Bouquet
Title: Bouquet
Author: Hikari (a.k.a. yutorinislove)
Rating: PG-13, because I swear I can’t leave my cuss words alone
Pairing: Nakajima Yuto x OC, ninja!Chinen Yuri x Kojima Fujiko
Summary: Because he promised her a rose three years ago, and he only decided to give her that rose
when it was late.
Author’s Note: This is a bit too OOC and AU. Oh, and I fashioned my OC after AKB48’s Mutou Tomu. I have a thing for this pairing, though it seems impossible in real life. Oh, and this isn’t beta-ed! Forgive me for the grammar mistakes!!
---///---
Holding a bouquet of roses, he searched for her on the school grounds. It was hard enough manoeuvring himself around such crowds that always flock the campus during February Fairs, and it was even harder locating someone that he wasn’t sure was situated. He has gone around in almost complete rounds around the quadrangle, but she was nowhere to be found.
Was she mad at him or something? He said that he’d make time for her this Valentine’s Day, right? Or maybe she got fed up with waiting and she was totally mad at him?
The thought made him shudder. True, she wasn’t his girlfriend, but they had spent every Valentine’s Day together and people just assumed they were together. And he believed that she has assumed that, too, as he has assumed that she will be his girlfriend when he mustered up the courage to ask. But what if she didn’t? What if she got fed up with waiting and… became Arai-kun’s girlfriend? Arai gave her roses and chocolates every Valentine’s… what if she has fallen in love with Arai instead?
He shuddered again as he searched around for any sign of her. Any sign at all. He would be so relieved if he found her. It wouldn’t even matter if she chose Arai over him, just let him find her and give her the roses. The roses that he should have given to her ever since that first Valentine’s Day that he found out that he was totally ass-backwards crushing on his best friend. The roses that he promised her two years ago.
He shook himself. Of course it would matter if she chose Arai. Because he knew that Arai would never take care of her the way that she has to be taken care of. Arai was a big jerk, and he was famous for making girls cry.
What would he do if Arai made her cry?
Ooh, he’d crush the jerk with his hands!
“Yutti!”
He whirled around and saw his friend Chinen Yuuri with his girlfriend, Kojima Fujiko, eating from the same stick of cotton candy. Yuuri looked so happy and flushed, and so did Fujiko, and he felt as though his heart was constricting, imagining himself and his best friend in the same situation.
The situation was hanging precariously in the balance, if he couldn’t locate her in the next couple of minutes.
“Ah, Yuuri, Fuji-chan,” he said. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much!” Yuuri said cheerfully as he almost bounced on the balls of his feet.
“Ah, that’s great,” he said distractedly.
“Ne, Yutti,” Yuuri said as he eyed the bouquet of roses in his hands. “Are you… perchance, looking for her?”
The meaningful quiver of Yuuri’s eyebrows indicated only one girl in the planet, and he blushed for being so damned transparent to his friends.
“She’s at the stage, I think,” Fujiko said, kindly. If Yuuri didn’t understand the inner turmoil he was feeling, then Fujiko did, and he was thankful for that. Yuuri was a relentless tease most of the time, and time was slipping right out of his hands. “She appeared to be waiting for somebody,” she added helpfully.
“Thanks,” he breathed out, and he would have kissed Fujiko in thanks, if only she wasn’t taken. He rushed off with a single backwards salute that was so him, saying, “See you guys later, okay?”
*-*-*-*
He’d make time for you, your ass.
She was part of the stage crew for the students’ concert that night, and after hauling stuff up and down the stage, she has decided to take a break. Sitting on the edge of the stage, viewing over the crowds that have flocked to their campus for the February Fair, she cursed herself for being so stupid.
Who was she to hope for something more between her and him, anyway? She was just the silent, tomboyish little girl without the fashion sense or the beauty that he should be looking for in a girlfriend. Yes, they have fun when they were together, but did he ever feel the same way?
Maybe she has imagined what he promised her. They were sixteen, back at Ryosuke’s party where they were crunk-drunk on all the alcohol there, when she said that all she wanted was a rose from him for Valentine’s Day. And he damned promised that he will get her one.
Three years has passed since that day, and still, there wasn’t a rose. Chocolates, maybe, but not a rose. All the roses she has ever received were from Arai, and she always dropped those off at her old maid aunt’s so her aunt would feel a bit loved every Valentine’s Day.
She asked herself, is waiting for him worth it? Wouldn’t she be better off as Arai’s girlfriend or anything? Other than waiting for him when it was nearly the end of Valentine’s Day, for him to spend a little time with her like they have always done?
“Ne~” her groupmate, Suzuka, approached her. “You look a bit pale. Are you okay?”
She nodded. She must look like crap. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Do you want to take a break? You haven’t eaten dinner yet,” Suzuka commented. Then she smiled. “I’ll make excuses for you if Yabu-kun asks for you. Go on, get something to eat.”
“Thanks,” she said tiredly as she hoped down from where she was seated. She was honest-to-goodness tired. Physically, mentally and emotionally. She was tired of waiting, of thinking of something more. She was just goddamned tired and nobody really knew.
*-*-*-*
He arrived at the stage, his breaths coming out in strangled puffs. He ran all the way to the stage, and upon arriving, he raked the stage for any sign of her. Was she there? Was he too late again?
She wasn’t there.
He felt his shoulders slump. Where was she? He thought in annoyance. Couldn’t she stay put in one place for five minutes?
But that was so her. Always impatient, always moving from one place to the other, never being able to keep still at one place for a long time.
That was what he loved about her. And he never wanted that to change about her.
He stopped in front of the sage, catching his breath. He would wait. Maybe she was just around there, somewhere, also waiting for him.
“Yuto-kun!”
He whirled around, a ready smile on his lips, until it faded a bit, because it wasn’t her but Suzuka who stood there, beaming brightly.
“Oh my, are those for me? Thank you so much!” she squealed as she hugged him tight.
He wanted to shove her away, to tell her that the roses weren’t for him, but he can’t say it in such a merciless way. It was just him - he was always so nice to everybody, and Suzuka wasn’t anyone else. Besides, he and Suzuka has been classmates since elementary school, and maybe Suzuka needed these roses, too?
He’ll just get her some roses after this. Especially since she won’t show herself to him.
He looked up from Suzuka’s head, and that was when he saw her, the girl he was trying to find since the beginning of that evening.
Only one thing was in his mind: crap.
*-*-*-*-*-
“Would you like some waffles?” Arai asked as she approached her, holding a waffle in his hand.
She could barely shake her head; she was far too shocked at the sight in front of her: Suzuka and him embracing. And him giving Suzuka flowers. Dozens of roses, if she could estimate.
Of course, it was Suzuka all along. It was Suzuka who he would give roses to. It was Suzuka and her bright smiles and prim and proper attitude…
She could feel her chest tightening and her tears welling up, but she held her place. She turned from the scenario and faced Arai. “Sorry, can you take me home?”
Arai’s face became brighter than she ever saw it become. “Sure!”
Yabu would kill her for taking off just as the preparations got underway, but she just had to get out of there.
*-*-*-*-*
She sent Arai off with a smile and a statement that they will be nothing more than friends. Arai looked a bit disappointed at first, but then he shrugged it off, wished her a good night, and drove off.
It was eleven-forty-five, and she was at home, on a night that every other girl would die to spend with the one they loved. On a night that girls - like Suzuka - received roses from fine young men, she has her heart broken. She felt pathetic. She felt pathetic for believing a drunken promise and for falling in love with a guy who didn’t return her feelings.
But she couldn’t hate him.
All she was trying to think of was how she will act around him now.
*-*-*-*-*-
He ran towards her house. He didn’t have a car yet, and he couldn’t bring himself to borrow Takaki’s one. He knew that Takaki was enjoying his date with Haruna, and he didn’t want to be more of a bother than he already is.
As he ran, he had in his hand a single rose. It was a solitary rose, one left over from the flower shops that he managed to find still open that night. He wanted to give her another bouquet, like the one that Suzuka took from him, but every shop has either ran out of blooms or was closed, so he settled for this one bloom.
As he ran, he was going crazy, imagining her accepting Arai’s feelings and them being boyfriend-and-girlfriend. He can’t bring himself to believe it. He can’t bring himself to accept that he has pushed the limits of idiocy and has become too late, too late to tell her he loved her.
“Please, don’t let me be too late…” he chanted under his breath. “Please…. Please… please…”
Images of her and Arai kissing on her front porch invaded his mind, and he could feel his eyes well up. Missed chances. Missed everything. She was already there, she was there for three fucking years, but what did he do? He let it all pass by.
“Idiot,” he gritted his teeth as he swatted at the tears that has begun to fall down his face.
He arrived at her front porch, his lungs screaming for him to catch his breath, his legs trembling from all the effort they have exerted. His hand clutched at the rose tightly, and his other hand, trembling and shaking all over, reached over to ring the doorbell.
*-*-*-*-*
She has just gone out from the kitchen to fetch herself some water when the doorbell sounded.
“Ah~ how annoying!” her older sister called from the kitchen, where she has decided to spend her terrible drink-induced headache. “Ne, see who’s out there, what kind of person would drop by at midnight!”
She rolled her eyes but padded over to the door, her bare feet slapping at the beige carpet softly. All she wanted was to go up to her bedroom and let this numb, betrayed, heartbroken feeling pass her by, but being the obedient girl that she is, she opened the door for the visitor.
Her eyes widened when she saw him standing there, drenched in sweat, his body almost doubled over as he tried to catch his breath. When the door opened fully, he looked up to meet her eyes.
“Yuto…” she said in surprise.
*-*-*-*-*
She took in his whole appearance. “Yuto what the hell? Don’t tell me you ran all the way here!”
He tried to stand straighter, ignoring the way his legs were begging him to let them rest for a bit. “Tomu…”
Her eyes widened even more when he extended his hand towards her. And in this hand, he held a single rose. It was almost black in its darkness. It was a bit wilted, and some of the petals were falling off, but personally, she never saw anything so beautiful in her entire life.
This was the first rose she ever received from Yuto.
She was speechless, and she met his eyes, and she saw the tear tracks that raked his face, and the red-brimmed eyes which were always bright and cheerful and affectionate. She felt her heart ache at his sadness that she couldn’t speak, save for his name.
“Yuto?” she asked as he wheezed, trying to catch his breath.
“I tried to buy you another bouquet,” he said in a rush. “That bouquet Suzuka-chan took? That was for you. I wanted to give it to you earlier tonight, but I have the shittiest timing in all of the University, and for that I’m sorry. I tried to find another flower shop where I could buy another bouquet but every shop was closed already, and this last shop that was open had only this on sale. I promised you three years ago that I will give you one on Valentine’s Day, didn’t I?”
He remembered.
“I love you.”
She looked up in surprise at what he said. Was he kidding her?
“I wanted to let you know since that day at Yama-chan’s party.” He said as he looked at his feet. “I told myself that I will tell you on Valentine’s Day, when I will give you the roses I promised you. But I was scared the past few years, and I never had the courage to tell you everything… but now…” he sniffed and met her eyes. “I’m too late, aren’t I?” he tried to laugh, but his voice broke. “I’m sorry if I took so long for the rose. I’m sorry for bothering you tonight.”
She was stunned at everything to the point that her brain was barely functioning, but when he stepped closer to kiss her on the cheek - their familiar, good-bye gesture - she stepped back and avoided his lips. She saw the hurt in his eyes when she did so.
“I’m sorry,” he said again as he tried to laugh it off. He scratched at his head and stepped back to survey her. “Goo-“
“Yuto, you’re such an idiot,” she said, her eyes welling with tears with every word. He looked at her worriedly.
“I’m sorry, Tomu, please don’t cry!” he said in a panic.
“I’ll cry if I want to!” she snapped as her tears fell. “Don’t you realize I’ve waited three fucking years to hear those words from you? And stop
saying sorry!” she demanded, stomping her bare feet on the porch. “What the hell are you sorry for? You’re here, aren’t you? That’s what matters, doesn’t it?”
She was crying openly now, and Yuto felt himself smiling in relief as he stepped closer and took the crying girl in his arms.
“You’re so stupid,” she said against his chest. “All these years, I loved you too, and you never notice…”
What he did next was too fast, but it was seemed appropriate in that moment. He pushed her gently away and tipped her chin up for her lips
to meet his own. Tomu’s lips. Those pair of lips he’s always dreamed of kissing for the past three years. And when she kissed back, he felt like his heart was going to burst with happiness.
There was a certain happiness in knowing that your best friend loved you too with the same longing and intensity. It was like a rainbow has
exploded around them, bathing them in colors and warmth, in the middle of a cold February night. This moment was almost enough to compensate for the years of wishing, waiting and longing.
When they pulled back, Yuto reached up his fingers to brush her tears away. “You should really stop crying. You look like a kid.”
“Shut up! At least I wasn’t the one who looked like crap!”
And they were back as best friends, teasing each other. The only thing that changed was the way Yuto confidently reached down to brush her lips again with hers, and the way Tomu gaily pressed back.
“Guys, get a room already,” Tomu’s older sister, Yuko, said as she looked at the two from the door. The two jumped back from each other in pure embarrassment. “There’s lots of rooms in this house, okay?”
“Nee-chan!” Tomu scolded in embarrassment, her cheeks pink, and, she noted, so were Yuto’s.
“Whatever,” Yuko said as she opened the door wider, inviting the two teenagers in. “Just get you asses in here, okay? It’s frigging cold out
there and you’re not wearing any footwear, Tomu. Maybe the two of you can accompany me with some hot chocolate?”
“Sure,” Tomu told her sister with a ‘get-the-hell-out-of-here-already’ glare. Didn’t she realize this was a moment for the two of them??
“Oh, and Yuto-kun? You can call your mom and tell her you’re spending the night here. It’s quite dangerous to be walking the streets on midnight, you know?” Yuko said as she walked back inside the house, towards the kitchen.
Yuto chuckled at Yuko and said after her, “Sure thing, Yuko-san!”
When Yuko disappeared into the kitchen, Yuto looked down at Tomu with a shy smile on his face. “So… after this… can I be your boyfriend?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Tomu giggled, feeling like a little girl as she tucked the rose into her hair. “Of course, Yuto,” she smiled gently.
Yuto reached down to hold her hand, and let her lead him into the house. Closing the door behind him, he checked he wall clock in the foyer.
It was eleven-fifty-nine. He made it to Valentine’s Day.
Finally.
-----//////-----
Uwaaah! I typed this fic in twenty four hours. Can you believe that??? *grins* and I kind of like my Mutou Tomu-inspired OC for Yuto. This fic was inspired by keiri25's poll in our text clan. :3 Keiri-neechan! This is your brainchild! *snuggles*
Comments are well-appreciated! Thanks for reading! :3