fic for alphie_damiek

[nino_mod]

For: alphie_damiek
From: lover_youshould

Title: Storybook Romance
Pairing/Focus: Nino/Sho
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Parent/child separation, underage drinking
Summary: Their love is the stuff of fairytales. (No, really.)
Notes: alphie_damiek, I hope you love it! I couldn't fit any room-melting smut in here, but ask me after reveals for the porn version. :) Thank you to my beautiful beta!


As a general rule, most of Jun's friends are quite well-known and successful, but it's difficult to find a couple more charismatic than respected journalist Sakurai Sho and popular filmmaker Ninomiya Kazunari. Having them at his annual charity fundraiser practically ensures that Jun's guests will remain in high spirits all throughout the night.

On this particular night, the wine has been uncorked for barely an hour and already a small crowd of guests has gathered around the pair as they rave about Ohno's upcoming exhibit, Aiba's latest documentary, and of course Jun's contribution to this weekend's idol concert at Kokuritsu. The guests are all eating it up, but it doesn't take long before one of them says, "Please, tell us a bit about yourselves. How did you two meet, for instance?"

"It's a very romantic story," Nino says, already segueing seamlessly into his storytelling voice.

"Very romantic," Sho agrees. "The stuff of fairytales."

"Really?" asks one of the guests, intrigued and already a bit starry-eyed.

"You tell it, dear."

"Oh no, love, you tell it."

"You!"

"You!"

"It's a long story," Nino says suddenly, turning towards the guests.

"We have time!" they insist. "Especially after you've built it up so much!"

"Very well," says Sho. "It goes quite far back. The story of our love began long before we even crossed each other's paths."

The guests all ooh and aah.

"You see," Nino continues, "it all began with my father. At his parents' behest, he was engaged to a cruel, vindictive woman named Kaede-san. Their marriage was to be one of convenience, meant to strengthen the partnership between the companies run by the two families. But then my father ruined everything by running into my mother on a beautiful spring day. Instantly the two knew they were destined to be together, so against his parents' wishes, my father called off his engagement to Kaede-san and married my mother instead."

"How wonderful," one of the guests sighs. "To find true love like that..."

"Kaede-san didn't seem to think so," Nino says. "She was so furious that she swore to haunt the couple's life for as long as she lived, ensuring that none of their children would ever find true love or the happy ending she herself had been denied."

The guests all gasp in horror. "Do such people exist?" one of them asks with wide eyes.

"It's all true," Nino says passionately. "I swear it on J's hair curler. So, as I was saying..."

~

Kazuko was a brave woman who, in the months since she'd married the love of her life, had grown used to his ex-fiance's idle threats. So she wasn't worried when they decided to have a child, nor was she worried when they finally conceived, nor when their little Kazunari was born nine months later, on the small side but otherwise a perfectly healthy baby boy. In the years that followed, Kazunari grew to be clever, handsome, and respectful -- everything Kazuko had always wanted in a son.

For Kazunari's tenth birthday, Kazuko decided to throw him a party. It was a small affair, for they couldn't afford anything very fancy; they didn't have much money, not since her husband's parents had disowned him for choosing love over the family company, a notion they deemed foolish. But Kazuko didn't need money. She was happy with her new family, even if they weren't rich, and for this special day she had managed to save up enough for some handmade decorations, a few small gifts, a modest cake, and enough food to feed some of Kazunari's friends from school. They set up in a nearby park, and the children all arrived excited to celebrate their friend's birthday. Everything went perfectly, and Kazuko was grateful, not for the first time, for how her life had turned out.

And then she saw it.

As the sun was setting and the children gathered around Kazunari to sing as he blew out the candles on the cake he would surely only nibble at, Kazuko saw a familiar figure lurking just at the edge of the park.

It was Kaede.

She darted away before Kazuko could approach to demand what she was doing there, and she didn't appear again for the rest of the night. Still, Kazuko remained apprehensive. Her husband told her not to worry, that she must have imagined it -- it must have been the stress from working so hard to plan their son's wonderful party -- but as much as she wanted to believe he was right, that was not the last time she would spot Kaede near her son. At the grocery store, at the library, at Kazunari's school when Kazuko went to pick him up in the afternoon... Kaede was there, drifting in the background, always with her eyes trained hawkishly on little Kazunari.

Kazuko did what any other mother in her situation would do. She feared for her son.

Kaede continued to appear with increasing frequency, never approaching Kazunari outright but always looming somewhere nearby, until Kazuko could no longer stand the thought of sending her son to school without being there at his side the entire day. That was impossible, of course, and so Kazuko resorted to the desperate option she had hoped would never become necessary: she called in a favor she had secured so many years ago.

Nakajima and Matsushima were friends of Kazuko's from when she was a teenager, so close that they regarded Kazunari as their own nephew. When he'd been born, they had sworn to his mother that they would do anything within their power to protect him if it ever came to that. It was with a heavy heart that Kazuko sent her son to live with his two aunties, far away from the place he'd called home since he had been born, to live in their care until such a time when Kazuko felt that his well-being was no longer in danger.

"How long will it be?" Kazunari asked, gripping his mother's fingers in his own tiny hand as she led him to the car that would take him to his new home.

"I don't know, Kazu." She knelt down to hug him, holding him so tightly that after a moment he wheezed in her ear that he couldn't breathe. She pulled back to kiss his forehead, to squeeze his hand one last time, and told him, "Remember that I love you. Your aunties will keep you safe."

Kazunari knew his mother was telling the truth. He knew that she did love him, more than she loved anything else in the world. He knew that his aunties loved him as well and that his new home would be free of danger. But knowing all of that didn't mean he had to like any of it.

His new life was quiet compared to the one he had grown used to. The town he now lived in was far from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, and though it was certainly safer, it was also a good deal more boring. His school was small, and the children there were reluctant to accept him into their already tight-knit groups. His aunties had more money than his parents, and they always saw to it that he had new clothes, shiny shoes, and a full bento to carry to school each morning, but after so many years learning how to scrimp and save from his mother, he didn't much care for new or expensive things. And although it was true that his aunties loved him, it never felt the same as the special, unconditional love he had always received from his mother.

And so it came to be that Kazunari, who was older now but still quite little, and who had taken to calling himself Nino as a way of remembering his parents' love and sacrifice, found himself sitting in a park by himself on the evening of his eighteenth birthday. He was curled up on one of the picnic benches and sulking as he remembered another birthday in the park, eight years ago now. That birthday had been so perfect, and now here he was.

It was at that exact moment, when Nino was at his very lowest point, when a man whom Nino had never seen before walked past, humming an unfamiliar tune under his breath.

To this day, Nino can't name what it was exactly about Sakurai Sho that caught his attention. For all he knows, it might not have been any one thing but rather the whole package: his lean but firmly muscled body, obvious even underneath his inexplicable pair of parkas; the bulky red headphones he was wearing and the quiet, carefree way he was rapping to himself as he walked by; his large, sparkling eyes; his full lips; the way he continued down his path, clearly determined in a way Nino hadn't been in many years.

Whatever it was, Nino knew, even in that very first moment, that Sho was the one he had been put on this planet to love. Not the way he loved his aunties, or saving money, or coming up with fantastical stories, but the way his father loved his mother, so much that he married her even though it cost them everything -- or the way his mother loved him, so much that she sent him away in order to keep him safe even though it broke her heart.

The kind of love he would do anything for.

Nino was dumbfounded to say the least. He had never felt this way before, and although he instantly recognized the feeling for what it was, he didn't know what to do with it. Before he could formulate any kind of plan, he let that mysterious stranger -- for at the time, of course, he didn't yet know that the stranger's name was Sakurai Sho -- pass on by. It was only when the stranger had disappeared completely from view that Nino sprang into action, and then it was to run home and tell his aunties, with more excitement than he had ever mustered about anything in front of them, that he had just seen the love of his life.

"The love of your life?" Matsushima repeated skeptically as she cut a slice of the cake they'd baked for him while he was out. "But did you even speak to him?"

"Well, no," Nino conceded. "But I just know it. Haven't you ever just known something?"

Nakajima held out a plate to accept the slice, then grabbed a fork and set both down in front of Nino. "We're very happy you've found someone you like," she said, staring expectantly even as she spoke. "But don't you think you should take it slow?"

"I'm tired of taking things slow," Nino said. When they both kept staring instead of responding, he speared a thin piece of birthday cake onto his fork and took a minuscule bite from the corner. He chewed carefully, then gagged and pushed the plate away with a grimace.

"I knew it should have been all vanilla," Matsushima sighed.

Nakajima shook her fist. "I'm telling you, chocolate is better!"

As the two of them stood there arguing about which flavor the cake should have been, Nino thought to himself that although he loved his aunties and appreciated everything they had done for him, it might be time for him to move out on his own -- especially now that he knew the love of his life was out there waiting for him.

~

"What were you doing out there that day?" one of the guests asks Sho.

"I was in college at the time, and that semester I was enrolled in an advanced geography class. I was out taking pictures of rock formations up in the mountains near Kazu's neighborhood for an assignment I was working on."

Nino says dreamily, "My Sho-kun always has had the most fascinating interests."

"Wait," one of the guests cuts in. "So you're saying that even though that evil woman threatened to ruin Ninomiya-san's chances of finding true love, it was only because of her threats that you two were in a position to meet each other in the first place?"

"How wonderful!" another guest cries.

"Oh, there's more," Sho assures them.

Nino says, "We're just getting started."

They exchange a chaste, loving kiss, much to the enjoyment of their growing crowd, before Sho picks up the story where Nino left off. "So as Kazu was contemplating moving out of his aunts' place, I was already living with Jun and Satoshi..."

~

Though it was a far cry from what any of them would ultimately end up doing, in his early twenties Sho had somehow found himself deeply devoted to a band he had formed with his two closest friends, Ohno and Aiba. They called themselves Curiosity Team; all three contributed to the songwriting, Ohno sang lead, Sho rapped, and Aiba played guitar. It was a simple set-up, but they were gaining popularity around Sho's college campus -- so much so that they had secured a gig at a costume party that coming October.

The performance was drawing ever closer, and Curiosity Team had been trying to schedule a much-needed practice session. But Aiba had just moved into his own apartment closer to the center of the city, and apparently kicking up all that dust had resulted in him catching a nasty cold. As soon as this news made its way to Jun -- who had moved in with Ohno and Sho to pick up Aiba's third of the rent and who, it turned out, was Curiosity Team's number-one fan -- he whipped up a batch of soup that he swore came from a secret family recipe, cooked enough comfort food to fill his fanciest bento, and wrapped it all up in a package which he then handed to Sho and demanded he deliver to Aiba to ensure a speedy recovery.

"Why can't Satoshi go?" Sho complained.

"Because I need him here for other things," Jun insisted.

Sho continued to kick up a fuss for a while after that. He had exams to study for, and on top of all his classes, he was TAing for a particularly brutal teacher. When he started missing ridiculously easy questions on his self-administered practice tests, however, he knew it was time for a break.

"Bundle up," Jun reminded him once he'd grumpily agreed to deliver the food. "It's starting to get cold out, and we don't want you getting sick like Aiba-chan."

So Sho grabbed his trusty red parka, throwing it on over the threadbare gray one he was already wearing, and flipped up the hood before finally stepping out the door.

On his way to the train station, he noticed a little convenience store he must have passed by at least a hundred times before that moment. Some quiet, unfamiliar feeling tugged at him, insisting that he step inside to investigate. Well, I am pretty exhausted from studying, he thought to himself. It wouldn't hurt to grab a little pick-me-up. And so he detoured into the store, beelining towards the refrigerators in the back to grab an energy drink before his feet carried him to the register.

As luck, fate, or the will of the gods would have it, the person working up front that very day was none other than Nino.

Sho hadn't noticed him that day in the park, so this chance meeting didn't seem strange to him at all. Nino, on the other hand, recognized Sho instantly, and to him it meant that he had been right all along despite his aunties' doubts: Sho really was the one he was meant to be with.

Of course, Nino couldn't come right out and say that to someone who in all other ways was a complete stranger. So he rang up Sho's purchase quietly, trying not to let out how excited he was just to be in the same room as this man. As he was accepting the cash Sho handed him, he finally worked up the nerve to ask, "Lunch break?" It wasn't much, but it might get the man to talk.

"Hm? Oh -- no." Sho indicated the bento and thermos he was carrying and said, "These are actually for my buddy Aiba-chan. We're in a band and we need to practice but he got sick so Jun-kun put together this care package and..." Sho trailed off as he caught sight of the clock behind the cashier. He was too distracted by the thought of what Jun would do to him if he heard that Sho had arrived with cold food to notice that he had once again started rambling the way he always did when he was in a rush, nor did he notice that the cashier's eyes had lit up at the information Sho had just revealed.

After that, Sho left in a hurry, spurred on by images of Jun smacking him over the head while wearing all his heaviest rings. Somehow, though, everything around him seemed to be taking forever when he was trying to go his fastest: there was a delay on the train, he got stuck behind a slow-moving granny on his way out of the subway, he turned down the wrong street trying to find his way to Aiba's new place... But finally, finally, after what felt like a whole extra hour, he was standing at Aiba's door.

But when he knocked, it wasn't Aiba who greeted him.

It was Nino.

"You," Sho said, stunned.

"You," Nino shot back with a grin.

"I'm looking for, uh..." Sho glanced around, wondering if he'd knocked on the wrong door. "Aiba...chan?"

"I'm his roommate," Nino said. He was smiling so wide his gums were showing.

"You're joking."

"For once in my life, no."

Nino stepped aside to let Sho in, and Sho noticed that he was out of his work clothes, freshly showered, and wearing a wool sweater Sho knew to be Aiba's. Had Sho really taken so long getting lost that this guy had time to get off work, get home, and get in the shower?

His smile never faltering, Nino led Sho into the kitchen so he could set down the package Jun had prepared. Nino politely offered Sho a drink, and Sho politely declined, and they stood there staring at each other in Aiba's kitchen for at least a full minute.

"So you're Nino," Sho finally said.

Nino nodded, still smiling. "And you must be Sho. You know, Aiba-chan told me about his bandmates, but I didn't realize one of them was so... you."

Sho didn't really get what Nino meant by that, but he went along with it. In fact, Sho didn't really get what Nino meant by any of the things he was doing -- not the too-close way he was standing, not the overly familiar way he reached out to touch Sho's shoulder or play with the zipper of his parka -- but he went along with all of it. He was just so inexplicably drawn to this weird little guy with his gummy smile and his sharp eyes and the way Aiba's huge wool sweater hung off his shoulders, revealing pointy collarbones...

Before he knew it, they were making out on Aiba's couch. Sho had been intimate with people before, but never so outrageously soon after first meeting them, yet somehow everything about that moment felt right. The way Nino pushed Sho back against the cushions and straddled his lap felt right. The way Nino's slim waist fit under Sho's hands felt right. The way Nino pushed the hood of Sho's red parka off his shoulders and leaned down to bite the sensitive area just beneath the corner of Sho's jaw -- that felt very right.

"My," Sho breathed, pulling Nino back to look into his eyes. "What sharp teeth you have."

Nino's wide grin from before was gone; this smile was decidedly more predatory. "I bet you say that to all the boys."

Sho leaned up for another kiss, but suddenly they heard the front door opening. Sho stood abruptly, dumping Nino onto the floor, just in time to see Aiba walk in, sniffling and red-eyed above a mask. "Aiba-chan, hello!" he declared in a tone that he hoped said I wasn't just now making out with your roommate when I was supposed to be bringing you get-well soup. He wasn't sure the sentiment made it in.

He quickly explained Jun's care package and left immediately after, despite Aiba's snuffly protests and Nino's whining pleas. Sho hated to appear rude, but he was too embarrassed to stick around. Some of that embarrassment came from how quickly he'd succumbed to his carnal desires... but mostly it was from having almost been caught by Aiba.

No matter how embarrassed he might have been, though, he couldn't stop thinking about Nino, even after he made it home and dodged Jun's questions about whether or not his soup had been well-received. Even as he sat in his room trying to resume his studies, his mind kept going back to Nino's smile -- Nino's waist -- Nino's mouth on his -- Nino's teeth against his skin, just sharp enough to send a tingle down his spine.

~

"What an incredible coincidence!" the guests are raving, catching the attention of several others who are trickling in to hear the story.

"You just sped home as soon as you recognized him?" one of them asks Nino.

"I knew he couldn't be talking about anyone but my Aiba-chan," Nino explains. "And I just had to see him. Two of my coworkers owed me favors anyway, so I got Erika-chan to cover the rest of my shift while Ryo-kun drove me home."

"Surely after that, you two started dating?"

"Not quite," Nino says. "There were still a few hurdles we had to overcome before we got to that point."

"As I already mentioned," Sho goes on, "I was working for a teacher who had a reputation for being very tough on her students as well as her TAs."

Nino leans in towards the crowd of guests and whispers conspiratorially, "Guess who it was."

The guests all think about it, until one of them gasps and shouts "No!" in delighted shock.

"Yes," Nino says dramatically. "Kaede-san."

~

As the date of the costume party and Curiosity Team's performance drew nearer and nearer, Sho was dismayed to find that his to-do list for work kept growing longer and longer. It was as if Kaede somehow knew he had something important to do outside of work and, even stranger, wanted him to fail. Sakurai Sho, however, had never been one to give up so easily, and so he slaved over project after project -- making hundreds of copies, organizing boxes of paperwork piled up in her office, reading through set after set of essays and creating half a dozen checklists chronicling the contents of each section -- until finally he was down to one last task: grade a stack of exams the students had taken earlier that week. The night of the party arrived, and Sho had only hours to spare, but he managed to finish the last exam with just enough time left that he could drop the grades off on his way to the party.

When he got to Kaede's office, he was surprised -- and, truthfully, a bit disappointed -- to find that she was already there. At first she seemed impressed that he had actually managed to finish everything she had given him, and as she took the list of grades from him, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride.

That feeling quickly melted away as she looked down the list and began to frown.

"Kaede-sensei, is everything all right?"

She held the paper up for him to see and pointed out a name about two thirds down the list. "I know for a fact," she said, speaking evenly despite the contempt in her eyes, "that this student is failing my course. And yet you have written here that the student earned eighty-seven percent on the exam." She scoffed. "Impossible."

Sho watched, horrified, as she ripped into halves, and then quarters, and then eighths, the paper onto which he had painstakingly copied each student's grade.

Kaede walked calmly to her trash bin and threw the pieces into it, then walked back just as calmly. "Do it again," she said. "I want the new, accurate grades posted online no later than midnight tonight."

And then she closed her office door, leaving Sho standing there alone, dumbfounded, and starting to feel a bit hysterical.

As he wandered back towards his apartment, mentally rehearsing how he was going to tell Aiba and Ohno that he couldn't make it to tonight's show, he was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't see the two figures walking towards him until it was too late, and he bumped right into them. When he looked up to apologize, he saw two women, one with blond hair and dressed all in white, the other with dark hair and dressed all in black. "Sorry, excuse me," he said, and before he could stop himself, just like every other time he had been in a rush, he started to ramble. "I didn't mean to bump into you, it's just that I'm trying to get to this party to perform with my friends but my boss just told me I have to re-do the work I already did and she wants it done by midnight and --"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," the dark-haired woman said.

"It's all right, really," the blond added.

"Sorry again," Sho said, not really sure anymore if he was apologizing for running into them or for sharing more than was necessary.

"You know," the blond woman said, "you remind me of our hard-working nephew. I think he said something about going to a party as well... Anyway, you should go!"

The dark-haired woman said, "As long as you get home in time to finish your work, it should be fine, right? You should give yourself a break! Have fun, dress up! Ah, you'd look so handsome in a nice black suit..."

"I think white would fit your complexion better," the blond said.

"No, definitely black."

"I'm telling you, white!"

"Thank you, ladies!" Sho cut in. The women seemed a bit odd, but they were right, Sho decided. He had worked hard, and he did deserve a break -- plus, he couldn't just bail on his bandmates like that. He thanked the women again before darting off, not to his apartment but to where his friends were waiting for him.

The party was being thrown at a large house, presumably one that belonged to the host, but Sho had learned several college parties ago not to ask too many questions about that sort of thing lest he stumble upon something he felt ethically unsure about. In any case, he'd been to this particular house once or twice before, so he had no trouble finding it and arrived as the others were finishing setting up. He was just in time for Jun to pull him aside and reveal the group "costume" he'd put together for everyone in the band: ballroom masks spray-painted in rainbow colors and covered in glitter.

Jun, of course, also had one. "For solidarity!" he explained, grinning. "That way, everyone will know I'm your biggest fan."

After the day he'd just had, all Sho could really do was accept the mask and be grateful that he had a costume at all.

Curiosity Team performed flawlessly, and their music was well-received by the rowdy partygoers. Jun was, as always, the most enthusiastic person in the crowd, but lots of other people got into it as well, enough that at the end of the performance, Sho could definitely count it among their successes.

As soon as they stepped down from the temporary stage that had been set up in the living room, Jun was waiting for them with celebratory shots. The night went predictably from there; Sho hadn't really intended to consume as much alcohol as he did, but the drinks kept pouring in, from Jun, from his proud and excited bandmates, from people who had appreciated his performance, and eventually from random partygoers who would take any excuse to drink. At various points during the night, Sho found himself toasting to just about everything, including well-timed raps, econ majors, and sparkly masks.

As the night went on, Sho's bandmates all seemed to disappear; first Aiba snuck off with Becky, the girl who had shown up dressed as a butterfly, and later Sho swore he saw Ohno and Jun link arms and make their way upstairs. In a moment of remarkable responsibility considering how much alcohol was in his system at that point, Sho decided that it was time for him to head home now that he knew his friends were all taken care of.

It wasn't until he was on his way to the door, trying to turn down a shot from an over-excited freshman as politely as possible, that Sho caught sight of something incredible: Nino, sitting by himself on the couch, sipping from a red party cup.

"On second thought," Sho said without looking at the freshman, "I'll take that shot after all." He downed it like a champion -- his manly refusal for a chaser being somewhat negated by the ridiculous face he pulled as the alcohol went down -- and made his way through the crowd.

The only problem was that he had already been quite intoxicated, and that last shot hadn't helped. Any other time, he would have introduced himself politely and perhaps a bit nervously, trying to find the least awkward way possible to remind Nino of their last encounter. But in his current state, Sho forgot to introduce himself altogether. He just walked right up to Nino and said, "Fancy meeting you here."

It was lucky for Sho that Nino was well on the way to intoxication himself, so he didn't much question it when this masked man whom he didn't recognize tried to start a conversation. Nino just laughed and kept drinking.

Sho sat down -- very gracefully, probably -- maybe -- beside Nino on the couch. "So, really, what brings you here?"

Nino took another sip of what smelled like paint thinner and said, "Showed up to see my roommate's band, but I guess I'm late. Can't even find him."

"Maybe I can keep you company instead."

Nino glanced over at Sho a bit incredulously, but it was right at that moment when a new song started playing over the sound system. It wasn't terribly slow or romantic, but Sho recognized it as a song about finding love at a party, and he spotted several other couples head towards the middle of the room. Seeing his opportunity, he stood and offered his hand, gesturing towards the crowd when Nino looked confused. "Join me for a dance?" he asked, doing his best impression of the lead in a romantic film.

For a long moment, Nino only stared, and Sho began to worry that he was about to be rejected by the guy who'd made out with him on their friend's couch after only knowing him for about an hour. But finally Nino smiled, putting Sho's fears at ease, and said, "Sure, why not. Something tells me I won't regret it."

Sho grinned. "I'll take what I can get."

Nino slipped his hand into Sho's, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet, and together they made their way onto the makeshift dance floor. When they got into place, Nino with his hands on Sho's strong shoulders, Sho with his hands over Nino's slim waist, neither could deny that it felt as if they were exactly where they were supposed to be.

They danced through that song and several others, even when the music stopped being appropriate. They didn't care, not about the music, not about the people around them, not about anything but each other.

At the end of the fourth song, Sho pulled Nino in close and sighed, "I'm so glad I saw you tonight."

Nino leaned back to look into Sho's eyes. His own were practically sparkling. "Yeah? How glad?"

Sho let go of Nino's waist to take one of his wrists, pulling it to his mouth so he could kiss the thin skin over his pulse. Instead of answering the question, he said, "I remember that you like this," and bit down into the soft flesh of Nino's arm.

Nino gave a quiet gasp, and he leaned up for a kiss.

That's when Sho noticed the clock on the wall.

He pulled away with a curse, already trying to calculate travel time in his head. If he were to leave right then, perhaps he could make it home by eleven...

"I'm so sorry," he told Nino, who looked confused and a bit hurt. "It's not you, I promise, I just -- there's this work I was supposed to do before I even came here and now it's going to be late and I can't -- I just have to go!"

And so he ran, too rushed to hear Nino's request for at least a name, filled with regret at having to end their encounter on such an awful note, and fully prepared to gulp down as many cups of black coffee as it would take for him to sober up so he could re-do those damn grades.

~

By now a substantial group of guests has gathered around the duo, and all of them are exclaiming over how tragic it was that Sho had to leave the party.

"Did you at least manage to finish Kaede-san's project after all?"

"I finished right at midnight," Sho says proudly. "But it wasn't easy! The entire time, it seemed like all I could think of was Kazu's beautiful golden hair."

The guests murmur in confusion, "Golden...?"

"Oh yes," Nino says, "at that point I had dyed my hair blond for some reason or another." Sho is already grabbing his phone to pull up photographic evidence. "Did I not mention that before?"

"No!" the guests cry.

"Oh well," Nino says, shrugging as Sho hands out his phone. "A minor detail, I guess..."

~

The next day, Nino woke up in his own bed, hungover and remembering very little beyond how much alcohol he had consumed the previous night. As he lay in bed groaning to himself and praying for a swift death, the memories slowly began to trickle back into his aching brain. He'd been late to the party for some reason, and then he couldn't find Aiba, and then there had been that strange man in the mask, the one who had seemed so oddly familiar. Those muscles of his - and that mouth... At the time, Nino had been too drunk to realize it, but now that he was sober, it seemed clear as day: the man reminded him of Sho.

When he finally dragged himself into the kitchen, not really wanting to eat but knowing that a bit of food would at least settle his stomach, he found Aiba there, already dropping bread into the toaster as eggs cooked on the stove. "Good morning, sunshine," Aiba said, far too loud for how hungover Nino was.

Nino said as much, but considering that his face was pressed against the tabletop, it probably didn't come out very clearly.

Aiba let him snooze on the table until the food was ready, at which point he set a mostly barren plate in front of him -- they had been roommates long enough for Aiba to know Nino's feelings about food -- and sat down at the other end of the table. "So," he said, still way too loud for Nino's comfort, "did you have fun last night?"

Nino mumbled a response that could have meant anything.

"You seemed like you'd been partying pretty hard by the time I got to you."

At that, Nino lifted his head up just enough to glance in Aiba's direction. "You got to me?"

"Yeah, how did you think you got home, silly? I told you, I know you love cheap things but that stomach of yours just cannot handle any kind of alcohol that comes in a plastic bottle --"

"Wait, wait, hold on." Nino weakly picked up his half-slice of toast and took a small bite for strength. "If you were with me last night, did you see the guy I was with?"

Aiba perked up at those words, his ever-present smile widening into a grin. "Ooooh, you were with a guy? Did you hook up?"

"No, I think we just hung out. I was hoping you might know who it was."

"Well, I didn't see you with anyone, but if you tell me what he was like I might be able to figure it out."

So Nino told him about the mysterious stranger, about how they'd danced together and how firm the stranger's shoulders had felt under his hands. He even told Aiba, feeling a little embarrassed about how personal it was but wanting to spare no detail in case it led to some kind of epiphany, about how the stranger had bitten him. "He kind of reminded me of Sho, actually," he said, barreling on past the detail about the bite before Aiba could start to tease him about it. "But all I remember about the way he looked is that he was wearing this rainbow-colored, sparkly mask --"

Before Nino could finish, Aiba leapt from his chair and ran out of the kitchen. He returned a moment later, clutching a mask that looked exactly like the one Nino had just described. "Did it look like this?!"

Nino felt a sudden wave of hangover-related nausea at the thought of Aiba, whom he had come to think of as a brother, being the one he'd danced with last night. "Are -- are you saying --"

"What -- no! No, Nino, we all had these masks on last night, the whole band, even Matsujun! So it really could have been Sho-chan!"

"Or it could have been Ohno or Jun," Nino added, not feeling much better. Neither of them would have been as bad as dancing with Aiba, of course, but it still wouldn't be the person he wanted.

"Don't worry," Aiba said, speaking in a tone that made Nino worry very much. "I have an idea that will help you figure it out for sure."

Things rarely went well when Aiba was the one planning them, but Nino was so desperate to solve the mystery that he agreed to go along with it -- just as soon as his hangover subsided.

When they arrived at the apartment shared by Ohno, Sho, and Jun the next day, Aiba blindfolded Nino in the hallway before knocking on the door, stomping out any second thoughts Nino might be having before he had a chance to voice them. "Just remember, Nino," Aiba said. "Your bias might lead you down the wrong path, so this is the only way to know with absolute certainty."

Someone from inside the apartment opened the door and silently let them in. Aiba led Nino into what felt like it must have been the middle of the living room, and although no one said anything, Nino could sense that there was someone standing directly in front of him.

Aiba's voice came from somewhere to the left. "Okay, here we go. You said you danced together, right? So see who feels the most familiar."

Nino still couldn't help but think the whole plan was a little dumb, but he let Aiba bring him this far, so he might as well go through with it. He started by placing his hands, somewhat clumsily at first, on the first person's shoulders, and then the other person's hands went to his waist. Immediately he knew it wasn't the right person. "Too short," he said confidently, so Aiba had him move on to the next person down the line.

This person was a little closer to what he had been expecting, but after a moment of thinking about it, he decided that it still wasn't right. "Too tall," he said, unable to keep a hint of uncertainty out of his voice.

But when Aiba had him move on down the line, to the last person, all uncertainty fled his mind as soon as his hands came to rest upon the person's shoulders. This person was just the right height, and the hands on Nino's waist felt so familiar that he didn't want them to let go. He felt a smile bloom on his face and didn't even think to try and hide it. "This one's just right," he said.

"Excellent!" Aiba cried, tugging on Nino's elbow until he was standing back in front of the first person. "We have to be sure though, right? So now try feeling each person's shoulders. You said the pair you spent so much time touching last night felt very distinct!"

"This is ridiculous," Nino complained, reaching up to pull the blindfold off. "I already know who it is --"

Aiba smacked his hand down. "If you're so certain, it wouldn't hurt to make sure, would it?"

Nino heaved a sigh but decided to humor Aiba. He put his hands back onto the first set of shoulders, and this time he paid attention to the way they felt underneath his palms. It was a bit awkward, now that he was sure this wasn't the person he was looking for, but he played along, and very quickly he found that the shoulders in question were a bit too sharp and not quite wide enough to be the set he was looking for. "Too narrow," he said, and moved on.

Again, the second set of shoulders felt a little better, but they still didn't match the vision in his head. "Too broad," he said quickly, growing bored.

Just as before, the moment his hands touched down on the last set of shoulders, he knew it was what he was looking for. They weren't too narrow, weren't too broad, and most importantly, they sloped softly downward in a way that felt unusual but so familiar. For a second time, Nino felt himself smile as he said, "This one's just right."

Aiba exclaimed happily and again pulled Nino back down the line. "One more test!"

"Seriously, I know --"

Aiba kept going, talking over Nino's protests. "Contestants," he said with a tone of grandiosity in his voice, as if he were announcing something truly spectacular. "If you would each be so kind as to take Nino's hand, like this..." He lifted Nino's arm by his wrist, then indicated his forearm. "And bite here, in whatever way you see fit. Please remember to use a different area from those before you so the subject isn't confused by multiple bites in the same spot!"

"Aiba-chan," Nino hissed, tugging his hand away. "This is embarrassing."

He felt a pat on his shoulder that was probably meant to be taken as a gesture of comfort. "Sometimes love means being willing to embarrass yourself."

Nino rolled his eyes behind the blindfold, then thrust his hand out to the first person in line.

This person took his wrist with thin, gentle fingers, and bit softly into his arm. The bite he was remembering hadn't been particularly hard, but it had certainly been more than this. "Too soft," he said.

The second person all but grabbed his arm, biting down hard enough to make Nino twitch away. "Too hard," he said with a scowl.

The third person took Nino's wrist in a firm, confident grip. Nino was awaiting the feel of teeth, wondering if this time it would match his memory of the previous night -- but first he felt a pair of lips pressing the softest of kisses against his skin. Then came the teeth, not so hard to truly hurt, but hard enough to send a pleasant chill down Nino's spine. He shivered happily at the touch and reached up to yank the blindfold away before Aiba could protest.

The person standing in front of him, still holding his arm and smiling gently, was Sho. Nino's heart fluttered joyously at the sight, but then again, there had never really been a doubt.

"You," he said, nearly breathless.

Sho grinned in return. "You."

Nino looked down the line, to Jun standing there with his arms crossed, then to Ohno looking off at something on the other wall, and finally to Aiba watching them with expectant eyes and a glowing smile on his face.

"Aiba-chan," Nino said, slipping his arm from Sho's hand so that he could grasp it in his own. "This one is just right."

~

"Surely that was the start of your relationship?" one of the guests asks, excited to be nearing the climax of the couple's tale.

"Well," Sho says slowly, as if he's not sure how to break the news. "Not quite."

The guests cry out in dismay. "Even after everything you'd already been through?"

"We were almost there," Nino assures them. "Remember Ryo-kun, the one I mentioned earlier who owed me a favor? Well, after I cashed in, I somehow ended up owing him a favor..."

~

And so it came to be that Nino was now living with seven other men in a ridiculously large house, helping them stay on top of rent after their friend Uchi had to move away. Ryo had at least softened the deal by graciously allowing Nino to have his own bedroom at the end of the second-story hall, and that's where Nino found himself on his nineteenth birthday: sitting in an unfamiliar room that was empty but for the small bed Uchi had left behind and the modest pile of boxes filled with the few possessions Nino had cared to bring along.

He was feeling a bit self-pitying out of habit -- after all, it had been nine years since the last birthday he'd spent in the company of his loving mother -- but after some deliberation, he decided that June 17th should once again be a day to celebrate, not because it was the anniversary of his birth but because it was the anniversary of the moment he'd first laid eyes on Sho. That event had sparked feelings in Nino that he'd never before realized he was capable of, thereby opening up his heart as well as a new chapter in his life. If anything should be celebrated, it was that.

Excited about his birthday for the first time in nine years, Nino went to the phone and called Sho. The two had been seeing each other ever since the party last October, but they had yet to make their relationship official due to Sho's busy schedule with school, work, and the band - but Nino wasn't going to let all of that stand in his way any longer.

It took a few rings, but finally Sho picked up, sounding out of breath on the other end. "Hello?"

"Sho-kun? It's me, Nino."

"Nino! I was about to leave for class, but what's up?"

As it turned out, Sho had even more on his plate than usual that day, complete with an oral report, a tutoring session, a paper to write, and a project his boss wanted him to finish by the end of the day. But as soon as he learned that it was Nino's birthday, he exclaimed loudly and promised to move some things around so that they could meet up that night. He also promised to bring a cake, even after Nino insisted that he really, really didn't need to.

"Nonsense!" Sho said, and although Nino had suspected at first that he was only offering out of politeness, the next words out of Sho's mouth were so sincere that Nino could tell even over the crackle of the telephone that they were the absolute truth: "Nothing is too much of a hassle if it's for you."

Nino was too busy trying to quiet down his thumping heart to argue.

On the other side of town, Sho rushed to Kaede's office after his report to inform her that he wouldn't be able to complete the project she'd given him until the next day. "I'm very sorry," he said for the fifth time. Once again, he found himself sharing more than was necessary. "You see, I also have a student to tutor and a paper to write and I just found out that today is Nino's birthday and I promised I'd pick up a cake and --"

"Stop," Kaede interrupted. "What did you just say?"

Sho, still deep in a bow of apology, stood up just a bit straighter as he tried to backtrack. "I, uh... I'm supposed to get a cake?"

"For whom, you idiot, who is the cake for?!"

Sho bent into another deep bow, talking again before he could stop himself. "Sorry, yes, it's for Nino -- Ninomiya Kazunari -- he's my, well, not exactly my boyfriend yet but it's his birthday and I was hoping to bring him a cake and maybe a nice dinner and then --"

The feel of Kaede's hand on his shoulder shocked him into silence. She pulled him up until his back was straight as a board, and the sight of her smile, thin and somehow cold, sent a chill down his spine. "Sho-kun," she said quietly, "I don't want you to worry about a thing. You just tell me where your Nino lives, and I'll deliver a cake to him myself."

Sho's eyes grew wide. "That's -- Kaede-sensei, you really don't have to!"

"It's nothing at all. That way, you won't have to rush through your tutoring session, and you can even work on your paper for a bit. And don't worry, I'll give you a few extra days to finish that project."

Immediately, Sho dove into another series of bows. "Kaede-sensei, thank you so much! You have no idea how helpful this is!"

"You're very welcome," she said, flashing that same icy smile. "I'm always happy to support two young people in love."

By the time Kaede made it to Nino and the seven roommates' house, the sun was just beginning to set. Ryo greeted her at the door and gladly invited her in when she said she was there with a gift for Nino. He led her into the kitchen, where she set a pink bakery box onto the counter and asked if the birthday boy himself might come see her.

When Nino came downstairs, still yawning a bit from the nap he'd taken after ending his phone call with Sho, Kaede knew immediately that it was him. She'd recognize those bright eyes and that tiny frame anywhere.

Of course, Nino didn't recognize her at all. He had never actually seen the woman his mother had tried to protect him from, only heard of her in passing or in hushed tones when his parents thought he wasn't listening. So when Kaede opened the box to reveal a beautiful, homemade cake, every inch of it slathered in apple-red frosting, he didn't suspect a thing.

"I'm Sho-kun's boss," she explained. "He came by my office this afternoon and asked if I would bring this to you since he was so terribly busy."

"Thank you very much," Nino said, always aware of his manners, but he couldn't stop staring at the cake. It looked like it would be delicious to someone who hadn't come to loathe birthday cake the way Nino did.

"Would you like to try some?" Kaede asked, pretending to mistake his disgust for intrigue. "You see, I baked it myself, and I'd love to hear what you think."

"Ah..." Nino finally glanced away from the cake, but the gleam in Kaede's eyes seemed just as dangerous. "No thank you," he said. "I should probably wait for Sho."

But she was already rifling through the cupboards to find a plate, and Nino -- who couldn't think of a polite way to say that he didn't even like cake when this perfect stranger had gone through all the trouble of baking one just for him -- allowed her to cut a fat slice and serve it to him. She directed him towards the table, then down into a chair, taking control of him in his own kitchen. She sat down in the chair across from him and watched in rapt fascination as he picked up a sliver of cake with his fork and nibbled at it.

"Yum!" he said, mumbling around his tiny bite as if it were a huge mouthful. "It's super good!"

"Nonsense," she said. "You've barely even tasted it. Please, have more."

Nino's smile faded just the slightest bit. He had become very good at faking it for the sake of pleasing generous hosts, but she wasn't buying his act. He swallowed the crumbs that felt like handfuls to him, and he took another, bigger bite to placate her. But still, she insisted. He realized with dawning horror that she wouldn't be happy until she'd watched him eat the entire slice. He was driven no longer by politeness but by fear as he took another bite, and then another, trying with each mouthful to hide the way the cake was too rich, too dense, too sweet, too much. He painfully swallowed bite after bite, feeling more and more like a lost child under her hawkish stare.

The seven roommates occasionally poked their heads in, each of them having heard the news that a visitor had appeared with sweets, but the intensity of the scene before them inevitably drove each one away.

When the slice was finally gone, Kaede reached across the table to swipe onto her finger some frosting that had smeared onto the side of the plate. She extended her hand, offering this last morsel of red frosting, and Nino felt the first wave of real, gut-wrenching nausea as he leaned forward to lick the frosting from her finger. The smile that unfurled on her face, as saccharine-sweet as the cake itself, only made him feel worse. He slumped back in his seat, exhausted and starting to feel sick, as she stood and leaned forward to ruffle his hair. "Very good," she said. He watched, dazed, as she packed up the box of cake and placed it in the fridge, somehow finding a spot for it amongst the beer cans and leftover takeout boxes.

On her way out of the kitchen, she paused in the doorway. "Happy birthday, little Kazunari."

And then she was gone.

As soon as the door was locked behind her, the others all rushed into the kitchen to crowd around Nino.

"Nino, are you okay?"

"Who was that lady?"

"She seemed so evil!"

"Was it super delicious?"

Hina smacked Ohkura over the head. "Honestly! Can't you tell he hated it?"

"It just looked so good," Ohkura lamented, glancing towards the fridge.

"Don't even think of eating it," Yoko snapped. "That lady was clearly a psycho. I bet she poisoned it."

Hina looked ready to smack him as well, but that's when Nino lurched up from his seat and tried to walk, only to stumble weakly. Maru barely managed to catch him before he fell.

"I don't feel so good," Nino mumbled.

"You don't look so good either," Subaru said.

Yasu asked worriedly, "Should we call Sho-kun?"

Before anyone could answer, Nino wiggled his way out of Maru's arms. No one was sure where he was trying to go -- only that he took a single step before collapsing onto the kitchen floor.

In the ensuing commotion, Yoko did end up calling Aiba ("I knew it was poisoned, Aiba-chan!"), who in turn called Sho, who impressed everyone by rushing over without even finishing the paragraph he had been working on.

When he arrived, Yoko greeted him at the door and led him upstairs, where the other six were all lined up solemnly along the hallway outside Nino's bedroom. Sho went in to find Nino laid out across his bed, flat on his back with his hands folded over his stomach. He looked so peaceful, almost as if he were just taking a nap, but the paleness of his skin made it clear that something was wrong.

As Sho looked down at him, he couldn't help but remember their whole crazy story up to that point. He remembered his first time seeing Nino, in the convenience store he had been so strangely drawn to, and then in Aiba's apartment. He remembered coming across Nino at that party and dancing as if they were the only ones in the room. He remembered the way Nino had so willingly let himself be vulnerable just to know for sure that Sho really was the man he was looking for. He remembered the way Nino's eyes sparkled in the light and the way his gums showed when he smiled. He remembered the way his heart had danced so happily in his chest every time he'd been around Nino, the way it was doing at that precise moment.

Without hesitation, Sho closed his eyes and leaned down to press his mouth to Nino's.

For a long moment, there was nothing -- only the gentle press of his lips against Nino's clammy ones. Then Sho heard a sudden and incredible ruckus of cheers. He turned to see all seven of Nino's roommates poking their heads in through the doorway, and when he turned back towards the bed, he saw Nino peering up at him through heavy-lidded but clear eyes.

"You," Nino said hoarsely.

Sho was so overwhelmed with joy that he couldn't respond in words. All he could do was lean down to scoop Nino into his arms and squeeze him tight, trying to convey all of his love and that he would do anything, anything, for Nino.

He felt Nino's hands on his shoulders in what he at first assumed was a gesture of reciprocation -- until Nino wheezed, "Sho, I'm gonna throw up on you, seriously."

And after everything they'd been through to get to that point, only to have Nino say that, all Sho could do was laugh.

Until he realized that Nino really was serious.

~

"So that's all it was? You just felt sick from eating so much, and true love's kiss cured you?"

"Oh no, she definitely put something in the cake," Nino laughs, turning to look adoringly at Sho. "I was very ill after that. But having Sho by my side even when I was at my worst showed me that I was right all along. He really is the one for me."

At that exact moment, Sho leans in to wrap Nino in a warm embrace and kiss him. It's executed perfectly, almost as if they've done this for an audience at least half a dozen times before. Some members of the crowd applaud, others shout out hoots of encouragement, and most everyone swoons.

"So what happened after that?" someone asks after the murmurs of admiration have all died down. "What was the next chapter in your adventure?"

"Things actually began to settle down," Nino says, still clinging to Sho.

"Yes," Sho says. "I quit working for Kaede-san the very next day, and as soon as we could afford it, Kazu and I moved in to our own apartment and finally began our life together."

"And Ninomiya-san's mother?"

"We were reunited happily, of course," Nino says. "She was even at our housewarming party."

The entire crowd sighs contentedly at the happy couple's storybook ending.

Hours later, long after their story has come to a close and the other guests have all gone home, Sho and Nino stay along with Ohno and Aiba to help clean up. Well, it's more like the others clean while Nino stands around sipping the last of the free wine, but, like so many other things, Nino will exaggerate his helpfulness in future recountings.

When the food has all been spooned carefully into tupperware and the dishes have all been stacked neatly in the sink, Jun insists he can handle the rest from here and walks Sho and Nino to the door. "Thanks for coming," he says, leaning in to hug each of them in turn. "Half the guests left raving about my super-romantic buddies. I can only assume they were talking about you bozos."

Nino grins. "You should just start putting our names on your invitations, Jun-pon. It'll be sure to bring in more potential donors."

Jun rolls his eyes, but he's still smiling. "So who was I this time? The evil sorcerer? Perhaps the magic genie?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Nino says.

"Just a loyal fan," Sho explains.

"Ah, the college band story again. Well, I guess it's better than being the wizard who turns one of you into a hideous beast."

"Or the troll under the bridge," Ohno adds as he walks up to link his arm through Jun's.

"Or the pumpkin who turns into a carriage!" Aiba shouts, poking his head out of the kitchen.

They laugh and hug and promise to see each other again soon, just the five of them, and then Sho and Nino are stepping down into the entryway and out to the car. When they're in and all buckled up and Sho has turned the key in the ignition, he spares a moment to look over at Nino and smile.

"You," he says fondly.

"You," Nino returns, grinning wide enough to show his gums and make Sho's heart flutter.

Sho leans across the center console, puckering his lips ridiculously, and it's only because it makes Nino laugh that Nino deigns to meet him halfway and plant a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Sho retaliates by snatching Nino's wrist and biting his palm playfully, noting the first sparks of lust in Nino's eyes as Sho's teeth sink in.

"I hope you're ready to go home and let down your hair," Sho says, aiming for suave.

Nino says in his most convincingly sultry voice, "Only if you're ready to climb my beanstalk."

Sho laughs, sincere and open, as he turns back to the steering wheel. He says as he shifts into reverse, "Not even an evil sorcerer's most powerful curse could stop me."

"My prince charming," Nino sighs dreamily, swooning backwards against his seat.

~

And so they drove off into the starry, moonlit night, and they lived happily ever after.