Fic: In the End
Ohno was born into the world knowing this day would come. There was no fear, not like what his parents had known, when the announcement had been made. The knowledge was a constant, even as a child. Every grade of his schooling, he'd had a project of one kind or another where he had to explore the idea of his own death. The death of his friends and his family. The sudden cessation of all life on earth.
He'd imagined flying up into space, watching it all happen from afar. Outliving them all--for as long as the oxygen would hold out. He'd made a collage of all the places in the world he wanted to see before It came. He'd written an essay about the meaning of life (as told by his parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles). He'd volunteered for the Services Bureau, putting in the time so that others might live out their dreams before It came.
All of it had been in preparation for this day.
He hadn't planned to spend it tangled in sheets, his body sated and spent and his heart aching for everything that was never to be.
"Will you miss me?"
Ohno didn't know what would be left of himself after. If there would be anything that would still feel when he was gone. He'd never bothered to wonder before this.
"Yes," he answered. It was impossible for him to feel this much, to love this strongly for it to just be gone in a flash. Impossible.
Small, stubby hands found Ohno's own and squeezed. Ohno laced them in both of his own hands, huddling close as the time wound down to a close.
"Are you scared?"
"No," he answered, feeling the seconds thrum in each breath they took. Music played somewhere nearby, rising and rising into a cacophonous beat.
"Why not?" His voice wavered. "It's any second. It's coming and--"
"I'm ready," Ohno replied, squeezing his hands and staring into damp, luminous eyes. "I wasn't before, but I am now."
"It's not fair, we just found each other. Some people have had a lifetime. We only just--"
Ohno kissed him, slow and deep, silencing his fears and their regrets. The booming music shook the walls of the tiny one room apartment. Outside, dogs barked uproariously and people sang hymns in the street. And Ohno kissed Nino until it consumed them both.
They never even noticed the end of the world.