roller coaster
Oct. 31st, 2011 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angelshillmy life these past few weeks had been a bit of a roller coaster ride...
seriously...
and it looks like it's bound to continue for at least two more weeks...
or months...
or, i don't know...
it sure doesn't look like things are going to settle down quick...
and here's hoping i'm going to survive... LOL...
i seriously wasn't expecting this when i first started this job...
anyway... Halloween treat!
there are questions to be answered, moments to be had...
TITLE: One Chance (Falling...)
CHARACTERS: Matsumoto Jun, Ikuta Toma, Inoue Mao, Horikita Maki, Toda Erika, Mizushima Hiro, Nishikido Ryo, Takaki Yuya, Sakamoto Masayuki (please proceed to cast list for more of the cast)
GENRE: AU
RATINGS: Pg
DISCLAIMER: The only thing i own in this story is the plot...
SUMMARY: She was waiting for a guy to sweep her off her feet. He was waiting for that girl he could sweep off hers... And then a new guy came to change the story... This is a story of falling in love, and realizing that you've fallen in love... Typical isn't it? Maybe... Maybe not...
Prologue, Chapter1, Chapter2, Chapter3, Chapter4, Chapter5, Chapter6, Chapter7, Chapter8, Chapter 9, Chapter10, Chapter11, Chapter12, Chapter13, Chapter14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter17,Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter20, Chapter21,Chapter22, Chapter23, Chapter24, Chapter25
Chapter 26: Where It All Started
There was an awful, awkward silence in the elevator the moment the door closed, leaving only Mao and Jun inside that closed compartment. Mao had finally stepped into the elevator with her heart thumping so loud it’s almost impossible that Jun couldn’t hear it, still very much surprised at the sight of the guy. She had already told herself that she wouldn’t be seeing the guy, at least for the day, and that she had successfully avoided him.
Seeing him after those thoughts were a bit unnerving, making Mao scramble for words until she decided that not saying anything was a better idea after all.
Jun, it turned out, didn’t think the same.
Mao almost didn’t see it when he reached out and flipped a switch, a switch that Mao wasn’t even aware was present on the elevator switchboards. She staggered a bit as the elevator stood still. Looking up quickly, she saw that they were between two floors. Jun had stopped the box.
“We need to talk,” Jun declared even before Mao could turn to face him.
Mao felt her tongue retreat to the back of her throat as she looked at Jun looking so seriously at her.
“You have been avoiding me,” Jun continued when she still hadn’t spoken.
Mao was about to open her mouth to contradict but she immediately realized that the guy is saying the truth. The last time she and Jun talked alone was the day of Toma’s accident. She almost wanted to choke. That was also the time she had planned to tell Jun her decision, before Toma’s incident and Meisa’s arrival.
“No I wasn’t,” Mao still said though.
“Yes you were,” Jun replied. Mao could see that he was smiling but while Mao chuckled along, her heart was still pounding. “Meisa told me two things. One is that you accompanied her yesterday. I guess that’s why I didn’t see you.”
Confused, Mao asked “But you weren’t at the office yesterday. You left.”
“I returned,” Jun shrugged. “Around this time too. But unlike today, you weren’t here. I’m glad I didn’t lose hope.”
Mao could feel her heart elating at Jun’s words. It was actually a weird combination, elation and nerves. Mao felt her knees slowly giving in.
“Oh…”
“Meisa was always by my side the whole time I was in London, have I ever told you that?” Jun started almost conversationally and Mao felt her feet staggering back until she felt the wall by her back.
She had already heard Meisa’s version of the story, and after that talk with Toma, she believed it. With Jun starting the story like that, she knew he’s about to tell her his version and despite assurances from Meisa herself, that worry that both Meisa and Toma had quelled popped up again. She was afraid that she was going to hear a different version.
“You never mentioned her,” she had strength enough to say.
Jun was silent for a while but it didn’t look to Mao as though he didn’t know what he’s going to say next. It looked as if he was just choosing the best way to say what he’s about to say. And somehow, that scared her a whole lot more.
“I guess the reason why I never told you about her was because I didn’t want you to doubt that there was something more between her and me, especially when she’s not here to corroborate the story,” he said. “I guess I was waiting for you to fully allow me in before I tell you about the woman I left in London.”
“Wa-Was she important?” she choked out. She needed him to clear everything out.
“Important?” Jun repeated before releasing a sigh. “Yes, yes she is.”
“Important enough to make you return to London even when everyone you love is here?”
“When her father died a couple of years after I was transferred to London, I fully expected Meisa to return to Japan for good,” Jun started after heaving a sigh. “I was surprised when, a couple of weeks after the funeral, she stepped into the London office. She told me that she wasn’t going to return here simply because it was her birthplace. She needed something more, something real, to pull her back here for good. I realized she was right. A couple of weeks later, I asked if I can pirate her reason. She laughed and said yes.”
“So, if you’re asking me if she was the reason why I wanted to return to London, the answer would be no,” Jun continued. “She was just part of my reason of returning there. She was the source of my reason not the reason itself. So, if that would be how you’re going to phrase your question, the answer would be a no.”
Mao nodded, feeling relief wash all over her body. It was one thing when Meisa said practically those things but hearing it from Jun was something else. It weighed heavier.
“Is there anything more you want to know?” Jun asked.
Mao thought hard for a bit. The truth is, there’s a lot more she wanted to know and there was one question her tongue is itching to voice out but it was one she managed to force to the back of her mind. Shw wasn’t ready to ask that question yet. Instead, she picked on something Jun had said just moments ago.
“What was the other one?”
“What?” Jun asked, slightly confused.
“You said that Meisa-san told you two things,” she started after swallowing pretty hard. “One was that I accompanied her yesterday. What was the other one?”
Jun smiled. “She told me that she understands if I’m not going to return to London for good,” he told her.
Mao felt her worries and insecurities leave her body as she nodded.
“Anything else?” Jun prompted.
Mao knew somehow that it was Jun’s way of telling her that she’s waiting for her to ask ‘it’. He had already said and done a lot of things so it’s already Mao’s turn. But Mao couldn’t force her lips to move. She felt herself shaking her head.
She thought she heard him sigh but she wasn’t sure because he moved. She thought he looked disappointed though as he reached for the switch to turn the elevator back on. They started moving again.
They had just passed the 3rd floor when Mao did the unthinkable.
-----
He saw her reach for the switch.
When Jun saw her shaking her head, he took it as a sign that she wasn’t ready yet. It was either Mao still hadn’t had a chance to make a choice between him and her best friend or she was staggered by Meisa’s arrival. The third possibility, the one that says she might have chosen Toma over him, was pushed to the very back of his mind. But it wasn’t because he’s confident she’d choose him. He isn’t. He just decided that he couldn’t afford to entertain those kinds of thoughts until Mao tells him straight out.
And with her shaking of her head, he figured that’s not yet going to happen.
Which is why he was very surprised to see her suddenly reaching out to stop the elevator.
But when she didn’t speak after switching it off, he ended up saying “You better be sure of yourself before you do or say anything. I’m not in a rush. I’m fine waiting.”
Jun saw Mao swallow hard before he heard her say “Why me?”
Jun noted how Mao’s voice hitched when with that simple two-word question. He noted how she didn’t meet his eyes. Mao was feeling insecure of herself, she was afraid.
“Because… Because I knew it the moment I saw you,” he said with a smile. “It was in this elevator, remember? Where we first met? I’m not sure if you noticed me and I would admit I didn’t put much attention on you. But somehow, you got stuck in my head. And then in my heart.”
He saw as her eyes flickered to meet his and how those orbs looked like it’s about ready to well up. She was a bit shaky too. And then she said something Jun wasn’t really expecting but was really glad to hear.
“Toma-kun is just my best friend,” Mao said. “I realized that even before everything that recently happened. I guess that’s what he has always been, even back when we were together. He’s my best friend, the guy who’s always been there, the guy who’s always there to protect and to help. Just that.”
Jun found himself getting caught in Mao’s eyes as they simply looked at each other after that little admission. Silence reigned but it was neither awkward nor unsettling.
And then Mao said “So, where exactly are we now?”
Jun chuckled lightly, trying to mask the swelling of his own heart.
“Right now, we’re stuck between moving forward or stepping back,” he said as he looked at the elevator’s switchboard.
Literally speaking, he was referring to the fact that he and Mao were stuck in between floors 2 and 3. Figuratively speaking, he was talking about the fact that they could move to the next level or go back to being friends, or worse, just colleagues. And he knew that Mao understood that, evidenced by her suddenly straightening up.
She was also looking at her inquiringly, waiting for him to decide. That’s when he shook his head.
“It’s your choice. Like I said, I’m not in a hurry,” he said as he nodded towards the switchboard, particularly the flip switch. Mao already had the courage to stop the box herself, it’s her decision if she wants to start it up herself.
He saw Mao’s eyes travel from his to the switchboard, and he knew to himself that while waiting has always been very difficult for him, he really is willing to wait for her.
And when Mao took that first step, it was his turn to swallow hard.
But he saw immediately the direction she was heading to, towards him and not the switchboard. In two quick strides, he had met her halfway and grabbed her by the waist before fully claiming her lips.
And he could practically swear that it feels like heaven when he felt her kiss him back as her hands entwining at the back of his neck.
-----TBC-----
and there's chapter 26!!!!
oh my GOd! i really can't believe i've finally reached this part of the story... LOL...
anyway, to be honest, the elevator scene on the very start of the story was actually unplanned but the moment i wrote it, i knew i wanted it there...
i wanted to connect it to one of the recurring scenes in my favorite US show, NCIS, when NCIS' Leroy Jehtro GIbbs and FBI's Tobias Fornell would always use the elevator as their private meeting room... :D
TITLE: The Chase
CHARACTERS: Sakurai Sho, Kuroki Meisa, Matsumoto Jun, Aiba Masaki, Becky, Inoue Mao, Tsukamoto Takashi, Narimiya Hiroshi, +others (TBD)
PAIRING: Sho/Meisa
RATINGS: PG
DISCLAIMER: The only thing i own in this story is the plot...
AUTHOR'S NOTE: this was one of the stories i posted last year as one of my possible stories... i just changed th background of the story so as not to make it not sound like a rehash of one of my other ongoings... :)
Chapter1, Chapter2, Chapter3, Chapter4, Chapter5
Meisa couldn’t help but heave a sigh coupled with a bit of small laughter as she came out of her kitchen and into the living room only to be met by the sight before her: Sho already fast asleep in her sofa.
He had already changed out of his wet clothes, which are now hung by her bathroom to dry, and into a pair of Meisa’s loosest clothes. The shirt actually was once his but he had removed it from his back and ‘given’ it to Meisa that one time they spent the night with Jun, Shii, Aiba, Becky, Mao, and a couple of Shii’s workmates at the beach and Sho said that he didn’t like how Shii’s workmates were looking at her with only her bikini set on. She had laughed at his weirdness then but, with Mao’s insistence, followed his almost demand when she saw how serious Sho looked.
She didn’t bother returning the shirt to him though. And while the shirt does look okay on the guy (considering it is his), the pants, Meisa’s loosest, looked a bit funny on him. After all, it was still a bit girly and somehow did not match well with his physique.
Shaking her head a bit, she walked towards him and reached out to touch his forehead. He still felt warm but it was already good news since he felt like he’s having fever earlier when Meisa got home. The medicine must have already taken effect.
Her worries about the guy’s health had already eased up a bit by the time she had extracted a blanket from her closet to cover the guy with and she was about to head to her room already when the corner of her eyes caught something by the side table. It was Sho’s jacket, the one she removed from him earlier after she dragged him into her apartment. She had simply placed it on the side then before she hurried off to get a towel and a change of clothes while Sho murmured stuff that sounded suspiciously like apologies.
Picking the jacket up with the intention of hanging it with the rest of Sho’s clothes to dry, she realized that there was something heavy in one of the pockets. It turns out that it was a set of keys, Sho’s set of keys and while it is just normal that he would have his keys on his pockets, she noticed a familiar key that made her forehead crease.
It was the key to her apartment, the very same key Sho claimed to have left in his own apartment when, for some reason she still hadn’t found out, Sho decided to walk in the rain and into her apartment.
“Why didn’t you just enter anyway?” Meisa asked worriedly taking the towel from Sho to continue the drying of his hair on her own. “You didn’t have to wait for me you know.”
“I…” Sho started to say but he didn’t follow it with anything for a while. Only after she prompted him did he continue “I didn’t have your key with me.”
To be completely honest, she felt a bit hurt when she heard him say that, after all, she’ll never leave the key she has of his apartment when she goes out of the house. It’s almost as important to her as her own keys. But seeing it amongst his house keys confused her even more. It’s highly unlikely for Sho to forget that he has her keys there. But there lies the question of why Sho didn’t use it in the first place.
With a worried look, she turned to Sho again and asked in a low voice “What’s going on?”
-----
“Thank you for taking care of me last night,” Sho said in a really low tone before he took a sip of the coffee Meisa had placed in front of him.
It’s morning already and they were in the kitchen, with Meisa preparing for their breakfast after having made sure that Sho’s temperature had gone back to normal. The two of them were quiet, a lot quieter than they would usually be when the two of them are together. Sho had not said much since he woke up while the questions of the previous night continued to haunt Meisa.
“Un…” Meisa simply nodded.
Sho must have noticed her unusual quietness too because after a little while, he added “I’m sorry too for ruining your night last night. You must have been tired with your date and all and you had to take care of me.”
Meisa ended up snorting at this, breaking out of the silent slump she’d been in since they woke up.
“It’s not like I can leave you out in the corridor, right?” she chided. “What really happened last night?” she continued. “I asked you but I don’t think you understood what I was asking, or if you did, I couldn’t understand what you were saying at all! You were just mumbling and mumbling.”
Sho chuckled a bit. “Jun, Shii and I went out drinking last night,” he admitted.
“So you were drunk?” Meisa asked.
“No, no!” Sho said immediately. “You know us, we don’t really get drunk.”
“What happened then?” Meisa asked, turning around to face him.
Sho was silent for a while as he looked into her eyes.
The honest answer to her question was “Because I realized last night that I might have always been in love with you!” but he knew he couldn’t’ say it. But it truly was what he had come up with the night before.
“Are you saying you like her?” he heard Shii ‘ask’ Jun, making him roll his eyes.
The gist of that question had already been asked to him a million times in the past, both by friends and acquaintances, that he’s not really that affected by it anymore. He’d already been asked that even with Meisa around and he’d always say “Of course I do!”
But then Jun’s chosen answer to that question, or to be exact, the question Jun answered with Shii’s question, and the intonation and insinuation behind the words “Am I?” somehow startled him.
It wasn’t about him just ‘liking’ Meisa anymore. It was something more.
And even as he told his two best friends that he’s “Not taking the bait”, his mind and heart couldn’t help but start a conversation of their own. And as much as he would never admit it to Jun and Shii, the conversation the two continued doing, even after he figuratively told them to drop it, helped him come up with the realization that he’s always had that special feeling for the closest woman in his life.
“I was just a bit confused,” he ended up admitting vaguely. “Not anymore though. Do you think it’s weird?”
“What is?” Meisa asked.
“That when I’m confused or something, I always end up coming to you,” Sho asked.
“Do you?” he heard Meisa ask again.
“Yeah,” he admitted, not knowing that his words, and his vagueness, are causing Meisa’s heart rate to increase. “I always find myself coming to you and then it all clears out,” he added seriously as he looked into her eyes.
-----tbc----
SO, HOW WAS IT???
HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!!! :)
seriously...
and it looks like it's bound to continue for at least two more weeks...
or months...
or, i don't know...
it sure doesn't look like things are going to settle down quick...
and here's hoping i'm going to survive... LOL...
i seriously wasn't expecting this when i first started this job...
anyway... Halloween treat!
there are questions to be answered, moments to be had...
TITLE: One Chance (Falling...)
CHARACTERS: Matsumoto Jun, Ikuta Toma, Inoue Mao, Horikita Maki, Toda Erika, Mizushima Hiro, Nishikido Ryo, Takaki Yuya, Sakamoto Masayuki (please proceed to cast list for more of the cast)
GENRE: AU
RATINGS: Pg
DISCLAIMER: The only thing i own in this story is the plot...
SUMMARY: She was waiting for a guy to sweep her off her feet. He was waiting for that girl he could sweep off hers... And then a new guy came to change the story... This is a story of falling in love, and realizing that you've fallen in love... Typical isn't it? Maybe... Maybe not...
Prologue, Chapter1, Chapter2, Chapter3, Chapter4, Chapter5, Chapter6, Chapter7, Chapter8, Chapter 9, Chapter10, Chapter11, Chapter12, Chapter13, Chapter14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter17,Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter20, Chapter21,Chapter22, Chapter23, Chapter24, Chapter25
Chapter 26: Where It All Started
There was an awful, awkward silence in the elevator the moment the door closed, leaving only Mao and Jun inside that closed compartment. Mao had finally stepped into the elevator with her heart thumping so loud it’s almost impossible that Jun couldn’t hear it, still very much surprised at the sight of the guy. She had already told herself that she wouldn’t be seeing the guy, at least for the day, and that she had successfully avoided him.
Seeing him after those thoughts were a bit unnerving, making Mao scramble for words until she decided that not saying anything was a better idea after all.
Jun, it turned out, didn’t think the same.
Mao almost didn’t see it when he reached out and flipped a switch, a switch that Mao wasn’t even aware was present on the elevator switchboards. She staggered a bit as the elevator stood still. Looking up quickly, she saw that they were between two floors. Jun had stopped the box.
“We need to talk,” Jun declared even before Mao could turn to face him.
Mao felt her tongue retreat to the back of her throat as she looked at Jun looking so seriously at her.
“You have been avoiding me,” Jun continued when she still hadn’t spoken.
Mao was about to open her mouth to contradict but she immediately realized that the guy is saying the truth. The last time she and Jun talked alone was the day of Toma’s accident. She almost wanted to choke. That was also the time she had planned to tell Jun her decision, before Toma’s incident and Meisa’s arrival.
“No I wasn’t,” Mao still said though.
“Yes you were,” Jun replied. Mao could see that he was smiling but while Mao chuckled along, her heart was still pounding. “Meisa told me two things. One is that you accompanied her yesterday. I guess that’s why I didn’t see you.”
Confused, Mao asked “But you weren’t at the office yesterday. You left.”
“I returned,” Jun shrugged. “Around this time too. But unlike today, you weren’t here. I’m glad I didn’t lose hope.”
Mao could feel her heart elating at Jun’s words. It was actually a weird combination, elation and nerves. Mao felt her knees slowly giving in.
“Oh…”
“Meisa was always by my side the whole time I was in London, have I ever told you that?” Jun started almost conversationally and Mao felt her feet staggering back until she felt the wall by her back.
She had already heard Meisa’s version of the story, and after that talk with Toma, she believed it. With Jun starting the story like that, she knew he’s about to tell her his version and despite assurances from Meisa herself, that worry that both Meisa and Toma had quelled popped up again. She was afraid that she was going to hear a different version.
“You never mentioned her,” she had strength enough to say.
Jun was silent for a while but it didn’t look to Mao as though he didn’t know what he’s going to say next. It looked as if he was just choosing the best way to say what he’s about to say. And somehow, that scared her a whole lot more.
“I guess the reason why I never told you about her was because I didn’t want you to doubt that there was something more between her and me, especially when she’s not here to corroborate the story,” he said. “I guess I was waiting for you to fully allow me in before I tell you about the woman I left in London.”
“Wa-Was she important?” she choked out. She needed him to clear everything out.
“Important?” Jun repeated before releasing a sigh. “Yes, yes she is.”
“Important enough to make you return to London even when everyone you love is here?”
“When her father died a couple of years after I was transferred to London, I fully expected Meisa to return to Japan for good,” Jun started after heaving a sigh. “I was surprised when, a couple of weeks after the funeral, she stepped into the London office. She told me that she wasn’t going to return here simply because it was her birthplace. She needed something more, something real, to pull her back here for good. I realized she was right. A couple of weeks later, I asked if I can pirate her reason. She laughed and said yes.”
“So, if you’re asking me if she was the reason why I wanted to return to London, the answer would be no,” Jun continued. “She was just part of my reason of returning there. She was the source of my reason not the reason itself. So, if that would be how you’re going to phrase your question, the answer would be a no.”
Mao nodded, feeling relief wash all over her body. It was one thing when Meisa said practically those things but hearing it from Jun was something else. It weighed heavier.
“Is there anything more you want to know?” Jun asked.
Mao thought hard for a bit. The truth is, there’s a lot more she wanted to know and there was one question her tongue is itching to voice out but it was one she managed to force to the back of her mind. Shw wasn’t ready to ask that question yet. Instead, she picked on something Jun had said just moments ago.
“What was the other one?”
“What?” Jun asked, slightly confused.
“You said that Meisa-san told you two things,” she started after swallowing pretty hard. “One was that I accompanied her yesterday. What was the other one?”
Jun smiled. “She told me that she understands if I’m not going to return to London for good,” he told her.
Mao felt her worries and insecurities leave her body as she nodded.
“Anything else?” Jun prompted.
Mao knew somehow that it was Jun’s way of telling her that she’s waiting for her to ask ‘it’. He had already said and done a lot of things so it’s already Mao’s turn. But Mao couldn’t force her lips to move. She felt herself shaking her head.
She thought she heard him sigh but she wasn’t sure because he moved. She thought he looked disappointed though as he reached for the switch to turn the elevator back on. They started moving again.
They had just passed the 3rd floor when Mao did the unthinkable.
-----
He saw her reach for the switch.
When Jun saw her shaking her head, he took it as a sign that she wasn’t ready yet. It was either Mao still hadn’t had a chance to make a choice between him and her best friend or she was staggered by Meisa’s arrival. The third possibility, the one that says she might have chosen Toma over him, was pushed to the very back of his mind. But it wasn’t because he’s confident she’d choose him. He isn’t. He just decided that he couldn’t afford to entertain those kinds of thoughts until Mao tells him straight out.
And with her shaking of her head, he figured that’s not yet going to happen.
Which is why he was very surprised to see her suddenly reaching out to stop the elevator.
But when she didn’t speak after switching it off, he ended up saying “You better be sure of yourself before you do or say anything. I’m not in a rush. I’m fine waiting.”
Jun saw Mao swallow hard before he heard her say “Why me?”
Jun noted how Mao’s voice hitched when with that simple two-word question. He noted how she didn’t meet his eyes. Mao was feeling insecure of herself, she was afraid.
“Because… Because I knew it the moment I saw you,” he said with a smile. “It was in this elevator, remember? Where we first met? I’m not sure if you noticed me and I would admit I didn’t put much attention on you. But somehow, you got stuck in my head. And then in my heart.”
He saw as her eyes flickered to meet his and how those orbs looked like it’s about ready to well up. She was a bit shaky too. And then she said something Jun wasn’t really expecting but was really glad to hear.
“Toma-kun is just my best friend,” Mao said. “I realized that even before everything that recently happened. I guess that’s what he has always been, even back when we were together. He’s my best friend, the guy who’s always been there, the guy who’s always there to protect and to help. Just that.”
Jun found himself getting caught in Mao’s eyes as they simply looked at each other after that little admission. Silence reigned but it was neither awkward nor unsettling.
And then Mao said “So, where exactly are we now?”
Jun chuckled lightly, trying to mask the swelling of his own heart.
“Right now, we’re stuck between moving forward or stepping back,” he said as he looked at the elevator’s switchboard.
Literally speaking, he was referring to the fact that he and Mao were stuck in between floors 2 and 3. Figuratively speaking, he was talking about the fact that they could move to the next level or go back to being friends, or worse, just colleagues. And he knew that Mao understood that, evidenced by her suddenly straightening up.
She was also looking at her inquiringly, waiting for him to decide. That’s when he shook his head.
“It’s your choice. Like I said, I’m not in a hurry,” he said as he nodded towards the switchboard, particularly the flip switch. Mao already had the courage to stop the box herself, it’s her decision if she wants to start it up herself.
He saw Mao’s eyes travel from his to the switchboard, and he knew to himself that while waiting has always been very difficult for him, he really is willing to wait for her.
And when Mao took that first step, it was his turn to swallow hard.
But he saw immediately the direction she was heading to, towards him and not the switchboard. In two quick strides, he had met her halfway and grabbed her by the waist before fully claiming her lips.
And he could practically swear that it feels like heaven when he felt her kiss him back as her hands entwining at the back of his neck.
-----TBC-----
and there's chapter 26!!!!
oh my GOd! i really can't believe i've finally reached this part of the story... LOL...
anyway, to be honest, the elevator scene on the very start of the story was actually unplanned but the moment i wrote it, i knew i wanted it there...
i wanted to connect it to one of the recurring scenes in my favorite US show, NCIS, when NCIS' Leroy Jehtro GIbbs and FBI's Tobias Fornell would always use the elevator as their private meeting room... :D
TITLE: The Chase
CHARACTERS: Sakurai Sho, Kuroki Meisa, Matsumoto Jun, Aiba Masaki, Becky, Inoue Mao, Tsukamoto Takashi, Narimiya Hiroshi, +others (TBD)
PAIRING: Sho/Meisa
RATINGS: PG
DISCLAIMER: The only thing i own in this story is the plot...
AUTHOR'S NOTE: this was one of the stories i posted last year as one of my possible stories... i just changed th background of the story so as not to make it not sound like a rehash of one of my other ongoings... :)
Chapter1, Chapter2, Chapter3, Chapter4, Chapter5
Meisa couldn’t help but heave a sigh coupled with a bit of small laughter as she came out of her kitchen and into the living room only to be met by the sight before her: Sho already fast asleep in her sofa.
He had already changed out of his wet clothes, which are now hung by her bathroom to dry, and into a pair of Meisa’s loosest clothes. The shirt actually was once his but he had removed it from his back and ‘given’ it to Meisa that one time they spent the night with Jun, Shii, Aiba, Becky, Mao, and a couple of Shii’s workmates at the beach and Sho said that he didn’t like how Shii’s workmates were looking at her with only her bikini set on. She had laughed at his weirdness then but, with Mao’s insistence, followed his almost demand when she saw how serious Sho looked.
She didn’t bother returning the shirt to him though. And while the shirt does look okay on the guy (considering it is his), the pants, Meisa’s loosest, looked a bit funny on him. After all, it was still a bit girly and somehow did not match well with his physique.
Shaking her head a bit, she walked towards him and reached out to touch his forehead. He still felt warm but it was already good news since he felt like he’s having fever earlier when Meisa got home. The medicine must have already taken effect.
Her worries about the guy’s health had already eased up a bit by the time she had extracted a blanket from her closet to cover the guy with and she was about to head to her room already when the corner of her eyes caught something by the side table. It was Sho’s jacket, the one she removed from him earlier after she dragged him into her apartment. She had simply placed it on the side then before she hurried off to get a towel and a change of clothes while Sho murmured stuff that sounded suspiciously like apologies.
Picking the jacket up with the intention of hanging it with the rest of Sho’s clothes to dry, she realized that there was something heavy in one of the pockets. It turns out that it was a set of keys, Sho’s set of keys and while it is just normal that he would have his keys on his pockets, she noticed a familiar key that made her forehead crease.
It was the key to her apartment, the very same key Sho claimed to have left in his own apartment when, for some reason she still hadn’t found out, Sho decided to walk in the rain and into her apartment.
“Why didn’t you just enter anyway?” Meisa asked worriedly taking the towel from Sho to continue the drying of his hair on her own. “You didn’t have to wait for me you know.”
“I…” Sho started to say but he didn’t follow it with anything for a while. Only after she prompted him did he continue “I didn’t have your key with me.”
To be completely honest, she felt a bit hurt when she heard him say that, after all, she’ll never leave the key she has of his apartment when she goes out of the house. It’s almost as important to her as her own keys. But seeing it amongst his house keys confused her even more. It’s highly unlikely for Sho to forget that he has her keys there. But there lies the question of why Sho didn’t use it in the first place.
With a worried look, she turned to Sho again and asked in a low voice “What’s going on?”
-----
“Thank you for taking care of me last night,” Sho said in a really low tone before he took a sip of the coffee Meisa had placed in front of him.
It’s morning already and they were in the kitchen, with Meisa preparing for their breakfast after having made sure that Sho’s temperature had gone back to normal. The two of them were quiet, a lot quieter than they would usually be when the two of them are together. Sho had not said much since he woke up while the questions of the previous night continued to haunt Meisa.
“Un…” Meisa simply nodded.
Sho must have noticed her unusual quietness too because after a little while, he added “I’m sorry too for ruining your night last night. You must have been tired with your date and all and you had to take care of me.”
Meisa ended up snorting at this, breaking out of the silent slump she’d been in since they woke up.
“It’s not like I can leave you out in the corridor, right?” she chided. “What really happened last night?” she continued. “I asked you but I don’t think you understood what I was asking, or if you did, I couldn’t understand what you were saying at all! You were just mumbling and mumbling.”
Sho chuckled a bit. “Jun, Shii and I went out drinking last night,” he admitted.
“So you were drunk?” Meisa asked.
“No, no!” Sho said immediately. “You know us, we don’t really get drunk.”
“What happened then?” Meisa asked, turning around to face him.
Sho was silent for a while as he looked into her eyes.
The honest answer to her question was “Because I realized last night that I might have always been in love with you!” but he knew he couldn’t’ say it. But it truly was what he had come up with the night before.
“Are you saying you like her?” he heard Shii ‘ask’ Jun, making him roll his eyes.
The gist of that question had already been asked to him a million times in the past, both by friends and acquaintances, that he’s not really that affected by it anymore. He’d already been asked that even with Meisa around and he’d always say “Of course I do!”
But then Jun’s chosen answer to that question, or to be exact, the question Jun answered with Shii’s question, and the intonation and insinuation behind the words “Am I?” somehow startled him.
It wasn’t about him just ‘liking’ Meisa anymore. It was something more.
And even as he told his two best friends that he’s “Not taking the bait”, his mind and heart couldn’t help but start a conversation of their own. And as much as he would never admit it to Jun and Shii, the conversation the two continued doing, even after he figuratively told them to drop it, helped him come up with the realization that he’s always had that special feeling for the closest woman in his life.
“I was just a bit confused,” he ended up admitting vaguely. “Not anymore though. Do you think it’s weird?”
“What is?” Meisa asked.
“That when I’m confused or something, I always end up coming to you,” Sho asked.
“Do you?” he heard Meisa ask again.
“Yeah,” he admitted, not knowing that his words, and his vagueness, are causing Meisa’s heart rate to increase. “I always find myself coming to you and then it all clears out,” he added seriously as he looked into her eyes.
-----tbc----
SO, HOW WAS IT???
HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!!! :)
