7 Prices of Greed Chapter 15b
Chapter 15b: The Decision
I thought I had my mind made up, but when I saw you everything changed.
---
“Surprise!” everyone screamed in unison.
Massu smiled as he looked around at the decorations and signs that said
Happy 24th Birthday, Pig Massu!
“You didn’t have to do this!”
The party raised everyone’s spirits as they worked hard to give Massu the best party possible. However, Massu didn’t quite know yet how much effort they had put in.
Around nine, there was a knock at the door. Yamapi walked over to it and turned around with a warm smile.
“This is a present from all of us to you. It’s not exactly wrapped in a bow, but…”
Massu watched curiously as Yamapi opened the door and his heart stopped once he saw who was there.
“A-A-Aoi…chan…”
Standing in the doorway was a beautiful girl with black hair that fell past her shoulders and big, round eyes. She was dressed in a yellow floral summer dress and was holding a present with both hands in front of her.
Massu stood up and rushed over to her as if to see if she was really there.
“We met up with her and she has something to say but has been too ashamed to say it.”
Yamapi took her hand and led her inside, “casually” putting her in front of the still-stunned Massu.
“Takahisa-kun,” she began and tears lined her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
The others watched with warm smiles as she embraced him tightly and repeatedly told him how sorry she was and how much she missed him.
Koyama stood in the doorway with Tegoshi and they smiled. “Happy Birthday, Massu,” Tegoshi said sweetly.
“I shouldn’t have left you when you told me - I should have helped you. I don’t care what you are or what people will say. I want to be with you,” Aoi cried.
Shige glanced over at Ryo and their eyes met for an awkward moment before focusing back on the reunited couple.
Massu let go of the girl and held her hand. “Thank you, everyone.”
---
After Massu and she disappeared for a while to talk, they came back into the room with expressions that showed that everything would be okay.
She was introduced to everyone and was immediately told about Ryo.
“And him?” She asked politely and gestured towards Shige.
“Ah, Kato-kun. He’s become part of our family. He’s not a mutant but he’s with Ryo-chan.”
She nodded and held out her hand. “Natsumiya Aoi, nice to meet you.”
Shige took her hand and introduced himself.
“Now that we’re all acquainted, let’s get back to the party, ne?”
---
After the party was over, everyone had pitched in to help clean up - except for Massu, who was walking Aoi home. The others drifted away after doing their share and Shige was left alone with Ryo.
“Ryo,” Shige said as he took one end of a streamer off of the wall. “I think I know what I want to do.”
Ryo froze and once Shige took a step forward, he was stopped by Ryo’s power.
“D-Don’t.”
“Is this what you are going to do from now on? You can’t change my mind so you’ll prevent me from getting near you?”
“What if things don’t work out? What if we break up?”
“I can’t live my life thinking things like that. I don’t know what will happen to us in the future, but I’m in love with you. That’s not going to change.”
Ryo sat on the window seat and tried to hide his tears. “Why, Shige? Why are you willing to give up your life for me?”
“I believe that we can be happy if I do this. It wasn’t easy to make such a decision, but then I began to think about what this sacrifice could do for you as well. You’ll be able to live again, Ryo - outside of these walls. You’ll be able to drop the chains you put on yourself to protect others.”
Tears began to well up in his own eyes as well.
“I want us both to be happy together. We won’t be able to make it much longer like this, and I know you know that.”
“Damnit, Shige…don’t do this for me.”
“Tell me how to stop wanting you to be who you used to be. Tell me how to stop hurting whenever you have that look of emptiness in your eyes when you talk about your family and your friends.”
Ryo’s once hushed sobs were more obvious now.
“I gave up a life of normalcy the moment I fell in love with you, Ryo. I realized that things would have to change, but I’m okay with that.”
“You didn’t sound okay when you called me up crying after you realized what you’d lose.”
“Of course it hurts giving it up, Ryo. But not nearly as much as it does every single night when I lie in bed thinking of how things would be if I was able to be with you. To go out together, to laugh together, and hold each other when things suck and it feels like everything is falling apart. I’m not saying things will be perfect and easy - we both know they won’t be. But that life could become ours. If we’re with each other I believe that we’ll be okay.”
“I’m sorry for dragging you down with me.”
“We’ve been drowning together for too long, Ryo. I can’t let go of you, so the only thing we can do is hit the bottom together and then work on raising ourselves back up. If we continue like we are, we’ll never stop sinking because we’d always wonder what would happen if I had made the decision.”
Ryo didn’t say anything and continued to cry with his face hidden in the space between his knees and his chest.
This was it.
Slowly, Shige walked over to him and sat beside him on the seat. He was afraid, of course, and the lump in his throat wouldn’t go away as a tear escaped his eyes.
With a shaky hand, he reached over and hesitated for a few moments before pulling it away.
Shige looked over to the corner of the room where he had first met Ryo. If he was told then that he’d end up falling in love with the cursed, cold to the eye, sarcastic, dark clothed Ryo, he would have never believed it. But as he stared at the man in front of him who was curled up and sobbing, even though he never expected it to love him, he knew he was making the right decision.
He took a deep breath and placed a hand on Ryo’s shoulder. Ryo instantly turned to him and pushed Shige against the wall out of anger.
The tears still formed streams down his face and Shige moved closer to him.
This time, however, he wasn’t pushed away.
“Nothing is happening…”
“It won’t pass until midnight.” These words just reminded himself of what just happened. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
Shige reached his hand over and lifted Ryo’s chin in order to look into his eyes. “It’s done.”
These words didn’t make it any easier, however.
Shige moved in closer and wrapped an arm around his waist. He hated it that Ryo refused to look at him and hated that Ryo blamed himself.
He leaned in closer and once their lips ghosted upon one another, he finally saw that Ryo was looking at him. He pulled Ryo closer and kissed him. With it, all the feelings of desperation and need he had been feeling for the past 2 months seemed to disappear. Ryo remained still, as if he was forcing himself to deny any of it happened.
“Ryo,” Shige breathed once he pulled away. “Don’t feel like this is your fault.”
“Isn’t it?”
“This is what I wanted. I brought this upon myself because I want this,” he said as he wiped the tears away. “Don’t blame yourself. Please.”
Ryo didn’t respond.
“Where did you go? This isn’t like you - the one who is confident in himself, the one who teases me and picks me up when I’m down - the one who loves me.”
After a few moments, Ryo looked up and tried to bring himself together. “This is really what you want?”
A moment passed between them and it felt as if it lasted forever.
“Yes,” Shige pleaded and pulled him closer. Ryo hesitated for a moment but then relaxed and leaned a bit closer to press their lips together.
This time, neither held back. It was finally over - the days of wishing the other was near and the nights that passed by slowly as they thought about what could be.
They held each other as closely as possible without it being uncomfortable to continue the kiss.
It was true - things weren’t going to be easy from that night forward, but for strength they could hold onto the belief that it wasn’t the end.
From the other side of the room, they heard someone falsely cough as if to say ‘Sorry to interrupt, but what are you doing?’
They jerked apart and saw that Massu was standing there. In the midst of everything, both seemed to have forgotten that he hadn’t arrived home yet.
“Uh-Um,” Ryo stuttered, trying to find some way of explaining himself.
“I guess this is what he decided?” Massu smiled.
Shige scratched the back of his head and nodded. “Yes.”
“Congratulations.”
“Do me a favor and say that once things are completely okay again.”
The words were filled with hope yet at the same time they held the feeling Ryo still had that things would not be okay - for either of them.
Massu nodded. “I’ll leave you two alone again.”
He ran up the stairs and Ryo turned to Shige. “That’s one thing about living here - no privacy.”
“I guess we’ll have to pick a better spot next time.”
Ryo’s smile fell.
Shige nudged Ryo’s arm and frowned. “You’re supposed to be happy.”
“I am happy, Shige. I’ve been wanting to hold you and kiss you for the longest time. I’ve wanted to hear the words “next time” and be able to believe them. I know we’ll be able to be together from now on and you have no idea how that makes me feel but I’m just scared.”
“Why?”
Ryo embraced Shige as if he didn’t want to be separated for anything. “I don’t want you to begin to resent me because you had to do this.”
“I won’t. If anything, I love you even more for letting me choose this on my own. I’m glad you gave me the choice instead of making it for me.”
“You will still have the dreams tonight, and it will last into tomorrow. It’s one of the worst experiences of my life.”
“I’ll get through it, but…Ryo?”
“Hmm?”
“Can we go somewhere else? My back’s being twisted in ways it shouldn’t.”
Ryo laughed and led him to the staircase by the hand.
Not surprisingly, the other three were waiting at the top.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Koyama yawned.
“It probably just happened, babe. We’ll check on you tomorrow morning.” Yamapi could tell from the look on Ryo’s face that he didn’t want to talk about it and pulled Koyama back into their bedroom.
“I’m happy for you two,” Tegoshi smiled and went back into his room shutting his door.
Ryo sighed and Shige tightened his grip on Ryo’s hand.
“Word travels fast around here, huh?”
“You have no idea.”
---
They walked into Ryo’s bedroom and he shut the door behind them. “We need to talk about this.”
“I know,” Shige said and watched as Ryo sat on his bed with that same look of sadness on his face. He was trying to be strong but it wasn’t working.
“The power is going to come back, but this time it will be fully powered. Meaning, you’ll be in a lot of pain. Until you are able to control it, it’s going to hurt.”
“Mm, I had a feeling that would happen.”
“Aren’t you scared?”
“Of course I am,” Shige responded and then caught Ryo off guard when his lips curved into a smile. “But I’m ready. To tell you the truth, I’ve been thinking about doing this ever since you held me that day on your bed.” Shige walked over and sat in front of Ryo on the bed.
“I’m still really tense when you’re around. It’s like habit, I suppose.”
Shige crawled over Ryo’s legs and smiled when reached his face. “This is how we’re going to be from now on, isn’t it?”
“Hopefully I won’t be as tense in the future,” Ryo said before pulling him closer and proceeding to kiss him once more. It was a bit uncomfortable so Shige maneuvered himself and sat on his lap, pressing Ryo’s shoulders into the headboard.
Things seemed so easy for the moment, but deep inside neither were as calm and collected as they seemed to be.
Shige pulled away and kissed him softly again before burying his face into Ryo’s neck.
“I still can’t believe you are so calm about all of this,” Ryo breathed and it seemed a struggle to form a sentence after their relationship evolved from awkward glances and crying over each other to having Shige sitting in his lap and embracing him.
“I haven’t been able to sleep because I’ve been thinking about this. I’ve weighed the pros and cons a million times in my head and when I saw Massu and Aoi-chan today, everything just fell into place. It just feels like this was meant to happen.”
Ryo sighed happily and pulled him in closer, if that was possible. “I never thought I’d meet someone who was willing to sacrifice so much for me.”
Shige smiled against his neck. “I never thought I’d be willing to do something as crazy as this. Then again, I never expected to meet a group of mutants and fall in love with someone with a curse.”
They remained like that for a few minutes, relishing each other’s warmth and the comfort everything brought along that, at least for the moment, seemed to overshadow the worry.
“Shige,” Ryo said painfully.
“What?”
“Can you get off?”
Shige laughed and even though he was comfortable, he got off of Ryo and sat on the bed instead. “I guess it’s obvious we’re not used to doing this.”
“We’ll get the hang of it eventually.”
“Are you excited to be able to do things again?”
Ryo took Shige’s hand and squeezed it. “Is it bad if I said yes?”
“Why would that be bad? That’s what I wanted.”
“Well, that’s what will happen to me as a result of you becoming cursed, so it seems wrong.”
“I’m happy that I’ll still be able to touch people as well. And since that’s because you sacrificed your chance, I guess I’m wrong too.”
“We’ll both be wrong then. But you don’t even know how grateful I am that I’ll finally be able to get a job and stuff like that.”
Shige pushed Ryo’s shoulder playfully. “I think you’re the only one on the planet who is so happy about getting a job.”
“I don’t want to live off of my parents anymore.”
Shige’s expression changed. “Ryo, will you do something for me?”
“Anything.”
“Make things right with your father again.”
Ryo stared at him for a while contemplating the thought and then nodded. “I will.”
They spent the next hour like this, but as the hour came to an end, Ryo became increasingly worried.
11:56
Shige was lying down on Ryo’s bed and for the first time that night, his heart pounded with fear. Ryo lied next to him with his hand on Shige’s hip, moving up and down slowly to calm him down.
“Just remember that none of it is real. It may seem that way, but none of it is actually happening. The beginning is the worst but it does get easier.”
Shige nodded and sighed sharply as he looked at the clock which read 11:58.
Ryo swallowed and tried to keep strong at least until the dreams were over. “I’ll be right here the entire time. I love you.”
Shige looked into his eyes and searched them for comfort, which they gave. “I love you too.”
“We’ll get through this together.”
The clock struck 12 and Shige’s eyes shut and he inhaled sharply.
Ryo immediately pulled him closer and held him tightly as if such a thing would help ease the pain. He breathed deeply and slowly as a feeling of losing some of the effects of the curse rushed through him.
---
2AM
With each whimper he heard and every jolt he felt from Shige’s body, Ryo felt like a new dagger was being stabbed into his chest.
“It’ll be over soon,” he repeated over and over even though he knew Shige couldn’t hear him.
End of Chapter 15
A/N: Eh. I hope everyone liked how things turned out. The situation was pretty sticky so I hope I was able to get the feelings across well. I also took "Aoi" from RESCUE because I not-so-secretly believe that she would be cute with Massu.