[fic] To Quit This Act (11/14)
TITLE: To Quit This Act (11/14)
PAIRING: Ohmiya (Ohno SatoshixNinomiya Kazunari)
LENGTH: Multi-chaptered (14 chapters total)
BANDS: Arashi
GENRE: Drama? It's a roller-coaster, folks.
RATING: 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 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Awkward.
Awkward. Awkward. Awkward.
It was what Nino kept replaying in his head, a word that had been like a song on repeat or a broken record, playing over and over until he thought it would really drive him mad. It was the only word he could think of to describe the time that took up most of his waking hours.
It was three weeks after the breaking of his nose and his break from filming was over. He’d been approved a week before that to continue promoting their single and doing TV appearances, but Kato-san had insisted they wait for all of the bruising to fade before they proceeded with the movie. The atmosphere when he returned to the seaside town after his absence was, indeed, awkward. They were professionals, of course, they wouldn’t let the painful tension between them have an effect on their acting performance when the cameras were rolling, but everybody noticed the sudden shift from heart-achingly romantic to a stomach-turning mix of anger, longing, and hurt the second Kato-san yelled ‘cut’.
Nino was miserable. He tried to act like he didn’t care if Ohno ignored him whenever they were off film, he tried not to let his hopes sink when Ohno walked in his direction only to notice him and turn around, but it was becoming increasingly hard not to leap off the end of the wharf and drown himself whenever Ohno glanced at him with eyes full of broken promises and the ache of betrayal, looking for all the world like it literally pained him to be in Nino’s presence on such a regular basis.
He’d tried to talk to him, but getting Ohno alone and willing to stay still and listen was difficult when the older man wanted nothing to do with him. Whenever they had to hug or hold hands, Nino tried to radiate every bit of apology and regret out from his soul in the hopes of it somehow passing through to the other man via the contact. Even without touch, whenever they were close enough that he could feel the heat of Ohno’s skin reaching his own, he hoped silently that Ohno could feel him too, and would somehow understand how bad he felt.
It seemed that he didn’t, however. That, or Ohno had no plans to forgive him for what had happened. Months passed, filming for the movie finished and went into the editing stages while Arashi moved into putting together a new album, rehearsing dance steps vigorously and practicing all the new songs before they were ready to record. They were busy, constantly on the go. As a group Nino could mingle with the ones who still put up with his company whenever they had a break, but it didn’t make things much less awkward. Even in his sleep, Ohno was there to make him uncomfortable and guilty and all sorts of other things that he didn’t have the heart or energy to analyze during his waking hours. It was maddening, and he didn’t know how much more if it he could take.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Aiba raised his eyebrows as Nino reentered the green room in a well-fitted tux. “Um…?” He frowned, still wearing his red and silver outfit from the ‘Merry Christmas!’ Music Station Holiday Special they’d just finished performing for.
“We’ve got to be on the red carpet in about an hour, so we’re just changing here to save time.” Nino answered, clearing up Aiba’s confusion as he picked at his hair in the mirror.
“Oh! That’s tonight! I forgot!” Aiba smacked himself on the forehead. “You look good, Nino.” He smiled, turning to the newscaster beside him. “Doesn’t he look good, Sho-chan?”
“Hm, yeah. You look like you were born to do movie premiers.” Sho chuckled, catching up on the newspaper reading he’d fallen behind on recently what with the rush of work they’d been doing in preparation for the holidays.
Aiba laughed, scrunching up his eyes and nodding. “Yes! It’s true! Don’t you agree, Jun-kun?” He looked hopefully at the youngest member in the room, who shot him a glance and turned away. Jun was still adamantly pretending Nino didn’t exist off camera, despite Aiba’s continued efforts to change things over the course of the autumn months.
It was hard to believe it was winter, that the year was gradually drawing to a close. The months since everything had fallen apart in the summer had both sped by and dragged along at an excruciating pace. The passing time was torturous and Nino wished it would hurry and become nothing more than a painful memory. But the problem was that the pain hadn’t faded with time, and Nino almost wished time would stop to keep things from going unresolved between them any longer.
“…Oh, Leader. You look nice.” Jun said instead as Ohno entered the room, tugging at his cuffs.
“Thanks.” Ohno smiled, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck self-consciously at the same time that Nino tried to slip past him, accidentally getting smacked in the face. “Oh!” Ohno exclaimed in alarm as Nino grimaced, trying to step back and away but finding the wall behind him impeded his progress. “I’m sorry! I didn’t see you!”
Nino froze like Ohno was made of ice as the older man’s hands made contact with him and held him still as he was inspected for signs of serious injury. Ohno looked terribly guilty and concerned, babbling apologies and worried questions too fast for Nino’s stunned brain to comprehend.
“I’m sorry, are you bleeding?! Does it still hurt?” Ohno asked anxiously, reaching out to gingerly touch the tips of his fingers to Nino’s nose while the other hand still cupped his jaw.
Nino turned bright red, eyes widening as he realized how close they were. “N-no! I’m fine.” he exclaimed, pushing Ohno’s hands away and slipping briskly out the door and down the hall.
Ohno stood looking at the empty place where he’d been for a minute -also seeming shocked at what had just happened, as though he’d acted impulsively without thinking- before studying his hands and dropping them to his sides. “Shit…” He cursed under his breath, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead heavily against the wall for a second before pushing off abruptly and hurrying to leave the room and stalk down the hall in the opposite direction of that which Nino had taken.
Aiba and Sho exchanged a look, and Aiba moved like a viper to grab Jun’s hand when the younger man got up as though to follow their leader out.
“What?” Jun growled, annoyed at being stopped by Aiba’s tight grip and pleased expression.
“We need to talk.” Sho said seriously, beckoning him to the couch.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jun hadn’t wanted to hear it.
They’d started by explaining what had happened, a story that Jun had already pieced together, but they continued by explaining their part in the whole plot, in detail. It was a story that he hadn’t heard, but that he found himself accidentally being interested in.
“To sum it up,” Sho said pleasantly. “Nino is, and we are fairly certain of this, actually in love with Ohno. That changes the whole situation, right?”
Aiba nodded, grinning broadly. “He doesn’t know it yet, but it’s true! Just think about it!”
Jun was thinking about it, he’d been thinking about it for two hours now and he was starting to connect the dots. The longing stares he’d witnessed could quite probably have been longing for something a little deeper than just reconciliation… Nino’s hesitance to admit he’d felt nothing when Ohno had pressed him to answer… His reaction earlier in the green room...
He thought back to before the whole mess had started, even back to when they were barely older than kids… before they’d hit adulthood… Nino had always been the one to initiate Ohmiya’s skinship. Sure, fanservice was one thing, a lot of people did it, but everyone knew that Ohmiya took it one -or maybe even several- steps further.
The fact that it continued off camera, for one thing, was more than a little abnormal. Jun wondered, if Aiba and Sho were correct, then had Nino’s unknown affections grown from back so far as that? The two had always shared a special chemistry, that was for sure, but Jun had never thought that perhaps there was something beyond a strangely hands-on friendship there before. Now that he considered it, it made a lot of sense.
Jun was mad.
“How is he so stupid!?” He complained loudly to his ceiling. “That idiot! It’s one thing for us to figure it out this late, but why hasn’t he noticed yet! Stupid!” He sat up, checking his bedside clock before getting up to grab a suit from his wardrobe and throw it on.
There was one more piece of evidence he’d been told about that he had to see for himself. Aiba had told him the general idea behind the movie, and he’d heard bits of it from Ohno, but this was something he’d have to analyze with his own eyes before he decided to up and knock some sense into Ninomiya.
He quickly fixed his hair, straightening his tie and grabbing his car keys before running out of his apartment. The premiere had already started, and going at such a late time wasn’t really his idea of being fashionably late -though he was pretty fashionable-, but if he hurried he’d be able to catch the last half of the film at least.
That would have to suffice.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Nino smiled charismatically, stopping occasionally to talk to reporters and pose for photographers as he made his way slowly down the carpet towards the doors to the theatre. He found himself acutely aware of where Ohno was, two people behind him, and could feel the other man’s eyes drifting towards him every so often. In the car on the way there this had been the same, and Nino had hoped, to no avail, that Ohno would be easier to ignore in the crowd. This was clearly not the case.
“Ninomiya-san, can you give us a moment of your time?” Called a reporter, and Nino gladly took the distraction as he sauntered up to the man with the microphone and his assistant with a camera. “Ninomiya-san, are you happy with how the film turned out?”
“I haven’t seen it all myself yet, actually, but I’m pretty confident in it.” He chuckled. “I think people are going to like it, it’s a touching story.”
“So I’ve heard.” Nino tried not to frown at the suggestive tone. “Speaking of which, the storyline between yourself and Arashi’s Ohno Satoshi-san is no secret, it’s been all the talk lately. Many of the scenes are very intimate, correct?” Nino nodded slowly, wishing he’d posed for a few more photographs instead. “Tell us, because fans are dying to know, how would you describe the atmosphere when working on those scenes with such a close friend and colleague? Was it comfortable, or did you find it difficult?”
Nino hesitated, glancing in Ohno’s direction from the corner of his eye. The other man had stopped to stand with Oguri Shun, lit up brightly by a flurry of camera flashes. Nino quickly looked away, taking a deep breath and smiling his most charming smile. “It was awkward, to say the least, but Nobuto and Shunsuke’s relationship is a little awkward, so I think we were able to work it in our favor.” He bowed quickly, signaling that he was done being questioned and thanking the interviewer for his time before backing back into the crowd that was beginning to inch a little quicker towards the theatre doors.
It was starting soon, but he couldn’t wait for it to be over.
As he said his short piece to the attending audience and waited for Kato-san and the producers to finish talking and thanking everybody for coming, he wondered how bad it would be to get caught attempting to sleep through the screening…
“Hey…” Ohno said slowly, sitting in the empty spot to Nino’s right as they filed into the reserved section of seats. “Mind if I sit here?”
He’d already sat anyway, and it appeared that all the other spots were quickly being filled. Besides, Nino had no excuse to send him away. He shook his head, keeping his eyes on the blank screen. “Go ahead.”
“Thanks…” Ohno replied quietly, linking and unlinking his fingers in his lap. Nino tried not to be distracted by the movement and was relieved when the lights dimmed. The audience applauded as the screen lit up and the production company logos appeared. “Here we go…” He heard Ohno breathe to himself, and Nino wondered if the older man was dreading seeing this as much as he was. He turned his attention to the opening scene.
---
A bus is moving through the city, passing shops and apartment buildings before heading into more residential areas and eventually passing a sign that says ‘You are now leaving Tokyo’. It continues along roads that eventually become much more rural, passing over deep potholes and between tall cornfields. At each stop, fewer and fewer people get off, until there are very few people left in the big, dusty, vehicle. Through all of this, one of the lighter orchestra themes of the film plays jauntily, and the opening credits fade in and out in a quaint white font.
The scene cuts to inside the bus, focusing on Nobuto and his brother Yasuo, who are sitting side by side. Yasuo -in the aisle seat- is looking at a black-framed portrait of their mother; the urn containing her ashes is wrapped carefully in cloth and in the open bag resting between his feet. Across the aisle, an elderly lady is staring quite obviously. Yasuo is oblivious, but Nobuto looks quite uncomfortable.
“Put that away.” He says in an undertone, pushing at the frame. “You’re attracting attention.”
“What?” Yasuo frowns. “Why can’t I look at it?”
“Is that your mother, dear?” The old lady asks, pointing. Yasuo turns in surprise and nods. “She passed away?”
“Oh… yes. This past Thursday.” He answers solemnly, looking down at the photograph again. “…Cancer.”
“You poor dears…” The woman croons kindly. “You two are brothers? How old are you?”
“Yes, I’m Fujiwara Yasuo, twenty-four, and this is my younger brother, Fujiwara Nobuto. He’s only twenty. Our father has never been present so I guess I’m in charge of his well-being now…”
Nobuto rolls his eyes and the woman nods, looking very sympathetic to what she considers a tragic story before pausing to look them over again. “You’re not from the country are you? What are you doing all the way out here? You haven’t missed your stop, have you?”
“Oh, no. We’re on our way to our grandparents’ home. She wanted her grave to be in her old hometown, and she asked that we spend some time there.”
“Why is that?”
“Yes, why is that, Aniki?” Nobuto asks humorlessly.
“I’ve told you, I don’t know.” Yasuo frowns at his brother before returning his attention to the old woman. “I think maybe to get in touch with our roots again? We haven’t seen our grandparents since we were children, Nobuto barely has any memory of them… That, or maybe they need some help running the family business. I’m not sure, but whatever the reason, Mother asked it of us and we’re going to carry out her last wishes… We’ll stay for the summer and head back to Tokyo before the cold weather comes in. It’s not a big deal.” His last words are clearly directed to his brother, who is sulking silently and staring out the window.
“What a kind young man you are…” Says the woman, sinking back into her seat. “Your grandparents are lucky to have you.”
“Ah,” Yasuo chuckles humbly. “Not at all, thank you…”
The bus goes over a bump and Nobuto smacks his forehead off of the window, wincing in pain and holding his head as he ignores Yasuo, who is trying -without success- to hide his laughter.
---
Nino looked over, seeing Ohno smiling in amusement at the scene. Nino smiled too, wishing they could laugh with each other when they weren’t sitting side-by-side out of nothing but necessity, in a dark room where they might as well have been in two separate worlds rather than just two separate seats.
“Oh-chan…” Nino said quietly.
Ohno looked towards him, smile fading to a carefully neutral expression. “…Hm?” He hummed back.
On the screen, the bus pulled up into a compacted dirt square at the hub of a small coastal village. The camera panned past a sign that welcomed visitors to ‘Tenkyou’, showed Nobuto and Yasuo getting off the bus with their luggage, and then panned up on a crane to show a quickly sweeping view of the quaint little buildings and leafy trees framing the docks and the blue ocean. Mountains could be seen rising in the distance on either side of the water, and the horizon straight ahead was far in the distance. The sun overhead glittered brightly off the waves and reflected off the brightly colored paint of several small fishing boats. On the screen, the words ‘Orenji no Sora no Shitano Aoi Umi’ -‘Blue Seas under Orange Skies’- appeared and faded out gently, transitioning into a scene featuring the Fujiwara brothers walking through the tiny town.
“…I’m sorry.” Nino said softly.
Ohno stared at him for a long moment before looking down. “…Me too…” He paused before turning away, focusing his attention back on the big screen.
Nino sighed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was easier to get into the theatre than Jun had thought it would be. He told the people working the door inside that he had forgotten his invitation, and since he was Matsumoto Jun, they believed him without checking the guest list and let him into the celebrity guest section, separate from the section where regular civilians who’d managed to get tickets were seated.
Inside the theatre was dark, the movie was about half way through, and it seemed that every seat was filled. As a particularly bright shot came up on the screen, Jun managed to pick out Ohno’s brown hair, and was both surprised and pleased to find that Nino was seated beside him. He thought that perhaps they’d just been told to sit together, to better promote themselves as a duo in the film.
Quietly, he crept across the back of the section, ducking low so as not to block anybody’s view of the screen. His plan was to sit on the stairs at the far side in a position where he, hopefully, would not be freaking out the other viewers, but would still have a good view of his bandmates. He sat down slowly, trying not to draw attention to himself as he craned his neck. Nino and Ohno were fairly close to the aisle where he was sitting, but there was a guy sitting beside them in the aisle seat, and he was tall. The tall guy shifted in his seat, providing Jun with a momentary glimpse of Nino conspicuously sneaking a peek at Ohno’s profile, but then the mystery guy was in the way again, reaching up to fix his hair and turning to stare in Jun’s direction.
Jun started, realizing that he’d been noticed and trying not to gulp.
The sound of chirping birds heralded the arrival of morning in the film and the screen lit up in a soft gold light. Jun raised his eyebrows, blinking in surprise as he was able to see the equally surprised face staring back at him.
“MatsuJun?”
“Shun-kun?”
Nino glanced over at the hissed voices and Jun dropped instantly to the ground, covering his head unnecessarily with his arms and grimacing at how the carpet was slightly sticky with something that clung to his cheek when he began sitting up. He pulled a popcorn kernel off of his face and glared at Shun, who was frowning in confusion and trying not to snicker at his expense.
“Shut up.”
“What are you doing here? Can’t find your seat?”
Jun hesitated. “No… I’m spying on them,” he gestured, “actually…”
“Really?” Jun nodded, Oguri turned to look at the pair in mild confusion and curiosity. “Well…. Okay.” He pet his armrest, leaning back so that Jun could sidle up and peek over it to see around him.
“Thanks.” Jun whispered. He had a perfect view, and a good system worked out. If Nino or Ohno ever happened to glance their way, Jun ducked down out of sight and Oguri leaned forward to block their view in case Jun was too slow. Silently, feeling quite proud of himself for his spy work, Jun set to being as observant as possible, alternating between watching the film and watching his fellow group members’ reactions.
The movie had reached the point in the plot where Yasuo was starting to discover the truth behind his mother and Nobuto was in denial about his feelings, trying to pretend they didn’t exist for Shunsuke’s sake. Jun found himself actually getting into the plot, making a note to actually go see the thing sometime when he wasn’t distracted by the people a couple of seats away. As the sexual tension between Nobuto and Shunsuke grew, Jun found that Ohno was following the storyline with mournful eyes, but Nino was only glancing up occasionally, spending most of the time staring down at his knees and looking deep in thought.
Jun turned his attention back to the screen himself, wondering if they were just uncomfortable with watching or if Nino was seriously battling with his emotions. Nobuto and Shunsuke were climbing into a rowboat. “I want to show you something.” Shunsuke was saying. “It’s my favorite place in the whole village.”
Jun was personally a little surprised at the kiss scene that came next. He heard many of the audience members gasp in surprise and wondered if he had actually done the same, judging by the amused grin Oguri Shun was giving him. Honestly though, it was a little strange, he himself had never pulled a kiss scene off so passionately. He wouldn’t be surprised, he told himself, if there was very little acting going on there. Glancing over, he saw Ohno had switched to looking down, whereas Nino was staring at the screen with his eyebrows drawn tightly together. He looked physically pained, and his expression was the epitome of confused.
Jun grinned smugly. He was officially convinced. It certainly seemed that Sho and Aiba had been right after all…
The sun was setting. Nobuto and Shunsuke were back at the docks and kissing again, briefly and gently this time, as they prepared to climb out of the little oared vessel. The grandfather was, much to the sinking of Jun’s stomach, standing on the wharf and watching coldly. However, Jun was distracted from the film by the plan he currently had in mind…
The film cut to the grandparents’ home. Nobuto was kneeling on the floor, his grandmother and Yasuo were kneeling at the opposite side of the room, and his grandfather was pacing back and forth, yelling at him for being a disgrace to their family name and so on and so forth.
“But I love him!” Nobuto suddenly blurt out to Jun’s pleased surprise, tired of just taking the verbal abuse. “I do! And I don’t care if he’s a guy, it doesn’t matter! I’m in love with him and you can’t change that.”
The scene went on, but Jun had seen Nino sink deeper into his seat, rubbing his temples as though his head were pounding, and he decided that he’d seen enough. He’d watch the movie from beginning to end some other time, but right now he had to find a spare key and do a little planning on what exactly he’d have to say and do to finally put some long-overdue sense into Ninomiya’s head…
Hey, somebody had to do it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOTE:
Soooo~ We skipped a lot of time in this chapter, and now Jun is taking over where Sakuraiba left off? 8o
ALSO, I got my tablet hooked up to my laptop, finally, and couldn't resist the urge to mess around on photoshop. I actually meant to post this chapter last night, but I got distracted.... SORRY!
Have a picture of Ohmiya at the premier? xP
-- excuse the lack of audience behind them. I got lazy xP --
**^^ click for higher resolution~~~**
Thanks for sticking with me guys! Only a few chapters left to go~
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: 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 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Awkward.
Awkward. Awkward. Awkward.
It was what Nino kept replaying in his head, a word that had been like a song on repeat or a broken record, playing over and over until he thought it would really drive him mad. It was the only word he could think of to describe the time that took up most of his waking hours.
It was three weeks after the breaking of his nose and his break from filming was over. He’d been approved a week before that to continue promoting their single and doing TV appearances, but Kato-san had insisted they wait for all of the bruising to fade before they proceeded with the movie. The atmosphere when he returned to the seaside town after his absence was, indeed, awkward. They were professionals, of course, they wouldn’t let the painful tension between them have an effect on their acting performance when the cameras were rolling, but everybody noticed the sudden shift from heart-achingly romantic to a stomach-turning mix of anger, longing, and hurt the second Kato-san yelled ‘cut’.
Nino was miserable. He tried to act like he didn’t care if Ohno ignored him whenever they were off film, he tried not to let his hopes sink when Ohno walked in his direction only to notice him and turn around, but it was becoming increasingly hard not to leap off the end of the wharf and drown himself whenever Ohno glanced at him with eyes full of broken promises and the ache of betrayal, looking for all the world like it literally pained him to be in Nino’s presence on such a regular basis.
He’d tried to talk to him, but getting Ohno alone and willing to stay still and listen was difficult when the older man wanted nothing to do with him. Whenever they had to hug or hold hands, Nino tried to radiate every bit of apology and regret out from his soul in the hopes of it somehow passing through to the other man via the contact. Even without touch, whenever they were close enough that he could feel the heat of Ohno’s skin reaching his own, he hoped silently that Ohno could feel him too, and would somehow understand how bad he felt.
It seemed that he didn’t, however. That, or Ohno had no plans to forgive him for what had happened. Months passed, filming for the movie finished and went into the editing stages while Arashi moved into putting together a new album, rehearsing dance steps vigorously and practicing all the new songs before they were ready to record. They were busy, constantly on the go. As a group Nino could mingle with the ones who still put up with his company whenever they had a break, but it didn’t make things much less awkward. Even in his sleep, Ohno was there to make him uncomfortable and guilty and all sorts of other things that he didn’t have the heart or energy to analyze during his waking hours. It was maddening, and he didn’t know how much more if it he could take.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Aiba raised his eyebrows as Nino reentered the green room in a well-fitted tux. “Um…?” He frowned, still wearing his red and silver outfit from the ‘Merry Christmas!’ Music Station Holiday Special they’d just finished performing for.
“We’ve got to be on the red carpet in about an hour, so we’re just changing here to save time.” Nino answered, clearing up Aiba’s confusion as he picked at his hair in the mirror.
“Oh! That’s tonight! I forgot!” Aiba smacked himself on the forehead. “You look good, Nino.” He smiled, turning to the newscaster beside him. “Doesn’t he look good, Sho-chan?”
“Hm, yeah. You look like you were born to do movie premiers.” Sho chuckled, catching up on the newspaper reading he’d fallen behind on recently what with the rush of work they’d been doing in preparation for the holidays.
Aiba laughed, scrunching up his eyes and nodding. “Yes! It’s true! Don’t you agree, Jun-kun?” He looked hopefully at the youngest member in the room, who shot him a glance and turned away. Jun was still adamantly pretending Nino didn’t exist off camera, despite Aiba’s continued efforts to change things over the course of the autumn months.
It was hard to believe it was winter, that the year was gradually drawing to a close. The months since everything had fallen apart in the summer had both sped by and dragged along at an excruciating pace. The passing time was torturous and Nino wished it would hurry and become nothing more than a painful memory. But the problem was that the pain hadn’t faded with time, and Nino almost wished time would stop to keep things from going unresolved between them any longer.
“…Oh, Leader. You look nice.” Jun said instead as Ohno entered the room, tugging at his cuffs.
“Thanks.” Ohno smiled, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck self-consciously at the same time that Nino tried to slip past him, accidentally getting smacked in the face. “Oh!” Ohno exclaimed in alarm as Nino grimaced, trying to step back and away but finding the wall behind him impeded his progress. “I’m sorry! I didn’t see you!”
Nino froze like Ohno was made of ice as the older man’s hands made contact with him and held him still as he was inspected for signs of serious injury. Ohno looked terribly guilty and concerned, babbling apologies and worried questions too fast for Nino’s stunned brain to comprehend.
“I’m sorry, are you bleeding?! Does it still hurt?” Ohno asked anxiously, reaching out to gingerly touch the tips of his fingers to Nino’s nose while the other hand still cupped his jaw.
Nino turned bright red, eyes widening as he realized how close they were. “N-no! I’m fine.” he exclaimed, pushing Ohno’s hands away and slipping briskly out the door and down the hall.
Ohno stood looking at the empty place where he’d been for a minute -also seeming shocked at what had just happened, as though he’d acted impulsively without thinking- before studying his hands and dropping them to his sides. “Shit…” He cursed under his breath, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead heavily against the wall for a second before pushing off abruptly and hurrying to leave the room and stalk down the hall in the opposite direction of that which Nino had taken.
Aiba and Sho exchanged a look, and Aiba moved like a viper to grab Jun’s hand when the younger man got up as though to follow their leader out.
“What?” Jun growled, annoyed at being stopped by Aiba’s tight grip and pleased expression.
“We need to talk.” Sho said seriously, beckoning him to the couch.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jun hadn’t wanted to hear it.
They’d started by explaining what had happened, a story that Jun had already pieced together, but they continued by explaining their part in the whole plot, in detail. It was a story that he hadn’t heard, but that he found himself accidentally being interested in.
“To sum it up,” Sho said pleasantly. “Nino is, and we are fairly certain of this, actually in love with Ohno. That changes the whole situation, right?”
Aiba nodded, grinning broadly. “He doesn’t know it yet, but it’s true! Just think about it!”
Jun was thinking about it, he’d been thinking about it for two hours now and he was starting to connect the dots. The longing stares he’d witnessed could quite probably have been longing for something a little deeper than just reconciliation… Nino’s hesitance to admit he’d felt nothing when Ohno had pressed him to answer… His reaction earlier in the green room...
He thought back to before the whole mess had started, even back to when they were barely older than kids… before they’d hit adulthood… Nino had always been the one to initiate Ohmiya’s skinship. Sure, fanservice was one thing, a lot of people did it, but everyone knew that Ohmiya took it one -or maybe even several- steps further.
The fact that it continued off camera, for one thing, was more than a little abnormal. Jun wondered, if Aiba and Sho were correct, then had Nino’s unknown affections grown from back so far as that? The two had always shared a special chemistry, that was for sure, but Jun had never thought that perhaps there was something beyond a strangely hands-on friendship there before. Now that he considered it, it made a lot of sense.
Jun was mad.
“How is he so stupid!?” He complained loudly to his ceiling. “That idiot! It’s one thing for us to figure it out this late, but why hasn’t he noticed yet! Stupid!” He sat up, checking his bedside clock before getting up to grab a suit from his wardrobe and throw it on.
There was one more piece of evidence he’d been told about that he had to see for himself. Aiba had told him the general idea behind the movie, and he’d heard bits of it from Ohno, but this was something he’d have to analyze with his own eyes before he decided to up and knock some sense into Ninomiya.
He quickly fixed his hair, straightening his tie and grabbing his car keys before running out of his apartment. The premiere had already started, and going at such a late time wasn’t really his idea of being fashionably late -though he was pretty fashionable-, but if he hurried he’d be able to catch the last half of the film at least.
That would have to suffice.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Nino smiled charismatically, stopping occasionally to talk to reporters and pose for photographers as he made his way slowly down the carpet towards the doors to the theatre. He found himself acutely aware of where Ohno was, two people behind him, and could feel the other man’s eyes drifting towards him every so often. In the car on the way there this had been the same, and Nino had hoped, to no avail, that Ohno would be easier to ignore in the crowd. This was clearly not the case.
“Ninomiya-san, can you give us a moment of your time?” Called a reporter, and Nino gladly took the distraction as he sauntered up to the man with the microphone and his assistant with a camera. “Ninomiya-san, are you happy with how the film turned out?”
“I haven’t seen it all myself yet, actually, but I’m pretty confident in it.” He chuckled. “I think people are going to like it, it’s a touching story.”
“So I’ve heard.” Nino tried not to frown at the suggestive tone. “Speaking of which, the storyline between yourself and Arashi’s Ohno Satoshi-san is no secret, it’s been all the talk lately. Many of the scenes are very intimate, correct?” Nino nodded slowly, wishing he’d posed for a few more photographs instead. “Tell us, because fans are dying to know, how would you describe the atmosphere when working on those scenes with such a close friend and colleague? Was it comfortable, or did you find it difficult?”
Nino hesitated, glancing in Ohno’s direction from the corner of his eye. The other man had stopped to stand with Oguri Shun, lit up brightly by a flurry of camera flashes. Nino quickly looked away, taking a deep breath and smiling his most charming smile. “It was awkward, to say the least, but Nobuto and Shunsuke’s relationship is a little awkward, so I think we were able to work it in our favor.” He bowed quickly, signaling that he was done being questioned and thanking the interviewer for his time before backing back into the crowd that was beginning to inch a little quicker towards the theatre doors.
It was starting soon, but he couldn’t wait for it to be over.
As he said his short piece to the attending audience and waited for Kato-san and the producers to finish talking and thanking everybody for coming, he wondered how bad it would be to get caught attempting to sleep through the screening…
“Hey…” Ohno said slowly, sitting in the empty spot to Nino’s right as they filed into the reserved section of seats. “Mind if I sit here?”
He’d already sat anyway, and it appeared that all the other spots were quickly being filled. Besides, Nino had no excuse to send him away. He shook his head, keeping his eyes on the blank screen. “Go ahead.”
“Thanks…” Ohno replied quietly, linking and unlinking his fingers in his lap. Nino tried not to be distracted by the movement and was relieved when the lights dimmed. The audience applauded as the screen lit up and the production company logos appeared. “Here we go…” He heard Ohno breathe to himself, and Nino wondered if the older man was dreading seeing this as much as he was. He turned his attention to the opening scene.
---
A bus is moving through the city, passing shops and apartment buildings before heading into more residential areas and eventually passing a sign that says ‘You are now leaving Tokyo’. It continues along roads that eventually become much more rural, passing over deep potholes and between tall cornfields. At each stop, fewer and fewer people get off, until there are very few people left in the big, dusty, vehicle. Through all of this, one of the lighter orchestra themes of the film plays jauntily, and the opening credits fade in and out in a quaint white font.
The scene cuts to inside the bus, focusing on Nobuto and his brother Yasuo, who are sitting side by side. Yasuo -in the aisle seat- is looking at a black-framed portrait of their mother; the urn containing her ashes is wrapped carefully in cloth and in the open bag resting between his feet. Across the aisle, an elderly lady is staring quite obviously. Yasuo is oblivious, but Nobuto looks quite uncomfortable.
“Put that away.” He says in an undertone, pushing at the frame. “You’re attracting attention.”
“What?” Yasuo frowns. “Why can’t I look at it?”
“Is that your mother, dear?” The old lady asks, pointing. Yasuo turns in surprise and nods. “She passed away?”
“Oh… yes. This past Thursday.” He answers solemnly, looking down at the photograph again. “…Cancer.”
“You poor dears…” The woman croons kindly. “You two are brothers? How old are you?”
“Yes, I’m Fujiwara Yasuo, twenty-four, and this is my younger brother, Fujiwara Nobuto. He’s only twenty. Our father has never been present so I guess I’m in charge of his well-being now…”
Nobuto rolls his eyes and the woman nods, looking very sympathetic to what she considers a tragic story before pausing to look them over again. “You’re not from the country are you? What are you doing all the way out here? You haven’t missed your stop, have you?”
“Oh, no. We’re on our way to our grandparents’ home. She wanted her grave to be in her old hometown, and she asked that we spend some time there.”
“Why is that?”
“Yes, why is that, Aniki?” Nobuto asks humorlessly.
“I’ve told you, I don’t know.” Yasuo frowns at his brother before returning his attention to the old woman. “I think maybe to get in touch with our roots again? We haven’t seen our grandparents since we were children, Nobuto barely has any memory of them… That, or maybe they need some help running the family business. I’m not sure, but whatever the reason, Mother asked it of us and we’re going to carry out her last wishes… We’ll stay for the summer and head back to Tokyo before the cold weather comes in. It’s not a big deal.” His last words are clearly directed to his brother, who is sulking silently and staring out the window.
“What a kind young man you are…” Says the woman, sinking back into her seat. “Your grandparents are lucky to have you.”
“Ah,” Yasuo chuckles humbly. “Not at all, thank you…”
The bus goes over a bump and Nobuto smacks his forehead off of the window, wincing in pain and holding his head as he ignores Yasuo, who is trying -without success- to hide his laughter.
---
Nino looked over, seeing Ohno smiling in amusement at the scene. Nino smiled too, wishing they could laugh with each other when they weren’t sitting side-by-side out of nothing but necessity, in a dark room where they might as well have been in two separate worlds rather than just two separate seats.
“Oh-chan…” Nino said quietly.
Ohno looked towards him, smile fading to a carefully neutral expression. “…Hm?” He hummed back.
On the screen, the bus pulled up into a compacted dirt square at the hub of a small coastal village. The camera panned past a sign that welcomed visitors to ‘Tenkyou’, showed Nobuto and Yasuo getting off the bus with their luggage, and then panned up on a crane to show a quickly sweeping view of the quaint little buildings and leafy trees framing the docks and the blue ocean. Mountains could be seen rising in the distance on either side of the water, and the horizon straight ahead was far in the distance. The sun overhead glittered brightly off the waves and reflected off the brightly colored paint of several small fishing boats. On the screen, the words ‘Orenji no Sora no Shitano Aoi Umi’ -‘Blue Seas under Orange Skies’- appeared and faded out gently, transitioning into a scene featuring the Fujiwara brothers walking through the tiny town.
“…I’m sorry.” Nino said softly.
Ohno stared at him for a long moment before looking down. “…Me too…” He paused before turning away, focusing his attention back on the big screen.
Nino sighed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was easier to get into the theatre than Jun had thought it would be. He told the people working the door inside that he had forgotten his invitation, and since he was Matsumoto Jun, they believed him without checking the guest list and let him into the celebrity guest section, separate from the section where regular civilians who’d managed to get tickets were seated.
Inside the theatre was dark, the movie was about half way through, and it seemed that every seat was filled. As a particularly bright shot came up on the screen, Jun managed to pick out Ohno’s brown hair, and was both surprised and pleased to find that Nino was seated beside him. He thought that perhaps they’d just been told to sit together, to better promote themselves as a duo in the film.
Quietly, he crept across the back of the section, ducking low so as not to block anybody’s view of the screen. His plan was to sit on the stairs at the far side in a position where he, hopefully, would not be freaking out the other viewers, but would still have a good view of his bandmates. He sat down slowly, trying not to draw attention to himself as he craned his neck. Nino and Ohno were fairly close to the aisle where he was sitting, but there was a guy sitting beside them in the aisle seat, and he was tall. The tall guy shifted in his seat, providing Jun with a momentary glimpse of Nino conspicuously sneaking a peek at Ohno’s profile, but then the mystery guy was in the way again, reaching up to fix his hair and turning to stare in Jun’s direction.
Jun started, realizing that he’d been noticed and trying not to gulp.
The sound of chirping birds heralded the arrival of morning in the film and the screen lit up in a soft gold light. Jun raised his eyebrows, blinking in surprise as he was able to see the equally surprised face staring back at him.
“MatsuJun?”
“Shun-kun?”
Nino glanced over at the hissed voices and Jun dropped instantly to the ground, covering his head unnecessarily with his arms and grimacing at how the carpet was slightly sticky with something that clung to his cheek when he began sitting up. He pulled a popcorn kernel off of his face and glared at Shun, who was frowning in confusion and trying not to snicker at his expense.
“Shut up.”
“What are you doing here? Can’t find your seat?”
Jun hesitated. “No… I’m spying on them,” he gestured, “actually…”
“Really?” Jun nodded, Oguri turned to look at the pair in mild confusion and curiosity. “Well…. Okay.” He pet his armrest, leaning back so that Jun could sidle up and peek over it to see around him.
“Thanks.” Jun whispered. He had a perfect view, and a good system worked out. If Nino or Ohno ever happened to glance their way, Jun ducked down out of sight and Oguri leaned forward to block their view in case Jun was too slow. Silently, feeling quite proud of himself for his spy work, Jun set to being as observant as possible, alternating between watching the film and watching his fellow group members’ reactions.
The movie had reached the point in the plot where Yasuo was starting to discover the truth behind his mother and Nobuto was in denial about his feelings, trying to pretend they didn’t exist for Shunsuke’s sake. Jun found himself actually getting into the plot, making a note to actually go see the thing sometime when he wasn’t distracted by the people a couple of seats away. As the sexual tension between Nobuto and Shunsuke grew, Jun found that Ohno was following the storyline with mournful eyes, but Nino was only glancing up occasionally, spending most of the time staring down at his knees and looking deep in thought.
Jun turned his attention back to the screen himself, wondering if they were just uncomfortable with watching or if Nino was seriously battling with his emotions. Nobuto and Shunsuke were climbing into a rowboat. “I want to show you something.” Shunsuke was saying. “It’s my favorite place in the whole village.”
Jun was personally a little surprised at the kiss scene that came next. He heard many of the audience members gasp in surprise and wondered if he had actually done the same, judging by the amused grin Oguri Shun was giving him. Honestly though, it was a little strange, he himself had never pulled a kiss scene off so passionately. He wouldn’t be surprised, he told himself, if there was very little acting going on there. Glancing over, he saw Ohno had switched to looking down, whereas Nino was staring at the screen with his eyebrows drawn tightly together. He looked physically pained, and his expression was the epitome of confused.
Jun grinned smugly. He was officially convinced. It certainly seemed that Sho and Aiba had been right after all…
The sun was setting. Nobuto and Shunsuke were back at the docks and kissing again, briefly and gently this time, as they prepared to climb out of the little oared vessel. The grandfather was, much to the sinking of Jun’s stomach, standing on the wharf and watching coldly. However, Jun was distracted from the film by the plan he currently had in mind…
The film cut to the grandparents’ home. Nobuto was kneeling on the floor, his grandmother and Yasuo were kneeling at the opposite side of the room, and his grandfather was pacing back and forth, yelling at him for being a disgrace to their family name and so on and so forth.
“But I love him!” Nobuto suddenly blurt out to Jun’s pleased surprise, tired of just taking the verbal abuse. “I do! And I don’t care if he’s a guy, it doesn’t matter! I’m in love with him and you can’t change that.”
The scene went on, but Jun had seen Nino sink deeper into his seat, rubbing his temples as though his head were pounding, and he decided that he’d seen enough. He’d watch the movie from beginning to end some other time, but right now he had to find a spare key and do a little planning on what exactly he’d have to say and do to finally put some long-overdue sense into Ninomiya’s head…
Hey, somebody had to do it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOTE:
Soooo~ We skipped a lot of time in this chapter, and now Jun is taking over where Sakuraiba left off? 8o
ALSO, I got my tablet hooked up to my laptop, finally, and couldn't resist the urge to mess around on photoshop. I actually meant to post this chapter last night, but I got distracted.... SORRY!
Have a picture of Ohmiya at the premier? xP
-- excuse the lack of audience behind them. I got lazy xP --
**^^ click for higher resolution~~~**
Thanks for sticking with me guys! Only a few chapters left to go~
Next part is >> HERE<<