Title: A Compromise
Universe: My Boss, My Hero
Theme/Topic: N/A
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: MakioxJun
Warnings/Spoilers: Vague spoilers for the end of the series?
Word Count: 1,129
Summary: Makio and Jun compromise.
Dedication: alitabangel- SO YEAH this didn't turn out to be particularly badass. I guess Makio's puppy side is the side that I best identify with? XD
A/N: I really don't know much about the whole cultural background regarding Makio's tattoos so I just assume that the Sharp Fang are liberal about it…or something. Whatever. It doesn't have to make sense in my world. LOL
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

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"Mmm, I was thinking… a heart?"

Makio stared. "A… a…heart?"

Jun pouted. "Is that no good?"

Makio started at that and quickly averted his eyes from The Pout. "No it's…I mean. A broken one with a glaring face and blood dripping out of it or something, right? Or…ripped out of some guy's chest? There's a guy with a gaping hole in his chest involved too, right?"

Jun's nose wrinkled, and he sniffed delicately. "Of course not. Who would want that on their body for the rest of their life?"

Pause. Blink. Blink. "Uh."

Jun sighed. "I knew it. It's no good after all, is it? It was the only one I could think of that I wouldn't mind."

"No! It's not uh, bad or anything. It just… er. Well. I wasn't expecting that."

Sakurakoji put a hand on his hip. "Well then what were you expecting?" he asked, looking at Sakaki Makio like the taller man was a little boy who'd been caught playing in the mud while wearing his best New Year's clothes and not like the respected and feared gang leader he (so obviously) was.

Makio blinked. "What I was expecting? Uh. Um…"

He paused to think about it for a second.

Jun waited, ever patient.

But even he sighed when the other man's eyes rolled up into the back of his head.

Huffing, the young college student set his watch for 90 seconds before padding off to the kitchen to get a glass of water, thinking to himself that those stupid girly TV dramas his mom and sister used to watch almost every night when he was growing up were actually right about quite a few things after all. Love required a great amount of patience when stupid men were involved.

Though he still didn't know exactly why that meant it was necessary for him to start getting tattoos that complimented the enormous one Makio already had, but either way, Sakurakoji supposed that in the end, it could only be chalked up to being one of those nonsensical relationship compromises one had to endure every once in a while if one wanted to make his we-come-from-two-completely-different-worlds relationship work on a long term basis.

Never mind the fact that Jun didn't like needles. Or body art in general for that matter (and the fact that he could actually close his eyes and trace every single line of any part of Makio's tattoo with his tongue was completely unrelated, thankyouverymuch). He just didn't like the idea of having a tattoo of his very own, was all.

And really, he was only entertaining the notion of getting one at all because it was one of the first (and only) things Makio had earnestly requested of him (that didn't involve their mutual satisfaction in any case), and Jun supposed that if he was ever going to get the older man to quit smoking permanently, he'd have to be willing to give a few concessions of his own every now and again, no matter how distasteful he found them.

Take one for the team, so to speak.

Though he drew the line at the types of tattoos he was willing to get. There would be no dragon scales or gnashing teeth or rending claws or sucking chest wounds involved, regardless of whatever positive thinking exercise Makio was currently entertaining at this very moment.

Glass of water in hand and decision firmly made, Sakurakoji made it back into the living room just in time to see Makio's eyes return to their normal face-forward position.

On his wrist, his watch alarm beeped. He clicked it off and sipped his drink.

"Well?" he asked, after a moment.

Makio grinned. "So… uh. Where's this heart of yours gonna be, exactly?"

Jun recognized the beginnings of the other man's trademark perverted expression when he heard the question, but delicately twirled in a little half circle anyway, bending and twisting ever so slightly so that he could look over his own shoulder and point to the small of his back with his free hand. "I was thinking of getting it here?"

Makio's expression got a little more perverted at that, which, Jun supposed, could be considered a good sign under the circumstances. At the very least it would deter the yakuza boss from any of his original designs regarding gaping chest wounds.

"Right there?"

"Yes." Pause. "Why?" Jun felt the need to ask then, just because he didn't see how where he got a tattoo did anything to rectify the fact that they hadn't even agreed on what yet.

But Makio didn't answer, taking a step forward and placing two large hands on either side of Sakurakoji's waist instead. He stared at the indicated spot on the younger man's back with something like thoughtful intensity. "There, huh?"

A nod. "Mm." Jun sipped his water and waited for the verdict.

After a moment, Makio cleared his throat. "Can we uh… you know, put stuff on it?"

Instantly wary, Jun asked, "What kind of stuff?"

"Like… word stuff. And stuff."

Jun thought about that for a moment. "Well, I guess that's okay. You know…depending on what it is."

"Sweet." Makio smiled.

A few days later— after they'd had to pay the tattoo artist an extra fee for making him ruin such perfect skin— Sakurakoji Jun finally had his first "yakuza" tattoo.

Makio was inordinately pleased with the world every time he thought about it, and Jun told himself that wanting to wipe the idiotically self-satisfied look off of his boyfriend's face would probably be antithetical to his grand designs of getting Makio to quit smoking sometime soon.

"A compromise," the young college student told himself instead, teeth gritted, "sometimes you just have to compromise to make things work."

In the meantime, Makio was so thrilled by the words, "Property of Sakaki Makio: Touch and DIE" that he didn't even mind the whole elegant script or girly-girly red heart parts of Jun's tattoo anymore, despite his earlier apprehension about it.

In fact, Jun suspected that the older man even considered it one of the most intimidating gang tattoos he'd ever seen in his life.

Long-suffering, Sakurakoji sighed to himself and decided to let Makio enjoy his small victory to its fullest for the time being, given that starting as soon as next week, Jun was fairly certain the other man would finally be experiencing some much anticipated (and intense) nicotine-withdrawal.

Because just like those stupid girly dramas his mother and older sister always used to watch while he was growing up, Jun knew that for a relationship of this nature to last in the long term, both participants had to work towards making it a two-way street.

And by his count, it was Makio's turn to do the compromising now.

END