Breaking Barriers - Chapter 8: Mothers know best
Breaking Barriers
Summary:
In this NinoAi High School AU, the presence of Aiba Masaki is there to break the barriers built around Ninomiya Kazunari's heart. But will the walls of trust be built in its place?
Notes:
This is super late, I had sooo much trouble with it, you should have seen the unpublished version, urgh! ..... No, wait. Don't see it! (≧∇≦*)
Disclaimer:
Simple happiness~
Am I the only one who thinks I've lost the meaning of disclaimer? Well, for last chapter sake:
The characters in this story are based of the writer's impression of real-life people. However, it is unknown to the writer how much exactly of the characters' personality is real. The events in this fiction did not occur. Any similar incidence is merely a coincidence.
Warning/Rating:
Not angsty. I think this is simple. Does it mean its fluff?? Yeah, its fulffy.
Words: Between 1.6k to 2k, but I never cared about word count, sorry.
Chapter 8: Mothers know best
“Okaeri,”
Ninomiya swallows. He tries his best to remain as calm as ever, to quieten his pounding heart. But it only seem to echo louder by the second.
The fingers around the strap of his bag clenches, and Ninomiya feels the rough material scrapping his skin. He takes a step in. Its frustrating how nervous he feels, as his next step is just as heavy as the first. His socked feet padded across the wooden polish of the floor without making a sound as he moves to his wardrobe. Intentionally, he avoids the bed.
"It's not okaeri, is it!?" Ninomiya says, as he places his bag by the table beside his wardrobe.
His voice is surprisingly calm, and he thinks he did well to pass it off as normal. As though ignoring the presence on his bed, he unwraps himself from the layers of jackets and mufflers, and strips down to his tank top.
"Oh," a soft mumble is heard, as he puts on an oversized, hooded sweater above his tank top.
Ninomiya swallows again. He bites his lips, and tells himself the hint of disappointment he heard was just his imagination. Without changing out from his school trousers, he turns around, finally getting a hold of himself to look Aiba in the eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Ninomiya asks spitefully, as though it's Aiba's fault that they're not talking to each other anymore.
And then he thinks, but it is Aiba's fault. It's Aiba's fault for approaching him falsely. It's Aiba's fault for taking up that request because it came from Sakurai. It's Aiba's fault for liking Sakurai.
It's Aiba's fault for making Ninomiya like him.
"Well, I came to visit a friend, of course."
Ninomiya pauses, his eyes widening slightly at the other boy's response. He blinks once, and once more only to look away, puzzled. He's pretty sure he there's a slight misunderstanding somewhere. Ninomiya squints his eyes a little, highly aware he did not misheard the response, yet unable to comprehend with the answer at all.
A soft chuckle causes Ninomiya to lose his train of thoughts. He looks at the source of the sound and finds Aiba with a clenched fist hiding the smirk on his face. Ninomiya frowns, before he realizes he's been having a battle of expressions on his face.
He swallows strictly, determined to not lose to any of the adorableness.
“Then I think you got the wrong house!”
There is a hint of frustration on Aiba's face, the one he gets when he's faced with a difficult Mathematics question. Like he's determined to get it right but he's just unsure as to how.
“Kazu...” Aiba whispers, all hint of amusement lost from his voice, and Ninomiya thinks that maybe he shouldn't make it so difficult for the older boy.
Ninomiya gives a sigh of resignation, knowing just how helpless he is. He's always been weak with these kinds of situations. Despite how his sister would sometimes complain that he's too sharp-tongued for his own good, it never seems to work in an argument. The feeling of guilt and his strong conscience would wash over him before he even manages to think up of anything smart to say.
“Ah!”
As though the world has been forgotten, Ninomiya stares intensely at the book Aiba had put down as he entered earlier. The argument he almost started, the hurt and pained expression of the one he likes, and even his own frustrations and fears seemed to have lost to one single thought.
“AAAHH!!” He exclaims even louder as his own eyes make certain of his initial thought.
“What? What!?” Aiba asks, slightly panicking, when Ninomiya lifts his finger to point in Aiba's direction. His legs are up on the bed, bent in front of him, but he merely sways it side to side as though he might see something.
“That's mine, right!?” Ninomiya almost squeaks out as he finds his voice again.
“Eh? Eh? What!?”
Aiba looks around frantically, trying to comprehend what had caused Ninomiya to go into a sudden outburst. Ninomiya had said “that”, but the only thing around him that Aiba could see was Ninomiya's bed which he was on.
But that shouldn't be a surprise to Ninomiya, since they're in his room after all - Aiba couldn't possibly brought his own bed all the way to Kazu's house.
Ninomiya rushes forward, almost pouncing on Aiba. He quickly lands just short of Aiba's legs, plopping himself by the older boy's feet. In a sudden, swift motion, Ninomiya grabs the manga that had initially been neglected by Aiba's legs. Aiba is now more confused then he'd been when Ninomiya first started exclaiming out loud.
“Kazu...?”
“This!!” Ninomiya says, holding up the latest issue of the Weekly Shounen JUMP manga.
“I haven't read it yet, why'd you get to read it first!?”
As Aiba stares blankly at Ninomiya, the realization that his change in topic was very much out of place, dawned on Ninomiya. The manga still held up, but with less determined hands now, Ninomiya scans his room for some form of escape as a bright smile begins to take form on Aiba's face.
“It's fine,” Aiba says, all too gleefully, “I'm your friend after all.”
But Ninomiya scowls more, disapproving of the logic of his friend. Unable to come up with a decent rebuttal, Ninomiya huffs loudly. Aiba, however, sees it as a form of shy agreement and decides that pouncing on the smaller guy is befitting of the current atmosphere.
“Get off!” Ninomiya whines, but his pushes are weak and effortless.
“What are you...!? Aiba, get off!” Ninomiya attempts again, placing his palm right at Aiba's cheeks the moment the older boy has started to ruffle his hair against Ninomiya's cheeks.
Aiba stops, controlled by the pale, small palm that fits the side of his face nicely. He had both his hands placed on the bed by Ninomiya's sides, supporting his frame like that of the beams of a temple.
Ninomiya blushes, aware of their positions on top of his bed. He's leaned back from the pressure of Aiba's presence, and the only distance between them is short and kept in place only by his restricting arm. But his other arm supporting himself, despite himself being small and light, is slowly giving in to the exertion caused upon it.
“Aiba...” He breathes out slightly in what is supposed to be a hint for the other guy to back off and give him some space.
But Aiba is merely staring straight into his eyes, unfazed by the situation they're in and the ache that is creeping up Ninomiya's arm. Ninomiya's mind is on alert if only to focus from losing balance, but the eye contact that Aiba has on him is what Ninomiya considers a huge distraction.
“I like you, Kazu”
In the same moment the words were spoken, the energy Ninomiya had reserved to keeping his arm up no longer seems necessary as his whole body stiffens with tension instantly.
“No you don't” Ninomiya says back softly.
“You like Sakurai-kun, Aiba” The matter-of-fact tone that Ninomiya's voice carries betrays the heavy pounding of his heart, but Ninomiya says so in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.
“Sure, I do like Sho-kun,” Aiba shrugs a little, which confuses Ninomiya more as the fear starts to grow once again. “But I like Kazu more.”
Ninomiya looks down, trying to find an appropriate response without being incoherent or embarrassing, or both. His eyes scans around, a sort of habit he does to buy himself time to reply, but his sight unintentionally lands on the base of Aiba's neck, right by the neckline of their school shirt.
“I...” he says without much thought, as he gets even more distracted with his line of vision racing up Aiba's neck, taking in the slightly tan skin along with the protruding adam's apple and landing by the jaw bone right below the ear.
“I...” the strong line of Aiba's jaw has the mechanism in Ninomiya's brain halt temporarily. His eyes traces along the sharp feature, reaching up to the point where one of his hand is still awkwardly placed on Aiba's cheeks. But he's too distracted to do anything about the hand so he lets it be, as his sight slowly climbs higher.
“I...” Ninomiya says distractedly, and by now, he doesn't remember why he's even trying to say anything. He abandons all attempts as he explores the sight of Aiba's chin, and then up onto his --
A slight force pushes Ninomiya’s head back, causing his whole upper body to crash down on his bed as his supporting arm gave way to the motion. It wasn't even three seconds before Ninomiya realizes that he's fallen onto his back, but he fails to comprehend how, or why, Aiba is looming over him.
Following the motion, the hand that was initially by Aiba's cheeks had slid along the back of the older boy, across the ear and right to the back of his head. Or so Ninomiya assumes how his palm has come to rest on Aiba's black, fluffy hair.
“What was that?” Ninomiya asks, matter-of-factly, his tone surprisingly calm even to himself.
“Eh?” Aiba is looking directly at him now, and Ninomiya sees the fear in his eyes as though he’s done the other wrong.
“A… kiss?” The word came out from Aiba’s mouth barely a whisper.
“No, it wasn’t.” Ninomiya responds, and he lets himself be entertained by Aiba’s scared look for a while.
Aiba's eyes roamed around, his expression clearly readable on his face. The older boy is probably in doubt of his next step -- to move away, or to attempt at the action again. Ninomiya tries to hide his smirk as Aiba takes in a breath of air, only to bite his lower lips uncertainly.
“You captured my lips waaaay too suddenly, and then you back off almost immediately, it was barely even three seconds. It’s not a kiss, if it’s not more than three seconds!” Ninomiya says, as though it’s common sense that only Aiba doesn’t know.
“Plus, this is how a kiss is suppose to be!”
Ninomiya grabs the black locks in his fist as he gently pulls the older boy down. He moves fast enough, and before Aiba’s mind can process what had just been said, locked their lips together. He doesn’t let go even after three seconds.
And Aiba kisses him back.
おまけ
The air feels incredibly hot despite the cold winter air outside. If there's any reason to be breathless, it should be due to the heavier winter air. But Ninomiya is indoors where his heater is switched on at just the right temperature to keep him comfortably warm.
Yet, despite the decently average temperature he had set, the air is incredibly burning, and Ninomiya finds himself in need of more air to breathe - or rather, space.
His hand slides down from the black bush, onto the strong, board shoulder. He gives it a strong enough push, finally breaking off the kiss. He gasps heavily, and above him, Aiba does the same. But the silly smile is evident on the older boy's face, and Ninomiya can't help but frown on one thing.
“How did you even get in!?”
“Eh?” Aiba looks at Ninomiya like the younger boy has just said about the strangest thing anyone could possibly think up of.
“Your mum let me in to wait for you before she left to meet her friends,” Aiba says, and Ninomiya feels like there is almost an ”of course” at the end of that sentence.
“Why was my mum letting strangers into the house!?”
“I'm not,” Aiba rebuts, like he is defending the kiss they've both just shared.
“You were at that given point of time!” Ninomiya responds, ignoring the blush creeping up his face at the possibilities of the soon to come.
“What!?” There is genuine confusion in Aiba's face for a moment before it disappears entirely. “Well, I'm not now!”
Aiba pauses for a slight while, and as an afterthought, he adds in, “And it's fine, since mothers know best!”
A/N:
FINALLY !! Finally I am satisfied with this Chapter.
Well, I initially thought up of this idea about a year ago. And I had penned down the outline of the story.
Sad to say, due to my own stupidity, I accidentally deleted the outline.
Some of the more prominent scenes were as I had outlined, but otherwise, I had to start from scratch.
I wasn't satisfied at all with the initial draft of chapter 8.
It consisted of NinoAi fighting, but... I think it clashed too much of my idea of Nino's personality.
I have this image that he's more likely to avoid an argument then to find one.
So, despite being done with it, I just didn't like it.
After deciding to scrap the whole thing (except the ones I insisted to keep, which is prob 20%)
the above story came very smoothly, and I typed it out within about an hour or so(?)
So, I hope you guys enjoyed the story.
I realized I'm still not very good with the pacing. Like, it's too fast sometimes, and too slow otherwise.
I'd like to blame it on my lack of proper, initial planning.
I won't be writing a chaptered fic anytime soon, until I've properly planned out the chapters. I'll focus on one-shots for now.
writer n でした！
~ HOPE YOU'VE ENJOYED IT~
Summary:
In this NinoAi High School AU, the presence of Aiba Masaki is there to break the barriers built around Ninomiya Kazunari's heart. But will the walls of trust be built in its place?
Notes:
This is super late, I had sooo much trouble with it, you should have seen the unpublished version, urgh! ..... No, wait. Don't see it! (≧∇≦*)
Disclaimer:
Simple happiness~
Am I the only one who thinks I've lost the meaning of disclaimer? Well, for last chapter sake:
The characters in this story are based of the writer's impression of real-life people. However, it is unknown to the writer how much exactly of the characters' personality is real. The events in this fiction did not occur. Any similar incidence is merely a coincidence.
Warning/Rating:
Not angsty. I think this is simple. Does it mean its fluff?? Yeah, its fulffy.
Words: Between 1.6k to 2k, but I never cared about word count, sorry.
Chapter 8: Mothers know best
“Okaeri,”
Ninomiya swallows. He tries his best to remain as calm as ever, to quieten his pounding heart. But it only seem to echo louder by the second.
The fingers around the strap of his bag clenches, and Ninomiya feels the rough material scrapping his skin. He takes a step in. Its frustrating how nervous he feels, as his next step is just as heavy as the first. His socked feet padded across the wooden polish of the floor without making a sound as he moves to his wardrobe. Intentionally, he avoids the bed.
"It's not okaeri, is it!?" Ninomiya says, as he places his bag by the table beside his wardrobe.
His voice is surprisingly calm, and he thinks he did well to pass it off as normal. As though ignoring the presence on his bed, he unwraps himself from the layers of jackets and mufflers, and strips down to his tank top.
"Oh," a soft mumble is heard, as he puts on an oversized, hooded sweater above his tank top.
Ninomiya swallows again. He bites his lips, and tells himself the hint of disappointment he heard was just his imagination. Without changing out from his school trousers, he turns around, finally getting a hold of himself to look Aiba in the eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Ninomiya asks spitefully, as though it's Aiba's fault that they're not talking to each other anymore.
And then he thinks, but it is Aiba's fault. It's Aiba's fault for approaching him falsely. It's Aiba's fault for taking up that request because it came from Sakurai. It's Aiba's fault for liking Sakurai.
It's Aiba's fault for making Ninomiya like him.
"Well, I came to visit a friend, of course."
Ninomiya pauses, his eyes widening slightly at the other boy's response. He blinks once, and once more only to look away, puzzled. He's pretty sure he there's a slight misunderstanding somewhere. Ninomiya squints his eyes a little, highly aware he did not misheard the response, yet unable to comprehend with the answer at all.
A soft chuckle causes Ninomiya to lose his train of thoughts. He looks at the source of the sound and finds Aiba with a clenched fist hiding the smirk on his face. Ninomiya frowns, before he realizes he's been having a battle of expressions on his face.
He swallows strictly, determined to not lose to any of the adorableness.
“Then I think you got the wrong house!”
There is a hint of frustration on Aiba's face, the one he gets when he's faced with a difficult Mathematics question. Like he's determined to get it right but he's just unsure as to how.
“Kazu...” Aiba whispers, all hint of amusement lost from his voice, and Ninomiya thinks that maybe he shouldn't make it so difficult for the older boy.
Ninomiya gives a sigh of resignation, knowing just how helpless he is. He's always been weak with these kinds of situations. Despite how his sister would sometimes complain that he's too sharp-tongued for his own good, it never seems to work in an argument. The feeling of guilt and his strong conscience would wash over him before he even manages to think up of anything smart to say.
“Ah!”
As though the world has been forgotten, Ninomiya stares intensely at the book Aiba had put down as he entered earlier. The argument he almost started, the hurt and pained expression of the one he likes, and even his own frustrations and fears seemed to have lost to one single thought.
“AAAHH!!” He exclaims even louder as his own eyes make certain of his initial thought.
“What? What!?” Aiba asks, slightly panicking, when Ninomiya lifts his finger to point in Aiba's direction. His legs are up on the bed, bent in front of him, but he merely sways it side to side as though he might see something.
“That's mine, right!?” Ninomiya almost squeaks out as he finds his voice again.
“Eh? Eh? What!?”
Aiba looks around frantically, trying to comprehend what had caused Ninomiya to go into a sudden outburst. Ninomiya had said “that”, but the only thing around him that Aiba could see was Ninomiya's bed which he was on.
But that shouldn't be a surprise to Ninomiya, since they're in his room after all - Aiba couldn't possibly brought his own bed all the way to Kazu's house.
Ninomiya rushes forward, almost pouncing on Aiba. He quickly lands just short of Aiba's legs, plopping himself by the older boy's feet. In a sudden, swift motion, Ninomiya grabs the manga that had initially been neglected by Aiba's legs. Aiba is now more confused then he'd been when Ninomiya first started exclaiming out loud.
“Kazu...?”
“This!!” Ninomiya says, holding up the latest issue of the Weekly Shounen JUMP manga.
“I haven't read it yet, why'd you get to read it first!?”
As Aiba stares blankly at Ninomiya, the realization that his change in topic was very much out of place, dawned on Ninomiya. The manga still held up, but with less determined hands now, Ninomiya scans his room for some form of escape as a bright smile begins to take form on Aiba's face.
“It's fine,” Aiba says, all too gleefully, “I'm your friend after all.”
But Ninomiya scowls more, disapproving of the logic of his friend. Unable to come up with a decent rebuttal, Ninomiya huffs loudly. Aiba, however, sees it as a form of shy agreement and decides that pouncing on the smaller guy is befitting of the current atmosphere.
“Get off!” Ninomiya whines, but his pushes are weak and effortless.
“What are you...!? Aiba, get off!” Ninomiya attempts again, placing his palm right at Aiba's cheeks the moment the older boy has started to ruffle his hair against Ninomiya's cheeks.
Aiba stops, controlled by the pale, small palm that fits the side of his face nicely. He had both his hands placed on the bed by Ninomiya's sides, supporting his frame like that of the beams of a temple.
Ninomiya blushes, aware of their positions on top of his bed. He's leaned back from the pressure of Aiba's presence, and the only distance between them is short and kept in place only by his restricting arm. But his other arm supporting himself, despite himself being small and light, is slowly giving in to the exertion caused upon it.
“Aiba...” He breathes out slightly in what is supposed to be a hint for the other guy to back off and give him some space.
But Aiba is merely staring straight into his eyes, unfazed by the situation they're in and the ache that is creeping up Ninomiya's arm. Ninomiya's mind is on alert if only to focus from losing balance, but the eye contact that Aiba has on him is what Ninomiya considers a huge distraction.
“I like you, Kazu”
In the same moment the words were spoken, the energy Ninomiya had reserved to keeping his arm up no longer seems necessary as his whole body stiffens with tension instantly.
“No you don't” Ninomiya says back softly.
“You like Sakurai-kun, Aiba” The matter-of-fact tone that Ninomiya's voice carries betrays the heavy pounding of his heart, but Ninomiya says so in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.
“Sure, I do like Sho-kun,” Aiba shrugs a little, which confuses Ninomiya more as the fear starts to grow once again. “But I like Kazu more.”
Ninomiya looks down, trying to find an appropriate response without being incoherent or embarrassing, or both. His eyes scans around, a sort of habit he does to buy himself time to reply, but his sight unintentionally lands on the base of Aiba's neck, right by the neckline of their school shirt.
“I...” he says without much thought, as he gets even more distracted with his line of vision racing up Aiba's neck, taking in the slightly tan skin along with the protruding adam's apple and landing by the jaw bone right below the ear.
“I...” the strong line of Aiba's jaw has the mechanism in Ninomiya's brain halt temporarily. His eyes traces along the sharp feature, reaching up to the point where one of his hand is still awkwardly placed on Aiba's cheeks. But he's too distracted to do anything about the hand so he lets it be, as his sight slowly climbs higher.
“I...” Ninomiya says distractedly, and by now, he doesn't remember why he's even trying to say anything. He abandons all attempts as he explores the sight of Aiba's chin, and then up onto his --
A slight force pushes Ninomiya’s head back, causing his whole upper body to crash down on his bed as his supporting arm gave way to the motion. It wasn't even three seconds before Ninomiya realizes that he's fallen onto his back, but he fails to comprehend how, or why, Aiba is looming over him.
Following the motion, the hand that was initially by Aiba's cheeks had slid along the back of the older boy, across the ear and right to the back of his head. Or so Ninomiya assumes how his palm has come to rest on Aiba's black, fluffy hair.
“What was that?” Ninomiya asks, matter-of-factly, his tone surprisingly calm even to himself.
“Eh?” Aiba is looking directly at him now, and Ninomiya sees the fear in his eyes as though he’s done the other wrong.
“A… kiss?” The word came out from Aiba’s mouth barely a whisper.
“No, it wasn’t.” Ninomiya responds, and he lets himself be entertained by Aiba’s scared look for a while.
Aiba's eyes roamed around, his expression clearly readable on his face. The older boy is probably in doubt of his next step -- to move away, or to attempt at the action again. Ninomiya tries to hide his smirk as Aiba takes in a breath of air, only to bite his lower lips uncertainly.
“You captured my lips waaaay too suddenly, and then you back off almost immediately, it was barely even three seconds. It’s not a kiss, if it’s not more than three seconds!” Ninomiya says, as though it’s common sense that only Aiba doesn’t know.
“Plus, this is how a kiss is suppose to be!”
Ninomiya grabs the black locks in his fist as he gently pulls the older boy down. He moves fast enough, and before Aiba’s mind can process what had just been said, locked their lips together. He doesn’t let go even after three seconds.
And Aiba kisses him back.
おまけ
The air feels incredibly hot despite the cold winter air outside. If there's any reason to be breathless, it should be due to the heavier winter air. But Ninomiya is indoors where his heater is switched on at just the right temperature to keep him comfortably warm.
Yet, despite the decently average temperature he had set, the air is incredibly burning, and Ninomiya finds himself in need of more air to breathe - or rather, space.
His hand slides down from the black bush, onto the strong, board shoulder. He gives it a strong enough push, finally breaking off the kiss. He gasps heavily, and above him, Aiba does the same. But the silly smile is evident on the older boy's face, and Ninomiya can't help but frown on one thing.
“How did you even get in!?”
“Eh?” Aiba looks at Ninomiya like the younger boy has just said about the strangest thing anyone could possibly think up of.
“Your mum let me in to wait for you before she left to meet her friends,” Aiba says, and Ninomiya feels like there is almost an ”of course” at the end of that sentence.
“Why was my mum letting strangers into the house!?”
“I'm not,” Aiba rebuts, like he is defending the kiss they've both just shared.
“You were at that given point of time!” Ninomiya responds, ignoring the blush creeping up his face at the possibilities of the soon to come.
“What!?” There is genuine confusion in Aiba's face for a moment before it disappears entirely. “Well, I'm not now!”
Aiba pauses for a slight while, and as an afterthought, he adds in, “And it's fine, since mothers know best!”
A/N:
FINALLY !! Finally I am satisfied with this Chapter.
Well, I initially thought up of this idea about a year ago. And I had penned down the outline of the story.
Sad to say, due to my own stupidity, I accidentally deleted the outline.
Some of the more prominent scenes were as I had outlined, but otherwise, I had to start from scratch.
I wasn't satisfied at all with the initial draft of chapter 8.
It consisted of NinoAi fighting, but... I think it clashed too much of my idea of Nino's personality.
I have this image that he's more likely to avoid an argument then to find one.
So, despite being done with it, I just didn't like it.
After deciding to scrap the whole thing (except the ones I insisted to keep, which is prob 20%)
the above story came very smoothly, and I typed it out within about an hour or so(?)
So, I hope you guys enjoyed the story.
I realized I'm still not very good with the pacing. Like, it's too fast sometimes, and too slow otherwise.
I'd like to blame it on my lack of proper, initial planning.
I won't be writing a chaptered fic anytime soon, until I've properly planned out the chapters. I'll focus on one-shots for now.
writer n でした！
~ HOPE YOU'VE ENJOYED IT~