[fic] To Quit This Act (7/14)
TITLE: To Quit This Act (7/14)
PAIRING: Ohmiya (Ohno SatoshixNinomiya Kazunari)
LENGTH: Multi-chaptered (14 chapters total)
BANDS: Arashi
GENRE: Drama? It's a roller-coaster, folks.
RATING: Overall R
WARNINGS: Language and sexual themes/situations in later chapters.
SUMMARY: He did the things he did as a joke, and for years that was fine... but turning it into a prank changed everything entirely.
PREVIOUS PARTS: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 |
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By the time Nino got back into Tokyo, he felt so guilty about lying that he actually changed his course and pulled up at his family home instead of his apartment complex. He rang the doorbell continuously as he stood on the darkened porch, and when his mother answered the door in her pajamas and a housecoat a few minutes later, she took in his helpless appearance and frowned in concern.
“Kazu?” She said, obviously surprised. “…What happened? Are you hurt?”
Nino shook his head. “…No, I just… I wanted to visit.” He shifted awkwardly on the welcome mat; made aware by his mother’s silently searching stare that she knew something was wrong. “…Can I come in?”
She paused and then nodded, standing aside and holding the door open for him as he entered and took off his shoes. “Are you hungry? Do you want something?” Nino shook his head, even though he hadn’t eaten anything since noon. “…Well, I was just flicking through the television, do you want to watch some with me?”
Nino nodded glumly, trailing after his mother into the familiarly cozy living room. He sat on the couch with a throw pillow hugged to his chest, changing channels rapidly as nothing in particular caught his interest. His mother came in from the kitchen a few minutes later, wordlessly handing him a mug of hot chocolate and sitting on the couch cushion beside him.
He drank the beverage quickly, fast enough that it burnt his tongue and his eyes watered. The heat and the rich flavor filled his stomach, warming his insides and fogging his tired brain with a sudden, desperate need for sleep. His eyelids drooped and his mother took the remote from him, turning down the volume on News Zero, of all programs, and setting it aside as she pulled her son to her. Nino closed his eyes, inhaling her nostalgically familiar scent and letting her fingers work soothingly through his hair as she turned her body a little more towards him and hugged him to her comfortably.
The low hum of Sho’s calming voice faded into the rhythmic thumping of his mother’s heartbeat accompanied by the gentle rise and fall of her chest with each breath. He felt like a child again, absorbing silent comfort and understanding from his parent, and he wondered vaguely why he didn’t come home more often. He almost felt like spilling all his troubles out in long, run-on, sentences, but he was too tired to open his mouth and was afraid he might cry if he tried to. Clinging tighter, he let himself go limp and heavy, curling closer to find as much warmth as possible as his thoughts drifted off into a comforting black nothing.
For the first time in many years, Nino fell asleep wrapped in his mother’s arms.
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“Nobuto!” Yasuo hisses, pulling his younger brother into an empty room of the old house as soon as they next meet in the hall. He closes the sliding door firmly but quietly behind himself before turning to whisper in a tone that is angry with concern and shock and confusion. “What the hell were you doing?”
Nobuto is frowning. He has expected this, but it hurts to be questioned in such an accusing manner. He crosses his arms defensively. “Kissing, Aniki, but I think that was pretty obvious.”
Yasuo turns red, either flustered or angry but it’s hard to tell which. “… Who was he?”
“…Shunsuke.”
“Your friend?!” Yasuo is further shocked, not having recognized the other man before. “Are you crazy?! Who just goes around kissing their friends at random?!”
“He’s not just--… What I mean is we’re… kind of together.”
“Don’t mess around, Nobuto. This is serious!”
“I’m not messing around!” Nobuto raises his voice slightly, earning a warning glare from his brother.
“What if it was grandfather that walked in on you instead of me? You’d be thrown out, or worse!”
“So what?! It’s not like I wanted to come stay in this old house anyw-“
“Even if you don’t care, what about Shunsuke-kun?!” Yasuo steps closer, towering over his younger brother and lowering his voice again for fear of being overheard. His tone is still severe and reprimanding. “This is his home. These people are his friends and neighbors. This is his life. Don’t take all of that away from him on a selfish whim!”
This hits Nobuto hard, who hasn’t even thought of it that way before. “I--…” He begins, looking stunned and torn by the realization.
“Seriously! I don’t care how much you miss your girlfriend, or if it was just a joke, you can’t always go around doing whatever you want! What were you thinking?!”
“I wasn’t thinking anything! I just-“ Nobuto trails off, looking down. “I--… I don’t know…”
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“Hey, nice work.” Oguri Shun grinned, thumping Nino genially on the shoulder as he passed on his way to where the caterers had set up outside. “You were really into that scene huh?” He laughed and Nino frowned in confusion, still partially lost in his thoughts. “It’s almost hard to keep up with you when you get that into character…” He chuckled again, striding off in search of something to munch on until he was needed for another scene.
Nino frowned after him. To be truthful, he hadn’t been very in character at all. That last particular scene, the confrontation between the two brothers, had instantly reminded him of his own situation. In the film Yasuo had the wrong idea, but what Nino was actually doing was totally unfair, he’d been an idiot and he was making a huge mess. Though if anything good had come out of the situation, he found he kept appreciating their friendship more and more, each time they met. He wished things could be less complicated, and he was tired of trying to put up two anguished romance acts at once.
“Excuse me,” he caught a staff member by the arm. “Do you know where Ohno-kun is?”
“Um… I think I saw him wandering down by the water.”
Nino thanked the woman, turning and jogging away from the set and down to the docks.
He had to fix this.
It only took him a minute to get there, he came round the bend in the trees, following the path down to the boardwalk and looking around wildly in search of his friend. Ohno was sitting at the end of one wharf, pants cuffed up to his knees and feet swinging back and forth along the top of the water. His back was to Nino and he was facing out to sea, presumably looking into the sunset. The sun was large and golden in the sky, and clearly on its descent. It left a wide shimmering path on the surface of the water, reflecting brightly off of the small waves stirred up by the breeze. Ohno’s shirt rippled in it, his brown hair blew gently around his head, and with the sun on him the way it was he seemed to be cast in a brilliant gold glow.
Nino froze on the spot, watching for perhaps an entire minute before he was able to blink and look away. Something about the scene made him not want to disturb it. He was suddenly struck by the thought that this must be what Nobuto saw in Shunsuke, that this scene alone would convey the complete rapture that Nobuto was supposed to feel in Shunsuke’s presence. He itched to step backwards, to turn and run for a camera crew before the moment was passed, but then thought better of it.
After all, he wasn’t Nobuto right? And he wasn’t looking at Shunsuke. He needed to separate himself from his character better before he really complicated things. It was just Ohno he was looking at; Nino didn’t need to feel Nobuto’s heart racing faster than normal whenever Ohno was near… he could already envision the confusion such feelings would result in.
He was here to clear up all of the confusion, not make things worse with thoughts of tanned skin and golden sunsets by the sea…
So he approached Ohno slowly, staring at the back of his plaid shirt and reminding himself how he was supposed to feel whenever he looked at his friend. He forgot completely, however, when Ohno heard his footsteps behind him and turned around.
He looked momentarily surprised and then his expression broke into a pleased smile. “Nino.” He said simply, sliding over on the aged wooden boards and patting the spot beside him in invitation.
Nino stood for a long moment before shaking his head clear and sitting down gingerly, leaving several inches of space between them to be safe. He watched silently as Ohno leaned his weight back on his arms, tilting his head back with closed eyes and a content smile. The dying sunlight lit his features up magnificently and for an instant of what could have been momentary insanity, Nino wondered who was really shining brighter, the sun or Ohno…
Then, because several minutes of silence had passed, and Nino thought his brain was going to melt if he kept up his current internal struggle any longer, he spoke up quietly. “… What are you thinking about, Oh-chan?...”
Ohno’s smile widened and he shrugged. “Nothing in particular…”
Nino frowned. “How can you sit for so long and not be thinking anything…?”
Ohno opened his eyes then, squinting a little and tipping his head forward to look at Nino clearly. “I’m just happy.”
“…Oh.”
Another short silence fell between them and Ohno studied Nino contemplatively. Nino had to look away awkwardly, shifting uncomfortably under that stare that seemed to see right through his skin. “Did things go well with your mother?”
“Yeah, it was fine…”
“Oh, that’s good…” Ohno slipped his hand up into Nino’s lap to hold his hand and then was thoughtful again for a minute. “… Have you been looking at the scenes we’re supposed to do tomorrow?”
Nino glanced at him. It was a simple and common enough question, but Ohno had said it carefully, tentatively, and was watching him like he expected a particular reaction. “No… not yet.” He answered. “Why?”
Ohno raised his eyebrows for a brief second and then promptly looked away.
“Ohno, why?” Nino repeated, frowning now. He squeezed his hand a little tighter, leaning towards him as he searched for the answer. “What scenes are we doing?”
“Well… there’s scene 18…” Ohno said quietly, shooting a glance at Nino out of the corner of his eye. “You know…”
“Um…?” Nino shook his head slowly, frowning as he tried to recall what Ohno was talking about. He’d skimmed through the script before the audition and he looked over his lines each night for the following day but hadn’t bothered to do any studying of the scenes they had yet to touch… Frankly, he was afraid to. What he remembered about Nobuto and Shunsuke’s story was… well… he just wasn’t ready to look at any more of that territory than he had to.
Busy thinking about all the painfully romantic moments he could only vaguely recall, Nino could do nothing but freeze in shock when Ohno sighed and leaned in towards him, using his hold on Nino’s wrist to pull the younger man into a chaste kiss. Nino’s stomach jumped, and it took him a moment to remember to pull back after Ohno did. “The first kiss scene. The big one.”
Nino gulped. “…Seriously?”
Ohno nodded, turning back out to stare at the setting sun. Nino dropped his gaze in silent panic and dread, and focused on following the grain of the wooden planks with his eyes. Ohno was still holding his hand loosely, so he felt the movement more than saw it when Ohno finally turned to look at him a few minutes later.
“Nino…” He said quietly. The sun was almost set, painting everything in long shadows with splashes of light, and giving the distant horizon the appearance of being ablaze with orange fire. “Are you worried about it?”
“… Yeah, I guess…” Nino answered slowly. “I’ll have to look the scene over, I don’t remember it very well… Are you worried?”
“I--…” Ohno’s hand held to his tighter as he faltered, turning his gaze to the side to watch the waves rather than Nino’s curious expression. “Well, it’s just that we’ve never even… kissed like that before, and now we’re gonna do it on camera. It just seems weird, for a first like that to be in front of a crew, for everybody to see… I just feel weird about it.” He sighed, looking embarrassed. “I mean… what if we’re too awkward? What if we’re not any good yet?”
Yet. Nino sighed. “It won’t be any less awkward than it would be with any other actor or actress. This isn’t any different; it’s a kiss between characters, not actors. Just make sure you keep that in mind and it’ll be okay…” Nino just wished he could follow his own advice. The more he heard about this kiss scene the more he dreaded going home to read it.
Ohno hesitated but then smiled gratefully and nodded his head. “Yeah… okay.” He still looked nervous though, staring down at their clasped hands. And though his head was bowed Nino could see him worrying his lower lip between his teeth. Finally, he glanced up and then inched closer, closing the gap between their sitting positions so they were seated thigh-to-thigh.
“Oh-chan, what--?”
“I know you’re right Nino,” Ohno cut him off, releasing his hold on his hand to cup Nino’s cheek in his palm and lift himself up a bit with a grip on Nino’s shoulder. “But, a little practice couldn’t hurt… right?” He grinned mischievously, promptly pushing Nino onto his back and leaning down over him.
Nino panicked.
“W-wait! Stop!” He spluttered, flailing a little to get his arms to work properly and push back on Ohno’s chest.
Ohno frowned dejectedly, clearly confused and probably more than a little frustrated. “Nino-“ he began, but broke off abruptly as someone cleared their throat loudly from the boardwalk several feet behind them.
“Um, excuse me… Ninomiya-san?!” They called, sounding flustered and awkward about interrupting them.
Ohno rolled off of him immediately, cheeks flushed and eyes wide. Nino sat up just as quickly, thanking the heavens for saving him an explanation for his miniature fit and straightening out his clothes before clambering to his feet. “Yeah, that’s me!” He called back to the poor crewmember.
“Kato-san wants one last take of you and Oguri-san in the hallway…”
“Oh, okay. I’m coming right away.” Nino answered dutifully. He glanced down at Ohno, who was still sitting beside him.
The older man was clearly trying to hold back an amused and embarrassed smile. ‘Sorry’ he mouthed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
Nino couldn’t help returning the smile. He shook his head at the apology and then started off down the wharf. “Don’t worry about it… Go home and get some sleep, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.” He was really dreading it, but Ohno smiled brightly and nodded at him, eager and red-cheeked and trusting, and Nino all but sprinted back to the set to give his heart an excuse to be thumping as rapidly as it was.
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NOTE: Ahhhh sorry guys! I meant to get this out before the long weekend but it didn't work out, lol.
ANYWAY, heh heh heh... So, next chapter we jump straight to the next day of filming...... and scene eighteen... heh heh heh.... Excited? I am, strangely enough :P
And Oh! We've reached the halfway point!! Seven more chapters to go! Yay!
Next part is >> HERE<
PAIRING: Ohmiya (Ohno SatoshixNinomiya Kazunari)
LENGTH: Multi-chaptered (14 chapters total)
BANDS: Arashi
GENRE: Drama? It's a roller-coaster, folks.
RATING: Overall R
WARNINGS: Language and sexual themes/situations in later chapters.
SUMMARY: He did the things he did as a joke, and for years that was fine... but turning it into a prank changed everything entirely.
PREVIOUS PARTS: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 |
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
By the time Nino got back into Tokyo, he felt so guilty about lying that he actually changed his course and pulled up at his family home instead of his apartment complex. He rang the doorbell continuously as he stood on the darkened porch, and when his mother answered the door in her pajamas and a housecoat a few minutes later, she took in his helpless appearance and frowned in concern.
“Kazu?” She said, obviously surprised. “…What happened? Are you hurt?”
Nino shook his head. “…No, I just… I wanted to visit.” He shifted awkwardly on the welcome mat; made aware by his mother’s silently searching stare that she knew something was wrong. “…Can I come in?”
She paused and then nodded, standing aside and holding the door open for him as he entered and took off his shoes. “Are you hungry? Do you want something?” Nino shook his head, even though he hadn’t eaten anything since noon. “…Well, I was just flicking through the television, do you want to watch some with me?”
Nino nodded glumly, trailing after his mother into the familiarly cozy living room. He sat on the couch with a throw pillow hugged to his chest, changing channels rapidly as nothing in particular caught his interest. His mother came in from the kitchen a few minutes later, wordlessly handing him a mug of hot chocolate and sitting on the couch cushion beside him.
He drank the beverage quickly, fast enough that it burnt his tongue and his eyes watered. The heat and the rich flavor filled his stomach, warming his insides and fogging his tired brain with a sudden, desperate need for sleep. His eyelids drooped and his mother took the remote from him, turning down the volume on News Zero, of all programs, and setting it aside as she pulled her son to her. Nino closed his eyes, inhaling her nostalgically familiar scent and letting her fingers work soothingly through his hair as she turned her body a little more towards him and hugged him to her comfortably.
The low hum of Sho’s calming voice faded into the rhythmic thumping of his mother’s heartbeat accompanied by the gentle rise and fall of her chest with each breath. He felt like a child again, absorbing silent comfort and understanding from his parent, and he wondered vaguely why he didn’t come home more often. He almost felt like spilling all his troubles out in long, run-on, sentences, but he was too tired to open his mouth and was afraid he might cry if he tried to. Clinging tighter, he let himself go limp and heavy, curling closer to find as much warmth as possible as his thoughts drifted off into a comforting black nothing.
For the first time in many years, Nino fell asleep wrapped in his mother’s arms.
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“Nobuto!” Yasuo hisses, pulling his younger brother into an empty room of the old house as soon as they next meet in the hall. He closes the sliding door firmly but quietly behind himself before turning to whisper in a tone that is angry with concern and shock and confusion. “What the hell were you doing?”
Nobuto is frowning. He has expected this, but it hurts to be questioned in such an accusing manner. He crosses his arms defensively. “Kissing, Aniki, but I think that was pretty obvious.”
Yasuo turns red, either flustered or angry but it’s hard to tell which. “… Who was he?”
“…Shunsuke.”
“Your friend?!” Yasuo is further shocked, not having recognized the other man before. “Are you crazy?! Who just goes around kissing their friends at random?!”
“He’s not just--… What I mean is we’re… kind of together.”
“Don’t mess around, Nobuto. This is serious!”
“I’m not messing around!” Nobuto raises his voice slightly, earning a warning glare from his brother.
“What if it was grandfather that walked in on you instead of me? You’d be thrown out, or worse!”
“So what?! It’s not like I wanted to come stay in this old house anyw-“
“Even if you don’t care, what about Shunsuke-kun?!” Yasuo steps closer, towering over his younger brother and lowering his voice again for fear of being overheard. His tone is still severe and reprimanding. “This is his home. These people are his friends and neighbors. This is his life. Don’t take all of that away from him on a selfish whim!”
This hits Nobuto hard, who hasn’t even thought of it that way before. “I--…” He begins, looking stunned and torn by the realization.
“Seriously! I don’t care how much you miss your girlfriend, or if it was just a joke, you can’t always go around doing whatever you want! What were you thinking?!”
“I wasn’t thinking anything! I just-“ Nobuto trails off, looking down. “I--… I don’t know…”
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“Hey, nice work.” Oguri Shun grinned, thumping Nino genially on the shoulder as he passed on his way to where the caterers had set up outside. “You were really into that scene huh?” He laughed and Nino frowned in confusion, still partially lost in his thoughts. “It’s almost hard to keep up with you when you get that into character…” He chuckled again, striding off in search of something to munch on until he was needed for another scene.
Nino frowned after him. To be truthful, he hadn’t been very in character at all. That last particular scene, the confrontation between the two brothers, had instantly reminded him of his own situation. In the film Yasuo had the wrong idea, but what Nino was actually doing was totally unfair, he’d been an idiot and he was making a huge mess. Though if anything good had come out of the situation, he found he kept appreciating their friendship more and more, each time they met. He wished things could be less complicated, and he was tired of trying to put up two anguished romance acts at once.
“Excuse me,” he caught a staff member by the arm. “Do you know where Ohno-kun is?”
“Um… I think I saw him wandering down by the water.”
Nino thanked the woman, turning and jogging away from the set and down to the docks.
He had to fix this.
It only took him a minute to get there, he came round the bend in the trees, following the path down to the boardwalk and looking around wildly in search of his friend. Ohno was sitting at the end of one wharf, pants cuffed up to his knees and feet swinging back and forth along the top of the water. His back was to Nino and he was facing out to sea, presumably looking into the sunset. The sun was large and golden in the sky, and clearly on its descent. It left a wide shimmering path on the surface of the water, reflecting brightly off of the small waves stirred up by the breeze. Ohno’s shirt rippled in it, his brown hair blew gently around his head, and with the sun on him the way it was he seemed to be cast in a brilliant gold glow.
Nino froze on the spot, watching for perhaps an entire minute before he was able to blink and look away. Something about the scene made him not want to disturb it. He was suddenly struck by the thought that this must be what Nobuto saw in Shunsuke, that this scene alone would convey the complete rapture that Nobuto was supposed to feel in Shunsuke’s presence. He itched to step backwards, to turn and run for a camera crew before the moment was passed, but then thought better of it.
After all, he wasn’t Nobuto right? And he wasn’t looking at Shunsuke. He needed to separate himself from his character better before he really complicated things. It was just Ohno he was looking at; Nino didn’t need to feel Nobuto’s heart racing faster than normal whenever Ohno was near… he could already envision the confusion such feelings would result in.
He was here to clear up all of the confusion, not make things worse with thoughts of tanned skin and golden sunsets by the sea…
So he approached Ohno slowly, staring at the back of his plaid shirt and reminding himself how he was supposed to feel whenever he looked at his friend. He forgot completely, however, when Ohno heard his footsteps behind him and turned around.
He looked momentarily surprised and then his expression broke into a pleased smile. “Nino.” He said simply, sliding over on the aged wooden boards and patting the spot beside him in invitation.
Nino stood for a long moment before shaking his head clear and sitting down gingerly, leaving several inches of space between them to be safe. He watched silently as Ohno leaned his weight back on his arms, tilting his head back with closed eyes and a content smile. The dying sunlight lit his features up magnificently and for an instant of what could have been momentary insanity, Nino wondered who was really shining brighter, the sun or Ohno…
Then, because several minutes of silence had passed, and Nino thought his brain was going to melt if he kept up his current internal struggle any longer, he spoke up quietly. “… What are you thinking about, Oh-chan?...”
Ohno’s smile widened and he shrugged. “Nothing in particular…”
Nino frowned. “How can you sit for so long and not be thinking anything…?”
Ohno opened his eyes then, squinting a little and tipping his head forward to look at Nino clearly. “I’m just happy.”
“…Oh.”
Another short silence fell between them and Ohno studied Nino contemplatively. Nino had to look away awkwardly, shifting uncomfortably under that stare that seemed to see right through his skin. “Did things go well with your mother?”
“Yeah, it was fine…”
“Oh, that’s good…” Ohno slipped his hand up into Nino’s lap to hold his hand and then was thoughtful again for a minute. “… Have you been looking at the scenes we’re supposed to do tomorrow?”
Nino glanced at him. It was a simple and common enough question, but Ohno had said it carefully, tentatively, and was watching him like he expected a particular reaction. “No… not yet.” He answered. “Why?”
Ohno raised his eyebrows for a brief second and then promptly looked away.
“Ohno, why?” Nino repeated, frowning now. He squeezed his hand a little tighter, leaning towards him as he searched for the answer. “What scenes are we doing?”
“Well… there’s scene 18…” Ohno said quietly, shooting a glance at Nino out of the corner of his eye. “You know…”
“Um…?” Nino shook his head slowly, frowning as he tried to recall what Ohno was talking about. He’d skimmed through the script before the audition and he looked over his lines each night for the following day but hadn’t bothered to do any studying of the scenes they had yet to touch… Frankly, he was afraid to. What he remembered about Nobuto and Shunsuke’s story was… well… he just wasn’t ready to look at any more of that territory than he had to.
Busy thinking about all the painfully romantic moments he could only vaguely recall, Nino could do nothing but freeze in shock when Ohno sighed and leaned in towards him, using his hold on Nino’s wrist to pull the younger man into a chaste kiss. Nino’s stomach jumped, and it took him a moment to remember to pull back after Ohno did. “The first kiss scene. The big one.”
Nino gulped. “…Seriously?”
Ohno nodded, turning back out to stare at the setting sun. Nino dropped his gaze in silent panic and dread, and focused on following the grain of the wooden planks with his eyes. Ohno was still holding his hand loosely, so he felt the movement more than saw it when Ohno finally turned to look at him a few minutes later.
“Nino…” He said quietly. The sun was almost set, painting everything in long shadows with splashes of light, and giving the distant horizon the appearance of being ablaze with orange fire. “Are you worried about it?”
“… Yeah, I guess…” Nino answered slowly. “I’ll have to look the scene over, I don’t remember it very well… Are you worried?”
“I--…” Ohno’s hand held to his tighter as he faltered, turning his gaze to the side to watch the waves rather than Nino’s curious expression. “Well, it’s just that we’ve never even… kissed like that before, and now we’re gonna do it on camera. It just seems weird, for a first like that to be in front of a crew, for everybody to see… I just feel weird about it.” He sighed, looking embarrassed. “I mean… what if we’re too awkward? What if we’re not any good yet?”
Yet. Nino sighed. “It won’t be any less awkward than it would be with any other actor or actress. This isn’t any different; it’s a kiss between characters, not actors. Just make sure you keep that in mind and it’ll be okay…” Nino just wished he could follow his own advice. The more he heard about this kiss scene the more he dreaded going home to read it.
Ohno hesitated but then smiled gratefully and nodded his head. “Yeah… okay.” He still looked nervous though, staring down at their clasped hands. And though his head was bowed Nino could see him worrying his lower lip between his teeth. Finally, he glanced up and then inched closer, closing the gap between their sitting positions so they were seated thigh-to-thigh.
“Oh-chan, what--?”
“I know you’re right Nino,” Ohno cut him off, releasing his hold on his hand to cup Nino’s cheek in his palm and lift himself up a bit with a grip on Nino’s shoulder. “But, a little practice couldn’t hurt… right?” He grinned mischievously, promptly pushing Nino onto his back and leaning down over him.
Nino panicked.
“W-wait! Stop!” He spluttered, flailing a little to get his arms to work properly and push back on Ohno’s chest.
Ohno frowned dejectedly, clearly confused and probably more than a little frustrated. “Nino-“ he began, but broke off abruptly as someone cleared their throat loudly from the boardwalk several feet behind them.
“Um, excuse me… Ninomiya-san?!” They called, sounding flustered and awkward about interrupting them.
Ohno rolled off of him immediately, cheeks flushed and eyes wide. Nino sat up just as quickly, thanking the heavens for saving him an explanation for his miniature fit and straightening out his clothes before clambering to his feet. “Yeah, that’s me!” He called back to the poor crewmember.
“Kato-san wants one last take of you and Oguri-san in the hallway…”
“Oh, okay. I’m coming right away.” Nino answered dutifully. He glanced down at Ohno, who was still sitting beside him.
The older man was clearly trying to hold back an amused and embarrassed smile. ‘Sorry’ he mouthed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
Nino couldn’t help returning the smile. He shook his head at the apology and then started off down the wharf. “Don’t worry about it… Go home and get some sleep, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.” He was really dreading it, but Ohno smiled brightly and nodded at him, eager and red-cheeked and trusting, and Nino all but sprinted back to the set to give his heart an excuse to be thumping as rapidly as it was.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOTE: Ahhhh sorry guys! I meant to get this out before the long weekend but it didn't work out, lol.
ANYWAY, heh heh heh... So, next chapter we jump straight to the next day of filming...... and scene eighteen... heh heh heh.... Excited? I am, strangely enough :P
And Oh! We've reached the halfway point!! Seven more chapters to go! Yay!
Next part is >> HERE<