The Life of a Dead Man

Eighteen

Hello all! In order to fully experience this chapter, please listen to 'Hold On' by Chord Overstreet

Zero woke up with his eyes feeling heavy, as if he hadn't gotten much sleep at all. After the road trip, Zero's health only seemed to decline slowly. He took a deep breath and looked over at Kaname sleeping soundly beside him. After some time, Kaname stirred and opened his eyes as well. 

"Good morning." he said huskily, making Zero's heart flutter a little. 

"Do you have anything to do today?" Zero asked and Kaname shook his head in return. Zero's eyes burned slightly with tears. "Don't stay away from me much today. I don't want to be alone." Kaname's smile faltered slightly, but he did his best to keep it on his face. 

"Shall I call Yuki as well?" he asked with a strained voice, to which Zero nodded. The two chatted lightly as they waited for Yuki to show up, and when she did, the three of them conversed together. The mood seemed to be light to anyone looking on, but the two siblings were unbelievably stiff the whole time. Even Mr. Greene was sat in the corner of the room for them to call on at any time. The day was cool and clear, the sun just beginning to set when Zero's eyes felt heavy. 

"Ah, I'm afraid I won't be able to talk with you guys much longer it seems." Zero said, making the others in the room feel a sense of dread. "I don't mean to be grim or anything, but I feel as though you guys should hear my final thoughts. Shall I begin?"

"Don't force yourself, honey." Kaname said quietly, doing his best to keep the lump in his throat from making a noise. Zero smiled softly and took Kaname's hand into his own. Yuki was already quietly shedding tears. 

"I can't begin to express how thankful I am to all of you, for giving me a place to stay and for listening to my selfish requests. Yuki, thank you for always being patient with me for all of those years. I don't think I would have made it this long without you. I always wondered why they tried so hard to keep me alive, but I think I finally realized why. Had I not, I wouldn't have lived to this day." Yuki choked out a sob and grabbed the other hand that was not holding onto her brother. 

"It was my pleasure." she managed to say in between her cries. Zero smiled at her softly, his own tears getting close to coming out. 

"And Mr. Greene, you've always been so willing to do whatever I asked of you. Whether it be fixing food, fetching me something stupid, or helping me with my equipment. You've been such a great help when you didn't have to be. I cannot be grateful enough." Mr. Greene nodded to him, his words not coming to him. Zero exhaled. 

"And Kaname, where do I even begin? You were such an asshole when we first met, and maybe that's why we got along so well. You didn't hesitate to make your presence known, and you let a complete stranger into your home. You never once treated me like a cancer patient, no matter how pitiful I looked. You only ever asked what I wanted to do, and never treated me like I would break with the slightest bump. It was so refreshing to know someone else to see me as a human being."

Zero went on to talk about things like when they went shopping for books, and Kaname picked up something inappropriate, which caused a little bit of laughter through the tears. He also talked about when they went to the movies to see a film that had great reviews, but it turned out to be so bad that Zero kept grumbling the whole time, which made Kaname leave a heated review about the movie on all major websites about it. They also talked about the time Kaname tried to put his clothes on when Yuki was coming and he wound up putting on Zero's shirt, which was way too small for him, so he looked like he was wearing kid's clothes; it was also pink. Kaname's face was flushed for hours after that. And if that wasn't enough to cause suspicion, Yuki picked up Kaname's phone and seen that his screensaver was of Zero sleeping, which was also a secret from Zero. 

"Are you just trying to embarrass me? Because it's working." Kaname said while covering his face. Zero laughed lightly. 

"You didn't want to tell her yet, but then you kissed me when she went into the kitchen, got carried away, and then she saw us kissing." Zero said, his voice slightly hoarse. He looked out the window, seeing the beautiful sunset over the rest of the city. He took another breath. "Kaname, I hope that you don't take this too hard, and I hope that you eventually find another person to love." he said, his eyes glinting with tears. 

"No, don't talk about things like that." he said, but Zero hummed in disagreement. 

"I'm not so self-centered as to tell you that I don't want you to love anyone other than me. It may sound selfish to some, but I'm just glad that I got to love you until the day I die. That is more than I could ask of you. I want you to be happier than anyone on this planet, and it hurts me more to think that you'll be unhappy after I go than it does for me to think that I am actually going to die. Find someone, fall in love, get married, have a family if that is what you wish. Be the happiest man in the world, I am giving that responsibility to you now, that is your inheritance from me." Zero said with a smile. 

"I'm no one special. The whole world won't stop to mourn me, and the news won't report on it. Hell, I probably won't have many people at my funeral, but had it not been for you guys, I wouldn't have even had this many people that I love with me. I would have died surrounded by strangers, if anything. Thanks to you all, I don't have to die alone. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being with me as I lived the life of a dead man."

"Zero, should you ever be born again, I hope that you never think that you should thank anyone for loving you. You deserve all the love in the world." Yuki said softly.

"The only love I need is the love from you guys. I believe that it will follow me into the next life as well." Zero said quietly. "Forgive me, my eyes are incredibly heavy right now. I don't want to go to sleep yet. I want to hold on to this a little longer. Kaname, I never thought I would want to keep living when the time came to go, but I don't want to leave you yet."

"I'm right here, honey. Maybe you just need a rest, that's all. It might not be time yet, right? It could just be a bad day for you." Kaname said, his eyes panicked as tears fell from them. "I haven't had enough time to love you yet, so you can't go yet. Don't leave me, honey." he all but begged. The tears finally escaped Zero's eyes as he leaned against the other man. 

"I will look for you in my next life, and perhaps then, we could have all the time in the world to love one another." 

~

"Zero, how are you doing today? I got you your favorite ice cream. I hope you enjoy, though it is a bit melted now." Kaname said as he sat down, looking at Zero's face. "I hope you've been well, wherever you are. Unfortunately, I still haven't carried out one of your final wishes, as I still am madly and completely in love with you." Kaname chuckled, his face adorned with small wrinkles. "It's been fifteen years, you know, since you left me all alone. I'm not sad, I promise." he said as his voice trembled. "Yuki's kids are getting so big, you would have loved them. They look just like her. Her husband is doing well as well, and I know you would have given him a hard time." 

A tear slipped from his eyes, the smile on his face trembled. 

"I know you didn't believe my lie about not being sad. I still miss you every day. I hope I get the chance to meet you again one day. I love you with all of my heart. Now! Let's get to the ice cream!"

Thank you to all of you that read or will read this story! I know that it's taken me a long time to finish this, but I hope you understand. Please be kind to me about this chapter, but I will accept complaints lol 

love, heichou daddy