inourwriteminds | The Beauty of the Storm [1/?]

Title: The Beauty of the Storm
Genre: Romance, Fluff, Angst
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Akanishi Jin/ Kamenashi Kazuya
Disclaimer: They own me, not vice versa.
Beta: tonieboo0013
Warning: Slash
Summary: When Kame is hit by car and suffers extensive damage to his memory, Jin is given the opportunity to rebuild their crumbling relationship. However, a relationship built on illusion presents its own drawbacks.

A/N: Wow, my first Akame. I've been really excited to write about this since I thought of the idea during a test. Though, despite my deep hatred of angst, it always works its way into my stories. I'm going to make this as upbeat as possible just to spite myself.
A/N(2): Special thanks to my friend Tara who listened to my ranting and helped put this story together.
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The thunderous voices from the penthouse on the beach were unrelenting and far from unusual. It was always the same argument and always ended with same outcome; a night spent elsewhere and an afternoon spent making up. The neighbors that dared to interrupt were taken care of with hostile voices and a door in the face and the unfortunate landlord’s calls were often left unanswered.

The solution seemed simple and it was always there, weighing down at the back of their minds in such a way that it made itself impossible to ignore. There was always an excuse to come back, though; always an excuse to apologize and return to the tense silence that plagued their home life. The screaming, the hitting and the cruel words were so easily justified when one could reason that it was not hatred they felt, but a deep passion that nobody but them could understand.

---

It hadn’t always been that way, though. On the night’s Kame left, Jin often found himself reminiscing of the day they met; if only to distract himself from worrying to the point of physical illness. He’d been a bartender at a prestigious restaurant that’s only regulars were businessmen and celebrities, both of which had long since lost their effect on him by the time Kame entered.

Jin had barely spared him a glance when he’d walked up to the bar, his leather wallet in hand and a polite smile on his face. An hour earlier, the bartender had seen him enter with a large group of old men in designer suits and had spared an eye roll at the young go-getter’s expense. He knew the type of person that the young businessman would be; goal oriented, stuck-up and far from worth any time Jin could spend trying to strike up a conversation. So, when the young man smiled at him and ordered a beer, Jin made it without a word and began to clean the counters with his back pointedly facing him.

“I had to get away for a bit,” Kame laughed, taking the beer off the counter and taking a large swig. “These men can hardly call themselves businessmen.”

Jin glanced over his shoulder, surprised that the man saw him worth speaking to. He absently noted that the man was indeed attractive and his genuine smile proved to only further accentuate his beauty. The bartender mentally shook himself, though. He had a rule against dating exactly the type of man that was sitting in front of him, and just because the man was capable of making a joke, it didn’t change the men he’d shown up with and the designer suit he was wearing.

When Jin didn’t make a move to respond, the young man’s smile grew a bit awkward. “I’m Kame, by the way.”

“Jin,” the bartender spared a moment to make eye contact, before returning to his time consuming job of wiping down the same spot repeatedly. When the man didn’t get up to rejoin his party, Jin leaned against the counter and raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be over there?”

“I can guarantee that they haven’t even noticed I’m missing,” Kame rolled his eyes and took another swig. “I couldn’t even get a word in about our partnership between all the drunken laughter.”

Jin smiled at that and leaned across the counter towards the blushing man. “Go back over there and pitch your idea. When they’re drunk, they’re more easily persuaded.”

As the young businessman listened, his face brightened at the idea. He thanked Jin and left him a rather large tip before scurrying back to the table where the men welcomed him with rowdy cheers.

The bartender sighed in relief; glad to be rid of the man with the easily endearing face. His easy-going smile and charisma could quite possibly tempt Jin to break his rule and after a couple years of turning down the advances of attractive men such as Kame, he had no intention to do it that night. Despite his relief at the young man leaving, Jin found himself watching him the rest of the night as he conversed with the men and occasionally glanced back over his shoulder to give Jin a grateful smile.

---

Jin stood in the door frame after a particularly heated argument and watched as Kame emptied his drawers and tossed them carelessly in the open suitcase on the bed. He didn’t look up once as he determinedly ignored the older man’s pained face. Jin’s silence stemmed from a year’s worth of watching the same scene play itself out in the exact same fashion. Once he’d believe that it’d get easier to watch, but he’d long since realized that it only got harder.

“Kame,” the young bartender pleaded, grabbing the younger man’s arm and spinning him around in an attempt to make eye contact. Regret immediately washed over him when he was met with the hateful look that had long ago stopped shocking him. “Kame, where are you going?”

The younger man ripped himself away and flinched when Jin reached for him once more. “I’m getting away from here! I’m going home.”

Kame’s emotionless expression as he recited the words he always did when he was about to leave, sent Jin into the normal panic that should have stopped setting in ages ago.

“This is your home,” Jin begged, reaching for him despite the other’s clear disgust. “Kame, you have nowhere to go.”

Kame was done packing his suitcase and was marching towards the door, each footstep causing a renewed pain in Jin’s chest. Shoving past Jin and reaching for his shoes, he growled, “Anywhere is better than here! I’d rather sleep on the street then in a bed with you.”

The younger man slammed the door behind him, leaving a tearful Jin to watch him go as he had many times before. It took only a matter of seconds before Jin decided to go after him, opening the door in time to see Kame entering the elevator. He made to chase after him as Kame jabbed at the close button, but a hard slap in the chest sent him stumbling backwards. The offending shoe fell at his feet, but it was the look of satisfaction on Kame’s face that hurt more.

He began to wonder why he even tried anymore as he opened the door to the stairs and began to sprint down them, hoping to catch Kame in time before he was able to hail a cab. Jin cursed their decision to buy the penthouse, but how could he have known that thirty flights of stairs would ever come to inconvenience him?

He reached the double doors just as Kame stepped onto the side of the road, sticking his hand out in an attempt to hail himself a cab. The crisp night air hit Jin’s face and he was suddenly aware of the hundreds of people lining the streets, each enjoying another LA night. He was also aware of the car speeding down the streets toward Kame and shouting his boyfriend’s name in warning. Jin was hauntingly aware of the way Kame noticed him and stepped onto the street to get away and the way his body flew on impact.

He, however, didn’t remember the way his body jolted into action, running to his boyfriend’s side. He couldn’t remember holding his body and sobbing his name as he waited for the ambulance and he couldn’t remember whispering, ‘I love you.’

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: L'aurora by Eros Ramazzotti