[drabble] Distance
Title: Distance
Author: Luna (dreamweavernyx )
Pairing: Takanoo
Genre: Fluff/Angst
Rating: PG15
Summary: AU. Inoo is rumoured to be gay. Takaki wonders. Consequences ensue.
Notes: This is different from my usual drabbles. Firstly there's a kind of scene I'm writing for the first time, secondly it's a layout style I'm trying for the first time, thirdly it's a dialogue style I've only done once before. It was supposed to be more angsty and less fluff but...this came out. :/
~
i.
It all starts that day when the rumour gets around.
I hear Inoo Kei’s gay, he overhears in the toilets.
Inoo Kei? That skinny guy in class 3-C?
That guy, yeah. How true do you think it is?
Yes indeed, he finds himself wondering along. How true indeed?
Inoo, he knows, is and has always been more on the feminine side, and he knows he’s found himself questioning his best friend’s actual gender.
But to be actually gay?
I heard he’s got a crush on one of his guy classmates, whoever’s outside the toilet stall continues. Disgusting, isn’t it?
Totally, replies the other. Someone needs to teach him a lesson.
Yeah, someone does.
He doesn’t notice that his fists have curled into balls until after the boys leave the toilet.
ii.
Takaki tells himself he wonders too much about Inoo and his alleged gay crush.
It still hurts though, thinking about Inoo liking another guy.
iii.
It’s a crush, he knows, but he doesn’t do anything about it.
Crushes are meant to be one-sided, he tells himself. Shut up and just deal with it.
That doesn’t stop the pain, though.
iv.
A week after the rumour circulates the bullying begins, and Takaki comes to school to see scribbles all over his best friend’s table.
Go to hell! some read.
Freak, read others.
He watches as Inoo slips into the room quietly, head hanging down.
There were cockroaches in my indoor shoes, he tells Takaki quietly. Dead ones, but still disgusting. Three of them.
You shouldn’t have to bear this, Takaki mutters back.
Inoo shrugs.
I’ll have crushes on whoever I want. They can’t stop me.
Worry sparks in Takaki’s heart, but eases a little when he catches the look in Inoo’s eyes.
v.
That guy you’re crushing on had better be awesome, Takaki tells Inoo one day as he helps the pale boy empty his locker of hate notes. Otherwise he doesn’t deserve all these sacrifices you’re going through.
Inoo beams at him in a rare moment of radiance.
Oh, he is, he says mildly. Most definitely.
Takaki forces a smile.
Oh? I’m glad for you then.
Swallowing, he forces the bitter feeling back down his throat.
vi.
He comes back after school ends - he’s forgotten his lucky pencil - to see some of the other boys ganging up on Inoo.
I think we need to teach this scum a lesson, the one who appears to be the gang leader says.
Let’s make it so that you can never look at boys again, shall we? cackles another.
Inoo’s eyes are wide and he’s trembling with fear. Takaki, concealed behind the classroom door, can just barely see the panic churning in those dark eyes.
Oh God, he realizes with a jolt of shock as he notices one of them fiddling with their belt buckles. They’re going to rape him.
One of them steps forward, licking his lips. In a sudden movement he darts forward, capturing Inoo’s bottom lip and biting down on it, hard.
Inoo whimpers, and the boys laugh.
Louder, the gang leader hisses, grinning sadistically.
Slowly, he reaches out and traces a finger up the inner side of Inoo’s thigh, and Inoo gulps visibly as his belt is ripped out in one swift moment.
Gay people don’t deserve to exist, one boy snarls.
Takaki itches to throw open the door and yell, but his courage has long fled, leaving him an empty skeleton glued to the wall.
Please, stop, he hears Inoo whisper, even as another member rips off his tie.
Stop? the gang member asks innocently, tying Inoo’s hands together with the tie in a swift moment. Beg for it. I want to hear you scream and cry tears of pain.
Takaki can hear Inoo choking back a sob.
Legs, he tells himself firmly. Work for me. Now.
He hears a zipper unzip.
That’s enough, he hears himself snap, throwing open the door. Stop it.
The gang leader turns to him, and raises an eyebrow.
Gay lover, Takaki?
No, he says quietly. Just someone with morals.
The boy pulls a face at him, before turning to his cronies.
Let’s go. The fun’s gone.
They file after him like ducklings and Takaki is left alone with Inoo, lying broken on the floor.
vii.
Inoo cries for days and days after that, and doesn’t go to school for a long while.
Takaki wishes he could do more than just hold the thin boy and stroke his hair as he sobs and sobs onto his shoulder.
He doesn’t dare to.
viii.
Every day is now spent at Inoo’s flat trying to get him to return to normal.
Finally one night he gets Inoo to go to sleep. Satisfied, he turns to leave, but a mild tug on his pajama sleeve stops him.
Don’t leave, whispers Inoo, eyes wide open and looking at him.
I was going to turn of the lights-
Don’t leave, Inoo repeats, with a hint of desperation this time.
Takaki smiles slightly, and kneels back down beside Inoo’s futon again.
If you ask, I’ll never leave, he says quietly, brushing back mussed-up hair from Inoo’s forehead.
Inoo’s eyes flutter shut again.
Please, never do, he mumbles.
He never notices the bitter smile on Takaki’s face.
ix.
Inoo’s parents catch wind of the incident, and strongly disapprove.
My son cannot be gay, insists his mother.
Then he is not our son, agrees his father.
Inoo listens from behind the closed door and cries silently again.
x.
He ends up staying at Takaki’s flat.
xi.
Sometimes I still wonder if he likes me back, Inoo confides in Takaki. I think he’s perfect, you know? He’s cool, funny, caring, and smart but at the same time still such a loveable dork.
Takaki grinds out a smile.
I’m sure he likes you back, he says. You’re very likeable.
Really?
Takaki crushes the shred of selfish desire in his heart.
If he’s as nice as you describe him there’s no way he doesn’t.
Inoo blinks, and smiles softly for the first time in ages.
xii.
One night he’s already curled up in his futon, half asleep, when Inoo comes stumbling in, tired after studying and trying to catch up with homework.
Good night, he hears Inoo whisper, but he doesn’t reply.
The lights are flicked off, and he senses Inoo move towards his own futon.
Just for a moment, just for a moment, he thinks he feels Inoo’s warm breath hovering somewhere near his ear.
He thinks he hears Inoo whisper something, but sleep claims him before he can make out what it is..
xii.
Two months later, they go out for the first time since the incident.
Inoo wants to go see Tokyo Tower, so they go when night falls and you can see the lights of the city from the viewing deck.
The lights are pretty~ he whispers, whirling to look at Takaki with shining eyes.
Not as pretty as you, Takaki is tempted to say.
He almost says it, until he realizes that it’s as good as a confession, and shuts up instead.
xiv.
Ne, do you like someone?
Takaki blinks at the question.
I guess I do, his traitorous mouth blabs before he becomes aware of it.
Inoo smiles.
That’s nice~
Takaki thinks he must be imagining the bitterly wistful look on Inoo’s face.
xv.
Takaki doesn’t know exactly when he cracks, but he does anyway.
xvi.
I like you, he ends up saying to Inoo on an impulse.
He regrets it immediately afterwards when Inoo’s eyes open wide, too wide.
Oh God, he wants to say, sorry-
xvii.
But before he can say anything Inoo is hugging him and crying into his chest.
Stupid idiot, Inoo sniffles. Why didn’t you just say so earlier?
…Because I’m too dumb, I guess, he says dryly, and Inoo socks him on the shoulder.
Yes, you are, he says between sniffs. The biggest idiot in the whole world.
xviii.
But I still love you anyway, Inoo says a while later.
Takaki smiles and snuggles back.
xix.
Nobody knows why or how, but in the next week every boy who had been in the classroom with Inoo during that incident ends up being framed for various things, including breaking into the principal’s office and stealing a dozen mobile phones.
They end up getting suspended or expelled, and Takaki smiles as he revels in the taste of sweet, sweet revenge.
The rumours about Inoo stop flying soon enough, when it’s slipped out that it might have been Inoo who got rid of the bullies.
xx.
Inoo never understands why everybody stares at him like a hero when he finally goes back to school.
Takaki never explains.
You’re just awesome, he says, and leaves it at that.
xxi.
Weirdo, Inoo laughs, and slips his hand into Takaki’s.
Their fingers interlock naturally, and Takaki’s heart can’t help but skip a beat.
I’m your weirdo though, he says, ruffling Inoo’s hair with his free hand.
Inoo wrinkles his nose but doesn’t say anything.
xxii.
Takaki grins.
Inoo blushes.
It’s a happily ever after, Takaki tells himself.
xxiii.
Except of course, Inoo’s not a real princess.
fin.