Ultraviolet

Chapter 34

The day came for the band to leave for LA. Taka was an excited ball of energy while Toru was being his usual nervous flier and fell asleep right away. Their manager was with them, so Taka couldn't even discuss his wedding plans and felt like a nervous wreck the entire flight. He opted to rest his head on his soon-to-be husband for the whole flight, hoping that being near Toru would calm him. It worked and Taka fell asleep rather quickly and woke up when landed.

Hiro was already in LA when they landed and was getting stuff ready so that Taka and Toru could focus on band things without alerting their management.
Every night Taka would grill Hiro on the checklist of things to do as Toru would laugh at him being a control freak.
The night before the wedding, Toru stayed at a hotel after his bachelor party and Taka had a party in his LA home. He was a bit pissed that Hiro and Tomo decided to invite female strippers, but they were laughing as they said it was his final opportunity to see a naked woman in real life.
The next morning, Taka was awoken by the sound of Hiro's phone going off. Hiro got up to answer it outside and Taka decided to get the house ready. The bachelor's party happened outside so that the inside could remain set up for the wedding, it was a small party so it didn't get that wild.
Taka went outside to go check on Hiro when he noticed his shoes were gone. He went to go wake up Tomoya and they tried to figure out what was happening.
“His phone rang, then he went outside, now he's gone. He's probably trying to convince Toru to not back out” Taka cried as he began to think of the worst. Tomoya tried to calm Taka down and promised to go call Ryota to find out what was going on. Taka had spent 10 minutes crying about Toru backing out and Tomo kept reassuring him that Ryota was with Toru and everything was going to go as planned.
“Good thing you have me as your second best man” Tomo laughed as he began going through Taka's day-of checklist.

“What are you doing here?” Shinichi sighed as he opened his hotel door and found his two youngest sons preventing him from leaving.
“We just thought we'd take you out to coffee this morning. The three of us have been in LA and you haven't even called us to go for brunch or something” Tomohiro answered with a smile.
“You're going to make me late for my plane” their dad responded as he looked at his watch.
“Let's just stop at Starbucks on the way. We can catch up together” Hiro smiled as his dad eyed them suspiciously.
“I know your plan” Shinichi crossed his arms. “You're going to claim we're going to Starbucks and then make a pitstop at Taka's house where you barricade me there”
“Nope, we'll take you to Starbucks, then we'll take you to the airport. We'll even hail a cab so you know we aren't lying about the location” Tomohiro smiled.
Shinichi sighed as he followed his sons down to the lobby. The three men walked right past the concierge, Shinichi suggested they get a cab from him.
“How do you know we haven't already paid off the concierge in advance? We'll walk to whatever spot in the street you want and then hail a cab” Hiro smiled.
They exited the hotel and found a place to stand and wait for a cab to pass by. Hiro and Tomohiro looked at their phone, hoping to run down the time.
“I don't think any taxis are coming, can we just get an Uber? My plane leaves in just over an hour” Shinichi sighed as he looked at his sons.
“Sure” Hiro smiled as he opened his app and hailed an Uber from them to a Starbucks near the airport.
“No, not the Starbucks, right to the airport” Shinichi said as he looked at the phone screen.
“We'll just stop quickly. I'm tired” Hiro responded as his dad sighed.
The Uber came a few minutes later and took them to the Starbucks, then to the airport. They were stuck in the usual LA traffic. Hiro nudged his brother, showed him the time, and smiled at their success.

They arrived at the airport with 45 minutes to go until departure. Shinichi ran to the ticket gates, only to be told he was too late and you had to be there an hour before boarding. He tried to book a ticket for the next flight, only to be told there's only one flight a day on that airline. He opened his phone and discovered his next available flight option would be the next day.
“I guess we may as well go to Taka's then” Hiro said sweetly as he looked at his dad.
“Yea, I don't know why we had such a difficult time hailing a cab” Tomohiro laughed before they realised they were still standing at the ticket agent.
“You can't hail cabs on the street in LA” the man behind the ticketing counter said as Hiro and Tomohiro held back their laughter and ordered an Uber.

“Isn't this a good thing? You didn't really want to miss your son's wedding” Hiro said as they got into the Uber.
“You were going to miss your son's wedding?” The Uber driver said loudly as they got settled.
“Yes he was” Hiro informed him as they buckled their seatbelts.
“I missed my daughter's wedding. Worst decision of my life” he said sadly as he began driving. “I didn't like her girlfriend, decided against going. She's never forgiven me. Refuses to answer my calls. She has a son and won't even let me see him”
Hiro and Tomohiro continued talking with the Uber driver while Shinichi sat in silence.

“Where’s Hiro” Taka yelled as he paced around his bedroom in circles. Tomo was sat on his bed trying to call Hiro when Ryota knocked on his bedroom door.
“What's with the yelling in here?” Ryota asked as he saw Taka walking around in circles with Tomo on the bed.
“Hiro's gone. He was here this morning, now he's not. Where is the fucker” Taka continued yelling as he sat on the bed.
“Have you asked Tomohiro?” Ryota asked.
Taka stopped dead in his tracks. He was so focused on Hiro, he hadn't noticed he didn't see Tomohiro in the morning. Taka assumed he was still asleep in a spare room. Taka called him quickly only to get voicemail. He left an angry voicemail for him and then continued to pace around.
“Toru is here right? He hasn't backed out? Is Hiro trying to convince him to go through with it” Taka asked out loud, looking straight at Ryota.
“Yea, he's here. He's getting ready in the spare room” Ryota said as he looked at his watch.
“I should go talk to him” Taka tried to leave the room but was stopped by Tomo and Ryota.
“You can't see your groom before the wedding. It's bad luck or something” Ryota said as he pushed Taka back into the bedroom.
“You're covering for him, aren't you?” Taka said with grimace.
“I'll go and make sure he's not, ok?” Tomo said as he left the room and went to check on Toru.

A/N:
Next one is the (actual) final chapter ooooh boy.