Home Part 9.2
~*~
"I don't have a suit." Shota said, sitting on the couch in the living room, watching everyone rush around, getting ready. Subaru wasn't in a hurry at all, but every two minutes some one would run themselves through the room, saying that he needs to start getting ready, each time sounding more urgent than the other. He was already dressed and, he thought, what else should he have to do? But the house knew he was just putting things off until last minute just to piss of his mother. And it was working.
"Borrow one. There're thousands around here. Find one that fits."
As it turned out, nothing had happened after the night Subaru had argued with that old woman, or when Shota talked to Sakuya. Nothing changed. His mother went on in her way, but just that much colder to the two of them. It seemed like, with Sakuya, nothing had happened, like she didn't hear a thing he said. She still latched herself to Subaru just like before. But when her and Shota's eyes met, he could tell she was just acting.
Shota had hoped something would change. That this day wouldn't come. But it still came. Everyone was dressing up, making sure everything was right at the venue, making sure everything would be perfect. So again, Shota got his hopes up, just to have them put back into place. But really, they weren't all that high in the first place. A small spot in him told him that nothing would come out of coming here and saying what he had. But he ignored it anyway.
Subaru could tell Shota was let down by everything. Not that he wasn't too, but he wasn't expecting much either. Though he swore to himself he would do something to end this, there wasn't anything he could do about it. He didn't want Shota to know that. He wanted Shota to think he did everything he could. He did, he tried, but it still didn't feel like enough, because the damned wedding was still going to happen.
"So it ends now, huh?" Shota asked, leaning over the back of the couch, watching Subaru pace.
"We can't do anything about it now."
Shota looked down, leaning his head on his arms. He knew that. He came to terms with it. But that didn't mean it still didn't make his heart ache, hearing it said out loud.
~*~
~*~
"Damn." Ryo said as they walked up to the building. "Look at this place."
"It must be nice to be filthy rich." Hina grumbled to himself.
They stood outside of the building that was on the invitation. None of them knew what to expect when they actually arrived at the place, but none of them had seen a building this huge before. Not in person, anyway. When some famous people get married, the news likes to do stories on the wonderful, expensive stuff they had for their weddings. Only then had they seen a place like this.
The inside of the building seemed even bigger than the outside. The walls were white, the floors a shiny wood with red carpet on top for a walkway. The ceiling was high and decorated. There was a boat load of people walking around, talking with each other, wearing some of the most expensive looking clothes the guys had ever seen.
"How many rich people can you fit in one building?" Ryo asked sarcastically. They all felt out of place there. Not only did they not know anyone there, they sure weren't like anyone there. When they'd pass people trying to make their way somewhere, someone would give them a funny look.Except Hina. He liked to pretend he was rich. From the moment they entered the building, he carried himself like he actually was, so it was easy for him to fit in. The rest were just outsiders, and everyone knew it.
"Hey, doesn't that person over there look familiar?" Ohkura asked, pointing over to someone sitting on a bench against the wall. Everyone leaned over to see passed the people standing.
"Sorta, I guess." Ryo said. "But who would we know here? It's coincidence."
"No, I don't think so." Uchi added, making his way around people. The rest stayed put, and Ryo got ready to comfort Uchi when the person rejected him and he came crying back. But after Uchi tapped the persons shoulder and he looked up, they saw how shocked he was, and he grabbed the guys hand and held it up, waving it, and calling back, "Look! It's Yasu!" Uchi pulled him up and dragged him over to the others. "See, Tacchon was right! We knew him!"
No one really knew what to say. They hadn't expected to see Shota here. Especially after telling Maru he wouldn't be coming back to the house. They just sort of stood and stared at each other uncomfortably until Maru decided to step it.
"So, you won't come home but you'll come here?"
Shota looked at him, knowing Maru was still upset at him. He had forgotten that Hina was given an invitation. He hadn't even thought he'd see them there. Shota was sure Maru thought the reason he didn't want to go back to them had to do with them. That Shota was holding something against them, but that wasn't true. "It's a long story."
"I'm sure. You just like feeling hurt, don't you? So that someone will come and take pity on you, right? Because you know, it sure seems like that. Why else would you be here?"
"Maru," Hina said, grabbing his shoulder. "Quit it, you're just being mean."
"You think I like being hurt?" Shota asked, unable to believe Maru would think that about him. "I hate feeling like that! You think I like people 'taking pity' on me? You're the one that always came and helped me- I never asked you to do that! You just did that because you were my friend! But if thats the way you think of me, you weren't really one to me."
"And you're not really one if you could just leave us like that! We all took care of you when something happened because we care! You wouldn't let us do anything for you this time! Really, Yasu, did you get any better at your real home?"
"I didn't." Shota admitted after a moment. "I know you wanted to help, but I wanted to try and help myself. And it didn't work. I wanted to make up with you. You wouldn't answer me. You wouldn't let me. You don't know how grateful I always am to have you guys around. But I had to get away. Even if I said I'd stay, I don't know. I don't think I'd be able to. I'd miss everyone so much, and I can't take missing people. I've had enough of it."
"Well," said Maru, looking everywhere but at Shota, a little ashamed of getting so angry and him. "Not like things have been easy at home." He shot a look at Ohkura, who slunk away, knowing what the look was for. "I could've used you there, too."
"You should have said something."
"Yeah, well...I was still mad at you."
"Are you still mad at me?" Shota tried to get into his view, to try to see how Maru was feeling toward him, but Maru was making that difficult. Every way Shota tried to see him, Maru would whip his head in the other direction, over and over again, until Hina got tired of watching and smacked him.
"Would you answer him already?!"
Maru rubbed his head and didn't say anything for a few more moments. "I guess I'm not any more."
Shota could see that Maru was trying hard to suppress a smile, but he wasn't doing a very good job. It relieved Shota to know him and Maru were on good terms again.
"I swear," Hina said. "It's like watchin' two kids."
"We might wanna go, guys." Uchi said, pointing toward the door to the main room, where people were heading toward. "I think it's gonna start."
~*~
Everything was about to start. People started to fill into the main room. The seven followed, taking seats in the middle where no one else was. Shota sat at the end next to Ohkura. He stopped paying attention to everything going on around him. He just wanted this to end so he could go back home. Nothing worked out. Being there, watching the wedding, was the last thing he wanted to do. His stomach felt like there was a giant rock sitting in it. He didn't want to see any of this, not at all.
The ceremony started. The two were standing at the front, a man between them, saying things Shota was refusing to hear. He looked up slightly, looking at them. Subaru's back was turned to him, so he couldn't see his face. But he could see Sakuya's. She was biting hard on her lip, looking like she was about to cry. Others would take it as being just that happy. Shota knew that wasn't it. He could tell she was uncomfortable. But also, she looked like she was genuinely feeling sorry, for the situation they were both in. With only her eyes, she starred looking out at the crowd of people. For a second, she was looking straight at Shota. Her eyebrows pulled up, and she shifted, looking down for a second before turning to the people and exclaiming, "I can't do this!"
From the front, a woman's voice Shota hadn't heard before said, "What do you mean?"
Sakuya closed her eyes, wringing her hands together, thinking of what to say, not sure what she should or shouldn't. "I just- This isn't what I want! I thought it was, but...I can't just settle like this! I've never had any other chance to fall in love and...I need to be able to! I need to be able to find someone who's 100 percent right for me and...I don't think this is it."
The room was silent, which with a room with that many people was an amazing feat. No one knew what to say- they never guessed Sakuya was going to be the one begging for this not to happen, when it was clear until very recently she was looking forward to it so much. A woman stood, her mother, and walked up to her daughter, taking her hands. "I'm sorry, Sakuya." She said. "You should have said something. If that's how you felt, we wouldn't have brought things this far." She turned back to the others, to Subaru's mother."If my daughter will be this unhappy with it all, we can't go through with it."
"But we had a deal!" The woman yelled, shooting from her seat, shocking the people she knew, since she usually appeared very composed and calm when in public. But she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She turned her anger toward Subaru, who was just as shocked as the rest of them, if not more, at Sakuya. "You had something to do with this! How could you do this to me?! I warned you not to mess this up and you do anyways! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"He had nothing to do with it!" Sakuya interrupted before anyone else could say anything. "I couldn't help doing this, acting the part, because I thought I had to. Whatever you think he did...I don't know. He never said anything to me about anything. I made this decision by myself."
Both Shota and Subaru knew she was lying. But she was good enough at it. She was upset, but not for the reasons she was giving the others. Subaru looked over at Shota, who looked like he might end up crying too. He wanted to go down to him, but decided it could wait. It was better to play the part of being innocent, in that case, though what the girl was saying was true. He never did say anything to her. Shota had. His hands were clean of the whole thing. Not that it mattered anyway. The woman was still shooting daggers at him with her eyes, because she 'knows' there is no way she just up and decided this on her own, and because now there's no way Sakuya's parents are going to let this deal happen.
Eventually, the woman stopped arguing with the others, realizing it was useless and that she just ruined her image in front of so many people, and stormed out of the place, still yelling things over her shoulder. No one knew exactly what to do, until Ohkura decided to stand and announce that there was food and other things in another room that he found when he was wandering around. Even though the wedding was officially off, people decided they didn't want to let the food that was for the after party go to waste. The atmosphere of the place seemed lighter, and everyone (except one very pissed off woman) now was in a good mood.
The room was cleared out and only Shota and Subaru were left. Until then, Shota had been glued to his seat, pinching his arm, making sure he was actually awake and hadn't fallen asleep in the middle of things. He looked up at Subaru, who was still in the same spot he had been the whole time, only now he was sitting on the short steps at the front. Shota stood and made his way up there, his legs feeling like jelly and his heart beating fast. He didn't know if he was feeling nervous or excited. He was leaning more toward excited, since he felt more like he wanted to jump on Subaru, out of pure happiness of the whole things. But Shota suppressed it; anyone could walk in at anytime and see, and there'd been enough trouble that day, and there would be plenty of time for that later.
"It's over." Shota said as he sat. It was all he could get himself to say. He didn't have any words for something like this. "What happens now?"
"What do you mean what happens now?"
"I mean...What happens now? What do we do now? Where do we go now?"
"I don't now. That's up to you."
"Why is it up to me?"
"Because I really don't care where we go."
"You don't think you'll have to...go back home?" Shota looked away, a bit afraid of the answer. But he got laughed at.
"You really thinks I'd be welcome back there? She hates me."
"You don't think she'll want to try this all over, do you?"
"She's a bitch but she's not stupid. I think she knows I'd just butcher it again. All I'd have to do is bring you along to be a heart-breaker for me and the whole thing'll be off. Her damn image is ruined anyway. No one wants to marry their girl off to a family that might have crazy runnin' in them."
Shota laughed a bit, leaning his head against Subaru's shoulder. "I want to go home." he said. "Back home with everyone else. I'm tired of being away."
Subaru grabbed Shota's hand and stood up, pulling Shota up with him. "Then let's get out of here. I don't think I can stand being around here any longer."
---
Shota had followed Subaru back to his place, promising the others, especially Maru, that once everything was cleared up, they'd be back with them. He stayed by the front door, hearing a lot of yelling and arguing coming from the other room, mostly from the woman. He waited until Subaru came back, seemingly unfazed by the whole thing, shrugging it off when Shota asked about it.
"I've been thrown out." is all he'd say about it, not like it was exactly a depressing thing to hear when it was something the two had wanted since the beginning. Even so, Shota couldn't help but wonder exactly was said, and whether Subaru was really as okay as he seemed about the whole thing.
There wasn't much that needed to be packed. Just the same things Subaru had brought back with him in the same bag he'd used to leave in the first place. They decided to go back to Shota's home, to pick up his things and say good-bye again, but promising visits.
The ride from Shota's home back to the other town would be a long one, but a sure one. Every other time, the trip consisted of anger, sadness, hurt and confused feelings, uncertainty and worry. This time, there would be none of that, because now what had caused all that was over. This time they were finally going back, back to the one place they could call their home.
~*~
~*~
~*~
"Still can't believe it." Hina said, annoyed, looking over the counter toward the door.
"Believe what?" Yoko asked from the stand next to him, flipping the menus around in his hands.
"We live in the same house. We work in the same place. We all left at the same time, so how the hell can anyone be late?!"
"I'm here!" Shota announced, throwing the door open as he entered.
"Where the hell were you?!" Hina ducked under the counter to cross over to the main floor.
"I had to go pick something up!" Shota patted his pocket, and before Hina could ask anymore of him, he took off to the kitchen.
---
"I wonder if it'll be busy today...?" Ohkura asked, starting to prep.
"Wasn't yesterday real busy? If yesterday was busy, on a week day, today will be even busier!" Maru said, cleaning out his notepad.
"Even busier?!" Uchi whined, slumping over the counter. "I could barely handle it yesterday!"
Ryo patted his back. "Don't worry, Uchi. I'll make sure you don't get over worked."
"Don't baby him!" Subaru said, annoyed at Ryo. "He has to work just like everyone else!"
"Morning, everyone!" Shota shouted into the kitchen, throwing the door open.
"You're late again, Yasu." Ohkura reminded him. "If you keep doing that, Hina'll have your head."
Shota ignored him and made his way over to Subaru, pulling the box out of his pocket. "Look!" He opened the top, revealing two rings, oddly designed. "I had them made! They match!"
"Yasu!" Maru exclaimed. "Are you proposing?!"
Subaru pushed Shota's hand away. "Sorry. Not gonna put up with that sort of thing anymore." He turned away from Shota.
"Eh?! Ah- Well, it's not even- I gave one to Tacchon before too, so-"
"Tacchon?!" Everyone turned their heads toward Ohkura, remembering what he'd done with Yoko.
"I'm not surprised." Ryo said.
"How could you, Tacchon!" exclaimed Maru, looking hurt.
"You guys!" Shota yelled at them. "It's not- It's not like that!"
"Hey!" Hina said, opening the door. "We're opening soon! You three-" He pointed at Maru, Ryo, and Shota. "Get out here and get ready!"
Maru and Ryo left, followed by Uchi. Ohkura continued to get ready. Shota felt a little bad, since Ohkura could be in trouble later, but it wasn't his fault they misunderstood. Shota leaned over the sink toward Subaru. "You don't like it?" he asked, trying not to sound the tiniest bit hurt. He'd put a lot of thought into them, and just thought it'd be something nice. "It doesn't really mean anything, if you don't want it to..."
"...No," He said after a few minutes, still not looking at Shota. "It's not about that. You should've known better than to pull something like that out when all the others were around. Should'a known."
Shota kicked his feet against the floor, not exactly sure what any of that meant, since it didn't really answer his question. "So...You like them then?" he asked again, trying to put on his best smile, one that would dare him to say no and hurt him. But it didn't matter- Subaru didn't look at him anyway.
"Why rings, of all things? Couldn't you've thought of something else? Something that didn't look like you wanted us to-" he cringed just thinking the word, looking like he might get sick. "to get married."
They'd only been back a short time, and anything concerning that 'm' or 'w' words, as they became, was a very sore subject to be brought up around Subaru, who'd rather just forget the whole thing ever happened. And though Shota would like to have a little fun with this, to try to make him feel bad for treating him this way when he was just trying to be nice, he knew he'd also be in trouble later. Instead, after spotting the chain around Subaru's neck, Shota unhooked it and took one of the rings out of the box and slid it onto the chain, then handed it back.
"There. Now it's not a ring. Happy now? Will you accept it now?"
Subaru looked down at it, studying it, staring at it, making Shota impatient for his answer, knowing it was bothering him. "Yeah, I guess it's okay..."
"Come o~n!" Shota said, letting his hurt through. "I worked hard on those just for you! Really hard!"
"Okay, okay," he said, before everyone else heard Shota and wondered what in the world was going on. "I was messing with you. I like it."
"Really? You really do like it?"
"Yeah, I said it! I really like it."
Happy with the answer, Shota smiled and jumped on Subaru, planting a big kiss on his lips. "Good. That's all you had to say~"
The kitchen door opened with a loud thud again, forcing Shota to jump off as Hina stormed in, grabbing Shota hard by the ear and dragging him out, scolding him for being late and now slacking on his job.
"Yeah," Subaru said, half to himself, half to Ohkura. "We're home."
~*~
A/N- Ah, it's done! Sorry this part took so long. I'm pretty sure I started this a little before school started, and it's ending after it ended XD That's way too long! I'm not too sure how I feel about the ending but...Well, it's what it is! The very last part was put there when I couldn't figure out how I wanted to end it, and became just a little something light to have after the real end. That's all :) Well, I hope it turned out well, and thank you everyone who left comments, they're greatly appreciated even though I barely comment back! >"<