Arashi - Nino Getting Married - Ohno/Nino
Title: Nino Getting Married
Fandom: Arashi
Rating: PG
Pairing: Nino/Ohno, Nino/OFC
Disclaimer: This is a fictional situation.
Summary: Three days before Nino's wedding, Ohno confesses. Nino is not amused.
Notes: Written for username_hannah for ninoexchange! There is an OFC in this fic, but the point of the story is Ohmiya, really.
"I think we should have sex," Ohno says.
"Um," Nino replies. "What?"
"With each other."
"Yeah, I heard you but. What?"
It is exactly three days before Nino's wedding.
---
Yumi is a nice girl. A really nice girl and Nino meets her through a friend of a friend. She has nothing to do with the entertainment business and instead is a former surfing instructor turned business-owner (various beach sports supplies). She is slightly taller than Nino and fiercely independent.
They go on three dates before Nino decides he wants to get married. But it's a year before he proposes.
"Really?" Aiba asks. "Really really really?!"
"Really," Nino says.
"Really?" Sho enters the room, eyes nearly burning two holes into Nino.
"Is there a goddamn parrot in the roo--"
"You're... covering all of your bases, right?" Sho asks, soberly.
It's a vague question, but Nino knows exactly what it means. Because as much as he can see in the eyes of the other members that they're happy for him - there is also the question of "what does this mean for Arashi?" hovering in the air.
So he doesn't tell anyone else save for a few close friends and family members. He asks Ohno to be his best man. And Ohno says "yeah" in a kind of far-off way which isn't anything out of the ordinary.
Jun asks him if he's happy and he searches his mind and says yes.
Then Jun asks him if he's worried and he doesn't know the answer. But maybe a little, yes, because he's young to be getting married (for a Johnnys) but... Yumi is a nice girl. Probably the nicest girl he's ever met. Things are becoming a little out of control in his mind with all of the fame and popularity and suddenly his face is on an airplane and now he wants to get married.
Life becomes a huge blur of concerts and TV recordings and studio time and wedding planning and magazine interviews and cake tasting and photoshoots and maybe a little sleep every now and then.
Then three days before the wedding, they're backstage at a TV studio (because Nino doesn't get any time off if his bosses don't even know he's having a wedding... and even then he probably wouldn't anyway) and Ohno says something that sounds like a question and a request all rolled up into one.
"I think we should have sex," Ohno says.
"Um," Nino replies. "What?"
"With each other."
"Yeah, I heard you but. What?"
Then they're quickly ushered onto the sage and set before the camera.
---
Nino is a professional. So of course he goes straight into professional mode right when the camera starts running.
He’s proud of himself for how competently he’s doing his job even though a million thoughts are running through his head at once. Ohno’s stupid timing. And stupid suggestions. And things Nino hasn’t thought about in a really, really long time.
A little over a year and a half ago when Ohno and Nino were sharing a hotel room together and Ohno opened up the minibar and then they nearly cleaned the whole thing out together. They ended up talking about random things that only drunk people talk about and then got into bed together because it was really Ohno and Aiba's room so they had to leave the other bed free.
Nino's vision was blurry from the alcohol and Ohno was close to being asleep. Or so he thought. But then Ohno rolled over on him and nearly rolled both of them off of the bed and they both started laughing so hard that they couldn't stop and then they were kissing. Which wasn't unusual (even if Aiba had come in and found them drunk and kissing on the bed, he wouldn't have thought it was that unusual), but the unusual part was that it started to feel like some kind of twisted competition. I won't stop unless you stop. A game.
Ohno was still laughing whenever he had the opportunity to breathe and Nino probably contributing to it by tickling his sides. Then Ohno wasn't laughing anymore, but pressing their bodies together, one hand cupped behind Nino's head and Nino was holding onto two handfuls of the back of Ohno's shirt. Nino didn't stop and Ohno didn't stop, but then Aiba really did come back and Ohno tensed up and rolled off. He reached over to the table and tossed Aiba a mini bottle of vodka. "Drink up!" Nino remembers him saying.
Two weeks later, Nino met Yumi.
---
"You have really great timing, you know?" Nino says, after they've finished recording.
"Yeah I know," Ohno says.
"I was being sarcastic."
"I know," Ohno says. "But I was going to say it before and then I didn't."
"Why?"
"It's kind of a weird thing to say, isn't it?"
"It's an extremely weird thing to say, Oh-chan. But I think we're all used to it by now."
Ohno has the most serious expression that Nino has ever seen on his face. His eyebrows are all woven together and he's chewing on his lip like he's trying to figure out the answer to about twelve simultaneous questions.
"I'm getting married," Nino says. Just for the sake of saying it.
---
Nino goes home after filming with Ohno's words running through his mind. He was kidding. He had to be kidding because no one would say that to someone just days before a wedding and not be kidding. Or, really, no best man would say that to the groom just days before the wedding. It's not the way Ohno normally jokes around, but he does the unexpected sometimes.
Nino is staying in his apartment until after the wedding day where he and Yumi will move into the small house they've just made a down payment on. The ink is probably still drying on the contract at the realtor's. Nino's life is all packed up in boxes. He weaves through a maze of them and falls unceremoniously onto his bed.
He can't sleep.
He doesn't want to send the message but... Ohno is an idiot and Ohno says really, really stupid things sometimes and now Nino can't sleep so he picks up his phone and nearly keys the words in with his eyes closed so he doesn't have to see them.
"You were kidding, right?" He sends.
"No," is Ohno's reply.
---
"Hey," he says.
"Hey," she replies.
He shouldn't be doing this over the phone but it's the middle of the night, they're in different cities, there isn't a lot of time to have this conversation.
"So... you'd want me to be honest with you, right?"
"Obviously yeah," Yumi says. Sounding more no-nonsense than anything else.
"I don't know if we should get married."
"What? Why?" He can almost see her expression through her voice. She sounds exhausted.
"There's someone--"
"I swear if you tell me there's someone else."
"It's not... like that."
"Then what is it like?"
"It's a friend."
"A friend?"
"A guy."
There is a long silence where it feels like maybe he's said something he can't ever take back, but he doesn't know exactly what it is.
"Are you telling me you're gay?"
"I'm not gay," Nino says.
"You're not gay, but there is this guy?"
Nino sighs. "I don't even know what I'm talking about."
Another silence. Nino wonders if he can just act like this was some huge joke because... really. What is he talking about? There is no guy. There isn't anyone else but Yumi. There hasn't been anyone else but Yumi for the last year and a half.
"You have one night, Kazunari."
Nino swallows. "What?"
"Figure out whatever you have to figure out." She hangs up.
---
"She's confident," Jun says.
"She's always confident."
"But she wouldn't be giving you carte blanche to do whatever the fuck you want if she didn't think you were coming back."
Because Nino doesn't know what the hell to do and Jun is possibly the only one who knows less about women than he does (and therefore less likely to laugh in his face), Nino called him.
"You have a point," Nino says.
"So you're actually going through with this?"
"Aren't you going to ask who it is?"
"That's your business."
"I had to hang up on Aiba because he wouldn't stop asking."
"And let me guess, you didn't call Sho because he'd just tell you that you're being a dick."
"Well I am being a dick."
"Glad you realize."
---
Nino is on Ohno’s doorstep. The stupidest place he could possibly be right now. The stupidest doorstep belonging to the stupidest guy Nino knows.
"I'm not gay," Nino says when Ohno answers.
"I know," Ohno says. "Come in."
No one is home and Nino wonders if it's by chance or by design.
"I don't even know what I'm doing here," Nino says.
"Do you want a beer?"
"Yumi said to come here," Nino says.
"Oh," Ohno says.
"She trusts me," Nino says.
"Oh?"
"I should seriously punch you in the face," Nino says.
Ohno takes a drink. They're sitting on opposite ends of the couch, one cushion between them.
---
Jun doesn't think they're going to do it, but Aiba does and he comes up with this ridiculous tale about how they're going to suddenly realize their feelings and perhaps ride off into the sunset in each other arms. The way Aiba describes it is silly, but it's not as if Jun dismissed the possibility of something happening. But wouldn't it have happened sooner? Isn't it too late now?
They're sitting at a restaurant slash bar and Sho was invited, but politely declined due to work. It was probably for the best as Jun was desperately trying to massage the vein rising in his temple and he can only imagine Sho stumbling and fumbling to direct the conversation somewhere else.
"Aiba..." Jun says. Because clearly Nino is having cold feet or a temporary moment of insanity. Yes, Nino is close to Ohno, but there is someone else involved. Someone who has spent the last six months planning a wedding.
"Ohno told me that he's in love with Nino," Aiba says, simply.
Jun feels his stomach drop.
"So I told him to speak now or forever hold his peace."
---
Maybe something more monumental is supposed to be happening here, but Ohno makes some sort of microwave dinner and they sit on the couch and flip channels on the TV before settling on some nature documentary. Nino isn't really watching it even though his eyes are glued to the screen.
He's always been good friends with Ohno precisely because they are so comfortable together. This, on the other hand, is the most uncomfortable night of Nino's life and he thinks if it had always been this way between them they would have never grown into as close of friends as they have. But sometimes things change and people drift apart. Nino knows he's started to see some of his married friends less just due to the the nature of their new life. But it won't be that way with Ohno or the other members. Just because of work, they see each other all the time.
They finish eating and Ohno takes their plates to the kitchen. Nino's about to politely excuse himself because... really what is he doing here? He could be at home making his own dinner watching his own TV...
"I'm not gay either," Ohno says.
Nino looks at him for a long time trying to formulate a reply. He takes a drink just to stall for time while he thinks about saying something like "then if you're not gay and I'm not gay and neither of us know what we're doing here--" but then Ohno speaks again.
"Which is why it's really weird that I'm in love with you," he says.
To Nino’s credit, he only chokes on his beer a little.
"Yeah, that was kind of my response too," he says.
Nino finishes the rest of his drink all at once and it's cold going down his throat. Then he sets the can down on the table.
---
There may have been a time when Nino wouldn't have thought this was so ridiculous. There maybe have been a couple of days after that time that they kissed in Ohno and Aiba's hotel room that Nino wondered what was going to happen next. But nothing happened. He stayed in his own hotel room that night and the night after that and then he didn't see Ohno for a week because of opposite schedules and then he met Yumi.
Yumi who he called again right after the first date and asked her out again. Then again and again until they just met every time he had a free day. He wondered if he was coming on too strong but she seemed to want to spend time with him too. And somewhere he started to really like her, then he started to love her.
Then she started to ask more about his job. Obviously she knew who he was and had seen him on TV before they even met. But she was more the type into rock music than Johnnys groups. He keeps his work and his personal life separate for as long as he can, but then the members want to meet her and she wants to meet them. She'd been watching some of their TV shows and the first thing she said to Ohno was that she was going to start getting jealous. Jokingly. Ohno laughed. Aiba chimed in with an "honestly we don't know what's with them either!"
And Nino forgot about that kiss for a very long time.
---
There is a long silence in Ohno's living room. The sound of the can that Nino set down on the table still buzzes in the air and that weird nature documentary is still in the background - bird sounds and some man talking in a really soothing voice about some horrible thing that's about to come and eat them.
Ohno's looking at the print on Nino's T-shirt, Nino can see him tracing the lines with his eyes. He's already said what he needed to say and now it's Nino's turn, but all Nino can think of to say is...
"You're an asshole."
Ohno's eyes meet his.
"Seriously what the fuck."
Ohno is strangely quiet like he's just waiting for Nino to finish or to really start yelling at him or to just say whatever it is inside of him that wants to come out. Nino really does want to hit him because he's... totally an asshole. Who waits until right before someone's wedding to say something like this?
"Don't think I don't remember that," he says, he's talking about that kiss in that hotel bed like Ohno is supposed to read his mind and know exactly what it is he’s referring to.
"Remember what?" Ohno asks, but it's tentative. Maybe he knows and doesn't know if they're remembering the same memory.
"Just... kiss me or something I don't know," Nino says.
Silence. Again.
Nino throws his arms in the air. "We have to start somewhere right?"
"I don't think you really want me to."
"I don't know what I want. Can we stop talking and just do it?"
"Isn't this weird?"
"Yes. It's weird. It's the weirdest day ever. Now shut up about it."
Ohno leans forward on the couch and gets really close until their faces are almost touching. He settles his hand on one of Nino's knee for balance. Nino feels like he can't breathe, this is too much to take in all at once. Ohno leans closer, their lips touch. He opens his mouth and Nino does too and it's a real, proper kiss. The same way he kisses Yumi. The same way he kissed Ohno that night.
Nino swallows. Ohno pulls away.
"I’m getting married,” Nino says, no louder than a whisper.
---
Nino really doesn't like to be taken by surprise. He supposes it's because he's such a magic enthusiast, but he always wants to be in control of the situation. Or maybe that's why he became a magic enthusiast in the first place.
Either way, if there is any sleight of hand, Nino wants it to be his. Or he wants to have his eye on it. He's almost painfully aware of all of the situations in his life, from the large matters to the small everyday ones.
Nino wins at three different games of cards. Ohno isn't trying hard enough to beat him or he isn't really paying attention. Or Nino just really knows his way around a deck of cards. He wonders which one of these is true.
What he does know is that he's relieved. Relieved that they can just hang out like this now that they've put that... whatever it was behind them. It was just that simple but with them it's always simple no matter what it is. That's why Ohno is his friend. His best man.
"I'm tired," Ohno says.
"I'll get bored if you go to sleep."
"You can play the Wii if you want," Ohno says, gesturing to the corner where the console and the games are stacked together.
Nino shrugs.
It's normal. It's a normal night. Feels a bit like they’re on tour and sharing a hotel room. Ohno’s going to sleep and Nino will play his DS for a while.
"I'm going to bed," Ohno says. “Are you going home?"
“Yeah." Nino shrugs again. “I’ll let myself out,” he says.
He should go home. He’s going home. Not watching Ohno disappear into his bedroom and wondering what it would be like if he followed him there.
“I hate you,” Nino says out loud. The silent room doesn’t respond.
---
Nino wakes up with his DS on his face. A problem, since he doesn’t even remember falling asleep. He rubs his jaw and accidentally kicks a cushion off of the sofa.
He opens up his phone and he’s half expecting to see a message from Yumi there. If he’s honest, that’s what he wants to see. Maybe that will snap him out of this.
A thought worms its way into his head. Maybe this was her way of breaking it off with him. Allowing your fiance to work out unresolved issues isn’t something people normally do, right? But then the next conclusion he can draw is that Ohno is an unresolved issue. It makes Nino groan. The timing is so bad. Everything about this is terrible.
“I’m kissing you this time,” Nino says, closing the door to Ohno’s bedroom behind him, louder than completely necessary.
Ohno appears to be sleeping, but he stirs easily when Nino speaks. Not sleeping that well, he thinks. Nino shoves him just to be sure.
“I’m kissing you because you do it all wrong,” Nino says.
Ohno looks up at him, then rubs his eyes with the back of his hand.
“What time is it?” he asks.
Nino rolls his eyes, but the gesture is lost in the darkness of the room. So he adds a long suffering sigh to it just because. Then he climbs on top of Ohno. Because that will get his attention if nothing else will.
“You kissed me and you did it all wrong,” Nino says.
“I did?” Ohno replies.
“Yes,” Nino says. “If you want me to have sex with you then you have to kiss me like you actually fucking mean it.”
He takes a deep breath. It’s now or never.
“Like this,” he says. He’s totally unsure of himself, but he bends down, closes his eyes, and demonstrates.
---
“Oh man,” Aiba says. “Oh man oh man.”
Nino answered Ohno’s phone. Maybe he shouldn’t have answered Ohno’s phone but it was going off right in his ear and instead of turning it off he accidentally answered it...
“Oh man I knew it!” Aiba says.
There is no point in fighting him, so Nino just hangs up. He’s going to tell Jun and Sho. They’re going to say whatever they’re going to say. Nino is too tired to deal with any of this right now.
“We didn’t have sex,” Ohno says, sleepily against Nino’s elbow. Nino’s not sure how they ended up quite in this position.
“Yeah,” Nino says. “I know.”
“Are you still going to get married?” Ohno asks.
“Shh,” Nino says. “Go back to sleep.”
Once Nino’s sure enough that Ohno is sleeping again, he squirms out from under Ohno’s arm and dials Yumi’s number in the next room.
---
The precise moment where Nino’s life stops making sense is when he’s sitting in Ohno’s room in the morning drinking a hot cup of coffee. Ohno’s swirling a spoon around in his cup and it’s making a clinking noise that weirdly resembles a windchime. None of this makes sense anyway, so Nino supposes it’s just as well.
A train goes by outside. Then another. Nino takes a sip, but it’s still too hot to drink.
Ohno isn’t looking at him. He’s finished stirring, has set his cup down the table and is hunched over his laptop.
Nino feels a little bit like he might throw up. But instead he says “I hate you” out loud, his voice rough and strained from sleep.
Ohno starts to turn around, but Nino cuts him off by throwing a pillow.
The precise moment when Nino’s life starts making sense again is the moment after it stops. He’s going to blame Ohno for that.
---
“--And then I called Ohno-kun this morning,” Aiba is saying to Sho when Nino walks in to work. It’s obvious Aiba’s just started right there for Nino’s benefit. Sho’s confused expression gives that away.
“Morning,” Jun says over the top of his magazine.
“Morning,” Nino says back with a nod.
“And Nino picked up his phone!” Aiba says, gleefully.
“Oh,” Sho says.
Aiba leans closer, waiting for Sho to get it. So close he nearly tips out of his chair.
“...Oh,” Sho says.
Nino flops down in his seat. “I’m not getting married,” he says.
It’s not that simple, Nino knows. Instead of planning a wedding, now Nino will have to cancel it. Yumi will move into the house and probably hate him for a while.
Or maybe she won’t because she’s Yumi and she knows she deserves more than someone who would spend the night with his best man.
The thought hasn’t had enough time to settle in yet. Nino’s already resigned himself to just drifting through the day.
“Oh,” Sho says, again.
Aiba’s expression now is kind of hilarious. So Nino can’t help but crack a smile.
---
All they did was kiss.
For a long time until they both fell asleep.
It was just a kiss, but there were stupid little fireworks going off under every inch of Nino’s skin. Just a kiss, but Nino memorized every second of it.
The weirdest day of his life, definitely by far.
He remembers turning them so they were both lying on their sides, arms tight around each other and he remembers that he meant to tell Ohno that he was an idiot for the fifteenth time that day but instead he said something that sounded suspiciously like “I love you” then shoving Ohno to the other side of the bed and wrapping himself in the cover because that was embarrassing.
Then he remembers Ohno wrapping around him and that’s the last he can recall.
Just a kiss. Just a stupid kiss.
He’s going to make sure to remind Ohno this is his fault every day for the rest of his life. Even if he has a feeling Ohno isn’t going to mind.
---
Six months later, he still hasn’t forgotten. Every day he tells Ohno he’s an idiot, just to remind him. Ohno smiles on cue just about every time. Which is a little annoying. But when it really gets to Nino he just kicks Ohno because he can.
“You’re welcome,” Aiba says, after he finds out that Ohno and Nino are actually dating now. Not just skirting around the issue like they did at first.
“Oh so you think this is your fault?” Nino asks him.
Aiba just beams. Nino’s already heard Aiba’s story. He already knows that Ohno told Aiba first. He’s already hit Ohno just for that a couple of times.
“But it’s okay right?” Aiba says, a little more sincerely this time.
It’s not like Nino is going to spell everything out for him. Not when it’s already not so easy to understand everything himself.
Nino shrugs. “Can’t be helped,” he says. He’s looking at Ohno from across the room. Maybe his look lingers a little too long and Aiba coos. Nino elbows him.
But it’s alright like this, he thinks. Even if things didn’t work out the way he thought they would, they probably worked out the way they were supposed to. That’s sounds too much like something Sho would say so Nino shakes his head in an attempt to dislodge the thought.
“Ready?” Ohno asks him. It takes a minute for Nino to register what he means. That it’s the end of the day and it’s time to leave. And they usually leave together so Ohno wants to know if he’s ready to go.
“Yeah, sure,” Nino says. Maybe he’s not ready for all of this. But a little at a time, he thinks, as Ohno holds out his hand and Nino slips his inside.
Fandom: Arashi
Rating: PG
Pairing: Nino/Ohno, Nino/OFC
Disclaimer: This is a fictional situation.
Summary: Three days before Nino's wedding, Ohno confesses. Nino is not amused.
Notes: Written for username_hannah for ninoexchange! There is an OFC in this fic, but the point of the story is Ohmiya, really.
"I think we should have sex," Ohno says.
"Um," Nino replies. "What?"
"With each other."
"Yeah, I heard you but. What?"
It is exactly three days before Nino's wedding.
---
Yumi is a nice girl. A really nice girl and Nino meets her through a friend of a friend. She has nothing to do with the entertainment business and instead is a former surfing instructor turned business-owner (various beach sports supplies). She is slightly taller than Nino and fiercely independent.
They go on three dates before Nino decides he wants to get married. But it's a year before he proposes.
"Really?" Aiba asks. "Really really really?!"
"Really," Nino says.
"Really?" Sho enters the room, eyes nearly burning two holes into Nino.
"Is there a goddamn parrot in the roo--"
"You're... covering all of your bases, right?" Sho asks, soberly.
It's a vague question, but Nino knows exactly what it means. Because as much as he can see in the eyes of the other members that they're happy for him - there is also the question of "what does this mean for Arashi?" hovering in the air.
So he doesn't tell anyone else save for a few close friends and family members. He asks Ohno to be his best man. And Ohno says "yeah" in a kind of far-off way which isn't anything out of the ordinary.
Jun asks him if he's happy and he searches his mind and says yes.
Then Jun asks him if he's worried and he doesn't know the answer. But maybe a little, yes, because he's young to be getting married (for a Johnnys) but... Yumi is a nice girl. Probably the nicest girl he's ever met. Things are becoming a little out of control in his mind with all of the fame and popularity and suddenly his face is on an airplane and now he wants to get married.
Life becomes a huge blur of concerts and TV recordings and studio time and wedding planning and magazine interviews and cake tasting and photoshoots and maybe a little sleep every now and then.
Then three days before the wedding, they're backstage at a TV studio (because Nino doesn't get any time off if his bosses don't even know he's having a wedding... and even then he probably wouldn't anyway) and Ohno says something that sounds like a question and a request all rolled up into one.
"I think we should have sex," Ohno says.
"Um," Nino replies. "What?"
"With each other."
"Yeah, I heard you but. What?"
Then they're quickly ushered onto the sage and set before the camera.
---
Nino is a professional. So of course he goes straight into professional mode right when the camera starts running.
He’s proud of himself for how competently he’s doing his job even though a million thoughts are running through his head at once. Ohno’s stupid timing. And stupid suggestions. And things Nino hasn’t thought about in a really, really long time.
A little over a year and a half ago when Ohno and Nino were sharing a hotel room together and Ohno opened up the minibar and then they nearly cleaned the whole thing out together. They ended up talking about random things that only drunk people talk about and then got into bed together because it was really Ohno and Aiba's room so they had to leave the other bed free.
Nino's vision was blurry from the alcohol and Ohno was close to being asleep. Or so he thought. But then Ohno rolled over on him and nearly rolled both of them off of the bed and they both started laughing so hard that they couldn't stop and then they were kissing. Which wasn't unusual (even if Aiba had come in and found them drunk and kissing on the bed, he wouldn't have thought it was that unusual), but the unusual part was that it started to feel like some kind of twisted competition. I won't stop unless you stop. A game.
Ohno was still laughing whenever he had the opportunity to breathe and Nino probably contributing to it by tickling his sides. Then Ohno wasn't laughing anymore, but pressing their bodies together, one hand cupped behind Nino's head and Nino was holding onto two handfuls of the back of Ohno's shirt. Nino didn't stop and Ohno didn't stop, but then Aiba really did come back and Ohno tensed up and rolled off. He reached over to the table and tossed Aiba a mini bottle of vodka. "Drink up!" Nino remembers him saying.
Two weeks later, Nino met Yumi.
---
"You have really great timing, you know?" Nino says, after they've finished recording.
"Yeah I know," Ohno says.
"I was being sarcastic."
"I know," Ohno says. "But I was going to say it before and then I didn't."
"Why?"
"It's kind of a weird thing to say, isn't it?"
"It's an extremely weird thing to say, Oh-chan. But I think we're all used to it by now."
Ohno has the most serious expression that Nino has ever seen on his face. His eyebrows are all woven together and he's chewing on his lip like he's trying to figure out the answer to about twelve simultaneous questions.
"I'm getting married," Nino says. Just for the sake of saying it.
---
Nino goes home after filming with Ohno's words running through his mind. He was kidding. He had to be kidding because no one would say that to someone just days before a wedding and not be kidding. Or, really, no best man would say that to the groom just days before the wedding. It's not the way Ohno normally jokes around, but he does the unexpected sometimes.
Nino is staying in his apartment until after the wedding day where he and Yumi will move into the small house they've just made a down payment on. The ink is probably still drying on the contract at the realtor's. Nino's life is all packed up in boxes. He weaves through a maze of them and falls unceremoniously onto his bed.
He can't sleep.
He doesn't want to send the message but... Ohno is an idiot and Ohno says really, really stupid things sometimes and now Nino can't sleep so he picks up his phone and nearly keys the words in with his eyes closed so he doesn't have to see them.
"You were kidding, right?" He sends.
"No," is Ohno's reply.
---
"Hey," he says.
"Hey," she replies.
He shouldn't be doing this over the phone but it's the middle of the night, they're in different cities, there isn't a lot of time to have this conversation.
"So... you'd want me to be honest with you, right?"
"Obviously yeah," Yumi says. Sounding more no-nonsense than anything else.
"I don't know if we should get married."
"What? Why?" He can almost see her expression through her voice. She sounds exhausted.
"There's someone--"
"I swear if you tell me there's someone else."
"It's not... like that."
"Then what is it like?"
"It's a friend."
"A friend?"
"A guy."
There is a long silence where it feels like maybe he's said something he can't ever take back, but he doesn't know exactly what it is.
"Are you telling me you're gay?"
"I'm not gay," Nino says.
"You're not gay, but there is this guy?"
Nino sighs. "I don't even know what I'm talking about."
Another silence. Nino wonders if he can just act like this was some huge joke because... really. What is he talking about? There is no guy. There isn't anyone else but Yumi. There hasn't been anyone else but Yumi for the last year and a half.
"You have one night, Kazunari."
Nino swallows. "What?"
"Figure out whatever you have to figure out." She hangs up.
---
"She's confident," Jun says.
"She's always confident."
"But she wouldn't be giving you carte blanche to do whatever the fuck you want if she didn't think you were coming back."
Because Nino doesn't know what the hell to do and Jun is possibly the only one who knows less about women than he does (and therefore less likely to laugh in his face), Nino called him.
"You have a point," Nino says.
"So you're actually going through with this?"
"Aren't you going to ask who it is?"
"That's your business."
"I had to hang up on Aiba because he wouldn't stop asking."
"And let me guess, you didn't call Sho because he'd just tell you that you're being a dick."
"Well I am being a dick."
"Glad you realize."
---
Nino is on Ohno’s doorstep. The stupidest place he could possibly be right now. The stupidest doorstep belonging to the stupidest guy Nino knows.
"I'm not gay," Nino says when Ohno answers.
"I know," Ohno says. "Come in."
No one is home and Nino wonders if it's by chance or by design.
"I don't even know what I'm doing here," Nino says.
"Do you want a beer?"
"Yumi said to come here," Nino says.
"Oh," Ohno says.
"She trusts me," Nino says.
"Oh?"
"I should seriously punch you in the face," Nino says.
Ohno takes a drink. They're sitting on opposite ends of the couch, one cushion between them.
---
Jun doesn't think they're going to do it, but Aiba does and he comes up with this ridiculous tale about how they're going to suddenly realize their feelings and perhaps ride off into the sunset in each other arms. The way Aiba describes it is silly, but it's not as if Jun dismissed the possibility of something happening. But wouldn't it have happened sooner? Isn't it too late now?
They're sitting at a restaurant slash bar and Sho was invited, but politely declined due to work. It was probably for the best as Jun was desperately trying to massage the vein rising in his temple and he can only imagine Sho stumbling and fumbling to direct the conversation somewhere else.
"Aiba..." Jun says. Because clearly Nino is having cold feet or a temporary moment of insanity. Yes, Nino is close to Ohno, but there is someone else involved. Someone who has spent the last six months planning a wedding.
"Ohno told me that he's in love with Nino," Aiba says, simply.
Jun feels his stomach drop.
"So I told him to speak now or forever hold his peace."
---
Maybe something more monumental is supposed to be happening here, but Ohno makes some sort of microwave dinner and they sit on the couch and flip channels on the TV before settling on some nature documentary. Nino isn't really watching it even though his eyes are glued to the screen.
He's always been good friends with Ohno precisely because they are so comfortable together. This, on the other hand, is the most uncomfortable night of Nino's life and he thinks if it had always been this way between them they would have never grown into as close of friends as they have. But sometimes things change and people drift apart. Nino knows he's started to see some of his married friends less just due to the the nature of their new life. But it won't be that way with Ohno or the other members. Just because of work, they see each other all the time.
They finish eating and Ohno takes their plates to the kitchen. Nino's about to politely excuse himself because... really what is he doing here? He could be at home making his own dinner watching his own TV...
"I'm not gay either," Ohno says.
Nino looks at him for a long time trying to formulate a reply. He takes a drink just to stall for time while he thinks about saying something like "then if you're not gay and I'm not gay and neither of us know what we're doing here--" but then Ohno speaks again.
"Which is why it's really weird that I'm in love with you," he says.
To Nino’s credit, he only chokes on his beer a little.
"Yeah, that was kind of my response too," he says.
Nino finishes the rest of his drink all at once and it's cold going down his throat. Then he sets the can down on the table.
---
There may have been a time when Nino wouldn't have thought this was so ridiculous. There maybe have been a couple of days after that time that they kissed in Ohno and Aiba's hotel room that Nino wondered what was going to happen next. But nothing happened. He stayed in his own hotel room that night and the night after that and then he didn't see Ohno for a week because of opposite schedules and then he met Yumi.
Yumi who he called again right after the first date and asked her out again. Then again and again until they just met every time he had a free day. He wondered if he was coming on too strong but she seemed to want to spend time with him too. And somewhere he started to really like her, then he started to love her.
Then she started to ask more about his job. Obviously she knew who he was and had seen him on TV before they even met. But she was more the type into rock music than Johnnys groups. He keeps his work and his personal life separate for as long as he can, but then the members want to meet her and she wants to meet them. She'd been watching some of their TV shows and the first thing she said to Ohno was that she was going to start getting jealous. Jokingly. Ohno laughed. Aiba chimed in with an "honestly we don't know what's with them either!"
And Nino forgot about that kiss for a very long time.
---
There is a long silence in Ohno's living room. The sound of the can that Nino set down on the table still buzzes in the air and that weird nature documentary is still in the background - bird sounds and some man talking in a really soothing voice about some horrible thing that's about to come and eat them.
Ohno's looking at the print on Nino's T-shirt, Nino can see him tracing the lines with his eyes. He's already said what he needed to say and now it's Nino's turn, but all Nino can think of to say is...
"You're an asshole."
Ohno's eyes meet his.
"Seriously what the fuck."
Ohno is strangely quiet like he's just waiting for Nino to finish or to really start yelling at him or to just say whatever it is inside of him that wants to come out. Nino really does want to hit him because he's... totally an asshole. Who waits until right before someone's wedding to say something like this?
"Don't think I don't remember that," he says, he's talking about that kiss in that hotel bed like Ohno is supposed to read his mind and know exactly what it is he’s referring to.
"Remember what?" Ohno asks, but it's tentative. Maybe he knows and doesn't know if they're remembering the same memory.
"Just... kiss me or something I don't know," Nino says.
Silence. Again.
Nino throws his arms in the air. "We have to start somewhere right?"
"I don't think you really want me to."
"I don't know what I want. Can we stop talking and just do it?"
"Isn't this weird?"
"Yes. It's weird. It's the weirdest day ever. Now shut up about it."
Ohno leans forward on the couch and gets really close until their faces are almost touching. He settles his hand on one of Nino's knee for balance. Nino feels like he can't breathe, this is too much to take in all at once. Ohno leans closer, their lips touch. He opens his mouth and Nino does too and it's a real, proper kiss. The same way he kisses Yumi. The same way he kissed Ohno that night.
Nino swallows. Ohno pulls away.
"I’m getting married,” Nino says, no louder than a whisper.
---
Nino really doesn't like to be taken by surprise. He supposes it's because he's such a magic enthusiast, but he always wants to be in control of the situation. Or maybe that's why he became a magic enthusiast in the first place.
Either way, if there is any sleight of hand, Nino wants it to be his. Or he wants to have his eye on it. He's almost painfully aware of all of the situations in his life, from the large matters to the small everyday ones.
Nino wins at three different games of cards. Ohno isn't trying hard enough to beat him or he isn't really paying attention. Or Nino just really knows his way around a deck of cards. He wonders which one of these is true.
What he does know is that he's relieved. Relieved that they can just hang out like this now that they've put that... whatever it was behind them. It was just that simple but with them it's always simple no matter what it is. That's why Ohno is his friend. His best man.
"I'm tired," Ohno says.
"I'll get bored if you go to sleep."
"You can play the Wii if you want," Ohno says, gesturing to the corner where the console and the games are stacked together.
Nino shrugs.
It's normal. It's a normal night. Feels a bit like they’re on tour and sharing a hotel room. Ohno’s going to sleep and Nino will play his DS for a while.
"I'm going to bed," Ohno says. “Are you going home?"
“Yeah." Nino shrugs again. “I’ll let myself out,” he says.
He should go home. He’s going home. Not watching Ohno disappear into his bedroom and wondering what it would be like if he followed him there.
“I hate you,” Nino says out loud. The silent room doesn’t respond.
---
Nino wakes up with his DS on his face. A problem, since he doesn’t even remember falling asleep. He rubs his jaw and accidentally kicks a cushion off of the sofa.
He opens up his phone and he’s half expecting to see a message from Yumi there. If he’s honest, that’s what he wants to see. Maybe that will snap him out of this.
A thought worms its way into his head. Maybe this was her way of breaking it off with him. Allowing your fiance to work out unresolved issues isn’t something people normally do, right? But then the next conclusion he can draw is that Ohno is an unresolved issue. It makes Nino groan. The timing is so bad. Everything about this is terrible.
“I’m kissing you this time,” Nino says, closing the door to Ohno’s bedroom behind him, louder than completely necessary.
Ohno appears to be sleeping, but he stirs easily when Nino speaks. Not sleeping that well, he thinks. Nino shoves him just to be sure.
“I’m kissing you because you do it all wrong,” Nino says.
Ohno looks up at him, then rubs his eyes with the back of his hand.
“What time is it?” he asks.
Nino rolls his eyes, but the gesture is lost in the darkness of the room. So he adds a long suffering sigh to it just because. Then he climbs on top of Ohno. Because that will get his attention if nothing else will.
“You kissed me and you did it all wrong,” Nino says.
“I did?” Ohno replies.
“Yes,” Nino says. “If you want me to have sex with you then you have to kiss me like you actually fucking mean it.”
He takes a deep breath. It’s now or never.
“Like this,” he says. He’s totally unsure of himself, but he bends down, closes his eyes, and demonstrates.
---
“Oh man,” Aiba says. “Oh man oh man.”
Nino answered Ohno’s phone. Maybe he shouldn’t have answered Ohno’s phone but it was going off right in his ear and instead of turning it off he accidentally answered it...
“Oh man I knew it!” Aiba says.
There is no point in fighting him, so Nino just hangs up. He’s going to tell Jun and Sho. They’re going to say whatever they’re going to say. Nino is too tired to deal with any of this right now.
“We didn’t have sex,” Ohno says, sleepily against Nino’s elbow. Nino’s not sure how they ended up quite in this position.
“Yeah,” Nino says. “I know.”
“Are you still going to get married?” Ohno asks.
“Shh,” Nino says. “Go back to sleep.”
Once Nino’s sure enough that Ohno is sleeping again, he squirms out from under Ohno’s arm and dials Yumi’s number in the next room.
---
The precise moment where Nino’s life stops making sense is when he’s sitting in Ohno’s room in the morning drinking a hot cup of coffee. Ohno’s swirling a spoon around in his cup and it’s making a clinking noise that weirdly resembles a windchime. None of this makes sense anyway, so Nino supposes it’s just as well.
A train goes by outside. Then another. Nino takes a sip, but it’s still too hot to drink.
Ohno isn’t looking at him. He’s finished stirring, has set his cup down the table and is hunched over his laptop.
Nino feels a little bit like he might throw up. But instead he says “I hate you” out loud, his voice rough and strained from sleep.
Ohno starts to turn around, but Nino cuts him off by throwing a pillow.
The precise moment when Nino’s life starts making sense again is the moment after it stops. He’s going to blame Ohno for that.
---
“--And then I called Ohno-kun this morning,” Aiba is saying to Sho when Nino walks in to work. It’s obvious Aiba’s just started right there for Nino’s benefit. Sho’s confused expression gives that away.
“Morning,” Jun says over the top of his magazine.
“Morning,” Nino says back with a nod.
“And Nino picked up his phone!” Aiba says, gleefully.
“Oh,” Sho says.
Aiba leans closer, waiting for Sho to get it. So close he nearly tips out of his chair.
“...Oh,” Sho says.
Nino flops down in his seat. “I’m not getting married,” he says.
It’s not that simple, Nino knows. Instead of planning a wedding, now Nino will have to cancel it. Yumi will move into the house and probably hate him for a while.
Or maybe she won’t because she’s Yumi and she knows she deserves more than someone who would spend the night with his best man.
The thought hasn’t had enough time to settle in yet. Nino’s already resigned himself to just drifting through the day.
“Oh,” Sho says, again.
Aiba’s expression now is kind of hilarious. So Nino can’t help but crack a smile.
---
All they did was kiss.
For a long time until they both fell asleep.
It was just a kiss, but there were stupid little fireworks going off under every inch of Nino’s skin. Just a kiss, but Nino memorized every second of it.
The weirdest day of his life, definitely by far.
He remembers turning them so they were both lying on their sides, arms tight around each other and he remembers that he meant to tell Ohno that he was an idiot for the fifteenth time that day but instead he said something that sounded suspiciously like “I love you” then shoving Ohno to the other side of the bed and wrapping himself in the cover because that was embarrassing.
Then he remembers Ohno wrapping around him and that’s the last he can recall.
Just a kiss. Just a stupid kiss.
He’s going to make sure to remind Ohno this is his fault every day for the rest of his life. Even if he has a feeling Ohno isn’t going to mind.
---
Six months later, he still hasn’t forgotten. Every day he tells Ohno he’s an idiot, just to remind him. Ohno smiles on cue just about every time. Which is a little annoying. But when it really gets to Nino he just kicks Ohno because he can.
“You’re welcome,” Aiba says, after he finds out that Ohno and Nino are actually dating now. Not just skirting around the issue like they did at first.
“Oh so you think this is your fault?” Nino asks him.
Aiba just beams. Nino’s already heard Aiba’s story. He already knows that Ohno told Aiba first. He’s already hit Ohno just for that a couple of times.
“But it’s okay right?” Aiba says, a little more sincerely this time.
It’s not like Nino is going to spell everything out for him. Not when it’s already not so easy to understand everything himself.
Nino shrugs. “Can’t be helped,” he says. He’s looking at Ohno from across the room. Maybe his look lingers a little too long and Aiba coos. Nino elbows him.
But it’s alright like this, he thinks. Even if things didn’t work out the way he thought they would, they probably worked out the way they were supposed to. That’s sounds too much like something Sho would say so Nino shakes his head in an attempt to dislodge the thought.
“Ready?” Ohno asks him. It takes a minute for Nino to register what he means. That it’s the end of the day and it’s time to leave. And they usually leave together so Ohno wants to know if he’s ready to go.
“Yeah, sure,” Nino says. Maybe he’s not ready for all of this. But a little at a time, he thinks, as Ohno holds out his hand and Nino slips his inside.