InsaneJournal

[Love Mode] Rooted Fast to the Earth
fandom Love Mode
characters Naoya, Reiji


All I wanted just sped right past me,
While I was rooted fast to the earth
- Signal Fire, Snow Patrol


On a warm Friday afternoon in spring, Shirakawa Naoya walks out of his school amidst a stream of laughing and chattering students; flanked by his friends on either side, he looks young and handsome and carefree.

“Hey, look,” Kenta says, suddenly nudging Naoya in the ribs with a bony elbow. “It’s another one.” They all turn to look, and the girl waiting just outside the gates blushes under their scrutiny.

“Go on, Naoya, don’t make her wait,” Haruyuki says, and practically shoves Naoya towards her.

Naoya stumbles a few steps, then straightens up to shoot a dirty look at Haruyuki before turning to face the girl, whose cheeks redden even more. “Um, hi, Shirakawa-kun,” she says. Her fingers play nervously with the envelope she’s holding. “Um, if it’s okay, could you please read this?” She holds the letter out to him.

Naoya is silent, and makes no move to take the letter. Finally, he says, “I’m sorry, but I can’t accept your feelings.” He doesn’t wait to see her face crumple up slightly as her eyes clench shut to hold back the tears -- he waited the first time, and the second and the third, and he doesn’t like the lurching feeling that he gets in his gut when he makes girls cry. He rejoins his friends, who are loud and annoying as they try to find out why Naoya keeps turning down the cute girls who confess to him.

“C’mon, admit it,” Kenta eventually says, throwing an arm over Naoya’s shoulders and speaking close to his ear. “You’re gay, aren’t you?”

Naoya stiffens, and shrugs Kenta’s arm off. “If I was, you’d be the last person I’d admit it to,” he retorts.

Haruyuki grins. “How ‘bout me? Would you tell me?”

Naoya pretends to think for a second, then says, “Yeah, I’d tell you.” He watches as Haruyuki gloats and Kenta blusters, and by the time they reach the station the stiffness has left Naoya’s shoulders and he’s laughing at the silly insults his friends are flinging at each other.

They head into Shinjuku because it’s Friday and even Naoya needs a break from studying sometimes, and even though it isn’t really his favourite place he doesn’t mind following his friends around for a few hours while they enjoy themselves. They go to an arcade first, and then to a family restaurant, and when the sky begins to grow dark Naoya decides that it’s time to go home.

He leaves his friends at yet another arcade, banging away at some rhythm game that he doesn’t understand at all, and he slowly makes his way to Shinjuku station, being careful to avoid the more suspicious-looking people. He’s halfway there when his phone buzzes in his pocket, and he smiles when he sees the name flashing across the screen.

“Hello?”

“Naoya, where are you?” the voice on the other end of the line asks crossly.

“I’m in Shinjuku,” Naoya replies calmly, not upset by the stern tone. “Why, what’s the matter?”

“You know that kaa-san worries when you come home late. And besides, Shinjuku? If you want to hang out with your friends, there are better places to go. Shinjuku has so many unsavoury people--”

Naoya never hears the rest of the sentence, because his phone flies out of his hand as he collides with a wall, or at least something as solid as one. A strong hand grabs him by the arm to steady him before he’s knocked over, though it releases him again just as quickly.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going, brat!” a deep voice snarls above his head, and Naoya looks up to see the most attractive man he’s ever met in his life. The attractive face, however, is marred by a fierce scowl and cold, angry eyes, and Naoya’s own eyebrows draw together in displeasure.

“I could say the same to you,” he snaps, and bends down to pick up his phone; he’s relieved to see that nothing appears to be broken. “Clearly I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t paying attention.”

The man’s scowl seems to deepen even more, and he opens his mouth as if to yell at Naoya, but then a calm voice cuts in smoothly and says, “Owner, we need to hurry. The meeting starts in ten minutes.”

“Che,” the man mutters, and gives Naoya one last dark look before brushing past him and striding away. The man’s companion bows slightly to Naoya as he rushes after the man, and Naoya is left to stare wide-eyed after the pair.

After a moment, his feet start to move again in the direction of the station, but his mind isn’t on where he’s going, but rather what he left behind; he wonders why he feels as if something he was meant to have has been taken away from him.

“--Naoya? Naoya!”

Almost absently, he lifts the phone to his ear. “Sorry, nii-san, I just dropped my phone by accident,” he tells his brother. “I’ll be home soon, so tell kaa-san not to worry, okay? Bye.”

Naoya flips his phone shut, then steps into the mass of people passing through Shinjuku station. When he arrives at home to find dinner on the table and his mother and brother waiting for him, he promptly forgets about the rude, handsome stranger he bumped into earlier, and he is perfectly content.


.fin


A/N: Written for love_mode's June 2006 challenge -- 'alternate reality'.