It’s a Love/Hate Sort of Thing… Chapter 4
Title: It’s a Love/Hate Sort of Thing…
Pairing: Hikaru Yaotome / Okamoto Keito
Rating: PG ( for Hikaru meanieness…XD)
Warnings: Hikaru isn’t really all that nice…
Summary: Hikaru isn’t thrilled about his new debut. In fact, it’s the opposite. All Keito wants to do is help but it doesn’t seem like that’s enough…
Previous: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3
Chapter 4
“I could never hate you.”
The words echoed through Hikaru’s mind as he watched Keito continue to practice the dances for their concert while everyone else fell asleep one by one on the scattered couches and the occasional table. The shock from yesterday was still evident in Hikaru’s face. The last thing he’d been expecting was for Taiyo to quit Johnny’s; but even more so, for Keito to forgive him. “You’re just confused, I understand.”
In all truth that had been the first time He’d actually listened to what the boy had ever said. It was then Hikaru had realized that Keito had known a lot more than he had let on. That he would always see more than he would ever say. After He had stopped looking at Keito with unprompted anger he saw one of the most hardworking, genuine people he had ever had the fortune of meeting.
Just now, as Keito continued to stumble over the difficult dance moves everyone else seemed to grasp so much easier, Hikaru saw why Johnny had picked this boy over all the others. He now knew that Hey! Say! JUMP would never be Hey! Say! JUMP without Keito. He realized he had never hated Keito in the first place.
As Hikaru continued to watch Keito, he noticed he had caught the other boy’s intense, brown eyed gaze; the same gaze that had seen right into the center of his being the day before as he had sat in a pathetic heap in the empty hallway. Keito smiled at him through the dance mirror and Hikaru returned it with a shyness he had never experienced before. This boy was his kouhai, but why was he feeling so much like the junior at the moment?
Tearing his gaze out of the grasp of Keito’s eyes Hikaru stood up and approached the younger boy. “You work hard, ne? Has it always been this way?”
Keito stopped dancing and gave a Hikaru a confused look, “What do you mean?”
Hikaru shrugged, “I mean, since we’ve debuted; have you always practiced this hard?”
The younger member seemed to speculate for a moment then answered, “I suppose. But don’t I need to? I’m not as good a dancer or singer as the rest of JUMP, so I have to try harder to get it right.”
Hikaru smiled in admiration, “Well, then let me help you.” He took position next to Keito and began the dance steps, “See here? This is the way you move your foot so you land better…” Keito only nodded and mimicked the move perfectly. “Whoa…fast learner….”
Unbeknownst to the both of them, Yabu sat on a sofa watching the two with a pleased smile. He didn’t know what Keito had done to change Hikaru’s attitude, but was glad he had.
>>>
“So…you think Keito will be alright?” Nakajima asked Yamada with a worried glance.
Yamada shrugged, “To be quite honest. I don’t think he has a chance.”
Ryutaro gave a snort, “Of course he doesn’t even have a chance.”
“Way to lighten to mood Taro-chan!” Chinen whined from his perch on Takaki’s lap, “You could always try to cheer him on or something.”
The younger boy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, “Don’t you have eyes!? Look, he’s almost dead as it is…And don’t call me that!”
“Gee…thanks for the support guys.” Keito mumbled as he furiously smashed buttons on the controller to no avail. Inevitably, the T.V. screen went black with the words “Player 2 Wins” flashing in the most annoying shade of green he’d ever seen.
“Sorry,” Hikaru gave him a consolidating pat on the shoulder as he gave an expectant glance behind him to see who would play against him next, “So who wants to challenge the great Hikaru to another round of Virtual Fighter 3!” but had turned only to see an empty room and Keito heading towards the door.
“Sorry Hikaru!” came Inoo’s voice from down the hall, “Keito is the only one nice enough to loose to you more than 15 times!”
Hikaru gave a sad pout and ran after Keito, grabbing his arm and pulling him back into the room. “Won’t you stay and play another round?”
“But…” Keito stalled as he rubbed his head with a wince, “I…you see I’ve got this thing…later…I mean now…um…” He glanced at Hikaru, who was giving his best kicked puppy look. Keito was just too nice. “Fine, one more round.”
“Yay!” Hikaru bounced away and pulled Keito by the hand and dragged him back to the T.V.
Keito only looked down at their joined hands and fought the urge to blush at the contact. Only when Hikaru let go to grab the abandoned video game controller did he wish to linger a bit longer. Shaking the thought from his mind, Keito grabbed the other controller and prepared himself for another round of virtual beating and inevitable loss.
>>>
“Why are you still here?”
Both Hikaru and Keito looked away from the T.V. with bloodshot eyes to see the janitor opening the door. “Its 9 o’clock, shouldn’t you two be heading home?”
Keito looked up at the clock on the wall to see the janitor was right, “We should leave. It’s late.”
“I guess so…”
So the two packed their things and headed out with a sleepy silence. Hikaru laughed as Keito yawned, “Awww…is it past your bedtime?” but was caught unawares as he too began to yawn.
Keito gave a little chuckle as he rubbed his eyes, “Whatever you say. You know,” he continued, “I have never played video games for that long in my whole life.”
To both of their surprise that one round Keito had promised had turned into many more as he had quickly gotten the hang of the game and had beaten Hikaru for once. Not one to back down from a rival Hikaru challenged him again and again until day had turned to dusk.
The both of them sat down on a bench and waited for the bus to arrive. When it had, they found themselves the only passengers that night and took seats in the back. Hikaru looked out the window with a tired gaze as he watched the lamp posts wiz by. He had never been able to understand why Keito had been so accepting of him after all the things he had done. He continued to speculate until Keito had once again caught his eye in the reflection of the glass, seeing right into him yet again.
“You know,” Keito started, “You don’t have to beat yourself over it so much. That’s all done and over with now.”
“How do you always…” Hikaru was in awe of the boy’s accuracy.
“Just a haunch I guess. But anyway, stop worrying about it okay.” Keito gave him a small tired smile and closed his eyes.
“It just that…” Hikaru searched for the right words, “I think sometimes I might feel better if you got mad at me or something.” Feeling a weight on his shoulder, Hikaru looked down to see Keito’s head resting on it.
“You punish yourself more than I ever would,” mumbled the sleepy boy.
“But…” It was useless; the younger member was already asleep.
Authors Note: The line, “he would always see more than he would ever say,” was prompted by one of you that commented! Yay for reader input!!! If it was you, thanks so much for helping be an inspiration for this fic! As for this chapter, I guess you could say it’s the adjustment period, for them to get used to each other. Not entirely amazing or entertaining, but necessary. It would be sort of weird if one chapter was like “I hate you!” and the next was all like, “I love you…” Awkward writing if you ask me…XD Hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway. Now comes what you’ve all been waiting for, THE FLUFF!!!