Sleep Talk
It was almost midnight when Daiki woke up in bed, feeling the dryness in his throat. He turned the lamp on and stood up. He saw the still sleeping Ryosuke, prone on bed wearing his almost-see-through pajamas. A smile marked Daiki’s face. He walked away and into the kitchen. He took a couple of sips from his glass of water before he decided to bring it back to the room.
Ryosuke and Daiki were sleeping in the same room that night. The other members of JUMP were scheduled with each other in pairs. Daiki sat on the edge of the bed, taking another sip of water. There was silence, aside from the grunting of the air con and the constant ticking of the clock. He sighed a couple of times before he noticed Ryosuke grumbling. He moved closer to the head of the bed and stared at Ryosuke sleeping.
“Yama-chan? What’s wrong?” he muttered.
There was no response from Ryosuke so he let it slip. Daiki stretched his hands and went back to sleep. But there was something bothering him that he wasn't able to doze off easily. He turned towards Ryosuke and smiled when he saw the latter sleeping so soundly. His lips were gaping while he snoozed. There was that certain feeling that Daiki had when he stares at Ryosuke.
Soon enough, Ryosuke opened his mouth fully and spoke.
“Dai…”
Daiki’s eyes flinched, staring more intently to Ryosuke now. “What’s it?”
“Daiki…” he muttered again.
“Yama-chan?”
There was no response from Ryosuke again. Daiki sighed and smiled. Ryosuke is sleep talking again, he thought. He closed his eyes and concentrated on going back to sleep. Little by little he thought that the sand man may have been pouring more and more sleeping sand into his eyes when they felt heavier.
“Dai-chan…”
He recoiled once more thinking that Ryosuke might have been awake already. But he was wrong. He was still in deep slumber. That’s when he remembered their lesson about a person’s sleep talking. Sleep talkers are the most honest persons in the world. They are in deep sleep but their minds are governed by their subconscious which tells the truth most of the time.
“Yama-chan, what’s up?” he whispered.
“Hmmm. Nothing much.” He answered, his voice garbled.
“Is there anything you want to say?”
“Dai-chan… I like Dai-chan…” he murmured.
Daiki was shocked, his face turning red. He tried to delve deeper into the subject. “What do you like in him?”
“Because he’s cool… and he’s funny… and I like him because he doesn’t grow tall…”
Daiki didn’t know if he should be angry or flattered on the last comment. But his anger was disproved when Ryosuke added.
“…I like it because he isn’t too tall for me… he’s just my size so I can reach him when I wanted to kiss him…”
Daiki blushed even more. “Do you want to kiss Daiki?”
“Everyday of my life…” he muttered and again, Daiki’s face was flushed with red hot blood.
“I love you Yamada Ryosuke…” Daiki whispered on his ear and closed his eyes.
“I love you too, Arioka Daiki…” he repeated the words even in incomprehensible utterance that became Daiki’s lullaby.
Little by little, Daiki’s eyelids became heavy and soon enough, he was asleep.
In the morning, Daiki woke to the ringing of the alarm. As he turned to the side, he felt the soft texture of the bed, but there was no Ryosuke on it. He stood up, wore his robe and darted towards the kitchen. He could smell the sweet scent of omelet and waffles from the kitchen.
Ryosuke was cooking in front of the burner, flipping the egg.
“Good morning.” Daiki greeted.
“Ah, good morning too.” Ryosuke smiled.
Daiki went around Ryosuke, placing his hands on the latter’s waist and chin on his shoulders.
“Smells good…” Daiki sniffed.
“Thanks, it tastes better…” he whispered the last two words right into Daiki's ear.
“Sooo… somebody was sleep talking last night.”
“So I’ve known.”
Daiki smiled but when he got the thought of Ryosuke’s statement, he freaked out.
“What?!” Daiki’s face was burning hot once again.
“I was sleep talking, yes. But in the middle, I was pretty awake.” He too blushed.
“You were…” Daiki muttered.
“Yes, and all I said was true Dai-chan.” And he pecked on Daiki’s cheeks before flipping the omelet once again.