Connected / Revelations (Chap. 8)

[lainats]

Connected - Chapter 8
Chaptertitle: Revelations
Pairing: Sakurai Sho & Aiba Masaki
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: I don't own Sakuraiba. Just the plot.
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Revelations
Chapter 8

„Just… god dangit, why are neckties so hard to handle…“ Aiba laughed at Sho who struggled putting his silver-black striped necktie on. The taller man didn’t hesitate and walked over to his boyfriend, took the necktie gently in his hand and knotted it in a perfect manner around Sho's neck. With a constant smile on his face he lightly stroke over the necktie and nodded satisfied. “Perfect” he mumbled and looked into Sho's eyes “You’re perfect.” Aibas bright smile made Sho flush his cheeks and he smirked back.

A few days ago Aibas parents invited him and Sho to their house to get to know their son's new boyfriend - and both of them were more than just nervous. Aiba constantly dropped or searched something whereas Sho stood in front of the wardrobe, worrying about if his suit will make a good impression or if he should just change it. Aiba's parents knew that their son was gay which made everything a bit more relaxed, but the couple just couldn’t keep calm. When Sho finally closed the wardrobe doors and Aiba found the car keys after a half-an-hour-search, they started their short trip, not knowing what kind of consequence it would have.

***

Irritated Sho looked out of the window when he suddenly found himself in a neighborhood full of big houses - no, much more villas. Every house seemed to be perfect; the gardens were well looked after, there was not a single stain of dirt on the house walls and luxurious cars were standing in front of the villas. It was already dark, but he could see everything clearly because every house was illuminated up by soft lights. He wanted to ask Aiba about where the hell they were, but before he could say anything his boyfriend parked in front of a castle-looking house. For Sho it was impressive, but kind of scary at the same time.

“We’re here” Aiba unbuckled his seat belt and smiled at Sho “That’s my parents house.” Sho already figured that it had to be the house of Aiba's parents, but his mouth still dropped and he looked at the villa a bit closer. Aiba had told him that his parents were very successful business people, but he never imagined that they were that successful.

Both of them got out of the car and walked towards the door, Aiba holding a present in his left hand and Sho's palm in his right one. He pressed it lightly and smiled at the older man before he ringed the bell. Sho was hiding slightly behind Aiba when the door opened and he heard a mans voice welcoming them.

“Masaki!”

“Dad!” Aiba let go of Sho's hand shortly in order to hug his father. “Here!” the taller man handed his father some sweets that Ohno made as a present while Sho was still hiding behind his boyfriend, lowering his head. He never thought that he would be that nervous, but it was the first time that he got introduced to his partner's parents. All the relationships he had been in where short and not really meaningful, he sometimes just tried to find a way to fill the emptiness in his heart. He was dating some girls that fell for Sho immediately, but he couldn’t build up any love - all the kisses and touches and all the sex were just interactions to chase away the constant loneliness. But with Aiba he finally found someone that he truly cared about.

Aiba slowly pulled Sho inside the house and he finally raised his head, looked shortly at Aiba's father and bowed. “Nice to meet you” Shos voice was trembling.

“Don’t be so nervous” he heard Aiba's father chuckle and Sho felt his hand on his shoulder. Sho raised his body and finally for the first time faced Aibas father completely, showing his full face. Sho lightly smiled at him, but instead of receiving a smile back he saw how Aiba's father looked at him a bit shocked.

“Dad?” Aiba asked questioning. “Everything alright?”

In that moment Aiba's mother came in the hallway of the house to greet both of them, holding a tray with four glasses filled with champagne on it. She smiled brightly, heading to the three men and at first looked curiously at her sons new boyfriend to get a first impression. But as she saw the round face, the big brown eyes, the puffy cheeks and the plump lips, she slipped the tray and broken glass and champagne covered the floor.

“Sakurai Sho?” she asked shocked. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

***

Both Sho and Aiba sat confused at the dining table with Aiba's parents, looking at each other and holding hands underneath the table. “What is going on here?” Aiba asked, breaking the awkward silence in the room. But nobody reacted - Aiba's father took a sip of his wine whereas his mother took a bite of the salad standing in front of her.

“So… I heard that you work at the mangakissa with Masaki, Ninomiya-kun and Ohno-kun. That’s amazing, isn’t it? But I bet that Ninomiya-kun is giving you a hard time… he was always a bit bratty and sarcastic, but he is a nice guy, right?”

Aiba clenched his teeth lightly when his father started a whole different conversation, still ignoring what his son asked before. Sho just nodded in agreement and noticed how Aiba's mother trembled while she was devouring her salad as fast as possible. Nobody dared to say a word until they finished dinner and coffee was served. When Aiba saw how his parents still avoided his questions, he beat his fists against the table and splashed some of his coffee on the table. “If you won’t tell me what’s going on here, I’ll go. This makes no sense. I want to know why mum was so upset before and why she knows Sho's full name! I can’t remember that I told her his last name!”

Aiba's father exhaled deeply and looked at his wife who was still trembling. Finally he stood up, heading to a big cupboard that was standing in the dining room. He slowly opened it and took a box out of it. Aiba's mother finally made a move and wanted to stop her husband, but Aiba's father just shook his head and told her to sit down again. He slowly walked towards Sho and put the box in front of him, telling him to open it. At first Sho just looked confused at it, but finally opened it.

“What is this?” he said shocked when he found pictures of him in it. Pictures of him, recently taken. Then there were some photos from around two years ago. Four years ago. When Sho was in high school. In middle school. Elementary school. At the playground. At the bottom of the box he found a document - the first thing he could read was “birth certificate” and a name.

Aiba Sho.

Sho's heart stopped for a moment when he looked at the birth certificate - the kanji for “Sho”, the birth date, the birth place - everything was the same. His eyes wandered down to the names of the parents.

“You are my biological parents” he whispered and looked up to them. Both of them were nodding lightly and lowered their heads. Sho was staring at the paper, cutting out everything that happened around him. Aiba just sat beside him in shock. He slowly took the crate and found another document in it - with his name on it.

“This has to be a joke” he laughed bitterly and stood up, holding the document in front of his parent's faces.

Certificate of Adoption.

“This has to be a freaking joke” Aiba repeated, sat down and held the paper in his hands without noticing that tears were streaming down his face. “How about an explanation?” he snorted hurt.

They started to explain the situation, but both Aiba and Sho were just hearing pieces of it. Aiba's parents were about 20 years old when they got Sho and they couldn’t handle the situation, being in college with a new born - it was too much. So in desperation they decided to leave him at the orphanage where he should find parents that could take better care for him than they did. But just a few months later they felt how giving up Sho was one of the biggest mistakes they made and decided to adopt a child; they got married and a friend of them who worked as an adoption worker found them a newborn baby soon and accelerated the process of adopting Masaki.

“We are shocked that you and Sho met… it’s a total coincidence.” Aibas father laughed, but Aiba was not in the mood for laughing - and neither was Sho.

“There is only an age difference of eleven months between us” Sho said angrily “Eleven months. You can’t just give one baby away and find another one within a year. What do you think? That you can trade people like food? Are you fucking stupid?” He stood up in rage and threw the box with the photos on the floor. “Do you know in what kind of hell I lived for almost my entire life? And what’s with those photos?”

“We wanted to keep an eye on you.” Aiba's father said calmly.

But instead of giving an answer Sho just laughed and let his head fall back. “Well I’d say you failed that one.” He looked at Aiba who sat at the table, crying and crumbling the adoption paper in his hand. Aiba couldn’t say anything anymore, he was just broke - suddenly it felt like he lost an entire family. Sho took Aiba's hand and pulled him up saying “Let’s go”. Aiba's father wanted to stop them, but Sho shoved him away from them.

“Leave us alone” he shouted and left the house with Aiba, leaving the taller mans parents speechless behind.

***

Sho opened the door to Aiba's apartment, slipped out of his shoes and went straight into the kitchen to drink something. On their way home not one of them said a single word, Sho was too angry and hurt to say anything and Aiba couldn’t stop crying. Even now he was sobbing; his eyes and nose took on a red colour. Sho stood in the kitchen, drank a glass of water and his eyes were wandering around the apartment. Everything was shining, modern, expensive… the amazing view suddenly made him sick and he wanted to throw something against the window.

“This was supposed to be mine.” He laughed bitterly. “Everything. This apartment, the view, even the stupid expensive water inside the fridge. Mine - and still you got it.” When Aiba heard what Sho said, he looked shocked at the older man whos eyes got darker and angrier with every second.

“What did you just say?” Aiba's sobbing stopped and he went towards Sho. “So… you basically say that you were supposed to live my life? And I yours?” The outrageousness was showing on Aiba's face, his hands gripping the kitchen counter. Sho immediately turned his head to the taller man, realizing what he just said.

“Here” Aiba took of his jacket and threw it at Sho “10.000 Yen. That’s how much I paid for it. You can have it.” He started taking of his necktie, his watch, he even took his wallet out of his trousers pocket and threw it at the older man. “You can have it all, my stuff, my apartment, my view, my family” he cried unstoppable and buried his face into his hands before looking up into Sho's shocked face once again.

“You know what the sad thing is?” Sho couldn’t say anything, he was speechless “I wished that I would have suffered instead of you when you told me about your past” Aiba's words stung right into Sho's heart. “I thought ‘Why punishing such an amazing person? Why punishing the person I love?’ I really wanted us to switch places.” When Sho wanted to walk towards Aiba and took his hand, the taller man backed off. “But now… just get out.” His voice trembled; he had to control himself in order to suppress crying.

“Masaki…”

“JUST GET OUT!”

“I’m sorry I-“

“If you won’t go then… I’m leaving.” Aiba turned around quickly, put on his shoes and escaped out of the apartment as fast as possible, leaving a speechless Sho behind. Sho felt like his legs got shaky and he fell to the floor, tears streaming over his face.

‘Why punishing such an amazing person? Why punishing the person I love?’

What had he just done? He hurt and chased away the only person that understood him. That cared about him deeply. The only person Sho loved from the bottom of his heart.

You and me
I can see us dying...are we?
(Don’t speak - Glee Version (Original: No Doubt))
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Comment: Finally! I have to say that this was the most difficult chapter to write so far. I am good with fluffy things, but not so much with drama and stuff… I’m afraid it’s a bit over the top, but I hope you guys still like it ^__^