A raindrop for learashi!

[stormies]

Title: One Fast Move or I'm Gone
Pairing(s): Matsumoto Jun/Ninomiya Kazunari
Genres: AU, Slice of Life
Rating: NC-17
Summary: When Jun accepted a new role with company-provided accommodation, he didn't realise it would come with an annoying flatmate.
Warning(s): None
Author's notes: None

On paper everything had seemed perfect. A job offer with a higher salary, a senior job title, a company willing to pay for his relocation back to Japan and employee housing free of charge.

But because things could never be perfect, it turned out there weren't any one-bedroom apartments available. The apologetic member of HR who had been managing his hiring suggested he could move into a two-bedroom and share with one of the other employees. Coming out of six years of sharing a damp terraced house with another two people in London, he wasn't particularly thrilled at the prospect. But one look at the sad state of his savings account after being brutally ravaged by the living costs of the English capital had made the decision easy. He would stay in the shared apartment for a few months until he'd saved enough to get his own place.

At that moment however, as he stared at the array of instant ramen packs that were filling the kitchen cabinet up to the last inch, the prospect of spending just one more day in that apartment seemed like an impossible feat. Let alone months.

He closed the door shaking his head and moved to the next cabinet, only to be greeted by another wall of ramen. Then he checked the next one, and the one above the cooker, and the one below the sink. All of them overflowing with instant ramen. He felt his blood boil.

The culprit? None other than Ninomiya Kazunari. Nino. His flatmate.

Jun had only been back in Japan for three weeks and he had already been dangerously close to strangling him at least five times. But as he was generally against violence, he did what he always did at times like that. He took a deep breath and walked away, grabbed his keys and headed over to Ohno's.

When he entered, Ohno was wiping freshly washed cups behind the counter while looking out the window. He turned with a lazy smile when he heard Jun's greeting.

"The usual?" he asked.

"Please," Jun nodded and sat down at a table nearby, bathed in the afternoon autumn sun and half hidden behind several plants. Through the mass of leaves, he saw Ohno put away the cups and start preparing his order.

Ohno Satoshi was one of his closest friends. They had met many years back at the opening night of an art exhibition, when Jun had bought one of Ohno's paintings. It was the first painting Ohno had ever sold, and the first piece of art Jun had ever bought with the salary from his first proper job out of university, so they had hit it off, both feeling a bit out of place among the seasoned artsy crowd at the gallery.

Ohno's painting was currently in a storage unit in Jinbocho, carefully wrapped and waiting until Jun had somewhere to put it.

Aside from a talented artist, Ohno was also a great baker. He could never quite decide what he wanted to devote his life to, so he ended up choosing everything.

He had rented a derelict old warehouse by the train tracks in Okachimachi and renovated it to its current state himself, housing an independent art gallery with a cafe. Ohno curated exhibitions from emerging artists from all over Japan, occasionally showing his own work as well, and he baked all the bread and sweets for the cafe himself. It was an unusual but relaxing space, just like its owner, and Jun could feel the tension in his body slowly dissipating.

When Ohno walked over and placed a steaming mug of chai tea in the table in front of him, the delicious smell of spices was enough to push the memory of the instant ramen to the very back of his mind. He also put down a small plate with a golden-coloured perfectly round bread bun in it.

"I'm testing chestnut sweet bread for the autumn special," he explained as he sat down in the chair opposite Jun.

Jun picked it up and took a bite. The soft buttery bread was filled with sweet chestnut paste and black sesame cream, it reminded him of montblanc cake. "It's delicious. This will certainly be a hit," he said honestly.

Ohno smiled. "So, what happened with Nino this time?" he asked.

Jun's brows furrowed on reflex at the mention of his flatmate.

He didn't dislike the guy per se. Not really. He was generally nice and extremely witty, and Jun might have even liked him if they had met in other circumstances. But having to live with him when their lifestyles were complete opposites was driving him crazy.

He was well aware that he was a bit of a control freak, and Nino's laid-back approach tugged at each and every one of Jun's nerves. But, surely, expecting the cleaning schedule (that he had come up with) to be followed, the shared storage space respected and avoiding 2 AM drunken cooking sprees (while when sober he survived strictly on conbini food and instant noodles) wasn't that much to ask, was it?

To top it off, Nino seemed very reluctant to leave the house other than to go to work, and spent all of his free time lounging around watching YouTube and playing videogames hunched like a goblin in front of the TV. Just looking at him gave Jun back pain. At least he had the decency to ask Jun if he wanted to join him when he was around, but the couple of times he had accepted he had been beaten without mercy.

"He filled all the kitchen cabinets with instant ramen," Jun explained. "When you open any of the cabinets it's just a wall of ramen, not even the tiniest gap left for anything else."

Predictably Ohno's first reaction was to laugh. He seemed to have become fond of the image of Nino he had pieced together in his mind from Jun's anecdotes.

"I just wanted to grab a bottle of water but I don't even know if they're still in there, behind all that junk," he lamented.

"I wonder where all that ramen even came from. You said he was pretty frugal, right?" Ohno asked.

"More like stingy and cheap as hell," Jun confirmed, taking a final angry bite at the innocent chestnut bun.

Ohno seemed to reflect for a moment. "Do you think he put it in the kitchen to share with you?" he asked.

"As if I would ever eat something that's full of chemicals like that," Jun huffed, offended at the mere suggestion. He rested his head on his hands, elbows on the table. "I just want my own place soon. Somewhere without surprise ramen or cables running through the corridor because 'Wi-Fi is not good enough for competitive play'."

Ohno's chuckle was cut short by a new customer walking into the cafe. He got up with an apologetic smile towards Jun.

"At least he's not leaving dirty plates out and playing music at night or something, Matsujun," he said as he gave his back a comforting pat. "And he's lived there alone for a long time, maybe he just needs time to adjust to sharing."

Jun sighed and looked on as Ohno approached the counter and addressed the customer with a polite nod. He wished he had his friend's patience and good-humoured nature.

When he got back to the apartment, Nino was predictably home. As Jun removed his jacket and placed his keys in the little shelf by the entrance, his flatmate padded into the kitchen, barefoot and wrapped in a towel tightly tucked under his armpits, apparently fresh off the bath.

"Welcome back," he said with a nod, which Jun returned.

Nino grabbed a beer from the fridge and placed it on the countertop, then reached into the cabinet overhead to retrieve one of the instant ramen packs. As he rummaged, trying not to cause the ramen pile to collapse, the towel raised dangerously close to the edge of his butt and Jun respectfully looked away, trying to compensate for Nino's lack of modesty.

"What's up with all that ramen?" he asked.

"Ah, this? I won a raffle at the supermarket by the station. The grand price was a VR set that I really wanted, but a year supply of ramen isn't bad either, right?" Nino explained as he filled a pot with water and put it on the stove. "Feel free to eat some if you want," he added.

Jun could almost hear Ohno's voice in his head, "See? He isn't that bad, Matsujun." Maybe he had been too hasty in his anger after all. Unsure of what to reply, he stood there watching Nino boil water in a bath towel for a bit.

Nino ripped open the condiment sachets and poured them into the pot. "Let's say 200 yen?" he said while stirring.

"Huh?" Jun asked. He had no idea what his flatmate was talking about.

"For the ramen, Jun-pon," Nino looked up at him and grinned. "I'm already giving you a resident discount."

Unbelievable.

"You want to charge me for the ramen that you got for free?" he asked.

Nino raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. I'm feeling generous today, so I'll do 150 yen per pack for you, but I'm practically losing money here."

The greedy bastard. Jun counted to 10 in his head. Breath in, breath out.

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't really eat ramen much," he said once he trusted his voice to sound neutral enough.

Nino's eyes widened. "Are you serious? Ramen is a staple of Japanese food! It's probably all those years in England that messed up your tastebuds," he said as he submerged the dried noodles in the pot. "Since I'm such a nice guy, I will give you one for free so you can remember what you're missing out on," he offered.

"I know it's good. I just don't like eating unhealthy food," Jun explained.

At that, Nino laughed. "So that's why you are into that weird ion water and the charcoal bread?" he turned the stove off and gave him a look, scanning him from head to toe. "Guess that explains why you look like..." he chose not to elaborate and gestured broadly towards Jun instead.

Jun felt heat creep to his face, as if he was the one standing in the middle of the kitchen practically naked instead. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Anyway, make sure to store some of that ramen somewhere else so I can use the cabinets too," he told Nino, who replied with a sort of military salute.

With forced composture, he turned and headed to his room, closing the door behind him. The next months until he moved out were going to be some of the longest in his life.

Like every morning, Jun got up right after the first alarm. He was not a morning person, but after years of employment he had learnt to be. He brewed coffee, made a smoothie that was mostly just banana, given that he was trying to save for an apartment, and drank a cup of hot water with ginger.

He stared at his wardrobe for too long before getting dressed. It was the beginning of October and the weather was getting cooler. Still nothing like London, which would be dark and grey this time of the year, and he would curse out loud as soon as he stepped outside. He put on a pair of grey slacks, a loose white t-shirt and a stiff beige flannel shirt and stepped out of his room.

At exactly 8:35, Jun was putting on a pair of Vans high tops and fixing his hair under a knitted hat at the genkan. Then, Nino's bedroom door opened and he appeared. His hair a mess, eyelids heavy as he stumbled over to the bathroom while buttoning his trousers along the way.

By 8:40 Jun double-checked the contents of his backpack. The bento box he had prepared the night before, a bottle of ionised water, low fat energy bars, his headphones, a backup battery for his phone.

As he stepped out, like every morning, Nino rushed behind, still putting his shirt on as he stepped into his shoes and grabbed his keys.

At the beginning, Jun had found Nino's insistence for walking to the office together every morning somewhat strange.

Not only because he seemed to struggle getting up on time, but he also just played on his phone all the way as they walked side by side, replying only to Jun's occasional comments with monosyllables. But since they lived in the same apartment and worked in the same office, he guessed it would have been weirder if they had gone out of their way to avoid each other instead. Jun had also had to pull a distracted Nino out of the way of a bicycle or a jogger a couple of times already. Even though Nino had survived perfectly fine without him until now, Jun knew he would worry if he wasn't there to steer his flatmate away from danger. So he just had learned to accept the arrangement.

As they reached the entrance, Nino pocketed his phone. Around them a throng of suited employees made a beeline for the lifts, a controlled chaos of briefcases, shiny tie pins and polished shoes.

Jun still felt ill at ease in this large corporate environment. His company in London had been very casual. A converted warehouse in Shoreditch with 16 employees, where his colleagues brought their dogs in to work and, on the rare occasions when the sun was out, they had lunch breaks together at the garden of the local pub. His new job as creative designer for one of Japan's leading advertising agencies was all but casual.

At least the art department to which he belonged was more relaxed and he didn't have to wear a suit, and neither did Nino, who was a full-stack developer in the tech team.

They marched on towards the lifts, swiping their ID cards on the turnstiles and Jun heard the smooth baritone voice before he saw him.

"Good morning, Matsumoto-kun, Ninomiya-san," the voice said.

Jun looked up to be met with Sakurai Sho's smile. "Good morning, Sh-... Sakurai-san," he greeted, catching himself at the last moment. It still felt weird addressing him by his last name, but a newbie casually calling the marketing director by his first name would certainly raise some eyebrows.

Sho laughed, his shoulders shaking with mirth as they often did when he was amused.

"How is it going, have you gotten used to the job yet?" he asked as they waited for the next lift.

Jun hummed. "Sort of. I need to get used to being back in Japan first, I keep trying to get on the bus through the wrong door. It's embarrassing," he admitted, earning another hearty chuckle from the other man.

They fell silent as they stepped into the lift. Jun glanced in Sho's direction and noticed the respectful nods he received from the rest of the staff members filling the lift as they noticed Director Sakurai. He looked the part too, in a sharp navy suit with a dark red and cream tie and a professional-yet-friendly smile plastered on his face. This orthodox version of Sho seemed to have very little in common with the grumpy teenager he had known years ago, but then Jun noticed the mark on his earlobe where a piercing had once been and he had to supress a grin.

The lift stopped its ascend at every floor, with people scattering across the building over to their desks. Sho raised his chin lightly towards Jun and got off at the 10th floor, where the senior management offices and the boardroom were, as Jun and Nino continued up.

Nino waited until they were alone, a few seconds away from reaching the 15th floor that housed both of their teams. "Are you friends with director Sakurai?" he asked curiously.

"He was my senpai in high school," Jun answered plainly.

"You were going to call him 'Sho'," Nino observed.

"It's just an old habit. He was my private tutor for a while, I was doing really badly in school and wanted to drop out. He helped me out," he explained.

He didn't want to publicise his past friendship with Sho, in case anyone thought it had had anything to do with him getting that job.

Although they had been close back then, they had eventually gone separate ways and Sho had been merely an acquaintance to Jun over most of their adult life. Little more than a New Year's card and a birthday greeting via email. He hadn't even known that Jun had applied and been offered the position until he turned up on his induction day.

Nino let out a tiny whistle. "Having had the company's idol be your private tutor will make you a big deal around here, Jun-pon."

Jun arched an eyebrow in his direction "Idol?"

The lift came to a halt with a little chiming sound, and the pair stepped out. Nino stopped briefly on the landing.

"All the office ladies go crazy for him. They say he is so good looking and dreamy he should have joined Johnny's," he said with a mocking snort before pushing the glass door to his left open and disappearing into the tech department.

Jun gathered that Nino probably wasn't Sakurai Sho's biggest fan.

For the three weeks that Jun had been in his new job, he had mostly been helping out other members of his team in their respective projects. With only two months left before Christmas, the busiest period for advertising agencies was at its peak. Projects had been assigned months ago and were too far into production for Jun to be able to make any significant changes without risking the deadlines.

So his new day to day was a lot less exciting than he had expected it to be, but he knew it was just a matter of time until things picked up and he would soon be drowning in work. After all, Valentine's season was only two months after Christmas and that was sure to bring in new advertising projects.

When he had told Sho that he was "sort of" getting used to the job, he hadn't lied.

Jun sat at department meetings and acted cool, but the numbers thrown around in budget reviews and approvals made his eyes water. His last agency would practically throw a party in the rare occasion a client's budget reached six figures and, more often than not, dealt with modest campaigns for independent organisations. That had been their strength. Coming up with innovative and impactful solutions within limited budgets.

But here, millions were paid and discussed like pennies. Jun buzzed at the possibilities. What would he be able to create without the constraints of a tight budget? He was dying to find out.

Despite having been working side by side with most of the members of his department, Jun still felt very much like an outsider. His personality made it difficult for him to be comfortable with people he had just met and, to make matters worse, his colleagues seemed to be keeping an unnecessary respectful distance after they learned he had been working in a creative agency in London. He had caught Meguro and Yamamoto whispering about it by the coffee machine with reverence, as if he was some sort of creative genius, instead of someone who one day packed a suitcase and got on a plane on impulse and full of big dreams.

It was something that would sort itself out in time, once he got to know them better, so there was no point in worrying about it. Instead, he poured his energy in carrying out tasks and design revisions given to him by the rest of the team.

He was too engrossed on the mobile wireframes he was working on for the Christmas Cake Donut project for the largest donut chain in the country to notice the sudden flurry of activity around the floor. He kept on going, resizing and rearranging buttons to the beat of Sgt. Pepper's on his headphones, until a hand tapped his shoulder. He jolted and looked up. Sho. Director Sakurai, who laughed and said something Jun couldn't hear through the voice of Paul McCartney in his ears. He took the headphones off.

"Sorry, sorry. I see you still get startled when someone approaches you from the back," he said.

Jun reddened. At school, Sho used to prank him all the time once he found out about this weakness, going out of his way to creep up to him when he was least expecting. "Sorry, I didn't hear you with these," he said, pointing at the headphones hanging around his neck.

"What are you working on?" Sho asked, looking curiously at Jun's work on the screen.

"It's the Christmas cake donut rewards application," he answered, zooming out to give Sho a better look of the wireframes.

"Ah, I see..." Sho said as he spent a moment longer examining the screen. Jun wasn't sure if he could make sense of what he was seeing. Sho's field of expertise were sales and strategic vision, and he had always been rather lacking on the creative front.

It was only then that Jun now noticed the whole department was discreetly watching them while pretending to carry on with their work, probably wondering what brought the marketing director to his desk.

Jun cleared his throat, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Is there anything I can help you with, Director?" he asked.

Sho's eyes narrowed briefly at the change of tone, but he played along. "Not really, I have something to discuss with Kurono-san and took the opportunity to check on our new star hire," he explained.

As if on cue, the door into the department opened and the section chief, Kurono-san, walked in. He was visibly out of breath as he hurriedly crossed the floor towards Sho, it was obvious someone had alerted him of the Director's visit and he had rushed back to the department.

"Ah, Chief Kurono, I was looking for you. I hope you didn't have to rush for my sake," Sho greeted him genially. Then, turning to Jun. "Sorry, Matsumoto-kun, don't let me keep you from your work."

Jun watched as he strode over to Kurono and shook his hand. The pair disappeared into his boss's office. He had always been envious of that skill Sho had for dealing with people. He made everybody feel welcome and appreciated. It was no surprise that he had made it to a director position so quickly.

He took the distraction as a chance to refill his cup of coffee and then, putting his headphones back on, he went back to his wireframes.

The sky was halfway between blue and black by the time Jun made his way back home. Although he hadn't planned to work overtime, he had lost track of time while working on those wireframes and ended up staying late by accident. At least they were done. And it wasn't like he had anything better to do, his social life definitely having taken a hit after a six-year absence.

It had been just him and Kurono-san in the office after hours and, as Jun finally packed his bag to leave, his boss approached him to ask if he was free the following Thursday for his welcome party.

Jun knew this was Sho's doing, and he hadn't decided whether to be happy or annoyed at his meddling yet. Sho knew full well that, under the carefully put together layers of confidence, Jun was actually shy, and he still wasn't sure if having one of the directors know him so closely would turn out to be an advantage or a hindrance in the long run.

Preoccupied with such thoughts, he concluded he wasn't in the right mood for cooking that night and decided to take a little detour and stop by a vegan cafe that he had saved into his Google "Want to go" list a while ago. It was a bit of an unplanned splurge but he convinced himself he had earned it by finishing the donut application ahead of schedule.

He was running out of time. If there was something Jun hated more than surprises, it was running late.

He proceeded to systematically check the contents of the fridge once more from top to bottom. He was completely sure he had stored Wednesday's leftover nikujaga as a backup for this week, in case he did not get to cook a bento, but no matter how much he rummaged and opened containers one by one, it was nowhere to be found. Annoyed, he closed the fridge door a bit too hard, causing the glass jars inside to clink loudly.

He stared at his half-assembled bento box with microwaved frozen brown rice and a side of courgette and mushroom sunomono, but the main dish had gone inexplicably missing. The alarm on his phone rang unhelpfully, letting him know he had to leave in ten minutes to make it on time to the office.

As usual, Nino's door swung open and his bleary-eyed flatmate emerged. He mumbled a greeting and headed towards the bathroom, reappearing a few minutes later looking marginally more awake and a tiny bit more presentable.

He stopped to look at Jun, who was still staring at the empty space in the middle of his bento box, mystified.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Jun looked up to find Nino halfway through brushing his teeth in the middle of the corridor. "I can't find the nikujaga I cooked the other night," he replied.

Nino blinked. "That nikujaga? I had it for dinner yesterday."

Jun stared blankly at him. He couldn't have.

"You said they were leftovers and it was in the middle shelf, so I thought it was okay for me to have it," he explained. His tone was quieter than usual, as if he sensed Jun's growing anger and he didn't want to add to it.

Jun exhaled. He did his usual mental count to ten, but he only made it to four before he lost against himself.

He slammed his fist against the kitchen worktop angrily, making Nino wince.

"That was my fucking lunch, Nino," he snapped.

His normally brazen flatmate was taken aback and he seemed to shrink, looking even smaller than usual. Jun practically towered over him.

"If you want to eat, cook your own damn food," he added sharply.

In a swift move, he grabbed the bento box, emptied the contents into the bin behind him and threw the now empty box in the sink. He didn't spare Nino another look as he put on his shoes and left the apartment, resisting the urge to slam the door out of consideration for the neighbours, who unlike him didn't have to put up with an extremely irritating flatmate.

Out of spite, Jun bought breakfast at Starbucks on the way to the office and then regretted it, because Nino wasn't worth the money it cost nor all the saturated fats in the croissant. It just made him angrier.

For the next couple of days he went out of his way to avoid Nino. He stayed late at the office and went to Ohno's afterwards, who listened to him patiently. When he returned home, he did it quietly so Nino wouldn't hear him over the sound of his video games.

On the second night, as he tiptoed over to his bedroom after getting home past midnight, he caught a glimpse of his bento box. It had been washed and carefully put away to dry on top of a checkered dish towel.

He felt the tiniest squeeze in his chest. His anger had long dissipated, but he didn't know how to face Nino.

He had been in the wrong, but Jun drawing out this feud unnecessarily had made things awkward between them. He should have just given him the chance to apologise and moved on. After all, he had no choice but to see him every day.

That night, he went to bed with the intention of walking to the office with Nino as normal the following morning. However, he was so fidgety that he woke up before his alarm and gave up, leaving quietly while his flatmate slept.

All through the morning, he produced what seemed like an endless variation of test prints for Machida-san to present to her client, a famous brand of cosmetics, for review. By the time the clock finally signalled lunch time and he felt like he'd printed enough colour variations for a whole year, a small black-haired head poked out from behind his computer monitor unannounced.

It had only been two days, but Jun felt like he hadn't seen Nino for weeks. It might have been sheer exhaustion, but at that moment he could swear he had almost missed him.

Nino offered him a timid smile and deposited a white paper bag on the desk. Jun stared at the mysterious bag and back at him questioningly.

"A peace offering," he stated simply, pushing the bag a bit closer towards him.

Jun opened his mouth, but before he could figure out what he wanted to say, Nino's smile turned into his usual grin and he offered Jun his silly trademark salute before turning on his heels and walking out of the art department.

With his curiosity piqued, Jun reached for the bag and opened it. Inside there were six onigiri in assorted flavours and a business card for a shop in Katsushika.

Jun loved onigiri. What he wasn't sure about was if Nino knew this or had simply gotten lucky.

As someone who didn't like surprises, Jun was a bit of a creature of habit and he had developed his own small traditions over the years. One of them was cooking nabe when he was in a particularly good mood.

He now stood in the kitchen against the setting sun coming in through the window, staring at the array of fresh vegetables and chicken on the countertop while he gently simmered kombu to make dashi.

Why was he in the right mood for nabe today, though? Well, he had eaten delicious onigiri from a specialty shop for lunch, and that was reason enough to lift his spirits. He had also made up with Nino. So he could go back to coexisting somewhat peacefully with his mildly annoying flatmate.

Jun went through the steps in the recipe he knew by heart with military precision. First he braised the chicken until the skin was crispy and browned, then the daikon pieces he had soaked in water, and all went into the waiting simmering kombu stock. The sweet potato, shimeji and shiitake followed, and just as he was ready to add the tofu, he heard the familiar rattling of keys at the door and Nino appeared shorty after.

"Welcome back," Jun greeted first.

He looked up at him and smiled as he took his shoes off in the genkan. "I'm home."

Nino walked past the kitchen in the direction of the bathroom and Jun heard him wash his hands. Jun brought his attention back to the stove, where the stock was starting to bubble up. He added yuzu kosho paste and covered the donabe, letting it simmer for a few more minutes.

When Nino returned to the kitchen, he leaned with his back against the fridge to Jun's left. "Hey, J," he started, and Jun turned to face him. "I'm sorry about the nikujaga. I really thought it was there for sharing, I wouldn't have eaten it otherwise."

Jun shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'm sorry too, I overreacted."

"Although I don't regret it," he added with a cheeky smile. "It was super delicious. Even better than my own grandma's."

"Don't say that, it will make your grandma sad," Jun joked, trying to mask his embarrassment.

Nino chuckled. "I'm serious though. I didn't expect you to be such a good cook, I thought you'd make everything healthy and the taste would be weird. I'm glad I was wrong."

"It was just nikujaga, it's almost impossible to make bad nikujaga," Jun replied, still trying to decide if he should be flattered or offended about Nino's assumptions.

Nino now had a faraway look in his eyes. "And there was so much meat in it too... Ah, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it."

That made Jun laugh out loud. He was a decent cook, but it was the first time someone had gushed about a simple serving of leftover nikujaga.

He turned the heat off and added a handful of chopped mizuna leaves. Then he grabbed two bowls from the cabinet and passed them to Nino.

"Let's eat," he told him. He hadn't planned dinner for two, but there was more than enough for both of them.

With the portable gas stove on the table between them and the steaming donabe on top of it, it didn't take long for Nino to start to comment enthusiastically on Jun's cooking skills. The exceptionally tender chicken, the just-right level of spice in the seasoning and even the way he had sliced the shiitake. Jun's face grew progressively redder as he ate his portion in silence.

"Eh? Are you perhaps getting shy, J?" Looking at him, Nino grinned in a way that warmed Jun more than the steaming broth in his bowl.

"Shut up and eat."

Jun had to do a double take when he recognised the silhouette that was leaning against the bar, holding a glass of beer as big as his head.

He was at his welcome party that had been dutifully organised by Kurono (probably under strict guidance from Sho) and had no idea why Nino was here, when he was clearly not a part of his department. He shook his head in disbelief and proceeded to ignore his intrusive flatmate.

At seeing him idle, Machida and Yamamoto took the chance and dragged him to the bar to order another round. Jun ordered scotch and enjoyed the easier flow of conversation with his colleagues that such setting provided compared to the office. He made a mental note to thank Sho the next time they met, when he saw the Director himself walk through the door of the pub, to the muffled gasps of Jun's two companions.

Sho found him before Kurono had a chance to get to him first. Jun was almost embarrassed at the level of excitement Machida and Yamamoto reached when Sho casually greeted them and made polite small talk. The devastating effect of the company's idol, rumoured to be on par with Johnny's.

Eventually, Sho was dragged away by the section chief and the two ladies followed in tow, having clearly lost interest in Jun for the evening. Sho managed to offer him an apologetic smile over the shoulder as he walked away.

In a different lifetime, Jun would have been jealous. Now he felt nothing but amusement, it had been ages ago, after all.

It had been unrequited, of course. Like every other lovesick teen, Jun had suffered in the throes of youthful angst. He cursed Sho's name at night in the privacy of his bedroom at his parents' house and then forgot all about it in the morning, when Sho elbowed him as a morning greeting by the school lockers. The peak display of affection to Jun's 15-year-old brain.

It took a few moments for him to notice Nino had moved closer and was standing next to him, sipping from the pint glass that looked comically large in his hands.

"Isn't it ironic for your welcome party to be held at an English pub?" he asked him. "I mean, you've probably seen enough of these over the last few years in London already, shouldn't it have been an izakaya instead?"

Jun snorted with laughter and almost spilled the drink in his mouth. He was not wrong. But this had Sho's undeniable mark all over it: something carefully planned but somehow a bit ridiculous.

"Why are you here anyway?"

"I like free food and drinks," Nino explained as if it was obvious. "And more than that, as your number one fan, I couldn't miss it," he added with a wink.

Jun choked and very much spilled his drink this time around, flustered. Not able to find a clever retort, he kept quiet and the pair turned their eyes to the whole art department crowding around Sho.

It was Nino who eventually broke the silence once more.

"There has to be something wrong with him. Nobody can be that nice and proper all the time," he said with a scowl in Sho's direction. He straightened his back suddenly. " 'Good afternoon, Saejima-san, did you cut your hair? It looks lovely. Ah, don't worry about those spreadsheets, I'll finish them, so just go home early for today'. It's creepy."

In spite of himself, Jun laughed loudly. Nino really had a talent for impersonating.

"Does he ever get angry?" Nino asked.

Jun nodded. "He does. Once when we were in high school we broke the window of the music club room while messing around, and we were punished by having to stay behind and organise the school library stockroom for one week. He had to miss a concert he had bought tickets for, and he got so annoyed he trashed half of the stockroom," he recalled. After a pause, he grinned. "Then he obviously put everything back in its place, carefully arranged alphabetically."

They both erupted in laughter. Nino slapped Jun's arm and then the counter while doubling over. Jun had to steady himself on the bar while he struggled to recover his breath.

"I'm glad you two are getting along," said the voice whose owner they had just been discussing.

Startled, Jun straightened up immediately to meet Sho's perennial smile. He blinked innocently at the director, while Nino wheezed even harder next to him. Sho threw Nino a curious look and then quietly signalled the bartender and asked for a glass of white wine. Jun thought it suited him.

"So, Macchan," he started, using the old nickname that Jun had once loved because it was Sho who used it, but was close to causing him to break out in hives now. "London. Who would have thought?" He turned to Nino. "This guy was completely useless at English in high school."

Nino offered Sho a smile that Jun recognised as fake. "Well, Director, that may have been the case, but I hear our J is causing quite a sensation in the art department."

Jun had no idea what Nino was talking about, but had known him long enough to know not to trust a word that came out of his mouth. The guy was a professional bullshitter. Sho, however, nodded earnestly in agreement.

"You're quite right, Ninomiya-san, and, between us, I am looking forward to see what he comes up with for the Meiji Valentine's campaign," Sho said, with a friendly squeeze to Jun's shoulder.

Jun stood gobsmacked, this was the first he was hearing about it. His heartbeat got faster. Meiji chocolate was the biggest client for Valentine's Day for obvious reasons, Jun had wished he would have the opportunity to work on it, but he hadn't expected to be put in charge of the largest project so soon after joining the company. He looked at Sho in disbelief.

"Congratulations," Sho told him.

Later that night, Jun had found out Nino was unexpectedly a lightweight when it came to alcohol.

He had gotten tipsy enough with a couple of pints to pull a deck of cards out of his pocket and go around the room entertaining Jun's colleagues with magic tricks. Jun watched as Nino's eyes and ears became redder and redder, his grin wider and wider as he earned stunned gasps and squeals from the overexcited art department crew.

Of course, when the party wound down, it was Jun's job to get him home, having to pry him away from the bar while he insisted he just had to do one final trick. Thankfully, Sho had the good sense to book a taxi for them, and the delicacy to prepay the trip. Jun really had to remember to thank him properly next time, for everything.

Once inside the taxi, Nino yawned and stretched like a cat. "That was so much fun."

Jun pretended to be more annoyed than he really was. "You didn't have to go as far as to crash my welcome party."

Nino smirked. "I didn't crash it, Sakurai-san invited me personally."

"I thought you didn't like Sakurai-san."

"You mean 'Sho'?" Nino retorted. The smartass.

Jun rolled his eyes at him. "Whatever."

They fell silent as the taxi moved slowly through the busier intersections of Shinjuku. Jun settled back comfortably, watching the people making their way back home or to their next destination. Drunk salarymen saying their goodbyes to their bosses after a gathering, groups of college students spilling out of karaoke rooms and the occasional hopeful host looking for customers.

"I don't like the way he calls you 'Macchan', it's stupid," Nino announced suddenly.

That was a bold claim coming from someone who had been calling him Jun-pon until last week. And the recent J was only a small improvement.

"I'm the only one who can give you nicknames," he added, positively sulking.

When Jun didn't reply he shoved him lightly with his elbow. "Do you hear me?" he asked.

Jun chuckled and chose surrender. "Yes, yes. Alright."

He wasn't quite sure what to think about Nino. He was a pain in the ass, the bane of his existence. He tried to get off from doing his share of chores and extorted free food out of him by feeding his ego with skillful flattery. That should have been enough for Jun to want to have nothing to do with him, but when Nino showed his cute and caring side, it made Jun weak.

Were they just flatmates? Or friends? And why did it feel like he had inadvertedly taken a human pet?

November arrived and, as weeks went by, the weather got progressively colder. Normally, that would have been enough to put Jun would in a bad mood, but the excitement of the Meiji project kept him energised and in high spirits.

Little by little, the Christmas projects started to die off and his help was no longer needed, allowing him to focus on his own project. He had meetings with the client, gauging what kind of reaction they were after, and he had meetings with Kurono-san and the rest of the department heads to discuss budgets, vendors and deadlines.

It took him a while to settle on the concept. With the initial rush of adrenaline, he had too many ideas, wanted to do everything at once. Progressively, he started to narrow down his proposal. He went to Ohno's often and used him as a sounding board between bites of persimmon tart, his latest seasonal specialty, under the warm glow of the antique camping lamps that lit up the cafe at strategic spots.

When he first presented his proposal to his department, he was met with stunned silence, incredulous looks and a few confused hums. He didn't let it deter him, he had grown used to these reactions from his London colleagues whenever he had a particularly outlandish idea. With determination, he pushed through and got it approved. Sho had laughed out loud when he had seen the preliminary presentation and shook his hand with a glint in his eye at the end.

Jun's project did not come without its share of headaches. He had set out to build a life-size train out of chocolate that would stand in the middle of Roppongi Hills for couples to get on and take pictures, and that came with unprecedented chocolate engineering problems to solve.

Jun didn't mind. The Meiji marketing team had loved the Milkyway Chocolate Express project and he was determined to surpass every expectation, no matter the amount of hard work it took or how many of his coworkers thought he was insane.

When he arrived home late, Nino was there, and Jun appreciated having someone to share his latest piece of the puzzle to solve. He was only half-listening, with his phone or his Nintendo in his hand, but it was enough. And the few times he had actually given his opinions on something Jun had told him, he had found them to be spot on.

Their relationship had reached a comfortable state of homeostasis. Jun put up with the cables running through the corridor and the never-ending stack of ramen or free packs of promotional paper tissues that Nino hoarded, and, in turn, Nino had managed to meet Jun's cleaning schedule by purchasing a roomba vacuum to do it for him. When Jun cooked dinner, he often cooked for two, and Nino returned the favour with the occasional gift of onigiri, castera cake or korokke from shops in his native Katsushika (and that Jun very much suspected were purchased by Nino's mother.)

When Jun told Ohno anything about Nino, he joked that they were just like a married couple. Jun always acted offended until his friend tried to placate him with one of his culinary creations.

Before he realised, Christmas was around the corner. Jun politely declined to attend the office party on Christmas Eve, ignoring Sho's insistent invitations. The director seemed to thrive in organising staff parties and his colleagues excitedly discussed and speculated about what that year's celebration would be like.

Instead, he had planned to drop by and see Ohno on that day, but when he mentioned it to his friend, he unceremoniously turned him down saying he had an actual date. He felt betrayed. Ohno grinned from ear to ear and handed him a slice of homemade Christmas cake.

So when the day arrived, Jun just headed straight home from work. The streets where full of couples on dates watching the illuminations and of families queueing outside of KFC. He sighed with relief when he finally got to his apartment, away from the bustle and crowds, but as he removed his coat, he heard an unfamiliar high-pitched giggle. He stepped out of the genkan and glanced over to the living room curiously.

A man he'd never seen before was sitting on the sofa next to Nino. They both had a game controller in their hands and were in the middle of a tightly disputed Street Fighter match.

"Welcome back," Nino said over the game sound effects, without taking his eyes off the screen. His fingers flying over the buttons of his controller performing a string of combos.

The match finished after two more minutes with Nino claiming victory with a loud shriek. The other man collapsed back into the sofa, groaned, and punched Nino on the arm.

Just then, the doorbell rang and Nino got up to answer it, jumping over his companion's stretched out legs to get to the corridor. Jun heard him mutter the word pizza as he headed for the door. The other man stood up from the sofa and turned towards Jun.

"Sorry for intruding, I'm Aiba Masaki," he said with a smile, and Jun noticed the crinkles around his eyes and the dimples on his cheeks. He was tall, slender and very good-looking. His fashionable clothes were a stark contrast to Nino's dismal lack of style.

Nino reappeared soon after, balancing two large pizza boxes on his arms. He looked at Jun. "Ah, I see you've met already," he said before turning over his shoulder. "Masaki, get your ass over here and help me."

Aiba let out another giggle and made some space on the cluttered table. When Nino placed the pizza boxes down on it and opened them with an overly theatrical "dinner is served", he took a look and whistled, apparently impressed.

"You ordered one with pineapple on it!?" he asked excitedly.

"I still think it's a crime, but it's your special day, so..." Nino shrugged.

Aiba launched forwards and pulled him into a tight hug. "I love you, Kazu."

Jun didn't miss the casual way in which they addressed and treated each other. He wondered what type of relationship they had. Childhood friends, perhaps? Or maybe... Jun hadn't given Nino's romantic life (or lack thereof) much thought until then, but it was Christmas, so it wouldn't be that strange if it was actually a date. He suddenly felt awkward.

Nino pushed Aiba away with a fake disgusted gag and plopped back down on the sofa, he looked at Jun, who was still standing by the kitchen entrance, and beckoned him over with his hand. "J, grab a beer and join us."

Jun shook his head, "Sorry, but I have some work to do," he lied.

"You're working even on Christmas? At least have some pizza first," Nino said with a frown. "You don't have to eat the pineapple, if that's what worries you."

Jun chuckled. "Thanks, but I already had dinner."

That was also a lie. He had no idea why he kept saying things he didn't really mean as if on autopilot. With an apology and an "it was nice meeting you" to Aiba, Jun headed towards his bedroom.

That was turning out to be a pretty miserable night. He hadn't been big on Christmas celebrations before, but living in London, where Christmas was a huge deal eventually got to him and infused him with holiday spirit. It must have been all the memories of knitted jumpers with Santas and reindeers and Kevin the Carrot and the decorations at Liberty's making him feel sad and lonely.

He was also an idiot, having turned down Nino's invitation to hang out with him and Aiba for no reason. Why did he prefer to wallow in his misery, when he could be playing games and drinking beer in the living room? He gave it some thought as he discarded his clothes and put on a pair of comfortable sweatpants and a heattech t-shirt.

It just hadn't felt right, as if he was intruding on their celebration, whatever the occasion was. He had also been shocked to find out that Nino had a close friend like that. It was obvious that he must have friends, but he had hardly ever spoken of them, and Jun had never seen them. And now that he thought about it, Nino hadn't really shared much of his private life with him. He never told him about what he did when he wasn't at home or at the office. The only information Jun had about his family was because he had asked about it, and he only knew he was from Katsushika because of the onigiri. Realising that he was really an outsider, and not one of the people closest to Nino as he had believed, was depressing.

What a stupid thing to be upset about.

With a vigorous shake of the head, as if trying to get rid of all the unnecessary thoughts, Jun settled on the bed and put on one of his favourite movies on his Mac book. One that he had seen dozens of times and still captured him like the first time. If there was a thing like comfort food, this was Jun's comfort movie.

By the time the movie ended, the laugher and voices coming from the other side of his door that he had tried to ignore had died down. Only then did Jun allow himself a trip to the kitchen to find some snacks to placate his empty stomach. He shouldn't have lied about dinner.

He tiptoed down the corridor. The living room was quiet, with only the blue light and faint sound coming from the TV. From the kitchen, Jun glanced over to the sofa and his eyes widened at the scene. Aiba was fast asleep under a blanket, his head resting comfortably on a pillow on Nino's lap.

When his flatmate turned away from the old Showa drama to look at him, Jun blushed and looked away. He didn't need to see any more proof of Nino's and Aiba's intimacy.

"Did you finish your work?" Nino asked quietly.

Jun nodded. He didn't have any work to begin with.

He hastily went into the kitchen and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl and a granola bar from the drawer and he turned to scurry back to his room.

"J," Nino called out.

Jun stopped in his tracks and turned around, trying hard not to look at where Nino's hand was resting on Aiba's back. Nino kept his eyes on Jun's for a moment longer, the blue square of the TV screen reflected in them.

"Goodnight," he said finally.

"Goodnight."

After eating his sad albeit healthy lunch, Jun went straight to bed, but sleep eluded him. He lied there inexplicably uncomfortable under the warm covers, his head on the softest feather pillow.

What he found even more inexplicable was his brain's insistence in returning to the scene he'd seen in the living room. Aiba sleeping on Nino's lap, and Nino's hand gently lying on him.

It bothered him. He had no idea why, but it bothered him.

He turned to one side, then the other. He lied on his back, then face down. Yet sleep didn't come.

He didn't know how long he lied there until he heard knocking at his door.

He sat up. "Yes?"

The door opened and Nino's head poked through the gap. "Were you awake?" he asked.

"Yes. What's wrong?" Jun replied while he put his glasses back on.

Nino had an unreadable look on his face. "Can I sleep here? Aiba has taken over my bed."

Jun froze. The hell? Weren't they cuddling just an hour ago? Why was he now asking to sleep in his bed?

"Did... Did you guys have a fight or something?" he managed to ask.

Nino shook his head.

"Then? Why don't you sleep over there with him?"

Nino shook his head again. "Impossible! He moves around so much in his sleep he once pushed me off the bed." He explained. "Do you snore?"

Jun ignored the question. "Just sleep on the sofa, then."

"It's cold in the living room, J. Just let me stay."

At a loss for words, Jun stared blankly as his flatmate, standing by the door in unmatching pyjamas and bare feet. He tried to squash the part of him that was elated to find that Nino preferred to share a bed with him than with Aiba. That was not a sensible train of thought.

"You'll hardly notice I'm here, I'll curl up on that side." he pleaded, and, unsurprisingly, Jun's resolve crumbled and Nino got his way.

Jun simply pulled back the covers on the left side of the bed without a word. Nino took the hint. He closed the door behind him and jumped on the bed, as Jun removed his glasses and laid back down, closer to the edge of the mattress.

In the dark, his senses heightened and he became too aware of the weight of Nino on the other side of the bed, the rhythm of his breathing. If he had found it difficult to sleep before, it was going to be impossible now. He sighed.

He felt Nino turn on his side. "Can't sleep?" he asked, his voice close, a mere whisper that sent him shivering.

"Hmm," he hummed, not trusting his voice.

"It's because you were working late. You need to de-stress properly before bed."

It came out before he even knew it.

"I wasn't working."

"Then why did you say you had work to do?" Nino enquired.

"I didn't want to bother the two of you," Jun admitted. For all the lies he had told earlier, he was in a pretty damn honest mood now. He felt stupid, the familiar heat of blood rushing to his face. At least Nino couldn't see it.

There was a pause, followed by a soft chuckle. "You're really dumb, you know?"

Jun hummed again. Yes, that bit had been made pretty clear.

Nino moved closer. "You should have stayed." A beat. "I missed you," he practically purred in his ear.

At that, Jun stopped breathing.

Nino seemed to take his silence as an invitation to go one step forward and his arm curled over Jun's waist. If Jun's mind had abandoned him, his body reacted on his own.

Nino was most certainly not his type. If anything, someone like Aiba was. But then, why was he holding his breath? Wishing for Nino to take things further, to get even closer? His blood started to pool in his gut.

"H-how much did you drink?" he stuttered shakily.

"I'm not drunk. I've been looking at you, wanting to do this," he husked against his ear.

Jun was thankful the lights were switched off, so Nino couldn't see how much his admission affected him. The realisation hit him like a train.

"Nino..." Jun all but whimpered.

When Nino finally closed the distance and pressed against his back, there was the unmistakable pressure on his thigh from Nino's erection. Jun gasped.

Then Nino's lips were on his neck, caressing and kissing and tracing the line of his spine and onto his ear. Jun let out a low moan and he felt Nino smile against his shoulder. Even with his eyes closed, he could almost see the familiar smug grin that must have been adorning his face.

A hand came up to his chin and turned it sideways and Nino's lips were on his, kissing and sucking and nipping softy at his lower lip. Nino didn't seem to be satisfied until Jun practically ran out of breath, his chest heavy.

Nino brought his arms closer around Jun, his hands roaming over the skin of his chest under his t-shirt. Jun secretly wished they would move further down, but he wasn't about to force whatever this was. So when Nino asked "May I?" slipping a finger timidly under the waistband of his sweatpants, he almost sighed with relief.

Jun was biting his bottom lip so hard he worried it would bleed. He gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Once he got his answer, Nino's hands slipped to the front and found him ready. He stroked him slowly at first, letting both of them get accustomed to the foreign touch of each other's bodies. Then he picked up a pace and Jun let out tiny rhythmic moans, holding tightly onto the sheets with his hands.

"Jun," Nino whispered with a swipe of his tongue to his neck.

And Jun lost the ability to think. He just wanted to satisfy his need and lose himself in the overwhelming sensation. He came with a groan, muffled against the pillow.

After a few blissful minutes, Jun inevitably came back to his senses and the euphoria gave way to crippling fear and doubt. What now? What happened after this?

"Nino..." he tried.

"Shh. Go to sleep," came out Nino's voice, still warm and near.

Jun wasn't feeling awake enough to do otherwise or brave enough to face him, so he wiped himself haphazardly with a t-shirt that was lying nearby and closed his eyes obediently.

After a few minutes of silence, Nino moved closer and curled up against his side.

"J," he called.

Jun opened one eye, tiredly. "Hmm?"

Nino planted a kiss on his cheek. "Merry Christmas."

Comments

[learashi]

Where to begin?

Thank you for picking my roommate prompt. These two living together is always bound to be awkward.

For someone so intelligent, Jun is certainly slow to realise that Nino has probably liked him from the beginning. The way that he insisted on them walking to work together, his jealousy of Jun's connection to Sho, the way that he knows Jun loves onigiri. And of course, his special names for Jun.

Ohno was definitely beyond patient. Listening to Jun's complaints about someone he was obviously falling for on an almost daily basis must be frustrating.

I love the side characters, by the way: Oh-chan the artist/baker, Boss Sho who could’ve been an idol, and Aiba as the BFF who is as close to Nino as a lover.

Finally, the little things taken from real life and included here were like unexpected gifts. Favourite one being the way in which only Nino would wear a bath towel 🤣 and "accidentally" showing the bottom of his butt to Jun.

Thank you for writing this for me. I really enjoyed it.

[astrangestorm]

They really would be such an "Odd Couple" situation as roommates, I like that we get to see the conflicts between them and then the little moments where we see that start to change and they come to like each other. As someone who used to work in advertising agency (not doing anything cool lol), I liked seeing that as the work setting too. Ah, Sho really would be the office idol wouldn't he? :)

[yuuki_nyanmaru]

I love how for Jun this was an enemies to lovers while Nino had probably been crushing over him for a while. Though, Jun wasn't rude with Nino or such, he even apologized when he went as far as avoiding him, and I appreciated that a lot. It shows his kind side ✊😔 Also, enjoyed A LOT jealous Jun there, even if he was in denial and didn't even understand that lool. Lastly, Nino asking to sleep in Jun's bed, aaah love so sweet 💛💜

P.S: gotta love how Jun and Nino started to not just "coexist" but to actually live together and their relationship progressed!

[reveetoile]

This was super cute, I have the feeling that Nino liked Jun in a way rather soon, but Jun was that unhappy person at first moving is a big thing and then if things don't go as planned you can get frustrated pretty easily and hate everything until things start to change

I'm happy that Nino in the end did go to Jun and was way more direct than at first XD I loved the appearances of everybody and now wonder if Aiba really took over Nino's bed or left and Nino wanted a change XD

[mayumiadler]

I really enjoyed it! It was fun and I think Jun has great patience with Nino, I think he would totally lose his temper if anyone else acted like that with him. The ending was really cute, it would be great to read how they're doing some time later.

[mikunicchi]

Gosh this suezu *sobs in the corner*
I feel like it has been so long since I read such a nice suezu.
I love roommate stories to begin with, and I was really happy to read Suezu sharing a room despite their differences. I love how you showed that about them.
The way Jun woke up early and got dressed, even prepare bento for himself while Nino woke up ten minutes before leaving. I really love how they went from co-existing to sharing a space together. It must have been hard to get to that stage for both but they made it so yey!
I was also shedding some tears over Nino's jealousy and how possesive of him. I could feel the "ore no J" vibes throughout the fic honestly and it made me feel giddy.
I also love how Jun was jealous of Aiba too sadfgjdfs they are so cute dancing around each other really!
And omg the night they spend together!!! So good, really, perfect!
I got my needed suezu dose from this, thank you dear anon! You are awesome!!!!

[whenyoudesertme]

Shoving them into one small apartment to bounce off each other and figure each other out, I love it. I liked the details about Jun's career and his time in London and how he feels about being back and starting at a new company. Sho and Ohno and Aiba were all excellent as well. And then Jun and Nino were so interesting together. Watching them get closer was a delight. Thank you for sharing! ♥

[rinalin]

This was a beautiful read! I love how you wove the seasonality throughout the story, it provided such a vivid and lush backdrop. All of the characters felt spot-on, especially Jun. I loved being in his head throughout this. The slow burn was perfect. I didn't want it to end!