Apasionado (Part 10)
Title: Apasionado
Pairing: Takaki Yuya x Inoo Kei (TakaNoo)
Type: Chaptered
Genre: Romance, friendship, fluff, school-life
Disclaimer: Boys aren’t mine. They belong to Johnny’s Entertainment. I am just a crazy fan who always imagine my otps ‘till I write down their stories based on personal expectations.
Summary: Inoo Kei was the homecoming king on his school. He has everything. He is expert at fulfilling people’s expectations. But one day, one twist on his life changes the whole world he’s currently into. So that Inoo decides to move. New school, new friends, mean new life as well. And he would never predict something might change drastically when he fell in love with new guy, Takaki Yuya.
Warning: My English is bad.
Part X: Mr. Playboy Class President
He’s a playboy. Everyone thought so. But everyone also knows that he’s not that type of jerk playboy. On the other side, he resembles a positive slope on X and Y axis, a positive attitude. That’s why he was chosen as class president and handled everything smoothly. Sometimes people couldn’t read what’s inside his mind, neither his best friends as well. Because he’s just expert - or maybe best at hiding his feeling.
“Yabu!! Take a picture of us!!”, Kasumi shouted, pulling Honda to her side and did a peace sign
“Alright my girls, say cheese…”
“Cheese!!”
The girls squeal noisily while looking at Yabu’s camera. They kept bumping each other with their shoulders and mentioning how great Yabu was. Yes, he is being well-known as future photographer. While for some points Kasumi complaint at the result because her cheeks look so chubby, or her hair wasn’t at its finest, and some typical girl stuffs. And Yabu didn’t know what to make of it.
“See Honda! My cheeks are getting chubbier!! And my arms-eww-I look like sumo wrestler!!”, she whined
“Bakasumi!! At least your weight is lower than mine!!”, Honda shot back
“But how is this?! I want to eat a lot on this class trip! Since we’re heading to Kyoto, I wanna eat their signature dishes!”
“Then just eat! You worry too much!”
“Yabu! I look fat ryte?”
“Huh?”, Yabu lifts his eyes up from his camera. “Fat? Of course not. You’re still pretty”, is all he said.
“Really?”
“Oh come on, even your chubby cheeks could be your appeal point, you know. Fifty points for my words”, he winked
“Yokatta naa….”
As Kasumi sighed in relief, Yabu patted her head like a brother to his little sister. And on the next second, he left the two girls behind, taking some memories to his capture.
Today’s sky is displaying endless blue clear color. The birds are chirping, and everyone are just as noisy. Some make a plan about what they’ll do on free-time later. Some show their bentos to each other, mostly girls. And it was near the gate, he sees Hamada wears his sunglasses, which is ridiculous to the point his friends bully him. A small smile crept on Yabu’s thin lips, it just feels so nice to be around his classmates. And this is just how class trip should be, having fun moments while waiting for bus to arrive.
Yabu stopped on a certain spot, right after his camera catches a sight of someone. He looks throughout the lens, wondering what this was about, or why do he have to own this sudden mixed feeling when he finds the exact view. It’s such a rare chance for him to see Inoo on his casual outfit. He knows Inoo will look so good on any clothes, since the younger guy has this basic fair skin. But he occasionally experiences this sort of thing, like pressing knots on shoulder, or whatever, when he notices how adorable Inoo looks on his jeans blazer and white plain tshirt.
“Why don’t you just take a picture of him?”
A voice barged into his ears, and it was Hikaru’s. Standing by his side.
“Oh… should I?”
“You like him right, Kou?”
“What does it mean? Some kind of new jokes?”, he asked back, ignoring the question while focusing on his camera.
“Do you think you could hide your feeling from me?”
“Are you trying to be my personal counselor?”
“Stop ignoring my questions”
“Then explain to me what this is all about”
“You like him”
“……………………………”
“You like Inoo, Yuya’s boyfriend”
“……………………………”
“I borrowed your phone yesterday, to play a game. And I am sorry, I didn’t mean to cross a boundary but suddenly I was lead into your phone’s gallery and I saw… you haven’t deleted those snow white’s pics yet”
“Nah. It’s not a problem”
“And some of Inoo’s candid pics”
“……………………………”
“You love camera, Kou. So I have this guess that you can’t handle yourself not to take a picture of him”
“I have you guys’ pictures as well. And you know Daiki dominated my memory card”
“That was different. We took the photo together, not some sort of things like stalking”
“……………………………”
“I thought you didn’t do secret observation to something, or someone that you didn’t actually care too much”
“Hika I-“
“You know I’m right”
“……………………………”
“Just admit. It doesn’t sound dumb. I’m not judging”
“Please don’t tell Yuya”
“I won’t. You can count on me”
“Thanks”
Their conversation ends without punctuation. Hikaru just observed his friend who’s now zooming-in the lens to Inoo’s direction. They are quite far, that’s why he needed to do so. And Yabu’s expression behind his lens is so serious, like he pours all attention to one certain model in front of him. Well, he should admits, Inoo is a pretty and nice and smart guy, even if he’s sometimes very hard to reach. But he’s sure Yabu doesn’t love Inoo only because of that. He couldn’t explain why he suddenly had this mere idea that Yabu also loves Inoo, it just strikes him one day. And the more he figures out Yabu’s behavior to Inoo, the more he knows his idea isn’t just an imagination.
“Nah… This is not good”
“What?”, Hikaru asked
He leans closer to Yabu’s camera, finding Inoo’s images on it. The goofy guy frowned. What’s not so good about the pictures? Inoo seems perfectly fine on the snapshot, laughing happily with Yamada and Daiki while munching a small chocolate bar.
“That’s a nice pic. You’re good at this, you know”
“Really? It doesn’t look good on me”
“On which part?”
The class president is wondering around, turns his eyes here and there frequently. And on the intersection, he sees a brunet guy is running to their community.
“Hikaru, you’ll see”, Yabu said
Yuya approached his boyfriend right away, clapping both hands together, muttering sorry for coming late despite it still is fifteen minutes to go. In some sloppy seconds, Yuya ruffled Inoo’s hair with no one notice except the flocks. There was something about Yuya and Inoo that made Yabu feel exactly like he should captured them. And that’s how he clicked the button.
He sighed.
“What’s up?”
“See. This is very different with the last photo, nee?”, asked Yabu
Hikaru takes the camera, and an image of Inoo’s huge smile filling the whole screen. Right, this is just definitely different. Like there’s some kind of demarcation of how Inoo feels to Yuya compared to others. Something so deeply and personally about the two that makes everyone feel they can’t take a spot between them. So Hikaru might as well admit that, deep down, he understands why Yabu didn’t want to expose his true feeling.
“You’re a nice guy”, Hikaru snorted
Yabu replied him with a shrug, didn’t particularly care to respond any further. He shook his head over the terrible realization, trying not to think about Yuya and Inoo keeping each other company. Thus he slowly takes other pictures of his classmate, and not so long later until the bus finally gets in the line.
***
“Are you really okay?”
“Un”
Takaki just nodded weakly upon Inoo’s question. They are sitting side by side on the bus, and it’s already an hour since they were on the way. Their noisy classmates aren’t that noisy anymore. Drowning into their little private time and some are sleeping.
His boyfriend doesn’t look the same as he remembered. Takaki Yuya is a cheerful guy, complete with a wide baka smile whenever he talks to someone. This is the first time Inoo finds such his pale face, and he figures out a stupid person can’t catch cold is a huge lie.
“What were you doing yesterday? Your body is so hot”, Inoo chuckled, gluing his forehead with Takaki’s
“I know I’m hot”, he mumbled, in a low and helpless tone
“No. Not that kind of hot. And stop joking while you’re sick”
“I’m sorry”, the brunet guy muttered. In a split second, he leaned his head to Inoo’s shoulder, and the younger holds his hand tight below the black jacket Takaki brought today. “I will feel better. We’ll trip a lot later. Just let me be like this”
He snuggled closer, as though he didn’t have any idea of how horrible his condition is. His temperature turns higher than it supposed to be. One could tell very clear his face is burning red. And no, Inoo didn’t have a heart to see his boyfriend like that. They’d made promise, to spend time together in this trip. And it was pretty unbearable to remember how happy and energetic Takaki was when he spilled the plan, but in fact he just leaned with no power on him.
“Have medicine, nee?”
“Un. Do you bring any?”
In a slow gesture, Inoo looked up to the seat on the other line of theirs. There he sees the class rep is closing his eyes, listening to MP3 Player.
“Yabu…”, he whispers
“……………………………”
“Yabu….”
“Huh?”, Yabu takes off his earphone. “What’s up?”
“Do you have medicine? Yuya is sick”
“Sick? Bakaki?”
After a moment of studying the situation, Yabu fish out first aid kit from a white box below his chair. He walks to their spot and this clear view of hopeless Yuya comes to him. He takes few seconds to measure the temperature, and it’s 39 degrees.
“Bakaki. How come you catch cold at time like this?”, he chuckled
“I said I am fine”, Takaki still responded.
“So I heard a pretty good joke”, he snorted. “This. Get well soon”, Yabu stated after giving the sick guy a pill. But the latter doesn’t bother to accept the offer.
“Yuya, take the medicine”, Inoo said.
“Kei, feed me”
“Eh?”
“Umm… feed me”, he whined, pouting like a sulking kid.
Inoo knows Takaki is a childish type. But he just noticed if he could be hundred times worse when he’s having bad condition. It was strange, to be so lovey dovey in front of their friends. And moreover Inoo captures a glimpse of Yabu’s awkward expression in which making the class rep turns his eyes around by this point. However, there’s no point to argue Takaki. Thus Inoo puts his finger between Takaki’s pale lips in case to fill the medicine inside.
“Now, rest”, Inoo commanded
“Un”, he nodded.
Takaki didn’t say anything anymore instead of closed the short distance between them. The more he snuggles to Inoo’s neck, the pretty guy feels his fluffy hair is a bit tickling against his bare skin. Slow pace of breathing was heard, indicates Takaki goes to dreamland very soon. He would have laughed with Takaki based on their plan, enjoying the ride together. But it’s okay, it wasn’t that Takaki wanted to catch cold by himself as well. So Inoo just squeezed his hand together with that strong one, muttering get well soon.
“If you need additional medicine, just ask me”, Yabu suddenly voiced out
Oh, right. Yabu is still on his side. For a moment, Inoo thought Takaki’s problem really messed up his mind until he couldn’t feel someone’s presence around them. And then to respect the latter, Inoo smiled humbly, feeling slightly better about all of the attention.
“Thanks”, he muttered
And Yabu back to his chair, putting on his earphone.
***
The students were packed into certain groups, listening to their guides about the explanation of their visited temples. The soupy heat of summer enveloped them, sweat pooling on the edge of Inoo’s forehead. This is bad, he couldn’t really absorb the infos when he’s not so confident about the weather. But to his lucky, he’d studied about some materials before he arrived here. So even if he didn’t pay attention to their guide, it won’t be such a big deal.
“I don’t understand”, Daiki muttered
“Because you have a small brain”, Hikaru shot back
“Yeah, and you only thought about play over”, Yamada added
Inoo makes such face ‘uh-uh’ to his flocks. A simple smile plastered on his face, but he doesn’t really into their jokes this time. He doesn’t even defend Daiki like he usually had when those two evils bullied him. Instead, he ignored them.
Okay. That was terrible of him, for being such an outcast on their circle. But his mind is only focusing to one certain stuff at this very moment. He thought of his boyfriend, who now resting on the bus with Junno’s company. It needed few minutes for the teacher to convince Inoo to just have a tour when all he asked was staying beside Takaki.
“I hope he’s okay”, he mumbled by himself.
Once more, he tries to focus. But then he sees a little boy not so far from their line, is crying alone near a small shop. The view hits into his attention, and no deep observation needed for Inoo to notice that he’s actually a lost kid. The student looks to his friends who are moving forward to next destination, and after a personal debate inside him, he decides to approach the little boy unnoticed.
“Hey, lil boy. What’s wrong?”
“………………………..”
“Where is your mama?”
“Ma-ma? I don’t know where is my mama”, he cries louder, shaking in fear. “I-I went to pet shop around here with mama but then mama was nowhere in sight”
“Ssshhh. Daijobu”, Inoo pats his head. “Let’s find your mama”
“B-but…”
“Yes?”
“Mama told me not to involved with strangers”
Inoo waited, has no idea of what to respond. This boy is right; he isn’t supposed to trust strangers. Now that he should think what would be possible for him to rely on Inoo. He tries to do something to begin with, but he couldn’t think of any.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what I should do to make you trust me. But if you just cried here, you won’t find your mama right? So, let’s come?”
“………………………..”
“I am not a bad guy. Ah!”, Inoo fish out his student ID from his wallet. “My name is Inoo Kei. I’m coming from Heisei Gakuen. If I did something bad to you, just tell police to catch me, deal?”, he smiles
“Al-alright”, is all the boy said.
Slowly, his little hand linked to Inoo’s finger. They go here and there, totally forgotten about the school trip. Of course, he learned later, what kind of guy is he if he ditches a lost boy alone without being a help? It will haunt him down, and he dislikes the feeling so he chose the risk of being scolded than to leave just like that.
“Ah, how’s your mama looks like? Her dress?”
“She has short hair. White dress with red stripes”, he explained
“I think we should start from asking the shopkeepers around here”
Inoo begins with a small mochi shop.
“Anoo, excuse me”
“Yes? May I help you?”
“Did you see a woman in white dress? She has short hair and actually this boy was lost”, Inoo motioned out to him.
“Nah… There are many women in white dresses. I don’t think I could help you with that.”
“Oh…”
“But usually, ladies love to go to that area”, the fat old man pointed to one certain place on the corner. “There were girls’ stuffs. I don’t know if you can find her there but just give it a try”
“Ah, arigatou gozaimasu!”
Inoo nodded, waved good-bye to the kind guy they’d just met. He pulled the boy and swore softly to help him as a blast of warm wind sliced around. They walk toward the mentioned area, blending in with mostly girls but still got no result. Inoo glanced upon the kid on his hand, seems like tears start to filled up on his eyes after an hour of searching. The sun is nearly setting, and some shops are closed already. It was scary, though, to imagine he was separated from his mom. And somehow, just somehow on tiny part inside him, Inoo could feel what he feels.
“Mama isn’t here”, his voice cracks up
“No no. I bet your mama is also searching for you, Akira. Let’s try harder, nee?”
His tears mixed up with sweat produced by this hot temperature. Inoo isn’t good at handling crying kid, and all he remembered is the opposite; he could make Aki cried harder back then instead of comforting her. But then a view of popsicles stall catch his attention, making Inoo leads Akira to buy two sticks to refresh their energies.
“What flavor?”, Inoo asked
“Strawberry”
“Two strawberries, please?”
For a quick minute, the seller handed him two sticks of strawberry flavored popsicles. Akira eats up, wiping his tears away. Right when Inoo almost clueless of another idea, a sweaty woman on her white striped dress is coming to their direction.
“Akira!!!”
“Mama!!!”
“Oh God Akira, I was afraid if you lose somewhere!! God, you should just keep my hand, I told you not to let go of me, remember?”
“I’m sorry”, he cried, for another reliving reason. “But Inoo-niichan helped me”
“Inoo-niichan?”
“Ah, ore wa”
“Oh. Thanks for taking care of Akira. I swear, I don’t know what I should do if he’s lost. I’m really thankful to you”
Her voice sighed like thousand knots of tons were forklifted outside her chest. She keeps kissing Akira’s temple, clearly felt happy after found out her son. It’s minutes before Akira finally gave one last hug to Inoo, before muttered endless thank you, and finally left himself behind.
***
“Yabeeee… why did my phone run out of battery at moment like this?!!”, Inoo almost screams, and almost throws his phone, even. It’s fifteen minutes after he parted with Akira, and after he finally figures out he’s still on school trip.
The lone guy looks at his watch, knowing it passed the set time for them to gather at the bus parking spot. Maybe it’s thirty minutes already, but hell shit, why does everything around him are so dark? As long as he could see, there are only closed shops on the left and right sides. More to say, the sky isn’t that clear any longer, isn’t twilight, even. It’s totally a brilliant starry sky, and the only thing accompanied him is this blinding street-lamp.
He swears, this isn’t his favorite trip at all. After helping a lost kid, now he’s the one who get lost. That was embarrassing, to be so stupid although he’s already 16 in fact. He didn’t remember which path he crossed before, and neither the way to come back. Maybe he’s good at study, but remembering paths is his total weakness.
The more he moves forward, the creepier he’s getting into. Seriously, not even a shop opens at this hour. And he isn’t a giant fan of this death-or-alive situation.
“Oh my… phone, work please?”
Soon, light raindrops are falling from the sky. Without having any choice, Inoo runs to one certain stall in order to protect himself from these waters. Why at this time?, he thought. Of course, what could possibly worse than this? He used to love rain, he enjoys the fuzzy feeling of rain in the summer. But this is an exceptional, he can’t think of any good things happened. Yuya is sick, he gets lost, everything just as awesome as he wanted to delete this certain day out of his memory.
“No one will come….”, he talked to silence, biting the lips. Trying to fight against fear which suddenly eats him up. “No one will-“
“Inoo?!!”
He turns his eyes around. Yabu seemed sighing, small, and then it was replaced with an unreadable expression. The class president is walking quickly, almost running, to his spot.
“What are you doing?!!”
God. He’s not in the mood to argue. He’s not in the mood to explain what was happening ‘till he got trapped here because it’s just simply not the right time to elaborate everything.
“It’s a long story”, is all he says.
He sounds cold on words. But deep down, a sign of relieve is craved perfectly upon his pale face. Yabu falls silent. Inoo waited for a respond. But instead of another question, he finds out Yabu taking his phone from the pocket, calling someone.
“Moshi moshi, Junno, I find him already”
“………………………..”
“Yes yes, I know. Okay. Alright. You guys can go first”
He couldn’t hear what’s the two were talking about. But one thing he could conclude is, the bus left him and Yabu alone at this place.
“Why don’t you tell Junno to wait for us?”
“I was in charge to buy some materials needed for tomorrow. And not that our hotel is far from here. I have map, so it’s a plan for me to wonder around the place while all students could go back.”
“Additional task as class rep?”
“Yes. Including to take care if someone get lost”, he tries to hide the sarcasm.
“I am sorry”
“But it’s okay. Even if I’m having a company wasn’t included in plan, it’s not bad, though”
“But-I need to go back. Yuya is sick, you know”
“Junno is taking care of him. And there are Yamada, Daiki, and Hikaru as well. You have no worries”
“But still-“
“Moreover, it’s not that you can go back between this rainy day, right?”
“………………………..”
“So let’s wait ‘till the rain ends, and help me for my duty”
There is something different about Yabu, about his ability to make people agreed of what he said. Maybe this power is one of his charming points to be class rep. He elaborated the reasons in a good way, acceptable. Thus made Inoo realizes he has no chance to argue since all Yabu had said are basically the best idea for them right now. Now when he thinks about it for any length of time, it’s probably should be the way he just said.
“Fine”
---to be continued---
A/N: I'm sorry for verrrrryyyyyy late update ;_;
I'm too preoccupied by recent fanreports about this couple, and also the pic, and okay that's not an excuse ;_;
But even if this is such a crappy chapter, hope you enjoy guys
Pairing: Takaki Yuya x Inoo Kei (TakaNoo)
Type: Chaptered
Genre: Romance, friendship, fluff, school-life
Disclaimer: Boys aren’t mine. They belong to Johnny’s Entertainment. I am just a crazy fan who always imagine my otps ‘till I write down their stories based on personal expectations.
Summary: Inoo Kei was the homecoming king on his school. He has everything. He is expert at fulfilling people’s expectations. But one day, one twist on his life changes the whole world he’s currently into. So that Inoo decides to move. New school, new friends, mean new life as well. And he would never predict something might change drastically when he fell in love with new guy, Takaki Yuya.
Warning: My English is bad.
Part X: Mr. Playboy Class President
He’s a playboy. Everyone thought so. But everyone also knows that he’s not that type of jerk playboy. On the other side, he resembles a positive slope on X and Y axis, a positive attitude. That’s why he was chosen as class president and handled everything smoothly. Sometimes people couldn’t read what’s inside his mind, neither his best friends as well. Because he’s just expert - or maybe best at hiding his feeling.
“Yabu!! Take a picture of us!!”, Kasumi shouted, pulling Honda to her side and did a peace sign
“Alright my girls, say cheese…”
“Cheese!!”
The girls squeal noisily while looking at Yabu’s camera. They kept bumping each other with their shoulders and mentioning how great Yabu was. Yes, he is being well-known as future photographer. While for some points Kasumi complaint at the result because her cheeks look so chubby, or her hair wasn’t at its finest, and some typical girl stuffs. And Yabu didn’t know what to make of it.
“See Honda! My cheeks are getting chubbier!! And my arms-eww-I look like sumo wrestler!!”, she whined
“Bakasumi!! At least your weight is lower than mine!!”, Honda shot back
“But how is this?! I want to eat a lot on this class trip! Since we’re heading to Kyoto, I wanna eat their signature dishes!”
“Then just eat! You worry too much!”
“Yabu! I look fat ryte?”
“Huh?”, Yabu lifts his eyes up from his camera. “Fat? Of course not. You’re still pretty”, is all he said.
“Really?”
“Oh come on, even your chubby cheeks could be your appeal point, you know. Fifty points for my words”, he winked
“Yokatta naa….”
As Kasumi sighed in relief, Yabu patted her head like a brother to his little sister. And on the next second, he left the two girls behind, taking some memories to his capture.
Today’s sky is displaying endless blue clear color. The birds are chirping, and everyone are just as noisy. Some make a plan about what they’ll do on free-time later. Some show their bentos to each other, mostly girls. And it was near the gate, he sees Hamada wears his sunglasses, which is ridiculous to the point his friends bully him. A small smile crept on Yabu’s thin lips, it just feels so nice to be around his classmates. And this is just how class trip should be, having fun moments while waiting for bus to arrive.
Yabu stopped on a certain spot, right after his camera catches a sight of someone. He looks throughout the lens, wondering what this was about, or why do he have to own this sudden mixed feeling when he finds the exact view. It’s such a rare chance for him to see Inoo on his casual outfit. He knows Inoo will look so good on any clothes, since the younger guy has this basic fair skin. But he occasionally experiences this sort of thing, like pressing knots on shoulder, or whatever, when he notices how adorable Inoo looks on his jeans blazer and white plain tshirt.
“Why don’t you just take a picture of him?”
A voice barged into his ears, and it was Hikaru’s. Standing by his side.
“Oh… should I?”
“You like him right, Kou?”
“What does it mean? Some kind of new jokes?”, he asked back, ignoring the question while focusing on his camera.
“Do you think you could hide your feeling from me?”
“Are you trying to be my personal counselor?”
“Stop ignoring my questions”
“Then explain to me what this is all about”
“You like him”
“……………………………”
“You like Inoo, Yuya’s boyfriend”
“……………………………”
“I borrowed your phone yesterday, to play a game. And I am sorry, I didn’t mean to cross a boundary but suddenly I was lead into your phone’s gallery and I saw… you haven’t deleted those snow white’s pics yet”
“Nah. It’s not a problem”
“And some of Inoo’s candid pics”
“……………………………”
“You love camera, Kou. So I have this guess that you can’t handle yourself not to take a picture of him”
“I have you guys’ pictures as well. And you know Daiki dominated my memory card”
“That was different. We took the photo together, not some sort of things like stalking”
“……………………………”
“I thought you didn’t do secret observation to something, or someone that you didn’t actually care too much”
“Hika I-“
“You know I’m right”
“……………………………”
“Just admit. It doesn’t sound dumb. I’m not judging”
“Please don’t tell Yuya”
“I won’t. You can count on me”
“Thanks”
Their conversation ends without punctuation. Hikaru just observed his friend who’s now zooming-in the lens to Inoo’s direction. They are quite far, that’s why he needed to do so. And Yabu’s expression behind his lens is so serious, like he pours all attention to one certain model in front of him. Well, he should admits, Inoo is a pretty and nice and smart guy, even if he’s sometimes very hard to reach. But he’s sure Yabu doesn’t love Inoo only because of that. He couldn’t explain why he suddenly had this mere idea that Yabu also loves Inoo, it just strikes him one day. And the more he figures out Yabu’s behavior to Inoo, the more he knows his idea isn’t just an imagination.
“Nah… This is not good”
“What?”, Hikaru asked
He leans closer to Yabu’s camera, finding Inoo’s images on it. The goofy guy frowned. What’s not so good about the pictures? Inoo seems perfectly fine on the snapshot, laughing happily with Yamada and Daiki while munching a small chocolate bar.
“That’s a nice pic. You’re good at this, you know”
“Really? It doesn’t look good on me”
“On which part?”
The class president is wondering around, turns his eyes here and there frequently. And on the intersection, he sees a brunet guy is running to their community.
“Hikaru, you’ll see”, Yabu said
Yuya approached his boyfriend right away, clapping both hands together, muttering sorry for coming late despite it still is fifteen minutes to go. In some sloppy seconds, Yuya ruffled Inoo’s hair with no one notice except the flocks. There was something about Yuya and Inoo that made Yabu feel exactly like he should captured them. And that’s how he clicked the button.
He sighed.
“What’s up?”
“See. This is very different with the last photo, nee?”, asked Yabu
Hikaru takes the camera, and an image of Inoo’s huge smile filling the whole screen. Right, this is just definitely different. Like there’s some kind of demarcation of how Inoo feels to Yuya compared to others. Something so deeply and personally about the two that makes everyone feel they can’t take a spot between them. So Hikaru might as well admit that, deep down, he understands why Yabu didn’t want to expose his true feeling.
“You’re a nice guy”, Hikaru snorted
Yabu replied him with a shrug, didn’t particularly care to respond any further. He shook his head over the terrible realization, trying not to think about Yuya and Inoo keeping each other company. Thus he slowly takes other pictures of his classmate, and not so long later until the bus finally gets in the line.
***
“Are you really okay?”
“Un”
Takaki just nodded weakly upon Inoo’s question. They are sitting side by side on the bus, and it’s already an hour since they were on the way. Their noisy classmates aren’t that noisy anymore. Drowning into their little private time and some are sleeping.
His boyfriend doesn’t look the same as he remembered. Takaki Yuya is a cheerful guy, complete with a wide baka smile whenever he talks to someone. This is the first time Inoo finds such his pale face, and he figures out a stupid person can’t catch cold is a huge lie.
“What were you doing yesterday? Your body is so hot”, Inoo chuckled, gluing his forehead with Takaki’s
“I know I’m hot”, he mumbled, in a low and helpless tone
“No. Not that kind of hot. And stop joking while you’re sick”
“I’m sorry”, the brunet guy muttered. In a split second, he leaned his head to Inoo’s shoulder, and the younger holds his hand tight below the black jacket Takaki brought today. “I will feel better. We’ll trip a lot later. Just let me be like this”
He snuggled closer, as though he didn’t have any idea of how horrible his condition is. His temperature turns higher than it supposed to be. One could tell very clear his face is burning red. And no, Inoo didn’t have a heart to see his boyfriend like that. They’d made promise, to spend time together in this trip. And it was pretty unbearable to remember how happy and energetic Takaki was when he spilled the plan, but in fact he just leaned with no power on him.
“Have medicine, nee?”
“Un. Do you bring any?”
In a slow gesture, Inoo looked up to the seat on the other line of theirs. There he sees the class rep is closing his eyes, listening to MP3 Player.
“Yabu…”, he whispers
“……………………………”
“Yabu….”
“Huh?”, Yabu takes off his earphone. “What’s up?”
“Do you have medicine? Yuya is sick”
“Sick? Bakaki?”
After a moment of studying the situation, Yabu fish out first aid kit from a white box below his chair. He walks to their spot and this clear view of hopeless Yuya comes to him. He takes few seconds to measure the temperature, and it’s 39 degrees.
“Bakaki. How come you catch cold at time like this?”, he chuckled
“I said I am fine”, Takaki still responded.
“So I heard a pretty good joke”, he snorted. “This. Get well soon”, Yabu stated after giving the sick guy a pill. But the latter doesn’t bother to accept the offer.
“Yuya, take the medicine”, Inoo said.
“Kei, feed me”
“Eh?”
“Umm… feed me”, he whined, pouting like a sulking kid.
Inoo knows Takaki is a childish type. But he just noticed if he could be hundred times worse when he’s having bad condition. It was strange, to be so lovey dovey in front of their friends. And moreover Inoo captures a glimpse of Yabu’s awkward expression in which making the class rep turns his eyes around by this point. However, there’s no point to argue Takaki. Thus Inoo puts his finger between Takaki’s pale lips in case to fill the medicine inside.
“Now, rest”, Inoo commanded
“Un”, he nodded.
Takaki didn’t say anything anymore instead of closed the short distance between them. The more he snuggles to Inoo’s neck, the pretty guy feels his fluffy hair is a bit tickling against his bare skin. Slow pace of breathing was heard, indicates Takaki goes to dreamland very soon. He would have laughed with Takaki based on their plan, enjoying the ride together. But it’s okay, it wasn’t that Takaki wanted to catch cold by himself as well. So Inoo just squeezed his hand together with that strong one, muttering get well soon.
“If you need additional medicine, just ask me”, Yabu suddenly voiced out
Oh, right. Yabu is still on his side. For a moment, Inoo thought Takaki’s problem really messed up his mind until he couldn’t feel someone’s presence around them. And then to respect the latter, Inoo smiled humbly, feeling slightly better about all of the attention.
“Thanks”, he muttered
And Yabu back to his chair, putting on his earphone.
***
The students were packed into certain groups, listening to their guides about the explanation of their visited temples. The soupy heat of summer enveloped them, sweat pooling on the edge of Inoo’s forehead. This is bad, he couldn’t really absorb the infos when he’s not so confident about the weather. But to his lucky, he’d studied about some materials before he arrived here. So even if he didn’t pay attention to their guide, it won’t be such a big deal.
“I don’t understand”, Daiki muttered
“Because you have a small brain”, Hikaru shot back
“Yeah, and you only thought about play over”, Yamada added
Inoo makes such face ‘uh-uh’ to his flocks. A simple smile plastered on his face, but he doesn’t really into their jokes this time. He doesn’t even defend Daiki like he usually had when those two evils bullied him. Instead, he ignored them.
Okay. That was terrible of him, for being such an outcast on their circle. But his mind is only focusing to one certain stuff at this very moment. He thought of his boyfriend, who now resting on the bus with Junno’s company. It needed few minutes for the teacher to convince Inoo to just have a tour when all he asked was staying beside Takaki.
“I hope he’s okay”, he mumbled by himself.
Once more, he tries to focus. But then he sees a little boy not so far from their line, is crying alone near a small shop. The view hits into his attention, and no deep observation needed for Inoo to notice that he’s actually a lost kid. The student looks to his friends who are moving forward to next destination, and after a personal debate inside him, he decides to approach the little boy unnoticed.
“Hey, lil boy. What’s wrong?”
“………………………..”
“Where is your mama?”
“Ma-ma? I don’t know where is my mama”, he cries louder, shaking in fear. “I-I went to pet shop around here with mama but then mama was nowhere in sight”
“Ssshhh. Daijobu”, Inoo pats his head. “Let’s find your mama”
“B-but…”
“Yes?”
“Mama told me not to involved with strangers”
Inoo waited, has no idea of what to respond. This boy is right; he isn’t supposed to trust strangers. Now that he should think what would be possible for him to rely on Inoo. He tries to do something to begin with, but he couldn’t think of any.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what I should do to make you trust me. But if you just cried here, you won’t find your mama right? So, let’s come?”
“………………………..”
“I am not a bad guy. Ah!”, Inoo fish out his student ID from his wallet. “My name is Inoo Kei. I’m coming from Heisei Gakuen. If I did something bad to you, just tell police to catch me, deal?”, he smiles
“Al-alright”, is all the boy said.
Slowly, his little hand linked to Inoo’s finger. They go here and there, totally forgotten about the school trip. Of course, he learned later, what kind of guy is he if he ditches a lost boy alone without being a help? It will haunt him down, and he dislikes the feeling so he chose the risk of being scolded than to leave just like that.
“Ah, how’s your mama looks like? Her dress?”
“She has short hair. White dress with red stripes”, he explained
“I think we should start from asking the shopkeepers around here”
Inoo begins with a small mochi shop.
“Anoo, excuse me”
“Yes? May I help you?”
“Did you see a woman in white dress? She has short hair and actually this boy was lost”, Inoo motioned out to him.
“Nah… There are many women in white dresses. I don’t think I could help you with that.”
“Oh…”
“But usually, ladies love to go to that area”, the fat old man pointed to one certain place on the corner. “There were girls’ stuffs. I don’t know if you can find her there but just give it a try”
“Ah, arigatou gozaimasu!”
Inoo nodded, waved good-bye to the kind guy they’d just met. He pulled the boy and swore softly to help him as a blast of warm wind sliced around. They walk toward the mentioned area, blending in with mostly girls but still got no result. Inoo glanced upon the kid on his hand, seems like tears start to filled up on his eyes after an hour of searching. The sun is nearly setting, and some shops are closed already. It was scary, though, to imagine he was separated from his mom. And somehow, just somehow on tiny part inside him, Inoo could feel what he feels.
“Mama isn’t here”, his voice cracks up
“No no. I bet your mama is also searching for you, Akira. Let’s try harder, nee?”
His tears mixed up with sweat produced by this hot temperature. Inoo isn’t good at handling crying kid, and all he remembered is the opposite; he could make Aki cried harder back then instead of comforting her. But then a view of popsicles stall catch his attention, making Inoo leads Akira to buy two sticks to refresh their energies.
“What flavor?”, Inoo asked
“Strawberry”
“Two strawberries, please?”
For a quick minute, the seller handed him two sticks of strawberry flavored popsicles. Akira eats up, wiping his tears away. Right when Inoo almost clueless of another idea, a sweaty woman on her white striped dress is coming to their direction.
“Akira!!!”
“Mama!!!”
“Oh God Akira, I was afraid if you lose somewhere!! God, you should just keep my hand, I told you not to let go of me, remember?”
“I’m sorry”, he cried, for another reliving reason. “But Inoo-niichan helped me”
“Inoo-niichan?”
“Ah, ore wa”
“Oh. Thanks for taking care of Akira. I swear, I don’t know what I should do if he’s lost. I’m really thankful to you”
Her voice sighed like thousand knots of tons were forklifted outside her chest. She keeps kissing Akira’s temple, clearly felt happy after found out her son. It’s minutes before Akira finally gave one last hug to Inoo, before muttered endless thank you, and finally left himself behind.
***
“Yabeeee… why did my phone run out of battery at moment like this?!!”, Inoo almost screams, and almost throws his phone, even. It’s fifteen minutes after he parted with Akira, and after he finally figures out he’s still on school trip.
The lone guy looks at his watch, knowing it passed the set time for them to gather at the bus parking spot. Maybe it’s thirty minutes already, but hell shit, why does everything around him are so dark? As long as he could see, there are only closed shops on the left and right sides. More to say, the sky isn’t that clear any longer, isn’t twilight, even. It’s totally a brilliant starry sky, and the only thing accompanied him is this blinding street-lamp.
He swears, this isn’t his favorite trip at all. After helping a lost kid, now he’s the one who get lost. That was embarrassing, to be so stupid although he’s already 16 in fact. He didn’t remember which path he crossed before, and neither the way to come back. Maybe he’s good at study, but remembering paths is his total weakness.
The more he moves forward, the creepier he’s getting into. Seriously, not even a shop opens at this hour. And he isn’t a giant fan of this death-or-alive situation.
“Oh my… phone, work please?”
Soon, light raindrops are falling from the sky. Without having any choice, Inoo runs to one certain stall in order to protect himself from these waters. Why at this time?, he thought. Of course, what could possibly worse than this? He used to love rain, he enjoys the fuzzy feeling of rain in the summer. But this is an exceptional, he can’t think of any good things happened. Yuya is sick, he gets lost, everything just as awesome as he wanted to delete this certain day out of his memory.
“No one will come….”, he talked to silence, biting the lips. Trying to fight against fear which suddenly eats him up. “No one will-“
“Inoo?!!”
He turns his eyes around. Yabu seemed sighing, small, and then it was replaced with an unreadable expression. The class president is walking quickly, almost running, to his spot.
“What are you doing?!!”
God. He’s not in the mood to argue. He’s not in the mood to explain what was happening ‘till he got trapped here because it’s just simply not the right time to elaborate everything.
“It’s a long story”, is all he says.
He sounds cold on words. But deep down, a sign of relieve is craved perfectly upon his pale face. Yabu falls silent. Inoo waited for a respond. But instead of another question, he finds out Yabu taking his phone from the pocket, calling someone.
“Moshi moshi, Junno, I find him already”
“………………………..”
“Yes yes, I know. Okay. Alright. You guys can go first”
He couldn’t hear what’s the two were talking about. But one thing he could conclude is, the bus left him and Yabu alone at this place.
“Why don’t you tell Junno to wait for us?”
“I was in charge to buy some materials needed for tomorrow. And not that our hotel is far from here. I have map, so it’s a plan for me to wonder around the place while all students could go back.”
“Additional task as class rep?”
“Yes. Including to take care if someone get lost”, he tries to hide the sarcasm.
“I am sorry”
“But it’s okay. Even if I’m having a company wasn’t included in plan, it’s not bad, though”
“But-I need to go back. Yuya is sick, you know”
“Junno is taking care of him. And there are Yamada, Daiki, and Hikaru as well. You have no worries”
“But still-“
“Moreover, it’s not that you can go back between this rainy day, right?”
“………………………..”
“So let’s wait ‘till the rain ends, and help me for my duty”
There is something different about Yabu, about his ability to make people agreed of what he said. Maybe this power is one of his charming points to be class rep. He elaborated the reasons in a good way, acceptable. Thus made Inoo realizes he has no chance to argue since all Yabu had said are basically the best idea for them right now. Now when he thinks about it for any length of time, it’s probably should be the way he just said.
“Fine”
---to be continued---
A/N: I'm sorry for verrrrryyyyyy late update ;_;
I'm too preoccupied by recent fanreports about this couple, and also the pic, and okay that's not an excuse ;_;
But even if this is such a crappy chapter, hope you enjoy guys