Second fan-fiction ever!
Title: Let's build castles in the air ;
Pairing(s): Ohmiya
Genre: Less angst, more fluff 'n' comfort this time 'round!
Rating: PG for language and demi-adult concepts.
Summary: Nino still nurses his wounds. Ohno helps along the process.
A/N: Can be read as a one-shot drabble-thing, or a "Part II" after Build Me Up, Buttercup.
Comments are appreciated! :D
P/S: NEW ENDING! NEW ENDING! It is more sequel-y now. xD
It is an apartment in Tokyo, perfectly silent save the muted sounds of a television next door and the merciless morning traffic crawl outside.
The key won't go in properly, and Nino fiddles it around; shakes the doorknob with a dull grunt of annoyance. His hands are shaking. He ignores them.
After a few attempts, the door is unlocked and Nino steps through.
This is the apartment he was supposed to have lived in, with.. with her. He can't bring himself to think her name- he likes to think that she's that insignificant.
The furniture had all been sent back. Nino's sick of being all apologetic charm over the phone-
"Was there something wrong with the produ-"
"No. No, not at all. It just seems that we're not ready to move in quite yet. I'm so sorry for this."
Explaining it to the previous owner had been even worse.
"So you're NOT going to live in it after all?"
"...No."
"Because..?"
None of your business, you nosy prick.
"She didn't like the neighborhood. I understand if there's no refund; I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience."
Another alarmingly beautiful smile, another alarmingly convincing lie.
His heart isn't exactly put back together, in the strict sense of the phrase. Think of a cup that has been shattered into pieces of useless porcelain, but has somewhat reassembled itself with superglue, albeit there are little holes and chinks everywhere. Functioning, but barely.
Nino takes a deep breath and sets the keys on the kitchen counter. She would have made breakfast there.
He steps onto the space where the couch would have been; doesn't cough as the dust clouds rise with a vengeance.
They would have watched videos together, battled each other on Prince of Persia- she was ace at that.
The bedroom door is open.
They would have woken up in each other's arms every morning, returned to each other every night.
Then, down the corridor and to the left, there is the nursery with the sky mural...
Nino's train of thought stops there, and a loud broken sob fills the silence in the apartment as he sits in the corner and mourns what was never his.
*
Ohno knows where Nino's been going, every single morning for two hours without fail. It's been almost a month now, and Ohno still doesn't know what to do with this information. Johnny-san, for once, had acquiesced to Arashi's demands without argument or question- and they'd gotten a six-month hiatus. Jun really does know the best lawyers in the city.
The fans had wept openly on the streets, had worn black clothes and held demonstrations with picket signs-- but who the fuck cares?
Nino was hurt, and Ohno (Arashi, actually, but especially Ohno) would be there to comfort him for as long as he needed to be comforted. Which is exactly why Ohno had broken the law by driving his mother's car to follow Nino, and was now parked (haphazardly) in front of the apartment building.
He is vaguely aware of the concept of parking meters, but fancying his quest to cheer Nino up more important than some stupid road rule, he goes into the lobby without giving it much thought. He then realizes with a start that he has no idea what floor Nino is on, and that apartments, unlike hotels, don't have mahogany information desks with kind old ladies that ask if they may help you.
It's not much of a problem though, seeing as at the exact same moment of Ohno's brillliant epiphany, the elevator doors open and Nino comes out- bloodshot eyes, red nose and all.
Without a word, he walks into Ohno's arms and mumbles a long string of incoherent words into the crook of the older man's neck.
"What?"
"I said- I was watching you park. In front of a fucking fire hydrant. No wonder you don't have a license, you half-wit. Can we please get out of here before you get a ticket that I'd have to pay for, merely out of guilt?"
Ohno mutters, "Brat- I drive just fine," with a roll of his eyes, but is secretly dancing in joy. After all, a bratty Nino is a ..normal Nino.
*
Breakfast is on the second floor of one of the many cafes that decorate Ginza. Nino and Ohno sit facing the window- one munching contentedly on a chocolate croissant, the latter thoughtfully watching the throngs of people below, making their way to another long day at work. His hands aren't shaking anymore; he keeps his fingers wrapped tight around his coffee mug, absorbing the pleasant heat.
Ohno licks his fingers in a most unbecoming manner for an idol, and Nino laughs. "Honestly Oh-chan," he laments mockingly as he wipes Ohno's fingers with a napkin, "I don't know what you'd do without me."
"Neither do I," Ohno answers simply and truthfully, and there's something in his voice that Nino decidedly takes no notice of.
*
Nino hates cliches. As a JE idol, his entire on-camera existence is a cliche and he despises it all.
From the cliched clothes that he wears for appearances, to the cliched answers that he is obliged to give at interviews and press conferences (he still remembers memorizing them with Aiba, late nights filled with exhaustion and big dreams), to even the cliched smiles that he offers to the public, that feeling of accomplishment as he watches their defences crumble.
But it is a cliche indeed that comes into his mind as he realizes that the moon is up and unobscured by clouds- that is, time flies when you're having fun. There are no stars out tonight, as there are never stars in Tokyo, but he figures that's why they have so many damn lights in this place anyway.
They'd taken a stroll in the park, admired the frozen lake and sneered at the cocky skaters who ended up falling; they'd walked up and down the length of Akihabara, lost money in pachinko parlors and laughed themselves hoarse testing out the latest sex toys in the porn shops; they'd train-hopped with no real idea of their destination, running from this platform to that one and gasping until somehow, at some point, they'd ended up here: Ebisu Garden, still done up in Christmas lights although the holiday had long passed.
Ohno's face is tinged pink with cold, his last fit of giggles still refusing to die off, and Nino suddenly feels the urge to touch him- make sure that he's real. One minute passes, then two, then something proceeds to happen that alters the entire course of the universe.
Nino lands a kiss on Ohno's cheek- chaste and detached. An adult somewhere behind them tsks in disapproval.
There is an initial moment of shock on both sides. Ohno beams like he's never beamed before, and Nino feels a little less broken, a little more sunshine.
"I love you, Nino-chan," the beaming man proclaims, his voice carrying clear into the crisp winter night, and that same annoying adult tsks again.
Nino resists the temptation to turn around and stick out his tongue, maybe give the finger. Instead, he clamps his hand over Ohno's mouth.
"You idiot," he whispers, attempting to be annoyed. But his heartbeat is a frantically happy rhythm; he can't understand why, or won't he? They've been through this a million times. For the fans, for the press, for the world. It's nothing new. But the way his pulse is quickening is new; and the way he feels the heat of Ohno's skin as if it's searing through his own.
"I love you too." The four words cut through the giddiness of the atmosphere; at once Nino senses something significant has just happened. He can't quite put his finger on it, doesn't press it further. They have a six-month hiatus, after all. And thus, the night goes on, and unbeknownst to these two Asian dorks, the wheels of fate start turning.
Pairing(s): Ohmiya
Genre: Less angst, more fluff 'n' comfort this time 'round!
Rating: PG for language and demi-adult concepts.
Summary: Nino still nurses his wounds. Ohno helps along the process.
A/N: Can be read as a one-shot drabble-thing, or a "Part II" after Build Me Up, Buttercup.
Comments are appreciated! :D
P/S: NEW ENDING! NEW ENDING! It is more sequel-y now. xD
It is an apartment in Tokyo, perfectly silent save the muted sounds of a television next door and the merciless morning traffic crawl outside.
The key won't go in properly, and Nino fiddles it around; shakes the doorknob with a dull grunt of annoyance. His hands are shaking. He ignores them.
After a few attempts, the door is unlocked and Nino steps through.
This is the apartment he was supposed to have lived in, with.. with her. He can't bring himself to think her name- he likes to think that she's that insignificant.
The furniture had all been sent back. Nino's sick of being all apologetic charm over the phone-
"Was there something wrong with the produ-"
"No. No, not at all. It just seems that we're not ready to move in quite yet. I'm so sorry for this."
Explaining it to the previous owner had been even worse.
"So you're NOT going to live in it after all?"
"...No."
"Because..?"
None of your business, you nosy prick.
"She didn't like the neighborhood. I understand if there's no refund; I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience."
Another alarmingly beautiful smile, another alarmingly convincing lie.
His heart isn't exactly put back together, in the strict sense of the phrase. Think of a cup that has been shattered into pieces of useless porcelain, but has somewhat reassembled itself with superglue, albeit there are little holes and chinks everywhere. Functioning, but barely.
Nino takes a deep breath and sets the keys on the kitchen counter. She would have made breakfast there.
He steps onto the space where the couch would have been; doesn't cough as the dust clouds rise with a vengeance.
They would have watched videos together, battled each other on Prince of Persia- she was ace at that.
The bedroom door is open.
They would have woken up in each other's arms every morning, returned to each other every night.
Then, down the corridor and to the left, there is the nursery with the sky mural...
Nino's train of thought stops there, and a loud broken sob fills the silence in the apartment as he sits in the corner and mourns what was never his.
*
Ohno knows where Nino's been going, every single morning for two hours without fail. It's been almost a month now, and Ohno still doesn't know what to do with this information. Johnny-san, for once, had acquiesced to Arashi's demands without argument or question- and they'd gotten a six-month hiatus. Jun really does know the best lawyers in the city.
The fans had wept openly on the streets, had worn black clothes and held demonstrations with picket signs-- but who the fuck cares?
Nino was hurt, and Ohno (Arashi, actually, but especially Ohno) would be there to comfort him for as long as he needed to be comforted. Which is exactly why Ohno had broken the law by driving his mother's car to follow Nino, and was now parked (haphazardly) in front of the apartment building.
He is vaguely aware of the concept of parking meters, but fancying his quest to cheer Nino up more important than some stupid road rule, he goes into the lobby without giving it much thought. He then realizes with a start that he has no idea what floor Nino is on, and that apartments, unlike hotels, don't have mahogany information desks with kind old ladies that ask if they may help you.
It's not much of a problem though, seeing as at the exact same moment of Ohno's brillliant epiphany, the elevator doors open and Nino comes out- bloodshot eyes, red nose and all.
Without a word, he walks into Ohno's arms and mumbles a long string of incoherent words into the crook of the older man's neck.
"What?"
"I said- I was watching you park. In front of a fucking fire hydrant. No wonder you don't have a license, you half-wit. Can we please get out of here before you get a ticket that I'd have to pay for, merely out of guilt?"
Ohno mutters, "Brat- I drive just fine," with a roll of his eyes, but is secretly dancing in joy. After all, a bratty Nino is a ..normal Nino.
*
Breakfast is on the second floor of one of the many cafes that decorate Ginza. Nino and Ohno sit facing the window- one munching contentedly on a chocolate croissant, the latter thoughtfully watching the throngs of people below, making their way to another long day at work. His hands aren't shaking anymore; he keeps his fingers wrapped tight around his coffee mug, absorbing the pleasant heat.
Ohno licks his fingers in a most unbecoming manner for an idol, and Nino laughs. "Honestly Oh-chan," he laments mockingly as he wipes Ohno's fingers with a napkin, "I don't know what you'd do without me."
"Neither do I," Ohno answers simply and truthfully, and there's something in his voice that Nino decidedly takes no notice of.
*
Nino hates cliches. As a JE idol, his entire on-camera existence is a cliche and he despises it all.
From the cliched clothes that he wears for appearances, to the cliched answers that he is obliged to give at interviews and press conferences (he still remembers memorizing them with Aiba, late nights filled with exhaustion and big dreams), to even the cliched smiles that he offers to the public, that feeling of accomplishment as he watches their defences crumble.
But it is a cliche indeed that comes into his mind as he realizes that the moon is up and unobscured by clouds- that is, time flies when you're having fun. There are no stars out tonight, as there are never stars in Tokyo, but he figures that's why they have so many damn lights in this place anyway.
They'd taken a stroll in the park, admired the frozen lake and sneered at the cocky skaters who ended up falling; they'd walked up and down the length of Akihabara, lost money in pachinko parlors and laughed themselves hoarse testing out the latest sex toys in the porn shops; they'd train-hopped with no real idea of their destination, running from this platform to that one and gasping until somehow, at some point, they'd ended up here: Ebisu Garden, still done up in Christmas lights although the holiday had long passed.
Ohno's face is tinged pink with cold, his last fit of giggles still refusing to die off, and Nino suddenly feels the urge to touch him- make sure that he's real. One minute passes, then two, then something proceeds to happen that alters the entire course of the universe.
Nino lands a kiss on Ohno's cheek- chaste and detached. An adult somewhere behind them tsks in disapproval.
There is an initial moment of shock on both sides. Ohno beams like he's never beamed before, and Nino feels a little less broken, a little more sunshine.
"I love you, Nino-chan," the beaming man proclaims, his voice carrying clear into the crisp winter night, and that same annoying adult tsks again.
Nino resists the temptation to turn around and stick out his tongue, maybe give the finger. Instead, he clamps his hand over Ohno's mouth.
"You idiot," he whispers, attempting to be annoyed. But his heartbeat is a frantically happy rhythm; he can't understand why, or won't he? They've been through this a million times. For the fans, for the press, for the world. It's nothing new. But the way his pulse is quickening is new; and the way he feels the heat of Ohno's skin as if it's searing through his own.
"I love you too." The four words cut through the giddiness of the atmosphere; at once Nino senses something significant has just happened. He can't quite put his finger on it, doesn't press it further. They have a six-month hiatus, after all. And thus, the night goes on, and unbeknownst to these two Asian dorks, the wheels of fate start turning.