Global Robot Depression
Title: This Might Have Been Easier Without the Death Ray (2/7)
Rating: PG-13
Notes: guys how important can sleep be really, I mean, robots don't sleep, and look how efficient they are. Oh, the fic. Well here is chapter two, I hope you will enjoy it. It has a lot of backstory but I go through it fairly quickly, so if something is confusing/sucky do let me know please, I will do my best to fix it.
TUESDAY
"Did you tell Sho-chan that I would give him an interview about yesterday's accident in my lab?" Aiba asked over breakfast. "I got an email from him asking to meet for lunch."
"He likes talking over food, that one," Nino muttered, busy scribbling formulae in his notebook. He’d haggled with Sho for two weeks of free dinner for giving him the scoop about Aiba’s mishap, but Sho must have been getting better at dealing with Nino’s shit or something; in the end, Nino was only promised one week. What a rip-off. Nino would rather read an article about Aiba’s chemistry calamities over one about friend-snatching-politicians-to-be any day.
"Nino, why did you do that?" Aiba whined. "I'm gonna get in trouble with the department! And my professor already hates my guts."
"Then you ought to have gotten the deuterium last night, when you said you would," Nino told him.
Aiba leant back in his chair and stretched. "Maaaan, are you still pissed about that? I said I was sorry. And it wasn't one hundred percent my fault, right? Yuna-chan is pretty clumsy, actually."
"I'm sure your lab is delighted that the two of you are partners, then," Nino said.
"But really," Aiba went on. "Why are you all pouty? You didn't say two words to me last night and you locked your door. I heard you."
Nino put down his pen and glared at Aiba. "I'm pouty because yesterday Ohno invited me over to his house to ask my opinion about his art and I couldn't go because I had to do your job."
"Oh," Aiba said, and then brightened. "Did he really? That's great, Nino! Today he's inviting you over and tomorrow you two will totally be a couple!!"
Nino made a face. "Ohno and I will never be some boring couple."
"Sorry," Aiba grinned. "An evil genius and his love interest."
"Misunderstood genius, and Ohno’s not some stupid love interest." Ohno was Nino’s soul mate.
"Right, whatever. Do I have to do this interview?"
"You can probably make him pay for your lunch," Nino reminded him.
"Do you think he’ll spring for alcohol?” Aiba asked hopefully.
“You can just threaten to cry; he’ll do whatever you want,” Nino said graciously.
Something weird caught Nino's attention as he walked through campus with Aiba that morning. There was a large crowd gathered around the community events bulletin board. No one ever gathered around the community events bulletin board, mostly because there was never anything on it. Today though, someone had put up a huge, colourful poster, and even from their distance Nino could easily make out the title.
VALENTINE'S DAY COSTUME BALL, THIS SATURDAY, FEB 14, AT CITY HALL. OPEN INVITATION TO ALL STUDENTS AND YOUNG PROFESSIONALS.
There was only one person who could've arranged such a thing.
Nino stopped walking and tried to rein in his urge to find Jun right now and blow him into bite sized chunks. This guy was trying to ruin Nino's life. There was no other explanation. He'd come to Nino's campus, he'd stolen Nino's friend-of-interest, and now he'd unraveled Nino's latest diabolically evi- misunderstood plan before Nino had even finished stage one. Nino’d never considered murder before throughout his life as a whatever-he-was, but he was sure as hell considering it now.
"Nino?" Aiba nudged him. "Isn't that ball usually only for the government officials and super super rich people?"
"Yes," Nino gritted out. "Seems like someone thought it'd be prudent to open up the doors a little."
"Wow, do you think it was Matsumoto Jun?" Aiba said. "Hey, Nino, it sounds like fun. Do you want to go?"
"I was planning to crash it," Nino bit out, clenching his hands into fists. "I had everything planned out to the last second, and in one move this loser goes and screws up the entire thing!"
"You've got that look in your eye," Aiba noticed. "Is this about your laser?"
It was.
Nino's plan was (emphasis on the was) as follows:
Stage one: make a laser capable of doing significant damage. Say, vapourizing anything from an eyeball to cement mixer (not that Nino considered either of these targets, but one had to be prepared).
Stage two: hook up a voice feed to the speaker system at City Hall during the Valentine’s Ball, as well as hijack their security camera output.
Stage three: threaten to blow something up if the Chancellor does not admit to funneling money from city-run charities, which of course he won’t.
Stage four: blow something up.
Stage five: demand the Chancellor do the Otaku Dance as penance and record the performance from the bugged security cameras.
And the rest, Nino was sure, would be history. In his more understandably sadistic moods, Nino had wondered how far he could push the Chancellor. He’d even written out a list of demands: Things About This City That Could Really Use Some Attention - a shortcut to a better life for normal citizens (more specifically, for Nino and Aiba). Nino liked the sound of that: a lot of gain for very little work. It was a step up from the immature pranks they usually pulled, but he’d felt that an event as big as the Valentine’s Ball deserved to stir up an equally large shaking-up.
Now, though, none of that could happen. Nino couldn’t wreak havoc if students who knew him would be at the party. Sho, for one, would be there because there was no way Sho would miss a chance to get such a scoop for his precious school paper. And what if Ohno decided to go too? That really wasn’t the kind of opportunity that Nino had been hoping for to reveal his secrets. If Ohno somehow caught him in the act of pranking, then no amount of jokes could help explain away the incident. Trying to defend his innocence while holding a deadly laser in one hand would do nothing but bad things for Nino’s credibility.
Damn, he’d have to leave the Ball alone. What a waste of such potential. Stupid, stupid Matsumoto Jun.
Sho: Nino
Nino: Shoooooo-chaaaaa~~~n ^_~
Sho: gross
hey
you've heard about the costume ball, right? Are you going to go?
Nino: hmmmmm
it's complicated
Sho: how is it complicated?
Nino: well -- i won't be there, but i might be there
depending
Sho: what?
Nino: n/m. are YOU going?
Sho: yes. since you failed at getting me that interview with Jun
I'm going to get one myself.
the editor gave me this job, and I will carry it through.
Nino: good luck
Sho: I can't tell, was that sarcasm?
Nino: maybe
Sho: You should consider going. Lots of kids from school will be there.
you don't have to bring a date or anything, unless you want to (hint hint).
right?
Nino?
I meant Ohno-kun btw
Nino: GEE really??
Sho: don't be such a grouch.
it's totally informal -- you can dress up as anything.
Nino: since when did you become the official spokesperson for the ball?
Sho: didn’t you read the posters? they're all over campus.
and the details are all there.
Nino: i was too busy vandalizing it to read it
Sho: ...
I cannot believe you
Nino: check it out, the community events board by the campus store. my best work
i'm gonna do the ones in the residences next
Sho: I *cannot* believe you.
Nino: just don't come crying to me when i start a trend
"Hi Nino-chan," Ohno said, sitting down beside him.
"Hi Oh-chan," Nino smiled, shutting off his laptop. He liked to give Ohno his full attention, not that he could really help it.
"Hello," Jun said too, eyebrows raised and smirking far too widely for Nino's comfort. He sat down on Ohno's other side. “Nino, was it?”
"Oh-chan," Nino said, not bothering to acknowledge Jun, "did you know that there's a weird man following you? Would you like me to call someone? He looks dumb and dangerous."
Ohno laughed, and the way his nose scrunched made Nino grip the desk to keep himself from leaning in and kissing him. "No, this is my friend. Jun-kun. I met him in class yesterday. And he helped out with my art project."
"Did he now?" Nino said brightly. He offered his hand. "Well, it’s very nice to meet you for the first time, Jun-chan. I'm Nino, Oh-chan's best friend."
"Likewise, Nino-chan," Jun said pleasantly, playing along. He shook Nino's hand, though his grip was rather tight. "How good to finally meet you, Ohno-san would not stop talking about you last night."
"Eh?" This surprised Nino. He was under the impression that he was only Ohno's school BFF, not real life BFF (although he'd been working hard on changing that).
"Ah, not really," Ohno muttered, glancing sideways. "I just told Jun-kun some of Nino's jokes, since I didn't know any of my own."
"Is that so," Nino said quietly. There was a very small explosion going on inside him, right now, and Nino had never felt like this before.
"Tell me," Jun said, leaning over the desk. "How did you two become friends?"
"None of your business," Nino sniped.
"At the hospital, right?" Ohno answered, looking at Nino for confirmation. Nino nodded reluctantly. "My mom was recovering from chemotherapy and Nino's grandfather was there too. That's where we met."
"We struck it up right away," Nino added, grinning smugly, grabbing Ohno's hand.
"So it seems," Jun said, gaze flitting to their interwoven fingers. "Actually, if you don't mind, I'm a bit curious about your situation, Nino-kun. Ohno-san told me a bit of what he knew, but he left out a lot."
"I didn't know if I should," Ohno started. "Nino's story -- even I don't know a lot about Nino's life. I didn't know what to say, after all."
I could tell you everything, Nino thought, tightening his grip on Ohno. Anything you want to know, I'll tell you. You just need to ask.
But not now.
Nino's defenses had risen the moment Jun had opened his mouth. Why in the world was he asking about Nino's life? What was he trying to learn? Was Nino a suspect?
"My life's really uninteresting, that's why I don't really talk about it," Nino said casually.
"But you were a special scholarship student, correct?" Jun pushed. "You and Aiba Masaki."
Something cold swept through Nino. This guy knew about Aiba too. What was going on?
"So?" Nino said, trying to seem bored of the questions.
"You only had an entry scholarship first year," Jun explained. "But you're both third years now. How have you two been paying for your tuition?"
I steal from rich bastards like you, Nino thought viciously. Some pickpocketing here, a few bank heists there -- I steal from you and I don't get caught because I'll be damned if I allow any more opportunities to be taken away from us.
"Part-time jobs," Nino said. "Isn't that the obvious answer?"
"Hm," Jun nodded. "You must work a lot, to be able to meet the increasing tuition fees. Is it difficult? Juggling that and your schooling?"
"Some days are harder than others," Nino said, and at least that statement was perfectly truthful.
"Do you know if Aiba-san works too?" Jun asked, and Nino wanted to punch his handsome face in. He could stand dealing with obnoxious questions about himself, but Aiba was off limits. But fine. If he wanted to know so badly, then Nino would tell him. It wasn't information they kept purposely hidden, just something the both of them preferred not to talk about.
"Aiba's family," Nino said slowly and clearly, "had to sell their own business in order to pay for the special classes and exams that would allow Aiba to enter this college. Since our parents died, we've moved in together, and we both work part-time, yes. There's no other way for a pair of scraggly orphans to pay the bills. Is that answer sufficient?" He forced a smile, but it was not a happy one.
Jun seemed taken aback. "Of course. I'm sorry, obviously I shouldn't have -- I'm sorry."
Nino didn’t care. He turned around to face the front of the class, expression tight. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Jun opened his mouth as if he was about to say something else, but then the professor walked in and he decided against it. Nino was so angry he didn't even realize that he was squeezing Ohno's hand hard enough to hurt, nails digging deep into Ohno's skin. And Ohno hadn't let go.
It wasn’t like Nino had asked for it.
It had been a last resort, this whole business of doing crime. It was crime, and Nino knew that, but it hadn’t started out that way. In the beginning, it was just a way to make ends meet.
First year had started out well, with the aid from their scholarships. Nino and Aiba actually had real part-time jobs during that time: Nino worked at a convenience store and Aiba at a nearby bakery. They always tried to match their shifts so they could ride home on the train together. Back then, they both still had homes to go back to, and they were just normal kids, trying to get a good education, to make their families proud.
Halfway through second semester, Nino and Aiba lost their parents: four adults in one car on a too-icy road, and two young lives changed forever in the aftermath. A few months later, Nino lost his grandfather to cancer, and Nino hadn’t even been able to afford to let his only remaining family member be comfortable as he passed. He’d cried himself empty, that night. The next day, Aiba took Nino home with him, and showed him the spare room he'd cleaned out, just for Nino. Those had been difficult times for them both, but they supported each other the best they could. There were days when it was only by way of Aiba's influence that Nino had managed to push back some of his more destructive tendencies -- even as a kid, Nino had liked experimenting with explosions and homemade firecrackers, and as a teenager, living alone for the first time and waiting as his grandfather wasted away in a hospital bed, unable to do anything, it had been all he'd wanted: to throw some Molotov cocktails at City Hall and demand someone to help them, damn it, there were people suffering in this fucking city while they sat on their fat butts, smoked cigars, and did nothing about it.
Aiba and Nino tried hard to keep their jobs, but by the time second year had rolled around, it had been painfully clear that their combined income wasn't nearly enough to pay for tuition and rent and food. They got second jobs, sometimes third ones. They'd scoured the net for more scholarships, but because they were spending so much time working, their grades weren't good enough to win them anything, and there wasn't any financial support given to people in their situation, since they were both over legal age.
Their situation gradually worsened to the point where Nino was afraid they have to give up either their home or their education, because they did not have the funds for both. But for the two of them, finishing college was the only way to honour their parents' wishes for them to lead a better life. So they’d decided to keep going, for as long as they could.
Then one day Nino, juggling his backpack and a stack of textbooks, had bumped into a rich businessman evaluating the campus for his children, and the man had dropped his wallet. Nino had tapped him on the shoulder to return it to him, and the man had taken a quick survey of Nino's appearance, from his disheveled hair to his non-designer brand clothes to his old threadbare sneakers, and had taken the wallet back from Nino's hand with the very tips of his fingers, as if Nino had somehow contaminated it.
Maybe that was when Nino snapped. He wasn't sure. It was too long ago. But Nino did remember the sudden strike of inspiration: if the rich weren’t going to help him, then he was going to help himself to the rich. Simple as that.
Winter that year had been tough on them. They had to pay more for heating so they barely had money for food. Sho’s family had been away on holidays and Nino didn’t trust anyone else for help. Then Aiba had gotten very sick with the flu and Nino had a horrible vision of Aiba dying on him too, the way his grandfather did, and he found himself at a crossroads: either steal what they needed and risk his entire university career, or wait it out and risk Aiba’s life. That rich man’s look of repugnance had kept on flashing through Nino’s mind. It wasn’t even a choice. That night, he'd walked through a sea of people in the busiest shopping district in the city and came home with five bulging wallets, a large box of instant ramen, and medication from the pharmacy. Nino had never looked back since.
Nino wasn’t much of a thief. It wasn’t his style. Even now, he still took the occasional odd job here and there to earn money to buy his own video games. When it came to finances they needed for themselves, they only stole out of necessity. Aiba hadn't known about it, at first. Nino had resolved not to involve him, but Aiba was always smarter than Nino gave him credit for. There came the time when Nino came home well past midnight from a pickpocketing spree and found Aiba sitting alone at their tiny kitchen table, crying, waiting for Nino to come home. He'd collided into him as soon as Nino stepped into the room and had sobbed for hours and hours, into Nino's shoulder.
"We're in this together, aren't we?" Aiba had whispered, wiping his snot on his pajama sleeve. “That’s what we promised, right, Nino.” And what else could Nino do? He'd nodded, blinking away his own tears in Aiba’s shoulder.
And that’s how it had started. Eventually, they had to move on from pickpocketing (Aiba sucked at it and Nino was starting to get noticed by security guards because he loitered around malls so much). After a long night’s drunken discussion, they'd decided to go the impossibly insane route: making tiny gadgets to do work for them and relying on technology to cover their human tracks. With Aiba's ingenuity and Nino's know-how, they’d made a powerful combination. The practical jokes had been a natural progression of things, and the funniest part was that no one suspected them at all. To the affluent administration, they had only ever been the two poorest students on campus, and this, for once, actually worked out perfectly for them.
Until now.
fuckit, Nino texted Aiba underneath his desk, though he kept his eyes on the lecture. His fingers moved silently over the buttons of his cell. i thnk MJ is omto us
michal jackson?
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:30:33am, 02/10/2009
MASTUMOSO u moron
Message sent!
wtf no way. how????!!!!
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:32:41am, 02/10/2009
hes askin a whole shitload of weird q's. he knows ur naem
Message sent!
wooooaaa is that good y/n
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:34:22am, 02/10/2009
N!!!!
Message sent!
;o; DDDD: wat do we do???
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:36:17am, 02/10/2009
ditch lunch w sho. cant be helpd; cant have more info ab u in school paper whle hes on campus
Message sent!
shochan will b sad!!! T____T
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:39:04am, 02/10/2009
i know. sorry
Message sent!
its not rly me u need 2 apolgoize to rite y/n
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:44:38am, 02/10/2009
Nino peeked under his desk to read Aiba’s last text and frowned at the message.
He closed his phone.
Amazingly, torturously, the drama just would not end. Because there was another loose thread in the patched quilt of Nino's life, and its name was Sakurai Sho.
Nino owed Sho a lot. Sho was the first friend Nino ever made on campus, and he was the one to help Nino and Aiba adjust to the lifestyle and slightly prejudiced mindset of the upper-middle class citizens composing their school. They were attending one of the top universities in the country, and it was a drastic change from the run down, homely neighbourhood public schools that Aiba and Nino had grown up with. Sho was kind, generous, and most importantly, he laughed at all of Nino’s jokes. Not even Aiba did that. And Sho was always there for Nino. Before Nino had moved in with Aiba, when Nino’s grandfather had still been in the hospital, Sho would spend days at a time at Nino's place, holding him at night as Nino shivered from nightmares. Nino would rather be fed to the wolves before admitting it aloud, but Sho was, more or less, Nino’s hero. Well, maybe hero was too generous a word; Sho could barely even think about heights without going pale. Sho was more like Nino’s rock. He had a lot more in common with a rock than a superhero, and certainly sometimes he was as boring as one. But Nino loved him anyway.
Nino couldn't bring himself to ever disappoint Sho.
Nino knew it hurt him, when Nino brushed off Sho’s concerned questions with flimsy excuses and half-hearted lies. Nino continuously held the mad expectation that one day, Sho would call him on his bullshit, just grab Nino and demand the truth. But Sho was too respectful. After the first few times Nino pushed him away, Sho had learned to keep his distance. And Nino didn't want that, not really. He wanted Sho within arm's reach, where he belonged. But it was dangerous to be that close to Nino. Aiba was kept within arm's reach, and look what happened to him: he got trapped in the ditch that Nino had dug for himself.
To Nino, his pranks were just an avenue to satisfy his love for games and his hatred of the city in one fell swoop, but he wasn’t a dumbass; criminal behaviour was criminal behaviour, no matter how hilarious the consequences. Nino didn’t believe he was doing that much damage, but trying to convince any courtroom of that would probably be a losing battle. Nino didn’t know what might bother him more: Sho disapproving of the choices that Nino had made, or Sho quietly putting up with them for the sake of their friendship.
It’d been years now, but this life of theirs... Nino knew he and Aiba couldn’t keep it up. They'd been extremely fortunate so far, but too long of this and they’d get caught eventually, inevitably. And what would Sho think of him then? How would Ohno react? Repercussions could range from expulsion to a public trial to jail time. Nino could take sole responsibility to save Aiba, although he doubted Aiba would allow that. It was a gamble. Every time they pulled a stunt, there was the risk of losing everything. But quitting wasn’t so easy either, at least not until they were out of school and found steady jobs, and Nino wasn’t holding his breath: the way that the system favoured people with perfect, privileged backgrounds pretty much guaranteed that Nino would be stuck at a death-inducing desk job for the rest of his commoner life, if he was lucky. If Nino wanted to spend the rest of his days brown-nosing a herd of pompous fatsos, he would have gotten a job at the hippopotamus pen at the zoo.
What Nino needed was a way to break out of the status quo. What Nino needed were some opportunities.
That's why he had planned to confront the Chancellor at his ball.
That's why he’d made a list of demands.
That's why Nino hated Matsumoto Jun for ruining everything.
"Well! It was a pleasure meeting you, Jun-kun," Nino gushed at him when class ended. "I'm just so honoured that someone of your standing saw it fit to visit the humble people who live outside your ivory tower." He hoped it was obvious that he wanted Jun to leave them alone.
"There's no need for that attitude," Jun said stiffly. "That's exactly why I’m here. I want to get in touch with my generation. We're the ones building the future, and in the coming years I’d like for this city to become greater than ever.”
Nino stared. “Do you actually hear the things that come out of your mouth?”
"Excuse me?"
"Never mind," Nino said. "Anyway, it's lunch time! What say we get something to eat, Oh-chan?" Nino swung an arm around Ohno's waist and steered him away from Jun, not at all subtly.
"Sure," Ohno said. "Do you want to come, Jun-kun?" he asked, looking back.
Nino was about to protest, but Jun looked both surprised and pleased at being asked; he agreed all too readily. Nino tried glaring at him, but either Jun was too stupid to take the hint, or was purposely ignoring the signals. Bastard. Now not only did he not have alone time with Ohno, he had to fend off more of Jun's pushy questions. Nino regretted his decision even more when they arrived at the cafeteria and found two very familiar figures sitting at a table, waving to them.
"Nino! Oh-chan!" Aiba yelled. "Come sit with us!"
"Oh," Ohno smiled, as they walked over. "Hi."
Nino sat down huffily beside Sho, and kicked Aiba under the table, as hard as he could. To his credit, Aiba only let out the tiniest wince. He turned to Jun with a bright smile.
"You must be Jun-kun! I'm Aiba!" Nino kicked him again. "Ow. I see you on the news all the time! Nino hates it when I watch your segments though -- ow. I saw your posters around campus, about the ball! I'm really looking forward to going! Nino says that you’re the- OW, WOULD YOU QUIT THAT?" Aiba shouted.
"Quit what?" Nino asked sweetly.
"These are my friends," Ohno beamed at Jun. "This is Sho-chan," Ohno paused to let Sho shake Jun's hand. "And Aiba-chan." Aiba gave Jun a thumbs up. Introductions finished, Ohno sat beside Nino, squishing right up to him, and started stuffing food into his mouth. Nino watched with amusement.
"Hungry, Nino?" Sho said pointedly, snickering. Nino whipped around and threw Sho's sandwich over the edge of the table. Sho squawked. "Hey! What!"
"Whoops, fingers slipped," Nino said unabashedly. Ohno offered some of his fried rice as compensation and Sho helped himself.
"Are you going to sit down, Jun-kun?" Aiba asked, looking up at Jun, who, now that Ohno was fully immersed in his meal, seemed at a loss about what to do. Nino kicked again, but Aiba lifted his leg and Nino missed. Aiba kicked back, but he got Ohno instead.
"Ow," Ohno said belatedly, not lifting his head from his lunch.
Jun stared back and forth between the three of them, then at Sho. Sho smiled encouragingly. “Please, feel free to join us. You can ignore Nino, if that will help.”
“He’s like a wasp,” Aiba added. “Ignore him and he’ll leave you alone.”
“For a second there, I thought you were going to make a joke about being horny,” Sho said, impressed.
Aiba grinned smugly. “I’m getting better at holding myself back!” Sho clapped him on the back proudly.
“If you aren’t comfortable with us,” Nino smiled at Jun, “you can just go ahead and be on your merry way. No one’s keeping you here.”
Jun frowned sharply and immediately sat down beside Aiba. Nino rolled his eyes. Typical.
"So,” Jun said, after an awkward pause. "What are you guys studying?"
Sho opened his mouth to answer and Nino groaned. Once that guy got started, only tornadoes would slow him down. Ohno patted his back. "Does Nino have trouble understanding Sho-chan too?" he whispered.
"It's the opposite that's worse," Nino whispered back. He couldn't believe this was happening to him: his best friends, having pleasant conversation with Nino's mortal enemy, right in front of him. It was his most horrific nightmare, come to life. Nino put his head down on the table and pictured machinery parts in his head in order calm his nerves.
Under the table, Aiba’s leg darted out to give Nino a hard revenge kick in the shin. Nino jolted and spilled Sho's drink all over his own lap.
“Augh!” Sho and Aiba burst out laughing. Ohno tried to help by patting at Nino’s crotch roughly with a napkin, and Nino hollered, shoving him away. He covered his face, fuming. “It’s sticky,” he mumbled, but that only made everyone laugh harder. Even Jun, who’d previously been biting his lip to contain his grin, finally let it out at the look of humiliation that must have been on Nino’s face.
It was strange, Nino thought, watching Jun automatically slap Aiba on the head when Aiba made a joke about “piss poor manners.” Somehow, the whole situation felt ridiculously ordinary. Something was going on here, with the four of them crowded around the tiny cafeteria table, collectively mocking the wet state of Nino's pants. Nino could feel it. He just didn't know how badly it would end.
"Nino."
"Nino."
"Nino," Aiba moped, trailing after Nino's hurried pace. "Are you still mad? I told you I told Sho-chan I didn't want to do the interview. We were just hanging out. Nino, aren't you going to talk to me?"
"Seems to me that you did more than enough talking today," Nino muttered, shoving his hands deeper in the pockets of Ohno’s spare pair of track pants. His thoughts were occupied with backup plans for the two of them; alibis and excuses and escape routes running circles through his mind.
"You mean to Matsujun?" Aiba asked. "Don't be like that! Jun-kun's such a nice guy! He was so normal for a rich diplomat, don't you think? And he likes video games, just like you! I bet if you guys were to have a real conversation together you'd realize that you actually have a lot in common--"
"Do you not realize what you've done?" Nino yelled, temper flaring.
Aiba stuttered to a stop.
Nino took a deep breath. "What good is keeping your name out of the school paper if you throw yourself right into Jun's lap like you did?! That guy is trying to find out who committed all of our crazy stunts! He totally interrogated me during art history today, and then you just go blabbering on about us and our living situation; it's like you were begging him to get the police to arrest us!! He's not a dumbass, he's going to figure it out and everything we've worked up to until now will all be for nothing!!"
Hastily, Aiba grabbed Nino and pulled him into his chest. "Nino, stop. Can you stop, please?"
"Stop what," Nino grumbled, bringing shaky hands up to grip the back of Aiba's sweatshirt.
"Stop being so paranoid, okay? Jun's not a bad guy. He was just being curious, not anything else. I mean, just look at him, right? He's too good-looking to be a bad guy," Aiba joked.
"That's just what he wants you to think, that flamboyant fancy pants," Nino sniffed.
"Seriously," Aiba laughed. "Nino," he pulled back to look into Nino's eyes. "We've been okay so far, haven't we?"
Nino refused to answer.
Aiba kissed Nino's forehead. "I know it's hard, sometimes," he whispered, lips gentle against Nino's skin. "But we have to trust people. You have to learn to trust people, Nino."
Nino was silent for a long time.
"How can I trust a world that creates people like me?" he asked finally, voice more uncertain that he would ever admit.
"It's easy, in that case," Aiba smiled, and refused to let go of Nino's hand the entire way home.
So Nino couldn't deny that Matsumoto Jun was one charming bastard. He'd even pulled Aiba and Sho under his witchy spell. Sho got so caught up in discussing current economic trends and future stock options that he’d nearly forgotten to ask for his interview (to which Jun acquiesced, of course). They'd even exchanged phone numbers to continue their discussion at a later date. Disgusting. Nino was starting to think that he was the only sane person left on the planet. He refused to even consider the alternative.
What was this coming to, Nino wondered. Was it time to throw in the towel and admit defeat to the shiny power of Matsumoto Jun’s manicured fingers? Just let this guy storm into Nino’s life and upset the painfully delicate balance of happiness that Nino had finally crafted for himself?
…Or was it time for retaliation?
Well. Obviously.
part three
Thanks again for reading!! Next chapter should be up in a few days, providing I don't choke myself on my essay in protest. In protest to what, you may ask! You can offer any reason, I am not picky.
EDIT EDIT EDIT PLEASE LOOK AT THIS EVERYONE, the wonderful jliann drew this chapter wonderful fanart!! Everyone feel free to shower her with praise, okay, I would heartily encourage it. Thank you jliann!!!
AUGH SHE DID IT AGAIN! jliann , you are the best; please do not hesitate to call me should you ever need a blood donation. I am type A.
Rating: PG-13
Notes: guys how important can sleep be really, I mean, robots don't sleep, and look how efficient they are. Oh, the fic. Well here is chapter two, I hope you will enjoy it. It has a lot of backstory but I go through it fairly quickly, so if something is confusing/sucky do let me know please, I will do my best to fix it.
TUESDAY
"Did you tell Sho-chan that I would give him an interview about yesterday's accident in my lab?" Aiba asked over breakfast. "I got an email from him asking to meet for lunch."
"He likes talking over food, that one," Nino muttered, busy scribbling formulae in his notebook. He’d haggled with Sho for two weeks of free dinner for giving him the scoop about Aiba’s mishap, but Sho must have been getting better at dealing with Nino’s shit or something; in the end, Nino was only promised one week. What a rip-off. Nino would rather read an article about Aiba’s chemistry calamities over one about friend-snatching-politicians-to-be any day.
"Nino, why did you do that?" Aiba whined. "I'm gonna get in trouble with the department! And my professor already hates my guts."
"Then you ought to have gotten the deuterium last night, when you said you would," Nino told him.
Aiba leant back in his chair and stretched. "Maaaan, are you still pissed about that? I said I was sorry. And it wasn't one hundred percent my fault, right? Yuna-chan is pretty clumsy, actually."
"I'm sure your lab is delighted that the two of you are partners, then," Nino said.
"But really," Aiba went on. "Why are you all pouty? You didn't say two words to me last night and you locked your door. I heard you."
Nino put down his pen and glared at Aiba. "I'm pouty because yesterday Ohno invited me over to his house to ask my opinion about his art and I couldn't go because I had to do your job."
"Oh," Aiba said, and then brightened. "Did he really? That's great, Nino! Today he's inviting you over and tomorrow you two will totally be a couple!!"
Nino made a face. "Ohno and I will never be some boring couple."
"Sorry," Aiba grinned. "An evil genius and his love interest."
"Misunderstood genius, and Ohno’s not some stupid love interest." Ohno was Nino’s soul mate.
"Right, whatever. Do I have to do this interview?"
"You can probably make him pay for your lunch," Nino reminded him.
"Do you think he’ll spring for alcohol?” Aiba asked hopefully.
“You can just threaten to cry; he’ll do whatever you want,” Nino said graciously.
Something weird caught Nino's attention as he walked through campus with Aiba that morning. There was a large crowd gathered around the community events bulletin board. No one ever gathered around the community events bulletin board, mostly because there was never anything on it. Today though, someone had put up a huge, colourful poster, and even from their distance Nino could easily make out the title.
VALENTINE'S DAY COSTUME BALL, THIS SATURDAY, FEB 14, AT CITY HALL. OPEN INVITATION TO ALL STUDENTS AND YOUNG PROFESSIONALS.
There was only one person who could've arranged such a thing.
Nino stopped walking and tried to rein in his urge to find Jun right now and blow him into bite sized chunks. This guy was trying to ruin Nino's life. There was no other explanation. He'd come to Nino's campus, he'd stolen Nino's friend-of-interest, and now he'd unraveled Nino's latest diabolically evi- misunderstood plan before Nino had even finished stage one. Nino’d never considered murder before throughout his life as a whatever-he-was, but he was sure as hell considering it now.
"Nino?" Aiba nudged him. "Isn't that ball usually only for the government officials and super super rich people?"
"Yes," Nino gritted out. "Seems like someone thought it'd be prudent to open up the doors a little."
"Wow, do you think it was Matsumoto Jun?" Aiba said. "Hey, Nino, it sounds like fun. Do you want to go?"
"I was planning to crash it," Nino bit out, clenching his hands into fists. "I had everything planned out to the last second, and in one move this loser goes and screws up the entire thing!"
"You've got that look in your eye," Aiba noticed. "Is this about your laser?"
It was.
Nino's plan was (emphasis on the was) as follows:
Stage one: make a laser capable of doing significant damage. Say, vapourizing anything from an eyeball to cement mixer (not that Nino considered either of these targets, but one had to be prepared).
Stage two: hook up a voice feed to the speaker system at City Hall during the Valentine’s Ball, as well as hijack their security camera output.
Stage three: threaten to blow something up if the Chancellor does not admit to funneling money from city-run charities, which of course he won’t.
Stage four: blow something up.
Stage five: demand the Chancellor do the Otaku Dance as penance and record the performance from the bugged security cameras.
And the rest, Nino was sure, would be history. In his more understandably sadistic moods, Nino had wondered how far he could push the Chancellor. He’d even written out a list of demands: Things About This City That Could Really Use Some Attention - a shortcut to a better life for normal citizens (more specifically, for Nino and Aiba). Nino liked the sound of that: a lot of gain for very little work. It was a step up from the immature pranks they usually pulled, but he’d felt that an event as big as the Valentine’s Ball deserved to stir up an equally large shaking-up.
Now, though, none of that could happen. Nino couldn’t wreak havoc if students who knew him would be at the party. Sho, for one, would be there because there was no way Sho would miss a chance to get such a scoop for his precious school paper. And what if Ohno decided to go too? That really wasn’t the kind of opportunity that Nino had been hoping for to reveal his secrets. If Ohno somehow caught him in the act of pranking, then no amount of jokes could help explain away the incident. Trying to defend his innocence while holding a deadly laser in one hand would do nothing but bad things for Nino’s credibility.
Damn, he’d have to leave the Ball alone. What a waste of such potential. Stupid, stupid Matsumoto Jun.
Sho: Nino
Nino: Shoooooo-chaaaaa~~~n ^_~
Sho: gross
hey
you've heard about the costume ball, right? Are you going to go?
Nino: hmmmmm
it's complicated
Sho: how is it complicated?
Nino: well -- i won't be there, but i might be there
depending
Sho: what?
Nino: n/m. are YOU going?
Sho: yes. since you failed at getting me that interview with Jun
I'm going to get one myself.
the editor gave me this job, and I will carry it through.
Nino: good luck
Sho: I can't tell, was that sarcasm?
Nino: maybe
Sho: You should consider going. Lots of kids from school will be there.
you don't have to bring a date or anything, unless you want to (hint hint).
right?
Nino?
I meant Ohno-kun btw
Nino: GEE really??
Sho: don't be such a grouch.
it's totally informal -- you can dress up as anything.
Nino: since when did you become the official spokesperson for the ball?
Sho: didn’t you read the posters? they're all over campus.
and the details are all there.
Nino: i was too busy vandalizing it to read it
Sho: ...
I cannot believe you
Nino: check it out, the community events board by the campus store. my best work
i'm gonna do the ones in the residences next
Sho: I *cannot* believe you.
Nino: just don't come crying to me when i start a trend
"Hi Nino-chan," Ohno said, sitting down beside him.
"Hi Oh-chan," Nino smiled, shutting off his laptop. He liked to give Ohno his full attention, not that he could really help it.
"Hello," Jun said too, eyebrows raised and smirking far too widely for Nino's comfort. He sat down on Ohno's other side. “Nino, was it?”
"Oh-chan," Nino said, not bothering to acknowledge Jun, "did you know that there's a weird man following you? Would you like me to call someone? He looks dumb and dangerous."
Ohno laughed, and the way his nose scrunched made Nino grip the desk to keep himself from leaning in and kissing him. "No, this is my friend. Jun-kun. I met him in class yesterday. And he helped out with my art project."
"Did he now?" Nino said brightly. He offered his hand. "Well, it’s very nice to meet you for the first time, Jun-chan. I'm Nino, Oh-chan's best friend."
"Likewise, Nino-chan," Jun said pleasantly, playing along. He shook Nino's hand, though his grip was rather tight. "How good to finally meet you, Ohno-san would not stop talking about you last night."
"Eh?" This surprised Nino. He was under the impression that he was only Ohno's school BFF, not real life BFF (although he'd been working hard on changing that).
"Ah, not really," Ohno muttered, glancing sideways. "I just told Jun-kun some of Nino's jokes, since I didn't know any of my own."
"Is that so," Nino said quietly. There was a very small explosion going on inside him, right now, and Nino had never felt like this before.
"Tell me," Jun said, leaning over the desk. "How did you two become friends?"
"None of your business," Nino sniped.
"At the hospital, right?" Ohno answered, looking at Nino for confirmation. Nino nodded reluctantly. "My mom was recovering from chemotherapy and Nino's grandfather was there too. That's where we met."
"We struck it up right away," Nino added, grinning smugly, grabbing Ohno's hand.
"So it seems," Jun said, gaze flitting to their interwoven fingers. "Actually, if you don't mind, I'm a bit curious about your situation, Nino-kun. Ohno-san told me a bit of what he knew, but he left out a lot."
"I didn't know if I should," Ohno started. "Nino's story -- even I don't know a lot about Nino's life. I didn't know what to say, after all."
I could tell you everything, Nino thought, tightening his grip on Ohno. Anything you want to know, I'll tell you. You just need to ask.
But not now.
Nino's defenses had risen the moment Jun had opened his mouth. Why in the world was he asking about Nino's life? What was he trying to learn? Was Nino a suspect?
"My life's really uninteresting, that's why I don't really talk about it," Nino said casually.
"But you were a special scholarship student, correct?" Jun pushed. "You and Aiba Masaki."
Something cold swept through Nino. This guy knew about Aiba too. What was going on?
"So?" Nino said, trying to seem bored of the questions.
"You only had an entry scholarship first year," Jun explained. "But you're both third years now. How have you two been paying for your tuition?"
I steal from rich bastards like you, Nino thought viciously. Some pickpocketing here, a few bank heists there -- I steal from you and I don't get caught because I'll be damned if I allow any more opportunities to be taken away from us.
"Part-time jobs," Nino said. "Isn't that the obvious answer?"
"Hm," Jun nodded. "You must work a lot, to be able to meet the increasing tuition fees. Is it difficult? Juggling that and your schooling?"
"Some days are harder than others," Nino said, and at least that statement was perfectly truthful.
"Do you know if Aiba-san works too?" Jun asked, and Nino wanted to punch his handsome face in. He could stand dealing with obnoxious questions about himself, but Aiba was off limits. But fine. If he wanted to know so badly, then Nino would tell him. It wasn't information they kept purposely hidden, just something the both of them preferred not to talk about.
"Aiba's family," Nino said slowly and clearly, "had to sell their own business in order to pay for the special classes and exams that would allow Aiba to enter this college. Since our parents died, we've moved in together, and we both work part-time, yes. There's no other way for a pair of scraggly orphans to pay the bills. Is that answer sufficient?" He forced a smile, but it was not a happy one.
Jun seemed taken aback. "Of course. I'm sorry, obviously I shouldn't have -- I'm sorry."
Nino didn’t care. He turned around to face the front of the class, expression tight. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Jun opened his mouth as if he was about to say something else, but then the professor walked in and he decided against it. Nino was so angry he didn't even realize that he was squeezing Ohno's hand hard enough to hurt, nails digging deep into Ohno's skin. And Ohno hadn't let go.
It wasn’t like Nino had asked for it.
It had been a last resort, this whole business of doing crime. It was crime, and Nino knew that, but it hadn’t started out that way. In the beginning, it was just a way to make ends meet.
First year had started out well, with the aid from their scholarships. Nino and Aiba actually had real part-time jobs during that time: Nino worked at a convenience store and Aiba at a nearby bakery. They always tried to match their shifts so they could ride home on the train together. Back then, they both still had homes to go back to, and they were just normal kids, trying to get a good education, to make their families proud.
Halfway through second semester, Nino and Aiba lost their parents: four adults in one car on a too-icy road, and two young lives changed forever in the aftermath. A few months later, Nino lost his grandfather to cancer, and Nino hadn’t even been able to afford to let his only remaining family member be comfortable as he passed. He’d cried himself empty, that night. The next day, Aiba took Nino home with him, and showed him the spare room he'd cleaned out, just for Nino. Those had been difficult times for them both, but they supported each other the best they could. There were days when it was only by way of Aiba's influence that Nino had managed to push back some of his more destructive tendencies -- even as a kid, Nino had liked experimenting with explosions and homemade firecrackers, and as a teenager, living alone for the first time and waiting as his grandfather wasted away in a hospital bed, unable to do anything, it had been all he'd wanted: to throw some Molotov cocktails at City Hall and demand someone to help them, damn it, there were people suffering in this fucking city while they sat on their fat butts, smoked cigars, and did nothing about it.
Aiba and Nino tried hard to keep their jobs, but by the time second year had rolled around, it had been painfully clear that their combined income wasn't nearly enough to pay for tuition and rent and food. They got second jobs, sometimes third ones. They'd scoured the net for more scholarships, but because they were spending so much time working, their grades weren't good enough to win them anything, and there wasn't any financial support given to people in their situation, since they were both over legal age.
Their situation gradually worsened to the point where Nino was afraid they have to give up either their home or their education, because they did not have the funds for both. But for the two of them, finishing college was the only way to honour their parents' wishes for them to lead a better life. So they’d decided to keep going, for as long as they could.
Then one day Nino, juggling his backpack and a stack of textbooks, had bumped into a rich businessman evaluating the campus for his children, and the man had dropped his wallet. Nino had tapped him on the shoulder to return it to him, and the man had taken a quick survey of Nino's appearance, from his disheveled hair to his non-designer brand clothes to his old threadbare sneakers, and had taken the wallet back from Nino's hand with the very tips of his fingers, as if Nino had somehow contaminated it.
Maybe that was when Nino snapped. He wasn't sure. It was too long ago. But Nino did remember the sudden strike of inspiration: if the rich weren’t going to help him, then he was going to help himself to the rich. Simple as that.
Winter that year had been tough on them. They had to pay more for heating so they barely had money for food. Sho’s family had been away on holidays and Nino didn’t trust anyone else for help. Then Aiba had gotten very sick with the flu and Nino had a horrible vision of Aiba dying on him too, the way his grandfather did, and he found himself at a crossroads: either steal what they needed and risk his entire university career, or wait it out and risk Aiba’s life. That rich man’s look of repugnance had kept on flashing through Nino’s mind. It wasn’t even a choice. That night, he'd walked through a sea of people in the busiest shopping district in the city and came home with five bulging wallets, a large box of instant ramen, and medication from the pharmacy. Nino had never looked back since.
Nino wasn’t much of a thief. It wasn’t his style. Even now, he still took the occasional odd job here and there to earn money to buy his own video games. When it came to finances they needed for themselves, they only stole out of necessity. Aiba hadn't known about it, at first. Nino had resolved not to involve him, but Aiba was always smarter than Nino gave him credit for. There came the time when Nino came home well past midnight from a pickpocketing spree and found Aiba sitting alone at their tiny kitchen table, crying, waiting for Nino to come home. He'd collided into him as soon as Nino stepped into the room and had sobbed for hours and hours, into Nino's shoulder.
"We're in this together, aren't we?" Aiba had whispered, wiping his snot on his pajama sleeve. “That’s what we promised, right, Nino.” And what else could Nino do? He'd nodded, blinking away his own tears in Aiba’s shoulder.
And that’s how it had started. Eventually, they had to move on from pickpocketing (Aiba sucked at it and Nino was starting to get noticed by security guards because he loitered around malls so much). After a long night’s drunken discussion, they'd decided to go the impossibly insane route: making tiny gadgets to do work for them and relying on technology to cover their human tracks. With Aiba's ingenuity and Nino's know-how, they’d made a powerful combination. The practical jokes had been a natural progression of things, and the funniest part was that no one suspected them at all. To the affluent administration, they had only ever been the two poorest students on campus, and this, for once, actually worked out perfectly for them.
Until now.
fuckit, Nino texted Aiba underneath his desk, though he kept his eyes on the lecture. His fingers moved silently over the buttons of his cell. i thnk MJ is omto us
michal jackson?
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:30:33am, 02/10/2009
MASTUMOSO u moron
Message sent!
wtf no way. how????!!!!
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:32:41am, 02/10/2009
hes askin a whole shitload of weird q's. he knows ur naem
Message sent!
wooooaaa is that good y/n
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:34:22am, 02/10/2009
N!!!!
Message sent!
;o; DDDD: wat do we do???
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:36:17am, 02/10/2009
ditch lunch w sho. cant be helpd; cant have more info ab u in school paper whle hes on campus
Message sent!
shochan will b sad!!! T____T
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:39:04am, 02/10/2009
i know. sorry
Message sent!
its not rly me u need 2 apolgoize to rite y/n
Sender: Aibaka
Sent: 10:44:38am, 02/10/2009
Nino peeked under his desk to read Aiba’s last text and frowned at the message.
He closed his phone.
Amazingly, torturously, the drama just would not end. Because there was another loose thread in the patched quilt of Nino's life, and its name was Sakurai Sho.
Nino owed Sho a lot. Sho was the first friend Nino ever made on campus, and he was the one to help Nino and Aiba adjust to the lifestyle and slightly prejudiced mindset of the upper-middle class citizens composing their school. They were attending one of the top universities in the country, and it was a drastic change from the run down, homely neighbourhood public schools that Aiba and Nino had grown up with. Sho was kind, generous, and most importantly, he laughed at all of Nino’s jokes. Not even Aiba did that. And Sho was always there for Nino. Before Nino had moved in with Aiba, when Nino’s grandfather had still been in the hospital, Sho would spend days at a time at Nino's place, holding him at night as Nino shivered from nightmares. Nino would rather be fed to the wolves before admitting it aloud, but Sho was, more or less, Nino’s hero. Well, maybe hero was too generous a word; Sho could barely even think about heights without going pale. Sho was more like Nino’s rock. He had a lot more in common with a rock than a superhero, and certainly sometimes he was as boring as one. But Nino loved him anyway.
Nino couldn't bring himself to ever disappoint Sho.
Nino knew it hurt him, when Nino brushed off Sho’s concerned questions with flimsy excuses and half-hearted lies. Nino continuously held the mad expectation that one day, Sho would call him on his bullshit, just grab Nino and demand the truth. But Sho was too respectful. After the first few times Nino pushed him away, Sho had learned to keep his distance. And Nino didn't want that, not really. He wanted Sho within arm's reach, where he belonged. But it was dangerous to be that close to Nino. Aiba was kept within arm's reach, and look what happened to him: he got trapped in the ditch that Nino had dug for himself.
To Nino, his pranks were just an avenue to satisfy his love for games and his hatred of the city in one fell swoop, but he wasn’t a dumbass; criminal behaviour was criminal behaviour, no matter how hilarious the consequences. Nino didn’t believe he was doing that much damage, but trying to convince any courtroom of that would probably be a losing battle. Nino didn’t know what might bother him more: Sho disapproving of the choices that Nino had made, or Sho quietly putting up with them for the sake of their friendship.
It’d been years now, but this life of theirs... Nino knew he and Aiba couldn’t keep it up. They'd been extremely fortunate so far, but too long of this and they’d get caught eventually, inevitably. And what would Sho think of him then? How would Ohno react? Repercussions could range from expulsion to a public trial to jail time. Nino could take sole responsibility to save Aiba, although he doubted Aiba would allow that. It was a gamble. Every time they pulled a stunt, there was the risk of losing everything. But quitting wasn’t so easy either, at least not until they were out of school and found steady jobs, and Nino wasn’t holding his breath: the way that the system favoured people with perfect, privileged backgrounds pretty much guaranteed that Nino would be stuck at a death-inducing desk job for the rest of his commoner life, if he was lucky. If Nino wanted to spend the rest of his days brown-nosing a herd of pompous fatsos, he would have gotten a job at the hippopotamus pen at the zoo.
What Nino needed was a way to break out of the status quo. What Nino needed were some opportunities.
That's why he had planned to confront the Chancellor at his ball.
That's why he’d made a list of demands.
That's why Nino hated Matsumoto Jun for ruining everything.
"Well! It was a pleasure meeting you, Jun-kun," Nino gushed at him when class ended. "I'm just so honoured that someone of your standing saw it fit to visit the humble people who live outside your ivory tower." He hoped it was obvious that he wanted Jun to leave them alone.
"There's no need for that attitude," Jun said stiffly. "That's exactly why I’m here. I want to get in touch with my generation. We're the ones building the future, and in the coming years I’d like for this city to become greater than ever.”
Nino stared. “Do you actually hear the things that come out of your mouth?”
"Excuse me?"
"Never mind," Nino said. "Anyway, it's lunch time! What say we get something to eat, Oh-chan?" Nino swung an arm around Ohno's waist and steered him away from Jun, not at all subtly.
"Sure," Ohno said. "Do you want to come, Jun-kun?" he asked, looking back.
Nino was about to protest, but Jun looked both surprised and pleased at being asked; he agreed all too readily. Nino tried glaring at him, but either Jun was too stupid to take the hint, or was purposely ignoring the signals. Bastard. Now not only did he not have alone time with Ohno, he had to fend off more of Jun's pushy questions. Nino regretted his decision even more when they arrived at the cafeteria and found two very familiar figures sitting at a table, waving to them.
"Nino! Oh-chan!" Aiba yelled. "Come sit with us!"
"Oh," Ohno smiled, as they walked over. "Hi."
Nino sat down huffily beside Sho, and kicked Aiba under the table, as hard as he could. To his credit, Aiba only let out the tiniest wince. He turned to Jun with a bright smile.
"You must be Jun-kun! I'm Aiba!" Nino kicked him again. "Ow. I see you on the news all the time! Nino hates it when I watch your segments though -- ow. I saw your posters around campus, about the ball! I'm really looking forward to going! Nino says that you’re the- OW, WOULD YOU QUIT THAT?" Aiba shouted.
"Quit what?" Nino asked sweetly.
"These are my friends," Ohno beamed at Jun. "This is Sho-chan," Ohno paused to let Sho shake Jun's hand. "And Aiba-chan." Aiba gave Jun a thumbs up. Introductions finished, Ohno sat beside Nino, squishing right up to him, and started stuffing food into his mouth. Nino watched with amusement.
"Hungry, Nino?" Sho said pointedly, snickering. Nino whipped around and threw Sho's sandwich over the edge of the table. Sho squawked. "Hey! What!"
"Whoops, fingers slipped," Nino said unabashedly. Ohno offered some of his fried rice as compensation and Sho helped himself.
"Are you going to sit down, Jun-kun?" Aiba asked, looking up at Jun, who, now that Ohno was fully immersed in his meal, seemed at a loss about what to do. Nino kicked again, but Aiba lifted his leg and Nino missed. Aiba kicked back, but he got Ohno instead.
"Ow," Ohno said belatedly, not lifting his head from his lunch.
Jun stared back and forth between the three of them, then at Sho. Sho smiled encouragingly. “Please, feel free to join us. You can ignore Nino, if that will help.”
“He’s like a wasp,” Aiba added. “Ignore him and he’ll leave you alone.”
“For a second there, I thought you were going to make a joke about being horny,” Sho said, impressed.
Aiba grinned smugly. “I’m getting better at holding myself back!” Sho clapped him on the back proudly.
“If you aren’t comfortable with us,” Nino smiled at Jun, “you can just go ahead and be on your merry way. No one’s keeping you here.”
Jun frowned sharply and immediately sat down beside Aiba. Nino rolled his eyes. Typical.
"So,” Jun said, after an awkward pause. "What are you guys studying?"
Sho opened his mouth to answer and Nino groaned. Once that guy got started, only tornadoes would slow him down. Ohno patted his back. "Does Nino have trouble understanding Sho-chan too?" he whispered.
"It's the opposite that's worse," Nino whispered back. He couldn't believe this was happening to him: his best friends, having pleasant conversation with Nino's mortal enemy, right in front of him. It was his most horrific nightmare, come to life. Nino put his head down on the table and pictured machinery parts in his head in order calm his nerves.
Under the table, Aiba’s leg darted out to give Nino a hard revenge kick in the shin. Nino jolted and spilled Sho's drink all over his own lap.
“Augh!” Sho and Aiba burst out laughing. Ohno tried to help by patting at Nino’s crotch roughly with a napkin, and Nino hollered, shoving him away. He covered his face, fuming. “It’s sticky,” he mumbled, but that only made everyone laugh harder. Even Jun, who’d previously been biting his lip to contain his grin, finally let it out at the look of humiliation that must have been on Nino’s face.
It was strange, Nino thought, watching Jun automatically slap Aiba on the head when Aiba made a joke about “piss poor manners.” Somehow, the whole situation felt ridiculously ordinary. Something was going on here, with the four of them crowded around the tiny cafeteria table, collectively mocking the wet state of Nino's pants. Nino could feel it. He just didn't know how badly it would end.
"Nino."
"Nino."
"Nino," Aiba moped, trailing after Nino's hurried pace. "Are you still mad? I told you I told Sho-chan I didn't want to do the interview. We were just hanging out. Nino, aren't you going to talk to me?"
"Seems to me that you did more than enough talking today," Nino muttered, shoving his hands deeper in the pockets of Ohno’s spare pair of track pants. His thoughts were occupied with backup plans for the two of them; alibis and excuses and escape routes running circles through his mind.
"You mean to Matsujun?" Aiba asked. "Don't be like that! Jun-kun's such a nice guy! He was so normal for a rich diplomat, don't you think? And he likes video games, just like you! I bet if you guys were to have a real conversation together you'd realize that you actually have a lot in common--"
"Do you not realize what you've done?" Nino yelled, temper flaring.
Aiba stuttered to a stop.
Nino took a deep breath. "What good is keeping your name out of the school paper if you throw yourself right into Jun's lap like you did?! That guy is trying to find out who committed all of our crazy stunts! He totally interrogated me during art history today, and then you just go blabbering on about us and our living situation; it's like you were begging him to get the police to arrest us!! He's not a dumbass, he's going to figure it out and everything we've worked up to until now will all be for nothing!!"
Hastily, Aiba grabbed Nino and pulled him into his chest. "Nino, stop. Can you stop, please?"
"Stop what," Nino grumbled, bringing shaky hands up to grip the back of Aiba's sweatshirt.
"Stop being so paranoid, okay? Jun's not a bad guy. He was just being curious, not anything else. I mean, just look at him, right? He's too good-looking to be a bad guy," Aiba joked.
"That's just what he wants you to think, that flamboyant fancy pants," Nino sniffed.
"Seriously," Aiba laughed. "Nino," he pulled back to look into Nino's eyes. "We've been okay so far, haven't we?"
Nino refused to answer.
Aiba kissed Nino's forehead. "I know it's hard, sometimes," he whispered, lips gentle against Nino's skin. "But we have to trust people. You have to learn to trust people, Nino."
Nino was silent for a long time.
"How can I trust a world that creates people like me?" he asked finally, voice more uncertain that he would ever admit.
"It's easy, in that case," Aiba smiled, and refused to let go of Nino's hand the entire way home.
So Nino couldn't deny that Matsumoto Jun was one charming bastard. He'd even pulled Aiba and Sho under his witchy spell. Sho got so caught up in discussing current economic trends and future stock options that he’d nearly forgotten to ask for his interview (to which Jun acquiesced, of course). They'd even exchanged phone numbers to continue their discussion at a later date. Disgusting. Nino was starting to think that he was the only sane person left on the planet. He refused to even consider the alternative.
What was this coming to, Nino wondered. Was it time to throw in the towel and admit defeat to the shiny power of Matsumoto Jun’s manicured fingers? Just let this guy storm into Nino’s life and upset the painfully delicate balance of happiness that Nino had finally crafted for himself?
…Or was it time for retaliation?
Well. Obviously.
part three
Thanks again for reading!! Next chapter should be up in a few days, providing I don't choke myself on my essay in protest. In protest to what, you may ask! You can offer any reason, I am not picky.
EDIT EDIT EDIT PLEASE LOOK AT THIS EVERYONE, the wonderful jliann drew this chapter wonderful fanart!! Everyone feel free to shower her with praise, okay, I would heartily encourage it. Thank you jliann!!!
AUGH SHE DID IT AGAIN! jliann , you are the best; please do not hesitate to call me should you ever need a blood donation. I am type A.
