Reverie

Band: Gotcharocka

Pairing: Jui&Jun

Rating: 17+

Genre: slice of life

Warnings: character death

Note: Jui doesn't like to talk about this day. He wants to be alone and not alone in the same time.

What would Jun do with this situation?

Jun burst into the rehearsal room. It was a sunny day in July. His sister just sent him a cute photo of his niece.

"Hi~!" Jun did a pirouette.

Toya looked at him.

"Hello" he mumbled, then sipped his coffee.

"What made you even more happy than usual?" asked Jui, leaning over the papers.

He probably tried to write something, but judging from the crumpled balls of paper around him, he didn't have any inspiration.

"Didn't you notice the weather outside?" Jun was confused.

Toya looked out the window.

"Sunny" he muttered, taking a sip of his coffee and putting the mug on the table. "Is this something extraordinary?"

"It's a beautiful day, Toya, beautiful day!" Jun sat on the couch. "Anyway, today I'm going for a walk with my sister after the rehearsal! Really, it's wonderful. She sent me a picture of Fumiko, she's so cute..."

Guitarist blabbed until he heard the door opening. He looked at it, but it was already closed.

"Have I said something wrong?" asked Jun.

"I have no idea" replied Toya. "Does Shingo ever plan to show up?"

"I don't know" Jun got up. "Maybe I should check on Jui?"

"He seemed sad. You should go" said Toya. "Jun?"

"What?"

"You can confess your feelings by the way" Toya winked to him.

Jun flushed and sighed.

"It won't be necessary" Jun chuckled nervously and left the rehearsal room.

But Jui wasn't behind the door. He wasn't in the building at all. He didn't answer phone calls, what they could explain easily - he left it in the room. As if he disappeared into thin air.

“And what? Rehearsal is over already?” Shingo hid his bass.

“Like you cared about them” Toya sighed.

“You know, I managed to come here, but this moron disappeared somewhere” Shingo shrugged hopelessly.

“Don’t call Jui a moron or I’ll put your bass in your ass” growled Jun, trying to call all of Junichi’s friends.

But nobody knew, where Jui was and some of them saw him for the last time half a year ago.

“Okay, okay, sorry for tarnishing the honor of your unfulfilled love” said Shingo, then he left.

“If you'd confess your feelings to him already, it wouldn’t be unfulfilled!” noticed Toya.

Jun snorted as he tucked Jui's cellphone in his pocket.

"I guess I have to tell him at last, because you won't leave me alone” he sighed. “But we have to find him first.”

“I'll look for him. You were supposed to meet your sister” Toya patted his shoulder. “Besides, Jui is a grown man. He won’t do anything stupid.”

“Right” Jun got up and picked up his phone. “Yes, little sister? Yes, I'll be there soon. No, a little trouble at work. No, nothing serious. Well, bye.”

He hung up. Nothing serious, of course. Except Jui disappeared and he was so worried like World War Three was about to start soon.

Afternoon walk with his sister blew up his negative thoughts. Jun had been playing with kids: swinging them on a see-saw and spinning on a merry-go-round… Later he took his sister and her kids for ice cream. Fumiko got the glaze on herself and Kimiko pretended that her ice cream was a unicorn's horn. Apart that at that moment the walk had to come to it's end, because a chocolate ball of ice cream on girl's hair didn’t make her mum happy, Jun knew that he would remember this day really well.

When he was walking home, it started raining. He noticed that it was getting colder with every minute of their walk and dark clouds were gathering overhead, but Jun hoped that it would be sunny at least until evening. He put the hood over his head and quickened his pace. At one point, the rain started pouring. Guitarist sighed and started running. He was getting wetter and wetter.

“I hate this weather” he mumbled, hiding at the bus stop from the rain.

And then he saw him.

Jui was standing across the road. Soaked more than him, without an umbrella, without a hood, with hair stuck together in water pods.

Vocalist looked at him for a moment, then turned around and walked to the bridge over the pond where they were. Jun didn't even think for a moment and ran after him. He knew something was wrong. Now he was sure of it.

Whenguitarist reached his friend, he was leaning against the railing and didn’t seem to notice him.

“Jui?” Jun walked to him, trying to calm his breath after running. “Jui, what happened? Jui, come on, talk to me!”

“It’s frightening” whispered Jui.

The rain was pouring stronger and stronger, hitting the water surface with more and more force.

“You're her age. I’m afraid to get close to you, because I know that your age will remind me that she could have been this old, if she had lived. If she didn't die seven years ago…”

Jun froze. He understood now, why Jui left the rehearsal room. His sister… Today… Yes, it had to be an anniversary. But Junichi never talked about it. About that day.

“I didn’t know, Jui…” he wanted to say more, but the vocalist laughed somehow… empty.

“I won’t forbid you from being happy” replied Jui, clenching his finger on the barrier. “I just always wonder to this day, what if she was still alive. What if I could hug her or call her. Would she send me photos of her children or would I take her on a walk? I’ll never know this, Jun. You don't even have an idea, how much it hurts.”

Jun caught Jui before he fell to his knees. He was trembling. In fact, guitarist didn't know, if Jui was too cold or too emotional. Or maybe both.

“We should go before you get sick” said Jun calmly, still hugging Junichi. “We should hide from the…”

Loud thunder interrupted him. He sighed.

“...storm” ended Jun. “Jui!”

“Okay, wait” Jui closed his eyes. “I have a feeling that she’s getting angry, because I still didn’t do it.”

“But what?” Jun felt a little confused.

“I told you that I’m afraid of getting close to you. But I didn’t mean that I’m scared of being your friend” explained Jui. “We’re friends already. But I… want something more than friendship.”

Jun didn’t have time to react. Colder than rain, if it was possible, Jui’s lips touched his own. Jun closed his eyes. He didn’t know, why his first thought was that Toya and Shingo will finally leave him alone.

He kissed Jui back, catching him. They moved away only when lightning struck a tree nearby. The thunder was so loud that they both fell and were most likely deaf for a moment.

“We should go” said Jui, jumping on his feet.

Then he grabbed Jun’s hand and despite the fact that he still was a little dizzy, ran towards the bus stop.

“Junichi, wait, I can’t run as fast as you” Jun was panting, trying to not trip on stairs. “Junichi!”

“You should quit smoking like me” Jui laughed shortly.

Jun shook his head and clenched his fingers on Jui’s hand. He didn’t want to let him go now. And maybe even never.

When they reached the bus stop, they sat on a bench and looked at the sky. It started to clear. Or so they thought. Until they heard another thunder.

“Well, I think that after what you’ve done, even if I wanted to, I can’t replace your sister, Junichi” said Jun.

Jui laughed weakly and coughed.

“And wandering around the city in such a weather in a short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts will still affect you, you'll see.”

“But you’ll take care of me, right?” the vocalist smiled fondly, stroking Jun’s hand. “Promise me that you won’t disappear like her.”

“Junichi, you silly” Jun shook his head. “She didn’t disappear. You told this yourself. She’s living in your memories. As long as you remember her, she’s with you. I’ll just accompany her.”

Jui closed his eyes. He shook his head, trying not to cry.

“I love you” he whispered, hugging Jun. “I love you, because you can see the light in a complete darkness. And sometimes this light even has different sources.”

“I love you too” Jun smiled fondly.

He was right. This day really was one of his best memories.

The end