1 Sacrifice = 1 Happiness [Oneshot]
Title: 1 Sacrifice = 1 Happiness
Author: veevalkyrie
Pairing: Takayama, Yabuhika, Inoodai
Genre: Romance, Angst, Fluff
Rating: R
Summary: Takaki used to bully Yamada when they were in high school. Takaki always told Yamada to respect someone higher than him and the words stuck in the younger's mind. But 10 years later, Takaki applied a job in a company and surprisingly, his boss was the junior he used to bully.
Pain. All Yamada could felt was an unbearable pain on his tummy. He felt like he wanted to throw up the foods he ate hours ago. But, if he did that he would get another punch. So, he could only groaned in pain under his senior's feet.
"Do you know the word 'respect'?" his senior asked, pressing his foot harder on Yamada's tummy.
"Ye-yes..." Yamada croaked out. Tears have welled up in his yes, but he tried his best no to let it out.
"What? Say it like you mean it!" Takaki stomped his foot on Yamada's tummy, knockin the air out of Yamada. Somehow, A smile crept up in Takaki's face every time he was torturing someone, as if torturing is his personal drug prescription.
"Yes... Yes!" Yamada cried out. His voice made him sounded like a weak junior who is very easy to shatter into tears. "I'm sorry..!"
"Weak!" Takaki pulled back his foot only to swing it really at Yamada's side. He kept kicking the younger even though the younger has yelled out cry of pain and begging to stop.
"Yuya! That's enough! stop it!" Yuto was trying his best to pull Takaki away from his junior. "Know your limit, man!"
"What the fuck, man?! It's for his own good. With this, he'll know how important it is to respect the higher." Takaki sent another kick at Yamada's waist. Yamada didn't have the strength to just groan in pain. So, he's only lied on the rooftop ground, closing his eyes and wished that it'll be over soon.
"I scold my juniors. Not torturing them or bullying them. Let's just go before the teacher sees this." Yuto was pulling the hem of Takaki's shirt, forcing his friend to move away from Yamada.
"Oh, yeah the teachers! shit! It's fun 'scolding' you, Yama-chan... Don't move out to another school, okay? I'll see you again tomorrow!" Takaki patted Yamada's cheek a little too hard until it was right to call it as slapping.
Yuto looked back at Yamada when Takaki has walked ahead of him toward the door. Yuto was feeling sorry for Yamada, he has a feeling to help the young one, to take the young one to the school clinic so, someone could take care of his bruises and scratches or if no one was there, Yuto would like to be the one who took care of it. But, Takaki was watching him from the doorway and he knew his friend wouldn't like to see him helping a junior.
"Hurry up, Yuto! I'm hungry and you promised me you would treat me two bowls of ramen!" Takaki yelled from the doorway.
Yuto nodded as a reply. He dragged his heavy feet toward where Takaki was standing, leaving Yamada who was watching both of his seniors left him like he was a garbage.
10 YEARS LATER
Takaki kept humming random songs as he waited for his name to be called. His feet was tapping against the tiled floor in the same rhythm with the song he was humming. And soon his hands followed with the tapping of his feet. His eyes kept looking back-and-forth at the clock on the wall. The ticking seemed so slow and the ticking sound echoed in the waiting room.
TICK TOCK
"Takaki Yuya?" Takaki jumped a little at the voice. "Sorry for surprising you... Are you ready to start your work?" the man in suit asked him.
"Oh yes, I'm ready!"
"Wow! Such an enthusiasm! Oh, yeah! My name is Yabu Kota. I preferred to be called as Yabu though." the man introduced himself as he led Takaki to his new office.
"Nice to meet you then... My name is Takaki Yuya."
"Yeah I know that... I'm the one who called your name earlier."
"Oh yeah you're right..." Takaki's cheeks turned into shades of red. He didn't even know why he was acting so nervous about starting the new job. He never worked in a big company before, and he considered himself lucky to work for JE company. "Ne... Yabu-kun... What's your position in this company?" Takaki asked after he was tired of the silence that settled between them.
"That... I'm about to tell you. But, you already asked first... So," Yabu shifted his files to his other hand, "I'm this company's Vice President." Takaki glared at Yabu, "Okay, that must have been a shock for you. But, FYI, the President is really busy and he needs a lot of people to help him. I want to help him. But, he didn't want to tire me off so, he assigned me for minor works like interviewing new applicants. And out of hundreds of new applicants, I chose you." Yabu explained. "And of course someone helped me. His name is Yaotome Hikaru and feel free to call him blonde, he doesn't mind."
"Hey! I do mind to be called as blondie by a newbie!" A voice snapped from behind them. Both of them men turned around and saw a man in the same suit as Yabu with perfectly tanned skin and bright yellow hair. Takaki assumed that must be Yaotome Hikaru.
"But, I always called you blondie!" Yabu said.
"I mind to be called that by a newbie... By a newbie, Yabu. You're not a newbie..." Hikaru grinned, showing his messy teeth. But, that was the thing that made him look unique and cute.
"Oh..." Takaki saw Yabu's cheeks were red like tomato. Then, he looked back at Hikaru who has stood in front of Yabu and took the files from Yabu's hand. "Thanks..." Yabu muttered that word shyly. And Takaki knew right away that Yabu and Hikaru have something in between.
"So, what's your name?"
Takaki just realized after a few seconds that Hikaru was asking him. He was too focused on watching Yabu and Hikaru acting toward each other. Takaki never knew how it felt like to like or love someone. His life has been really tough that he didn't really have time to think about love.
"My name is Takaki Yuya..." He held out his hand for a handshake. "Yoroshiku!"
"Un!" Hikaru shook Takaki's hand. "I'm Yaotome Hikaru. Yoroshiku! And I'm sorry that you have to work at the fifth floor."
"What's with people today for taking my line? I was going to tell him that, Hikaru!"
"Many newbies were fired from this company after a week working at the fifth floor." Hikaru continued, ignoring Yabu's whining.
"Shut. Up!" Yabu pressed his voice. He felt annoyed for not being able to tell a newbie about the company because, Hikaru would always took his line. It has always been like that for years.
"Why?" Takaki asked.
"Just watch out for the InooDai. They're killers!" Both Yabu and Hikaru answered in unison. Except that only their expression was different. Yabu with that smug look on his face, while Hikaru with that deep frown on his forehead.
"InooDai?"
"Ah... You'll see later..." Yabu and Hikaru said in unison again.
***
"Hey new guy!" For the millionth time since Takaki first stepped in on the fifth floor he tried his best to ignore that raspy girl voice. "I'm going out with Inoo... You better finished the paperwork when I get back. I don't want the President to be mad at me." And for the one times ten square ten (10x1010) Takaki tried to keep his hands working on the paperwork instead of swinging it toward that douchebag's face.
"Why... Why don't you do it yourself before going out with your girlfriend?" Takaki shoved Daiki's paper works to Daiki.
"I'm not a girl!" Inoo fired back.
"If I say you're a girl then, you are! Your face looks like one, so zip it up!" Takaki raised his voice at Inoo. The accountant's jaw dropped open because of that sharp words from Takaki, a newbie he barely knew of. "And you douchebag!" Takaki pointed at Daiki, "I love to shot down a noisy penguin!"
"What the fuck?! Are you bored with your life?" Daiki gripped his paper works really tight in his hands.
"You're the one who's bored with your life!" In a flash, Daiki has sprawled on the floor after Takaki pushed him really hard. Takaki kicked him hard on his forearm and got thrown with thick paper works by Daiki in return. The shorter one quickly stood up to run away but, he was a little bit too late because, Takaki grabbed his collar, and slammed him on top of the photocopy machine. Daiki's elbow accidentally pressed on the photocopy switch. Papers were starting to come out from it with different painful expression of Daiki. And every paper have different black notch which was Daiki's blood.
Inoo made his way to the President's floor when he heard Daiki's bone cracked after Takaki punched him again. Inoo has stopped counting on the tenth punch. He was on his way to the lift when Yabu grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer.
"Inoo, even the President fears this newbie. Stop messing up with him again. Just listen to whatever he say, and you'll stay alive." Yabu whispered next to Inoo's ear, loud enough for Hikaru to hear. The pale boy in Yabu's grip was shivering at Yabu's sudden low and grim voice, even Hikaru was trying to cover the bulge that was starting to form behind his pants. "And don't expect that this newbie wouldn't be here tomorrow. Because, the president wouldn't have the courage to fire him."
Inoo was wondering how powerful this newbie was until the president was afraid of him. The President sat on the highest position and newbie sat on the lowest position. But, how come a company's president was afraid of a newbie on the fifth floor? It sounded as if a King was afraid of a servant.
"Who is this guy?" Inoo asked between his sobbing.
"He's just someone from the President's past..." Yabu tapped on Inoo's shoulder once and pushed the latter to start moving. Inoo decided to tell the President about the newbie, but he put a little hope in his heart that the president would do something about the newbie.
***
"Where's the President? " Inoo asked as soon as he arrived at the President's floor and saw Yuto behind the desk, instead of the President himself.
"He just left to pick up his son at school. A nice single father he is, isn't he? " Yuto answered as he was arranging the President's paper works. "So, why are you here? " Yuto put a stack of paper at the corner of the desk, and finally looked up at Inoo who was about to go out from the office using the lift.
"Daiki and this newbie called Takaki are fighting and I need to report him to the President!" Inoo punched the downward button with his fist out of anger.
At that statement, Yuto quickly pressed the local telephone on the desk and called for two security guards to stop a fighting at the fifth floor. Inoo was wondering why Yuto was looking so scared. "Trust me, the President wouldn't do anything about it…" Yuto said the same thing Yabu had said to Inoo earlier. And Inoo was curious about it.
"Who is this Takaki actually? What's with him until the President is scared of him? " Yuto sighed. He opened a file cabinet and scanned through the files in there. He uttered an 'AH!' and pulled out a file from the cabinet. Then, he threw it on the desk for Inoo to look at, "Read it…"
Inoo looked questioningly at Yuto before he opened the folder and read Takaki's file. His eyes soon grew wide after a minute of reading.
***
Gruuu~
Yamada felt a hand was pulling on the hem of his shirt. He looked down and saw his six year old son was looking at him with a curved down lips and teary doe eyes. His small hand tapped his tummy twice and held it really tight. Yamada knew exactly what his son wanted.
"Ryu-chan... Please don't cry... Papa left the wallet at the office." Yamada said softly to his son. But, it seemed that his son wouldn't stay quiet. He understood how hungry his son was, and he hated it if his son was sad because of him. He had promised to make his son happy to his wife before she had an accident that took her life away. And ever since that day, Ryuzaki wasn't the cheerful child anymore. He became the silent child who would always sat at the far corner of his classroom, away from the other kids. And he also lost the ability to talk.
And what made Yamada got angry at himself was how scared he was to see Takaki if he returned to his office. If, he returned there, he could meet him at the lobby, the parking lot, or worst the lift. So then, why did he accept Takaki out of hundreds of new applicants in the first place? He could have rejected him. It was the question that Yamada was asking to himself. He sighed and knelt down, so his eyes were staring straight into his son's beautiful ocean blue eyes which he inherits it from his mother.
"Ryu-chan... Be patience, okay? Do you want papa to make an omelet for you?"
Ryuzaki stayed silent.
"Omelet fried rice..?" It was then Ryuzaki finally smiled and nodded. "Good... That's my boy." Then, Yamada piggybacked his son to the parking lot of Ryuzaki's school.
However, a person couldn't run away forever.
It happened exactly two days later that faith made them finally met.
It was like any ordinary days Yamada had all his life where he would go to Ryuzaki's school to give the little boy his lunch which he forgot to bring along before going to school. Yamada took a glance at his wristwatch and saw that the long finger was pointing at nine. He was sure it wouldn't take fifteen minutes for him to arrive at his son's school.
"Ryosuke, you're an idiot for forgetting to bring Ryu-chan's lunch" Yamada knocked on his forehead multiple times to scold himself. He pressed on level P2 button rapidly as if by doing that the lift would take him faster to underground parking lot. But, it didn't. The lift suddenly stopped at a floor Yamada tried his best to avoid. His heart flipped when the lift aluminum double doors slide open, revealing a man with brown hair was flipping through his paper works. Yamada's breath hitched when the man stood next to Yamada without noticing the latter.
Yamada moved to the corner of the lift, and pressed his body against the wall as if by doing that he'll go through the wall and away from the man who was still flipping through the thick paper works. The man who Yamada knew as Takaki didn't even flinch when Yamada kept his eyes on Takaki. The man was too busy with his work until he didn't notice the person he always tortured during his high school time. But, somehow Yamada was feeling like he wanted to poke on Takaki's side so the taller one would notice him.
Yamada clutched Ryuzaki's lunchbox tighter in his hands when Takaki looked up from his paperwork and finally have a look at Yamada. Wihout Yamada wanted to, he had poked on Takaki's side.
"You..." was the word that made Yamada felt like he wanted to melt away and dried out.
"Takaki-niisan..." Yamada found his voice after a while. "How..."
Say it like you mean it!
"How are you?" Yamada asked in a deeper voice.
"Oh... Good... This really shocked me. I think you and I are inseparable." Takaki started to say while an evil smile has appeared on his face. Yamada didn't feel like telling Takaki that he was the President of his company and he would fire Takaki if he did any harm to him. But, memories of Takaki hurting him was still spinning in his mind. So, he didn't do anything when Takaki closed their distance with a pat on his head.
"Why are you so tense around me? Do you fear I would beat you up like before? Hmph! You're still you... Weak... I wonder how you will handle a family?"
'I have a son Takaki!' But Yamada decided to stay silent.
The lift stopped in the same time when Yamada couldn't stay any longer with Takaki. He stepped out of the lift, thinking that he was finally away from Takaki. But as he got in into his car, he found Takaki sat nicely on the passenger seat next to him. Yamada jumped a little after he saw his used to be senior was sitting next to him.
"I'm tired to drive a long way to other companies just to sign these papers. I want you to drive me there." it was clearly a statement. No question was heard from Takaki's mouth. Yamada was confused. He was scared to say no to Takaki, but he has to bring Ryuzaki's lunch. He didn't want his son to starve while watching his friends ate their foods.
Weak
'No, I have to be strong for my son,' Yamada thought.
"Okay... But I have to go to a school first. And then I would take you to where ever you need to go." Yamada said with a slight fear in his voice that Takaki didn't seem to realize.
"School?" Takaki looked weirdly at Yamada's straight face. "School?" he repeated. Yamada finally nodded and turned on the engine. He drove his car out from the parking lot and to the busy street of Tokyo. "Why school? What do you wanna do there?"
"I have a son, okay... I have a family..." Yamada tried not to say it coldly at Takaki. He tried to say it in a straight tone.
"You-you-you do?" Takaki was stuttering. It was the first time Yamada ever heard Takaki was talking nervously like that. Yamada took a glance at Takaki as he drove and saw that the older man was looking at the paperworks. Yamada thought Takaki was looking at him with a shocked face.
"Yes, I do... You'll see him later."
"Yeah right sure... I hope you're not going to make me late." Takaki muttered.
"Even if you're late, you won't get into trouble." Yamada muttered under his breath. Oh how he really wanted to tell Takaki that he was the President of the company.
"What do you say?" Takaki asked, looking up from his paper works.
"Nothing..." they stayed silent along the way to Ryuzaki's school.
***
Takaki didn't want to wait for Yamada, so the smaller one had asked him to just come with him and before Takaki could say anything, Yamada had went out from the car. Takaki just followed him out to the crowded elementary school.
"You won't be long, right?" Takaki asked, resting his hand on Yamada's shoulder, making Yamada shivered under his touch.
"No, I won't be long..." Yamada said as he saw his son was sitting alone on a bench under a dining table under the tree at the school's park. His son was watching the other kids were playing with their friends, hoppin, and running here and there while Ryuzaki could only sat alone under the tree.
Takaki stopped midway as he watched Yamada came toward his son, giving that lonely little boy a hug and a soft smile. Somehow, Takaki felt a slight pain in his chest as he watched Yamada kept talking with Ryuzaki but never got any response from the boy. The boy just kept his eyes on his father's hands which were holding his small hands really tight.
Takaki never really cared of other people. But, he has the urge to walk toward Yamada and the little boy, and wanted to know more about them, wanted to be closer with them. He felt like he wanted to cry when he saw Yamada's eyes were teary as he held his son in his arms. Takaki heard what Yamada said to his son before he left the little boy under the tree.
"Ryu-chan... Please talk... Say something. I want to hear your voice just for this once. Tell me what do you want... Please..!" however, Ryuzaki didn't say anything and started to eat his lunch, ignoring his father's pleading him.
"I'm sorry if I took a long time. I was just talking with my son for a while. So, where do you wanna go first?" Yamada snapped Takaki from his deep thought. Takaki looked at him intently in the eyes. He was picturing the pain in Yamada's face when he had hurt him during their high school time. He knew that painful expression on Yamada's face, but he had never saw a deep hurt in Yamada's eyes. That kind of look managed to find it's way in into Takaki's stone heart.
"Let's just go to the car first..." Yamada was starting to walk to his car when Takaki grabbed him on his hand.
"I'm sorry..." Takaki said his first apology.
***
"Inoo. have you told the President about that Takaki?" Daiki asked while rubbing the bruise on his cheek.
"No, I haven't..." Inoo answered coldly. Unlike before, he looked so grim and his expression was like always in deep thoughts.
"Why?"
"Because it's useless. It's no use. This Takaki is a really dangerous person that you shouldn't stay near him even though you're only going to borrow a pen from him." Inoo talked a little bit faster until Daiki hugged his boyfriend to calm him.
"Hey... What is it? How do you know about him?" Daiki asked. "and I also wanna know why was your face looked so grim after you returned from the President floor?"
"I met Yuto there. He... Let me read Takaki's file... And..." Inoo sighed. "He was involved in a car accident two years ago. The same car accident where President Yamada lost his wife."
"So, what about it?" in which Daiki got a hit on the head by Inoo, "Hey! What did I do?"
"Your slow mind irritates me! What I mean is... Takaki was the one who caused the accident. He was drunk and drove like a madman. He didn't see the traffic light was red. So, he just kept speeding up until his car crashed another passing car which had President Yamada's wife and son." Inoo explained. There was a pregnant pause where Daiki was trying to sync in the story in his mind.
"Oh God... And did Takaki take responsibility for speeding and 'accidentally' killed a woman there?" Daiki didn't like Inoo's answer at all.
"No, he didn't... He was free of the crime because, the president asked the court to do so."
"But why?! He should be mad because Takaki was the one who caused the accident!"
"It's because the president has always had a thing for that bastard!" Inoo raised his voice at Daiki in the same time with Takaki and Yamada's lift opened in front of Inoo and Daiki.
"Who had a thing for that who?" Yamada asked. His eyebrow was lifted higher than the other one.
"Nothing sir!" Both Inoo and Daiki answered in unison. From the way their eyebrows and lips were twitching, Takaki knew that they were lying. He was about to point it out when Yamada offered him something he didn't need to think twice.
"Oh yeah... Takaki-niisan... Would you like to join a dinner with me and my son after work? I just wanna treat you something." Takaki could hear that there was no longer a tone of doubt or shyness in Yamada's voice. Takaki wondered if he caused that.
"A dinner? Yeah sure... I'd love to go." Takaki answered with a smile Yamada had never seen before. However, Yamada considered that as a mood swing even though that smile was honest.
"Look who asked who to a dinner..." Inoo whispered to Daiki so softly. But, his boyfriend betrayed him.
"Yeah I know right... This definitely proves it." Daiki whispered loud enough for Takaki and Yamada to hear. Yamada just gave them a questioning look while Takaki gave them a get-the-fuck-out-with-gossiping look. The two employers were more afraid with Takaki than their President.
The dinner went out just fine. Yamada was just talking casual stuffs with Takaki while trying to be respectful at Takaki, and Ryuzaki stayed silent all the time. Takaki was listening to the younger's talk but, Takaki kept his eyes on Ryuzaki who was trying hard to eat his spaghetti. Yamada had tried to feed his son, but Ryuzaki shoved away Yamada's hand.
Takaki was irritated to see that Ryuzaki could only eat a small amount of spaghetti even though he was trying to eat a huge amount of spaghetti.
"Do you want me to help you with the spaghetti?" That one question had made the three of them sat in silence. Yamada was surprised that Ryuzaki nodded at Takaki's question, and he watched how Takaki rolled a huge amount of spaghetti on the fork like Ryuzaki had wanted and let the little boy ate it himself. And Takaki would do the same thing after Ryuzaki had swallowed the spaghetti.
After the dinner, Yamada suspected that Ryuzaki was starting to like Takaki when the little boy started to cry when Yamada was about to take Takaki home. Yamada had tried to calm his son but Takaki had a feeling that he wanted to make that little boy happy for some reason he didn't even know, as if he had done something before to the little boy.
And that was the reason why Takaki woke up next to a sleeping Ryuzaki cuddled up in his arms, and Yamada was sleeping on a futon on the floor. He looked up at the calendar and noticed that it was Saturday and he should be hanging out with his gang. But, looking at both Ryuzaki and Yamada, he just wanted to be with them a little bit longer. So, he closed his eyes once more and pulled Ryuzaki closer to him. He inhaled the little boy's sweet strawberry scent and baby lotion. Then, he opened his eyes again to study the little boy's feature.
He noticed that the boy's nose, lips, and chubby cheeks were products of Yamada. But, the dark blue eyes Takaki stared at last night weren’t from Yamada. He wanted to ask Yamada about the little boy's mother, but that would be inappropriate. Takaki shifted a little since his right arm was unable to feel a thing anymore, and he got a small whimper from the little boy in his arms. Ryuzaki moved closer toward Takaki and slung his short arm around Takaki's side.
Takaki felt like he wanted to melt away because of the little boy’s cute act.
"You can't resist his cuteness, aren't you?" Yamada said all of a sudden behind Takaki. He turned around a little, fearing he would wake Ryuzaki. He saw Yamada was gazing at Ryuzaki with happy yet sad eyes.
"I didn't know you have a family... I'm sorry." Takaki said in a soft voice.
"I already told you that it's okay... I guess I' m still weak like I used to be when I was in high school. Sometimes I thought about putting Ryuzaku in an orphanage. I'm just afraid that one day he wouldn't get much attention from me and the next thing I know I'll see him as a snarky rebellious teenager. I don't want that to happened."
"No, I'm sure you can do it. Raising a kid alone is hard but, look at you! How many years have you taken care of Ryuzaki?"
"Two years..."
"See? Two years! And now you're still taking him to an elementary school, and picked him up later. And you also tried your best to spend a precious time with your son." Takaki said as he looked at the sleeping Ryuzaki in his arms. "You're an amazing father. I've never felt that kind of love before... No has ever cared about me."
"Is that why you were like that when you were in high school?" Yamada guessed. Takaki finally turned around slightly to look into Yamada's eyes. "Not that I don't like it... I'm just wondering..." Yamada's voice trailed off. Takaki stared at the younger for a while. He lifted a hand above Yamada's head. Yamada just closed his eyes, waiting for the painful impact.
"I like you..." Takaki said. His hand brushed Yamada's head softly as if he did it with feeling. "You're not the weak junior I used to know. Why are you like this now?"
"It's... all because of you, Takaki-niisan. Thanks." Yamada felt his cheeks were burning. He was about to return to hide under his futon when Takaki grabbed his chin and directed it toward his face.
The next thing Yamada was feeling was wet. And as seconds fly away, he tasted something more. It was a butterfly feeling in his stomach, and soon the loud beating of his heart followed. Yamada closed his eyes and tried to cherish the warm feeling of that kiss. Takaki tilted his head a little to taste Yamada's lips better. He himself didn't even know why he was kissing Yamada. His heart just told him to do it.
'You changed me too.' Takaki thought. His tongue was licking Yamada's bottom lip, asking for an entrance. Yamada then opened his mouth, knowing what Takaki wanted. As their tongue brushed against each other, both of the men felt their heart was jumping as if it would jump out from their chest. Takaki's hands were itching. He wanted to touch Yamada, he wanted to feel the other against his body. So, he broke away from the kiss and slowly he pulled away from Ryuzaki who was a heavy sleeper. Then, he pushed Yamada to the futon.
Tbey gazed into each other's eyes. Yamada reached out and caressed Takaki's cheek, surprisingly the other leaned to the touch. Then, Takaki lowered his body so his body was pressing against Yamada's. He directed his lips next to Yamada's ear.
"I love you..." Both of them said in the same time next to each other's ear. They turned their eyes to meet each other's gaze. Takaki smiled as he closed the distance between them with a kiss. Yamada moved his hands to cup Takaki's cheeks. His right hand moved to the back of Takaki's head, tangling his fingers with Takaki's hair. Both of the men loved the way they felt for each other. They just wished they could stay like that forever, feeling each other's warmth.
***
As days passed by, their bond was getting closer and closer until everyone in the company didn't need to ask anymore whether they're together or not. Only by looking at their gaze and smile for each other, everyone knew they're in love. Yuto and Yabu would be the one who snapped the two love birds.
After a few weeks, Yamada asked if Takaki wanted to move in with him, in which the older agreed to it. Ryuzaki was the happiest with that decision. Both Ryuzaki and Takaki spent a lot of time together, and as days went by, Ryuzaki grew closer with Takaki than his father. Yamada was okay with it until one hot summer at the beach...
"You know... I'm pretty shocked that the two of you are together. I mean... Takaki used to torture you. H-how Yamada?" Yuto said, and taking a sip of his soda.
"Love is a very surprising thing... So does with life." Yamada answered, resting his head on Takaki's lap.
"Yeah... That's right baby..." Takaki leaned in and gave a peck on Yamada's lips.
Yuto slapped Takaki's back, leaving a red hand mark on his back. As the three of them were talking, Yuto suddenly felt hungry and he has been craving for lemon ice cream since days ago. He was about to go buy it when Takaki stopped him.
"Let me buy it. I'll treat you!"
"Dude... Ne Yama-chan, what did you do to Takaki? God! This is so rare!" Yuto exclaimed.
"I just gave him my love... That's all." Yamada smiled. He sat up straight to let Takaki go.
"I'll go buy it for a while... Strawberry..." Takaki pointed at Yamada, "And lemon." he pointed at Yuto. After he saw the two of them nodded at him, he talked to Ryuzaki who was playing with sands next to him, "Ryu-chan, Yuyan wanna buy ice cream for a while, kay? Stay here with papa." Then, Takaki left.
Takaki was gone for only five minutes when Ryuzaki suddenly looked to his sides and turning in circle as he was looking for something. No, not something... But, someone. When he didn't spot the one he was looking for, his eyes were teary and soon he was crying really loud, getting people's attention at the beach.
"Ryu-chan, why are you crying?" Yamada asked. He was confused of his son's weird behavior.
"Yama-chan, what happened?" Yuto asked.
"Ryuzaki suddenly cried... I don't even know why. There must be a reason. He never cried for no reason." Yamada sighed. Then, he tried asking his son again. "Ryu-chan, what do you want? Why are you crying? Please answer me... Say something." Yamada knew he wouldn't get any reply from his son. But, he would always try and hope that his son would say a word. And after a few seconds, he got his answer.
"Ryu-chan, why are you crying?" It was Takaki. He just came back while holding two cones if ice cream in his hands. Then, he saw the little boy ran toward him, and the three men couldn't believe at what they heard.
"Yuyaaaann~!!" Ryuzaki screamed as he ran toward Takaki and wrapped his short arms around the older.
"Ryu-chan... You..." Takaki started to say.
"Yuyan! Please don't leave me anymore! I don't want to lose you!" Ryuzaki said between his sobbing. Takaki felt tears were starting to form in his eyes. Happy tears. He looked up at Yamada and he saw the younger was already crying. Takaki considered that a happy tears even though it was far from happy.
***
"Yuto, I don't know what I should do..." Yamada exclaimed. He was starting to scribble something on his paperwork, but Yuto pulled it away from Yamada. "Seriously, I'm lost..." Yamada sighed, slamming his pen on the desk. Yamada has been thinking about his son's first word. Not that he's not happy his son finally found his voice... It's just why it has to be Takaki instead of himself that made the child finally spoke.
"You're just jealous..." Yuto said.
"Yeah... Maybe that's the reason I have been acting coldly toward Takaki. But, he's very oblivious. He never noticed that I have been avoiding him after our trip to the beach. He would notice if I say something to him." Yamada breathed out. He reached out his hand to grab his paper work from Yuto. But the older guy pulled the paper work out of Yamada's reach.
"Please stop scribbling like a baby..!" Yuto said in which he got a slight 'humm' from Yamada. Then, the both of them fell silent as they were drowning into their work. While they were busy with their work, they never thought that someone was going up to Yamada's floor. When the lift door opened, Yamada and Yuto saw that it was Takaki who stood in front of them with a surprised look on his face. His eyes were wide in disbelieved as he stared at Yamada.
"Yuya..? What are you doing here?" Yamada asked.
"That should he my question. What are you doing here?"
"Working? Yuya, not that I don't want to see you... I have a lot of work to do and I guess Yabu assigned you to tons of works too... Shouldn't you be doing them?"
"Ryosuke, are you the President of this company?" Yamada looked up at Yuto after hearing that question. Yuto nodded, agreeing that Takaki was oblivious.
"Yes, I am... I'm sorry for not telling you that since the beginning. And now you know I'm the President... What are you going to do?"
"You... Did you lost your wife?" Takaki kept asking question as if he didn't hear anything Yamada just said to him. Yuto stiffened at that question and looked at Yamada, making sure that the younger one wouldn't yell at Takaki. Yamada was very sensitive if someone asked or mentioned about his wife. The last time someone did that, he was crying because of Yamada's spicy words. But, surprisingly, Yamada answered to that question calmly.
"Yes, I did... You never asked me about Ryuzaki's mother before. And I wonder why you asked that just now?" Yuto was starting to feel uncomfortable with the atmosphere in the office.
"Did she die in a car accident?"
"Yes, she died in a car accident."
"Was she with someone else when the accident occurred?"
"That someone would be Ryuzaki when he was four years old. Why are you asking all this? I'm curious, really!" Yamada let out a forced chuckle. Yuto was getting headache because of the intense atmosphere in the office.
"Inoo and Daiki asked about what happened two years ago. They asked if I was the cause of the accident... I answered them that I was. And then they told me that the victims have a family, and the woman who died in the accident was the wife of this company's President. So, I thought I wanted to apologize to the President and never thought that you are the..." Before Takaki could finish his sentence, Yamada interrupted him.
"I lost my wife two years ago, and Ryuzaki had a terrible trauma that caused him to lose his ability to speak after the accident. It was really hard for him to lose a mother at such age. My wife and he were really close." Yamada started to explain.
***
While the adults were having their talk, Yabu and Hikaru were taking little Ryuzaki to see Takaki.
"Where's Taka?" Hikaru asked to no one in particular after he found that Takaki's desk was empty.
"Oh! He just went to the President floor... It seems that he would find out something shocking." Inoo answered since he heard Hikaru's question.
"Shocking like 'dang! I'm dating this company's President!'" Daiki suddenly appeared from behind Yabu.
"I wanna see Yuyan! I miss him soooooo much!" Ryuzaki demanded as he couldn't stop hopping in place while tugging on the hem of Yabu's shirt. No one could ever resist Ryuzaki's cute face and teary doe eyes.
"Okay okay! They're this way!" Yabu's face was bright red. As they went to the President floor, they didn't know that the three men on the President floor were talking something Ryuzaki shouldn't know about.
***
"So then... Literally speaking... I killed your wife and made your son a mute." Takaki finally reached his conclusion after hearing about the truth from Yamada.
"But you returned my son's voice. He spoke because he loves you, Yuya. Maybe he has considered you as a part of his family. He cried when you weren't there, but he didn't cry when I wasn't there for him." Yamada was nearing the edge of breaking into tears. He didn't know why he was feeling angry at Takaki all of a sudden. He really loved Takaki, but remembering two years ago drove him mad.
"But, I can't return your wife! Why did you let me go? Why Ryosuke?" Takaki was the first to shed tears. "Answer me!" Takaki slammed his fist in the desk.
"Yuya, that's enough!" Yuto pushed Takaki away from Yamada. He feared that his friend would lose control when he's emotional.
"Stay out of this Yuto!"
"I won't if you're going to hurt Yamada!"
"I'm demanding an answer, Ryosuke!" Takaki yelled at Yamada over Yuto's shoulder. "Please don't tell me you did it out of love..."
"I did it because I used to be scared of you... Maybe I still am now. I want to show you respect like what you wanted..."
"That's just worst!" Takaki interrupted before Yamada could finish his sentence. "I killed your wife! I can't bring her back! I should be dead now! Why did you let me go? Why?!"
As the atmosphere was getting intense, the three men in the office suddenly heard someone fell on the floor. They looked at the person who just fell on the floor. It was Yabu, and the person who made him fell on the floor was no other than Ryuzaki. The little boy's face was streaked with tears. He was glaring angrily at Takaki, even Yamada didn't recognize his son at first because of that deadly glare.
"Yuyan KILLED mama! Yuyan took my happiness away! Yuyan made papa cried everyday every night! Yuyan is the cause of our sadness!" Ryuzaki shouted until the top of his lungs. His hands were clenched into fists until his nails would have dug through the skin. Then, he jumped to press the main lobby button after saying, "Ryu hate Yuyan!" and then he disappeared behind the lift door. The four men watched the lift kept moving to the main lobby, and it finally dawned on both Takaki and Yamada.
"He's trying to run away!" Yamada exclaimed, running toward the lift to chase his son. Takaki followed behind.
***
No words were spoken between them. They just stayed silent as they searched for a little boy named Ryuzaki. Yamada felt like crying in desperation as he watched how heavy the rain was outside. He had let Takaki drove the car since his eyes would get teary like every minute.
They have been looking for Ryuzaki for exactly half an hour and the rain didn't get any better. Yamada's eyes were teary again and suddenly a tear escaped from his eyes. He was about to wipe it away when he felt a thumb wipe it away. He looked up and saw Takaki was the one who did that. Takaki's eye was also teary. So, he parked his car near a park for a while to let his tears flowed out from his eyes.
"I'm sorry..." Takaki muttered under his breath. He covered his face with both of his hands as he cried really hard. "I love you and Ryu-chan. But, I don't think I deserve your love after what I did to you two years ago and ten years ago. Why do you even love me?"
"Because..." Yamada put his hand on top of Takaki's opened palms. He intertwined his fingers with Takaki's. "Love knows no boundaries. Past doesn't have anything to do with my love for you. I love you because I love you. Nothing else." Takaki smiled at that statement. He was glad that someone still cared for him. But he had decided that he'll do something about his mistake. "I'm worried..." Yamada lifted Takaki's hand to his cheek, feeling its warmth.
"We'll find him soon, okay? Don't worry, baby." Takaki kissed Yamada's temple before he started the engine and continued their search for Ryuzaki.
***
It was raining hard. Neither child nor adults were spotted at the street, except for a six year old boy who sat at the temple's stair. His face was buried in his arms. He was feeling really cold but, he didn't care. He was waiting for someone who wouldn't return to come for him. He was putting empty hope in his heart. He knew she wouldn't return no matter how much he was praying for her to be next to him.
He thought he had felt the happiness he once felt when Takaki entered his life. He thought he felt the presence of his mother inside Takaki. He really loved Takaki very much like the way he had loved his mother. But, why? Why life is so unfair? The moment he felt happy, it was the moment he felt sad and lost someone he loved, and knowing the fact that Takaki was the cause of his mother's death really broke his heart. Out of all bastards in the world, why it has to be Takaki?
Faith is a shit.
Ryuzaki looked at the stairs below him. He imagined his mother walking up the stairs toward him, and offering her hand to him and saying, "Ryu-chan... Let's go home." Ryuzaki felt like crying as he remembered her warm loving smile which he wouldn't feel anymore. The little boy sniffed and felt tears were rolling on his cheeks. He knew it was tears because it was warm, unlike the cold drops of rain.
But, what was it that gave you an unexplainable warm while it was raining outside? Oh yeah... The warmth of a hug. Ryuzaki wrapped his body with his arms as he shivered in the middle of the rain. But, it was no use... He still felt cold. He really missed the warm hug his mother would give him.
"Ma-ma-mama... I-I-I wa-want you b-back!" Ryuzaki said between his sobbing. He stayed like that for a very long time, letting the cold rain soaked him.
***
Suddenly Yamada sat up straight after falling asleep in the car, making Takaki who was still driving jumped a little.
"I know where Ryuzaki is!" Yamada exclaimed.
"What's this? Mother instinct?" Takaki teased.
"No, it's father instinct... Turn this way..." Yamada said, pointing the way. He felt dumb for not thinking of that place before. That place was the only place Ryuzaki could go all by himself or with his mother.
***
Flashback
"Ryu-chan, what do you want to wish for?" she asked.
"What mama wants to wish for?" The four years old boy asked his mother back.
"A wish is a secret you know..." She said with a smile that could melt away the snow.
"So then, I'm not going to tell you!" Ryuzaki giggled as his mother poked him on his side. "How about we wish something and let's just wait for it to happen. So, mama will know what I wish for."
"Good suggestion! Let's wish!"
Then, the mother and son clasped their hands together and wished something. But, without them knowing, they wished a same thing. Both of them have heard of this story about someone from the person they love the most. And they wanted to see these two people to be a friend.
"I wish papa can be close with Takaki Yuya."
"I wish my husband can be close with Takaki Yuya."
And the son and mother didn't know that in order their wish to be granted, they have to make a sacrifice. On their way back from the temple, it was already night and they were singing along a song from the radio when suddenly a car was speeding toward them. The boy didn't know what happened next. The only thing he knew was he woke up in an operation room where he saw his mother was laying next to him. The boy was trying to reach out to his mother when a doctor closed the distance between them. After the doctor left, the boy could see a white sheet was pulled up to his mother's face.
"Is the boy, okay?" a doctor asked.
"No internal damage... Just some cuts all over his body. We can close them up in no time." another doctor answered.
"Too bad, isn't it? Faith is really a shit. This boy survived but, his mother couldn't make it."
"Hey! Don't say that! Let's we close the wounds!"
The boy felt his eyes were heavy. He repeated a sentence in his mind before the darkness came to him.
'Faith is a shit.'
End of flashback
Ryuzaki felt his body was getting warmer. Not a comfortable warm but, a painful warm. Yes, he was starting to have a fever. But, no matter how much he wanted to go home or find a shelter, he couldn't move his body because he felt really, really tired. His breath was hot on his skin. And his vision was getting blurrier in each passing minutes. And just for once in his life, he wanted to see his mother again.
"Ryu-chan..." A voice said to him. "Ryu-chan, it's raining... Let's go home." Ryuzaki looked and for a few seconds, he thought he saw his mother was standing in front of him, offering her hand to him.
"Mama?" Ryuzaki croaked out.
Yamada shivered when he heard his son's voice. He wasn't used to hearing his son's voice. When his wife was still alive, he didn't have much time to be together with his son because of his work. And after she died, he tried his best to make his son first in everything. And he didn't know how to describe his feeling when he found his son sitting on the temple's stair, looking really hurt inside.
"Mama, I want to go home..." Ryuzaki said again, collapsing in Yamada's arms.
"Yes, yes, let's go home!" Yamada pressed his palm on Ryuzaki's forehead. To his surprise, it was really hot. He carried his son to the car. As soon as he got in, he quickly told Takaki to drive to the hospital. He was dead worried when Ryuzaki's breath was ragged.
'I'm not losing my family again!' Yamada thought fiercely in his mind.
***
Takaki felt his lungs were shrinking when he heard the doctor's conclusion. If he was feeling that way, he couldn't imagined how Yamada felt. It must've felt like losing the only hope he had.
"No, that cannot be! He just got his voice and you're telling me he's going to suffer another mental breakdown but, this time is permanent?" Yamada slammed his palms on the desk. Takaki never saw this side of Yamada before. "He got caught in the middle of the rain and I thought he was having a fever. But here you told me he's going to have a mental breakdown. Are you FUCKING KIDDING me?!" Yamada raised his voice all of a sudden. His hands were itching to punch that genius (doctor) face.
"Ryosuke..." Takaki rubbed Yamada's thigh soothingly to calm his lover's emotion. But, Takaki knew that he couldn't do anything about that matter. And he felt everything was his fault. He pulled his hand away and looked down on his feet, not doing anything to calm his lover.
"I'm sorry... But, it appears that he's having too much pressure in his brain. He hasn't fully healed after his accident. He's really weak, Yamada-san." The doctor sighed. "Not that I want to interrupt with your matter... But, what have you done to him until he got caught in the rain? A kid his age shouldn't stay out while it's raining and alone!"
Yamada covered his face with both of his palms. He laid his back on the chair, feeling every inch of his bones was crumbling into pieces. He considered himself as a failed father, unable to keep his son save. He just listened to what the doctor said to him while his mind was off somewhere else. He was imagining what would happen if his wife was still alive. None of this would have happened. But then, he wouldn't fall in love with Takaki... Wait... Did he just think that everything is Takaki's fault? Yamada closed his eyes for a few minutes to clear his mind.
"But, there's a way to prevent the mental breakdown..." That was the only word Yamada was able to catch. The doctor took Yamada's silence as a clue to continue. "Whatever the thing that gave him pressure... You should keep him a safe distance from it, but longer and never see it again is better." Yamada took a glance at Takaki for a few moments before he looked away again when he noticed that the other was staring at him as if he knew what the doctor meant.
Yamada hated the fact that Takaki understood.
***
For two days Ryuzaki didn't want to see anyone. He still talked and ate something. But, he refused to go out from his room because he feared he would see that 'monster'.
'Great! Now Ryu-chan addressed Takaki as a monster!' Yamada had thought. And Yamada thought his problem would only stay at home. He never thought it would follow him all the way to his office.
It was just another depressing day after a meeting when he heard the lift opened that connected straight to his office opened, revealing Takaki who he hadn't seen for two days. He really missed that guy. He stood up and walked closer to Takaki. He didn't do anything but standing very close to Takaki. Then, the older guy caressed Yamada's cheek with his thumb. The feeling of Takaki's touch sent an electrifying sensation all over Yamada's body.
They stared into each other's eyes as if they were trying to find something there. And then Takaki made the first move by leaning down and gave a peck on Yamada's lips. After he pulled back, Yamada returned the kiss. The peck soon turned into a passionate kiss. They kissed so fierce until Yamada could hear Takaki let out a soft moan from his throat. That moan gave Yamada a pleasure all over his body.
Then, he wrapped his arms around Takaki's neck in the same time with Takaki cupping Yamada's cheeks to deepen their kiss. Then, he slide his tongue in and started fighting for dominance. Yamada moaned against Takaki's lips. He didn't want to let go, the same for Takaki. If time was stoppable, Takaki would wish time stopped there instead of keep moving which made him pulled away from Yamada and hugged him really tight.
"I missed you..." Yamada said against Takaki's chest. That statement was hurting Takaki even more. Yamada pulled away from the hug and stared at Takaki's eyes. "Thank God you came... I'm pretty busy but I don't care. I just want to be with you." Takaki felt his heart was crumbling into pieces.
"Ryosuke... I'm here to give you something." Takaki finally found his voice. Takaki pulled out a white envelope from his coat and gave it to Yamada. The younger looked questioningly at Takaki.
"What's this?"
"I'm resigning." Takaki said. That statement turned Yamada's world upside-down. "I'm going on my own way. Maybe you wouldn't see me anymore. It's for his best if you know what I mean." Takaki turned around and walked out from the office without looking at Yamada's grim expression.
Yes, indeed it was for his son's best. But, Yamada never thought Takaki would disappear from his life for as long as Ryuzaki lived. No, killing Ryuzaki would be a bad idea. Yamada crumpled he letter and threw it out from his office window. He watched the wind carried that letter somewhere else before breaking into tears.
***
A/N: This fic have two epilogue (first ending and second ending) that I'll post tomorrow! I hope you enjoyed reading this.
Author: veevalkyrie
Pairing: Takayama, Yabuhika, Inoodai
Genre: Romance, Angst, Fluff
Rating: R
Summary: Takaki used to bully Yamada when they were in high school. Takaki always told Yamada to respect someone higher than him and the words stuck in the younger's mind. But 10 years later, Takaki applied a job in a company and surprisingly, his boss was the junior he used to bully.
Pain. All Yamada could felt was an unbearable pain on his tummy. He felt like he wanted to throw up the foods he ate hours ago. But, if he did that he would get another punch. So, he could only groaned in pain under his senior's feet.
"Do you know the word 'respect'?" his senior asked, pressing his foot harder on Yamada's tummy.
"Ye-yes..." Yamada croaked out. Tears have welled up in his yes, but he tried his best no to let it out.
"What? Say it like you mean it!" Takaki stomped his foot on Yamada's tummy, knockin the air out of Yamada. Somehow, A smile crept up in Takaki's face every time he was torturing someone, as if torturing is his personal drug prescription.
"Yes... Yes!" Yamada cried out. His voice made him sounded like a weak junior who is very easy to shatter into tears. "I'm sorry..!"
"Weak!" Takaki pulled back his foot only to swing it really at Yamada's side. He kept kicking the younger even though the younger has yelled out cry of pain and begging to stop.
"Yuya! That's enough! stop it!" Yuto was trying his best to pull Takaki away from his junior. "Know your limit, man!"
"What the fuck, man?! It's for his own good. With this, he'll know how important it is to respect the higher." Takaki sent another kick at Yamada's waist. Yamada didn't have the strength to just groan in pain. So, he's only lied on the rooftop ground, closing his eyes and wished that it'll be over soon.
"I scold my juniors. Not torturing them or bullying them. Let's just go before the teacher sees this." Yuto was pulling the hem of Takaki's shirt, forcing his friend to move away from Yamada.
"Oh, yeah the teachers! shit! It's fun 'scolding' you, Yama-chan... Don't move out to another school, okay? I'll see you again tomorrow!" Takaki patted Yamada's cheek a little too hard until it was right to call it as slapping.
Yuto looked back at Yamada when Takaki has walked ahead of him toward the door. Yuto was feeling sorry for Yamada, he has a feeling to help the young one, to take the young one to the school clinic so, someone could take care of his bruises and scratches or if no one was there, Yuto would like to be the one who took care of it. But, Takaki was watching him from the doorway and he knew his friend wouldn't like to see him helping a junior.
"Hurry up, Yuto! I'm hungry and you promised me you would treat me two bowls of ramen!" Takaki yelled from the doorway.
Yuto nodded as a reply. He dragged his heavy feet toward where Takaki was standing, leaving Yamada who was watching both of his seniors left him like he was a garbage.
10 YEARS LATER
Takaki kept humming random songs as he waited for his name to be called. His feet was tapping against the tiled floor in the same rhythm with the song he was humming. And soon his hands followed with the tapping of his feet. His eyes kept looking back-and-forth at the clock on the wall. The ticking seemed so slow and the ticking sound echoed in the waiting room.
TICK TOCK
"Takaki Yuya?" Takaki jumped a little at the voice. "Sorry for surprising you... Are you ready to start your work?" the man in suit asked him.
"Oh yes, I'm ready!"
"Wow! Such an enthusiasm! Oh, yeah! My name is Yabu Kota. I preferred to be called as Yabu though." the man introduced himself as he led Takaki to his new office.
"Nice to meet you then... My name is Takaki Yuya."
"Yeah I know that... I'm the one who called your name earlier."
"Oh yeah you're right..." Takaki's cheeks turned into shades of red. He didn't even know why he was acting so nervous about starting the new job. He never worked in a big company before, and he considered himself lucky to work for JE company. "Ne... Yabu-kun... What's your position in this company?" Takaki asked after he was tired of the silence that settled between them.
"That... I'm about to tell you. But, you already asked first... So," Yabu shifted his files to his other hand, "I'm this company's Vice President." Takaki glared at Yabu, "Okay, that must have been a shock for you. But, FYI, the President is really busy and he needs a lot of people to help him. I want to help him. But, he didn't want to tire me off so, he assigned me for minor works like interviewing new applicants. And out of hundreds of new applicants, I chose you." Yabu explained. "And of course someone helped me. His name is Yaotome Hikaru and feel free to call him blonde, he doesn't mind."
"Hey! I do mind to be called as blondie by a newbie!" A voice snapped from behind them. Both of them men turned around and saw a man in the same suit as Yabu with perfectly tanned skin and bright yellow hair. Takaki assumed that must be Yaotome Hikaru.
"But, I always called you blondie!" Yabu said.
"I mind to be called that by a newbie... By a newbie, Yabu. You're not a newbie..." Hikaru grinned, showing his messy teeth. But, that was the thing that made him look unique and cute.
"Oh..." Takaki saw Yabu's cheeks were red like tomato. Then, he looked back at Hikaru who has stood in front of Yabu and took the files from Yabu's hand. "Thanks..." Yabu muttered that word shyly. And Takaki knew right away that Yabu and Hikaru have something in between.
"So, what's your name?"
Takaki just realized after a few seconds that Hikaru was asking him. He was too focused on watching Yabu and Hikaru acting toward each other. Takaki never knew how it felt like to like or love someone. His life has been really tough that he didn't really have time to think about love.
"My name is Takaki Yuya..." He held out his hand for a handshake. "Yoroshiku!"
"Un!" Hikaru shook Takaki's hand. "I'm Yaotome Hikaru. Yoroshiku! And I'm sorry that you have to work at the fifth floor."
"What's with people today for taking my line? I was going to tell him that, Hikaru!"
"Many newbies were fired from this company after a week working at the fifth floor." Hikaru continued, ignoring Yabu's whining.
"Shut. Up!" Yabu pressed his voice. He felt annoyed for not being able to tell a newbie about the company because, Hikaru would always took his line. It has always been like that for years.
"Why?" Takaki asked.
"Just watch out for the InooDai. They're killers!" Both Yabu and Hikaru answered in unison. Except that only their expression was different. Yabu with that smug look on his face, while Hikaru with that deep frown on his forehead.
"InooDai?"
"Ah... You'll see later..." Yabu and Hikaru said in unison again.
***
"Hey new guy!" For the millionth time since Takaki first stepped in on the fifth floor he tried his best to ignore that raspy girl voice. "I'm going out with Inoo... You better finished the paperwork when I get back. I don't want the President to be mad at me." And for the one times ten square ten (10x1010) Takaki tried to keep his hands working on the paperwork instead of swinging it toward that douchebag's face.
"Why... Why don't you do it yourself before going out with your girlfriend?" Takaki shoved Daiki's paper works to Daiki.
"I'm not a girl!" Inoo fired back.
"If I say you're a girl then, you are! Your face looks like one, so zip it up!" Takaki raised his voice at Inoo. The accountant's jaw dropped open because of that sharp words from Takaki, a newbie he barely knew of. "And you douchebag!" Takaki pointed at Daiki, "I love to shot down a noisy penguin!"
"What the fuck?! Are you bored with your life?" Daiki gripped his paper works really tight in his hands.
"You're the one who's bored with your life!" In a flash, Daiki has sprawled on the floor after Takaki pushed him really hard. Takaki kicked him hard on his forearm and got thrown with thick paper works by Daiki in return. The shorter one quickly stood up to run away but, he was a little bit too late because, Takaki grabbed his collar, and slammed him on top of the photocopy machine. Daiki's elbow accidentally pressed on the photocopy switch. Papers were starting to come out from it with different painful expression of Daiki. And every paper have different black notch which was Daiki's blood.
Inoo made his way to the President's floor when he heard Daiki's bone cracked after Takaki punched him again. Inoo has stopped counting on the tenth punch. He was on his way to the lift when Yabu grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer.
"Inoo, even the President fears this newbie. Stop messing up with him again. Just listen to whatever he say, and you'll stay alive." Yabu whispered next to Inoo's ear, loud enough for Hikaru to hear. The pale boy in Yabu's grip was shivering at Yabu's sudden low and grim voice, even Hikaru was trying to cover the bulge that was starting to form behind his pants. "And don't expect that this newbie wouldn't be here tomorrow. Because, the president wouldn't have the courage to fire him."
Inoo was wondering how powerful this newbie was until the president was afraid of him. The President sat on the highest position and newbie sat on the lowest position. But, how come a company's president was afraid of a newbie on the fifth floor? It sounded as if a King was afraid of a servant.
"Who is this guy?" Inoo asked between his sobbing.
"He's just someone from the President's past..." Yabu tapped on Inoo's shoulder once and pushed the latter to start moving. Inoo decided to tell the President about the newbie, but he put a little hope in his heart that the president would do something about the newbie.
***
"Where's the President? " Inoo asked as soon as he arrived at the President's floor and saw Yuto behind the desk, instead of the President himself.
"He just left to pick up his son at school. A nice single father he is, isn't he? " Yuto answered as he was arranging the President's paper works. "So, why are you here? " Yuto put a stack of paper at the corner of the desk, and finally looked up at Inoo who was about to go out from the office using the lift.
"Daiki and this newbie called Takaki are fighting and I need to report him to the President!" Inoo punched the downward button with his fist out of anger.
At that statement, Yuto quickly pressed the local telephone on the desk and called for two security guards to stop a fighting at the fifth floor. Inoo was wondering why Yuto was looking so scared. "Trust me, the President wouldn't do anything about it…" Yuto said the same thing Yabu had said to Inoo earlier. And Inoo was curious about it.
"Who is this Takaki actually? What's with him until the President is scared of him? " Yuto sighed. He opened a file cabinet and scanned through the files in there. He uttered an 'AH!' and pulled out a file from the cabinet. Then, he threw it on the desk for Inoo to look at, "Read it…"
Inoo looked questioningly at Yuto before he opened the folder and read Takaki's file. His eyes soon grew wide after a minute of reading.
***
Gruuu~
Yamada felt a hand was pulling on the hem of his shirt. He looked down and saw his six year old son was looking at him with a curved down lips and teary doe eyes. His small hand tapped his tummy twice and held it really tight. Yamada knew exactly what his son wanted.
"Ryu-chan... Please don't cry... Papa left the wallet at the office." Yamada said softly to his son. But, it seemed that his son wouldn't stay quiet. He understood how hungry his son was, and he hated it if his son was sad because of him. He had promised to make his son happy to his wife before she had an accident that took her life away. And ever since that day, Ryuzaki wasn't the cheerful child anymore. He became the silent child who would always sat at the far corner of his classroom, away from the other kids. And he also lost the ability to talk.
And what made Yamada got angry at himself was how scared he was to see Takaki if he returned to his office. If, he returned there, he could meet him at the lobby, the parking lot, or worst the lift. So then, why did he accept Takaki out of hundreds of new applicants in the first place? He could have rejected him. It was the question that Yamada was asking to himself. He sighed and knelt down, so his eyes were staring straight into his son's beautiful ocean blue eyes which he inherits it from his mother.
"Ryu-chan... Be patience, okay? Do you want papa to make an omelet for you?"
Ryuzaki stayed silent.
"Omelet fried rice..?" It was then Ryuzaki finally smiled and nodded. "Good... That's my boy." Then, Yamada piggybacked his son to the parking lot of Ryuzaki's school.
However, a person couldn't run away forever.
It happened exactly two days later that faith made them finally met.
It was like any ordinary days Yamada had all his life where he would go to Ryuzaki's school to give the little boy his lunch which he forgot to bring along before going to school. Yamada took a glance at his wristwatch and saw that the long finger was pointing at nine. He was sure it wouldn't take fifteen minutes for him to arrive at his son's school.
"Ryosuke, you're an idiot for forgetting to bring Ryu-chan's lunch" Yamada knocked on his forehead multiple times to scold himself. He pressed on level P2 button rapidly as if by doing that the lift would take him faster to underground parking lot. But, it didn't. The lift suddenly stopped at a floor Yamada tried his best to avoid. His heart flipped when the lift aluminum double doors slide open, revealing a man with brown hair was flipping through his paper works. Yamada's breath hitched when the man stood next to Yamada without noticing the latter.
Yamada moved to the corner of the lift, and pressed his body against the wall as if by doing that he'll go through the wall and away from the man who was still flipping through the thick paper works. The man who Yamada knew as Takaki didn't even flinch when Yamada kept his eyes on Takaki. The man was too busy with his work until he didn't notice the person he always tortured during his high school time. But, somehow Yamada was feeling like he wanted to poke on Takaki's side so the taller one would notice him.
Yamada clutched Ryuzaki's lunchbox tighter in his hands when Takaki looked up from his paperwork and finally have a look at Yamada. Wihout Yamada wanted to, he had poked on Takaki's side.
"You..." was the word that made Yamada felt like he wanted to melt away and dried out.
"Takaki-niisan..." Yamada found his voice after a while. "How..."
Say it like you mean it!
"How are you?" Yamada asked in a deeper voice.
"Oh... Good... This really shocked me. I think you and I are inseparable." Takaki started to say while an evil smile has appeared on his face. Yamada didn't feel like telling Takaki that he was the President of his company and he would fire Takaki if he did any harm to him. But, memories of Takaki hurting him was still spinning in his mind. So, he didn't do anything when Takaki closed their distance with a pat on his head.
"Why are you so tense around me? Do you fear I would beat you up like before? Hmph! You're still you... Weak... I wonder how you will handle a family?"
'I have a son Takaki!' But Yamada decided to stay silent.
The lift stopped in the same time when Yamada couldn't stay any longer with Takaki. He stepped out of the lift, thinking that he was finally away from Takaki. But as he got in into his car, he found Takaki sat nicely on the passenger seat next to him. Yamada jumped a little after he saw his used to be senior was sitting next to him.
"I'm tired to drive a long way to other companies just to sign these papers. I want you to drive me there." it was clearly a statement. No question was heard from Takaki's mouth. Yamada was confused. He was scared to say no to Takaki, but he has to bring Ryuzaki's lunch. He didn't want his son to starve while watching his friends ate their foods.
Weak
'No, I have to be strong for my son,' Yamada thought.
"Okay... But I have to go to a school first. And then I would take you to where ever you need to go." Yamada said with a slight fear in his voice that Takaki didn't seem to realize.
"School?" Takaki looked weirdly at Yamada's straight face. "School?" he repeated. Yamada finally nodded and turned on the engine. He drove his car out from the parking lot and to the busy street of Tokyo. "Why school? What do you wanna do there?"
"I have a son, okay... I have a family..." Yamada tried not to say it coldly at Takaki. He tried to say it in a straight tone.
"You-you-you do?" Takaki was stuttering. It was the first time Yamada ever heard Takaki was talking nervously like that. Yamada took a glance at Takaki as he drove and saw that the older man was looking at the paperworks. Yamada thought Takaki was looking at him with a shocked face.
"Yes, I do... You'll see him later."
"Yeah right sure... I hope you're not going to make me late." Takaki muttered.
"Even if you're late, you won't get into trouble." Yamada muttered under his breath. Oh how he really wanted to tell Takaki that he was the President of the company.
"What do you say?" Takaki asked, looking up from his paper works.
"Nothing..." they stayed silent along the way to Ryuzaki's school.
***
Takaki didn't want to wait for Yamada, so the smaller one had asked him to just come with him and before Takaki could say anything, Yamada had went out from the car. Takaki just followed him out to the crowded elementary school.
"You won't be long, right?" Takaki asked, resting his hand on Yamada's shoulder, making Yamada shivered under his touch.
"No, I won't be long..." Yamada said as he saw his son was sitting alone on a bench under a dining table under the tree at the school's park. His son was watching the other kids were playing with their friends, hoppin, and running here and there while Ryuzaki could only sat alone under the tree.
Takaki stopped midway as he watched Yamada came toward his son, giving that lonely little boy a hug and a soft smile. Somehow, Takaki felt a slight pain in his chest as he watched Yamada kept talking with Ryuzaki but never got any response from the boy. The boy just kept his eyes on his father's hands which were holding his small hands really tight.
Takaki never really cared of other people. But, he has the urge to walk toward Yamada and the little boy, and wanted to know more about them, wanted to be closer with them. He felt like he wanted to cry when he saw Yamada's eyes were teary as he held his son in his arms. Takaki heard what Yamada said to his son before he left the little boy under the tree.
"Ryu-chan... Please talk... Say something. I want to hear your voice just for this once. Tell me what do you want... Please..!" however, Ryuzaki didn't say anything and started to eat his lunch, ignoring his father's pleading him.
"I'm sorry if I took a long time. I was just talking with my son for a while. So, where do you wanna go first?" Yamada snapped Takaki from his deep thought. Takaki looked at him intently in the eyes. He was picturing the pain in Yamada's face when he had hurt him during their high school time. He knew that painful expression on Yamada's face, but he had never saw a deep hurt in Yamada's eyes. That kind of look managed to find it's way in into Takaki's stone heart.
"Let's just go to the car first..." Yamada was starting to walk to his car when Takaki grabbed him on his hand.
"I'm sorry..." Takaki said his first apology.
***
"Inoo. have you told the President about that Takaki?" Daiki asked while rubbing the bruise on his cheek.
"No, I haven't..." Inoo answered coldly. Unlike before, he looked so grim and his expression was like always in deep thoughts.
"Why?"
"Because it's useless. It's no use. This Takaki is a really dangerous person that you shouldn't stay near him even though you're only going to borrow a pen from him." Inoo talked a little bit faster until Daiki hugged his boyfriend to calm him.
"Hey... What is it? How do you know about him?" Daiki asked. "and I also wanna know why was your face looked so grim after you returned from the President floor?"
"I met Yuto there. He... Let me read Takaki's file... And..." Inoo sighed. "He was involved in a car accident two years ago. The same car accident where President Yamada lost his wife."
"So, what about it?" in which Daiki got a hit on the head by Inoo, "Hey! What did I do?"
"Your slow mind irritates me! What I mean is... Takaki was the one who caused the accident. He was drunk and drove like a madman. He didn't see the traffic light was red. So, he just kept speeding up until his car crashed another passing car which had President Yamada's wife and son." Inoo explained. There was a pregnant pause where Daiki was trying to sync in the story in his mind.
"Oh God... And did Takaki take responsibility for speeding and 'accidentally' killed a woman there?" Daiki didn't like Inoo's answer at all.
"No, he didn't... He was free of the crime because, the president asked the court to do so."
"But why?! He should be mad because Takaki was the one who caused the accident!"
"It's because the president has always had a thing for that bastard!" Inoo raised his voice at Daiki in the same time with Takaki and Yamada's lift opened in front of Inoo and Daiki.
"Who had a thing for that who?" Yamada asked. His eyebrow was lifted higher than the other one.
"Nothing sir!" Both Inoo and Daiki answered in unison. From the way their eyebrows and lips were twitching, Takaki knew that they were lying. He was about to point it out when Yamada offered him something he didn't need to think twice.
"Oh yeah... Takaki-niisan... Would you like to join a dinner with me and my son after work? I just wanna treat you something." Takaki could hear that there was no longer a tone of doubt or shyness in Yamada's voice. Takaki wondered if he caused that.
"A dinner? Yeah sure... I'd love to go." Takaki answered with a smile Yamada had never seen before. However, Yamada considered that as a mood swing even though that smile was honest.
"Look who asked who to a dinner..." Inoo whispered to Daiki so softly. But, his boyfriend betrayed him.
"Yeah I know right... This definitely proves it." Daiki whispered loud enough for Takaki and Yamada to hear. Yamada just gave them a questioning look while Takaki gave them a get-the-fuck-out-with-gossiping look. The two employers were more afraid with Takaki than their President.
The dinner went out just fine. Yamada was just talking casual stuffs with Takaki while trying to be respectful at Takaki, and Ryuzaki stayed silent all the time. Takaki was listening to the younger's talk but, Takaki kept his eyes on Ryuzaki who was trying hard to eat his spaghetti. Yamada had tried to feed his son, but Ryuzaki shoved away Yamada's hand.
Takaki was irritated to see that Ryuzaki could only eat a small amount of spaghetti even though he was trying to eat a huge amount of spaghetti.
"Do you want me to help you with the spaghetti?" That one question had made the three of them sat in silence. Yamada was surprised that Ryuzaki nodded at Takaki's question, and he watched how Takaki rolled a huge amount of spaghetti on the fork like Ryuzaki had wanted and let the little boy ate it himself. And Takaki would do the same thing after Ryuzaki had swallowed the spaghetti.
After the dinner, Yamada suspected that Ryuzaki was starting to like Takaki when the little boy started to cry when Yamada was about to take Takaki home. Yamada had tried to calm his son but Takaki had a feeling that he wanted to make that little boy happy for some reason he didn't even know, as if he had done something before to the little boy.
And that was the reason why Takaki woke up next to a sleeping Ryuzaki cuddled up in his arms, and Yamada was sleeping on a futon on the floor. He looked up at the calendar and noticed that it was Saturday and he should be hanging out with his gang. But, looking at both Ryuzaki and Yamada, he just wanted to be with them a little bit longer. So, he closed his eyes once more and pulled Ryuzaki closer to him. He inhaled the little boy's sweet strawberry scent and baby lotion. Then, he opened his eyes again to study the little boy's feature.
He noticed that the boy's nose, lips, and chubby cheeks were products of Yamada. But, the dark blue eyes Takaki stared at last night weren’t from Yamada. He wanted to ask Yamada about the little boy's mother, but that would be inappropriate. Takaki shifted a little since his right arm was unable to feel a thing anymore, and he got a small whimper from the little boy in his arms. Ryuzaki moved closer toward Takaki and slung his short arm around Takaki's side.
Takaki felt like he wanted to melt away because of the little boy’s cute act.
"You can't resist his cuteness, aren't you?" Yamada said all of a sudden behind Takaki. He turned around a little, fearing he would wake Ryuzaki. He saw Yamada was gazing at Ryuzaki with happy yet sad eyes.
"I didn't know you have a family... I'm sorry." Takaki said in a soft voice.
"I already told you that it's okay... I guess I' m still weak like I used to be when I was in high school. Sometimes I thought about putting Ryuzaku in an orphanage. I'm just afraid that one day he wouldn't get much attention from me and the next thing I know I'll see him as a snarky rebellious teenager. I don't want that to happened."
"No, I'm sure you can do it. Raising a kid alone is hard but, look at you! How many years have you taken care of Ryuzaki?"
"Two years..."
"See? Two years! And now you're still taking him to an elementary school, and picked him up later. And you also tried your best to spend a precious time with your son." Takaki said as he looked at the sleeping Ryuzaki in his arms. "You're an amazing father. I've never felt that kind of love before... No has ever cared about me."
"Is that why you were like that when you were in high school?" Yamada guessed. Takaki finally turned around slightly to look into Yamada's eyes. "Not that I don't like it... I'm just wondering..." Yamada's voice trailed off. Takaki stared at the younger for a while. He lifted a hand above Yamada's head. Yamada just closed his eyes, waiting for the painful impact.
"I like you..." Takaki said. His hand brushed Yamada's head softly as if he did it with feeling. "You're not the weak junior I used to know. Why are you like this now?"
"It's... all because of you, Takaki-niisan. Thanks." Yamada felt his cheeks were burning. He was about to return to hide under his futon when Takaki grabbed his chin and directed it toward his face.
The next thing Yamada was feeling was wet. And as seconds fly away, he tasted something more. It was a butterfly feeling in his stomach, and soon the loud beating of his heart followed. Yamada closed his eyes and tried to cherish the warm feeling of that kiss. Takaki tilted his head a little to taste Yamada's lips better. He himself didn't even know why he was kissing Yamada. His heart just told him to do it.
'You changed me too.' Takaki thought. His tongue was licking Yamada's bottom lip, asking for an entrance. Yamada then opened his mouth, knowing what Takaki wanted. As their tongue brushed against each other, both of the men felt their heart was jumping as if it would jump out from their chest. Takaki's hands were itching. He wanted to touch Yamada, he wanted to feel the other against his body. So, he broke away from the kiss and slowly he pulled away from Ryuzaki who was a heavy sleeper. Then, he pushed Yamada to the futon.
Tbey gazed into each other's eyes. Yamada reached out and caressed Takaki's cheek, surprisingly the other leaned to the touch. Then, Takaki lowered his body so his body was pressing against Yamada's. He directed his lips next to Yamada's ear.
"I love you..." Both of them said in the same time next to each other's ear. They turned their eyes to meet each other's gaze. Takaki smiled as he closed the distance between them with a kiss. Yamada moved his hands to cup Takaki's cheeks. His right hand moved to the back of Takaki's head, tangling his fingers with Takaki's hair. Both of the men loved the way they felt for each other. They just wished they could stay like that forever, feeling each other's warmth.
***
As days passed by, their bond was getting closer and closer until everyone in the company didn't need to ask anymore whether they're together or not. Only by looking at their gaze and smile for each other, everyone knew they're in love. Yuto and Yabu would be the one who snapped the two love birds.
After a few weeks, Yamada asked if Takaki wanted to move in with him, in which the older agreed to it. Ryuzaki was the happiest with that decision. Both Ryuzaki and Takaki spent a lot of time together, and as days went by, Ryuzaki grew closer with Takaki than his father. Yamada was okay with it until one hot summer at the beach...
"You know... I'm pretty shocked that the two of you are together. I mean... Takaki used to torture you. H-how Yamada?" Yuto said, and taking a sip of his soda.
"Love is a very surprising thing... So does with life." Yamada answered, resting his head on Takaki's lap.
"Yeah... That's right baby..." Takaki leaned in and gave a peck on Yamada's lips.
Yuto slapped Takaki's back, leaving a red hand mark on his back. As the three of them were talking, Yuto suddenly felt hungry and he has been craving for lemon ice cream since days ago. He was about to go buy it when Takaki stopped him.
"Let me buy it. I'll treat you!"
"Dude... Ne Yama-chan, what did you do to Takaki? God! This is so rare!" Yuto exclaimed.
"I just gave him my love... That's all." Yamada smiled. He sat up straight to let Takaki go.
"I'll go buy it for a while... Strawberry..." Takaki pointed at Yamada, "And lemon." he pointed at Yuto. After he saw the two of them nodded at him, he talked to Ryuzaki who was playing with sands next to him, "Ryu-chan, Yuyan wanna buy ice cream for a while, kay? Stay here with papa." Then, Takaki left.
Takaki was gone for only five minutes when Ryuzaki suddenly looked to his sides and turning in circle as he was looking for something. No, not something... But, someone. When he didn't spot the one he was looking for, his eyes were teary and soon he was crying really loud, getting people's attention at the beach.
"Ryu-chan, why are you crying?" Yamada asked. He was confused of his son's weird behavior.
"Yama-chan, what happened?" Yuto asked.
"Ryuzaki suddenly cried... I don't even know why. There must be a reason. He never cried for no reason." Yamada sighed. Then, he tried asking his son again. "Ryu-chan, what do you want? Why are you crying? Please answer me... Say something." Yamada knew he wouldn't get any reply from his son. But, he would always try and hope that his son would say a word. And after a few seconds, he got his answer.
"Ryu-chan, why are you crying?" It was Takaki. He just came back while holding two cones if ice cream in his hands. Then, he saw the little boy ran toward him, and the three men couldn't believe at what they heard.
"Yuyaaaann~!!" Ryuzaki screamed as he ran toward Takaki and wrapped his short arms around the older.
"Ryu-chan... You..." Takaki started to say.
"Yuyan! Please don't leave me anymore! I don't want to lose you!" Ryuzaki said between his sobbing. Takaki felt tears were starting to form in his eyes. Happy tears. He looked up at Yamada and he saw the younger was already crying. Takaki considered that a happy tears even though it was far from happy.
***
"Yuto, I don't know what I should do..." Yamada exclaimed. He was starting to scribble something on his paperwork, but Yuto pulled it away from Yamada. "Seriously, I'm lost..." Yamada sighed, slamming his pen on the desk. Yamada has been thinking about his son's first word. Not that he's not happy his son finally found his voice... It's just why it has to be Takaki instead of himself that made the child finally spoke.
"You're just jealous..." Yuto said.
"Yeah... Maybe that's the reason I have been acting coldly toward Takaki. But, he's very oblivious. He never noticed that I have been avoiding him after our trip to the beach. He would notice if I say something to him." Yamada breathed out. He reached out his hand to grab his paper work from Yuto. But the older guy pulled the paper work out of Yamada's reach.
"Please stop scribbling like a baby..!" Yuto said in which he got a slight 'humm' from Yamada. Then, the both of them fell silent as they were drowning into their work. While they were busy with their work, they never thought that someone was going up to Yamada's floor. When the lift door opened, Yamada and Yuto saw that it was Takaki who stood in front of them with a surprised look on his face. His eyes were wide in disbelieved as he stared at Yamada.
"Yuya..? What are you doing here?" Yamada asked.
"That should he my question. What are you doing here?"
"Working? Yuya, not that I don't want to see you... I have a lot of work to do and I guess Yabu assigned you to tons of works too... Shouldn't you be doing them?"
"Ryosuke, are you the President of this company?" Yamada looked up at Yuto after hearing that question. Yuto nodded, agreeing that Takaki was oblivious.
"Yes, I am... I'm sorry for not telling you that since the beginning. And now you know I'm the President... What are you going to do?"
"You... Did you lost your wife?" Takaki kept asking question as if he didn't hear anything Yamada just said to him. Yuto stiffened at that question and looked at Yamada, making sure that the younger one wouldn't yell at Takaki. Yamada was very sensitive if someone asked or mentioned about his wife. The last time someone did that, he was crying because of Yamada's spicy words. But, surprisingly, Yamada answered to that question calmly.
"Yes, I did... You never asked me about Ryuzaki's mother before. And I wonder why you asked that just now?" Yuto was starting to feel uncomfortable with the atmosphere in the office.
"Did she die in a car accident?"
"Yes, she died in a car accident."
"Was she with someone else when the accident occurred?"
"That someone would be Ryuzaki when he was four years old. Why are you asking all this? I'm curious, really!" Yamada let out a forced chuckle. Yuto was getting headache because of the intense atmosphere in the office.
"Inoo and Daiki asked about what happened two years ago. They asked if I was the cause of the accident... I answered them that I was. And then they told me that the victims have a family, and the woman who died in the accident was the wife of this company's President. So, I thought I wanted to apologize to the President and never thought that you are the..." Before Takaki could finish his sentence, Yamada interrupted him.
"I lost my wife two years ago, and Ryuzaki had a terrible trauma that caused him to lose his ability to speak after the accident. It was really hard for him to lose a mother at such age. My wife and he were really close." Yamada started to explain.
***
While the adults were having their talk, Yabu and Hikaru were taking little Ryuzaki to see Takaki.
"Where's Taka?" Hikaru asked to no one in particular after he found that Takaki's desk was empty.
"Oh! He just went to the President floor... It seems that he would find out something shocking." Inoo answered since he heard Hikaru's question.
"Shocking like 'dang! I'm dating this company's President!'" Daiki suddenly appeared from behind Yabu.
"I wanna see Yuyan! I miss him soooooo much!" Ryuzaki demanded as he couldn't stop hopping in place while tugging on the hem of Yabu's shirt. No one could ever resist Ryuzaki's cute face and teary doe eyes.
"Okay okay! They're this way!" Yabu's face was bright red. As they went to the President floor, they didn't know that the three men on the President floor were talking something Ryuzaki shouldn't know about.
***
"So then... Literally speaking... I killed your wife and made your son a mute." Takaki finally reached his conclusion after hearing about the truth from Yamada.
"But you returned my son's voice. He spoke because he loves you, Yuya. Maybe he has considered you as a part of his family. He cried when you weren't there, but he didn't cry when I wasn't there for him." Yamada was nearing the edge of breaking into tears. He didn't know why he was feeling angry at Takaki all of a sudden. He really loved Takaki, but remembering two years ago drove him mad.
"But, I can't return your wife! Why did you let me go? Why Ryosuke?" Takaki was the first to shed tears. "Answer me!" Takaki slammed his fist in the desk.
"Yuya, that's enough!" Yuto pushed Takaki away from Yamada. He feared that his friend would lose control when he's emotional.
"Stay out of this Yuto!"
"I won't if you're going to hurt Yamada!"
"I'm demanding an answer, Ryosuke!" Takaki yelled at Yamada over Yuto's shoulder. "Please don't tell me you did it out of love..."
"I did it because I used to be scared of you... Maybe I still am now. I want to show you respect like what you wanted..."
"That's just worst!" Takaki interrupted before Yamada could finish his sentence. "I killed your wife! I can't bring her back! I should be dead now! Why did you let me go? Why?!"
As the atmosphere was getting intense, the three men in the office suddenly heard someone fell on the floor. They looked at the person who just fell on the floor. It was Yabu, and the person who made him fell on the floor was no other than Ryuzaki. The little boy's face was streaked with tears. He was glaring angrily at Takaki, even Yamada didn't recognize his son at first because of that deadly glare.
"Yuyan KILLED mama! Yuyan took my happiness away! Yuyan made papa cried everyday every night! Yuyan is the cause of our sadness!" Ryuzaki shouted until the top of his lungs. His hands were clenched into fists until his nails would have dug through the skin. Then, he jumped to press the main lobby button after saying, "Ryu hate Yuyan!" and then he disappeared behind the lift door. The four men watched the lift kept moving to the main lobby, and it finally dawned on both Takaki and Yamada.
"He's trying to run away!" Yamada exclaimed, running toward the lift to chase his son. Takaki followed behind.
***
No words were spoken between them. They just stayed silent as they searched for a little boy named Ryuzaki. Yamada felt like crying in desperation as he watched how heavy the rain was outside. He had let Takaki drove the car since his eyes would get teary like every minute.
They have been looking for Ryuzaki for exactly half an hour and the rain didn't get any better. Yamada's eyes were teary again and suddenly a tear escaped from his eyes. He was about to wipe it away when he felt a thumb wipe it away. He looked up and saw Takaki was the one who did that. Takaki's eye was also teary. So, he parked his car near a park for a while to let his tears flowed out from his eyes.
"I'm sorry..." Takaki muttered under his breath. He covered his face with both of his hands as he cried really hard. "I love you and Ryu-chan. But, I don't think I deserve your love after what I did to you two years ago and ten years ago. Why do you even love me?"
"Because..." Yamada put his hand on top of Takaki's opened palms. He intertwined his fingers with Takaki's. "Love knows no boundaries. Past doesn't have anything to do with my love for you. I love you because I love you. Nothing else." Takaki smiled at that statement. He was glad that someone still cared for him. But he had decided that he'll do something about his mistake. "I'm worried..." Yamada lifted Takaki's hand to his cheek, feeling its warmth.
"We'll find him soon, okay? Don't worry, baby." Takaki kissed Yamada's temple before he started the engine and continued their search for Ryuzaki.
***
It was raining hard. Neither child nor adults were spotted at the street, except for a six year old boy who sat at the temple's stair. His face was buried in his arms. He was feeling really cold but, he didn't care. He was waiting for someone who wouldn't return to come for him. He was putting empty hope in his heart. He knew she wouldn't return no matter how much he was praying for her to be next to him.
He thought he had felt the happiness he once felt when Takaki entered his life. He thought he felt the presence of his mother inside Takaki. He really loved Takaki very much like the way he had loved his mother. But, why? Why life is so unfair? The moment he felt happy, it was the moment he felt sad and lost someone he loved, and knowing the fact that Takaki was the cause of his mother's death really broke his heart. Out of all bastards in the world, why it has to be Takaki?
Faith is a shit.
Ryuzaki looked at the stairs below him. He imagined his mother walking up the stairs toward him, and offering her hand to him and saying, "Ryu-chan... Let's go home." Ryuzaki felt like crying as he remembered her warm loving smile which he wouldn't feel anymore. The little boy sniffed and felt tears were rolling on his cheeks. He knew it was tears because it was warm, unlike the cold drops of rain.
But, what was it that gave you an unexplainable warm while it was raining outside? Oh yeah... The warmth of a hug. Ryuzaki wrapped his body with his arms as he shivered in the middle of the rain. But, it was no use... He still felt cold. He really missed the warm hug his mother would give him.
"Ma-ma-mama... I-I-I wa-want you b-back!" Ryuzaki said between his sobbing. He stayed like that for a very long time, letting the cold rain soaked him.
***
Suddenly Yamada sat up straight after falling asleep in the car, making Takaki who was still driving jumped a little.
"I know where Ryuzaki is!" Yamada exclaimed.
"What's this? Mother instinct?" Takaki teased.
"No, it's father instinct... Turn this way..." Yamada said, pointing the way. He felt dumb for not thinking of that place before. That place was the only place Ryuzaki could go all by himself or with his mother.
***
Flashback
"Ryu-chan, what do you want to wish for?" she asked.
"What mama wants to wish for?" The four years old boy asked his mother back.
"A wish is a secret you know..." She said with a smile that could melt away the snow.
"So then, I'm not going to tell you!" Ryuzaki giggled as his mother poked him on his side. "How about we wish something and let's just wait for it to happen. So, mama will know what I wish for."
"Good suggestion! Let's wish!"
Then, the mother and son clasped their hands together and wished something. But, without them knowing, they wished a same thing. Both of them have heard of this story about someone from the person they love the most. And they wanted to see these two people to be a friend.
"I wish papa can be close with Takaki Yuya."
"I wish my husband can be close with Takaki Yuya."
And the son and mother didn't know that in order their wish to be granted, they have to make a sacrifice. On their way back from the temple, it was already night and they were singing along a song from the radio when suddenly a car was speeding toward them. The boy didn't know what happened next. The only thing he knew was he woke up in an operation room where he saw his mother was laying next to him. The boy was trying to reach out to his mother when a doctor closed the distance between them. After the doctor left, the boy could see a white sheet was pulled up to his mother's face.
"Is the boy, okay?" a doctor asked.
"No internal damage... Just some cuts all over his body. We can close them up in no time." another doctor answered.
"Too bad, isn't it? Faith is really a shit. This boy survived but, his mother couldn't make it."
"Hey! Don't say that! Let's we close the wounds!"
The boy felt his eyes were heavy. He repeated a sentence in his mind before the darkness came to him.
'Faith is a shit.'
End of flashback
Ryuzaki felt his body was getting warmer. Not a comfortable warm but, a painful warm. Yes, he was starting to have a fever. But, no matter how much he wanted to go home or find a shelter, he couldn't move his body because he felt really, really tired. His breath was hot on his skin. And his vision was getting blurrier in each passing minutes. And just for once in his life, he wanted to see his mother again.
"Ryu-chan..." A voice said to him. "Ryu-chan, it's raining... Let's go home." Ryuzaki looked and for a few seconds, he thought he saw his mother was standing in front of him, offering her hand to him.
"Mama?" Ryuzaki croaked out.
Yamada shivered when he heard his son's voice. He wasn't used to hearing his son's voice. When his wife was still alive, he didn't have much time to be together with his son because of his work. And after she died, he tried his best to make his son first in everything. And he didn't know how to describe his feeling when he found his son sitting on the temple's stair, looking really hurt inside.
"Mama, I want to go home..." Ryuzaki said again, collapsing in Yamada's arms.
"Yes, yes, let's go home!" Yamada pressed his palm on Ryuzaki's forehead. To his surprise, it was really hot. He carried his son to the car. As soon as he got in, he quickly told Takaki to drive to the hospital. He was dead worried when Ryuzaki's breath was ragged.
'I'm not losing my family again!' Yamada thought fiercely in his mind.
***
Takaki felt his lungs were shrinking when he heard the doctor's conclusion. If he was feeling that way, he couldn't imagined how Yamada felt. It must've felt like losing the only hope he had.
"No, that cannot be! He just got his voice and you're telling me he's going to suffer another mental breakdown but, this time is permanent?" Yamada slammed his palms on the desk. Takaki never saw this side of Yamada before. "He got caught in the middle of the rain and I thought he was having a fever. But here you told me he's going to have a mental breakdown. Are you FUCKING KIDDING me?!" Yamada raised his voice all of a sudden. His hands were itching to punch that genius (doctor) face.
"Ryosuke..." Takaki rubbed Yamada's thigh soothingly to calm his lover's emotion. But, Takaki knew that he couldn't do anything about that matter. And he felt everything was his fault. He pulled his hand away and looked down on his feet, not doing anything to calm his lover.
"I'm sorry... But, it appears that he's having too much pressure in his brain. He hasn't fully healed after his accident. He's really weak, Yamada-san." The doctor sighed. "Not that I want to interrupt with your matter... But, what have you done to him until he got caught in the rain? A kid his age shouldn't stay out while it's raining and alone!"
Yamada covered his face with both of his palms. He laid his back on the chair, feeling every inch of his bones was crumbling into pieces. He considered himself as a failed father, unable to keep his son save. He just listened to what the doctor said to him while his mind was off somewhere else. He was imagining what would happen if his wife was still alive. None of this would have happened. But then, he wouldn't fall in love with Takaki... Wait... Did he just think that everything is Takaki's fault? Yamada closed his eyes for a few minutes to clear his mind.
"But, there's a way to prevent the mental breakdown..." That was the only word Yamada was able to catch. The doctor took Yamada's silence as a clue to continue. "Whatever the thing that gave him pressure... You should keep him a safe distance from it, but longer and never see it again is better." Yamada took a glance at Takaki for a few moments before he looked away again when he noticed that the other was staring at him as if he knew what the doctor meant.
Yamada hated the fact that Takaki understood.
***
For two days Ryuzaki didn't want to see anyone. He still talked and ate something. But, he refused to go out from his room because he feared he would see that 'monster'.
'Great! Now Ryu-chan addressed Takaki as a monster!' Yamada had thought. And Yamada thought his problem would only stay at home. He never thought it would follow him all the way to his office.
It was just another depressing day after a meeting when he heard the lift opened that connected straight to his office opened, revealing Takaki who he hadn't seen for two days. He really missed that guy. He stood up and walked closer to Takaki. He didn't do anything but standing very close to Takaki. Then, the older guy caressed Yamada's cheek with his thumb. The feeling of Takaki's touch sent an electrifying sensation all over Yamada's body.
They stared into each other's eyes as if they were trying to find something there. And then Takaki made the first move by leaning down and gave a peck on Yamada's lips. After he pulled back, Yamada returned the kiss. The peck soon turned into a passionate kiss. They kissed so fierce until Yamada could hear Takaki let out a soft moan from his throat. That moan gave Yamada a pleasure all over his body.
Then, he wrapped his arms around Takaki's neck in the same time with Takaki cupping Yamada's cheeks to deepen their kiss. Then, he slide his tongue in and started fighting for dominance. Yamada moaned against Takaki's lips. He didn't want to let go, the same for Takaki. If time was stoppable, Takaki would wish time stopped there instead of keep moving which made him pulled away from Yamada and hugged him really tight.
"I missed you..." Yamada said against Takaki's chest. That statement was hurting Takaki even more. Yamada pulled away from the hug and stared at Takaki's eyes. "Thank God you came... I'm pretty busy but I don't care. I just want to be with you." Takaki felt his heart was crumbling into pieces.
"Ryosuke... I'm here to give you something." Takaki finally found his voice. Takaki pulled out a white envelope from his coat and gave it to Yamada. The younger looked questioningly at Takaki.
"What's this?"
"I'm resigning." Takaki said. That statement turned Yamada's world upside-down. "I'm going on my own way. Maybe you wouldn't see me anymore. It's for his best if you know what I mean." Takaki turned around and walked out from the office without looking at Yamada's grim expression.
Yes, indeed it was for his son's best. But, Yamada never thought Takaki would disappear from his life for as long as Ryuzaki lived. No, killing Ryuzaki would be a bad idea. Yamada crumpled he letter and threw it out from his office window. He watched the wind carried that letter somewhere else before breaking into tears.
***
A/N: This fic have two epilogue (first ending and second ending) that I'll post tomorrow! I hope you enjoyed reading this.