Warm Hearts

Ryosuke sighed deeply as he sunk into the warm water filling the bathtub. His head was pounding, no doubt due to the fact that he hadn't slept for more than three hours in the past two days. He was not only filming a movie and a drama at the same time, he also had to take part in intense dance practices as he would go on a tour with JUMP in a couple of weeks. Tomorrow, however, was a rare day off, and he was immensely grateful for it.

The warm water felt nice on his skin. Ryosuke closed his eyes, relaxing, only opening it when he heard the bathrom's door opening. Masaki was standing in the doorway, eyeing the man in the bathtub critically. The temperature of the water had gone significantly lower, meaning that Ryosuke must have fell asleep for some time.

"Did you fall asleep?" Masaki asked, his arms crossed across his chest.

Ryosuke blinked dumbly at the man in the doorway. "How long have I been in the bath?" He asked finally.

"Almost an hour."

Ryosuke sighed. "Sorry, Masaki, I'll be coming out soon."

Masaki nodded, and with another worried glance he closed the bathroom's door. Ryosuke could hear his steps going further away from the bathroom. Sighing once again, he rose from the bath and reached out for a clean towel to dry himself. After putting on some warm cotton pyjamas, he went to the living room where Masaki was sitting on the couch, scrolling absent-mindedly through Netflix.

"Anything that you want to watch?" Ryosuke asked, plopping on the sofa next to Masaki.

The taller man instinctively put an arm around him. "Nothing in particular," he said.

"I want to watch 3 nen A Gumi," Ryosuke muttered.

Masaki flushed and smiled. "Want to see my drama? Do you miss me that much?"

It was Ryosuke's turn to feel his cheeks flush. "So what? It's a good drama with a good rating, and I haven't gotten the time to watch it yet. Hell, I haven't even had the time to sleep lately."

Masaki's eyes softened. "I'm sorry that you haven't been getting enough sleep. You've worked hard, Ryosuke."

Ryosuke didn't say anything, but he shuffled closer to Masaki until their bodies were pressed together. Masaki's left arm stayed around Ryosuke while he fumbled with the remote control to play the drama that Ryosuke had requested. They watched together contentedly, with Ryosuke uttering compliments every now and then.

Soon the credits for the first episode appeared on the television screen, and Masaki caught Ryosuke trying to stifle a yawn.

"I'm sorry," the shorter man mumbled. "I promise I wasn't bored. You were great, your acting has really improved these days," he continued, looking at Masaki sincerely.

Masaki pulled Ryosuke closer to him, hugging him with one arm. "Thank you, Ryosuke. As much as I want to watch another episode and spend another 30 minutes being showered by your generous compliments, I think you need to go to bed."

"We both need to go to bed," Ryosuke pointed out. "You've been working hard as well, and we both need to fix our non-existent sleeping schedule."

Masaki laughed softly, standing up and pulling Ryosuke to his feet. "Well, I guess you're right. It's getting late anyway."

Ryosuke hesitated for a moment before looking up at Masaki. "Want to share the bed? You don't need to sleep on the couch."

Both men blushed, and for a moment there was an awkward silence between them.

"I like it better when I don't have to sleep alone," Masaki admitted, breaking the silence and offering a smile which Ryosuke returned.

Ryosuke's bed was large and Masaki counted that there were exactly ten pillows. "Why do you even need so many pillows?" He giggled, throwing one at Ryosuke's direction.

"It's more comfortable with a lot of pillows!" Ryosuke spluttered, throwing back the pillow at Masaki's head.

Despite the fact that they had to set aside some pillows first, soon they were laying side by side under the blanket, staring at the ceiling. The room was dark, iluminated only by the lights coming from the slightly opened curtain.

"Thank you for coming over, Masaki," Ryosuke chirped all of a sudden.

"Thank you for letting me stay over," Masaki responded, simpering and hoping that Ryosuke wasn't looking at his direction when he did that.

The tip of their fingers touched, but neither said anything, and neither moved their hand away. The room was warm and the pillow was soft, but it was the comforting presence of the other that lulled them to sleep.