cafuné
Ohno/Nino | 嵐 RPS | PG | ~1,200 words
A little snippet from the
Saudade universe, thanks to some
lovely people on Twitter who got me all nostalgic about what a great writing experience the original fic was - as I've written before, we've basically surpassed the universe timeline in reality now, and this isn't by any means coherent, but just for fun. It takes place a few months after the end of
Weathervane, in which it was hinted that Nino was going abroad to Korea to film a movie for awhile and wouldn't be able to come back regularly.
The title comes from one of my favourite Brazilian Portuguese words, which obviously doesn't translate well into English, as do most words that manage to capture complex feelings - it roughly translates to "The act of caressing or tenderly running fingers through a loved one’s hair”, implying affection and comfort.
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Having filming wrap up four days early is an unexpected gift, but Nino’s afternoon flight from Incheon gets held up on the tarmac for nearly three hours before take-off, so it’s already pitch-black when his manager drops him off at his Tokyo apartment.
It’s been a long three months, shuttling between Korea and Japan for the movie filming. At most, he had been back in Japan for a day or two at a time to film MIS☆CHIEF (although Aiba had actually come up all the way to Seoul to shoot a special episode when Nino’s schedule became too intense for him to leave) and their group programs.
His apartment seems clean enough - obviously his manager had arranged for it to be cleaned in his absence. It’s good to be home, but strangely enough, Nino doesn’t quite feel home yet.
In order for that to happen, he’s going to have to drug himself with anti-nausea medicine, brave the public ferry without getting called out, and drag his bag from the docks to the far side of Toshimajima, all to open one familiar, well-worn yellow door.
Normally, when they plan things out properly Ohno will take him over in the Ohnomaru II. It’s a little worse than the ferry as smaller boat pitches on the choppier waves, while the larger ferry is generally a pretty steady, plodding, ride. Even so, Nino loves watching Ohno behind the wheel of his boat; there’s a quiet confidence to the way he handles the wheel and checks the navigation maps. It’s a little similar to watching him choreograph or draw - he gets lost in his own world.
This time, however, Nino is aiming to surprise Ohno - so he’s going to have to sneak in.
The ferry leaves early, so he piles his laundry in the machine, cracks open a beer, and sits down to catch up on some gaming so he can spend most of the next day catching up on Ohno.
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Nino must seem a strange sight when Ohno opens the door, blinking owlishly at him. He has the box of Ohno’s recent favourite sweet tucked under the front of his shirt to protect it from the blazing sun, and a towel draped over most of his head to accomplish the same purpose.
“You’re early,” Ohno comments, and then, after Nino digs the box out from under his shirt and thrusts it into Ohno’s hands so he can get a better grip on his bag, “Oh! Milk custard?”
“Welcome home, Nino,” Nino sighs. “What, may I ask, happened to the back porch?” His earlier attempt to enter via the back of the property, off the wooden deck on the beach connected to the house had been foiled by an inexplicable lack of said wooden deck.
“Welcome home, Nino,” Ohno echoes obediently, his sly smile showing that he’s enjoying this exchange. He relieves Nino of his bag, stepping back to let him into the cool, sheltered entranceway. “Renovations - well, I had planned for them to be done by the time you came back.”
It’s somewhat touching, the way that Ohno can be strangely thoughtful - perhaps in having so many hobbies of his own, he’s aware of the space Nino has carved out on the deck whenever he feels like writing songs. Even so, Nino can’t help but be mildly annoyed - he had spent the long, bobbing ferry ride daydreaming about a cold beer, a solid wooden deck overlooking a sunset on the beach, and Ohno beside him.
Well, two of three were in place, at least. Visiting the island has never really been about the scenery for Nino, anyways - the main attraction is the sunburnt nut of an old man smiling warmly at him, right in front of him.
Ohno moves first, putting down Nino’s bag gently and stepping forward. He tucks his head in the crook of Nino’s neck , breathing him in deeply as his arms slide around Nino’s waist.
Nino shifts his cheek against Ohno’s floppy, unstyled hair, lifting a hand to comb his fingers through the soft strands. He's glad that he’s not the only one who’s clinging. Sometimes he still can’t bring himself to believe - even after a year - that this is really something that he has, for keeps. Something he can come home to, no matter how long he’s been away. Knowing - feeling, physically, that Ohno missed him just as much, stirs something deep within Nino.
“Missed you,” Ohno breathes, and Nino tightens his grip, unsure how else to say me too without his voice breaking embarrassingly.
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Note: This part doesn’t exactly fit in perfectly, but I had so much fun writing it that I just couldn’t leave it out. I'll think of it as a self-indulgent bonus. In which there are extended metaphors and Aiba accidentally implies threesomes!
Interviews are probably Nino’s least favourite part of his job. He knows that they are important, and that people do read them, so he really does try his best to take them seriously, even when the questions are completely absurd. He just can’t imagine why people would care what he thinks about things.
Group interviews are better than individual ones, at least. After nearly twenty years, there’s an instant sense of comfort just from the others’ presence, and it’s easier to play off their responses and try to have fun.
In their early years, he and Ohno played all sorts of unspoken games to get through long, insipid interviews on tiring days. It started as innocent fun - trying to answer each question in the same number of syllables, that kind of thing.
They’ve gotten older, but clearly not much more mature. Possibly worse, actually.
“Ohno-san, I’ve heard that Ninomiya-san visits you at your home from time to time,” the interviewer said. “What do the two of you do together?”
“Ah,” Ohno murmurs, clearly not expecting the question. “We go fishing?”
The interviewer sits back, looking surprised. “Is that so?”
“Oh yeah, I’ve been fishing a lot with Leader,” Nino adds casually, “Sometimes we fish all night.”
Next to him, Jun shifts in his seat, as if to try to aim a gentle kick at Nino’s ankle, but the interviewer seems taken with the turn of topic and presses on, “Have you caught anything big?”
Ohno’s smile is magnificently innocent, having caught on to Nino’s game. “We compare our catches sometimes, but I think Nino’s is bigger.”
Sho suddenly breaks out coughing, having unfortunately been in the middle of a sip of water during Ohno’s statement. Aiba pats him gently on the back.
“But I thought Ninomiya-san becomes seasick quite easily…?”
“I’m surprisingly okay,” Nino responds. “Ohno-san takes good care of me.”
“It must be because he spends so much time below deck,” Aiba chimes in with a barely-disguised lecherous grin, sensing what they’re doing and clearly wanting in on the fun.
“Eh? Has Aiba-san joined their fishing trips?” the interviewer asks brightly.
“Uh,” Aiba says, fully aware of the other four trying to stifle their laughter as best they can. “Uh, yes, absolutely! Lots of fishing trips - together. All the time.”
“He just gets in the way,” Nino deadpans, which earns an outright snort from Ohno. The interviewer is starting to look confused, so it was probably time to change topics. “Of course, we probably won’t have much time for fishing with Leader’s new autumn drama…”
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