instinct [arashi rps]
Instinct
Aiba/Jun, Sho/Nino/Ohno | 嵐 RPS | PG-13 | ~1,900 words
Originally written for this prompt at the latest JE Kink/Smut Anonymeme.
It takes them nearly five hours of scavenging in the junkyards near the old hospital, with long, tense periods of hiding while the patrols go by. Aiba knows exactly what he's looking for, though, and every time Jun winces involuntarily when he steps too heavily on his bad foot only gives Aiba more reason to keep digging.
Jun said it was his own fault, but Aiba had talked to some of the families holed up in the same neighbourhood and they had told him that Jun had stepped into to stop a patrol officer from delivering a beating to a young man who had been caught stealing from the Patrol headquarters. He had been lucky to escape with his life. The thought of losing Jun made Aiba's throat feel thick, his chest ache almost physically. Survival was something neither of them could take for granted, living in the world that they did. But because of that, it was something to cling even harder to, to treasure more than anything.
They had each other, and that was everything. Aiba wasn't about to let some stupid infection take Jun away from him.
It hadn't been bad at first, but they had no real medicine except the herbs that Jun had carefully stocked over the years and no amount of nasty-smelling tea could stop the yellowish ooze that bled steadily out of the open gash on his foot. Aiba had stayed awake all night of the evening that Jun had stumbled back into their place, pale and bleeding, changing his bandages and trying to keep the wound clean. The cut was pretty deep, and Jun bore up the pain well, even with nothing to numb it. Aiba had kissed him, holding Jun close when the pain wracked him badly. He could do nothing else.
It was Toma who had tipped him off about the old hospital junkyard - it was mostly old medical supplies and expired stuff, but there was a possibility that he could find some of the antibiotic that the old 'ji-chan who lived near them and used to be a doctor told him would work.
Aiba can feel his face split into a smile when he finally unearths an entire cardboard case, clearly marked ZANTRIANO XX-9I. He reaches out to grab it, trying to figure out how to quietly signal Jun, who he left watching the perimeter of the junkyard while he searched.
Almost at the same instant, a smaller hand covers his and Aiba finds himself staring into dark eyes that are just as surprised as his own.
Jun always tells Aiba that he's too naive, that he trusts too easily. That isn't true at all, not really. Aiba isn't stupid, he knows that one false step could get him killed, that survival means that there are many who would rip him of everything in order to save themselves. But somehow, he can't help but believe that people are truly good and that even in the darkest situations, there is love. He sees it in the old beggars in their area who give their last crusts of bread to the starving puppies who whine at their feet. He sees it in the mothers who scrape their hands raw everyday to find enough to feed and clothe their children.
And he sees it in Jun. Most of all, he sees it in Jun. Jun is grumpy and particular and he still cares about things like clean socks even when the Sweeps are coming through their neighbourhood. He'll drag in street orphans for a night or two and shove them into a hot bath and make them sleep in his own bed and give them clean socks, too. Jun is uptight and stubborn, he can make soup out of anything, and he's been so good, so kind to Aiba.
Aiba can't lose him.
The stranger has his stunner out before Aiba can even blink. "Get lost," he says harshly. "I'm taking this."
Aiba backs away a little, but keeps his hand on the case. He needs this, he tells himself. He cannot let Jun die or lose his leg.
"Please," Aiba says. "Please - my friend needs this. Even just one bottle."
The man snorts. "At the price these will bring on the black market? Not likely."
"Put your stunner down," Jun says coldly from behind Aiba. "Before I have to hurt you."
"Jun-chan," Aiba says, keeping his eyes on the other man. "It's okay. I've got it." Jun was a good shot, but his one leg was almost completely out of commission. If this turned into a firefight, they didn't stand a chance.
Besides, that would alert the patrols and that severely narrowed the chances of any of them escaping alive.
Aiba watches the other man's gaze track over Jun, taking in the sight of the dark cloth bandage wrapped around his foot. He knows that he has an advantage over them.
The smaller man's lips purse close, pressed together and there's a quick flicker in his eyes. "Take it," he says, shoving the case harshly at Aiba. "Just take it, go on."
Jun still doesn't lower his stunner, even as Aiba gingerly picks up the case, hugging it against his chest. "Why?" he blurts.
"Nino?" Two figures appear over the ridge of the next hill. They come running into view and Jun shifts his stunner towards them. One is tall and muscular, with scrubby facial hair and a cloth tied around his longer hair, the other short and moon-faced, with short hair and tanned skin. "Nino, the patrol is coming, we need to get out of here."
"Shit," Nino swears. He scrambles to his feet. "Let's go."
"Who are they?" The taller man asks, looking warily at Jun and Aiba. Aiba hugs the box protectively, moving to stand beside Jun. They're outnumbered now, but with the patrols coming, they're just going to have to run for it anyways.
Except Jun can't run. Shit.
"Ah! You." The moon-faced one points at Jun. "Sho-chan, Kazu - he's the one who saved me yesterday."
"What?" Nino asks, in disbelief.
Aiba makes his decision.
"Can you help us hide?" he asks, stepping forward. He can hear the patrol just over the next hill. "I'll do anything, anything you want, just - please?"
+
Sho and Ohno had found Nino living under a bridge two years ago. It was a pleasant memory in Sho's mind now, though at the time, he had felt nothing but fear and blank confusion as he was pinned to the riverbank, a makeshift but sharp knife pressed meaningfully against his throat while Satoshi tried to gently talk down the scrawny, sharp-faced boy holding it there.
They had been heading to the riverbank for a rare day of relaxation - Satoshi had spent the entire winter perfecting his homemade fishing rod and even though the most of the city's rivers were polluted enough to make anything he could pull out at all glow unnaturally, Sho knew that Satoshi just liked fishing for fishing's sake. It wasn't really about catching anything.
Sho had come along to keep watch - nobody ever went anywhere alone nowadays. Ohno was strong and a good fighter, but they didn't have any real weapons and Sho didn't trust Ohno to keep his head out of the clouds for more than a few seconds at a time.
After Nino had let Sho loose, he sat sullenly under the bridge, watching them from a distance as Ohno cast his line into the grey water. Sho watched him out of the corner of his eye; he didn't think he was a danger to them, not anymore, but he was curious about him.
The day was remarkably clear and sunny, and Sho felt almost festive by the time he unpacked the onigiri he had made that morning with the leftovers of last week's rice rations. He handed one over to Satoshi, who blinked at it in surprise as he briefly came out of his fishing trance and mumbled his thanks before tucking in. Sho set aside another for himself on a cloth next to where he was sitting.
He hesitated only a moment before carrying the leftover two up the slope of the bank to where Nino was huddled under the bridge, tracing figures in the dirt. He bit his lip, not really sure how to offer them without hurting the boy's pride. He looked hungry, all bony angles and hollow eyes, but he also looked stubborn enough to starve if he wanted to.
Nino eyed the onigiri warily. "They aren't poisoned, are they?"
"They might be," Ohno called over, cheeks bulging with rice. "That happens a lot with Sho-chan's cooking, actually."
A brief flicker of a smile lit up Nino's face and he wolfed down one of the onigiri within a minute. The second he tucked up carefully in a small cloth he took out of his ratty blue backpack, wrapping it up with such care that Sho's heart broke completely.
It took five more trips to the riverbank and a lot more food before Sho hesitantly proposed his and Satoshi's plan. It took three more trips before Nino finally agreed.
That first night when they had brought Nino home to the dingy basement apartment where Ohno used to live with his mother, an exhausted Nino had given up his last defenses with a sleepy sigh and curled up with his head in Ohno's lap.
"He's cute," Ohno remarked, combing his fingers through Nino's short, scraggly hair. "Can we keep him?"
"You can try," Sho replied offhandedly.
It only took two days to figure out how exactly Nino had been surviving by himself out in the city all this time. Nino had been watching Sho make dinner, silent and watching sharply, with a calculating look in his eyes. Sho knew that it would take time to get Nino to trust them completely, so he let him be and hummed quietly to himself as he dissolved miso into the broth he had been heating up.
Sho had felt a light pressure on the small of his back and turned around to find Nino almost pressed against him, eyes dark. Nino palmed the front of Sho's jeans, his eyes dark.
"Nino," Sho grips Nino's wrist almost violently, torn between pushing him away and pushing his hips up into Nino's hand. "What -?"
Nino continued to massage Sho through his pants. "You've been really good to me, Sho-chan," he crooned in Sho's ear, "I can pay you back, okay?"
"I don't," Sho began, and realized that he was unconciously rocking into Nino's touch. He could feel the edge of a hot flush on his cheeks.
Nino nuzzled his nose into the dip of Sho's collarbone. "This is what you wanted, right? When you brought me here."
Two hours later, Satoshi had come home from scavenging supplies to find a sullen and confused Nino huddled on their couch and a noticeably embarrassed Sho setting out soup and rice for the three of them. Sho had never explained to Satoshi why Nino stopped going out at night and Nino seemed to finally accept that they wanted him to stay with them, but they weren't forcing him or trying to use him.
Sho's ban on prostitution forced Nino to get a little more creative in finding ways to occupy his time, and in a dizzyingly short amount of time, Nino was practically at the center of the city's black market, the Opith - scavenging, stealing and selling supplies and items that were scarce or banned.
It brought them all a little closer to danger with the city's forces, but it wasn't like they hadn't been living on the bare edge of legality before. Besides, Sho and Ohno had both learned long ago that no one was safe, no matter how much they chose to bow to the repressive regime that had come into power just shortly before they were born.
And most of all, they had Nino in their lives. At first glance, Nino didn't seem like the type to attach himself to anything for long. However, he'd quickly proven to be surprisingly clingy and fiercely loyal. Sho could now barely remember a time when he didn't wake up to Nino snuggled in between him and Satoshi in their small, makeshift futon.
Aiba/Jun, Sho/Nino/Ohno | 嵐 RPS | PG-13 | ~1,900 words
Originally written for this prompt at the latest JE Kink/Smut Anonymeme.
It takes them nearly five hours of scavenging in the junkyards near the old hospital, with long, tense periods of hiding while the patrols go by. Aiba knows exactly what he's looking for, though, and every time Jun winces involuntarily when he steps too heavily on his bad foot only gives Aiba more reason to keep digging.
Jun said it was his own fault, but Aiba had talked to some of the families holed up in the same neighbourhood and they had told him that Jun had stepped into to stop a patrol officer from delivering a beating to a young man who had been caught stealing from the Patrol headquarters. He had been lucky to escape with his life. The thought of losing Jun made Aiba's throat feel thick, his chest ache almost physically. Survival was something neither of them could take for granted, living in the world that they did. But because of that, it was something to cling even harder to, to treasure more than anything.
They had each other, and that was everything. Aiba wasn't about to let some stupid infection take Jun away from him.
It hadn't been bad at first, but they had no real medicine except the herbs that Jun had carefully stocked over the years and no amount of nasty-smelling tea could stop the yellowish ooze that bled steadily out of the open gash on his foot. Aiba had stayed awake all night of the evening that Jun had stumbled back into their place, pale and bleeding, changing his bandages and trying to keep the wound clean. The cut was pretty deep, and Jun bore up the pain well, even with nothing to numb it. Aiba had kissed him, holding Jun close when the pain wracked him badly. He could do nothing else.
It was Toma who had tipped him off about the old hospital junkyard - it was mostly old medical supplies and expired stuff, but there was a possibility that he could find some of the antibiotic that the old 'ji-chan who lived near them and used to be a doctor told him would work.
Aiba can feel his face split into a smile when he finally unearths an entire cardboard case, clearly marked ZANTRIANO XX-9I. He reaches out to grab it, trying to figure out how to quietly signal Jun, who he left watching the perimeter of the junkyard while he searched.
Almost at the same instant, a smaller hand covers his and Aiba finds himself staring into dark eyes that are just as surprised as his own.
Jun always tells Aiba that he's too naive, that he trusts too easily. That isn't true at all, not really. Aiba isn't stupid, he knows that one false step could get him killed, that survival means that there are many who would rip him of everything in order to save themselves. But somehow, he can't help but believe that people are truly good and that even in the darkest situations, there is love. He sees it in the old beggars in their area who give their last crusts of bread to the starving puppies who whine at their feet. He sees it in the mothers who scrape their hands raw everyday to find enough to feed and clothe their children.
And he sees it in Jun. Most of all, he sees it in Jun. Jun is grumpy and particular and he still cares about things like clean socks even when the Sweeps are coming through their neighbourhood. He'll drag in street orphans for a night or two and shove them into a hot bath and make them sleep in his own bed and give them clean socks, too. Jun is uptight and stubborn, he can make soup out of anything, and he's been so good, so kind to Aiba.
Aiba can't lose him.
The stranger has his stunner out before Aiba can even blink. "Get lost," he says harshly. "I'm taking this."
Aiba backs away a little, but keeps his hand on the case. He needs this, he tells himself. He cannot let Jun die or lose his leg.
"Please," Aiba says. "Please - my friend needs this. Even just one bottle."
The man snorts. "At the price these will bring on the black market? Not likely."
"Put your stunner down," Jun says coldly from behind Aiba. "Before I have to hurt you."
"Jun-chan," Aiba says, keeping his eyes on the other man. "It's okay. I've got it." Jun was a good shot, but his one leg was almost completely out of commission. If this turned into a firefight, they didn't stand a chance.
Besides, that would alert the patrols and that severely narrowed the chances of any of them escaping alive.
Aiba watches the other man's gaze track over Jun, taking in the sight of the dark cloth bandage wrapped around his foot. He knows that he has an advantage over them.
The smaller man's lips purse close, pressed together and there's a quick flicker in his eyes. "Take it," he says, shoving the case harshly at Aiba. "Just take it, go on."
Jun still doesn't lower his stunner, even as Aiba gingerly picks up the case, hugging it against his chest. "Why?" he blurts.
"Nino?" Two figures appear over the ridge of the next hill. They come running into view and Jun shifts his stunner towards them. One is tall and muscular, with scrubby facial hair and a cloth tied around his longer hair, the other short and moon-faced, with short hair and tanned skin. "Nino, the patrol is coming, we need to get out of here."
"Shit," Nino swears. He scrambles to his feet. "Let's go."
"Who are they?" The taller man asks, looking warily at Jun and Aiba. Aiba hugs the box protectively, moving to stand beside Jun. They're outnumbered now, but with the patrols coming, they're just going to have to run for it anyways.
Except Jun can't run. Shit.
"Ah! You." The moon-faced one points at Jun. "Sho-chan, Kazu - he's the one who saved me yesterday."
"What?" Nino asks, in disbelief.
Aiba makes his decision.
"Can you help us hide?" he asks, stepping forward. He can hear the patrol just over the next hill. "I'll do anything, anything you want, just - please?"
+
Sho and Ohno had found Nino living under a bridge two years ago. It was a pleasant memory in Sho's mind now, though at the time, he had felt nothing but fear and blank confusion as he was pinned to the riverbank, a makeshift but sharp knife pressed meaningfully against his throat while Satoshi tried to gently talk down the scrawny, sharp-faced boy holding it there.
They had been heading to the riverbank for a rare day of relaxation - Satoshi had spent the entire winter perfecting his homemade fishing rod and even though the most of the city's rivers were polluted enough to make anything he could pull out at all glow unnaturally, Sho knew that Satoshi just liked fishing for fishing's sake. It wasn't really about catching anything.
Sho had come along to keep watch - nobody ever went anywhere alone nowadays. Ohno was strong and a good fighter, but they didn't have any real weapons and Sho didn't trust Ohno to keep his head out of the clouds for more than a few seconds at a time.
After Nino had let Sho loose, he sat sullenly under the bridge, watching them from a distance as Ohno cast his line into the grey water. Sho watched him out of the corner of his eye; he didn't think he was a danger to them, not anymore, but he was curious about him.
The day was remarkably clear and sunny, and Sho felt almost festive by the time he unpacked the onigiri he had made that morning with the leftovers of last week's rice rations. He handed one over to Satoshi, who blinked at it in surprise as he briefly came out of his fishing trance and mumbled his thanks before tucking in. Sho set aside another for himself on a cloth next to where he was sitting.
He hesitated only a moment before carrying the leftover two up the slope of the bank to where Nino was huddled under the bridge, tracing figures in the dirt. He bit his lip, not really sure how to offer them without hurting the boy's pride. He looked hungry, all bony angles and hollow eyes, but he also looked stubborn enough to starve if he wanted to.
Nino eyed the onigiri warily. "They aren't poisoned, are they?"
"They might be," Ohno called over, cheeks bulging with rice. "That happens a lot with Sho-chan's cooking, actually."
A brief flicker of a smile lit up Nino's face and he wolfed down one of the onigiri within a minute. The second he tucked up carefully in a small cloth he took out of his ratty blue backpack, wrapping it up with such care that Sho's heart broke completely.
It took five more trips to the riverbank and a lot more food before Sho hesitantly proposed his and Satoshi's plan. It took three more trips before Nino finally agreed.
That first night when they had brought Nino home to the dingy basement apartment where Ohno used to live with his mother, an exhausted Nino had given up his last defenses with a sleepy sigh and curled up with his head in Ohno's lap.
"He's cute," Ohno remarked, combing his fingers through Nino's short, scraggly hair. "Can we keep him?"
"You can try," Sho replied offhandedly.
It only took two days to figure out how exactly Nino had been surviving by himself out in the city all this time. Nino had been watching Sho make dinner, silent and watching sharply, with a calculating look in his eyes. Sho knew that it would take time to get Nino to trust them completely, so he let him be and hummed quietly to himself as he dissolved miso into the broth he had been heating up.
Sho had felt a light pressure on the small of his back and turned around to find Nino almost pressed against him, eyes dark. Nino palmed the front of Sho's jeans, his eyes dark.
"Nino," Sho grips Nino's wrist almost violently, torn between pushing him away and pushing his hips up into Nino's hand. "What -?"
Nino continued to massage Sho through his pants. "You've been really good to me, Sho-chan," he crooned in Sho's ear, "I can pay you back, okay?"
"I don't," Sho began, and realized that he was unconciously rocking into Nino's touch. He could feel the edge of a hot flush on his cheeks.
Nino nuzzled his nose into the dip of Sho's collarbone. "This is what you wanted, right? When you brought me here."
Two hours later, Satoshi had come home from scavenging supplies to find a sullen and confused Nino huddled on their couch and a noticeably embarrassed Sho setting out soup and rice for the three of them. Sho had never explained to Satoshi why Nino stopped going out at night and Nino seemed to finally accept that they wanted him to stay with them, but they weren't forcing him or trying to use him.
Sho's ban on prostitution forced Nino to get a little more creative in finding ways to occupy his time, and in a dizzyingly short amount of time, Nino was practically at the center of the city's black market, the Opith - scavenging, stealing and selling supplies and items that were scarce or banned.
It brought them all a little closer to danger with the city's forces, but it wasn't like they hadn't been living on the bare edge of legality before. Besides, Sho and Ohno had both learned long ago that no one was safe, no matter how much they chose to bow to the repressive regime that had come into power just shortly before they were born.
And most of all, they had Nino in their lives. At first glance, Nino didn't seem like the type to attach himself to anything for long. However, he'd quickly proven to be surprisingly clingy and fiercely loyal. Sho could now barely remember a time when he didn't wake up to Nino snuggled in between him and Satoshi in their small, makeshift futon.