BSD Oneshots

A Calming Presence (Suegiku)

(A/N: hello yes, I'm alive. And I bring to you more Suegiku content. Because one of my headcanons is that Tecchou reads to Jouno a lot, I naturally had to write something about it at least once. Enjoy!)

It had been Tecchou's day off from work today, which meant Jouno had headed there alone. Which he definitely wasn't used to since he and Tecchou had fallen into the habit of heading to work together more often than not since they started dating. But Jouno thought he'd be fine.

...He thought too soon.

The day was long and hard and it felt like everything went wrong. People wouldn't cooperate, and while that had a tendency to frustrate Jouno, it wasn't even the worst part.

It was how loud everything had started to seem.

Due to his heightened senses, Jouno would often have moments where everything, and he meant everything, started to get too loud. It didn't matter if it wasn't actually that loud. When he got like this, everything felt so much worse than it otherwise might have.

And he hated it.

It made him feel so weak. He wasn't supposed to be this way. He was supposed to be stronger and not let something as minor as noise overpower him this much.

But it always did.

It was times like this where he hated having both such heightened senses and the complete lack of one. He had a lot of reasons for wishing he could still see even if he'd adapted very well by now. The main one was that he'd never seen Tecchou. He knew he didn't need his sight to be able to tell that his boyfriend was beautiful both inside and out since he already knew he was. But he wished he could've seen Tecchou even just once.

Another thing Jouno wondered now and then was if having such good hearing was really all it was cracked up to be. Sure, his heightened senses gave him a lot of advantages when he was on missions. But was it really worth it if the price to pay was getting so overwhelmed so often by the very same senses that usually helped him?

He'd started to think it wasn't and began to wish not for the first time that he could just be normal.

He tried his best to just get through the day despite the thought of leaving early crossing his mind more than once.

The minute his shift ended, he practically made a beeline for his and Tecchou's house. He just wanted to sleep off the impending sensory overload that had already started before it got worse.

He soon got there, unlocking the door after a few failed attempts to do so.

Tecchou glanced over and smiled when he saw Jouno walk in. "Jouno, hi!"

It wasn't actually that loud, but Jouno still flinched as if it was the loudest thing he'd ever heard. He then just ran past Tecchou and into his room, closing the door and trying to block out all noise.

Tecchou blinked, watching him. Ah. It must be one of those days. He decided to give Jouno a few minutes and then he'd come check on him.

Meanwhile, Jouno had quickly changed out of his uniform and into something more comfortable. It helped a little, but he was still trying to block out all the noise, which was unfortunately very different when one had such good hearing.

A few minutes later, Tecchou softly knocked on the door and poked his head into the room. "Jouno...?" He made sure to keep his voice quiet. He noticed the white-haired man curled up on his bed, covering his ears and breathing a little frantically.

Jouno soon glanced up and faced the direction he heard Tecchou from. "Hm?"

"Could I come in?"

Jouno thought for a minute before nodding.

Tecchou came in, closed the door behind him, and took a seat next to Jouno. He put an arm around him.

Jouno immediately snuggled into his boyfriend.

"Rough day?" Tecchou asked, still keeping his voice down. He knew Jouno would still be able to hear him and he didn't want to overwhelm the other any further.

"Yeah..." Jouno replied just as quietly.

"Is there anything you need me to do for you? I could read something to you like usual. Or do you need things to stay quiet for now? Just let me know what you need, and I'll do it."

"Could you read to me?"

Tecchou smiled. "Of course."

Jouno smiled back.

Tecchou got up, retrieved the last book he'd been reading to Jouno, and then sat down next to him again. He began to read.

Jouno began to listen, resting his head on Tecchou's shoulder. He always enjoyed it when Tecchou read to him.

Tecchou continued to read, keeping his voice soft. He paused and glanced over when he felt Jouno hugging him after a few minutes. He smiled a little. He didn't like seeing Jouno overstimulated, but he found it cute how the other got more clingy than usual during times like this.

Jouno continued to hug Tecchou, not saying anything. If anyone had told him when he first met Tecchou that he'd become the person he trusted most and he'd grow to love him, he never would've believed it.

But now?

Now he absolutely believed it. Even though Tecchou sometimes bugged him, he couldn't deny how much he cared about him. Tecchou had been one of the few to ever look past his cold exterior and see that there was more to him, to see that despite his sadistic ways, he wasn't as cruel as he made himself out to be and actually had a soft side he often tried to hide (although according to Tecchou, he didn't hide it well at all). Tecchou saw right through him and still cared enough about him to stick around. Sometimes Jouno didn't understand it and would even ask Tecchou why he stayed.

The answer was always the same: "because I love you".

"Jouno?" Tecchou asked, breaking into the blind man's thoughts.

"Hm?" Jouno faced him, still not letting go.

"I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes now."

"Sorry. I was a little lost in thought." Jouno looked a little sheepish.

Tecchou laughed a little. "It's okay. I was just asking if you still wanted me to read."

"Oh, yeah. I do."

Tecchou smiled and patted Jouno's arm, then resumed reading.

Jouno listened, letting his mind wander a bit more. It still amazed him how much Tecchou was able to calm him down whenever he got like this. Sometimes he didn't even have to do anything other than just sit by him and let him ride it out. Whatever Tecchou did or didn't do when Jouno was experiencing sensory overloads, it helped a lot. Jouno could say with complete confidence that Tecchou was the most calming presence in his life. It was just one of the many reasons why he loved him.

Tecchou continued reading until he felt Jouno slump over against his chest. He glanced down.

Jouno appeared to have fallen asleep, or was at least close to it.

Tecchou smiled to himself and closed the book, pressing a gentle kiss to Jouno's forehead. "I love you."

It turned out Jouno wasn't completely asleep yet, for he lifted his head and smiled up at Tecchou. "I love you, too." He laid back down.

Tecchou pulled him into a hug, cuddling him as the two of them soon fell asleep.