Chapter Text
"Jun, don't you think this is a bit… much?"
Stepping back to look at his handiwork, Jun's lips pressed into a thin line. Ryuusuke might be right. He might've gone overboard on this. At least they had the day off to deal with cleanup if any accidents or spills happened.
"As long as it's working, it doesn't matter." He sniped back.
Ryuusuke laughed. "I don't think it is, though."
Jun heaved a sigh. They stared at each other for a few moments before Ryuusuke chuckled again and turned on his tablet to start playing some game.
What started as a simple grocery run for beer and hotpot ingredients turned into an all-out supply mission. Shidou hadn't been pleased with his haul of "useless crap," but this was important. Jun took Shidou holding his hand up, cutting him off in the middle of his explanation and walking away as his understanding.
He found cooling towels at the store. Summer was coming up, and that meant all kinds of supplies went on sale, but the price these were at was highway robbery if he didn't buy them. For the thing he had in mind, one cooling towel probably wouldn't be enough. So he took another. And another. And that turned into ten. Jun figured he could give half of them to the rest of the crew as he put them in his basket next to the green onions. (He'd see Shidou using his a week later, so it wasn't all for nothing.)
And then he saw the medical ice packs. They would definitely put him over budget, and he waffled over them for a few minutes. But they ended up giving him an idea that had him buying a bulk pack of ziplock bags and plastic wrap for much cheaper.
The thing was. Ryuusuke never took his shirt off. And in the dread 30-35°C heat of Japanese summers, he was prone to heatstroke. Ryuusuke was generally sweaty year-round, except in the tail end of fall and throughout winter because of all the layers he wore. So, Jun had no idea how he survived the summers before they met. Maybe wearing all these layers was a more recent thing for him.
Dumbass actually passed out during an extermination of all things last year. Everyone was wearing tank tops or light undershirts under their uniform gear, but not Ryuusuke. He had to keep wearing his thick, long-sleeved shirts, and this is where it got him. The whole thing turned into a mess. He collapsed right in front of the door when Kazuya was finally entering after crowd control, causing him to trip over Ryuusuke's limp body and crash into a transformed Mamoru.
As Kazuya hit the floor, his rifle slammed down at an awkward angle, accidentally setting it off. Fortunately, it didn't get anyone, but it came damn close to hitting Nozomi. She shot a downright venomous glare their way before moving to take her frustration out on the bug they were hunting. Jun ended up dragging Ryuusuke to the truck while the others covered their asses. Afterward, Nozomi complained in that gruff but sort of joking manner of hers that Ryuusuke should be the last person to be passing out on the field. It's not like Ryusuke did strenuous stuff during missions. Everyone ribbed him for wearing such warm clothes to a hunt in weather like this, and he just smiled apolegetically througout it.
But this year, things would be different. If Ryuusuke was going to keep doing this dumbass stuff, the least they could do was be prepared.
Looking at Ryuusuke now, neck wrapped up in five neon cooling towels, with ice-filled ziplock bags secured all over his body using plastic wrap, and a mini fan attached to the charge port of his tablet, he looked like a lumpy, wet disaster. Like he was some cheap Halloween decoration that was supposed to look like it was covered in spiderwebs. There was no way Ryuusuke would be able to go out in the field like this. He couldn't even stand up if he wanted to. Jun had him try. Apparently he couldn't even feel the coolness through the thick material of the sweater he was wearing today, so it was all for nothing. At least everyone else was sane and liked the cooling towels because they could actually get skin to towel contact with it.
Jun clicked his tongue softly. Ryuusuke always did that. Made sure his tops were super thick or, if he had to wear a thinner shirt, he made sure to wear the uniform jacket and tie the bandanna around his bicep. He'd been oddly protective of it too; when Jun was wrapping his left arm in ice. Jun worried for a moment that he was injured or hiding something, but quickly remembered that Ryuusuke was a dumbass. Must've just been a fashion statement or some other small thing he was concerned with.
Jun belatedly realized doing all the work of wrangling Ryuusuke to lie down and wrap the ice made him all hot and sweaty too. Heaving a sigh, Jun slowly made his way over to the tightly bound man.
Ryuusuke looked up from the game he was playing on the tablet, nudging Jun with his elbow playfully, brows raising suggestively.
"You know, if you wanted to tie me up, you could've just asked."
Jun rolled his eyes. "Shut up." He mumbled, giving Ryuusuke a shove before laying his head down on his chest.
Ryuusuke kept nudging him playfully until Jun placed a hand over his face. "We can talk about doing it later if you're that into it."
There was a soft chuckle, making him look up at Ryuusuke's face. He was biting his lip, trying to hide an amused grin. But the way he winked at Jun when they met each others' eyes made Jun think they would definitely be having that conversation later.
The plastic wrap was uncomfortably wet, condensation making it feel slimy. But there were enough layers to cover up the texture of the ice, making this particular spot soft and cushy, like a gross, plastic pillow. Jun sighed, partially exasperated but mostly in relief. There was just enough insulation to make it comfortably cool instead of bitingly cold.
Ryuusuke's fingers found their way into Jun's hair, brushing it slowly. He shuddered a little before fully letting himself relax. Jun dozed off before he even realized it, lulled to sleep by the soft sounds of Ryuusuke's game and fingers gently scratching his scalp. They had a blissful six minutes before Ryuusuke dozed off too, dropping the tablet on his face, where it bounced off and slammed into Jun's cheekbone before it tumbled away under the kotatsu.