Gift fic for xdestroying 1/5
A piece of rainbow for xdestroying Part 1
Title: Wicked Like You Are
Pairing: Jun/Sho, past Jun/Nino (only mentioned).
Rating/Warnings: NC-17/(Minor) character death, characters being murderers, mentions of child abuse, a scene describing murder (not too graphic), barebacking.
Summary: Two days after moving to a new place, Jun finds out that his neighbor loves to blast loud music at inappropriate time. Jun doesn’t like the music, but apparently the neighbor is cute.
Notes: Dear mod, thank you for being awesome. Dear my beta, A, thank you very much for helping this fic come into better shape. Special thanks for all my supporters/cheerleaders who have, although not literally, held my hand throughout this exchange. You guys are the best. Here you go, xdestroying, I was going to go with your canon prompts, but I wasn’t able to make anything however tempted I was. Have this lengthy fic instead, I hope you find this to your liking.
Jun looks around as he tosses the last empty box that he has used to pack his belongings. It’s going to be his new place from now on, and he likes what he sees. It’s not much, but it’s an upgrade from his previous apartment.
After years of financial struggle, making ends meet by having a roommate and living in a small and shady neighborhood, he finally has a place good enough not only to live in, but also to live comfortably in.
It’s not so big and spacious, the place. But it’s a huge upgrade from the previous one, so Jun’s content with that. There’s a unit beside his, and the wall separating the two places seems to be thin, but Jun doesn’t want to worry about that now.
The unit beside him is the only one other than his on that floor anyway. Nobody has shown up when Jun was busy moving his things, so for all Jun knows, the place next door might be empty.
Jun walks to his living room to look at his movie collection stacked in a tall rack beside his TV. Finally, he can have a place big enough to store his most precious belongings. Now he doesn’t have to worry about his collection eating up his space.
---
It’s Monday. Jun has been butchered up at work; the amount of things he has to deal with is preposterous. It’s the tax season, and their clients are all in dire need of having their statements reviewed. The situation leaves Jun no other option but to sit on his desk all day, through his lunch break too, even, working his ass off to finish his part of the work for the day.
He has snapped at his coworkers twice today, and if not for his stress ball, he might have snapped more times than that.
On the way home, Jun’s only wish is to crash on his bed and sleep as soon as he reaches his door. Forgetting the stressful day he just had, hoping for a fresh start tomorrow.
Unfortunately for Jun, upon arriving home, he hears something from the next door unit. Someone is clearly living in there. And that someone, clearly, doesn’t seem to be sensible enough to understand what ‘loud music’ is.
Jun sighs as he walks past it to unlock his door. If he hadn’t been so drained, if he’s not so close to snap in the face of a stranger, he would have knocked the new neighbor’s door and asked for an explanation. He doesn’t want to be kicked out by yet another landlord because of his horrible temper.
So Jun unlocks his door, takes his shoes off, and heads to his bedroom. He washes his face and has a warm shower, sighing in relief as it provides him the comfort he needs.
When Jun leaves the bathroom and heads to bed half an hour later, he can’t believe his luck. The neighbor’s music is reverberating through the thin wall. It’s not very loud, but it’s more than a faint noise that he can ignore.
Jun takes a deep breath, trying to contain himself. He keeps reminding himself not to rush out of his place and bang on the neighbor’s door.
After a moment, Jun finally gains control of his emotions again. He ruffles through his drawer and takes the earplugs he usually uses for traveling. He puts them in his ears, and the music is no longer audible.
Jun sighs, at least for now he can sleep without any deafening noise to bother him. He makes a mental note to talk to his neighbor tomorrow.
---
The next morning, when Jun locks his front door before leaving for work, Jun hears a greeting from his right side. Jun glances to see a guy in a similar work attire as his-shirt, slacks, tie, and jacket-standing in front of the next unit’s door.
Jun nods at the guy, remembering the loud music from last night but isn’t too thrilled to have a conversation. Not now, not when he’s just leaving for work. He doesn’t want to go to work with a foul mood.
The guy, unfortunately, doesn’t agree with what Jun has in mind.
“Um, hi,” he says, “My name is Sakurai Sho, and as you can see, I live next door”. He points his finger at his door. Jun finds the gesture cute. “I’m sorry about last night? I honestly didn’t know someone lives in there. I mean, it was still unoccupied last week.”
Okay, this Sakurai guy is cute, Jun decides, but he doesn’t have time for this. A pile of documents waits for him on his computer, ready to be reviewed. He sighs, keeping his temper in check, and replies, “Just please don’t do that again, I had to put on earplugs last night because of that.”
Sakurai chuckles. He has a nice laugh that Jun can appreciate, despite him being an asshole with the music last night. “I’m sorry. I will try my best to prevent that from happening again.”
Jun nods, even though he finds Sakurai’s promise bothering. What do you mean you’ll try your best? I want no music at all, Jun thinks, but doesn’t say.
“Well, then, I have to leave for work,” Jun nods before he heads to the elevator.
“Can you tell me your name, at least?” Sakurai asks from behind him. “I mean, we’re neighbors. Aren’t we supposed to know each other?”
Jun stops and shoots a menacing look across his back to where Sakurai still stands. He mumbles, “My name is Matsumoto Jun. Good to see you, although it would have been better if there’s no loud music involved.”
Sakurai chuckles again, Jun starts to wonder when he will stop doing that because it’s honestly distracting. “I’m truly sorry about that.”
Sakurai bows slightly and Jun replies it by raising his eyebrows. Well, the morning isn’t started very poorly, Sakurai is cute when he laughs.
---
It’s been three days since Jun first heard the loud music from his neighbor’s place. It’s been two days since he saw Sakurai’s face. Jun has almost forgotten about his neighbor situation, but apparently his neighbor won’t him forget that easily.
It's Thursday night, Jun arrives at his place feeling more than just a little tipsy. He just got home after having an after-work drinking with his colleagues. He doesn’t usually go for that on a weekday. But it’s Thursday, he can let himself loosen up as he has done almost all of his work for the week.
When Jun reaches his floor, he feels thankful that he’s drunk enough not to care that his neighbor blasts loud music again. He knocks the door for a good measure, but he goes inside his unit before Sakurai opens it.
The music stops after that, but Jun finds himself awake at three in the morning to even louder music from his neighbor. Grunting, he reaches blindly for his earplugs-thank goodness he keeps them on the top of the drawer-and rolls himself back to sleep.
He goes to work the next morning feeling like a walking dead. And when he tries to knock Sakurai’s door before he leaves, the door doesn’t open even after he waits for five minutes.
---
The weekend passes by fast and peaceful, and suddenly it’s Monday again. Jun is reading a billing document on his laptop when Aiba comes to his desk. He comes with a promise of a good looking barista and an offer of a free cup of good coffee.
Of course, Jun will choose that over looking at numbers on his laptop. His eyes can use a break.
A couple of minutes later, they’re sitting at the new coffee shop across their office. Jun has a cup of latte while Aiba nurses a cup of frappuccino-which name Jun can’t remember-with a lot of colorful topping. Aiba’s best friend, Nino, tags along too.
They all work for the same company, but while Jun and Aiba are in the accounting department, dealing with clients’ request, Nino is an account manager.
They became friends because they entered the company at the same time. Aiba is a chatty guy who always starts the conversation with strangers. Jun and Nino were the unlucky strangers. Over the years, they stayed together, though, because they’re dragging Jun everywhere, and Jun actually find the company to be delightful.
Aiba promised that the new coffee shop has a lot of attractive baristas. Jun is quite sure Nino has come on the same promises. Nino likes free stuff, and he likes good-looking men. Although, after a brief scan of the place, Jun can’t really find anyone decent.
“So, is there anything interesting, guys?” Aiba wriggles his eyebrows. He loves asking for what’s going on in Jun’s and Nino’s lives. On his worst days, Jun can get annoyed by that.
This afternoon, though, Jun takes the opportunity to tell both of his friends about his new problem.
“Apparently, the unit next to mine is occupied,” Jun began, “And he’s really loud. He keeps playing this hip-hop American music. I’m pretty sure he played almost all of The Black Eyed Peas album last night.”
“Hasn’t that band broken up already?” Nino replies quickly.
Jun strikes a look at him, “That’s not my point, Nino. He plays loud music, and I had to put earplugs when I sleep or I will be up all night. What is this guy’s problem, really?”
Nino scoffs and sips on his drink; he has the most expensive frappuccino from the menu, he said that when he ordered since Aiba is paying.
Aiba smiles, “So, is that neighbor cute?”
Jun takes a breath in exasperation. Aiba tends to do that whenever Jun or Nino complain about anyone; since the both of them are single. Aiba married his high school girlfriend a year ago, and since then he hasn’t stopped trying to hook Jun and Nino with practically anyone he knows.
His favorite match-making, however, is telling Jun and Nino to ‘get together already’ since they’re both ‘gay, single, good-looking, and make good friends, what can go wrong?’.
It’s not that Jun and Nino never took that advice; they went on one date in the past. It led to sex, and it felt nice, but both of them agreed that they weren’t fit for each other. Nino isn’t patient enough to deal with Jun’s temper every time.
“Well, I met him yesterday morning,” Jun takes a sip of his coffee, “He’s pretty cute.”
Nino and Aiba exchanges a surprised look.
“Then go and fuck him quiet already,” Nino says, which earns him a smack on the back of the head from Aiba.
“Watch your mouth, Nino. Don’t talk like that to Matsujun! He might get mad at you!” Aiba scolds him, but he’s laughing.
“Said the person who gets snapped at for at least twice a day,” Nino replies, earning himself another smack from Aiba.
Jun sighs. Sometimes he wonders why he has them as friends.
“What I’m saying is, Jun-kun, you don’t say cute to just anybody you see-”
“That’s not true! I’m pretty sure I’ve said that you’re cute one time in the past!”
Nino’s face lit up, and Jun hates it so much to see the glint in Nino’s eyes; it makes him feel as if he’s done something horribly wrong.
“Why thank you, I’m flattered that you think so-shut up, Aiba-shi, and stop moving your chair, it’s creaking!-but my point is, why don’t you go and talk to them about the loud music problem?” Aiba nods enthusiastically from their side.
“Well, the first day I was too exhausted to have a fight with a stranger. Besides, I didn’t know how loud it was until I was ready to go to bed and at that time I was too tired even to think about it. Last Thursday I was drunk, so I didn’t felt like talking-”
“Didn’t you feel like fucking-ouch! Ouch! Aiba-san! That hurts for real!-Sorry. I’m just suggesting you speak to him about that, trying to figure out a solution. And get to know him better, probably. You guys live next to each other. You’re single. He’s cute. So?”
“What does that have to do with anything? I don’t even know that he’s single! Or if he’s into men! Besides, what does it have to do with my actual problem?”
“I’m just saying,” Nino laughs, “That you should try to get along with your neighbor!”
“Yeah, like you get along with your neighbor,” Jun glares at Nino.
“Actually, I do!”
“Why are you guys not dating again?” Aiba says, getting himself glares by the two other men.
“Well at least that stops your bickering,” Aiba laughs, lifting his empty cup from the table. “I need to go back to the office soon. You guys gonna come with me or stay here and continue the married couple fight?”
The three of them left the coffee shop after that, with Nino complaining that ‘none of the baristas are hot’. Aiba replies by saying that the one he likes the most isn’t around today.
They continue talking about the baristas on their way back to the office, but Jun doesn’t listen. He thinks about the amount of work he still has to do and calculates if he can make it home early and sane today; he needs to talk to his neighbor.
He doesn’t want to sleep with earplugs again tonight, in case his neighbor chooses today to blast his music.
---
Jun sends the email containing the last paperwork for the day. He checks the clock at the corner of his laptop; it’s 4.30 p.m. He gets off work at five because the company won’t let them leave before, but usually, Jun has to go home way past five because he has to finish his work for the day.
Jun has to remind himself to thank Aiba when they meet again. The short trip to the coffee shop that afternoon helps him to be more productive than usual. He’s able to finish all his job for the day half an hour before his time to go home.
On his way home, Jun walks to the train station slowly, allowing himself not to rush this time. It feels nice to get off work early since he doesn’t get that chance often.
When Jun arrives home, he meets Sakurai in the hallway. He looks a bit messy, not as fresh as when he stood in front of his door this morning, but he still looks decent in Jun’s eyes. He nods, Sakurai does too, and walks to his door to open it.
Jun has to pass Sakurai’s door to reach his own. It wasn’t that he wanted to peek, he didn’t even realize Sakurai’s door was open, but it’s too late to turn his head to the other way. He sees another guy inside Sakurai’s house, his back facing the door while he bends to take off his shoes. Jun unlocks his door without thinking too much about it.
Later, when he’s fixing himself a simple pasta dish, he wonders about it. So Sakurai invites people inside his house. Probably the loud music was because he was partying.
But on weekdays? Jun has nothing against parties, but he has heard enough for the past week. If he hears the loud music tonight too, he swears to himself that Sakurai has to pay the price.
Jun eats his food while watching some evening news on TV, liking what he watches. There’s yet another news report of someone being murdered this morning. The last one was just last Friday. There aren’t usually that many amounts of murders committed in one week, it makes Jun feel quite elated.
The body was found under a bridge, near a huge tree. It was said that the body might be placed there after he was killed; there was no evidence that the murder took place there. The poor guy was murdered with a knife, three stabs on his chest and abdomen being his reason of death.
Jun squints at his TV. The news doesn’t show clearly the body of the deceased, which disappoints him a bit. He wants to see how the dead body looks like.
The news then focuses on the fact that the victim was a man who committed a violent rape case in the past. “Serves him right. People who committed rape doesn’t deserve to live,” Jun takes a bite of his food.
When the murder report is over, Jun finds nothing else of the news interesting. So he goes to the kitchen to wash his dish. When it’s done, he looks around his apartment, trying to find something interesting to do, but he can’t find it.
He decides to call it a night. His neighbor has been quiet the whole time too, so Jun thinks that he’ll probably be able to sleep without his earplugs tonight; he needs to buy some new ones, he totally forgets it.
But apparently, Jun doesn’t have his best luck today. When Jun turns off the lamp in his living room and walks to the bathroom, he hears it.
There’s an R&B music from the next door, and it’s as loud as the one interrupting his sleep last night. Jun takes a deep breath and turns on his heels. He doesn’t care that Sakurai is hosting another party in his house, and he has his guests; Jun needs his good night’s sleep.
It takes Sakurai a while to open the door even after Jun knocks for a couple of times; the music is still loud the whole time. When Jun lifts his hand to knock again-Jun’s sure that Sakurai is inside, else he’ll be leaving music on when he’s out, and that will be even more unforgivable-Jun hears the door being unlocked from inside. He pulls his arm down before the door swung open.
Jun takes a deep breath when he sees Sakurai behind the door. Sakurai doesn’t wear any top, and he only wears a pair of shorts which doesn’t even cover half of his thighs. Jun can’t help himself from checking Sakurai out; he has great abs, and is that a piercing on his navel?
“Can I help you with anything?” Sakurai asks, snapping Jun out of his thoughts.
Jun blinks a couple of times; he already forgets why he’s there. But then his sense catches up, and he hears the music again.
“Ah right,” Jun shakes his head and forces himself to bring his eyes to Sakurai’s face again. “Your music. Can you turn it down? I can hear it from my place, and I would really like for some peaceful sleep now. If you don’t mind?”
Jun mentally scolds himself because he already has this whole speech of ‘please be a good neighbor’ prepared, but he said that Sakurai should turn the music down if he doesn’t mind.
Sakurai lifts one of his eyebrows. “Oh, sure thing. I’m sorry that I disturbed you. I was just… working,” he lifts a corner of his lips, “Anything else?”
Jun clears his throat, stopping himself from staring at how Sakurai’s collarbones move; he also has this quite enchanting shoulders.
Then he immediately curses himself internally because the next thing he knows, he already says, “Are you free this weekend? Would you like to come for dinner at my place? You know, we’re neighbors, we’re supposed to know each other better.”
Sakurai’s face breaks into a grin before he says, “That would be great. I have nothing to do this weekend, and I would love to come to your place. Thank you for inviting.”
“Ah, no problem,” Jun tries to smile back at Sakurai, but he knows his face must look quite weird at the moment.
“If that’s all, Matsumoto-san, I think I need to get back to work right now, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh. Sure thing, I’m sorry for interrupting your work, but the music was quite,” Jun makes a gesture with his hands to cover his ears.
Sakurai chuckles, “Sure, sure. I’m sorry. In fact, please wait.”
Sakurai walks inside but lets the door open. He reaches to the low table to turn down the volume of his music.
From the outside, however, all Jun can see is Sakurai bending down to reach the table. The fabric of the shorts clings, showing the curve of Sakurai’s ass. Jun swallows as he tries to calm himself down. His neighbor has some nice abs and a great ass.
Probably he has to be thankful for the loud music instead.
“How is it now?” Jun jumps a bit in surprise when he realizes Sakurai standing at the door. Sakurai’s shoulders move as he giggles at Jun’s reaction.
“Ah, yeah, it’s better now,” Jun nods his head. He has actually stopped caring about the music. “I need to-well I will go back now,” he stammers, “thank you for the understanding.”
“No problem,” Sakurai smiles, “I’m sorry for being too loud. So, see you this weekend?”
“See you this weekend,” Jun nods. He keeps standing in front of Sakurai’s door as Sakurai closes it.
Jun stills in a daze for a couple of moments after that. When he finally snaps out, he walks back to his place and closes the door behind him. He then takes a shower, which was interrupted before thanks to Sakurai aka the neighbor with a great ass.
The water is set to cold; Jun never takes a cold shower before bed, but else he would want to jerk himself off in the shower.
The cold water trick work for some time. Jun can finish showering and put on his clothes without thinking too much about his neighbor’s ass. When Jun tucks himself in bed later all warm and comfy, however, it’s hard to stop his mind from wandering off.
Jun isn’t comfortable jerking off while having a mental image of someone he actually knows in real life except it’s his partner. But there’s just something about Sakurai that makes him hard when he remembers the guy. Probably it’s his loud music that triggers Jun’s reaction.
Probably the fact that his neighbor opened the door in nothing but a pair of boxers.
Or probably, Jun swallows, it’s the fact that Sakurai has a nice ass that looks so tempting to lay a hand on.
With that image in mind, Jun is sure that he won’t be able to get some sleep anytime soon, counting in that his work today didn’t leave him spent like usual. He moves his hand down, reaching under his pants. He sighs in relief when he feels his hand around his cock.
Jun isn’t hard, but it doesn’t take long for him to be. He starts slow, some loose strokes and a squeeze now and then. He doesn’t rush himself, taking his time as he fumbles with his balls.
It doesn’t take long before he’s fully hard and wanting more friction, and then he starts fucking his own fist. He imagines his neighbor all the while. The neighbor with an ass he would love to squeeze while shoving his cock deeper inside.
He comes a couple of minutes later with a scream he isn’t able to muffle in time. It’s been so long for him to lose himself masturbating like that.
Now he wishes Sakurai has his loud music on. He can only hope that Sakurai won’t be able to hear him from next door.
---
Jun sighs as he looks at his reflection in the mirror. Everything he wears looks wrong. He isn’t usually one to be anxious about his choice of clothes, but tonight he just can’t decide. He keeps reminding himself that this is not a date. He’s just going to have a friendly dinner with the new neighbor.
The new neighbor with nice abs and a very perky ass, that is.
Jun shakes his head and tries to focus back on his reflection. He’s wearing a long-sleeved dark purple shirt and black jeans. He eyes at the vest that’s lying on the bed. He wanted to wear the vest, but even now, he feels overdressed already.
Just when he puts on a black v-neck to replace his shirt, he hears a knock on the door. What a good timing, Jun thinks to himself. He glances at the clock on his phone, and it was five minutes before the time they had agreed before.
Sakurai is punctual, and Jun finds himself liking it.
Jun opens the door to Sakurai-fully clothed now, thankfully-grinning while holding a bottle of wine. He’s wearing a brown shirt and blue jeans, and there’s an expensive looking watch encircling his wrist.
“Hello,” Sakurai greets, dragging the ‘o’ sound at the end, his lips jutting out-it reminds Jun of a chipmunk.
Jun smiles in returns and ushers Sakurai to get inside.
“I’m glad I decided against just wearing shorts and my sleeping t-shirt,” Sakurai chuckles, “You look great, I’d have been too underdressed.”
Jun blushes involuntarily. It’s been quite a long time since anyone complimented on his look so casually. He mumbles a thank you before leading Sakurai to the dining table.
Sakurai lifts the bottle of wine on his hand, raising his eyebrows at Jun.
“Oh. Here, let me take care of that,” Jun takes the bottle and sets it aside.
Sakurai assumes a seat on one of the chairs and he smiles as he observes Jun going around his kitchen. “So, what’s the occasion?”
Jun’s shoulders tense. He didn’t expect Sakurai to ask that question. “Nothing, I just want to start all over.”
Jun blinks, realizing something was wrong with his words, and then he turns quickly to face Sakurai, “I mean, we didn’t exactly get on the right terms when we first met. I was still mad at you for the loud music you played the previous night, and then I left you rudely just like that, you know. Just take this as a token of a good will from your new neighbor.”
Sakurai just nods at Jun’s explanation. “Well, yeah, I’m sorry about that,” Sakurai scratches the back of his neck, his elbow crooked in the air. “It’s just that I really can’t work without listening to music, and I didn’t realize how loud it was.”
Jun lifts his palm in the air, stopping Sakurai’s explanation. “Relax, I’m not here to scold you about that or anything-”
Jun’s sentence is cut midway by a grumbling from Sakurai’s stomach.
Jun catches Sakurai blushing, and he laughs. “See? We should have just gotten straight to the dinner.”
“I’m sorry,” Sakurai mumbles, his head ducked down.
“That’s fine,” Jun replies, his fondness of Sakurai doesn’t leave his eyes, “Let me just get my wine glasses a bit, okay?”
Sakurai nods, his face still red from the embarrassment. Jun couldn’t help but find his neighbor cute, all blushing like that.
After a moment, Jun returns to the dining table bringing his pasta dish on two plates. He put one plate in front of Sakurai and the other across it. Then he goes back to the kitchen to take the wine and the glasses. He puts them down and fills them up as Sakurai watches it all in silence.
There’s a glint in Sakurai’s eyes; that much is apparent. But Jun isn’t sure what causes it, so he says nothing.
When Jun has done serving the food, he sits down across Sakurai on the table. He looks at Sakurai fondly when he sees him looking at his food with interest.
“I hope you like pasta,” Jun says, making Sakurai look up to him, “I’m not sure what I should cook for you, so I decided to go with my best dish-let’s just eat it,” he smiles when Sakurai’s expression shifts, eyes gleaming with hope this time.
Jun stares in amusement as he watches Sakurai eats. He didn’t expect that it would feel really good to see someone eat his cooking with that excitement. Sakurai doesn’t make any gross sound when he eats. Instead, he keeps repeating ‘it’s good’ in between his munching. He looks adorable when he munches the food too.
Of all things, Jun didn’t expect that he would find his noisy neighbor to be that cute when he eats.
“Aren’t you going to eat that?” Sakurai pauses his eating when he sees Jun hasn’t touched his food, “Or shouldn’t I start eating before you do? I’m sorry! But I’m hungry, and this is excellent.”
Jun shakes his head and smiles, “No, it’s not that.”
Sakurai raises his eyebrows, “Then what?”
Jun smiles and shrugs as he lifts his fork to start eating, “Nothing. You seem to be enjoying my cooking so much it’s quite flattering.”
Sakurai’s mouth forms a silent ‘o’, and Jun has to resist himself to think about kissing him. Sakurai has plump lips, and him opening his mouth like that makes the lips look irresistible.
“I’m glad you enjoy my cooking, Sakurai-san,” Jun adds before returning his focus to his plate. He needs to stop staring at Sakurai no matter how attractive that guy is. They just met each other this week; Sakurai might find his staring creepy.
Sakurai starts a conversation when they’re eating. He tells Jun that he works in the marketing department for an office in Akihabara. Jun talks the fair share about his job; even though, unlike a marketing staff, there’s nothing exciting about an accountant’s job.
They also learn some things about their private lives and hobbies. Jun discovers that eating a home-cooked meal is a rare occurrence for Sakurai. Not only because his job keeps him busy-Jun’s job is like that too, most of the times-but he’s also too clumsy to even pick a knife in the kitchen.
Jun figures that must be why Sakurai has enjoyed his cooking so much, he practically worshiped them.
Jun also tells Sakurai that he likes cooking so much, he wishes he can do it more often. The nature of his job isn’t one to give him much time to spare. When he’s done and at home, he’s usually too tired to even think about fixing a simple meal for himself. Sakurai listens attentively, sometimes humming his assent in response.
In Jun’s opinion, Sakurai is also good at keeping the conversation. Whenever they touch a subject that neither of them seems to be very fond of discussing, he smoothly changes the topic to something else. He also makes some good jokes too; although Jun isn’t sure if he laughs because of the joke or because he just enjoys seeing Sakurai telling a joke.
They finish dinner not long after, though, and Jun then goes to fetch desserts, which is, actually, his favorite pint of ice cream. He didn’t plan to serve desserts, so he just takes anything that he has inside his fridge.
It’s just that when the dinner’s over, Sakurai will walk out the door and head back home. And Jun still wants him around because he finds Sakurai’s company delightful.
Sakurai’s eyes sparkle with glee when he sees the pint of ice cream, but he doesn’t say a thing. Jun doesn’t miss it, and so he put an extra scoop on Sakurai’s bowl. He’s not sure why he’s doing all of this; giving Sakurai so much attention. But probably because it’s not every day he meets anyone that he can enjoy being around.
Besides, he still feels quite guilty for making Sakurai the object of his activity last night. Sakurai being so polite and cute makes him feel even more guilty for doing that. It’s like he’s only using Sakurai’s body for his own pleasure while, in reality, Sakurai is a respectable person.
Even though it can’t be said that Jun is using him, since it all only happened in his imagination.
They finish the ice cream much too soon than Jun expects, and he frowns unconsciously. Sakurai’s time to go home is here.
“May I help you with the dishes?” Sakurai suddenly asks from the dining table when Jun puts down their ice cream bowls into the sink.
“It’s okay. I can do it myself later,” Jun answers, already walking back to the table. And you can go home right now if you want too, he doesn’t say out loud.
“No. Let me,” Sakurai stands up, “You said before that you like cooking, but you hate doing the dishes. Let me do that for you. I used half of that anyway.”
“You really don’t have to,” Jun mumbles his reply.
“You cooked for me, okay, let me do the dishes for you. I’m clumsy, all right. But I know my way around washing the dishes because that’s what my sister always makes me do when I have dinner at her place.”
“Well, you brought the wine,” Jun argues, even though it’s just for the sake of arguing. If he’s being honest, he really doesn’t want to do the dishes tonight; he just plans to let them soak and deal with them later.
Sakurai also has this determined look in his eyes. Jun isn’t quite sure why, but he finds it endearing.
“You gave me your ice cream,” Sakurai whines, “Move it. If you don’t let me do it, I’m going to do it myself.”
Jun chuckles. Well, letting Sakurai do the dishes means he will still have him around for a little bit more, so he moves aside to give way to Sakurai.
Sakurai spends the next half an hour washing the dishes, and Jun stands beside him to dry them. Sakurai keeps a light conversation, so they don’t have to do the chore in awkward silence.
It surprises Jun that he isn’t bothered by their proximity; standing next to each other in his small kitchen. Even Nino and Aiba make him uncomfortable sometimes when they stand too close.
Sakurai’s upper arm brushes with his occasionally, and Jun finds himself not minding it.
When the plates are all clean and spotless, Sakurai finally moves out of the kitchen and excuses himself. Jun doesn’t find it too hard to let him go home now. It’s already late and all Jun wants tonight is to take a warm bath before going to sleep.
“We should do this more often,” Sakurai says before Jun’s front door. “The dinner, I mean. I can bring you desserts next time if you don’t mind.”
Jun shakes his head a little bit too fast. “No, of course, I don’t mind. Next week? Here or at your place? Well since I’m cooking I think it’s easier to have it here?”
Sakurai seems to have an objection, but then he nods his agreement. “Sure. You’re the one cooking, you’re free to decide.”
“Great. Then see you next week.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Matsumoto-san. I live next door, we might even meet again tomorrow,” Sakurai laughs while putting Jun’s house slippers on the rack. He bends down when he does that, and Jun’s eyes leer at Sakurai’s ass. The material of the jeans is much thicker than the shorts from before, but there’s definitely no way hiding that perky butt.
When Sakurai straightens himself later, Jun finds Sakurai smirking a bit. Jun doesn’t know the reason for that, so he raises his eyebrows in question.
“I won’t play my music out loud again tonight, Matsumoto-san. So you can sleep well, I hope,” Sakurai bows before turning to open the door. But then he turns back just as fast, “Also I assume you notice that if you can hear me through the walls, it means I can hear you too, right?”
Jun blushes furiously at that. “You mean-”
“Good night, Matsumoto-san,” Sakurai walks out the door and closes it behind him before Jun even has the chance to return his farewell.
Jun moves forward to lock the door and then he turns around, his back resting on the door. He hides his face in his hands and curses.
He doesn’t think he’ll be able to face his neighbor come morning.
---
Jun barely gets out of the shower when he hears it; the booming sound of bass and a faint vocal singing rap. Sakurai the cute neighbor is at it again. Jun huffs. He was going to go straight to bed after a shower, but now he supposes he can’t.
As much as he wants to knock Sakurai’s door to let him know about his annoyance, Jun still remembers what happened the last time he did. It was a pleasing experience for him; being greeted by his neighbor almost naked. But he doesn’t want a repeat of that.
He doesn’t want another version of himself snapping at Sakurai as soon as Sakurai opens the door for him, too.
Besides, who knows if he’ll be able to restrain himself from doing the same thing like last time? Sakurai gave the hint that he was aware of what Jun did, and Jun doesn’t want to allow Sakurai the fun of knowing that. They might be neighbors, but Jun would love to have his dignity intact.
Jun walks to his living room and looks at his stash of DVDs on the rack under his TV. He’s thinking about watching one of them to cover Sakurai’s noise. He said he only does that when he’s working. Well, Jun’s pretty sure that man can’t be working all night. He has a day job too, after all.
There isn’t a particular movie Jun wants to watch, however, so he spends quite a while perusing on DVD titles as he makes a pick. A moment later, he lays his eyes on the cover of the first movie of Saw. He pulls it from the stack and puts it on the player. That one is not as graphic as the other, it’s also light on the story. It’s Jun’s favorite to watch after a lazy day of work.
Not long after, Jun is entirely absorbed in watching the movie. Jun has memorized every minute of the film perfectly, but he still enjoys it nevertheless. He has watched the movie so many times that he no longer needs a subtitle to understand the dialogue.
Sakurai’s music still can be heard faintly, overpowering the occasional screams from the movie, but Jun doesn’t find himself so bothered by it now, watching one of his favorite movie of all time.
Probably he should have done this from the beginning. It will spare him from the embarrassment he feels from Sakurai’s teasing the other day, at least.
And this movie can always be a good way to channel his anger in a way that doesn’t harm anyone.
When one of the main characters lifts his saw in the movie, Jun cheers himself for his movie choice for tonight. He can feel the heat building up inside him, making him warm all over. Then the character brings the saw to his ankle, and Jun smiles.
Even though Jun doesn’t get to see the man cutting his foot off, Jun is glad enough that he can see blood oozing out from the actor’s ankle.
And then the movie goes on, and Jun cheers himself even more to watch the other protagonist in vain. The movie doesn’t show that this other guy dies too in the end, but seeing the tortured look on his face gives him so much pleasure.
When Jun finishes watching the movie, he notices that the loud music isn’t there anymore. He smiles, going to bed feeling satisfied and happy. It’s the first time since he moved to this place.
---
The week flies by, and suddenly it’s weekend again. This time, Jun doesn’t waste so much time in front of the mirror. He, instead, chooses to spend more time cooking the dinner. He doesn’t make pasta this time, so the preparation is different than usual and he needs some more time.
When he hears a knock on his door, he’s still wearing his apron-a plain black one, his favorite. He opens the door and smiles when he sees Sakurai there. He’s dressed in a white v-neck this time, going more casual from the last time.
Apparently, Jun isn’t the only one who decided to dress down for the dinner.
Jun leads the way to the dining room, and Sakurai assumes the same seat as he had last week. He puts down a bag on the table and fumbles to get something out of that.
“I’m sorry I don’t bring wine this time,” Sakurai takes out a box from the bag, “But I bring this for desserts, I hope you’ll like it.”
Jun lifts his eyebrows, “Oh, that’s okay. I didn’t cook pasta anyway. It wouldn’t be fitting to have wine with omurice, don’t you think?”
Sakurai gasps a little, and Jun gets caught by surprise.
“I love omurice,” Sakurai admits, grinning so wide it looks like his face must hurt from that.
Jun returns the smile, even though he’s sure he doesn’t have even half of Sakurai’s excitement, “Oh. I didn’t know that. Well, lucky guess?”
Of course, Jun can’t say that he has been inspired by the oozing blood from the other day when he watched Saw. Cooking pasta would be boring, and the blood reminded him of ketchup, so he had gone with that.
He can’t tell Sakurai about it, he guesses, seeing how much that guy seems to love omurice.
Sakurai laughs and opens the box he has on the table, “I hope this cake will be fitting for the desserts then.”
Jun peeks at the box, and he sees a whole tiramisu inside. His eyes grow bigger at the sight. Not because it’s a tiramisu-Jun sees tiramisu all the time-this one is just normal, round and has frosting in broken white color and chocolate powder at the top. What surprises him is the size of the cake.
It’s not big, actually, probably around 15 centimeters in diameter. The problem is, there are only the two of them and Jun is not a big eater. It worries him a bit that they might not be able to finish it.
Sakurai apparently detects the worry in Jun’s face because he asks what’s wrong. When Jun says that the cake is big, Sakurai laughs.
“Don’t worry, Matsumoto-san. I happen to love omurice and cake. So while you can’t eat so much of it, I can’t have enough of it. Consider it a win-win,” then Sakurai’s expression changes, “Oh darn, I guess I have to help you with the dishwashing again if all I’m going to do tonight is eating like a pig.”
Jun laughs at that, and Sakurai just shrugs. Sakurai can read situations so well, it must have to do with his profession, Jun thinks. He then offers to put the cake in the fridge while they’re eating, and Sakurai lets him do so.
The dinner goes like the previous one, but both of them seem more comfortable than before. Jun finds himself talking more about his days and Sakurai reciprocates equally.
Sakurai couldn’t stop grinning and making happy sounds while he’s having his omurice. It makes Jun somehow feel warm in his stomach. He didn’t lie when he said it before; it feels nice to see someone enjoying the food he makes so much.
Especially if the one appreciating his food looks as cute as Sakurai when he does.
They have the cake later after the food. Jun slices the cake equally and puts them on two plates. When Sakurai sees the size of Jun’s slice, he frowns. Jun can’t help giggle when he sees that.
“Do you.. Do you need another slice?” Jun asks, his tone teasing.
Sakurai frowns and looks up at him, “Matsumoto-san. This is not a proper cake slice. I usually slice my cake at least twice bigger than this.”
Jun laughs. Sakurai’s passion for eating is unbeatable, he thinks. “Alright then, Sakurai-san. You can have mine too.”
“But-,” Sakurai pouts.
“I will get myself another one, okay,” Sakurai’s face breaks into a grin. He nods a little bit too enthusiastically for Jun’s standard.
They finally agree on the cake arrangement after Jun gets himself another slice. Sakurai gives him a thumb’s up when he sees Jun has a bigger slice than his previous one.
“This is good, okay, I mean it. You’ll regret it if you don’t have enough of it.”
“Really?” Jun lifts his fork and takes a bite of the cake. His eyes are blown out in surprise as he looks at Sakurai, and it results in Sakurai laughing at him. “This is delicious! Where did you get this?”
“Told you so,” Sakurai smiles, mocking. He has a bite of his cake too, “And not telling.”
“How mean!” Jun raises his tone, but end up laughing at himself.
Jun keeps praising Sakurai’s choice of cake while eating it. Sakurai just grins in return.
Sakurai stays after they finish the desserts to wash the dishes as he promised. Jun helps to dry the plates beside him. This time, Jun finds Sakurai’s presence even more comfortable. His mind wanders to what it would feel when they’re getting closer than that, but then he almost drops a plate, and he shakes his head to return his focus.
Moments later, when they’re both full and the dishes are all clean, and Sakurai is in the doorway, he pulls out his phone.
“Do you have plans for next weekend, Matsumoto-san?”
Jun is taken aback by the question. He already reserves his Saturday nights for Sakurai, for this dinner they promised to have every week. But that question sounds like Sakurai might have another plan for next week. For all Jun knows, it might not involve Jun at all.
It seems like Sakurai senses Jun’s worry, as he always does, because he adds, “I mean. I know that we have an agreement to have dinner at your place, you’re cooking and all. But there’s this place I have been wanting to go, and I kind of want to ask you to go there with me. If you don’t mind, that is.”
“Oh,” Jun blurts in relief, “Oh,” he repeats, hoping not to sound too relieved, “Well, no! I mean, no, I don’t mind at all, sure. We can go there next weekend.”
“Great! Can I have your contact information then?” Sakurai gives Jun his phone, and Jun puts his e-mail address there. He puts ‘Matsumoto Jun’ for the name, not sure if he should have put another information with it.
Jun returns the phone to Sakurai, who then clicks some buttons.
“I just sent you an email. Now you have my address too. I will send you the details later. If you don’t mind,” Sakurai smiles, to which Jun replies with a nod.
“Well, then, Matsumoto-san. I’m going home now,” Sakurai puts his phone back in his pocket and turns to the door.
But the next moment he turns back quickly and Jun looks at him, questioning.
Sakurai seems like he’s contemplating a bit, then, “Um.. Matsumoto-san, the other day, I’m sorry for blasting the music again.”
“The other day? Oh, that. Well, yeah. It’s alright. I found a way to distract myself until you finished, so that’s fine,” Jun shrugs.
“About that, um..,” Sakurai looks as if he’s thinking hard about something, “I, heard some woman screaming from my place. I was thinking to check to see that everything’s alright, but then I realized that I don’t have your contact information,” Sakurai pauses to breathe, “And I was afraid if I knock, I might, you know, interrupt your, intimate moment, or something.”
It takes a moment for Jun to let the words sink in. Then he realizes what Sakurai meant, and he can’t help blushing.
“It’s not- it’s not like that!” Jun replies, his voice goes a pitch higher, so he stops and clears his throat.
“I mean. No, it’s not that. I was watching a movie. There’s a lot of screaming in that movie, aside from that woman’s,” Jun explains awkwardly.
“Was it some hard-core porn?” Sakurai replies with a laugh, obviously trying to lighten up the mood.
But that only makes Jun blushes some more. “No! It was-it was a thriller movie.”
Jun can’t tell Sakurai what he watched exactly because he’s not sure how Sakurai’s going to take the fact that he’s a gore movie enthusiast.
“I see,” Sakurai smiles, “But yeah, still going to intrude you in your private moment if I did,” he laughs dryly.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Jun replies, “I’m actually single and not looking for casual hookups either,” he doesn’t know why he tells Sakurai this, but he can’t stop mumbling, “And I’m gay, so even if I do, they won’t be women either.”
In front of Jun, Sakurai smiles wide. “Well, Matsumoto-san. I guess that makes two of us. Good night.”
With that, Sakurai turns to the door and leaves.
Jun can only throw a fierce look to the door. Did Sakurai ask that on purpose? Had he somehow expect Jun to explain things that way?
Does that mean they will have a date next week?
---
Follow the link for part 2
Title: Wicked Like You Are
Pairing: Jun/Sho, past Jun/Nino (only mentioned).
Rating/Warnings: NC-17/(Minor) character death, characters being murderers, mentions of child abuse, a scene describing murder (not too graphic), barebacking.
Summary: Two days after moving to a new place, Jun finds out that his neighbor loves to blast loud music at inappropriate time. Jun doesn’t like the music, but apparently the neighbor is cute.
Notes: Dear mod, thank you for being awesome. Dear my beta, A, thank you very much for helping this fic come into better shape. Special thanks for all my supporters/cheerleaders who have, although not literally, held my hand throughout this exchange. You guys are the best. Here you go, xdestroying, I was going to go with your canon prompts, but I wasn’t able to make anything however tempted I was. Have this lengthy fic instead, I hope you find this to your liking.
Jun looks around as he tosses the last empty box that he has used to pack his belongings. It’s going to be his new place from now on, and he likes what he sees. It’s not much, but it’s an upgrade from his previous apartment.
After years of financial struggle, making ends meet by having a roommate and living in a small and shady neighborhood, he finally has a place good enough not only to live in, but also to live comfortably in.
It’s not so big and spacious, the place. But it’s a huge upgrade from the previous one, so Jun’s content with that. There’s a unit beside his, and the wall separating the two places seems to be thin, but Jun doesn’t want to worry about that now.
The unit beside him is the only one other than his on that floor anyway. Nobody has shown up when Jun was busy moving his things, so for all Jun knows, the place next door might be empty.
Jun walks to his living room to look at his movie collection stacked in a tall rack beside his TV. Finally, he can have a place big enough to store his most precious belongings. Now he doesn’t have to worry about his collection eating up his space.
---
It’s Monday. Jun has been butchered up at work; the amount of things he has to deal with is preposterous. It’s the tax season, and their clients are all in dire need of having their statements reviewed. The situation leaves Jun no other option but to sit on his desk all day, through his lunch break too, even, working his ass off to finish his part of the work for the day.
He has snapped at his coworkers twice today, and if not for his stress ball, he might have snapped more times than that.
On the way home, Jun’s only wish is to crash on his bed and sleep as soon as he reaches his door. Forgetting the stressful day he just had, hoping for a fresh start tomorrow.
Unfortunately for Jun, upon arriving home, he hears something from the next door unit. Someone is clearly living in there. And that someone, clearly, doesn’t seem to be sensible enough to understand what ‘loud music’ is.
Jun sighs as he walks past it to unlock his door. If he hadn’t been so drained, if he’s not so close to snap in the face of a stranger, he would have knocked the new neighbor’s door and asked for an explanation. He doesn’t want to be kicked out by yet another landlord because of his horrible temper.
So Jun unlocks his door, takes his shoes off, and heads to his bedroom. He washes his face and has a warm shower, sighing in relief as it provides him the comfort he needs.
When Jun leaves the bathroom and heads to bed half an hour later, he can’t believe his luck. The neighbor’s music is reverberating through the thin wall. It’s not very loud, but it’s more than a faint noise that he can ignore.
Jun takes a deep breath, trying to contain himself. He keeps reminding himself not to rush out of his place and bang on the neighbor’s door.
After a moment, Jun finally gains control of his emotions again. He ruffles through his drawer and takes the earplugs he usually uses for traveling. He puts them in his ears, and the music is no longer audible.
Jun sighs, at least for now he can sleep without any deafening noise to bother him. He makes a mental note to talk to his neighbor tomorrow.
---
The next morning, when Jun locks his front door before leaving for work, Jun hears a greeting from his right side. Jun glances to see a guy in a similar work attire as his-shirt, slacks, tie, and jacket-standing in front of the next unit’s door.
Jun nods at the guy, remembering the loud music from last night but isn’t too thrilled to have a conversation. Not now, not when he’s just leaving for work. He doesn’t want to go to work with a foul mood.
The guy, unfortunately, doesn’t agree with what Jun has in mind.
“Um, hi,” he says, “My name is Sakurai Sho, and as you can see, I live next door”. He points his finger at his door. Jun finds the gesture cute. “I’m sorry about last night? I honestly didn’t know someone lives in there. I mean, it was still unoccupied last week.”
Okay, this Sakurai guy is cute, Jun decides, but he doesn’t have time for this. A pile of documents waits for him on his computer, ready to be reviewed. He sighs, keeping his temper in check, and replies, “Just please don’t do that again, I had to put on earplugs last night because of that.”
Sakurai chuckles. He has a nice laugh that Jun can appreciate, despite him being an asshole with the music last night. “I’m sorry. I will try my best to prevent that from happening again.”
Jun nods, even though he finds Sakurai’s promise bothering. What do you mean you’ll try your best? I want no music at all, Jun thinks, but doesn’t say.
“Well, then, I have to leave for work,” Jun nods before he heads to the elevator.
“Can you tell me your name, at least?” Sakurai asks from behind him. “I mean, we’re neighbors. Aren’t we supposed to know each other?”
Jun stops and shoots a menacing look across his back to where Sakurai still stands. He mumbles, “My name is Matsumoto Jun. Good to see you, although it would have been better if there’s no loud music involved.”
Sakurai chuckles again, Jun starts to wonder when he will stop doing that because it’s honestly distracting. “I’m truly sorry about that.”
Sakurai bows slightly and Jun replies it by raising his eyebrows. Well, the morning isn’t started very poorly, Sakurai is cute when he laughs.
---
It’s been three days since Jun first heard the loud music from his neighbor’s place. It’s been two days since he saw Sakurai’s face. Jun has almost forgotten about his neighbor situation, but apparently his neighbor won’t him forget that easily.
It's Thursday night, Jun arrives at his place feeling more than just a little tipsy. He just got home after having an after-work drinking with his colleagues. He doesn’t usually go for that on a weekday. But it’s Thursday, he can let himself loosen up as he has done almost all of his work for the week.
When Jun reaches his floor, he feels thankful that he’s drunk enough not to care that his neighbor blasts loud music again. He knocks the door for a good measure, but he goes inside his unit before Sakurai opens it.
The music stops after that, but Jun finds himself awake at three in the morning to even louder music from his neighbor. Grunting, he reaches blindly for his earplugs-thank goodness he keeps them on the top of the drawer-and rolls himself back to sleep.
He goes to work the next morning feeling like a walking dead. And when he tries to knock Sakurai’s door before he leaves, the door doesn’t open even after he waits for five minutes.
---
The weekend passes by fast and peaceful, and suddenly it’s Monday again. Jun is reading a billing document on his laptop when Aiba comes to his desk. He comes with a promise of a good looking barista and an offer of a free cup of good coffee.
Of course, Jun will choose that over looking at numbers on his laptop. His eyes can use a break.
A couple of minutes later, they’re sitting at the new coffee shop across their office. Jun has a cup of latte while Aiba nurses a cup of frappuccino-which name Jun can’t remember-with a lot of colorful topping. Aiba’s best friend, Nino, tags along too.
They all work for the same company, but while Jun and Aiba are in the accounting department, dealing with clients’ request, Nino is an account manager.
They became friends because they entered the company at the same time. Aiba is a chatty guy who always starts the conversation with strangers. Jun and Nino were the unlucky strangers. Over the years, they stayed together, though, because they’re dragging Jun everywhere, and Jun actually find the company to be delightful.
Aiba promised that the new coffee shop has a lot of attractive baristas. Jun is quite sure Nino has come on the same promises. Nino likes free stuff, and he likes good-looking men. Although, after a brief scan of the place, Jun can’t really find anyone decent.
“So, is there anything interesting, guys?” Aiba wriggles his eyebrows. He loves asking for what’s going on in Jun’s and Nino’s lives. On his worst days, Jun can get annoyed by that.
This afternoon, though, Jun takes the opportunity to tell both of his friends about his new problem.
“Apparently, the unit next to mine is occupied,” Jun began, “And he’s really loud. He keeps playing this hip-hop American music. I’m pretty sure he played almost all of The Black Eyed Peas album last night.”
“Hasn’t that band broken up already?” Nino replies quickly.
Jun strikes a look at him, “That’s not my point, Nino. He plays loud music, and I had to put earplugs when I sleep or I will be up all night. What is this guy’s problem, really?”
Nino scoffs and sips on his drink; he has the most expensive frappuccino from the menu, he said that when he ordered since Aiba is paying.
Aiba smiles, “So, is that neighbor cute?”
Jun takes a breath in exasperation. Aiba tends to do that whenever Jun or Nino complain about anyone; since the both of them are single. Aiba married his high school girlfriend a year ago, and since then he hasn’t stopped trying to hook Jun and Nino with practically anyone he knows.
His favorite match-making, however, is telling Jun and Nino to ‘get together already’ since they’re both ‘gay, single, good-looking, and make good friends, what can go wrong?’.
It’s not that Jun and Nino never took that advice; they went on one date in the past. It led to sex, and it felt nice, but both of them agreed that they weren’t fit for each other. Nino isn’t patient enough to deal with Jun’s temper every time.
“Well, I met him yesterday morning,” Jun takes a sip of his coffee, “He’s pretty cute.”
Nino and Aiba exchanges a surprised look.
“Then go and fuck him quiet already,” Nino says, which earns him a smack on the back of the head from Aiba.
“Watch your mouth, Nino. Don’t talk like that to Matsujun! He might get mad at you!” Aiba scolds him, but he’s laughing.
“Said the person who gets snapped at for at least twice a day,” Nino replies, earning himself another smack from Aiba.
Jun sighs. Sometimes he wonders why he has them as friends.
“What I’m saying is, Jun-kun, you don’t say cute to just anybody you see-”
“That’s not true! I’m pretty sure I’ve said that you’re cute one time in the past!”
Nino’s face lit up, and Jun hates it so much to see the glint in Nino’s eyes; it makes him feel as if he’s done something horribly wrong.
“Why thank you, I’m flattered that you think so-shut up, Aiba-shi, and stop moving your chair, it’s creaking!-but my point is, why don’t you go and talk to them about the loud music problem?” Aiba nods enthusiastically from their side.
“Well, the first day I was too exhausted to have a fight with a stranger. Besides, I didn’t know how loud it was until I was ready to go to bed and at that time I was too tired even to think about it. Last Thursday I was drunk, so I didn’t felt like talking-”
“Didn’t you feel like fucking-ouch! Ouch! Aiba-san! That hurts for real!-Sorry. I’m just suggesting you speak to him about that, trying to figure out a solution. And get to know him better, probably. You guys live next to each other. You’re single. He’s cute. So?”
“What does that have to do with anything? I don’t even know that he’s single! Or if he’s into men! Besides, what does it have to do with my actual problem?”
“I’m just saying,” Nino laughs, “That you should try to get along with your neighbor!”
“Yeah, like you get along with your neighbor,” Jun glares at Nino.
“Actually, I do!”
“Why are you guys not dating again?” Aiba says, getting himself glares by the two other men.
“Well at least that stops your bickering,” Aiba laughs, lifting his empty cup from the table. “I need to go back to the office soon. You guys gonna come with me or stay here and continue the married couple fight?”
The three of them left the coffee shop after that, with Nino complaining that ‘none of the baristas are hot’. Aiba replies by saying that the one he likes the most isn’t around today.
They continue talking about the baristas on their way back to the office, but Jun doesn’t listen. He thinks about the amount of work he still has to do and calculates if he can make it home early and sane today; he needs to talk to his neighbor.
He doesn’t want to sleep with earplugs again tonight, in case his neighbor chooses today to blast his music.
---
Jun sends the email containing the last paperwork for the day. He checks the clock at the corner of his laptop; it’s 4.30 p.m. He gets off work at five because the company won’t let them leave before, but usually, Jun has to go home way past five because he has to finish his work for the day.
Jun has to remind himself to thank Aiba when they meet again. The short trip to the coffee shop that afternoon helps him to be more productive than usual. He’s able to finish all his job for the day half an hour before his time to go home.
On his way home, Jun walks to the train station slowly, allowing himself not to rush this time. It feels nice to get off work early since he doesn’t get that chance often.
When Jun arrives home, he meets Sakurai in the hallway. He looks a bit messy, not as fresh as when he stood in front of his door this morning, but he still looks decent in Jun’s eyes. He nods, Sakurai does too, and walks to his door to open it.
Jun has to pass Sakurai’s door to reach his own. It wasn’t that he wanted to peek, he didn’t even realize Sakurai’s door was open, but it’s too late to turn his head to the other way. He sees another guy inside Sakurai’s house, his back facing the door while he bends to take off his shoes. Jun unlocks his door without thinking too much about it.
Later, when he’s fixing himself a simple pasta dish, he wonders about it. So Sakurai invites people inside his house. Probably the loud music was because he was partying.
But on weekdays? Jun has nothing against parties, but he has heard enough for the past week. If he hears the loud music tonight too, he swears to himself that Sakurai has to pay the price.
Jun eats his food while watching some evening news on TV, liking what he watches. There’s yet another news report of someone being murdered this morning. The last one was just last Friday. There aren’t usually that many amounts of murders committed in one week, it makes Jun feel quite elated.
The body was found under a bridge, near a huge tree. It was said that the body might be placed there after he was killed; there was no evidence that the murder took place there. The poor guy was murdered with a knife, three stabs on his chest and abdomen being his reason of death.
Jun squints at his TV. The news doesn’t show clearly the body of the deceased, which disappoints him a bit. He wants to see how the dead body looks like.
The news then focuses on the fact that the victim was a man who committed a violent rape case in the past. “Serves him right. People who committed rape doesn’t deserve to live,” Jun takes a bite of his food.
When the murder report is over, Jun finds nothing else of the news interesting. So he goes to the kitchen to wash his dish. When it’s done, he looks around his apartment, trying to find something interesting to do, but he can’t find it.
He decides to call it a night. His neighbor has been quiet the whole time too, so Jun thinks that he’ll probably be able to sleep without his earplugs tonight; he needs to buy some new ones, he totally forgets it.
But apparently, Jun doesn’t have his best luck today. When Jun turns off the lamp in his living room and walks to the bathroom, he hears it.
There’s an R&B music from the next door, and it’s as loud as the one interrupting his sleep last night. Jun takes a deep breath and turns on his heels. He doesn’t care that Sakurai is hosting another party in his house, and he has his guests; Jun needs his good night’s sleep.
It takes Sakurai a while to open the door even after Jun knocks for a couple of times; the music is still loud the whole time. When Jun lifts his hand to knock again-Jun’s sure that Sakurai is inside, else he’ll be leaving music on when he’s out, and that will be even more unforgivable-Jun hears the door being unlocked from inside. He pulls his arm down before the door swung open.
Jun takes a deep breath when he sees Sakurai behind the door. Sakurai doesn’t wear any top, and he only wears a pair of shorts which doesn’t even cover half of his thighs. Jun can’t help himself from checking Sakurai out; he has great abs, and is that a piercing on his navel?
“Can I help you with anything?” Sakurai asks, snapping Jun out of his thoughts.
Jun blinks a couple of times; he already forgets why he’s there. But then his sense catches up, and he hears the music again.
“Ah right,” Jun shakes his head and forces himself to bring his eyes to Sakurai’s face again. “Your music. Can you turn it down? I can hear it from my place, and I would really like for some peaceful sleep now. If you don’t mind?”
Jun mentally scolds himself because he already has this whole speech of ‘please be a good neighbor’ prepared, but he said that Sakurai should turn the music down if he doesn’t mind.
Sakurai lifts one of his eyebrows. “Oh, sure thing. I’m sorry that I disturbed you. I was just… working,” he lifts a corner of his lips, “Anything else?”
Jun clears his throat, stopping himself from staring at how Sakurai’s collarbones move; he also has this quite enchanting shoulders.
Then he immediately curses himself internally because the next thing he knows, he already says, “Are you free this weekend? Would you like to come for dinner at my place? You know, we’re neighbors, we’re supposed to know each other better.”
Sakurai’s face breaks into a grin before he says, “That would be great. I have nothing to do this weekend, and I would love to come to your place. Thank you for inviting.”
“Ah, no problem,” Jun tries to smile back at Sakurai, but he knows his face must look quite weird at the moment.
“If that’s all, Matsumoto-san, I think I need to get back to work right now, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh. Sure thing, I’m sorry for interrupting your work, but the music was quite,” Jun makes a gesture with his hands to cover his ears.
Sakurai chuckles, “Sure, sure. I’m sorry. In fact, please wait.”
Sakurai walks inside but lets the door open. He reaches to the low table to turn down the volume of his music.
From the outside, however, all Jun can see is Sakurai bending down to reach the table. The fabric of the shorts clings, showing the curve of Sakurai’s ass. Jun swallows as he tries to calm himself down. His neighbor has some nice abs and a great ass.
Probably he has to be thankful for the loud music instead.
“How is it now?” Jun jumps a bit in surprise when he realizes Sakurai standing at the door. Sakurai’s shoulders move as he giggles at Jun’s reaction.
“Ah, yeah, it’s better now,” Jun nods his head. He has actually stopped caring about the music. “I need to-well I will go back now,” he stammers, “thank you for the understanding.”
“No problem,” Sakurai smiles, “I’m sorry for being too loud. So, see you this weekend?”
“See you this weekend,” Jun nods. He keeps standing in front of Sakurai’s door as Sakurai closes it.
Jun stills in a daze for a couple of moments after that. When he finally snaps out, he walks back to his place and closes the door behind him. He then takes a shower, which was interrupted before thanks to Sakurai aka the neighbor with a great ass.
The water is set to cold; Jun never takes a cold shower before bed, but else he would want to jerk himself off in the shower.
The cold water trick work for some time. Jun can finish showering and put on his clothes without thinking too much about his neighbor’s ass. When Jun tucks himself in bed later all warm and comfy, however, it’s hard to stop his mind from wandering off.
Jun isn’t comfortable jerking off while having a mental image of someone he actually knows in real life except it’s his partner. But there’s just something about Sakurai that makes him hard when he remembers the guy. Probably it’s his loud music that triggers Jun’s reaction.
Probably the fact that his neighbor opened the door in nothing but a pair of boxers.
Or probably, Jun swallows, it’s the fact that Sakurai has a nice ass that looks so tempting to lay a hand on.
With that image in mind, Jun is sure that he won’t be able to get some sleep anytime soon, counting in that his work today didn’t leave him spent like usual. He moves his hand down, reaching under his pants. He sighs in relief when he feels his hand around his cock.
Jun isn’t hard, but it doesn’t take long for him to be. He starts slow, some loose strokes and a squeeze now and then. He doesn’t rush himself, taking his time as he fumbles with his balls.
It doesn’t take long before he’s fully hard and wanting more friction, and then he starts fucking his own fist. He imagines his neighbor all the while. The neighbor with an ass he would love to squeeze while shoving his cock deeper inside.
He comes a couple of minutes later with a scream he isn’t able to muffle in time. It’s been so long for him to lose himself masturbating like that.
Now he wishes Sakurai has his loud music on. He can only hope that Sakurai won’t be able to hear him from next door.
---
Jun sighs as he looks at his reflection in the mirror. Everything he wears looks wrong. He isn’t usually one to be anxious about his choice of clothes, but tonight he just can’t decide. He keeps reminding himself that this is not a date. He’s just going to have a friendly dinner with the new neighbor.
The new neighbor with nice abs and a very perky ass, that is.
Jun shakes his head and tries to focus back on his reflection. He’s wearing a long-sleeved dark purple shirt and black jeans. He eyes at the vest that’s lying on the bed. He wanted to wear the vest, but even now, he feels overdressed already.
Just when he puts on a black v-neck to replace his shirt, he hears a knock on the door. What a good timing, Jun thinks to himself. He glances at the clock on his phone, and it was five minutes before the time they had agreed before.
Sakurai is punctual, and Jun finds himself liking it.
Jun opens the door to Sakurai-fully clothed now, thankfully-grinning while holding a bottle of wine. He’s wearing a brown shirt and blue jeans, and there’s an expensive looking watch encircling his wrist.
“Hello,” Sakurai greets, dragging the ‘o’ sound at the end, his lips jutting out-it reminds Jun of a chipmunk.
Jun smiles in returns and ushers Sakurai to get inside.
“I’m glad I decided against just wearing shorts and my sleeping t-shirt,” Sakurai chuckles, “You look great, I’d have been too underdressed.”
Jun blushes involuntarily. It’s been quite a long time since anyone complimented on his look so casually. He mumbles a thank you before leading Sakurai to the dining table.
Sakurai lifts the bottle of wine on his hand, raising his eyebrows at Jun.
“Oh. Here, let me take care of that,” Jun takes the bottle and sets it aside.
Sakurai assumes a seat on one of the chairs and he smiles as he observes Jun going around his kitchen. “So, what’s the occasion?”
Jun’s shoulders tense. He didn’t expect Sakurai to ask that question. “Nothing, I just want to start all over.”
Jun blinks, realizing something was wrong with his words, and then he turns quickly to face Sakurai, “I mean, we didn’t exactly get on the right terms when we first met. I was still mad at you for the loud music you played the previous night, and then I left you rudely just like that, you know. Just take this as a token of a good will from your new neighbor.”
Sakurai just nods at Jun’s explanation. “Well, yeah, I’m sorry about that,” Sakurai scratches the back of his neck, his elbow crooked in the air. “It’s just that I really can’t work without listening to music, and I didn’t realize how loud it was.”
Jun lifts his palm in the air, stopping Sakurai’s explanation. “Relax, I’m not here to scold you about that or anything-”
Jun’s sentence is cut midway by a grumbling from Sakurai’s stomach.
Jun catches Sakurai blushing, and he laughs. “See? We should have just gotten straight to the dinner.”
“I’m sorry,” Sakurai mumbles, his head ducked down.
“That’s fine,” Jun replies, his fondness of Sakurai doesn’t leave his eyes, “Let me just get my wine glasses a bit, okay?”
Sakurai nods, his face still red from the embarrassment. Jun couldn’t help but find his neighbor cute, all blushing like that.
After a moment, Jun returns to the dining table bringing his pasta dish on two plates. He put one plate in front of Sakurai and the other across it. Then he goes back to the kitchen to take the wine and the glasses. He puts them down and fills them up as Sakurai watches it all in silence.
There’s a glint in Sakurai’s eyes; that much is apparent. But Jun isn’t sure what causes it, so he says nothing.
When Jun has done serving the food, he sits down across Sakurai on the table. He looks at Sakurai fondly when he sees him looking at his food with interest.
“I hope you like pasta,” Jun says, making Sakurai look up to him, “I’m not sure what I should cook for you, so I decided to go with my best dish-let’s just eat it,” he smiles when Sakurai’s expression shifts, eyes gleaming with hope this time.
Jun stares in amusement as he watches Sakurai eats. He didn’t expect that it would feel really good to see someone eat his cooking with that excitement. Sakurai doesn’t make any gross sound when he eats. Instead, he keeps repeating ‘it’s good’ in between his munching. He looks adorable when he munches the food too.
Of all things, Jun didn’t expect that he would find his noisy neighbor to be that cute when he eats.
“Aren’t you going to eat that?” Sakurai pauses his eating when he sees Jun hasn’t touched his food, “Or shouldn’t I start eating before you do? I’m sorry! But I’m hungry, and this is excellent.”
Jun shakes his head and smiles, “No, it’s not that.”
Sakurai raises his eyebrows, “Then what?”
Jun smiles and shrugs as he lifts his fork to start eating, “Nothing. You seem to be enjoying my cooking so much it’s quite flattering.”
Sakurai’s mouth forms a silent ‘o’, and Jun has to resist himself to think about kissing him. Sakurai has plump lips, and him opening his mouth like that makes the lips look irresistible.
“I’m glad you enjoy my cooking, Sakurai-san,” Jun adds before returning his focus to his plate. He needs to stop staring at Sakurai no matter how attractive that guy is. They just met each other this week; Sakurai might find his staring creepy.
Sakurai starts a conversation when they’re eating. He tells Jun that he works in the marketing department for an office in Akihabara. Jun talks the fair share about his job; even though, unlike a marketing staff, there’s nothing exciting about an accountant’s job.
They also learn some things about their private lives and hobbies. Jun discovers that eating a home-cooked meal is a rare occurrence for Sakurai. Not only because his job keeps him busy-Jun’s job is like that too, most of the times-but he’s also too clumsy to even pick a knife in the kitchen.
Jun figures that must be why Sakurai has enjoyed his cooking so much, he practically worshiped them.
Jun also tells Sakurai that he likes cooking so much, he wishes he can do it more often. The nature of his job isn’t one to give him much time to spare. When he’s done and at home, he’s usually too tired to even think about fixing a simple meal for himself. Sakurai listens attentively, sometimes humming his assent in response.
In Jun’s opinion, Sakurai is also good at keeping the conversation. Whenever they touch a subject that neither of them seems to be very fond of discussing, he smoothly changes the topic to something else. He also makes some good jokes too; although Jun isn’t sure if he laughs because of the joke or because he just enjoys seeing Sakurai telling a joke.
They finish dinner not long after, though, and Jun then goes to fetch desserts, which is, actually, his favorite pint of ice cream. He didn’t plan to serve desserts, so he just takes anything that he has inside his fridge.
It’s just that when the dinner’s over, Sakurai will walk out the door and head back home. And Jun still wants him around because he finds Sakurai’s company delightful.
Sakurai’s eyes sparkle with glee when he sees the pint of ice cream, but he doesn’t say a thing. Jun doesn’t miss it, and so he put an extra scoop on Sakurai’s bowl. He’s not sure why he’s doing all of this; giving Sakurai so much attention. But probably because it’s not every day he meets anyone that he can enjoy being around.
Besides, he still feels quite guilty for making Sakurai the object of his activity last night. Sakurai being so polite and cute makes him feel even more guilty for doing that. It’s like he’s only using Sakurai’s body for his own pleasure while, in reality, Sakurai is a respectable person.
Even though it can’t be said that Jun is using him, since it all only happened in his imagination.
They finish the ice cream much too soon than Jun expects, and he frowns unconsciously. Sakurai’s time to go home is here.
“May I help you with the dishes?” Sakurai suddenly asks from the dining table when Jun puts down their ice cream bowls into the sink.
“It’s okay. I can do it myself later,” Jun answers, already walking back to the table. And you can go home right now if you want too, he doesn’t say out loud.
“No. Let me,” Sakurai stands up, “You said before that you like cooking, but you hate doing the dishes. Let me do that for you. I used half of that anyway.”
“You really don’t have to,” Jun mumbles his reply.
“You cooked for me, okay, let me do the dishes for you. I’m clumsy, all right. But I know my way around washing the dishes because that’s what my sister always makes me do when I have dinner at her place.”
“Well, you brought the wine,” Jun argues, even though it’s just for the sake of arguing. If he’s being honest, he really doesn’t want to do the dishes tonight; he just plans to let them soak and deal with them later.
Sakurai also has this determined look in his eyes. Jun isn’t quite sure why, but he finds it endearing.
“You gave me your ice cream,” Sakurai whines, “Move it. If you don’t let me do it, I’m going to do it myself.”
Jun chuckles. Well, letting Sakurai do the dishes means he will still have him around for a little bit more, so he moves aside to give way to Sakurai.
Sakurai spends the next half an hour washing the dishes, and Jun stands beside him to dry them. Sakurai keeps a light conversation, so they don’t have to do the chore in awkward silence.
It surprises Jun that he isn’t bothered by their proximity; standing next to each other in his small kitchen. Even Nino and Aiba make him uncomfortable sometimes when they stand too close.
Sakurai’s upper arm brushes with his occasionally, and Jun finds himself not minding it.
When the plates are all clean and spotless, Sakurai finally moves out of the kitchen and excuses himself. Jun doesn’t find it too hard to let him go home now. It’s already late and all Jun wants tonight is to take a warm bath before going to sleep.
“We should do this more often,” Sakurai says before Jun’s front door. “The dinner, I mean. I can bring you desserts next time if you don’t mind.”
Jun shakes his head a little bit too fast. “No, of course, I don’t mind. Next week? Here or at your place? Well since I’m cooking I think it’s easier to have it here?”
Sakurai seems to have an objection, but then he nods his agreement. “Sure. You’re the one cooking, you’re free to decide.”
“Great. Then see you next week.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Matsumoto-san. I live next door, we might even meet again tomorrow,” Sakurai laughs while putting Jun’s house slippers on the rack. He bends down when he does that, and Jun’s eyes leer at Sakurai’s ass. The material of the jeans is much thicker than the shorts from before, but there’s definitely no way hiding that perky butt.
When Sakurai straightens himself later, Jun finds Sakurai smirking a bit. Jun doesn’t know the reason for that, so he raises his eyebrows in question.
“I won’t play my music out loud again tonight, Matsumoto-san. So you can sleep well, I hope,” Sakurai bows before turning to open the door. But then he turns back just as fast, “Also I assume you notice that if you can hear me through the walls, it means I can hear you too, right?”
Jun blushes furiously at that. “You mean-”
“Good night, Matsumoto-san,” Sakurai walks out the door and closes it behind him before Jun even has the chance to return his farewell.
Jun moves forward to lock the door and then he turns around, his back resting on the door. He hides his face in his hands and curses.
He doesn’t think he’ll be able to face his neighbor come morning.
---
Jun barely gets out of the shower when he hears it; the booming sound of bass and a faint vocal singing rap. Sakurai the cute neighbor is at it again. Jun huffs. He was going to go straight to bed after a shower, but now he supposes he can’t.
As much as he wants to knock Sakurai’s door to let him know about his annoyance, Jun still remembers what happened the last time he did. It was a pleasing experience for him; being greeted by his neighbor almost naked. But he doesn’t want a repeat of that.
He doesn’t want another version of himself snapping at Sakurai as soon as Sakurai opens the door for him, too.
Besides, who knows if he’ll be able to restrain himself from doing the same thing like last time? Sakurai gave the hint that he was aware of what Jun did, and Jun doesn’t want to allow Sakurai the fun of knowing that. They might be neighbors, but Jun would love to have his dignity intact.
Jun walks to his living room and looks at his stash of DVDs on the rack under his TV. He’s thinking about watching one of them to cover Sakurai’s noise. He said he only does that when he’s working. Well, Jun’s pretty sure that man can’t be working all night. He has a day job too, after all.
There isn’t a particular movie Jun wants to watch, however, so he spends quite a while perusing on DVD titles as he makes a pick. A moment later, he lays his eyes on the cover of the first movie of Saw. He pulls it from the stack and puts it on the player. That one is not as graphic as the other, it’s also light on the story. It’s Jun’s favorite to watch after a lazy day of work.
Not long after, Jun is entirely absorbed in watching the movie. Jun has memorized every minute of the film perfectly, but he still enjoys it nevertheless. He has watched the movie so many times that he no longer needs a subtitle to understand the dialogue.
Sakurai’s music still can be heard faintly, overpowering the occasional screams from the movie, but Jun doesn’t find himself so bothered by it now, watching one of his favorite movie of all time.
Probably he should have done this from the beginning. It will spare him from the embarrassment he feels from Sakurai’s teasing the other day, at least.
And this movie can always be a good way to channel his anger in a way that doesn’t harm anyone.
When one of the main characters lifts his saw in the movie, Jun cheers himself for his movie choice for tonight. He can feel the heat building up inside him, making him warm all over. Then the character brings the saw to his ankle, and Jun smiles.
Even though Jun doesn’t get to see the man cutting his foot off, Jun is glad enough that he can see blood oozing out from the actor’s ankle.
And then the movie goes on, and Jun cheers himself even more to watch the other protagonist in vain. The movie doesn’t show that this other guy dies too in the end, but seeing the tortured look on his face gives him so much pleasure.
When Jun finishes watching the movie, he notices that the loud music isn’t there anymore. He smiles, going to bed feeling satisfied and happy. It’s the first time since he moved to this place.
---
The week flies by, and suddenly it’s weekend again. This time, Jun doesn’t waste so much time in front of the mirror. He, instead, chooses to spend more time cooking the dinner. He doesn’t make pasta this time, so the preparation is different than usual and he needs some more time.
When he hears a knock on his door, he’s still wearing his apron-a plain black one, his favorite. He opens the door and smiles when he sees Sakurai there. He’s dressed in a white v-neck this time, going more casual from the last time.
Apparently, Jun isn’t the only one who decided to dress down for the dinner.
Jun leads the way to the dining room, and Sakurai assumes the same seat as he had last week. He puts down a bag on the table and fumbles to get something out of that.
“I’m sorry I don’t bring wine this time,” Sakurai takes out a box from the bag, “But I bring this for desserts, I hope you’ll like it.”
Jun lifts his eyebrows, “Oh, that’s okay. I didn’t cook pasta anyway. It wouldn’t be fitting to have wine with omurice, don’t you think?”
Sakurai gasps a little, and Jun gets caught by surprise.
“I love omurice,” Sakurai admits, grinning so wide it looks like his face must hurt from that.
Jun returns the smile, even though he’s sure he doesn’t have even half of Sakurai’s excitement, “Oh. I didn’t know that. Well, lucky guess?”
Of course, Jun can’t say that he has been inspired by the oozing blood from the other day when he watched Saw. Cooking pasta would be boring, and the blood reminded him of ketchup, so he had gone with that.
He can’t tell Sakurai about it, he guesses, seeing how much that guy seems to love omurice.
Sakurai laughs and opens the box he has on the table, “I hope this cake will be fitting for the desserts then.”
Jun peeks at the box, and he sees a whole tiramisu inside. His eyes grow bigger at the sight. Not because it’s a tiramisu-Jun sees tiramisu all the time-this one is just normal, round and has frosting in broken white color and chocolate powder at the top. What surprises him is the size of the cake.
It’s not big, actually, probably around 15 centimeters in diameter. The problem is, there are only the two of them and Jun is not a big eater. It worries him a bit that they might not be able to finish it.
Sakurai apparently detects the worry in Jun’s face because he asks what’s wrong. When Jun says that the cake is big, Sakurai laughs.
“Don’t worry, Matsumoto-san. I happen to love omurice and cake. So while you can’t eat so much of it, I can’t have enough of it. Consider it a win-win,” then Sakurai’s expression changes, “Oh darn, I guess I have to help you with the dishwashing again if all I’m going to do tonight is eating like a pig.”
Jun laughs at that, and Sakurai just shrugs. Sakurai can read situations so well, it must have to do with his profession, Jun thinks. He then offers to put the cake in the fridge while they’re eating, and Sakurai lets him do so.
The dinner goes like the previous one, but both of them seem more comfortable than before. Jun finds himself talking more about his days and Sakurai reciprocates equally.
Sakurai couldn’t stop grinning and making happy sounds while he’s having his omurice. It makes Jun somehow feel warm in his stomach. He didn’t lie when he said it before; it feels nice to see someone enjoying the food he makes so much.
Especially if the one appreciating his food looks as cute as Sakurai when he does.
They have the cake later after the food. Jun slices the cake equally and puts them on two plates. When Sakurai sees the size of Jun’s slice, he frowns. Jun can’t help giggle when he sees that.
“Do you.. Do you need another slice?” Jun asks, his tone teasing.
Sakurai frowns and looks up at him, “Matsumoto-san. This is not a proper cake slice. I usually slice my cake at least twice bigger than this.”
Jun laughs. Sakurai’s passion for eating is unbeatable, he thinks. “Alright then, Sakurai-san. You can have mine too.”
“But-,” Sakurai pouts.
“I will get myself another one, okay,” Sakurai’s face breaks into a grin. He nods a little bit too enthusiastically for Jun’s standard.
They finally agree on the cake arrangement after Jun gets himself another slice. Sakurai gives him a thumb’s up when he sees Jun has a bigger slice than his previous one.
“This is good, okay, I mean it. You’ll regret it if you don’t have enough of it.”
“Really?” Jun lifts his fork and takes a bite of the cake. His eyes are blown out in surprise as he looks at Sakurai, and it results in Sakurai laughing at him. “This is delicious! Where did you get this?”
“Told you so,” Sakurai smiles, mocking. He has a bite of his cake too, “And not telling.”
“How mean!” Jun raises his tone, but end up laughing at himself.
Jun keeps praising Sakurai’s choice of cake while eating it. Sakurai just grins in return.
Sakurai stays after they finish the desserts to wash the dishes as he promised. Jun helps to dry the plates beside him. This time, Jun finds Sakurai’s presence even more comfortable. His mind wanders to what it would feel when they’re getting closer than that, but then he almost drops a plate, and he shakes his head to return his focus.
Moments later, when they’re both full and the dishes are all clean, and Sakurai is in the doorway, he pulls out his phone.
“Do you have plans for next weekend, Matsumoto-san?”
Jun is taken aback by the question. He already reserves his Saturday nights for Sakurai, for this dinner they promised to have every week. But that question sounds like Sakurai might have another plan for next week. For all Jun knows, it might not involve Jun at all.
It seems like Sakurai senses Jun’s worry, as he always does, because he adds, “I mean. I know that we have an agreement to have dinner at your place, you’re cooking and all. But there’s this place I have been wanting to go, and I kind of want to ask you to go there with me. If you don’t mind, that is.”
“Oh,” Jun blurts in relief, “Oh,” he repeats, hoping not to sound too relieved, “Well, no! I mean, no, I don’t mind at all, sure. We can go there next weekend.”
“Great! Can I have your contact information then?” Sakurai gives Jun his phone, and Jun puts his e-mail address there. He puts ‘Matsumoto Jun’ for the name, not sure if he should have put another information with it.
Jun returns the phone to Sakurai, who then clicks some buttons.
“I just sent you an email. Now you have my address too. I will send you the details later. If you don’t mind,” Sakurai smiles, to which Jun replies with a nod.
“Well, then, Matsumoto-san. I’m going home now,” Sakurai puts his phone back in his pocket and turns to the door.
But the next moment he turns back quickly and Jun looks at him, questioning.
Sakurai seems like he’s contemplating a bit, then, “Um.. Matsumoto-san, the other day, I’m sorry for blasting the music again.”
“The other day? Oh, that. Well, yeah. It’s alright. I found a way to distract myself until you finished, so that’s fine,” Jun shrugs.
“About that, um..,” Sakurai looks as if he’s thinking hard about something, “I, heard some woman screaming from my place. I was thinking to check to see that everything’s alright, but then I realized that I don’t have your contact information,” Sakurai pauses to breathe, “And I was afraid if I knock, I might, you know, interrupt your, intimate moment, or something.”
It takes a moment for Jun to let the words sink in. Then he realizes what Sakurai meant, and he can’t help blushing.
“It’s not- it’s not like that!” Jun replies, his voice goes a pitch higher, so he stops and clears his throat.
“I mean. No, it’s not that. I was watching a movie. There’s a lot of screaming in that movie, aside from that woman’s,” Jun explains awkwardly.
“Was it some hard-core porn?” Sakurai replies with a laugh, obviously trying to lighten up the mood.
But that only makes Jun blushes some more. “No! It was-it was a thriller movie.”
Jun can’t tell Sakurai what he watched exactly because he’s not sure how Sakurai’s going to take the fact that he’s a gore movie enthusiast.
“I see,” Sakurai smiles, “But yeah, still going to intrude you in your private moment if I did,” he laughs dryly.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Jun replies, “I’m actually single and not looking for casual hookups either,” he doesn’t know why he tells Sakurai this, but he can’t stop mumbling, “And I’m gay, so even if I do, they won’t be women either.”
In front of Jun, Sakurai smiles wide. “Well, Matsumoto-san. I guess that makes two of us. Good night.”
With that, Sakurai turns to the door and leaves.
Jun can only throw a fierce look to the door. Did Sakurai ask that on purpose? Had he somehow expect Jun to explain things that way?
Does that mean they will have a date next week?
---
Follow the link for part 2