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atmosphere_zeroUnrequited Love, Unspoken Promises
Chapter(s): 1/??
Author:atmosphere_zero
Beta-reader:riyusama (Thanks so much! You're a lifesaver!)
Rating(s): PG-13
Genres: AU, Comedy, Family, Romance, Coffee House/School life
Warning(s): Alcohol, Angst, Smoking, Strong language
Band(s): Alice Nine/A9, the GazettE, Sadie, SCREW, vistlip
Pairing(s)/Characters(s): AoixManabu, TomoxManabu, ByouxJin, MaoxMizuki, KaixUruha, Reita (the GazettE), Ruki (the GazettE), Tora (A9), Rui (ex. SCREW), and more
Summary: When an impromptu meeting at a coffeeshop becomes more than what they bargained for.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the bands, people, artists, and musicians mentioned in the story. The story is a work of pure fiction and is in no way meant to represent or reflect the real bands, people, artists, and musicians mentioned in any way. Any similarities are pure coincidences. I do not make anything off of the story as this is simply meant for pure enjoyment. No harm or disrespect in any way is intended. I do not own anything except the story.
Note: A big huge thanks toriyusama for helping me discover this crazy idea =D No beta-reader for this, so please excuse any silly mistakes. More thoughts at the end!
Chapter 1 || Chapter 2
Aoi growled as he chewed on his gum. Goddammit. Goddammit. He fucking hated it. Just because he was a nice guy didn’t mean he had no fucking life. Last night, he took on an extra shift to fill in for Reita who had some fucking date with a girl. Tonight, he took on another extra shift because Uruha, another employee, had some special romantic date with his rich boyfriend, Kai. Where the hell were the other goddamn employees? He couldn’t have been the only one, right? Fucking hell. Even his boss, Ruki, the owner of the shop, teased him that Aoi would forever stay single because of his horrible choices in lovers. Aoi scoffed at Ruki’s comment because the damn man himself was still fucking single. What right did Ruki have to criticize his life choices?
In the middle of work, Aoi felt his phone buzz and quickly checked it. What the fuck? Why the hell was Uruha texting him? Wasn’t he on a date with that uber rich Kai?
Omg, look @ what Kai-chan gave 2 me <3, Uruha texted to him.
Aoi then saw a huge picture of an obnoxious diamond bracelet that looked brand new and pristine. Aoi’s eyebrows twitched at the sight. What the shit? Fucking fucker nutters. Why was Uruha texting him if he was on a fucking date? If he could, he would curse out loud at his phone and send Uruha a nasty text message back to him.
Goddammit. Aoi knew the answer too well. Uruha loved to show off and irk Aoi because Aoi was a pauper who was single. Fuck him. Aoi decided to ignore Uruha’s text and continued to do his work.
Screw them all. Screw his co-workers. He just- He just had terrible luck. Okay, fine. He had extremely shitty luck. All the people he dated either turned out to be bastards who slept around with other people or wanted to con him out of his money.
“Next customer.” Aoi politely said even though he was bored to death.
Still two more hours before closing time. Could the clock tick any slower? He would rather be laying around at home, drinking beer, eating potato chips, and watching a football game. Or practicing his acoustic guitar. Hell, he would rather be cleaning his goddamn messy room than be here. And he hated cleaning his room.
Even though Aoi hated Uruha’s guts at times and wished to wring the guy’s neck in some moments, Aoi thought of him as a good friend from college. Thanks to Uruha, he had been a barista for three years. After his failed attempts in becoming a famous guitarist, he had to get a job because he was broke and in debt. He still harbored silly dreams in being a well-known musician one day, although everyone made fun of him and told him to give up on his hopeless dreams.
Goddammit. Whether it be his personal life, career choices, or love decisions, life for him never seemed to work out. Other people always got so damn lucky unlike him. What the hell did he do to the gods to deserve this wrathful punishment?
“I would like to order a cup of hot cocoa.” Aoi heard an extremely deep voice, which instantly caught his attention and broke his long train of depressing thoughts.
He blinked his eyes and slowly panned them upwards at the shorter man who had long dark chestnut-colored hair with curled ends. His chocolate brown orbs glowed in the light with an air of mystery that he hadn’t ever encountered before. This beautiful man had a slender frame and cherry, plump lips, which stood out to him like a red rose in a garden full of plain tulips and daises.
“Yo. You got an order, man.” Reita nudged Aoi’s elbow as he loudly snickered.
Aoi snapped out of his daze, ignoring Reita’s sniggering. Aoi cleared his throat and fumbled for words as he nervously spoke in front of the exotic young-looking man. “H-h-hello, how are you? How would- I mean, what would you like for today?”
Reita smirked and purposely said to Aoi, “What’s wrong, lady’s man?”
Manabu incredulously stared at the two perverted guys. He disregarded their silly exchange since he did not personally know them. He had more important matters to contemplate on.
“A hot chocolate with extra chocolate sprinkles.” Manabu made his order again.
Dammit. Fuck Reita. Aoi could feel his whole body break out into a cold sweat as his heart throbbed uncomfortably against his chest. He swore he noticed his own body trembling from the mere presence of this beautiful stranger. He even quietly sniffed, smelling the seductive, but sweet cologne emanating from the man’s body. What kind of cologne did he wear? Aoi was tempted to ask him, but he wanted to avoid Ruki berating at him in front of this attractive customer. Goddammit. Sometimes, he cursed his fate as a lowly barista.
“Do you-” Aoi was about to ask if the pretty stranger wanted anything else, but he heard someone else call out, what Aoi presumed, was the beauty’s name.
“Hey, Manabu!” an even shorter dude with blonde hair approached him.
Aoi had to take a second look at this shrimp who had one stud below his lips and one long earring on his right earlobe. He was chicly dressed in a grey short sleeve, V-neck styled tee-shirt with a sleeveless black leather vest on top. He also wore loose blue jeans with a black silver-studded belt. He even had a chain on the hem of his jeans that connected to the back of his pocket where his wallet was located.
“What took you so long, Jin?” Manabu dubiously raised both of his eyebrows.
Immediately, Aoi noticed how those glowing chocolate orbs radiated with a certain optimism missing from their polite exchange. For some reason, Aoi hated that rosiness in the beauty’s face.
“Haha, sorry. Byou kept on asking me what to buy for dinner tomorrow night. Anyways, did you already order?” Jin chuckled, knowing Manabu could become deathly upset.
Although, Jin wasn’t too worried about Manabu chewing him out since they were siblings.
“I was about order without you.” Manabu haughtily responded.
Manabu couldn’t believe Jin would make him wait to begin with. He called up Jin, his older brother, for an emergency, and he got this laid-back response. Hmph.
Aoi wanted to sock the other guy’s eye and tell him to hurry the fuck up. Dammit. If he wasn’t an employee, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so. Fuck. Being polite and following the rules sucked.
“Is that all you would like today?” Aoi interrupted their stupid conversation.
As if he would sit around and let them converse in front of him. He had better things to do than to listen to them chat.
“Oh, right. I would like a double chocolate mocha frappucino. No whipped cream.” Jin happily ordered without realizing the hint of hostility coming from Aoi’s tone.
Aoi grouchily inputted the order into the computer and unhappily asked, “What sizes would you like?”
“Large.” Manabu immediately responded.
“Medium for me.” Jin followed suit with his answer.
Jin could tell that this barista guy liked Manabu, although, Manabu was quite dense when it came to those matters unless it involved Tomo. Jin laughed to himself on the inside, but he kept a poker face on the outside.
To the whole world, Manabu was beautiful and kind. He may have not been the greatest or most persuasive talkers, but when Manabu did speak, he could inspire people to get up and take action. Not to mention Manabu had a better sense of fashion than him. Sometimes, Jin felt Manabu did not give himself enough credit for being an awesome human being. It made Jin wonder if Manabu ever realized why so many guys and girls loved him.
Aoi wished he could roll his eyes and tell that shrimp to get the fuck away from the beauty. But the two of them seemed tied at the hip even though he didn’t see them holding hands or kissing each other.
“Names?” Aoi proceeded with the order.
“Manabu.” The slender beauty responded for the both of them.
Aoi wished he could have asked him what his name meant, but he could hardly make conversation in front of another person who seemed to be close to Manabu.
Aoi quickly wrote Manabu’s name on both cups with a blue sharpie marker and placed it on the table for Reita to make the drinks.
When he told them the total, the shorter guy, Jin, took out his pristine, black leather wallet. Aoi enviously stared at it from behind the counter. Who the hell was this guy? Some rich dude?
Jin paid the total amount with his debit card, and the receipt spit out from the machine. Aoi ripped it off and handed it to them. Oddly, it was Manabu who reached out to take the receipt from Aoi.
In that moment, Aoi intently stared at the beauty’s milky, white skin and those smaller, petite hands, which had perfectly manicured nails that beamed underneath the fluorescent light. Dammit. Aoi could hear his own heart palpitate even louder, threatening to explode into pieces. However, Manabu swiped it away without gracing Aoi even a light touch of the skin. Oooh, man. Aoi could only imagine how electrifying that sinful touch would have been. Dammit. Aoi cursed in his mind and wondered if he looked gross to not even be granted that smooth-looking skin.
Jin could tell that the barista liked Manabu, but man. Could he be any more obvious about it? The barista was ogling at Manabu, his younger brother, with wide starry eyes. Oh boy. Another forlorn, hopeless guy. Well, it wasn’t his place to say anything.
“Let’s go.” Manabu thought the clerk was being weird and walked away without a second thought.
Tonight, Manabu was more worried about other matters. He could care less about who stared at him.
When they walked away, Reita came over and whispered, “Smoking hot, too.”
“What the fuck? You don’t even like guys.” Aoi glared at Reita.
“So? Doesn’t stop me from looking.” Reita shrugged his shoulders and softly whistled, “Damn. If I didn’t know any better, I would have pegged him as a hot woman.”
“Shut the fuck up, you fucking peeping tom.” Aoi grumpily muttered under his breath.
After they took their drinks, Aoi spotted Manabu and Jin sitting down at a table, located next to the window, and discussing about something. Aoi couldn’t hear them even though he was dying to be a fly on that windowsill. If he could, he would abandon his job right now, and converse with Manabu, so he could admire his beautiful features. He began to wonder if Manabu and Jin were dating. He hadn’t seen Jin act affectionately like a lover. Were they only friends? So many thoughts ran through his mind.
“Hey, what the fuck are you doing?” Ruki slapped Aoi’s back.
“Fuck!” Aoi cursed under his breath and rubbed his sore back.
“Stop daydreaming, you dimwit. Go sweep the floors and clean the tables.” Ruki rolled his eyes as he pointed to the closet door behind him.
Oh, what? He would have to clean the bathroom’s toilets next? Fuck. This day went from dreadful to terrible to shitty. Although, maybe he could eavesdrop in on the conversation. Hehe. Sweeping the floor wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all!
Aoi carried out his duties like the little good worker he was supposed to be, pretending to clean up the tables and other areas within the vicinity of Manabu and Jin. Normally, he would give a rat’s ass about people’s conversations in the coffeeshop. But today he was brimming with curiosity. Who was Manabu? What did he like to eat? What did those delicious-looking lips taste like?
“… Have you seen him yet?” Aoi heard the shorter guy, Jin, speak up.
“Not since then.” Manabu sighed as he rubbed his forehead with his slender fingers.
Hmm. What were they talking about? Who was this ‘him’? Aoi carefully listened as he looked like he was working to avoid Ruki’s spiel about how people who slacked off in life never got anywhere. Eh, whatever. He got the job done and no one complained in the end.
“Afraid? But how could you be afraid? You’ve liked him ever since college.” Jin innocuously commented.
Aoi froze in his spot as he let the words slowly seep into his brain. What? His whole world stopped in slow motion. Even freezing in time. This beauty had a crush on someone? Someone else?
Manabu solemnly stared at Jin and knew that he spoke the truth. He first met Tomo in their English language class during freshman year. At first sight, Manabu had no feelings towards him, but he then was paired up with Tomo to work on a project. Bit by bit, Manabu found himself thinking and wondering about Tomo all the time. It was then he knew he had fallen hopelessly in love with the quiet and kind, but funny man.
Unlike him, Tomo’s family was poor, and he was the only son and child of his family. Not to mention he was first in his family to attend college. Thus, Manabu knew Tomo had lots of pressure on him to succeed and become someone. If they were a relationship, Manabu feared he would be a distraction Tomo. At least in his mind.
“I’ll only hold him back.” Manabu oddly remarked with a hint of sorrow in his tone. He then rested his cheek on the palm of his hands as he rested his other hand on the table. “Besides… Our parents…”
Aoi wondered what the slender beauty meant by that. Our parents? Huh. So Jin and Manabu were brothers? Aoi grew only more perplexed. What did their parents have to do with… the guy Manabu supposedly liked?
For some reason, Jin stayed quiet after Manabu’s comment before he softly said, “Oh, right…”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know what to do.” Manabu bit on his lip and stared down at his hot chocolate drink.
Jin had no idea either. Their parents expected them to both get married to rich partners and carry on the family legacy, which was to continue running the law firm. He was already working as a junior law associate, and he didn’t mind since he liked the job. In fact, Manabu and he both liked working in law. Even though Manabu dreaded talking, he tried his best because he didn’t want to disappoint their parents. However, Manabu’s love life was a completely different story.
“Has he… confessed to you? That’s what you told me over the phone.” Jin folded his arms.
What the fuck? The guy Manabu liked already confessed to him? Aoi was now dying to see who this hot stud muffin was.
Manabu shyly nodded as a bright pink tint painted across his already rosy cheeks. “Y-yeah… I… I didn’t respond because… Well… I was so nervous… and-and… I-I-I had no idea what to say…”
Manabu pulled some hair back behind his ear. He hated being so weak and indecisive in that moment, but his heart burst with overflowing joy. He would have said yes right away, but… his parents would never allow that.
Before Jin could respond to Manabu, he received a loud ring from his smartphone.
“Shit!” Jin softly cursed and saw Byou’s name on the caller ID. “Hey, Byou. What’s up?”
Manabu couldn’t hear what was being said on the other line, but he saw Jin happily chuckling and bantering with Byou about whatever. Jin was lucky to have found Byou who was another rich guy. Byou’s family ran a law firm, which rivaled theirs, but that didn’t stop Jin and Byou from falling in love with each other. To Manabu, Jin and Byou really had the most perfect relationship. Although, Jin did reveal to Manabu later that they both got super wasted on their first date and slept with each other by accident. Either way, Manabu wished he could be as lucky in his love life.
Manabu did have a man who he loved. But his parents… his parents didn’t like Tomo. Manabu didn’t understand why. Tomo worked and studied hard. He was even president of the law review journal at their school and vice-president of the debate club. What was there not to like about him? To Manabu, he was the most ideal man.
Aoi, from the corner of his eyes, wondered who that shrimp was talking to. He then peered over at Reita who was taking orders from some customers as Ruki fixed their drinks. Phew. No one noticed him semi-slacking off.
“Sorry about that.” Jin hung up and apologized to Manabu, then he peered over his watch. “Dammit.”
“What’s wrong?” Manabu wondered what happened.
“Byou’s calling me about tomorrow. I’ve got an earlier morning briefing with my client tomorrow morning, so he’s worried I’m going to mess up.” Jin explained to Manabu.
Manabu was somewhat envious of Jin who already graduated from law school three years ago. Jin interned at another law firm before coming over to their parents’ place to work. Everyone admired Jin who stood out as the shining beacon of their family. Even though their parents treated he and Jin the same, Manabu knew he could never live up to Jin’s talents.
“Erm, hey. Are you busy this Friday evening? We’re having dinner with some colleagues, and we can talk more about this afterward.” Jin invited Manabu.
“Who’s coming? Mao and Mizuki?” Manabu correctly assumed.
Mao and Mizuki were good family friends who worked in the medical field. Mao’s family owned many private hospitals, and Mizuki worked as a pediatric cardiologist. Together, they managed to establish a new clinic for poor children who had severe heart disease. Manabu respected the close relationship Mao and Mizuki had. In a way, Manabu hoped he could forge a relationship like that with Tomo.
“Yep. You should bring Tomo to the dinner.” Jin suggested.
Manabu flinched at Jin’s harmless suggestion. B-but… How could he do that?
“Just explain to him that you want him to meet your older brother. Then we can have a serious conversation.” Jin read Manabu’s mind only because they had been living together for so long.
Even though their parents were wealthy and had money, Jin and Manabu had been forced to share the same bedroom while growing up. Their parents claimed it was for them to learn how to share with each other. At times, Jin disliked it because Manabu and he fought over everything like cats and dogs. At times, they threatened to claw each other to death. But in the end, Jin and Manabu became closer brothers. Despite Manabu’s habits, Jin appreciated and loved his little brother who was irreplaceable to him.
“O-okay.” Manabu embarrassingly nodded his head.
Fuck. How would he even begin to ask Tomo without looking like a damn fool? He already had such a hard time sounding interesting or exciting. G-geez… Jin and his rash decisions.
Aoi moved over to the other side of the store, pretending that he wasn’t listening to them… even though he was being super obvious about it. Goddammit. Aoi was majorly disappointed and depressed when he heard them converse. Jin and Manabu were brothers, but Aoi could tell that Manabu loved another man called Tomo. It was so fucking obvious from his flushed face and fidgety body language whenever he spoke about this Tomo.
Aoi spotted Jin leaving as Manabu continued to sit in his chair. For some reason, Aoi kept his eyes locked onto that quiet beauty who gazed at his hot cocoa cup. Even though it was nighttime in the coffeeshop, Aoi felt that Manabu emanated a beautiful light and warmth despite his snobby gestures. Hmm. Aoi wondered how cute Manabu would look if he got upset or pissed off.
Aoi decided to strike up a conversation with Manabu as he pretended to come over, cleaning a table right across from Manabu’s.
“Is everything all right?” Aoi purposely inquired to make conversation.
Manabu was startled by the tall man’s presence who had sleek black hair. What did this guy want? Wasn’t he that cashier guy from earlier?
“What do you want?” Manabu frowned at the stranger with a defense tone.
“Hmm? I don’t want anything. I was simply making some conversation. That’s all.” Aoi hid his obvious intentions.
Okay, so he wished to learn more about the amazingly stunning man. Was that so wrong of him? Even if Manabu did love another man.
Manabu hardly believed him. He had always been wary of strangers while growing up, and this odd man was no exception.
“Excuse me.” Manabu snootily excused himself.
Manabu grabbed his half-empty cup and chugged it into the dumpster. Aoi watched as Manabu left the coffeeshop in silence. Dammit. Manabu brushed him off so easily. Aoi didn’t consider himself to be a bad talker. Maybe he had the wrong approach?
“What the fuck are you doing?!” Ruki shouted at him as he threw a napkin at Aoi, wrapped up in a ball.
“Ah, fuck! This is abuse of your employees!” Aoi cried out, hating that Ruki disrupted his precious time staring at Manabu.
“I pay you. Get to work.” Ruki stubbornly retorted back to him.
Aoi softly sighed and cursed at himself, but he said nothing to Ruki. Instead, he studied as Manabu got into his spiffy, expensive car and drove away. Huh. Did Manabu have money or something? Oh, well, not that it would matter anymore. He doubted Manabu would return ever again. Goddammit. Why did his love life fucking suck? Why did his entire fucking life suck? For once, he wished he could be truly happy.
XOXOXOXO
Aoi sighed out loud when he got home. He had to take a train and transfer to bus before he arrived back to his dinky apartment. What stunk even more was that he had to share the apartment with his good buddy, Rui. He didn’t mind Rui since Rui was a nice guy, but he had a fucking cat called Maru. She liked to come into his room and disturb him when he wanted a few extras minutes of z’s.
“Meow.” Aoi heard Maru and saw her sitting at the doorway.
“Yo. What’s up, kitty?” Aoi closed the door behind him before taking off his sneakers and slipped into some house slippers. “Where’s your lovely master?”
“Riiiight here.” Rui popped out from his room.
“Whoa! Shit! You fucking scared me!” Aoi jumped up in shock from Rui’s surprise entrance.
He noticed Rui was wearing his Hello Kitty pajamas and those odd big black rimmed glasses without any lens.
“Scare you? I’m not that scary, am I?” Rui innocently blinked his eyes and picked up Maru before he cuddled her in his arms.
Aoi sighed, feeling famished and took out a sandwich from his work bag. He had known Rui since college, and somehow, they became friends. How long ago was that lifetime?
“That’s all you’re going to eat? Don’t you work in a coffeeshop? Why don’t you horde some of the pastries and sandwiches you can’t sell at the end of the day?” Rui curiously wondered.
“I did. It’s one of them. Reita stole the rest.” Aoi shrugged his shoulders.
Aoi had no interest today in arm wrestling Reita for who could take home all the goodies and pawn it off to their neighbors to make an extra buck. In fact, his mind had been more preoccupied by that stranger, Manabu. He barely knew the guy or who he really was, but he couldn’t get rid of Manabu from his mind. Why? Was it his outer appearance that appealed to him? No, it was something else. It had to be. But Aoi couldn’t pinpoint as to what it could be.
Rui looked over at Maru who shrugged her shoulders at Aoi’s strange behavior. Rui could see something eating away at best friend’s mind. Usually, Aoi would be jabbing about nonsense, which Rui happily tuned out and watched his cooking television shows. However, Aoi was oddly quiet, even turning on the television to watch the news station.
“Did something happen?” Rui sat down on the floor across from Aoi who was also sitting on the floor and eating his dinner.
“What are you talking about?” Aoi took out a soda from his work bag and popped it open before guzzling some of it down.
“By now, you would be cursing up a storm about some shit ass customer.” Rui pointed out the obvious.
How Rui ever tolerated his nosy, obnoxious personality remained a mystery to Aoi. Regardless, Aoi saw Rui as a good friend who never criticized him for drinking or smoking too much. Or for even pursuing his failed musician dreams. Unlike himself, Rui held a respectable secretary job at some law firm. The job paid a decent salary, but it wasn’t enough to live on his own. Hence, Rui lived with Aoi to save on some bills and housing costs.
“There were a ton of those today.” Aoi snorted and threw away his garbage away.
Rui had a feeling that was not the reason Aoi remained so unusually silent tonight.
“… Don’t tell me you got dumped by some mysterious boyfriend of yours again?” Rui figured this could have been the only reason.
Aoi froze in his steps as an invisible rock pounded right on top of his head. Goddammit. Rui had a knack for spewing out sharp words.
“Agh. What the hell, man? You know, I’m fucking single right now.” Aoi flipped the bird at Rui, slightly frustrated by his own words. “Anyways, why do you care? You’re a fucking hermit.”
“I’m not a hermit. I have Maru-chan.” Rui casually answered.
“Maru is a cat.” Aoi stared at Rui with a deadpan expression, wondering whether Rui was brain dead or had no sexual attractions to human life.
“Yeah, she’s my baby and woman.” Rui sarcastically responded, knowing the answer would piss Aoi off.
“Uh-huh. Sure. Fucking hermit.” Aoi rolled his eyes, then he seriously said, “Whatever. I’m retiring for the night.”
Quite peculiar. Had it been any other night, Aoi would put up more of a fight with him. But not tonight. Rui inquisitively wondered: If it wasn’t another bad breakup, then what could it be?
Aoi closed his bedroom behind him and loudly sighed as he locked it. Thank God he had a separate bedroom from Rui or else that nosy butthead would be after his ass, incessantly questioning him on his mostly silent behavior tonight.
He walked over to his small study desk and plopped down on the squeaky, old chair. He ruefully studied the picture frame, which contained a photo from middle school. He was standing outside at some amusement park with his mother, father, and older brother, Tora. The more Aoi thought about it, the more he wanted to laugh at himself. Why the hell did he keep this photo? His parents certainly gave no shits about his well-being.
As Aoi grew up, his parents wished for him and Tora to become successful people in their cutthroat society. Aoi dutifully carried out his tasks to study and believed he would become a regular salaryman since he had no other obvious talents in school. But that was before high school.
Once he got into high school, his entire world flipped upside down. He discovered music and the acoustic guitar, instantly falling in love with it. From that moment forward, Aoi was adamant about becoming a musician. He loved music so much that he couldn’t bare to not play it. He bathed in the sound of sweet notes because he firmly believed that music could deliver happiness and joy to people’s lives.
How wrong he turned out to be. After studying music in college, he traveled the country in search of starting his career. That was three years ago. Three goddamn years. Unfortunately, he found zero success. He supposed he wasn’t lucky enough to be blessed or whatever fucking stupid reason. Either way, his musician dreams almost killed him. No one ever found him, and he was literally broke. Had it not been for Rui and Uruha, Aoi might as well have died from hunger and poverty with his guitar.
Not to mention his parents shunned him from ever seeing the the family again. They were embarrassed that their second son could think about possessing such a silly notion of being a musician. Day in and day out, they fought, bickered, and argued. Aoi despised his parents for trying to restrict his freedom in being who he wanted to be. His parents loathed his short-sightedness, as they called it. Music would only leave him a beggar, and he would be better off continuing in school.
Maybe this was retribution for never listening to his parents. Maybe his life would amount to nothing more than ironies and sad truths. He would never become that famous musician or find the love of his life. Why was it that everyone he ever loved ended up leaving him behind?
“Manabu, huh?” Aoi spoke to himself.
Goddammit. He should stop thinking about that man. Aoi doubted he would ever see Manabu again, though. The life of a barista was a lonely one. You would see people come in day in and day out. You would chat and meet all kinds of people, learn a little bit about them, and even strike up a polite conversation. At the end of the day, though, you would never see any of those lovely people you met. At the end of the day, you went home and started the next day meeting all new faces whom you would never truly get to know.
“Goddammit.” Aoi muttered to himself. “Goddammit.”
So, why did he hope to see Manabu again? Why was he dreaming for something that could never happen? They barely knew each other. Manabu had not even batted an eye towards him at all tonight. In fact, when Aoi tried to approach him, Manabu looked at him in pure disgust. Well, Aoi couldn’t blame the beautiful guy. He was wearing an overused, black, and plain shirt with worn out pants. If anything, he was a pauper who couldn’t even support himself.
Aoi decided to take out his acoustic guitar from its leather-bound case and slipped out some music sheets from his folder. He hated to wallow in his melancholy thoughts. What good would it do for him to continue thinking about a man who could never be his anyways? What good would it do for him… to think about his wretched past? When it came down to it, Rui would eventually find a good lover and leave him alone in this godforsaken apartment. Well, until that time came, Aoi was content to have Rui as his roommate.
He played some scales on the guitar to warm up his fingers before he tackled his self-composed piece. He ended up playing a song he had written a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was unfinished, and he had been having trouble how to write the rest of the song. He tapped his foot as he mentally counted the beats in his head. Music was his only solace. If nothing else stayed with him, at the very least, music would accompany him until his dying days. Heh. How pitiful, yeah? Yeah, it was.
Besides, who would ever like him?
Author's Comments/Thoughts
I was racking my brain on how to write the September challenge prompt for the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
vkyaoi community, and riyusama gave me some tumblr webpages for prompt ideas. Then the idea hit me, and the creative juices in my brain started to flow. (Also, thanks so much to riyusama for beta-reading the story after I posted it XP Thanks, girl!)
Ironically, I intended to write this idea as a one-shot story, but then somehow, it spiraled into a multi-chapter story XD Nonetheless, I'm pretty excited to write a brand new story. I know there weren't too many romantic moments in this short chapter, but I promise that more will be coming up. Stay tuned!
Constructive criticisms and comments are greatly appreciated!
Chapter(s): 1/??
Author:
atmosphere_zeroBeta-reader:
riyusama (Thanks so much! You're a lifesaver!)Rating(s): PG-13
Genres: AU, Comedy, Family, Romance, Coffee House/School life
Warning(s): Alcohol, Angst, Smoking, Strong language
Band(s): Alice Nine/A9, the GazettE, Sadie, SCREW, vistlip
Pairing(s)/Characters(s): AoixManabu, TomoxManabu, ByouxJin, MaoxMizuki, KaixUruha, Reita (the GazettE), Ruki (the GazettE), Tora (A9), Rui (ex. SCREW), and more
Summary: When an impromptu meeting at a coffeeshop becomes more than what they bargained for.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the bands, people, artists, and musicians mentioned in the story. The story is a work of pure fiction and is in no way meant to represent or reflect the real bands, people, artists, and musicians mentioned in any way. Any similarities are pure coincidences. I do not make anything off of the story as this is simply meant for pure enjoyment. No harm or disrespect in any way is intended. I do not own anything except the story.
Note: A big huge thanks to
riyusama for helping me discover this crazy idea =D Chapter 1 || Chapter 2
Aoi growled as he chewed on his gum. Goddammit. Goddammit. He fucking hated it. Just because he was a nice guy didn’t mean he had no fucking life. Last night, he took on an extra shift to fill in for Reita who had some fucking date with a girl. Tonight, he took on another extra shift because Uruha, another employee, had some special romantic date with his rich boyfriend, Kai. Where the hell were the other goddamn employees? He couldn’t have been the only one, right? Fucking hell. Even his boss, Ruki, the owner of the shop, teased him that Aoi would forever stay single because of his horrible choices in lovers. Aoi scoffed at Ruki’s comment because the damn man himself was still fucking single. What right did Ruki have to criticize his life choices?
In the middle of work, Aoi felt his phone buzz and quickly checked it. What the fuck? Why the hell was Uruha texting him? Wasn’t he on a date with that uber rich Kai?
Omg, look @ what Kai-chan gave 2 me <3, Uruha texted to him.
Aoi then saw a huge picture of an obnoxious diamond bracelet that looked brand new and pristine. Aoi’s eyebrows twitched at the sight. What the shit? Fucking fucker nutters. Why was Uruha texting him if he was on a fucking date? If he could, he would curse out loud at his phone and send Uruha a nasty text message back to him.
Goddammit. Aoi knew the answer too well. Uruha loved to show off and irk Aoi because Aoi was a pauper who was single. Fuck him. Aoi decided to ignore Uruha’s text and continued to do his work.
Screw them all. Screw his co-workers. He just- He just had terrible luck. Okay, fine. He had extremely shitty luck. All the people he dated either turned out to be bastards who slept around with other people or wanted to con him out of his money.
“Next customer.” Aoi politely said even though he was bored to death.
Still two more hours before closing time. Could the clock tick any slower? He would rather be laying around at home, drinking beer, eating potato chips, and watching a football game. Or practicing his acoustic guitar. Hell, he would rather be cleaning his goddamn messy room than be here. And he hated cleaning his room.
Even though Aoi hated Uruha’s guts at times and wished to wring the guy’s neck in some moments, Aoi thought of him as a good friend from college. Thanks to Uruha, he had been a barista for three years. After his failed attempts in becoming a famous guitarist, he had to get a job because he was broke and in debt. He still harbored silly dreams in being a well-known musician one day, although everyone made fun of him and told him to give up on his hopeless dreams.
Goddammit. Whether it be his personal life, career choices, or love decisions, life for him never seemed to work out. Other people always got so damn lucky unlike him. What the hell did he do to the gods to deserve this wrathful punishment?
“I would like to order a cup of hot cocoa.” Aoi heard an extremely deep voice, which instantly caught his attention and broke his long train of depressing thoughts.
He blinked his eyes and slowly panned them upwards at the shorter man who had long dark chestnut-colored hair with curled ends. His chocolate brown orbs glowed in the light with an air of mystery that he hadn’t ever encountered before. This beautiful man had a slender frame and cherry, plump lips, which stood out to him like a red rose in a garden full of plain tulips and daises.
“Yo. You got an order, man.” Reita nudged Aoi’s elbow as he loudly snickered.
Aoi snapped out of his daze, ignoring Reita’s sniggering. Aoi cleared his throat and fumbled for words as he nervously spoke in front of the exotic young-looking man. “H-h-hello, how are you? How would- I mean, what would you like for today?”
Reita smirked and purposely said to Aoi, “What’s wrong, lady’s man?”
Manabu incredulously stared at the two perverted guys. He disregarded their silly exchange since he did not personally know them. He had more important matters to contemplate on.
“A hot chocolate with extra chocolate sprinkles.” Manabu made his order again.
Dammit. Fuck Reita. Aoi could feel his whole body break out into a cold sweat as his heart throbbed uncomfortably against his chest. He swore he noticed his own body trembling from the mere presence of this beautiful stranger. He even quietly sniffed, smelling the seductive, but sweet cologne emanating from the man’s body. What kind of cologne did he wear? Aoi was tempted to ask him, but he wanted to avoid Ruki berating at him in front of this attractive customer. Goddammit. Sometimes, he cursed his fate as a lowly barista.
“Do you-” Aoi was about to ask if the pretty stranger wanted anything else, but he heard someone else call out, what Aoi presumed, was the beauty’s name.
“Hey, Manabu!” an even shorter dude with blonde hair approached him.
Aoi had to take a second look at this shrimp who had one stud below his lips and one long earring on his right earlobe. He was chicly dressed in a grey short sleeve, V-neck styled tee-shirt with a sleeveless black leather vest on top. He also wore loose blue jeans with a black silver-studded belt. He even had a chain on the hem of his jeans that connected to the back of his pocket where his wallet was located.
“What took you so long, Jin?” Manabu dubiously raised both of his eyebrows.
Immediately, Aoi noticed how those glowing chocolate orbs radiated with a certain optimism missing from their polite exchange. For some reason, Aoi hated that rosiness in the beauty’s face.
“Haha, sorry. Byou kept on asking me what to buy for dinner tomorrow night. Anyways, did you already order?” Jin chuckled, knowing Manabu could become deathly upset.
Although, Jin wasn’t too worried about Manabu chewing him out since they were siblings.
“I was about order without you.” Manabu haughtily responded.
Manabu couldn’t believe Jin would make him wait to begin with. He called up Jin, his older brother, for an emergency, and he got this laid-back response. Hmph.
Aoi wanted to sock the other guy’s eye and tell him to hurry the fuck up. Dammit. If he wasn’t an employee, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so. Fuck. Being polite and following the rules sucked.
“Is that all you would like today?” Aoi interrupted their stupid conversation.
As if he would sit around and let them converse in front of him. He had better things to do than to listen to them chat.
“Oh, right. I would like a double chocolate mocha frappucino. No whipped cream.” Jin happily ordered without realizing the hint of hostility coming from Aoi’s tone.
Aoi grouchily inputted the order into the computer and unhappily asked, “What sizes would you like?”
“Large.” Manabu immediately responded.
“Medium for me.” Jin followed suit with his answer.
Jin could tell that this barista guy liked Manabu, although, Manabu was quite dense when it came to those matters unless it involved Tomo. Jin laughed to himself on the inside, but he kept a poker face on the outside.
To the whole world, Manabu was beautiful and kind. He may have not been the greatest or most persuasive talkers, but when Manabu did speak, he could inspire people to get up and take action. Not to mention Manabu had a better sense of fashion than him. Sometimes, Jin felt Manabu did not give himself enough credit for being an awesome human being. It made Jin wonder if Manabu ever realized why so many guys and girls loved him.
Aoi wished he could roll his eyes and tell that shrimp to get the fuck away from the beauty. But the two of them seemed tied at the hip even though he didn’t see them holding hands or kissing each other.
“Names?” Aoi proceeded with the order.
“Manabu.” The slender beauty responded for the both of them.
Aoi wished he could have asked him what his name meant, but he could hardly make conversation in front of another person who seemed to be close to Manabu.
Aoi quickly wrote Manabu’s name on both cups with a blue sharpie marker and placed it on the table for Reita to make the drinks.
When he told them the total, the shorter guy, Jin, took out his pristine, black leather wallet. Aoi enviously stared at it from behind the counter. Who the hell was this guy? Some rich dude?
Jin paid the total amount with his debit card, and the receipt spit out from the machine. Aoi ripped it off and handed it to them. Oddly, it was Manabu who reached out to take the receipt from Aoi.
In that moment, Aoi intently stared at the beauty’s milky, white skin and those smaller, petite hands, which had perfectly manicured nails that beamed underneath the fluorescent light. Dammit. Aoi could hear his own heart palpitate even louder, threatening to explode into pieces. However, Manabu swiped it away without gracing Aoi even a light touch of the skin. Oooh, man. Aoi could only imagine how electrifying that sinful touch would have been. Dammit. Aoi cursed in his mind and wondered if he looked gross to not even be granted that smooth-looking skin.
Jin could tell that the barista liked Manabu, but man. Could he be any more obvious about it? The barista was ogling at Manabu, his younger brother, with wide starry eyes. Oh boy. Another forlorn, hopeless guy. Well, it wasn’t his place to say anything.
“Let’s go.” Manabu thought the clerk was being weird and walked away without a second thought.
Tonight, Manabu was more worried about other matters. He could care less about who stared at him.
When they walked away, Reita came over and whispered, “Smoking hot, too.”
“What the fuck? You don’t even like guys.” Aoi glared at Reita.
“So? Doesn’t stop me from looking.” Reita shrugged his shoulders and softly whistled, “Damn. If I didn’t know any better, I would have pegged him as a hot woman.”
“Shut the fuck up, you fucking peeping tom.” Aoi grumpily muttered under his breath.
After they took their drinks, Aoi spotted Manabu and Jin sitting down at a table, located next to the window, and discussing about something. Aoi couldn’t hear them even though he was dying to be a fly on that windowsill. If he could, he would abandon his job right now, and converse with Manabu, so he could admire his beautiful features. He began to wonder if Manabu and Jin were dating. He hadn’t seen Jin act affectionately like a lover. Were they only friends? So many thoughts ran through his mind.
“Hey, what the fuck are you doing?” Ruki slapped Aoi’s back.
“Fuck!” Aoi cursed under his breath and rubbed his sore back.
“Stop daydreaming, you dimwit. Go sweep the floors and clean the tables.” Ruki rolled his eyes as he pointed to the closet door behind him.
Oh, what? He would have to clean the bathroom’s toilets next? Fuck. This day went from dreadful to terrible to shitty. Although, maybe he could eavesdrop in on the conversation. Hehe. Sweeping the floor wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all!
Aoi carried out his duties like the little good worker he was supposed to be, pretending to clean up the tables and other areas within the vicinity of Manabu and Jin. Normally, he would give a rat’s ass about people’s conversations in the coffeeshop. But today he was brimming with curiosity. Who was Manabu? What did he like to eat? What did those delicious-looking lips taste like?
“… Have you seen him yet?” Aoi heard the shorter guy, Jin, speak up.
“Not since then.” Manabu sighed as he rubbed his forehead with his slender fingers.
Hmm. What were they talking about? Who was this ‘him’? Aoi carefully listened as he looked like he was working to avoid Ruki’s spiel about how people who slacked off in life never got anywhere. Eh, whatever. He got the job done and no one complained in the end.
“Afraid? But how could you be afraid? You’ve liked him ever since college.” Jin innocuously commented.
Aoi froze in his spot as he let the words slowly seep into his brain. What? His whole world stopped in slow motion. Even freezing in time. This beauty had a crush on someone? Someone else?
Manabu solemnly stared at Jin and knew that he spoke the truth. He first met Tomo in their English language class during freshman year. At first sight, Manabu had no feelings towards him, but he then was paired up with Tomo to work on a project. Bit by bit, Manabu found himself thinking and wondering about Tomo all the time. It was then he knew he had fallen hopelessly in love with the quiet and kind, but funny man.
Unlike him, Tomo’s family was poor, and he was the only son and child of his family. Not to mention he was first in his family to attend college. Thus, Manabu knew Tomo had lots of pressure on him to succeed and become someone. If they were a relationship, Manabu feared he would be a distraction Tomo. At least in his mind.
“I’ll only hold him back.” Manabu oddly remarked with a hint of sorrow in his tone. He then rested his cheek on the palm of his hands as he rested his other hand on the table. “Besides… Our parents…”
Aoi wondered what the slender beauty meant by that. Our parents? Huh. So Jin and Manabu were brothers? Aoi grew only more perplexed. What did their parents have to do with… the guy Manabu supposedly liked?
For some reason, Jin stayed quiet after Manabu’s comment before he softly said, “Oh, right…”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know what to do.” Manabu bit on his lip and stared down at his hot chocolate drink.
Jin had no idea either. Their parents expected them to both get married to rich partners and carry on the family legacy, which was to continue running the law firm. He was already working as a junior law associate, and he didn’t mind since he liked the job. In fact, Manabu and he both liked working in law. Even though Manabu dreaded talking, he tried his best because he didn’t want to disappoint their parents. However, Manabu’s love life was a completely different story.
“Has he… confessed to you? That’s what you told me over the phone.” Jin folded his arms.
What the fuck? The guy Manabu liked already confessed to him? Aoi was now dying to see who this hot stud muffin was.
Manabu shyly nodded as a bright pink tint painted across his already rosy cheeks. “Y-yeah… I… I didn’t respond because… Well… I was so nervous… and-and… I-I-I had no idea what to say…”
Manabu pulled some hair back behind his ear. He hated being so weak and indecisive in that moment, but his heart burst with overflowing joy. He would have said yes right away, but… his parents would never allow that.
Before Jin could respond to Manabu, he received a loud ring from his smartphone.
“Shit!” Jin softly cursed and saw Byou’s name on the caller ID. “Hey, Byou. What’s up?”
Manabu couldn’t hear what was being said on the other line, but he saw Jin happily chuckling and bantering with Byou about whatever. Jin was lucky to have found Byou who was another rich guy. Byou’s family ran a law firm, which rivaled theirs, but that didn’t stop Jin and Byou from falling in love with each other. To Manabu, Jin and Byou really had the most perfect relationship. Although, Jin did reveal to Manabu later that they both got super wasted on their first date and slept with each other by accident. Either way, Manabu wished he could be as lucky in his love life.
Manabu did have a man who he loved. But his parents… his parents didn’t like Tomo. Manabu didn’t understand why. Tomo worked and studied hard. He was even president of the law review journal at their school and vice-president of the debate club. What was there not to like about him? To Manabu, he was the most ideal man.
Aoi, from the corner of his eyes, wondered who that shrimp was talking to. He then peered over at Reita who was taking orders from some customers as Ruki fixed their drinks. Phew. No one noticed him semi-slacking off.
“Sorry about that.” Jin hung up and apologized to Manabu, then he peered over his watch. “Dammit.”
“What’s wrong?” Manabu wondered what happened.
“Byou’s calling me about tomorrow. I’ve got an earlier morning briefing with my client tomorrow morning, so he’s worried I’m going to mess up.” Jin explained to Manabu.
Manabu was somewhat envious of Jin who already graduated from law school three years ago. Jin interned at another law firm before coming over to their parents’ place to work. Everyone admired Jin who stood out as the shining beacon of their family. Even though their parents treated he and Jin the same, Manabu knew he could never live up to Jin’s talents.
“Erm, hey. Are you busy this Friday evening? We’re having dinner with some colleagues, and we can talk more about this afterward.” Jin invited Manabu.
“Who’s coming? Mao and Mizuki?” Manabu correctly assumed.
Mao and Mizuki were good family friends who worked in the medical field. Mao’s family owned many private hospitals, and Mizuki worked as a pediatric cardiologist. Together, they managed to establish a new clinic for poor children who had severe heart disease. Manabu respected the close relationship Mao and Mizuki had. In a way, Manabu hoped he could forge a relationship like that with Tomo.
“Yep. You should bring Tomo to the dinner.” Jin suggested.
Manabu flinched at Jin’s harmless suggestion. B-but… How could he do that?
“Just explain to him that you want him to meet your older brother. Then we can have a serious conversation.” Jin read Manabu’s mind only because they had been living together for so long.
Even though their parents were wealthy and had money, Jin and Manabu had been forced to share the same bedroom while growing up. Their parents claimed it was for them to learn how to share with each other. At times, Jin disliked it because Manabu and he fought over everything like cats and dogs. At times, they threatened to claw each other to death. But in the end, Jin and Manabu became closer brothers. Despite Manabu’s habits, Jin appreciated and loved his little brother who was irreplaceable to him.
“O-okay.” Manabu embarrassingly nodded his head.
Fuck. How would he even begin to ask Tomo without looking like a damn fool? He already had such a hard time sounding interesting or exciting. G-geez… Jin and his rash decisions.
Aoi moved over to the other side of the store, pretending that he wasn’t listening to them… even though he was being super obvious about it. Goddammit. Aoi was majorly disappointed and depressed when he heard them converse. Jin and Manabu were brothers, but Aoi could tell that Manabu loved another man called Tomo. It was so fucking obvious from his flushed face and fidgety body language whenever he spoke about this Tomo.
Aoi spotted Jin leaving as Manabu continued to sit in his chair. For some reason, Aoi kept his eyes locked onto that quiet beauty who gazed at his hot cocoa cup. Even though it was nighttime in the coffeeshop, Aoi felt that Manabu emanated a beautiful light and warmth despite his snobby gestures. Hmm. Aoi wondered how cute Manabu would look if he got upset or pissed off.
Aoi decided to strike up a conversation with Manabu as he pretended to come over, cleaning a table right across from Manabu’s.
“Is everything all right?” Aoi purposely inquired to make conversation.
Manabu was startled by the tall man’s presence who had sleek black hair. What did this guy want? Wasn’t he that cashier guy from earlier?
“What do you want?” Manabu frowned at the stranger with a defense tone.
“Hmm? I don’t want anything. I was simply making some conversation. That’s all.” Aoi hid his obvious intentions.
Okay, so he wished to learn more about the amazingly stunning man. Was that so wrong of him? Even if Manabu did love another man.
Manabu hardly believed him. He had always been wary of strangers while growing up, and this odd man was no exception.
“Excuse me.” Manabu snootily excused himself.
Manabu grabbed his half-empty cup and chugged it into the dumpster. Aoi watched as Manabu left the coffeeshop in silence. Dammit. Manabu brushed him off so easily. Aoi didn’t consider himself to be a bad talker. Maybe he had the wrong approach?
“What the fuck are you doing?!” Ruki shouted at him as he threw a napkin at Aoi, wrapped up in a ball.
“Ah, fuck! This is abuse of your employees!” Aoi cried out, hating that Ruki disrupted his precious time staring at Manabu.
“I pay you. Get to work.” Ruki stubbornly retorted back to him.
Aoi softly sighed and cursed at himself, but he said nothing to Ruki. Instead, he studied as Manabu got into his spiffy, expensive car and drove away. Huh. Did Manabu have money or something? Oh, well, not that it would matter anymore. He doubted Manabu would return ever again. Goddammit. Why did his love life fucking suck? Why did his entire fucking life suck? For once, he wished he could be truly happy.
Aoi sighed out loud when he got home. He had to take a train and transfer to bus before he arrived back to his dinky apartment. What stunk even more was that he had to share the apartment with his good buddy, Rui. He didn’t mind Rui since Rui was a nice guy, but he had a fucking cat called Maru. She liked to come into his room and disturb him when he wanted a few extras minutes of z’s.
“Meow.” Aoi heard Maru and saw her sitting at the doorway.
“Yo. What’s up, kitty?” Aoi closed the door behind him before taking off his sneakers and slipped into some house slippers. “Where’s your lovely master?”
“Riiiight here.” Rui popped out from his room.
“Whoa! Shit! You fucking scared me!” Aoi jumped up in shock from Rui’s surprise entrance.
He noticed Rui was wearing his Hello Kitty pajamas and those odd big black rimmed glasses without any lens.
“Scare you? I’m not that scary, am I?” Rui innocently blinked his eyes and picked up Maru before he cuddled her in his arms.
Aoi sighed, feeling famished and took out a sandwich from his work bag. He had known Rui since college, and somehow, they became friends. How long ago was that lifetime?
“That’s all you’re going to eat? Don’t you work in a coffeeshop? Why don’t you horde some of the pastries and sandwiches you can’t sell at the end of the day?” Rui curiously wondered.
“I did. It’s one of them. Reita stole the rest.” Aoi shrugged his shoulders.
Aoi had no interest today in arm wrestling Reita for who could take home all the goodies and pawn it off to their neighbors to make an extra buck. In fact, his mind had been more preoccupied by that stranger, Manabu. He barely knew the guy or who he really was, but he couldn’t get rid of Manabu from his mind. Why? Was it his outer appearance that appealed to him? No, it was something else. It had to be. But Aoi couldn’t pinpoint as to what it could be.
Rui looked over at Maru who shrugged her shoulders at Aoi’s strange behavior. Rui could see something eating away at best friend’s mind. Usually, Aoi would be jabbing about nonsense, which Rui happily tuned out and watched his cooking television shows. However, Aoi was oddly quiet, even turning on the television to watch the news station.
“Did something happen?” Rui sat down on the floor across from Aoi who was also sitting on the floor and eating his dinner.
“What are you talking about?” Aoi took out a soda from his work bag and popped it open before guzzling some of it down.
“By now, you would be cursing up a storm about some shit ass customer.” Rui pointed out the obvious.
How Rui ever tolerated his nosy, obnoxious personality remained a mystery to Aoi. Regardless, Aoi saw Rui as a good friend who never criticized him for drinking or smoking too much. Or for even pursuing his failed musician dreams. Unlike himself, Rui held a respectable secretary job at some law firm. The job paid a decent salary, but it wasn’t enough to live on his own. Hence, Rui lived with Aoi to save on some bills and housing costs.
“There were a ton of those today.” Aoi snorted and threw away his garbage away.
Rui had a feeling that was not the reason Aoi remained so unusually silent tonight.
“… Don’t tell me you got dumped by some mysterious boyfriend of yours again?” Rui figured this could have been the only reason.
Aoi froze in his steps as an invisible rock pounded right on top of his head. Goddammit. Rui had a knack for spewing out sharp words.
“Agh. What the hell, man? You know, I’m fucking single right now.” Aoi flipped the bird at Rui, slightly frustrated by his own words. “Anyways, why do you care? You’re a fucking hermit.”
“I’m not a hermit. I have Maru-chan.” Rui casually answered.
“Maru is a cat.” Aoi stared at Rui with a deadpan expression, wondering whether Rui was brain dead or had no sexual attractions to human life.
“Yeah, she’s my baby and woman.” Rui sarcastically responded, knowing the answer would piss Aoi off.
“Uh-huh. Sure. Fucking hermit.” Aoi rolled his eyes, then he seriously said, “Whatever. I’m retiring for the night.”
Quite peculiar. Had it been any other night, Aoi would put up more of a fight with him. But not tonight. Rui inquisitively wondered: If it wasn’t another bad breakup, then what could it be?
Aoi closed his bedroom behind him and loudly sighed as he locked it. Thank God he had a separate bedroom from Rui or else that nosy butthead would be after his ass, incessantly questioning him on his mostly silent behavior tonight.
He walked over to his small study desk and plopped down on the squeaky, old chair. He ruefully studied the picture frame, which contained a photo from middle school. He was standing outside at some amusement park with his mother, father, and older brother, Tora. The more Aoi thought about it, the more he wanted to laugh at himself. Why the hell did he keep this photo? His parents certainly gave no shits about his well-being.
As Aoi grew up, his parents wished for him and Tora to become successful people in their cutthroat society. Aoi dutifully carried out his tasks to study and believed he would become a regular salaryman since he had no other obvious talents in school. But that was before high school.
Once he got into high school, his entire world flipped upside down. He discovered music and the acoustic guitar, instantly falling in love with it. From that moment forward, Aoi was adamant about becoming a musician. He loved music so much that he couldn’t bare to not play it. He bathed in the sound of sweet notes because he firmly believed that music could deliver happiness and joy to people’s lives.
How wrong he turned out to be. After studying music in college, he traveled the country in search of starting his career. That was three years ago. Three goddamn years. Unfortunately, he found zero success. He supposed he wasn’t lucky enough to be blessed or whatever fucking stupid reason. Either way, his musician dreams almost killed him. No one ever found him, and he was literally broke. Had it not been for Rui and Uruha, Aoi might as well have died from hunger and poverty with his guitar.
Not to mention his parents shunned him from ever seeing the the family again. They were embarrassed that their second son could think about possessing such a silly notion of being a musician. Day in and day out, they fought, bickered, and argued. Aoi despised his parents for trying to restrict his freedom in being who he wanted to be. His parents loathed his short-sightedness, as they called it. Music would only leave him a beggar, and he would be better off continuing in school.
Maybe this was retribution for never listening to his parents. Maybe his life would amount to nothing more than ironies and sad truths. He would never become that famous musician or find the love of his life. Why was it that everyone he ever loved ended up leaving him behind?
“Manabu, huh?” Aoi spoke to himself.
Goddammit. He should stop thinking about that man. Aoi doubted he would ever see Manabu again, though. The life of a barista was a lonely one. You would see people come in day in and day out. You would chat and meet all kinds of people, learn a little bit about them, and even strike up a polite conversation. At the end of the day, though, you would never see any of those lovely people you met. At the end of the day, you went home and started the next day meeting all new faces whom you would never truly get to know.
“Goddammit.” Aoi muttered to himself. “Goddammit.”
So, why did he hope to see Manabu again? Why was he dreaming for something that could never happen? They barely knew each other. Manabu had not even batted an eye towards him at all tonight. In fact, when Aoi tried to approach him, Manabu looked at him in pure disgust. Well, Aoi couldn’t blame the beautiful guy. He was wearing an overused, black, and plain shirt with worn out pants. If anything, he was a pauper who couldn’t even support himself.
Aoi decided to take out his acoustic guitar from its leather-bound case and slipped out some music sheets from his folder. He hated to wallow in his melancholy thoughts. What good would it do for him to continue thinking about a man who could never be his anyways? What good would it do for him… to think about his wretched past? When it came down to it, Rui would eventually find a good lover and leave him alone in this godforsaken apartment. Well, until that time came, Aoi was content to have Rui as his roommate.
He played some scales on the guitar to warm up his fingers before he tackled his self-composed piece. He ended up playing a song he had written a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was unfinished, and he had been having trouble how to write the rest of the song. He tapped his foot as he mentally counted the beats in his head. Music was his only solace. If nothing else stayed with him, at the very least, music would accompany him until his dying days. Heh. How pitiful, yeah? Yeah, it was.
Besides, who would ever like him?
Author's Comments/Thoughts
I was racking my brain on how to write the September challenge prompt for the
vkyaoi community, and riyusama gave me some tumblr webpages for prompt ideas. Then the idea hit me, and the creative juices in my brain started to flow. (Also, thanks so much to riyusama for beta-reading the story after I posted it XP Thanks, girl!)Ironically, I intended to write this idea as a one-shot story, but then somehow, it spiraled into a multi-chapter story XD Nonetheless, I'm pretty excited to write a brand new story. I know there weren't too many romantic moments in this short chapter, but I promise that more will be coming up. Stay tuned!
Constructive criticisms and comments are greatly appreciated!
no subject
Date: 2018-09-15 01:30 pm (UTC)Thanks for writing for this month's challenge!!
no subject
Date: 2018-09-15 04:23 pm (UTC)No problem :) It was a lot of fun to write this month's challenge. Can't wait for the next one ^^