With Good Intentions:
Chapter Seven
Quietly Ryuu stood by the door of the apartment, sighing softly—Hiro had left with Shuuichi just moments before. Ryuu pretended to leave as well, but the moment the two were out of sight he came back to the apartment door.
He just couldn't leave the novelist alone after he tried to jump twice within the past twenty-four hours. The image of the suicide he witnessed plagued him each time he thought about giving up and going home. He couldn't let that happen to the novelist.
"Kumagoro…what am I to do?" He took out the pink plushie and held it close. "I want to help, but…." He fell silent when he heard a soft noise come from behind the door—it sounded like sobs. "He's crying?"
Holding Kumagoro close he crouched by the door to listen closely to the sound, biting his lip when the unmistakable sound of crying reached his ears.
"Yes, he is." He stood quickly and brought his hand to the doorknob, hesitating on opening the door—what if Yuki got mad at him? Maybe Yuki was all right now and wouldn't do anything else—after all he wasn't around any more bridges at the moment.
'Stupid. There's other ways to do that than just jumping.' That thought fought off his hesitation and he opened the door, struggling to see anything in the darkness that greeted him.
"Yuki-san?" He called hesitantly—what if he'd been mistaken about the crying? No—he wasn't, he'd definitely heard crying, but did the novelist need to be comforted. "Yuki…."
He heard something fall in a room down the hall, a sound that terrified him. He ran to the room and peeked inside. Yuki knelt on the floor, a knife on the floor by his feet—and blood on his hand.
"Yuki-san!" Ryuu rushed to Yuki's side, grabbing his arm to see how much it bled—hoping it wasn't too much.
"Get out." Yuki mumbled his face wet with tears, body trembling. "Get…."
"No, not until you're okay." Ryuu checked Yuki's wrists, gasping at how many cuts adorned the skin—scars too. "You've been doing this for a while." Getting no response he made sure none of the cuts were too deep, and then he went to get something to clean the wounds. He made sure to take the knife with him.
"I told you to get out." Yuki growled when Ryuu returned, but he did nothing more when the singer proceeded to clean his wounds, bandaging them as well.
"They're okay now. I should really call Seguchi and tell him…."
"No. You won't."
"But I should….I don't want you hurting yourself more…." Ryuu cradled Yuki's arm in his hand, staring wistfully at the bandage.
"You tell and I swear I'll make your life miserable." Yuki snatched his arm away, and glared at the singer. "Seguchi doesn't need to know—no one does. So you keep everything I've done a secret, or I swear…."
"Fine. But I'll check on you everyday. I probably should even move in to make sure you don't do anything too serious."
"No. You get out now, I've had enough dealing with idiots today…." Yuki paused, running his fingers over the bandage in thought. "You're not as much of an idiot as I thought." He muttered without thinking, quickly regretting it when a smirk appeared on Ryuu's face.
"You noticed."
"Why…you only pretend to be an idiot?"
"Well, I can be smart when I feel like it—I just don't feel like it most of the time." Ryuu paused, sitting down by Yuki. "Now, however, I can't be an idiot—not with something this serious. I won't let you kill yourself…or hurt yourself in any way."
"You're acting like another Seguchi wanting to baby-sit me." Yuki found his cigarette where he placed it before cutting and stuck it in his mouth, calming himself down. "I don't like it."
"Would you rather Kumagoro watch you, na no ka?" Ryuu brought the plushie up to his face as he looked at Yuki with wide blue eyes.
"Stop it, it's not cute."
"Okay. But Kumagoro says he likes you a whole lot, and he's sorry about the whole Shuu and Hiro thing—that's messed up."
"Yeah, it is." Yuki flicked the ashes off his cigarette, not caring that they landed on the floor. The novelist brought his hand to cover his face, head pounding from crying before.
"Don't worry, I'm here to help." Ryuu stood as well and placed his hand on the novelist's shoulder.
"Shuu…."
A/N: End chapter
