Too Late -NijiHai
Winner of For Lola's Contest for Theme B
Akashi frowned from his spot across the room. He didn't say anything. Instead he watched as the family doctor worked on Haizaki's newest injuries. When the man finished, he bowed and left.
There was a long stretch of silence between them. Tea was served and still nothing. Haizaki struggled to hold his cup, hardly able to take a sip. He turned to look the other way. He was well aware of the lecture he was about to receive from the younger man.
"At least he didn't break anything on you this time." Akashi always had a smart comment no matter what the situation.
"It's not as bad as you think."
"No, you were just bleeding from your head because you go a really bad paper cut." Akashi quipped. "He threw you out after all this in the middle of the worst snow storm of the year."
"He doesn't mean it."
"Because he loves you." Akashi rolled his eyes.
"Hey you were pinning over him in middle school too, so don't give me that look!"
"He was good eye candy and that's about where that ends."
"Don't act like you didn't work at impressing him. You were all "Senpai this, and Senpai that, is this okay Senpai?" And let's not forget about how much you blushed and stuttered just from getting a pat on the head."
"Even if I did have a small crush on him, I'm not staying in a toxic relationship. I would never stay with someone like that and I'm not sure why you are either."
"It's a long story."
"No, you're just not willing to let go of him for some strange reason. You could do so much better."
"Like who?"
"Not him!"
Silence.
"I worried about you. With the way things are going it's only a matter of time before he hospitalizes you again, or worse…"
"I'm fine." He reassured him. "Besides it's only a matter of time before he calls to apologize."
"And you're going to go running right back to him?"
"Not in this weather." Haizaki joked getting a disapproving look. "If he does apologize I'll take him back. There hasn't been one time when he wasn't sincere."
"In beating you?"
"When he does apologize. He doesn't…"
"Mean to, yes I know already. Do me one favor at least stay the night here so I don't have to worry about you getting home safely."
"Yeah. yeah." Hazaki waved him off as he started to stand. It took him a little longer because of how sore he was. It didn't help that he could feel Akashi watching him the whole time.
"I swear, you only come here for the free medical."
"I can't afford a hospital trip."
"That and by now your file would need like three folders to hold everything."
"I get it." Haizaki snapped. "You don't have to call me stupid."
Akashi just sighed again signaling for one of his butlers to show Haizaki to his room. At the moment he could stand the idea of wasting his breath any longer. They had, had this discussion countless times and every time the outcome was the same.
Haizaki always went back to Nijimura. Akashi wasn't sure why. It wasn't like Haizaki couldn't take care of himself, but the moment the word sorry came from Nijimura's mouth he was more than willing to go back to him.
It was troublesome to say the least. It was only a matter of time before Nijimura beat the poor man to death. And all Akashi could do was be a safe house for him, a place of refuge for when things got too bad. Regardless of the circumstance it was painful to watch.
~.~.~.~.~
The fundamental building blocks of Nijimura and Haizaki's are, relationship has always been violence. The beginning of it was in middle school, in basketball club.
Grant it, Haizaki blamed himself for that. He purposely made sure to skip practice come late, and slack off when he was there. It made Nijimura chase after him. No matter what he did Nijimura always found him, always beat him up, and dragged him back. It made it so the few times he did show up and put his all into practice, Nijimura was nothing but praise. He even took the time to give Haizaki instruction on what he was doing wrong and what he should be perfecting.
Sure neither one of them were Generation of Miracles, but their skill level was close to the others, and they wanted to be able to help the team in some way. Truth be told Haizaki liked playing basketball, but never really care for competition outside of street ball. However, he wanted to win for Njiimura. He wanted to be able to give him this final victory before he retired.
In the end most of what he did was for nothing. Nijimura ended up benched most of the time and didn't even seem to have the drive for the game anymore. Akashi was named captain and Nijimura stopped coming to practice all the time.
Haizaki quit the team once Kise joined. When Nijimura was around all he did was get punished for fighting with the newest member. Akashi gave him a small talk and Haizaki decided that it was best to just quit the team.
That day Nijimura chased him down, punched him in the face. He was yelling at him but it was hard to hear what he was saying because his head was ringing. He was dizzy and his vision was fuzzy, but he was able to make out that Nijimura was mad at him for quitting.
He kept saying he had potential, and that he was throwing his life away, and kept asking why he was giving up so easily. It was around that time Nijimura's brutal hits became nothing more than his fist weekly hitting Haizaki's chest.
And Nijimura was crying then, and despite Haizaki's sad broken state he had embraced the other teen and allowed him to cry on his chest. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he was sure whatever it was, might be the reason for his sudden outburst of violence lately.
They walked home together, and ended up stay at Haizaki's place. His brother was off at college and his mom had to work late that night so it was just them. Nijimura decided to pay for a pizza to be delivered since he was the one imposing.
It wasn't until they were getting ready for bed and Haizaki was laying out a spare futon for Nijimura that the other started talking again. He explained the situation about his dad and how he was getting worse and the doctors didn't think that he had more than a month left.
"It's why it was easier to just step down as captain. I might just quit the team so I can go to see him after school instead of just on the weekends."
Haizaki didn't say anything he just let Nijimura vent all night. They fell asleep next to each other, Nijimura leaning on him.
"Don't throw your life away. Actually get something done." He had mumbled as he started to drift off to sleep.
"We're only in middle school." Haizaki said.
"Just agree to it."
"Okay, okay I won't."
Haizaki vaguely remembers the kiss on the cheek. It came as a surprise, and he winced because his cheek was still sore from the earlier beating. He still wasn't sure to this day if it had actually happened, because the next day Nijimura took his face between his hands and pulled him into a brutal kiss.
Haizaki was pretty sure that Nijimura never got over his father's death. The man had held on through his illness until Nijimura's high school graduation. The day after he passed away in his sleep.
His temper rose after that, and Haizaki stuck around, but Nijimura didn't seem to have the patients for him. Mostly because Haizaki was always getting into trouble. He was contently in fights, couldn't hold a job.
"You knew what you were getting into when we first started dating!" Haizaki always found himself yelling when they were arguing. By now the neighbors knew their lines by heart.
"Why can't you just get your act together?!"
It wasn't long before they would come to blows, and things only got worse once they moved in together. Haizaki's constant lack of job and lack of money caused them to fall behind on rent, and food. The strain on the household only led to constant fighting, more violence.
It was no secret that Nijimura was always stronger than Haizaki. Enough so to say that it was a unfair fight. Even back in middle school Akashi would "tsk" whenever he caught wind of what was happening.
Akashi and Haizaki had been kind of friends in middle school and became closer after high school. Haizaki was just grateful to him for that. Between the first aid, the emotional support and the times he was able to help him find a new job.
The one thing that remained true, was that Haizaki loved Nijimura, and he was sure that Nijimura still loved him too. They were always able to make up the next day, and everything would be forgotten until the next incident.
"You're leaving." Akashi didn't state it as a question the next morning.
"Yeah."
"Stay safe." Akashi sighed. "If anything happens, call me okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine."
Akashi looked like he was going to say something more, probably try one last time to make Haizaki not go back, but instead he bid him farewell.
Truth be told, Haizaki wasn't too sure on going back just yet. Normally he gets some form of a text from Nijmura before he heads back, but he hadn't gotten that this time. The odds were that Nijimura was still mad and he would have to sweet talk himself past the door. He'd done it before, but it was always easier when.
When he did get him Nijimura was still asleep amoungst the mess that had been left behind from their fight. Haizaki sighed. He didn't have work for a few hours, so he took the time to clean up and make breakfast.
"There's toast and coffee." He said when Nijimura did finally wake up.
"Thanks." Nijimura didn't sit down at the table. "I'm sorry about last night. I was out of line."
"It's fine."
Nijimura kissed him, cupping his face gently the way he did that day. But this time the kiss was scoring. Partly because of his bruised lips and partly because of how Nijimura was kissing him.
"I have to get to work." He said between kisses, and trying to ignore the hands that were now trailing down his stomach to sneak under the hem of his shirt.
"You can call in late."
This was also normal after a fight. Nijimura would seduce him and they would spend the whole day in the bedroom. The first time was always rough and passionate, and from there anything following could go from sweet and slow to kind of kinky. The in between pillow talk was one of the more peaceful moments that they had together. It was nothing more than soft whispered secrets and sweet promises, and Haizaki was more than willing to take it.
Besides, he couldn't deny that being inside of Nijimura was amazing. Having the other man beneath him, and so open, just the fact that he trusted him enough to do this. He never said this aloud.
~.~.~.~.~
"How the fuck did you lose your job this time?!"
"I told you my boss is a dick! I didn't do anything this time. They were just laying people off and I got put into that group!"
"Right!"
"Why the fuck do you always think it's me."
"Because it's always you!"
By now the neighbors had either called the police or turned up their music. But this fight had been going on for a long time and no one had knocked on the door yet so he was going to guess the later of the two.
It wasn't long until they went to blow, Nijimura almost immediately taking the upper hand. His fist seemed to be even more relentless than usual. It most likely had something to do with the date being close to the anniversary of his dad's death.
Haizaki hated how his bulk and height didn't matter. When it came to Nijimura he was always covered in bruises, and he can't remember if he'd ever gotten a hit in on him. It just became instinct to protect his head and middle.
However, this time it didn't seem like Nijimura planned on stopping. Fist after fist was raining down on him to the point where his ears were ringing from the impact. he couldn't even hear what Nijimura was yelling.
Begrudgingly he uncurled himself and started to crawl. He knew it left him open, but he also knows that he needs to get out, maybe this time not come back. There were only but so many times you can repeat the same pattern over and over again before you realize that nothing was going to change.
This was insanity, to keep coming back to him.
But Nijimura wouldn't let him get away. And the more he resisted the worse things got for him. It didn't help when he caught one of the fist.
He came to the realization a little too late that he wasn't getting out of this one until Nijimura or God said so. He was already beaten and bloody, his head was spinning and everything hurt. He could barely see out of his eyes because they were swollen so badly. Maybe his ribs were cracked, because his breathing was labored, and he was light head.
He guess that God had the final say because Nijimura was still hitting him as he started to lost consciousness, but things were getting brighter, not darker…