What To Do? [One-shot]
Author: Ani
Genre: AU, fluff, romance
Rating: PG
Pairings: Chiitaro
Word Count: 3821
Summary: It follows the life and love of two young friends. The idea is loosely based off the title and lyrics of S.H.E.'s song 怎麼辦
Disclaimer: I don't own JE
Once upon a time, Chinen Yuuri nearly drowned. He was seven years old and still trying to learn how to swim. After kicking furiously in water for the past hour, he was resting at the edge of the deep end when unexpectedly, he slipped off the side into the depths of the pool.
Instantly, the heavy waters closed over his head, even as he tried in vain to gulp a breath of air. All he got was a mouthful of chlorine-filled water. His arms flailed wildly, but he was blind; he couldn't tell where up and down was anymore. Luckily, someone fished him out, but afterward, he could never completely shake off the shudder he'd get whenever he was near a pool of water. All he could remember was the feeling of cold, cold darkness taking away his senses.
That was the worse memory he had: the water clogging his nose and mouth. As he tried to take a breath, he realized with a horrible panic in his chest that he couldn't. When Chinen Yuuri was seven years old, he suffocated for the first time in his life. It would not be the last time.
Two years later, Chinen felt the same familiar sensations of losing his ability to breathe. This time though, it wasn't because of a huge amount of water crushing his lungs.
"Hey, Chibi-chan!" A well-aimed kick made contact with his back and he collapsed on the dusty ground, all the air knocked out of him. His arms instinctively broke his fall and he hissed with pain as the unhealed bruises he'd received before made a hard impact. "How's life like down there?"
"Why don't you stay there for good?" Someone's foot pressed down upon his back, and he gasped, accidentally tasting the bitter soil and coughing.
"S-stop i-it!" he managed to choke out, but that only invited more jeering laughter. Twisting his body around, he somehow managed to push the bully's foot off him, much to their surprise. "W-what did I ever d-do to you?"
He knew he made a bad move when his collar was roughly grabbed and he found himself face to face with the 6th year boy he recognized as the leader of this particular gang.
"What did you do?" Chinen turned his head away as the other boy's spittle flew out of his mouth. "You exist for one thing. You exist, and that's enough of a reason for this!" Without warning, Chinen was forcefully thrown aside. His body hit the wall with a heavy thump! But most of the damage landed on his left foot, which was now throbbing.
The smallest bit of tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He didn't do anything to deserve this sort of bullying! But one day, the older kids just started to pick on him, call him names like "Chibi-chan" and had fun throwing him around for their own amusement.
Other kids were aware of this activity; he had seen classmates walking by as he was getting harassed, but not one stopped to help. Most of them looked away or avoided eye contact with him altogether; he figured they were too scared to associate with him now.
The five bullies had him trapped in a semi-circle now. His eyes flickered desperately from side to side, but he could see no opening for him to escape.
"I never did anything to you! Why do you have to pick on me?!"
"Shut up! Stop being such an annoyance!" A blur of movement made Chinen squeeze his eyes shut and bring his arms up in a futile effort to protect himself. Long moments passed, but no fist collided painfully with his cheek the way it had in the past.
Instead, he heard surprised yells which soon gave way to angry shouts.
"What the hell?" Trembling, Chinen dared to peek through his hands to see his tormentors distracted by someone else.
"How sad. It takes five of you to beat up someone half your size." The new boy smirked and Chinen's eyes widened as he recognized him. It was Morimoto Ryutaro, a second year and also his best friend.
As expected, the Ryutaro's words pissed off the bullies, who ran at him, Chinen completely forgotten now that they had a new target. Without another word, he took off running full speed back to the school and the group of six years followed him.
Worried, Chinen tried to do the same, only to have his knees buckle as he tried to stand. Pulling his pants back slightly, he saw a large purple bruise beginning to form on his ankle. Time ticked by slowly, and then the boy who had led his bullies away returned.
"Ryu-chan!" Chinen started to stand again, but his ankle gave out before he was even half way up. "Ow, ow!"
"Hey, be careful!" Ryutaro kneeled next to him, setting two bags down from his shoulder. A quick glance told Chinen he had somehow gotten his left-behind bag as well. "You can't walk, can you?" Reluctantly, Chinen shook his head. "Get on then."
Ryutaro turned around, but Chinen just stared at his back in confusion. "Wait, wha-?"
"Come on, I'll take you home," Ryutaro explained.
"B-but I'm heavy and it's a long walk home a-and-" Chinen gave a surprised yelp as Ryutaro impatiently grabbed him and pulled him on. "Ryu-chan!" Chinen protested, reluctantly wrapping his arms the other boy's neck.
"What?" Ryutaro acted as though he piggy-backed him everyday.
"Let me down, it's embarrassing being...carried...by someone...younger..." Chinen's voice steadily trailed off as Ryutaro glared at him.
"I wouldn't be doing this if someone had told me earlier he was getting bullied." He could hear the frustrated anger in his friend's voice.
Chinen quietly mumbled something about not wanting to bother him, which just made Ryutaro sigh with exasperation. "It wasn't that big a deal anyways." Ryutaro raised his eyebrows like he had plenty of objections to that statement, so Chinen quickly tried to change the subject. "What did you do to them?"
"Oh, I ran to the teacher's lounge. There's no way I can take on five six years by myself."
"Like you haven't tried before." But Chinen couldn't help remembering Ryutaro only fought off the kids who were bullying him. "Ryu-chan, can I go over to your house?"
"Yeah, you want to clean yourself up before going home?" It wasn't so amazing the younger boy was able to guess his ulterior intentions; after all, it had almost become a habit for him to do so whenever he got beaten up.
"Thank you." Chinen buried his nose against Ryutaro's shoulder, taking comfort from the other boy's safe warmth.
"Promise you'll tell me next time when something like this happens?" Ryutaro asked him later that night as they were getting ready to sleep. Chinen had ended up sleeping over at his friend's house, since his mom would be working late and didn't want him staying home alone.
"Okay." Chinen was fluffing the squirrel patterned pillow he always used and looked up with surprise as Ryutaro suddenly scooted closer to him.
"Pinky promise me: if anyone ever hurts you, ever, let me know." Ryutaro held his hand out and after a moment of hesitation, Chinen pinky promised him. Nodding with satisfaction, Ryutaro pull his blankets up and from his steady breathing, was soon fast asleep.
On the other hand, Chinen laid wide awake, simply listening to the silence of the night and wondering why his heart was pounding so hard in his chest.
The third time he couldn't breathe was sometime in middle school, when he was caught in the grip of a high fever. For the whole day, he was racked with headaches and felt like hurling every time he smelled food. Finally, he couldn't fight it off anymore and asked Ryutaro if he could sleep early (yes, he was sleeping over again).
"Are you getting sick?" the younger boy wondered with concern as he placed a cooling palm on his forehead. Strangely, his face heated up at the mere touch and he pulled away. "Your face is getting red."
"I-I'm fine, j-just t-tired." Chinen looked down, suddenly unable to meet Ryutaro's eyes. He had started to stutter around his friend for no apparent reason too.
In the middle of the night, he suddenly woke up and felt as though his whole body was burning up. He tried to sit up, but found it too painful to even move.
"R-r-ryu-c-chan..." Chinen's voice came out hoarse and broke off at the end with a violent cough. The next thing he was aware of was a damp towel being pressed against his hot face, and Ryutaro tell him to open his mouth so his temperature could be taken.
He drifted in and out of conscious for the next twenty-four hours. When he was awake, it was usually in a half-delirious state and always to get bitter-tasting medicine shoved at him.
"Chinen, wake up, you need to take your medicine now." Ryutaro's finger gently poked his arm, but Chinen stubbornly kept his eyes closed. He had enough of the awful concoction and not even Ryutaro could make him take more. "Chinen, I know you're awake, you've been sleeping for twelve hours straight."
Chinen made a show of rolling over on his side, away from Ryutaro, who just sighed impatiently. A long silence followed, until Chinen thought the younger might have just left him when he suddenly felt a warm breath tickling the back of his neck. It made his hair raise and he jolted upright, heart racing like mad.
"So you were awake." Ryutaro was grinning triumphantly, and yes, he was preparing the terrible medicine again.
"No, how much longer do I have to eat that?" Chinen whined. "I want real food! Like gyoza!"
"You tried to eat real food six hours ago and just hurled it all back up." Ryutaro reminded him. "Now hold your breathe and swallow all of it."
"This makes me feel like hurling more than food," Chinen complained, unwillingly taking the small cup from Ryutaro's hands.
"You'll thank me for this later." Ryutaro took the cup back from Chinen, who was making weird faces as the medicine hit his taste buds.
"Ryu-chan, you didn't go to school today?" Chinen asked as Ryutaro tucked him into bed.
"Mom had to go somewhere, she told me I could stay home," Ryutaro explained. "You know your fever went up to 103ºF last night? There's no way anyone sane would leave you alone."
As Ryutaro turned away, Chinen found himself tugging on his sleeve to stop him. "C-can you s-stay with me?" he asked in a small voice, half scared Ryutaro would say 'no' because the younger boy must have been with him for nearly the whole day already. It wouldn't surprise him if Ryutaro was tired of seeing him by now.
"Yeah, I can stay a while." Ryutaro sat on his bed, laying his hand on top of Chinen's comfortably, which made him unreasonably giddy.
As the younger boy's fingers alternated between gripping and rubbing his, Chinen felt a warmth coursing through him that had nothing to do with his fever. He was half-asleep already when something gentle and soft pressed itself between his brows.
His eyes fluttered opened and closed. Ryutaro's face was close to his own. The younger boy's eyes were soft with worry and something else. Chinen's cheeks flushed as Ryutaro's lips touched his forehead briefly again. His breathing stopped for one moment before sleep overtook him so when he woke up the next morning, fever-free, he thought he had just been dreaming.
A couple more months passed by before Chinen realized the cause of his beating heart and stuttered sentences was Ryutaro. By then, he no longer knew how to act around his former-best-friend-now-turned-crush-and-possible-first-love.
Luckily, he graduated from middle school and started high school. With the two year difference between him and Ryutaro, it meant he didn't have to see his friend-whom-he-secretly-liked on a daily basis. So much the better for his heart.
At least, that was his personal plan. Unfortunately, he didn't take into account Ryutaro had always been at the top of his class and his school finally allowed him to skip a grade. Which meant the younger boy who-never-failed-to-make-his-mind-blank-out would be attending the same school as him come next spring.
What to do now?
Sighing, Chinen forcefully dipped the mop into the bucket, accidentally spilling dirty water all over the floor he was supposed to be cleaning. It was his week on cleaning duty and he was more than grateful for a legitimate excuse not to have to walk home together with Ryutaro.
At least during the school day, they were surrounded by classmates but on those walks home, Chinen would find himself completely alone with Ryutaro for fourteen minutes and twenty six seconds. Glancing at the clock, Chinen saw it was getting late and hurried along so he could go home.
"You're such a slowpoke, Chinen." Coming out of the classroom, he nearly tripped and killed himself.
"R-ryu-chan?" For some reason, Ryutaro was sitting with his back against the wall facing his room.
"I was going to go in and ask if you needed help if you had taken any longer." Ryutaro stood up, pulling his bag with him.
"S-shut up, I l-like taking my time okay?!" Chinen tried hard to ignore his pounding heart. "W-why are you still here?"
"I had a group project to do. They dragged it out for hours, and finally ended it. I didn't think you would still be here though. Does it really take three hours to clean the floors?"
"I said I like to take my time!" Chinen started to walk away, relieved that Ryutaro couldn't read his mind and know he had just been thinking about him too much.
Ryutaro ran to catch up to him and Chinen felt an electric jolt course through him as the younger boy's arm bumped into his. He blushed and shuffled away, unable to tell if that brief moment of contact had been accidental or not.
"How are you one of the fastest runners in school again?"
"That's got nothing to do with how long it takes me to mop the floor!"
"You're turning red, don't tell me you're that embarrassed by your failure?" Ryutaro lightly brushed a finger over Chinen's cheeks, which just made them heat up more. Irked at the other boy's comments, Chinen made a snapping motion at Ryutaro's finger, who pulled it back in the nick of time. "Sorry, too slow." And with that, Ryutaro flicked his forehead before running off so suddenly, Chinen had no time to retaliate.
"Ryu-chan! Come back here!" Fuming, Chinen ran after him, a muddled mix of emotions flooding him. "Ryu-chan!"
"Catch up if you can!" Ryutaro challenged over his shoulder as he went down the stairs and out of the school. Despite his smaller size, Chinen actually did run faster than Ryutaro, and he was soon within arm's reach of the other boy. He grabbed Ryutaro's arm, effectively bringing both their momentum to a halt.
"Who's...slow...now?" Chinen panted, letting go of the other boy. "I can...beat you running...any day."
"About the...only thing you can...beat me at." Ryutaro was also trying to catch his breath.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Chinen demanded furiously.
Ryutaro just smirked at him and didn't answer. As they continued home, Chinen was hyperaware of how close they walked together and his stomach flipped over each time their hands hit one another. He didn't try moving away and neither did Ryutaro.
In fact, Chinen noticed periodically, Ryutaro would look at him expectantly. Every time he did so, Chinen automatically averted his own eyes away, unable to meet the other boy's. He could only imagine how red his face was getting and wished Ryutaro would stop staring at him so much.
Chinen couldn't decide whether hanging out with Ryutaro was a good idea or not. On one hand, he desperately wanted to just have the other boy by his side. If he didn't, then he would feel strangely dejected and lifeless. On the other hand, he couldn't stand being with Ryutaro. When he was with the younger boy, he had no idea anymore what he should say or how he should act. The smallest things that Ryutaro did could make him blush like crazy, like handing him a dropped eraser or pulling on his hair to tease him.
In an attempt to save his poor heart from dying a premature death, Chinen began to find ways to worm out of the walks home with the younger boy. He made up excuses saying he needed to go in the opposite direction for one thing or another. Ryutaro always offered to go with him, but Chinen usually ran off before he could finish speaking. It didn't help to get random text messages from the other boy later, making sure he got home safely.
Chinen kept every text he ever received from Ryutaro and when he was alone with nothing to do, he would go through them, rereading each one until he was done. He felt he could only like Ryutaro from a distance because not once did it occur to him the other boy might like him too.
Thoughts like this made him cry a number of times at night, when he spun scenarios of confessing and getting rejected. Then their friendship would be ruined and he would lose Ryutaro forever. It was these fears that made him keep his feelings locked up inside.
The doorbell rang suddenly, and Chinen came out of his reverie, wondering who it could be. He certainly wasn't expecting anyone that day, and his mom was out on a business trip.
Just as he was leaving his room, his phone began to ring, so he picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Chinen, can you hurry up and open the door?" Ryutaro's voice came over the other line and almost made Chinen trip at his words.
"What?!" He pulled the door open and sure enough, there was Ryutaro standing with his phone against his ear, with a smug look on his face.
"Yeah, do you mind if I stay over tonight? Thanks." He was still using his phone to speak to Chinen, who hung up before the other boy could finish his sentence. "Hey, that's mean."
"Why are you here?" Chinen wanted to know, but he stepped aside to let Ryutaro in, forcing himself not to jump to conclusions.
"Cuz I want to sleepover. Isn't that reason enough for you?" Chinen felt a blush rise to his cheeks at what he thought was a teasing tone.
"T-that's just random and out of n-nowhere," he muttered.
"Are you going to kick me out?" Ryutaro wondered curiously.
"...I'll go make dinner." Chinen stomped off into the kitchen in an attempt to get away. He rummaged through the cabinets for a bit, trying to find the right noodles and sauce.
"Do you need help?" Ryutaro joined him after he dropped his bag off in Chinen's room.
"I'm fine, it's just spaghetti," Chinen answered without turning around. He hoped his face was only heating up because of all the steam rising from the pot of boiling water.
"Really? I thought the only thing you ate was gyoza." Ryutaro peeked over him, placing his chin on Chinen's shoulder. Reflexively, Chinen scooted away, so the comfortable warmth disappeared.
"Y-you like spaghetti," Chinen blurted out before he could stop and think. Instantly, he wanted to take the words back.
"So you're making spaghetti for me?" Ryutaro asked after a long while of silence.
"I ran out of gyoza, too! And then you just came over, and there happened to be some spaghetti, so..." Chinen's voice trailed off, his mind flashing on the newly bought bags of gyoza sitting in the freezer.
"You're so cute, Chinen." Without prior warning, Ryutaro wrapped his arms around Chinen, making his whole body go weak. His head spun with confusion, especially when the other boy continued to hug him tighter when he tried to pull away.
"Let g-go." Blushing madly, Chinen struggled to get out of Ryutaro's arms, but he froze completely the moment he felt something soft and warm pressed against his neck. "R-ryu-chan...?"
"I like you, Chinen." Ryutaro's warm breath brushed against his skin. Inside, Chinen's heart fluttered insanely at the sudden confession.
"W-what are you s-saying?" Chinen's heart skipped a few beats as Ryutaro's fingers clamped around his to stop him from pushing away. "Stop j-joking-"
He broke off with a surprised squeak as Ryutaro crashed his lips against his own. His eyes widened with disbelief before slowly closing to simply enjoy the way Ryutaro was kissing him.
"I'm not joking." Ryutaro pulled away slightly, and Chinen could hear his every breath from their close proximity. "I like you, Chinen," he repeated, leaning forward for another kiss which Chinen was more than happy to return.
Chinen was aware of every individual beat of his heart as Ryutaro pulled him in closer for a more intimate hug, still kissing him. He whimpered quietly with pleasure when he felt the other boy's fingers running through and tangling in his hair.
With reddening cheeks, Chinen managed to mumble shyly, "I-I like Ryu-chan, too." He sighed with contentment as Ryutaro's lips moved from his mouth to his hot cheeks. "For the longest time, I always liked Ryu-chan," he confessed, closing his eyes as Ryutaro kissed him between his brows. A wave of deja vu washed over him.
"I thought you didn't like me," Ryutaro murmured.
"What do you mean?"
"That time you got sick, that was when I realized I liked you," Ryutaro explained.
"Y-you mean, you r-really k-k-kissed me?" Chinen stammered out in shock.
"So you do remember?" Ryutaro pouted at him cutely. "You never said anything when you woke up."
"I thought I was dreaming!" Chinen protested in defense. "It's your fault for doing that when I wasn't awake."
"Are you awake now?"
"I-if I'm not, then I don't wanna wake up." Chinen cuddled up to Ryutaro, happiness flowing through him. "This is such a nice dream."
Smiling, Ryutaro intertwined his fingers with Chinen's, bringing their clasped hands up to his lips. Chinen's blush darkened even more when he felt the tip of Ryutaro's tongue running over his fingers. The two of them would have continued to snuggle with one another if the smell of something burning hadn't caught their attention.
"Crap!" Chinen turned off the gas in time before the whole kitchen went up in flames. "The noodles are gonna taste terrible now. Want to eat something else?"
"Sure." Ryutaro shrugged like it was no big deal. Chinen was about to go over to the freezer to get the gyoza when he felt a shiver go up his spine as Ryutaro grabbed both his wrists and whisper against his ears, "Or I'll just eat you."
What to do indeed.
A/N: I haven't done an abnormally long one shot in forever, this took me over a week and nearly killed me during that time too. I don't normally do song!fics either, and the reason for that is I tend to start deviating away from the song's intentions cuz I think my own ideas are better Expect something up for Chinen's birthday in a month or so. And no, Joana, there is no PG-13 sequel.
A/N 2: HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE <3
Genre: AU, fluff, romance
Rating: PG
Pairings: Chiitaro
Word Count: 3821
Summary: It follows the life and love of two young friends. The idea is loosely based off the title and lyrics of S.H.E.'s song 怎麼辦
Disclaimer: I don't own JE
Once upon a time, Chinen Yuuri nearly drowned. He was seven years old and still trying to learn how to swim. After kicking furiously in water for the past hour, he was resting at the edge of the deep end when unexpectedly, he slipped off the side into the depths of the pool.
Instantly, the heavy waters closed over his head, even as he tried in vain to gulp a breath of air. All he got was a mouthful of chlorine-filled water. His arms flailed wildly, but he was blind; he couldn't tell where up and down was anymore. Luckily, someone fished him out, but afterward, he could never completely shake off the shudder he'd get whenever he was near a pool of water. All he could remember was the feeling of cold, cold darkness taking away his senses.
That was the worse memory he had: the water clogging his nose and mouth. As he tried to take a breath, he realized with a horrible panic in his chest that he couldn't. When Chinen Yuuri was seven years old, he suffocated for the first time in his life. It would not be the last time.
Two years later, Chinen felt the same familiar sensations of losing his ability to breathe. This time though, it wasn't because of a huge amount of water crushing his lungs.
"Hey, Chibi-chan!" A well-aimed kick made contact with his back and he collapsed on the dusty ground, all the air knocked out of him. His arms instinctively broke his fall and he hissed with pain as the unhealed bruises he'd received before made a hard impact. "How's life like down there?"
"Why don't you stay there for good?" Someone's foot pressed down upon his back, and he gasped, accidentally tasting the bitter soil and coughing.
"S-stop i-it!" he managed to choke out, but that only invited more jeering laughter. Twisting his body around, he somehow managed to push the bully's foot off him, much to their surprise. "W-what did I ever d-do to you?"
He knew he made a bad move when his collar was roughly grabbed and he found himself face to face with the 6th year boy he recognized as the leader of this particular gang.
"What did you do?" Chinen turned his head away as the other boy's spittle flew out of his mouth. "You exist for one thing. You exist, and that's enough of a reason for this!" Without warning, Chinen was forcefully thrown aside. His body hit the wall with a heavy thump! But most of the damage landed on his left foot, which was now throbbing.
The smallest bit of tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He didn't do anything to deserve this sort of bullying! But one day, the older kids just started to pick on him, call him names like "Chibi-chan" and had fun throwing him around for their own amusement.
Other kids were aware of this activity; he had seen classmates walking by as he was getting harassed, but not one stopped to help. Most of them looked away or avoided eye contact with him altogether; he figured they were too scared to associate with him now.
The five bullies had him trapped in a semi-circle now. His eyes flickered desperately from side to side, but he could see no opening for him to escape.
"I never did anything to you! Why do you have to pick on me?!"
"Shut up! Stop being such an annoyance!" A blur of movement made Chinen squeeze his eyes shut and bring his arms up in a futile effort to protect himself. Long moments passed, but no fist collided painfully with his cheek the way it had in the past.
Instead, he heard surprised yells which soon gave way to angry shouts.
"What the hell?" Trembling, Chinen dared to peek through his hands to see his tormentors distracted by someone else.
"How sad. It takes five of you to beat up someone half your size." The new boy smirked and Chinen's eyes widened as he recognized him. It was Morimoto Ryutaro, a second year and also his best friend.
As expected, the Ryutaro's words pissed off the bullies, who ran at him, Chinen completely forgotten now that they had a new target. Without another word, he took off running full speed back to the school and the group of six years followed him.
Worried, Chinen tried to do the same, only to have his knees buckle as he tried to stand. Pulling his pants back slightly, he saw a large purple bruise beginning to form on his ankle. Time ticked by slowly, and then the boy who had led his bullies away returned.
"Ryu-chan!" Chinen started to stand again, but his ankle gave out before he was even half way up. "Ow, ow!"
"Hey, be careful!" Ryutaro kneeled next to him, setting two bags down from his shoulder. A quick glance told Chinen he had somehow gotten his left-behind bag as well. "You can't walk, can you?" Reluctantly, Chinen shook his head. "Get on then."
Ryutaro turned around, but Chinen just stared at his back in confusion. "Wait, wha-?"
"Come on, I'll take you home," Ryutaro explained.
"B-but I'm heavy and it's a long walk home a-and-" Chinen gave a surprised yelp as Ryutaro impatiently grabbed him and pulled him on. "Ryu-chan!" Chinen protested, reluctantly wrapping his arms the other boy's neck.
"What?" Ryutaro acted as though he piggy-backed him everyday.
"Let me down, it's embarrassing being...carried...by someone...younger..." Chinen's voice steadily trailed off as Ryutaro glared at him.
"I wouldn't be doing this if someone had told me earlier he was getting bullied." He could hear the frustrated anger in his friend's voice.
Chinen quietly mumbled something about not wanting to bother him, which just made Ryutaro sigh with exasperation. "It wasn't that big a deal anyways." Ryutaro raised his eyebrows like he had plenty of objections to that statement, so Chinen quickly tried to change the subject. "What did you do to them?"
"Oh, I ran to the teacher's lounge. There's no way I can take on five six years by myself."
"Like you haven't tried before." But Chinen couldn't help remembering Ryutaro only fought off the kids who were bullying him. "Ryu-chan, can I go over to your house?"
"Yeah, you want to clean yourself up before going home?" It wasn't so amazing the younger boy was able to guess his ulterior intentions; after all, it had almost become a habit for him to do so whenever he got beaten up.
"Thank you." Chinen buried his nose against Ryutaro's shoulder, taking comfort from the other boy's safe warmth.
"Promise you'll tell me next time when something like this happens?" Ryutaro asked him later that night as they were getting ready to sleep. Chinen had ended up sleeping over at his friend's house, since his mom would be working late and didn't want him staying home alone.
"Okay." Chinen was fluffing the squirrel patterned pillow he always used and looked up with surprise as Ryutaro suddenly scooted closer to him.
"Pinky promise me: if anyone ever hurts you, ever, let me know." Ryutaro held his hand out and after a moment of hesitation, Chinen pinky promised him. Nodding with satisfaction, Ryutaro pull his blankets up and from his steady breathing, was soon fast asleep.
On the other hand, Chinen laid wide awake, simply listening to the silence of the night and wondering why his heart was pounding so hard in his chest.
The third time he couldn't breathe was sometime in middle school, when he was caught in the grip of a high fever. For the whole day, he was racked with headaches and felt like hurling every time he smelled food. Finally, he couldn't fight it off anymore and asked Ryutaro if he could sleep early (yes, he was sleeping over again).
"Are you getting sick?" the younger boy wondered with concern as he placed a cooling palm on his forehead. Strangely, his face heated up at the mere touch and he pulled away. "Your face is getting red."
"I-I'm fine, j-just t-tired." Chinen looked down, suddenly unable to meet Ryutaro's eyes. He had started to stutter around his friend for no apparent reason too.
In the middle of the night, he suddenly woke up and felt as though his whole body was burning up. He tried to sit up, but found it too painful to even move.
"R-r-ryu-c-chan..." Chinen's voice came out hoarse and broke off at the end with a violent cough. The next thing he was aware of was a damp towel being pressed against his hot face, and Ryutaro tell him to open his mouth so his temperature could be taken.
He drifted in and out of conscious for the next twenty-four hours. When he was awake, it was usually in a half-delirious state and always to get bitter-tasting medicine shoved at him.
"Chinen, wake up, you need to take your medicine now." Ryutaro's finger gently poked his arm, but Chinen stubbornly kept his eyes closed. He had enough of the awful concoction and not even Ryutaro could make him take more. "Chinen, I know you're awake, you've been sleeping for twelve hours straight."
Chinen made a show of rolling over on his side, away from Ryutaro, who just sighed impatiently. A long silence followed, until Chinen thought the younger might have just left him when he suddenly felt a warm breath tickling the back of his neck. It made his hair raise and he jolted upright, heart racing like mad.
"So you were awake." Ryutaro was grinning triumphantly, and yes, he was preparing the terrible medicine again.
"No, how much longer do I have to eat that?" Chinen whined. "I want real food! Like gyoza!"
"You tried to eat real food six hours ago and just hurled it all back up." Ryutaro reminded him. "Now hold your breathe and swallow all of it."
"This makes me feel like hurling more than food," Chinen complained, unwillingly taking the small cup from Ryutaro's hands.
"You'll thank me for this later." Ryutaro took the cup back from Chinen, who was making weird faces as the medicine hit his taste buds.
"Ryu-chan, you didn't go to school today?" Chinen asked as Ryutaro tucked him into bed.
"Mom had to go somewhere, she told me I could stay home," Ryutaro explained. "You know your fever went up to 103ºF last night? There's no way anyone sane would leave you alone."
As Ryutaro turned away, Chinen found himself tugging on his sleeve to stop him. "C-can you s-stay with me?" he asked in a small voice, half scared Ryutaro would say 'no' because the younger boy must have been with him for nearly the whole day already. It wouldn't surprise him if Ryutaro was tired of seeing him by now.
"Yeah, I can stay a while." Ryutaro sat on his bed, laying his hand on top of Chinen's comfortably, which made him unreasonably giddy.
As the younger boy's fingers alternated between gripping and rubbing his, Chinen felt a warmth coursing through him that had nothing to do with his fever. He was half-asleep already when something gentle and soft pressed itself between his brows.
His eyes fluttered opened and closed. Ryutaro's face was close to his own. The younger boy's eyes were soft with worry and something else. Chinen's cheeks flushed as Ryutaro's lips touched his forehead briefly again. His breathing stopped for one moment before sleep overtook him so when he woke up the next morning, fever-free, he thought he had just been dreaming.
A couple more months passed by before Chinen realized the cause of his beating heart and stuttered sentences was Ryutaro. By then, he no longer knew how to act around his former-best-friend-now-turned-crush-and-possible-first-love.
Luckily, he graduated from middle school and started high school. With the two year difference between him and Ryutaro, it meant he didn't have to see his friend-whom-he-secretly-liked on a daily basis. So much the better for his heart.
At least, that was his personal plan. Unfortunately, he didn't take into account Ryutaro had always been at the top of his class and his school finally allowed him to skip a grade. Which meant the younger boy who-never-failed-to-make-his-mind-blank-out would be attending the same school as him come next spring.
What to do now?
Sighing, Chinen forcefully dipped the mop into the bucket, accidentally spilling dirty water all over the floor he was supposed to be cleaning. It was his week on cleaning duty and he was more than grateful for a legitimate excuse not to have to walk home together with Ryutaro.
At least during the school day, they were surrounded by classmates but on those walks home, Chinen would find himself completely alone with Ryutaro for fourteen minutes and twenty six seconds. Glancing at the clock, Chinen saw it was getting late and hurried along so he could go home.
"You're such a slowpoke, Chinen." Coming out of the classroom, he nearly tripped and killed himself.
"R-ryu-chan?" For some reason, Ryutaro was sitting with his back against the wall facing his room.
"I was going to go in and ask if you needed help if you had taken any longer." Ryutaro stood up, pulling his bag with him.
"S-shut up, I l-like taking my time okay?!" Chinen tried hard to ignore his pounding heart. "W-why are you still here?"
"I had a group project to do. They dragged it out for hours, and finally ended it. I didn't think you would still be here though. Does it really take three hours to clean the floors?"
"I said I like to take my time!" Chinen started to walk away, relieved that Ryutaro couldn't read his mind and know he had just been thinking about him too much.
Ryutaro ran to catch up to him and Chinen felt an electric jolt course through him as the younger boy's arm bumped into his. He blushed and shuffled away, unable to tell if that brief moment of contact had been accidental or not.
"How are you one of the fastest runners in school again?"
"That's got nothing to do with how long it takes me to mop the floor!"
"You're turning red, don't tell me you're that embarrassed by your failure?" Ryutaro lightly brushed a finger over Chinen's cheeks, which just made them heat up more. Irked at the other boy's comments, Chinen made a snapping motion at Ryutaro's finger, who pulled it back in the nick of time. "Sorry, too slow." And with that, Ryutaro flicked his forehead before running off so suddenly, Chinen had no time to retaliate.
"Ryu-chan! Come back here!" Fuming, Chinen ran after him, a muddled mix of emotions flooding him. "Ryu-chan!"
"Catch up if you can!" Ryutaro challenged over his shoulder as he went down the stairs and out of the school. Despite his smaller size, Chinen actually did run faster than Ryutaro, and he was soon within arm's reach of the other boy. He grabbed Ryutaro's arm, effectively bringing both their momentum to a halt.
"Who's...slow...now?" Chinen panted, letting go of the other boy. "I can...beat you running...any day."
"About the...only thing you can...beat me at." Ryutaro was also trying to catch his breath.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Chinen demanded furiously.
Ryutaro just smirked at him and didn't answer. As they continued home, Chinen was hyperaware of how close they walked together and his stomach flipped over each time their hands hit one another. He didn't try moving away and neither did Ryutaro.
In fact, Chinen noticed periodically, Ryutaro would look at him expectantly. Every time he did so, Chinen automatically averted his own eyes away, unable to meet the other boy's. He could only imagine how red his face was getting and wished Ryutaro would stop staring at him so much.
Chinen couldn't decide whether hanging out with Ryutaro was a good idea or not. On one hand, he desperately wanted to just have the other boy by his side. If he didn't, then he would feel strangely dejected and lifeless. On the other hand, he couldn't stand being with Ryutaro. When he was with the younger boy, he had no idea anymore what he should say or how he should act. The smallest things that Ryutaro did could make him blush like crazy, like handing him a dropped eraser or pulling on his hair to tease him.
In an attempt to save his poor heart from dying a premature death, Chinen began to find ways to worm out of the walks home with the younger boy. He made up excuses saying he needed to go in the opposite direction for one thing or another. Ryutaro always offered to go with him, but Chinen usually ran off before he could finish speaking. It didn't help to get random text messages from the other boy later, making sure he got home safely.
Chinen kept every text he ever received from Ryutaro and when he was alone with nothing to do, he would go through them, rereading each one until he was done. He felt he could only like Ryutaro from a distance because not once did it occur to him the other boy might like him too.
Thoughts like this made him cry a number of times at night, when he spun scenarios of confessing and getting rejected. Then their friendship would be ruined and he would lose Ryutaro forever. It was these fears that made him keep his feelings locked up inside.
The doorbell rang suddenly, and Chinen came out of his reverie, wondering who it could be. He certainly wasn't expecting anyone that day, and his mom was out on a business trip.
Just as he was leaving his room, his phone began to ring, so he picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Chinen, can you hurry up and open the door?" Ryutaro's voice came over the other line and almost made Chinen trip at his words.
"What?!" He pulled the door open and sure enough, there was Ryutaro standing with his phone against his ear, with a smug look on his face.
"Yeah, do you mind if I stay over tonight? Thanks." He was still using his phone to speak to Chinen, who hung up before the other boy could finish his sentence. "Hey, that's mean."
"Why are you here?" Chinen wanted to know, but he stepped aside to let Ryutaro in, forcing himself not to jump to conclusions.
"Cuz I want to sleepover. Isn't that reason enough for you?" Chinen felt a blush rise to his cheeks at what he thought was a teasing tone.
"T-that's just random and out of n-nowhere," he muttered.
"Are you going to kick me out?" Ryutaro wondered curiously.
"...I'll go make dinner." Chinen stomped off into the kitchen in an attempt to get away. He rummaged through the cabinets for a bit, trying to find the right noodles and sauce.
"Do you need help?" Ryutaro joined him after he dropped his bag off in Chinen's room.
"I'm fine, it's just spaghetti," Chinen answered without turning around. He hoped his face was only heating up because of all the steam rising from the pot of boiling water.
"Really? I thought the only thing you ate was gyoza." Ryutaro peeked over him, placing his chin on Chinen's shoulder. Reflexively, Chinen scooted away, so the comfortable warmth disappeared.
"Y-you like spaghetti," Chinen blurted out before he could stop and think. Instantly, he wanted to take the words back.
"So you're making spaghetti for me?" Ryutaro asked after a long while of silence.
"I ran out of gyoza, too! And then you just came over, and there happened to be some spaghetti, so..." Chinen's voice trailed off, his mind flashing on the newly bought bags of gyoza sitting in the freezer.
"You're so cute, Chinen." Without prior warning, Ryutaro wrapped his arms around Chinen, making his whole body go weak. His head spun with confusion, especially when the other boy continued to hug him tighter when he tried to pull away.
"Let g-go." Blushing madly, Chinen struggled to get out of Ryutaro's arms, but he froze completely the moment he felt something soft and warm pressed against his neck. "R-ryu-chan...?"
"I like you, Chinen." Ryutaro's warm breath brushed against his skin. Inside, Chinen's heart fluttered insanely at the sudden confession.
"W-what are you s-saying?" Chinen's heart skipped a few beats as Ryutaro's fingers clamped around his to stop him from pushing away. "Stop j-joking-"
He broke off with a surprised squeak as Ryutaro crashed his lips against his own. His eyes widened with disbelief before slowly closing to simply enjoy the way Ryutaro was kissing him.
"I'm not joking." Ryutaro pulled away slightly, and Chinen could hear his every breath from their close proximity. "I like you, Chinen," he repeated, leaning forward for another kiss which Chinen was more than happy to return.
Chinen was aware of every individual beat of his heart as Ryutaro pulled him in closer for a more intimate hug, still kissing him. He whimpered quietly with pleasure when he felt the other boy's fingers running through and tangling in his hair.
With reddening cheeks, Chinen managed to mumble shyly, "I-I like Ryu-chan, too." He sighed with contentment as Ryutaro's lips moved from his mouth to his hot cheeks. "For the longest time, I always liked Ryu-chan," he confessed, closing his eyes as Ryutaro kissed him between his brows. A wave of deja vu washed over him.
"I thought you didn't like me," Ryutaro murmured.
"What do you mean?"
"That time you got sick, that was when I realized I liked you," Ryutaro explained.
"Y-you mean, you r-really k-k-kissed me?" Chinen stammered out in shock.
"So you do remember?" Ryutaro pouted at him cutely. "You never said anything when you woke up."
"I thought I was dreaming!" Chinen protested in defense. "It's your fault for doing that when I wasn't awake."
"Are you awake now?"
"I-if I'm not, then I don't wanna wake up." Chinen cuddled up to Ryutaro, happiness flowing through him. "This is such a nice dream."
Smiling, Ryutaro intertwined his fingers with Chinen's, bringing their clasped hands up to his lips. Chinen's blush darkened even more when he felt the tip of Ryutaro's tongue running over his fingers. The two of them would have continued to snuggle with one another if the smell of something burning hadn't caught their attention.
"Crap!" Chinen turned off the gas in time before the whole kitchen went up in flames. "The noodles are gonna taste terrible now. Want to eat something else?"
"Sure." Ryutaro shrugged like it was no big deal. Chinen was about to go over to the freezer to get the gyoza when he felt a shiver go up his spine as Ryutaro grabbed both his wrists and whisper against his ears, "Or I'll just eat you."
What to do indeed.
A/N: I haven't done an abnormally long one shot in forever, this took me over a week and nearly killed me during that time too. I don't normally do song!fics either, and the reason for that is I tend to start deviating away from the song's intentions cuz I think my own ideas are better Expect something up for Chinen's birthday in a month or so. And no, Joana, there is no PG-13 sequel.
A/N 2: HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE <3