Untitled. part2
Saying that Yamada is shocked when he catches wind of the meeting and what the management had wanted to do with the group is an understatement. He goes through the day in a daze, cursing himself for not being there to help his friends and the group.
If they still consider him as their friend, that is.
He had buried himself under a huge amount of work, getting maybe four hours of sleep at night when he was lucky and always finding excuses to avoid going to visit Yuuto.
All of the past five months’ madness dies down that day however, when he passes out on the way to the studio from the dressing room. He comes to almost an hour later, drowsy and with a horrible headache.
He’s sent home almost right away, obviously not in shape to go through two hours of filming. Half-way home, however, he takes a detour and twenty minutes later he finds himself in front of a huge, white building. He still remembers where Yuuto is, he just hopes they didn’t move him somewhere else. To his relief, Yuuto’s name is still written on the door, so he takes a deep breath and turns the knob.
There’s somebody curled up on the chair next to Yuuto’s bed, watching the unconscious boy silently.
“Raiya-kun?” Yamada whispers and said boy turns to him, a small, sad smile breaking onto his features as soon as he sees the older boy.
“Yamada-kun! It’s been a long time,” Yuuto’s brother bows his head politely, and Yamada’s heart clenches. He sees so much of Yuuto in his little brother, and for a moment he feels like time has gone back a few years.
He bows back and makes his way to the bed, tears forming in his eyes as he takes in Yuuto’s figure.
He sits down next to Raiya then, and they talk for a while before Yuuto mother’s arrives as well. She smiles a beautiful smile when she spots Yamada, and he bows politely. She shakes her head and pulls him into a hug, saying how happy she is to see him. Guilt washes over Yamada and he tries his best not to cry, for now at least.
Seeing as she came to pick her younger son up, Raiya and his mother leave not too long after, leaving Yamada alone in the room.
As he draws the chair close to the bed he cannot hold back the tears anymore, and they begin to fall profusely down his cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Yuuto, so sorry,” Yamada chokes out between sobs, gripping Yuuto’s hand tightly. “I miss you, I miss you so much, so much,” He keeps repeating, over and over. “Wake up, I need you, I really need you, even if it’s hard to believe anymore.”
The day after, Yamada tells the management he doesn’t want to go on like that anymore, not until Yuuto wakes up. They try to convince him otherwise, but upon his threats of ditching every filming needed they eventually agree.
He makes his way to the hospital feeling lighter than usual and less guilty than ever.
He is also relieved when he finds nobody else there; he is still is afraid of facing the rest of the group. For the first time in months, he enters Yuuto’s room with a small smile. He looks around, seeing cards and flowers nearly everywhere, and he smiles a bit more.
Yamada settles on the chair near the bedside, hand slipping into Yuuto’s, hold tight. He spends the whole morning there, chatting away about everything that comes to his mind, even singing something at times.
When it’s almost two in the afternoon a nurse comes into the room, asking him to leave for a while because she needs to check up on the patient. He smiles, nods and begins to gather his things, thinking he might as well leave since he doesn’t really want to meet anybody yet.
“I have to go now, Yuuto,” Yamada starts, still holding the younger boy’s hand in his. ”I’ll be back tomorrow, okay? Be safe,” He finishes, and he is about to let go when he feels something moving. He thinks he’s dreaming, hoping a little too much, so he tightens the hold he has on Yuuto’s hand just a bit more. After a handful of seconds he feels and sees Yuuto’s fingers move again, and this time he is sure it’s not a dream.
“Yuuto?” Yamada whispers quietly, looking up at the nurse with wide eyes. “He’s moving his fingers,” He continues, a lump forming in his throat as the nurse smiles at him.
“Sometimes it happens, and it’s a good sig-“ She is interrupted, however, as the machines begin to beep, and Yamada isn’t sure about what happens in the next few moments as he’s shoved out of the room in record time and the door closes, leaving him dumbfounded in front of it.
It’s only ten minutes later -the longest ten minutes in Yamada’s life- when the door opens again and a couple of nurses and a doctor come out of the room, not sparing even a single glance at him. The last to come out is the nurse from before, who walks up to him and smiles.
“He’s waking up.” Yamada nearly faints for the second time in two days, but the nurse is fast in catching him and making him sit on a bench nearby. “We need to run some tests now, but we have to wait until he wakes up completely. You might as well go home, okay?”
But Yamada only shakes his head, “I’m fine, thank you,” Not again, he thinks, I’m not leaving him again.
The nurse only smiles and pats him on the shoulder, before walking away.
Yuuto spends the rest of the day drifting in and out of consciousness, barely staying awake for five minutes straight. His family had arrived during the afternoon, Yuuto’s mother immediately going to hug Yamada. Only, this time she was crying -tears of joy, the boy could tell- as she asked him to tell her what had happened.
Yamada ends up spending the night on the hospital bench, refusing to go home. Ironically, not one of the JUMP members had decided to visit that day, so they still didn’t know about what had happened.
The same nurse from the day before wakes him up in the morning, and he looks up to the wall-clock to find out it’s already past ten.
“Nakajima-kun woke up during the night, and we’ve already run the tests needed. He’s resting now, but you can go see him if you want.” She smiles warmly, and Yamada finds himself having grown into liking that reassuring smile. “He’s a strong boy, it’s nearly a miracle he woke up so fast.”
The words warm up Yamada’s heart and he stands up, bowing low in front of the nurse and thanking her. She chuckles and shakes his head, making him stand back up. “I didn’t do anything. Now go, or he’ll wake up with nobody at his side.”
Yamada doesn’t need to be told twice. He picks up his bag and makes his way into the room, bringing the chair close to the bed once again. Once he’s sitting down, his hand slips into Yuuto’s and he feels tears coming to his eyes upon feeling it’s warmer than the day before. He watches as most of the tubes have been removed and Yuuto’s skin has regained a bit of color.
There’s no need for him to talk anymore, so he waits in silence for a while -he has no idea how much time has passed-, until he feels Yuuto’s hand twitching and looks up to see his head moving.
He’s already crying by the time Yuuto has turned his head to the side and opened his eyes, blinking for a good half-minute before settling his gaze on Yamada.
“Yama-chan?” The younger boy’s voice is hoarse and nothing more than a whisper, but enough to make Yamada start sobbing and bury his face on the surface of the bed.
“Oh my God, Yuuto, Yuuto,” He keeps on repeating the younger boy’s name until he feels a hand on his cheek and looks up, finding Yuuto’s tired but gentle eyes staring at him. He can’t stop the tears, not even as the taller boy tries his best to wipe them away with a shaking hand.
“Don’t cry,” Yuuto says, but Yamada shakes his head a couple of times, making him smile. “I’m here, now.”
Yamada doesn’t know what else to do other than bury his face against the mattress again and keep on crying, letting Yuuto softly caress the back of his head.
Takaki is still mostly asleep when he hears his bedroom’s door open, but he recognizes two soft and familiar voices. Still, he’s tired and he only wants to keep on sleeping.
His wish is not granted however, when somebody pulls the curtains open and sunlight invades his room.
“Gross,” One of the voices says, as he feel something squirming in his arms. Annoyed more than everything, he lazily opens one eye to see what is happening.
The first thing he sees is Inoo’s still-sleeping face, as the younger boy had just turned around and was now snuggling against him. Takaki thinks Inoo couldn’t have possibly been the one to wake him up, so he lifts his gaze only to find the smug grins of Yabu and Hikaru looking from beside his bed.
He thinks he’s dreaming, he really hopes so, so he only buries his nose in Inoo’s hair and closes his eyes again.
“Yuuyan, wake up~” Yabu’s whiny voice is irritating so early in the morning, so Takaki takes a pillow they weren’t using and throws it blindly in their band-mates’ general direction.
He growls as soon as he hears giggles, “What the hell are you two doing here? Go away,” Takaki mumbles, tightening his arms around Inoo when the latter whines sleepily.
“Your mother let us in Yuuyan, and since she said Inoo-chan was here we wanted to see for ourselves,” Hikaru speaks up for the first time since he came into the room, kneeling down to pick up a piece of clothing that resembles Inoo’s sailor moon underwear. “Birthday sex? You should try locking the door sometimes,”
A pillow comes flying, and it hits the youngest of the four straight in the face. “Get. The. Fuck. Out.” A drowsy Inoo growls out looking as scary as a little bunny, as he now is sitting up on the bed.
“You two are so mean, you know,” Yabu pouts, snatching the poor pair of underwear from Hikaru’s hand and throwing it at the couple on the bed.
“Hurry up, get cleaned and dressed, we’re going to see Yuuto.” The oldest teen finishes, beginning to push Hikaru out of the room by his shoulders. He stops and turns around however, before snickering and then winking in Takaki and Inoo’s direction, and only then does he close the door behind him.
Inoo yelps as he’s brought down on the bed once again, the older boy hovering over him now.
“Good morning,” The younger whispers, bringing his arms around Takaki’s neck and leaning up to brush their lips together. “Even if it could have been a better one.” The latter smiles and kisses Inoo again, long and sweet.
“Maybe, or maybe not.” Takaki says, lips trailing down to Inoo’s neck to kiss a red spot on the younger boy’s collarbone, before going back up. “Happy birthday, Kei.”
Yamada is still at the hospital watching Yuuto sleep -the younger boy was still feeling really tired, just talking for a couple of minutes tires him out completely- when the members of BEST minus Daiki arrive. The door opens suddenly and he’s startled by it, as he was lost in his thoughts.
“Yama-chan?” Yabu asks, voice incredulous but with happiness in his eyes. The younger boy looks at them and he really wants to start crying again, because it’s been months since he last saw them and he had missed his band-mates so much.
Yamada bites his lips when Hikaru goes over to him and envelops him in a warm embrace, fingers raking through his hair. The younger boy can’t help it, he really can’t, and he starts crying again.
“Hikaru-kun, I’m-“ He chokes as he feels another pair of arms around him and a hand on the top of his head. “I’m sorry, for everything.”
“It’s okay, Ryosuke,” Yabu’s soothing voice is heard as he kneels in front of Yamada. “The manager called and he told me everything, it’s okay now, we’re together once again.”
“Right. JUMP isn’t JUMP when even only one of us is missing.” Inoo’s head is suddenly next to the younger boy’s own, and Yamada can’t help but give a watery smile and nod his head a couple of times. They ruffle his hair up then, and hug him until he’s crying profusely but laughing at the same time.
“It took me twenty minutes to make him stop earlier,” A soft voice his heard behind them, and four pair of eyes widen as they look in the direction of the bed. “Don’t make him start again, please.” The four older teens look on dumbfounded as Yuuto smiles as them, and they immediately crowd around him.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my am I dreaming?” Inoo starts hyperventilating right away as tears well up in his eyes, and Takaki slides an arm around him, holding him against his side.
“Yuuto,” It’s the only sound that escapes from Takaki’s mouth, before he buries his face against the side of Inoo’s neck.
Silent tears are sliding down Hikaru’s cheeks, and he takes Yuuto’s hand in his before smiling, “What took you so long?” He squeezes the hand tighter, “Welcome back,”
“Thanks, Nii-chan,” Yuuto answers, and he smiles even more when Hikaru has to close his eyes and take a deep breath to avoid starting to sob.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you earlier guys, it was just,” Yamada speaks up after a while, trailing off because he has no idea what to say. Everything had been so hectic since the afternoon before, and he feels a bit lost.
“It’s okay, Yama-chan,” Yabu says, kneeling down on the floor next to Yuuto’s upper body and brushing bangs out of the younger boy’s eyes. “The most important thing is that,” The oldest takes a deep breath before continuing, “JUMP is coming back.” He finishes, looking into Yuuto’s eyes.
“Hey look, the cool one is crying like a baby,” Hikaru begins suddenly and all of them divert their gazes on Takaki, whose face is still hidden in Inoo’s neck.
“Takaki-kun,” Yuuto calls out, and only then does Takaki look up. He wipes his tears with his sleeve and walks up nearer to Yuuto, who is holding out his free hand to him.
“Everything worked out, I see,” The younger boy continues, looking pointedly at Inoo’s and Takaki’s entwined fingers. The couple blushes and Takaki nods, before lifting his free hand and brushing the back of it against Yuuto’s cheek.
“Inoo-chan, I came back just in time right?” Yuuto continues, stopping for a while to take a deep breath. Talking was still tiring, after all. “Happy birthday, adult.”
They all laugh as Inoo nearly throws himself at Yuuto, babbling about how much they had missed him and to never try to pull a stunt like that again.
Finally, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place.
When Ryutaro opens the door to Yuuto’s room later that day he comes to a sudden halt, making Keito and Daiki bump into him. He’s sure his heart skipped a couple of beats just now, when his eyes landed on the bed and found Yuuto looking back at him with a soft smile.
“Ryutaro, seriously, what’s up,” Daiki says slightly annoyed, looking up at Keito when the younger boy tugs on his sleeve and points at something over the youngest boy’s head. Daiki rolls his eyes and steps to the side a little, since Ryutaro’s head is blocking his view completely. His eyes widens then, and he grips Ryutaro’s sides to keep himself up.
“Guys? What’s wrong?” Chinen asks softly, but the question is totally ignored -it makes him pout and tug on the back of Keito’s jacket insistively.
“Yuuto!” The three taller boys shout out nearly at the same time, immediately crowding around Yuuto’s bed and shooting him tons of questions.
The bedridden boy laughs softly, answering a couple of question in his still soft voice. It isn’t until a couple of minutes later that he spots somebody hidden behind Keito’s body, and his smile widens even more when Chinen approaches him, crying softly.
“Chii,” Yuuto says and pats the empty space beside him on the bed, beckoning the younger boy to lay beside him. Chinen complies, draping his arm across Yuuto’s stomach and snuggling closer as he feels the taller boy’s hand caress his back softly.
“Thank you for always being with me,” Yuuto begins, hand going up to caress Chinen’s hair. “Everything is blurred and I can’t really tell, but I could feel your presence here, right beside me,” The older boy smiles some more, a lone tear sliding down his cheek at the feeling of Chinen trembling with sobs in his arms.
“I’m sorry for making you sad, I’m really sorry,” The younger boy takes a couple of deep breaths and shakes his head softly, looking up at Yuuto.
“It’s okay, Yuuto,” Chinen starts, smiling between the tears. “I’m just glad you’re back, and I don’t want to think about anything else.” He bites his lower lip and lowers his head shyly when Yuuto’s hand comes up to one of his cheeks and dries the tears away.
“Hey, we’re here too, you know,” Ryutaro speaks up suddenly, but he’s smiling -and so are Daiki and Keito.
“Are you jealous, Ryutaro?” Keito asks jokingly, and they all burst out laughing when the youngest blushes and pouts right after, crossing his arm over his chest.
“So, which amazing events did I miss lately?” Yuuto asks after a few moments, Chinen still cuddled at his side.
“Our birthdays!” Daiki, Keito and Ryutaro say nearly simultaneously for the second time, which makes Yuuto laugh.
“Yuuyan’s as well, and Dai-chan’s graduation.” Chinen continues, hand searching Yuuto’s when he sees the older boy’s expression fall a little.
“They threw a party for me in here, but we nearly got kicked out of the hospital that day,” Daiki grimaces, remembering the events of that day.
Yuuto laughs, “I don’t think I want to know the details.” He then squeezes Chinen’s hand, looking down at him with a grateful smile. “What about JUMP?”
An awkward silence dawns upon them for a short while, and it makes Yuuto worry. They couldn’t have possibly disbanded them, right? Not his group, not the thing he loved the most.
“We’re on a hiatus,” Surprisingly, Chinen is the one to speak up, and Yuuto calms down as soon as he hears his words. “Hikaru-kun and Yabu-kun’s show got suspended and I was let off of School Kakumei because we couldn’t focus anymore, but it was okay,” The younger boy looks up to find Yuuto with a troubled expression clearly written on his face, and smiles brightly. “It was okay, because the fans understood and they were even more supportive than usual.”
“They really were,” Ryutaro speaks up as Daiki nods beside him.
“You don’t know how many of your fans have stopped me on the streets to get me to send you their best wishes, Yuuto,” The oldest continues, pouting slightly.
--- Discontinued.
If they still consider him as their friend, that is.
He had buried himself under a huge amount of work, getting maybe four hours of sleep at night when he was lucky and always finding excuses to avoid going to visit Yuuto.
All of the past five months’ madness dies down that day however, when he passes out on the way to the studio from the dressing room. He comes to almost an hour later, drowsy and with a horrible headache.
He’s sent home almost right away, obviously not in shape to go through two hours of filming. Half-way home, however, he takes a detour and twenty minutes later he finds himself in front of a huge, white building. He still remembers where Yuuto is, he just hopes they didn’t move him somewhere else. To his relief, Yuuto’s name is still written on the door, so he takes a deep breath and turns the knob.
There’s somebody curled up on the chair next to Yuuto’s bed, watching the unconscious boy silently.
“Raiya-kun?” Yamada whispers and said boy turns to him, a small, sad smile breaking onto his features as soon as he sees the older boy.
“Yamada-kun! It’s been a long time,” Yuuto’s brother bows his head politely, and Yamada’s heart clenches. He sees so much of Yuuto in his little brother, and for a moment he feels like time has gone back a few years.
He bows back and makes his way to the bed, tears forming in his eyes as he takes in Yuuto’s figure.
He sits down next to Raiya then, and they talk for a while before Yuuto mother’s arrives as well. She smiles a beautiful smile when she spots Yamada, and he bows politely. She shakes her head and pulls him into a hug, saying how happy she is to see him. Guilt washes over Yamada and he tries his best not to cry, for now at least.
Seeing as she came to pick her younger son up, Raiya and his mother leave not too long after, leaving Yamada alone in the room.
As he draws the chair close to the bed he cannot hold back the tears anymore, and they begin to fall profusely down his cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Yuuto, so sorry,” Yamada chokes out between sobs, gripping Yuuto’s hand tightly. “I miss you, I miss you so much, so much,” He keeps repeating, over and over. “Wake up, I need you, I really need you, even if it’s hard to believe anymore.”
The day after, Yamada tells the management he doesn’t want to go on like that anymore, not until Yuuto wakes up. They try to convince him otherwise, but upon his threats of ditching every filming needed they eventually agree.
He makes his way to the hospital feeling lighter than usual and less guilty than ever.
He is also relieved when he finds nobody else there; he is still is afraid of facing the rest of the group. For the first time in months, he enters Yuuto’s room with a small smile. He looks around, seeing cards and flowers nearly everywhere, and he smiles a bit more.
Yamada settles on the chair near the bedside, hand slipping into Yuuto’s, hold tight. He spends the whole morning there, chatting away about everything that comes to his mind, even singing something at times.
When it’s almost two in the afternoon a nurse comes into the room, asking him to leave for a while because she needs to check up on the patient. He smiles, nods and begins to gather his things, thinking he might as well leave since he doesn’t really want to meet anybody yet.
“I have to go now, Yuuto,” Yamada starts, still holding the younger boy’s hand in his. ”I’ll be back tomorrow, okay? Be safe,” He finishes, and he is about to let go when he feels something moving. He thinks he’s dreaming, hoping a little too much, so he tightens the hold he has on Yuuto’s hand just a bit more. After a handful of seconds he feels and sees Yuuto’s fingers move again, and this time he is sure it’s not a dream.
“Yuuto?” Yamada whispers quietly, looking up at the nurse with wide eyes. “He’s moving his fingers,” He continues, a lump forming in his throat as the nurse smiles at him.
“Sometimes it happens, and it’s a good sig-“ She is interrupted, however, as the machines begin to beep, and Yamada isn’t sure about what happens in the next few moments as he’s shoved out of the room in record time and the door closes, leaving him dumbfounded in front of it.
It’s only ten minutes later -the longest ten minutes in Yamada’s life- when the door opens again and a couple of nurses and a doctor come out of the room, not sparing even a single glance at him. The last to come out is the nurse from before, who walks up to him and smiles.
“He’s waking up.” Yamada nearly faints for the second time in two days, but the nurse is fast in catching him and making him sit on a bench nearby. “We need to run some tests now, but we have to wait until he wakes up completely. You might as well go home, okay?”
But Yamada only shakes his head, “I’m fine, thank you,” Not again, he thinks, I’m not leaving him again.
The nurse only smiles and pats him on the shoulder, before walking away.
Yuuto spends the rest of the day drifting in and out of consciousness, barely staying awake for five minutes straight. His family had arrived during the afternoon, Yuuto’s mother immediately going to hug Yamada. Only, this time she was crying -tears of joy, the boy could tell- as she asked him to tell her what had happened.
Yamada ends up spending the night on the hospital bench, refusing to go home. Ironically, not one of the JUMP members had decided to visit that day, so they still didn’t know about what had happened.
The same nurse from the day before wakes him up in the morning, and he looks up to the wall-clock to find out it’s already past ten.
“Nakajima-kun woke up during the night, and we’ve already run the tests needed. He’s resting now, but you can go see him if you want.” She smiles warmly, and Yamada finds himself having grown into liking that reassuring smile. “He’s a strong boy, it’s nearly a miracle he woke up so fast.”
The words warm up Yamada’s heart and he stands up, bowing low in front of the nurse and thanking her. She chuckles and shakes his head, making him stand back up. “I didn’t do anything. Now go, or he’ll wake up with nobody at his side.”
Yamada doesn’t need to be told twice. He picks up his bag and makes his way into the room, bringing the chair close to the bed once again. Once he’s sitting down, his hand slips into Yuuto’s and he feels tears coming to his eyes upon feeling it’s warmer than the day before. He watches as most of the tubes have been removed and Yuuto’s skin has regained a bit of color.
There’s no need for him to talk anymore, so he waits in silence for a while -he has no idea how much time has passed-, until he feels Yuuto’s hand twitching and looks up to see his head moving.
He’s already crying by the time Yuuto has turned his head to the side and opened his eyes, blinking for a good half-minute before settling his gaze on Yamada.
“Yama-chan?” The younger boy’s voice is hoarse and nothing more than a whisper, but enough to make Yamada start sobbing and bury his face on the surface of the bed.
“Oh my God, Yuuto, Yuuto,” He keeps on repeating the younger boy’s name until he feels a hand on his cheek and looks up, finding Yuuto’s tired but gentle eyes staring at him. He can’t stop the tears, not even as the taller boy tries his best to wipe them away with a shaking hand.
“Don’t cry,” Yuuto says, but Yamada shakes his head a couple of times, making him smile. “I’m here, now.”
Yamada doesn’t know what else to do other than bury his face against the mattress again and keep on crying, letting Yuuto softly caress the back of his head.
Takaki is still mostly asleep when he hears his bedroom’s door open, but he recognizes two soft and familiar voices. Still, he’s tired and he only wants to keep on sleeping.
His wish is not granted however, when somebody pulls the curtains open and sunlight invades his room.
“Gross,” One of the voices says, as he feel something squirming in his arms. Annoyed more than everything, he lazily opens one eye to see what is happening.
The first thing he sees is Inoo’s still-sleeping face, as the younger boy had just turned around and was now snuggling against him. Takaki thinks Inoo couldn’t have possibly been the one to wake him up, so he lifts his gaze only to find the smug grins of Yabu and Hikaru looking from beside his bed.
He thinks he’s dreaming, he really hopes so, so he only buries his nose in Inoo’s hair and closes his eyes again.
“Yuuyan, wake up~” Yabu’s whiny voice is irritating so early in the morning, so Takaki takes a pillow they weren’t using and throws it blindly in their band-mates’ general direction.
He growls as soon as he hears giggles, “What the hell are you two doing here? Go away,” Takaki mumbles, tightening his arms around Inoo when the latter whines sleepily.
“Your mother let us in Yuuyan, and since she said Inoo-chan was here we wanted to see for ourselves,” Hikaru speaks up for the first time since he came into the room, kneeling down to pick up a piece of clothing that resembles Inoo’s sailor moon underwear. “Birthday sex? You should try locking the door sometimes,”
A pillow comes flying, and it hits the youngest of the four straight in the face. “Get. The. Fuck. Out.” A drowsy Inoo growls out looking as scary as a little bunny, as he now is sitting up on the bed.
“You two are so mean, you know,” Yabu pouts, snatching the poor pair of underwear from Hikaru’s hand and throwing it at the couple on the bed.
“Hurry up, get cleaned and dressed, we’re going to see Yuuto.” The oldest teen finishes, beginning to push Hikaru out of the room by his shoulders. He stops and turns around however, before snickering and then winking in Takaki and Inoo’s direction, and only then does he close the door behind him.
Inoo yelps as he’s brought down on the bed once again, the older boy hovering over him now.
“Good morning,” The younger whispers, bringing his arms around Takaki’s neck and leaning up to brush their lips together. “Even if it could have been a better one.” The latter smiles and kisses Inoo again, long and sweet.
“Maybe, or maybe not.” Takaki says, lips trailing down to Inoo’s neck to kiss a red spot on the younger boy’s collarbone, before going back up. “Happy birthday, Kei.”
Yamada is still at the hospital watching Yuuto sleep -the younger boy was still feeling really tired, just talking for a couple of minutes tires him out completely- when the members of BEST minus Daiki arrive. The door opens suddenly and he’s startled by it, as he was lost in his thoughts.
“Yama-chan?” Yabu asks, voice incredulous but with happiness in his eyes. The younger boy looks at them and he really wants to start crying again, because it’s been months since he last saw them and he had missed his band-mates so much.
Yamada bites his lips when Hikaru goes over to him and envelops him in a warm embrace, fingers raking through his hair. The younger boy can’t help it, he really can’t, and he starts crying again.
“Hikaru-kun, I’m-“ He chokes as he feels another pair of arms around him and a hand on the top of his head. “I’m sorry, for everything.”
“It’s okay, Ryosuke,” Yabu’s soothing voice is heard as he kneels in front of Yamada. “The manager called and he told me everything, it’s okay now, we’re together once again.”
“Right. JUMP isn’t JUMP when even only one of us is missing.” Inoo’s head is suddenly next to the younger boy’s own, and Yamada can’t help but give a watery smile and nod his head a couple of times. They ruffle his hair up then, and hug him until he’s crying profusely but laughing at the same time.
“It took me twenty minutes to make him stop earlier,” A soft voice his heard behind them, and four pair of eyes widen as they look in the direction of the bed. “Don’t make him start again, please.” The four older teens look on dumbfounded as Yuuto smiles as them, and they immediately crowd around him.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my am I dreaming?” Inoo starts hyperventilating right away as tears well up in his eyes, and Takaki slides an arm around him, holding him against his side.
“Yuuto,” It’s the only sound that escapes from Takaki’s mouth, before he buries his face against the side of Inoo’s neck.
Silent tears are sliding down Hikaru’s cheeks, and he takes Yuuto’s hand in his before smiling, “What took you so long?” He squeezes the hand tighter, “Welcome back,”
“Thanks, Nii-chan,” Yuuto answers, and he smiles even more when Hikaru has to close his eyes and take a deep breath to avoid starting to sob.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you earlier guys, it was just,” Yamada speaks up after a while, trailing off because he has no idea what to say. Everything had been so hectic since the afternoon before, and he feels a bit lost.
“It’s okay, Yama-chan,” Yabu says, kneeling down on the floor next to Yuuto’s upper body and brushing bangs out of the younger boy’s eyes. “The most important thing is that,” The oldest takes a deep breath before continuing, “JUMP is coming back.” He finishes, looking into Yuuto’s eyes.
“Hey look, the cool one is crying like a baby,” Hikaru begins suddenly and all of them divert their gazes on Takaki, whose face is still hidden in Inoo’s neck.
“Takaki-kun,” Yuuto calls out, and only then does Takaki look up. He wipes his tears with his sleeve and walks up nearer to Yuuto, who is holding out his free hand to him.
“Everything worked out, I see,” The younger boy continues, looking pointedly at Inoo’s and Takaki’s entwined fingers. The couple blushes and Takaki nods, before lifting his free hand and brushing the back of it against Yuuto’s cheek.
“Inoo-chan, I came back just in time right?” Yuuto continues, stopping for a while to take a deep breath. Talking was still tiring, after all. “Happy birthday, adult.”
They all laugh as Inoo nearly throws himself at Yuuto, babbling about how much they had missed him and to never try to pull a stunt like that again.
Finally, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place.
When Ryutaro opens the door to Yuuto’s room later that day he comes to a sudden halt, making Keito and Daiki bump into him. He’s sure his heart skipped a couple of beats just now, when his eyes landed on the bed and found Yuuto looking back at him with a soft smile.
“Ryutaro, seriously, what’s up,” Daiki says slightly annoyed, looking up at Keito when the younger boy tugs on his sleeve and points at something over the youngest boy’s head. Daiki rolls his eyes and steps to the side a little, since Ryutaro’s head is blocking his view completely. His eyes widens then, and he grips Ryutaro’s sides to keep himself up.
“Guys? What’s wrong?” Chinen asks softly, but the question is totally ignored -it makes him pout and tug on the back of Keito’s jacket insistively.
“Yuuto!” The three taller boys shout out nearly at the same time, immediately crowding around Yuuto’s bed and shooting him tons of questions.
The bedridden boy laughs softly, answering a couple of question in his still soft voice. It isn’t until a couple of minutes later that he spots somebody hidden behind Keito’s body, and his smile widens even more when Chinen approaches him, crying softly.
“Chii,” Yuuto says and pats the empty space beside him on the bed, beckoning the younger boy to lay beside him. Chinen complies, draping his arm across Yuuto’s stomach and snuggling closer as he feels the taller boy’s hand caress his back softly.
“Thank you for always being with me,” Yuuto begins, hand going up to caress Chinen’s hair. “Everything is blurred and I can’t really tell, but I could feel your presence here, right beside me,” The older boy smiles some more, a lone tear sliding down his cheek at the feeling of Chinen trembling with sobs in his arms.
“I’m sorry for making you sad, I’m really sorry,” The younger boy takes a couple of deep breaths and shakes his head softly, looking up at Yuuto.
“It’s okay, Yuuto,” Chinen starts, smiling between the tears. “I’m just glad you’re back, and I don’t want to think about anything else.” He bites his lower lip and lowers his head shyly when Yuuto’s hand comes up to one of his cheeks and dries the tears away.
“Hey, we’re here too, you know,” Ryutaro speaks up suddenly, but he’s smiling -and so are Daiki and Keito.
“Are you jealous, Ryutaro?” Keito asks jokingly, and they all burst out laughing when the youngest blushes and pouts right after, crossing his arm over his chest.
“So, which amazing events did I miss lately?” Yuuto asks after a few moments, Chinen still cuddled at his side.
“Our birthdays!” Daiki, Keito and Ryutaro say nearly simultaneously for the second time, which makes Yuuto laugh.
“Yuuyan’s as well, and Dai-chan’s graduation.” Chinen continues, hand searching Yuuto’s when he sees the older boy’s expression fall a little.
“They threw a party for me in here, but we nearly got kicked out of the hospital that day,” Daiki grimaces, remembering the events of that day.
Yuuto laughs, “I don’t think I want to know the details.” He then squeezes Chinen’s hand, looking down at him with a grateful smile. “What about JUMP?”
An awkward silence dawns upon them for a short while, and it makes Yuuto worry. They couldn’t have possibly disbanded them, right? Not his group, not the thing he loved the most.
“We’re on a hiatus,” Surprisingly, Chinen is the one to speak up, and Yuuto calms down as soon as he hears his words. “Hikaru-kun and Yabu-kun’s show got suspended and I was let off of School Kakumei because we couldn’t focus anymore, but it was okay,” The younger boy looks up to find Yuuto with a troubled expression clearly written on his face, and smiles brightly. “It was okay, because the fans understood and they were even more supportive than usual.”
“They really were,” Ryutaro speaks up as Daiki nods beside him.
“You don’t know how many of your fans have stopped me on the streets to get me to send you their best wishes, Yuuto,” The oldest continues, pouting slightly.
--- Discontinued.