Arashi - Duet - Ohno/Nino
Title: Duet
Fandom: Arashi
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Ohno/Nino
Disclaimer: Nino has trouble writing his new solo until he gets a little help.
Notes: This is written for my lovely araanaz9. ♥ Happy Birthday Bunny <33333 Sorry it's a little late! <3
Nino pushes Ohno up against the wall of the rehearsal room. A desperate kiss. Less kiss, more desperate, if anyone is keeping score. Which Nino isn’t and he’s pretty sure Ohno isn’t worried about any details like that right now either, not with the way he’s gasping against Nino’s lips.
“Yeah?” Nino asks.
“Yeah,” Ohno says.
The rehearsal room is empty, though there are still some staff left in the building. Not anyone who would wander in here. Especially after Nino flipped the switch that turns on the red light in the hallway because they’re busy in here.
It’s the second time Nino has kissed Ohno. The second time he’s even felt like he was allowed to kiss him like this. And since it happens so rarely, he feels a little like he has to give it his all when he does. Pressing Ohno hard against the wall, moving their bodies together like he has nothing to lose.
But it never goes further than that, and he’s never sure who is the one keeping it from getting there. There is a point where they separate, Nino moves back, licking his lips and moving his fingers from Ohno’s shoulders where he’s left small indentations in the fabric of Ohno’s T-shirt.
He takes a deep breath. He’s turned on, but he won’t do anything about it. That would just be weird, right? The first time he wanted to race to the studio bathroom, but this time he’s okay, a few deep breaths, some coffee, a cold shower maybe.
“You taking a cab?” Nino asks.
“Train’s still running,” Ohno mumbles, sweeping the back of his hand across his lips.
“Why do you do that?” Nino laughs.
Ohno shrugs. “No one even knows I’m there.”
---
That’s the thing about Ohno. No one knows he’s there until he’s already invaded your space.
“Why do I even have fans?” he laughs to himself, looking in the mirror as the hair stylist applies the finishing touches.
She shrugs. “You’re easy to like,” she says with a grin.
Ohno looks into the mirror and Jun looks at him from the opposite chair, his reflection.
“You’re cute,” he says loudly.
“Don’t encourage him!” Nino says. He’s tempted to go and ruffle Ohno’s hair just because the stylist has set it so perfectly. But he figures it’s not worth getting a smack from her. She’s strong.
Jun keeps looking at Ohno’s reflection and Ohno winks at him.
When Nino gives in and tries to ruffle his hair, the stylist catches his hand before it gets too close.
“Don’t even think about it,” she says.
“Dammit,” Nino says. “Well, you can’t protect him when he’s out of your chair.”
She gives him a look.
But Nino is mostly good today. On the variety set, he keeps to himself. They’re filming some back to back episodes today because next week they’re starting production on the new album.
Nino’s playing a piano solo, some kind of love song that he’s only half written and without thinking about it too much. Sometimes he writes about people he knows and sometimes he doesn’t. This time it’s just a general feeling. What would it be like if you loved someone but the timing was all wrong? What would you do if the timing worked out but the relationship wasn’t what you thought it would be?
After filming, Nino is taken back to the main office for a meeting. When that’s finished he finds himself at the other side of midnight, tired but it almost feels too tiring to go home. So he goes to the studio again to mess around on the piano. It starts out as his solo, but turns into something else along the way. Notes reaching into places they aren’t supposed to go. It sounds terrible, probably, but it feels therapeutic. Then he’s thinking about kissing Ohno again and the song dissolves into nothing.
---
Jun saw them kissing once. Aiba almost saw them, but Jun cut him off at the pass under the guise of taking Aiba out to lunch and collecting Sho along the way. They go out of the studio to a cafe downstairs that’s mainly frequented by industry people so they don’t have to worry about privacy.
He’s not totally sure why he does it, to protect them or to give them a little time. It’s dangerous to do that in the daytime when the office is buzzing with people and anyone can see, but he supposes they’ve always both been like that. One part brazen, two parts just not really paying attention.
If he sees it again, though, he’s going to talk to Nino about his unprofessionalism. Nino can’t see or hear him right now (at least he thinks Nino hasn’t yet reached the point of mind reading), but Jun hope somewhere, somehow he knows that he’s getting one free pass.
---
Just before the concerts begin is always the busiest time. Rehearsals, costume fitting, choreography. Before long, Nino’s head is spinning with all of it. The only down time he has is when he’s working on his solo. It feels nice to just sit at the piano, but it’s not as if he can just do it freely. It’s work and he has a deadline.
He hasn’t exactly finished writing it, still in the process of putting the final pieces together, but it feels like it’s getting there, little by little. Then when he’s finally got it all down, it all goes wrong.
He doesn’t know exactly how or when it happens, but somehow he just loses it. It’s only the first week of recording and already he’s lost the melody, the lyrics. The manager comes in to check in with them. He’s not interested in hearing Nino’s solo so much as he’s interested in beginning to sketch out some basic staging for the concerts. It’s the last thing Nino can consider when he’s not even really able to play his solo one time through. But he mutters a “put me anywhere” which isn’t so different from what he usually mutters.
The guy nods and scribbles out a vague plan. Nino will need the piano, so it’s probably better if he’s on the main stage. Everything he says washes right over Nino because at this point, now, he doesn’t even have a song.
---
“I need you to kiss me,” Nino says. He thinks it’ll be awkward to just ask, but it ends up being alright when Ohno just shrugs and leans in.
“Wait!” Nino says.
“Yeah?”
“I mean don’t just do it... like...” Nino says. Gesturing at the piano at first, which is a little weird, then just gesturing at Ohno.
“Huh?”
“Just do it,” Nino grumbles.
And Ohno resumes what he was about to do before, leaning in, which is helpful for many, many reasons. Nino’s never going to say out loud that he can think more clearly with Ohno’s lips on his, but that’s just how it is, whether he can understand it or not.
He lets Ohno kiss him until it’s time to pull away.
“Are you going to play that song again?” Ohno asks.
“Yeah,” Nino says, determined.
---
The problem is, it doesn’t get better. It’s two weeks before the recording is going to wrap and Nino can’t play his song all the way through. It’s to the point where his manager is suggesting just doing an entirely different song. It can be something simple, one where he just stands with a mic stand and doesn’t play any instrument at all. Someone can write one for him and it can be ready in a couple of days.
Nino starts to say no, but wonders if he should say yes. Then wonders if he should ask Ohno to kiss him again and keep kissing him until he has everything figured out.
“You have until the end of today to decide,” the manager tells him.
Nino nods.
---
Ohno’s already at home now and Nino’s the last one left behind in the office. He hasn’t told the manager his decision and the windows are tinted the shade of evening already. He calls Ohno because that’s all he can even think of to do.
“I can’t finish my song,” he says when Ohno answers, even before Ohno’s had a chance to say hello.
“Yeah?” Ohno asks.
“Yeah.”
“I can’t kiss you now,” Ohno says. “I’m at home.”
“Yeah I know,” Nino says. “Why do you let me do that?”
Nino can almost hear him shrug.
“I don’t know,” he says. “It feels nice and you smell good so it’s okay if you want to.”
“Do you like it?” he asks. “Does it do anything for you?”
“Like what?”
“Do you think about it when I’m not doing it?”
“Sometimes,” Ohno says.
Check, Nino thinks, something coming off of a mental checklist. One he hasn’t even really finished yet. Another thing he hasn’t finished yet. It’s all half formed thoughts and ideas culminating into a big, intangible, unfinished thing.
“What if...” Nino says, swallowing before he can get the words out. “What if we did more...”
“More?”
“More.”
“More,” Ohno repeats. “More than kissing?”
“More than kissing.”
“You can come over if you want.”
Nino throws on his jacket and sends a quick text to the manager saying I don’t need another song, but thanks.
---
“Okay,” Nino says, face to face with Ohno. “So listen.”
“Do you want to come inside first?” Ohno asks.
Nino looks down at his shoes, back up at Ohno, they’re still in the entrance. He kicks them off and steps inside.
Ohno nearly makes a move to turn around and walk further in, but Nino grabs him on his way. “Listen,” he says, holding Ohno by the shoulders. “It’s just this once,” he says. “Just this once and then I’ll finish my song and we don’t have to ever do or talk about it ever again okay?”
“Sure,” Ohno says.
“Okay good.”
“So what are we going to do?”
This is the hard part, because Nino hadn’t really thought that far in a very coherent way.
“Let’s just start like usual,” he says, leaning in and Ohno finishes the motion by coming in to meet him. They’re kissing and it’s natural and Nino starts thinking about the song because that’s what he does when they kiss.
It’s a song about love where the timing is off. Or it’s about the timing being right and it’s not something you expected it to be.
Nino moves their bodies close together and Ohno follows his lead. It’s easy, he thinks, too easy.
Maybe it could be a song about it being easier than you expect. It’s a love song, he thinks, like the ones he’s written about ex-girlfriends in the past, or ones he’s written about no one in particular.
Ohno takes the lead and moves his hand down between Nino’s legs. He doesn’t expect it at first, so he doesn’t expect the gasp that escapes his lips when it happens.
It’s not too late to change it. It could be a song about...
Nino opens his eyes. Ohno is kissing the side of his neck and doing something really amazing with his hand between Nino’s legs. He’s panting and gasping for air and he opens his eyes and notices the way everything is cluttered around Ohno’s apartment. His art supplies, a stack of magazines that look like maybe they were trying to be fanned out but have become an awkward pile instead, a pair of socks slung over the side of the sofa and a thick book called “The Art of Fishing.”
He closes his eyes. Got it, he thinks, then he reaches down to return the favor.
---
The song ends up being different than he planned, but it goes over well when he runs it by the manager. It’s approved for the album and the concerts.
That’s it, he thinks, and washes his hands of it for now. There’s a lot to do in preparation for the tour. Choreography, costume fitting, staging, endless meetings. On top of the regular schedule and the regular ridiculous hours he keeps.
He told Ohno it would be the last time, but he doesn’t have a chance to even think about if he meant it or not because he hardly sees Ohno in the coming weeks anyway. He lays down the vocal track with a studio musician playing the piano for him. It feels weird and disconnected that way, but he doesn’t think he could play it without Ohno there anyway and that’s not something he can exactly request.
By the time it gets to the night before the first concert of the tour, Nino is in the state he’s usually in. He’s tired, that’s for sure, but he’s not worried. Jun is buzzing around worrying about the final touches even more than the staff while Sho makes notes of the exact staging and Aiba reads a comic book in the bleachers because he’s been working so hard he’s in the stages of energy conservation.
Ohno is hauled past him a couple of times, staff working on the staging and pulling him around in tow. They don’t even have a chance to meet eyes and even that is making Nino feel a little on edge.
---
The first night there are always a few problems here and there. It happens that way. A missed cue or a monitor that doesn’t work correctly.
The worst if it, though, is the way that Nino can’t remember any of the words to his solo when he gets up and takes his place behind the piano. The notes roll off of his fingertips, but the words don’t and he ends up singing some la la la’s and asking the audience to join in.
“What happened out there?” Jun asks when he gets off the stage. He could leave Nino alone, and maybe should leave Nino alone, but he also always seems to know when Nino really does need someone to pull something out of him.
“Nothing,” Nino says. By which he means something. Something in the shape of Ohno Satoshi who has been both too present and not present enough in his life. He wants to kiss him right now, or just tell him never to kiss him again. The latter of which he’s already done and Ohno complied with, but maybe Nino wanted him to protest a little. Just a little.
“Get back together with him,” Jun says under his breath. “If you don’t I’m going to kick you behind the knees.”
Nino smirks. “You’re not supposed to tell me you’ll kick me behind the knees, you’re supposed to do it when I’m not expecting it.” Then he swoops away because Jun really starts to take a swipe at him.
“I’m not kidding,” Jun says, with a sharp grin.
Nino sighs, changing into his next costume and taking to the stage.
---
They’re in Tokyo so there is no need to stay in a hotel. He gets a ride to his apartment because the staff take all of them home directly when they’re in Tokyo, the safest and simplest way to travel.
He opens up a beer and sits at the piano, his fingers hovering over the notes to his song without playing it. He hums the words, then sings them. This time he can remember them, luckily for him since no one is here to assist him with la la la’s.
It’s not a love song. It’s a song about being comfortable in your skin no matter what that’s like. That doing things your own way is the only way. The only you.
I asked them to bring me here, comes a message on Nino’s phone, interrupting his lyrics.
Then he’s standing up and opening the door for Ohno who comes silently inside.
He sits down at the piano and Ohno sits there with him. First he hovers his hands over the keys, then he lowers them onto the notes, soft at first, then a little stronger. He doesn’t sing the words, but hums the melody. He feels a weight on his shoulder, Ohno’s head resting there, and when he looks over Ohno’s eyes are closed.
“Don’t fall asleep on me old man,” Nino says.
“M’not,” Ohno says.
“Sure,” Nino grins. He finishes up the song, then his fingers linger on the last notes.
“I like it,” Ohno says after the last echo of the last note leaves the room.
Nino plunks out a few sour notes and Ohno laughs.
“Jun told me to come here,” Ohno says. “He said I make you better.”
Nino laughs. “Better than what?”
Ohno reaches up and presses a couple of keys, but he doesn’t really know what he’s playing and starts to take his hand away. Nino moves his hand on top of Ohno’s on the keys and they play a few notes together. Half a scale and a chord.
Nino kisses the side of Ohno’s head and smiles.
“I’m going to put corn soup in his shoes,” he says.
---
The rest of the tour, he doesn’t forget the words. He doesn’t forget the melody or the the rhythm or anything else at all. He can play the song with his eyes closed, open, even one handed in parts.
He doesn’t forget anything about the song, but he does forget, just once, that maybe kissing Ohno backstage isn’t the best idea in the world because there are people around and even a stolen kiss in a corner can’t always be a secret when there are so many people around.
But he does need it. It’s like his battery, he laughs, thinking maybe that’s why Ohno always seems so sleepy, keeping him charged.
“What?” Ohno asks.
“Nothing,” Nino says, still chuckling to himself.
Jun clears his throat loudly, which just makes Nino chuckle a little more.
“Enough,” Jun says, sternly.
“Shut up,” Nino says. But what he really means is thank you and he thinks Jun gets it by the way he nods.
Then he turns and gives Ohno a quick peck before he pulls away. There’s time for this later tonight, tomorrow and possibly every single day after that.
Fandom: Arashi
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Ohno/Nino
Disclaimer: Nino has trouble writing his new solo until he gets a little help.
Notes: This is written for my lovely araanaz9. ♥ Happy Birthday Bunny <33333 Sorry it's a little late! <3
Nino pushes Ohno up against the wall of the rehearsal room. A desperate kiss. Less kiss, more desperate, if anyone is keeping score. Which Nino isn’t and he’s pretty sure Ohno isn’t worried about any details like that right now either, not with the way he’s gasping against Nino’s lips.
“Yeah?” Nino asks.
“Yeah,” Ohno says.
The rehearsal room is empty, though there are still some staff left in the building. Not anyone who would wander in here. Especially after Nino flipped the switch that turns on the red light in the hallway because they’re busy in here.
It’s the second time Nino has kissed Ohno. The second time he’s even felt like he was allowed to kiss him like this. And since it happens so rarely, he feels a little like he has to give it his all when he does. Pressing Ohno hard against the wall, moving their bodies together like he has nothing to lose.
But it never goes further than that, and he’s never sure who is the one keeping it from getting there. There is a point where they separate, Nino moves back, licking his lips and moving his fingers from Ohno’s shoulders where he’s left small indentations in the fabric of Ohno’s T-shirt.
He takes a deep breath. He’s turned on, but he won’t do anything about it. That would just be weird, right? The first time he wanted to race to the studio bathroom, but this time he’s okay, a few deep breaths, some coffee, a cold shower maybe.
“You taking a cab?” Nino asks.
“Train’s still running,” Ohno mumbles, sweeping the back of his hand across his lips.
“Why do you do that?” Nino laughs.
Ohno shrugs. “No one even knows I’m there.”
---
That’s the thing about Ohno. No one knows he’s there until he’s already invaded your space.
“Why do I even have fans?” he laughs to himself, looking in the mirror as the hair stylist applies the finishing touches.
She shrugs. “You’re easy to like,” she says with a grin.
Ohno looks into the mirror and Jun looks at him from the opposite chair, his reflection.
“You’re cute,” he says loudly.
“Don’t encourage him!” Nino says. He’s tempted to go and ruffle Ohno’s hair just because the stylist has set it so perfectly. But he figures it’s not worth getting a smack from her. She’s strong.
Jun keeps looking at Ohno’s reflection and Ohno winks at him.
When Nino gives in and tries to ruffle his hair, the stylist catches his hand before it gets too close.
“Don’t even think about it,” she says.
“Dammit,” Nino says. “Well, you can’t protect him when he’s out of your chair.”
She gives him a look.
But Nino is mostly good today. On the variety set, he keeps to himself. They’re filming some back to back episodes today because next week they’re starting production on the new album.
Nino’s playing a piano solo, some kind of love song that he’s only half written and without thinking about it too much. Sometimes he writes about people he knows and sometimes he doesn’t. This time it’s just a general feeling. What would it be like if you loved someone but the timing was all wrong? What would you do if the timing worked out but the relationship wasn’t what you thought it would be?
After filming, Nino is taken back to the main office for a meeting. When that’s finished he finds himself at the other side of midnight, tired but it almost feels too tiring to go home. So he goes to the studio again to mess around on the piano. It starts out as his solo, but turns into something else along the way. Notes reaching into places they aren’t supposed to go. It sounds terrible, probably, but it feels therapeutic. Then he’s thinking about kissing Ohno again and the song dissolves into nothing.
---
Jun saw them kissing once. Aiba almost saw them, but Jun cut him off at the pass under the guise of taking Aiba out to lunch and collecting Sho along the way. They go out of the studio to a cafe downstairs that’s mainly frequented by industry people so they don’t have to worry about privacy.
He’s not totally sure why he does it, to protect them or to give them a little time. It’s dangerous to do that in the daytime when the office is buzzing with people and anyone can see, but he supposes they’ve always both been like that. One part brazen, two parts just not really paying attention.
If he sees it again, though, he’s going to talk to Nino about his unprofessionalism. Nino can’t see or hear him right now (at least he thinks Nino hasn’t yet reached the point of mind reading), but Jun hope somewhere, somehow he knows that he’s getting one free pass.
---
Just before the concerts begin is always the busiest time. Rehearsals, costume fitting, choreography. Before long, Nino’s head is spinning with all of it. The only down time he has is when he’s working on his solo. It feels nice to just sit at the piano, but it’s not as if he can just do it freely. It’s work and he has a deadline.
He hasn’t exactly finished writing it, still in the process of putting the final pieces together, but it feels like it’s getting there, little by little. Then when he’s finally got it all down, it all goes wrong.
He doesn’t know exactly how or when it happens, but somehow he just loses it. It’s only the first week of recording and already he’s lost the melody, the lyrics. The manager comes in to check in with them. He’s not interested in hearing Nino’s solo so much as he’s interested in beginning to sketch out some basic staging for the concerts. It’s the last thing Nino can consider when he’s not even really able to play his solo one time through. But he mutters a “put me anywhere” which isn’t so different from what he usually mutters.
The guy nods and scribbles out a vague plan. Nino will need the piano, so it’s probably better if he’s on the main stage. Everything he says washes right over Nino because at this point, now, he doesn’t even have a song.
---
“I need you to kiss me,” Nino says. He thinks it’ll be awkward to just ask, but it ends up being alright when Ohno just shrugs and leans in.
“Wait!” Nino says.
“Yeah?”
“I mean don’t just do it... like...” Nino says. Gesturing at the piano at first, which is a little weird, then just gesturing at Ohno.
“Huh?”
“Just do it,” Nino grumbles.
And Ohno resumes what he was about to do before, leaning in, which is helpful for many, many reasons. Nino’s never going to say out loud that he can think more clearly with Ohno’s lips on his, but that’s just how it is, whether he can understand it or not.
He lets Ohno kiss him until it’s time to pull away.
“Are you going to play that song again?” Ohno asks.
“Yeah,” Nino says, determined.
---
The problem is, it doesn’t get better. It’s two weeks before the recording is going to wrap and Nino can’t play his song all the way through. It’s to the point where his manager is suggesting just doing an entirely different song. It can be something simple, one where he just stands with a mic stand and doesn’t play any instrument at all. Someone can write one for him and it can be ready in a couple of days.
Nino starts to say no, but wonders if he should say yes. Then wonders if he should ask Ohno to kiss him again and keep kissing him until he has everything figured out.
“You have until the end of today to decide,” the manager tells him.
Nino nods.
---
Ohno’s already at home now and Nino’s the last one left behind in the office. He hasn’t told the manager his decision and the windows are tinted the shade of evening already. He calls Ohno because that’s all he can even think of to do.
“I can’t finish my song,” he says when Ohno answers, even before Ohno’s had a chance to say hello.
“Yeah?” Ohno asks.
“Yeah.”
“I can’t kiss you now,” Ohno says. “I’m at home.”
“Yeah I know,” Nino says. “Why do you let me do that?”
Nino can almost hear him shrug.
“I don’t know,” he says. “It feels nice and you smell good so it’s okay if you want to.”
“Do you like it?” he asks. “Does it do anything for you?”
“Like what?”
“Do you think about it when I’m not doing it?”
“Sometimes,” Ohno says.
Check, Nino thinks, something coming off of a mental checklist. One he hasn’t even really finished yet. Another thing he hasn’t finished yet. It’s all half formed thoughts and ideas culminating into a big, intangible, unfinished thing.
“What if...” Nino says, swallowing before he can get the words out. “What if we did more...”
“More?”
“More.”
“More,” Ohno repeats. “More than kissing?”
“More than kissing.”
“You can come over if you want.”
Nino throws on his jacket and sends a quick text to the manager saying I don’t need another song, but thanks.
---
“Okay,” Nino says, face to face with Ohno. “So listen.”
“Do you want to come inside first?” Ohno asks.
Nino looks down at his shoes, back up at Ohno, they’re still in the entrance. He kicks them off and steps inside.
Ohno nearly makes a move to turn around and walk further in, but Nino grabs him on his way. “Listen,” he says, holding Ohno by the shoulders. “It’s just this once,” he says. “Just this once and then I’ll finish my song and we don’t have to ever do or talk about it ever again okay?”
“Sure,” Ohno says.
“Okay good.”
“So what are we going to do?”
This is the hard part, because Nino hadn’t really thought that far in a very coherent way.
“Let’s just start like usual,” he says, leaning in and Ohno finishes the motion by coming in to meet him. They’re kissing and it’s natural and Nino starts thinking about the song because that’s what he does when they kiss.
It’s a song about love where the timing is off. Or it’s about the timing being right and it’s not something you expected it to be.
Nino moves their bodies close together and Ohno follows his lead. It’s easy, he thinks, too easy.
Maybe it could be a song about it being easier than you expect. It’s a love song, he thinks, like the ones he’s written about ex-girlfriends in the past, or ones he’s written about no one in particular.
Ohno takes the lead and moves his hand down between Nino’s legs. He doesn’t expect it at first, so he doesn’t expect the gasp that escapes his lips when it happens.
It’s not too late to change it. It could be a song about...
Nino opens his eyes. Ohno is kissing the side of his neck and doing something really amazing with his hand between Nino’s legs. He’s panting and gasping for air and he opens his eyes and notices the way everything is cluttered around Ohno’s apartment. His art supplies, a stack of magazines that look like maybe they were trying to be fanned out but have become an awkward pile instead, a pair of socks slung over the side of the sofa and a thick book called “The Art of Fishing.”
He closes his eyes. Got it, he thinks, then he reaches down to return the favor.
---
The song ends up being different than he planned, but it goes over well when he runs it by the manager. It’s approved for the album and the concerts.
That’s it, he thinks, and washes his hands of it for now. There’s a lot to do in preparation for the tour. Choreography, costume fitting, staging, endless meetings. On top of the regular schedule and the regular ridiculous hours he keeps.
He told Ohno it would be the last time, but he doesn’t have a chance to even think about if he meant it or not because he hardly sees Ohno in the coming weeks anyway. He lays down the vocal track with a studio musician playing the piano for him. It feels weird and disconnected that way, but he doesn’t think he could play it without Ohno there anyway and that’s not something he can exactly request.
By the time it gets to the night before the first concert of the tour, Nino is in the state he’s usually in. He’s tired, that’s for sure, but he’s not worried. Jun is buzzing around worrying about the final touches even more than the staff while Sho makes notes of the exact staging and Aiba reads a comic book in the bleachers because he’s been working so hard he’s in the stages of energy conservation.
Ohno is hauled past him a couple of times, staff working on the staging and pulling him around in tow. They don’t even have a chance to meet eyes and even that is making Nino feel a little on edge.
---
The first night there are always a few problems here and there. It happens that way. A missed cue or a monitor that doesn’t work correctly.
The worst if it, though, is the way that Nino can’t remember any of the words to his solo when he gets up and takes his place behind the piano. The notes roll off of his fingertips, but the words don’t and he ends up singing some la la la’s and asking the audience to join in.
“What happened out there?” Jun asks when he gets off the stage. He could leave Nino alone, and maybe should leave Nino alone, but he also always seems to know when Nino really does need someone to pull something out of him.
“Nothing,” Nino says. By which he means something. Something in the shape of Ohno Satoshi who has been both too present and not present enough in his life. He wants to kiss him right now, or just tell him never to kiss him again. The latter of which he’s already done and Ohno complied with, but maybe Nino wanted him to protest a little. Just a little.
“Get back together with him,” Jun says under his breath. “If you don’t I’m going to kick you behind the knees.”
Nino smirks. “You’re not supposed to tell me you’ll kick me behind the knees, you’re supposed to do it when I’m not expecting it.” Then he swoops away because Jun really starts to take a swipe at him.
“I’m not kidding,” Jun says, with a sharp grin.
Nino sighs, changing into his next costume and taking to the stage.
---
They’re in Tokyo so there is no need to stay in a hotel. He gets a ride to his apartment because the staff take all of them home directly when they’re in Tokyo, the safest and simplest way to travel.
He opens up a beer and sits at the piano, his fingers hovering over the notes to his song without playing it. He hums the words, then sings them. This time he can remember them, luckily for him since no one is here to assist him with la la la’s.
It’s not a love song. It’s a song about being comfortable in your skin no matter what that’s like. That doing things your own way is the only way. The only you.
I asked them to bring me here, comes a message on Nino’s phone, interrupting his lyrics.
Then he’s standing up and opening the door for Ohno who comes silently inside.
He sits down at the piano and Ohno sits there with him. First he hovers his hands over the keys, then he lowers them onto the notes, soft at first, then a little stronger. He doesn’t sing the words, but hums the melody. He feels a weight on his shoulder, Ohno’s head resting there, and when he looks over Ohno’s eyes are closed.
“Don’t fall asleep on me old man,” Nino says.
“M’not,” Ohno says.
“Sure,” Nino grins. He finishes up the song, then his fingers linger on the last notes.
“I like it,” Ohno says after the last echo of the last note leaves the room.
Nino plunks out a few sour notes and Ohno laughs.
“Jun told me to come here,” Ohno says. “He said I make you better.”
Nino laughs. “Better than what?”
Ohno reaches up and presses a couple of keys, but he doesn’t really know what he’s playing and starts to take his hand away. Nino moves his hand on top of Ohno’s on the keys and they play a few notes together. Half a scale and a chord.
Nino kisses the side of Ohno’s head and smiles.
“I’m going to put corn soup in his shoes,” he says.
---
The rest of the tour, he doesn’t forget the words. He doesn’t forget the melody or the the rhythm or anything else at all. He can play the song with his eyes closed, open, even one handed in parts.
He doesn’t forget anything about the song, but he does forget, just once, that maybe kissing Ohno backstage isn’t the best idea in the world because there are people around and even a stolen kiss in a corner can’t always be a secret when there are so many people around.
But he does need it. It’s like his battery, he laughs, thinking maybe that’s why Ohno always seems so sleepy, keeping him charged.
“What?” Ohno asks.
“Nothing,” Nino says, still chuckling to himself.
Jun clears his throat loudly, which just makes Nino chuckle a little more.
“Enough,” Jun says, sternly.
“Shut up,” Nino says. But what he really means is thank you and he thinks Jun gets it by the way he nods.
Then he turns and gives Ohno a quick peck before he pulls away. There’s time for this later tonight, tomorrow and possibly every single day after that.