Secrets That Left the Appearance of a Spiral
Title: Secrets That Left the Appearance of a Spiral
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Ohno/Nino
Genre: Action, Drama, AU
Chapter: three
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno is a retired spy who tried to leave his old life behind him. But things don't always work that way. I was unbelievably deep in love/ Secrets that left the appearance of a spiral*
Prologue
One
Two
恋焦がれた嘘みたいに
秘密めいたままスパイラル
I was unbelievably deep in love
Secrets that left the appearance of a spiral*
Chapter three:
After Nino left, he felt himself go numb again.
Instead of reviewing every moment he had spent with Nino since the first time their hands had touched in the coffee shop or the first time they’d kissed or had sex or gone to the amusement part together, Ohno stared at the wall with no thoughts in his head at all.
Another bowl of gruel had come, and Yokoyama gave him an unexpected consoling look before leaving it behind for him, but Ohno didn’t touch it and he never would.
It had been several hours and Nino hadn’t tried to come back. Jun hadn’t either, although Ohno thought that was probably smart of him, since the older man might be able to scrape together enough motivation to punch him several times if that happened.
He almost hoped that Knuckles would return, though. Ohno felt like having the shit beaten out of him, and Knuckles had already proved he was the man to go to for something like that.
No one came until late into the night (Ohno only knew because the hallway lights had dimmed a little), and when his door opened with a quiet click, it took the man shaking Ohno several times until the prisoner finally turned his head.
“Aiba-chan.”
“Come on, Oh-chan, let’s go.”
Suddenly coming to life again at the appearance of his friend, Ohno sat up, although his body was sluggish and lethargic due to his depression.
“How’d you know where I was?” he asked, even though he should probably be more focused on leaving.
Aiba grinned at him and slowly ran his fingers through Ohno’s hair, and it was obvious that he had thought that the older man was dead until very recently. Aiba pulled him against his chest and explained.
“Nino wasn’t at home when I came over yesterday, but the door was open. He didn’t answer his cell phone, and neither did Jun. I thought it was strange, and took a moment to snoop around, trying to see where he’d gone,” Aiba’s voice was soft and comforting, and Ohno realized he had missed him too. “I found a camera on top of your shelf by accident. I traced it back to here and after a little research I discovered…”
Aiba suddenly pulled back and gave Ohno a reproachful look. “Ohno, Nino-“ he started in a solemn tone, but the prisoner stopped him.
“I know.”
“Ohno, I’m so sorry-“
They hugged again and Ohno felt almost like he could finally let himself go, showing Aiba all his emotions.
But they had to get out of here first.
Aiba handed him a small box covered in knobs and gauges, which created electronic interference and would prevent them from showing up on any cameras or motion sensors upon their exit. It was something that Aiba had created himself several years ago and Ohno was happy that he hadn’t thrown them away after their retirement.
“Just like the old days, right?” Aiba whispered as he handed over a small microphone and earpiece for communication as well as a pair of gloves. Ohno tried to force a smile, but in the end it was a grimace at best.
Right when they were about to walk past the threshold of the door, the older man hesitated, picturing Nino from earlier, but Aiba pulled him forward and the two made their exit as smoothly as expected. Ohno and Aiba outclassed anyone that would work here. The only thing they had over the ex-agent was Nino, and now they didn’t even have that.
Sho was driving the escape vehicle and grinned at Ohno as he and Aiba climbed into the back seat.
“Ohno. Glad to see you alive.”
“Likewise,” Ohno replied, but he still couldn’t push out the cheeky grin that would usually accompany that victory phrase.
The car pulled away and Aiba gently guided the older man to lean against his shoulder and pretended not to watch as he finally broke down.
+++
Jun had taken half of his clothes off and was kissing his neck hard enough to leave a mark while Nino stared past him.
He couldn’t feel anything, like Ohno had rubbed off on him. He kept seeing those dead eyes that used to hold so many emotions, and heard the man’s only words from that night repeating over and over in his head.
“Stop,” he finally commanded when he couldn’t take any more.
Jun looked startled. “But you said Ohno didn’t-“
Nino silenced him with a glare and the younger man pulled away.
“Leave me alone.” His words were harsh and even though he treated Jun much better than most of his subordinates, tonight he had no patience. He was frustrated that Ohno hadn’t come around.
Oh well. He still had time.
Jun pulled his clothes back on with an irritated and upset expression and then slammed the door behind him when he left.
Standing, Nino distractedly made his way from the extravagant bed to his mahogany desk, where his precious piece of art that he had been craving for years sat staring back at him.
He picked it up and ran his fingers over it again.
At first he had been giddy, ecstatic that he finally had what he wanted, but after he had spoke with Ohno, Nino wasn’t so sure that this little piece of paper was worth the man that he had inadvertently fallen in love with.
He had been dreading that moment, when Ohno found out that Kazu had been lying to him and shamelessly using him for his own end, but he had honestly expected Ohno to forgive him if he promised not to do it ever again.
Of course he hadn’t had that chance to do that yet.
He placed the Plexiglas frame back on the desk and rubbed his head. It hadn’t even been a full day yet, but he needed to see Ohno again.
+++
Aiba wouldn’t let Ohno return to his apartment, just in case they had overlooked something, and it actually didn’t matter to the freed man. Clothes he could replace, art supplies he could replace, moldy food he could replace. It was the hole in his chest that would be hard to deal with, but going back to his old place wouldn’t change that at all.
Between the two of them, Sho and Aiba had grabbed enough to get by for a few weeks in a hotel that was about eight hours drive from Nino’s base (not far enough to be obvious, but not close enough to be in the lion’s den). When they didn’t run into anything unusual, they moved on to their final destination, a small but not entirely secluded city on the northern side of the country. Aiba had done his research and made arrangements before they arrived and Ohno was glad for that. He couldn’t function properly any more by himself.
Just like before he had met Nino, when the ex-agent was rebuilding his life, hiding his past and trying to keep himself as discreet as possible, he found a part time job at a mundane place that he would be able to blend right in to (this time a seedier bar in the drinking district, the kind that had buzzing TVs in the corner and dirt that couldn’t be cleaned off the floor). He didn’t know a thing about mixing drinks, but a quick online tutorial gave him enough to at least be passable.
He lived in an apartment a few blocks down from his place of employment, and he only left it to go to work, buy groceries, or visit Aiba and Sho-chan.
They lived fairly close, but the trio had agreed that it was better to be separated than together, what with Aiba being all mushy with his boyfriend and all. Ohno liked it better that way, since he occasionally longed for the same touches that Sho would received from the newly-hired pastry chef, and he could brood at home when he wanted to without a cheerful Aiba looming over his shoulder.
He made enough money to barely get by, which was something he actually reveled in after many years of being pampered, and no secret agents or henchmen had shown up on his doorstep yet.
A month after he had settled in, Ohno was cleaning the filthy bar as best he could early in the evening when a news report that caught his attention came on.
Carrying the grey rag in his hand, the bartender moved closer and turned the volume up a little.
“...are calling it the most bizarre thievery of the year. As you can see behind me, a brown box appeared on the steps of the National Museum of Japanese History with the priceless Yoshitaka Amano replication of the Genji Scrolls, which was reported as stolen at the beginning of last month. The piece of art was in its original Plexiglas container, wrapped in newspaper and foam peanuts, with a note consisting of only a single word.”
Ohno swallowed, watching the pictures on the screen change as the story progressed. Now they were doing a close up of the typed note which looked plain and indistinguishable.
“Sorry. Yes, the criminal apologized for his crime and returned the piece of art to the museum which had the item under its care during the period in which it was stolen. There were no fingerprints found on the glass and-“
Ohno stopped listening. He was smiling as he went back to work.
He heard the same report four times during the course of the night, and his supervisor asked if he needed to go home and get some rest, since he might be getting delirious. Ohno grinned and offered to work overtime instead.
+++
It took Nino a year to find him.
He’d hoped that returning the item in such an obvious way, insuring it would get news coverage, would be enough to bring Ohno out of hiding, at least enough that the younger man’s hard work would be fruitful, but still nothing came up.
Working himself to fatigue, trying to find a trace--even just a hair would be enough--Nino abandoned the rag tag group of criminals he’d brought together over the years, leaving him with only Jun, who was heartbroken, but still the only man that Nino would consider a friend.
After seeing how serious Nino was about finding Ohno, Jun eventually helped, even though he knew that the ex-agent would never want to see his deceiving curly head again, and after several months he had finally come up with something.
One of the databases had associated a zip code with a letter that matched Aiba’s handwriting, and if Aiba was there, it was a tie to Ohno, even if they weren’t in the same place.
But Nino, knowing the other two very well, figured that if anyone was taking care of Ohno (and someone was, if Ohno had been showing his true emotions to Nino that day in his cell), it would be Aiba and probably Sho along with him.
So the two criminals, who were now considering themselves retired, picked up and lived out of a hotel in the main city of that prized zip code they had found.
Three months passed. Nino had found a nice little café to sit in front of during the week, watching people walk down the street in hopes that he’d see a mop of gravity-resistant hair, or at least Aiba’s brown-bleached. He’d asked around a little, showing a picture that he kept in his wallet of the one time that Ohno had talked him into going to the ocean, even though he hated it there.
Jun did the same, getting a job at the local police station in an attempt to hack into some networking connection that ran throughout the city, but nothing came of that either.
Nino wasn’t going to give up, though. He had a good feeling about this place, like he was close but not quite working hard enough to reach his goal. Like he would run into Ohno on the train without meaning to and his love would say, oh, I’ve been here the whole time.
He got his break one day after telling a man at a bar a sappy story about his boyfriend leaving him to return home to take over the family business. The bartender had glanced at the picture as Nino waved it around drunkenly (although he wasn’t drunk at all), and mentioned that he’d seen that chipmunk man at his brother’s bar down the street.
Nino thanked him and immediately paid his tab before leaving.
His heart was racing as he pushed open the door, wondering if he’d followed the man’s directions properly, or if Ohno would be on shift right now, or if Aiba was going to corner him first and beat him into a pulp.
But there was his prize slowly wiping his hand across the counter before sitting down a beer for the man in front of him.
Ohno didn’t look surprised when Nino took up a seat at the empty end of the bar and ordered a shot of tequila.
“Ah, my personal preference,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, barely looking at Nino.
“I know.”
Ohno didn’t say any more as he cleaned a glass and set it on the counter, pouring the drink and then gently pushing it towards Nino.
The younger man grabbed his wrist, his own hand shaking a little, and stared at the treasure that he’d spent so much time looking for. He’d been here the whole time after all, and he was real.
“Aiba wouldn’t let me find you,” Ohno explained in a quiet, calm voice.
“I f-figured.” Nino’s whole body was trembling in relief and want, nervous over what was going to happen now, but content that he didn’t have to wait any more.
“Kazu…?” his counterpart asked softly, leaning over the bar a little, and Nino suddenly felt like that whole betrayal, separation, search, had never happened.
“I promise I’ll never lie to you again.” He knew he sounded desperate, but desperate was what he was.
Ohno smiled gently and Nino didn’t know what that meant.
“I’ll never ask you to steal anything again, not even a piece of bread if we’re starving.”
“Sorry, but you’ll have to steal my heart back first,” Ohno replied teasingly.
Nino grinned. “I can do that.” His arms and legs felt like they were being filled with heavy and watery relief. “How long until you get off?”
“Six hours.”
That was a hell of a lot shorter than a year.
+++
A/N: It ended up being happy anyway. I can't resist a nice happy ending.
As always, criticism and comments of any kind are very very welcome.
*The title and summary are taken from yarukizero's translation of Spiral.
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Ohno/Nino
Genre: Action, Drama, AU
Chapter: three
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno is a retired spy who tried to leave his old life behind him. But things don't always work that way. I was unbelievably deep in love/ Secrets that left the appearance of a spiral*
Prologue
One
Two
恋焦がれた嘘みたいに
秘密めいたままスパイラル
I was unbelievably deep in love
Secrets that left the appearance of a spiral*
Chapter three:
After Nino left, he felt himself go numb again.
Instead of reviewing every moment he had spent with Nino since the first time their hands had touched in the coffee shop or the first time they’d kissed or had sex or gone to the amusement part together, Ohno stared at the wall with no thoughts in his head at all.
Another bowl of gruel had come, and Yokoyama gave him an unexpected consoling look before leaving it behind for him, but Ohno didn’t touch it and he never would.
It had been several hours and Nino hadn’t tried to come back. Jun hadn’t either, although Ohno thought that was probably smart of him, since the older man might be able to scrape together enough motivation to punch him several times if that happened.
He almost hoped that Knuckles would return, though. Ohno felt like having the shit beaten out of him, and Knuckles had already proved he was the man to go to for something like that.
No one came until late into the night (Ohno only knew because the hallway lights had dimmed a little), and when his door opened with a quiet click, it took the man shaking Ohno several times until the prisoner finally turned his head.
“Aiba-chan.”
“Come on, Oh-chan, let’s go.”
Suddenly coming to life again at the appearance of his friend, Ohno sat up, although his body was sluggish and lethargic due to his depression.
“How’d you know where I was?” he asked, even though he should probably be more focused on leaving.
Aiba grinned at him and slowly ran his fingers through Ohno’s hair, and it was obvious that he had thought that the older man was dead until very recently. Aiba pulled him against his chest and explained.
“Nino wasn’t at home when I came over yesterday, but the door was open. He didn’t answer his cell phone, and neither did Jun. I thought it was strange, and took a moment to snoop around, trying to see where he’d gone,” Aiba’s voice was soft and comforting, and Ohno realized he had missed him too. “I found a camera on top of your shelf by accident. I traced it back to here and after a little research I discovered…”
Aiba suddenly pulled back and gave Ohno a reproachful look. “Ohno, Nino-“ he started in a solemn tone, but the prisoner stopped him.
“I know.”
“Ohno, I’m so sorry-“
They hugged again and Ohno felt almost like he could finally let himself go, showing Aiba all his emotions.
But they had to get out of here first.
Aiba handed him a small box covered in knobs and gauges, which created electronic interference and would prevent them from showing up on any cameras or motion sensors upon their exit. It was something that Aiba had created himself several years ago and Ohno was happy that he hadn’t thrown them away after their retirement.
“Just like the old days, right?” Aiba whispered as he handed over a small microphone and earpiece for communication as well as a pair of gloves. Ohno tried to force a smile, but in the end it was a grimace at best.
Right when they were about to walk past the threshold of the door, the older man hesitated, picturing Nino from earlier, but Aiba pulled him forward and the two made their exit as smoothly as expected. Ohno and Aiba outclassed anyone that would work here. The only thing they had over the ex-agent was Nino, and now they didn’t even have that.
Sho was driving the escape vehicle and grinned at Ohno as he and Aiba climbed into the back seat.
“Ohno. Glad to see you alive.”
“Likewise,” Ohno replied, but he still couldn’t push out the cheeky grin that would usually accompany that victory phrase.
The car pulled away and Aiba gently guided the older man to lean against his shoulder and pretended not to watch as he finally broke down.
+++
Jun had taken half of his clothes off and was kissing his neck hard enough to leave a mark while Nino stared past him.
He couldn’t feel anything, like Ohno had rubbed off on him. He kept seeing those dead eyes that used to hold so many emotions, and heard the man’s only words from that night repeating over and over in his head.
“Stop,” he finally commanded when he couldn’t take any more.
Jun looked startled. “But you said Ohno didn’t-“
Nino silenced him with a glare and the younger man pulled away.
“Leave me alone.” His words were harsh and even though he treated Jun much better than most of his subordinates, tonight he had no patience. He was frustrated that Ohno hadn’t come around.
Oh well. He still had time.
Jun pulled his clothes back on with an irritated and upset expression and then slammed the door behind him when he left.
Standing, Nino distractedly made his way from the extravagant bed to his mahogany desk, where his precious piece of art that he had been craving for years sat staring back at him.
He picked it up and ran his fingers over it again.
At first he had been giddy, ecstatic that he finally had what he wanted, but after he had spoke with Ohno, Nino wasn’t so sure that this little piece of paper was worth the man that he had inadvertently fallen in love with.
He had been dreading that moment, when Ohno found out that Kazu had been lying to him and shamelessly using him for his own end, but he had honestly expected Ohno to forgive him if he promised not to do it ever again.
Of course he hadn’t had that chance to do that yet.
He placed the Plexiglas frame back on the desk and rubbed his head. It hadn’t even been a full day yet, but he needed to see Ohno again.
+++
Aiba wouldn’t let Ohno return to his apartment, just in case they had overlooked something, and it actually didn’t matter to the freed man. Clothes he could replace, art supplies he could replace, moldy food he could replace. It was the hole in his chest that would be hard to deal with, but going back to his old place wouldn’t change that at all.
Between the two of them, Sho and Aiba had grabbed enough to get by for a few weeks in a hotel that was about eight hours drive from Nino’s base (not far enough to be obvious, but not close enough to be in the lion’s den). When they didn’t run into anything unusual, they moved on to their final destination, a small but not entirely secluded city on the northern side of the country. Aiba had done his research and made arrangements before they arrived and Ohno was glad for that. He couldn’t function properly any more by himself.
Just like before he had met Nino, when the ex-agent was rebuilding his life, hiding his past and trying to keep himself as discreet as possible, he found a part time job at a mundane place that he would be able to blend right in to (this time a seedier bar in the drinking district, the kind that had buzzing TVs in the corner and dirt that couldn’t be cleaned off the floor). He didn’t know a thing about mixing drinks, but a quick online tutorial gave him enough to at least be passable.
He lived in an apartment a few blocks down from his place of employment, and he only left it to go to work, buy groceries, or visit Aiba and Sho-chan.
They lived fairly close, but the trio had agreed that it was better to be separated than together, what with Aiba being all mushy with his boyfriend and all. Ohno liked it better that way, since he occasionally longed for the same touches that Sho would received from the newly-hired pastry chef, and he could brood at home when he wanted to without a cheerful Aiba looming over his shoulder.
He made enough money to barely get by, which was something he actually reveled in after many years of being pampered, and no secret agents or henchmen had shown up on his doorstep yet.
A month after he had settled in, Ohno was cleaning the filthy bar as best he could early in the evening when a news report that caught his attention came on.
Carrying the grey rag in his hand, the bartender moved closer and turned the volume up a little.
“...are calling it the most bizarre thievery of the year. As you can see behind me, a brown box appeared on the steps of the National Museum of Japanese History with the priceless Yoshitaka Amano replication of the Genji Scrolls, which was reported as stolen at the beginning of last month. The piece of art was in its original Plexiglas container, wrapped in newspaper and foam peanuts, with a note consisting of only a single word.”
Ohno swallowed, watching the pictures on the screen change as the story progressed. Now they were doing a close up of the typed note which looked plain and indistinguishable.
“Sorry. Yes, the criminal apologized for his crime and returned the piece of art to the museum which had the item under its care during the period in which it was stolen. There were no fingerprints found on the glass and-“
Ohno stopped listening. He was smiling as he went back to work.
He heard the same report four times during the course of the night, and his supervisor asked if he needed to go home and get some rest, since he might be getting delirious. Ohno grinned and offered to work overtime instead.
+++
It took Nino a year to find him.
He’d hoped that returning the item in such an obvious way, insuring it would get news coverage, would be enough to bring Ohno out of hiding, at least enough that the younger man’s hard work would be fruitful, but still nothing came up.
Working himself to fatigue, trying to find a trace--even just a hair would be enough--Nino abandoned the rag tag group of criminals he’d brought together over the years, leaving him with only Jun, who was heartbroken, but still the only man that Nino would consider a friend.
After seeing how serious Nino was about finding Ohno, Jun eventually helped, even though he knew that the ex-agent would never want to see his deceiving curly head again, and after several months he had finally come up with something.
One of the databases had associated a zip code with a letter that matched Aiba’s handwriting, and if Aiba was there, it was a tie to Ohno, even if they weren’t in the same place.
But Nino, knowing the other two very well, figured that if anyone was taking care of Ohno (and someone was, if Ohno had been showing his true emotions to Nino that day in his cell), it would be Aiba and probably Sho along with him.
So the two criminals, who were now considering themselves retired, picked up and lived out of a hotel in the main city of that prized zip code they had found.
Three months passed. Nino had found a nice little café to sit in front of during the week, watching people walk down the street in hopes that he’d see a mop of gravity-resistant hair, or at least Aiba’s brown-bleached. He’d asked around a little, showing a picture that he kept in his wallet of the one time that Ohno had talked him into going to the ocean, even though he hated it there.
Jun did the same, getting a job at the local police station in an attempt to hack into some networking connection that ran throughout the city, but nothing came of that either.
Nino wasn’t going to give up, though. He had a good feeling about this place, like he was close but not quite working hard enough to reach his goal. Like he would run into Ohno on the train without meaning to and his love would say, oh, I’ve been here the whole time.
He got his break one day after telling a man at a bar a sappy story about his boyfriend leaving him to return home to take over the family business. The bartender had glanced at the picture as Nino waved it around drunkenly (although he wasn’t drunk at all), and mentioned that he’d seen that chipmunk man at his brother’s bar down the street.
Nino thanked him and immediately paid his tab before leaving.
His heart was racing as he pushed open the door, wondering if he’d followed the man’s directions properly, or if Ohno would be on shift right now, or if Aiba was going to corner him first and beat him into a pulp.
But there was his prize slowly wiping his hand across the counter before sitting down a beer for the man in front of him.
Ohno didn’t look surprised when Nino took up a seat at the empty end of the bar and ordered a shot of tequila.
“Ah, my personal preference,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, barely looking at Nino.
“I know.”
Ohno didn’t say any more as he cleaned a glass and set it on the counter, pouring the drink and then gently pushing it towards Nino.
The younger man grabbed his wrist, his own hand shaking a little, and stared at the treasure that he’d spent so much time looking for. He’d been here the whole time after all, and he was real.
“Aiba wouldn’t let me find you,” Ohno explained in a quiet, calm voice.
“I f-figured.” Nino’s whole body was trembling in relief and want, nervous over what was going to happen now, but content that he didn’t have to wait any more.
“Kazu…?” his counterpart asked softly, leaning over the bar a little, and Nino suddenly felt like that whole betrayal, separation, search, had never happened.
“I promise I’ll never lie to you again.” He knew he sounded desperate, but desperate was what he was.
Ohno smiled gently and Nino didn’t know what that meant.
“I’ll never ask you to steal anything again, not even a piece of bread if we’re starving.”
“Sorry, but you’ll have to steal my heart back first,” Ohno replied teasingly.
Nino grinned. “I can do that.” His arms and legs felt like they were being filled with heavy and watery relief. “How long until you get off?”
“Six hours.”
That was a hell of a lot shorter than a year.
+++
A/N: It ended up being happy anyway. I can't resist a nice happy ending.
As always, criticism and comments of any kind are very very welcome.
*The title and summary are taken from yarukizero's translation of Spiral.