Hey guys! Thank you for allll of the reviews on the last chapter! I enjoyed reading every single one! I really hope this chapter is good... Um...and YAY I am close to 700 reviews and that makes me really happy because I am just overwhelmed by the positive feedback... okay enough sap... ENJOY! :D
Miyagi pulled up into an empty parking space. The car was silent. Neither the honey-haired teen nor the elder man said a word. Shinobu's heart was pounding as his cheeks reddened. His foot nervously tapped on the floor to calm the internal anxiety that enveloped his body.
'What happens now? What the hell is he going to talk to me about? My job?My feelings? What just happened...?' Shinobu fiddled with the fabric of his shirt.
"We're here," Miyagi said impatiently.
He had managed to get out of the car without Shinobu noticing.
"I know!" Shinobu snapped, and unbuckled his seatbelt, and got out of the vehicle.
"Risako is at work," Miyagi addressed Shinobu coldly.
"So?"
"So you better tell me the whole truth," Miyagi grit his teeth.
'Oh shit,' Shinobu felt cold sweat break on his forehead.
The pair walked into the building, pressing the elevator button. As the doors slowly slid shut, Shinobu turned to glare fiercely at Miyagi, "Or what?"
Ignoring the teen's questions, Miyagi said,"You and I are having a talk."
"WHY?! What do you want to know sooo badly, Miyagi," Shinobu hissed.
Miyagi stayed silent, until the elevator came to a stop. Shinobu and he got out, walking towards their door. The couple walked into the apartment, shutting and locking it behind them.
Finally, Miyagi hissed in a worried tone,"I know, Shu!"
"Don't call me that!"
"Admit it! You're a prostitute!"
Shinobu's cheeks heated up, as his eyes widened at the offensive name, "Am not!"
Miyagi sighed heavily and proceeded to go sit on the couch, "Shinobu come here."
"I don't want to talk," Shinobu whimpered.
"Fine! Then let's talk about something else! Something like that silly crush you keep harboring for me!"
"I don't want to talk!"
"Shinobu...please...let's just sit down and talk this all out. I can help you! You don't need to subject yourself to being a hooker! If you need money, anything..."
Miyagi stopped talking when he saw Shinobu trembling, his delicate hands clutched in fists.
"Shinobu... I'm sorry... I know you're upset," Miyagi sighed.
"Then you should stop talking!" the blond yelled, before running off into his room, slamming the door shut.
'Oi...I fucked up again,' Miyagi thought to himself, mentally slapping himself.
'He's a teen...he's lost, scared, and here I am... attacking him. But I care about him...and I want to help...' Miyagi furrowed his eyebrows, twiddling his thumbs.
"Help..." Miyagi muttered to himself
'If there's anyone who needs it right now it's Hiroki...What am I doing here...trying to butt into the life of my brother in law...saying I care...but keeping a prisoner in my own home'
And with that, all the man's thoughts were switched on the brunet who occupied their house. This had bothered him for a while. However, he, as with many things, refused to deal with it.
'What am I doing with him? What's with the hope that I keep holding in my heart?' Miyagi exhaled roughly, clutching his hair in his hands.
'I love him...I love him with all my heart...but would you really keep in hostage the person that you love?'
The 35 year old knew the answer. However, he couldn't deal with the reality of the situation.
'I can't do this anymore...I can't keep putting him through misery,' Miyagi thought sadly, feeling his heart clench in his chest.
'But I can't let him go to Akihiko... I don't want him to suffer anymore, period. Not with me, not with him... Why can't you return my feelings, Hiroki? But then again... you have that giant of yours... I guess they really do have something special... I have to fix this before Hiroki hates me even more.'
Hiroki lay on his bed, his fingers unconsciously scraping at the fabric. His eyes were glassy, tired, sleepless... He spent most of days like this now... slowly aging, trapped in a box from which he couldn't escape. Sure, there were no guards, no Master, nobody to stop him from leaving. He just couldn't do it.
Now, laying on this bed, Hiroki felt like his head was going to explode. He had been thinking so much that he couldn't bear it anymore. His mind was blank, but yet countless thoughts still ran through, circling around in his mind.
'If I leave... if I escape, where would I go? Back to Akihiko? Back to the prison which I have been trapped in for almost a year now... but which holds Nowaki... Nowaki... I want to see you so badly. I can't take it.I think about you...you are my everything and now-'
Feeling his heart pang in his chest, Hiroki lazily got up from the bed and made it over to a small table which stood in the corner of his room. Taking a sheet of paper which he had asked of from Miyagi, Hiroki took a pencil in his shaking hand.
He had been doing this for a while now. It was a strangely satisfying coping method for the brunet. He tapped the pencil's eraser on the table, furrowing his brows.
Dear Nowaki.
Yes... I'm still thinking about you...every day. Every hour. Are you alright? How are you holding up to that asshole? But I'm trying not to worry too much. I know you're strong. I know you can beat all of them...You have way more strength than you know. I believe in you. Someday you will kick Aihiko's ass and we can be free...
Ah... I'm sorry I'm just rambling... I just... I miss you so much it hurts. I can't deal with this. Miyagi treats me well... but then again... that's about as good as Akihiko treating me like shit but you being there...by my side...
But... what if I do come back? I will see you... But nothing will change... No... I need to find a way to leave.. to get out...
There was a knock on the door. Hiroki dropped his pencil and quickly hid the letter in his desk, shoving it in with the rest of the letters which have accumulated over the past months.
"Come in!"
"Kamijou," Miyagi poked his head through the door, "May I please talk to you?"
Kamijou turned around and looked at Miyagi with tired eyes, "Sure."
The black-haired man slowly approached the bed, noticing Hiroki scoot farther away as he came closer.
"You don't have to be scared of me," Miyagi said in a sober tone.
"I know," Hiroki replied gruffly, turning his back to Miyagi and sighing.
"Listen... this is not working out, is it," Miyagi's voice was strained.
The younger man stayed silent, but listened keenly at the strange tone in the elder's voice.
"You haven't been happy here... I know. I'm not stupid," Miyagi took a deep breath, "You don't leave this room... you don't talk to anyone, you barely eat," the man looked over the brunet's even slimmer figure.
Hiroki furrowed his brows, intently listening to Miyagi. He couldn't help but feel just a bit saddened. He most certainly heard the pain in the elder's voice. After all the time that he's been here, he too hasn't been completely ignorant of the atmosphere. He could sense the intense love that Miyagi felt for him whenever he would talk to him, look at him, be in the same room as him...But he just couldn't return it.
'I can't fall in love with him... I love Nowaki...But he's so sad...and I can't help but pity him... I could never love him but-'
"Kamijou?"
"Huh?" Hiroki turned around and finally saw Miyagi's face. He could see the strain in his muscles as Miyagi tried to contain his emotions.
"I'm... I'm sorry. I should have known better."
Hiroki listened on.
"I'm a thirty five year old man...going to be thirty-six in a few months... and I'm after a taken man...I just... I don't know what else to say but... I'm sorry."
The brunet was dumbfounded. He couldn't believe that confession had just come out of Miyagi's lips like that. He brought himself to sit up and look at Miyagi's face.
'What? He isn't acting like himself... he's so sad, and he confessed just like that?' Hiroki thought
Hiroki stayed silent. His brows knitted together, as his lips had no idea what to say.
"So... what comes next?" he mumbled
"I don't know," Miyagi spoke grimly.
"Uh... I'm sorry too..." Hiroki said after a while, "I know how hard it is to love someone who...doesn't really..."
"I get it," Miyagi mumbled quickly.
"I'm really, really sorry... but you know what? I know who loves you...very much."
"Believe me, I know as well," the elder sighed, furrowing his own eyebrows.
"So..."
"I don't love him back, Kamijou...I love you," Miyagi whispered the last part.
" I know..." Hiroki whispered, looking down at his hands, which writhed together from how nervous the brunet was feeling.
" Listen... you're not a...bad guy. I see how much you care about me..." Hiroki's cheeks burned from the awkward situation, but he continued on, "But I have someone...very special to me and-"
"I know. And I realized that trying to break you up was...a terrible move on my part. So... " Miyagi inhaled, as he felt tears stinging his eyes, "you're free to go."
Hiroki's eyes widened, as a slight smile crept up on his face. For a second, he wanted to hug Miyagi and thank him till infinity. He felt...unchained. However, the feeling was soon replaced by sadness.
"If only it was that easy..." Hiroki muttered, "Akihiko..."
"Oh. Well... what if I talk to him?"
"He's not letting me go... and I won't go without Nowaki... and he's not letting Nowaki leave either. No matter what. He's a sort of...help to Akihiko. He couldn't loose such a valuable prize."
"There's gotta be a way," Miyagi said with fake determination.
The elder man was feeling lower by the second. He felt Hiroki slipping through his fingers.
"Well there is a way out of everything," Hiroki said in lifted spirits.
"Man... you're really happy aren't you?" Miyagi forced on a smile
Hiroki considered his response, sensing the pain that he might cause the elder, "I'm very happy, yes. But that doesn't mean that you should be miserable. Miyagi, I am extremely grateful that you 'let me go' so to speak... because I still technically belong to Akihiko... But you should go out and find your own happiness. I just... I can't-"
"I know, I know. I can't force you to love me, that's for sure," Miyagi's voice was somber.
"Divorce your wife. Go out into the world and find a new love! And listen... I've thought about it just now...and...you have to send me back to Akihiko. I need to be with Nowaki," Hiroki finished cautiously.
"What?! But the way he treats you..."
"I have to make sure Nowaki's okay," the brunet's tone was resolute.
"Well... if he's valuable to Akihiko... I bet you he can't be treating him too badly... although... knowing Akihiko...he's capable of anything."
"That's why I need to be there... together with him. Send me back, please," Hiroki asked queitly.
"Kamijou... I can't put your life in danger!"
"I'll be fine, Miyagi. Just send me back. Tell him I was too much of an asshole," Hiroki chuckled.
"Alright...but I have to think about how to do this," Miyagi furrowed his brows.
"Okay..."
After a few more comforting words, and a reassurance that Hiroki was now indeed free from him, Miyagi left the room. Now that this part was over, he needed to deal with something... or rather someone else once more.