I Don't (7/12)
Title: I Don't
Author: thanku4urlove
Pairing: Takaki/Chinen, side Hikaru/Yabu, Inoo/Daiki, Yamada/Yuto, and Keito/Ryutaro (it's not a fic of mine unless everyone is in a relationship I guess jeez)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None that I can think of.
Genre: Romance
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Takaki Yuya could barely believe it. Just twenty-four years old, and he was already tied down to a single bedroom house and a tiny twenty year-old man named Chinen Yuri. He was sure, however, that this situation had to be temporary. There was no way he was going to stay married to some stranger his mother had forced him with.
A/N: If anyone is confused by the I Do/ I Don't/ I Don't Care thing, please check out the Author's Note for chapter one! This chapter sort of got away from me and became a little ridiculous. The plot will come back (sort of) in the next chapter.
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
When Takaki woke up, the first thing he did was glance around, confused. He wasn't on the couch, with sunlight from the windows streaming in, bothering his eyes and making him shove his face back into his pillow. Instead the room was dim, some light making its way through a curtained window on his left. It actually took a few minutes of intent staring at the ceiling to remember that he was on the floor of Chinen's room, and as soon as he realized that he glanced up at the large bed.
Takaki always assumed that Chinen slept directly in the middle of the large space, but it seemed as though the young man had staked a claim on the right half, lying on his side, head turned in Takaki's direction. He was still asleep, face relaxed, both arms and legs drawn close to his body. One foot had barely made its way out from under the blue bed sheets. Takaki looked at him for a few moments, evaluating.
Chinen Yuri was adorable.
Chinen must have felt Takaki's eyes on him, because a few moments later his own eyes opened. They landed on Takaki and stayed there, unblinking, and Takaki looked back.
"Good morning."
"It is." Chinen agreed, pulling himself up to a sitting position. He yawned, making a light whining noise as he arched his back and stretched out his arms. He looked at Takaki blearily and asked "Do you want to make breakfast with me?"
Make a mess in the kitchen with a half asleep Chinen?
"Sure." Takaki answered. Chinen seemed surprised by his affirmative answer but smiled a bit, sliding out of bed. Takaki followed Chinen in to the kitchen.
"I don't know how to cook anything." Takaki warned as they entered the kitchen. Chinen shrugged.
"Neither did I, until we moved in here. I just drew on things I'd seen my mother do and went with it."
Oh. Takaki was impressed. Chinen padded to the fridge, yawning again, opening it and pulling out the carton of eggs, setting it on the counter. Takaki expected some sort of instruction, but instead Chinen went over to the lump under blankets on the couch. Ryutaro.
"Ryu." He shook the teenager twice, making him groan and roll slightly. Takaki stayed safely in the kitchen, watching as Chinen jumped on his friend's back, sitting on him.
"Ugh, Chii, what is it?"
"What would you like for breakfast?" Chinen asked, seemingly more awake now.
"More sleep."
"C'mon, it's already ten-thirty. How would you like your eggs?"
"...scrambled."
Nodding in satisfaction, Chinen got up and rejoined Takaki.
"Crack some of those into a bowl and mix them." Chinen said, pointing to the eggs. "I'll make some pancakes, or something."
"How many is some?" Takaki asked. Chinen shrugged. Takaki got out a bowl, then looked at the selection of utensils. What did one mix eggs with? A spoon? A fork?
"You should use a fork." Chinen said, noticing his inner conflict.
"Thanks." Takaki responded. Chinen laughed, turning back to his pancake mix. Takaki decided on five eggs, all of them cracking cleanly until the last one. The shell went everywhere, Takaki fishing out the big parts and hoping Chinen wouldn't notice.
"Now what?" He asked.
"Now we scramble them." Chinen declared, pulling out a pan from a bottom cabinet. There was a loud amount of clanging as he did so, reminding Takaki of the first morning at the house.
"Does taking out a pan always make that much noise?" He had to ask, smiling and raising his eyebrows in Chinen's direction.
"Yup." The younger man replied. He turned the burner under the pan on, dropping a small hunk of butter in to melt.
"I thought we were making eggs...?" Takaki asked, pointing to the butter. Chinen blinked at him, as though he couldn't believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. Takaki immediately regretted speaking.
"It keeps the eggs from sticking to the pan."
Takaki opened his mouth into a small 'o', nodding in understanding. That made sense, and if he'd actually let himself think, Takaki realized that he probably would have been able to figure that out. Chinen grinned, giggling at him.
Once the eggs had been sufficiently scrambled, the pancake batter was ready.
"Go ask Ryutaro what he wants to drink, would you?" Chinen asked, pouring out a pancake on the stove. Takaki stood still for a few moments.
"Do I have to?" He finally asked.
"You're asking a question, not waking a sleeping dragon." Chinen threw him a look. "Come on."
It felt like waking a dragon to Takaki, who tip-toed into the living room. Ryutaro had fallen back asleep, laying on his stomach, arms reaching over his head to wrap around his pillow. Takaki briefly considered poking Ryutaro with the wooden spoon he was holding, the one he had used to scramble the eggs, but that probably wouldn't help him into Ryutaro's good books so he just extended his arm instead.
After a bit of shaking, Ryutaro gave him a bleary look.
"What."
It didn't sound like a question, more like an annoyed demand.
"What would you like to drink?" Takaki felt like a waiter.
"Well..." Ryutaro sat up slowly. "What do you have?"
"Um..." Takaki wracked his brain, really feeling like a waiter now. "Milk, water, apple and orange juice, coffee..."
"Just water is fine, thank you."
Ryutaro was treating him like a waiter and knew it too, giving him a polite smile and waving a hand. Takaki blinked a few times before going back to the kitchen. There were now three large pancakes cooking on the stove, Chinen extending his spatula to Takaki.
"I'm no good at flipping pancakes, could you do it?"
"I've never done this before." Their chef always made all the food at Takaki's old home; Takaki barely even set foot in the kitchen.
"Just get it on the spatula and turn it over. It'll be fine."
Once the spatula was in Takaki's hand, Chinen began rifling through a drawer. Takaki turned his attention to the pancake predicament in front of him. Slowly, he slid the spatula under one of them. It went smoothly, and Takaki picked the pancake up easily. He held it up, proud of himself, just as Chinen said,
"Hey, we do own a turkey baster."
"What?" Takaki's arm jerked in a weird mix of surprise and fear, the pancake flying away. It hit something batter side first, splatting against the surface. Takaki turned slowly to see the damage, Chinen doubling over into giggles next to him.
Ryutaro stood in the kitchen doorway, unmoving, letting gravity take hold of the half finished pancake, sliding down his face mortifyingly slowly and on to the floor. Then the teenager licked the batter off his lips, tasting it.
"I think it's a little undercooked." He reported, making Chinen laugh even harder.
Somehow, the mess was cleaned up and breakfast was completed. It tasted fine too, which was a bit of a miracle. While they were eating Chinen declared that he and Ryutaro were going clothing shopping later. Takaki would be left to his own devices for a while. He wasn't sure how he would keep himself occupied, about to turn on the television when his phone rang.
"Hey Takaki. You busy?" It was Hikaru.
"No actually, not at all. Why?"
"Yabu, Yuto, Yamada, and I are planning on following Inoo and Daiki around. You up for it?"
"Following them around?" Takaki echoed.
"The date."
Oh. Right. Their date was today. Inoo had texted him about it late last night, something about being too excited to sleep. Takaki on the other hand, was quite tired and hadn't responded. Really, Takaki didn't know much at all about the event. But Hikaru wanted to go follow them around? Takaki was more than up for that.
"Do you know where their date is?"
"I think they're going out to the mall and hanging out, or something. It sounded dull, but I guess they'll have fun just being together."
It did sound dull. Takaki nodded.
"We're all meeting at the mall, in the food court. Come with some sort of disguise, if you can. Just in case."
A disguise? Takaki almost laughed. No way.
"Alright. See you there."
When Takaki got to the food court, it wasn't too hard to spot his friends. Mainly because Hikaru had on a hat, sunglasses, bulky coat, and foot-long gray fake beard. The other three were dressed normally, shorts and t-shirts.
"Oh my god, you look like an idiot."
"Hello to you too." Hikaru responded, adjusting his hat.
"Yabu, how could you let your boyfriend out of the house looking like that?"
"It's not... Too bad." Yabu said defensively, touching the end of the fake beard. Yamada's eyes doubled in size, and Yuto put a hand on his mouth.
"Yabu, if you let Hikaru grow facial hair I swear--"
"It's them!" Yamada hissed, cutting Takaki off and pointing. Immediately they all looked over, and sure enough it was Inoo and Daiki, walking into the mall. Their hands were down by their sides, Daiki's pinky looped around Inoo's. Takaki almost cooed.
"We need to hide." Yuto hissed when he noticed that the two were walking in their direction.
"If you guys had just dressed up like I suggested, we wouldn't have--"
"Oh shut up." Takaki grabbed Hikaru's arm, and the five of them crouched behind the table of a family of six.
"Hi."
Yamada's greeting was met with blank stares, and as soon as the new couple left the food court--apparently, they were just passing through--Hikaru apologized and they left them alone.
"Where did they go?" Yabu asked.
"They're trying on hats." Yuto reported, pointing to an accessories store. Sure enough, there the two of them were, making funny faces and giggling at each other. They just walked around, putting on various necklaces, sunglasses, and hats. By the time Daiki had two rings on every finger and Inoo somehow managed to get four pairs of sunglasses to stay on his face the two decided to take a picture of themselves. Inoo kissed Daiki's cheek as the younger held up his phone, staying there until the picture was taken.
"They're so cutesy, I might just throw up." Takaki confessed.
"C'mon, we all knew this was what was going to happen when they got together." Yabu pointed out.
The date really wasn't too exciting to watch, largely just the two window shopping and enjoying each other's company. More interesting, Takaki found, were Yamada and Yuto's interactions. Their eyes flat-out sparkled when they looked at each other, Yuto using just about every excuse in his arsenal to grab Yamada's hand or be next to him. Being caught between their level of preciousness and Hikaru and Yabu, whose hearts seemed to even beat at the same time, made Takaki wish that Chinen was here with him.
Though Takaki wouldn't admit it to anyone--especially Inoo--he was beginning to find himself surprisingly okay with the idea of developing a crush on Chinen. Because why not? It was like Inoo had said earlier. They were already married, and Chinen wasn't some old, greasy guy with a comb over. He was cute, he was nice, and he made Takaki smile. Wasn't that all there was to a crush anyways?
They almost got caught by Inoo and Daiki as the couple were leaving, shoving each other into clothing racks in an effort to hide. Hikaru couldn't hide in time, meeting eyes with both of them before Yabu grabbed his arm and dragged him behind some coats.
"Mission accomplished!" Yuto exclaimed when they were out of the mall. "We did it!"
"And thanks to my disguise, we didn't get caught." Hikaru said smugly.
"Right." Takaki raised an eyebrow at his friend. "We all still on for rehearsal tomorrow?"
Once they'd all nodded in confirmation, Takaki made his way home.
It was just the band that came over the next day. The rehearsal felt rather short and rushed, barely lasting an hour or two, running through a bunch of music before packing up and leaving, Yuto and Yabu both saying that they desperately needed to study for their upcoming exams. Inoo needed to study too, and Takaki knew that, so when the younger man instead stayed and took a seat on Takaki's couch, it wasn't hard to figure out that he wanted to talk. So Takaki got a cup of water and decided to indulge him.
"How was the date with Daiki?"
"Fantastic." The word burst from Inoo's lips much too quickly, as if he had been trying to hold it in all day long. "Everything I could have ever hoped for. Well, except for this weird old guy that followed us around the whole time."
Takaki snorted into his drink. He didn't know whether or not he could deem Hikaru's costume successful--true, Inoo and Daiki hadn't recognized him, which was the point of the entire getup, but if he hadn't been wearing it, they probably wouldn't have noticed him at all in the first place.
"What did you guys do?"
"Nothing, really. Just walked around and made idiots out of ourselves. It was fun, though. The feel of everything was just so nice, because all of the goofing off and inside jokes made it relaxing, like we were friends, but I got to do all of the cheek kissing and hand holding that I've always wanted to do."
That made Takaki smile. Though it was long overdue, he was glad the step forward in Inoo and Daiki's relationship had gone so well. "That's really, really great."
"I know. I'm worried about one thing, though." Inoo grew serious, which was unusual for him to do, looking into his lap, at his hands.
"What is it?"
"He kissed me."
Takaki's eyebrows jumped up. He wanted to say congratulations, but Inoo's tone of voice made him think twice about it.
"Why are you worried? Is he a bad kisser, or something?"
"No, no, not at all. It's more that I don't know what I should do." Inoo fiddled with his fingers some more. "He was dropping me off at my house, and I was just going to kiss his cheek again, playing it safe and stuff, and..." Inoo shrugged. "Either I missed or he just went for it. Once it happened, it was like this dam of pent-up feelings just opened and if I hadn't jumped away a second later, I don't know when I would have."
Oh. Wow. "That's exciting."
"Tell me about it." Inoo grumbled, and Takaki nearly spit out his water when he realized the way Inoo had interpreted his sentence.
"That's not what I... Did Daiki have this feeling too, or was it just you?"
Inoo shrugged. "I don't know. I all but ran out of the car, really."
Takaki sat silently for a few moments, thinking of some sort of advice to give his friend. When he realized he had just about nothing to say, he just looked over at him.
"I don't know why you went to me about this." He confessed honestly.
"You're my best friend." Inoo responded.
"Yeah, but Hikaru and Yabu have known each other for ten years now. Ask them about it. Call Yabu or something."
"Fine." Inoo said, tone lifting into something more playful. "Maybe I will."
Takaki smiled and Inoo stood up, saying,
"I really do need to go though. I'm about ninety-three percent sure I'm going to fail my probability and statistics exam."
The joke was met with an unamused look, making Inoo laugh.
"I really just... Don't want to mess this up with him, you know?"
Takaki slung an arm around Inoo's shoulders as they walked to the door.
"Then stop stressing so much. It's Daiki. Nothing to worry about, right?"
"Right."
After a quick hug, Inoo was on his way home.
Other Chapters:
I Do | I Don't Care