Author's Note: Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. I didn't get any feedback, so I'm going to assume it was decent. Here's the next installment. We're almost halfway through the story, yay!
"Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries."
― James A. Michener
Good Man
Midorima quietly unlocked the door to his parents' house, figuring they'd both be asleep since it was a quarter until eleven. When he slipped in through the door, he closed it quietly and started walking towards the kitchen when he noticed the light was still on.
"Dad," Midorima said softly as he walked into the kitchen and spotted his dad making himself some tea at the table. The older man gestured for his son to take a seat at the table.
"Would you like some tea?" his father asked him with a kind smile. "You're in late, catching up with old friends?"
Midorima pulled out a chair at the table and took a seat. He shook his head, but remained silent as he remembered Takao walking to his apartment. Midorima ran after him and tried to stop him, but Takao refused him. He slammed the door in his face and regardless of Midorima pleas Takao never opened the door. Midorima tried to get him to open the door for a good ten minutes before he finally took the hint. For the next two hours, Midorima wandered the streets of Tokyo before finally heading to his parents.
Part of him was half tempted to crawl into his sister's bed and make her listen to his miserable sob story. She probably wouldn't mind listening to him though; Maya did always love the drama. Midorima knew it was the right thing to do, telling Takao that he had drunken sex with Akashi Seijuro. He could sit there and swear left and right that it was a mistake, but it was not a mistake. Sleeping with Akashi, regardless of being drunk, was a choice.
It was a stupid choice. A ridiculous choice that he never should have made, but he did and now he had to live with it. For the past five years, Midorima has lived with it. Although, he did feel a little bit better now that Takao knew, he still felt like he was at rock bottom. Before Midorima was on the level below rock bottom, which he was pretty sure was one of the seven levels of hell.
Tadashi cleared his throat, causing Midorima to look up at his father. He mumbled an apology as he pulled of his glasses and rubbed his face. His father poured Midorima some tea and pushed the cup towards him. Mouthing a thank you to his father, Midorima took the cup and stared at it for a few moments. Licking his lips, Midorima sipped on the tea slowly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" his father asked softly, looking at his son. "You talked to Takao, what happened?" Tadashi pushed, and Midorima finished the tea.
"I told him why I left," Midorima explained in a quiet voice, barely above a whisper. "And while I'm glad I told him, I still feel like the world's most awful person." He buried his face in his hands and sighed heavily.
"What did you do?" Tadashi asked curiously.
"I cheated on him," Midorima admitted again for the third time in the day. He didn't want to say it anymore, he just wanted to forget and move forward. That was the thing about telling the truth though, it didn't just go away. It had to linger for a while for good measure. "I know it was a stupid choice, but at the time I just got lost in the moment. I never meant to do it, I never wanted to, but I did and now…" he trailed off and felt the tears pricking his eyes.
"Do you remember what I told you when you came out to me?" Tadashi asked, pouring more tea for his son. When he put the kettle down, Tadashi looked at his son. The young man nodded his head as he recalled his father's words.
"I expected you to disown me and hate me, but you didn't." Midorima remembered and looked at his father curiously. "Why are you asking me that?" his son asked, not understanding what his father was trying to make him see.
"Are you still the man I raised you to be?" Tadashi asked with a small smile. "That's what I asked you."
"I told you that regardless of who I loved, I was still the same person. I didn't think you would still love me, but you did," Midorima said with a weak smile. "What does this have this have to do with me cheating on Takao?"
"I raised you to be a good man and sometimes even good men do stupid things. That does not however define who they are," Tadashi explained and Midorima nodded slowly still not sure if he was following. "I was raised to be a good man. Love my wife, my children, and my friends through everything. We all make the wrong choices sometimes; the important thing is how you make the right choice the next time. If you don't then perhaps there won't be a next time."
Midorima stared at his dad and looked down at the table. "Are you saying you think Takao will give me a second chance because I'm a good person even though I made a stupid choice that ruined both our personal lives?"
"Exactly," Tadashi agreed, lifting his cup up to his lips and sipped on his tea. "Like you, Kazu is a good man and he loves you."
-###-
Takao knelt down and reached under the doormat, plucking out a key. He stuck it into the lock, twisted it and let himself into the house. It was four in the morning and he hadn't slept at all. Since nine o'clock that night, Takao had been in his apartment pacing and wondering what he was going to do. He tossed and turned in his bed like a madman and weighed out the pros and cons. Not only did he blurt out his feeling he'd been trying so hard to repress, but also he blurted them out to Midorima. In turn, Midorima told Takao his dirty little secret and in all honesty, Takao also had a feeling it was something like this.
Wandering down the hall, Takao pushed the bedroom door open and stood at the foot of the bed. He watched the two men sleeping soundly not even realizing he was there. Takao felt bad for barging in on his two friends, but he really needed to talk to Kise. The blond was hugging a pillow tightly to his chest while Kasamatsu was snuggling into his back. It was a rather cute scene, but Takao felt the need to disturb them because he wasn't happy and he was in distress and needed to talk to Kise.
"You're being robbed, because you didn't listen to me and left your spare key under the doormat," Takao announced loudly, causing both men to jolt awake and stare at him in disbelief. The gray eyed man smiled at the two and waved pleasantly like he hadn't just barged into their place at the crack of dawn. "I need to talk to your lover, Kasamatsu. And I can't do it while you're fondling, so can you go?"
"Kazu! What the hell are you doing here?" Kasamatsu exclaimed and rolled onto his back, seeing the digital clock reading 4:03AM. "It's four in the morning? What the hell?"
"I just told you I need to talk to Kise, it's important," Takao stated firmly and looked at the blond, who sighed and fell back on the bed. He had a mini heart attack and Takao was acting surprisingly calm about having broken into their house. "I know it's early or late or whatever, but I've been tossing and turning all night and the only person I can think of to talk to is Kise. So please, get out of the bed so I can talk to him."
"Are you kidding?" Kasamatsu asked in annoyance. Takao was his friend, one of his best friends, but at this moment he could probably punch him and not feel the slightest bit guilty. When Takao just stared at him with a raised brow, Kasamatsu groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You can't just kick me out of my own bed?"
"I can, and I will," Takao replied as he yanked the blanket off of Kasamatsu. "Now go," Takao said with a wave of his hand.
"I'm not even wearing anything," Kasamatsu grumbled with narrowed eyes as he held the blanket over his private parts.
"I don't care, I've seen your penis and I have one too, it's all good," Takao said flatly, causing Kasamatsu to roll his steal blue eyes. He reached down to the floor and grabbed his pants. As he slipped them on, he got off the bed and Takao immediately climbed in.
"You're seriously kicking my boyfriend out of bed?" Kise asked when Takao plopped down in the spot Kasamatsu had been in.
"Kicked, he's already out," Takao corrected, causing Kise to huff and roll over.
"Since I'm up and being rudely kicked out, would you like some coffee or juice?" Kasamatsu offered in a mocking tone as he left the room.
"Coffee would be sensational!" Takao called out.
"Alright, talk," Kise commanded as he rolled over and looked at his friend. "What happened?" He sat up and propped up some pillows behind him. The blond looked at Takao, who seemed to be troubled.
"I don't know what to do, Kise," Takao sighed as he stretched his legs out over the bed. He was so confused about everything, well everything that had to do with his morals and Midorima. When Takao was younger his moral code was to give everyone a second chance, but how could he give Midorima a second chance. The love of his life cheated on him with a mutual friend and left like a ship in the night. Five years had gone by and he never knew, or maybe he did and he just didn't want to accept it.
Kise furrowed his brows and asked Takao what he meant. The dark haired man sighed softly and shook his head. Even hearing the words out of Midorima's mouth, Takao still didn't want to believe it. The blond nudged him with his elbow, and gave him a look.
"He cheated on me," Takao announced.
"He what?" Kise exclaimed, looking at his friend with wide eyes. "He cheated! With who?"
"Does it matter?" Takao grumbled bitterly.
"Hell yeah!" Kise replied firmly with a nod of his head. "If it was just some random person he would have stayed here, it had to be someone we knew." The blond stared at Takao, who stared straight across the room at a random spot on the wall. Kise frowned when Takao looked like he was about to cry. "Kazu?"
"It was Akashi," Takao muttered sadly, causing Kise's eyes to nearly bulge out of his head. "And even though I know and everything," Takao paused and swallowed hard before saying, "for some twisted reason I still love him."
"Are you in love with him?" Kise asked with an emphasis on 'in'.
That was a very loaded question and if Takao was going to answer honestly, he'd say that he was. It was like he never stopped, he felt like Midorima was the one. Midorima was the man he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with. Knowing the truth didn't seem to change that either, he was hurt, but he didn't want to lose him again. Takao was so confused though about what he wanted and what he needed.
"I don't know," Takao lied with a shrug of his shoulders. Kise rolled his eyes and scoffed, calling him a lair. The dark haired man frowned and sank down into the bed. He grabbed a pillow and covered his face with it.
Kise sighed and grabbed the pillow, yanking it away from him. "If you love him and are in love with him and don't want to lose him again, go get him."
"He cheated on me! That's not something I can just ignore," Takao pointed out firmly. He buried his face in his hands and cursed under his breath. Kise lay beside him quietly and licked his lips. "What would you do if it was you?" Takao asked, hoping Kise would have some sort of advice to give him.
"I'd kill Yu-chan, honestly," Kise said partially serious and partially joking. When Takao rolled his eyes, Kise chuckled and placed his hand on Takao's knee. He patted it in a comforting manner and sighed softly. "I don't know for sure what I would do, but I would be honest with how I really feel."
"But what if what I feel is wrong?" Takao asked.
"It's not wrong," Kise assured him with a shake of his head. "Midorimacchi is a good person, he always has been and I'm sure he would spend the rest of his life proving to you how much he loves you if you let him."
Takao was silent for a moment. That was a lot to think about, Takao knew the risks and the stories of cheater. He wasn't really sure if he believed the saying, 'once a cheater, always a cheater' because eventually everyone found love. He wondered though, did that mean everyone got a happily ever after? Perhaps they only got that one great love and then once something like this happened that was it. The choice was hard, and Takao really didn't want to make it. Maybe he already had made his choice though and just wasn't sure if it was the right one. Could there really be a right or wrong when it came to loving someone? Everyone deserved some form of love right?
-###-
Maya walked out onto the back porch. Her brother didn't even notice her as he stared blankly into space in deep thought. She assumed he had told Takao what he had done. It wasn't a simple thing to ignore, but Maya had this feeling that the two would somehow work it out. To her, Takao and Midorima made sense. The way they loved one another made her believe in true love. Even though Midorima had been a complete idiot and cheated on him, Maya believed they could overcome that. Those two were the reason Maya believed it was possible to love so honestly and so deeply. Sure, her parents were in love and they loved one another, but they were the typical, age old love story. They were the classic boy meets girl kind of thing, but Midorima and Takao were on a whole other level.
Everything was going against them when they first started dating. The captain and vice captain of the basketball team, and it wasn't just any basketball team, but one of the best in the country. People weren't accepting of their love, it even got some hate when they were featured in Basketball Monthly. They survived it though and ignored everyone else and did what they felt was right for them. It was completely inspiring to her that they stuck together. Of course, they weren't always perfect and no one ever was. They would fight, they would argue, and disagree with each other. At the end of the day though, Takao and Midorima knew it was harder to be apart. Somehow those two always managed to find their way back to one another. That was why Maya believed that everything was going to be okay.
"Good morning, Shin-chan," Maya greeted politely as she walked over to him. She took the empty patio chair beside him and leaned back. It was a beautiful morning despite the mild chill in the air. "Would you come with me today?"
Midorima turned to his little sister. "Where to?"
"I'm picking up my dress," Maya replied with a smile. There was nothing that could put a damper on her day. "I had it cleaned and tailored. I want you to see it before the wedding."
"Of course," Midorima replied with a small smile.
"Great, let's go then, we can get breakfast on the way," Maya said as she stood up from the chair. "Shin-chan."
"Yes?" he asked as he stood up.
"It's going to be okay," she assured him with a warm smile. "Everything will be okay."
