maybe, maybe not [Arashi, Ohmiya]
[Title] maybe, maybe not
[Author] turtle_ai
[Disclaimer] I don't own Arashi, or Johnny's Ent. They do own my heart, however.
[Pairing] Ohmiya
[Rating] PG
[Summary] Nino thinks he knows what he wants when he falls in love. He realizes he doesn't until he starts loving.
[Notes] ojnfdjjfidijjdfdjkfl Two. Thousand. Words. Plus a little more. 8D I can never, ever write long pieces. Two thousand words, people. I am so proud of myself. For merubear because she was there when I broke 2,000 words. BE MY VALENTINE. ♥
The last time Nino dated a girl, they hadn’t gone as far as holding hands yet. He considered the two of them what one would call a ‘cute couple’. They chatted comfortably, smiled warmly at each other, and were able to get along as well as a couple did without holding hands. When Nino was with her, there was no pressure, and Nino began to think that maybe it would be okay to be like this, with her.
He really couldn’t see any reason why they didn’t work out. He liked her well enough; she was cute, a little bit shy, but talked freely and gave him a sense of security. She was pretty, too - she was slightly shorter than him, and modeled for a certain magazine Nino had gotten used to buying often.
Then one day, on an outing, Nino reached for her hand; it should be okay, right? He liked her like this. He liked her.
All of a sudden, she snapped. Her eyes grew from neutral to wide and frustrated. Her whole body tensed, and Nino was surprised at the change. He’d never seen her like this before. His hand froze and his body grew cold.
“Nino-kun,” she said, exasperated. “Nino-kun, I can’t tell if you actually like me or not.”
Nino didn’t know what she was talking about. Of course he liked her - that was why he was still going out with her, right? That’s why he was about to hold her hand, right? What was she talking about?
“How do you feel about me?”
Nino grew rigid. He snatched his hand back, eyes downcast and his other hand balling into a silent, cold fist. A terrible kind of coldness was worming its way into his stomach and Nino could’ve sworn that his blood froze in his veins. The hand that had previously been inching towards hers became clammy.
“Nino-kun?”
He jumped. The voice he’d come to like so much was suddenly rough, and Nino was suddenly uncomfortable with hearing it. He stood up.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think this will work out. I’m sorry.”
Nino shuffled away, ignoring the calls of the person he might have once loved, and wished that his heart wasn’t beating so strangely in his chest.
--
“You broke up with her?”
Nino winced; sometimes Jun could be so blunt it kind of stung. But he was blunt in a way where it was impossible to hate him for caring. Nino accepted that. He nodded once in response to his question, trying to sink further into the couch, his hunch becoming more pronounced.
“Why?” was Sho’s question.
Nino was quiet for a few moments. He knew he could trust them all; he didn’t mind them asking. But to answer was ultimately his choice, and Nino couldn’t have been happier to know that they respected that.
In the end, Nino gave a little shrug. “She just wasn’t right,” he said quietly. “She didn’t know me. How I worked. Anything.”
Nino loved with his whole heart. He showed his love so obviously and sometimes obnoxiously towards the Arashi members so often that they’d gotten used to all of his actions. And in return, Arashi returned the love as much as they could, even though Nino could be somewhat of a brat, more often than not.
But it was when a person Nino loved didn’t return his love that Nino fell apart.
“She didn’t deserve you,” Jun scoffed, lifting a leg to cross his other. Aiba nodded, biting his lip in a way that suggested that he was going to burst out in an emotional rant. Sho slung an arm across Nino’s shoulders, his arm gripping perhaps tighter than necessary. Ohno smiled a small smile at him, reached a hand over to squeeze his thigh.
Nino smiled back and leaned into Ohno, as though willing some of the older man’s strength to flow through him as well.
He was grateful to know that Arashi would always be there to help pick him up no matter how badly he messed up.
--
The next girl Nino started liking was a person he didn’t go out with. She had a strong personality and was consistently positive; she was one of those people who you could only like or hate. Nino really, really liked her.
She wasn’t a model like the last one - she was a host on a new show Arashi had been on a few times in the last month. She hadn’t caught his attention the first few times, but it was what she said to him that made him think twice:
“Even if I have some trouble while doing work, it’s fun - and I guess that’s why I do it.”
He remembered saying those same words in an interview around half a year ago, and he remembered it being one of the truest things he chose to say to the public. Nino didn’t like the idea of showing his ‘true self’ in interviews; most of it was kept to himself. He answered carelessly on surveys, fooled around and twisted his words so people thought he might have inherited a touch of insanity. However, the only few things he allowed himself to say in public that were true were his love for the work he did, and his love for Arashi. He could relate to her - he knew the feeling of loving the job he had and just doing it.
He hadn’t talked to her much in the past, only made a few simplistic comments on the show and simple ‘I’m looking forward to working with you’ in the mornings and ‘thank you for your hard work’s.
The next day came, when he saw her at the studio. Opening his mouth to address her, maybe invite her for lunch or something, another man came, embraced her, and Nino watched her laugh, watched that delighted expression on her face.
He lowered his hand.
“Oh, good morning, Ninomiya-san!” She saw him, giving a little wave before walking away, hand in hand with the man that had shown up only a few seconds before Nino could get to her.
Nino smiled brokenly; pretends that he isn’t breaking a little bit inside.
--
Monday morning found Ohno Satoshi running his fingers through Nino’s hair while he slept. Ohno had seen the clear shadows under Nino’s eyes, insisted he slept. Nino had refused for the first few times, but fatigue gave in even as Nino continued to protest as his eyelids shut closed.
Sho and Aiba had gone downstairs to the fifth floor to look for a vending machine that Aiba was satisfied with. Jun was sitting in a corner, being huffy about the new hairstylist that poked and combed too much. Ohno felt it was best not to get too close to him for the time being.
Nino shifted in his sleep and opened his eyes, blinking to get used to the light staring back down at him. He let out a mumbled kind of noise.
“You should sleep more,” Ohno said quietly. “It’s only been a little more than an hour.”
Nino said nothing, threw an arm over his eyes. “Riida, am I strange?”
Ohno blinked, and Nino continued to talk.
“Is it strange that I keep liking people?”
“Hm?”
“Like, I really, really like people.” Nino moved his arm to peek at Ohno’s face from the space he’d created.
“I really, really like you, too,” Ohno replied. “Really.”
Nino smiled wryly. “Are you confessing to me?”
Ohno was quiet for a while. Nino looked at him inquiringly, patted his arm. Ohno’s silence wasn’t something Nino wasn’t used to, but he seemed to stop talking at some of the strangest places. He’d been kidding - of course Ohno wouldn’t -
“What if I am?”
Nino’s heart thumped, and he lay still.
“I really, really like you, Nino.”
Ohno didn’t sound like he was lying. Heck, Nino couldn’t remember a single time Ohno would lie. But to say something like this was taking things too far, and Nino sat up, stood up. He didn’t look at Ohno’s face; if he looked at Ohno, he’d be drawn to his face, into his eyes, and he was afraid that he might not ever get out.
“I’m…” Nino started, but couldn’t find any appropriate words. Ohno stood up too, took a breath, about to say something.
“Sho-chan, you spilled water on my pants! Now it looks like I -”
“Aiba.”
“But it does.”
Ohno shut his mouth.
--
Nino began avoiding Ohno after that. His hands grew clammy when he checked his cell phone to see that Ohno was calling. He stopped using Ohno as his nice, comfortable armrest for a while. He stopped showing his new magic tricks for him to see, even though he kept learning them. He even stopped touching his butt to avoid any awkward situations between the two of them. When group conversations happened, Nino made sure that he didn’t directly talk to any of them, only focusing on the whole group and its entity.
Ohno grew lonely without Nino to fool around with, to touch, and to just be around.
So the situation became stranger than ever when the director suggested for Ohno to move and sit beside Nino for the program they were rehearsing for. Ohno blinked, flickered his eyes over to Nino before standing up slowly, picking his chair up, and sitting hesitantly beside Nino.
Their shoulders brushed once, and it felt like fire - their shoulders had brushed many times in the past and not once did it feel uncomfortable. Nino wrapped his shawl tighter around himself and shifted closer to Aiba, who was on his left.
Ohno said nothing - it wasn’t like he could say anything; they were rehearsing, after all.
--
“Please talk to him,” Sho said to Nino in the dressing room a few weeks after he’d started ignoring Ohno.
Nino looked back at his sweater, tossed it over his head, and then his other arm, pretending that Sho hadn’t said anything. He lifted his foot to rest it on the arm of the sofa, and then started tying his shoelaces.
“Nino,” Sho said, exasperated.
“What?” Nino finally said, alert and flashing his dangerously narrowed eyes at Sho. Sho wasn’t surprised - Nino did have his touchy side. Nino brought his foot back down, walked over to the chairs by the mirrors, and grabbed his bag. Sho followed him.
“I don’t understand why you’re avoiding him.”
“There are lots of things I don’t understand, either,” Nino retorted. “Like why you’re following me right now.”
“Nino,” Sho repeated, walking swiftly over to block the door so Nino couldn’t escape. Nino cursed, stood in front of Sho, crossed his arms and just glared. Sho stared right back at him.
“If I give you the story of my life, will you leave me alone? Okay, so I was born on June 17th, 1983 in Katsushika, Tokyo. I’ve got parents that are divorced and a hell of an annoying sister -”
“Nino.” Sho grabbed him by the shoulders, held him firmly until Nino stopped struggling to break free. Why did Sho choose now - of all times - to be all strong and macho? “Nino, Satoshi-kun -”
“I don’t get it,” Nino blurted out. “I don’t get any of it. I was joking with him. I thought he was joking around, too. I thought he would joke around with me but obviously I’ve stopped being fun to joke around with. I don’t get it.”
“What’s there to get?” Sho asked. His grip on Nino’s shoulders loosened bit by bit. “He loves you. He wouldn’t joke around about that. He couldn’t joke around about something like that - it’s not like him.”
“So you knew, too?” Nino rounded on Sho, eyes cutting through like glass.
“Why are you angry that he likes you? That’s what I don’t get.”
Nino bit his lip, reaching the doorknob and only realized that he was trembling when he looked at his wrist. Why was he running away? Since when had he become such a coward?
“Everything will change,” he said quietly, and Sho, who didn’t expect him to say anything, jumped. “Everything will change. We’ll start dating. We might cause scandals. We’ll have to hide it - all of it. At least before, I was able to pretend.”
“Isn’t it something you’d risk, though?” Sho knew Nino. Nino never gave up - not even when he was about to die in some game on the DS. “Why continue trying to pretend when it can really happen?”
Silence enthused.
“I’m going home,” Nino whispered, hand already on the doorknob.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” was Sho’s reply, his voice just as quiet.
Nino closed the door behind him, and Sho sighed. He hoped that he was somehow able to knock some sense into him.
Even though he couldn’t see it himself, Sho knew Nino for far too long to not be able to see that maybe, he had the potential of loving Ohno back, too.
--
Ohno was in the shower room when Nino went around looking for him after the next concert. He grabbed his towel, hung it on a nearby hook, and got in the stall, twisting the shower knob and flinching a bit when the cold water hit his back.
“Riida, are you in here?”
The latter looked up and turned his head at the sound of Nino’s voice. He hadn’t heard it directed to him in so long, it was suffocating. He ran a hand through his wet hair and pulled at the curtains a little bit.
“Nino?”
Nino looked at Ohno, drew in a deep breath. It’s not like he’d dismissed the points before, but Ohno was beautiful. Especially now, when Nino was able to see the older man’s hair flipped back and wet. His fingers itched to touch, to trace the collarbones, to run his fingers down his abdomen and kiss every single patch of skin he could.
“I -” Nino caught his breath.
Ohno kept looking at him.
“Can - can we start over?” His words stuck together, and the whole phrase came out in an incoherent blurb. “Can… Can I -”
Ohno moved so quickly, so smoothly that Nino almost didn’t realize that Ohno’s lips were touching his, kissing him, until they broke apart.
“I love you too,” Ohno said, the most beautiful smile perched on his lips. Nino’s heart lifted; he took a step forward and threw his arms around Ohno, biting his lip and feeling so relieved he almost felt like crying.
Maybe this was what Nino had been waiting for. He didn’t want to have to be the one to always say ‘I love you’. He wanted the person he loved to know his feelings even without him saying those three words.
But if it was for Ohno, he’d repeat them over and over. And maybe even more, because Ohno was just who he was - Ohno.
It was all that mattered.
--
*EXTRA*
“So, did you kiss and make up?” was Sho’s question when the two of them walked through the room, hands entwined.
“No, Sho-chan. We kissed and made out,” Nino clarified, and Sho groaned, covering his face, an action that said ‘kill me now’. “And maybe we did something after all that, too.”
Aiba giggled at the term and Jun whacked him, sighing when Nino sat down next to him, followed by Ohno, who discovered that there was no space left on the couch.
He settled for sitting on Nino’s lap, because he would rather sit on Nino’s lap than sit on the couch any day.
Jun glared at them. “If I may, would you please take your grossness somewhere I can’t see you?”
“It’s not my fault there’s no space on the couch, Jun-chan.”
Jun shoved over a seat and patted the empty seat next to him. “Riida, come sit here instead.”
Ohno blinked, broke out of his daze. “Huh?” He made no attempt to move from where he was sitting.
Jun made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. Nino grinned.
Ohno looked confused. “I’m hungry.”
[Author] turtle_ai
[Disclaimer] I don't own Arashi, or Johnny's Ent. They do own my heart, however.
[Pairing] Ohmiya
[Rating] PG
[Summary] Nino thinks he knows what he wants when he falls in love. He realizes he doesn't until he starts loving.
[Notes] ojnfdjjfidijjdfdjkfl Two. Thousand. Words. Plus a little more. 8D I can never, ever write long pieces. Two thousand words, people. I am so proud of myself. For merubear because she was there when I broke 2,000 words. BE MY VALENTINE. ♥
The last time Nino dated a girl, they hadn’t gone as far as holding hands yet. He considered the two of them what one would call a ‘cute couple’. They chatted comfortably, smiled warmly at each other, and were able to get along as well as a couple did without holding hands. When Nino was with her, there was no pressure, and Nino began to think that maybe it would be okay to be like this, with her.
He really couldn’t see any reason why they didn’t work out. He liked her well enough; she was cute, a little bit shy, but talked freely and gave him a sense of security. She was pretty, too - she was slightly shorter than him, and modeled for a certain magazine Nino had gotten used to buying often.
Then one day, on an outing, Nino reached for her hand; it should be okay, right? He liked her like this. He liked her.
All of a sudden, she snapped. Her eyes grew from neutral to wide and frustrated. Her whole body tensed, and Nino was surprised at the change. He’d never seen her like this before. His hand froze and his body grew cold.
“Nino-kun,” she said, exasperated. “Nino-kun, I can’t tell if you actually like me or not.”
Nino didn’t know what she was talking about. Of course he liked her - that was why he was still going out with her, right? That’s why he was about to hold her hand, right? What was she talking about?
“How do you feel about me?”
Nino grew rigid. He snatched his hand back, eyes downcast and his other hand balling into a silent, cold fist. A terrible kind of coldness was worming its way into his stomach and Nino could’ve sworn that his blood froze in his veins. The hand that had previously been inching towards hers became clammy.
“Nino-kun?”
He jumped. The voice he’d come to like so much was suddenly rough, and Nino was suddenly uncomfortable with hearing it. He stood up.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think this will work out. I’m sorry.”
Nino shuffled away, ignoring the calls of the person he might have once loved, and wished that his heart wasn’t beating so strangely in his chest.
--
“You broke up with her?”
Nino winced; sometimes Jun could be so blunt it kind of stung. But he was blunt in a way where it was impossible to hate him for caring. Nino accepted that. He nodded once in response to his question, trying to sink further into the couch, his hunch becoming more pronounced.
“Why?” was Sho’s question.
Nino was quiet for a few moments. He knew he could trust them all; he didn’t mind them asking. But to answer was ultimately his choice, and Nino couldn’t have been happier to know that they respected that.
In the end, Nino gave a little shrug. “She just wasn’t right,” he said quietly. “She didn’t know me. How I worked. Anything.”
Nino loved with his whole heart. He showed his love so obviously and sometimes obnoxiously towards the Arashi members so often that they’d gotten used to all of his actions. And in return, Arashi returned the love as much as they could, even though Nino could be somewhat of a brat, more often than not.
But it was when a person Nino loved didn’t return his love that Nino fell apart.
“She didn’t deserve you,” Jun scoffed, lifting a leg to cross his other. Aiba nodded, biting his lip in a way that suggested that he was going to burst out in an emotional rant. Sho slung an arm across Nino’s shoulders, his arm gripping perhaps tighter than necessary. Ohno smiled a small smile at him, reached a hand over to squeeze his thigh.
Nino smiled back and leaned into Ohno, as though willing some of the older man’s strength to flow through him as well.
He was grateful to know that Arashi would always be there to help pick him up no matter how badly he messed up.
--
The next girl Nino started liking was a person he didn’t go out with. She had a strong personality and was consistently positive; she was one of those people who you could only like or hate. Nino really, really liked her.
She wasn’t a model like the last one - she was a host on a new show Arashi had been on a few times in the last month. She hadn’t caught his attention the first few times, but it was what she said to him that made him think twice:
“Even if I have some trouble while doing work, it’s fun - and I guess that’s why I do it.”
He remembered saying those same words in an interview around half a year ago, and he remembered it being one of the truest things he chose to say to the public. Nino didn’t like the idea of showing his ‘true self’ in interviews; most of it was kept to himself. He answered carelessly on surveys, fooled around and twisted his words so people thought he might have inherited a touch of insanity. However, the only few things he allowed himself to say in public that were true were his love for the work he did, and his love for Arashi. He could relate to her - he knew the feeling of loving the job he had and just doing it.
He hadn’t talked to her much in the past, only made a few simplistic comments on the show and simple ‘I’m looking forward to working with you’ in the mornings and ‘thank you for your hard work’s.
The next day came, when he saw her at the studio. Opening his mouth to address her, maybe invite her for lunch or something, another man came, embraced her, and Nino watched her laugh, watched that delighted expression on her face.
He lowered his hand.
“Oh, good morning, Ninomiya-san!” She saw him, giving a little wave before walking away, hand in hand with the man that had shown up only a few seconds before Nino could get to her.
Nino smiled brokenly; pretends that he isn’t breaking a little bit inside.
--
Monday morning found Ohno Satoshi running his fingers through Nino’s hair while he slept. Ohno had seen the clear shadows under Nino’s eyes, insisted he slept. Nino had refused for the first few times, but fatigue gave in even as Nino continued to protest as his eyelids shut closed.
Sho and Aiba had gone downstairs to the fifth floor to look for a vending machine that Aiba was satisfied with. Jun was sitting in a corner, being huffy about the new hairstylist that poked and combed too much. Ohno felt it was best not to get too close to him for the time being.
Nino shifted in his sleep and opened his eyes, blinking to get used to the light staring back down at him. He let out a mumbled kind of noise.
“You should sleep more,” Ohno said quietly. “It’s only been a little more than an hour.”
Nino said nothing, threw an arm over his eyes. “Riida, am I strange?”
Ohno blinked, and Nino continued to talk.
“Is it strange that I keep liking people?”
“Hm?”
“Like, I really, really like people.” Nino moved his arm to peek at Ohno’s face from the space he’d created.
“I really, really like you, too,” Ohno replied. “Really.”
Nino smiled wryly. “Are you confessing to me?”
Ohno was quiet for a while. Nino looked at him inquiringly, patted his arm. Ohno’s silence wasn’t something Nino wasn’t used to, but he seemed to stop talking at some of the strangest places. He’d been kidding - of course Ohno wouldn’t -
“What if I am?”
Nino’s heart thumped, and he lay still.
“I really, really like you, Nino.”
Ohno didn’t sound like he was lying. Heck, Nino couldn’t remember a single time Ohno would lie. But to say something like this was taking things too far, and Nino sat up, stood up. He didn’t look at Ohno’s face; if he looked at Ohno, he’d be drawn to his face, into his eyes, and he was afraid that he might not ever get out.
“I’m…” Nino started, but couldn’t find any appropriate words. Ohno stood up too, took a breath, about to say something.
“Sho-chan, you spilled water on my pants! Now it looks like I -”
“Aiba.”
“But it does.”
Ohno shut his mouth.
--
Nino began avoiding Ohno after that. His hands grew clammy when he checked his cell phone to see that Ohno was calling. He stopped using Ohno as his nice, comfortable armrest for a while. He stopped showing his new magic tricks for him to see, even though he kept learning them. He even stopped touching his butt to avoid any awkward situations between the two of them. When group conversations happened, Nino made sure that he didn’t directly talk to any of them, only focusing on the whole group and its entity.
Ohno grew lonely without Nino to fool around with, to touch, and to just be around.
So the situation became stranger than ever when the director suggested for Ohno to move and sit beside Nino for the program they were rehearsing for. Ohno blinked, flickered his eyes over to Nino before standing up slowly, picking his chair up, and sitting hesitantly beside Nino.
Their shoulders brushed once, and it felt like fire - their shoulders had brushed many times in the past and not once did it feel uncomfortable. Nino wrapped his shawl tighter around himself and shifted closer to Aiba, who was on his left.
Ohno said nothing - it wasn’t like he could say anything; they were rehearsing, after all.
--
“Please talk to him,” Sho said to Nino in the dressing room a few weeks after he’d started ignoring Ohno.
Nino looked back at his sweater, tossed it over his head, and then his other arm, pretending that Sho hadn’t said anything. He lifted his foot to rest it on the arm of the sofa, and then started tying his shoelaces.
“Nino,” Sho said, exasperated.
“What?” Nino finally said, alert and flashing his dangerously narrowed eyes at Sho. Sho wasn’t surprised - Nino did have his touchy side. Nino brought his foot back down, walked over to the chairs by the mirrors, and grabbed his bag. Sho followed him.
“I don’t understand why you’re avoiding him.”
“There are lots of things I don’t understand, either,” Nino retorted. “Like why you’re following me right now.”
“Nino,” Sho repeated, walking swiftly over to block the door so Nino couldn’t escape. Nino cursed, stood in front of Sho, crossed his arms and just glared. Sho stared right back at him.
“If I give you the story of my life, will you leave me alone? Okay, so I was born on June 17th, 1983 in Katsushika, Tokyo. I’ve got parents that are divorced and a hell of an annoying sister -”
“Nino.” Sho grabbed him by the shoulders, held him firmly until Nino stopped struggling to break free. Why did Sho choose now - of all times - to be all strong and macho? “Nino, Satoshi-kun -”
“I don’t get it,” Nino blurted out. “I don’t get any of it. I was joking with him. I thought he was joking around, too. I thought he would joke around with me but obviously I’ve stopped being fun to joke around with. I don’t get it.”
“What’s there to get?” Sho asked. His grip on Nino’s shoulders loosened bit by bit. “He loves you. He wouldn’t joke around about that. He couldn’t joke around about something like that - it’s not like him.”
“So you knew, too?” Nino rounded on Sho, eyes cutting through like glass.
“Why are you angry that he likes you? That’s what I don’t get.”
Nino bit his lip, reaching the doorknob and only realized that he was trembling when he looked at his wrist. Why was he running away? Since when had he become such a coward?
“Everything will change,” he said quietly, and Sho, who didn’t expect him to say anything, jumped. “Everything will change. We’ll start dating. We might cause scandals. We’ll have to hide it - all of it. At least before, I was able to pretend.”
“Isn’t it something you’d risk, though?” Sho knew Nino. Nino never gave up - not even when he was about to die in some game on the DS. “Why continue trying to pretend when it can really happen?”
Silence enthused.
“I’m going home,” Nino whispered, hand already on the doorknob.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” was Sho’s reply, his voice just as quiet.
Nino closed the door behind him, and Sho sighed. He hoped that he was somehow able to knock some sense into him.
Even though he couldn’t see it himself, Sho knew Nino for far too long to not be able to see that maybe, he had the potential of loving Ohno back, too.
--
Ohno was in the shower room when Nino went around looking for him after the next concert. He grabbed his towel, hung it on a nearby hook, and got in the stall, twisting the shower knob and flinching a bit when the cold water hit his back.
“Riida, are you in here?”
The latter looked up and turned his head at the sound of Nino’s voice. He hadn’t heard it directed to him in so long, it was suffocating. He ran a hand through his wet hair and pulled at the curtains a little bit.
“Nino?”
Nino looked at Ohno, drew in a deep breath. It’s not like he’d dismissed the points before, but Ohno was beautiful. Especially now, when Nino was able to see the older man’s hair flipped back and wet. His fingers itched to touch, to trace the collarbones, to run his fingers down his abdomen and kiss every single patch of skin he could.
“I -” Nino caught his breath.
Ohno kept looking at him.
“Can - can we start over?” His words stuck together, and the whole phrase came out in an incoherent blurb. “Can… Can I -”
Ohno moved so quickly, so smoothly that Nino almost didn’t realize that Ohno’s lips were touching his, kissing him, until they broke apart.
“I love you too,” Ohno said, the most beautiful smile perched on his lips. Nino’s heart lifted; he took a step forward and threw his arms around Ohno, biting his lip and feeling so relieved he almost felt like crying.
Maybe this was what Nino had been waiting for. He didn’t want to have to be the one to always say ‘I love you’. He wanted the person he loved to know his feelings even without him saying those three words.
But if it was for Ohno, he’d repeat them over and over. And maybe even more, because Ohno was just who he was - Ohno.
It was all that mattered.
--
*EXTRA*
“So, did you kiss and make up?” was Sho’s question when the two of them walked through the room, hands entwined.
“No, Sho-chan. We kissed and made out,” Nino clarified, and Sho groaned, covering his face, an action that said ‘kill me now’. “And maybe we did something after all that, too.”
Aiba giggled at the term and Jun whacked him, sighing when Nino sat down next to him, followed by Ohno, who discovered that there was no space left on the couch.
He settled for sitting on Nino’s lap, because he would rather sit on Nino’s lap than sit on the couch any day.
Jun glared at them. “If I may, would you please take your grossness somewhere I can’t see you?”
“It’s not my fault there’s no space on the couch, Jun-chan.”
Jun shoved over a seat and patted the empty seat next to him. “Riida, come sit here instead.”
Ohno blinked, broke out of his daze. “Huh?” He made no attempt to move from where he was sitting.
Jun made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. Nino grinned.
Ohno looked confused. “I’m hungry.”