If she closes her eyes right now, she can picture his lips so clearly, pressed to the receiver. His pout, so soft, exactly the way they would look underneath the dim lighting of her bedroom after being brushed against her skin.
It's silent now except for the sound of breathing and the harsh tearing of a paper envelope. With eyes still closed and a heart that's beginning to beat faster, she lays her head back against the pillow, anticipating exactly what's coming. She can see the rings on his fingers as they glide across the paper, peeling the fold carefully and then giving up to rip it open. One photograph sliding out and the rest of the contents, surely forgotten now, falling to the ground.
His breathing is hitched but it's still quiet and it's beginning to make her nervous. "Joji?"
"Mhm."
"You got my letter?"
Another "Mhm."
It was a love letter.
She'd taken her time with it, handwritten all of her thoughts on the cutesy stationery she hadn't touched since high school. Written how much she's missed him over the past six weeks, how proud she was, every detail of her life. All things she'd already made sure to tell him over text or call, but writing it out like this, just for his eyes, had felt special. It was sealed with the press of her lipstick-red lips. Bright red, a shade he'd complimented before. She loved the silly romanticism of it. Of course, all of this would come second to the polaroid picture she'd tucked inside as well.
Joji's mind had conjured up so many images of her over the weeks of being apart, placing her in different spots inside the apartment, all the places he would have her body pressed to. The bed... the shower wall tiles... the windows overlooking the city. The pictures on his phone were fantastic, sure, but this... he holds the glossy paper in his hands so tightly, this was even better.
At first, he had been disappointed when he'd realized he'd left the camera behind in his haste to get out the door and catch his plane. It was a gift from her, actually, something fun to bring on tour. But now, looking at the photo of her looking so beautiful in nothing but underwear, tits on full display, he'd never been so thankful to forget something.
Grinning cheekily she asks in a hushed voice, "Makes you miss me?"
"I already missed you," he sighs, unable to look away, "But fuck..."
She hums in approval, cheeks the color of cherries, "Cause I miss you."
"Baby..." He wakes up each morning so far from her now, in a completely different country. There's no second toothbrush or makeup on the countertop of his bathroom anymore, no fresh coffee brewing in the next room. As much as he enjoys his work, little things like that make him ache for her. The sight of her posing on the bed, alone and needy, makes him hard and he groans. He likes where this is going, "What do you miss so bad?"
She bites a smile back before letting her hands travel down the skin of her thighs, "Miss your lips... I can't stop thinking about them."
"Where are you right now?" he manages to ask in a somewhat normal voice, just the barest hints of a strain to alert her of his issue. He moves to lock the door of his hotel room.
"I'm in bed," She feels shy now, hearing the click of a lock on the other end, they haven't done this before, not over a phone call, "it's late."
Joji wants to ask what exactly it is she's doing as he hears her voice become a little throatier. He wants to be told every detail so he can picture her clearly in his mind's eye.
"Aren't you going to ask what I'm wearing?" She continues after a slight pause.
His heart thuds in his chest and he moves to lay on his own bed. Shirtless himself and still in his sweats, he runs a hand through his messy hair and sinks into the softness of the mattress he wishes so badly was the one she was laying on.
