Title: A Breakthrough
Universe: Love Mode
Theme/Topic: Jin crying at chick flicks.
Rating: PG-15
Character/Pairing/s: JinxKatsuki (light AoexNaoya, and an appearance by Kiichi)
Warnings/Spoilers: For Vol 7 of the manga.
Word Count: 1,906
Summary: Sort-of follow-up to "The Stupid Disease"- The hardships of living with a loved one effected by mental illness is never easy, but sometimes, sometimes you get your moments.
Dedication: Done for a fic exchange with kireizillah! Haha this is kind of stupid, I'm sorry.
A/N: So this actually took three installments for me to try and write, and I think you can kind of find the partitions because the tone changes or my idea changes abruptly and it's right there in the wording. ORZ But I promise, this whole story sounded TONS better in my head. I PROMISE. It's just…the execution that always gets me down. LOL
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

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Even though Katsuki felt that he had—for the most part—figured out the majority of Kuniaki Jin's weird quirks and as such, figured out how to live loving a man who had the dreaded twelve-year-old-trapped-in-a-grown-man's-body-disease, it still wasn't an easy feat by any means.

While physical exertion and orally administered medications helped Jin with the bigger problems pertaining to his strange illness, there were still times when Katsuki's best efforts were ignored or outright ridiculed, when his trying to help was met with volatile resistance and his hard work thrown right back in his face with a condescending sneer.

Attempts to take Jin out on normal dates—as normal couples did—were often met with disastrous outcomes so bad that Aoe Reiji's special hush-up task force had to be called out just to extricate the two of them from whatever situation Jin's foul temperament had landed them in. At other times the situations were far less spectacular but no less ruined, and Katsuki was left wondering why he even tried until something about Jin (usually inadvertently) reminded him of why he loved the big idiot in the first place.

To provide an example of one of their larger-scale disaster situations, the last dinner date Katsuki had dragged Jin out on had ended with the threat of a personal gang war when Jin had taken offense to Katsuki's insinuations that his bad boy attitude wouldn't fly with women anymore. Jin had risen to the challenge, and—against Katsuki's wishes— very promptly sauntered over to the table of one of Japan's most powerful underground businessmen and asked the man's girlfriend—right in front of the man—if she'd like to come play with him for the rest of the evening.

When she'd "kyaaaad!" and happily agreed, Katsuki was pretty sure Jin had gotten a hit put out on him that night, and if not for Aoe-san's considerable resources, would be naught but a suspicious smear on the pavement right about now.

To a lesser degree, an attempt at staying in and having a home-cooked meal had resulted in some biting words against Katsuki's masculinity, and a definite souring of the amorous mood he'd been going for when he'd ended up throwing his om-rice at Jin's stupid head (though in retrospect the fact that he'd had to be kissed back into calmness after that wasn't so bad).

But suffice it to say, even if one knew all of Jin's immature little habits, loving him wasn't—and probably would never be—an easy feat.

Which was why Katsuki had to take the small concessions he did get— the little signs and the tiny, almost imperceptible gestures that Jin let slip past his armor every now and again— and subsequently, blow them way out of proportion.

No one could really blame him—they were all he had, after all.

Or rather, all he thought he had.

However one evening, one very rare and lucky evening, Katsuki was given the opportunity to latch onto something very, very big.

It was on the one particular date when—inspired—Katsuki decided that they ought to try and watch a movie together at his place, thus eliminating the distraction of other people as well as the need to say anything. Taking both potential targets and Jin's foul mouth out of the picture seemed the safest route to go after all, and Jin wouldn't say no to such an easy demand for attention if it meant shutting Katsuki up about spending time together that wasn't just fucking for at least a week.

And so here they were, in Katsuki's apartment sitting on his dumpy couch, Jin already looking bored and Katsuki thinking to himself that sometimes the asshole's stupid disease really just pissed him off.

"It's a movie my friend lent to me," the young man announced, and slid the disk into the DVD player. "I don't know what it's about, so don't ask."

Jin snorted. "Figures."

Katsuki ignored him and plopped down next to him instead. His mood improved somewhat after that though, when their thighs touched and Jin didn't A- pull away or B- promptly toss Katsuki over the sidearm and start fucking him in lieu of watching the film.

Small concessions, he told himself. It was all about the little things with Jin.

And then—after a blissful and elusive three seconds of peace— the movie faded in.

"If you wanted me to think of you as more of a girl you coulda just said so, kid."

Katsuki sighed as Jin's mouth found its way into the equation anyway. "Give it a chance."

"She's crying about her dead lover in the first minute. I don't do chick flicks."

"My friend said it was good. I trust her."

"Her? Oh even better. There are about seven hundred more worthwhile ways I can think of spending the afternoon."

Katsuki almost rolled his eyes. "Don't be a bastard."

"Isn't that why you love me?"

The younger man flushed bright pink and grabbed a cushion, bashing Jin in the chest with it. "Watch the movie!"

Jin smirked to himself but settled down more comfortably on the couch—apparently buoyed by the younger man's blush— and all Katsuki could do was tell himself that it was the small things that mattered.

Or at least, it was the small things that were all he was ever going to get with someone like Kuniaki Jin.

Though little did he know, that assumption was only correct in his world of before the movie.

About halfway through the film, when Katsuki was feeling very slightly nauseous from the sheer saccharine ridiculousness of the main story (he trusted Eiko-san's taste in most things, but he supposed there would forever be that male/female divide in entertainment values no matter how seemingly level-headed the woman was), and he moved to maybe suggest they forgo watching the rest and just end up fucking on the couch after all. At least that would keep him from vomiting right then and there.

But as he turned to face Jin he noticed something very slightly off-kilter about the other man's expression. Gone was the cool, indifferent calm, or even the condescending smirk.

Jin looked kind of annoyed.

And that made Katsuki stop in his tracks, even if the movie was killing every single remaining shred of masculinity he possessed bit by bit.

He stared.

And saw a telltale twitch in Jin's jaw when the heroine once again, dragged her poor, hapless boyfriend out on another idiotic adventure. "The hell does he put up with that crazy bitch for?" the older man muttered, and crossed his arms. "Just shoot her in the head with her own damn gun."

After a moment, Katsuki felt something akin to a smile tugging at his lips as he realized what was happening here. This…this was not a small thing.

This was—or had the potential to be—an absolute breakthrough. He pounced.

"Maybe he's just that dedicated."

Jin arched a skeptical eyebrow. "Or he's retarded."

Katsuki shrugged. "That's his business. It's love, right?"

Jin scoffed, but grew quiet again.

Katsuki proceeded to watch the taller man out of the corner of his eye for the rest of the film.

Which, to be honest, didn't prove very interesting.

Until the climax of the story. The sound of a gunshot and blood suddenly gushing out of the wounded lover's chest were just about enough to make Katsuki want to die himself, but Jin abruptly standing and muttering, "bathroom," before turning on his heel and marching out of the room were what held the younger man's attention in this world through and through.

Because as Jin turned, Katsuki could have sworn he saw something suspiciously like an excess of pooled-moisture being blinked hastily back in the older man's eye.

Stunned, the young page didn't say a word as Jin headed for the restroom.

Heck, he didn't even really breathe for a while, even after the bathroom door was shut and the sound of running water from the other side immediately followed.

Katsuki just… stared.

And then—slowly—a grin broke out across his face as full and glorious realization finally dawned.

Kuniaki Jin cried at chick flicks.

Jin. Cried.

Jin could cry.

Amazing.

Unbelievable.

Idiotic.

Katsuki—filled with an impossible sort of glee— was half tempted to go knock on the bathroom door and ask the older man if he was okay. If he needed comfort or ice cream or a hug. It would have been glorious.

Yet, probably not helpful in anyway towards the cure of Jin's idiotic sickness, he supposed.

So coughing a bit to himself instead, Katsuki cleared his throat and made himself look as dignified as possible as he got up and put Eiko-san's DVD back in the case, making a mental note to himself to buy the movie one of these days, for memory's sake. In the meantime he shut off the DVD player and the TV and very carefully sat back down on the couch, trying not to look as pleased as he felt as he waited for Jin's return.

When Jin got back—a good ten minutes later—they ended up having sex on the couch anyway, and even if it was a pain in the ass to clean up afterwards, Katsuki was in such a good mood he didn't mind in the slightest. He was also magnanimous enough not to say anything about the crying, even when Jin was a bastard to him for the rest of the afternoon.

However, come the next day at work, he couldn't continue to hold in his rapture over the whole incident. It needed sharing.

And so, upon delivering a nice, expensive bottle of wine to Owner's office that evening, he popped the cork, prepared the glasses, and promptly exploded with a, "JIN IS SO CUTE!" loud enough to make Aoe blink at his desk.

A long beat of silence.

"Kuniaki Jin is cute?" Aoe asked, slowly, carefully. "That Jin? Not another Jin, right?"

Katsuki blinked. "Of course. Who else?"

Aoe watched him for a while.

And then, once again very slowly, the owner of the Blue Boy picked up his phone and dialed, never taking his eyes off the perplexed page boy. "Kiichi? Are you busy tonight? Can you come in?"

Katsuki stared. Turned to the office's third occupant warily. "What's he doing?"

From his seat on the couch, Naoya simply reached out to pat the page's arm. "I think he thinks you're sick. It's the only reason he ever willingly calls sensei first."

Katsuki wasn't sure whether to be touched by Owner's concern or offended on Jin's behalf.

Sometime later Kiichi arrived in a whirlwind of Naoya-bad-touch and loving smiles, only to—upon getting to work— confirm Reiji's worst suspicions. The doctor gleefully diagnosed Katsuki Kyousuke with a severe case of men-who-love-idiots-disease and proclaimed that a cure for such a thing was almost as impossible to find as one for man-trapped-in-twelve-year-old-boy-sickness.

After the proclamation—and Katsuki's subsequent horror—Kiichi smiled benevolently and slung an arm around the page's shoulder in a comforting manner, telling him it was fine—he wasn't alone in having contracted the illness. There was in fact, a support group for these sorts of things.

"Really?" Katsuki asked, feeling a small shred of hope amidst all his distress.

Kiichi grinned and gave Katsuki Naoya's e-mail and phone number.

Aoe-san promptly threw his brother out of the office.

END