Don't {Chapter 9}
Title: Don’t {Chapter 9}
Author: Mistress_astute
Pairing: Inoobu, Yabudai
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Yabu has been cheating on Inoo with Daiki. Is Inoo ever going to find out? And if he does, what's going to happen?
“So I was thinking that…” Yabu trailed off.
“That we should break up,” Daiki finished, smiling a bit, glad that they were on the same page, glad that now that it finally came to this there weren’t any tears or anger.
“It’s just that-”
“I love Inoo-chan too,” Daiki said softly. “And this is a mistake, a horrible one. Inoo-chan deserves better.”
“Yeah he does… maybe Hikaru would have been better for him,” Yabu mumbled.
“I meant better as in you should make it up to him, as should I, because I don’t think for even one moment that he’ll ever stop loving you,” Daiki clarified, ignoring the look of surprise on Yabu’s face before it mellowed into understanding.
Daiki turned to leave then, not sure if he could bear any more of this, when Yabu’s voice stopped him.
“What about you?”
Daiki closed his eyes and pictured it: life without Yabu. He smiled slightly; it wasn’t so bad.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, even though he knows that that wasn’t what Yabu was asking.
--
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Hikaru asked when he saw Daiki leaving the room.
“Eavesdropper!” Daiki snapped in his usual childish manner before stomping off. Hikaru did not know whether to laugh or be worried. Was this Daiki being the Daiki that everyone knew and loved or was this Daiki just a guise, a layer of protection for the hurt buried inside?
“Look, I’m not going to judge or anything,” Hikaru said as he ran to catch up with the younger member which was an easy feat. Daiki was relatively shorter even if he did not like to admit it.
Daiki didn’t say anything but he did slow down to a walk instead.
“I don’t hate you,” Hikaru clarified and stabs of guilt pierced his heart when he saw the look of surprise on Daiki’s face. “You couldn’t have thought that I hated you!”
“I did…” Daiki muttered, sounding slightly abashed for thinking the worst of Hikaru. “I mean I hurt Inoo-chan and you love Inoo-chan a lot… and I’m really terrible and I seriously wouldn’t blame you if you hate me. I mean I did hurt Inoo-chan really badly. Gosh, I’m his best friend and I did such an unforgiveable thing…”
Daiki stopped talking when he realised that he was rambling on and on.
“Basically, I would hate me if I were you.”
Hikaru shook his head slightly. Sure he was angry at Daiki once but he would never hate the younger member. They did grow up together after all and he knew that Daiki wasn’t bad by nature. In fact, to be honest, Daiki was probably the nicest person that he knew. He just made a mistake, and though huge, it wasn’t horrible to the point that he had to be condemned. After all, he wasn’t the only one who made the mistake, and it wasn’t deliberate. Hikaru knew that didn’t ease the gravity of the situation but at least Daiki was already taking steps to rectify it.
Truthfully, Hikaru himself wasn’t in any position to judge Daiki. Who’s to say that he wouldn’t have done what Daiki did if Inoo had loved him back, even just the tiniest bit, and was willing to start a relationship, albeit an affair, with him? Well, like he told Daiki before, he definitely would have jumped at the offer if Inoo had given him such a chance. Yabu be damned.
“Daichan, more than anything, are you okay?” Hikaru asked again, because he really needed to know. Daiki, like any other JUMP member, was important to him.
“I’ll be fine,” Daiki replied with a smile. Hikaru found himself smiling back because this smile was one smile that he knew. It was real, and Hikaru realised with a start that it had been a while since he saw such a genuine expression of bliss on Daiki’s face. He hadn’t noticed it before because he was so engrossed in his own feelings and he felt a slight guilt. Maybe none of this would have happened if he realised that there was someone else who was suffering as much as he did.
“Daichan,” Hikaru said softly and the younger looked up at him. “Forget about them. Let’s go somewhere.”
--
Yabu was surprised that Daiki initiated the break up. He knew that the younger member loved him a lot and he did love Daiki too, just that maybe it wasn’t as much. He had been planning to break up with Daiki when he asked the other JUMP member for a talk but when he saw Daiki he hesitated. He had already planned on saying it of course but if Daiki hadn’t finished the sentence for him he was sure that he would have talked about something else instead.
In the end, he was selfish. Simply selfish.
He knew that it was wrong. He was hurting himself. He was hurting Inoo. He was hurting Daiki. Heck, he was hurting Hikaru without even knowing it. He really had to give it up to Daiki for being so selfless.
Eventually, he would have broken up with Daiki, but who knows when he would have the courage to do so? From the start, though he hadn’t been clear, he had already chose Inoo.
Daiki was like the sun. He brightened up everybody’s day and everyone in JUMP was partially dependent on him for being happy. It was obvious; if Daiki wasn’t happy, they weren’t either. To be the one responsible for Daiki’s happiness, Yabu wasn’t sure if he could do that. Call him a coward but in the end it was fear that made the decision for him.
Inoo, on the other hand, didn’t have that much of a impact on other people. He was sweet and great and everyone in JUMP loved him as they did every other member, but he wasn’t Daiki. He doesn’t make people smile. Daiki makes him smile. And Yabu was sure that his love for Inoo was definitely more than Daiki. If it was Inoo he was sure that he could protect him because he really wanted to.
So call his cheating with Daiki an irony.
He hadn’t meant to do it but it was done anyway. And now it ended and honestly he felt the lightest he had been in months. Still, some things still had to be done.
He had to tell Inoo.
He could think of so many reasons so to why he shouldn’t reveal this terrible secret to Inoo: it would hurt him, Inoo might break up with him, Inoo might stop being Daiki’s best friends… but if there’s one thing he gained from being in a relationship with Daiki it was that it was to be selfless. Because that was really the way to love.
“Yabu,” Inoo called and Yabu stopped in his tracks.
“Oh Kei!”
“I called you several times already! Why didn’t you respond?” Inoo asked in concern. “Is there something troubling you?”
Yabu wanted to say no because he was still afraid. Fear doesn’t go away in a day or two. But he was determined this time. He had hurt the man he love and he was going to make up for it. The first thing to do was to admit it.
“Kei, I need to tell you something.”
The look on Inoo’s face scared Yabu. It looked as if he knew, but Yabu couldn’t stop now, not when he knew that this was the right thing to do.
“I- ”
“I know,” Inoo cut him off.
“What?” Yabu asked instinctively.
If Inoo knew…
“I know about you and Daiki.”
Yabu was beyond shock. Why did Inoo keep silent all this time if he had known all along? He should have confronted Yabu or scolded him or something. Yabu didn’t know how to react. Why did Inoo let himself suffer silently all this time?
“Since when?” Yabu asked softly and immediately felt like punching himself. That was such a sensitive question.
“I found out recently,” Inoo replied slowly. “I don’t know. It was just a feeling and when I saw the way you two looked at each other, I just knew.”
“I’m sorry,” Yabu apologised immediately and he felt like punching himself again. the last thing Inoo would want to hear was an apology. A useless apology which meant nothing honestly. Yet he didn’t know what else to say. Inoo knew; what else was there to say?
“Why did you do it?”
“I loved him,” Yabu replied honestly and thought that maybe he should have lied when he saw the look of hurt spreading across Inoo’s face and reflecting deep in his eyes. “But I love you more. I really do. It was a mistake and we’re both sorry. I know sorry means nothing to you now but that’s all I can say.”
“Are you going to break up with me?” Inoo asked suddenly, as though Yabu hadn’t said a thing, And though he sounded strong and calm, Yabu could see the hint of tears in his eyes.
“No!”
The look of pure shock on Inoo’s face would have been hilarious had the situation not been so serious.
“Didn’t you hear what I said? I love you more. No wait, I don’t even love Daiki anymore. I broke up with Daiki. Or more like, he broke up with me.”
“You didn’t want to break up with him…?”
“I did,” Yabu rushed to say because Inoo looked like he was about to burst into tears again. “Kei, I love you and what I did was wrong. But I want you to know that I’ll make it up to you.”
Inoo was silent for a few moments. Yabu was panicking and it was all he could do not to keep it inside. He was prepared for Inoo to scold him and to hit him even. Heck he was even prepared for Inoo to break up with him…
“Let’s break up.”
… But that didn’t mean that he was ready to.
Still, it was time to do things right and be the Yabu-kun everyone respected and loved again.
“Okay,” Yabu said calmly even though it hurt him to utter that one word. How much was Inoo hurting then, if he knew all along?
“Just okay?” Inoo asked and he sounded so affronted that Yabu was confused. “I’m hurt, Kota, I’m really hurt. Being betrayed by the two people whom I love the most, aside from my family of course, is the worst thing that I’ve ever experienced and honestly if possible I would never want to, but it’s done now and there’s nothing I can do to undo that fact.”
“I’m really sorry, Kei, really,” Yabu said again, almost desperately this time. there was so much he wanted to convey but he can’t find the right words. All he could say was ‘sorry’ and hope that by some miracle Inoo would actually understand what he was trying to express.
“But the decision you and Daiki made and the fact that you’re being upfront with me shows that you two do love me as much as I love you guys, maybe less but hey I’m not measuring anything,” Inoo replied. Yabu was confused when Inoo then smirked.
“You’re going to have to chase me back, Yabu-kun.”
“Okay,” Yabu replied as a smile found its way onto his lips. “Definitely okay.”
--
Somewhere turned out to be a quaint little café which Hikaru knew that served awesome parfaits.
“This is aweomse,” Daiki gushed with his mouth still full. “Damn I need to order another one!”
“Daichan,” Hikaru said in worry though there was a hint of amusement in his voice. “That’s your fifth. You’re going to grow fat.”
Daiki pouted but that prospect didn’t lessen his want in the slightest bit.
“I want one more and you’re paying! I don’t care,” Daiki said in the end as he scooped the last bit of the parfait and placed it into his mouth, making a face of absolute bliss.
“Fine,” Hikaru said in exasperation and waved the waiter over.
After he had ordered two more parfaits (for in case), he turned back to see Daiki staring at his phone with a look of apprehension on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Hikaru asked immediately in concern. Was it Yabu? Did he want to get back together? Was he that unwilling to let go? And oh gosh, did he realise that he actually loved Daiki more than Inoo? If he did, Hikaru swore that he would definitely beat that guy up, best friend or not.
“Inoochan wants to meet up with me…” Daiki muttered before starting to worry his lower lip.
“What’s wrong with that?” Hikaru asked with a raised eyebrow. The two were best friends and they would meet up every day if possible.
“He knows, Hikaru-kun,” Daiki said before letting out a sigh. “He knows.”
--
Yay I finally updated! /shot This chapter is especially dedicated to alois_trancy for reminding me to update! As you can see this story is coming to an end so I hope you guys will enjoy the rest of it. I promise the next chapter won't take so long! ^^