Fic for solesakuma!
Intergroup Gold for solesakuma
from jerainbowbridge
Title: Just As It Is
Pairings/Groups: Matsumoto Jun/Kamenashi Kazuya; passing mentions of Toma, Ohno, and Taguchi.
Rating: PG
Warnings: none, slice-of-life
Summary: Jun doesn't feel the need to change anything (despite what Toma might think.)
Word Count/Notes: 1576. solesakuma, I really hope you like this! This ship is adorable and I hope I manage to do it justice ♥ Thanks to T and Cake for beta ♥♥
Kame's hair was still damp under his hat when he met Jun at the station. The recording studio where Kame had been filming his latest drama was only a few stops down the line from Jun's place, so they had agreed it would be sensible to get the train rather than drive. The cooling autumnal air crept in at Jun's collar as he stood waiting, and when Kame came through the ticket barriers and tucked his Suica card away, Jun frowned.
“You rushed here,” Jun said, by way of greeting.
“Ah, yeah.” Kame's eyes crinkled into what Jun recognised as an awkward grin, and he reached up to tug the surgical mask from his face. “They use so much make-up in filming. I couldn't meet you without showering first.”
“How's it coming along?” They fell into step beside each other, Kame with his bag slung over one shoulder and Jun with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Jun's home wasn't far from the station but they took an extended route anyway; force of habit after years in the spotlight.
“Mm, good, I think,” Kame said, boots hitting the pavement with a scuffing thud barely audible above the noise of the traffic and the other people passing by. “We're getting on well together.”
“I'm glad.” And he really was, knowing well how much easier things were when colleagues were easy to get along with. They crossed the street when the lights changed, and turned off the main road down first one side street and then another, winding round to the quieter, more residential area where Jun made his home. Jun reached into his pocket for the front door keys, tapping the security code into the panel on the door and waiting for Kame to walk past him. “What time's the party?”
“Eight.” Kame pushed the button to call the elevator and stepped in first as, with a soft ding, the doors opened. “Though I doubt anyone but Toma will actually be on time.”
Jun gave a quiet heh of laughter and, once they were inside his apartment, headed for the bathroom. “I'm showering, don't break anything.”
“As if I would,” Kame shot back, removing his hat and peering into the hallway mirror to scrutinise his still-damp hair.
“By the way,” Jun said, raising his voice over the hiss of the shower, “I think Ohno might have invited Taguchi, too.”
“Oh. Okay,” Kame called back, before plugging in Jun's hairdryer and blasting it at his roots. Then, later, when Jun stepped out of the bathroom with a towel slung around his waist and another in his hand as he tousled his hair dry, Kame mused: “The press would have a field day if they showed up.”
“The press can suck it,” Jun replied, but agreed all the same. He paused. “Besides, with a drama in the works, aren't you due to get Friday'd soon anyway?”
“Right,” Kame rolled his eyes. “May as well call up the cross-dressing hookers now, then.”
“Naturally, I have them all on speed-dial.”
*
Taguchi seemed surprised to see Kame when he entered the restaurant's private room, but his face cleared into understanding as soon as Jun stepped in close behind. Toma was on his feet in a heartbeat, gripping Jun's hand and pulling him into a hug that cheerfully pushed straight past Jun's personal barriers, and as Jun met his gaze over Toma's shoulder Kame gave a half-smile and went off to greet other friends.
“It's been a while,” said Toma, pulling back and holding Jun's shoulders at arm's length. “Hair's looking better.”
“There was never anything wrong with my hair.” Jun laughed and went to sit down, nodding his greetings to Ohno.
Other friends slowly filtered in, and as they settled down to order food Jun glanced across the room to where Kame sat talking animatedly with a fashion designer friend, looking intently focussed on the conversation at hand.
“Does he know?” Toma put his beer down on the table and slid onto the seat beside Jun.
“Does who know what.”
“Don't be obtuse, you know both who and what.”
“We've not really talked about it, it just is.”
“Oh, okay.”
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing.”
“You're giving me that 'Jun is being dumb again' look. You know I hate that.”
“I'm not!” Toma raised his hands in surrender. “I swear, I'm not.” He skewered a piece of takoyaki and shoved it into his mouth.
“You think we should have a squishy-feelings talk. We don't need a squishy-feelings talk.”
“Hey, I never said anything of the sort.” Toma raised his eyebrows as he gulped a mouthful of beer. “Tell me how Aiko-chan is and if she's given your hat back yet. How old is she now, seven?”
“Eight.” Jun automatically reached for his cellphone and pulled up a picture of their friend's daughter. “And no, she won't stop wearing it long enough for me to get it back.”
“You are so whipped.” Toma grinned and swayed as Jun lightly punched him in the shoulder.
Conversation grew progressively louder the more alcohol was consumed, and at some point somebody threatened to start singing Shonentai songs. There was a loud staccato burst of laughter - Oguri had clearly said something funny to Taguchi - and Jun tore himself away from an intense discussion about Inception to briefly scan the room.
Kame's face was crinkled with mirth; he stamped his feet and clapped his hands with full-bodied laughter. Ohno too was laughing, lolling against the back of the seat as his shoulders shook with chuckles. He said something to Kame, evidently too quiet to be heard clearly so Kame leaned closer, still grinning. He looked up and met Jun's eyes across the room; Jun felt a wave of emotion wash over him and reached the conclusion that he was probably drunk about two seconds later. He turned back; conversation was still on the same topic but he no longer felt as though he could keep up. The room was suddenly too loud. He got to his feet and headed for the washroom where he pulled off his glasses, tucking one arm into the neck of his shirt before splashing his face with cold water.
Then Kame was there, with Jun's coat slung over one arm because he'd left it in the other room. Jun felt absurdly grateful and then mostly just absurd, because it was a coat but it wasn't just a coat; it was Kame knowing that Jun wanted to go home and being okay with that and Jun was not in the mood for squishy feelings, he just wanted sleep.
The air outside was colder than Jun had anticipated, and from the way he bunched his shoulders up and puffed out his cheeks, Kame felt the same. They had originally opted for walking back to Jun's since a taxi had seemed extravagant, but the way the night bit through his coat made Jun wonder if it was an excusable expense after all.
“Shall we?”
“Taxi? Yeah. 'S cold.”
“Was warm in there.”
“T'always feels worse after drinking.”
“Nn.”
The ride back to Jun's place was comfortably silent; neither felt much like talking. Jun exhaled on the window in the taxi's back seat and watched the condensation quickly evaporate.
“You're staying?” Keys in hand, Jun willed the door to unlock more cooperatively.
“Only if it's not a problem.”
“Don't be stupid.” The door unlocked; Jun tugged it open and kicked his boots off, half-falling into the apartment. “Even if it was a problem, you should still stay.” He didn't look back, didn't check to see what look Kame was giving him.
They put a movie on; something Japanese because it was too late to be reading subtitles. Jun was full and drowsy from the food and drinks, and sunk down into the couch with a heavy sigh that was echoed as Kame settled beside him. Kame stretched his arms up and then flopped them behind him along the back of the couch, yawning but comfortable. They'd dimmed the lights already, and Jun felt his eyelids grow heavy as he slowly leaned to the side, falling asleep but too sleepy to care. He heard a soft movement beside him, fabric against fabric as Kame moved, and then the feeling of fingers softly threading through the hair at the nape of his neck. Jun surrendered then, sighing against Kame's shoulder and closing his eyes against the glare of the screen as Kame pressed his cheek against the top of Jun's head and traced lazy patterns through his hair.
“Are you watching this?”
“Not really.” More concentrated on soft touches that slowly shut down parts of his contentedly sleepy brain.
“Bedtime?”
“Mmm.”
Toma was wrong, Jun decided - a last fleeting snatch of half-formed thought as he finally slid under the blankets and reached over to turn out the bedside light. They didn't need to talk about... it. Not right now, anyway. There wasn't anything that really needed to be said. Kame sighed a good night beside him, and Jun murmured his response. It was absolutely more than fine just the way things were.