Dreaming Through the Twilight 12b
Chapter 12b
*
One strange thing about Jin was, sometimes you could never be able to find him when you were searching for him, but he would show up when you least expected him to.
Like right now.
Kame had been searching for him anywhere in this building for the last hour, in places he knew Jin liked to spend his time in, but he got nada. He was sure he was the last person who left KAT-TUN’s dressing room yesterday, and the envelope wasn’t there when he left. That could only mean Jin was here earlier than him. So where was Jin right now?
He stopped to catch his breath, one hand grasping the railing to support himself. Perhaps he should just wait for Jin in the dressing room. Eventually, Jin would go back there right?
Sighing, he straightened his clothes and continued to walk up the stairs, minding his steps and definitely not looking at where he was going when at the very top step of the stairs, he accidentally crashed into… a watermelon?
Kame blinked.
But before he could fully process what happened, he stumbled back, forgetting that he was standing on the stairs step and he watched as if in slow motion when he lost his balance and fell backward - until a strong hand grabbed his arm and pulled him hard, shouting, “Watch out!”
Kame blinked again.
The next thing he knew, he was sprawled on someone’s lap, his hands held this someone’s shoulders loosely.
“Ow! That hurt…” a voice grunted at his ear. “Oi, try to be careful next time, will you?”
Kame quickly disentangled himself and pulled back to apologize, but the words caught in his throat. “Jin?” he said instead.
Jin looked up at him, realizing just who he had crashed into, and immediately he tensed up. “Kame.” He acknowledged before looking away.
Still in shock, Kame’s brain failed to make a proper reply on what he should say in a situation like this. “I think I saw a watermelon,” he said quickly just to not let the awkward silence stretched between them, and a second later realized how lame it sounded when Jin looked kind of uncomfortable.
He looked around the place instead, and it was then that he realized there was a really, really big turtle plushie on his right, which looked like a bigger version of the small one that he had seen in the dressing room. There were also so many ice cubes scattered around them, and an empty bucket that apparently had been used to carry all the ice cubes lying innocently behind Jin on its side.
“Jin? What are you going to do with all of these?” he asked, turning to see Jin, but Jin’s attention was transfixed somewhere else. He followed Jin’s line of vision, and saw the papers he had been carrying spread over the stairs’ steps. “Uh, I found them in the dressing room,” he said awkwardly.
Jin laughed uneasily and shifted. “Oh.” Then he got up and dusted himself before straightening his clothes distractedly, his eyes looking at anywhere but Kame. Then the next second, he was running with all his might to the direction he had came from.
Kame blinked.
W-what, what? Why? Why did - what just - “JIN! Why are you - JIN! STOP!” he immediately got up and ran after him, but because he was still kind of dizzy and inordinate, a few steps later, he accidentally stepped on an ice cube and fell face-plant onto the floor, accompanied by the loud sickening crunch of something breaking (the ice cube, not his bones).
How that particular ice cube could fall so far away from the rest of its friends was really a wonder to Kame.
But the sound of Jin’s footsteps could no longer be heard now. Jin must have gotten far by now. Why did he run from him anyway? Kame sighed and tried to sit up, grimacing as did so. He looked up, and found that Jin was actually still there, looking at him concernedly and biting his lips in uncertainty.
Kame stared. It was painstakingly obvious that Jin looked like he wanted to check on him, but for some reason, he didn’t. Or perhaps it was because of the lack of reason. If that was the case, then Kame would give him one.
“I think I broke my ankle,” he said conspiratorially, rubbing his ankle in delicate manner as if it was hurt and wincing visibly for good measure.
Jin looked around as if searching for something, before looking hesitantly back at him. “Uh, well, are you okay?” he asked.
“Jin, I think I broke my ankle.” He repeated insistently. “Come take a look?” Come on, this is your chance. Kame didn’t know why Jin looked so uncomfortable about the prospect of getting near him. He even actually had tried to run away from him. But if those papers were anything to go by, then Jin actually still wanted to be friends with him.
Perhaps he only didn’t know how to approach the subject without having to apologize to him, because they both knew Jin meant what he said that day - that Kame actually had changed and no longer the same Kame. Perhaps it was also Kame’s fault for being so wary of Jin, but he was afraid - afraid Jin would reject him again, afraid of making it worse, and if this continued, they would only end up like that last picture in Jin’s paper.
He really didn’t want that to happen, so they needed to do something.
Kame sent Jin a pleading look, trying to speak through his eyes only, trying to say some things that they both probably couldn’t say out loud. And apparently Jin got it; because then he made up his mind and walked closer to him. Kame breathed in relief.
“Does it really hurt that much?” Jin asked, crouching down in front of him, his hand touching Kame’s ankle carefully, his eyes setting on a spot there.
And Kame knew Jin wasn’t talking about his-so-claimed broken ankle, because really, even Jin wouldn’t fall for something like this. “Not really. I mean, it did at first, but it gets better now.” He replied.
“I’m sorry. For breaking your ankle.” He muttered, squeezing Kame’s ankle a little.
Kame laughed softly. “What are you talking about? It was my own fault. I couldn’t blame you, really.”
“Well, then I’m sorry for unintentionally breaking your ankle.” Jin insisted stubbornly, and Kame could see the beginning of a pout on his lips, though he managed to resist it. His hand that had been drawing some circle on Kame’s ankle slowly made its way up Kame’s thigh, and when he accidentally brushed past Kame’s hand that resting just a few centimeters from his ankle, he put his hand on top of Kame’s loosely.
And didn’t let go.
Kame’s breath hitched. “Okay.” He replied distractedly. “So, we’re fine right?”
“Yeah, we’re fine.” Jin smiled.
Kame smiled back at him. Then he remembered something. “You know, I thought I crashed into a watermelon just now in the stairs, and it turned out to be you. I must be really caught up in your story that I start imagining things.” He shook his head.
Jin raised an eyebrow. “But you did crash into a watermelon.” He said.
“You mean you, right? Because you picture yourself as a watermelon, and I crashed into you, that means I crashed into a watermelon?”
Jin shook his head furiously. “No no no! Just look at the bottom of the stairs! It rolled down the steps when I accidentally dropped it.”
Kame stared at him and turned to look behind his back. The giant turtle plushie and those scattered ice cubes were still there. “A bucket of ice cubes, a turtle plushie and a… watermelon. Jin, just what exactly are you trying to do with all these things anyway? Besides, I never know you actually own a turtle plushie.” He said carefully, turning back to look at Jin.
Jin flushed dark red. “Shut up. I’m experimenting.”
Somehow, Kame wasn’t sure whether he should ask further question regarding Jin’s little experiment or not, and in the end decided not to. It was safer this way, really.
He glanced up at Jin. “Help me up?” he requested, lifting his hands into the air like a child asking help getting to his feet. “My ankle hurt, remember?” he smiled charmingly.
Jin raised an eyebrow at him. “Spoiled little brat, aren’t you?”
“Help me up!” Kame demanded.
“Okay, okay.” Jin surrendered with a long-suffering sighed and helped him get to his feet. Kame leaned on Jin’s shoulder a bit, and Jin ruffled his hair affectionately, one hand still on Kame’s arm. “Want me to carry you as well?” he asked innocently. “You know, because your ankle kind of hurt, and that must be difficult for you to walk, right?”
Kame gave him a look before smiling oh-so-sweetly that Jin actually could almost taste the poison hidden behind it. Don’t you dare, his look said. “Charming, but no. I don’t think I’m ready yet to be humiliated so publicly.” And he quickly extracted himself from Jin. “Besides, I can walk just fine, thankyouverymuch.” And to prove his point, he walked ahead of Jin.
However, a few steps later… “You know, Kame-chan, I never know that you think being carried is actually that humiliating.” He commented casually, like he actually just made a comment about the weather.
Kame stopped short in his track. Uh oh. He definitely didn’t like the tone in Jin’s voice. At all. Slowly, he turned, and he saw Jin grinning madly from ear to ear with that ungodly sparkle in his eyes. This couldn’t be good.
Jin took a step forward.
Kame immediately stepped backward. “Don’t you dare,” he warned dangerously.
If possible, Jin’s grin widened and he took a step forward again.
This time, it was Kame who ran away from Jin.
*
Yamapi strolled down the hallway cheerfully. There was no Shuji to Akira performance tonight, so they were going to leave early. He smiled in discreet, and he actually flashed everyone he passed on the way a genuine smile for once. He hadn’t seen Kame all day, and now he was actually giddy with excitement. Kame must be waiting for him in the entrance hall.
He was right.
There Kame was, leaning against the wall behind him with his hands tucked into his jacket’s pockets, head tilted down and eyes fixed on the floor.
He sped up his steps and was about to call the younger boy when suddenly someone else appeared from another corridor and slung an arm around Kame’s shoulders companionably. Even if he couldn’t see his face, there was no mistaken the identity of this person.
Jin.
Yamapi instantly halted on his track and watched the pair silently. Jin’s movements didn’t seem tense anymore, and Kame actually looked relaxed around him for once. Did this mean they had made up? Well, that was… good, right?
So… Kame was actually waiting for Jin, and not him. Yamapi didn’t know how to feel about that. Of course, since they had made up, it was only to be expected.
Jin steered Kame away to the direction of the entrance, and by some miracle, Kame turned his head and looked around, as if searching for something before he spotted him. Their eyes met, and he saw some uncertainty in Kame’s eyes, like he was trying to tell him something, but before he could decipher it, Jin said something to Kame and the boy turned to Jin, breaking their eye-contact. They both disappeared behind the big, glassy entrance door, leaving him alone in the empty corridor before he could even blink.
Right. And just what the hell was that look supposed to mean? He stared at the door long after both their figures could no longer be seen, wondering just what actually he was doing here.
He rubbed his hands together, blowing some air into his fingers. He felt cold all of sudden.
Why?
“Oi, step aside will you? You’re blocking my way.” A voice interrupted him irritably.
Yamapi turned, and immediately came face to face with Ryo. Why, Ryo could never find a better time to show up, Yamapi thought, because he clearly needed some serious distraction right now.
He smiled sickeningly sweet at Ryo. “Well, well, look at who finally decides to show up. The great Nishikido Ryo himself.” He drawled long and slow, trying to get a rise out of Ryo, knowing the latter was still furious at him for having Uchi suspended.
Except apparently he wasn’t. Ryo looked entirely unaffected. He even actually raised an eyebrow at him! “Toma told me everything.” He said evenly. “And when I said everything, I mean everything, including the reason. Well, I have to say, it wasn’t something that ever crossed my mind before, you doing something like that - that you actually care about other people.”
Yamapi groaned inwardly. Why, oh why, Toma had to ruin his fun? “And you actually listen to him. And believe him. Even though you always call him crazy. Are we talking about the same Toma here?” he asked curiously, putting on an innocent face and tilting his head to the side a little, propping his chin on his knuckle, looking like he was deep in thought.
“At least I could always trust him to be coherent on the appropriate time, unlike someone here,” Ryo sneered half-heartedly, because soon his sneer disappeared and in its place was his usual defiant look.
Yamapi looked at Ryo wide eyed, all innocent and child-like. “I got your boyfriend suspended, you know.” He exclaimed all happily, like he actually had just spread the joy to the world instead of implying that he had caused someone misery.
Ryo looked undeterred, to Yamapi’s great disappointment. “Please, you can’t expect me to say thanks. Ever.” He paused. “I think you should stop all this. No wonder people keep misunderstanding you.”
“Look at who’s speaking,” Yamapi rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the advice. Because, really, I clearly need it more than you do.” he said, not keeping the sarcasm checked.
“I don’t care, really.” He replied as haughtily as ever before walking passed Yamapi, punching him hard on the arm as he did so.
This just kept getting weirder and weirder, Yamapi thought as he rubbed his arm. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that punch was meant to be friendly. What the hell. He knew he shouldn’t have told Toma anything from the start! Such a great best friend he was. He sighed.
Something coiled on the pit of his stomach, and suddenly he started to feel restless again, restless and uneasy, like he was supposed to do something, was itching to do something, but he didn’t know what. He only felt like this when he was with Kame, but right now, Kame wasn’t there, so what was it? He fisted his hands tightly.
Don’t turn. Don’t look. Just don’t.
But he turned and look at the spot where he last seen Kame and Jin disappear anyway. The spot was empty now, as empty as his heart felt right then.
What was he doing? Really, what was he actually doing? He should have just stopped when he still could.
Sighing, he stepped outside and put on his coat, walking briskly to the parking lot. But when his fingers grazed something else when he tried to find his car keys in his pocket, he instantly froze.
Slowly, he pulled the thing out and stared at it blankly.
It was Kame’s pinky ring. He had gone back to that park that night to find it after he left Kame’s apartment. He put it back in his pocket, and wished it was really the freezing air outside that made him feel cold, and not something else.
It didn’t matter anymore. Because in the end, he would always be alone.
*
End of chapter 12
next chapter
Notes: I hope this chapter doesn't seem too rushed XP
That said, a heartbreak is on its way >_< Pikame, Akame, pick your card?
Um, sorry for the late update! School is chasing me >.<