Work Text:
It’s so wrong.
It was a sunny day. Wakasa had a lot of work to do, as one of their treadmills broke this morning, and he was looking for someone to repair it. The last rays of the sun shined through the curtains, telling him that it was almost their closing time. Waka sighed, leaning back. He was done for the day, he decided, getting up and leaving the room.
“Benkei, how many people are still in?” He asked when he saw his friends and also the co-owner of the gym. “One, but he’s already changing.” Waka nodded, looking at the clock. Twenty five minutes to closing time. “What if we closed early today?” He asked, a smug smile forming on his face. Benkei looked at the clock too, and nodded. It wasn’t that early.
It was too early.
Their last client left shortly, and they both agreed on coming here early the next day to do the usual closing stuff. “What are you in the mood for?” The taller asked, as he turned the key. “Maybe ramen with beer?” He looked at the sky. It was dark already, only slightly purple where the sun disappeared. “We could call Shin, but he probably still works on this Honda.” He added, but he already dialed the number on his Nokia.
“Huh, Waka? Shouldn’t you be closing at this time?” The ex-commander picked up on the third ring. “We closed early, maybe you should too? You’re gonna die there, you workaholic.” Waka joked, and he heard a chuckle on the other side. “Yeah yeah, I should work less and rest more. I know, but I almost got this stupid motor to work–” “So it can wait until tomorrow and start working then. Come on, commander , we haven't seen each other for a week now.” They got to the small grocery shop, and Waka nodded to Benkei. “Get some gummies for the commander. ” Benkei smiled, leaving the blonde alone. “No, Waka I’m not coming. Maybe tomorrow? I’m so fucking– ouch– close, I want to do it. I promise you, you can come tomorrow, and I’m really gonna leave, really, just not today.” Waka sighed, he knew it would end like this. He missed Shinichiro, but he wouldn’t say it. He missed the old days when they saw each other every day. But now they were all busy with work. “Okay, fine. But you better tell that kid Inupi about it, he will get those gummies tomorrow.” “NO, THEY’RE MINE–” “It’s settled then! Good night, commander.” He hung up, hearing curses on the other end. He chuckled. To think that a twenty three year old would be so mad because of gummy worms.
And to think that he would love the same man so much. He smiled to himself. They were getting old, but he still loved him like when they were teenagers. And he was still too afraid to admit it in fear of losing their friendship. He had a hard time coming to accept it himself, he couldn’t risk losing him because of it. “He’s not coming, is he?” Benkei startled him slightly, standing next to him with a plastic bag in his hand. “You had this look in your eyes.” He added, reaching into his pocket. He then gave something from it to him. A cherry lollipop, his favourite one. He just smiled sadly, tearing the wrapping. It was gonna be just them two again.
Forever.
Waka woke up first. It was still early, almost eight. But they had to clean up the gym before opening. He sighed, taking his phone to call Shinichiro and remind him about the meeting.
“Huh? He always picks up.” But the rings stopped, and Waka heard the automatic secretary voice instead. “He probably finished working two hours ago and is still sleeping.” Rolling his eyes, he got up. He had some spare clothes in Benkei’s flat, in case of situations like this. After changing, he shook his friend’s shoulder, until he woke up too. “Coffee?” Getting a nod from the other man, he left the bedroom to go to the kitchen. He would try to call Shinichiro later.
Half an hour later they were leaving the building, deciding to close early today also, but this time to clean up before leaving. They wanted to go to Shinichiro’s bike shop earlier, to hopefully catch some of their other friends that might be there. And to laugh at Shinichiro with them. It would be a perfect meeting, Waka couldn’t wait any longer, every muscle in his body longing to be close to Shinichiro again. Just like the old times.
They cleaned the gym pretty fast, and fifteen minutes before opening, they were ready. “I’m gonna call Shin.” Benkei nodded, looking into that broken treadmill again. Waka got outside with his phone, dialing the number. First ring. Second ring. Third ring. Shinichiro almost always picked up on the third ring. Fourth ring. Fifth ring. “You should be opening in a few minutes, what are you doing Shin.” He kicked a pebble, watching it roll on the road. He heard the secretary again and groaned. “Don’t make me go there personally.” He tried calling again, but with the same result. He got back inside, flipping the sign on the door to say “open”. They were going to go there no matter what, so he could let the man sleep, or whatever.
Please wake up.
It was a slow morning. Two regulars came for their morning routine, and that was it. It was nearing one hour open, and Waka was reading some magazine sitting behind the counter. He just tried to kill the time, and the recipe for The Best Apple Pie Of The Year wasn’t something fascinating, but maybe he could try to bake it? Who knows. He was at adding sugar to the apples, when the door opened with so much impact, it nearly flipped a page. He looked up, frowning. And he frowned even more when he saw Inupi standing there, tears in his eyes.
“Inupi? What are you doing here?” He asked, going to the boy, concerned. “Did something happen?” He saw him in a state like this once. Well, not like this, but he was crying then. It was when his sister, Akane, died. He barely knew him at the time, he only started hanging out at the motorbike shop. But he looked even sadder now, angrier. “Shin–” hiccup “Shinichiro–” hiccup “Shinichiro-kun–” He couldn’t finish the sentence, but Waka was so fucking concerned right now. Shinichiro wasn’t picking up. “He–” hiccup “He kil-led him–”
what.
“Inupi what are you talking about? ” Was he hearing things correctly? Shinichiro killed someone? “T-that kid– he–” hiccup “ he killed Shinichiro-kun.”
what.
what.
what.
no.
“What?” That’s all he could say. He just. Stood there. Looking at the crying boy. That just couldn’t be true. “I– I just came to the shop and– and there were a lot of police– and they– they told me that he– that he was– that he was d-dead–” Waka couldn’t hear it. He just couldn’t. He wished he didn’t hear it.
I have to call Shinichiro, he will pick up this time.
His phone was under the counter, and he practically sprinted to it, even if it was just a few meters away. He dialed the number that he knew so well, his hands shaking. First ring. Second ring. Third ring.
He wasn’t picking up.
“Waka? Inupi? What’s happening?” Benkei just came into the lobby, and he didn’t know what he was looking at. A crying child. And panicking Wakasa. Wakasa never panicked. “This can’t be true, Nupi, you had to hear something wrong, no it can’t be –” “Wakasa what are you talking about?” Benkei grabbed his shoulder, looking straight into his eyes. And those lilac eyes weren’t stoic, as they should be. Benkei never saw so much fear in those eyes. “I have to call him, he will pick up.” That was the only thing Waka held onto. Shinichiro always picked up.
He didn’t pick up.
Benkei drove. Only he was capable of doing that, Wakasa was sitting with Inupi in the back seat. They closed early. They got to Sano’s house pretty quickly. Too slow. Waka was the first one to go out. “Let’s wait a second.” Benkei said to the thirteen year old, who nodded his head slowly. He wasn’t crying anymore.
Wakasa ran to his room. The door were open. But Shinichiro wasn’t inside. “Mikey?” The small boy looked up, his eyes red. “Waka-kun..” he cried, Shinichiro's t-shirt in his hands. He got to the boy in seconds, hugging him tightly. “He’s gone. ” He only hugged tighter, letting the boy cry into his arm. He wasn’t ready to cry.
He would never be ready.
“I brought you gummy worms.” Waka smiled. He hardly ever smiled now. He sat down at the ground, opening a cherry lollipop. “Your favourite ones. I won’t steal any, I got my own favourite snack, see?” He said, taking the lollipop into his mouth, and putting the gummies down. “Your stupid Honda is still working, I menaged to fix it again.” He chuckled, closing his eyes. “See, it could wait until the next day. Now I have to repair it, and it was always your job. I was just looking. And not even at the things you were doing.” He opened his eyes to look at the sky. “You looked so good doing it. Like you really loved it.” He sat in silence for a second. “With the same love in your eyes you looked at those stupid gummies.” He chuckled again, remembering how mad Shinichiro would get if he tried to steal them. “And sometimes I thought, that you looked like that at me.” Waka caught his head in hands. “Why did you have to die? We were so young.
I’m
still so young. You should be here with me, maybe I would finally tell you that stupid
I love you.
” He took a long breath. “Maybe I would be your third love, after gummy worms and motors.” He looked at the grave before him. “I still love you so much, Shinichiro. I think I will just never stop. This feeling will never grow old, just like you never grew old.”