THE POOR PRINCE'S SMILE CH.46

[snow_guardian]

Title: The Poor Prince's Smile
Author: snow_guardian
Beta: ueda_love1
Pairing: JunDa, TaNaka and Akame (but have a bit of JuKi at the beginning) and now… Junkt?(Gackt x Junno)
Genre: Romance and Fluff
Rating: PG13
Flame?: No, thank you! ^^
Summary: The world is full of surprises and fate sometime play with people. Junno is a poor boy with nothing and yet he manages to smile everyday even when life comes to its worst. Ueda is from a wealthy family, who can have anything he ever dream of and yet he had lost his own smile; his happiness to his status. Soon fate will let these two meet, but would they believe they were meant to be? Is there such a thing as fate, or destiny? Only those who truly believe will know, because it brought them together.

A.N: ...oh...my...gackt... (0__0) last time i updated was a year ago!? what the heck is wrong with me?? *killed self* Anyways, just a small memory catch-up, after 3 months since the couples went their separate ways, they somehow met up again, and slowly the story is ending!~ JUST ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO!!~ ^^ i hope to finish it up before school starts...but no promises ;__;

Previous: TRAILER
[chapter 1] [chapter 2] [chapter 3] [chapter 4] [chapter 5] [chapter 6] [chapter 7] [chapter 8] [chapter 9] [chapter 10] [chapter 11] [chapter 12] [chapter 13] [chapter 14] [chapter 15] [chapter 16] [chapter 17][chapter 18][chapter 19][chapter 20][chapter 21][chapter 22][chapter 23][chapter 24][chapter 25][chapter 26][chapter 27][chapter 28][chapter 29][chapter 30][chapter 31][chapter 32][chapter 33][chapter 34][chapter 35][chapter 36][chapter 37][chapter 38][chapter 39][chapter 40][chapter 41][chapter 42][chapter 43][chapter 44] [chapter 45]

x-posted: [kattun fanfics] [jent fanfics] [junda love]

continue:



*chapter 46*

A new day started with the sun shining brightly. The snow, that had been falling the day before, began to melt. By the time the boy had woken up, there was hardly any snow left for it to be called a white Christmas, but of course Maru didn’t mind. He had already received his gift for the blessed day; it was a gift that was going to keep him satisfied for the rest of his life and thinking about it only made the muddy day better.

“Oi!” suddenly he was pushed in the back of the head, making him turn, but seeing the gift before him, only made his smile even goofier.

“Don’t stare at me like that,” Koki said firmly, adjusting his jacket, and happy that he wasn’t wearing the obaa-chan apron anymore. Koki assumed that Maru must have had someone sent for the stuff he had left at the locker of the hotel, which wasn‘t much - only his jacket and bag which contained his wallet, keys and phone, since Junno was in charge of bringing any other necessities. “Do you have my phone? I’m sure Junno must be worried by now…” Koki said, hoping to change the subject, “I should be getting home.”

However, Maru didn’t make a move to return Koki’s phone nor get rid of the knowing smile, “Aww, are you going to act like last night didn’t happen,” he teased and suddenly a shade of red took over Koki’s face, “I think you should rest a bit longer, even though I didn’t go all the way, I did manage to-” Koki nearly jumped on Maru as he covered the older boy’s mouth.

“If you say anymore, I swear, I’ll kill you!” Koki yelled through his gritted teeth, putting more force into the hand that covered Maru’s mouth-- suffocating him. The older boy managed to slip away, giving out a laugh at the beet red Koki.

He didn’t understand why people couldn’t see the cuteness in Koki. Sure, he might be scary looking at first, but as soon as one gets to know the boy, one can’t help falling for his kind heart, his silliness, the way he tries to hide his embarrassment with anger, the more he was with Koki, the more he fell in love. Slowly, his laughter died down, “As long as you know that you’re mine and no one else’s.” It’s a good thing people didn’t see it, or else Koki wouldn’t be his now.

When Koki heard this, he suddenly quietened down.

Maru smiled as he took a step closer, “The only reason I’m saying this is because I’m afraid you might regret it, I want to keep reminding you that you’re mine, I want to keep reminding you how much I love you…” Maru said, the joking was gone now.

Koki couldn’t see any hesitance in Maru’s eyes and this caused the younger boy to shift his gaze to the ground, feeling the heat on his face raising again. He wasn’t sure what to say, he didn’t want to look like the weaker one, he didn’t want his love to lose to Maru’s. He gulped nervously as he grabbed Maru’s hand, “I-I don’t regret anything…” he said, giving out a small smile to himself, “I love you too,” he whispered the last part still not looking up at Maru.

Unknowing to Koki, Maru had cause sight of the small smile trying to be hidden from underneath. This made Maru’s heart race even faster as he suddenly grabbed Koki into a hug, “This time, let’s go all the way!” he called out.

“Hell no! Get off me!” Koki yelled, punching Maru for his roaming hands.

******************************

The clock struck midnight, declaring it Christmas in New York, but the mistress of the mansion payed no attention to such thing as she sat in her dim lighted office, going through corporation papers in preparation for the upcoming New Year. Even though it was Christmas, the special holiday was the last thing on her mind. She heard a knock on the door, but made no attempt to get distracted. The door slowly opened and in stepped her assistant, with a brown envelope in his hand.

“Madam, sorry for intruding.” he said.

At the voice, she quickly finished the page and looked up, signalling for the man to enter.

Her assistant bowed and entered the room, “Just like you had ordered, the agent has been following the young master and he has reported that young master Tatsuya had returned to Japan. The report stated that he attended the Nakamaru engagement party, however…”

“However?”

Instead of continuing, her assistant opened the brown envelope and pulled out a photo, laying it on the table, “It was as you expected.” he said.

On the photo, it was a perfect image of Ueda smirking at the back view of Junno. It was taken when Ueda had followed Junno up the stairs to his apartment.

“The agent reported that at first Taguchi-san resisted the young master, locking him outside for hours, however, the young master did not leave the apartment and soon Taguchi-san seemed to have invited him in.”

“So you’re saying that they spend the night in that thing’s apartment?”

“It seems so; no movements since then have been reported.”

Mrs. Ueda angrily stood up, “That scum! After I worked so hard to get rid of the unwanted trash, he goes straight to that trash’s house?! Butler! Get the car ready, we’re-”

“Merry Christmas mother!” a call from the door suddenly interrupted the madam, causing the two in the room to turn toward the voice, and leaning by the side of the doorway stood Gackt, waving at his mother.

“Y-Young master Gackt, why are you here?” the butler asked, surprised to see the young man.

“Of course I wanted to be the first to wish mother a Merry Christmas,” he smiled widely, “Merry Christmas to you too.”

“Thank you very much, young master. Merry Christmas.”

Mrs. Ueda stood there quietly, staring at her son.

“Mother, will you be joining me and father this morning? I did fly all the way from Europe just to spend Christmas with you.”

“Gackt, drop the act, I know you heard everything.” she finally said.

Gackt pushed himself up and walked toward his mother, “Why are you still following Tatsuya?” he asked, his tone of voice and whole expression changed.

“As long as he still has the Ueda name, I will follow his every step.” she answered, her poker face showing no sign of guilt.

“Tatsuya already went to father and asked to be disowned; he will not take the Ueda name, nor any of our heritages. He‘s not a part of us anymore. You should stop this.”

“But your father is still willing to pay for his education!” Mrs. Ueda screamed at her son. However, Gackt did not even flinch.

“That was father’s choice. That is the least he could do for the son that he hardly sees.”

Seeing how her son was keeping his cool made her realize how inferior she must had looked. Mrs. Ueda calmed down and muttered, “As long as your father is paying for his education, I have every right to follow his every movement…”

“But you have no right to interfere in his life. You, father nor any of us have the right to interfere in his life, we avoided him all these years and now we can’t expect to just change that.”

His mother got quiet, her poker face expression not changing.

Gackt stared at his mother and slowly, he took notice of the pictures on the top of the table, leaning onto it, “Mother, do you remember what you promised Taguchi-san?” he asked, but as he waited, he knew his mother wasn’t going to answer so he continued, “You promised him that you’ll make Tatsuya happy, that you’ll make him smile again.”

“So?” she said, not understanding what her son was bringing up such a ridiculous agreement that she had made with an idiot.

“Have you, at least once seen Tatsuya smile in any of the previous photos that you’d ordered someone to take? Have you, seen any expression on Tatsuya other than that ice-cold face that he put on?” he asked. “For the past three months, he’s been away from Japan, and for those three months he showed no emotion, that is not making Tatsuya happy mother, you weren’t doing your end of the promise.”

“Why are you making it sound like I’m the one breaking the deal?” she asked as she pushed the photo to Gackt, “As you can see, that trash is the one seeing Tatsuya, he’s the one breaking our agreement.”

“Well,” Gackt picked up the photo and smiled, “That’s where you’re wrong mother, if I remembered correctly all you told him was to never show his face at the mansion again, he did not promise you anything about staying away from Tatsuya.”

“Gackt!”

Gackt turned the photo around, as if showing it to his mother for the first time, “Taguchi is his happiness, see, Taguchi is the only one that can make him smile again,”

Mrs. Ueda didn‘t want to believe her son, but as she looked at the image, it was like her first time noticing, as if she had ignored it all along. Gackt was right, out of all the photos of the three months, the photo before her was the first that she actually saw an expression from Tatsuya, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, her son was right.

Gackt slowly brought back the photo as he pushed himself off the table, “Mother, you were never one to break your promises.” he said as he started walking towards the door, “That was one of the thing I respected about you and I hope you continue to be that way.” he smiled, “Now you should get some rest, father already has the whole Christmas day planned.” he suddenly said, his whole expression went back to his previous one once more, “Have a good night now!” he called out before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

“Madam, what should we do?” the butler asked.

Mrs. Ueda kept quiet for a while, still lost in thought as she stared at the picture, and slowly she sat down again, “Just leave it be…” she finally said.

With that, the butler gave out a small smile and bowed, “As you wish.”

******************************

Junno opened his eyes and he felt his heart quicken. Every breath he took in, he felt tears coming closer behind his eyes. It was that place again- the bright white space- the dream he constantly had since the day he broke up with Ueda. The dream that constantly repeated itself, but no matter how many times Junno had this dream, it still hurt him. He felt his hand being held and at the moment, he knew it was Ueda who was doing it and if he was to look up, Ueda will be standing there, smiling at him, and asking him that question. Junno knew that no matter how much he tried, his voice will not be heard and his love will disappear again, leaving Junno with only the tears in his eyes as the world disappears. Junno knew this and yet, he couldn’t help looking up, no matter how much it hurt, he still wanted to see his lover’s face, he still wishes to see that smile again, even if it meant breaking his heart to a thousand pieces.

“Do you love me?” the voice echoed.

Junno watched the smiling Ueda and he cried inside, he knew his voice wouldn’t come out, but he still try, he opened his mouth, feeling a pain in his throat, and as he expected, the words wouldn‘t come out. Junno closed it, swallowing hard, because he already knew what was going to happen.

He awaited Ueda’s sad face, he awaited the older boy disappearing and he awaited his tears to fall.

However, the reply came out different. He wasn‘t sure if he had heard it right, because this wasn’t how the dream was suppose to go, but the words ringed clearly in his mind, “You don‘t have to say anything, I know you love me.” Ueda had said.

He paused as he continued watching the older boy, but not once did Ueda let go of his hand, not once did his smile disappear. Junno parted his lips, still hoping a voice would come out, he wanted to shout those words, but at this, Ueda only shook his head.

“I love you too.” Ueda said.

Junno felt the tears welling up again, but along with those tears, he couldn’t help smiling. Ueda hugged him and he could smell the older boy’s scent taking in his whole body. The scent of comfort, relaxation, only with Ueda, did Junno felt this relief. Only with-

“Ueda?“ Junno quickly opened his eyes and there, just before his eyes was the sleeping Ueda who was resting his head on the side of the table. At the sight, Junno quickly realized his position- he had fell asleep with his head on Ueda’s knees…again! He immediately jolted up, moving as far as possible, until his head hit the kitchen counter, and causing the bump from the previous night to ache, “Itai…”

The older boy furrowed from the sudden loss of warmth and slowly he massaged his neck, yawning, “Merry Christmas…” he smirked, opening one tired eye to see his lover rubbing his head.

“H-how did I…your…?”

“I’m not sure how you can sleep either, but before I knew it, you were already dozing off, and so I thought that it’ll be more comfortable if you slept on my lap.” he mumbled, stretching his legs now, “I thought I was going to get cramps.”

“I’m so sorry!” Junno suddenly bowed down, “I can’t believe I just fell asleep, without even taking out the futon,” he mumbled, not lifting his head off the floor, “I let Uebo sleep in such an uncomfortable position too, Jin’s definitely going to kil-” suddenly he stopped. His eyes shifted as he comprehended his words.

Why did he just said that? Junno began to slowly straighten up, but his eyes remain on the floor. Why was he acting like being with Ueda meant being able to go back to the past? Jin and Kame almost got fired because of him; all the maids almost got replaced because of him. Now the young master was forced to sleep on the floor and it was once more his fault. There was no way he can go back; there was no way he can expect to relive that dream, so why was he acting this way?

Junno gulped, feeling the guilt upon realizing this, but before he could turn his gaze back to Ueda, he was suddenly pulled, falling face first into the warm chest of the other. Junno remained in the weird position, dumbfounded.

“You’re thinking something stupid again, aren’t you?” Ueda mumbled, tightening the embrace on Junno, “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t you dare consider breaking up with me or forcing me to leave you.” Uepi frowned, nuzzling closer to the top of Junno’s head, “Even if you leave me without a word, no matter what, no matter where you go, I’ll make sure to find you. I’m not leaving you this time. This time, I’m not letting go.”

It became quiet, but not once did Ueda show a sign of letting go of the younger boy. Junno could feel the older boy’s heart beating quickly and loudly in his ears…or was it his own? Junno wasn’t sure anymore, but this sound begins to sound so natural to him, so right, as much as it took his breath away and brought sting of tears from behind his eyes, he couldn’t help but be happy, “I won’t do that… I won’t let go either…” he whispered, returning the hug, each breath he took, made him more nervous- his heartbeat not once slowing down.

After a short sweet moment, Ueda gave out a smirk, tilting his head slightly so that his lips touched the younger boy’s ears, “I don’t know why, but whenever I’m with you, I can never control myself,” he whispered seductively.

That was when tall lad quickly felt danger, he was about to back up, but it was too late; Ueda forced a kiss on him, pushing him down, back flat on the floor. Junno could feel the heat rising in his face as he tightened his eyes, feeling embarrassed that Ueda was kissing him so early in the morning, he hadn't even brushed his teeth!

“Relax,” he heard Ueda whisper when their lips parted. That one word struck his skin and brought chills down his spin.

“B-bu-” however, before he could say anything, Ueda took advantage of his parted lips and invaded the younger boy’s mouth. The swirling of Ueda’s tongue melted Junno as he feel himself getting lost in the heat, his tightened grip on Ueda slowly loosened up, his whole body giving in. The cold fingers that were roaming up his stomach made him flinch, but it wasn’t enough to snap him out of the enchantment.

Ueda pulled his shirt up, attempting to take it off, but a sudden noise snapped Junno back to reality, backing up from Ueda‘s kiss.

A phone began to ring.

Ueda also paused. He gave out a grunt, pretending not to hear as he leaned in, but was quickly blocked by the palm of Junno.

“I think it’s your phone,” Junno huffed out, obviously out of breath from the fierce kiss.

“Ignore it…” Ueda mumbled, as he pushed the hand aside, but Junno quickly used his other hand to block the invading lips.

“It might be important…”

“No it’s not,”

But as soon as Ueda removed the hand out of the way, the tall lad suddenly remembered something, “Ah! Koki’s not home yet!” Junno called out. He swiftly pushed Ueda aside as he stood up and walked towards the phone stand, “I gotta call him, what if something happened!”

Ueda sat there dumbfounded, what just happened? A minute ago they were in the heat of the moment and in the next, Koki became more important than him!? He hadn’t even undressed Junno yet and the younger boy already got away!

Junno held the phone to his ear as he looked back at Ueda, “Pick up your phone, it’s still ringing,” he said, smiling, “For them to hold this long, it must be important!…now why isn’t Koki picking up…” he mumbled, looking away again.

Did Junno seriously just smile at him!? Did he already forget what they were just doing!!? Ueda gave out another grunt as he finally answered his cellphone, “WHAT?!” he roared at the phone, making Junno turn back, “Speak up! I can’t freaken hear you!”

Junno watched as Ueda paused, listening to the other and then hearing Ueda gave out some agreement. As he was watching this, something caught his eyes, dangling on the cellphone.

“No one is availabl-” Junno snapped out of thought and hung up, redialing again to the same voice message, “Why isn’t Koki picking up? Did something happen?…”

“He’s with Maru.”

“What?” Junno called out, turning to see that Ueda had already gotten off the phone and was sitting on the floor with his legs spread out.

“Tanaka. He’s with Maru. The engagement party yesterday just happened to be Maru’s but instead of hearing about the aftermath of the party, Maru texted me and told me that he run off with Koki.” Ueda smirked as he looked through his phone, “Funny, they manage to block the news station from reporting about the elope.”

“Hah!? Yesterday's engagement party was Nakamaru’s!?” Junno called out, he was definitely worried now, “I can’t leave Koki with him then! He’ll only get hurt! Uebo, please give me Maru’s phone number!”

However, as Junno was about to reach for Ueda’s cellphone, the older boy quickly pulled it away, “Didn’t you hear me? Maru ran away with Tanaka, meaning he rejected the engagement.”

“B-but Koki, h-he cried so much, h-”

“I know Maru hurt your friend, but I think you can trust him, he won’t hurt Tanaka again, I‘m positive.”

Junno paused as he stared at the older boy, trying to see if there was any hesitation in Ueda’s eyes, but of course, the older boy’s eyes were always serious and this made Junno sighed. Giving up as he slumped down, “Okay…I’m sure Koki still loves him…so if he trust him, there’s nothing I can do…” he mumbled.

“Good boy,”

The tall lad sulked there, as his eyes trail off toward the strap on Ueda’s phone, “How did you get that back?” he asked instead, trying to take his mind off his worries for Koki. He remembered that he never got a chance to give it to Ueda. He thought that he might had left it in the park, being thrown away and gone by now.

“This?” Ueda asked as he brought it up, his fingers touching the surface of the beads, feeling the engraving of the letters, “Gackt gave it to me, saying that it was your confession,” he smiled, “though I prefer to hear you say those words, this was good enough.”

Junno blushed, his eyes locking onto the L-O-V-E beads; he forgot he had added those on! That was when he caught Ueda’s eyes, and somehow he saw a hungry beast staring back at him, “A-ah! You kept it with you all this time?” he called out, trying avert the atmosphere that he was feeling.

“Uh-hm, though I preferred the real person by my side,” he licked the side of his lips, still staring, a bit too lustful. Ueda was slowly making his way toward Junno.

The tall lad nervously backed up, “That phone call! Who was it?!” he asked, hoping to change the topic now, since the atmosphere was definitely not shifting.

“No one important…”

“It had to be important! They actually calling you on Christmas, was it a girl?” he laughed out, obviously a fake laugh.

Ueda suddenly paused, blanking a couple time, “It was a woman, but it’s not what you think, she was only calling to confirm my enrollment to law school.” he started explaining, “I’ve been faithful to only you.” he said seriously.

Junno gave out a mentally sigh of relief, the look in Ueda’s eyes had changed and the lustful beast was gone now, “I was just kidding,” he smiled, “But law school? Why are you enrolling to law school?”

“Didn’t I tell you, I have decided to become a lawyer. I don’t really need to go to law school cause I can easily pass the bar test, but my father want me to go for a year before taking the exam,”

Junno paused, shocked at what Ueda just said, “Y-you never told me you wanted to be a lawyer, what about taking over the family business?”

“I guess I didn’t tell you, huh…” Ueda said, a bit surprise, “I gave up the Ueda name, I mean, I’m not changing my name or anything, but I’m not part of that family anymore. My father agreed to help me through school, but after that I’ll be completely on my own and…” Ueda hesitated to continued, “…I realize I want to become a lawyer to be able to protect you.” he said, “If I become a lawyer, I can use the law against my family, against anyone who may harm you,” Ueda smiled, “I’ll be your prince!”

Something shot through Junno when Ueda said this, making his heart skip a beat, “B-but-”

“No buts! I’ve already decided! Don’t give me any speech about ‘it’s your fault that I’m not following my dream and crap like that’ to be honest, before you came around, I never had any goals or dreams, but now my only dream is to be able to have you by my side…” he felt a bit embarrassed for what he just said, “Gawd! All this talking had made me hungry!” Ueda called out, changing the subject now, “Go cook me something.” he ordered.

Junno was still a bit shocked from it all, but as soon as Ueda stood up, he snapped back. Watching as the older boy walked to the kitchen section and was roaming through the fridge. Junno just couldn’t believe it, was this fate playing with him again? Testing him? Ueda looked back at him and smiled.

Junno held his breath at the sight, that smile alone got rid of any uneasiness left in his heart. No matter what he’ll believe in Ueda, even if this is fate’s test, all he had to do was believe in Ueda, and he’ll sure everything will be alright. He’ll be able to be happy, be able to love and in return, be love.

“What are you doing? I wanna eat.”

The tall lad slowly smiled and walked to Ueda.

He had already grabbed onto the hand once and released it, but this time, he had decided, no matter what, he was not going to let go ever again.

******************************

“I thought I told you to give me my phone, I wanna leave…” Koki mumbled as the two stood under a coffee shop that looked like it was in the middle of remodeling since the sign name hadnt been put up yet and through the window, Koki could see that some of the seats were still in the process of making, “So why did you bring me here?”

“This is your Christmas present, of course!” the older boy called out as he took out a key, “Here!”

“Hah!?” Koki wasn’t sure if Maru was telling a joke or if he was being serious, “You’ve got to be kidding me, right?” he asked, turning away, “I think I can walk home from here…” but just as he was about to leave, Maru suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the entrance of the shop, opening it with the key that he was handing Koki. To the younger boy’s surprise, it actually opened.

“Before Tat-chan left, he asked me that if I was to find you, if I was to bring you back to my life again, I will be able to protect you.” Maru unexpectedly said as they entered the store, making Koki look up, “At first, I didn’t understand what he meant by that, but as I continued to search for you, I notice how much information was blocked, it was all the work of Mrs. Ueda. That was when it hit me, even though your information was blocked out because Mrs. Ueda was preventing Tat-chan from Taguchi, Mrs. Ueda could have been my own parents. I finally understood what Tat-chan meant.” Maru turned back to Koki and stared deep into the younger boy’s eyes, “If I was to find you, I will be able to protect you from my world.”

Koki felt his face warming up as he shifted his eyes, feeling nervous under the older boy’s gaze. The wrist that was still being held by Maru was not helping one bit, he just knew that Maru was aware of the speed of his heartbeats “W-what does this coffee house have to do with that?” he mumbled, trying to sound annoyed.

“This is all I can think of,” Maru smiled, “This is the first time I ever bought anything under my name, even if it’s still the Nakamaru name, my parents can’t do anything to close it down, because it’s officially under my name alone…and yours.” and when he said this, Koki froze, watching as Maru brought down his hand from Koki’s wrist, entangling them with the younger boy’s fingers, “I actually got the idea from Tat-chan, if my parents tried to do anything that would harm you or your job, legal action can prevent that. I chose a coffee shop because it’s rather popular nowadays and business can only go up, ain‘t I the smartest?” he laughed out.

“So… your parents knew about me?” Koki whispered now, becoming nervous from the thought.

“Of course, they didn’t know at first, but since I kept pushing the engagement plan, withdrawing from the whole idea, my parents soon found out, that’s why my mother forced the engagement party on me…” Maru frowned, noticing the worried look on the younger boy’s face, “But you don’t have to worry about them! I won’t run away, I can take care of them, I‘ll make them accept you!” he smiled, trying to brighten up the atmosphere.

“…but because of me, you ran out of your engagement party…” Koki said, remembering it now, “They must hate me…”

Maru gave out a sigh as he hugged the boy, “I didn’t know you cared so much about how my parents thought of you,” he giggled, “I told you not to worry, after they learn how adorable and cute you can be, they’ll easily accept you…”

“But that’s another problem; I’m neither adorable nor cute…” Koki mumbled, depressed, “if you’re talking about cute, then Yui will beat me, hell, even that Ueda would…”

Maru gave out a laugh and let go as he placed a hand on the shorter one’s head, “Well to me, you are the most adorable, cutest person I ever known.” he smiled.

“That’s only because there’s something wrong with your head…”

“Are you pouting? You know, that only makes you cuter?” Maru said, “Really, trust me, my parents will definitely love their only child’s choice.”

“…somehow that just make me feel worst…you suck at comforting…” Koki mumbled, trying to hide the facts that he does trust the older boy.

“Come here, you’re so cute!” Maru called out as he tries to hug Koki again, but the younger boy quickly ducked it.

“We have another problem…” Koki said, walking toward the counter of the shop.

Maru sulked from the miss of warmth as he turn toward his lover, “What?”

“I’m not skilled in coffee making.”

“No problem at all!” Maru smiled, “I hired a master to teach you until you get the hangs of things, you’re going to have your lessons here, starting tomorrow!”

“W-what? Then when does the shop open?”

“On New Year’s, so start thinking of names that you’d like to call this place!” Maru chirped out.

“WHAT!?”

******************************

“Ne, Junno, don’t call me Uebo anymore, just Tatsuya is fine…” Ueda suddenly mumbled, making it sound like it was the easiest thing to say.

“Eh? But I wanna call you Uebo!” Junno called out.

“Why?”

“Because it’s short for Ueda-bocchan! Young master Ueda, doesn‘t it sound nice, Uebo?”

“I thought you said that it was only because you ran out of “D’s” and “A’s”?”

Junno laughed, “I thought of it afterward, ain’t I smart?”

“Well you can’t call me that anymore, call me Tatsuya,”

“No,” the tall lad pouted, cutting the vegetables.

“Junno,” Ueda tried to reason out, “I’m not the young master anymore,”

The younger boy paused as if thinking it over, that was when he smiled, turning to Ueda, “Then I’ll call you Uepi!”

“JUNNO!”

******************************

At long last, Maru finally gave him back his phone when they were just outside his small apartment. He found out that he had 54 missed calls and 26 voice messages all from the same person.

“Thanks for walking me home, you can go now.” he said to Maru, but just as he was about to leave, the older boy suddenly grabbed his hand.

“I won’t kiss you, but can you at least let me hold you…” Maru mumbled.

“Hah?!” but before Koki even gave a proper reply, Maru already pulled him to a hug, tightening his hold.

“I really don’t want our time together to end, I mean it’s a miracle that I even have you in my arms right now, I just want to be certain that it’s really you and not one of my repeating dreams…” Maru whispered.

Koki blushed, but slowly returned the hug too, “Baaka, it’s definitely not a dream…”

This made Maru smile, “Yep, definitely doesn’t feel like a dream, the Koki in my dream was a lot nicer.”

“Oi!” Koki called out, letting go, though Maru was still holding tightly to the younger boy.

“But it doesn’t come close to the real thing!” Maru teased, rocking Koki from side to side, one foot to the other, “I really, really missed you…”

“…Me too.”

“Do you still have the cellphone I gave you? Or did you throw it away?”

“…I think I still have it,”

Maru let go and looked at Koki, “You think? So does that mean you threw away the stuffed Pooh Bear and the stars jar that I gave you too? Do you know how hard it was for me to make those?”

“It’s just paper,” Koki mumbled.

“Paper's that took me a while to make, I had to look online for instruction on how to do it.”

Koki stared blankly at Maru, making the older boy smile.

“Hehehe, I missed fighting with you too,” he giggled as he hugged Koki again, rocking back and forth once more. The moment slowly got quiet as the older boy closed his eyes, wanting to remember Koki’s touch. His breathing, his warmth, his heartbeat, these were the things Maru regretted when they separated, it was the things that he wished he pay more attention to and now he have each and everyday to love these things, he have each day to love Koki more.

“…I still have them,” Koki whispered, breaking the silence, “They’re hidden from sight, but I still have them…I couldn‘t let go that easily.”

Maru bit his lips from laughing out, but he couldn’t help how happy he felt when he heard this.

Of course Koki could just tell that Maru was holding his laughter which made him even more embarrassed, “Could you let go now?” Koki said.

“Nope!”

Koki tried to push himself off but Maru held on tight, “Maru!”

“NO!”

“MARU!!”

“Koki!” Maru laughed out, “Come on just a little bit longer, considering today, I might not be able to meet you tomorrow,”

The whole expression on Koki’s face changed as he swiftly pushed Maru off, “What do you mean? Are your parents going to lock you in your room? Are they going to ship you off to another country?!” Koki called out, worried.

“No, no, I didn’t mean to make you worry, of course my parents will be mad, but I’m an adult now. I’m sure they can’t punish me like that. I meant, I might not be able to meet up with you tomorrow cause I’ll be working on finalizing the contract for the coffee house, but that doesn‘t mean that you don‘t have to show up for your lesson, the master will still be there waiting for you.”

“T-then what if your parents kick you out?”

“Of course not, I’m their only son, they spoil me rotten!” Maru laughed, the expression on Koki’s face showed no change, “Seriously Koki, trust me, my parents aren’t like that, like I said, I’ll make sure they come to like you. Cheer up, ne.” Maru said as he patted the younger boy’s head.

Koki stared at him with uncertainty, but slowly he nodded.

“I’ll let you go today, but next time it won’t be this easy,” Maru teased as he turned around and was about to walk off.

“Wait Maru, you don’t have my new number!” Koki called out.

“Tsk, who do you think I am? I already got it when I received your stuff this morning,” Maru turned his head toward Koki as he smiled, “Don’t stay up late waiting for my call now!”

“Shut up, what idiot would do that!?” Koki yelled out to the back of Maru as the older boy walked off. Knowing that Maru was laughing made Koki smile as he watched the rich boy go until he disappeared from sight, “I guess the idiot will be me again…”

Koki liked his current apartment. Though it was small and old, the people living there weren’t as annoying as his previous place, they were mostly poor college students and so they tend to keep to themselves.

“Junno’s going to kill me…” he mumbled as he took out his key to open the door, “I bet he’s worried sick…”

“Ah, okaeri,” an unfamiliar voice greeted him, making Koki close the door again.

Koki stood there dumbfounded, still holding onto the knob, “Did I enter the wrong apartment?” he thought, looking down at the handle, “But I swear I opened it with my own key…” he look to the side of the door, it was the same address, “then who was that, where‘s Junno?” Koki froze there, unsure if he should attempt to open the door or leave. Spending time with Maru definitely had turned his world upside down- he couldn’t make sense of things anymore.

Suddenly the door swung open, “Koki! Where have you been!?” Junno called out, pulling Koki into the apartment and examining him, “I heard that you were with Nakamaru-san, did he do anything to you? Did he hurt you?”

When the younger boy said that, a huge blush crept to Koki’s face, remembering exactly what Maru did.

“Eh? Koki?! He did hurt you didn’t he!? What did he do?” Junno called out, worried now from Koki’s changed expression.

“By the look of it, it wasn’t that kind of hurt, Junno.” A voice suddenly said, catching Koki’s attention. He turned and saw Ueda sitting on the floor, legs spread out and looking as if he always belonged there.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Koki yelled out, causing Junno to cover his mouth.

“This is not about him; tell me exactly how he hurt you!” Junno pouted.

Koki’s mood suddenly changed again, “H-he didn’t do anything! We-He…didn’t do anything at all!” Koki called out as he started walking to the bathroom.

Junno stubbornly followed, “No, something did happen, tell me!”

“Then tell me why that guy’s here?!”

“We made up! Now you, what happen?!”

“WE MADE UP TOO!” Koki yelled out as he closed the bathroom door, obviously hiding the fact that more did happen after the ‘making up‘.

Ueda stared at Junno, who was still at the bathroom door-hoping that Koki would come out, and suddenly he dropped back flat onto the floor, “I can’t believe it, Maru did it before me?” he pouted.

All Junno could do was stare at his lover confusedly.

******************************

He knew this was coming, it was obvious that it was going to happen, he’ll be even more surprised if it didn’t.

Maru stood in the living room facing his parents as they looked back with displeasing expressions. Yui sat on the couch, not facing him as she wept, hands covering her face.

“Where have you been?” his father asked.

“Do you know how worried we were? Poor Yui-chan stayed here the whole night waiting for you! You should have seen her parents, they were not happy about your little action!” his mother called out.

“I already told you that I wasn’t going to marry Yui, it’s your own fault for going on with the ceremony.” Maru answered.

“Look at that!” his mother screamed as she turned to her husband, pointing to her son, “he's only been gone a night with that horrible boy and he already learned how to talk back to his parents! He never did that before! It’s that boy’s fault, that bo-!”

“It is not Koki’s fault!” Maru called out, interrupting his mother from her overdramatic speech, “I’ve been saying that, you just didn’t take me seriously.”

His father remained calm as he held his wife, trying to calm her down, “Yuichi, tell us, who is this Koki to you?”

Maru stood firmly as he looked straight into his father’s eyes, without hesitation, he answered, “Koki is the one I love.”

“YUICHI!” his mother screamed out, rushing over to Yui, “How can you say such a thing in front of your fiancé?”

Yui turned over to Maru, staring at him with watery eyes, making the boy feel a biy guilty, but he only swallowed it down, “Koki is the one I love,” he repeated again, turning back to his father, “I will not be with anyone accept him…”

His father stared at him and without saying anything else; he walked out of the room.

“Yuichi! Look what you’ve done!” his mother screamed as she also followed her husband.

Maru looked over at Yui as she stared back with hope, “I’m sorry Yui, but I really do love him, I won’t hurt him anymore…I hope you can understand,” he said, even though his cousin had lied to him for almost their entire life, he still wanted to believe that Yui was a good person, that she had her reason to lie. He gave her a smile, but seeing that the girl just sat there, staring at him, not believing a word he was saying, he decide to leave to his room, thinking that Yui just needed time to accept it.

Yui watched him go as tears continue to fall, “This isn’t how it’s suppose to be like…” she whispered, clenching her hands tightly. She shook her head, “It isn’t suppose to be like this, it’s all his fault, he stole Yuichi from me, it’s all his fault, if he wasn‘t here, Yuichi will still be mine, if he was gone…” she silently wept, repeating those words over and over again.

******************************

“Eh? You’re staying here?!” Koki called out, pointing at Ueda.

Ueda replied with a nod.

“Junno!”

“Please Koki? He’s just gonna stay here until the dormitory opens after the break,” Junno explained.

“B-but he’s a rich kid, couldn‘t he stay at a hotel or something…beside we only have two futons, where will he sleep?”

“I can share with Junno,” Ueda bluntly said, like there was no problem at all, making Junno blush.

“Hell no!” Koki called out, “I’m sure we have some extra blankets, you can have those!”

“I don’t really see a problem in sharing with Junno though,”

“The futons are small, got it?! You sleep with blankets, end of story!” Koki yelled, opening up the closet to search for blankets in the unopened boxes. That was when he saw the bold words ’school books’, even though he had purposely written it like that in hope of losing it among the other boxes, he had always known which one it was, as much as he tried to forget, he never did. Koki took out the box and opened it, revealing all the things that Maru had given him. Koki reached in and grabbed the phone, the very first thing he had received from Maru.

“What’s that?” Junno called out, looking over.

“It’s nothing, just an old phone…” Koki mumbled.

“Old? It’s look newer than your current phone! I wonder if there‘s some game in it?” Junno said, about to reach for it, only for Koki to pull it away.

“No, go play with Ueda or something.”

Junno looked at Ueda as if suddenly remembering something, “Ah! I still have your PSP!” he called out, going through the closet now.

“Why do you still have that thing?” Ueda mumbled, regretting ever buying Junno the device since it had distracted his lover way too many times and it was going to do it again.

Koki ignored the two and went back to his phone. He replaced the battery and placed the sim card of his current phone to Maru’s. Suddenly his phone riang the same assigned ring tune. It was the older boy. Koki jolted up as he looked at Junno and Ueda. Trying not to look suspicious, he grabbed the phone and ran to the bathroom.

Both Junno and Ueda gave each other knowing looks.

“What?” Koki answered, attempting to sound annoyed to hide the fact that he was awaiting the call.

“Everything didn’t turn out that bad,” Maru laughed from the other line, knowing Koki perfectly well that he was anticipating to know what was going on, “It might take a while, but we’ll be accepted.”

Koki could visually see Maru smiling when he said this making Koki smile too, “I hope you’re right…” he mumbled.

“I’m always right!” Maru called out, “So are you using the phone I gave you, or did you really lose it?”

“I’m using it, I’m using it right now, I told you I didn’t lose it,”

“Good. Anyways, I wanted to let you know that I can’t come by tomorrow,”

“You already told me that before you left,”

“I did?” Koki heard Maru laugh, “I guess I did, huh? But remember to go to the lesson, okay?”

“I know, you already remind me about that too,”

“Oh! And Taguchi, have him come in too,” Maru suddenly said, catching Koki off guard.

“Huh? Why?”

“You want your best friend to work with you, don’t you? He can take a couple of lessons too so that he can help you if it ever gets too busy for you to handle it alone, but his main job will be as a waiter. You don‘t have to worry about the service or anything else, I‘ll handle those, just focus on making drinks, okay?”

Koki paused, he never seen Maru work before and so hearing the older boy talk like this made Koki feel like he was talking to a whole new person.

“Koki? Are you still there?”

Koki slowly smirked, “You really love me, don’t you?” he joked.

“Of course I love you, I’ll tell you that everyday if you don’t believe me,” Maru answered back seriously, making Koki blush.

“You should at least hesitate a bit, baka,” Koki mumbled, but knowing that Maru wasn’t physically there, he smiled anyways.

“Why? Did I sound cool?”

“Idiot! I’m hanging up now,” Koki heard Maru laughing as he ended the call, “That baka…”

He opened the door only to have Junno fall in, he was obviously trying to listen in on the conversation. The younger boy quickly stood up and cleared his throat, “What did you guys talk about?” he asked.

“Maru also wants you to go with me tomorrow,” Koki answered, since the second half of the conversation was too embarrassing to mention.

“Hah? Me? Go with you to the coffee house?!” Junno called out in excitement.

“Yes you, who else? You‘re going to be working there too.”

Junno suddenly ran to Ueda wanting to tell the older boy the good news, even though he already obviously heard due to the size of the apartment.

That was when his phone rang again, receiving a text message. Koki paused as he stared at his phone; it was from Maru, making Koki wonder why Maru messaged him when they were just talking a while ago. “Maybe he forgot to mention something,” Koki mumbled to himself, since he was the one to end the call. The only problem was, Maru never messaged him before and so he wasn’t sure how to open a text message.

After clicking some random buttons, he finally opened it.

Meet me at Centro Park at 7AM tomorrow

“7AM? I thought he said he couldn’t meet up,” Koki mumbled, but smiled, “he must really want to see me to want to meet me this early, baka,” Koki unconsciously wanted to see Maru too.

The next day Koki overslept, but he was able to catch the bus. As he planned, he’ll meet up with Maru quickly then head over to the coffeehouse to join Junno and the master, it was a tight schedule but it shouldn’t be so bad. Koki glanced at his watch, it was a bit after seven, “I hope Maru didn’t come super early like last time…” he mumbled, smiling from the memories, wondering when did he first started falling for Maru, “It couldn’t had been at first sight, there’s no such thing,” but it really didn’t matter how he fell in love, all that mattered now, was that he was in love.

Koki quickly snapped out of thought when he noticed that it was his stop. He walked in a quick pace just in case Maru was really there waiting for him. Each step up the stairs of Centro Park made his heart beat faster as if they weren’t even together the day before. He didn’t want to admit it, but he must really love Maru to want to see him this much.

He heaved when he made it to the last step, seeing his breath in the cold air, but Maru was no where in sight. Koki looked up at the clock tower, it was already 7:15, “Weird, Maru’s never late…” he mumbled.

Since it was early, there was nobody at the park except a certain group of bad crowd that Koki tried to ignore. He glanced at his watch again, “Where’s Maru?” he thought, his eyes went back to the group, but suddenly one of them look up, making him look away. They looked a bit too scary for Koki, even though he himself had usually been assumed to be a gangster every now and then, the group before him actually looked like gangsters, holding wooden bats and snickering as they looked at him.

“I-I should call Maru…” he thought as he turned back, deciding that it was best to leave the scene.

“Hey kid!”

Koki froze, the call came from the group, Koki gulped, pretending not to hear it as he was about to continue, but suddenly he felt his back collar being pulled, as he turned, he was punched right in the face, making him fall straight to the ground as the group laughed.

“What the hell is your problem!?” Koki hollered, tasting the blood from his cut lip. He was about to stand up, but someone suddenly kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall back down again. Before he knew it, the group ganged up and started kicking him everywhere, not giving him an opportunity to even think.

Koki angrily kicked, causing someone to fall back and he quickly took the opportunity to stand up. A guy tried to punch him again, but he kicked that person in the stomach, causing him to fly off. Koki ran, trying to escape through the space that he just made, but he suddenly felt his jacket getting pulled.

He kicked the person to his left, but they still had a hold on him. Koki instantly slipped out of his jacket and ran. The person who had a hold on him, furiously threw the jacket and ran after, soon the group surrounded him. There was no way out, he couldn’t escape.

“Shit! Get him!” one of them yelled. Koki saw a bat flew his way and he quickly ducked, but suddenly another bat came flying, hitting him in the stomach, making him fall once more. There was another hard strike to stomach, causing Koki to close his eyes in pain, as more kicking came his way.

“We can’t finish him off, she say she’ll take care of it.” Koki heard someone say, but it was too painful to open his eyes, and before he knew it, the world became quiet and he blacked out.

********The day before********

Maru heard Koki hung up on him and finished up laughing before closing his phone too, “He’s so cute when he’s embarrassed,” he said, placing his phone down as he undid his tie, walking into the bathroom.

After a moment, the phone was picked up again and a message was sent off.

She closed the phone and placed it back on its spot as if untouched. She could hear Maru singing from the shower, causing her to smile.

“Without him, you’ll be all mine…” Yui whispered as she glanced over at the phone again, “He’ll disappear from your life forever…”

…to be continued.

ne, ne!~ since next chapter is going to be the last chapter, i want it to be special (obviously cause this was only my second fanfic ever and it took me almost 5 years to write cause i'm a failure author and so i was wondering if you guys would also comment with your favorite scene from the fanfic? i want to draw out those scenes! i know, i know, i should just focus on getting the chapter done, but still ;__; it IS the last chapter...and it was also because of this fanfic that i met so many wonderful fangirls and also got so much into KAT-TUN!~ ne? please?? but it's okay if you don't want to cause obviously you forgot cause i took way too long to update, T^T I'M SORRY!!