A/N: This is crap. Not even I like it. But, meh. I might edit it later. I just wanted to post something for Valentines, and I figure this is good enough, considering how much I despise the holiday.
Warnings: Um, het? Not much, but a teensy bit. I'm disappointed in myself... Oh, and possible spoilers. I'm not sure, so just don't take the chance if you don't want to.
And I couldn't help myself, Joshua kept sneaking in...
Disclaimer: Yeah, don't own. Go away.
P.S. Sorry about my bad mood...
"Neku, how could you?"
I didn't mean to.
"That's low, Phones."
I know, I'm despicable.
"You shouldn't lead people on like that, Neku."
I didn't lead her on, she followed me.
"Hey, Phones, you okay?" I didn't respond, sure that the voice would only mock me if I said anything. "Hello? Phones?" Go away, voice. I don't need you right now. "Neku!" I felt something push me, and, not reacting fast enough, I fell off the chair and landed hard on my side, the pain making me wince.
"What the hell?" I jumped back up to glare at my attacker, the loud obnoxious laughter telling me exactly who it was.
"You weren't responding Phones. What was I supposed to do?" Mr Hanakoma shrugged, the smile on his face slowly disappearing. "Seriously, what's up?"
"Nothing." I glanced around the WildKat cafe, hoping that there was some customer I could pawn Mr. H off on. It's not that I don't like his company; I love spending time with my favourite artist, but not when he was asking questions I didn't really want to answer. But, as always, the cafe was empty. If I was anyone else, I would wonder how he stayed in business. I suppose being the best, and most likely only, friend of Shibuya's Composer had its benefits.
'Josh probably has some sort of counterfeit gig going on... Wouldn't surprise me...'
"...ones? Phones?" A sharp flick was delivered to the side of my head, and I tried to brush the hand away in irritation.
"What?" I snapped. He just couldn't take the hint and leave, could he?
"You zoned out on me. Now come on, start talking."
"No."
"Look, I have ways of forcing this out of you, all of which might be painful. I mean, I could always see if boss wants to help-"
"Alright! I'll tell you!" The threat of having Josh try and force something out of me is slightly traumatizing, and will give me nightmares for months. "It's... It's a long story." I tried to bury my head in the oversized neck of my shirt, wishing I still had my headphones. I didn't need them to block the world out, I needed them to feel safe. They were familiar, and without them, I felt vulnerable. Exposed.
"Do you see any customers in here, kid?" Gesturing around, Mr. H's overly large smile returned. "I think I've got the time."
I could feel my mind whirring to try and think of an excuse. I really didn't want to have to say what happened again, only to have him turn on me and take her side. But, I knew that Mr. H would never let me leave if I didn't say anything.
"Well, I guess it started once the Game finished. For a while, everything was fine. Me, Rhyme, Beat and Shiki, we'd hang out every day. After a couple of days, Eri started joining us. It was a bit unnerving at first, but I got used to it eventually. And, despite how much I wanted to deny it, I guess I missed Joshua, just a tiny bit." By the way Mr. H's smile somehow got larger, which shouldn't have been possible, I could tell that he really did want someone to like Joshua, even just a little bit.
"For a while, everything was great. Rhyme got into some prestigious school for the musically gifted, or something. Beat turned out to be a great cook, and Shiki and Eri reconciled and became the perfect designing duo. Everything turned to hell about three weeks after the game finished.
"We met up at Hachiko, like every week, and then we went to see some chick flick movie that Eri and Shiki had been dying to see, Rhyme sort of wanted to see, and Beat and I didn't have the energy to argue with them to see something else."
"You'd have more energy if you came and bought coffee more often..." Mr. H grumbled, and, giving him a half hearted glare, I tried to resume my story.
"Anyway, I ended up next to Shiki in the movie, and it turned out to be more of a horror film than they expected, so when she grabbed my hand, I thought she was just scared. So, I squeezed her hand, just to let her know that I was there for her, and I didn't think much more of it.
"After the movie ended, Beat said he'd treat us all to hamburgers, but Shiki said that we'll catch up. I was kinda confused, but I thought she just wanted to talk without the others hearing. Even after all we went through, she was still lacking so much self-confidence...
"She told me she cared about me, and she asked if I cared about her. I thought she just wanted reassurance, I didn't think before I talked..." I ran my fingers through my hair, and I noticed that I was talking faster and faster, but I just couldn't stop.
"Drink this." A cup of coffee was pushed in front of me, still steaming. I looked up to see Mr H just sitting back down. I hadn't even noticed he'd left. "Don't worry, it's on the house." I knew my mouth was hanging open and my eyes were wide with shock, but I just couldn't get over it. On the house? I didn't think those words were in his vocabulary. "Well? Don't stop talking."
"Um, right. After I said I... care about her... She smiled. A really big smile. And she took my hand and ran off after the others, all the while talking about how excited and how relieved she was, and then I realised my mistake. I tried to tell her, but she didn't hear me, and I didn't want to say it in front of everyone, so as soon as she calmed down, I took her to the side and explained it.
"It didn't end well. She cried, everyone saw and blamed me. I tried to explain it, but they just blamed me more. They were all so disappointed in me, 'cause I lead her on."
"Don't blame it on yourself. You didn't let her believe it for weeks did you? You told her how you really felt as soon as you could, right?" Despite being oddly serious, Mr. H made perfect sense. I hesitantly nodded. "Then don't beat yourself up over it."
"...Thanks." I reached up to my ear, still mourning the loss of my headphones. Maybe throwing them down on the busy pathways of Shibuya wasn't a smart idea.
"Oh, and if you want your headphones back, I'm afraid you're gonna have to beg Joshua to give them to you." Mr. Hanekoma pushed the chair back, got up and made his way into the other room. "I don't like your chances, boss doesn't share well!" He called out, and even after all hell, he still made me smile. Until I realised exactly what he said.
"Wait, I have to talk to Joshua?"