Well then, I don't normally do song-fics but when I listened to this it just came to me how Ikuto it sounded and this little plot bunny just wouldn't go away. The song is The Man Who Can't be Moved by The Script. Enjoy!
Going back to the corner where I first saw you
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag I'm not gonna move
Fairy lights twinkled on the string of red, green, blue and pink. Glimmering lights marked the pathways from the top of the light posts pointing to a cheerier future. The distant melody of a childish carousel sounded in the distance as the blazing red cart rose up and down a fiery track. Worn and battered, the old violin case pushed itself against his back as he squeezed through the tight opening to enter the lively amusement park. Flashing signs and too bright lights burst in his eyes and the smell of melted cotton candy teased his nostrils and still he didn't smile. Gripping the leather strap even tighter in his hand, he barely twitched as he felt his nails biting the fair skin of his palm. Empty sapphire eyes narrowed in determination as he steeled his heart for the upcoming pain. Cramped and tiny teacups spun around in rotating circles. Spinning, spinning, spinning. Spinning his head and spinning his heart crazy as it took his breath away. He didn't want to look, but the tiniest one caught his eye. A long scratch running along the interior from when he accidently ran his bow across the wall. She laughed then. A ghost of her laughter rang through his ears and he winced. The bright pink of the cup contrasted with the blue and green designs running all around it. Amu. Amu. Amu. Amu. The colours, the sounds, the smells…everything. Everything reminded him of her. And it hurt. It hurt so badly. But he wasn't moving. He wasn't going to leave this place. His place. Their place. He wasn't leaving.
Got some words on cardboard, got your picture in my hand
Saying, "If you see this girl can you tell her where I am? "
Snap! The lights and the sounds and the happiness were whisked away by the snap of the breakers and everything went suddenly very quiet. He found himself lying on the thin blanket he brought for himself as he stared up at the stars wondering if somewhere out there, she could see them too. He hoped she did. Still staring up at the stars he didn't bother to try and stop the invisible tear that trickled down his cheek to land on the ground. He could cry. He didn't have to be strong. Not anymore…not when no one was around.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a worn picture with softened edges. It was beautiful. No, she was beautiful. He had taken it while she wasn't looking. During the times where they met on her balcony. Her eyes glowed like sunshine as the light hit her face. The wind played with her hair as he used to and twirled it around its invisible fingers. She was smiling. He liked to think it was because of him. After all, he had just left and it was a happy smile, a content smile, the kind that lit up with hope and love. She had loved him once…
Some try to hand me money, they don't understand
I'm not broke I'm just a broken hearted man
I know it makes no sense but what else can I do
How can I move on when I'm still in love with you
It's been a week. A week that I've been here, in this exact spot in the teacups, sometimes spinning around, but mostly aching. People have started to notice me. They stopped to stare sometimes. Whispering things into their hands and looking at me oddly. I would have smirked, but I couldn't find it in me to. I didn't seem to have the will to do anything lately. On the eighth day however, something changed. A little girl with cute orange pigtails and friendly eyes came bounding up to me despite her mother's shouts. Smiling brightly up at me with the strength of a flame she grabbed my hand gently and dropped a few coins as though she did it every day. " Okachan said you were homeless, can you buy a home with this?" she looked so much like Amu right then, the innocence, the naivety, the need to help it shattered his already broken heart.
Shaking his head slightly he made a move to give it back and when she refused, tucked it into her jacket pocket. " Don't worry little peach, I'm not broke, I'm just broken hearted." His smile was sad and worrisome and she knew it was fake.
" Broken…hearted? How can you're heart be broken? Are you dying?" concern burst into her gaze as she prepared herself to drag him to the nearest hospital.
About to reassure her that no, he wasn't dying and yes, broken hearted, her mother intervened and grabbed her child's hand protectively. " We're leaving now Mika." Like a mother bird protected her young, she dragged the adamant child away leaving him back alone. But he didn't mind. Actually, it was kind of nice to say it out loud. Broken hearted. Somehow, it made it all the more real and made him all the more determined to stay. He promised her after all.
'Cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet
And you'll see me waiting for you on the corner of the street
So I'm not moving, I'm not moving
I wasn't leaving. I wasn't going anywhere. I was staying right here because I promised her. Promised her oh, so many things. Shouting. That's the last memory of her and him together. Screams and tears. " I hate you Ikuto! I hate you! Get out. Get out and never come back, I hate you!" sobbing now, he wanted nothing more than to lean close and wipe away those tears. Steal away all her fears and leave her with nothing but joy and happiness. But of course, it never works out like that.
Of course, he really did deserve to be yelled at. He deserved it one hundred percent. He shouldn't have told Tadase that he had stayed over at Amu's for all that time and that he heard him confess. He shouldn't have told him that they were in love even though they were, or at least, they were then. He shouldn't have made him cry and hurt her in the process. He shouldn't have. He knew that, but it didn't stop him from doing it. He was sorry, he really was, but she thought he wasn't. She thought he didn't even love her. And that was a lie. The biggest lie that could ever be told. Love. He didn't even know what that meant until he met her. Her, that wonderful, hopeful, loving angel. His saviour. His love.
But he had ruined that. He had ruined all of it. And now, now, he wasn't leaving until she came back to him. Forever. Forever, that was how long he was willing to wait for her. It's not like he had a life worth living if she didn't come back anyway. It wasn't worth it if she hated him, if she didn't love him. But somewhere, somewhere deep inside him, he believed she would come back. Come back to him so they could live out their happily ever after. This was their place, no one else ever came around here. If she really wanted him back, she'd come running here. Despite what everyone thought, she knew him. She knew him better than everyone else. She knew him enough to know where he went and where was special and where they belonged. She knew it all.
So he knew, without a doubt, that if she ever missed him, even the tiniest bit, the first place she would go would be here. He knew her, just like she knew him. He loved her. He just hoped she loved him back.
Policeman says, "Son you can't stay here"
I said, "There's someone I'm waiting for if it's a day, a month, a year"
Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows
If she changes her mind this is the first place she will go
It was all going fine for that first ten days. I was undisturbed aside from the snide whispers and strange glares I got for passerby's. It was all fine until the construction company moved in and started plowing down the rides. They ripped the fairies from their sockets and tore the cart from the track. The soft tinkling of the carousel was deafened by the blaring of horns and beeps and cars and trucks. Of vulgar men swearing and cursing and yelling out orders. Everything was falling apart and I felt my world ripping to shreds. No. No! They can't do this! They can't!
When they got to the teacups, they told me to move. Glaring back up at them I told them to get the hell away from here. They weren't going to lay a finger on our teacup. They pleaded with me, they yelled at me, threatened me, kicked me, hell they even tried to call my parents, but I wouldn't budge. I just sat there, unblinking and unmoving. With the night came their defeat as they dialed 110 for the police. Ten minutes later, a kind looking officer looked at me and sighed. " I'm sorry son, but you'll have to go."
" Sorry chief, I'm waiting for someone." I answered, dead.
His bushy eyebrows rose into his cap. " Well when's she supposed come then?" hah, he thought he could wait him out?
" I wish I knew…" a faraway distance fell in his eyes as he sighed to the stars.
They left him alone that night. Went to bed in their trailers, marvelling at the kid that wouldn't budge, the kid who was still waiting.
People talk about the guy that's waiting on a girl
There are no holes in his shoes but a big hole in his world
Maybe I'll get famous as the man who can't be moved
Maybe you won't mean to but you'll see me on the news
And you'll come running to the corner
'Cause you'll know it's just for you
I'm the man who can't be moved
The next morning, he was awoken to the sound of shutter clicks and the flash of too-bright light bulbs. Blearily opening his eyes, he rubbed his eyes to see dozens of reporters crowding around him and even more people. Somewhere in the crowd, he recognized peach girl, Miko, staring sadly at him. Looking around confusedly, he could barely make out the questions they screamed at him. " Why are you here?"
" Who are you waiting for?"
" Why have you been here for twelve days?"
" Where are your parents?"
" Are you homeless?"
" Who are you?"
Hundreds and hundreds of voices pounded in his skull and he leapt backwards onto the teacups in a catlike stance. Ooohs and ahhhs echoed in the crowd as opened his mouth to speak. " I don't believe that's any of your business but I'll tell you anyway." The crowd was silent, the only wound being the rolling of the tapes and the clicks of the cameras. " I'm waiting for my little strawberry to come and find me. Until then, I'm not leaving. They won't tear this place from me and they won't tear her away from me." His voice resonated strongly in the wind as the sadness touched their hearts.
" Who is she?" someone yelled from the crowd.
For the first time in twelve days, he smiled an almost happy smile. " My one true love." A shadow of a smirk on his face.
That day, thousands of papers were printed, all about the same person. The Man Who Can't be Moved. News reports flashed on screens everywhere and videos of his speech went viral and all over the internet. Ikuto's heart swelled slightly, allowing itself a little hope. Amu had to see this. There was no way she couldn't. She had to have seen him say he loved her. She had to know it was all for her. Had to now he was hers.
The crowds around him suddenly swelled after the reports and girls threw themselves at him and begged to be his strawberry. But he didn't even give them another glance. There was only one girl out there that he loved and he wouldn't settle for anything else. He would wait here forever if he had to.
'Cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet
And you'll see me waiting for you on our corner of the street
So I'm not moving, I'm not moving,
I'm not moving, I'm not moving
The moon was already glowing brightly in the midnight sky when I felt little hands shaking me awake. Dead tired from fighting off his crazy fan girls he groaned pitifully and gestured the hand away before turning on his side and commencing his sleep once again. But those little hands persisted and kept shaking awake just to land on his face. Roughly grabbing at his cheeks, he felt her hot breath on his face before he felt her lips. Eyes snapping open in confusion, his heart stopped at the sight of her.
Forehead creased tightly as she shut her eyes, her soft lips were still pressed up on his as her rosy pink hair tickled his neck. Shakily, his hands reached up to run through her smooth hair before he hugged her to his chest into an airless hug. "Amu." He breathed.
Burrowing his nose into her hair he breathed in deeply and his heart slowly pieced itself together, bit by bit as he smelled that familiar scent of strawberries. "Amu." He cried.
Lifting her head up slightly he watched as the tears dripped down her face as they pitter pattered onto his chest. Knowing this was going to hurt her, he still couldn't stop himself as he let the tears he'd been holding inside fall, mingling with her own. Eyes turning pink he couldn't help but bring her up to his face so he could kiss her just to make sure she was real. Pulling her up to him, he had her sitting on his lap while he leaned against the edge of the base of the ride. Clutching desperately to his shirt she shook her head madly. "I'm sorry Ikuto. I'm sorry! I didn't-I didn't…I didn't mean what I said! I was just so angry and I-I…I'm so sorry Ikuto. I don't know how you could wait all this time. I'm so horrible."
Tightening his grip on her he kissed her hair. "I love you that's why."
"Ikuto." She whimpered. "I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I never stopped."
"Hush now Amu, it's okay-"
"No. No it's not okay! I'm always doing that, saying things I don't mean and hurting you. No. I can't- I can't! When you…when you left I was so mad at you but I…I missed you. I waited for you to come back so I could apologize. I didn't care about Tadase-kun, I just wanted to see you. But you didn't come. And then…and then we heard about a new plan from Easter and I was so scared. I thought they got you, that they captured you and I was so scared Ikuto! I went out looking for you, but every time I went out Easter was there and when I finally got a chance to leave I saw the construction and I thought you weren't there and I couldn't help it, I cried so hard. I…I thought you left. I thought I was hearing things when I heard you on the news. The minute I saw you I ran to you but there was just so many people. And I wanted you all to myself, so I waited, even though it killed me. Until you were asleep before I came. And Ikuto, I'm sorry. Please forgive me." Burrowing her head into my chest she wept her heart out and apologized over and over again.
"I'm sorry too Amu. I know I shouldn't have yelled at the Kiddy King." I murmured apologetically. "But none of that matters anymore Amu. Everything's going to be fine."
In the end, he carried her home and tucked her into bed. Snuggling into her, they hugged until the break of dawn as he jumped off the balcony with a promise to meet again. She went to school, thinking of nothing but a certain blue haired cat and when she returned home squealed in delight when she saw him lounging on her bed reading the latest issue of her shojo manga. " So...you finally got the new addition to this one?" Her smile turned into a sweat drop as she smacked him on the head.
"Hentai. Only perverts would read a girl shojo." Turning her back on him to reach for her bag.
"But you love me anyway." She turned around and grinned cutely.
And that grin, that little, inconspicuous, perfectly normal grin washed away the last two weeks of heartache in his chest. Love is about surmounting the impossible and overcoming the many obstacles in your path. But they had overcome the toughest of them all and they had won. Grasping her warm hand he pulled her in close to his face and let his breath mingle with hers. Fluttering his eyes he watched as she closed hers and she leaned in slowly. Pulling back suddenly, he chuckled, amused as she fell on her face onto his chest as he laughed and laughed. "Ikutooo! You pervert!" she screamed huffily, her Cool-and-Spicy act leaking through.
Laughing in love he hugged her against him and murmured seductively in her ear, "But I'm your pervert." And was rewarded with a blush.
He smirked
And everything was right in the world.
Going back to the corner where I first saw you
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag, I'm not gonna move