[oneshot] The Headphones Boy
Title: The Headphones Boy
Fandom: Hey! Say! JUMP
Author: yoyocchi
Pairing: Takaki Yuuya/Arioka Daiki
Rating: G
Genre: tiny-weeny-bity fluff, slice of life
Warning: AU, un-BETA-ed
Summary: Takaki saw the headphones boy practically everyday. He didn’t know his name. He never talked to him and vice versa. But it was just natural when he started having interest on him.
Takaki had the habit to spend fifteen minutes staring emptily at the ceiling after he got awoken by the loud beeping noise that was his cellphone alarm. Today was no different; he needed time to fully regain his conscious back as half of his soul was still lingering somewhere in the dream land. At the same time, bubbles of thoughts appear in his head, mostly remembering the schedule and plans-and maybe promises-he had for the day.
Today is Monday.
No more holiday.
I’m a high school student now.
… Wow.
The longest needle of the clock hit the number three, and pulling the curtains open was the first thing he did after he got up from his bed. He usually would find the street in front of the house empty, but today he spotted someone passing by. It wasn’t a woman bringing grocery bags or an old man taking a stroll with his pet dog. It was a boy he never saw before. The boy had a pair of big, red headphones covering his ears, and judging from the uniform he wore, he went to the junior high school where Takaki used to go to.
Maybe he’s new here? he thought briefly before he left his room for breakfast.
Since then, the boy with big headphones always passed Takaki’s house whenever Takaki opened the curtains in the morning of every school day. Watching the boy automatically became one of Takaki’s routine, and as the days went by, he naturally started to pay attention to any change he could find in him. Or to be more precise: anything about him. Like how the boy had a baby-ish face unlike most boys his age, how that cheeks of his looked like soft steamed dumplings as if asking for a pinch, and how his nostrils would flare up when he seemed like in a bad mood.
It was about two months later when Takaki saw the boy didn’t wear headphones for the first time.
He’s not in the mood for music? he wondered. That’s new.
But the headphones boy was bobbing his head as if he’s listening to some unheard music. Then Takaki noticed two long black lines swaying outside the boy’s uniform; one end of the lines was hidden inside his trousers pocket while the other end went behind his hair. It turned out that the boy was using earphones.
What happen with the headphones?
Takaki assumed that the boy had his red headphones broken when Takaki saw him with a new pair of white headphones the next day, before he changed it again to another new one two months later.
Takaki entered his room with a relieved sigh. The rain was pouring hard; good thing his mother had insisted him to bring an umbrella this morning or else he had to wait at the school until the rain calmed down.
He threw his school bag to the study chair and looked outside the window. Coincidentally, the headphones boy was on his way home. Takaki saw him only for two seconds since the boy was running in a great hurry with his bag unsuccessfully shielding his head from the rain. His uniform was drenched already.
The headphones boy didn’t pass Takaki’s house the next morning, leaving Takaki unconsciously worried over his condition for the rest of his classes.
Stretching his arms above his head, he yawned loudly without bothering to cover his wide-opened mouth. He was tired after one hour working on his math homework-his brain shrunk thanks to the numbers and the calculations-so he decided to take a break for a while.
JUST for a while, he warned himself.
He spun on his study chair and left it for the window. Slightly pulling the curtain aside, he saw two silhouettes walking in front of his house. He noticed one of the silhouettes was the headphones boy and the other one might be his friend. The friend had his arm slung over the headphones boy’s shoulder. The two were laughing quite loud.
Takaki close the curtain and left his room, then came back with disappointment on his face after he got nothing from the fridge and food storage downstairs.
He sat on the chair, stretched his neck muscle, and tried to continue his homework.
He cursed out loud five minutes later. All the numbers inside his head somehow disappeared into thin air whenever he thougth of them!
With a frustated groan, he threw himself to the bed, face buried deep in the pillow. Forget math homework-he could just copy Yabu’s tomorrow.
Takaki’s eyebrows furrowed when he noticed the headphones boy’s bandaged left hand.
Did he fracture it or something? Takaki didn’t know. He wouldn’t know why. There was nothing he could do but absent-mindedly thinking about it.
The bandage was there until the boy removed it a few weeks later.
The headphones boy got another new headphones for himself. It had been the tenth time he changed his headphones within a year and eight months.
Starting from this spring, Takaki became a third year high school student. He looked outside the window and found the headphones boy not wearing his junior high school uniform. He was wearing a high school uniform-he was a high school student now-but it was different from the one Takaki wore.
Takaki frowned, knowing the boy didn’t go to the same school as him.
Two years. More exactly two years and three months. And there was no meaningful progress at all.
Takaki started wondering if he would forever be a nothing to the headphones boy. Heck, he bet the boy didn’t even know that he was exist in this world.
He had planned a way to get close to him, something classic like going off to school when the headphones boy pass his house so they would likely bump on each other. But he thought about it again and he knew it wouldn’t work. First of all, he couldn’t wake up before seven o’clock whatever the reason was. And maybe most people couldn’t tell from his nonchalant face and his dyed brown hair but starting a conversation with someone he never talked to was actually uncomfortable for him.
At this point, he wished a miracle would happen to him somehow.
That was why he ended up in front of a temple complex this Sunday morning. He couldn’t believe it himself. Was he ever this desperate about someone?
He swayed the big rope that hanging down from the roof; the bells on top of it were chiming along. Clapping his hands twice, he shut his eyes and murmured every wishes he wanted the God to grant.
Takaki asked if Yabu wanted to go along watching the new summer movie with him next Saturday.
Yabu declined. “I can’t. I also have soccer practice this weekend. Sorry, Yuuya.”
“Geez… What’s wrong with you? Last week you were complaining because I didn’t invite you to watch that movie and now I ask you if you want to join in but you refuse it.”
“That’s because you never fix your bad habit of going anywhere all by yourself!” Yabu playfully shoved Takaki’s side.
“It can’t be helped! I’m originally a loner.”
“What loner?!” he laughed. “You can at least call me and ask my opinion!”
When the laughter died down, he continued, “Anyway, you know the National tournament is getting nearer, so I better spend my free times practicing harder. Moreover, it will be the last tournament for the third year students. I’m feeling like giving my all-I mean, more than usual.”
“Ah, you’re right.” Takaki looked up, his eyes winced due to the strong sunlight. “So that means it will be summer holiday soon.”
Yabu gave him a look. “You didn’t listen to me until I finished talking, did you?”
“YABU-CHAN!” A very loud voice successfully caught the two’s attention. They turned their head to where the voice came from.
And Takaki froze.
No way. Is he really the headphones boy-wait. It can’t be! The sunlight from before must be decieving me! he thought. He wiped his eyes, trying to erase the ‘illusion’ that was running to his direction right now, but to no avail. It can’t be the headphones boy… And how did he get to know Yabu-kun?! He even uses the suffix ‘-chan’.
“Oh! Dai-chan, you’ve finally arrived!” Yabu greeted the headphones boy back.
“Yeah,” the headphones boy chuckled between his slight pant.
“Why are you running here? I thought your team should gather at the soccer field immediately once you guys arrived.”
“That’s the problem. I got nature call at the last minute before the bus left and the bus had gone when I came back from the toilet. With the bus overly crowded, no wonder they forget one person behind.”
Yabu laughed. “Pity you. So you came here running all the way?”
“You silly! Of course, I took the public bus.”
“Er, Yabu-kun,” Takaki finally spoke up after recovered from the momentarily shock. “He…?”
“Oh, that’s right,” Yabu said. “This is Arioka Daiki, the freshman ace of Sakuragaoka soccer team. I’ve talked about him before. A cute little guy, isn’t he?”
“Hey! I’m not cute! And I’m not little!!!” Daiki protested.
Takaki recalled Yabu said the name several times at today’s lunch break. The headphones boy-who was apparently named Arioka Diaki-was the only freshman ace in the soccer tournament for the first half of this year because he was known for his amazing soccer skill at last year’s junior high soccer tournament. Yabu also told Takaki that he met Daiki when the school’s soccer team held a camp training together with Sakuragaoka’s last Golden Week, and that they were pretty quick at getting close to each other.
For two years and three months Takaki didn’t know the heaphones boy was a soccer player. He also just realized that Daiki was wearing a soccer uniform.
He somewhat wanted to strangle Yabu out of jealousy right at this moment.
Yabu turned to Daiki. “Dai-chan, this is my friend Takaki Yuuya, member of go-home-straight-after-school club,” he joked.
Daiki nodded politely at Takaki. “Hello.”
Hiding his nervousness, Takaki replied with a small nod.
“I think you better get hurry, Dai-chan, or your coach won’t be pleased,” Yabu reminded.
“Crap! You’re right! His angry face is the last thing I want to see today!” Daiki panickly ran past Yabu and Takaki, then Yabu said to Takaki about Daiki most probably not knowing where the soccer field was and bade him goodbye before he ran after Daiki.
Takaki was very surprised that his wish would be granted this fast; it took less than one week after he went to the temple.
He laid down on the bed, thinking of what had happened this very afternoon-thinking of Arioka Daiki. That was the first time he got to know the boy’s name, the first time he stood near him (he had always presumed that Daiki’s height was shorter than his by around five centimeters, but in fact Daiki was much shorter than that), the first time he saw him that close (Daiki’s cheeks seemed much softer from closer view), the first time he heard him talking (Takaki never thought that Daiki was a kind of person with big enthusiasm-that boy was actually very loud!), and the first time he saw his big smile (together with that vigorous shine on his eyes, Daiki looked as much innocent as a little kid). Although those were just some small improvements, Takaki was happy to be able to know more about the headphones boy.
He took something from the night table. It was a small charm pocket; he found it on the school ground at the spot where Daiki was standing and nearly stepped on it. On the pocket, the name ‘Arioka Daiki’ was embroidered with golden thread. Maybe Daiki used the charm as a key chain and he had no clue that it fell from his bag.
God, are You saying that I should face him again and return this to him? He furrowed at his thought. It sounds as cliché as Nee-chan’s old shoujou mangas. Is there no any better way…?
But, at least that was better than nothing at all.
Takaki’s elder sister gaped at the sight of him wearing his shoes, ready to go to school. “The slowpoke Yuuya is all set before seven o’clock? Am I still dreaming or something?”
Takaki glared at her, but said nothing. It did very unusual of him to go to school this early. It was because he fell asleep at nine last night-he usually slept past midnight-and it resulted in him waking up at around six.
“I’m off,” he murmured and left the house. Once he was outside the gate, he stared down at the charm on his palm. He was thinking of the best way to give the charm back to its owner when it wasn’t even necessary. He was just too nervous to talk to his crush. He sighed, leaning his back on the wall fence, trying to make himself relax.
Just then, he heard footsteps coming to his direction. He turned his head and his eyes automatically widened.
Pulling down his headphones to his neck, Daiki blinked at him. He seemed a bit surprised to see Takaki there. “Aren’t you Yabu-chan’s friend? Er… Takagi-san?” he asked.
Takaki frowned. “It’s TakaKI.”
“My bad. Sorry. Ah, do you still remember me?”
Of course. Like I will ever forget your name. “Yeah. Arioka Daiki.”
Daiki grinned happily. “By the way, what a coincidence to meet you here-” You’re wrong, Arioka-kun. Something planned is not a coincidence. “-I never saw you passing this street before, though. What are you doing here?”
“Actually, it’s my house.” Takaki pointed his thumb through his shoulder.
“Eh? For real?”
“Why not? See? The name plate says ‘Takaki’.”
“Whoa, no way! So, after all this time, I’ve been passing your house…”
“Maybe you never saw me here before because I usually go to school at half past seven.”
“And I always go to school around this hour, so that’s very likely,” Daiki agreed. Then it reminded him that he was on his way to school right now. “Hey, let’s walk to school together! Or do you still want to stay here?”
Nice idea, Arioka-kun! Nice idea, indeed! “Guess I better not stay here for long.” Takaki shrugged with a satisfied smile. “But before we go…”
“What is it?”
“Here.” As Takaki showed Daiki the charm, Daiki gave him the look as if asking why he could have it with him. “You dropped it yesterday.”
“I didn’t notice…” Daiki took the charm. “I’m so glad you found it. It’s a very important good luck charm from my grandpa; I would feel terrible if I lost it. Thank you, Takaki-san.”
“Don’t mention. Let’s go.” Takaki turned his heels and walked away together with Daiki by his side.
Obvious smile was almost plastered on his face for the rest of the day that it left his classmates and his teachers confused. Even Yabu couldn’t do anything to make him back to his sense.
“Hey, Yuuya. Your classmates says you’re turning crazy. What’s wrong with you, actually?” Yabu asked Takaki. That dreamy smile his friend had looked absolutely stupid in his eyes.
Takaki giggled. Smiling still, he looked at Yabu. “I’ll beat you soon.”
“What’s even my fault?!!!” Yabu shuddered and stormed off from Takaki’s class. He didn’t know what to do with that crazy friend of his anymore. He swore he never saw Takaki behaving like that.
What Takaki meant was that he would beat Yabu in term of his closeness with Daiki, but Yabu thought he better quickly prepare a body armor before Takaki turned him into pulp.
Could Takaki be happier than this anytime later? Who knows. What was important for him right now was that this life felt easier than ever.
A/N: It was meant to be a drabble, but frustatingly ends up as a one-shot. With a fail ending orz;;;
Criticism and grammar corrections are very welcomed :)