[fic] Ueda's Diary: Chapter 17
Title: Ueda's Diary
Author: puddingfiend
Pairing: Junno/Ueda
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Don't own them.
Notes: -pokes- It's still alive! :D
Chapter 17
"Idiot!" Jin exclaimed. "See, now Maru's going after him! Ueda needs to see you, not him!"
"But, I- I need more time!" Junno said.
"More time for what? You're going to give the guy a fuckin' chance, so that we can sort out this mess already! You're going to give him a chance, then you're going to fall madly in love with them, then we'll all be happy for the two of you and call it a day. What's so hard about that?"
"He doesn't want to give him a chance," Koki said. "That's the prob-"
Jin turned to Koki, his eyes flaming. "You, shut up!" he snapped. "It's all your fault this is happening. And he never said that he didn't want to give Ueda a chance." He glared at Junno as if for forcing him to agree. "Right?"
Junno remained silent.
"For chrissake, you told me a part of you liked it!"
Kame leaned across the table. "Jin, calm down... People are starting to stare."
"No, I'm not going to calm down. I'm not calming down until Junno realizes that he's in love with Ueda and until those two live happily ever after, got it? And I could really care less if they're staring. We're idols, right? We're meant to be stared up!" Suddenly, he stood up, nearly sending his chair toppling backwards, and threw his arms up in the air. "Hey, stare all you want, people! Go on!"
"Oh god... he's lost it." Koki crossed his arms, shaking his head, as the restaurant began buzzing.
Embarrassed, Kame hung his head down and pressed his palm to his face. After a moment, he stuck an arm out and jerked Jin back down.
Jin's bottom fell onto the chair with a muffled thud. He whacked Kame's arm away as he stood up again and turned to Junno to drag him out his seat by the wrist.
"Junno, you are by far the denset person I have ever met," Jin said simply, teeth gritted.
"H-hey! What are you-"
"Taking you to Ueda." Jin tightened his grip on Junno's wrist. "I'm gonna make you say, 'Oh sure, Ueda, I'd love to give this relationship a chance, even if it kills me."
"W-w-what?!"
"Hey! You can't make him do that!" Koki exclaimed, though he made no physical attempt to stop Jin. "He's a free man! Let him do what he wants! Right, Kame?"
"Leave me out of this," Kame said.
"Trust me, Junno, this is for your own good," Jin said. "I am not, under any circumstances, going to let you throw away the perfect chance at love. He likes you, and you like him back-"
"I never said-"
"Yes, you do," Jin pressed. He began to steamroll his way through the restaurant. Junno's legs stumbled to keep up. "You're just too dumb, too slow, and too fucking dense to realize it."
With only him and Koki left at the table, Kame got up and left without a word. Koki stayed behind. He still wanted to finish his meal
The waiter showed moments later and presented Koki with their bill.
"Please pay at the register, sir."
Suddenly, Koki realized that everybody else had left.
"I hate you guys," he muttered.
---
Maru dashed through the hotel lobby and pushed himself through the rotating door. When he reached the loading area outside, he threw his head side to side. His face immediately softened when he spotted a dark haired figure huddled against the wall, head burried between its two knees.
Maru made his way over to Ueda.
“Are you okay?” he asked gently, offering a hand to pull him up.
Ueda’s head jerked up at the sound. Ignoring Maru’s hand, he gazed at him with blank eyes.
“He knows…” Ueda’s voice was emotionless. “He knows that I’m in love with him. And now he’s gonna reject me, and it’s all going to be over.”
Maru wasn’t sure what bothered him more: the fact that Ueda just had his heart broken or the fact that he was acting as if nothing was wrong.
“Hey… you don’t know that.” Maru gave a comforting smile and slid down the wall to take a seat next to Ueda on the ground. “He might feel the same way towards you.”
“He doesn’t.”
“He might.”
“He doesn’t.”
“He mi-”
“He doesn’t!” Ueda screamed. He glared at Maru for a moment, huffing, before his hardened face totally crubmled and he began to sob. “Okay? H-he h-he doesn’t…”
As if out of shame, Ueda’s head retreated back between his knees, hiding the tears now pouring down his face.
“Wuh… Oh, hey, hey… it’ll be okay,” Maru said assuringly, trying to keep a happy tone. “Remember when I told you’d still have me to fall back on? Well, you do.”
He scooted closer and began to run his hand up and down Ueda’s hunched over back in an attempt to calm in down. After several minutes, Ueda’s sobs lulled, and Maru put an arm around him, bringing Ueda in so that he was resting against his body.
Then, Maru swallowed. Ueda might not be too fond of his idea, but what harm was there in bringing it up? Plus, here was he: heartbroken, hurt, desperate for another chance. Maru needed to take advantage of that. He had his happiness to take of, too.
“Hey, if you’re not ready to give up on Junno, I have an idea.”
Ueda looked up at him. His eyes were red. “A-an idea?”
“We’ll make Junno jealous.”
“Wait... I don’t get it. What do you mean?”
“We’ll pretend to be together. You’ll act as if you’re madly in love with me, and I’ll act as if I’m madly in love with you, and then, we’ll show off our relationship in front of him… holding each other in front of him, holding hands, kissing, flirting like those newly-wed couples…” As Maru realized that he was starting to get swept into a daydream by those very thoughts, he quickly regained himself and adjusted his hold on Ueda. “You’ll even switch rooms with Koki. Ha, just wait and see how Junno’ll react to that. Ueda, I’m telling you. It’ll drive him crazy, and before you know it, Junno’ll want you.”
Maru inwardly smirked when he saw that Ueda was considering it. He stroked his back once more, as if to encourage him.
After a moment, Ueda shook his head.
“I-I can’t ask you to do that. I don’t want to put you through all that trouble,” Ueda said.
Maru smiled at him. “Hey, I wouldn’t have suggest if I didn’t want to.”
“But… aren’t you…” Ueda finished the question with a gesture of his hand.
“Aren’t I what?”
“You know… straight?”
Maru chuckled and lightly slapped Ueda on the shoulder for effect. “Yeah, but it doesn’t matter. It’ll all be pretend, right?”
Ueda nodded his head slowly, though Maru could tell that it still wasn’t a hundred percent sure of the plan, so he squeezed his shoulder and was about to say something assuring when Ueda spoke.
“Maru, are you sure you’ll be comfortable with this?”
Suddenly, it struck Maru that this was the perfect opportunity he’d been waiting for. The last time he’d kissed Ueda, Ueda had been drunk and on the verge of falling asleep. Maru knew it’d be okay since Ueda wouldn’t remember a thing, but now, he had an excuse to kiss him, and he only hoped that it would make Ueda realize who the right one for him was.
Heart racing, Maru grinned and answered Ueda in the only way he thought fit, catching him totally off guard as he brought his head in to place a soft kiss on his lips. A couple more seconds passed, allowing Maru to savor the tender, warm feeling he had been impatient to experience again, but Maru knew he had to pull away. The last thing he needed was for Ueda to grow suspicious of his feelings.
“See? I don’t mind at all,” Maru told Ueda.
He smiled and put on a face to show Ueda that he wasn’t at all disgusted by the kiss, though he was finding it hard to suppress the true effects that the kiss had had on him. Fireworks of joy were practically going on within him, and it only got better when he heard a familiar voice screech his name.
---
Like a father angry with his son, Jin dragged Junno through the restaurant. His hand was latched tightly around Junno’s wrist, and Junno didn’t even attempt to wrench his hand away or stop Jin. It would just cause even more of a ruckus. Customers were already staring at them, and the restaurant had become awkwardly silent. Junno bowed his head slightly at each of them as he and Jin passed their table, muttering apologies over and over again, though he wasn’t really sure what he was apologizing for. None of this was his fault, after all.
He hadn’t ask Jin to drag him out of the restaurant so dramatically. He hadn’t asked him to butt into his and Ueda’s business either. But what he had asked Jin for was more time to sort out his feelings, which, by the way Jin’s fingers continued to dig around his wrist, Junno could tell that Jin wasn’t going to change his mind about not giving him any.
Junno felt himself go shaky as they made their way out of the restaurant and into the hotel’s lobby. His heart was hammering away in his chest, and he was so nervous that he couldn’t even bring himself to figure out what he was going to say when he came face to face with Ueda. Even with the pressure of Jin being there, Junno wasn’t sure if he’d be able to say that he would accept Ueda’s confession. There were just too many things left for him to think about. He needed more time.
But there were two things he knew. Number one: he didn’t want to hurt Ueda. Number two: he wasn’t in love with Ueda.
Even though he had told Jin that there might have been something within him that did like Ueda, Junno wasn’t completely sure of that now. He didn’t even know why he said that.
It wasn’t until Junno felt the hot, outdoor air hit his face that he realized where they were. Jin had come to a stop, and Junno was about to ask what happened when he felt Jin’s hand tighten painfully around his wrist. He hissed and grimaced, on the verge of screaming at Jin, but Jin beat him to it.
“Maru! What the hell are you doing?” Jin screeched.
Junno turned his head and saw Ueda and Maru sitting on the ground.
Maru’s arm was around Ueda, and their faces were awfully close to one another’s, like they had just been...
---
Watching Maru and Ueda kiss nearly broke Jin’s heart, and he wasn’t even in love with either of them.
They were so close… so close.
And now this just had to happen, out of all things. None of it seemed to make sense.
Glaring at Maru, he inhaled and exhaled. His hands were planted on his hips.
“Maru… what the hell are you doing?” Jin repeated through gritted teeth.
Maru craned his head to get a better look at Jin and raised an eyebrow. “Talking to you, apparently. Why? Is something wrong?”
Maru’s innocent tone only caused Jin’s grip on Junno to tighten, causing Junno to whimper, before Jin threw down his wrist and stomped his way over to Maru, towering over him and Ueda, who were stilll huddled together on the ground.
Jin gave a hollow laugh, glacing away. “Is something wrong? Is something wrong?” he repeated, anger rising in his voice. He looked back down at Maru. “Is something wrong?! Maru, you just kissed Ueda!”
Maru blinked and appeared to be confused. “Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
He nudged Ueda and gave him an encouraging nod.
Ueda took a deep breathe. “Yeah, Jin, what’s wrong with that?”
Jin opened his mouth, making to respond, but bit his lip instead and shook his head, hands on his hips.
A moment later, he took a deep breath and spoke. “Ueda… why? Why are you being like this? You’re in love with Junno. I know you are. Junno knows you are. We all do now. Even if Koki’s an idiot for blurting it out, you should be thanking him because we both know you weren’t going to confess your feelings anytime soon. Look, I have no idea why you and Maru were just kissing right now, but since Junno already knows how you feel, why don’t we just settle this right here, right now-”
Ueda considered what Jin was saying. Yes, Koki was an idiot for telling everybody about his crush on Junno. He didn’t even know how Koki found that out. But Jin was right. There really wasn’t anything else to do but to face Junno, now that he already knew. His heart was pounding, and he swallowed, ready to face rejection.
All while this was going on in Ueda’s mind, Maru bursted out laughing, cutting Jin off.
“Jin, what are you talking about? Koki was just joking around! No need to take it seriously. And Ueda’s in love with me, not Junno, just to get things straight.”
“No, he’s in love with Junno,” Jin insisted.
“He’s in love with me, okay, Jin? You’re being insane. Ueda just confessed to me right now, and it just so happens that I feel the same way. End of story. Like I said, Koki was just kidding. Get it through your head, Jin. He was KIDDING.”
“Then why’d Ueda run out of the restaurant after Koki said it, huh?!”
Looking up at Jin with innocent eyes, Maru shurgged calmy, finding it hilarious how worked up Jin was getting.
“So what if he did, Jin? Maybe he was embarrassed at Koki’s accusation. I mean, c’mon… him and Junno?” Ueda winced, and so did Junno, who was still standing silently behind Jin. “Look, all that matters is that if Ueda hadn’t run out like that, then the two of us wouldn’t have had a chance to be alone and Ueda wouldn’t have been able to confess to me.” Maru’s voice softened as he turned to face Ueda. “And I’m glad you did, Ueda. I really am. You have no idea how happy I am right now.”
Ueda swallowed at Maru’s words. He wasn’t sure if he still wanted to go through with the ‘plan’, and looking at it realisitcally, it just seemed like a waste of effort.
“Look, Ueda.” Jin sounded tired and frustrated. “I have no idea what Maru’s trying to pull, but Junno’s already here, and I’m sure you’ll want to hear his response. Maybe you two could go up to your room to have some privacy.”
Ueda glanced over at Junno. The fact that Junno looked more uneasy than he did caused his heart to sink, and tears were on the verge of spilling again as he imagined what Junno was going to say to him. Suddenly, the ‘plan’ seemed much more worth it. It provided a means of escaping Junno’s rejection.
Forcing a smile, he turned to Maru. “Confessing to you… and finding out that you feel the same way…. I've never been happier in my entire life."
"Me neither... me neither." He glared up at Jin. "But somebody's trying to ruin it for us." His face melted into a smug expression of victory. "That's okay, though. We all know that you can be a little out of it sometimes, Jin. I forgive you."
Jin stared at them for a moment and shook his head before stalking off into the hotel. "You're making a big mistake, Ueda. You're making a big mistake." He disappeared through the rotating doors, leaving Junno standing there, confused.
"So..." Junno began awkwardly. His hands were stuffed into his pocket. His eyes were glued to the floor in front of Maru and Ueda. He wasn't sure what to think. Had everything he'd read in Ueda's diary been a joke? "So I guess you two are-"
"We're happily in love," Maru interjected, grinning.
Facing Ueda, he nodded assuringly, as if promising that everything was going to work out, before leaning in to kiss him once again.
Ueda closed his eyes as Maru's lips met his and held the kiss. It wasn't until he heard footsteps stomp off and the swift spinning of the rotating doors that he immediately tore his face away, tears pouring down his cheeks.
Author: puddingfiend
Pairing: Junno/Ueda
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Don't own them.
Notes: -pokes- It's still alive! :D
Chapter 17
"Idiot!" Jin exclaimed. "See, now Maru's going after him! Ueda needs to see you, not him!"
"But, I- I need more time!" Junno said.
"More time for what? You're going to give the guy a fuckin' chance, so that we can sort out this mess already! You're going to give him a chance, then you're going to fall madly in love with them, then we'll all be happy for the two of you and call it a day. What's so hard about that?"
"He doesn't want to give him a chance," Koki said. "That's the prob-"
Jin turned to Koki, his eyes flaming. "You, shut up!" he snapped. "It's all your fault this is happening. And he never said that he didn't want to give Ueda a chance." He glared at Junno as if for forcing him to agree. "Right?"
Junno remained silent.
"For chrissake, you told me a part of you liked it!"
Kame leaned across the table. "Jin, calm down... People are starting to stare."
"No, I'm not going to calm down. I'm not calming down until Junno realizes that he's in love with Ueda and until those two live happily ever after, got it? And I could really care less if they're staring. We're idols, right? We're meant to be stared up!" Suddenly, he stood up, nearly sending his chair toppling backwards, and threw his arms up in the air. "Hey, stare all you want, people! Go on!"
"Oh god... he's lost it." Koki crossed his arms, shaking his head, as the restaurant began buzzing.
Embarrassed, Kame hung his head down and pressed his palm to his face. After a moment, he stuck an arm out and jerked Jin back down.
Jin's bottom fell onto the chair with a muffled thud. He whacked Kame's arm away as he stood up again and turned to Junno to drag him out his seat by the wrist.
"Junno, you are by far the denset person I have ever met," Jin said simply, teeth gritted.
"H-hey! What are you-"
"Taking you to Ueda." Jin tightened his grip on Junno's wrist. "I'm gonna make you say, 'Oh sure, Ueda, I'd love to give this relationship a chance, even if it kills me."
"W-w-what?!"
"Hey! You can't make him do that!" Koki exclaimed, though he made no physical attempt to stop Jin. "He's a free man! Let him do what he wants! Right, Kame?"
"Leave me out of this," Kame said.
"Trust me, Junno, this is for your own good," Jin said. "I am not, under any circumstances, going to let you throw away the perfect chance at love. He likes you, and you like him back-"
"I never said-"
"Yes, you do," Jin pressed. He began to steamroll his way through the restaurant. Junno's legs stumbled to keep up. "You're just too dumb, too slow, and too fucking dense to realize it."
With only him and Koki left at the table, Kame got up and left without a word. Koki stayed behind. He still wanted to finish his meal
The waiter showed moments later and presented Koki with their bill.
"Please pay at the register, sir."
Suddenly, Koki realized that everybody else had left.
"I hate you guys," he muttered.
---
Maru dashed through the hotel lobby and pushed himself through the rotating door. When he reached the loading area outside, he threw his head side to side. His face immediately softened when he spotted a dark haired figure huddled against the wall, head burried between its two knees.
Maru made his way over to Ueda.
“Are you okay?” he asked gently, offering a hand to pull him up.
Ueda’s head jerked up at the sound. Ignoring Maru’s hand, he gazed at him with blank eyes.
“He knows…” Ueda’s voice was emotionless. “He knows that I’m in love with him. And now he’s gonna reject me, and it’s all going to be over.”
Maru wasn’t sure what bothered him more: the fact that Ueda just had his heart broken or the fact that he was acting as if nothing was wrong.
“Hey… you don’t know that.” Maru gave a comforting smile and slid down the wall to take a seat next to Ueda on the ground. “He might feel the same way towards you.”
“He doesn’t.”
“He might.”
“He doesn’t.”
“He mi-”
“He doesn’t!” Ueda screamed. He glared at Maru for a moment, huffing, before his hardened face totally crubmled and he began to sob. “Okay? H-he h-he doesn’t…”
As if out of shame, Ueda’s head retreated back between his knees, hiding the tears now pouring down his face.
“Wuh… Oh, hey, hey… it’ll be okay,” Maru said assuringly, trying to keep a happy tone. “Remember when I told you’d still have me to fall back on? Well, you do.”
He scooted closer and began to run his hand up and down Ueda’s hunched over back in an attempt to calm in down. After several minutes, Ueda’s sobs lulled, and Maru put an arm around him, bringing Ueda in so that he was resting against his body.
Then, Maru swallowed. Ueda might not be too fond of his idea, but what harm was there in bringing it up? Plus, here was he: heartbroken, hurt, desperate for another chance. Maru needed to take advantage of that. He had his happiness to take of, too.
“Hey, if you’re not ready to give up on Junno, I have an idea.”
Ueda looked up at him. His eyes were red. “A-an idea?”
“We’ll make Junno jealous.”
“Wait... I don’t get it. What do you mean?”
“We’ll pretend to be together. You’ll act as if you’re madly in love with me, and I’ll act as if I’m madly in love with you, and then, we’ll show off our relationship in front of him… holding each other in front of him, holding hands, kissing, flirting like those newly-wed couples…” As Maru realized that he was starting to get swept into a daydream by those very thoughts, he quickly regained himself and adjusted his hold on Ueda. “You’ll even switch rooms with Koki. Ha, just wait and see how Junno’ll react to that. Ueda, I’m telling you. It’ll drive him crazy, and before you know it, Junno’ll want you.”
Maru inwardly smirked when he saw that Ueda was considering it. He stroked his back once more, as if to encourage him.
After a moment, Ueda shook his head.
“I-I can’t ask you to do that. I don’t want to put you through all that trouble,” Ueda said.
Maru smiled at him. “Hey, I wouldn’t have suggest if I didn’t want to.”
“But… aren’t you…” Ueda finished the question with a gesture of his hand.
“Aren’t I what?”
“You know… straight?”
Maru chuckled and lightly slapped Ueda on the shoulder for effect. “Yeah, but it doesn’t matter. It’ll all be pretend, right?”
Ueda nodded his head slowly, though Maru could tell that it still wasn’t a hundred percent sure of the plan, so he squeezed his shoulder and was about to say something assuring when Ueda spoke.
“Maru, are you sure you’ll be comfortable with this?”
Suddenly, it struck Maru that this was the perfect opportunity he’d been waiting for. The last time he’d kissed Ueda, Ueda had been drunk and on the verge of falling asleep. Maru knew it’d be okay since Ueda wouldn’t remember a thing, but now, he had an excuse to kiss him, and he only hoped that it would make Ueda realize who the right one for him was.
Heart racing, Maru grinned and answered Ueda in the only way he thought fit, catching him totally off guard as he brought his head in to place a soft kiss on his lips. A couple more seconds passed, allowing Maru to savor the tender, warm feeling he had been impatient to experience again, but Maru knew he had to pull away. The last thing he needed was for Ueda to grow suspicious of his feelings.
“See? I don’t mind at all,” Maru told Ueda.
He smiled and put on a face to show Ueda that he wasn’t at all disgusted by the kiss, though he was finding it hard to suppress the true effects that the kiss had had on him. Fireworks of joy were practically going on within him, and it only got better when he heard a familiar voice screech his name.
---
Like a father angry with his son, Jin dragged Junno through the restaurant. His hand was latched tightly around Junno’s wrist, and Junno didn’t even attempt to wrench his hand away or stop Jin. It would just cause even more of a ruckus. Customers were already staring at them, and the restaurant had become awkwardly silent. Junno bowed his head slightly at each of them as he and Jin passed their table, muttering apologies over and over again, though he wasn’t really sure what he was apologizing for. None of this was his fault, after all.
He hadn’t ask Jin to drag him out of the restaurant so dramatically. He hadn’t asked him to butt into his and Ueda’s business either. But what he had asked Jin for was more time to sort out his feelings, which, by the way Jin’s fingers continued to dig around his wrist, Junno could tell that Jin wasn’t going to change his mind about not giving him any.
Junno felt himself go shaky as they made their way out of the restaurant and into the hotel’s lobby. His heart was hammering away in his chest, and he was so nervous that he couldn’t even bring himself to figure out what he was going to say when he came face to face with Ueda. Even with the pressure of Jin being there, Junno wasn’t sure if he’d be able to say that he would accept Ueda’s confession. There were just too many things left for him to think about. He needed more time.
But there were two things he knew. Number one: he didn’t want to hurt Ueda. Number two: he wasn’t in love with Ueda.
Even though he had told Jin that there might have been something within him that did like Ueda, Junno wasn’t completely sure of that now. He didn’t even know why he said that.
It wasn’t until Junno felt the hot, outdoor air hit his face that he realized where they were. Jin had come to a stop, and Junno was about to ask what happened when he felt Jin’s hand tighten painfully around his wrist. He hissed and grimaced, on the verge of screaming at Jin, but Jin beat him to it.
“Maru! What the hell are you doing?” Jin screeched.
Junno turned his head and saw Ueda and Maru sitting on the ground.
Maru’s arm was around Ueda, and their faces were awfully close to one another’s, like they had just been...
---
Watching Maru and Ueda kiss nearly broke Jin’s heart, and he wasn’t even in love with either of them.
They were so close… so close.
And now this just had to happen, out of all things. None of it seemed to make sense.
Glaring at Maru, he inhaled and exhaled. His hands were planted on his hips.
“Maru… what the hell are you doing?” Jin repeated through gritted teeth.
Maru craned his head to get a better look at Jin and raised an eyebrow. “Talking to you, apparently. Why? Is something wrong?”
Maru’s innocent tone only caused Jin’s grip on Junno to tighten, causing Junno to whimper, before Jin threw down his wrist and stomped his way over to Maru, towering over him and Ueda, who were stilll huddled together on the ground.
Jin gave a hollow laugh, glacing away. “Is something wrong? Is something wrong?” he repeated, anger rising in his voice. He looked back down at Maru. “Is something wrong?! Maru, you just kissed Ueda!”
Maru blinked and appeared to be confused. “Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
He nudged Ueda and gave him an encouraging nod.
Ueda took a deep breathe. “Yeah, Jin, what’s wrong with that?”
Jin opened his mouth, making to respond, but bit his lip instead and shook his head, hands on his hips.
A moment later, he took a deep breath and spoke. “Ueda… why? Why are you being like this? You’re in love with Junno. I know you are. Junno knows you are. We all do now. Even if Koki’s an idiot for blurting it out, you should be thanking him because we both know you weren’t going to confess your feelings anytime soon. Look, I have no idea why you and Maru were just kissing right now, but since Junno already knows how you feel, why don’t we just settle this right here, right now-”
Ueda considered what Jin was saying. Yes, Koki was an idiot for telling everybody about his crush on Junno. He didn’t even know how Koki found that out. But Jin was right. There really wasn’t anything else to do but to face Junno, now that he already knew. His heart was pounding, and he swallowed, ready to face rejection.
All while this was going on in Ueda’s mind, Maru bursted out laughing, cutting Jin off.
“Jin, what are you talking about? Koki was just joking around! No need to take it seriously. And Ueda’s in love with me, not Junno, just to get things straight.”
“No, he’s in love with Junno,” Jin insisted.
“He’s in love with me, okay, Jin? You’re being insane. Ueda just confessed to me right now, and it just so happens that I feel the same way. End of story. Like I said, Koki was just kidding. Get it through your head, Jin. He was KIDDING.”
“Then why’d Ueda run out of the restaurant after Koki said it, huh?!”
Looking up at Jin with innocent eyes, Maru shurgged calmy, finding it hilarious how worked up Jin was getting.
“So what if he did, Jin? Maybe he was embarrassed at Koki’s accusation. I mean, c’mon… him and Junno?” Ueda winced, and so did Junno, who was still standing silently behind Jin. “Look, all that matters is that if Ueda hadn’t run out like that, then the two of us wouldn’t have had a chance to be alone and Ueda wouldn’t have been able to confess to me.” Maru’s voice softened as he turned to face Ueda. “And I’m glad you did, Ueda. I really am. You have no idea how happy I am right now.”
Ueda swallowed at Maru’s words. He wasn’t sure if he still wanted to go through with the ‘plan’, and looking at it realisitcally, it just seemed like a waste of effort.
“Look, Ueda.” Jin sounded tired and frustrated. “I have no idea what Maru’s trying to pull, but Junno’s already here, and I’m sure you’ll want to hear his response. Maybe you two could go up to your room to have some privacy.”
Ueda glanced over at Junno. The fact that Junno looked more uneasy than he did caused his heart to sink, and tears were on the verge of spilling again as he imagined what Junno was going to say to him. Suddenly, the ‘plan’ seemed much more worth it. It provided a means of escaping Junno’s rejection.
Forcing a smile, he turned to Maru. “Confessing to you… and finding out that you feel the same way…. I've never been happier in my entire life."
"Me neither... me neither." He glared up at Jin. "But somebody's trying to ruin it for us." His face melted into a smug expression of victory. "That's okay, though. We all know that you can be a little out of it sometimes, Jin. I forgive you."
Jin stared at them for a moment and shook his head before stalking off into the hotel. "You're making a big mistake, Ueda. You're making a big mistake." He disappeared through the rotating doors, leaving Junno standing there, confused.
"So..." Junno began awkwardly. His hands were stuffed into his pocket. His eyes were glued to the floor in front of Maru and Ueda. He wasn't sure what to think. Had everything he'd read in Ueda's diary been a joke? "So I guess you two are-"
"We're happily in love," Maru interjected, grinning.
Facing Ueda, he nodded assuringly, as if promising that everything was going to work out, before leaning in to kiss him once again.
Ueda closed his eyes as Maru's lips met his and held the kiss. It wasn't until he heard footsteps stomp off and the swift spinning of the rotating doors that he immediately tore his face away, tears pouring down his cheeks.