Do Scars Fade: a Heisei Kumi Fanfic (16/18)
Author: ryosukekoibito
Pairing: Keito-centric, with some side Ariyama and Chiitaro
Rating: R/NC-17
Warnings: Violence; Consensual sex between adults
Genre: Slice of life
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone.
Summary: Keito is left in a state of depression after the loss of his boyfriend, but with the help of his housemates he begins to regain his appreciation for life, and find happiness again.
A/N: This is another instalation in my Heisei Kumi AU! This fic is a direct sequel to Sequence of Upsets, and is the third one written from Keito's perspective. If you haven't read Sequence of Upsets, or the first fic, My New Family, then you may be confused. This fic starts at the end of February 2014, so about six months afterSequence of Upsets ends. Enjoy!Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
It was a little over a week into December when Keito came home late one night, his pockets full of envelopes of money, courtesy of Inoo's borrowers. He was surprised to find Daiki still up, the older man sitting at their kitchen table in a pair of sweatpants and a flannel long sleeved shirt, the surface of the table littered in papers, a thick book open next to a manila folder. He'd had his head bowed over the book, one finger tracing some text, a pen in his other hand, hovering over a scrap of paper. Keito just stood there in the entryway for a moment, completely taken aback by the image in front of him. He'd never seen Daiki look remotely studious in all of his time knowing the older man. The sound of the door being shut seemed to jerk Daiki out of his state of immense concentration, and he jumped, looking up sharply at Keito and cursing, his eyes wide.
"Sorry." Keito murmured, taking off his coat and hanging it up, Daiki taking a deep breath and shaking his head.
"Oh, It's just you Keito." He flipped a page in his book. "I was afraid it was Ryosuke." Keito's surprise just grew at that statement, and he crossed the space between them, taking a seat at the table.
"What's all of this, Daiki?" He gestured to the mess of papers surrounding his housemate. Daiki glanced over at him, eyes narrowed as he sized Keito up. They sat in a moment of silence, Keito feeling the smaller man judging him, before Daiki's expression relaxed, an excited light in his eyes that Keito hadn’t been expecting.
"I, well..." He started shuffling through his pages, obviously trying to gather his thoughts. "Do you remember, back in July when we went to Johnny's memorial service, Ryosuke and I were conversing with those two men, Tackey-san and Tsubasa-san?" It took Keito a moment to recall who Daiki was talking about, having to sift through all of the only vaguely familiar faces from that day, before nodding.
"They'd just gotten married." Keito recalled. Daiki nodded, an excited energy in his voice.
"Exactly right, yes. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to talk much with them about it, but since then I've been doing my own research, and..." His expression suddenly grew serious, and he leaned across the table, standing to accommodate his small stature, and he slammed his palms down loudly on the table top, getting right in Keito's face. Keito leaned away a little on instinct, Daiki's intimidation act doing it's job completely, Ketio not able to meet his housemate's fierce gaze. "If you tell anyone about this, you're going to wake up one morning without any kneecaps. Do you understand? The only reason I'm telling you anything is because you caught me, and I don't want you asking Ryosuke any funny questions. He doesn't know shit, and I plan on keeping it that way until I'm prepared."
"I understand." Keito muttered, his mind racing as he comprehended everything Daiki had been saying, putting the pieces together. There was a silence as Daiki took his seat, and Keito took in the older man in shock, asking "Daiki...are you going to propose to Yama-chan?"
Daiki just stared back over at him for a moment, his cheeks tinting pink. Keito had never seen Daiki act bashful before. It was cute.
"Well, it wouldn't be a marriage in the eyes of the law, but I've figured out that if I were to legally adopt Ryosuke, then he'd get my family name, and we would get benefits, and inheritance and everything. We'd be family, legally." That excited light was back. "It wouldn't even be that hard, we'd just need witnesses, and a government official to record it, and then I was thinking we could just exchange rings or something." He looked down at his book. "I've nearly got it all figured out, I was just trying to find a record of exactly what documentation we would need, and then I want to find someone who could be the official that presided over the whole thing. I was thinking I'd go by Shoon's old office and see..." He trailed off, muttering quietly "I'm thinking I'll be confident enough in this whole idea in time to ask Ryosuke on Christmas."
Keito hadn't had any idea that Daiki had been having any thoughts of marriage, but he felt a smile growing on his face. This was amazing. It was fantastic. He told Daiki so, his praises making Daiki's blush grow even more red, and the older man slumped in his chair, telling Keito to 'shut the fuck up'. Daiki, Keito realized, was probably a good authority on the subject of love. He'd managed to have such a long lasting, healthy relationship, his relationship with Yamada one to be envious of. And so, trying to act nonchalant about the question; trying to tell himself that it was just pure curiosity, and not because he could possibly, maybe be in love with Hikaru, Keito asked
"Dai-chan, how did you know that you were in love with Yamada?" It was Daiki's turn to give Keito a look of surprise, but he furrowed his brow, thinking.
"I didn't at first. Yamada was just different from all of the other boys for some reason. I was more aware of him and what he was doing than I was about the rest of them. And then one evening-I remember it was right after he got his first tattoo, because I had been helping him take care of it-I had the urge to kiss him." Daiki chuckled, shaking his head. "I was really stupid. Even then I didn't get the hint. Inoo-chan had to tell me that what I was feeling was love. After that though, it was blatantly obvious to me how I felt about Ryosuke. I just needed to acknowledge it." There was a pause, and Daiki suddenly grew serious, his eyebrows furrowed, and he asked
“What brought this on Keito? You know how it is. You had Shoon after all.”
“I know, I just...I just wanted to know if it was different for you than it was for me.” Keito stuttered out.
Daiki's words made Keito feel rather ill. The process Daiki had just described sounded eerily like his situation with Hikaru. But just because he occasionally thought about kissing the Kumi-cho, just because Hikaru had always been different from all of the other boys, had always been special, that didn't mean that Keito had to be in love with him. Keito was going to keep telling himself that, because he couldn't-wouldn't-be in love with Hikaru. Hikaru was the Kumi-cho. He was the boss. He was the one person Keito could never have romantic feelings for. The one person who could never love him back. Keito bid Daiki good night, taking Inoo his money and going to bed, that terrifying little thought at the back of his mind no longer quite so little.
Keito's fear of being in love with Hikaru didn't stop him from putting the Kumi-cho on his list of people to buy Christmas presents for. Not that anyone wasn't on the list. All of his housemates had been absolutely amazing, patient and understanding with him in the past year, and he wanted to show his gratitude. They had gotten a Christmas tree the first week of December, and in the weeks leading up to the holiday Keito and Yuto went out together for Christmas presents, Keito's friend amusing him during their searches for presents for Yamada. Yuto voiced the concern that he didn't want to risk getting Yamada something nicer than whatever Daiki was getting him, and Keito had to fight to keep up the oblivious act as he told Yuto that he didn't think that was going to be a problem.
While Hikaru was on Keito's list, Keito found himself having a hard time figuring out just what to get the older man for Christmas. Hikaru had gotten him some amazing gifts in the past, and Keito wanted to give Hikaru something amazing, but nothing he saw seemed good enough for his leader. He looked at jewelry for a while, rather set on getting him something shiny and expensive, but Hikaru didn't have his ears pierced, and he wasn't one to wear accessories. Yuto had the perfect suggestion, telling Keito once he'd heard Keito's dilemma
"Just get him cuff links. They're expensive and pretty, or whatever, like jewelry, but they have a purpose, so he'll actually use them." And so Keito did, managing to find some gorgeous gold ones in the shape of tigers heads, the beasts roaring, their eyes embedded with tiny rubies. The tigers' stripes reminded Keito a bit of Hikaru's tattoos, and he smiled down at them in their little box as he forked over the money for them. He'd found a gift he would be proud to give to Hikaru. Keito wrapped his gifts or put them in gift bags, labeling them and slipping them under the tree, relieved that he managed to get everything done with a few days to spare before Christmas.
The holiday itself arrived-as per usual-with Keito being shaken awake by an extremely excited Yuto, his roommate talking at him until he got out of bed, Keito not able to hold back a grin as the taller man handed him a Santa hat, already shoving one on his own head. And-as per usual-due to Yuto's enthusiasm soon all of their housemates were awake, Chinen refusing to come down, Ryutaro having to forcibly drag the tiny man from their bed. Chinen was grumbly at first, but someone stuffed a cup of coffee into one of his tiny hands, and a muffin in the other, and that settled him down. Daiki and Yamada were the last to arrive, their hands clasped together, Yamada pressed into Daiki's side. They were both smiling widely, Daiki looking at Yamada as if the younger man was made of starlight and pure happiness. Keito immediately realized what must have happened, and he had to fight back an excited congratulations. Luckily he didn't have to hold in his excitement for long, Daiki and Yamada waiting until everyone was sitting, looking at each other, their smiles growing as they made eye contact, before announcing
"So...we're engaged!" There was a stunned silence, but Keito just let out a whoop, congratulating his housemates. His sounds of excitement were quickly joined by the praises and congratulations of the rest of his housemates, Inoo actually crying, Daiki letting go of his now-fiancé to pull his best friend into his arms, holding the crying man, an amused expression on his face. Eventually however, Inoo calmed down, apologizing for his embarrassing display, and after they'd gotten through teasing their friend the gift exchanging began, Yuto sitting by the tree and throwing packages across the room to their intended recipients. Keito took a seat by Yuto's side, offering his friend a bite of his muffin and passing out his own gifts, feeling self conscious as his housemates opened them. Yuto meanwhile handed him a package with his name on it, Keito turning his attention to the gift, glad for something to focus on.
Yuto had gotten him a new set of guitar strings and a pack of picks, black like his necklace. Keito thanked his friend for the present, realizing that this was Yuto's way of trying to get him to pick his guitar back up. He figured he would have to now. Not that he would mind; if it was something Yuto wanted, he would be happy to. His attention was pulled away from his new strings however, when there was a sharp curse, and he looked up to see Hikaru sitting on the floor, Keito's present open in his lap. He was staring at the contents of the box, surprise etched on his face. Keito could feel himself blushing, his heart speeding up, and Yuto have him a thumbs up, leaning in and saying quietly
"I think you did good, Keito." His statement was quickly proven by the smile that broke out on Hikaru's lips, the older man's eyes catching Keito's own. Hikaru leaned in, to be heard over their chattering housemates
"Keito, these are gorgeous." Keito could feel his blush growing, and he felt self conscious hearing Hikaru's praise. "Thank you so much." He nodded, an immense feeling of relief and happiness that his gift had been so well received rising up in his chest, and he couldn't keep the smile off of his face when for the rest of the day Hikaru showed off the cufflinks to their housemates. Being the source of Hikaru's happiness just made him so immensely happy, the feeling welling up inside of him, affection so strong that he felt he might burst with it.
He hadn't been so affected by another person's happiness since...since he'd been in love with Shoon. And it suddenly hit him, washing over him with a feeling of stark finality later on in the day as Hikaru called for him to come sit by him, the older man smiling, his warm brown eyes on Keito's face, that he simply couldn't deny it any longer. He was in love with Yaotome Hikaru, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Another thought quickly chased that one, a more grim thought, as he smiled back, his heart pounding in his chest as he settled in next to the Kumi-cho, Hikaru slinging his arm across Keito's shoulders and pulling him close. I can't let him ever find out.
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