Fourth Avenue Café - Chapter 1
Title: Fourth Avenue Café
Author: neko-fish
Pairings: Akame, slight Ryopi
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jin's a successful artist when a fight with his friends forces him to seek stress relief in a little café where he meets what he considers, the strangest people.
Chapter 1:
He wanted to scream.
But he held it back as he stormed down the street, past the busy throngs of people. If anyone were to recognize him and stop him for whatever reason, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to bite back the yell of frustration. And he was pretty sure he’d end up hurting whoever it was that stopped him in the first place.
A bad day wasn’t anywhere near describing what he was going through. And it didn’t help that he just broke everything off with his supposed best friends less than an hour ago.
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“I saw him! He was sabotaging my costume!” He pointed his finger accusingly at his best friend while his other best friend tried to calm him down. “Pi-”
The other sighed, “Let’s just try to calm down a bit first…”
He shot the other a wary glare, “wait…don’t tell me you’re siding with him! I’m your best-er friend! I can’t believe you’d pick him over me! Just because you’re screwing around with him…”
“Jin…”
He narrowed his eyes and snarled, “Fine! Side with your screw-toy! See if I care!” He threw the outfit onto the floor and stormed out of the room.
There was a pause between the two before Yamapi gave a sigh and laid a reassuring hand on the other’s head, “It’s okay, Ryo-chan.”
The shorter man looked over, surprise still evident on his face, “but I-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“What did-”
“Nothing, Ryo-chan.”
“The button-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“And he-”
“He’s Jin, Ryo-chan.”
“I wasn’t-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“I didn’t-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“We-”
“He’ll come around, Ryo-chan.”
“But-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“Did he just-”
“Yes he did, Ryo-chan.”
“I can’t-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“That-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
There was a moment of silence.
“We’re going to end up forgiving him, aren’t we?”
“Probably, Ryo-chan.”
“Why?”
He blinked, “…I don’t know, Ryo-chan.”
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He couldn’t believe his own best friend decided to side with his other best friend. He suppressed a growl and decided to turn into the first café he spotted on the street. What he really needed was caffeine to help him relax. What he needed was a nice calm café without wandering fans and journalists.
When he reached the end of the block, he spotted a small plain looking café across the street, on the corner. It had typical large display windows that faced the street; the inside was relatively brightly lit. It looked simple, several seats outside for people to enjoy the bustling city life, and several seats inside for people to escape the said life. The shop’s frames were painted a dark shade of green, and there were fancy gold letters, stating the café’s name.
“Fourth Avenue Café? How creative,” he rolled his eyes but decided that the sooner he had caffeine in his system, the better.
And so, he crossed the street and made his way into the coffee shop, the bell by the door gave a happy little twinkle as he stepped in. The man behind the wooden counter gave him, what he considered a freakishly happy smile, “welcome!”
He gave a small nod and looked around, the place was relatively small, most of its customers decided to relax outside instead. And the rest that were lounging around indoors were mostly middle-aged men, planning out their company’s next big move. Not too many people, but not isolated either, just enough to give the place a cozy feeling.
After what felt like forever, he gave a sigh of relief, a bit of stress fluttered off his chest. He set his bag on a table in the furthest corner away from the windows and took a seat. No one would recognize him even if he took his sunglasses off there, or that’s what he told himself as he did so. Within minutes, a waiter arrived to take his orders.
It surprised him somewhat when he realized that the waiter looked somewhat like a gangster. The man had a buzz cut underneath his cap, and earrings, all of which looked out of place seeing that the guy was in a uniform and working in a nice little café. He ordered quickly in hopes of being left alone once more. The waiter seemed to understand and nodded, taking his leave.
Another couple minutes later, his drink arrived. He smiled; he rather liked this place actually. Good service, no fans, no media, just peace and quiet and coffee. He was so going to tell Pi and Ryo about this place…
And just like that, his mood darkened almost immediately when thoughts of his friends floated back into his head. But he was distracted soon enough when a voice decided to interrupt his angry thoughts, “…Jin?”
“Huh?” He looked up, startled, spotting a young man standing beside his table. The other had almost-shoulder-length dyed hair and sharp features. He felt no recognition when he looked at the other. Maybe it was a fan looking for an autograph or a picture, that or one of those random people that pretended to know him, he sighed, feeling more than irritated.
Why couldn’t they all just leave him alone?
The young man took the hint and gave a sheepish smile, “ah, sorry. I thought you were someone I used to know. Sorry.” He raised his hand apologetically, and gave a slight bow, apologizing again before he made his way towards the counter.
Jin raised a brow. That was strange, how could someone have mistaken him for someone else when they seemed to know his name? Maybe the person the other used to know had the same name as him. He decided to shrug it off, glad that he was left alone again so that he could continue to enjoy his coffee in silence.
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After the next few days, any traces of a good mood were quickly squashed within the first hour of the day. There were stupid stalkers waiting for him outside his stupid house with their stupid cameras set up around the stupid premises. He couldn’t have any privacy even in his own house. He once thought that he’d be able to deal with such an annoyance, but those thoughts quickly disappeared as he found himself dreading to go home.
When he was finally finished his long hours of work and ignoring his so-called friends, he found himself walking down a familiar road towards a familiar place. There was a faint trace of something like relief when he listened to the bell dingle as he walked in and took his seat in the corner. Only half heeding the friendly man’s “welcome!”
He looked around, satisfied with what he was surrounded by and took in a deep breath. The refreshing smell of freshly brewed coffee filled his nose, but once again, his moment of tranquility was ruined by a familiar voice. “Oh, it’s you again!”
Jin frowned and looked over at the young man who had a bag in one hand and a magazine in the other, “is there a problem?”
The other shook his head, “I just didn’t expect anyone to be sitting here…” there was an awkward moment between the two before the stranger gave a rueful smile, “sorry, I’m probably disturbing you…would you like a drink? My treat…I mean for disrupting you the other day and all…”
“And why would I need to be treated by you?” He scoffed rudely, his bad mood taking its toll.
The young man frowned, “I was just trying to be nice! If you didn’t want a free drink, you could’ve just said so! No need to be a douche-wad about it!”
Douche-wad? He gave an angry frown, fans were supposed to worship him, not insult him. No one talked back to Akanishi Jin in that manner. Didn’t the kid know who he was? He slammed his hands furiously onto the table and half stood up, “You! Who do you think you are!?”
Neither of them cared about the looks they were receiving from the other customers, who, much to the waiters’ relief, turned their attention back to their own business within moments.
The other gave a snarl, “Hey! What’s with that attitude!? Just who do you think you are!?”
That comment made him raise a brow; he grabbed the magazine out of the other’s hand despite his protest and shoved the cover into the man’s face. “Still don’t know?”
The young man frowned and snatched the magazine back and stared at the cover and its headlines. The bold red words read:
Akanishi Jin, voted #1 most wanted lover.
The stranger looked somewhat confused, “yea? What about him? He was my…” he paused and looked over at him, then at the face on the cover, then back at him, then back at the cover before dipping his head slightly, “…oh.”
That was it? He was stuck somewhere between amused and irritated that the other didn’t know who he was, “Oh?”
“Oh…” he repeated before giving an enlightened expression, “and suddenly the world makes sense again.”
He blinked at the statement, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
The stranger ignored his question and watched him with a somewhat amused look, “how’d you get voted most wanted lover with that attitude?” He shot the younger man an incredulous expression, that wasn’t what he had expected at all. Not another insult. The other looked over at him again before slowly speaking, anger gone, “so I’m guessing you don’t want the coffee…?”
His brows furled, there was no way in hell he was letting the other get off the hook after insulting him several times like that. Just to spite him, he was going to order the most expensive drink there was. “You know what? Maybe I do want it.”
The reply was just as uncertain as before, “alright…what do you want?”
True to his semi-malevolent thoughts, he ordered the most expensive drink there was possible, which earned him an exasperated sigh from the young man. But equally true to his word, the stranger went and headed off towards the counter. He gave a rather smug grin to no one in particular and looked out the window.
He didn’t notice how all thoughts of his bad day had disappeared from his mind.
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“Here you are, sorry for the wait.”
Jin gave a slight nod of acknowledgment as his drink arrived. When he noticed that the hand wasn’t adorned in rings and other jewelry, he looked up. He felt his jaw slack somewhat when he saw the waiter, “What the…”
The young man raised a brow and waved a hand in front of his face in attempt to snap the elder out of his reverie, “what?” When he received no reply, he continued, “You know, that drink’s coming out of my wallet even though I work here and no it’s not poisoned, that'd be bad for business.”
Again, he didn’t reply. Too busy trying to figure out how the thug-looking waiter changed into the young man he was arguing with but a moment ago. He continued staring at the other blankly, not really taking in how the waiter had tied up his hair and was shooting him a slightly puzzled look. Then he directed his gaze to the little golden nameplate that was pinned onto the man’s uniform.
Kamenashi Kazuya.
The waiter followed his stare onto his name tag, “is my name really that hard to read? It’s Kamenashi Kazuya. Now we know each other’s names, isn’t that nice? Are you going to drink the coffee or not? Or was that just to waste my money?”
It felt as though someone suddenly pulled the plug that was clogging his brain as all his thoughts suddenly rushed out into the form of a single sentence. He stared at the other and blurted out, “What the hell!?”
The young man blinked, “what?”
“Why are you…?”
“I work here? Is it that hard to believe? My shift just started…” the bell at the door gave a twinkle and his attention was averted to the new customer that had just entered. “Excuse me, there are other customers, enjoy your coffee…sir.”
“H-hey!” He paused when he realized that he had no idea what he was going to say after that, the other man watched him with a raised a brow, “uh…am I supposed to tip you for this?”
There was a bemused expression on the other’s face, he gave a small smile, “that’s completely up to you.”
Jin sat there and took a sip of his coffee. Next time, he decided, he would have to think of something to say before randomly stopping people in the middle of their work.
When he finally decided to go home, he looked down at the empty cup and decided to be nice and leave a generous tip, he left more than enough to cover the cost of his drink before grabbing his bag and leaving, missing the weary stare from the other side of the café.
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That night, he turned off his stereo and went around his place, checking for hidden cameras, satisfied that there wasn’t another camera in his laundry basket, he turned the lights off.
Crawling into bed, he glanced at the clock and sighed, only another five hours before he had to wake up and deal with the world again. Hopefully he’d be able to use the five hours to its full advantage by sleeping without interruptions.
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He blinked, he was standing in his old neighborhood. There was a soft tug on his sleeve, he looked over at the faceless boy. Probably one of his friends from when he was younger, he heard himself give the other an “Hn?”
They were walking and talking. “Didn’t you say you had something to tell me?”
“Yea I did, I got an audition spot for Johnny’s.”
“Eh?” The other sounded impressed, “So you finally got in?”
He watched himself wave a hand offhandedly, “I still have to pass the audition before I’m officially in.”
“Oh…well good luck, I’m you’ll make it with no problems.”
“Huh?” He could see his own bewildered expression reflected on a nearby car window, “That’s it?”
The other boy stopped and turned around to look at him, face still blurred, “What else is there to say? Oh,” he reached in his pocket and pulled out a little keychain thing, “here, you can have this for good luck if you want.”
He accepted the token but shook his head, “that’s not what I meant.”
“Sorry, did you want something else? I don’t think I have anything else in my pockets…you want a shoe? I’ll trade you.”
The sound of his own laughter rang in his ears as he repeated himself, “that’s not what I meant! It’s just that the other guys were telling me to buy them stuff when I made it in.”
The other boy kicked the rocks by his shoes, “why would they ask you to buy them stuff?”
“Probably because I’ll get money?”
“Yea, but why would you ask your friend to buy you things, I mean just because he’s going to become rich and famous…aren’t you supposed to just feel happy for him?”
He blinked a couple times, feeling the other’s disapproval, “so there’s nothing you want?”
The boy shook his head, “what’s there to want? If I really want something, I’ll get it myself. It’s dumb, taking advantage of your friends like that. You…” a smile graced the boy’s lips, “I hope you stay the same after you make it in. Because the you right now is the Jin I’m friends with right?”
A large grin made its way onto his face, he gave a nod, “don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t change for anything.” There was a pause before a brilliant idea hit him, “okay, I’ve decided! When I make it in, I’m going to buy your present first!”
“But I don’t-”
“You can’t refuse a present! I don’t care if you don’t want anything, I’ll find something cool! Just for you.”
“Oi Jin-”
He clamped his hands over his ears and laughed, “I’m not listening to you!”
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The sound of his alarm blaring caused him to sit up with a jolt; he gave a groan and slammed his fist down onto the cursed thing. He remembered what happened after, in his dream, he nearly failed the auditions but managed to make it in thanks to the strange old man whom he tried to give his number plate to. But…
“…did I get the kid anything after that?”
That, he couldn’t remember, no matter how hard he tried. He was pretty sure he ran off into shops afterwards, but he couldn’t be sure. At least he knew he had a real friend when he was younger. Taking another glance over at the clock, he cursed and got out of bed.
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Jin kept thinking back to the dream as he worked, getting yelled at the choreographer more than once as a result. By the time he got home, he was feeling beyond frustrated.
It wasn’t something he could believe, forgetting a good friend like that. Maybe he turned out to be a not so good friend…maybe something happened. Running a hand through his hair, he picked up his phone and automatically called his best friend.
He pursed his lips when someone picked up, “Pi?”
There was a pause on the other side, he could hear Ryo calling the other to the phone, “Hello?”
“Pi?”
“Jin?”
“Hey, do you think there are people out there who’ll do things for the sake of doing it and not expect things in return, people that aren’t all about glamour-osity and famous-osity?”
“…are you making up words?”
“Yes but that’s not the point, do you?”
“Yea I think there are genuine people out there, why?”
Genuine, that was the word he was looking for. He shrugged, “I think I used to have a genuine friend before joining Johnny’s…”
“Hm? Do you want to find him or something?”
“No, I think that even if we were to meet again, I’d just be a stranger with the same name as a friend he used to have a long time ago.” He took a deep breath, “But if I were to see him again, there’s something I want to do…”
“What is it?”
“I want to thank him for being my friend…”
“Jin…”
Jin blinked when he realized who he was talking to, “oh wait-damn, I’m still ignoring you! I’ll see you tomorrow-damn, I mean pretend I didn’t call-I mean I’m still pissed at you! I mean I hate you-sorry, I didn’t mean it-ah, I mean I’m hanging up now! Bye!”
He hung up before the other could reply.
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A/N: New fic! How is it so far (even though this is the first chapter) Have to go finish homework. Finally not as sick anymore, but I screwed up my ankle at this tournament yesterday XD Title's a song by L'arc~en~Ciel, but you probably already know =P Anyways...Enjoy!
Author: neko-fish
Pairings: Akame, slight Ryopi
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jin's a successful artist when a fight with his friends forces him to seek stress relief in a little café where he meets what he considers, the strangest people.
Chapter 1:
He wanted to scream.
But he held it back as he stormed down the street, past the busy throngs of people. If anyone were to recognize him and stop him for whatever reason, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to bite back the yell of frustration. And he was pretty sure he’d end up hurting whoever it was that stopped him in the first place.
A bad day wasn’t anywhere near describing what he was going through. And it didn’t help that he just broke everything off with his supposed best friends less than an hour ago.
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“I saw him! He was sabotaging my costume!” He pointed his finger accusingly at his best friend while his other best friend tried to calm him down. “Pi-”
The other sighed, “Let’s just try to calm down a bit first…”
He shot the other a wary glare, “wait…don’t tell me you’re siding with him! I’m your best-er friend! I can’t believe you’d pick him over me! Just because you’re screwing around with him…”
“Jin…”
He narrowed his eyes and snarled, “Fine! Side with your screw-toy! See if I care!” He threw the outfit onto the floor and stormed out of the room.
There was a pause between the two before Yamapi gave a sigh and laid a reassuring hand on the other’s head, “It’s okay, Ryo-chan.”
The shorter man looked over, surprise still evident on his face, “but I-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“What did-”
“Nothing, Ryo-chan.”
“The button-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“And he-”
“He’s Jin, Ryo-chan.”
“I wasn’t-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“I didn’t-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“We-”
“He’ll come around, Ryo-chan.”
“But-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“Did he just-”
“Yes he did, Ryo-chan.”
“I can’t-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
“That-”
“I know, Ryo-chan.”
There was a moment of silence.
“We’re going to end up forgiving him, aren’t we?”
“Probably, Ryo-chan.”
“Why?”
He blinked, “…I don’t know, Ryo-chan.”
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He couldn’t believe his own best friend decided to side with his other best friend. He suppressed a growl and decided to turn into the first café he spotted on the street. What he really needed was caffeine to help him relax. What he needed was a nice calm café without wandering fans and journalists.
When he reached the end of the block, he spotted a small plain looking café across the street, on the corner. It had typical large display windows that faced the street; the inside was relatively brightly lit. It looked simple, several seats outside for people to enjoy the bustling city life, and several seats inside for people to escape the said life. The shop’s frames were painted a dark shade of green, and there were fancy gold letters, stating the café’s name.
“Fourth Avenue Café? How creative,” he rolled his eyes but decided that the sooner he had caffeine in his system, the better.
And so, he crossed the street and made his way into the coffee shop, the bell by the door gave a happy little twinkle as he stepped in. The man behind the wooden counter gave him, what he considered a freakishly happy smile, “welcome!”
He gave a small nod and looked around, the place was relatively small, most of its customers decided to relax outside instead. And the rest that were lounging around indoors were mostly middle-aged men, planning out their company’s next big move. Not too many people, but not isolated either, just enough to give the place a cozy feeling.
After what felt like forever, he gave a sigh of relief, a bit of stress fluttered off his chest. He set his bag on a table in the furthest corner away from the windows and took a seat. No one would recognize him even if he took his sunglasses off there, or that’s what he told himself as he did so. Within minutes, a waiter arrived to take his orders.
It surprised him somewhat when he realized that the waiter looked somewhat like a gangster. The man had a buzz cut underneath his cap, and earrings, all of which looked out of place seeing that the guy was in a uniform and working in a nice little café. He ordered quickly in hopes of being left alone once more. The waiter seemed to understand and nodded, taking his leave.
Another couple minutes later, his drink arrived. He smiled; he rather liked this place actually. Good service, no fans, no media, just peace and quiet and coffee. He was so going to tell Pi and Ryo about this place…
And just like that, his mood darkened almost immediately when thoughts of his friends floated back into his head. But he was distracted soon enough when a voice decided to interrupt his angry thoughts, “…Jin?”
“Huh?” He looked up, startled, spotting a young man standing beside his table. The other had almost-shoulder-length dyed hair and sharp features. He felt no recognition when he looked at the other. Maybe it was a fan looking for an autograph or a picture, that or one of those random people that pretended to know him, he sighed, feeling more than irritated.
Why couldn’t they all just leave him alone?
The young man took the hint and gave a sheepish smile, “ah, sorry. I thought you were someone I used to know. Sorry.” He raised his hand apologetically, and gave a slight bow, apologizing again before he made his way towards the counter.
Jin raised a brow. That was strange, how could someone have mistaken him for someone else when they seemed to know his name? Maybe the person the other used to know had the same name as him. He decided to shrug it off, glad that he was left alone again so that he could continue to enjoy his coffee in silence.
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After the next few days, any traces of a good mood were quickly squashed within the first hour of the day. There were stupid stalkers waiting for him outside his stupid house with their stupid cameras set up around the stupid premises. He couldn’t have any privacy even in his own house. He once thought that he’d be able to deal with such an annoyance, but those thoughts quickly disappeared as he found himself dreading to go home.
When he was finally finished his long hours of work and ignoring his so-called friends, he found himself walking down a familiar road towards a familiar place. There was a faint trace of something like relief when he listened to the bell dingle as he walked in and took his seat in the corner. Only half heeding the friendly man’s “welcome!”
He looked around, satisfied with what he was surrounded by and took in a deep breath. The refreshing smell of freshly brewed coffee filled his nose, but once again, his moment of tranquility was ruined by a familiar voice. “Oh, it’s you again!”
Jin frowned and looked over at the young man who had a bag in one hand and a magazine in the other, “is there a problem?”
The other shook his head, “I just didn’t expect anyone to be sitting here…” there was an awkward moment between the two before the stranger gave a rueful smile, “sorry, I’m probably disturbing you…would you like a drink? My treat…I mean for disrupting you the other day and all…”
“And why would I need to be treated by you?” He scoffed rudely, his bad mood taking its toll.
The young man frowned, “I was just trying to be nice! If you didn’t want a free drink, you could’ve just said so! No need to be a douche-wad about it!”
Douche-wad? He gave an angry frown, fans were supposed to worship him, not insult him. No one talked back to Akanishi Jin in that manner. Didn’t the kid know who he was? He slammed his hands furiously onto the table and half stood up, “You! Who do you think you are!?”
Neither of them cared about the looks they were receiving from the other customers, who, much to the waiters’ relief, turned their attention back to their own business within moments.
The other gave a snarl, “Hey! What’s with that attitude!? Just who do you think you are!?”
That comment made him raise a brow; he grabbed the magazine out of the other’s hand despite his protest and shoved the cover into the man’s face. “Still don’t know?”
The young man frowned and snatched the magazine back and stared at the cover and its headlines. The bold red words read:
Akanishi Jin, voted #1 most wanted lover.
The stranger looked somewhat confused, “yea? What about him? He was my…” he paused and looked over at him, then at the face on the cover, then back at him, then back at the cover before dipping his head slightly, “…oh.”
That was it? He was stuck somewhere between amused and irritated that the other didn’t know who he was, “Oh?”
“Oh…” he repeated before giving an enlightened expression, “and suddenly the world makes sense again.”
He blinked at the statement, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
The stranger ignored his question and watched him with a somewhat amused look, “how’d you get voted most wanted lover with that attitude?” He shot the younger man an incredulous expression, that wasn’t what he had expected at all. Not another insult. The other looked over at him again before slowly speaking, anger gone, “so I’m guessing you don’t want the coffee…?”
His brows furled, there was no way in hell he was letting the other get off the hook after insulting him several times like that. Just to spite him, he was going to order the most expensive drink there was. “You know what? Maybe I do want it.”
The reply was just as uncertain as before, “alright…what do you want?”
True to his semi-malevolent thoughts, he ordered the most expensive drink there was possible, which earned him an exasperated sigh from the young man. But equally true to his word, the stranger went and headed off towards the counter. He gave a rather smug grin to no one in particular and looked out the window.
He didn’t notice how all thoughts of his bad day had disappeared from his mind.
-------------------------
“Here you are, sorry for the wait.”
Jin gave a slight nod of acknowledgment as his drink arrived. When he noticed that the hand wasn’t adorned in rings and other jewelry, he looked up. He felt his jaw slack somewhat when he saw the waiter, “What the…”
The young man raised a brow and waved a hand in front of his face in attempt to snap the elder out of his reverie, “what?” When he received no reply, he continued, “You know, that drink’s coming out of my wallet even though I work here and no it’s not poisoned, that'd be bad for business.”
Again, he didn’t reply. Too busy trying to figure out how the thug-looking waiter changed into the young man he was arguing with but a moment ago. He continued staring at the other blankly, not really taking in how the waiter had tied up his hair and was shooting him a slightly puzzled look. Then he directed his gaze to the little golden nameplate that was pinned onto the man’s uniform.
Kamenashi Kazuya.
The waiter followed his stare onto his name tag, “is my name really that hard to read? It’s Kamenashi Kazuya. Now we know each other’s names, isn’t that nice? Are you going to drink the coffee or not? Or was that just to waste my money?”
It felt as though someone suddenly pulled the plug that was clogging his brain as all his thoughts suddenly rushed out into the form of a single sentence. He stared at the other and blurted out, “What the hell!?”
The young man blinked, “what?”
“Why are you…?”
“I work here? Is it that hard to believe? My shift just started…” the bell at the door gave a twinkle and his attention was averted to the new customer that had just entered. “Excuse me, there are other customers, enjoy your coffee…sir.”
“H-hey!” He paused when he realized that he had no idea what he was going to say after that, the other man watched him with a raised a brow, “uh…am I supposed to tip you for this?”
There was a bemused expression on the other’s face, he gave a small smile, “that’s completely up to you.”
Jin sat there and took a sip of his coffee. Next time, he decided, he would have to think of something to say before randomly stopping people in the middle of their work.
When he finally decided to go home, he looked down at the empty cup and decided to be nice and leave a generous tip, he left more than enough to cover the cost of his drink before grabbing his bag and leaving, missing the weary stare from the other side of the café.
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That night, he turned off his stereo and went around his place, checking for hidden cameras, satisfied that there wasn’t another camera in his laundry basket, he turned the lights off.
Crawling into bed, he glanced at the clock and sighed, only another five hours before he had to wake up and deal with the world again. Hopefully he’d be able to use the five hours to its full advantage by sleeping without interruptions.
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He blinked, he was standing in his old neighborhood. There was a soft tug on his sleeve, he looked over at the faceless boy. Probably one of his friends from when he was younger, he heard himself give the other an “Hn?”
They were walking and talking. “Didn’t you say you had something to tell me?”
“Yea I did, I got an audition spot for Johnny’s.”
“Eh?” The other sounded impressed, “So you finally got in?”
He watched himself wave a hand offhandedly, “I still have to pass the audition before I’m officially in.”
“Oh…well good luck, I’m you’ll make it with no problems.”
“Huh?” He could see his own bewildered expression reflected on a nearby car window, “That’s it?”
The other boy stopped and turned around to look at him, face still blurred, “What else is there to say? Oh,” he reached in his pocket and pulled out a little keychain thing, “here, you can have this for good luck if you want.”
He accepted the token but shook his head, “that’s not what I meant.”
“Sorry, did you want something else? I don’t think I have anything else in my pockets…you want a shoe? I’ll trade you.”
The sound of his own laughter rang in his ears as he repeated himself, “that’s not what I meant! It’s just that the other guys were telling me to buy them stuff when I made it in.”
The other boy kicked the rocks by his shoes, “why would they ask you to buy them stuff?”
“Probably because I’ll get money?”
“Yea, but why would you ask your friend to buy you things, I mean just because he’s going to become rich and famous…aren’t you supposed to just feel happy for him?”
He blinked a couple times, feeling the other’s disapproval, “so there’s nothing you want?”
The boy shook his head, “what’s there to want? If I really want something, I’ll get it myself. It’s dumb, taking advantage of your friends like that. You…” a smile graced the boy’s lips, “I hope you stay the same after you make it in. Because the you right now is the Jin I’m friends with right?”
A large grin made its way onto his face, he gave a nod, “don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t change for anything.” There was a pause before a brilliant idea hit him, “okay, I’ve decided! When I make it in, I’m going to buy your present first!”
“But I don’t-”
“You can’t refuse a present! I don’t care if you don’t want anything, I’ll find something cool! Just for you.”
“Oi Jin-”
He clamped his hands over his ears and laughed, “I’m not listening to you!”
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The sound of his alarm blaring caused him to sit up with a jolt; he gave a groan and slammed his fist down onto the cursed thing. He remembered what happened after, in his dream, he nearly failed the auditions but managed to make it in thanks to the strange old man whom he tried to give his number plate to. But…
“…did I get the kid anything after that?”
That, he couldn’t remember, no matter how hard he tried. He was pretty sure he ran off into shops afterwards, but he couldn’t be sure. At least he knew he had a real friend when he was younger. Taking another glance over at the clock, he cursed and got out of bed.
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Jin kept thinking back to the dream as he worked, getting yelled at the choreographer more than once as a result. By the time he got home, he was feeling beyond frustrated.
It wasn’t something he could believe, forgetting a good friend like that. Maybe he turned out to be a not so good friend…maybe something happened. Running a hand through his hair, he picked up his phone and automatically called his best friend.
He pursed his lips when someone picked up, “Pi?”
There was a pause on the other side, he could hear Ryo calling the other to the phone, “Hello?”
“Pi?”
“Jin?”
“Hey, do you think there are people out there who’ll do things for the sake of doing it and not expect things in return, people that aren’t all about glamour-osity and famous-osity?”
“…are you making up words?”
“Yes but that’s not the point, do you?”
“Yea I think there are genuine people out there, why?”
Genuine, that was the word he was looking for. He shrugged, “I think I used to have a genuine friend before joining Johnny’s…”
“Hm? Do you want to find him or something?”
“No, I think that even if we were to meet again, I’d just be a stranger with the same name as a friend he used to have a long time ago.” He took a deep breath, “But if I were to see him again, there’s something I want to do…”
“What is it?”
“I want to thank him for being my friend…”
“Jin…”
Jin blinked when he realized who he was talking to, “oh wait-damn, I’m still ignoring you! I’ll see you tomorrow-damn, I mean pretend I didn’t call-I mean I’m still pissed at you! I mean I hate you-sorry, I didn’t mean it-ah, I mean I’m hanging up now! Bye!”
He hung up before the other could reply.
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A/N: New fic! How is it so far (even though this is the first chapter) Have to go finish homework. Finally not as sick anymore, but I screwed up my ankle at this tournament yesterday XD Title's a song by L'arc~en~Ciel, but you probably already know =P Anyways...Enjoy!