Keep the Faith final

[krystalkatz.livejournal.com]

Nino sat staring at the fire with his hand gripping tightly at Jun’s as the members of the circle went around saying why they were grateful. Noaki had already told him that it was fine for him to miss it this time if he liked as he was probably out of whack with not being here for so long but he wanted to say something, to give thanks for…For just something. He had been so tense lately so genuinely frustrated with the world and had felt so alone but his friends, and his group, had welcomed him back with open arms.

“Nino…Do you want to say anything?” Noaki asked and Nino nodded shakily standing up and letting out a long sharp breath his teeth chattering just a little as he looked at Jun who gave him a reassuring smile squeezing at his fingers.

“…It’s been a long time since I was here…Since I even wanted to come…Some of you don’t even know me…Nor my grandparents but…Most of you do and you can maybe understand why...I…I was in a dark place for a long time…” He breathed knowing that even with that he had said more around the circle today than he had said for a long time “Everything seemed hopeless and…I couldn’t believe in anything much less the power of the three…For that I’m sorry…And I’m grateful for my friends…My friends who had lives that they put on hold to help me…I’m grateful that they care about me enough to think that that’s normal…That they refuse to accept my thanks and believe that if things were different I would be like them…I’m grateful to have Jun sitting beside me now telling me that everything is going to be okay when inside my head is making everything seem like it could never be okay again…You have no idea how grateful I am to have you…” Jun gave him another smile and Nino squeezed his hand before turning to Noaki. “And I hope that the group as a whole realise just how grateful we should be to have you as our leader…And I didn’t know how lucky I was to have you as my friend until I thought I lost you…I’m sorry for abusing our friendship the way that I did and for hurting you…I…I am moving away soon…It might be hard to come to meetings regularly but I hope that you will accept me here when I can…”

“…You didn’t hurt me saying what you said Nino…the lie was my choice to make…I was hurt because you shut me out…Don’t do that again…I worry about you…And of course you will always be welcome…No matter how long…Days, weeks, months, or even years…This is your group and you are welcome here…” Noaki sighed and Nino gave a short nod and sat back down as he felt his eyes stinging with tears for a second or two before he managed to get them under control. Jun’s arm slid around his shoulders and his mouth nuzzled his hair before he started speaking;

“I’m grateful to be here with you all again and that Nino wanted to get help…And that I was able to keep believing that one day we would be back here again together…We will come back again at least once a month but until then we will keep the faith in your hearts….”

*~*~*~*~Two Months Later**~**~*~

Nino stared around at his now empty apartment. His mind was swimming with images of his grandparents helping him to move in. His grandmother stripped down to only her bra as she painted the walls and scrubbed the floors making sure that it was perfect for him. This would be a place that he could heal. She’s told him softly. Nothing permanent, a stepping stone to new and better things. It had taken longer than any of them could have thought possible but finally he was making that next step. It was hard and the road was still long but he was moving to Tokyo. His apartment was in the same tower block as Jun and they were going to try. It was still difficult. He still had moments where panic would set in but he knew that he was going to be okay in the end.

THE END

A/N: I think that this is the first chaptered story where I haven’t included any smut or sexy scenes and it wasn’t exactly a completely happy ending…But that wasn’t really what this was about so I hope that that’s okay…I’m sorry it wasn’t very good…But I hope that there was some enjoyment to have been had in it…>.<