[fic] Ueda's Diary: Chapter 10
Swimming while it rained never was as enjoyable as swimming during a sunny day.
Koki had been floating on his back for the past couple of moments, staring at the drops of water falling onto the glass dome that covered half of the room. His eyes would focus on one droplet, watch it slide down the glass, and then travel back up to the top to follow another one.
It was still as gloomy and dark outside as it had been the day before, and Koki swore to himself that if it didn’t stop by tomorrow he would rain dance until the sun came out.
Ears under the water, he could heard the muffled sounds of Maru and those two girls laughing again. That’s all they had been doing ever since Maru had introduced himself to them. Whatever Maru was telling them couldn’t possibly be that funny, Koki had thought.
Koki was still surprised that he had lost the swimming race. He had barely made it two-thirds of the way across the pool when Maru had reached the end and shouted in triumph. Out of all the years he had known Maru, he never had a chance to see him swim, and if he knew Maru could swim that fast, he never would’ve taken up his bet in the first place, even if it meant shamefully turning him down.
And now here he was, floating across the pool by himself, watching raindrops fall down the glass dome, and listening to fits of giggles coming from what he considered to be two very hot girls. Koki tried to look on the bright side, like always. At least he had the nice, big pool all to himself. No annoying little kids splashing water all over the place. No having to worry about bumping into anybody. He could swim as much as he wanted, any way he wanted, in any direction, and nobody would complain. Yup, everything was fine the way it was, or at least he tried to convince himself it was.
Koki pushed himself back into a treading position and swam to the side of the pool, resting his arms on its edge. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Maru and those two girls at the other end of the pool. Maru was streched out across one of the long beach chairs, with his fingers interlaced behind his head, and looked as if he was having the time of his life. The other two girls were seated very closely on either side of him, leaning in towards him and giggling at almost everything he said.
Koki pouted.
Those two girls had arrived almost an hour ago, about half an hour after his and Maru’s race, and almost immediatley after Maru had spotted them, he went up to them and “claimed” them for himself, abandoning Koki. Koki had hoped that Maru had been joking about the bet and let him join. Maru would never deprive him of fun like this, but now, an hour later, it seemed like Maru wasn’t kidding about the it. Out of all the times that Maru had to be serious, why did it have to be now?
Koki’s head suddenly shot up.
Did one of them just mention his name?
He saw one of the girls looking in his direction, and when their eyes met, Koki found himself dumbly smiling back. To his surprise, the girl had gotten up and began walking over towards him.
Am I allowed to talk to her? What about the bet? Koki immediately looked over a Maru, who grinned and gave him a nod that said, “Go ahead.”
---
Ueda had been sitting by himself in a small empty table at the back of the arcade for the past couple of hours. In the surrounding tables sat a couple of middle-aged women, who he had assumed to be mothers waiting while their children were off playing in the arcade. One of them was cradling a baby that had been wailing for the past couple of minutes. Despite the numerous apologetic looks she had given to Ueda and to the other women, Ueda wanted nothing more than to do take a piece of duct tape and slap it over that baby’s mouth. He was irritated and losing his patience. He was tired of sitting around and doing nothing, and the beeping, dinging, exploding, and all the other annoying noises coming from the video games were driving Ueda crazy, but whenever Junno came back to him, which had been about every half hour, with a big smile on his face to cheerfully announce that he had beat the high score on one of the fighting games, Ueda would convince himself to bear the boredom and all those irritating sounds just a little bit longer.
Ueda had attempted to play a couple of those video games when they had first arrived at the arcade, but within the first 30 seconds of trying one out, he had immediately discovered that he was terrible at it, so to avoid embarrassing himself any further in front of Junno, he had chosen to just watch him play instead.
It turned out that watching Junno had terrified him. Seeing him with a wild, maniac look on his face and a look in his eyes that would raise the hair on the back of anybody’s neck as he rapidly pushed the different colored buttons and moved the joystick with such force that Ueda thought it would break had made him wonder if the guy he was looking at was really Junno, for this Junno was the complete opposite of the Junno who had happily led him to the arcade while holding his hand. Ueda was even more befuddled (and freaked out) when Junno had turned around to face him, grinning from ear to ear, after the game had announced Junno as the top scorer. It was as if Junno had another personality that only came out while he was playing video games.
Ueda sighed in relief as the baby finally stopped crying. “It’s about time that thing shut up,” he muttered.
“Tat-chaan~!”
Ueda whipped his head around and saw Junno standing a couple feet behind him.
Junno’s eyes disappeared as he smiled sheepishly at him. “Sorry for making you wait all this time,” he said, embarrassed, scratching the back of his head. “I guess I got a little too caught up in the video games.”
“It’s okay. You can keep playing if you want. I don’t mind waiting,” Ueda said without thinking.
“Nah. I ran out of money,” Junno said laughing. “Oh, yeah!” He pulled out his hand from behind his back and held up a stuffed dragon plushie, pointing at it with the other. “Isn’t it cute? I won it from that claw machine a couple of minutes ago. It took me forever to get it since it was in this really weird position between the stuffed turtle and the butterfly.” He placed in Ueda’s hand, smiling.
“F-for me?” Ueda said, trying to surpress the upcoming blush. Had Junno really won it for him? He gently squeezed in his hands as he stared at its shiny dragon wings, knowing that it would definitnely be something that he would treasure for a long time.
“Ahhh,” Junno groaned, rubbing his stomach, “I’m hungry. Let’s go get lunch. My treat!”
“Wait, I thought you said you spent all your money.”
“Don’t worry. I made sure to save enough for lunch. Now, c’mon,” Junno said, pulling Ueda up from his seat. “I saw this really good place on our way to the arcade.”
---
Jin and Kame were sitting in one of the hotels many restaurants, ordering lunch. The one they were at was a beautiful Italian restaurant with soothing string music playing in the background and classic Italian paintings throughout its walls. Dimmed antique brass chadeliers hung from the ceiling. During this time of day, the white cloth covered tables would be filled families or couples on vacation, and the waitresses and waiters would be rushing around the restaurant taking orders or carrying large trays filled with plates of Italian food.
Today was different.
After Jin and Kame had been ushered into the dining area by a very formally dressed waiter, they had been surprised to see that all the tables had been empty. They were the only customers there. Maybe the rain had driven away everybody else?
Jin decided to sit the two of them at table situated under a large painting of two beautiful maidens in spring dresses dancing in a field of flowers. They sat on opposite sides the table. The waiter brought the two of them menus, and shortly afterwards, a waitress came by and placed a small basket of fresh bread rolls in the center of the table.
Jin saw that Kame was having trouble choosing which dish to order, and, claiming that he was an expert when it came to Italian cuisine, ordered the same dish for both them: Spaghetti and Meetballs with Garlic Breadsticks on the side.
The waiter informed them that their order would be ready in 20 minutes and left the two of them by themselves.
Kame looked out through the window right next to their table and frowned. “It’s still raining.”
“Don’t worry. I heard it’s going to stop tonight.”
“Really?”
Jin nodded and picked up a roll from the basket, examining it as if he was expecting to find a dark spot of mold. He took a bite from it and made a face that said that the roll was delicious. “These are really good! Here, try it.” He thrusted the roll he had just eaten right in front of Kame’s mouth, wanting him to take a bite.
Kame drew his head back. “It’s okay. I’ll get my own,” he said, picking up one from the basket.
Jin pouted. “Oh, okay….”
They sat in silence for a couple of moments. The Italian music continued to play softly in the background.
After Kame finished his roll, he spoke. “Jin… about Ueda and Junno… do you think it’s a good idea to keep pushing them together? I mean, I know Ueda’s been in love with him for God knows how long, but Junno… Honestly, I don’t think he’ll ever even consider thinking about Ueda in that way…”
“What makes you say that?” Jin was surprised that Kame had brought up that subject.
“It’s just that… I don’t know. I just can’t picture Junno falling in love with Ueda.”
“Well,” Jin began, helping himself to another roll, “you know, after talking to Junno yesterday at the beach and today at breakfast… I think there might be a chance.”
Kame stared at the basket of bread for a moment, thinking about something, and then looked up a Jin. “What exactly did you two talk about?”
“Well, this morning… It’s sort of funny… in a way. Junno told me that Ueda thought me and Junno were a couple…” Jin said slowly. “Apparently, he saw the two of us talking at the beach yesterday. I guess he came to that conclusion when he saw me putting an arm around Junno’s waist… Can’t really blame him though. We really did look like a couple.” He was half-expecting some hint of jealousy form on Kame’s face. For a couple of seconds, Jin thought he saw a little bit of hurt in his eyes, but shook it off as wishful seeing, for he knew that Kame failed at trying to hide his emotions and that it would’ve been more obvioius if he had felt anything towards what he had just said.
A moment passed before Kame spoke.
He stared past Jin’s head at the window behind him, where the rain suddenly began to fall heavily. “If that happened, do you think it was a good idea leaving the two of them alone for the whole day? I mean…” Kame paused before continuing. “If Ueda thinks that you and Junno are together, then wouldn’t it be hard for him to be around Junno?”
“Don’t worry. Junno said he cleared that all up.”
Kame nodded, not having anything else to say.
“I wonder what those two are up to…” Jin laughed. “I bet Junno dragged him to the arcade-”
“I still don’t think pushing those two together is a good idea,” Kame interjected, crossing his arms and staring Jin in the eye this time. “It’s just going to end up hurting Ueda even more when he finds out that Junno’s not going to be able to return his feelings.”
“Junno falling in love with Ueda- it’s not impossible. There’s always the chance-”
“Look, Jin, I know Junno. And I know Ueda, more than you do. And I know that Junno’s not going to fall for somebody like Ueda. Do you know why? Because Junno needs somebody-”
“Somebody who’s what? As hyper and happy as he is? Okay, I admit that Ueda isn’t exactly like that… They’re almost opposites, actually. But that’s what makes them a good match! Haven’t you ever heard that opposite attracts?” Jin stared across the table at Kame’s unsatisfied face. “So stop saying they’ll never happen, okay?”
Kame was silent for a moment. He stared down at his lap, and in a strained voice, said, “I… I just don’t want to see Ueda get hurt. He’s not the type to easily get over rejection, and it’s going to be torture for him if Junno doesn’t accept his feelings. I just… don’t want to see him like that.”
Jin felt something stir within him when heard that. Whatever it was, it caused rage to quickly shoot through him and his voice to grow angry. “Since when do you care so much about Ueda?” he suddenly spat, surprising Kame with his bitter tone.
Kame was taken aback for a moment. Why’s he getting mad all of the sudden? Are we seriously going to fight over this?
“I’ve always cared about him. Don’t you? Oh wait, no you don’t,” he retorted. “All you want to see is him and Junno together! You don’t really care if things work out between them! All you want is some romantic drama in your boring life.” He laughed hollowly. “I guess all those romance novels you’re always reading just aren’t enough for you, are they?”
Jin couldn’t believe what he was hearing. That wasn’t his reason for pushing Junno and Ueda together at all! Okay… maybe he did enjoy playing matchmaker and maybe did think it’d be exciting to have a relationship going on within KAT-TUN, but… Kame had hit him spot on. Suddenly realizing this had only made Jin more infuriated. “Well, I… That’s…” He couldn’t think of a good comeback, so he settled for saying, “I just want to see the two of them happy, together.”
“They’re already happy the way they are, you idiot,” Kame bit back, “if you keep doing that, forcing them to spend time with each other as much as possible-”
Jin began to laugh coldly, silencing Kame, and leaned forward. “I know why you don’t want those two together! You’re in love with one of them!” A sharp pain in tore into him as he said that, but his rising anger kept him going. “I should’ve known it… I bet it’s Ueda. So quiet and pretty’s your type, eh?”
Kame felt himself reach his peak when he heard Jin accuse him of liking Ueda and was suddenly filled with the desire to reach across the table and throw a punch at Jin’s lovely face, but the fact that they were currently sitting in an Italian restaurant forced him to hold himself back. “Look-”
“Ahem.”
Kame turned around and saw the waiter standing right behind him.
The waiter was balancing a tray holding their lunch on one hand and had a stern look on his face. “Lunch is served.” He gracefully placed the two plates of spaghetti on the table before peering down at them. “I know we don’t have any other customers at the moment, but I would appreciate it if you two would refrain from fighting because it’s destroying the warm and inviting atmosphere of our restaurant, but if you feel that you cannot contain yourselves, please feel more than free to step outside and continue your argument there,” he finished with a strained smile before walking away, muttering “Idols…” under his breath.
The two of them sat in silence after the waiter left.
Jin shot a glare at Kame before he jammed his fork irately into his plate of spaghetti, twilring the noodles around his fork and shoving it into his mouth. As their silent meal continued, as he began to calm down, Jin finally unglued his eyes from his plate of spaghetti and glanced across the table at Kame, willing to mutter an apology for suddenly snapping at him, but when he saw Kame’s hurt and angered face, a face that he had never been directed at him before, he felt his blood turn cold as he realized with dread that not only had their day that he had spent all the night before planning been ruined, but also any chances of Kame ever returning his feelings.
---
“Junno, thanks for lunch,” Ueda said, as he and Junno walked out of the small restaurant.
“Don’t mention it. But I can’t believe you only ordered a salad,” he said, laughing. “You so should’ve gotten the triple cheese burger! It was sooo good!”
“It’s okay. I just didn’t want you to spend too much money on lunch.”
Junno suddenly stopped walking. “Was that why?” He grabbed Ueda’s arm and began pulling him back towards the restuarant. “Then let’s go back and order you a real lunch.”
“Junno, it’s fine. I wasn’t that hungry, anyway.”
The two of them continued walking around the ground floor of the hotel, not really having any idea where they were going to go next. There wasn’t much to do since most of the stores on the ground floor were restaurants.
“You know, when people treat you to lunch or dinner, you’re supposed to order as much food as you can,” Junno said matter-of-factly.
Ueda couldn’t help but to snort. “But isn’t that taking advantage of them?”
Junno was silent for a moment and, staring off into space, seemed to be reconsidering what he had just said, as if what they were discussing was a very important matter. “I guess so… but since they’re offering you free food, you should take as much as you possibly can... Or at least that’s what I do.”
“If that’s the case, then I’m never gonna treat you to dinner,” Ueda said, laughing.
Junno, all of a sudden, clung onto Ueda, hugging him tightly from the side. “Awww~! Tat-chan, why do you have to be so mean?” he said in a cute, high pitched voice, attempting to sound offended.
Ueda stiffened at the sudden hug. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he said in a strained voice.
Junno let him go and looked him in the eye, grinning. “So that means you’ll treat me to dinner once?”
“I guess…” Ueda said. He paused for a moment and realized what had just happened. Were they just planning a date? He felt like a large weight had just been lifted off of his heart, allowing it to soar freely and do summersaults in excitement. Did they just agree to dinner? An explosion of happiness went off within him, like a rush of bliss was surging through his body at a hundred miles per hour, causing a large grin when it had reached his face. Ueda suddenly wanted to go outside and run around in the rain even though it was pouring cold, jump up and down and scream at the top of his lungs in joy, sing a song to the gods to thank them for allowing him to be alive, and pull every person that passed by them into the biggest hug he could muster.
“When?” Junno asked, bringing Ueda back from his world of happiness.
“Someday…” Ueda said, smiling, “after I have enough money saved up to take you out. You did say that you take advantage of whoever’s treating you, after all.” He continued to tease Junno. “Hmmm… it might take a while, but if I start now, I think I might be able to have enough in a couple of months.”
“Tat-chaan~!” Junno whined.
“Or if I go without food for the next couple of weeks, then I think I might able to treat you to dinner by the end of the month. Hmm… I’m not sure which one’s worse: living on a tight budget for two or three months or going a couple weeks without any food?”
Junno paused for a moment. He smiled and chuckled.
“What is it?” Ueda asked, suddenly uneasy.
“Now this is the Ueda I know.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just now, you were smiling, laughing, and joking around, like you usually do… okay, you don’t usually joke around that much, but it’s the first time we’ve, you know, laughed together or teased each other in a long time. Especially these past few days… it just seems like you’ve been a little…”
Ueda immediately understood what Junno had meant and felt embarrassed that he had noticed.
“I just mean-”
“Hey! Ueda! Junno!”
Junno and Ueda turned around and saw Maru walking towards them and Koki running at full speed. They both grunted when Koki suddenly pulled them into a big hug.
“Ueda! Junno! My bandmates, my brothers! Oh, I love you two so much!” Koki exclaimed as if he had just just lost both of them in a car accident but suddenly found out that they had survived.
Junno and Ueda exchanged confused looks.
“Umm… Koki, are you okay?” Junno asked, a little worried.
Maru caught up to them. “Don’t worry about him. He’s been like this ever since he met her.”
“Met her?” Ueda said as he tried to pry Koki’s arm off of him.
“He-”
“I fell in love…” Koki said dreamily, interrupting Maru. His grip on Junno and Ueda suddenly loosened up as he stared off into space with a delightful smile. “…with an angel. She was so-”
“Koki, I think it’ll be better if you don’t go into your whole ‘She was so beautiful’ speech again,” Maru said.
“The ‘She was so beautiful’ speech?” Junno asked.
Maru nodded. “While we were eating lunch, he went on a 45 minute ramble on how perfect and beautiful the girl was, and then he started planning out their future.”
“Their future? You mean like kids and stuff?” Junno bursted out laughing, not believing a word Maru had said but, at the same time, knew it was something very Koki-like.
Koki, in the meantime, was off daydreamingand didn’t seem to be catching a word they were saying, his arm still slung lazily around Junno’s shoulder.
“Yeah. Their names, where they were gonna go to school… Just be glad you weren’t there. I’ve never seen him act that… creepy before.”
“Wow, he sure did fall badly for her,” Ueda said.
Koki finally came back into his senses and immediately held up a small piece of paper, showing it triumphantly to Ueda and Junno. “Can you believe it? She gave me her room number! The two of us are going to the beach tomorrow.” He suddenly threw his arms in the air and began skipping towards the end of the hotel, screaming “You guys should be jealousssssss!” at the top of his lungs.
The three of them laughed as they watch Koki run around and scream with joy like he had just won the lottery.
Ueda felt happier than he had been in days. The part of his brain that would’ve made him dreadfully realize that that the potential date that he had just planned with Junno had no romantic implications whatsoever seemed to be missing at the moment. He suddenly wanted to join Koki in running around and acting like a hyper, insane person, not caring if he would be making a fool out of himself.
THE END
...
of this chapter XD
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! ^^ And hooray for a happy Ueda and a happy Koki! But now Kame's angry and Jin's sad D: and now I'm sad because al;kjfl;asjdfl;sajfl;ksja;fl school starts in five days T_T
Koki had been floating on his back for the past couple of moments, staring at the drops of water falling onto the glass dome that covered half of the room. His eyes would focus on one droplet, watch it slide down the glass, and then travel back up to the top to follow another one.
It was still as gloomy and dark outside as it had been the day before, and Koki swore to himself that if it didn’t stop by tomorrow he would rain dance until the sun came out.
Ears under the water, he could heard the muffled sounds of Maru and those two girls laughing again. That’s all they had been doing ever since Maru had introduced himself to them. Whatever Maru was telling them couldn’t possibly be that funny, Koki had thought.
Koki was still surprised that he had lost the swimming race. He had barely made it two-thirds of the way across the pool when Maru had reached the end and shouted in triumph. Out of all the years he had known Maru, he never had a chance to see him swim, and if he knew Maru could swim that fast, he never would’ve taken up his bet in the first place, even if it meant shamefully turning him down.
And now here he was, floating across the pool by himself, watching raindrops fall down the glass dome, and listening to fits of giggles coming from what he considered to be two very hot girls. Koki tried to look on the bright side, like always. At least he had the nice, big pool all to himself. No annoying little kids splashing water all over the place. No having to worry about bumping into anybody. He could swim as much as he wanted, any way he wanted, in any direction, and nobody would complain. Yup, everything was fine the way it was, or at least he tried to convince himself it was.
Koki pushed himself back into a treading position and swam to the side of the pool, resting his arms on its edge. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Maru and those two girls at the other end of the pool. Maru was streched out across one of the long beach chairs, with his fingers interlaced behind his head, and looked as if he was having the time of his life. The other two girls were seated very closely on either side of him, leaning in towards him and giggling at almost everything he said.
Koki pouted.
Those two girls had arrived almost an hour ago, about half an hour after his and Maru’s race, and almost immediatley after Maru had spotted them, he went up to them and “claimed” them for himself, abandoning Koki. Koki had hoped that Maru had been joking about the bet and let him join. Maru would never deprive him of fun like this, but now, an hour later, it seemed like Maru wasn’t kidding about the it. Out of all the times that Maru had to be serious, why did it have to be now?
Koki’s head suddenly shot up.
Did one of them just mention his name?
He saw one of the girls looking in his direction, and when their eyes met, Koki found himself dumbly smiling back. To his surprise, the girl had gotten up and began walking over towards him.
Am I allowed to talk to her? What about the bet? Koki immediately looked over a Maru, who grinned and gave him a nod that said, “Go ahead.”
---
Ueda had been sitting by himself in a small empty table at the back of the arcade for the past couple of hours. In the surrounding tables sat a couple of middle-aged women, who he had assumed to be mothers waiting while their children were off playing in the arcade. One of them was cradling a baby that had been wailing for the past couple of minutes. Despite the numerous apologetic looks she had given to Ueda and to the other women, Ueda wanted nothing more than to do take a piece of duct tape and slap it over that baby’s mouth. He was irritated and losing his patience. He was tired of sitting around and doing nothing, and the beeping, dinging, exploding, and all the other annoying noises coming from the video games were driving Ueda crazy, but whenever Junno came back to him, which had been about every half hour, with a big smile on his face to cheerfully announce that he had beat the high score on one of the fighting games, Ueda would convince himself to bear the boredom and all those irritating sounds just a little bit longer.
Ueda had attempted to play a couple of those video games when they had first arrived at the arcade, but within the first 30 seconds of trying one out, he had immediately discovered that he was terrible at it, so to avoid embarrassing himself any further in front of Junno, he had chosen to just watch him play instead.
It turned out that watching Junno had terrified him. Seeing him with a wild, maniac look on his face and a look in his eyes that would raise the hair on the back of anybody’s neck as he rapidly pushed the different colored buttons and moved the joystick with such force that Ueda thought it would break had made him wonder if the guy he was looking at was really Junno, for this Junno was the complete opposite of the Junno who had happily led him to the arcade while holding his hand. Ueda was even more befuddled (and freaked out) when Junno had turned around to face him, grinning from ear to ear, after the game had announced Junno as the top scorer. It was as if Junno had another personality that only came out while he was playing video games.
Ueda sighed in relief as the baby finally stopped crying. “It’s about time that thing shut up,” he muttered.
“Tat-chaan~!”
Ueda whipped his head around and saw Junno standing a couple feet behind him.
Junno’s eyes disappeared as he smiled sheepishly at him. “Sorry for making you wait all this time,” he said, embarrassed, scratching the back of his head. “I guess I got a little too caught up in the video games.”
“It’s okay. You can keep playing if you want. I don’t mind waiting,” Ueda said without thinking.
“Nah. I ran out of money,” Junno said laughing. “Oh, yeah!” He pulled out his hand from behind his back and held up a stuffed dragon plushie, pointing at it with the other. “Isn’t it cute? I won it from that claw machine a couple of minutes ago. It took me forever to get it since it was in this really weird position between the stuffed turtle and the butterfly.” He placed in Ueda’s hand, smiling.
“F-for me?” Ueda said, trying to surpress the upcoming blush. Had Junno really won it for him? He gently squeezed in his hands as he stared at its shiny dragon wings, knowing that it would definitnely be something that he would treasure for a long time.
“Ahhh,” Junno groaned, rubbing his stomach, “I’m hungry. Let’s go get lunch. My treat!”
“Wait, I thought you said you spent all your money.”
“Don’t worry. I made sure to save enough for lunch. Now, c’mon,” Junno said, pulling Ueda up from his seat. “I saw this really good place on our way to the arcade.”
---
Jin and Kame were sitting in one of the hotels many restaurants, ordering lunch. The one they were at was a beautiful Italian restaurant with soothing string music playing in the background and classic Italian paintings throughout its walls. Dimmed antique brass chadeliers hung from the ceiling. During this time of day, the white cloth covered tables would be filled families or couples on vacation, and the waitresses and waiters would be rushing around the restaurant taking orders or carrying large trays filled with plates of Italian food.
Today was different.
After Jin and Kame had been ushered into the dining area by a very formally dressed waiter, they had been surprised to see that all the tables had been empty. They were the only customers there. Maybe the rain had driven away everybody else?
Jin decided to sit the two of them at table situated under a large painting of two beautiful maidens in spring dresses dancing in a field of flowers. They sat on opposite sides the table. The waiter brought the two of them menus, and shortly afterwards, a waitress came by and placed a small basket of fresh bread rolls in the center of the table.
Jin saw that Kame was having trouble choosing which dish to order, and, claiming that he was an expert when it came to Italian cuisine, ordered the same dish for both them: Spaghetti and Meetballs with Garlic Breadsticks on the side.
The waiter informed them that their order would be ready in 20 minutes and left the two of them by themselves.
Kame looked out through the window right next to their table and frowned. “It’s still raining.”
“Don’t worry. I heard it’s going to stop tonight.”
“Really?”
Jin nodded and picked up a roll from the basket, examining it as if he was expecting to find a dark spot of mold. He took a bite from it and made a face that said that the roll was delicious. “These are really good! Here, try it.” He thrusted the roll he had just eaten right in front of Kame’s mouth, wanting him to take a bite.
Kame drew his head back. “It’s okay. I’ll get my own,” he said, picking up one from the basket.
Jin pouted. “Oh, okay….”
They sat in silence for a couple of moments. The Italian music continued to play softly in the background.
After Kame finished his roll, he spoke. “Jin… about Ueda and Junno… do you think it’s a good idea to keep pushing them together? I mean, I know Ueda’s been in love with him for God knows how long, but Junno… Honestly, I don’t think he’ll ever even consider thinking about Ueda in that way…”
“What makes you say that?” Jin was surprised that Kame had brought up that subject.
“It’s just that… I don’t know. I just can’t picture Junno falling in love with Ueda.”
“Well,” Jin began, helping himself to another roll, “you know, after talking to Junno yesterday at the beach and today at breakfast… I think there might be a chance.”
Kame stared at the basket of bread for a moment, thinking about something, and then looked up a Jin. “What exactly did you two talk about?”
“Well, this morning… It’s sort of funny… in a way. Junno told me that Ueda thought me and Junno were a couple…” Jin said slowly. “Apparently, he saw the two of us talking at the beach yesterday. I guess he came to that conclusion when he saw me putting an arm around Junno’s waist… Can’t really blame him though. We really did look like a couple.” He was half-expecting some hint of jealousy form on Kame’s face. For a couple of seconds, Jin thought he saw a little bit of hurt in his eyes, but shook it off as wishful seeing, for he knew that Kame failed at trying to hide his emotions and that it would’ve been more obvioius if he had felt anything towards what he had just said.
A moment passed before Kame spoke.
He stared past Jin’s head at the window behind him, where the rain suddenly began to fall heavily. “If that happened, do you think it was a good idea leaving the two of them alone for the whole day? I mean…” Kame paused before continuing. “If Ueda thinks that you and Junno are together, then wouldn’t it be hard for him to be around Junno?”
“Don’t worry. Junno said he cleared that all up.”
Kame nodded, not having anything else to say.
“I wonder what those two are up to…” Jin laughed. “I bet Junno dragged him to the arcade-”
“I still don’t think pushing those two together is a good idea,” Kame interjected, crossing his arms and staring Jin in the eye this time. “It’s just going to end up hurting Ueda even more when he finds out that Junno’s not going to be able to return his feelings.”
“Junno falling in love with Ueda- it’s not impossible. There’s always the chance-”
“Look, Jin, I know Junno. And I know Ueda, more than you do. And I know that Junno’s not going to fall for somebody like Ueda. Do you know why? Because Junno needs somebody-”
“Somebody who’s what? As hyper and happy as he is? Okay, I admit that Ueda isn’t exactly like that… They’re almost opposites, actually. But that’s what makes them a good match! Haven’t you ever heard that opposite attracts?” Jin stared across the table at Kame’s unsatisfied face. “So stop saying they’ll never happen, okay?”
Kame was silent for a moment. He stared down at his lap, and in a strained voice, said, “I… I just don’t want to see Ueda get hurt. He’s not the type to easily get over rejection, and it’s going to be torture for him if Junno doesn’t accept his feelings. I just… don’t want to see him like that.”
Jin felt something stir within him when heard that. Whatever it was, it caused rage to quickly shoot through him and his voice to grow angry. “Since when do you care so much about Ueda?” he suddenly spat, surprising Kame with his bitter tone.
Kame was taken aback for a moment. Why’s he getting mad all of the sudden? Are we seriously going to fight over this?
“I’ve always cared about him. Don’t you? Oh wait, no you don’t,” he retorted. “All you want to see is him and Junno together! You don’t really care if things work out between them! All you want is some romantic drama in your boring life.” He laughed hollowly. “I guess all those romance novels you’re always reading just aren’t enough for you, are they?”
Jin couldn’t believe what he was hearing. That wasn’t his reason for pushing Junno and Ueda together at all! Okay… maybe he did enjoy playing matchmaker and maybe did think it’d be exciting to have a relationship going on within KAT-TUN, but… Kame had hit him spot on. Suddenly realizing this had only made Jin more infuriated. “Well, I… That’s…” He couldn’t think of a good comeback, so he settled for saying, “I just want to see the two of them happy, together.”
“They’re already happy the way they are, you idiot,” Kame bit back, “if you keep doing that, forcing them to spend time with each other as much as possible-”
Jin began to laugh coldly, silencing Kame, and leaned forward. “I know why you don’t want those two together! You’re in love with one of them!” A sharp pain in tore into him as he said that, but his rising anger kept him going. “I should’ve known it… I bet it’s Ueda. So quiet and pretty’s your type, eh?”
Kame felt himself reach his peak when he heard Jin accuse him of liking Ueda and was suddenly filled with the desire to reach across the table and throw a punch at Jin’s lovely face, but the fact that they were currently sitting in an Italian restaurant forced him to hold himself back. “Look-”
“Ahem.”
Kame turned around and saw the waiter standing right behind him.
The waiter was balancing a tray holding their lunch on one hand and had a stern look on his face. “Lunch is served.” He gracefully placed the two plates of spaghetti on the table before peering down at them. “I know we don’t have any other customers at the moment, but I would appreciate it if you two would refrain from fighting because it’s destroying the warm and inviting atmosphere of our restaurant, but if you feel that you cannot contain yourselves, please feel more than free to step outside and continue your argument there,” he finished with a strained smile before walking away, muttering “Idols…” under his breath.
The two of them sat in silence after the waiter left.
Jin shot a glare at Kame before he jammed his fork irately into his plate of spaghetti, twilring the noodles around his fork and shoving it into his mouth. As their silent meal continued, as he began to calm down, Jin finally unglued his eyes from his plate of spaghetti and glanced across the table at Kame, willing to mutter an apology for suddenly snapping at him, but when he saw Kame’s hurt and angered face, a face that he had never been directed at him before, he felt his blood turn cold as he realized with dread that not only had their day that he had spent all the night before planning been ruined, but also any chances of Kame ever returning his feelings.
---
“Junno, thanks for lunch,” Ueda said, as he and Junno walked out of the small restaurant.
“Don’t mention it. But I can’t believe you only ordered a salad,” he said, laughing. “You so should’ve gotten the triple cheese burger! It was sooo good!”
“It’s okay. I just didn’t want you to spend too much money on lunch.”
Junno suddenly stopped walking. “Was that why?” He grabbed Ueda’s arm and began pulling him back towards the restuarant. “Then let’s go back and order you a real lunch.”
“Junno, it’s fine. I wasn’t that hungry, anyway.”
The two of them continued walking around the ground floor of the hotel, not really having any idea where they were going to go next. There wasn’t much to do since most of the stores on the ground floor were restaurants.
“You know, when people treat you to lunch or dinner, you’re supposed to order as much food as you can,” Junno said matter-of-factly.
Ueda couldn’t help but to snort. “But isn’t that taking advantage of them?”
Junno was silent for a moment and, staring off into space, seemed to be reconsidering what he had just said, as if what they were discussing was a very important matter. “I guess so… but since they’re offering you free food, you should take as much as you possibly can... Or at least that’s what I do.”
“If that’s the case, then I’m never gonna treat you to dinner,” Ueda said, laughing.
Junno, all of a sudden, clung onto Ueda, hugging him tightly from the side. “Awww~! Tat-chan, why do you have to be so mean?” he said in a cute, high pitched voice, attempting to sound offended.
Ueda stiffened at the sudden hug. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he said in a strained voice.
Junno let him go and looked him in the eye, grinning. “So that means you’ll treat me to dinner once?”
“I guess…” Ueda said. He paused for a moment and realized what had just happened. Were they just planning a date? He felt like a large weight had just been lifted off of his heart, allowing it to soar freely and do summersaults in excitement. Did they just agree to dinner? An explosion of happiness went off within him, like a rush of bliss was surging through his body at a hundred miles per hour, causing a large grin when it had reached his face. Ueda suddenly wanted to go outside and run around in the rain even though it was pouring cold, jump up and down and scream at the top of his lungs in joy, sing a song to the gods to thank them for allowing him to be alive, and pull every person that passed by them into the biggest hug he could muster.
“When?” Junno asked, bringing Ueda back from his world of happiness.
“Someday…” Ueda said, smiling, “after I have enough money saved up to take you out. You did say that you take advantage of whoever’s treating you, after all.” He continued to tease Junno. “Hmmm… it might take a while, but if I start now, I think I might be able to have enough in a couple of months.”
“Tat-chaan~!” Junno whined.
“Or if I go without food for the next couple of weeks, then I think I might able to treat you to dinner by the end of the month. Hmm… I’m not sure which one’s worse: living on a tight budget for two or three months or going a couple weeks without any food?”
Junno paused for a moment. He smiled and chuckled.
“What is it?” Ueda asked, suddenly uneasy.
“Now this is the Ueda I know.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just now, you were smiling, laughing, and joking around, like you usually do… okay, you don’t usually joke around that much, but it’s the first time we’ve, you know, laughed together or teased each other in a long time. Especially these past few days… it just seems like you’ve been a little…”
Ueda immediately understood what Junno had meant and felt embarrassed that he had noticed.
“I just mean-”
“Hey! Ueda! Junno!”
Junno and Ueda turned around and saw Maru walking towards them and Koki running at full speed. They both grunted when Koki suddenly pulled them into a big hug.
“Ueda! Junno! My bandmates, my brothers! Oh, I love you two so much!” Koki exclaimed as if he had just just lost both of them in a car accident but suddenly found out that they had survived.
Junno and Ueda exchanged confused looks.
“Umm… Koki, are you okay?” Junno asked, a little worried.
Maru caught up to them. “Don’t worry about him. He’s been like this ever since he met her.”
“Met her?” Ueda said as he tried to pry Koki’s arm off of him.
“He-”
“I fell in love…” Koki said dreamily, interrupting Maru. His grip on Junno and Ueda suddenly loosened up as he stared off into space with a delightful smile. “…with an angel. She was so-”
“Koki, I think it’ll be better if you don’t go into your whole ‘She was so beautiful’ speech again,” Maru said.
“The ‘She was so beautiful’ speech?” Junno asked.
Maru nodded. “While we were eating lunch, he went on a 45 minute ramble on how perfect and beautiful the girl was, and then he started planning out their future.”
“Their future? You mean like kids and stuff?” Junno bursted out laughing, not believing a word Maru had said but, at the same time, knew it was something very Koki-like.
Koki, in the meantime, was off daydreamingand didn’t seem to be catching a word they were saying, his arm still slung lazily around Junno’s shoulder.
“Yeah. Their names, where they were gonna go to school… Just be glad you weren’t there. I’ve never seen him act that… creepy before.”
“Wow, he sure did fall badly for her,” Ueda said.
Koki finally came back into his senses and immediately held up a small piece of paper, showing it triumphantly to Ueda and Junno. “Can you believe it? She gave me her room number! The two of us are going to the beach tomorrow.” He suddenly threw his arms in the air and began skipping towards the end of the hotel, screaming “You guys should be jealousssssss!” at the top of his lungs.
The three of them laughed as they watch Koki run around and scream with joy like he had just won the lottery.
Ueda felt happier than he had been in days. The part of his brain that would’ve made him dreadfully realize that that the potential date that he had just planned with Junno had no romantic implications whatsoever seemed to be missing at the moment. He suddenly wanted to join Koki in running around and acting like a hyper, insane person, not caring if he would be making a fool out of himself.
THE END
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of this chapter XD
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! ^^ And hooray for a happy Ueda and a happy Koki! But now Kame's angry and Jin's sad D: and now I'm sad because al;kjfl;asjdfl;sajfl;ksja;fl school starts in five days T_T