JOJI♪[On the Winds of Change] To be Apart, and to be Whole
Don't. Even. Ask.
By the end of this series, this might be my posting ground @x@ Sorry, Imo, Ange, Wingu - I'm like... Hogging Celemei~ >w<
Series: On the Winds of Change
Title: To be Apart, and to Whole
Author:
jojibear
Pairing: NishiKato, KoyaPi
Rating: G
Word Count: 842
Notes: Second of 64 stories in this series. 8D This one’s more angst-y, a little sad and I actually have no idea I managed to write something like this on such a hyper mood xD Beta-ed by Rosie (<3) and dedicated to
trivialaffairand
fireflychen.
Hexagram 02 -
Space --
kun ---
space 02
space; growing
Shige could feel the space between them grow, the gap that only continued to grow outwards away from him, not inwards towards him.
It had started with a simply “I love you” but it had snowballed into something entirely different, and as the law student reflected on the events that had led up to this moment, he wasn’t sure how those three simple words could turn into him and his lover separating.
Three days.
He had been counting - the number of days he hadn’t seen Ryo, the number of days he hadn’t been sleeping.
“Shige,” Koyama cooed, sitting down next to his best friend on the couch, a mug of coffee in his hand. “Shige, are you okay?”
He nodded mechanically, not trusting his mouth - or his eyes, for that matter, because he knew if he turned to look at the older man, he would burst in to tears and then, he’d have to tell his best friend what was on his mind.
“Are you sure?” Another mechanical nod, and Koyama rose from the sofa, carefully treading over to his lover.
“Will Shige be okay?” Pi asked, resting his head on the eldest member’s shoulder. “He doesn’t look it,” he said, when Koyama, in a rather hesitant tone, assured him that ‘Shige will be fine’.
At that very moment, a clatter brought their attention to Shige’s body collapsed on the floor.
“Shige!” In a flash, the taller man was kneeling beside the unconscious form and checking any signs of injury.
Pi fished out his phone from his bag and sped-dialled a number, waiting impatiently for the other person to pick up the phone. When the line connected, he quickly shouted, “Ryo-chan! Help! Shige collapsed!” before hanging up without letting his best friend say a thing. From his place next to Shige, the Literature graduate looked uncertainly up at his boyfriend, but the leader only smiled encouragingly and that was all he needed. With Pi’s help, he lifted Shige back onto the couch, pulling a blanket up to cover the sleeping man.
Footsteps thundered outside and a second later, Ryo came crashing through the doors, out of breath, flushed and looking alarmed. In three large strides, he was by Shige’s side, pushing fallen strands of hair out of his face and holding his hand. Behind him, Tegoshi and Massu skidded into the room, one hand holding the other’s.
“Will Shige be okay?” Tegoshi’s question rang loudly in the quiet room, Koyama quickly hushing the youngest member. “Sorry.”
For the rest of that day, the members of NEWS let Shige sleep in their dressing room as they went about their daily business. But that didn’t stop Koyama from dropping back into the dressing room between rehearsals for their upcoming single and that night’s episode of Shounen Club to check up on Shige.
To his surprise, every time he came, Ryo was kneeling there beside him, holding his hand, smoothing out the creases he had accumulated from writing so much. He didn’t dare to enter, in case the Osakan turned around to snap at him, telling him to go away, but for a strange reason unknown to him, he felt relieved that Nishikido-kun was there for his best friend.
---
Shige stirred.
“Shige!”
He turned his head to the side, his head pounding slightly, his vision blurry from having slept so long. “Ryo?”
“YOU IDIOT!” and Shige winced at the loud voice. “Look at you, you made yourself ill.”
“Ryo?”
“What?” he snapped, both angry and relieved at the same time.
There was a pause as Shige collected his thoughts, his sight clearing, but when he spoke, there was a hint of disbelief in his voice. “You’re here.”
“Yes, I’m here. Why wouldn’t I be here? Pi called me whilst I was practising something with Kanjani8 and I literally dropped everything to run over here. Look at yourself - have you been sleeping?”
Mute, the other shook his head slowly.
“You idiot.” And all of a sudden, Shige was enveloped in a warm hug. “Why didn’t rest yourself properly, instead of collapsing halfway through a work day?”
“You never came back.”
Ryo tapped his lover’s head in a reprimanding manner. “For a university student, you sure are dumb. Of all the people I know, I would have at least expected you to be able to look after yourself.”
“But you never came back,” Shige stated, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You never came back, and I couldn’t sleep without you.”
“I’m sorry, Shige.” He nuzzled the younger man’s neck. “I’m sorry. It was a stupid fight, and I got angry over a stupid thing. I’m sorry. I love you.”
“I love you too, Ryo.”
---
Koyama peeked into the room, Pi behind him, and smiled, closing the door quietly as he straightened up.
“Did you know they were fighting?”
Koyama shook his, saying, “But my member-ai detector could sense them drifting apart - it’s never wrong.”
Pi chuckled and pulled the older boy in for a kiss.