The key to your heart (Chapter 8)
Nino stood in the doorway, silently staring in the room where only a few hours prior, a mass of people had been inside. At least it had felt like a whole horde as they all stood around the bed, trying their very best to rescue the old woman lying in bed.
In the end, nothing had helped. The woman had died that night, and still, Nino had a hard time t accept it. She had been old when she had come, and it had been because of a heart attack. Still, he and the doctor he learnt under had done everything possible to hold her stable, to help her through the pain.
Nino felt a shiver run over his back as he remembered how he had come into the room to check on Nakamura-san’s vital signs just as the doctor had told him to do, to see how she was fading. He had pressed the alarm and doctors had stormed into the room. They had tried to retrieve her when her heart had failed again but to no avail. Nino remembered too clearly how the hand in his own had grown weak in the end as life left her.
“Ninomiya-sensei, why are you still here?” an elderly nurse asked him friendly. He blinked as he looked up, pushing a hand through his hair as he shook his head.
“I’m on my way home. Is there something you need me to check?” he asked, and the nurse clicked her tongue as she shook her head. Nino smirked softly at her attitude. The woman was very respectful in general to any of the doctors, even the interns. Still, she was also very strict if younger colleagues just like him stayed longer than necessary in the hospital.
Nino knew it was out of goodwill and worry because she had seen too many people giving up because of all the stress, but he wasn’t like that.
“Don’t take it to your heart too much, Ninomiya-sensei. There was nothing you could’ve done for Nakamura-san.”
“So you are telling me not to care?”
“No, I am telling you, not to care too much,” she denied with a shake of her head. She came closer to put her hand on his arm. “Ninomiya-sensei, people die and something even the best we do isn’t enough. But it’s our duty to try our very best each time. And you can’t do that if you are overworked or if your mind is heavy with regret. It’s unfair to your other charges.”
Nino stared at her for a long while, before smiling softly at her. “I guess you are right, thank you, Naomi-san. I really should go home.”
“Yes, and I don’t want to see you linger around tomorrow. It’s your free day, right?”
He smirked as he nodded, pulling at his hair again. “Right. Good-night.”
“Good-night Ninomiya-sensei,” she said with a little wink that made him laugh as he turned around to leave.
-
Nino lightened up a cigarette as soon as he left the hospital and wasn’t sure if he felt surprised at all when he saw Ohno standing in front of him as if the world had been put on his shoulders. It was just such a day.
“Hey,” Nino said as he blew the smoke from his cigarette. “You’re lucky I was just about to go home, wanna come?”
Ohno nodded in silence as he fell in step with the other man when he continued to move forward. They walked side by side in silence.
“How is your father?” Nino asked as they were walking over ten minutes on their way to his apartment.
“He is frail,” Ohno whispered as he bit his lip. Nino smiled and took his hand, squeezed it softly as he intertwined their fingers.
“Shouldn’t you be there, then? Be there for him if he dies?”
“He won’t. It’s not his time yet.”
“Do you feel when it’s time?”
“Yes. The stars will move, and tonight they didn’t. I came here after I put my little brother to bed. He wants to meet you.”
“I see. You take good care of your little brother, right? You love him very much.”
“Yes, I care about him a lot. And he about me.”
“It must be nice to be loved,” Nino hummed softly, in a whisper staring in front of him.
“What?”
Nino smiled at him and shook his head. “Nothing,” he decided tugging him along as he fastened his steps.
“I’m starving, let’s get moving. I will make you something to eat,” he shouted as he began to sprint. Ohno looked at him in confusion, but then he started to laugh as he ran after him.
Nino was out of breath when they finally stopped in front of his apartment complex and smiled softly when he saw that Ohno was grinning brightly the worry gone from his eyes for now.
Nino brought him up to his own apartment with a sigh as he opened the door. “Don’t moan about it,” he warned him with a frown, asking himself for the first time why he had allowed him to come with him.
“I brought the pictures I promised you.”
“Good you can show me,” Nino said as he slipped out of his shoes in the entryway, motioning for Ohno to do the same.
He went to the kitchen with Ohno following him closely. Ohno looked around curiously.
Nino’s apartment was small. He owned a one-room apartment a bed in one corner and a small desk in front of the windows so that he could study with either the natural light or the light of the street lamps. He had a little television with an old gaming device and a tiny kitchen with just enough space for him really, but Ohno didn’t seem to have a concept for personal space, so he didn’t look bothered by it.
He checked his fridge for any leftovers he could cook for his unexpected guest when Ohno sat down on the chair he had brought over from his desk after he had stared at it for a while.
“Those are threads,” Nino explained with a frown. “I need to learn how to tie them correctly so I can close operation wounds.”
“Ah, looks interesting,” Ohno said with a scrunched up face, making Nino laugh. Ohno looked at them and the scribbles on the papers around for a while, before dragging the chair over to sit at one end of his kitchen isle, watching him intently as he prepared their food.
-
Nino could feel his eyes on himself as he moved in the small space, cutting up a few vegetables, threw them with the rice into the pan to fry it. “We have to eat on the floor. I don’t have a second chair.”
“That’s no problem,” Ohno said with a shrug as he made a bit of space on the floor and sat down. He smiled as Nino joined him and handed him a plate of the rice.
“It’s no master cuisine, but it should be edible,” Nino mumbled as he sat down beside him. He watched Ohno say a small prayer over the food before saying his thanks and started to eat, one eye on Ohno.
Ohno tried the food, and soon enough, a smile appeared on his face. “Delicious!” he cried out happily.
Nino chuckled a bit as he finished his food slowly. After completing their food, Nino dragged Ohno to his feet.
“Even if you are the guest. I cooked for you, and that means you do the cleaning. Try not to break the dishes. I will take a shower, I need to wash this day away,” he mumbled with a small frown on his face as he remembered the dying patient in his care.
Without waiting for the answer, he got up and vanished to the small bathroom. In the shower, he leant against the cold wall for a moment, he took deep breaths, closing his eyes when he felt hot tears in them. He wouldn’t cry, he had promised himself that. He breathes in deeply until he had control over his emotions again and then stepped out. He wore comfortable sweatpants together with an old shirt.
Ohno was drying the last plates as he came back and with guilt, Nino remembered that there had been more than just things from their dinner. But Ohno was humming calmly under his breath when he turned around, and an honest smile was on his face when he dried his hands and came over.
“I finished everything.”
“Thank you,” Nino mumbled as he sat on the bed.
“It’s easy, I realised,” Ohno said as he came to a stand in front of him.
“You talk as if you have never done it before,” Nino teased. “Show me the pictures?”
Ohno nodded as he caressed the ring on his hand. Soon after the paintings appeared in front of him and with a grin, he took them in his hands. “My brother wanted to draw for you as well,” he said as he climbed onto the bed beside him after Nino had allowed him to.
Nino smiled softly as he took the pictures and stared in wonder at the beautiful paintings that made the world in which Ohno lived seem like something out of a fairy tale.
He giggled when he came to the pictures that must have been drawn by another person than Ohno. “Those are from your brother?”
Ohno looked at him with a small smile. “Yes, Masaki. He drew his puppy and the people around us,” he explained softly as he told him what Masaki’s pictures depicted. Nino grinned as he came to the image of Ohno, tracing it with his fingertips.
“May I keep this?”
“Of course. Masaki said he made it especially for you,” he said with a grin. “And I want this one. It looks peaceful,” he said as he pointed at a picture of the night sky above the sea and the castle in the background.
“If you want,” Ohno said as he blinked in surprise as Nino leant against him.
“Can you stay? Tonight?”
“Huh?”
“Tell me about your family, your life? I just want to listen to stories.”
“Did something happen?”
Nino shook his head softly as he laid down on the bed. “Of course not,” he replied.
Ohno frowned as he watched him, but made space for Nino when the other man slid under his blankets. “Are you going to sleep?”
“I want to hear a story, please. About your loving family.”
“Okay,” Ohno said, slipping from the bed as he knelt in front of it.
Nino smiled as he took his hand in his own, intertwining his fingers again.
Ohno settled down more comfortably as he began to tell Nino a story about his family in a low voice. He could see that Nino was listening intently even if his eyes were closed and his breathing even. His body was slowly relaxing though, and Ohno could tell he was close to falling asleep, so he ended his story for now.
In the end, a small smile was on Nino’s lips. Some people are just made for being loved, huh?” he whispered.
Ohno blinked not understanding what the other was talking about, but also not liking the lonely look on the other’s face. He put a strand of hair behind his hair, his fingers dancing over his cheek and forehead.
“You should sleep.”
“I won’t have good dreams,” Nino mumbled opening one eye.
“You will. Dream of a king in a faraway land,” Ohno said with a grin as he bopped his nose.
Nino blinked in surprise a wry grin on his face. “Promise?”
“Yes.”
“Will you stay?” Nino asked feeling stupid for sounding so childish, but he really needed the answer to be yes.
“Promise.”
Ohno watched Nino close his eyes again, his breath evening out slowly. “By the way, did I mention I’m king now?” Ohno asked in a teasing voice.
Nino chuckled, in his half-asleep state, sighing softly. “Still an impoverished king, though,” he murmured.
“Seems like it. Sleep now. I’ll watch over you,” Ohno mumbled as he watched him finally succumb to sleep. He sighed as he settled down with a frown.
Sometimes, he thought, Nino sounded very sad while one second later wholly sane and even happy. He honestly didn’t understand. As he watched the other man sleep, he couldn’t help himself as he caressed the pale lips.
It was the first time he saw him this vulnerable, Ohno thought. And this violability seemed very precious. He closed his eyes as he moved his thumb in front of his lips, pressing a kiss against his signet ring, saying a small prayer and a whispered a protection spell. He watched as a little blue light appeared on the tips of his fingers, and he pressed them against the hipbone of the others where they shone like dark blue ink against the skin before vanishing again.
In the end, nothing had helped. The woman had died that night, and still, Nino had a hard time t accept it. She had been old when she had come, and it had been because of a heart attack. Still, he and the doctor he learnt under had done everything possible to hold her stable, to help her through the pain.
Nino felt a shiver run over his back as he remembered how he had come into the room to check on Nakamura-san’s vital signs just as the doctor had told him to do, to see how she was fading. He had pressed the alarm and doctors had stormed into the room. They had tried to retrieve her when her heart had failed again but to no avail. Nino remembered too clearly how the hand in his own had grown weak in the end as life left her.
“Ninomiya-sensei, why are you still here?” an elderly nurse asked him friendly. He blinked as he looked up, pushing a hand through his hair as he shook his head.
“I’m on my way home. Is there something you need me to check?” he asked, and the nurse clicked her tongue as she shook her head. Nino smirked softly at her attitude. The woman was very respectful in general to any of the doctors, even the interns. Still, she was also very strict if younger colleagues just like him stayed longer than necessary in the hospital.
Nino knew it was out of goodwill and worry because she had seen too many people giving up because of all the stress, but he wasn’t like that.
“Don’t take it to your heart too much, Ninomiya-sensei. There was nothing you could’ve done for Nakamura-san.”
“So you are telling me not to care?”
“No, I am telling you, not to care too much,” she denied with a shake of her head. She came closer to put her hand on his arm. “Ninomiya-sensei, people die and something even the best we do isn’t enough. But it’s our duty to try our very best each time. And you can’t do that if you are overworked or if your mind is heavy with regret. It’s unfair to your other charges.”
Nino stared at her for a long while, before smiling softly at her. “I guess you are right, thank you, Naomi-san. I really should go home.”
“Yes, and I don’t want to see you linger around tomorrow. It’s your free day, right?”
He smirked as he nodded, pulling at his hair again. “Right. Good-night.”
“Good-night Ninomiya-sensei,” she said with a little wink that made him laugh as he turned around to leave.
-
Nino lightened up a cigarette as soon as he left the hospital and wasn’t sure if he felt surprised at all when he saw Ohno standing in front of him as if the world had been put on his shoulders. It was just such a day.
“Hey,” Nino said as he blew the smoke from his cigarette. “You’re lucky I was just about to go home, wanna come?”
Ohno nodded in silence as he fell in step with the other man when he continued to move forward. They walked side by side in silence.
“How is your father?” Nino asked as they were walking over ten minutes on their way to his apartment.
“He is frail,” Ohno whispered as he bit his lip. Nino smiled and took his hand, squeezed it softly as he intertwined their fingers.
“Shouldn’t you be there, then? Be there for him if he dies?”
“He won’t. It’s not his time yet.”
“Do you feel when it’s time?”
“Yes. The stars will move, and tonight they didn’t. I came here after I put my little brother to bed. He wants to meet you.”
“I see. You take good care of your little brother, right? You love him very much.”
“Yes, I care about him a lot. And he about me.”
“It must be nice to be loved,” Nino hummed softly, in a whisper staring in front of him.
“What?”
Nino smiled at him and shook his head. “Nothing,” he decided tugging him along as he fastened his steps.
“I’m starving, let’s get moving. I will make you something to eat,” he shouted as he began to sprint. Ohno looked at him in confusion, but then he started to laugh as he ran after him.
Nino was out of breath when they finally stopped in front of his apartment complex and smiled softly when he saw that Ohno was grinning brightly the worry gone from his eyes for now.
Nino brought him up to his own apartment with a sigh as he opened the door. “Don’t moan about it,” he warned him with a frown, asking himself for the first time why he had allowed him to come with him.
“I brought the pictures I promised you.”
“Good you can show me,” Nino said as he slipped out of his shoes in the entryway, motioning for Ohno to do the same.
He went to the kitchen with Ohno following him closely. Ohno looked around curiously.
Nino’s apartment was small. He owned a one-room apartment a bed in one corner and a small desk in front of the windows so that he could study with either the natural light or the light of the street lamps. He had a little television with an old gaming device and a tiny kitchen with just enough space for him really, but Ohno didn’t seem to have a concept for personal space, so he didn’t look bothered by it.
He checked his fridge for any leftovers he could cook for his unexpected guest when Ohno sat down on the chair he had brought over from his desk after he had stared at it for a while.
“Those are threads,” Nino explained with a frown. “I need to learn how to tie them correctly so I can close operation wounds.”
“Ah, looks interesting,” Ohno said with a scrunched up face, making Nino laugh. Ohno looked at them and the scribbles on the papers around for a while, before dragging the chair over to sit at one end of his kitchen isle, watching him intently as he prepared their food.
-
Nino could feel his eyes on himself as he moved in the small space, cutting up a few vegetables, threw them with the rice into the pan to fry it. “We have to eat on the floor. I don’t have a second chair.”
“That’s no problem,” Ohno said with a shrug as he made a bit of space on the floor and sat down. He smiled as Nino joined him and handed him a plate of the rice.
“It’s no master cuisine, but it should be edible,” Nino mumbled as he sat down beside him. He watched Ohno say a small prayer over the food before saying his thanks and started to eat, one eye on Ohno.
Ohno tried the food, and soon enough, a smile appeared on his face. “Delicious!” he cried out happily.
Nino chuckled a bit as he finished his food slowly. After completing their food, Nino dragged Ohno to his feet.
“Even if you are the guest. I cooked for you, and that means you do the cleaning. Try not to break the dishes. I will take a shower, I need to wash this day away,” he mumbled with a small frown on his face as he remembered the dying patient in his care.
Without waiting for the answer, he got up and vanished to the small bathroom. In the shower, he leant against the cold wall for a moment, he took deep breaths, closing his eyes when he felt hot tears in them. He wouldn’t cry, he had promised himself that. He breathes in deeply until he had control over his emotions again and then stepped out. He wore comfortable sweatpants together with an old shirt.
Ohno was drying the last plates as he came back and with guilt, Nino remembered that there had been more than just things from their dinner. But Ohno was humming calmly under his breath when he turned around, and an honest smile was on his face when he dried his hands and came over.
“I finished everything.”
“Thank you,” Nino mumbled as he sat on the bed.
“It’s easy, I realised,” Ohno said as he came to a stand in front of him.
“You talk as if you have never done it before,” Nino teased. “Show me the pictures?”
Ohno nodded as he caressed the ring on his hand. Soon after the paintings appeared in front of him and with a grin, he took them in his hands. “My brother wanted to draw for you as well,” he said as he climbed onto the bed beside him after Nino had allowed him to.
Nino smiled softly as he took the pictures and stared in wonder at the beautiful paintings that made the world in which Ohno lived seem like something out of a fairy tale.
He giggled when he came to the pictures that must have been drawn by another person than Ohno. “Those are from your brother?”
Ohno looked at him with a small smile. “Yes, Masaki. He drew his puppy and the people around us,” he explained softly as he told him what Masaki’s pictures depicted. Nino grinned as he came to the image of Ohno, tracing it with his fingertips.
“May I keep this?”
“Of course. Masaki said he made it especially for you,” he said with a grin. “And I want this one. It looks peaceful,” he said as he pointed at a picture of the night sky above the sea and the castle in the background.
“If you want,” Ohno said as he blinked in surprise as Nino leant against him.
“Can you stay? Tonight?”
“Huh?”
“Tell me about your family, your life? I just want to listen to stories.”
“Did something happen?”
Nino shook his head softly as he laid down on the bed. “Of course not,” he replied.
Ohno frowned as he watched him, but made space for Nino when the other man slid under his blankets. “Are you going to sleep?”
“I want to hear a story, please. About your loving family.”
“Okay,” Ohno said, slipping from the bed as he knelt in front of it.
Nino smiled as he took his hand in his own, intertwining his fingers again.
Ohno settled down more comfortably as he began to tell Nino a story about his family in a low voice. He could see that Nino was listening intently even if his eyes were closed and his breathing even. His body was slowly relaxing though, and Ohno could tell he was close to falling asleep, so he ended his story for now.
In the end, a small smile was on Nino’s lips. Some people are just made for being loved, huh?” he whispered.
Ohno blinked not understanding what the other was talking about, but also not liking the lonely look on the other’s face. He put a strand of hair behind his hair, his fingers dancing over his cheek and forehead.
“You should sleep.”
“I won’t have good dreams,” Nino mumbled opening one eye.
“You will. Dream of a king in a faraway land,” Ohno said with a grin as he bopped his nose.
Nino blinked in surprise a wry grin on his face. “Promise?”
“Yes.”
“Will you stay?” Nino asked feeling stupid for sounding so childish, but he really needed the answer to be yes.
“Promise.”
Ohno watched Nino close his eyes again, his breath evening out slowly. “By the way, did I mention I’m king now?” Ohno asked in a teasing voice.
Nino chuckled, in his half-asleep state, sighing softly. “Still an impoverished king, though,” he murmured.
“Seems like it. Sleep now. I’ll watch over you,” Ohno mumbled as he watched him finally succumb to sleep. He sighed as he settled down with a frown.
Sometimes, he thought, Nino sounded very sad while one second later wholly sane and even happy. He honestly didn’t understand. As he watched the other man sleep, he couldn’t help himself as he caressed the pale lips.
It was the first time he saw him this vulnerable, Ohno thought. And this violability seemed very precious. He closed his eyes as he moved his thumb in front of his lips, pressing a kiss against his signet ring, saying a small prayer and a whispered a protection spell. He watched as a little blue light appeared on the tips of his fingers, and he pressed them against the hipbone of the others where they shone like dark blue ink against the skin before vanishing again.