Fourth Avenue Café - Chapter 15
Title: Fourth Avenue Café
Pairings: Akame, slight Ryopi
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jin's a successful artist when a fight with his friends forces him to seek stress relief in a little café where he meets what he considers, the strangest people.
Chapter 1// Chapter 2// Chapter 3// Chapter 4// Chapter 5// Chapter 6// Chapter 7// Chapter 8// Chapter 9// Chapter 10// Chapter 11// Chapter 12// Chapter 13// Chapter 14
Chapter 15:
“The tumor…it’s spread to his cerebellum…”
-------------------------
When he got word of Kame waking up, he called in sick the next day.
-------------------------
After lunch, he made a quick trip to the flower store to buy another rose before making his way to the hospital.
There, having memorized his way to the other’s room, he automatically steered himself to the waiter’s door. With his hands shaking, he reached for the door and slid it open a bit to take a peek inside.
He could see that there were two figures inside.
The one on the bed with bandages over his eyes, he realized immediately, was Kame. He sat there rather limply, facing the visitor’s general direction, attentively listening. And the other, who sat beside the patient, was none other than Ueda. Deciding not to intrude them, he leaned against the wall beside the little slit and waited for his turn.
While he did so, he couldn’t help but overhear the conversation inside…
-------------------------
“Tat-chan…”
“Yea?”
“…I’m never going to leave this hospital again, am I…?”
“Don’t say stupid things like that! I swear, if you weren’t injured, I would’ve smacked you by now. Since when did you become to pessimistic? It’s kind of annoying so stop it. Everything’s going to be fine Kame.”
“…yea…”
Pause.
“Ne Tat-chan…”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Do you think you could sing for me…? You know, that song you used to sing all the time at school…”
“…Love in the Snow?”
“Yea, that one…I want to hear it…”
“Sure…I’ll sing it just for you.”
-------------------------
Outside the room, Jin stared at the ceiling as the soft melody drifted out through the door. With the rose hanging limply in his hold, he closed his eyes and let out a soundless sigh, trying to refrain from doing anything close to crying.
When the song stopped, all he could hear was the sadness that filled the room.
-------------------------
“Thank you…” the younger man choked back a sob, “Tat-chan…tell me…why me?”
He was replied with silence.
“I’ll never see Tat-chan’s face again, or Taguchi’s hair…I want to see…I want to see your face, I want to see Taguchi’s face, Nakamaru’s face, Koki’s face! I want to see Jin’s face! I want to see you guys laughing and crying! So why me? What did I do wrong?”
“I…don’t know…”
“I’m scared Tat-chan…can’t you save me? Please…I want to be saved…”
“Kame…Kame…Kazuya, I’m so sorry…”
-------------------------
Any courage he might’ve had disappeared when he heard the soft cries of the elder. Wiping his own tears away, he turned away and retreated back down the hall.
The rose he’d been holding lay forgotten in front of the door as he left.
----------------------
It wasn’t until later that night, he found out the full extent of the disease.
Jin sat, curled up on his bed, his eyes were still red from crying and his throat was sore. He frowned into the phone, “What?”
“…the disease was in his cerebellum and it damaged the motor cortex…Kame had been complaining about his right arm feeling numb before, and this explains why.”
“Yea but…that’s it…right?”
“No, I wish it was…when they performed the surgery, they had no choice but to take away what was left of his vision. That, and …his spinocerebellar tract was too damaged…”
His brows furled as dread built up inside him, “What does that mean?”
“Akanishi-kun…Kame has no control over his legs anymore.”
-------------------------
He called in sick for the next two days, locking himself in his apartment when he could. The only work related thing he did was a magazine interview in the morning before he sullenly retreated back to his apartment.
“Have you cried recently?”
“Yes?”
“Why?”
“I can’t tell you.”
-------------------------
Near the end of the first day, his best friend broke into his house again while he was sulking in bed.
The younger singer poked his head into the room, “Mabudachi Jin…”
He looked away, drawing the covers up to his chest, “Go away Pi.”
The footsteps drew closer until he felt his bed shift, “Jin…”
“I said go away,” he muttered halfheartedly.
Pi sighed and moved so that he sat beside the singer, “why are you being so sulky? Come on, cheer up a little…we visited Kame-chan today…Ryo-chan cried a lot and it was quite interesting actually.” He looked over, “…if Kame-chan was able to show us a smile, why can’t you?”
He mumbled wryly more to himself than to the other, “Because my dreams have been shattered.”
The younger singer raised a brow, “What are you talking about? Kame-chan’s still around.”
Jin glared at his knees, “But he’s still sick…”
“Are you going to let that stop you? I expected more from you…”
He shifted his glare and focused it on his best friend who was staring blankly at his legs, “Shut up, I’m not stopping for anything. It’s just…why can’t we be like you and Ryo-chan? Right now, I don’t know what Kame’s going through and I don’t know how to help him, if I can help him. I want to save him, Pi. I want to protect him from this and everything else in the world but-”
His best friend slung an arm around his shoulder, “Jin, Jin, Jin, I thought you’d have figured it by now, especially after your big speech on what Kame means to you. Instead of being helped,” He shot the other a gentle smile, “I think he’d rather have you by his side…”
The singer couldn’t help but give a sniffle, “Pi…”
Yamapi laughed gently, “Don’t you start crying too! Ryo-chan nearly flooded the hospital with his tears today! He was exhausted when we got home.” He patted his friend lightly on the head, “so you’ll go visit the hip-rolls to your dance tomorrow, right? He was asking about you, you know. He wants you by his side. That’s why, no matter how hard it gets, you have put on your best smile for him.”
“Yea…” Jin nodded obediently and buried his face into his blanket, “I’m sorry…I’ll get my happy face on tomorrow, I’ll probably be out of tears by then anyways, right?”
-------------------------
The next day, as he had promised, he went back to the hospital.
He found himself in front of the other’s room again, but this time, resolved, he slid the door open and stepped in quietly. The first thing that caught his attention was a spec of red. It was the rose in a glass of water by the window. His lips twitched slightly, Ueda must’ve picked it up.
Kame, having heard something, tilted his head over to his general direction and waited for him to make the first move. Swallowing hard, he managed a tight smile despite how the other couldn’t see it, “Hey…”
A small smile graced the younger man’s lips when he heard his voice, “Jin…”
The singer made his way to the side of the bed, taking the other’s hand gently in his own, “how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine…I guess,” the waiter was lying, but in hopes of getting fooled into believing it for the truth, he didn’t say anything. The other lightly grasped his hand back, “I guess they told you about how I only have this arm left…” he gave a sad laugh, “I actually feel pretty useless right now.”
He chewed on his lower lip, “Don’t be like that…”
Kame gave another soft smile and shook his head, “I can’t help it, I mean, it’s true isn’t it? I can’t read the cards you write, can’t really figure out how the phone works, can’t help Taguchi out at the shop, can’t go out with you, can’t watch your concerts or anything.”
Jin remained as calm as he could, rubbing circles reassuringly on the back of the other’s hand with his thumb, “that doesn’t mean anything, if you want these things to happen, I’ll make them happen. If you can’t read your cards, I’ll read them to you. I’ll come talk to you everyday so you won’t get lonely. If you need to use the phone, I’ll teach you where all the buttons are if I have to. I’ll send some junior to Taguchi’s shop to help out for free. We don’t have to go anywhere, being here’s fine with me, so long as you’re here. And…and if you can’t go to my concerts, I’ll find some way to bring them to you.”
The waiter’s lips quivered slightly, “…Jin…”
He gave the other a reassuring smile, “You know what? I’m going to bring my guitar here next time and sing for you, okay? So don’t be sad…as long as we’re both doing our best, things will work out…I’ll make sure we get our happy ending…”
-------------------------
After a couple hours, he headed over to Ueda’s personal coffee corner to pour himself a cup of caffeine. Inside the staff room, he was surprised to find the elder man sitting at a table, holding his head in a distraught manner. Quietly, he walked over and sat down across the other.
Ueda looked exhausted. With dark rings under his bloodshot eyes, and it was apparently that he wasn’t the only person who’d been crying lately. The elder looked over, too worn out to start an argument. He muttered a dry greeting, “Akanishi…”
Jin nodded politely, “You look terrible…did something happen?”
It took a moment for the other to reply. Finally, Ueda sighed and nodded sullenly, not looking up to meet the other’s eyes, “I suppose you have a right to know…” he paused again as though searching for the right words, “I was just talking to Kame’s doctor earlier…”
Dread and panic built up inside him again, as much as he didn’t want to, he asked “And…?”
The waiter had to avert his weary gaze elsewhere to continue, “They couldn’t remove the tumor completely…”
His eyes widened and it took all his self-control not to jump up, “What? Why?”
“Because it would’ve killed him. The tumor had spread quite a bit actually, and they couldn’t go further in the surgery without threatening his life…”
“Does Kame know?”
The other shook his head, “I think he’ll be informed later today…”
Anger began rising along with the dread and the painful tugging inside his chest. He took a deep breath before asking “Then what?”
“What do you mean then what?”
He frowned, “I mean when he finds out, he’s just going to sit there and wait to die?”
Ueda watched him sadly despite the quick flash of anger shown in his eyes, “what else can he do? He’s going to try to make the best of it because that’s the way Kame is…”
Jin took a deep breath to steady himself, “Do you know how long he has left…?”
“The doctor said that he probably won’t last over six months…”
-------------------------
When he returned to Kame’s room, he felt nothing but utterly defeated. He sat down on the chair next to the bed, taking hold of the other’s hand again. The waiter turned from the window to face him, “You’re back, did you have a nice cup of coffee?”
“No matter how hard it gets, you have to put on your best smile for him.”
Ignoring the lump in the back of his throat, he smiled, “yea, Ueda was there actually.”
“Oh? Tat-chan? You two didn’t fight?”
“No,” while he spoke, all he could think about was how, after six months, he wouldn’t be able to talk like this with Kame anymore, “we talked civilly, isn’t that surprising?”
The waiter smiled, laughing softly, “it’s very surprising, maybe there’s hope for you two after all.”
Seeing the other smile broke the dam, tears began trailing down his face despite his shaky smile. He blinked away the tears, “Yea…maybe…”
Hearing the other’s quivering voice, Kame’s smile disappeared as he reached up and gently cupped his face, “Jin…are you crying?”
Jin shook his head, shoulders trembling as he spoke.
“No,” he reached up and took the other’s hand softly, pulling him into a hug, “sorry, it’s just…I don’t know why but…it suddenly started raining really hard…”
-------------------------
A/N: Here's a short chapter! I'm tired and still RyoPi deprived XP Thank yous commentors! Enjoy!
Pairings: Akame, slight Ryopi
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jin's a successful artist when a fight with his friends forces him to seek stress relief in a little café where he meets what he considers, the strangest people.
Chapter 1// Chapter 2// Chapter 3// Chapter 4// Chapter 5// Chapter 6// Chapter 7// Chapter 8// Chapter 9// Chapter 10// Chapter 11// Chapter 12// Chapter 13// Chapter 14
Chapter 15:
“The tumor…it’s spread to his cerebellum…”
-------------------------
When he got word of Kame waking up, he called in sick the next day.
-------------------------
After lunch, he made a quick trip to the flower store to buy another rose before making his way to the hospital.
There, having memorized his way to the other’s room, he automatically steered himself to the waiter’s door. With his hands shaking, he reached for the door and slid it open a bit to take a peek inside.
He could see that there were two figures inside.
The one on the bed with bandages over his eyes, he realized immediately, was Kame. He sat there rather limply, facing the visitor’s general direction, attentively listening. And the other, who sat beside the patient, was none other than Ueda. Deciding not to intrude them, he leaned against the wall beside the little slit and waited for his turn.
While he did so, he couldn’t help but overhear the conversation inside…
-------------------------
“Tat-chan…”
“Yea?”
“…I’m never going to leave this hospital again, am I…?”
“Don’t say stupid things like that! I swear, if you weren’t injured, I would’ve smacked you by now. Since when did you become to pessimistic? It’s kind of annoying so stop it. Everything’s going to be fine Kame.”
“…yea…”
Pause.
“Ne Tat-chan…”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Do you think you could sing for me…? You know, that song you used to sing all the time at school…”
“…Love in the Snow?”
“Yea, that one…I want to hear it…”
“Sure…I’ll sing it just for you.”
-------------------------
Outside the room, Jin stared at the ceiling as the soft melody drifted out through the door. With the rose hanging limply in his hold, he closed his eyes and let out a soundless sigh, trying to refrain from doing anything close to crying.
When the song stopped, all he could hear was the sadness that filled the room.
-------------------------
“Thank you…” the younger man choked back a sob, “Tat-chan…tell me…why me?”
He was replied with silence.
“I’ll never see Tat-chan’s face again, or Taguchi’s hair…I want to see…I want to see your face, I want to see Taguchi’s face, Nakamaru’s face, Koki’s face! I want to see Jin’s face! I want to see you guys laughing and crying! So why me? What did I do wrong?”
“I…don’t know…”
“I’m scared Tat-chan…can’t you save me? Please…I want to be saved…”
“Kame…Kame…Kazuya, I’m so sorry…”
-------------------------
Any courage he might’ve had disappeared when he heard the soft cries of the elder. Wiping his own tears away, he turned away and retreated back down the hall.
The rose he’d been holding lay forgotten in front of the door as he left.
----------------------
It wasn’t until later that night, he found out the full extent of the disease.
Jin sat, curled up on his bed, his eyes were still red from crying and his throat was sore. He frowned into the phone, “What?”
“…the disease was in his cerebellum and it damaged the motor cortex…Kame had been complaining about his right arm feeling numb before, and this explains why.”
“Yea but…that’s it…right?”
“No, I wish it was…when they performed the surgery, they had no choice but to take away what was left of his vision. That, and …his spinocerebellar tract was too damaged…”
His brows furled as dread built up inside him, “What does that mean?”
“Akanishi-kun…Kame has no control over his legs anymore.”
-------------------------
He called in sick for the next two days, locking himself in his apartment when he could. The only work related thing he did was a magazine interview in the morning before he sullenly retreated back to his apartment.
“Have you cried recently?”
“Yes?”
“Why?”
“I can’t tell you.”
-------------------------
Near the end of the first day, his best friend broke into his house again while he was sulking in bed.
The younger singer poked his head into the room, “Mabudachi Jin…”
He looked away, drawing the covers up to his chest, “Go away Pi.”
The footsteps drew closer until he felt his bed shift, “Jin…”
“I said go away,” he muttered halfheartedly.
Pi sighed and moved so that he sat beside the singer, “why are you being so sulky? Come on, cheer up a little…we visited Kame-chan today…Ryo-chan cried a lot and it was quite interesting actually.” He looked over, “…if Kame-chan was able to show us a smile, why can’t you?”
He mumbled wryly more to himself than to the other, “Because my dreams have been shattered.”
The younger singer raised a brow, “What are you talking about? Kame-chan’s still around.”
Jin glared at his knees, “But he’s still sick…”
“Are you going to let that stop you? I expected more from you…”
He shifted his glare and focused it on his best friend who was staring blankly at his legs, “Shut up, I’m not stopping for anything. It’s just…why can’t we be like you and Ryo-chan? Right now, I don’t know what Kame’s going through and I don’t know how to help him, if I can help him. I want to save him, Pi. I want to protect him from this and everything else in the world but-”
His best friend slung an arm around his shoulder, “Jin, Jin, Jin, I thought you’d have figured it by now, especially after your big speech on what Kame means to you. Instead of being helped,” He shot the other a gentle smile, “I think he’d rather have you by his side…”
The singer couldn’t help but give a sniffle, “Pi…”
Yamapi laughed gently, “Don’t you start crying too! Ryo-chan nearly flooded the hospital with his tears today! He was exhausted when we got home.” He patted his friend lightly on the head, “so you’ll go visit the hip-rolls to your dance tomorrow, right? He was asking about you, you know. He wants you by his side. That’s why, no matter how hard it gets, you have put on your best smile for him.”
“Yea…” Jin nodded obediently and buried his face into his blanket, “I’m sorry…I’ll get my happy face on tomorrow, I’ll probably be out of tears by then anyways, right?”
-------------------------
The next day, as he had promised, he went back to the hospital.
He found himself in front of the other’s room again, but this time, resolved, he slid the door open and stepped in quietly. The first thing that caught his attention was a spec of red. It was the rose in a glass of water by the window. His lips twitched slightly, Ueda must’ve picked it up.
Kame, having heard something, tilted his head over to his general direction and waited for him to make the first move. Swallowing hard, he managed a tight smile despite how the other couldn’t see it, “Hey…”
A small smile graced the younger man’s lips when he heard his voice, “Jin…”
The singer made his way to the side of the bed, taking the other’s hand gently in his own, “how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine…I guess,” the waiter was lying, but in hopes of getting fooled into believing it for the truth, he didn’t say anything. The other lightly grasped his hand back, “I guess they told you about how I only have this arm left…” he gave a sad laugh, “I actually feel pretty useless right now.”
He chewed on his lower lip, “Don’t be like that…”
Kame gave another soft smile and shook his head, “I can’t help it, I mean, it’s true isn’t it? I can’t read the cards you write, can’t really figure out how the phone works, can’t help Taguchi out at the shop, can’t go out with you, can’t watch your concerts or anything.”
Jin remained as calm as he could, rubbing circles reassuringly on the back of the other’s hand with his thumb, “that doesn’t mean anything, if you want these things to happen, I’ll make them happen. If you can’t read your cards, I’ll read them to you. I’ll come talk to you everyday so you won’t get lonely. If you need to use the phone, I’ll teach you where all the buttons are if I have to. I’ll send some junior to Taguchi’s shop to help out for free. We don’t have to go anywhere, being here’s fine with me, so long as you’re here. And…and if you can’t go to my concerts, I’ll find some way to bring them to you.”
The waiter’s lips quivered slightly, “…Jin…”
He gave the other a reassuring smile, “You know what? I’m going to bring my guitar here next time and sing for you, okay? So don’t be sad…as long as we’re both doing our best, things will work out…I’ll make sure we get our happy ending…”
-------------------------
After a couple hours, he headed over to Ueda’s personal coffee corner to pour himself a cup of caffeine. Inside the staff room, he was surprised to find the elder man sitting at a table, holding his head in a distraught manner. Quietly, he walked over and sat down across the other.
Ueda looked exhausted. With dark rings under his bloodshot eyes, and it was apparently that he wasn’t the only person who’d been crying lately. The elder looked over, too worn out to start an argument. He muttered a dry greeting, “Akanishi…”
Jin nodded politely, “You look terrible…did something happen?”
It took a moment for the other to reply. Finally, Ueda sighed and nodded sullenly, not looking up to meet the other’s eyes, “I suppose you have a right to know…” he paused again as though searching for the right words, “I was just talking to Kame’s doctor earlier…”
Dread and panic built up inside him again, as much as he didn’t want to, he asked “And…?”
The waiter had to avert his weary gaze elsewhere to continue, “They couldn’t remove the tumor completely…”
His eyes widened and it took all his self-control not to jump up, “What? Why?”
“Because it would’ve killed him. The tumor had spread quite a bit actually, and they couldn’t go further in the surgery without threatening his life…”
“Does Kame know?”
The other shook his head, “I think he’ll be informed later today…”
Anger began rising along with the dread and the painful tugging inside his chest. He took a deep breath before asking “Then what?”
“What do you mean then what?”
He frowned, “I mean when he finds out, he’s just going to sit there and wait to die?”
Ueda watched him sadly despite the quick flash of anger shown in his eyes, “what else can he do? He’s going to try to make the best of it because that’s the way Kame is…”
Jin took a deep breath to steady himself, “Do you know how long he has left…?”
“The doctor said that he probably won’t last over six months…”
-------------------------
When he returned to Kame’s room, he felt nothing but utterly defeated. He sat down on the chair next to the bed, taking hold of the other’s hand again. The waiter turned from the window to face him, “You’re back, did you have a nice cup of coffee?”
“No matter how hard it gets, you have to put on your best smile for him.”
Ignoring the lump in the back of his throat, he smiled, “yea, Ueda was there actually.”
“Oh? Tat-chan? You two didn’t fight?”
“No,” while he spoke, all he could think about was how, after six months, he wouldn’t be able to talk like this with Kame anymore, “we talked civilly, isn’t that surprising?”
The waiter smiled, laughing softly, “it’s very surprising, maybe there’s hope for you two after all.”
Seeing the other smile broke the dam, tears began trailing down his face despite his shaky smile. He blinked away the tears, “Yea…maybe…”
Hearing the other’s quivering voice, Kame’s smile disappeared as he reached up and gently cupped his face, “Jin…are you crying?”
Jin shook his head, shoulders trembling as he spoke.
“No,” he reached up and took the other’s hand softly, pulling him into a hug, “sorry, it’s just…I don’t know why but…it suddenly started raining really hard…”
-------------------------
A/N: Here's a short chapter! I'm tired and still RyoPi deprived XP Thank yous commentors! Enjoy!