Nattergal 12/16
Title: Nattergal
Pairing(s): Ohno/Sho
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nope
Word count: 1,632
Summary: AU. Forced to marry against their wills, Sho and Ohno embark on a journey to salvage the rest of their lives and their life together.
Authors' notes: Finally, that's all I can say. Thank you so much for keeping up with this ♥
*
Ohno’s friend arrives at midday.
He is smaller than Sho, like Ohno is.
Ohno is comfortable in his presence, shoulders bearing none of the tautness and fear of their secret objectives. When their eyes meet each other’s for the first time, their beams are wholly blinding, and bigger than both their faces put together.
Ohno calls him Machida with a straightforward, gentle voice that Sho has never heard him use. He cannot comprehend the sudden emotion that wells up in a huge tidal wave in his heart and threatens to bowl him over completely.
“Sho, this is Machida. He is to me, what Nino is to you. We’ve known each other - since we were born.”
“- since we were three -” Machida’s words overlaps Ohno’s. Ohno’s eyes are wide with bottled mirth.
“Since we were born! I remember -” Ohno insists. Machida is laughing silently. Sho watches them lose themselves in an island he is not invited to. His heart tangles.
“Since we were three. Remember that time, I stole your ball because you were too quiet- ” Machida taps a finger on his temple. Ohno’s brows squish together above his eyes.
“I don’t rememb -”
“You never remember! And how would you remember us meeting when we were babies if you don’t remember what happened when we were three?” Ohno doesn’t pull away when Machida slings an arm around his shoulders.
Sho makes what he hopes is a neutral sound at the base of his throat and before leaving the room, says something vague about looking for Nino.
Sho is not even sure they hear him.
*
Nino is outside the door, smirking that all-knowing smirk of his.
“Jeeeeeealous,” he sings. “I can tell, you know. It’s the same as when you lie - your eyes redden and twitch. Rather comical.”
Sho crosses his arms across his chest. He knows he is behaving like a young girl. If it were three weeks before, Sho would have felt the white-hot anger racing through his body, spurred on by his heart or he would have simply not cared. But now, all he feels is a shaky sense of uncertainty that has uprooted everything he believes in and tossed them around an unbridled storm.
“I’m - not jealous. What is he to me?” Already, he feels his ears heat up uncontrollably.
“Lying, and jealous at the same time. What a shady condition,” Nino snickers at his own pun.
When Sho doesn’t reply, Nino gives him a one-armed hug.
“Aw, they’re just friends. Ohno-san doesn’t look at him the same way he looks at you. You just shared a bed with him yesterday, didn’t you? Faith!” Sho squeezes Nino’s arm and Nino steps back before anyone can pass them by in the corridor.
Sho feels better.
*
Ohno, Sho learns, has not met Machida for more than two years. They had only been keeping contact with each other through holograms and written messages since Ohno took up his father’s trade seriously.
Machida, Sho learns, works in the government library, learning his father’s trade. Machida pulls a small stack of documents from a sachet that Sho didn’t realize he was carrying.
“This was all I could find and was able to copy. But they should hold all that you need.” He half-bows, slightly apologetic. Ohno pats him on the back and whispers into his ear. Machida laughs a small, crescent-eyed chuckle.
“I’ll leave you two to catch up, I’ll - go read through all these,” Sho takes the documents from Machida and dips his head, dismissing himself. The uncertainty swallows him whole, engulfs him mercilessly.
He hears hurried footsteps behind him as he leaves the room. Ohno catches him by the elbow. Sho looks past his shoulder and sees Machida, brows knotted in concern.
Ohno follows his gaze and he closes the door behind him, backing Sho against the wall by his upper arms. The hallway is dim and Sho is grateful for that. He is sure that Ohno can feel the heat from his cheeks, and he clutches the stack of documents protectively against his chest. He isn’t sure whether it is the documents or himself he is trying to protect.
Sho can feel Ohno’s breath on his chin before hands closes around the stack of papers, gently prying them from his tight hold. Ohno sets them down to the floor, rising again and looking up at Sho.
He doesn’t dare breathe too loud, but his erratic heartbeat is betraying him, loud and fast and furious against his ribcage.
“Sho,” Ohno says and Sho shivers. He is sure that his name has never sounded like this, sultry, spoken as if he is wanted. The gap between them - not the physical one, because they have never been closer than now - is closing; he can almost taste it.
Ohno’s fingers reach upwards and curl at the back of his neck, pulling ever so gently, and the pads of Ohno’s fingers stroke at the skin of his nape and Sho knows. He is the sole center of Ohno’s attention and he likes it.
He breathes in just before his mouth meets Ohno’s (or Ohno’s meets his) and he doesn’t think at all, he doesn’t move, he is just frozen, and not until Ohno presses against him, coaxing, does he move.
Ohno sighs into his lips, canting his head, and Sho gives up. He gives up pretending that he doesn’t care. They have come too far for that, and he relaxes, leans back and lets his hands grasp at Ohno’s shoulders. Ohno is gently insistent, nudging at his lips and they move together with something Sho could mistake for familiarity.
Later if anyone would ask Sho how long they stood there, he can’t answer. All he knows is that Ohno is strong and steady and offering him more than what he feels he deserves.
Sho never considers turning it down.
When Ohno breaks away for air, Sho shifts closer, letting his hands skim over the sharp contours of Ohno’s back, and he is overwhelmed with affection.
Ohno breathes a chuckle into his neck, tightening his grip on Sho’s nape.
“Satoshi,” he whispers and would probably have said something more, but the door behind them opens and Sho looks up. He can’t move away, though, because Ohno’s grip squeezes.
“Oh, sorry,” Machida grins and ducks away, closing the door.
Ohno uses the distracted moment to place a line of feathery kisses on Sho’s jaw before he steps away. Sho has reached for his elbow before he can move too far.
He supposes he shouldn’t have been surprised that Ohno knew.
*
Sho is writing down everything he can, trying to draw the correct conclusions and make the right connections. He feels like they are finally going somewhere.
He doesn’t know what kind of favors Ohno had done for Machida in order for Ohno to be able to ask this of him, and he is not sure he wants to know, either, but he is grateful. He wouldn’t have been able to do this if it hadn’t been for Ohno.
He is contemplating this (and also thinking of where Ohno is) when Nino enters the room, grinning a bit.
“You have visitors,” Nino grins, but when he makes to open the door further, Sho stiffens.
These are Ohno’s personal quarters, it wouldn’t be appropriate to -
“He already said it’s okay,” Nino assures him. Sho sometimes forgets how well Nino reads him.
The door opens properly and Aiba barrels in, followed by a more reasonably paced Jun. Aiba practically tackles him.
Jun is more tactful in his approach and concern. “We heard,” he says, no further elaborations needed, and then he frowns. “How are you?”
Sho thinks of endless hours spent on reading, writing, tearing his hair out. He thinks of tender encouragement, warmth and endless support he hadn’t realized had been his all along. He thinks of dim hallways and cool walls, warm fingers and soft lips. He feels ready to go into battle.
He decides on; “It could’ve been worse.”
Around his neck, Aiba clings and breathes. “We’ve been so worried.”
Sho feels no shame at all as he says, “Satoshi takes care of me.”
A smile curls around Jun’s lips. “So we heard.”
Sho shoots Nino a glare, but he doesn’t really feel it. He feels stable, he feels more relaxed than he has in a very long time. He suspects that he knows why, and if he isn’t grossly mistaken, then Nino will gladly pass the message to everyone in the household.
And to make matters even more awkward, Ohno steps into the room.
Sho rises on instinct, stepping up to him.
“Machida-san?”
Ohno just shrugs in that non-committal that way that Sho interprets as something along the lines of he went back. It is nonplussing how quickly Sho is learning this language.
And now he is so close to Ohno, and Ohno is looking at him, curiously.
Sho can’t help the small smile that rises to his lips. It is as if they share a secret that the whole world has no idea about. Ohno smiles back.
(In the corner of his eyes, Sho sees his friends beaming at them. Aiba’s hand creeps slowly to intertwine with Jun’s. Jun squeezes.)
Sho’s heart tightens.
*
The thought to rest in his own quarters doesn’t even start to cross Sho’s mind anymore.
He stays without Ohno asking and climbs under the covers without waiting for an invitation.
Nino stalks out of the room, mumbling something about not being wanted here and emotional scars that will never heal.
“I’m going to kill you, Nino -” Sho calls after his retreating back. Ohno pull the covers over their heads. “ - maybe tomorrow,” Sho manages as Ohno’s fingers sneaks to tangle themselves with his.
*
Pairing(s): Ohno/Sho
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nope
Word count: 1,632
Summary: AU. Forced to marry against their wills, Sho and Ohno embark on a journey to salvage the rest of their lives and their life together.
Authors' notes: Finally, that's all I can say. Thank you so much for keeping up with this ♥
*
Ohno’s friend arrives at midday.
He is smaller than Sho, like Ohno is.
Ohno is comfortable in his presence, shoulders bearing none of the tautness and fear of their secret objectives. When their eyes meet each other’s for the first time, their beams are wholly blinding, and bigger than both their faces put together.
Ohno calls him Machida with a straightforward, gentle voice that Sho has never heard him use. He cannot comprehend the sudden emotion that wells up in a huge tidal wave in his heart and threatens to bowl him over completely.
“Sho, this is Machida. He is to me, what Nino is to you. We’ve known each other - since we were born.”
“- since we were three -” Machida’s words overlaps Ohno’s. Ohno’s eyes are wide with bottled mirth.
“Since we were born! I remember -” Ohno insists. Machida is laughing silently. Sho watches them lose themselves in an island he is not invited to. His heart tangles.
“Since we were three. Remember that time, I stole your ball because you were too quiet- ” Machida taps a finger on his temple. Ohno’s brows squish together above his eyes.
“I don’t rememb -”
“You never remember! And how would you remember us meeting when we were babies if you don’t remember what happened when we were three?” Ohno doesn’t pull away when Machida slings an arm around his shoulders.
Sho makes what he hopes is a neutral sound at the base of his throat and before leaving the room, says something vague about looking for Nino.
Sho is not even sure they hear him.
*
Nino is outside the door, smirking that all-knowing smirk of his.
“Jeeeeeealous,” he sings. “I can tell, you know. It’s the same as when you lie - your eyes redden and twitch. Rather comical.”
Sho crosses his arms across his chest. He knows he is behaving like a young girl. If it were three weeks before, Sho would have felt the white-hot anger racing through his body, spurred on by his heart or he would have simply not cared. But now, all he feels is a shaky sense of uncertainty that has uprooted everything he believes in and tossed them around an unbridled storm.
“I’m - not jealous. What is he to me?” Already, he feels his ears heat up uncontrollably.
“Lying, and jealous at the same time. What a shady condition,” Nino snickers at his own pun.
When Sho doesn’t reply, Nino gives him a one-armed hug.
“Aw, they’re just friends. Ohno-san doesn’t look at him the same way he looks at you. You just shared a bed with him yesterday, didn’t you? Faith!” Sho squeezes Nino’s arm and Nino steps back before anyone can pass them by in the corridor.
Sho feels better.
*
Ohno, Sho learns, has not met Machida for more than two years. They had only been keeping contact with each other through holograms and written messages since Ohno took up his father’s trade seriously.
Machida, Sho learns, works in the government library, learning his father’s trade. Machida pulls a small stack of documents from a sachet that Sho didn’t realize he was carrying.
“This was all I could find and was able to copy. But they should hold all that you need.” He half-bows, slightly apologetic. Ohno pats him on the back and whispers into his ear. Machida laughs a small, crescent-eyed chuckle.
“I’ll leave you two to catch up, I’ll - go read through all these,” Sho takes the documents from Machida and dips his head, dismissing himself. The uncertainty swallows him whole, engulfs him mercilessly.
He hears hurried footsteps behind him as he leaves the room. Ohno catches him by the elbow. Sho looks past his shoulder and sees Machida, brows knotted in concern.
Ohno follows his gaze and he closes the door behind him, backing Sho against the wall by his upper arms. The hallway is dim and Sho is grateful for that. He is sure that Ohno can feel the heat from his cheeks, and he clutches the stack of documents protectively against his chest. He isn’t sure whether it is the documents or himself he is trying to protect.
Sho can feel Ohno’s breath on his chin before hands closes around the stack of papers, gently prying them from his tight hold. Ohno sets them down to the floor, rising again and looking up at Sho.
He doesn’t dare breathe too loud, but his erratic heartbeat is betraying him, loud and fast and furious against his ribcage.
“Sho,” Ohno says and Sho shivers. He is sure that his name has never sounded like this, sultry, spoken as if he is wanted. The gap between them - not the physical one, because they have never been closer than now - is closing; he can almost taste it.
Ohno’s fingers reach upwards and curl at the back of his neck, pulling ever so gently, and the pads of Ohno’s fingers stroke at the skin of his nape and Sho knows. He is the sole center of Ohno’s attention and he likes it.
He breathes in just before his mouth meets Ohno’s (or Ohno’s meets his) and he doesn’t think at all, he doesn’t move, he is just frozen, and not until Ohno presses against him, coaxing, does he move.
Ohno sighs into his lips, canting his head, and Sho gives up. He gives up pretending that he doesn’t care. They have come too far for that, and he relaxes, leans back and lets his hands grasp at Ohno’s shoulders. Ohno is gently insistent, nudging at his lips and they move together with something Sho could mistake for familiarity.
Later if anyone would ask Sho how long they stood there, he can’t answer. All he knows is that Ohno is strong and steady and offering him more than what he feels he deserves.
Sho never considers turning it down.
When Ohno breaks away for air, Sho shifts closer, letting his hands skim over the sharp contours of Ohno’s back, and he is overwhelmed with affection.
Ohno breathes a chuckle into his neck, tightening his grip on Sho’s nape.
“Satoshi,” he whispers and would probably have said something more, but the door behind them opens and Sho looks up. He can’t move away, though, because Ohno’s grip squeezes.
“Oh, sorry,” Machida grins and ducks away, closing the door.
Ohno uses the distracted moment to place a line of feathery kisses on Sho’s jaw before he steps away. Sho has reached for his elbow before he can move too far.
He supposes he shouldn’t have been surprised that Ohno knew.
*
Sho is writing down everything he can, trying to draw the correct conclusions and make the right connections. He feels like they are finally going somewhere.
He doesn’t know what kind of favors Ohno had done for Machida in order for Ohno to be able to ask this of him, and he is not sure he wants to know, either, but he is grateful. He wouldn’t have been able to do this if it hadn’t been for Ohno.
He is contemplating this (and also thinking of where Ohno is) when Nino enters the room, grinning a bit.
“You have visitors,” Nino grins, but when he makes to open the door further, Sho stiffens.
These are Ohno’s personal quarters, it wouldn’t be appropriate to -
“He already said it’s okay,” Nino assures him. Sho sometimes forgets how well Nino reads him.
The door opens properly and Aiba barrels in, followed by a more reasonably paced Jun. Aiba practically tackles him.
Jun is more tactful in his approach and concern. “We heard,” he says, no further elaborations needed, and then he frowns. “How are you?”
Sho thinks of endless hours spent on reading, writing, tearing his hair out. He thinks of tender encouragement, warmth and endless support he hadn’t realized had been his all along. He thinks of dim hallways and cool walls, warm fingers and soft lips. He feels ready to go into battle.
He decides on; “It could’ve been worse.”
Around his neck, Aiba clings and breathes. “We’ve been so worried.”
Sho feels no shame at all as he says, “Satoshi takes care of me.”
A smile curls around Jun’s lips. “So we heard.”
Sho shoots Nino a glare, but he doesn’t really feel it. He feels stable, he feels more relaxed than he has in a very long time. He suspects that he knows why, and if he isn’t grossly mistaken, then Nino will gladly pass the message to everyone in the household.
And to make matters even more awkward, Ohno steps into the room.
Sho rises on instinct, stepping up to him.
“Machida-san?”
Ohno just shrugs in that non-committal that way that Sho interprets as something along the lines of he went back. It is nonplussing how quickly Sho is learning this language.
And now he is so close to Ohno, and Ohno is looking at him, curiously.
Sho can’t help the small smile that rises to his lips. It is as if they share a secret that the whole world has no idea about. Ohno smiles back.
(In the corner of his eyes, Sho sees his friends beaming at them. Aiba’s hand creeps slowly to intertwine with Jun’s. Jun squeezes.)
Sho’s heart tightens.
*
The thought to rest in his own quarters doesn’t even start to cross Sho’s mind anymore.
He stays without Ohno asking and climbs under the covers without waiting for an invitation.
Nino stalks out of the room, mumbling something about not being wanted here and emotional scars that will never heal.
“I’m going to kill you, Nino -” Sho calls after his retreating back. Ohno pull the covers over their heads. “ - maybe tomorrow,” Sho manages as Ohno’s fingers sneaks to tangle themselves with his.
*