Baka6, Acceptance

Title: Acceptance [Shintarou/Juri]
Rating/Warnings: PG-13
Summary: Juri fits in really well with Shintarou’s family.
AN: Written for Shiritori. Juri and Shintarou had a batch of interviews this week where Shintarou reveals that he’s really serious about sorting his laundry, and Juri says that his brothers routinely invade each other’s baths even now at their (widely disparate) ages. so of course I had to make Shintarou’s life really hard.

Acceptance

His mother picks them up at the station, since she doesn’t like them walking so far in the dark, and Juri looks pleased as punch sitting in the front seat while Shintarou shares the backseat with Juri’s dufflebag.

“Oh, stop pouting,” his mother says, looking in the rearview mirror. “Honestly, isn’t fighting over the front seat something you should have grown out of by now?”

Shintarou saw Tamamori and Fujigaya scuffle over the front seat in their van not even two days ago, but wisely keeps his mouth shut.

“Juri-kun, I hope you like curry,” his mother says. Juri makes easy small talk with his mother the entire way home, which is fine, Shintarou guesses, since Juri will be living at his house for the next week while his grandparents are visiting and using his room.

Juri makes easy smalltalk with everybody, actually, getting along much better with Ryutarou than Shintarou ever does, even teasing Natsune into putting down her phone while they eat dinner, which Morimoto-san pronounces a miracle.

“Why’s everybody like you so much?” Shintarou grumbles as they sprawl over their futons. He’s not really mad about it, but it’s a bit annoying. They’re his family after all, they should like him better. Sometimes he feels like everybody likes Juri better, lately.

“I’m just a likable guy,” Juri answers, turning his head to grin at Shintarou. Shintarou sticks his tongue out. “You should be nicer to your brother, man. He’s the only one you’ve got, after all.”

“I’ll just borrow one of yours,” Shintarou yawns, rolling over on his side. Juri flips the light off, and Shintarou thinks it’s kind of nice to have the white noise of somebody breathing evenly next to him as he starts to fall asleep himself, dreaming of second-day curry. There are worse things than his family liking Juri, he supposes.

In fact the next day, it turns out that it’s much worse already.

“Do you need me to wash your sheets while you’re at work?” his mother asks during breakfast. She looks thoughtful. “I guess I’ll have to do that a lot this week, ne.”

“Why?” Shintarou asks, puzzled. Juri starts to laugh behind his hand, but Shintarou still doesn’t get it until Ryutarou makes an obscene gesture with two fingers and his spoon. “Ew! Mom, gross!”

“Well, with Juri-kun sleeping over all week,” his mother says, and that’s when Shintarou realizes exactly what his whole family thinks about him and Juri.

“Nothing like that is happening!” he splutters. “We’re not–”

“We can do laundry ourselves, really,” Juri interrupts, giving Morimoto-san a bright smile. “You shouldn’t have to do extra housework just for me, I’m already inconveniencing you enough.”

“You’re no trouble at all,” Morimoto-san assures him with a doting smile, and this time Ryutarou and Shintarou are in perfect agreement with how gross that is. After breakfast, Shintarou yanks Juri aside to ask him just what he thinks he’s doing.

“My whole family thinks we’re…” Shintarou can’t even bring himself to say it. “You know! Why didn’t you say something?!”

“You’re just so cute when you’re flustered, Shin-chan,” Juri coos, reaching up to pinch Shintarou’s cheek. His sister comes around the corner just then, spots them, and turns back around the other way.

“No!” Shintarou protests. “He just! No!” But it’s too late, his sister gone. He gives Juri a shove. “Juri! This isn’t funny!”

“Okay, okay, ease up.” Juri holds up his hands in surrender. “But they already thought that, you know. I overheard my mom on the phone with your mom, both of them saying how glad they were at least we weren’t out getting Friday’d and STD’d like some people.” Juri gives a pointed look over Shintarou’s shoulder.

Ryutarou brushes past them with a scowl, and Shintarou thinks maybe he can forgive Juri just a little after all. His goodwill only lasts until Juri tries to make up for that morning by making Shintarou his favorite cookie recipe and ends up giving Shintarou’s whole family a new nickname for him.

“It’s your turn to do dishes, shortbread,” Ryutarou says, strolling out of the kitchen.

“I’M TALLER THAN YOU, YOU WALKING STD,” Shintarou hollers after him. He gets reprimanded by his mother for language in front of his little sister, and he can’t even demand that Juri come help him because Juri is helping Natsune with her math homework. “Everybody sucks,” he grumbles at the dishes.

The cookies are really good, at least. Shintarou even tells Juri so when he sneaks a few more as a bedtime snack, and Juri smiles proudly.

He’s better at baking than laundry, that’s for sure. Shintarou grits his teeth when Juri dumps his things onto Shintarou’s pile without even trying to sort them.

“Lights and darks!” Shintarou scolds him, trying to pull the offending darks from the basket without dropping it.

Juri tilts his head. “Why?” Shintarou rolls his eyes and doesn’t bother trying to explain.

“Damn, you guys only made until the third day?” Shintarou’s sister asks as she goes by the door, eyes glued to her phone as usual.

“We have a lot of practice clothes!” Shintarou snaps at her, but she’s already past, shrugging one shoulder to say she could care less. “It’s stupid not to do the sheets while we’re already doing a load!”

“You know, the louder you squawk about it, the guiltier you look,” Juri points out. He’s carrying the basket, having been assigned a job Shintarou figures he can’t possibly screw up.

“I am absolutely the one making us look gay here,” Shintarou says, eyeing Juri’s palm tree bangs and leo-print sweatpants. Juri grins back. What he lacks in sorting ability he makes up for in being able to fold quickly, Shintarou learns, which is awesome since that’s the part of laundry that he hates the most. With two of them, it’s over before Shintarou works up any seriously complaints about it.

Shintarou is relaxing in the bath the next day, letting the heat sink into his sore muscles, when the door opens and Juri casually strolls inside. Shintarou is so surprised that by the time he gets any words out, Juri already has the shower nozzle in his hand, rinsing himself off.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Shintarou demands. Juri glances over at him, and Shintarou tries to sink deeper into the bath. Juri finishes his cursory shower and comes over to the tub. “Hey!” Shintarou pulls his legs up to hide his important parts, but all it does it make room for Juri to climb in.

“Relax, it’s just some skinship,” Juri says dismissively. “I take baths with my brothers all the time.”

“That’s one hundred percent not normal,” Shintarou scoffs. “Don’t sound all casual about it, like I’m the weirdo here.”

“Senpai take baths together,” Juri counters. “Senga-kun and Nikaido-kun do. Iwamoto-kun and Sakuma-kun too.”

“Name a single pair of senpai who do that who aren’t doing it.” Shintarou waits, but Juri just shrugs sheepishly. “It’s like you’re trying to give my family concrete proof that we’re doing it too, when we totally aren’t.”

“I’m not trying to do anything but take a bath,” Juri says, but he’s quiet after that.

It’s not until later, when they’re both in their pajamas and in their futons, that Juri rolls over to face Shintarou. He’s close enough that Shintarou can smell the laundry detergent on his clothes, the soap on his skin. They smell the same.

“So the thing is,” Juri says, “I like you.”

Shintarou likes that they smell the same. He likes that Juri bakes him cookies and is terrible at laundry and gets along with his family and is still staying here for another four days, just like this.

“Did you hear me?” Juri asks, voice growing uncertain. Shintarou fumbles his hand out of his blankets and then fumbles more with Juri’s, until he can hold Juri’s hand.

“Yeah,” he answers. “I kind of figured when you got in the bath with me, weirdo.”

“Are you gonna freak out about it?” Juri wants to know.

“Can’t,” Shintarou says lightly. “If I break up with you, my mom will probably keep you and get rid of me.”

“Shin, I’m being serious–” Juri’s voice cuts off when Shin scoots closer suddenly, close enough that their knees bump. “What are you doing?”

“Skinship,” Shintarou answers. He leans in and presses their mouths together. It’s awkward and the angle is all wrong, their lips just sort of smooshed together until he pulls back. His skin feels too warm all over, and his grin probably looks stupid as hell. “Is that what all the fuss is about? Doesn’t feel like much to me.”

“You’re a terrible liar,” Juri says. He tilts his head just so, and the next kiss is a lot better, in terms of how much Shintarou’s lips are tingling when it breaks. “So do you like me too or what?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Shintarou admits. “I don’t let just anybody out me to whole family or whatever.”

Juri kisses Shintarou again, and this time his hands are everywhere, dragging through Shintarou’s hair and down his back and smoothing over his side and hip. Shintarou is just starting to get really into it when Juri pulls away and flops onto his back.

“What?” Shintarou asks, trying to catch his breath. “Get back here.”

“No way,” Juri pants, edging out of reach of Shintarou’s hands. “We can’t do it now, your mom will totally hear us through the wall.”

“Are you kidding me?” Shintarou says. He lets his hand flop down flat, too tired to argue about it. “Ugh, fine. You’re the worst boyfriend ever.”

“You don’t know anything about being boyfriends,” Juri says with affection. He slides his hand under Shintarou’s and twines their fingers, palms together. “Stick with me, shortbread, and I’ll teach you everything I know.”