Warnings for those of you that don't read tags because I forgot that's only an ao3 thing: there is gonna be smut in this story. obviously not yet, but it's looming on the horizon much later than now, so youngins...skidaddle...

Johnny hears Larusso huff again on the other side of the shower wall, and Johnny actually groaned with annoyance.

"I said I was sorry, alright? You think I wanted to dive into the lake with you?" Johnny asked, his voice all-consuming and echo-y even amongst the steam and rain of the showers.

"Right, you wanted to save that for the third date," Larusso replies, in that smart-aleck whine that used to make Johnny want to knock his lights out. Now, however, he takes his words to heart; the stupid joke actually makes him scoff, something of a laugh as he shakes his head.

That is, until Larusso lays something slimy and green on the wall, allowing Johnny to fully bask in the view of some horrifying lake mold Larusso seemed to peel off himself.

"I always knew you'd give me a disease, Lawrence," Larusso comments prissily. "Did you give the same thing to Ali?"

Johnny clenches and unclenches his fist at that, allowing the hot spray of the shower to calm down the heat growing inside him. He wasn't actually mad, he didn't actually want to beat Larusso up; he just got pissed that Larusso was such a smartass sometimes. Johnny bet he considered himself real witty.

Johnny pictures Larusso in the shower one stall over, rinsing the lake water off himself. His scrawny arms, his tan skin, every vertebrae of his spine visible all the way down...he had fluffy hair when dry, parted in the middle like a curtain or a spewing geyser. When it was wet, like when he crawled out of the lake with soaked clothes and an expression like murder, he looked like a pissed-off kitten. Tommy looked a second from laughing, but after seeing Johnny sharing the same expression, he kept his mouth shut.

Johnny reflected again: his own body, Larusso's, diseases, giving things to Ali. "I gave her better things than you could," he says, and as he tilts his head back and lets the warm water freshen up his hair, he feels the comeback was on par with Larusso's.

Larusso scoffs at that. "I'm sure you did," is all he says, and Johnny doesn't even bother to ask what the hell he means by that.

Johnny's out of the shower before Larusso, and he's quick to wrap a towel around himself when he hears the other shower's water turn off as well. Larusso steps out, and he's got the towel wrapped around up to his chest, like a chick, and Johnny can't help but grin.

"Can't you at least wear the towel around your waist like a man?" Johnny asks as he grabs his pile of clean clothes.

"You really just wanna see as much of me as possible, huh, Johnny?" Larusso asks in turn, cocky like he's Tom fucking Cruise, and Johnny rolls his eyes as he feels his cheeks heat at the accusation. That is, until Larusso gives himself away: "Not all of us are built like a Greek god..." he mutters, taking his clean clothes behind the curtain, rustling about as he started to change.

"What was that?" Johnny laughs incredulously, going into his own stall to change as well.

"Fuck off, Lawrence," is all he hears in response, though he can't help but grin anyway. He always knew he was built compared to Larusso, but hearing him admit it was music to his ears.

And if he flexed a little bit in front of the mirror on his way out, well, sue him.