Once upon a time, there was you and me.
Author: pickles_pick
Chapter: Oneshot, complete.
Genre: Angst
Pairing: Kazuki/Manabu, Kazuki/?, hints of Ni~ya/Sakito, Byo/Rui
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None, just get some tissues if necessary.
Disclaimer: No mine, no mine...
Synopsis: In a relationship where there is "you" and "I", someday even the voice of a beloved one will never reach the ears of the other one.
Written for obscure_jfic's August Prompts, 07. Lost.
He has no idea how long he has been sitting out here.
He is soaked to the bone, but he can hardly feel the chills.
Even the necklace in his hand has gone cold.
And yet he can’t take his eyes off the picture.
Why had he not seen this coming?
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“You’re late, again.” Manabu huffed in annoyance as Kazuki stepped into the house, a sheepish grin on his face. “I should just give your dinner to the neighbour’s dog; at least he’s got warm food to eat instead of reheated food.”
“Oh, come on Bu~” Kazuki whined as he descended upon the younger man who was stomping into the kitchen. “I know you won’t do that to me~”
“I’ve a good mind to.” Manabu grumbled as he peeled off the wrappings around the plates. “We get off work early for the first time in several months and while you are off somewhere after that, I’m stuck at home doing chores. What am I, your maid?”
“No.” Kazuki grinned cheekily as he pecked the other man’s cheek. “You’re my wife.” Grin growing wider as he watched the other man blush fiercely, he whispered softly into Manabu’s ear. “I love you.”
************************
A bitter smile crosses his face.
Love.
Only a lovesick fool like him would believe it.
************************
Manabu frowned as he glanced at the clock. It was already way past the lunch hour, and Kazuki had not come to work yet. As a result, Byo had been made to do Kazuki’s share of duties, and the blonde-haired man already looked like he was going to murder a certain someone when he arrived.
If that someone was ever going to come.
“Bu-chin.” Manabu turned as Rui and Jin walked up to him, worried looks on their faces. “Zuki’s been late for work a lot lately, any idea why?”
Manabu shook his head. “I’ve no idea too; after getting a text from someone last night, he said he would be late and dashed out of the house. He had a pretty worried expression on his face.”
Jin and Rui exchanged unreadable looks. Manabu looked at them, feeling puzzled. “Why, what’s wrong?” The two immediately looked at him. “No, nothing’s wrong!” Rui assured him as he gave Manabu his lunch. “Hurry and head to school, or you’ll be late!”
Shrugging off their abrupt change in attitude, he smiled and nodded. “I’ll see you guys around later!”
“If Zuki isn’t going to clean up his shit, Manabu will get hurt.” Both men turned from where they had watched Manabu run off with a joyful smile on his face, like a small child who had gotten his favourite treat.
“Chawan…” Rui stared at the other man. “But if Kazuki can’t break with him? What’s worse is that Bu doesn’t know what’s going on…he trusts Kazuki completely, it’ll break his heart if he finds out!”
“It’ll be more than a heartbreak I assure you.” Byo turned to walk back into the kitchen as customers started filling into the bakery. “Someone will have to pay the price for it. Sakito doesn’t forgive easily.”
************************
He wonders why he had never questioned his friend’s worried looks, their over-concern for him and Kazuki…he wonders why he never asked.
He looks at the phone in his hands now, busy buzzing non-stop with frantic calls and messages from his friends and his elder-brother figure.
“All of you are liars…every single one of you.”
He lets both the necklace and the phone drop to the ground where the latter stops buzzing anymore.
************************
He wonders why that night his instincts were telling him not to visit Kazuki.
But still, he hasn’t seen Kazuki in over several weeks and he missed his boyfriend.
In their last call which was several hours ago, Kazuki had sounded extremely guilty. “I promise to settle my work as quickly as I can, alright?”
Manabu sighed. “Alright. Take care of yourself though.” He had half a mind to tell Sakito to let him spend more time with Kazuki by giving him less to do. “I miss you.”
There was silence for a while. “Manabu.”
Manabu blinked, perplexed by the sudden seriousness in Kazuki’s tone. “Hm?”
“No matter what happens, I love you, you know that right?”
Manabu rolled his eyes. “Yes, I know, you idiot. Now hurry up and finish your work or Sakito-nii is never going to let you hear the end of it.”
A chuckle. “Your cousin is one scary person. I wonder how Ni~ya san can stay with him for so long.”
“Hey, no badmouthing Saki-nii!”
************************
He had defied his instincts, and gone anyway.
Only to see the man who had said ‘I love you’ just less than several hours ago was lip-locking with another man who looked vaguely familiar, but Manabu’s mind had gone blank.
The two had only broken apart forcefully after the sound of Styrofoam cups, once filled with hot, steaming coffee that was now spread out across the greyish tiles had drawn their attention.
“Manabu…” Kazuki sounded horrified. “It’s not what you think!”
The raven haired man stumbled slowly backwards. “Wait, Bu, let me explain…he’s my former ex, he had some problems and he’s drunk and all…”
“You said you loved me.” A voice foreign to his ears reaches his ears. He barely registers that his voice had cracked. “I do, I really love you, Bu-” Kazuki reaches out for him.
“Liar.” He whispers, and Kazuki freezes.
Body on autopilot, Manabu turns and runs off as tiny droplets of rain start falling.
“Manabu!”
************************
All of them knew.
Only he hadn’t.
He looks up, and realizes that his surroundings are different. After leaving his phone behind, it seemed that he had walked off, and now at some park, aimlessly swinging back and forth on a swing.
But he wonders if he’s still alive at all, because he can’t feel his heartbeat anymore.
He looks up into the dark, dark sky…
And amidst all the water droplets sliding down his face, he can’t tell which are his tears anymore.
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A/N: Two fics in a week…but unfortunately my muses work best when I’m under a lot of stress, and before I resort to crying it out I try to turn to writing first. Unfortunately, since none of my anime muses seem to be working as a result of too many stories that I’m re-writing, so here you have this fic.
Just a quick sum-up, this was actually part of a story that I wrote and dropped halfway through because there were too much inflow of ideas and I got messed up. But since this was one of the chapters anyway I thought I might as well use this fic to ‘cry’ it out instead.
That said…I shall go back to sobbing at my Nutrition exam tomorrow and the pile of work awaiting me. I have a love/hate relationship with my work and life now...too many unsettled issues as well.
Hoped you enjoy reading~