checked it, and it’s an outfit in a bag… looks like yours,” Ryo shrugged, “And an envelope was in the boots but I didn’t read it. Here.” He tossed Ueda a paper bag.
Inside was the shorts, shirt and boots he had lent Junno on the Monday morning after he ran him over. The origami envelope Junno had made out of a piece of lecture pad sat snugly in one of the boots. ‘To Ueda-san’ it read.
‘Dear Ueda-san,
I’m sorry. Sometimes people find me annoying and get angry at me but I always try to talk to them, ask what went wrong and change myself. This time, I must have really made you angry.
I understand if you never want to see me again though, and I know I’ve caused you a lot of strife. How is your couch? Did I ruin the leather by sleeping on it wet?
Here are your clothes back, I’m sorry I didn’t have time to dry-clean them. Thank goodness I wore the spare set I keep in my locker when I fell into the water or these expensive ones would have been ruined. Thank you for lending them to me.
From Iriguchi Deguchi Taguchi’
“There weren’t stamps or anything so whoever dropped this off must have come on foot…” Ryo shrugged, “And why is your mind unreadable even though you’re a human right now?!”
“Read the small print of your contract Ryo,” Ueda smirked, “You can’t read angels’ minds while you’re here. Can you go downstairs and check the CCTV monitors in the basement? I want to know who’s been here on Monday night.”
“Fine,” Ryo started towards the staircase, “…why do you want to know?”
I just want to know how long that idiot was actually here for.
Ryo returned in ten minutes looking thoroughly disturbed.
“You have a fucking stalker!!” he shook his head in disbelief, “I can’t believe this!!”
“What even happened?” Ueda tapped his fingers impatiently on the armrest of the couch.
“About ten minutes after we left on Monday night,” Ryo flopped down next to his friend, “this tall guy came with this bag full of stuff and what looks like his schoolbooks and never left! I swear! He knocked, we weren’t home, so he just sat there in front of the door and waited!!”
Oh no.
“How long was he there for?!” Ueda suddenly became agitated beads of sweat forming on his forehead, “HOW LONG?!”
“SIX IN THE FUCKING MORNING!!!” Ryo yelled back, “He was here from 7pm Monday night… checked his watch, wrote that note to you, made an envelope and left at 6am Tuesday morning!! It was 3 degrees on Monday night and he was wearing one layer of clothing! I’m willing to bet my money that he’s died of hypothermia already… Goddamn humans are stupid!! Isn’t he the one you pushed in that pond? Why doesn’t he hate you-”
“Ryo can you PLEASE hack the university registrar and get Taguchi Junnosuke’s home address?” Ueda put his face in his hands, shocked. How stupid can a guy get?! I need to make sure he’s not dead…
“Oh for God’s sake!” Ryo lost his patience, “Did I miss a chapter in your video log? Why do you even care about this idiot?!”
“Please just do it Ryo,” Ueda knitted his brows together, “I need to know.” And when I get there, imma freaking knock his block off.
[2 hours later in Sagamihara, Kanagawa]
Why is in Kanagawa? Ueda cursed, My body doesn’t know the roads here and I had to rely on my unreliable GPS… Is he really at home? Well, his parents have no reason to lie to me over the phone because I sounded earnest and respectable enough...
Finding Junno’s house wasn’t all that difficult for an angel. In fact, Ueda had gotten there in just under an hour (it was only 50km away from Hongo Campus, after all). The hard part was finding a valid reason to knock on his front door.
What should I say? “Hello. My name is Ueda Tatsuya. I ran your son over in the rain, threw him in the boot of my car, verbally insulted him, punched his lights out, and caused him to fall into a pond. He’s probably dying now because he waited outside my door in freezing temperatures on Monday night and I didn’t find out until today. I’m sorry. May I see him please?”
Yeah right.
That was how he spent the last hour after he parked in front of Junno’s house, trying to look as invisible as possible sitting in sunglasses inside his Aston Martin.
Why didn’t I bring Ryo? He could have teleported me inside this house and rid me of all my problems~
A woman, probably Junno’s mother, came out of the house.
Ueda’s body moved by itself (Though he should really stop blaming his body for everything). “Good afternoon madam!” He opened the door of his car, “Is this the Taguchi residence?”
The woman looked at him up and down. “…umm… Are you looking for anyone in particular?” she carefully enunciated. The man looked like a celebrity with his impeccable outfit, but for all she cared, he could have been a rich hitman.
“I called you around 2 hours ago madam,” he tread carefully, “my name is Ueda Tatsuya and I am Taguchi-kun’s friend from university. I hear that he is very ill right now and would like to offer my help. I study Medicine, you see…”
“You’re a uni student driving an Aston Martin?” she pointed at his car, “Well, I guess some of those Tokyo students can be pretty rich these days… come on in.”
YUSS!! Mother stage: PASSED.
The Taguchi house wasn’t as extravagant as the Ueda one, but it was within plain sight that they were an affluent family. Hardly any houses in Japan were modern AND with adequate floor space these days.
Junno’s room was on the third floor. As Mrs Taguchi opened the door, Ueda was greeted by a pitiful sight. Junno lay on a double bed with a towel on his forehead, face flushed with fever. Groaning in his sleep, he looked the picture of pain and suffering. Normally, Ueda would laugh out loud - but this time, his heart sank.
I thought idiots never catch colds?
A phone in the house started ringing just as Ueda took the first step towards Junno. He shrunk back like a frightened puppy and almost kicked himself for being so ridiculous.
DAMMIT. Why am I scared all of a sudden? He’s not gonna die or anything! …. NO I’M NOT SCARED OF HIM DYING EITHER. Who am I even arguing with?
“…Now? …Why now out of all times? ...my son is sick! ... I know he’s 21 but… German stocks have WHAT?! I’m on my way!” Mrs Taguchi hung up the phone in the hallway and came rushing back. “Err Ueda-kun,” mama Taguchi wrung her hands together, “I know this sounds slightly unreasonable but can Junnosuke stay with you for a while in Tokyo?”
“HAH?!”
“Um… He was supposed to sign a contract for a condo last Sunday but he ran into a bit of trouble right before he made it to the realtor’s office and they cancelled the contract. He’s in this state now and I can’t possibly leave him… Something came up with my job and they want me to fly to Germany immediately.”
Great. I ran him over that day so THAT’s why he hasn’t got a place to stay in Tokyo. This is KARMA.
“How long do you think he would need to stay at mine?” Ueda glanced over at the pitiful ball of blankets.
“The boy has a lot of part-time jobs in Tokyo and it’s inconvenient for him to commute to university from Kanagawa everyday so could you please keep him until we find another satisfactory lodging for him?” mama Taguchi bowed deeply, “I will definitely pay you for your trouble-
“No need to pay me,” Ueda sighed, “things have ended up like this and I really don’t have a choice now. I’ve already put him for a night last Sunday so it’s fine. I’ll leave my contact details for you…”
“Were you the kind friend who took care of Junnosuke on Sunday?” the woman had tears in her eyes, “Thank you so much! Can I leave the pharmacy prescription to you too?”
“Sure thing,” Ueda’s face was beginning to hurt from all the smiling, “I’ll take care of him from now on so please don’t worry! In fact, I’ll take him back to Tokyo right now!”
You are SOOO dead when you wake up. I’m going to beat some sense back into you and your non-existent brain cells!
And that was how, one hour later, Junno ended up sleeping in a guest room in the second floor of Ueda’s house.
“How did this lank not wake up from being carried into your car and then into your house?” Ryo asked incredulously, “And you’re just going to keep him here?”
“That’s why we need to talk…”
“Oh no,” Ryo’s eyes grew wide, “you want me to move out so I won’t freak him out with magic?”
“Yes.”
“I MOVED IN LESS THAN A WEEK AGO!!” Ryo wailed pathetically, “WERE DO YOU EXPECT ME TO GO?! BACK TO MY EARTH BODY’S PLACE IN OSAKA?!”
“Oh for fuck’s sake stop it!” Ueda threw his hands up, “Go next door, make an offer on their house, come back to me with the bill and move into the house next door by next Monday!”
“And in the meantime?”
“I’ve got my hands full with this THING right now so just go find yourself a hotel or something!”
Ryo was speechless. His best friend was telling him to move out, just so he could take care of a sick human? “Dude, Heaven’s not gonna be happy with you spending all their money…”
“I care roughly this much,” Ueda squeezed his thumb and forefinger together seamlessly. “I need to get this guy back in shape so I can beat him to the ground myself. He’s so annoying that if you knew him, you’d be VOLUNTEERING to move out,” he rolled his eyes, “sorry Ryo… It’s probably temporary.”
Ryo sighed and nodded before heading out the front door to do some house-buying.
You forget I still have my predictions Tat-chan…. This isn’t temporary. You’re never going to get rid of him again, no matter how painful.
“..I… OI!!!! OI!!!!” Junno felt something big and scary shake him by the shoulders, as if meaning to dislocate his head from his shoulders.
“…hmgnnnn…” he managed to groan.
“MEDS!!! Damn you oaf it’s time to take your bronchitis drugs!!!” Ueda shouted into Junno’s ear. The dancer was already wearing his patience into negative figures. “DO YOU WANT TO DIE A PAINFUL DEATH?!”
“..no…”
“Then don’t make me force-feed you!” Ueda dragged Junno into a sitting position and thrust the bottle of pills into Junno’s hand. “Read the label and take as directed. I went to great lengths to buy these!” He lied. The pharmacy was 100m down his street.
“The… thank-“ Junno couldn’t bring out coherent sentences before he broke into a fit of coughing. Ueda almost choked when he saw minute droplets of red stain his Egyptian cotton duvet covers.
“Okay okay just shut up!” he quickly hopped on the bed, propped Junno up against his own chest and soothingly rubbed his back. Junno obediently tipped his head into the crook of Ueda’s neck, too delirious from fever to realize their awkward position. Wiping a drop of blood from Junno’s mouth, Ueda sighed and reached for the bottle of pills, effectively hugging Junno from behind. “How could you possibly catch BRONCHITIS in such a short time?... Did you really stay in front of my house to return the clothes or did you want to see me?”
“…To… see… you… of… course…” Junno said in broken gasps, “I’m… so…sorry…I…don’t want to…cause you…trouble-
“Too late. I’m stuck with you in my house until you’re good enough to get out,” Ueda replied coldly, “Now drink some warm water or you’ll turn into a pickle. When you’re not coughing anymore, I’ll give you the drugs okay? Hopefully you’ll be better by Monday and you can go back to school… I can’t take care of you at home or the crazy biochemistry professor will skin me alive!”
“…you’re cool…” Junno smiled.
“Oh no you don’t,” Ueda grabbed a cup of warm isotonic sports drink off the bedside table, “sweet talking won’t get you anywhere with me. Drink up.”
“No, I mean your skin feels cold,” Junno moved his face to find a cooler patch of Ueda’s neck and looked like a snuggling puppy, “can you stay here for a little while?”
“Are you calling me a heartless frog?”
“Of course not!” Junno said between gulps of drink, “I like you!”
It was Ueda’s turn to cough *read: choke on his own saliva*
“What- You-
“SORRY!!!” Junno started apologising profusely while covering his mouth, “I DON’T WANT YOU TO GET SICK!!! PLEASE LEAVE!!”
“This is my house and you can shut up and stop ordering me around!” Ueda didn’t even budge from his seat on Junno’s bed, “Now drink the jug of drink, and I can move you onto lemon water. Take two of these blue pills, one white one and go to bed-
“U-Ueda-san!” Junno suddenly turned red.
“What now, you stupid lank?! Am I not being nice enough to be your nanny?!” Ueda felt the need to punch him.
“…canyousleepwithme…”
“NO!! I’m as straight as a BEANOPLE!”
“Please? You’re cold and it feels nicer than a cold, soggy towel on my head…” Junno turned around to Ueda and flashed a disgustingly cute round of eye sparkles.
“Answer me one question,” Ueda wanted to vomit, “WHO in the world let you into Tokyo University?” Getting up, he took off his shirt in one swift movement, much to Junno’s surprise. He flipped back the blankets and slid to the other side of Junno’s double bed under the same covers. “You’re on that side, I’m on this one. All I can do is act like your air conditioner under the blankets got it? Touch me and I’ll castrate you with a rusty nail!”
Damn the world! Living in hell for so long has made my body temperature 2 degrees lower than average and now this idiot is treating me like his personal ice pack!!!Anything to shut him up I guess…
“Un. Thank you!!” Ueda couldn’t even be sure how many watts that last smile was… It was enough to blind a mortal. He didn’t know whether it was the sudden heat under thick blankets or that he was getting sick too, but getting to sleep was mission impossible. His heart was working into overdrive despite the cold sweat, and he could hear the blood rushing through his head.
Wow human bodies are useless! Is this due the stress of the past few days or the long drive?....
A.N. SO. As promised, the JunDa goodness! I don't know if it was what you were expecting, but platonic sleeping is good for any developing realtionship, right? XD
Nakamaru Yuichi looked up at the top entrance of the lecture hall, where the copper-haired boy was leading a complaining guy out by his sleeve.
Ueda Tatsuya… Why do you have wings?
“Sensei,” Tanaka Koki waved his hands to get the older man’s attention, “What’s up prof? Whatcha starin’ at?”
“Nothing Tanaka-kun,” the professor smiled calmly, “I just thought I saw something, that’s all.”
Normal humans shouldn’t have black wings, should they?
A week passed, and as promised, the tall idiotic dancer never turned up to bother Ueda once. In fact, After the last lecture, Ueda’s feet would sometimes take him to the Faculty of Performing Arts and lurk in the shadows, but he never saw Junno once. On Friday, the angel snapped.
“Excuse me Miss,” he mustered up his sweetest smile and called out to a nearby student, “have you any idea where Taguchi Junnosuke from Contemporary Dance might be?”
“It’s all over the campus,” the girl replied like it was obvious, “some asshole from Med pushed him into the pond on Monday and he hasn’t turned up at school since… We’re all pretty worried about him but admin won’t give out his personal details! Apparently he’s at home…”
“Thanks,” Ueda forced himself to smile at her while clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.
What the hell! Somebody saw the whole thing happen and they didn’t bother to help him out of the damn pond?! What kind of a useless bastard stays a week at home after falling into a fucking PUDDLE?! Why the hell was I even worried?! Ugh, I’m so gross.
“Oi Tats!” Ryo waved at him when he finally returned home, “All my equipment turned up today! And you won’t BELIEVE what I found! The mail that came on Monday night!”
“How do you know what came in the mail Monday night?” Ueda snapped, irritated, “We went out all Monday night to buy you a wardrobe, a Lamborghini and slept in a flippin’ hotel!”
“Well it was in the mailbox that morning and I just chucked it into a corner… I only found it again today!!” Ryo complained, waving a set of live wires around.
“Be careful with that!” Ueda backed away, “You may be immortal here, but my human body will die if I get hit with that thing! And why are you setting up a bloody server room in my lounge?! Didn’t I give you the basement to work with?!”
“I’ll teleport it to the basement after I get it set up I promise!!” Ryo clapped his hands together in a begging pose, “There’s not enough space to put it together down there~
“Whatever. And what about the post?” Ueda asked.
“I checked it, and it’s an outfit in a bag… looks like yours,” Ryo shrugged, “And an envelope was in the boots but I didn’t read it. Here.” He tossed Ueda a paper bag.
Inside was the shorts, shirt and boots he had lent Junno on the Monday morning after he ran him over. The origami envelope Junno had made out of a piece of lecture pad sat snugly in one of the boots. ‘To Ueda-san’ it read.
‘Dear Ueda-san,
I’m sorry. Sometimes people find me annoying and get angry at me but I always try to talk to them, ask what went wrong and change myself. This time, I must have really made you angry.
I understand if you never want to see me again though, and I know I’ve caused you a lot of strife. How is your couch? Did I ruin the leather by sleeping on it wet?
Here are your clothes back, I’m sorry I didn’t have time to dry-clean them. Thank goodness I wore the spare set I keep in my locker when I fell into the water or these expensive ones would have been ruined. Thank you for lending them to me.
From Iriguchi Deguchi Taguchi’
“There weren’t stamps or anything so whoever dropped this off must have come on foot…” Ryo shrugged, “And why is your mind unreadable even though you’re a human right now?!”
“Read the small print of your contract Ryo,” Ueda smirked, “You can’t read angels’ minds while you’re here. Can you go downstairs and check the CCTV monitors in the basement? I want to know who’s been here on Monday night.”
“Fine,” Ryo started towards the staircase, “…why do you want to know?”
I just want to know how long that idiot was actually here for.
Ryo returned in ten minutes looking thoroughly disturbed.
“You have a fucking stalker!!” he shook his head in disbelief, “I can’t believe this!!”
“What even happened?” Ueda tapped his fingers impatiently on the armrest of the couch.
“About ten minutes after we left on Monday night,” Ryo flopped down next to his friend, “this tall guy came with this bag full of stuff and what looks like his schoolbooks and never left! I swear! He knocked, we weren’t home, so he just sat there in front of the door and waited!!”
Oh no.
“How long was he there for?!” Ueda suddenly became agitated beads of sweat forming on his forehead, “HOW LONG?!”
“SIX IN THE FUCKING MORNING!!!” Ryo yelled back, “He was here from 7pm Monday night… checked his watch, wrote that note to you, made an envelope and left at 6am Tuesday morning!! It was 3 degrees on Monday night and he was wearing one layer of clothing! I’m willing to bet my money that he’s died of hypothermia already… Goddamn humans are stupid!! Isn’t he the one you pushed in that pond? Why doesn’t he hate you-”
“Ryo can you PLEASE hack the university registrar and get Taguchi Junnosuke’s home address?” Ueda put his face in his hands, shocked. How stupid can a guy get?! I need to make sure he’s not dead…
“Oh for God’s sake!” Ryo lost his patience, “Did I miss a chapter in your video log? Why do you even care about this idiot?!”
“Please just do it Ryo,” Ueda knitted his brows together, “I need to know.” And when I get there, imma freaking knock his block off.
[2 hours later in Sagamihara, Kanagawa]
Why is in Kanagawa? Ueda cursed, My body doesn’t know the roads here and I had to rely on my unreliable GPS… Is he really at home? Well, his parents have no reason to lie to me over the phone because I sounded earnest and respectable enough...
Finding Junno’s house wasn’t all that difficult for an angel. In fact, Ueda had gotten there in just under an hour (it was only 50km away from Hongo Campus, after all). The hard part was finding a valid reason to knock on his front door.
What should I say? “Hello. My name is Ueda Tatsuya. I ran your son over in the rain, threw him in the boot of my car, verbally insulted him, punched his lights out, and caused him to fall into a pond. He’s probably dying now because he waited outside my door in freezing temperatures on Monday night and I didn’t find out until today. I’m sorry. May I see him please?”
Yeah right.
That was how he spent the last hour after he parked in front of Junno’s house, trying to look as invisible as possible sitting in sunglasses inside his Aston Martin.
Why didn’t I bring Ryo? He could have teleported me inside this house and rid me of all my problems~
A woman, probably Junno’s mother, came out of the house.
Ueda’s body moved by itself (Though he should really stop blaming his body for everything). “Good afternoon madam!” He opened the door of his car, “Is this the Taguchi residence?”
The woman looked at him up and down. “…umm… Are you looking for anyone in particular?” she carefully enunciated. The man looked like a celebrity with his impeccable outfit, but for all she cared, he could have been a rich hitman.
“I called you around 2 hours ago madam,” he tread carefully, “my name is Ueda Tatsuya and I am Taguchi-kun’s friend from university. I hear that he is very ill right now and would like to offer my help. I study Medicine, you see…”
“You’re a uni student driving an Aston Martin?” she pointed at his car, “Well, I guess some of those Tokyo students can be pretty rich these days… come on in.”
YUSS!! Mother stage: PASSED.
The Taguchi house wasn’t as extravagant as the Ueda one, but it was within plain sight that they were an affluent family. Hardly any houses in Japan were modern AND with adequate floor space these days.
Junno’s room was on the third floor. As Mrs Taguchi opened the door, Ueda was greeted by a pitiful sight. Junno lay on a double bed with a towel on his forehead, face flushed with fever. Groaning in his sleep, he looked the picture of pain and suffering. Normally, Ueda would laugh out loud - but this time, his heart sank.
I thought idiots never catch colds?
A phone in the house started ringing just as Ueda took the first step towards Junno. He shrunk back like a frightened puppy and almost kicked himself for being so ridiculous.
DAMMIT. Why am I scared all of a sudden? He’s not gonna die or anything! …. NO I’M NOT SCARED OF HIM DYING EITHER. Who am I even arguing with?
“…Now? …Why now out of all times? ...my son is sick! ... I know he’s 21 but… German stocks have WHAT?! I’m on my way!” Mrs Taguchi hung up the phone in the hallway and came rushing back. “Err Ueda-kun,” mama Taguchi wrung her hands together, “I know this sounds slightly unreasonable but can Junnosuke stay with you for a while in Tokyo?”
“HAH?!”
“Um… He was supposed to sign a contract for a condo last Sunday but he ran into a bit of trouble right before he made it to the realtor’s office and they cancelled the contract. He’s in this state now and I can’t possibly leave him… Something came up with my job and they want me to fly to Germany immediately.”
Great. I ran him over that day so THAT’s why he hasn’t got a place to stay in Tokyo. This is KARMA.
“How long do you think he would need to stay at mine?” Ueda glanced over at the pitiful ball of blankets.
“The boy has a lot of part-time jobs in Tokyo and it’s inconvenient for him to commute to university from Kanagawa everyday so could you please keep him until we find another satisfactory lodging for him?” mama Taguchi bowed deeply, “I will definitely pay you for your trouble-
“No need to pay me,” Ueda sighed, “things have ended up like this and I really don’t have a choice now. I’ve already put him for a night last Sunday so it’s fine. I’ll leave my contact details for you…”
“Were you the kind friend who took care of Junnosuke on Sunday?” the woman had tears in her eyes, “Thank you so much! Can I leave the pharmacy prescription to you too?”
“Sure thing,” Ueda’s face was beginning to hurt from all the smiling, “I’ll take care of him from now on so please don’t worry! In fact, I’ll take him back to Tokyo right now!”
You are SOOO dead when you wake up. I’m going to beat some sense back into you and your non-existent brain cells!
And that was how, one hour later, Junno ended up sleeping in a guest room in the second floor of Ueda’s house.
“How did this lank not wake up from being carried into your car and then into your house?” Ryo asked incredulously, “And you’re just going to keep him here?”
“That’s why we need to talk…”
“Oh no,” Ryo’s eyes grew wide, “you want me to move out so I won’t freak him out with magic?”
“Yes.”
“I MOVED IN LESS THAN A WEEK AGO!!” Ryo wailed pathetically, “WERE DO YOU EXPECT ME TO GO?! BACK TO MY EARTH BODY’S PLACE IN OSAKA?!”
“Oh for fuck’s sake stop it!” Ueda threw his hands up, “Go next door, make an offer on their house, come back to me with the bill and move into the house next door by next Monday!”
“And in the meantime?”
“I’ve got my hands full with this THING right now so just go find yourself a hotel or something!”
Ryo was speechless. His best friend was telling him to move out, just so he could take care of a sick human? “Dude, Heaven’s not gonna be happy with you spending all their money…”
“I care roughly this much,” Ueda squeezed his thumb and forefinger together seamlessly. “I need to get this guy back in shape so I can beat him to the ground myself. He’s so annoying that if you knew him, you’d be VOLUNTEERING to move out,” he rolled his eyes, “sorry Ryo… It’s probably temporary.”
Ryo sighed and nodded before heading out the front door to do some house-buying.
You forget I still have my predictions Tat-chan…. This isn’t temporary. You’re never going to get rid of him again, no matter how painful.
“..I… OI!!!! OI!!!!” Junno felt something big and scary shake him by the shoulders, as if meaning to dislocate his head from his shoulders.
“…hmgnnnn…” he managed to groan.
“MEDS!!! Damn you oaf it’s time to take your bronchitis drugs!!!” Ueda shouted into Junno’s ear. The dancer was already wearing his patience into negative figures. “DO YOU WANT TO DIE A PAINFUL DEATH?!”
“..no…”
“Then don’t make me force-feed you!” Ueda dragged Junno into a sitting position and thrust the bottle of pills into Junno’s hand. “Read the label and take as directed. I went to great lengths to buy these!” He lied. The pharmacy was 100m down his street.
“The… thank-“ Junno couldn’t bring out coherent sentences before he broke into a fit of coughing. Ueda almost choked when he saw minute droplets of red stain his Egyptian cotton duvet covers.
“Okay okay just shut up!” he quickly hopped on the bed, propped Junno up against his own chest and soothingly rubbed his back. Junno obediently tipped his head into the crook of Ueda’s neck, too delirious from fever to realize their awkward position. Wiping a drop of blood from Junno’s mouth, Ueda sighed and reached for the bottle of pills, effectively hugging Junno from behind. “How could you possibly catch BRONCHITIS in such a short time?... Did you really stay in front of my house to return the clothes or did you want to see me?”
“…To… see… you… of… course…” Junno said in broken gasps, “I’m… so…sorry…I…don’t want to…cause you…trouble-
“Too late. I’m stuck with you in my house until you’re good enough to get out,” Ueda replied coldly, “Now drink some warm water or you’ll turn into a pickle. When you’re not coughing anymore, I’ll give you the drugs okay? Hopefully you’ll be better by Monday and you can go back to school… I can’t take care of you at home or the crazy biochemistry professor will skin me alive!”
“…you’re cool…” Junno smiled.
“Oh no you don’t,” Ueda grabbed a cup of warm isotonic sports drink off the bedside table, “sweet talking won’t get you anywhere with me. Drink up.”
“No, I mean your skin feels cold,” Junno moved his face to find a cooler patch of Ueda’s neck and looked like a snuggling puppy, “can you stay here for a little while?”
“Are you calling me a heartless frog?”
“Of course not!” Junno said between gulps of drink, “I like you!”
It was Ueda’s turn to cough *read: choke on his own saliva*
“What- You-
“SORRY!!!” Junno started apologising profusely while covering his mouth, “I DON’T WANT YOU TO GET SICK!!! PLEASE LEAVE!!”
“This is my house and you can shut up and stop ordering me around!” Ueda didn’t even budge from his seat on Junno’s bed, “Now drink the jug of drink, and I can move you onto lemon water. Take two of these blue pills, one white one and go to bed-
“U-Ueda-san!” Junno suddenly turned red.
“What now, you stupid lank?! Am I not being nice enough to be your nanny?!” Ueda felt the need to punch him.
“…canyousleepwithme…”
“NO!! I’m as straight as a BEANOPLE!”
“Please? You’re cold and it feels nicer than a cold, soggy towel on my head…” Junno turned around to Ueda and flashed a disgustingly cute round of eye sparkles.
“Answer me one question,” Ueda wanted to vomit, “WHO in the world let you into Tokyo University?” Getting up, he took off his shirt in one swift movement, much to Junno’s surprise. He flipped back the blankets and slid to the other side of Junno’s double bed under the same covers. “You’re on that side, I’m on this one. All I can do is act like your air conditioner under the blankets got it? Touch me and I’ll castrate you with a rusty nail!”
Damn the world! Living in hell for so long has made my body temperature 2 degrees lower than average and now this idiot is treating me like his personal ice pack!!!Anything to shut him up I guess…
“Un. Thank you!!” Ueda couldn’t even be sure how many watts that last smile was… It was enough to blind a mortal. He didn’t know whether it was the sudden heat under thick blankets or that he was getting sick too, but getting to sleep was mission impossible. His heart was working into overdrive despite the cold sweat, and he could hear the blood rushing through his head.
Wow human bodies are useless! Is this due the stress of the past few days or the long drive?....
A.N. SO. As promised, the JunDa goodness! I don't know if it was what you were expecting, but platonic sleeping is good for any developing realtionship, right? XD