The boy next door - Ruki/Uruha - 14/20
Title: The boy next door
Chapters: 14/20
Author: buildingonlove
Genre: drama, romance, angst, violence, AU
Rating: PG-13/R (depends on chapter)
Pairing: Ruki/Uruha
Warnings: unbeta’ed, depressed thoughts, cursing
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I got other presents for Christmas last year.
Summary: Takanori falls in love with the pretty boy next door who just moved in. Discovering all his secrets, he isn’t sure if he’s the right one for him, and he’s not sure if it’s good or wrong to discover even more of this guy.
Comments: down there *points*
Previous chapters: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13
Kouyou looked up. “No, I can handle it myself,” he said with a small smile, before turning his gaze back to the row of chocolate.
“And you, sir?”
Takanori shivered. He couldn’t look at this guy like Kouyou did. He couldn’t smile at him like Kouyou did. He couldn’t… He could only run away, far away from here. Storming out of the store and running back towards the car.
And he did.
Somewhere far behind him, he heard Kouyou calling out his name. His thoughts were too messed up to recognize it was him, he thought it might could be that blonde guy from the store. The voice sounded the same to his ears. It sounded exactly the same like…
“He is just like Akira.”
Without noticing it, Takanori fell down on the ground on his knees. He thought he tripped, and he pressed his hands against the floor to prevent his head from hitting it. He felt horrible. He wanted to cry. But unfortunately, he already did. The warm tears were rolling down his cheeks, some of them touching the corners of his lips, making him taste their saltiness. Was this what they called a ‘break down’?
He sobbed as he felt someone wrapping its arms around him, pulling him closer and hissing something in his ear to calm him down. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t stop his tears from falling, even though he wanted it so badly. He felt that person pulling him on his feet and guiding him towards a bench, placing him on it. He looked up, seeing Kouyou in front of him, a worried and concerned look on his face. “Taka, what’s the matter?” he whispered, “what’s wrong?”
Takanori wanted to answer him, but when he opened his mouth, nothing more than sobs came out of it. He felt miserable. He looked at the people who were staring at him, big, shocking eyes burning on him. “Can we go home?” he whispered.
Kouyou nodded. He stood up, took Takanori’s hand and walked towards the exit, his fingers entwined with his.
When they reached the car and stepped inside, Kouyou didn’t start the motors. Instead, he frowned and looked at Takanori. “What happened there?” he asked concerned.
Takanori stared at his feet. “That guy inside…” he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper, “he was…” He closed his eyes, a salty tear escaping it as he did. “My ex-boyfriend.”
Kouyou blinked. “The one who…”
Takanori nodded. He couldn’t hold his tears in anymore. “I thought I would never see him again…” he sobbed, wiping the tears away with the sleeve of his jacket. As he looked back, he saw Kouyou’s face - completely blank, his lips froming one straight line, no emotion showed on it. “What’s his name?” the blonde asked.
“Akira,” Takanori whispered, feeling his heart being teared open as he spoke the word he never wanted to hear again - and surely not from his own mouth. He averted his gaze and stared back at his feet. “Akira Suzuki.”
He heard the car door being opened, and when he looked up, he saw Kouyou stepping outside and walking back to the shopping centre. He knew what Kouyou was about to do now.
He would go back to the candy shop, wouldn’t he?
He would go back to Akira, wouldn’t he?
He would talk - or rather yell - to him, wouldn’t he?
He would make things even worse than they already were, wouldn’t he?
“Kouyou, wait!” Takanori screamed as he stepped outside. The tall blonde paused and turned around, anger obvisously visible in his hazel eyes. “What?” he murmured.
Takanori walked towards him. “Don’t. Please, don’t…”
“Do you even realize what the fuck he did to you? I cannot-“
”I do, Kouyou, I do. But I don’t want him to know that…” He bit his lower lip. “I don’t want him to know I care. I don’t want him to know he hurt me.”
”Push your pride away, Takanori,” Kouyou said, suddenly sounding as cold as he did before.
“He hurt you so badly. And you want me to shrug that away, now when I have the chance to punch him in his face until he-“ He frowned at hearing his own words.
“Kouyou, please,” was the only thing that Takanori could bear to say. “Let’s go home.”
A small sigh escaped Kouyou’s mouth as he passed Takanori to walk back to the car. As Takanori stepped inside and fastened his seat belt, he started the motors and headed back for their home. Meanwhile, he asked Takanori if he wanted to go somewhere else, but Takanori wanted to go home. Kouyou understood completely. “I’ll go back another day,” he said before taking Takanori’s hand and rubbing circles on it with his thumb. “I’ll bring you home, sweetie.”
---
Yuu looked up when Kouyou entered the living room, alone. “Where’s Takanori?” he asked.
“He’s in his bedroom. Something happened in the shopping centre,” Kouyou muttered.
Yuu frowned. “What exactly?”
“He saw someone he didn’t want to see.”
”Who?”
”Akira.”
Yuu’s heart skipped a beat.
“What happened after that?”
”Lots of drama. Man, I want to punch that guy in his face.”
“Why didn’t you?”
”Takanori didn’t want me to. He wanted to go home. He wanted to act brave and he didn’t want to show Akira that he… cared.” He sat down on the armchair near the window as Yuu told him to. “He wanted to act brave.”
“What do you mean with ‘lots of drama’?”
Kouyou told Yuu what happened, and his voice became hoarse as he described how terribly hurt Takanori looked at that moment. He didn’t say it out loud, but some part of him was thinking that Takanori still loved Akira. “He looked miserable.”
“Did you want to punch Akira because he hurt Takanori? Because, you hurt him too and-“
“You think I didn’t punish myself for that?” Kouyou’s voice sounded cold and careless.
What Yuu hated so much. “What do you mean?”
”Hm. Nevermind.”
How the sharp blade reflected his distressed face with his pale white cheeks which were wet of crying. He felt so sorry. So miserable. He hated himself for doing that. The razor caressed his skin, touching it with its sharpness. A line of crimson liquid slid down his shaky hand.
“I’m going to see how Taka is doing now,” Kouyou said and stood up. He walked towards his bedroom and opened the door.
Takanori sat on the edge of his bed, his gaze set on the floor. His hands were placed between his knees, and he was shaking, though he didn’t notice himself. Kouyou walked towards him and placed himself next to him. “How are you now?” he asked with a low voice.
“Better,” Takanori murmured, trying to curve his lips into a smile. He looked at Kouyou’s watch to check the time; it was two thirty. There was much time left to do some other things, but actually he wanted to be alone now. “Kouyou, do you mind to let me alone for a minute?”
Kouyou raised his eyebrows in surprise but smiled. “Of course not,” he said, “is it okay if I’m going back to the shopping centre then?” He saw Takanori’s shocked look and added quickly: “I still need to buy my mother a present, of course.”
Takanori smiled and nodded. “Okay,” he said, letting his head rest on Kouyou’s shoulder. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t.”
“Promise me.”
Kouyou ignored him, cupped his face with his warm hands and pulled him closer to kiss him. Takanori’s lips curved into a smile against Kouyou’s and when he pulled away, he whispered a soft ‘goodbye’ before Kouyou left the room.
Loneliness. He hated it, normally. But now it felt good. He wanted to be alone and hoped that Yuu didn’t walk in. Thankfully, he didn’t. Takanori placed his head on the pillow and sighed. He could fall asleep right now - not that he felt tired, he just felt like sleeping right now. Maybe because things were getting processed in your sleep. And he wanted to erase Akira’s image from his mind.
What was he doing here anyway? Last time he saw Akira, was in his birth place - miles away from where he lived now. Why was he suddenly so close? If he wanted to get a job in some candy shop, he could get one in his birth place. There were several candy shops and there was a shopping centre too.
Why so close?
He remembered how Akira simply asked him if he needed some help. If he could help him. And he called him ‘sir’, too… Did he even recognize him? Probably not, since he dyed his hair. He wondered how Kouyou would deal with this.
---
Kouyou opened the door from the fancy candy shop. The blonde guy behind the counter looked up when he heard the bell ring. “Good afternoon, sir,” he smiled, “can I help you?”
Kouyou ignored him and walked towrds the counter. He leant over it, reached for the guy his collar and pulled him towards himself. “Are you Akira Suzuki?” he groaned.
A hint of surprise hit the guy and he gasped when Kouyou grabbed his collar. He quickly nodded. “I am.”
Before he could even try to escape Kouyou’s grip, he got punched into his face. Kouyou had lifted his arm and had thrust his fist against the guy his face, hitting his nose and upper lip. Dark red blood dripped out of his nose as the blonde fell down on the counter. He moaned in pain, reaching for his bleeding nose. Like he knew for what he just got hit, he didn’t ask why Kouyou punched him. “You sick fuck,” Kouyou muttered before turning around, taking the box of chocolate he had in mind out of the shelve and made movements to leave the store. Akira didn’t even put some efforts in calling him back, telling him to pay. He just lay there, on the counter, his nose still bleeding. Before Kouyou closed the door behind him, he said: “That one was for Takanori, you bastard.”
Kouyou looked at the blood on his knuckles. He quickly wiped it away. If Takanori knew he hit Akira, he would probably be upset. And now he said those words… He better kept quiet about it. He didn’t want to make Takanori upset. He already was.
A/N: I couldn't help but using Reita's "if I wasn't in a band, I would work in a candy shop"-policy, hehe.