Phosphorescent Lights: Chapter 3
Every secret has a price…
Title: Phosphorescent Lights
Summary: A photographer with no memories whose goal in life is to seek out what he has lost; a businessman who swore revenge for the death of his lover while desperately trying to escape his fixated reality. Two entirely different men with entirely different lives bound together by the threads of destiny. But little do the two know that they are bounded together by more than just simple destiny…
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairings: Akame (primary), Ryoda (secondary) mentions of Jinda, Pin, Ryopi, Kokame, Kamaki
Other Characters: Jin, Kame, Ueda, Yamashita, Ryo, Koki, slight appearances from Taguchi, Nakamaru, Tegoshi
Content: Romance, drama, AU [Alternate Universe]
Author: Nerd-san
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Johnny Entertainment
…are they willing to pay it?
Phosphorescent Lights: Chapter 3
To hell with everything, Jin thought with sour tears welling up in the corner of his weary eyes. He backed up his car in the long-term parking lot with malevolence in every one of his movements.
He felt his hands shaking as he took the keys out of the ignition and listened to the car come to a steady halt. Perhaps if his life had been this steady, things could have been easier now.
But what did he expect, really? He worked for A. Jewelry. No one who worked at A. Jewelry had a steady life. He had learned that the hard way. Twice.
Jin could feel a bitter laugh escape his chapped lips at the reminiscence. This time it was, once again, another tally mark for A. Jewelry. And it seemed that Jin could simply never win.
Sometimes he wondered what the point of fighting was anymore. He wasn’t going to win against that company. No one could. And if he had continued with his pathetic attempts of trying to win, he was only going to lose more and more of the most important things in his life.
His phosphorescent love was gone. Ueda too. What did more did he have left to lose?
Jin got out of the car, slowly taking out the suitcase he had packed earlier in the day. He was going to leave this life behind. For good. There was no longer a reason for him to stay.
Walking to the ticket barrier took mere seconds, but to Jin it felt like an eternity. Uncontrollably, all his mind could process were images of Ueda; images of him and Ueda - Ueda and him.
There was no going about it. He had missed Ueda. How could, what was supposed to be the greatest day of his life, so easily turn into his own personal nightmare?
And more importantly, Jin sulked darkly as he walked up to the hostess, how long had Ueda and Ryo been together?
“I want to exchange this,” Jin gruffly threw the ticket in his hand on the desk that separated him and the astonished woman. “I’m not going to France.”
She sighed fruitfully, looking at abused permit. “Sir, we don’t exchange flights.” She informed him rather professionally, “and moreover all international flights have been booked for this afternoon. If you come back tomorrow-”
“Anything!” Jin blurted, “I’ll go anywhere! I don’t care if it’s only an hour away! I’m not staying here!”
She looked hesitant, but nodded. The man sounded desperate. Carefully, she plugged some numbers and letters into her computer and then took the ticket. “There’s one seat left for the 2:00pm flight to Okinawa.”
Behind her thick glasses, Jin saw her beady, yet reluctant eyes. “It’s not a two-way flight, though.”
“I don’t care,” he bit his lip rewardingly; “I’ll take it.”
She printed out the new ticket and handed it to the eager man.
“Thank you,” Jin bowed clumsily before heading out to catch his flight. And, he was shocked to say, he hadn’t a single tasteless thought of Ueda or A. Jewelry all the way to the departure gates.
Maybe a new life was just what he needed.
◦●○◦
Had life always been this cruel? Kame couldn’t remember, but he was sure that there was a time that it wasn’t. He chuckled resentfully at the pitiless thought. How would he, of all people, be able to remember anything?
“Maki…” he forced out through his dry throat, lifelessly caressing the small jewelry case as he did so. He didn’t know why he was still restlessly sitting at the restaurant’s table; Maki had long gone and made her choice clear. He had chased her to no avail.
It was over.
Maybe he should have pressured her for more answers. As farfetched as if might have sounded for most people, every single memory Kame had made consisted of Maki. Simply because she was the first person the ‘existing’ Kame had met.
He was wrong from the beginning - falling in love. He wasn’t careful. He showed her what he dreamed of. And she had disappointed him far more than words could describe.
Kame blankly stared at his empty wine goblet, unable to remember when he ridded the glass of its contents. If this had been his ideal Friday afternoon, the last place he would be was at some high-class eatery and alone, nonetheless.
Kame suddenly felt a pang of unsheathed longing plague at his heart. He needed his camera; it was the only thing that could bring him any sort of console now. Kame didn’t ask for the bill but instead put down far more than enough money for the food and left.
He wasn’t rich. Far from, actually. But he had chosen to overlook his life small difficulties today, of all days, for Maki.
There was no point in that anymore, Kame figured, as he threw down the money and left the restaurant without looking back even once.
Tokyo.
That had been the only other thing in his mind asides from Maki. Tokyo. He would go to Tokyo. Kame wasn’t an impulsive thinker; he took his time to figure out situations and people’s feelings before charging into action. But, for once in his life, he decided he wasn’t going to be rational.
Hell, he was too inconsolable to even think of thinking rationally, much less anything else. He was already pressing away at various numbers on his cell phone before he had even realized it.
“Hello?” He murmured once he opened the door to his cooped up apartment, making a dead beeline for his overtly orderly room. “My name is Kamenashi Kazuya and I’d like a flight for Tokyo today, please.”
He dug out his old black suitcase and readily began to throw in random articles of clothing. “Yes?” He mumbled into his receiver, catching the phone under his chin as he hauled his camera strap over his neck with both hands. “Five o’clock today? No, that’s perfect. Thank you.”
Kame hung up the phone and waited for the small smile to crawl onto his features. He should have been happy; he was going to Tokyo. At last. He had been waiting for years.
But looking at his room that was a mess of photographs - photographs of him and Maki - he figured he couldn’t force his smile. And there was no point in trying, either.
◦●○◦
The airport in Okinawa was as it had always been: packed with tourists and foreigners, eagerly bustling about. It was unusually cold that day, or perhaps it was because of the two coincidental people who had awkwardly arctic hearts at the same time, for the same purpose.
Among the crowd of unsystematic strangers, Kame lugged his halfheartedly empty suitcase behind him, emotionlessly glancing down at his plane ticket as he did so. This was it.
His life was only beginning now; that was what he had tried to convince himself of. He was going to go to Tokyo and remember everything. He was going to get his old life back. Or try.
But then again, what was the point now? He had lost what had been most important to him. Or at least one of his most important things. She had someone else. She didn’t want him. Biting away frustrated tears, Kame tightened his grip on the profligate jewelry case he held in his hands.
He looked over at the airport clock that read 4:51pm. He had already checked in his larger suitcase and now only needed to board the plane.
Kame took one last look around the airport, closing his eyes and letting go. Letting everything go: his love, his career, his life.
Kame sighed dolefully and turned around. It was time.
Time to being anew.
“Stop him!”
Kame shot his eyes open in shock as he saw a man, no older than he, running as fast as could in a clumsy yet fast-paced pattern.
He blinked twice to make sure he had not just imagined the blur of grey but by the time he had opened his eyes, the man - or rather, the blur - was gone.
If he had turned around, perhaps he would have seen the two men dressed in an equally dull grey advancing towards the vanished blur. But Kame didn’t.
Instead, he went to the bathroom. He was in desperate need for a toilet. He worriedly glanced at his watch. If he made it quick, he would make it in time for his flight, which of course Kame planned to do.
But sometimes, life had other plans.
He groaned unenthusiastically and opened the door to the closest bathroom stall; sitting down and running a frustrated hand through his delicate hair. Maybe this was all a mistake? Perhaps he was just being too rash with his sudden decision.
Kame wasn’t one to think out of impulse. Maybe this wasn’t a good thing. He physically shook away his doubt and began to undo his belt buckle. He closed his eyes. Another depressed sigh.
Kame scratched the side of his head with one hand as he played with unlacing belt in the other, “maybe I should really think this over…”
And just as he was about to pull down his jeans, the bathroom door swung open.
Stare.
Blink.
Scream.
“W-W-What the fuck?!” Kame turned around out of pure distress as the man who had been clad in grey advanced toward him, vehemently shutting the stall door behind him and clamping a forceful hand over Kame’s mouth.
Could his day get any better?
The man carelessly slugged him back against the toilet, clumsily falling in between the now discolored Kame’s very open legs.
Kame felt his heart as well as his sanity leaving his body. At least his soul was still in check. He took a frightened peek at the beautifully dangerous face, treacherously looming over him.
On second thought, there goes his soul.
Kame managed to fight his way around the preventive hand. “Get off me!”
Kame hollered while still unsuccessfully struggling between the man’s weight. He was sitting roughly against the public toilet with the strange man’s body pressed right between him.
If he had actually been into males, wasn’t about to miss the most important flight of his life and didn’t know he that this was going to be last memory before death, he might have actually found this somewhat…arousing.
But he was into girls. He was going to miss his plane. And he was sure this man was going to kill him. He tried to shove his way past to no avail.
“What do you think you’re doing you perverted bastard?! I have a damn plane to catch! Get off of me!”
There were loud voices in the background; Kame could hear them even though the pervert was making a loud restraining clamor himself.
Jin growled angrily as the scrawny man under him began to squirm even more, his movements were far more agitated and Jin was sure it was because he had heard the same authoritative voices as he had.
He furrowed in anger as he heard the voices of the company’s security closing in on him. Stupid man, Jin spat his negative thoughts about the man under him inwardly.
“Just shut up okay?” He tried to reason with the struggling man. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he assured him in a low yet husky voice as he took his left palm and clasped it forcefully against the man’s mouth. “Trust me, just be quiet…”
He’s a pervert! He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me. Kame’s eyes widened in shock, the heavy feeling in his heart tightened. He’s going to kill me. He felt the rim of his eyes clouding with tears of an angry regret.
Jin sighed heatedly and brought up a finger to brush away the stranger’s stray tears. “I said I’m not going to hurt you,” he growled in frustration and once more in pain as the scrawny man bit down on the restraining palm.
Hard.
“What the fuck?!” Jin wailed; hot, emaciated tears rimmed at the corner of his eyes. He looked down in disbelief but refused to shuffle his weight away from the man.
“Serves you right!” Kame spat back at the pervert, looking satisfyingly at the hard, deep bite mark that was left on the pervert’s flesh. “Now let me go, asshole! I have a very important flight to catch and I’m going to make you seriously regret it if I miss-”
“Akanishi-san!”
Kame bit his tongue out of shock at the sudden voice, or rather voices. They were very close now and only dawning even closer as a loud banging on the washroom door was heard.
“Akanishi-san are you in here?!”
Jin stiffened. He looked down at the scrawny man pleadingly as if silently asking him to not say a word. The man, on the other hand, had other plans. He inhaled a sharp breath and Jin could feel his heart tighten. The man under him was going to scream and he was going to be caught.
He would have to go back to that blemish life. The fixated life he had so desperately been trying to get away from for the past few years. He wasn’t brave. No matter what anyone believed of Jin; he wasn’t brave.
He could have left his family if he had wanted a long time ago and ran. But he couldn’t. Not because he felt indebted to them; simply because he was selfish. He didn’t want to be on his own. He didn’t want to be thrown into reality alone. Not yet.
But now, now that he had already put forth so much effort into escaping, he wasn’t going to turn back. Not now, not ever.
The scrawny man smirked up at Jin, his efforts in trying to pry the older man off long forgotten. He opened his mouth with the same still grin sprawled against his lips, “he’s in-”
It was crude and unethical, as the president would say. Hard and wet and rather sloppy for someone who had kissed as many people as he had.
An amateur’s kiss at exactly 5:00pm; that was what it was.
With equal hands, he had grabbed both sides of the scrawny man’s head, vigorously pushing the man towards him and crushing his lips against the flabbergasted stranger’s.
Jin smirked in victory as the voices entered the bathroom, deafeningly calling out for him. The scrawny man couldn’t do anything, either, his lips being wholly possessed by Jin.
Somewhere between his lips Kame felt the pervert crushing his tongue into his mouth. He tried to resist and fight back, physically, but the man caught his flailing arms and held them firmly in place.
Kame felt the circulation leaving his body as blood was being clogged, but he was far too numbly irate to care. “Akanishi-san?!” He heard the voices dimming as they kicked open a few of the stalls and began making their way out.
“Mmprh…no…!” He tried to gasp for air and freedom between the pervert’s mouth, but by the time he had made even the slightest noise, the voices had disappeared.
Gone.
He felt his eyes start to water angrily. He was going to die. And in a bathroom stall, no less.
Dear god, Kame began to pray, if you don’t have this perverted man kill me now, I promise to be a better person. I’ll even do my photography reports. I promise.
Just as he closed his eyes, ready to admit defeat, he noticed the coarse feeling of the pervert’s palm. Kame snapped his eyes open and looked in sheer shock at the handcuffs dangling from one of his hands.
This man was not just a pervert, but also an enraged criminal?!
A rush of traumatized adrenaline took over Kame’s small body as he forcefully shoved his mouth away from the man’s and hit him solidly across his disgustingly perfect face.
The pervert-thief stumbled back from between Kame’s mistreated legs and hit the back of his head against the stall, slowly leaking it open. Kame’s eyes brightened at the chance of escape, but slowly the atypical antagonism he had been feeling a second ago had returned.
“Hey!” He shouted as he stood up wholly and positioned himself to tower over the fallen man. Kame narrowed his ideal eyes, “I don’t know what the hell you want from me but…” he grabbed the injured man’s hand crudely by the dangling handcuff and yanked it as hard as he could.
Jin bit his tongue to keep from screaming out in pain and giving away his location. He had come too far. He couldn’t go back now. He wouldn’t.
Jin wasn’t used to succumbing to his opponent, but this time he had chosen to swallow his massive pride and do nothing. Maybe if the scrawny man had realized that Jin meant no harm, he would reason with him.
Jin groaned as his hand was used a ragdoll and mercilessly tugged against. “Don’t…tell them I’m…here,” he coughed out in an unusually low and raspy voice.
“Akanishi-san!” The voices were back.
Kame smiled pleasantly at the wonders of timing - something he wasn’t used to being on his side. “Don’t worry,”
Jin panicked as the stranger began to advance his handcuffed hand towards the awkwardly standing pole near the toilet.
Jin’s eyes widened in understanding.
“You wouldn’t…”
Click.
Kame’s facial expression tapered and he stood with his pale arms folded accusingly against his chest. “Now be a good little boy and wait for the cops to come for you.”
Jin’s skin bristled and he tried to stand on his feet to no avail. The handcuffs were harshly doing a number on his sensitive flesh, not to mention they were mounded right at the base of the pole. He couldn’t stand up even if he had wanted to.
Jin threw the scrawny man a string of colorful insults, completely forgetting about letting his arrogance go. He didn’t want to go back to Tokyo. But he couldn’t help it.
He cursed loudly; uncaring about being found now. He heard the familiar voices again, only this time they were already making their way into the bathroom. The answer was right in front of him; it had always been. He could never escape the villainous A. Jewelry.
Another tally mark for the infamous company. He was caught.
Jin angrily glared up at the scrawny man’s retreating back, “damn you!” He screamed, unable to keep the little tears from flooding his already-blurred vision.
He remembered Ueda. He remembered the president. He remembered A. Jewelry back in Tokyo waiting for him. He didn’t want to go back. “It’s all your fault!” Jin screamed as stridently as he could.
It felt good, too, to let it all out.
Disoriented screams turned into collective sobs as Jin let all the day’s worth of uncooked emotion out. “It’s your fault!” He thought of Ueda. “It’s all your fault!” Tokyo, too.
“Now I’m going to have to go back! I hate you! I hate you!”
“That’s what you get,” Kame turned to walk away albeit feeling a little guilty. “Pervert.”
◦●○◦
Love at first sight is overrated, I think. So I’ve decided to make it hate at first sight. I mean, come on, there has to be such a thing, right? XD Nyaah, it's Kame birfdaw and I didn't write a birfdaw ficu >_<;;