One Shot - Just Need a Little Courage
Title: Just Need a Little Courage
Length: 3200-ish
Pairing: Ohmiya (NinoxOhno)
Rating: PG-13 for kissing?
Genre: AU! School, Romance, Fluff, a bit angsty, friendship
Beta-reader: hippiefox ♥
Summary: People can do crazy things when they’re desperately in love. Sometimes it just doesn’t go according to plan.
Warning: Nothing. But strange plot >,<
A/N: It’s too early to celebrate Nino’s birthday. But I’m afraid I’ll be busy with final exam. So I post it now. Happy Birthday, Nino! Please be happy forever with Ohno! XD
Comments/Concrits are ♥
Have a nice weekend, and good luck for you who have their exams! :D
There’s nothing else I can do to get the others to stay away from you. Just this stupid plan, I bet my life on it. A bit risky, though, I still went with it. Will you get mad at me when you find out it’s all my work? I’m sorry for my selfishness. I’m just a pathetic guy… in love with you.
Nino slides the door open just to find the older man sitting on the floor. He notices the annoyed look on the older man’s face, definitely unhappy. The sketchbook is forgotten while he’s busy mumbling words against the bed sheet.
Nino lets out chuckle as he sits on the bed, amused by the man.
“In a bad mood, eh?”
The older man sighs heavily, hitting the bed with his fist mercilessly.
“Today was awful, you know. Someone pushed me inside the stall and tried to kiss me.”
Nino can’t help but laugh, imagining how funny it could be. Even though he notices the familiar feeling inside, jealousy, he decided to suppress it.
“It’s not funny! Stop laughing!”
“Sorry,” wiping the tears coming out from the corner of his brown eyes, Nino apologizes. “But if you pout like that, no one can resist kissing you, Satoshi…”
“That can’t be helped,” Ohno buries his face in a pillow, maybe to hide his red cheeks, the thought crossed Nino’s mind for a second. Nino gives him some time to calm himself down before he starts another topic to talk about.
Nino crawls across the room to turn the game console on and offers Ohno some rounds of a racing game.
“Wanna play games?”
Climbing up his bed, Ohno turns down Nino’s offer and hugs his pillow instead. With the sound coming from the game Nino’s playing, Ohno is lulled to a nap.
Someone tried to steal Ohno’s (Nino’s assumed) first kiss?
Damn. He knew that the plan was indeed risky, but he never thought that there was actually quite a large number of gays in their school. Nino just simply wanted the girls to stay away from Ohno by… spreading news about him collecting gay porn videos under his bed (even though in reality, Ohno doesn’t have even one).
But it seemed like he’s miscalculating things. He counted out possible gays wandering around discreetly. It is common that young men around his age are in a time where they tend to try new things and get all kinds of experience as they can.
His plan worked on the first day when suddenly Jun, his classmate, came to him just to ask, “Hey, you know Ohno-senpai? He lives next to you, right? Do you know that he’s actually gay? For real?”
Pretending to play dumb, Nino put on a surprised expression, “Eh? Really? I didn’t know…”
It worked, for several days. Until some random guys, be it Senior or Junior, started to pay too much attention to Ohno and even purposefully looked for Nino to hook them up with Ohno.
“Damn, now that I realize it, he’s so cute, Ninomiya-kun!” said Yokoyama in awe.
Yeah, I know that. No need to tell me.
“Can you give me his phone number, please? I heard you’re quite close with him.”
“Fine,” Nino took out his cellphone and gave his popular-wannabe senior the phone number of a ramen shop he frequently visits.
And a junior, whose name isn’t leaving a strong impression, suddenly stopped Nino on his way to the chemical laboratory for the next class just to get Ohno’s number.
What the hell?
Well, it’s fairly profitable if they come to Nino for advice or help, that way he still can control the whole situation. But lately Ohno has been beefing about unknown guys confessing their love or just brutally trying to kiss him.
That is something Nino doesn’t want.
Because Ohno is spacey and easy to be dragged along, Nino felt uneasy and asked Sho to guard Ohno all times. No matter how he hates it when Ohno is close to another man, even if it’s their best friend Sho, Nino knows that Sho isn’t someone who would do harm to Ohno.
In other words, Sho is very reliable and he’s done a good job with preventing Ohno from being kidnapped and lost in the hall. At least, Nino just wants to make sure that Ohno’s alright.
“This is stupid!” Sho curses as he crumples the photograph in Ohno’s locker shoes. “Satoshi-kun, you’re alright?”
“Uhm, well, it wasn’t that bad. He’s hot,” Ohno smirks, commenting at the photograph of a naked man. “His face is kind of familiar. I wonder if he’s student here.”
“It’s not the time to singsong like that. He’s weird to put his own naked picture in your locker. Creepy.”
Angrily, Sho puts his indoor shoes into the locker. Waiting for Ohno to finish wearing his outdoor shoes, Sho grumbling about how immature people act nowadays.
“Satoshi-kun, you don’t have someone in mind who might be the root of this trouble?”
Ohno shakes his head. Both of them walking out the building and seeing Aiba with Nino standing by the school gate. They probably have been waiting for them to go home together. They’re neighbors after all. When they have no club activities after school, dropping by at ramen shop is their favorite thing to do.
“Wuilly? A makid vuik?” Aiba swallows the grilled beef down on his throat. “Man, are they crazy?”
“Aiba, finish your food before speaking!” Nino hits Aiba’s head lightly with newspaper.
“Ouch! It hurts, you idiot!”
“I want to talk with you.”
Aiba says quite seriously when they’re caught up in the library to get a task done. Nino doesn’t even bother to look at him, unless he’s prepared to get punched for laughing at Aiba’s stupid-serious-look.
“I’ve been talking about it with Sho-chan that those people are crossing the line,” Aiba continues.
“Those people?”
“They who’ve been following Oh-chan for a while now, Nino, can you please be serious at this now?”
I’m serious. I just don’t let others see how desperately serious I am about this.
“Well. I kind of know what kind of person you are,” with a threatening tone, Aiba surely getting Nino’s attention now.
“Oh really? So what kind of person I am?”
“We know it’s you. The question now is why.”
Nino is trying to be as calm as he can as Aiba keeps going on pinpoint the part of his plans. None of them is incorrect, and Nino hates Aiba for it. His best friend might look like an airhead, but with a great companion like Sho, they’ll make a good team.
“Why did you try to get Oh-chan hurt?”
Why would I, are you stupid? Ah, yes you are.
“I didn’t try to. Or more like, I will never try to. It’s just… it wasn’t going according to the plan,” he admits, collecting all the books to put them back in the shelf.
Aiba sighs, inhales a quite amount of air. “Nino…” He hisses Nino’s name in disbelief, not knowing what to say, he stays quiet.
“I’ll take care of it,” Nino smiles, a smile that hopefully can ensure Aiba, and probably himself as well. He’s relieved when a wide smile spread across Aiba’s face.
Nino promised Aiba that he’s going to take care of the mess he has caused. But really, how? He doesn’t have any idea. But why does he walk down the street, and stop right in front of Ohno’s house?
He stays quiet there, and is about to turn around when the familiar voice calls his name. “Nino!”
Ohno runs his bike towards Nino, a wide smile on his face. It’s warming, somehow, deep inside his heart.
“Need something?” Ohno asks as he brings Nino inside after parking the bike. “Come in.”
“Where were you?”
“Just biking around the block,” Ohno leads him to the bedroom after telling her mom to bring some snacks upstairs.
“You love riding the bike. I remember you spent the whole day biking, restless.” Both of them laugh at the precious memories back then when they were kids.
Ohno throws himself on the bed, stretching out his back, and looking up at the ceiling. “You’re right. I love it, don’t I?”
Finding his favorite spot empty, Nino seats himself comfortably despite the nervous he’s been hiding. It’s a good chance to tell the older about his sinning even though he’s not fully prepared of what might come after. Not because of his promise to Aiba, but he does feel sorry for Ohno.
His selfishness, his greediness.
“Hey, we should go biking sometime!” Ohno offers, quite cheerily for him.
“Sure,” softly Nino gives his OK. “Listen, I have something to say, or rather, to admit.”
“What is it?” a brief pause as they fall silent, and Ohno sits up from his laying position to get a proper talk with Nino who looks so serious.
Ohno waits. He waits Nino to talk first.
“It’s hard for me to say but you have the right to know the truth,” Nino starts. “The rumors. About you being gay,” he swallows the lump on his throat that is choking him from making a sound.
“It-It was me.”
Great, now Ohno can hate him for good.
But… why doesn’t Ohno say anything? Is he too mad to even form a word? Not even a shout? A gasp of disbelief, at least? Can’t he react properly? Or there’s something wrong with his hearing, now?
Nino clenches his teeth, “Say something, you idiot. I’m ruining your life, aren’t I?”
“I-I don’t know what to say…” Ohno admits. “…but why?”
Awkward. Nino doesn’t have an answer. He has, actually, he can’t tell however.
“You must have a good reason for that. It’s okay…”
“Isn’t it obvious? That I like you?”
Nino looks straight into Ohno’s wavering eyes, to put it simply, he doesn’t even care to look back at Nino. It just makes things easy, that finally Nino whispers the words.
“I love you, Satoshi. Can’t you tell?”
“I never imagined you could be that stupid, Nino!”
Three months after his confession at Ohno’s place, Nino gets himself scolded by both Aiba and Sho.
“Why? Why should I sit here? In a ramen shop. Scolded by you,” Nino shouts back, not the slightest care for other people’s gaze coming their way.
“I’ve been wondering why you’re making some distance from him, and that was the cause of all these ridiculous fights?” Sho lowers his tone.
“We’re not fighting, okay? Now give me a break!”
“Don’t you know that you’ve hurt him?” Aiba is now to talk. “We all know you have feelings for him.”
You guys don’t know. You don’t know anything at all.
“He said you confessed to him.”
I did, then what? It’s not like he cares anyway.
“And then left him alone, Sho-chan!” Added Aiba in his most annoying voice.
“Uwah, horrible.”
“What do you know? You weren’t even there! You didn’t see how disappointed he was! Just shut up and leave me alone!”
Nino grabs his bag angrily, leaving the shop and his two best friends stunned and embarrassed.
“I love you, Satoshi. Can’t you tell?”
Horror takes over him completely as Ohno’s cute face turn to sad, uncertainty, and remained confused for a brief moment.
“I can’t be in a relationship…” Ohno says apologetically.
“I… I’m going home.”
The next morning he leaves for school early so that Ohno doesn’t catch up with him on the way like the usual routine. He keeps himself busy after school and doesn’t go to the rooftop to enjoy lunch with the others.
He even hangs out with Jun more often after that. He knows what he’s doing is not right. He selfishly making some distance between them, so that he won’t get hurt even more. Because seeing Ohno like that, is enough to make him feel so frustrated of what’s going on.
Nino’s cellphone rings once he gets home. Aiba.
“Nino, make sure you have a talk with Oh-chan one more time! Or else we’re gonna hate you forever!”
“Hate me as much as you like, idiot!” Nino curses, turning off the device so that no one would bother him, at least not tonight.
“Morning.”
His family members have gathered on the dining table, ready for breakfast when he’s awake. His Mother brings miso shiru for them and takes a seat as well. It is when he hears the engine start from the next door neighbor.
Must be Ohno’s Dad, he thought. Ah right, it’s graduation day.
No wonder Aiba kept calling last night, asking if he’s talked properly with Ohno yet.
“You’re not going to school?” his Mom asks.
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t today Ohno’s graduation day?”
“It seems so.”
“Why aren’t you going for him, then?”
“Did Aiba tell you to persuade me?” Nino snaps. He puts down his bowl of rice, annoyed at his Mom, his Mom’s questions to be exact. He walks upstairs to his room, and feels like brushing his face with some morning air on the balcony, where he can see Ohno’s window’s room, where he sometimes peeked at Ohno from time to time.
“Oi!”
A girl poking out of Ohno room’s window, Ohno’s sister.
“Hey,” Nino’s startled. “Came back home to celebrate Satoshi’s awaited graduation day?”
“Yeah, kind of,” Ohno’s sister nods. “Can’t believe that he managed to go through this, huh?”
Nino laughs heartily, “We bet he wouldn’t make it till second year.”
“We’re totally deceived by his looks!” Ohno’s sister smiles, even if she mocks him a lot, Nino knows the best that his sister loves Ohno more than anything. “I was surprised he even got into college.”
“Eh? He did?”
“You didn’t know?”
He basically hasn’t talked to Ohno for months. How could he know about this?
“Don’t tell me that my idiot brother didn’t tell you anything?” Nino just shakes his head. “Well, now you know. Come here for lunch! We’ll have farewell party. I’ll save the biggest cut of hamburger for you!”
“He’s leaving for Kyoto tonight.”
Tonight.
Damn it.
Nino hurriedly rides his bike to school.
Kyoto. How far is it from here? Okay, work, brain. Around twenty thousands yen if I take a flight, no way, that’s expensive. Two hours by shinkansen, costs almost fifty thousands yen. Still too expensive. Damn, Why Kyoto?
He paddles faster, not caring about his surroundings.
I know he loves art, but why does it have to be Kyoto? Well, Kyoto Art University is the best, after all. Can I go to see him? He doesn’t want me to, does he? But is it okay to go there just because I want to see him smile, hear his soft laughter? Can I?
He knows he can’t. And he shouldn’t be here either. But his feet betray him. They keep looking for Ohno. Looking for Ohno’s presence.
And there.
Under the tree. He’s taking photographs with Aiba and Sho.
“Nino!” Aiba calls happily. “You came! I knew it! That I can rely on your Mo-!”
“Shut up!” Nino hisses.
“You’re not even wearing uniform… That’s… Whoa!”
Nino tries to ignore the scene of Sho kissing Aiba, just so that his mouth can be sealed.
Whatever. Nino will thank Sho later.
“Take your sweet time. We’ll take ours! See ya, Satoshi!” Sho drags Aiba away to give some time alone for them.
Nino studies Ohno’s timid look first, how long has it been since the last time he really takes a closer look at Ohno’s pretty face? He wants to touch his flushed round cheeks.
“Congratulations,” Nino says with a bitter smile on his face. The hurt from being rejected is still lingering, it’s hard for Nino to look him in the eyes anymore. He feels so hopeless. But then the thought that he won’t be able to see Ohno anymore crosses his mind, and it encourages him.
Eh? Is it only him or Ohno really does look like he’s about to cry? Nino can’t really tell. Damn, the urge to hug Ohno once again takes over him. Why does Ohno keep being silent and just standing there? Nino wants him to say something… A goodbye or anything, the best he can come up with at this kind of situations.
“Tsk,” Nino clicks his tongue in annoyance, annoyed by Ohno’s sad look, annoyed by his own cowardice. Why does Ohno make a sad face in the first place?
Nino sighs deeply and he smiles, wholeheartedly this time. “I’m not mad at you.”
“You’re mad…”
“I said I’m not…”
Ohno shakes his head, “You hate me.”
“I won’t hate you just because you don’t love me back,” Nino assures him. “I just need time to recover from my heartbroken state.”
However Ohno shakes his head repeatedly, as if what Nino has said isn’t right, isn’t… the truth.
Wait. Ohno didn’t say anything about his feelings toward Nino. He just said that… he can’t be in a relationship. Nothing else.
Does it mean…
Nino, if only you were smarter! Smarter enough to see through Ohno’s heart, and his eyes never lie. Why are you so dumb?
Indescribable feelings and flare up of emotions makes Nino speechless for a moment.
Neither of them makes a move first, despite the obvious love in the air.
And the spring has come.
“You’re cruel,” he says softly, finally. As if his grey life since the confession day has re-painted and colored, he almost jumps in joy as he grabs Ohno’s hands, pulls him closer so that their face just barely touch, so that he can feel Ohno’s breath shorten along with his heartbeats quicken.
“You do love me back.”
It is not a question, nor a statement. It was Nino’s temporary hypothesis, and is now a fact, Nino has decided.
Nino sees Ohno isn’t pulling away, he even notices that Ohno isn’t trying to deny it. So that’s all the matters.
Without too much thinking like before, Nino presses his lips against Ohno’s. Gentle and innocent kisses they are sharing at the moment. Yet they’re still hot and nerve-wracking nonetheless.
Just for few seconds, Nino feels his head spinning round and round. Dizzy by all the sudden jolts of happiness. Does Ohno feel it too? Does he feel nervous like him?
And Ohno’s voice he hasn’t heard for long, takes away his breath as Ohno speaks, “You stole my first kiss…”
Nino blushes. Not realizing that Ohno is more embarrassed than ever.
“Well, that’s kinda fair.” Nino looks away, pretending to enjoy the view of sakura trees, soon to blossom.
“I just gave mine to you, too.”
“You lied.”
“I did.”
“Liar.”
“Don’t go anywhere.”
“I can’t.”
“You won’t be able to see me again, you know?”
“You can pay me a visit, then.”
“It costs a lot,” Nino pouts. “Pay half for me?”
“No way!”
Ohno smiles shyly, as his hand is held tightly by Nino’s all the way home.
Length: 3200-ish
Pairing: Ohmiya (NinoxOhno)
Rating: PG-13 for kissing?
Genre: AU! School, Romance, Fluff, a bit angsty, friendship
Beta-reader: hippiefox ♥
Summary: People can do crazy things when they’re desperately in love. Sometimes it just doesn’t go according to plan.
Warning: Nothing. But strange plot >,<
A/N: It’s too early to celebrate Nino’s birthday. But I’m afraid I’ll be busy with final exam. So I post it now. Happy Birthday, Nino! Please be happy forever with Ohno! XD
Comments/Concrits are ♥
Have a nice weekend, and good luck for you who have their exams! :D
There’s nothing else I can do to get the others to stay away from you. Just this stupid plan, I bet my life on it. A bit risky, though, I still went with it. Will you get mad at me when you find out it’s all my work? I’m sorry for my selfishness. I’m just a pathetic guy… in love with you.
Nino slides the door open just to find the older man sitting on the floor. He notices the annoyed look on the older man’s face, definitely unhappy. The sketchbook is forgotten while he’s busy mumbling words against the bed sheet.
Nino lets out chuckle as he sits on the bed, amused by the man.
“In a bad mood, eh?”
The older man sighs heavily, hitting the bed with his fist mercilessly.
“Today was awful, you know. Someone pushed me inside the stall and tried to kiss me.”
Nino can’t help but laugh, imagining how funny it could be. Even though he notices the familiar feeling inside, jealousy, he decided to suppress it.
“It’s not funny! Stop laughing!”
“Sorry,” wiping the tears coming out from the corner of his brown eyes, Nino apologizes. “But if you pout like that, no one can resist kissing you, Satoshi…”
“That can’t be helped,” Ohno buries his face in a pillow, maybe to hide his red cheeks, the thought crossed Nino’s mind for a second. Nino gives him some time to calm himself down before he starts another topic to talk about.
Nino crawls across the room to turn the game console on and offers Ohno some rounds of a racing game.
“Wanna play games?”
Climbing up his bed, Ohno turns down Nino’s offer and hugs his pillow instead. With the sound coming from the game Nino’s playing, Ohno is lulled to a nap.
Someone tried to steal Ohno’s (Nino’s assumed) first kiss?
Damn. He knew that the plan was indeed risky, but he never thought that there was actually quite a large number of gays in their school. Nino just simply wanted the girls to stay away from Ohno by… spreading news about him collecting gay porn videos under his bed (even though in reality, Ohno doesn’t have even one).
But it seemed like he’s miscalculating things. He counted out possible gays wandering around discreetly. It is common that young men around his age are in a time where they tend to try new things and get all kinds of experience as they can.
His plan worked on the first day when suddenly Jun, his classmate, came to him just to ask, “Hey, you know Ohno-senpai? He lives next to you, right? Do you know that he’s actually gay? For real?”
Pretending to play dumb, Nino put on a surprised expression, “Eh? Really? I didn’t know…”
It worked, for several days. Until some random guys, be it Senior or Junior, started to pay too much attention to Ohno and even purposefully looked for Nino to hook them up with Ohno.
“Damn, now that I realize it, he’s so cute, Ninomiya-kun!” said Yokoyama in awe.
Yeah, I know that. No need to tell me.
“Can you give me his phone number, please? I heard you’re quite close with him.”
“Fine,” Nino took out his cellphone and gave his popular-wannabe senior the phone number of a ramen shop he frequently visits.
And a junior, whose name isn’t leaving a strong impression, suddenly stopped Nino on his way to the chemical laboratory for the next class just to get Ohno’s number.
What the hell?
Well, it’s fairly profitable if they come to Nino for advice or help, that way he still can control the whole situation. But lately Ohno has been beefing about unknown guys confessing their love or just brutally trying to kiss him.
That is something Nino doesn’t want.
Because Ohno is spacey and easy to be dragged along, Nino felt uneasy and asked Sho to guard Ohno all times. No matter how he hates it when Ohno is close to another man, even if it’s their best friend Sho, Nino knows that Sho isn’t someone who would do harm to Ohno.
In other words, Sho is very reliable and he’s done a good job with preventing Ohno from being kidnapped and lost in the hall. At least, Nino just wants to make sure that Ohno’s alright.
“This is stupid!” Sho curses as he crumples the photograph in Ohno’s locker shoes. “Satoshi-kun, you’re alright?”
“Uhm, well, it wasn’t that bad. He’s hot,” Ohno smirks, commenting at the photograph of a naked man. “His face is kind of familiar. I wonder if he’s student here.”
“It’s not the time to singsong like that. He’s weird to put his own naked picture in your locker. Creepy.”
Angrily, Sho puts his indoor shoes into the locker. Waiting for Ohno to finish wearing his outdoor shoes, Sho grumbling about how immature people act nowadays.
“Satoshi-kun, you don’t have someone in mind who might be the root of this trouble?”
Ohno shakes his head. Both of them walking out the building and seeing Aiba with Nino standing by the school gate. They probably have been waiting for them to go home together. They’re neighbors after all. When they have no club activities after school, dropping by at ramen shop is their favorite thing to do.
“Wuilly? A makid vuik?” Aiba swallows the grilled beef down on his throat. “Man, are they crazy?”
“Aiba, finish your food before speaking!” Nino hits Aiba’s head lightly with newspaper.
“Ouch! It hurts, you idiot!”
“I want to talk with you.”
Aiba says quite seriously when they’re caught up in the library to get a task done. Nino doesn’t even bother to look at him, unless he’s prepared to get punched for laughing at Aiba’s stupid-serious-look.
“I’ve been talking about it with Sho-chan that those people are crossing the line,” Aiba continues.
“Those people?”
“They who’ve been following Oh-chan for a while now, Nino, can you please be serious at this now?”
I’m serious. I just don’t let others see how desperately serious I am about this.
“Well. I kind of know what kind of person you are,” with a threatening tone, Aiba surely getting Nino’s attention now.
“Oh really? So what kind of person I am?”
“We know it’s you. The question now is why.”
Nino is trying to be as calm as he can as Aiba keeps going on pinpoint the part of his plans. None of them is incorrect, and Nino hates Aiba for it. His best friend might look like an airhead, but with a great companion like Sho, they’ll make a good team.
“Why did you try to get Oh-chan hurt?”
Why would I, are you stupid? Ah, yes you are.
“I didn’t try to. Or more like, I will never try to. It’s just… it wasn’t going according to the plan,” he admits, collecting all the books to put them back in the shelf.
Aiba sighs, inhales a quite amount of air. “Nino…” He hisses Nino’s name in disbelief, not knowing what to say, he stays quiet.
“I’ll take care of it,” Nino smiles, a smile that hopefully can ensure Aiba, and probably himself as well. He’s relieved when a wide smile spread across Aiba’s face.
Nino promised Aiba that he’s going to take care of the mess he has caused. But really, how? He doesn’t have any idea. But why does he walk down the street, and stop right in front of Ohno’s house?
He stays quiet there, and is about to turn around when the familiar voice calls his name. “Nino!”
Ohno runs his bike towards Nino, a wide smile on his face. It’s warming, somehow, deep inside his heart.
“Need something?” Ohno asks as he brings Nino inside after parking the bike. “Come in.”
“Where were you?”
“Just biking around the block,” Ohno leads him to the bedroom after telling her mom to bring some snacks upstairs.
“You love riding the bike. I remember you spent the whole day biking, restless.” Both of them laugh at the precious memories back then when they were kids.
Ohno throws himself on the bed, stretching out his back, and looking up at the ceiling. “You’re right. I love it, don’t I?”
Finding his favorite spot empty, Nino seats himself comfortably despite the nervous he’s been hiding. It’s a good chance to tell the older about his sinning even though he’s not fully prepared of what might come after. Not because of his promise to Aiba, but he does feel sorry for Ohno.
His selfishness, his greediness.
“Hey, we should go biking sometime!” Ohno offers, quite cheerily for him.
“Sure,” softly Nino gives his OK. “Listen, I have something to say, or rather, to admit.”
“What is it?” a brief pause as they fall silent, and Ohno sits up from his laying position to get a proper talk with Nino who looks so serious.
Ohno waits. He waits Nino to talk first.
“It’s hard for me to say but you have the right to know the truth,” Nino starts. “The rumors. About you being gay,” he swallows the lump on his throat that is choking him from making a sound.
“It-It was me.”
Great, now Ohno can hate him for good.
But… why doesn’t Ohno say anything? Is he too mad to even form a word? Not even a shout? A gasp of disbelief, at least? Can’t he react properly? Or there’s something wrong with his hearing, now?
Nino clenches his teeth, “Say something, you idiot. I’m ruining your life, aren’t I?”
“I-I don’t know what to say…” Ohno admits. “…but why?”
Awkward. Nino doesn’t have an answer. He has, actually, he can’t tell however.
“You must have a good reason for that. It’s okay…”
“Isn’t it obvious? That I like you?”
Nino looks straight into Ohno’s wavering eyes, to put it simply, he doesn’t even care to look back at Nino. It just makes things easy, that finally Nino whispers the words.
“I love you, Satoshi. Can’t you tell?”
“I never imagined you could be that stupid, Nino!”
Three months after his confession at Ohno’s place, Nino gets himself scolded by both Aiba and Sho.
“Why? Why should I sit here? In a ramen shop. Scolded by you,” Nino shouts back, not the slightest care for other people’s gaze coming their way.
“I’ve been wondering why you’re making some distance from him, and that was the cause of all these ridiculous fights?” Sho lowers his tone.
“We’re not fighting, okay? Now give me a break!”
“Don’t you know that you’ve hurt him?” Aiba is now to talk. “We all know you have feelings for him.”
You guys don’t know. You don’t know anything at all.
“He said you confessed to him.”
I did, then what? It’s not like he cares anyway.
“And then left him alone, Sho-chan!” Added Aiba in his most annoying voice.
“Uwah, horrible.”
“What do you know? You weren’t even there! You didn’t see how disappointed he was! Just shut up and leave me alone!”
Nino grabs his bag angrily, leaving the shop and his two best friends stunned and embarrassed.
“I love you, Satoshi. Can’t you tell?”
Horror takes over him completely as Ohno’s cute face turn to sad, uncertainty, and remained confused for a brief moment.
“I can’t be in a relationship…” Ohno says apologetically.
“I… I’m going home.”
The next morning he leaves for school early so that Ohno doesn’t catch up with him on the way like the usual routine. He keeps himself busy after school and doesn’t go to the rooftop to enjoy lunch with the others.
He even hangs out with Jun more often after that. He knows what he’s doing is not right. He selfishly making some distance between them, so that he won’t get hurt even more. Because seeing Ohno like that, is enough to make him feel so frustrated of what’s going on.
Nino’s cellphone rings once he gets home. Aiba.
“Nino, make sure you have a talk with Oh-chan one more time! Or else we’re gonna hate you forever!”
“Hate me as much as you like, idiot!” Nino curses, turning off the device so that no one would bother him, at least not tonight.
“Morning.”
His family members have gathered on the dining table, ready for breakfast when he’s awake. His Mother brings miso shiru for them and takes a seat as well. It is when he hears the engine start from the next door neighbor.
Must be Ohno’s Dad, he thought. Ah right, it’s graduation day.
No wonder Aiba kept calling last night, asking if he’s talked properly with Ohno yet.
“You’re not going to school?” his Mom asks.
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t today Ohno’s graduation day?”
“It seems so.”
“Why aren’t you going for him, then?”
“Did Aiba tell you to persuade me?” Nino snaps. He puts down his bowl of rice, annoyed at his Mom, his Mom’s questions to be exact. He walks upstairs to his room, and feels like brushing his face with some morning air on the balcony, where he can see Ohno’s window’s room, where he sometimes peeked at Ohno from time to time.
“Oi!”
A girl poking out of Ohno room’s window, Ohno’s sister.
“Hey,” Nino’s startled. “Came back home to celebrate Satoshi’s awaited graduation day?”
“Yeah, kind of,” Ohno’s sister nods. “Can’t believe that he managed to go through this, huh?”
Nino laughs heartily, “We bet he wouldn’t make it till second year.”
“We’re totally deceived by his looks!” Ohno’s sister smiles, even if she mocks him a lot, Nino knows the best that his sister loves Ohno more than anything. “I was surprised he even got into college.”
“Eh? He did?”
“You didn’t know?”
He basically hasn’t talked to Ohno for months. How could he know about this?
“Don’t tell me that my idiot brother didn’t tell you anything?” Nino just shakes his head. “Well, now you know. Come here for lunch! We’ll have farewell party. I’ll save the biggest cut of hamburger for you!”
“He’s leaving for Kyoto tonight.”
Tonight.
Damn it.
Nino hurriedly rides his bike to school.
Kyoto. How far is it from here? Okay, work, brain. Around twenty thousands yen if I take a flight, no way, that’s expensive. Two hours by shinkansen, costs almost fifty thousands yen. Still too expensive. Damn, Why Kyoto?
He paddles faster, not caring about his surroundings.
I know he loves art, but why does it have to be Kyoto? Well, Kyoto Art University is the best, after all. Can I go to see him? He doesn’t want me to, does he? But is it okay to go there just because I want to see him smile, hear his soft laughter? Can I?
He knows he can’t. And he shouldn’t be here either. But his feet betray him. They keep looking for Ohno. Looking for Ohno’s presence.
And there.
Under the tree. He’s taking photographs with Aiba and Sho.
“Nino!” Aiba calls happily. “You came! I knew it! That I can rely on your Mo-!”
“Shut up!” Nino hisses.
“You’re not even wearing uniform… That’s… Whoa!”
Nino tries to ignore the scene of Sho kissing Aiba, just so that his mouth can be sealed.
Whatever. Nino will thank Sho later.
“Take your sweet time. We’ll take ours! See ya, Satoshi!” Sho drags Aiba away to give some time alone for them.
Nino studies Ohno’s timid look first, how long has it been since the last time he really takes a closer look at Ohno’s pretty face? He wants to touch his flushed round cheeks.
“Congratulations,” Nino says with a bitter smile on his face. The hurt from being rejected is still lingering, it’s hard for Nino to look him in the eyes anymore. He feels so hopeless. But then the thought that he won’t be able to see Ohno anymore crosses his mind, and it encourages him.
Eh? Is it only him or Ohno really does look like he’s about to cry? Nino can’t really tell. Damn, the urge to hug Ohno once again takes over him. Why does Ohno keep being silent and just standing there? Nino wants him to say something… A goodbye or anything, the best he can come up with at this kind of situations.
“Tsk,” Nino clicks his tongue in annoyance, annoyed by Ohno’s sad look, annoyed by his own cowardice. Why does Ohno make a sad face in the first place?
Nino sighs deeply and he smiles, wholeheartedly this time. “I’m not mad at you.”
“You’re mad…”
“I said I’m not…”
Ohno shakes his head, “You hate me.”
“I won’t hate you just because you don’t love me back,” Nino assures him. “I just need time to recover from my heartbroken state.”
However Ohno shakes his head repeatedly, as if what Nino has said isn’t right, isn’t… the truth.
Wait. Ohno didn’t say anything about his feelings toward Nino. He just said that… he can’t be in a relationship. Nothing else.
Does it mean…
Nino, if only you were smarter! Smarter enough to see through Ohno’s heart, and his eyes never lie. Why are you so dumb?
Indescribable feelings and flare up of emotions makes Nino speechless for a moment.
Neither of them makes a move first, despite the obvious love in the air.
And the spring has come.
“You’re cruel,” he says softly, finally. As if his grey life since the confession day has re-painted and colored, he almost jumps in joy as he grabs Ohno’s hands, pulls him closer so that their face just barely touch, so that he can feel Ohno’s breath shorten along with his heartbeats quicken.
“You do love me back.”
It is not a question, nor a statement. It was Nino’s temporary hypothesis, and is now a fact, Nino has decided.
Nino sees Ohno isn’t pulling away, he even notices that Ohno isn’t trying to deny it. So that’s all the matters.
Without too much thinking like before, Nino presses his lips against Ohno’s. Gentle and innocent kisses they are sharing at the moment. Yet they’re still hot and nerve-wracking nonetheless.
Just for few seconds, Nino feels his head spinning round and round. Dizzy by all the sudden jolts of happiness. Does Ohno feel it too? Does he feel nervous like him?
And Ohno’s voice he hasn’t heard for long, takes away his breath as Ohno speaks, “You stole my first kiss…”
Nino blushes. Not realizing that Ohno is more embarrassed than ever.
“Well, that’s kinda fair.” Nino looks away, pretending to enjoy the view of sakura trees, soon to blossom.
“I just gave mine to you, too.”
“You lied.”
“I did.”
“Liar.”
“Don’t go anywhere.”
“I can’t.”
“You won’t be able to see me again, you know?”
“You can pay me a visit, then.”
“It costs a lot,” Nino pouts. “Pay half for me?”
“No way!”
Ohno smiles shyly, as his hand is held tightly by Nino’s all the way home.