A/N: I don't own OFJ. Otherwise, please enjoy!
Tatsumi heard the voice even before he saw the extra pair of shoes in the entryway.
"Nice digs you've got here," the deep voice commented.
"Shut up," the blond man's voice fired back, sounding annoyed.
In retrospect, the familiar tone should have cued him into the friendship between the stranger and his roommate, but in the moment, he was panicked. He imagined someone had broken into their house and was trying to take advantage of Wakasa. The imagine of the blond man's scared and beaten body as he'd discovered it the first day they met swam before his eyes and his heart raced with worry. He had to do something, to protect him.
He kicked his shoes off haphazardly, not even bothering to place them carefully to the side, and violently threw open the door connecting the entryway with the main room of his apartment.
"Wakasa!" he shouted, his voice filled with anxiety.
His roommate was sitting calmly on the floor next to the bedroom door. Across from him, sitting at the kitchen table, was a tall, well-built man with shoulder-length fuchsia-colored hair. He wore a dark green tracksuit over a white sleeveless shirt and sported flashy sneakers as pink as his hair. Something about his appearance made Tatsumi think he must be a gang member, although whether that was because of his bulging muscles or the dark green and white T-shirt he had tied around his head to keep his hair back, Tatsumi couldn't say. Either way, the man's appearance didn't do much to reassure him he meant Wakasa no harm, though Wakasa's nonchalant demeanor seemed to suggest the blond didn't feel threatened.
"Hey there," said the fuchsia-haired man in his deep voice. "Takasu's the name." He threw up two fingers in the classically recognizable peace sign.
Tatsumi opened his mouth to ask what Takasu was doing in his apartment, but before he could ask, the pink-haired man continued speaking.
"Wakasa and I go back ages," he explained, taking a bite of the sausage pizza Tatsumi had been saving in the fridge for Wakasa, "I can't avoid him even when I try."
"Takasu," Wakasa cried, getting up from where he was sitting, "don't eat that, that's mine!"
Takasu ignored his plea, taking an even larger bite of the slice in his hand. The blond reached out to try to take the pizza away from his fuchsia-haired friend, but Takasu skillfully dodged the attempt.
"So you're Tatsumi, huh?" He cast the black-haired man a critical eye, and finished the slice, licking pizza grease off his fingers. "You don't look like much, but you do seem to be taking good care of our Wakasa here." He cast a sideways glance at Wakasa, who had collapsed onto the table opposite him, his arm stretch out towards Takasu's empty plate.
The blond, who looked despondent at the loss of his precious food, interrupted Takasu to mournfully cry, "my pizza!"
Takasu ignored him again, instead turning to Tatsumi.
"Since you've already become Wakasa's friend, what do you say about becoming my friend too?"
He got up from the table and walked over to the cabinets to get a glass as he asked. Tatsumi opened his mouth to tell Takasu to be carefully, but it was too late–the cabinet door, which had already been only delicately attached, came away in the muscled man's hand. Wakasa and Tatsumi gasped loudly; Takasu, meanwhile, looked only mildly shocked, as if he often misjudged his own strength and broke things as a result.
Dark flames of rage burned themselves into existence within Tatsumi's mind. How dare this man, an uninvited stranger, break something so immediately after soliciting his host's friendship!
"Friends?" he said, his threatening tone giving voice to the dangerous look in his golden eyes. "I don't know about that."
"Take it easy, Tatsumi," said Wakasa, recognizing the enraged ring of his voice. He hugged his roommate as if attempting to restrain him from attacking Takasu.
"My bad," said Takasu uncomfortably, finally reading the situation correctly and seeing how angry Tatsumi was. "Don't worry," he continued, his uneasy expression transforming into a sly grin, "I'll fix it right away!" To Tatsumi's surprise, Takasu's hands disappeared into the depths of his pocket, only to return holding a screwdriver and a clutch of screws. He immediately set to work removing the stripped screws from the door he'd unhinged and screwing his fresh new screws in their places. In no time flat, the cabinet door had been replaced, hanging more securely now than it had before Takasu had accidentally pulled it off.
"There you go!" The pink-haired man exclaimed proudly, pocketing his screwdriver and gesturing at his excellent craftsmanship.
"Wow," murmured Tatsumi, an awed look on his features. He tentatively approached the cabinet door, opening and shutting it a few times, testing the feeling of the new attachment. It was superb carpentry, he had to admit. He was almost grateful to Takasu for removing the door in the first place.
"His skill with tools makes up for all of his faults," Wakasa commented as Takasu wiped the invisible drops of sweat he'd accumulated fixing the cabinet off his brow.
"Well then, welcome to my apartment," said Tatsumi, secretly hoping the fuchsia-haired man would fix some more of the half-broken things around the apartment.
"Okay," replied Takasu, returning to his seat at the table.
Tatsumi headed into his bedroom to put down his bag. As soon as the door shut behind him, Wakasa leaned his head close to Takasu, his expression suddenly grave.
"Hey, Takasu, are you planning to stay here?"
"Not so fast," his friend replied, "let's see how things play out first."
For the rest of the night the two friends hung out at Tatsumi's apartment, sitting in his kitchen, sleeping in his bed, eating his food, and even bathing with him. Finally, as he was washing the shampoo out of his hair, Tatsumi said,
"Are you planning on staying here all night?"
"What do you mean!" cried Takasu, jumping dramatically out of the bath. "I thought you said I was welcome here!"
Tatsumi toweled himself off and dressed before giving him an answer, making the man stare at him wide-eyed, waiting for the suspense to end.
"I'm just not sure there's enough room for three men to live here," he said casually.
Takasu immediately looked dejected, casting his eyes at the ground.
"Wakasa can stay, but I can't?" he said, tears shining in his eyes.
"Ah, I didn't mean that… " Tatsumi replied hesitantly. He wasn't sure how the conversation had reached this point–all he had done was state a perfectly obvious fact.
"Fine," said Takasu, pouting, "I understand I'm not wanted here, so I'll leave." He got out of the bath, toweled himself dry, and replaced his clothes. Then, as soon as he seemed about to leave quietly, he turned back to Tatsumi, his eyes alight with a wicked glint.
"But don't think I'll leave just like that!" he exclaimed. He took Tatsumi by the shoulders, pressing his large hands into the black-haired man's skin. At first, Tatsumi worried that he was going to hurt him and tried to get away, but as Takasu continued to move his hands, he realized the knots in his neck were relaxing. He slumped his shoulders, his tension eased by Takasu's capable hands.
"I hope you liked your massage!" Takasu said when he was done. "Please let me know if you'd like one again some time!"
He opened the door to the bath, leaving Tatsumi collapsed against the lip of the bath.
"Bye!" he shouted, waving, then disappeared towards the entryway and out into the night.
"Thank you, Takasu!" Wakasa yelled after him.
Tatsumi turned his head towards where Wakasa was drying his long blond hair, having climbed out of the bath and dressed himself.
"Wakasa, what was that?" he asked, a peculiarly embarrassed expression on his features.
"I asked Takasu to give you a massage to thank you for letting me live with you," his roommate replied innocently. He grinned happily, "Aren't his massages the best?"
Tatsumi scowled, but he had to admit his shoulders felt terrific now that their tension had been removed. The two men made their way into the bedroom and got ready to sleep. Lying there in the dark, Wakasa suddenly said,
"He was the first person who ever noticed me, everyone else just ignored me. When he said he wanted to be my friend, it made me so happy, knowing someone cared about me. I know he used to be in a gang and he can look kind of threatening, but he has a really good heart."
The blond twisted around to face his roommate.
"You know, Tatsumi, I really appreciate you doing this for me."
"I'm not really doing that much," Tatsumi, replied, blushing.
"Trust me, you are," was the reply. Wakasa grabbed his embarrassed roommate into a tight hug, that, after a moment of hesitation, Tatsumi returned.
He wasn't really doing that much, he thought, because it was something Wakasa made him want to do.