[ViewFinder Fiction: AxT] Taking Care of You: 02-An Emotional Mess
Title: Taking care of you.
Chapter: #02-An Emotional Mess
Anime/ Manga Kingdom: You're my Love prize in Viewfinder
Characters: Asami x Takaba
Timeframe: Post Naked Truth
A/N: I decided to continue the story since some of you asked for it. Hopefully, you guys liked this chapter too. Not much is going on yet and I am midway through chapter 3 now. So leave me a review if you like it or don’t like it (which part?) anyway! By the way, I appreciate all comments:)
He nearly threw the knife down into the basin when he cut his pinkie. Turning on the tap, he ran his bleeding finger under the water as he frowned at the vegetable on the chopping board. Shaking his head, he off the tap and got back to his initial task - to prepare a meal for Takaba Akihito before the man woke up alone in their room. He grabbed a handful of chopped vegetable and added them to the silver pot containing udon noodles. Stirring the pot of ingredients with his left hand, he cracked an egg against the edge of the table and let the contents flowed out into the metal pot.
His eyes darted momentarily to the watch on his wrist and then to the door which led to their bedroom. Letting out a breath that he was not aware that he had been holding on to, a tiny smirk graced his lips. The things he does for the younger man are probably the last thing he ever thought he would ever do in his whole life, he thought. He flicked the knob to off the flame with his thumb after a good five minutes. After he poured the noodles out into a black bowl, he placed it together with a warm glass of coffee on the dinner table.
The door creaked as he pushed it open slowly. Poking his head into the room, he moved slowly towards the sleepy figure and sat down on the edge of the bed. He brushed the stray hair away from Takaba’s face with his index finger then let his fingers traced down the hair to his pink lips. He did not really understand the reason why his heart ached at the sight of the younger man lying on his bed. Takaba was thinner than he should be and it had seemed that the liveliness was taken out from him. Shaking his head, he gently shook the boy awake.
“Akihito, it’s time for breakfast.”
Takaba opened his eyes slowly and glanced upwards straight into Asami’s smothering eyes. For just a moment, he held the older man’s stare without moving. He only blinked his eyes in surprise when Asami placed a light kiss on his forehead.
“Time to wake up, sleeping beauty.” A playful smile played on his lips as he moved the blanket out of their way and pulled the younger man up when Takaba nodded.
He laced his fingers through Takaba’s and led them both out of the room, towards the dining table. Pulling a chair out, he made the younger boy settled down in front of the bowl of noodles he prepared for him. “Eat them all, Akihito. No excuses this time,” he ordered firmly and pressed the pair of chopsticks into his clenched fists.
Eyeing the frown on Takaba’s face, he really hoped that he would finish the noodle this time round and not take a bite or two before running to the washroom to vomit them back out. His eyes trailed Takaba tightly as he dipped the ends of the chopsticks into the bowl and picked up two strands of noodles. However, his phone chose that time to interrupt the silent moment. He felt Takaba’s stare at the object in his hand as he turned away from him and moved towards the window to answer the call.
“Asami,” he greeted coolly into the phone.
“You need to attend to the meeting this afternoon by yourself,” Kirishima told him in a firm tone.
Before the bodyguard could finish what he want to say, Asami cut him short. “Didn’t I order you to attend on my behalf? I expect you to do the same this time round. No exceptions are to be made, are we clear on that?”
“Asami sama, Mr Henderson made it clear that he wanted to meet only you but not me. If not the deal would definitely fall through,” He explained, trying to make Asami see reason.
“Look-” Before he could finish his sentence, he heard an annoying screechy noise from the dining area. His thumb darted to the red button and he ended the call as he turned around to find Takaba running towards the washroom.
He followed closely behind the man and watched in agony as Takaba puked his guts out. Laying one of his palms on Takaba’s back, he moved his hand slowly in a circular motion. His other hand went to Takaba’s face to move away the strands of hair as the younger man pressed his forehead against the cool hand. Both of them stayed still and silent for a few moments as Takaba tried to gain back his composure.
“Feeling better?” Asami asked calmly, wrapping his arms around Takaba’s waist to prevent him from slipping to the floor.
The younger man nodded and pried himself off Asami. He turned around and reached for the phone in Asami’s pocket. Pushing the phone into Asami’s hands, he attempted to tell him to return Kirishima’s call. After all, he did not want to be the reason to disrupt Asami’s work and get him into trouble or make losses. Asami glanced at the phone in his hand and then back at Takaba. Placing the phone back into his pocket, he led the younger man out of the washroom and back to the dining area.
“I’ll return to my work if you could finish your breakfast,” Asami told him sternly.
Takaba stared at the older man. Sometimes some things just never changed. Even if Asami was more careful with him now, the man was still as stubborn as ever. He would do anything to get the younger man to do what he wanted. But he was using his job just to make him finish a bowl of noodles? That was ridiculous, Takaba thought. He glanced at the bowl of food with disgust. He did not feel like eating something that he had just puked out. Pushing the bowl away from him, he darted out of his chair and moved towards the fridge with Asami’s eyes trailing after his every single movement. He pulled the door open and reached for the carton of milk.
However, the door was slammed closed before he could get the milk out of the fridge. With his back to the fridge, he noticed a frown on Asami’s perfect face. What the hell was wrong with drinking milk? He wanted to shout at the older man, but of course he could not. His attempt to open the fridge door again was tarnished by the older man when he was forced to return to the bedroom again. Confused, he sat quietly on the bed as Asami left the bedroom.
After a good thirty minutes later, he was shaken awake to a bowl of porridge sitting in front of him. He turned his attention to Asami, as if questioning if this was prepared by him. The man gave a curt nod and sat down on the edge of the bed. Scooping a spoonful of porridge, Asami brought the spoon to his mouth and blew at it gently. Takaba merely stared at him, slightly awed at what the man was doing. Was this really the Asami he knew? He was shaken out of his thoughts when he felt the spoon against his lips. Opening his mouth, he slurped the porridge and swallowed it down his throat slowly. When he did not feel the familiar urge to vomit, he continued with the second spoonful of porridge and so on till the last spoonful.
Asami simply smirked and ruffled his hair before standing up with the empty bowl, “You should rest now.”
Shaking his head, he pulled the hand on his hair away. He was not a kid. And he so did not need someone to babysit him twenty four hours a day. Moreover, he had more than a fair share of sleep. He did not feel like going back to sleep again. He wanted to go out. Take a breather or something. Anything would be better than staying cope up in an apartment, no, a room like that. He tried to stand up only to be pushed back into the bed.
“Akihito, don’t you want me to finish my work?” Asami muttered, arching his eyebrows at the younger man. “I need you to stay here and rest so I can deal with my work without having to be interrupted because you got into trouble.”
Sighing, Takaba nodded. Usually, he would not have given in that easily but he was really guilty about making Asami missed out on quite a bit of work as he had taken care of him for a while now.
He rolled around in the bed for another hour or so before he sat up with a frown. Even though he had wanted to behave for perhaps just a day, he could not really fight the urge to get out of the bed and maybe see some light or people other than Asami. His eyes searched for the clock on the bedside table. Smiling, he thought about how he could sneak out for an hour or so and then get back here without having Asami noticed at all. Slipping off the bed, he tucked a long sleeved shirt over his head. He opened the bedroom window and jumped off the window like a monkey. Slowly, he inched downwards to the first level without catching any attention from anyone since it is the afternoon and most people are out at work.
His head bobbed from side to side as he tried to avoid any of Asami’s bodyguards. When he was certain that the coast was clear, he made a quick run out of the building area. He did not have his phone or wallet with him since all his personal belongings have not been replaced after they were lost in Hong Kong. Even if they were replaced, Asami would not have given them to him. The older man probably knew that he would try to run away if he had access to some money. But he was outside now, wasn’t he?
Picking his way around the neighbourhood, he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked slowly. His eyes took in the sight of the leafless trees and the thick pile of snow lying idly on the branches of the tree. If only he had his camera with him, he would capture this beautiful moment of the winter season. Speaking of his job, he glanced down wryly at his hands. Has the company fired him for being missing for a while now? Then again, even if he had a job now, would he be able to pick up the camera and look through the viewfinder again? Deep in thoughts, his hands shook unconsciously with a fear building within him. He sank to the ground, with both of his bare hands covered in the pile of thick snow. If this could numb the fear and the pain he felt, he would gladly do it.
“Takaba!” A voice shouted at him from afar.
His head snapped up and glanced behind at the source of the shout. His eyes widened when he spotted Suoh running towards him. Exhausted from running away, he stayed where he was and waited for the man to catch up to where he was. He had the urge to laugh when he realised that he was not running away from the man. What happened to him? Didn’t he love the adrenaline that he always gets from such chase?
“Takaba, are you all right?” Suoh asked as he bent down to help the younger boy up.
Takaba merely stared at him without any response. He watched as Suoh shook his head in exasperation, probably slightly irritated by his escape. With his hands still embedded under the layer of think snow, he turned his attention back to the snow covered floor. However, the bodyguard was impatient with him and began pulling his bare hands out of the snow. When the snow would not barged, he thought he heard a soft groan from Suoh. He glanced at the bodyguard blankly, all of a sudden, all he wanted to do was to lie down and sleep.
“Don’t touch me,” he whispered as his head spin at the skin contact. His gaze fell as he closed his eyes to the world, sleep claiming him.
When Suoh finally released the boy’s hands from the snow, he turned his attention back to Takaba, “Let’s return now. Asami is waiting for-”
He stopped in his sentence when Takaba’s head fell against his shoulder. Glancing down at the boy, nervousness caught up to him. If anything was to happen to the boy, he was so dead. He shook the boy with his hands which are wrapped up in gloves. With his eyebrows furrowed, he squatted down and adjusted Takaba such that most of his weight was lying on his back. Straightening up, he pulled both of Takaba’s hands to the front and then began moving quickly back to the apartment.
When he had reached the apartment with the boy half-hanging off his body, he looked up to see Asami holding the door open. Worried for himself, he tried to apologised for his mistake, “Asami sama, I’m-”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses, Suoh.” Asami cut him off coldly as his arms reached for Takaba before he lifted the boy into his arms and closed the door behind him.
Leaning back against the door for a moment, he frowned down at the unconscious boy. He was so much lighter than the last time he had lifted him off the floor for sex. Stalled at that thought, he realised that he was worried for Takaba. Asami Ryuchi was actually concerned about someone else. Shelving away the thought for now, he moved quickly to the bedroom and placed Takaba down on the bed. His hand reached for hands that were dangling off the bed, but froze immediately upon contact. Takaba’s hands were freezing. Without any other thoughts, he marched into the washroom and got some warm water and a cloth.
“Akihito, sit up.” He murmured as he placed a few pillows against the bedframe and helped the younger man to a sitting position, “Akihito?”
Takaba frowned. He was annoyed. Someone was interrupting his sleep. His eyes flickered as he tried to concentrate on the person sitting in front of him. Feeling a warm sensation against his skin, he tried to move away only to be held in place by a hand. All of a sudden, he was alert. No. No. Don’t touch me. His hands began thrashing around as he attempted to move away from the contact. He gave out a loud cry when he realised that he could not get free. Let go of me! Let go! He wanted to shout. His heart pounded hard and quick against his chest as he tried to breathe. He needed space and he needed air. His hazy vision was not helping either; he could not make out where he was or who was restraining him. With a kick, he kicked the bowl of warm water off the bed and spilled the contents onto the floor with a loud thud and a splash.
“Akihito!” Asami shouted when the boy screamed in agony, his hands pushing him away. “Akihito! Stop and look at me!”
A sharp pain shot through his heart, seeing the boy thrash around in his arms wildly. “Akihito! Stop. I’m not hurting you. I’m Asami. It’s okay.”
He pulled the boy against his chest and wrapped his arms around his tiny frame. Despite the shouts and the protests, he hugged Takaba tightly to him with soft pleas to stop. “Akihito, it’s me, Asami. Nothing’s wrong. It’s okay. It’s okay, Akihito. No one’s hurting you.”
After a good ten minutes, the screaming subsided and Takaba leaned into Asami’s embrace as he took in deep breath of Asami. His fingers grabbed tightly onto Asami’s white dress shirt, his knuckles turning white from the pressure he was exerting. He tried to calm down as his vision became clearer. He was safe. Asami was holding him, not someone else. He was alright.
“Akihito,” Asami whispered soothingly as his fingers brushed down the hazelnut hair with his fingers.