[REPOST]; Raise Your Glass
Title: Raise Your Glass
Pairing: Takaki Yuya x OC
Notes: Repost from himitsu_riaru ; V-Day fic for nuitecarlate
Summary: Raise your glass if you're wrong in all the right ways.
"What are we, really?" was what he wanted to ask. Four words, simple and yet entirely complex in meaning. But the words stay in his brain, stuck in his throat, locked deep within his heart. Call him a coward, but he was just too scared to risk it. Scared that their already fragile relationship would vanish within a heartbeat. Scared that whatever they were would be destroyed before he can say, "Sorry, forget anything stupid that comes from my mouth."
He had to stop thinking these things. He had to go away, to not be in her presence, to not look into her eyes and let her gaze extract these dangerous thoughts from his head. He knew running away was not the right thing to do, but being with her was an entirely different matter that defies every expectation set forth by society. Alcohol would be good, he thought. It would be a good way to block the nagging voices in his head.
Halfway through his first glass (he didn't even know what he was drinking, but as long as he gets drunk then he doesn't particularly care) handed to him by the pretty middle-aged bartender, he felt someone sliding onto the stool next to him. He peeked sideways and almost choked on his drink when he saw her.
"If you really wanted to avoid me, then you should have picked a bar that my mom didn't own," she said, her lips forming into that irresistable half-smile.
"Huh?" was his intelligent reply, his brain short-cicuiting over her mere presence. He looked around him, finally recognizing the woman behind the counter.
"Uhm... I was... drunk?"
Yes, he was definitely out of it.
She laughed, snitching his glass and taking a sip from his drink. He gulped as he stared at the imprint her lips left on the glass, just right over where he was drinking from a few moments again.
"So, did anyone dump you this time?" she asked, light and serious at the same time.
"Hey! What makes you think that I'm depressed every time I drink? Can't I just drink for fun?" he replied, sounding injured.
"I'm one of the people who drive you home when you're talking senseless and dead drunk. You're actually a bad drunk despite your supposed love for booze," she shot back. He chose not to answer, swirling the melting ice cubes inside his glass. Her mother was attending to the customer at the far end of the bar, his only legitimate chance for distraction conveniently busy and far from his reach. He was on his second drink, and his surroundings were starting to look fuzzy; it was getting hard to separate truth from reality. It could be a dream, this particular moment when he was the only thing that he could see and nothing more. Maybe he could blame the alcohol in his system for the craziness he was planning to do.
"Us... what we are... can this be real? Can this 'us' be... us?"
He could feel her staring back in surprise, almost hear the protest from her lips, the inevitable rejection that he would definitely receive. But there was no turning back anymore. The words were said, and there was nothing he could do but wait... and accept. He closed his eyes, willing himself to keep his calm. He would keep his lsat shred of dignity as she tried to find a way to kindly reject him. Harsh words, a slap on the cheek... he could take anything, anything but her gentle pity.
What he didn't expect was that kiss on his lips.
Both of them were taken by surprise, and then they were still, waiting for the other to break away first. But no one pulled back, and both of them became braver, exploring and meeting each other anew, crossing that line that the both of them had drawn.
Soon, both of them had to come up for air. She wouldn't meet his eyes, choosing to play with the coaster of his now-empty glass. He cleared his throat; he had to make a sound. A word. A sentence. Something, anything to break this icy tension.
"Well.. uh..." he tried, fumbling for words. How did things get this complicated
"...I don't know," she said in a quiet voice.
"Huh?" he answered confusedly, his brain still waterlogged from the kiss.
"I don't know. That's my answer," she said shortly, still not meeting his eyes. His initial confusion melted away to anger and hurt, a hole opening in his heart.
"Wait, what? Here I am being all confused and then suddenly you kiss me and tell me 'you don't know'?" he asked, the pain in his voice making her wince.
"Look, I don't know, okay? You're not the only one who's confused about all of this," she said, sounding exasperated... and hurt. "Do you know the seriousness of what you're asking from me?"
"I know, that's why I wanted to know for sure!"
"Don't you understand? Have you forgotten what you are? You're an idol for goodness' sake; do you really not care for your career?"
"I--" he began to protest, but she had more to say.
"Don't you care about your friends; your groupmates who were with you? Your fans, the people who have supported you from the beginning? Kissing you was already crossing the line; if there were paparazzi around, the both of us being in trouble is the understatement of the decade."
"I care about you," he said, finally breaking through her tirade. "These feelings--I just can't bottle them up forever! I want to take care of you, to show you how much you do mean to me. Is it so wrong to love you?"
The both of them were breathing hard, emotions spent.
Takaki looked up, one word on his lips.
"Please..."
She looked at him with soft eyes and got off her stool, going to stand in front of him.
"You know how I feel. That kiss was my aswer. We can work this out, but for now... you have a lot of people to protect besides me. By this, you can protect all of us..."
And then they kissed, both tasting in her words a goodbye, a beginning...
A promise.
Pairing: Takaki Yuya x OC
Notes: Repost from himitsu_riaru ; V-Day fic for nuitecarlate
Summary: Raise your glass if you're wrong in all the right ways.
"What are we, really?" was what he wanted to ask. Four words, simple and yet entirely complex in meaning. But the words stay in his brain, stuck in his throat, locked deep within his heart. Call him a coward, but he was just too scared to risk it. Scared that their already fragile relationship would vanish within a heartbeat. Scared that whatever they were would be destroyed before he can say, "Sorry, forget anything stupid that comes from my mouth."
He had to stop thinking these things. He had to go away, to not be in her presence, to not look into her eyes and let her gaze extract these dangerous thoughts from his head. He knew running away was not the right thing to do, but being with her was an entirely different matter that defies every expectation set forth by society. Alcohol would be good, he thought. It would be a good way to block the nagging voices in his head.
Halfway through his first glass (he didn't even know what he was drinking, but as long as he gets drunk then he doesn't particularly care) handed to him by the pretty middle-aged bartender, he felt someone sliding onto the stool next to him. He peeked sideways and almost choked on his drink when he saw her.
"If you really wanted to avoid me, then you should have picked a bar that my mom didn't own," she said, her lips forming into that irresistable half-smile.
"Huh?" was his intelligent reply, his brain short-cicuiting over her mere presence. He looked around him, finally recognizing the woman behind the counter.
"Uhm... I was... drunk?"
Yes, he was definitely out of it.
She laughed, snitching his glass and taking a sip from his drink. He gulped as he stared at the imprint her lips left on the glass, just right over where he was drinking from a few moments again.
"So, did anyone dump you this time?" she asked, light and serious at the same time.
"Hey! What makes you think that I'm depressed every time I drink? Can't I just drink for fun?" he replied, sounding injured.
"I'm one of the people who drive you home when you're talking senseless and dead drunk. You're actually a bad drunk despite your supposed love for booze," she shot back. He chose not to answer, swirling the melting ice cubes inside his glass. Her mother was attending to the customer at the far end of the bar, his only legitimate chance for distraction conveniently busy and far from his reach. He was on his second drink, and his surroundings were starting to look fuzzy; it was getting hard to separate truth from reality. It could be a dream, this particular moment when he was the only thing that he could see and nothing more. Maybe he could blame the alcohol in his system for the craziness he was planning to do.
"Us... what we are... can this be real? Can this 'us' be... us?"
He could feel her staring back in surprise, almost hear the protest from her lips, the inevitable rejection that he would definitely receive. But there was no turning back anymore. The words were said, and there was nothing he could do but wait... and accept. He closed his eyes, willing himself to keep his calm. He would keep his lsat shred of dignity as she tried to find a way to kindly reject him. Harsh words, a slap on the cheek... he could take anything, anything but her gentle pity.
What he didn't expect was that kiss on his lips.
Both of them were taken by surprise, and then they were still, waiting for the other to break away first. But no one pulled back, and both of them became braver, exploring and meeting each other anew, crossing that line that the both of them had drawn.
Soon, both of them had to come up for air. She wouldn't meet his eyes, choosing to play with the coaster of his now-empty glass. He cleared his throat; he had to make a sound. A word. A sentence. Something, anything to break this icy tension.
"Well.. uh..." he tried, fumbling for words. How did things get this complicated
"...I don't know," she said in a quiet voice.
"Huh?" he answered confusedly, his brain still waterlogged from the kiss.
"I don't know. That's my answer," she said shortly, still not meeting his eyes. His initial confusion melted away to anger and hurt, a hole opening in his heart.
"Wait, what? Here I am being all confused and then suddenly you kiss me and tell me 'you don't know'?" he asked, the pain in his voice making her wince.
"Look, I don't know, okay? You're not the only one who's confused about all of this," she said, sounding exasperated... and hurt. "Do you know the seriousness of what you're asking from me?"
"I know, that's why I wanted to know for sure!"
"Don't you understand? Have you forgotten what you are? You're an idol for goodness' sake; do you really not care for your career?"
"I--" he began to protest, but she had more to say.
"Don't you care about your friends; your groupmates who were with you? Your fans, the people who have supported you from the beginning? Kissing you was already crossing the line; if there were paparazzi around, the both of us being in trouble is the understatement of the decade."
"I care about you," he said, finally breaking through her tirade. "These feelings--I just can't bottle them up forever! I want to take care of you, to show you how much you do mean to me. Is it so wrong to love you?"
The both of them were breathing hard, emotions spent.
Takaki looked up, one word on his lips.
"Please..."
She looked at him with soft eyes and got off her stool, going to stand in front of him.
"You know how I feel. That kiss was my aswer. We can work this out, but for now... you have a lot of people to protect besides me. By this, you can protect all of us..."
And then they kissed, both tasting in her words a goodbye, a beginning...
A promise.