Hey! Say! JUMP, Next Year and the Year After Next

Title: Next Year and the Year After Next [Yabu/Hikaru]
Rating/Warnings: R for Hikaru’s birthday present.
Summary: Yabu gives Hikaru the same birthday present over several years, with varying results.
AN: お誕生日おめでとう、光くん！ It’s been a pleasure watching you grow from a tiny gap-toothed kid into the handsome young man you are today, and I’m looking forward to the next two as you graduate and reach your majority. Title from NEWS’s “Happy Birthday.”

Next Year and the Year After Next

On Hikaru’s 15th birthday, on the set of the Ya-Ya-yah show, Yabu kissed Hikaru.

“What was that for?” Hikaru asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and glancing around to see if Shoon or Taiyou had noticed. His cheeks were hot and his lips tingled.

“You said to surprise you,” Yabu shrugged, his cheeks pink too, but he was grinning instead of scowling like Hikaru was. “But if you want to give it back, I won’t mind,” and shyly, Hikaru did.

Shoon and Taiyou hadn’t noticed, but Koyama-kun had, and later he pulled Yabu and Hikaru aside to gently warn them that exchanging book tokens or cds was usually a better idea than kisses.

“But why?” Hikaru wanted to know. He’d only just gotten used to the idea of kissing Yabu, but Koyama was the kind of senpai you liked too much to really argue with.

“Just trust me, okay?” Koyama’s smile was a touch sad. “You two should be having fun with Shoon and Taiyou, ne? You don’t want to have to keep secrets from them, do you?”

“No,” Yabu blurted as soon as Koyama said Shoon’s name, and Hikaru grudgingly agreed.

Yabu and Hikaru made a pact not to talk about it again until later, until they debuted, and Hikaru pinky-swore on it and because he loved Koyama and Taiyou and Shoon and Yabu, didn’t point out that they were keeping a secret this way too.

This way just didn’t have as much kissing Yabu in it, a fatal flaw so far as Hikaru was concerned.

*****

Just before Hikaru’s 17th birthday, they did talk about it again, older and debuted, but it didn’t go quite the way either one of them had been planning.

“We shouldn’t,” Hikaru said, because if he said it first then he wouldn’t have to be angry with Yabu for saying it. “Not with all the younger members.”

He was angry with Yabu anyway, for the relief he could see in Yabu’s eyes. But he shoved it aside and let Yabu hug him, clinging maybe a little more tightly than he should have, fingers wrapped in Yabu’s soft sweater.

When Yabu pulled away, Hikaru thought that maybe, just for a second, he could feel Yabu’s lips graze his cheek, but decided it was best not to dwell on it.

Just like he decided it was best not to dwell on it when he stumbled into Yabu and Takaki’s hotel room that summer without knocking, like usual, and found one hotel bed empty and the other one person past the recommended occupancy.

“Sorry,” Yabu said, after he’d put on pants, jaw firm but eyes on the carpet, “it just…”

“Just tell me if I have to break his nose,” Hikaru shrugged, offering Yabu a smile when Yabu finally did look back up. It made him feel minutely better that Yabu loved him enough to pretend he couldn’t see right through the smile.

Wretched and high off the feel of Yabu’s hug without the buffer of a sweater, Hikaru went and found Inoo, who also loved Hikaru enough to pretend he couldn’t see right through him.

*****

When Yabu asked Hikaru what he wanted for his 18th birthday, Hikaru named a cd without thinking, and ten minutes later couldn’t have said which one he’d named. But either way he was still a bit shocked when Yabu pulled Hikaru into his hotel room and kissed him the way he had the first time, shy and sweet.

“That’s not what I asked for,” Hikaru said, looking to the side.

“You told me a cd you already own. It’s the one I gave you last year.” Yabu tugged Hikaru’s chin with gentle fingers until Hikaru was looking at him. “But you could always give this one back.”

“What about Yuyan?” Hikaru asked, searching Yabu’s face. Yabu shrugged a shoulder.

“He’s okay with it,” Yabu answered. “Special dispensation. Happy birthday. What about Inoo?”

“He won’t care,” Hikaru offered Yabu a wan smile, “if it’s you.”

“And what about you?” Yabu asked finally, but Hikaru stepped forward to get one hand around Yabu’s waist and the other up into the soft hair curling over Yabu’s neck.

“Your presents suck,” he said, then leaned to give Yabu’s present back.

The warmth that flooded Hikaru’s chest at the touch of Yabu’s mouth against his, Yabu’s hands on his waist, was tinged with a sharp edge of sadness, but Hikaru welcomed it. He tugged Yabu closer and deepened the kiss until he could taste summer excursions and onigokku games and lives that were a nice compromise between two and ten people.

“We should have done that before,” Yabu murmured when they broke for air, resting his forehead against Hikaru’s.

“We did do this before,” Hikaru snorted. “It just never seems to take.”

Yabu opened his mouth, eyes apologetic, but Hikaru kissed him again, not wanting to hear any more apologies. He urged Yabu backwards until they bumped into the hotel bed and tumbled onto it, pushing clothing out of the way.

“Hey,” Yabu tried to pull away, tried to shift his mouth to other parts of Hikaru, but Hikaru captured his mouth again and refused to let him go. They ended up making out like teenagers, shirts pulled off and jeans undone just far enough to wrap their hands around each other.

Hikaru let go first, face buried in the curve of Yabu’s neck, which was understandable given how long he’d been holding back, but Yabu wasn’t far behind. They came down slowly, fingers sticky and twined loosely on Hikaru’s stomach.

“Hikaru,” Yabu started eventually, but Hikaru interrupted.

“Don’t,” he said. “You don’t have to. The way things are…they’re okay like this.”

This time the brush of Yabu’s lips against Hikaru’s cheek was lingering and definitely not in Hikaru’s imagination.

“Well,” Yabu murmured against Hikaru’s skin as he settled his chin against Hikaru’s shoulder, “my birthday’s only a few weeks away, you know.”

“Any idea what you want?” Hikaru asked, playing along.

“Hmm,” Yabu flexed his hand against Hikaru’s stomach, making him shiver. “Maybe it’ll be best if I show you.”