(no subject)
Title: One more chance {Chapter 3}
Author: Mistress_astute
Pairing: Ariyama
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Yamada's dying. He just wants to help Daiki move on.
Tears were rapidly trickling down Daiki’s face like a stream. He thought that it was impossible to cry for so long but he was proven wrong. He had heard that when people cry too much they eventually ran out of tears, so he wondered where all his tears were coming from. It had been two days after the funeral but his tears were as fresh as they were from the first day. All he did after he came back home was to cry and sleep. He would wake up and turn to his right, expecting to see Yamada there but then realise that he was in his own bed in his room and that Yamada was not there anymore.
“Why did you have to leave so soon?” Daiki sobbed, leaning his head against his bed. “Why?” He inhaled sharply as he fisted his blanket.
“It’s not fair!” Daiki snatched the nearest pillow and threw it against the door with all his might as more tears made their way down his cheeks. He wondered what he was going to accomplish by flying into a rage. It was not as if that would bring his Yamada back to him.
“Daiki, are you alright?” his mother’s voice came from behind the door. Her voice was thick with anxiety and Daiki wanted so much to go out and tell her that everything was fine but he knew that if she saw him in his current state she would be more worried.
“I’m fine kaa-chan,” he called out, trying to make his voice sound as normal as possible but it came out hoarse. After all he had not spoken a word ever since he came back.
“Are you sure? Do you want me to come in?”
“No, I’m fine,” Daiki muttered weakly. He wondered if his mother could hear him. He moved to sit beside the door and repeated himself.
“Well… if you’re sure…”
Daiki heard the retreating footsteps of his mother and sighed in relieved. He did not know how he would react if she kept questioning him. He just wanted to be left alone.
--
Daiki’s mother was worried to say the least. She knew that it was a bad idea to let her son stay with Yamada in the hospital, but it was the first time she had ever seen him being so persistent, and even Daisuke thought that it was a good idea. What kind of mother would she be if she were to object? But now the consequences she had feared were unfolding before her eyes. Daiki had become so dependent and used to Yamada’s presence that it was killing him now that Yamada was no longer here.
Daiki started cooping himself up inside his room and refused to come out for any of his meals. After countless fruitless attempts to try to coax him out, she had given up, instead opting to leave the food outside his door. She did it for all three meals but they were always left untouched and cold each time she came to collect them. It was not so bad at first since he still talked to her but now whenever she tried to talk to him, she would be completely ignored. Her husband and Daisuke shared the same fate.
“We should break down the door,” Daisuke suggested during dinner. “What?” he asked as his parents gave him annoyed glares.
“We can’t do that,” Daiki’s mother replied. “He wouldn’t be happy.”
“Or we could always let him starve or rot to death,” Daisuke pointed out crudely, knowing that it made sense. “Breaking down the door is a much feasible action.”
“I’ll call Yabu-kun to see if any one of them is free to come here tomorrow to talk to him,” Daiki’s father said.
“If you say so.”
--
“I’m so glad that you and Takaki-kun could come today,” Daiki’s mother said gratefully as she led the two oldest members into the Arioka apartment. “He’s been staying in his room all day and I don’t know what to do. I can’t get through to him at all.”
Yabu and Takaki exchanged glances. They could tell that the elderly woman was distress, and they also knew that she was not the only one. The 7 members were nowhere as energetic since Yamada left them. BEST themselves were feeling dead, especially since their most joyful member stopped turning up for work without any notice. JUMP as a whole was in a wreck.
“Don’t worry, we’ll try our best,” Yabu comforted Daiki’s mother before he and Takaki made their way to Daiki’s room.
“Daichan?” Yabu called out gently, knocking on the door. When no response came, he tried again. “Daichan?”
“We should break down the door,” Takaki said, glancing around for something that might put his plan into action.
“Let’s leave that as a last resort,” Yabu said wearily before turning to knock on the door again, this time harder. “Daichan, open up please? Everyone’s worried about you.”
“Move aside Kota,” Takaki said with a grin. Yabu moved to a side as he eyed Takaki, hoping that the other one did not come up with anything too stupid. He watched as Takaki pulled out a hair pin from his pocket and started to pick the lock.
“That’s not going to work,” Yabu told Takaki as he leant against the wall to watch. “That is so not going to work. Do you seriously think that the door would - ” Yabu stopped talking and immediately stared at the door as he heard a click. After a few seconds of shocked silence, he turned his gaze to Takaki. “Did you really…?”
Takaki smirked and nodded. He reached out for the doorknob and twisted it, opening the door quietly.
“How did you manage to do that?” Yabu whispered.
“I learnt it from Hasshi but don’t ask me where he learnt it. I have no idea.”
Having said that, Takaki pushed the door open as silently as possible and stepped into the room tentatively. Yabu followed close behind. They room was pitch dark and the curtains were drawn so tightly that not even the slightest bit of sunlight could pass through. Yabu and Takaki picked their way through the room, keeping an eye out for the youngest BEST member.
“Daichan?” Yabu called out as he peered in the darkness.
“Should we turn on the lights?” Takaki asked Yabu who slowly shook his head.
“Daichan?”
“My gosh, Daiki is that you?” Takaki exclaimed as he rushed over to a huddled figure on the floor. Takaki knelt down next to Daiki and lifted his head gently. What he saw scared him. Daiki stared back at him with two lifeless eyes. Tear stains marred his face and his hair was in a messy array. His cheeks were not that chubby anymore and Takaki could only thank God that they still had some meat in them.
“Daiki are you alright?” Yabu asked as he sat down on Daiki’s other side. When he got no response, he frowned. He turned to Takaki.
“What should we do?”
“I don’t know…”
“Daiki, are you alright?” Yabu tried as he shook the younger one slightly, but it was useless.
“Let’s not tell Arioka-san at any rate,” Takaki decided. He sat beside the youngest BEST member and sighed. “Daiki, please respond. You’re like a corpse.” That earned him a whack from Yabu and he pouted but said nothing more.
“Daiki,” Yabu said again, gripping Daiki by the shoulder and shaking him, perhaps a little harder than he had intended to. “Are you alright?”
“Yabu-kun?” Daiki asked after a while and it was all Yabu could do to not jump onto the younger boy and hug him to death. “What’s wrong? Why are you two here? Wasn’t my door locked?”
“You didn’t know that we were here?” Takaki asked incredulously. Daiki paused for a moment before shaking his head slowly.
“You got to stop doing this, you’re making everyone worried,” Yabu told Daiki as he patted the latter’s head gently.
“Sorry,” Daiki replied, staring into the space before him. Yabu could feel the younger one slipping away again, but before that could happen he grabbed him by the shoulder. Daiki snapped out of his thoughts and gave Yabu a questioning look.
“Stop it,” Yabu repeated in a sterner tone. “You’re not helping yourself and you’re scaring everyone, including some of our sempais.”
“Sorry,” Daiki said once more but Yabu could tell that he did not mean it.
“Yamada wouldn’t be happy seeing you like this.” Yabu had thought that Daiki would finally snap out of it if he mentioned Yamada but it had the opposite effect instead. Daiki’s eyes started watering and bit his lower lip while hugging himself. Yabu cursed himself mentally.
“Would you stop it?!” Takaki shouted, scaring Yabu and half shocking Daiki. He gripped Daiki’s shoulders so hard that Yabu thought that it might cause bruises, and turned the younger one to face him. “We’re all sad and depressed that Yamada’s not here anymore but moping around is not going to help anyone at all! Daiki, JUMP has lost one member already. We need you.”
After that outburst, Takaki clamped his mouth shut and collapsed against the wall. Yabu and Daiki were still so shocked that they did nothing but stare at Takaki for a good ten minutes. Feeling annoyed that he was being stared at like some exotic exhibit on show, Takaki shot the two of them a glare. Yabu finally got over his shock and just laughed amusedly.
“I always knew you had it in you somewhere Yuyan ~ ” Yabu said cheerfully.
“Shut up,” Takaki retorted and the both of them chuckled before they realised that Daiki was not laughing with them. They turned to him worriedly and panic overcame them when they saw him crying with his head buried in his knees.
“Daiki, please stop crying,” Yabu said soothingly.
“I’m sorry,” Daiki replied, sniffing and hiccupping a little. “I didn’t mean to make everyone worried… I just… Sorry…”
“It’s alright,” Yabu said, mentally sighing in relief. “As long as you’re alright from now onwards. And you haven’t been eating right? Hurry eat first before you starve to death.”
“But take a shower first,” Takaki added, wrinkling his nose. “You stink.”
Daiki swatted at him weakly but said nothing in protest. It was true that he had not bathed for the past few days. He got up from the floor but fell down immediately after. It was lucky that Takaki managed to catch him.
“Be careful!” Yabu exclaimed as he started checking the youngest one for any injuries.
“I’m fine,” Daiki muttered softly. “My legs are just numb… and I think I’m hungrier than I thought…”
“Of course you are!” Yabu snapped before plunging into a full length lecture on how not eating would affect one’s health and so on. Before he got too agitated about it, Takaki shushed him.
“Don’t you think that it’s better to get him to eat before you rant at him?”
“That’s a good idea,” Yabu agreed before getting up. “I’ll get some food. Wait here. Takaki, take care of him.”
“I don’t need to be taken care of…” Daiki said but Yabu ignored him as he marched out of the room.
“Erm… thanks for just now… I didn’t realise I was being so unreasonable…” Daiki said awkwardly a while later. Takaki shifted in his seat, feeling a bit embarrassed but nodded his head in acknowledgement.
“You really worried us, especially Inoo-chan,” Takaki said afterwards when the silence became a bit unbearable. “He was freaking out every day and he wanted to come today actually but he has school.”
“Ahh I feel guilty,” Daiki replied.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel that way -” Takaki said hurriedly but Daiki placed a hand on his lap. Takaki looked at the other.
“I know.”
Yabu came in soon after, carrying a bowl of porridge.
“I figured you wouldn’t be able to take anything too solid and soup’s not fulfilling enough,” Yabu explained as he passed the bowl to Takaki. “Feed him.”
“I can eat by myself,” Daiki insisted but Takaki could see how weak Daiki’s arms were.
“You’re just spill everything over yourself,” Takaki replied as he scopped a spoon of the porridge. “Just let me do it.”
“Thanks,” Daiki answered before wincing a bit when Yabu flipped on the lights. He shut his eyes tightly, having become too accustomed to the dark already. Yabu then went about tidying the room, putting back misplaced objects in their rightful places and throwing away all the tissues. He shot Daiki a disapproving glare when he found broken pieces of a vase on the floor. Daiki smiled back feebly.
After half an hour Yabu finally managed to restore the room back to its original neat and tidy state, and Daiki had also finished the porridge. Yabu took one last scan around the room before nodding in satisfaction. He turned to Daiki. “You can go bathe now. Can you do it on your own? Do you need help?”
“I’ll be fine,” Daiki said, giggling slightly at how Yabu was fretting over everything. He took his towel and a new set of clothes before entering the bathroom.
The first thing he saw inside the bathroom was his reflection and he almost dropped everything he was holding. The person looking back at him did not look like him at all. The person in front of him had blood shot eyes, sunken cheeks and messy hair; not how Arioka Daiki looks like.
No wonder they were so worried… heck I can’t even recognised myself…
With a newfound determination, Daiki stepped into the shower. He let out a blissful sigh as he felt the water hitting his back and caressing his body. It felt so good to finally bathe. He wondered how he managed to stand not bathing for so long. He took about an hour in the shower before he was finally pleased with how he looked and smelt. Smiling in contentment, he made his way downstairs to the living room.
“I’m so glad you two came. Thank you so much! I wouldn’t have know what to do otherwise.” Daiki could hear his mother and he hurried to the living room.
“Sorry okaachan!” he burst out when he entered the living room. He rushed over and gave his mother a big hug, snuggling up to her when she returned it.
“It’s alright,” she murmured and he knew that she was tearing.
Yabu and Takaki smiled, glad that things were finally going back to normal for the Ariokas. They chatted for a while but in the end it turned into such a long conversation that by the time it finished the sky was already dark. The two oldest members had dinner before leaving.
“You better be on time for work tomorrow,” Yabu reminded Daiki when he saw them off at the door.
“Don’t worry, I’ll even be early,” Daiki replied playfully, earning a light smack from Yabu. Daiki stuck out his tongue.
“Well see you then,” Takaki said before the two made their way home.
Daiki shut the door behind him before telling his mother that he was going up to sleep first.
“But your father and brother aren’t back yet,” his mother told him as she came out from the kitchen, wiping her hands dry on her apron.
“I’m really exhausted,” Daiki replied apologetically and his mother gave him a smile. She went over to hug him.
“Alright, you need your rest. I’m just glad you’re alright now.”
Daiki nodded and went back to his room with a big grin plastered across his face. When he finally collapsed onto his bed, he let the smile slip and the tears fall. He was not alright, he knew that. But for the sake of everyone else, he had to pretend to be fine.
“You’re supposed to be with me…” he muttered in a pained tone as his tears wet his pillow.
--
Takaki wanted to collapse onto his bed and sleep the moment he stepped into his bedroom but it had been a long day and he desperately needed a shower. He took a quick one just to refresh himself. As he stepped into his bedroom, he realised someone sitting on his bed.
“Oh Yamada,” he said cheerily as he walked over to his closet to choose his clothes for the next day. “What are you doing here?” he asked and continued looking at his clothes for a few moments before he realised something very wrong. He quickly spun around and gaped at the smiling figure before him.
“Yamada?” he breathed out, desperately praying that his eyes were playing tricks on him.
“Hi Takaki-kun,” Yamada replied with the same smile still stuck on his face.
Takaki tried not to faint.
Author: Mistress_astute
Pairing: Ariyama
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Yamada's dying. He just wants to help Daiki move on.
Tears were rapidly trickling down Daiki’s face like a stream. He thought that it was impossible to cry for so long but he was proven wrong. He had heard that when people cry too much they eventually ran out of tears, so he wondered where all his tears were coming from. It had been two days after the funeral but his tears were as fresh as they were from the first day. All he did after he came back home was to cry and sleep. He would wake up and turn to his right, expecting to see Yamada there but then realise that he was in his own bed in his room and that Yamada was not there anymore.
“Why did you have to leave so soon?” Daiki sobbed, leaning his head against his bed. “Why?” He inhaled sharply as he fisted his blanket.
“It’s not fair!” Daiki snatched the nearest pillow and threw it against the door with all his might as more tears made their way down his cheeks. He wondered what he was going to accomplish by flying into a rage. It was not as if that would bring his Yamada back to him.
“Daiki, are you alright?” his mother’s voice came from behind the door. Her voice was thick with anxiety and Daiki wanted so much to go out and tell her that everything was fine but he knew that if she saw him in his current state she would be more worried.
“I’m fine kaa-chan,” he called out, trying to make his voice sound as normal as possible but it came out hoarse. After all he had not spoken a word ever since he came back.
“Are you sure? Do you want me to come in?”
“No, I’m fine,” Daiki muttered weakly. He wondered if his mother could hear him. He moved to sit beside the door and repeated himself.
“Well… if you’re sure…”
Daiki heard the retreating footsteps of his mother and sighed in relieved. He did not know how he would react if she kept questioning him. He just wanted to be left alone.
--
Daiki’s mother was worried to say the least. She knew that it was a bad idea to let her son stay with Yamada in the hospital, but it was the first time she had ever seen him being so persistent, and even Daisuke thought that it was a good idea. What kind of mother would she be if she were to object? But now the consequences she had feared were unfolding before her eyes. Daiki had become so dependent and used to Yamada’s presence that it was killing him now that Yamada was no longer here.
Daiki started cooping himself up inside his room and refused to come out for any of his meals. After countless fruitless attempts to try to coax him out, she had given up, instead opting to leave the food outside his door. She did it for all three meals but they were always left untouched and cold each time she came to collect them. It was not so bad at first since he still talked to her but now whenever she tried to talk to him, she would be completely ignored. Her husband and Daisuke shared the same fate.
“We should break down the door,” Daisuke suggested during dinner. “What?” he asked as his parents gave him annoyed glares.
“We can’t do that,” Daiki’s mother replied. “He wouldn’t be happy.”
“Or we could always let him starve or rot to death,” Daisuke pointed out crudely, knowing that it made sense. “Breaking down the door is a much feasible action.”
“I’ll call Yabu-kun to see if any one of them is free to come here tomorrow to talk to him,” Daiki’s father said.
“If you say so.”
--
“I’m so glad that you and Takaki-kun could come today,” Daiki’s mother said gratefully as she led the two oldest members into the Arioka apartment. “He’s been staying in his room all day and I don’t know what to do. I can’t get through to him at all.”
Yabu and Takaki exchanged glances. They could tell that the elderly woman was distress, and they also knew that she was not the only one. The 7 members were nowhere as energetic since Yamada left them. BEST themselves were feeling dead, especially since their most joyful member stopped turning up for work without any notice. JUMP as a whole was in a wreck.
“Don’t worry, we’ll try our best,” Yabu comforted Daiki’s mother before he and Takaki made their way to Daiki’s room.
“Daichan?” Yabu called out gently, knocking on the door. When no response came, he tried again. “Daichan?”
“We should break down the door,” Takaki said, glancing around for something that might put his plan into action.
“Let’s leave that as a last resort,” Yabu said wearily before turning to knock on the door again, this time harder. “Daichan, open up please? Everyone’s worried about you.”
“Move aside Kota,” Takaki said with a grin. Yabu moved to a side as he eyed Takaki, hoping that the other one did not come up with anything too stupid. He watched as Takaki pulled out a hair pin from his pocket and started to pick the lock.
“That’s not going to work,” Yabu told Takaki as he leant against the wall to watch. “That is so not going to work. Do you seriously think that the door would - ” Yabu stopped talking and immediately stared at the door as he heard a click. After a few seconds of shocked silence, he turned his gaze to Takaki. “Did you really…?”
Takaki smirked and nodded. He reached out for the doorknob and twisted it, opening the door quietly.
“How did you manage to do that?” Yabu whispered.
“I learnt it from Hasshi but don’t ask me where he learnt it. I have no idea.”
Having said that, Takaki pushed the door open as silently as possible and stepped into the room tentatively. Yabu followed close behind. They room was pitch dark and the curtains were drawn so tightly that not even the slightest bit of sunlight could pass through. Yabu and Takaki picked their way through the room, keeping an eye out for the youngest BEST member.
“Daichan?” Yabu called out as he peered in the darkness.
“Should we turn on the lights?” Takaki asked Yabu who slowly shook his head.
“Daichan?”
“My gosh, Daiki is that you?” Takaki exclaimed as he rushed over to a huddled figure on the floor. Takaki knelt down next to Daiki and lifted his head gently. What he saw scared him. Daiki stared back at him with two lifeless eyes. Tear stains marred his face and his hair was in a messy array. His cheeks were not that chubby anymore and Takaki could only thank God that they still had some meat in them.
“Daiki are you alright?” Yabu asked as he sat down on Daiki’s other side. When he got no response, he frowned. He turned to Takaki.
“What should we do?”
“I don’t know…”
“Daiki, are you alright?” Yabu tried as he shook the younger one slightly, but it was useless.
“Let’s not tell Arioka-san at any rate,” Takaki decided. He sat beside the youngest BEST member and sighed. “Daiki, please respond. You’re like a corpse.” That earned him a whack from Yabu and he pouted but said nothing more.
“Daiki,” Yabu said again, gripping Daiki by the shoulder and shaking him, perhaps a little harder than he had intended to. “Are you alright?”
“Yabu-kun?” Daiki asked after a while and it was all Yabu could do to not jump onto the younger boy and hug him to death. “What’s wrong? Why are you two here? Wasn’t my door locked?”
“You didn’t know that we were here?” Takaki asked incredulously. Daiki paused for a moment before shaking his head slowly.
“You got to stop doing this, you’re making everyone worried,” Yabu told Daiki as he patted the latter’s head gently.
“Sorry,” Daiki replied, staring into the space before him. Yabu could feel the younger one slipping away again, but before that could happen he grabbed him by the shoulder. Daiki snapped out of his thoughts and gave Yabu a questioning look.
“Stop it,” Yabu repeated in a sterner tone. “You’re not helping yourself and you’re scaring everyone, including some of our sempais.”
“Sorry,” Daiki said once more but Yabu could tell that he did not mean it.
“Yamada wouldn’t be happy seeing you like this.” Yabu had thought that Daiki would finally snap out of it if he mentioned Yamada but it had the opposite effect instead. Daiki’s eyes started watering and bit his lower lip while hugging himself. Yabu cursed himself mentally.
“Would you stop it?!” Takaki shouted, scaring Yabu and half shocking Daiki. He gripped Daiki’s shoulders so hard that Yabu thought that it might cause bruises, and turned the younger one to face him. “We’re all sad and depressed that Yamada’s not here anymore but moping around is not going to help anyone at all! Daiki, JUMP has lost one member already. We need you.”
After that outburst, Takaki clamped his mouth shut and collapsed against the wall. Yabu and Daiki were still so shocked that they did nothing but stare at Takaki for a good ten minutes. Feeling annoyed that he was being stared at like some exotic exhibit on show, Takaki shot the two of them a glare. Yabu finally got over his shock and just laughed amusedly.
“I always knew you had it in you somewhere Yuyan ~ ” Yabu said cheerfully.
“Shut up,” Takaki retorted and the both of them chuckled before they realised that Daiki was not laughing with them. They turned to him worriedly and panic overcame them when they saw him crying with his head buried in his knees.
“Daiki, please stop crying,” Yabu said soothingly.
“I’m sorry,” Daiki replied, sniffing and hiccupping a little. “I didn’t mean to make everyone worried… I just… Sorry…”
“It’s alright,” Yabu said, mentally sighing in relief. “As long as you’re alright from now onwards. And you haven’t been eating right? Hurry eat first before you starve to death.”
“But take a shower first,” Takaki added, wrinkling his nose. “You stink.”
Daiki swatted at him weakly but said nothing in protest. It was true that he had not bathed for the past few days. He got up from the floor but fell down immediately after. It was lucky that Takaki managed to catch him.
“Be careful!” Yabu exclaimed as he started checking the youngest one for any injuries.
“I’m fine,” Daiki muttered softly. “My legs are just numb… and I think I’m hungrier than I thought…”
“Of course you are!” Yabu snapped before plunging into a full length lecture on how not eating would affect one’s health and so on. Before he got too agitated about it, Takaki shushed him.
“Don’t you think that it’s better to get him to eat before you rant at him?”
“That’s a good idea,” Yabu agreed before getting up. “I’ll get some food. Wait here. Takaki, take care of him.”
“I don’t need to be taken care of…” Daiki said but Yabu ignored him as he marched out of the room.
“Erm… thanks for just now… I didn’t realise I was being so unreasonable…” Daiki said awkwardly a while later. Takaki shifted in his seat, feeling a bit embarrassed but nodded his head in acknowledgement.
“You really worried us, especially Inoo-chan,” Takaki said afterwards when the silence became a bit unbearable. “He was freaking out every day and he wanted to come today actually but he has school.”
“Ahh I feel guilty,” Daiki replied.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel that way -” Takaki said hurriedly but Daiki placed a hand on his lap. Takaki looked at the other.
“I know.”
Yabu came in soon after, carrying a bowl of porridge.
“I figured you wouldn’t be able to take anything too solid and soup’s not fulfilling enough,” Yabu explained as he passed the bowl to Takaki. “Feed him.”
“I can eat by myself,” Daiki insisted but Takaki could see how weak Daiki’s arms were.
“You’re just spill everything over yourself,” Takaki replied as he scopped a spoon of the porridge. “Just let me do it.”
“Thanks,” Daiki answered before wincing a bit when Yabu flipped on the lights. He shut his eyes tightly, having become too accustomed to the dark already. Yabu then went about tidying the room, putting back misplaced objects in their rightful places and throwing away all the tissues. He shot Daiki a disapproving glare when he found broken pieces of a vase on the floor. Daiki smiled back feebly.
After half an hour Yabu finally managed to restore the room back to its original neat and tidy state, and Daiki had also finished the porridge. Yabu took one last scan around the room before nodding in satisfaction. He turned to Daiki. “You can go bathe now. Can you do it on your own? Do you need help?”
“I’ll be fine,” Daiki said, giggling slightly at how Yabu was fretting over everything. He took his towel and a new set of clothes before entering the bathroom.
The first thing he saw inside the bathroom was his reflection and he almost dropped everything he was holding. The person looking back at him did not look like him at all. The person in front of him had blood shot eyes, sunken cheeks and messy hair; not how Arioka Daiki looks like.
No wonder they were so worried… heck I can’t even recognised myself…
With a newfound determination, Daiki stepped into the shower. He let out a blissful sigh as he felt the water hitting his back and caressing his body. It felt so good to finally bathe. He wondered how he managed to stand not bathing for so long. He took about an hour in the shower before he was finally pleased with how he looked and smelt. Smiling in contentment, he made his way downstairs to the living room.
“I’m so glad you two came. Thank you so much! I wouldn’t have know what to do otherwise.” Daiki could hear his mother and he hurried to the living room.
“Sorry okaachan!” he burst out when he entered the living room. He rushed over and gave his mother a big hug, snuggling up to her when she returned it.
“It’s alright,” she murmured and he knew that she was tearing.
Yabu and Takaki smiled, glad that things were finally going back to normal for the Ariokas. They chatted for a while but in the end it turned into such a long conversation that by the time it finished the sky was already dark. The two oldest members had dinner before leaving.
“You better be on time for work tomorrow,” Yabu reminded Daiki when he saw them off at the door.
“Don’t worry, I’ll even be early,” Daiki replied playfully, earning a light smack from Yabu. Daiki stuck out his tongue.
“Well see you then,” Takaki said before the two made their way home.
Daiki shut the door behind him before telling his mother that he was going up to sleep first.
“But your father and brother aren’t back yet,” his mother told him as she came out from the kitchen, wiping her hands dry on her apron.
“I’m really exhausted,” Daiki replied apologetically and his mother gave him a smile. She went over to hug him.
“Alright, you need your rest. I’m just glad you’re alright now.”
Daiki nodded and went back to his room with a big grin plastered across his face. When he finally collapsed onto his bed, he let the smile slip and the tears fall. He was not alright, he knew that. But for the sake of everyone else, he had to pretend to be fine.
“You’re supposed to be with me…” he muttered in a pained tone as his tears wet his pillow.
--
Takaki wanted to collapse onto his bed and sleep the moment he stepped into his bedroom but it had been a long day and he desperately needed a shower. He took a quick one just to refresh himself. As he stepped into his bedroom, he realised someone sitting on his bed.
“Oh Yamada,” he said cheerily as he walked over to his closet to choose his clothes for the next day. “What are you doing here?” he asked and continued looking at his clothes for a few moments before he realised something very wrong. He quickly spun around and gaped at the smiling figure before him.
“Yamada?” he breathed out, desperately praying that his eyes were playing tricks on him.
“Hi Takaki-kun,” Yamada replied with the same smile still stuck on his face.
Takaki tried not to faint.