Legal Disclaimer: Digimon is owned by Toei and Disney. Neither of us are neither of them, so therefore, we do not own Digimon.
Title: Life's An Itch
Pairing: Jyou/Koushirou, with a reference to Ken/Daisuke and Shuu/Jun.
Rated: PG-13 Note: All poison ivy information came from this page: so if it's wrong, blame them, not us.
Timeline: 2014 or so. Twelve years after the defeat of BelialVamdemon. The 2027 epilogue is merrily ignored.
Jyou wrapped an arm around Koushirou, feeling the redhead lean in closer to him as he did so. A wave of deep love swept over him at that. Koushirou so very seldom was demonstrative that even this was special to him. There were still mornings when he woke up and just stared at the younger man for hours before truly believing that they were together.
"Good movie," Koushirou murmured softly into his ear, lifting his head a little to do so. Their attention was nominally supposed to be on the television in front of them, but neither of them could have said what the plot was on a bet. There were other things they were paying attention to.
"Better company." Jyou smiled at him. Koushirou chuckled softly and mischievously, closing his eyes for a moment as he leaned in again.
"I know you are." The redhead didn't hand out compliments that often, and Jyou couldn't help but shiver a little at the sound of it. His boyfriend stretched luxuriously, opening his eyes to see the credits starting to roll, and glanced at the clock. "Do you want to watch another movie?"
Jyou checked the clock himself, scratching one arm absently as he did so. "I think we have time for one more." He scratched again, reaching around to get to his back this time.
Koushirou eyed him curiously. "Jyou, are you all right?" What on Earth could be making Jyou scratch so much? Was he having some form of allergic reaction to something? If so, what could it be? Part of his mind set to work at once trying to figure it out, while the rest of him continued the conversation.
The blue-haired one nodded casually, trying to look as if his were perfectly normal. "I'm just a bit itchy, that's all. Nothing to worry about." It had been creeping up on him over the last couple of days. He hated it when something like this happened. It always struck at the worst times. Almost always, whenever he got some time to spare from work and could spend it with Koushirou, something started to interfere.
The redhead frowned thoughtfully, his forehead wrinkling in the way Jyou found so very cute. "It is mosquito season." Though he couldn't really see any signs of mosquito bites on Jyou, if he were being honest. He was certainly close enough. In fact, the closer he looked...
"We live in the middle of Tokyo." Jyou reminded him dryly. "Just where are these mosquitoes?"
Koushirou nodded slightly, acknowledging that. He hadn't really thought that was the answer, anyway. He watched as Jyou's hands flew here and there, digging at various spots on his arms, chest, and back, and frowned. This was beginning to feel a little more serious than the vague possibility of some kind of insect bite. "Let me see your arms, Jyou."
"I'm fine!" Jyou said this even as he scratched even more, on his left arm this time, then sighed. There was nothing else to do, it seemed. He held both hands out and watched Koushirou examine things very closely. It was times like this when he almost regretted not having went into the family medical business. Not that he really minded being a psychiatrist. People needed that kind of medical help, too.
Koushirou's concerned voice broke into his thoughts. "Jyou, you're splotchy."
"I'm what?"
The other man held the offending arm up carefully, pointing to one of the itcy spots there. "See?" Jyou looked down to see red and raised skin where he'd been scratching, with something that looked like a blister in the center of it. "I didn't give you something that you're allergic to, did I? Maybe the asparagus..." He couldn't remember for the life of him if Jyou even had allergies.
Jyou shook his head, then took a closer look and groaned. He'd seen this before. Not on him, but he knew what it was anyway. "It's not an allergy. Not to something I ate, anyway." He sighed. He knew what this was. It was beyond embarrassing, too. Trust him to have this happen on their special night together. "Poison ivy. It must have been when we were visiting Mimi."
Koushirou's eyes widened, remember what he had to be talking about. "The picnic?" The Japan-based Chosen Children had paid a visit to Mimi earlier in the week, and she had taken them all out to the country for a picnic and a day spent out in the sunshine. Koushirou would never forget the looks of shock on everyone's faces when he'd actually left his laptop behind.
"Remember I had to go into the bushes for a while?" Jyou reminded him, blushing at the thought of what he hadn't told Koushirou about that little incident. "I slipped and fell while I was gone, and I landed right in the middle of some bushes."
Koushirou looked even more worried, though it was obvious that no lasting harm had been done. "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"
"No, but I must have fallen into some poison ivy, and it looks like I'm allergic to it. That would be just my luck." Jyou sighed mentally as Koushirou leaped up and started away from him. This wasn't exactly the reaction he'd been expecting. "You can't get it by touching me, Koushirou. Not now, anyway, I've washed since then."
Koushirou ignored his boyfriend and hurried into his room, from where the sound of his laptop booting up came a few moments later. Jyou blinked slightly, then smiled. That was more like what he thought Koushirou would do. He got up and followed him in there, peering over the redhead's shoulder to see him looking up websites about the current problem. "Koushirou?"
"I know scratching is bad, so I'm looking for ways to keep you from doing it." Koushirou told him quickly, then glanced back to the screen in front of him. He nodded briefly, then jumped up. "Come on, Jyou."
"Where are we going?" He had no intentions of going anywhere until this was fixed. It looked like work was going to be off for a day or so at least. He'd have to call his secretary and make sure she rescheduled things. Noriko was good at that.
Koushirou grinned, a slightly amused light in his dark eyes. "Bathroom. You're getting a bath." He pointed firmly in the direction of the appropriate room, and went to get the baking soda that the website had recommended while Jyou headed in there. "Warm water, Jyou!" He called out as he heard it running. "Not too hot!"
He was going to make certain that Jyou got the very best care that he could provide until the rash was all gone. From what he'd read, poison ivy could take anywhere from twelve to seventy-two hours to really get going on a person, but only on those areas which had actually had contact with the sap that caused it. So far his case looks pretty typical. Wonder where else he got it.
When he came into the bathroom and saw the lean unclothed form of his boyfriend, he couldn't help an appreciative grin. Jyou was gorgeous, after all. "Get in." He motioned to the tub and as the blue-haired teen did so, he carefully poured in the baking soda and stirred it around. Once it was all mixed in properly, he grabbed a folded towel from the nearby shelf and put it behind Jyou once he was settled in. He made a note to thank Mimi for how she'd designed their bathroom. The style made everything right at hand without actually being in the way. "Here, this should be a little more comfortable."
"Thanks." Jyou leaned back and let it wash all over him, sighing in real pleasure. "This feels so nice." It was definitely putting a halt to the itches. He hadn't even begun to realize how much they were annoying him until they had been stopped.
Koushirou watched as he relaxed, his eyes sliding shut. The rash on his arms, and everywhere else, was still there, but it didn't seem to be causing him quite as much irritance as before. He plucked a washcloth from the shelf and dipped it into the baking-soda water carefully, getting it thoroughly soaked before tapping Jyou on the shoulder.
"Here, use this on some of those patches, but be careful. Don't rub too hard."
"Thanks." Jyou took the washcloth and followed instructions, tending to the spots carefully. Koushirou's eyes followed every move he made, trying not to let his libido take over, no matter how much he really wanted it to. He knew Jyou couldn't pass the itch on to him, so to speak, right now. The older man had been right about that; he'd seen a notation about it on the webpage he'd looked up.
But that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate a good look at what he was taking care of right now. And that was all he was going to do: look. Anything more could be saved for a far more appropriate time.
"You know, I think there's room enough for two in this tub." Jyou said calmly, rubbing on the back of his neck with the washcloth. There was a small itchy spot back there he was having a bit of a problem getting to. He didn't think it was from the poison ivy, though. He couldn't remember any of it touching him there. Maybe he could at least talk Koushirou into washing his back.
"And I think I'm not going to even try that until you're not splotchy and don't have any more of those on you." Koushirou pointed directly at the blistery areas of Jyou's affected body. Jyou's lips curved ever so slightly.
"Can I at least get you to wash my back? It's not the easiest part of me to get to." He refrained from commenting on what might be the easiest. That was something more like Daisuke would say if this situtation had him or Ken in it. Of course, he'd noticed that Daisuke seldom seemed to fall into messes quite like this. Who am I kidding? If it could get Ken and him in the bathtub together, Daisuke would probably jump into the poison ivy headfirst!
Koushirou picked up a sponge and got it wet and soapy before moving around to where he could get to Jyou's back. He knew he was getting himself soaked, and he didn't care that much. Clothes could just be washed, after all. He started to carefully run the sponge down Jyou's back, patting it lightly here and there if he found poison ivy patches. The older man leaned forward, giving him a little more room to work with, and let loose with something that sounded quite like an odd little purr of contentment.
"That feels wonderful, Koushirou." Jyou murmured softly, stretching his arms out a little. His boyfriend whacked him lightly on said arms, and Jyou looked at him, one dark blue eyebrow raised curiously.
"Put those down, Jyou. I know how you think." Koushirou ordered calmly. Jyou was not the pouting type, but he certainly gave it a brief moment of thought as he lowered his arms. How in the world could Koushirou had known he was thinking about pulling him into the tub with him? Did he really know him that well? I guess he does. They had known each other for over fifteen years, after all.
He sighed a little, more for effect than anything else, and shifted around a little in the water as Koushirou started to clean his back again. "Good boy, Jyou. Good boy."
"Arf, arf." Jyou retorted dryly, and Koushirou teasingly tweaked his hair. Jyou squeaked playfully, keeping the game up for a moment, then his boyfriend patted his hand with the sponge.
"Come on. Since I'm making you take a bath, you might as well enjoy it all the way. Want me to wash your hair?" Jyou nodded, closing his eyes and leaning back in the tub as Koushirou dumped water easily over the blue locks. He carefully massaged Jyou's scalp, then frowned as he found another couple of spots in the blue-haired one's hair that could only be poison ivy. "You poor thing." He was very careful and soothing as he worked the shampoo into Jyou's hair, then carefully rinsed. Once it was done, he glanced at his watch. Yes, the appropriate amount of tiem had passed. "Time to get out, Jyou."
Jyou pouted, but got up, with Koushirou holding out a towel for him as he did. In a short matter of time, he was dried, and Koushirou had clean clothes waiting for him. "I'll let you get dressed," he told him quietly, starting for the door.
"Don't you want to watch?" Jyou asked quietly. It most certainly wouldn't be the first time they'd dressed or undressed around each other. Koushirou looked him in the eyes, his heart speaking.
"More than you want to know." Koushirou slipped out quickly and went to make up the bed, getting out some calamine lotion as he did so. He wasn't all that certain he could've controlled himself if he had stayed to watch. He did what he could to keep himself under control, until light footsteps sounded. Jyou came in, wearing the pajamas that had been provided, and the redhead looked up with a smile. "Feeling any better?" Jyou nodded, looking much more relaxed now. "I called Shuu. He said he and Jun would love to keep on taking care of Tentomon and Gomamon for a while until you're not so itchy anymore." Jyou's brother had been absolutly ecstatic to have the two Digimon over for the night while their human partners had enjoyed each other's company. Jun adored having them around as well, no matter how many tricks Gomamon played on her, and little Kimiko was absolutely thrilled at seeing Uncle Jyou and Uncle Koushirou's partners, even if she couldn't see them.
"I'm glad. Sora's father's probably going to talk them both to death, or reformatting, or whatever, you know." Jyou grinned slightly. It would be fun to be a fly on the wall that night. But he had a much better offer, really. Besides, he really didn't want to hear what Gomamon would have to say about his current predicament. He sighed lightly, toying with a stray strand of hair. "You know, you have no idea of how incompetent I feel right now."
"Why?" Koushirou asked, but he knew he didn't have to. This was Jyou. He knew exactly what the problem was.
The other shrugged. "I'm supposed to be prepared for anything, and I got poison ivy and didn't even know it until it was too late! I didn't even think about it! And now you've got to take care of me."
Koushirou grinned at him. "I don't mind. Usually you're the one taking care of me. It's good to change things around."
"So you want equal time, hm?" Jyou asked with a smile, reaching for the other's hand. Koushirou nodded, squeezing Jyou's long finger's gently. Their respective schedules left them little time to really do this kind of thing for each other, but it looked like fate had handed them a break. An itchy one.
"Come on, you should get some rest." Koushirou tugged him towards the bed and they shared a brief kiss. "While you sleep, I'm going to see if I can find anything else online to help you."
Jyou nodded, then slid into bed, curling around Koushirou's pillow as if he were a cat: his typical sleeping pose. Koushirou watched for a moment, then settled back down in front of his computer and started to type again. He researched the problem long into the night, only coming up for air, the occasional sip of water, and once a bite to eat, when he absolutely had to. Once he'd learned all he could, he crawled sleepily into bed, curling against Jyou, and falling to a deep, exhausted sleep.
When morning peeked into the bedroom, Jyou was the first one awake. He could feel a few itches still itching, but he didn't expect that to change over the next few days or longer. He peeked over at Koushirou and smiled. His boyfriend looked so unbelievably adorable sleeping like that. I could get really used to waking up like this.
Koushirou's eyes fluttered open and as he realized Jyou was looking at him, smiled lovingly. "Good morning."
"Good morning." Jyou returned the salutations and added in a kiss for it.
The redhead sat up slowly. "How're you feeling?"
"A bit itchy again. I think the bath wore off." Unspoken was a request for another. Koushirou simply reached out and grabbed the lotion bottle.
"This should help a bit." He motioned for Jyou to sit up properly, and then started to rub it carefully where all the areas of infection were. "Is this helping?" Jyou nodded, and Koushirou kept on rubbing it in, turning it into an impromptu massage. Jyou purred in contentment; Koushirou's fingers were strong and skilled from his long hours of typing, and he knew all the places that Jyou tended to get cramped in and took care of them. When he finally stopped, Jyou had never felt more relaxed in his entire life. "Hungry?" Koushirou asked, scooting around so that he was in front of Jyou as the other purred in contentment.
Jyou's eyes were quite relaxed and dreamy, and Koushirou smiled some. The blue-haired man was always like this in the morning, a bit confused until he had his first cup of coffee. He slipped off the bed and padded into the kitchen, making the requisite liquid caffeine as quickly as he could. As the mixture dripped through, he felt familiar warm arms going around him. "I didn't know you could find the kitchen before your first cup, Jyou."
"You're in here. I just followed you." Jyou nuzzled into his neck lightly, and Koushirou shivered for a moment before he stepped away. "Koushirou?"
"You're not well yet. Not until all that poison ivy gets cleared up, Jyou."
"Why?" There was once again nearly a pout in his voice. Jyou was always at his most playful, and his most childish, when it came to mornings. Koushirou was of the theory that his adult brain was awakened by the caffeine, and so far nothing had happened that would deny his theory.
He sighed just a little. "Because I don't want to risk anything making this worse. I know it says that you're not contagious by now, but I'd rather not risk it for either of us. And I want to take care of you without getting exhausted. In any way."
"Oh. All right." Jyou settled down in one of the chairs as Koushirou poured him his first cup. The brains that made him so attractive were going to be filtering in any second now. Koushirou moved about quietly, getting the rest of breakfast together carefully. They both tended to eat the same thing every morning, so he didn't have to think too much about what he was doing.
Instead, he amused himself with watching Jyou as the other man sat there and had his coffee. Who would have thought that a twenty-seven year old would have poison ivy? Though if it were going to happen to anyone, it would happen to Jyou. This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend our weekend together, but it could've been worse. After all, I just might get to give him a massage every morning.
As the days passed, Koushirou kept a very close eye on the various rashes that cropped up. One fairly interesting rash popped up in a sensitive area, one Jyou tried not to draw attention to if he could. Koushirou took care of that one with extra patience.
"I think it's almost gone, Jyou." Koushirou felt a little disappointed in that. He'd loved having his very own Jyou-doll to play with over the last few days. Maybe this was why so many girls enjoyed playing with dolls. He grinned at the other man. "No more itching Jyou.
Jyou grinned at him teasingly. "Life's an itch."
"Jyou!!" Koushirou groaned deeply, shaking his head. Jyou's arms around him tightened some, but he didn't protest. It felt so good to be here. "That's something Taichi would say!" Jyou had to be feeling better. He wouldn't have said that otherwise.
The blue-haired one grinned at him teasingly. "Spank me?" From the look in his eyes, Jyou wouldn't mind that at all. There was no doubt now that Jyou was feeling better. He was feeling frisky.
"Hentai." Koushirou accused him, then grinned. He was enjoying being close to Jyou again without fear of going too far to really be upset. "I love you."
Jyou chuckled softly. "What a coincidence. I love you." He would miss being here all day every day, but all good things had to come to an end. Work called, and it had, of course, piled up while he was gone. He didn't even want to imagine what things were going to be like for Koushirou. Miyako had, of course, been doing what she could for their business, but there were things only he knew about, just as there were things only she knew.
"I sincerely hope so. I'm just glad that you're feeling better."
The Child of Faith grinned at him. "So am I. Itching isn't exactly on my list of ways to get more time with you."
Koushirou sipped his coffee innocently. "Are you sure? You did fall in there and 'forget' about it for the longest time. Until it was quite convenient, in fact. You could've been stuck having to be taken care of by someone like...Takeru."
Jyou couldn't help the wince. The younger blonde was one of his best friends, age difference notwithstanding, but there were many, many reasons that Takeru had graduated as a literature major, not a medical one. His entire lack of patience was just one of them. A good patient, or a good doctor, he was not.
"Please, I'd rather not think about it." It could've happened, too. If he'd really noticed things just two days earlier, when he and Takeru had been working on some research for one of Takeru's new novels, that could have been what happened. He did his best to think about something different. Koushirou seemed a viable option.
"Now I know you're feeling better." Koushirou murmured breathlessly as Jyou began to kiss on his neck lightly, then twisted his head around carefully to look at him. "One more bath before we declare you permanently cured?" He smiled lightly. "Or at least until you fall into some more poison ivy."
Jyou nodded, his cheeks reddening as he pulled his hands away from where they'd been reaching. He was really going to have to work on his boyfriend's sense of timing. Koushirou quickly headed into the bathroom, starting the hot water and mixing in the baking soda. His ears all but twitched as he heard Jyou removing his clothes. Hearing him do that is almost as good as watching him! One might even say it was better, since the imagination could provide so much.
As the young man came into the bathroom, Koushirou smiled softly in approval. Jyou definitely was better, and it showed. Jyou twitched his buttocks a little at him, and Koushirou chuckled. "Who'd ever think that you could be so frisky when it's not morning?"
"Me." Jyou said simply, grinning at him. "You've had me on restriction since this started. You're going to have to pay for it now, you know."
The redhead raised one eyebrow. "I am?" This was something he had to admit he hadn't quite counted on. Not that the prospect bothered him. He just hadn't been expecting it so soon.
Jyou nodded, eyes gleaming lightly. "And I'm going to get some interest too."
"You already have too much interest." Koushirou pointed out with a straight face. "But we can talk about it later." He pointed to the water. "Bath's ready. Get in."
Jyou slid inside, the water closed over him as he did so, and Koushirou gladly watched. His boyfriend wriggled in the soft, warm water, and the redhead chuckled. When Jyou looked up at him curiously, the other just shook his head. "Nothing." He wished briefly he had Hikari's camera. Something like this should be preserved for the ages. Or at least for future reference.
As Jyou relaxed, Koushirou leaned forward carefully to get a better look, and managed to catch a glimpse or two of very interesting territory. "Just enjoying the sights." He murmured huskily as Jyou looked up at him this time, grinning.
"Care to join me?" He asked, moving over so that there was enough room for two in the tub. Koushirou considered for a few moments, then nodded slowly. He wanted to make up for lost time just as much as Jyou did. Maybe even more. He hadn't had incessent itching to take his mind off of things. Then Jyou sweetened the deal. "I'll give you a neckrub." he offered. He knew exactly how much the redhead's neck ached sometimes, due to how much time he spent over his computer.
It only took a few moments before they were both settled into the tub together. Koushirou leaned back against the other, relaxing as he felt long, strong fingers going across his back. Jyou wasn't fully trained in massage therapy, but he knew the basic techniques. Daisuke had taught him well. Daisuke should really give up the noodle cart and go full time on the massage therapy. He'd had one of Daisuke's massages once. It ranked high on the list of 'things everyone on Earth should do before they die' in his mind.
Koushirou stayed quite still, everything in his mind slipping away and his heart thudding more and more as Jyou stroked, becoming a very happy puddle of semi-sentient purring goo. Jyou gently kissed his neck, and the redhead reached an arm back to tug him even closer with another sensuous purr.
They cuddled closely, not doing anything more, no matter how teasing it felt to be so close to each other, separated only by a layer of water. There were more comfortable, and drier, places to do what they both wanted to do, and they knew it. Koushirou finally sighed. "Water's getting cold. How's your back feel? Still itchy?"
"Nope." Jyou made a quick spot check and nodded. This minature nightmare/fantasy was finally over. "All cleared up."
Koushirou started to pull away. "Then we should get out." He didn't really want to, and Jyou sighed regretfully. It had to be done, however.
"I guess." He carefully stood up, then picked Koushirou up into his arms and carried him out of the tub, nuzzling his neck gently.
"Jyou, be careful!" Koushirou yelped in surprise. He knew that Jyou wasn't as clumsy as he'd been when he was younger, but the last thing he wanted was for a sudden recurrence, while he was in Jyou's arms! The floor could be very, very hard to fall on, and he wasn't quite certain if their rugs would be enough to absorb the impact. He didn't want to find out the hard way, either.
Jyou grinned. "I am careful!" He almost slipped on wet tile, and steadied himself quickly as Koushirou clung to him more tightly.
"Careful, hm?" The redhead looked at him, amused.
"Of course." Jyou grinned. "If I wasn't careful, I would have fallen." He carefully placed Koushirou down, and the redhead clung for a second before letting go, then padded towards their room. Jyou dried off, then followed, eyeing the delicious form of his lover as the redhead stretched out on the bed. "Want company?"
Koushirou grinned, eyes lighting up in joy. "Always." He purred as Jyou leaned over to kiss him, then pulled him onto the bed and into a heartfelt kiss. They had better things to do just then than get dressed.
The End