Fic: Friends (always by your side)
Title: ともだち（ずっとそばにいる）
Genre: friendship
Rating: PG -13
Pairing: Akame
Warning: unbetaed
Disclaimer: Don't own any of them, just the plot :)
Summary: After all that's happened, will Kame still be willing to be his friend?
A.N.: First time writing a fic! Just wanted to test it out and see how it goes :)
The crowd was still on its feet; calling for more, calling for him to do a second encore, but his heart had long left the stage. Calling out a last goodbye, he hurried backstage and towards his dressing room, fingers furiously typing away a number on his cellphone, ands bringing it up to his ear hoping fervently that the other would answer.
“Ryo! Thank god! Is Kame still there?” he cried into the phone as soon as the line was picked up.
“ He’s just about to leave with Nakamaru and Ueda.”
“Can you pass the phone to him? I need to talk to him,” Jin pleaded as he closed the door to his dressing room and frantically started throwing his belongings into his duffel bag.
“ H.. hello?”
Jin’s hands stilled as he heard the stuttered greeting. All thoughts flew out of his head as he heard Kame’s voice, the voice he had been longing to hear for a very long time.
“Hello? Jin, you there?” Kame’s voice questioned after not hearing anything from the one who had called him.
“Ah hai hai, I’m here,” Jin flustered, some sense knocked back into his head by Kame’s question. Driving all his fears away, Jin plucked up the courage and asked timidly, “Ne Kazu, can… can we meet?”
Silence thick enough to be cut greeted his ear.
“It’s been a long time since we last met and I know it’s all my fault and that you have every right to not want to meet me and to hate me for everything I’ve done and I know that I can never say enough sorrys to you or make up for it but I still just want to talk to you so would you please meet me tonight we can just have dinner or supper or something or if you’re not hungry we can just sit somewhere and talk and can you pleasesaysomething? You’re making me nervous,” Jin panted his rambling to a stop, breath catching in his throat as he nervously impatiently anticipated an answer- any answer- from the other end of the line.
A light chuckle reverberated through his ear, calming down his frantic heartbeat by a bit. “Fine, let’s meet. It has been a long time, hasn’t it?” Kame’s voice answered, a slight tone of amusement and bewilderment present. Despite months of no contact, Jin was surprised he could still come up with a mental image of Kame’s slight smile, smirking at his flusters. Jin’s heartbeat picked up again at his reaction, a wide grin decorating his face.
“Yeah it has,” he breathed. “I’m almost done packing my stuff, meet you at the carpark? In about 10 minutes?” he continued.
“Yeah see you in 10,” Kame replied, hanging up and probably passing the phone back to its possible grinning owner. Jin quickly stuffed his phone into his back pocket and resumed haphazardly packing his bag before rushing out the door to make some quick goodbyes to his crew and staff and running to meet Kame at the carpark, the wide grin still plastered on his face all the way.
-~-~-~
“So. Where are we going?” Kame enquired, breaking the awkward silence that had settled in Jin’s car for the last 15 minutes.
“Umm I don’t know?” Jin grimaced as he answered. He had just been driving around aimlessly, losing track of all the roads, mind too occupied with the fact that Kamenashi Kazuya is in his car, had agreed to meet him, to talk to him. “Do you have any specific place you want to go?” he asked, mentally hitting himself on the head for his own stupidity. He groaned further as a low rumble erupted from his stomach, reminding him that he had not eaten since before the show, hoping futilely that Kame had not heard his traitorous stomach.
A slight smile crept onto Kame’s lips as he discerned the low rumbling. “Let’s go to my place. I’ll make you some dinner and then we can talk. And no protests,” he started as he saw Jin starting to open his mouth to speak. “You’re hungry, right? And my cooking’s much better than all that junk you like to eat so much. And I doubt there would be anything in your house that is not rotten enough for me to cook with,” he teased, wondering how it was that everything still seemed so easy and natural even after all that time, when everything that had happened should have changed it otherwise. He turned to look out the window again, smile still plastered on his face as he felt Jin nod beside him and mutter a small thanks, redirecting his course towards Kame’s house.
-~-~-~
“Umm umai!!” Jin squealed as he savoured his first bite of Kame’s cooking, closing his eyes at the bittersweet familiar pleasure he had once felt many times, a long time ago. Kame just smiled at him, settling down opposite Jin at his dining table. He just kept on watching as Jin wolfed down his food, small smiles stretching his lips every time Jin made his little moans of pleasure. It had been a long time since they sat together like that, and he had just realized exactly how much he had missed being this comfortable around Jin, just sitting with him and talking to him without any animosity, or pain clenching his heart.
“Thank you,” Jin’s quiet words startled him out of his musings. “Thanks, really,” Jin continued, voice still subdued, “for coming to my concert. You don’t know how much it means to me to have you there.” Head bowed, eyes directed to his half-empty bowl, Jin dared not to look up into Kame’s eyes, afraid of what he would find reflected in them.
“I’m really sorry for everything,” Jin gushed on. “I’m sorry for the way I acted, for leaving the group, for leaving you, for not even discussing it with you beforehand. I didn’t know how to say it to you, was too afraid of seeing you hurt, too afraid to hear you scolding me, shouting at me, even though I know that I deserve all of it and much more. I, I didn’t want to lose you. I’m sorry…” he whispered, voice trembling at the end as he fought futilely to keep a control over his spilling emotions.
Kame just stared at him, speechless, not knowing what to say, what to feel at Jin’s confessions. He wanted to be angry, he wanted to shout at Jin for leaving them, for bringing up this topic just when he had managed to forget all about it, but the longer he stared at Jin, the lesser resolve he had to hurt Jin any more, even though his own hurt was increasing with every passing second. Jin looked so alone, so down and hurt, so vulnerable and broken, and he hated it. Even though they had long stopped being best friends, he realized that he still hated to see Jin hurting. Watching Jin in pain always ended up just adding another sharp stab to his heart. His hands and feet started moving in their own, and before he knew it he found himself trapping Jin in his embrace, hugging him close to his chest as he felt Jin’s heavy sobs racket through his body.
“I hate you, you know that?” Kame said. “I hate you so much. I thought we were at least friends. I thought that no matter what, you would still come to me whenever you have any problems, because that’s what I still want to do whenever I need someone to talk to. I know we haven’t been best friends for a long time now, but I thought we were at least still friends…”
“We are!” Jin exclaimed as he pushed Kame far enough away to see his face. “It’s just… I was scared of losing our friendship. I was scared that you would not want to be my friend anymore if I told you about it,” Jin said as he looked into Kame’s eyes. “In the end I lost everything,” Jin mumbled, chin dropping to his chest, his body sagging in defeat.
“Baka,” Kame called, hitting him on his head. “Don’t you ever do this again okay? We’ve known each other for too long now for me to just ignore everything about you. I don't like seeing you hurt like this. So don't do this ever again. Okay?” Kame paused. Gathering Jin closer into his embrace again, he continued “You do a good job now like you did tonight, and continue doing us proud. Understand? Don’t cry anymore, and don’t hide from me when you do. It hurts, and it hurts both you and me.” Kame sighed, hoping his message got through to Jin. As much as he hated not having Jin in KAT-TUN, he hated an unhappy Jin even more. Besides, KAT-TUN was getting more balanced, and stronger too. They’ll survive and they’ll succeed. Now it’s time for him to wish the same for Jin.
After all, true friends might not be there all the time, but are always the first to arrive when you need them. And that’s what the two of them are. True friends, for now till eternity.
~おわり~