Fic ~ Nino Shows Some Fighting Spirit
It’s Friday!
I’m dead…. But this story lives….
And now it’s time for the other side of the story. The Yama-pair aren’t the only people enjoying heart-to-hearts in this story. Except that - this time - you might doubt the existence of a heart in the other party.
Title: Spiral (Chapter 08 ~ Exasperation)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Angst
Pairing: Sakurai/Aiba
Word Count: 2,500
Type: Multi-Chapter/Series
Summary: Wherein angst takes a backseat, Nino Snark™ finds a familiar victim in Aiba and Brother Hamburger-Hands works his special kind of magic.
Prologue - Ouroborus - HERE
Chapter 01 - Parallels - HERE
Chapter 02 - Tempest - HERE
Chapter 03 - Philos - HERE
Chpater 04 - Sacrosanct - HERE
Chapter 05 - Discourse - HERE
Chapter 06 - Reminiscent - HERE
Chapter 07 - Divulgence - HERE
Disclaimer: I don’t own Arashi. I’m just using them to entertain myself. (Just like Jonny) ¬_¬ Neither did I come up with the basic concept of this story; I have simply written it at the request of jenny_desu. I took your idea babe, and I ran with it!
Spiral
Chapter 08 ~ Exasperation
The first thing that Ninomiya Kazunari noticed as he approached the abode of his childhood friend was the absence of any light shinning through the windows. The second thing he saw was the car belonging to Sakurai Sho parked just outside the building. A week ago he might reasonably have assumed that that both men were in residence but were otherwise engaged. But now, a strange sense of foreboding took him as he regarded the tableau.
Pulling up next to Sakurai’s vehicle into the space usually occupied by Aiba’s car, Ninomiya cut the engine. He hardly needed to ring Aiba’s doorbell to know that the tall man was not home, but he did it anyway. He could have turned around and headed home then. He had known that Masaki had plans for the day; it would not be strange for the tall man to have stayed out up to this point.
Yet, somehow, the one time Hollywood star doubted it was that simple. Ninomiya had never liked being dragged into the personal drama of others. He hated it when others poked their noses into his private life too. This time, however, he told himself that he just wanted to know where his friend was. Taking out his cellular phone as he returned to his car, he dialled Aiba’s number.
It rang off to Masaki’s answer-phone twice, but Ninomiya had not gotten where he was by giving up easily. On his third attempt, he finally got through to the other line. The voice that answered the call, however, did not belong to his lanky friend; it was female.
“Ah! Hello? Kazu-kun, is that you?”
Despite the nervous tone and flustered manner, Ninomiya recognised Masaki’s mother immediately. “Yes, it’s Ninomiya.” He confirmed politely.
“Thank goodness!” She sighed down the line. “I’m so glad you called…”
“Is something wrong?” The young man asked needlessly. He was fairly sure he could guess the answer, but thought it best to have the woman explain.
“It’s about Masa-kun.” She began, her voice pitched low. “Do you know if something happened? He just turned up about an hour ago, and then…”
“And then?”
The mature woman paused to collect her thoughts. “I’ve never seen him like this.” She noted reluctantly. “He seemed so… angry. Then he just went up to his old room and won’t tell us what’s wrong.”
“Is that so?” Ninomiya replied noncommittally, aiming to sound neutral. He could not tell Aiba’s mother anything that her son had not told her himself.
“I’m really worried, Kazu-kun.” She confessed. “I was beginning to think something awful had happened to Arashi. Nothing has, has it?”
“To Arashi? No.” Ninomiya reassured her smoothly. “Everything is totally fine.”
“Then wha-” Interrupting her own question, the concerned mother seemed to have an idea. “Are you busy right now, Kazu-kun? He might talk to you.”
As this had been his objective from the start, the young man did not argue. Assuring the woman that he was indeed free, Ninomiya agreed to check on her son. He then ended the call, started his car and drove the relatively short distance to Aiba’s family home.
Just twenty minutes later, as Ninomiya climbed the stairs to the second floor of Aiba’s family home and restaurant, he experienced a sense of déjà vu. In a small way, he was reminded of his teenage years and all the times he had visited his friend here. This time though, the perceptive young man knew it was different. This was no social call to play video games or baseball.
He did not knock - did not announce his entrance - he simply opened the door and barged right in. Aiba was sprawled on top of the futon with a bottle in one hand and a remote control in the other. The tall man turned away from the television at Ninomiya’s intrusion and regarded the man. He had been watching an early Arashi concert.
“Your father said you had taken a bottle of his best liquor.” The smaller man said without preamble, nodding to indicate the offending item. “I can’t say I blame you though.” He added dryly, catching sight of the screen. “I would need something pretty strong to watch some of our older stuff too.”
The taller man wore a blank, unreadable expression and shrugged listlessly. “I sort of figured if I was going to be confused, I might as well do it while drunk.”
“Oh, yeah…” Ninomiya remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he joined Aiba on the futon. “Because that solves everything.”
“It’ll do.” Masaki counter evenly. “…For now.”
“And tomorrow?” The gamer asked logically.
“Tomorrow I’m going to be so hung-over, I won’t care.”
The younger man snorted disparagingly. “Wow Aiba-chan, even by your standards, that’s a pretty stupid plan.”
Shutting off the television, Masaki groaned. “I know.” He put aside the alcohol and rearranged himself to sit cross-legged in front of his uninvited guest. “But I ran out of other ideas. I give up.”
“That’s always been your biggest problem.” The plainspoken Idol pointed out coldly. “You get so excited about everything, but as soon as it gets difficult, you give up.”
Offended, Aiba railed against the accusation. “What am I supposed to do Kazu-kun!?” He asked sharply. “I tried. I really did! He doesn’t want me; he has someone else and there’s no way I can compete.”
“Oh really?”
“Really. I knew it as soon as I saw the tabloids. Sho-chan even said it himself. So I tried - I tried really hard - to be…normal, you know? Like it was before? We saw each other today and everything was fine, but then….” The lithe man trailed off uncertainly. He was unsure how to explain a sequence of events he did not fully understand himself.
Ninomiya held his tongue as his childhood friend paused. He knew Aiba well enough to know that his apparent apathy was just a façade. He could tall by the tremor in Masaki’s voice and the haunted look in his expressive eyes. And he knew he had to get the older man to stop thinking about everything quite so deeply. Aiba was not really suited to sustained thought anyway.
Eventually, the tall man began to speak. He recounted, not only the events of the day, but the week that preceded them also. Somehow, it gradually got easier, as he voiced his story, to see things objectively. By the time he was telling the smaller man about lunch, he was able to talk about it normally. The circumstances were no less upsetting, but by sharing his worries, Masaki felt the burden of his emotions lighten.
Coming to the end of his narrative, the man calmly described Sakurai’s kiss. “…and then he just left.” He finished on a sigh.
Ninomiya hummed speculatively. He had listened to Aiba for nearly half an hour and had managed to keep his most scathing remarks to himself. He was proud of himself for that: Some of the situations Masaki had portrayed should have warranted bucket-loads of sarcasm in his book. The small man had always been perceptive, and he noticed things in the tale that he knew Aiba himself had missed.
“He just left?” The younger man confirmed.
“Yeah. He said he was sorry and that he wouldn’t love me, and he left.” The older man chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. “But then, he already said he never did, huh?”
“Liar.” Ninomiya answered immediately.
“Eh!? But I’m telling the truth!”
“Not you, idiot.” He swatted at Aiba’s arm as punishment for his stupidity. “Sho-kun. I mean, he fell for you years ago. It just took him a long time to figure it out.”
Masaki was taken aback by the younger mans assured assessment. As much as he wanted his friend to be correct, he did not think it likely. “You don’t know that Nino-chan.” He argued.
“Yes I do.” The sardonic gamer gave him a smug smirk. “Let’s see… it was about the same time you were hospitalised, I guess. Sho-kun nearly worried himself sick too. After that, his attitude towards you slowly started to change. Well, his whole attitude to the group, really, but mostly to you.” Ninomiya explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “And then you - Hm… I guess you sensed the change, huh? - Because you started looking at him differently too.”
Wide-eyed, Masaki stared at the younger man in awe and fascination. “Amazing….” He breathed wondrously. “You could really tell all that?”
“Of course; I’m a genius.” Ninomiya replied blithely. “And I have eyes. Anyone who cared to look properly would have seen it. Well… anyone who isn’t terminally stupid or romantically retarded, anyway. Which explains why it took you both so amazingly long to work it out yourselves.”
Aiba, his gaze upon younger man was a mixture of admiration and hope. “You really think so? But Sho-chan said that he mistook friendship for love.”
The budding magician sneered at that. “Oh, please. You two were so into each other that the ceiling could’ve fallen down around you and neither of you would have noticed. To tell the truth, I was honestly getting sick of you two making sappy eyes at each other all the time. Why do you think I dared you to kiss Sho-kun in the first place?”
The tall young man could not suppress the giggle that bubbled up from within him. He had always enjoyed the dry, derisive wit of his younger friend. Perhaps because he knew he was incapable of such verbal dexterity, he had always found Ninomiya’s droll humour irresistible. Even the sensitive nature of the subject matter did not lessen Aiba’s amusement. On the contrary, if felt good to laugh about the absurdity of the situation.
The blunt assessment relieved him other ways also. Ever since the breakup, Masaki had believed Sakurai’s painful explanation, even if he did not understand it. The younger mans’ testimony, however, caused him to rethink this. Clearly, his pragmatic friend had no reason to lie to him, but perhaps Sakurai did.
This realisation only added to his growing list of unanswered questions, yet he felt all the better for it. Somehow, Aiba knew that if he could discover the truth behind Sakurai’s reasons, the rest of the puzzle would fall into place. With a renewed sense of purpose, he was able to channel his emotions towards more helpful pursuits. Such as enjoying Ninomiya’s company and playing a popular war game borrowed from his younger brother, in Co-Op mode.
While they stormed the enemy camp on screen, their conversation flittered between various topics. Amongst commands, threats and insults, Ninomiya brought up work. “Hey, have you thought about our overnight stay in Sendai?”
“What?”
Ninomiya scolded the man for failing to pay attention to both the game and his question. “It’s not ‘what?’. Ah, would you look where you’re going? You just missed a power-up. Why can’t you ever use more than one brain function at a time…? And that one doesn’t work properly most of the time either.”
“OK, OK,” Masaki laughingly apologised. “Sorry. What about Sendai?”
“I said it already, didn’t I?” The game enthusiast did not take his eyes from the screen and spoke impartially. “We’ll be staying overnight. What are you going to do?”
Also concentrating on the game, Aiba did not give it much thought. “Do? It’s just work, right? I’ll do that just like always, I guess…. Uwah~ Kazu-kun, he’s shooting at me! Help!”
“Oh for the- I meant, what are you going to do about sleeping arrangements, stupid.” The man clarified impatiently. “They usually only book us two or three rooms, after all. Don’t just stand there; shoot back.”
“I can’t, I’m out of ammo!” Masaki wailed before answering Ninomiya’s question. “Maybe Matsujun won’t mind sharing with me? Or maybe he’ll let me have the extra room to myself.”
“I think you should- Would you heal yourself before you get us both killed!? Good. I think you should room with Sho-kun.”
Aiba’s head whipped around to stare at the younger mans indifferent profile. “Eh!?”
The smaller man continued over his friends’ objections. “If it’s bothering you that much, shouldn’t you be trying to get him back?” He shrugged, not once taking his eyes from the battle raging on the screen.
“But, Nino….” Doubtfully, the lithe man turned back to the game. “Sho-chan is dating someone else now.”
“So? You’re not going to lose to a girl, are you?”
“But that-”
“Geez, that guy is still shooting at you.” Ninomiya informed him. “Do something about it. You should fight back; just jump him already.”
Aiba nodded once and took his friends’ advice literally. “Got it… um, which button is that again?”
Ninomiya gave a bark of derisive laughter. “It’s not one you’ll find on the controller.” He smirked, finally pausing the game to regard the tall man. “I was talking about Sho-kun.”
Masaki had to think for a moment before he understood and a faint blush coloured his cheeks. “Nino-chan…” He tried to sound stern, but Ninomiya’s irreverent attitude brought only smiles and his voice squeaked.
“What?” The young man feigned innocence. “Sho-kun obviously still has a thing for you. Why else would he have pretty much molested you earlier?”
“Actually,” Aiba confessed with a sheepish expression turning up the corners of his mouth. “That might have been my own fault. I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time - but I was kind of… ah, you know… flirting.”
“I’m not sure I want any more details Aiba-chan.” His sardonic friend deadpanned. “But if your… flirting… paid off, then doesn’t that mean Sho-kun is still attracted to you? Physically at least.” The man injected a great deal of artificial distaste into his statement.
The idea had not occurred to the taller man, but now it brought a beatific smile to his face. “To be honest,” He beamed. “When Sho-chan started kissing me, I was so happy I - it’s kind of silly but - I even leaked a little.”
“That’s disgusting.” Ninomiya interrupted abruptly.
It took the older man a few seconds to register what his friend had implied. “Huh…? Uh, Oh. Oh! Eww… Nino~ don’t be so perverted!”
The sharp young man was completely unapologetic. “I’m not the one who leaked while some dude has his tongue halfway down my throat.” He sneered.
“Uwah…! Tears, Nino-chan, I leaked tears!” Masaki gasped his face hot with embarrassment. Grinning, he shoved ineffectually at the smaller mans shoulder. “I mean I cried! Geez…”
Naturally, the devious young Idol had known what Aiba had meant from the start; the naïve man simply made too tempting a target to ignore. Besides, Masaki had been able to talk about something painful without getting upset. Ninomiya had known the man long enough to know that the best way to pull Aiba out of despair was to make him smile about it. The versatile Idol counted many abilities amongst his talents, but it was his skill at making Masaki laugh that he was most thankful for now. He knew that when Aiba could laugh at a problem, that was when most problems disappeared.
To be continued…
In CHAPTER 09!
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Less than two weeks from the conclusion of this story and we finally get to see Aiba smile again. (For now…) And for those of you wondering who the mysterious eavesdropper is…. I’m not telling~ ♪
On a personal note, just two more shifts in my over-working week from hell, and I get a whole eight days off to chill! *Thinking of 40 hours worth of over-time pay at 1.5 times my normal wage* (too bad I’ll lose most of it to the tax man) But I’d like to thank everyone for your messages of support and reminding me to relax. I’ll take your advice on Sunday. Believe me!
Next update on: Tuesday 1st September. If you want to keep track of this story and its progress, check out my post [ HERE] I’ll keep it updated with any new information.
Comments, criticisms, opinions and ideas are all welcome! ♥