Through The Fire And The Flames (14/20)
Title: Through The Fire And The Flames
Author: thanku4urlove
Pairing: Hikaru-centric, Keito/Yuto, Yamada/Daiki
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Um... Dragons?
Genre: Fantasy AU
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: The village where Hikaru and his friends live has a bit of a dragon problem. While most of the people in the town want the dragons wiped out, Hikaru believes that there has to be some good in the creatures. Through a shocking near-death experience, he comes to find that there is more to the dragons than even he could imagine.
A/N: This chapter is almost 3k words of nothing and borderline-risque conversation. Enjoy!
Banner cred:
ryosukekoibito
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13
“Good morning! The grass is green, the sun is shining, and Daiki is so in love with Yamada that I’m going to burst into flames.”
Inoo’s singing was loud, loud enough to wake him up, but Hikaru was much too warm and comfortable to be bothered into moving a muscle, including the eyelids he would need to open. When a loud, nearly rhythmic stomping sound began though, Hikaru’s curiosity got the better of him and he cracked one eye open.
Inoo had forced Takaki into a one-armed dosey-do, skipping in circles on Yabu’s rug. That was when Yabu began shifting in his sleep, rolling and making a whining noise. Takaki had a look in his eyes that was clearly him begging Hikaru to save him, but instead of doing much of anything Hikaru just raised his eyebrows. Upon waking up more fully, Yabu finally saw the two, letting out a laugh that was coarse with sleep.
“So, I’m guessing Yamada’s talk with Daiki went well then?” Hikaru asked once Inoo had finally released Takaki. Takaki nodded, taking a seat on the floor.
“Yamada spent the night at Daiki’s house, and since you weren’t home and Inoo wanted to go snooping around he burst into my room, literally put my clothes on me, and then we creepily--”
“Totally not creepily.” Inoo corrected. Takaki rolled his eyes.
“Okay, we ‘totally not creepily’ looked in their kitchen window. All four of them are having breakfast together.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Yabu said. “I guess they talked about everything last night, then?”
Inoo nodded, the grin on his face less than innocent. “He stayed the night there, so I can only assume… Though,” He looked at Hikaru and Yabu, who had the covers pulled up to their chins. “You spent the night here, didn’t you Hikaru?”
The insinuation was obvious, and a glance at Yabu revealed a blush on his face that was almost incriminating.
“I just didn’t want to bother my mother!” Hikaru defended. “She was still awake when I came home, and she was doing all this thinking and muttering to herself.”
“Sure, but it’s nearly afternoon.” Takaki decided to join in the teasing. “Late night, late morning?”
“Shut up.” Yabu told him. “Plus, it’s warm in here.”
Inoo grinned, Hikaru barely able to register the smile as a devious one before Inoo launched himself at them, penetrating their bubble of warmth and attacking with his incredibly cold fingers. Yabu let out the same shriek as the night before, Hikaru flailing his legs into the unwanted cold to kick--not too hard--at Inoo’s torso until he fell back onto his butt, laughing at them.
The noise brought Yabu’s mother in, the woman poking her head into the bedroom. She didn’t seem to be at all concerned upon seeing Hikaru in bed with her son, the comforter now a mess, smiling with a pot in her hands.
“Oh, you managed to wake them! Anyone up for breakfast?”
Hikaru definitely was, forcing himself up and away from Yabu’s body heat, the four of them going into the kitchen. She fed her three children and the three extras easily, the quantity of hearty food making Hikaru wonder how Yabu hadn’t managed to put any meat on his bones.
After eating they headed to Daiki’s, wanting to talk to them. The door was answered by a giggling, slightly out of breath Yamada, Daiki running up behind him moments later and wrapping his arms around Yamada’s torso. The show of affection was surprising, especially after it had been gone for so long, but it made Hikaru smile.
They all wanted the entire scoop on what had happened to cause such a successful reconciliation, but the couple were so sickeningly endearing that they felt that their behavior was intrusive, announcing that they would just come back later.
Later came when Daiki decided it was time for Yamada to return back to the rest of the dragons, walking him back home. The four of them caught the two leaving and tagged along. Thankfully, Yuto and Chinen were much more insistent about learning the details, so they all sat and waited intently for the story.
“Well…” Yamada was embarrassed, smiling, fading off and finally glancing at Daiki, wanting him to speak.
“Fine.” Daiki said, nudging Yamada in the elbow with his side and making him squirm. “This little… Cute thing showed up outside my door last night after my mom had gone to bed, and…”
“And Daiki just stood there like a fish, his mouth open a little, and I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.” Yamada said. “So I just waved, and said hi, and then he hugged me.”
“If you tell them about the crying--”
“Oh yeah! And he cried.” Yamada added, giving Daiki a grin. Daiki gave Yamada a look back, the mock annoyance completely overridden by affection.
“You cried too, alright? Shut up.”
That just made Yamada laugh, Daiki pulling Yamada closer to his side and looping their arms together.
“And then we just had a sleepover.” He finished. He poked Yamada on the nose with his free hand. “Daisuke was happy to see you, you know.”
“I was happy to see him too.” Yamada said. “And your mom, though she doesn’t really look well.”
To Hikaru the entire family looked quite well, but Yamada hadn’t seen them at their lowest, so the progress hadn’t been visible to him.
“Speaking of sleepovers…” Inoo began, glancing at Hikaru and Yabu as if daring them to stop him. When neither of them said anything he continued, the words coming out in a rush.
“Hikaru stayed the night at Yabu’s house.”
“Ooh”s choursed around, Inoo adding happily “We found them in bed together when we arrived.”
That was the actually scandalous piece of information, the group turning to them questioningly, the defense beginning in a flustered mess.
“No, hold on, there’s nothing--”
“It’s not our fault you just burst into my room like that--”
“I didn’t want to bother my mom after--”
“Body heat is important, and--”
“It’s winter, it’s cold, you can’t really blame us for wanting to--”
“Besides, there’s no way Hikaru would want--”
“Wait.” Hikaru stopped Yabu, holding up a hand. “Why did you just assume that I wouldn’t want to date you?”
Yabu didn’t have an answer, just looking at him.
“Or is it that you don’t want to date me?”
That got laughs, Yabu holding up his arms in defense and shaking his head. Hikaru looked at Yabu imploringly.
“What’s so undateable about me, huh? If it’s because I’m shorter than you then I have some bad news--everyone is shorter than you. It had better not be about my teeth, because I have it on good authority that my teeth are adorable.”
“They are adorable!” Yabu protested over the laughter. He was smiling, able to tell that Hikaru was joking, but still feeling the need to defend himself. “I like that you're shorter than me. You are dateable. You’re fine.”
“Ooooooh” went around the group again, Yabu putting his hands on his face and telling everyone to shut up--“Especially you, Hikaru”--because he had begun laughing as well. Hikaru met Yabu’s eyes, and even in his pink an annoyed state, he gave Hikaru a smile.
Once the making fun of Yabu was over and done with, Inoo had a question. He eyed Keito and Yuto for a few moments before speaking.
“Have you guys ever, like… Done it in the air?”
“Done what?” Keito asked while Yuto banged his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder.
“It.” Ryutaro said slowly, enunciating clearly and using a hand gesture. Then he whirled on Inoo. “Who the hell asks that kind of question?”
“I’m curious!” Inoo exclaimed defensively, voice rising at least an octave and a half. “They don’t have to answer. It just seems like a weird experience.”
“It sounds terrifying.” Takaki added, nodding seriously. Keito understood the insinuation at that point, sitting as still as possible, just blinking.
“Well?” Inoo tried again. Yuto still had his face buried in Keito’s shoulder, not looking too keen on answering, so after a few moments Keito spoke up, eyes staying insistently on the ground.
“We’ve never done… In the air, we… no. No.”
It wasn’t a very coherent attempt but it got the answer across, Inoo nodding contemplatively. Hikaru however, had a much more innocent question for the two.
“How long have you guys been together? he asked. They were relatively young, but reacted to each other like it had been years and years since they had begun a relationship.
“Uh…” That idea was reinforced by how Keito had to glance at Yuto, thinking.
“A long time.” Chinen said helpfully. “They’ve been inseparable since they could begin walking, I think.”
Yuto shook his head. “No, I didn’t meet Keito until the first flight camp, so… We fell in love sometime after we were six years old.”
“I didn’t know you could find your soulmate at six.” Takaki remarked, sounding impressed. The group nodded, and the word ‘soulmate’ put suppressed smiles on both Yuto and Keito’s faces.
“After that they were friends for a stupidly long time.” Ryutaro chimed in. “I actually ended up having to tell Yuto that he was insanely in love with Keito, because poor Keito was trying to get the message across, but Yuto was being painfully dense. It was cute and immensely frustrating at the same time.”
“If we’re asking Yuto and Keito questions, can I go?” Chinen asked, raising his hand. Yuto sighed, but he leaned his head on Keito’s shoulder, the two waiting expectantly.
“Is Keito a good kisser?” Chinen asked. Keito was surprised, but Yuto’s face lit up, and simply by the way he lifted his head off of Keito’s shoulder put a look on Keito’s face that said he knew he was about to be embarrassed. Yuto took a moment to collect himself, then said
“Why do you ask?”
Chinen shrugged. “I don’t know.” He waved his hands in Keito’s direction. “Something about him seems like it would be awkward.”
“You just gestured to all of me.” Keito remarked, but his comment was ignored.
“Oh, no. Well, a little bit at first, actually.” Yuto answered with a nod, thinking and putting his finger on his chin. “I think I ended up having to make the first, second, and third moves.”
“Well Keito was shy about it, remember?” Yamada pointed out. “They didn’t even act like a couple around us for a while, as if we didn’t know that Keito had already figured out how sensitive Yuto’s neck is.”
“How do you know that?” Yuto asked indignantly, shocked and bright red. Yamada just grinned, sharing a look with Chinen, who began to giggle.
“To answer your question, you little snot head; yes, Keito is quite fantastic at kissing.”
The group looked skeptical, so Yuto began building his case.
“First of all, okay, look at his lips. Right?”
“Yuto…” Keito gave a light whine, looking rather pained.
“Second, he can use his teeth, which I know sounds weird, but.. Sometimes he grabs my hair and does this thing with his tongue and I…”
Yabu gave a cough, Yuto suddenly being reminded where he was and who he was talking to, trailing off with pink cheeks. Keito’s face was an unsalvageable tomato color.
Ryutaro clapped his hands together in the silence that followed. “Well. Now that we’ve all gotten a sneak peek into Yuto’s secret fetish diary, does anyone else want to share?”
Takaki snorted in amusement.
“Neck kisses are nice.” Yamada said. “I’m in agreement with Yuto on that one.”
It wasn’t until Hikaru noticed Daiki’s face, and the fact that Yamada was giggling at him, that he realized that while Yamada could have been telling the truth, what he had said was more of a way to tease Daiki than anything else.
Ryutaro looked surprised that someone had taken up his rhetorical question, gesturing at the group to continue.
“Being cuddled with is my favorite thing.” Chinen said happily, his statement rather evident by the way his entire body was practically in Ryutaro’s lap.
“Hey now, that’s just adorable. It doesn’t count.” Takaki protested.
“I’m in agreement with Yuto too.” Inoo said.
“Neck kisses?” Yabu asked. Hikaru found himself wondering if Yabu liked having his neck kissed.
“No; knowing how to use teeth properly. And hair pulling.” He gave a mortified Yuto a thumbs up. Hikaru began to feel that not only was this conversation breaching rather dangerous territory, but he was learning way too much about his friends.
“So, Daiki, “ he began loudly. “We told my mom about the ‘dragons can shape shift’ thing. It was only a slight fiasco.”
“Oh, really?” Daiki sounded surprised. “How did that go?”
“She was…” Hikaru didn’t quite know how to put it. “She was surprised, mostly.”
“She really, really thought we were a little on the crazy side at first.” Ryutaro said. “We might have been a little too blunt. Hey Chief, we’re shape shifting beings that can turn into your worse nightmare.”
“We didn’t say it like that.” Chinen countered. “But yeah, she didn’t think we had our heads screwed on straight. And then Hikaru backed us up, which was when she thought we were pulling a prank on her.”
“And then I transformed!” Yuto said proudly.
“We took her sword away first.” Yamada supplied.
“And I flew around a little, blew some fire and made noises, just so she could tell it was the real deal.” Yuto continued. “She never did try to hurt me, which was good. After that we explained about how all of us were dragons, and how we didn’t want to hurt humans and everything… She was overwhelmed by the time Hikaru tried to tell her the whole plan.”
In retrospect, he probably should have waited after telling her about the dragons to bringing up his plan again. She needed time to think over what she had seen first.
“What all did you tell her?” Daiki asked. “The thing about the dragons all living here?”
Hikaru nodded. “That they could move into the woods and build homes and stuff.”
“And?” Daiki asked hopefully. “How did she take it?”
“She didn’t sound too excited.” Chinen said. Daiki’s face fell.
“She wasn’t completely against it though.” HIkaru said quickly. “Thinking about what happened recently it’s just bad timing, that all. “
By the looks on everyone’s faces, Hikaru immediately regretted bringing the event up.
“If she didn’t say no and she didn’t say yes, then what did she say?” Daiki asked. “Did she say anything?”
“She said she had to think about it.” Yuto answered, sighing. “And that she needed to lie down. Which I understand and everything, but winter is going to be over soon, isn’t it? If we don’t get this plan in motion soon, everyone is going to be awake and hungry and it’s going to be too late.”
Yuto had a very, very good point.
“I’ll talk to her soon.” Hikaru promised. “I just don’t know how much time she wanted. I haven’t really seen her.”
They nodded, and the group fell silent.
“What is it, Daiki?” Inoo asked. Daiki looked slightly guilty, as though he wanted so say something but was unsure if he should. Hikaru understood why he felt that way when he opened his mouth.
“I’m glad you told your mom, Hikaru, because… I already told Daisuke.”
“What?!” Yamada was the most surprised by that information. “When?”
“A few days after the funeral service. He asked me where you were, and why I hadn’t seen you, because he knew--even if I didn’t-- that you would make me feel so much better. He even went out in town a few times to look for you, but he couldn’t find you anywhere. I was going to say that you had left town or something, but… Everything else came spilling out instead.”
“How much is ‘everything else’?” Takaki asked.
“Just that they’re dragons, and that they’re not vicious. Stuff like that.”
“And he believed you?” Ryutaro was surprised. Daiki nodded.
“He knows when I’m lying, and I wasn’t.”
“So… Wait, wait.” Yamada looked incredulous. “When I was over there today, for breakfast and everything, he already knew?”
Daiki nodded, giving Yamada a nervous grin.
“And he still liked you fine, didn’t he? It’s okay.”
“I…”
Yamada was speechless, Daiki smiling and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. There was one less in-law for Yamada to worry about, the event feeling like an uplifting little feeling. Hikaru used the optimistic news as a motivation to talk to his mother when he got back home. She was still at the table when he returned home, but she did look like she had slept since last night, though not much.
“Hi Mom.”
She waved in response.
“How are you? You look tired.”
“I am.” She said with a nod.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come home yesterday; you looked like you didn’t want to be bothered.”
“It’s alright.”
Hikaru got up, going into the kitchen to get some lunch, going over what he wanted to say in his head. When he got back she was gone, the door to her office closing. Hikaru decided that it would be better to wait a few days longer.