I Don't Care (8/12)
Author: ryosukekoibito
Pairing: Hikabu, with some side Takachii, and other side pairings to come!
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Hikaru had a great life. He had two great jobs, fun and caring friends, and an amazing boyfriend that he loved more than anything in the world. Life was good, but it would be perfect if Takaki would just stop calling during his make out sessions with Kota.
A/N: So! This fic is part of a project my sister
thanku4urlove and I have been working on. It ties in with two other multi-chaps: I Do, and I Don’t. If you’d like to get some other perspectives on the same series of events, please check her stories out! I Do is from Chinen’s POV, and I Don’t is from Takaki’s.Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
Hikaru woke the next morning to Yabu hunched over their calendar, muttering curses as his eyes scanned the page. He yawned, kicking the sheets aside and sat up, his eyes still bleary with sleep as he asked
"What is it, Kota?"
"Ugh. Look!" The older man sat down next to him on the bed, laying the calendar out on the sheets, and he pointed to one of the little boxes.
"This is today." He said, already sounding distressed. "Look at this week!" Hikaru immediately saw the problem. Kota had two exams tomorrow and three more that Thursday. And he'd been out sick the past few classes and had missed quite a bit of school. "I haven't been keeping track of the schedule at all; I'm so behind!" Kota whined, hiding his face in Hikaru's shoulder. Hikaru nodded, rubbing circles on Kota's back right between his shoulder blades comfortingly. It was a difficult situation.
"Well the only thing to do is prepare yourself as best you can. You have all of today, except for band rehearsal at Takaki's, to get ready for these two-" He pointed to the little square on the calendar representing that Tuesday. "-and then you can come home after those are done and work towards preparing for those three you have on Thursday." Yabu sighed, lifting his head from Hikaru's shoulder.
"You're right." He announced, and Hikaru kissed him, saying playfully
"Of course I am." Yabu pulled himself to his feet, pattering into their tiny living space where his desk was situated, and Hikaru looked over their calendar leisurely as he tried to wake up properly. His eyes caught on a square circled in black marker ink, and it took him a moment to read Kota's sloppy handwriting. Yuto's birthday! Oh, that was next week! They should do something. He started trying to come up with some good ideas, and as he thought he got to work making breakfast, haphazardly balancing Kota's meal on top of an open textbook, his boyfriend already completely focused on catching himself up in his classes. Hikaru meanwhile, wanting to stay out of his way and not be a bother found himself snatching his binder and leaving the apartment, walking to a cafe in their neighborhood to work on his proposal ideas. Things were coming along pretty well, and while he wasn't ready to propose just yet, he had a couple of ideas that he really liked. And so he sat down in a corner table and got to work fleshing them out and narrowing his ideas down, trying to conceptualize how the whole thing would work, a buzzing, slightly nervous excitement in his chest.
He worked until an hour before they both had to be at Takaki's there in the cafe, returning back home to drag Yabu away from his textbooks and shove a guitar in his hands, forcing him out the door with promises that rehearsal would be quick. Luckily for them it was, Yuto and Inoo also having exams to study for that week, and so after barely an hour and a half they were back out the door and on their way home. Kota returned to his desk as soon as they got through the door, and Hikaru decided to get everything ready for his ramen stand. He ladled out a huge bowl of the soup for Kota, and gave his boyfriend a quick kiss on the top of the head before leaving again to work. It was admittedly really nice to be going back out to sell ramen. He had always loved his job, and he hadn't realized how much he had missed it over the past few weeks. He smiled, happy to just be doing what he wanted to do, as he set up his stand and got to work.
That night was hectic. It seemed that his absence had been noticed by many of the hundreds of people passing through that area of town in the evenings, and he had quite a few new customers drop by just to say that they had been worried when he had been gone. It took him by surprise, but he was genuinely touched by how many people told him that they were glad he was back. His regular customers were even more kind, plopping down at the stand with huge smiles and ordering ridiculously large quantities of food, staying late and chatting with him about everything that had happened in their lives in his absence. Some, in turn would ask about where he had been, and when he told them about having to stay home and take care of Kota, they would clap him on the shoulder, or smile, and often buy another beer or bowl of ramen. A couple of them even asked if he'd set the date for the wedding yet.
"You should at least get the ring." One, rather drunk man in his late thirties said, in between bites. "That way if the perfect moment comes up, you're ready."
"Yeah! Besides, sometimes it takes a while to get it fitted in the right size." His companion chipped in, as he loosened his tie. "You don't want to wait too long." Hikaru thought about this advice. It did make sense. Regardless though, he wouldn't be able to go and look at rings that night. But perhaps sometime soon.
That night he worked long and hard, extremely busy with customers, and his feet hurt from standing for so long, his eyes itching with tiredness, but he kept at it, joking with the customers and thanking each and every one as they left. He couldn't remember ever being this busy before, and when it hit the usual time that he would begin to pack up, and two new customers sat down, he figured he could work a bit longer. But then a bit turned into an hour, and that hour turned into three, and before he knew it the sun was beginning to stain the sky with streaks of pink and gold, and day was beginning. It was then that he decided to call it a night, and he wearily packed up and trudged home, exhausted but happy.
He pushed open the door to find that Kota had-thankfully-at least managed to fall asleep in bed, a book open on his chest, the pages all bent from its unorthodox use. Hikaru gently removed it, setting it on his bedside table before crawling under the covers. He'd shower in the morning. Within moments he was asleep. He didn't stay that way however. Kota's alarm started going off two hours after his head hit the pillow, and he groaned, feeling the weariness all the way to his bones as he sat up, a huge yawn encompassing his entire face. He opened his eyes properly to see Kota blinking blearily over at him, and the older man asked
"When did you get home Hika?" Hikaru just responded with an indistinguishable grunt, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend from behind, pressing his chest to Kota's back and hanging his head over a bony shoulder. Yabu sighed. "That's no good. You shouldn't work too hard. You know it's not going to be a big problem if we're a little behind for a bit. My parents have some money set aside if we ever get into a tight spot." He sighed when Hikaru didn't respond. "I just don't want you working yourself too hard because of me."
"It's fine Kota." Hikaru muttered, not ever liking it when Yabu's family's money was brought up. He knew it was a really lovely thing, and he knew that once Kota was out of school and had a job expenses wouldn't be a problem. But he was able to support them. He was an adult. He could take care of the two of them, and he wanted to be able to show that to Kota-and his family. Besides- "You know I like to work." He added. Yabu turned around, leaning in so that their foreheads were touching.
"Just remember, not too hard." He murmured, smiling before tilting his head in for a kiss. Hikaru leaned into it, wanting to just wrap himself around Kota and fall back into their bed. But then after a moment Kota pulled away, swinging himself up and out of bed. It was then that Hikaru suddenly remembered that today was a busy day for his boyfriend.
"You have exams today, right? Two of them." Yabu nodded, yawning and slipping on a pair of jeans.
"It may be a complete disaster, but at this point I can't do much else about it." He announced, trudging into the kitchen to get himself some coffee. He came back with a steaming mug in one hand and a textbook in another, staring intently at the page as he sipped at his drink, his face screwing up at the taste. "We're out of sugar." He announced, and Hikaru just watched from the bed, exhausted and half asleep still, as Kota packed up his school bag and got ready for the day. Yabu slung his backpack over his shoulder and grinned fondly down at him, patting him gently on the top of his head as he said
"Go back to sleep Hika. If you're still asleep when I get back then I'll wake you up, okay?" Hikaru yawned, and nodded, giving in.
"Okay." He looked up at his boyfriend. "Good luck today." He reached up for the hand that had slid down to his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "I love you."
"I love you too, sleepyhead." Yabu said, grinning, and Hikaru watched as Kota slipped out of the room, listening as he heard the front door opening. He was about to flop back into the mattress when his eyes caught on their calendar, and he cursed. He hadn't come up with anything for Yuto's birthday, and he honestly didn't have time to plan anything. Grumbling a bit, he pulled out his phone, finding Inoo in his contacts and calling him. Inoo usually had good ideas. His friend answered on the third ring, sounding as if he too had just woken up.
"Why are you disturbing the peace?" Inoo whispered, and Hikaru smiled at his dramatic phrasing.
"I need your help." He declared. Inoo groaned. In the background, Hikaru heard Daiki grumble
"Tell them to go away." Hikaru whistled.
"Inoo, are you having a slumber party with your new boyfriend?" He asked, sing-songing the question suggestively.
"No." Inoo declared, his denial disproved by a voice that was quite clearly Daiki, the small man's voice throaty, as though he had just woken up, saying
"Kei, who're you talking too? Tell them that they woke us up, and they shouldn't call people so early in the morning." Inoo cursed, and Hikaru laughed.
"Tell Daiki I'm sorry." He said, listening as Inoo relayed the message. Resigned, Inoo finally asked
"What's up?" Hikaru launched into it.
"Well, Yuto's birthday is coming up. It's a week from today, and while I know we couldn't get together on his actual birthday, I was hoping maybe this weekend or sometime we could get the band and maybe some friends-like Daiki, and his new boyfriend Yamada, and Keito or whomever-and celebrate somehow."
"That sounds good. Yuto would love it." Inoo agreed. Hikaru nodded.
"Yeah, but I don't know what we could do, and I honestly have too much on my plate this week to be doing much party planning."
"Okay. Well, Daiki and I can probably do it. I only have two exams this week, and one is just to perform for my music class, so I'm not swamped."
"Thanks, Inoo."
"No problem. Hey, how's Yabu doing?" Hikaru sighed.
"He's stressed. It's going to be a long week for him."
"Well tell him we wish him good luck, and not to worry about Yuto's birthday." Inoo said, and Hikaru felt extremely grateful for his friends.
"You're the best, Inoo." The keyboardist chuckled.
"Yeah. Bye!"
"Bye." Hikaru ended the call, finally falling back into bed, and blissfully into sleep.
Hikaru didn't wake up until Kota got home, the older man rousing him from sleep just in time for him to get ready for work and go back out into the world for another long night. Kota meanwhile was back to studying, his first two exams apparently having gone well. And in this fashion the week continued. They honestly barely saw each other, Yabu and Hikaru on nearly opposite sleeping schedules, and each working hard on their own endeavors. Hikaru didn't really like it, but whenever he'd kiss Kota goodbye, or he'd pass a jewelry store he'd remind himself that after this week Kota wouldn't be so busy. And once he'd made up the money they needed to pay their bills he could go out and buy that engagement ring he wanted.
It wasn't until Friday that they got to spend any quality time together, Hikaru declaring that he deserved a day off work before tackling Yabu to the bed for some much needed congratulations-on-finishing-your-exams-sex. They had a late breakfast, Kota declaring that as today was a day to finally relax after their stressful week, he would make pancakes. It was shortly after their fantastic breakfast, and they were back in bed, just cuddling and talking about nothing in particular when Hikaru's phone went off. It was Inoo. He put their friend on speaker, holding the device between the two of them, and said
"Yo."
"Daiki is a genius." Inoo declared. Yabu raised an eyebrow.
"We thought you had been saving all of the details of your sex life for Takaki." He remarked, making Hikaru break out into a grin. They'd all been receiving texts from the older man, complaining about how Inoo would over-share any new developments in his budding romance. Inoo shamelessly just said
"Oh, we haven't quite gotten there yet, but I'm sure he's a genius in that department too." Hikaru shook his head in amusement, before getting back on topic.
"What department is it that Daiki is a genius in then?" He asked.
"He's come up with the perfect idea for Yuto's birthday celebration!" Inoo announced dramatically. Yabu looked over at Hikaru, confused.
"Birthday celebration?" He asked. Hikaru felt like an idiot. Once he'd called Inoo he'd let all thoughts of Yuto's birthday leave his mind, and in the rush of the past week he had completely forgotten to tell Kota about any attempted birthday plans for their drummer.
"Yuto's birthday is on Tuesday. I called Inoo earlier this week to see if he and Daiki could maybe plan something for him." Yabu just nodded, and now that everyone was on the same page, Inoo elaborated.
"So we were thinking we could all take him to the amusement park tomorrow. I was hoping it could be some sort of surprise thing. We could have the band, plus Keito and Yamada, and all significant others, like Chinen and Daiki, and Keito's boy. Yuto seemed to like him. That Ryutaro kid." Hikaru was surprised that Inoo had given a green light to anything involving heights and fast moving transport. But he wasn't going to break whatever spell Daiki had him under, so he just nodded.
"That sounds great Inoo."
"What if Hikaru and I go and pick Yuto up?" Yabu offered. "We could tell him we're taking him out as a celebration for finishing all of our exams, and then we just take the train to the park, and you guys can all wait there and meet us?" As he offered this he looked to Hikaru, who nodded. He was totally up for that job.
"Perfect! I'll call the others." Inoo declared, and just like that the plans were made, Yabu calling Yuto and telling him that they were going out to a surprise location to celebrate finishing all of their testing. When he hung up he smiled, laying his head on Hikaru's shoulder.
"Tomorrow's going to be so much fun."
Corresponding Chapters:
I Do | I Don't
Next