Wow, I really don't know where this came from...anyways, It's my first TWEWY fanficton, so be gentle. it also happents to sport my fave pairing: JoshNeku!
you don't like, don't read! Simple as that! Also, I'm sad to say that all of my current stories are temporarily on hiatus; I've got teen depression. Which is pretty much what spawned this fanfic....sort of fluffy-ish thing here....
Also, the song that is used in this song was written by me, and is called 'My Perfect Nightmare', AKA the title of this fanfiction.
Evil-Neji does not own The World Ends With You.
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Neku Sakuraba wandered the near empty Udagawa District, on his way home from high school, His shoulder-bag hanging loose around his waist. Blue eyes surveyed the CAT mural, wondering vaguely how long it'd been since he's stood in font of it. Of course, he knew. He hadn't looked at the graffiti since the day Joshua shot him; the day he first entered the Game. He didn't like taking the shortcut through Udagawa anymore, the streets always seemed so foreboding and dark, and the sense of fear that would wash over him every time he went near it was almost unbearable.
he hated to think about what'd transpired over those three weeks in the Reaper's Game. Neku knew somewhere inside of him that he was greatful for the opportunity to make friends and leave his shell of despondence, but the thought at the foremost lobe of his mind was how hurt he's been; how abandoned he's felt when he realized that someone he'd thought of as a friend turned out to be exactly the opposite. Well, he couldn't exactly say that, the Composer isn't really on anyone's side, he just plays his own tune.
Neku hadn't seen hide nor hair of Joshua in the four months that had passed since the final Game, and he was oddly disturbed by the fact. If Neku knew Joshua like he thought he did, then it was rather odd that the silveret hadn't found time to annoy his proxy. Though it should have come as a relief to Neku to finally have peace of mind, it didn't, and he was left to wonder what had happened to Josh after he'd returned Shiki, Rhyme, Beat and himself to life. He also wondered why he had done it. What use was there in giving them back their lives after tormenting them for so long? Nearly a month spent running circles around Shibuya in hopes of winning the Game, and then what should happen but Joshua'd shoot him again...and give them all their lives back? It made no sense to Neku.
"Oi! Watch where yer goin' kid!" An employee at Wild Boar hollered out to him, snapping Neku out of his mental distress just in time to narrowly avoid walking into a telephone pole. Neku hadn't even realized he'd still been walking at all.
"Thanks, man!" He returned, offering a wave of gratitude to the worker, who returned to sorting through the shelves of clothing on display.
He sighed, adjusting his bag ever so slightly and continuing on his walk home. It was only 4:25 in the evening, but the September nights started to get dark quickly. Already the streetlights had come to life, illuminating the road. He walked for another 10 minutes, pondering over the same things running through his head earlier.
'Well, it's not like I should really be expecting him to pop up outta nowhere, anyway. If Josh's the Composer, he's probably still fixing Shibuya, right?' Neku asked himself, shrugging at his own question. Okay, maybe Neku missed Joshua a little bit, but you've gotta admit that the teen's demeanor grew on you after a while... 'Plus, he was kinda cute...'
Neku nearly choked. Cute? CUTE!? Had he just thought that? and about JOSHUA?! What the hell was wrong with him? Sure, Neku'd known for quite a while that he liked guys, but seriously...Josh? Maybe those weeks had caused him more mental damage than he'd originally thought... He shuddered. After aknowledging three years ago that he was gay, he'd purposely tried to not think about anyone like that. At all. And now his mind was going on saying that he thought Joshua was cute. Hell, that's creepy.
He shook his head, trying to stop his thoughts where they were. It was times like these when he seriously regretted chucking his headphones. Not that he needed them much anymore: ever since the Game, he and the others had been able to hear Shibuya's music, as well as see the new Players run around the city. Really, it got confusing at times, when he'd be talking to someone without reallizing that (s)he was a Player, and all of the RealGround people gave him weird looks. Actually, now that he thought about it, that was how he came to realize this fact about himself.
Speaking of which, there hadn't been a Game in nearly three weeks, and this was unusual. as far as Neku was aware, there was only ever normally a 1-2 week period without a Game. Makes you wonder just how many people die around Shibuya, doesn't it? Come to think about it, there'd even been a slump in the amount of Noise Neku had seen running around. there was still a couple of Pi-Face's Taboo Noise from time to time, but that was because none of the Reapers were man enough to take them on if they saw one. Neku and the others still had all their Pins, sure, but they still needed to be in partners to fight anything, and the chances of them being together when a Taboo showed up was slim to none, as much fun as it would be.
By this time, Neku had wandered down to Dogenzaka, all the shops were closing for the night. Shielding his eyes as he looked up, Neku also noted that the sun was almost completely set in the west. He kept up walking, sort of running on auto-pilot as his mind started to aimlessly wander. Only for a moment, though, as a dark shadow gliding through his peripheral vision beckoned his gaze to a black alleyway near the Ramen Don. Being unable to make out it's form, Neku ambled closer, peeing into the darkness for a better look at the thing. What he was met with though, was certainly NOT what he was looking for. With a threatening snarl, the Noise lunged out of the sidestreet, causing Neku to backpedal and fall flat on his ass a few steps later. The creature not stood under a light, allowing Neku to see just what he was dealing with: A Neoclassical Drake.
"Shit.." Neku muttered to himself, as he climbed to his feet. Getting eaten by a giant Taboo dragon was not on his list of things he wanted to do tonight. Or any night for that matter. He couldn't fight it without a partner, so a Reduction was out of the question. He knew that he had to run, or 'bounce' as Beat called it.
Urging his legs foreward, he broke into a sprint, discarding his Shoulder-bag on the road. He could hear the Drake's enraged screech as it pursued him. The pavement under his feet moving as a blur as he built up even more speed. Adrenaline. How humans could live without it, Neku would never know. His beath quickly became ragged as he urged himself to a stop in front of the 104 Building. Neku knew that he would be safe there; the Wall Reapers had erected barriers to keep Noise contained in certain Routes, for safety reasons.
Drake, however, apparently didn't know this, and smacked headfirst into the invisible barrier, seemingly bending the nonexistent wall. It screeched a few times, before retreating back the way it had come.
'What the Hell?' Neku wondered as he stood up straight, wiping a few beads of sweat off of his brow. Noise weren't supposed to attack living people. Taboo Noise could attack Players as soon as they Scanned an area, but living people were supposed to be off-bounds to Reapers and Noise. Neku ran a hand through his orangey-blonde hair, half in shock and the other half just plain confused-as-hell. The streets were now almost completely devoid of sunlight, relying soley on the artificial glow of the tall street lamps to show the way. And Neku still stood in the shocked silence.
Silence? Now realizing the oddity about, the Sakuraba spun around, listening intently for any of the music that normally played despite the thousands upon thousands of people running about. Nothing. Silence was all that greeted his ears.
"Okay, now just what's going on here?" Neku spoke aloud, as if this was all just a trick, and someone was watching him. No such luck. Once again, there was not so much as a sign of life in the deserted plaza around him. He was even beginning to feel a bit paranoid. First he was attacked by a Taboo Noise, then the Music stops? Just what the hell what going on with the city?!
He began walking again, albeit his gait was a fair bit more brisk than it had been before. Neither did he stop to retrieve his backpack: He'd have to be crazy to go back that way. No, Neku decided it was best to get home as fast as he could, and hope that no other weird shit happened to him before he got there.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"Mom! I'm home!" Neku called as he walked into his house. After being revived by Joshua, Neku'd gone back to his old life: Living with his mother. His father had split when he was four years old, walked out without so much as a 'goodbye'. So Neku and his mom had taken to using her maiden name, Sakuraba.
"Neku? Good lord, you had me scared to death. What on earth were you doing out so late?!" questioned, appearing under the cedar doorframe that separated the hallway where he stood from the kitchen, his Mom's own little haven. She was clad in gray track-pants along with a blue t-shirt overlapped by a white sweater.
"I was...sidetracked. I started looking at the Udagawa Mural and got sidetracked from there." Neku smiled in apology. It's not like he had lied to her, That was pretty much what had happened, minus the details. Thankfully, it seemed to suffice as an explanation, as his mother nodded and retreated back into the kitchen, From the smell of the house, Neku assumed that she's been making lasagna for dinner. For which he was late. "oops..." He whispered under his breath. If his mother took pride in one thing, it was her cooking. And lord knows that she did NOT appreciate when Neku didn't get home on time for meals.
He found his way into aformentioned kitchen, to be greeted by his mother holding out a plate filled generously with cheese lasagna for him. He accepted it with a small smile, and walked over to the table. It was small, circular, and made of cedar wood, like all of the doors and trimming in the house. Neku set the plate down on the table, and went off in search of cutlery, which was in the sliding drawer beneath the sink. After retrieving a fork and knife from the depths of the drawer, Neku set about to poke at his food. In all honesty, he wasn't feeling very hungry at the time. He was too busy processing what had happened that evening to even listen as his mom tried to get him to talk about his day at school, which had gone along exactly like every other day at school, minus the fact that at school he couldn't almost be mauled by Noise.
Of course, his mother knew absolutely nothing about the Game, Reapers, Noise, or anything that had happened during the three weeks that Neku had been forced to endure. He had, however, mentioned Joshua to her, claiming him to be someone he met on Cat Street one weekend with Shiki, but she knew next to nothing about him either. Hell, Neku didn't even know what the hell his mother thought was going on while he was actually IN the Game, she'd probably have been pretty freaked if her son'd just mysteriously disappeared from Udagawa one day, and he knew that time still went on after they'd entered the Game: He and Shiki had heard Eri talk about how Shiki had died in an accident. So Josh must've pulled some really weird shit to make it not seem weird that the four Players mysteriously came back to life after three weeks. Hell, Neku had thought that his body'd probably already been buried after three weeks. But apparently not.
"Sweetie, you seem troubled." His mother observed, "Are you okay? I mean really, you can tell me, I'm not going to post all of your problems on your MySpace account."
Neku blinked in confusion, before realizing what she had just said, "Mom! I don't have a freakin' MySpace account! Jeez, I'm not emo!" He repelled her comment. Apart from being an excellent chef, his mom was probably the most childish adult he'd ever met. Ever.
She grinned, "No, I suppose not. But seriously, what's wrong? Don't you like my lasagna?" She pouted slightly, but Neku could see the devious threat in her eyes.
"Not at all, it's good. I'm just not feeling up to eating right now..." He replied, "May I be excused?"
"Of course, Neku. go get some rest if you're not feeling well. We don't need you catching something if it's only Tuesday, do we?" His mom ushered him away from the table with a wave of her hands.
Leaving the kitchen, Neku wandered over to the stairs adjacent to the door he'd first come in through. His bedroom was upstairs, and he gripped the railing before trudging up the steps. After acending the stairs and all their carpeted glory, he wandered down the dark hall and into his bedroom.
"Ah! Goddamnit..." Neku grumbled as he fumbled along the wall for his lightswitch, giving a triumphant sigh when his hand hit the switch and the lights in his room flickered to life. His room was fairly large, holding his twin-sized bed, a dresser, a desk on which sat his laptop, as well as having a sliding-door closet. The walls were adorned with various styles of graffiti, as well as some posters advertising a few of his favourite bands: Dir En Grey, GazettE, Maximum The Hormone, and Abingdon Boys School. And if you thought that the last band was a little out-of-place, then you can blame Beat, the blonde had given Neku a CD by them, and the poor boy couldn't stop listening to it.
He sat in silence on his bed for a few moments, shivering at the lack of the constant music that he had become accustomed to. He'd been hearing Shibuya's melodies for so long that he'd almost stopped noticing them, until they were gone. In fact, there'd been quite a few times when Neku hadn't studied for his Maths test, and had been taunted by the notes of 'Despair' playing throughout the day. It also brought the events of that night to the front of his mind.
"Maybe I should pay a visit after school tomorrow. He's bound to know something..." Neku pondered, laying back and stretching out on his black bedsheets. He briefly wondered if anything odd had been happening at Wildcat. He also wondered if Mr.H knew anything about Joshua...'No! Stop it right there!' He told himself, 'You do NOT like Josh! You haven't even FORGIVEN him, so don't you go thinking anything about him! This is Yoshiya-fucking-Kiryuu you're thinking about, he's an ass, and you do. Not. Like. Him.' He thought firmly, but it wasn't doing much. He silently cursed his 15-year-old hormones.
Speaking of Josh and Mr.H, Neku wondered if the cafe owner had released anything as CAT as of late. Hoping to use this as a distraction from his mental battle over Joshua, he jumped up from his bed and across the carpeted floor to his desk, grabbing his laptop and carrying it back over to his bed. God bless wireless internet. Flopping onto his stomach and setting the computer on his pillow, the teen flipped the screen up, only to be surprised when he found a letter laying on the keypad. It was a regular old envelope, plain and white. That didn't bother him, the thing that got his goat was that someone had snuck into his room and put a letter in his laptop. On the paper was scrawled handwriting, adressing the slip to "Phones".
Neku's eyes widened. The only people who called him that were Beat and Mr.H, and Neku was pretty damn sure that Beat didn't know how to handwrite, so he placed his bet on the other man. Shooting up, he snatched the envelope and ripped the top off of it, withdrawing a folded piece of paper. He opened the parchment and quickly read what was written inside. It wrote:
Phones,
Sorry for the short notice, but you need to get to Wildcat as soon as possible.
I'm sure you've noticed the change in Shibuya by now. You need to get here fast.
P.S.--It's about Josh.
-Mr.H
Neku nearly jumped across the room when he read the last sentence, and was out of his room and down the stairs by the time it took for his brain to fully register what the note was talking about. Was there something wrong with Joshua? That had to be it. Maybe something had happened to him, but what could cause him to lose control over Shibuya? Was that even what was happening? Had Josh lost control of Shibuya?
'Calm down, Neku,' He told himself, 'There's nothing wrong with Josh as far as you know, so don't pop a blood vessel just yet.'
Neku was out of his house and making his was through Miyashita Park within five minutes and was still running at full-tilt when he came to Cat Street, past all of the houses and the J of the M store, but stopping abruptly in front of the cafe he'd been called to. Why was he in such a rush to hear news about Joshua anyway? Hadn't he just told himself that he did NOT have a crush on that man? Goddamnit. Oh well. He sighed in exhaustion and anxiety as he pulled open the door to Wildcat.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"Mr.H?" Neku called as he entered the small shop, it was empty, and it seemed as though no one had been through there in at least a few days. "? It's me, Neku!" He called again, this time recieving a response.
"Phones? That you? Good god, I thought you'd never get here!" Sanae Hanekoma sighed as he appeased out of the back room of the cafe. His face seemed sunken, and there were dark bags inder his eyes; he hadn't been getting much sleep.
"Mr.H, what's going on?! You said that there was something wrong with Joshua and I was attacked by a Noise today and all of Shibuya's music stopped!" Neku panted in one breath, looking for an answer to what was going on here.
"Whoa there, Phones." Mr.H sighed, holding up a hand to silence Neku, "Come with me. I figured you outta see this, seeing as you're his partner and all." He said vaguely, beckoning for Neku to follow him through the hallway he'd appeared from. Nervously, Neku followed the older man. Past the hallway was a flight of stairs, which they traveled up, and then towards a room to the left of the new hallway. Sanae pushed open the door and entered, allowing for Neku to do the same.
Neku kept his eyes on the floor when he walked into the room, almost afraid to look up. He did though, and his eyes widened in shock. On a bed lay Joshua, his eyes were closed and his breathing was erratic. Beads of perspiration trailed his forehead. Neku gasped, and he felt his heart skip a beat.
Hanekoma sighed, "Been like that for 'bout two weeks. We don't know if he's gonna wake up." The Producer's voice was laced with worry.
Neku choked on his words, before finally managing, "What the hell happened to him?"
"Boss was fixing Shibuya, you know, putting everything back where it outta be. Turns out Minamimoto had another'n of his Taboo insignia out there, and then Josh went over that area with his energy, it activated. The boss is tough, but even he can only take on so many Taboo Noise at one time without a partner..." The man looked close to tears.
"What?!" Neku outbursted, "How the fuck could this have happened!? I thought he was the Composer, dammit! This shouldn't have happened to him!"
By the time Neku had finished his rant, he was almost in tears. Why did this have to happen to Joshua? Feeling lost and drained, he slumped to the floor, leaning his head on the white blankets of the bed. Feeling a tear slip from his eye, he looked back up to , trying to hold on to one shard of hope.
"He'll wake up, right?" Neku asked, praying for a positive answer.
"Don't know, Phones. He wasn't Erased, so he won't die. But he might not wake up. It's already been two weeks, Neku. He didn't start losing his grip on Shibuya until two days ago, meaning that he's getting worse than before. This is a major crisis for both the UG and the RG. I need you to stay here and watch him, I've been summoned to a conference with the Angels. they want to name a new Composer as soon as possible."
Neku's mouth hung agape and his grip on the white blankets tightened, "A new Composer? When Josh could still wake up?"
Sanae smiled sadly, "Sorry, kid. But if we don't get a new boss soon, Shibuya's gonna collapse. We'll all die if that happens." Those were the last words he said before he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Now alone, Neku looked around the room. It was larger than his, and only sported a queen-sized bed and a chair. The walls were painted a light gray-blue, and the ceiling was pure white hue. Pulling himself to his feet, Neku looked at Joshua. The boy looked pained, there was no doubt about that, and it was oddly disturbing to see the expression in place of the silveret's perpetually snarky grin. He found his way over to the chair, and sat down. The wood was painted white, and it was covered in blue cushions.
'He might not wake up...' Neku thought worriedly, 'And to think that I was mad at him for disappearing for three months. I'm such an idiot.' He berated himself, staring forlornly at the comatose boy in front of him. It was unnerving, to have Joshua just lying there, almost as if he were dead, except for the odd gasps of breath he took. It was somehow akin to a nagging paranoia, knowing that something was wrong here, but he just didn't know what it was or when it would happen. Neku had read somewhere that paranoia was the worst kind of torture, now he knew what they meant...
After the first two hours, Neku was really starting to get anxious. He felt like he was going out of his mind. It was like he was locked in a room with a dead body. Albeit a cute dead body. He'd tried everything: He'd tried to lose himself in thought, but everything seemed to turn back to Joshua. He'd tried pacing around the room, but that just made him feel even more insane. He'd tried reading, but the only material he had to look at were the notes he'd written on the back of his hand from school, and the note that Mr.H had left for him, which he'd shoved into his pocket.
After four hours, it was just getting fucking weird. Neku felt like ripping out all of his hair, curling up in a corner, and staring at the ceiling until got back. But like hell if that was going to happen. Instead, he'd opted with staring at Joshua. It'd been three months since he'd last gotten a good look at the Composer's face, and Neku had to admit that even like this, Joshua was gorgeous, a small nose, thin lips that were parted ever so slightly so he could breathe, and soft hair. Yes, Neku had petted the boy's hair. So sue him, He's a teenager, they have their urges.
And now, after five hours, twenty-seven minutes, and fourty-two seconds, Neku was just about ready to admit himself the the closest psycholgical ward. The toll of this on his mentaltiy was going to be severe. Not to mention the fact that it was now...2:34 am. His school starts at 8:15, and hell if he'd be getting home by then. Not to mention that he hadn't slept a wink in all the time he'd been watching Joshua. And it wasn't helping that his homosexuality was really starting to annoy the hell outta him, but now he couldn't exactly say that he didn't have feelings for Josh. Not after the way he'd been noticing every tiny detail about the boy. How his eyes would randomly move under their lids, how he breathed through his mouth, not his nose, how his hair seemed to flip back over his face no matter how many times Neku'd push it back. The way his chest would rise ever so slightly with every breath under the soft, white blankets he was covered in.
"Josh, I don't know it you can hear me...." Neku began to talk out of curiosity. Apparently comatose people could still hear your voice, they just couldn't respond. And his dwindling mentality didn't help, either, "But I'm here, 'kay? You've gotta wake up." He pleaded, grasping the smaller boy's hand without realizing it. His skin was cold and clammy, and twitched in Neku's grip.
Unbeknownst to most, Neku wasn't just a fan of music, he also wrote a bit of it in his spare time. Though he was too self-sensitive to sing it in front of people. There had been one song, though, that he'd been particularily proud of, he'd just never had anything proper to tie the song's meaning to. He was pretty sure that he'd found the time to sing it now.
Clutching Joshua's hand a little tighter, Neku leaned back into the chair, and began his song,
You say you never want to be in pain,
Cut off from life, nothing to gain,
Watching you I'll go insane,
(But at least I'll be doing something with my life.)
Never seeing all the things that happen outside,
You live holed-up in the friendly darkness of your mind,
If your dreamland could stop all the tears that still go on in time...
But no, you don't even realize,
That more goes on then just what gets screened past you eyes,
And all you've built yourself upon are lies...
So please, wake up,
Don't make me carry on, my head held high,
While you're inside a different life,
Just breathe,
Every day you've spent dreaming in the shadows of your mind,
Has become much more divine,
Every day you spend in your sickest dreams is now,
My perfect nightmare...
His voice was deep, but not rough, and the words flowed out smoothly and honestly, as if begging. Neku bit back tears as he started into the second verse, his head hanging low, shadowing his blue eyes.
The world out here is not so kind,
Full of fools you would despise,
If only you would open your eyes,
(And bring back my heart you stole, while you're at it...)
Never believing all these things that happen outside,
You lived holed up in the friendly darkness of your mind,
But your dreamland can't stop all the tears that still go on in time,
Will you ever realize...
That more goes on then just what gets screened past your eyes,
And all you've built yourself upon are lies...
So please, wake up,
Don't make me carry on, my head held high,
While you're inside a different life,
Just breathe,
Every day you've spent dreaming in the shadows of your mind,
Has become much more divine,
Every day you spend in your sickest dreams is now,
My perfect nightmare...
By the time Neku had gotten past those verses, tears were sliding down his face and onto the floor. His eyes were becoming red, and he was clutching to Joshua's hand for all he had in him.
Well maybe you just can't see me,
Or just can't see my tears,
Life without you would surely see,
Me to my end, my dear,
Or if you can't hear my plea,
You'll surely feel my fear?
But now it's too late...
So please, wake up,
I just can't carry on 'till my demise,
Withought you here inside my life,
Just breathe, My love,
Every day you've spent dreaming in the shadows of your mind,
Has driven me out of mine,
And every day from now 'till then is spent,
In my perfect nightmares...
Neku subconciously rested his head on the back of Joshua's hand, staining the boy's porclean skin with trails of tears. But why? Neku didn't even know why he was crying. It made no sense to him, that he would be reduced to tears because of something like this. He'd always liked to think of himself as a strong person, but this was just the icing on the proverbial cake. Him, Neku, crying for Joshua. What had the world come to?
Raising his head, He rested his eyes no the boy's still unmoving form. There was something different, though. The lines of strain on Joshua's face had lessened, and his respiration was somehow more even than it had been. Neku breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, he hadn't been expecting Joshua to mysteriously wake up or anything, much less show any signs that he had heard Neku's song. This was more than he could have hoped for.
Sighing in relief, Neku wiped the remaining tears off of his face, leaning his head back onto the chair. Residing in the silence for the time being. He stopped and furrowed a brow when something caught his attention, a sound. Straining his ears, he delved into the night, listening for that song that was playing so quietly, it was easy to miss. He found it, whispering in the background, and he knew what it was: Shibuya's music. It had come back. Feeling a burst of hope, Neku looked back to Joshua. If the music was returning, then he must be getting better, right? Even if the music was almost nonexistant, it was still there, meaning that Josh was gaining his control on the city.
"Joshua?" Neku asked, more confident that he would be heard. As expected, he recieved no answer, but Joshua's face twitched ever so slightly at Neku's soft voice. Still hopeful, Neku tried again, "Josh? Can you hear me?" He spoke a little louder, and not really caring about how stupid that question seemed.
"Nnngh..." The silveret groaned softly, furrowing his eyebrows. It wasn't a proper response, but it made Neku estatic to get some kid of concious reply from the Composer. He almost didn't notice Joshua's hand tightening it's grip on his own, but he did, and copied the gesture. Almost as if he were afraid that the other would disappear if he lost his grip.
"Joshua, are you alright?"
The Composer turned his head slightly towards Neku, opening one eye half-way. His grey-violet iris was blurry and unfocused on whatever he was looking at. Neku took this to mean, 'No, obviously I am not all right, but at least I'm alive' . Neku brushed his hand over Joshua's pale face, swiping his hair away from his eyes, which fell back again.
"Ugh....where...?" Joshua asked dumbly as his one eye began blindly searching the room. Neku assumed that he still couldn't see anything, and that he wasn't even fully concious in the first place. It made Neku worried, maybe Joshua wasn't going to regain conciousness?
Feeling an enexplicable urge take him over, Neku stood from his spot on the chair, approaching the distressed silveret. Having absolutely no idea what he was about to do, Neku was completely shocked when he leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on Joshua's forehead. 'Damn...' Neku thought, flushing red in embarassment, 'If he can see what's going on, I'm never going to hear the end of this...' He quickly withdrew, returning to his spot in the chair and turning his head to the opposite side of the room. Why the hell had he done that? His cheeks were burning red, and he felt oddly giddy, but still somehow disappointed that Joshua wasn't awake.
'Like hell, Neku. This isn't some fairy tale where the person suddenly awakens, sweeps you off your feet and you go off to live happily ever after. You're turning into such a girl.' His voice in his head told him, making his blush deepen. Why the hell was he thinking about freaking Sleeping Beauty anyway? Ugh. This night couldn't get any worse. Oh wait, yes it could. Somehow it was already 4:00 in the morning; his mom leaves for work at 5, and always wakes him up before she leaves. Aw, hell. Now it couldn't get any worse. He knew that he wouldn't be getting home within the hour. Where the hell was Mr.H anyway? Shouldn't he have gotten back by now? Well, Neku didn't exactly know much about the Angels, for all he did know, it could be another couple days before got back.
Neku finally realized that the Music was much louder than before, and Twister was playing throughout the early morning air. It had always been one of Neku's favourite songs, though he didn't really understand the meaning of the random-as-all-hell lyrics. It was still tantalizingly catchy, and he soon found himself humming along with hte tune.
"Crysals, blisters, show me your best......" He mumbled under his breath, more in his own little world than anywhere else. He always got like this whenever Shibuya was singing, he always found himself singing along. Not really caring of where he was at the moment. The sun wasn't over the horizon yet, but the room had begun to feel warmer than it had, and the atmosphere had begun to lessen it's melancholy aura.
Another hour had passed, and Shibuya was still had long since stopped, though. Instead sitting back in the chair, allowing the soothing melodies to lull him in and out of sleep. It was a relief, to say the least, to know that the city was once again in a stable state, as was the one who controlled it. Speaking of Joshua, he had fallen back into his slumber, once again oblivious to the world. It was different from before, though. The Composer was no longer in pain as he slept. Both boys seemed oddly peaceful.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
It was 7:00 in the morning when Sanae Hanekoma returned to Wildcat. He was tired, to say the least, and the High Angels had wore his patience down to it's last thread. After a four-hour debate, the Council had decided to name Koki Kariya the temporary Composer. Sanae himself was pleased with this decision, seeing as Kariya was a capable Reaper, but would step down from his post as soon as Josh was better. That was probably what relieved Sanae the most; Kariya was not one for work and responsibility, which was namely the reason he had remained a Harrier for so long.
Entering the desolate cafe, Sanae noticed just how run-down the place had become. There was a centimeter of dust along the countertop, as well as the chairs, and the other materials looked badly under-used. He ran a rough hand down his face, stroking his small beard a few times. He'd been so preoccupied with Joshua as of late, that he'd had no time to run the shop, or finish any of his projects as CAT. He was definitely going to be behind on this month's rent...
"Ugh...gonna hafta do something with this place soon," He spoke to himself, walking through the cafe. Through the emptiness he could tell that there was something different than when he had left. The place had it's friendly atmosphere back, and was almost cheery. And...he heard music. His eyes widened. It was Shibuya, she had begun to sing again! He glanced around him, setting his hand on a dusty table. Kariya hadn't been Composer long enough for the Music to play for him, and that meant... Joshua.
Was he awake?
Sanae quickened his pace, heading for the staircase that led upstairs. He was honestly shocked and yet relieved by the fact that there was music playing, it meant that Joshua was in control again. When he got to the top of the stairs, he slowed his pace. It wouldn't look right if the Producer went running into a room, would it? He also didn't want to be too disappointed if nothing had happened.
Turning the doorknob slowly, he pushed open the door. The room was still dark; there was only one window and the curtains had been drawn over it. Extending an arm, he flicked on the light switch along the wall. The sight he was greeted by, however, was not exactly what he expected. Neku was asleep, as was Joshua. Their hands were interlaced with each others', almost as though they were attached to the other. But the part that really shocked Sanae, was Joshua. He was sleeping peacefully, the lines that had marred his face before were gone, and his breathing was deep and even.
smiled. Joshua was okay, in fact, he seemed to be better than okay. Now, Sanae was privy to more information on Joshua than probably anyone in the world, living or dead. So he knew that Josh had been having mixed feelings over Neku. His Composer was a far cry from being straight, that's for sure, but he wasn't sure what would become of him and Neku, so he'd opted for trying to avoid the boy at all costs. Hell, of Josh'd been awake, he probably would've thrown a fit on him for bringing Neku here. It made him happy, though, to know that things had gone well in his absence. He know what Phones probably wouldn't have let their hand-holding go on if he had minded it.
He turned around to leave the room, silently turning off the light and easing the door shut. It was better not to wake the sleeping boys A) because they were probably both dead tired, and B) because he really didn't want to deal with two flustered teenagers this early in the morning. Exiting the room, he remembered that Neku had been at Wildcat for what was closing in on ten hours, and his mother would probably be in a frenzy by now. Sighing, the Producer walked back the way he had come from, he'd have to clean up any mess that was causing before he could get any sleep. He supposed he could always diguise a lower Reaper as Neku... oh yes, that's what he'd do. The black haired man chuckled to himself as he left the cafe.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Oh good god, he had a headache. His head was positively throbbing and his body hurt and his throat was raw. Ugh. He knew what was going on, sure, but he was juggling listening to the world around him with lamenting in his physical and mental agony. At least he was mostly concious now, unlike the weeks since he'd been attacked. He still wasn't entirely sure what had woken him up. All that Joshua could remember was that it was dark...and then he heard a song. It wasn't Shibuya singing to him, it was someone else, but he couldn't quite place the voice. It was a beautiful song, though. The person wanted him to wake up. That's what they said in the song. That's also the last thing he remembered before he opened his eyes, or tried to. He still couldn't see anything, but he could feel a person's presence with him. It was warm...and familiar... but he couldn't remember who it was. He didn't know why his eyes weren't working either. He felt the person brush his hair out of his face, but that was it. He fell back asleep soon after that...
And now he could feel himself waking up again. He didn't know what time it was, or even where he was, for that matter. He had no idea what had happened to him after Sanae had found him after his little 'run in' with a horde of Taboo, but he was greatful that anyone found him. He'd probably be dead if no one had.
The sun was peering throught the curtains when Joshua opened his eyes, squinting in the light. Why did everything have to hurt? He groaned as he tried to roll over onto his side, but found himself unable to use a wide range of movement at the moment.
"Ugh.....oww," He moaned in his throat, furrowing his eyebrows at the pain that followed. His throat was burning, and his muscles ached. He opened his eyes slightly more, hoping for a glance of where he was. He certainly wasn't expecting to see Neku. Definitely not. He immedeatly pulled himself up into a sitting position, gasping at his predicament. What the hell was Neku doing here? He glanced around, thankful for his familiar surroundings: he was in his room in the upstairs of Wildcat.
But that still didn't explain why there was Neku Sakuraba. Asleep. In his room.
Joshua frowned. It must have been Sanae. Oohhhh he was going to give him hell for this...later. Probably not until after the pounding in his head subsided. Ouch. Okay, scratch that, maybe not until after he stopped feeling like his body was ripping itself apart. Raising a hand to his head, the Composer found himself unable to move his left hand. Looking down, he noticed that this was because his hand was...occupied, if he could say that. More specifically, it was gripping Neku's. Well, this was akward. Now Joshua was really staring to wonder what the hell had gone on while he was unconcious. And he was pretty sure it all had to do with Sanae...
Not that he was complaining, of course. Quite the contrary, in fact he rather enjoyed having his hand entwined with Neku's, it was just a pity that he'd been unconcious when it'd happened. Ah well, life's a bitch. A fact that Joshua knew admittedly well.
"Well, this is a pleasent surprise..." He muttered hoarsely, wincing at the scratchy sound of his voice. His cocky grin placed itself on his face as he stared at Neku. Oh, this was going to be such fun when he woke up. Joshua paused his thoughts...wake up? Had it been Neku singing before? Now that he thought about it, he could somewhat place the voice as belonging to the other boy. It was hard to say; he'd never heard Neku singing before.
But he managed a sly smile. If Neku had been the one singing, then it just gave him one more thing to use to drive the latter insane.
'Oh high-and-mighty one,' His mind taunted him, 'Do you forget why you were staying AWAY from him? I'm pretty sure that dear Neku wouldn't appreciate you hitting on him. Much fun as that would be...' Joshua scowled. How he hated the voice otherwise known as his conciousness, it was like some sarcastic-ass version of Jiminy Cricket gone horribly WRONG. Why he was making the connection between his mind and Disney characters was beyong him, and the Composer liked to think of himself as intelligent. It must be from going for god knows how long without food...damn he was hungry, too.
"Shut up, voice. I"m perfectly able to contradict myself. Heheh..." Josh added his usual giggle to the end of his sentence. Maybe it was time to have a little fun, sort of like a 'thank you' to Neku for waking him up, "Nekky...rise and shine...." The Composer giggled, "....." Okay, now he was just being ridiculus and an asshole.
"Nghhhhh.....five more minutes." The auburn-haired boy groaned, frowning slightly. Joshua grinned even wider, he'd almost forgotten how much fun it was to antagonize the boy. And he loved watching the faces that Neku makes, Joshua had to admit, he was a fair bit sadistic, and perverse to boot. He loved it.
"Nekuuu, You've gotta get up noooowwwww...." He sang, extremely glad that he was able to talk enough to terrorize his proxy. Using his free hand, he poked the sleeping boy's hair. Neku's frown deepened as he swatted the offensive hand away, refusing to wake up.
Now, Joshua was feeling exceptionally devious at the moment, probably a side effect of having his epic asshattery repressed by his coma for the last two week. Nevertheless, he smirked wickedly as he raised his hand that was holding onto Neku's, bringing it to his mouth, and ghosting his lips across Neku's skin. the boy groaned in protest to the odd sensation.
"Ugh.....wha--WHAT THE HELL, JOSH!?!" Neku yelped as he awoke, jerking his hand away from the Composer, who pouted childishly.
"But Neku, you should be overjoyed that I'm awake, you wound me Neku, you wound me..." He taunted, knowing that he would get a reaction out of the other boy.
"Y-yeah but...aww,I--oh what the hell..." Neku stuttered, smacking his forehead. Joshua giggled, oh how he loved doing this. Honestly, it made his day just getting reactions out of Neku.
"By the way..." Joshua began, in a tone that told Neku that he was going to seriously regret something, "Was it you that was singing that pretty song, Nekky? It was wasn't it? Ooohhh, I never knew you had such a voice..." Joshua was wearing a grin akin to the cheshire cat. You could seriously see the 'Mufufufufu' vibes coming off of him.
Neku's face flushed, and you could almost hear the 'Oh shit' that was running through his mind, "Ummmm......yeah, well," Oh crap, he was in for it now. He knew that nothing good would come of this. Okay, maybe he hadn't known that, but there must have been some tiny voice telling him to shut his damned mouth, right? Augh! If only he payed more attention to the voices in his head!
Joshua chuckled at the mental war Neku was waging against himself, almost feeling sorry for the boy. Almost. "Oh, but Neku, you've really got a beautiful voice, truly. I don't know why you never sang before..." Oh yeah, Josh, rub salt in the wounds. "Or maybe it was what you did after you sang that's freaking you out, no?"
"Wha--Oh. Fuck." Neku's eyes widened. Joshua knew. He knew that he had kissed him. Now fate was obviously a very fickle woman, and karma had finally decided to come back and bite him in the ass for all of those self-depressing emo days he'd had...
"Oh, so you did do something after you sang! To be honest, I really didn't know, but there's no harm in asking, right Neku?" Joshua smiled.
"You're a bastard." Neku deadpanned.
Well, this conversation was going along swimmingly. In fact, both boys seemed to have forgotten that Joshua had been previously comatose, and that Neku was running on about two hours sleep...how fun. It was probably about...nine-ish in the morning, meaning that the sun was now filtering steadily through the fabric of the curtains over the window. The birds were singing, the dogs were barking...okay, who am I kidding? Any living animal within a 30-foot radius had been scared off by Neku's waking outburst. And as if this wasn't bad enough, Joshua had woken up in a good mood. And we all know that Joshua in a good mood can only mean hell for everyone else.
"Oh, now that's just mean!" Joshua proclaimed in a faux-apalled tone.
"It's what you get for being such an asshole! And to think that I was worried about you!" Neku crossed his arms in front of his chest huffily.
"Oh, you were worried about me?" The Composer raised an eyebrow. He was slightly surprised at Neku's outburst, probably even more surprised at the fact that he'd said that right to his face. And if that had surprised him, then he definitely wasn't expecting what came next.
"Yes, goddamnit! I was worried, alright!? You were in a fucking coma for two weeks! I was fucking scared, you could've died, Josh!" Neku practically screamed at the silveret. His chest felt like it was going to explode. Why did Joshua have to be so difficult? It really pissed him off. I had pissed him off during the game and it still pissed him off now.
For the first time in his life, Joshua was unable to make a comeback. For one thing, it shocked him to hear that he had been unresponsive for fourteen days, almost as much as he wasn't expecting Neku to tell him that he had been scared. It was strange, to say the least. Joshua had always seen Neku as the kind of person who liked to supress his feelings, not to just blatantly display them. It was horribly out of character for his proxy, and somehow relieving to know that Neku wasn't a complete emotional ice-cube.
Not really knowing what he was doing, Joshua reached out from the bed and grabbed Neku's hand again, holding it in his own. Then, he wordlessly pulled Neku toward him, closing in on his lips with Josh's own.
"Wha--" Neku was cut off as their lips met. Tentatively, of course. Joshua snaked his free hand around the back of Neku's head and tangled his fingers in the boy's orange hair, holding him in place against his mouth. Neku's eyes widened, but it wasn't in a bad way. It was just that he couldn't really believe that this was really happening and it was kinda unexpected, but who cares? He moved his hands to Joshua, cupping the silveret's face in his palm. It felt so good to have Joshua kissing him...
"I'm glad you cared..." Joshua whispered into the kiss, sliding his tongue along Neku's bottom lip, begging for entrance. He recieved it, of course, and proceeded to trace the cavern of Neku's mouth with his wet muscle. Their kiss deepened significantly, both males running their hands along the body of the other, enjoying the foreign feel of warm skin against their fingers. Neku moaned into Joshua's mouth, causing the latter's lips to turn up into a mischevious grin.
"Hey Boss, Phones, I...." Sanae trailed off as he entered the room, immedeatly taking into account the session ocurring in front of the Producer's very eyes. It's not like he wasn't expecting it to happen sooner or later, but you know, "I'll come back later......"
The door closed quietly behind , and Joshua broke their kiss.
"Not such a nightmare anymore, is it?" He grinned, never removing his hands from Neku's body.
"Not really."
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