Ohno in Wonderland

[boblemon]

Title: Ohno in Wonderland
Rating: PG-13ish
Pairing: Ohno/Everyone (specifically Ohno/Jun), Nino/Sho
Genre: AU, fantasy bordering on crack
Chapter: one
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Just like Alice, Ohno falls down the rabbit hole... only there are more familiar people there waiting for him than Alice had. Inspired by the recent Tim Burton Movie, Animated Classic, and the books.



It was a beautiful day, a day mostly like any other day, except it wasn’t every day your best friend got married.

Ohno didn’t want to show up.

But Aiba had come over early, anticipating that the artist wouldn’t be out of bed yet, and had forced the lethargic man to put on his best clothes (which ended up being a simple white shirt that was already crumpled from neglect and it wasn’t long before the sleeves were rolled up and the buttons at the neck were undone as usual).

“You promised you’d draw Jun’s wedding portrait, didn’t you?”

The announcement had come abruptly less than two weeks ago. Although he tried to force a smile and congratulations, it was all Ohno could do not to pout and lock himself up in his tiny rented studio (which he also used for his living quarters, even though he wasn’t supposed to… it wasn’t like he could afford two places and the rent was cheaper at the studio).

First of all, Jun hadn’t even told him he was dating someone. Although Sho and Nino had all sorts of rumors that she was a princess or an heir to an Egyptian fortune and therefore befitting of a high-class lord’s son like Jun, Ohno heard Aiba telling them later that he’d discovered she was the daughter of one of Matsumoto’s business partners.

But even though the implications of something like that were obvious, Ohno couldn’t bring himself to ask Jun himself, almost for fear that he would say something like they had just fallen in love, that was all, there was no business anything related in all of this.

They were supposed to be best friends. Why hadn’t Jun told him any of this before now?

Aiba dragged him out of the studio and into the horse drawn carriage waiting for them. Jun, of course, had a car that cost him more than Ohno had made since he had started working as an artist, but Aiba being an inventor and only having large amounts of money in bursts (which he usually spent pretty quickly), just had a used cart as his disposal. Ohno was happy for it, though, since he would have died if Jun picked him up as usual this morning. He was sure he’d barely make it through the festivities by simply sitting at the back of the crowd and staring at his fingers.

Sho and Nino arrived at the Matsumoto estate at the same time as the other pair. They were riding in a carriage that was in much better shape than Aiba’s, but it still wasn’t a car and so Nino didn’t brag about it too much. When he did (which happened occasionally), Aiba would politely point out that Nino was mooching a ride off of Sho and therefore he had no say in the matter.

But today it didn’t happen and Ohno’s dour mood must have rubbed off on the rest of them because neither Nino nor Sho made any comments about how nice the weather was and that it seemed to be perfect for a wedding.

The four slowly walked to the garden in the back, where the crowds were gathering, and stood at the top of the veranda, not yet approaching the stairs that would lead them down to the rest of the festivities.

Sho cleared his throat, Aiba looked uncomfortable, and finally Nino spoke.

“This is your last chance, Oh-chan. Are you really not going to say anything?” he asked in a melancholy voice.

Thrown off balance at the sudden question, Ohno frowned and looked down at his hands, then averted his gaze to the forest that stretched out past the garden, behind where the various white pagodas and tents were set up.

“I don’t know what you mean…” he replied with a frown.

The other three gentlemen sighed simultaneously and turned their intense stares from Ohno and back to the party once again.

“I can’t do this…” the artist admitted in a weak voice with a grimace on his face. “I’m going home.”

True to his word he turned to leave, but just as the rest of the group followed to catch him, there was the noise of someone coming up the stairs behind them.

“Ah, you guys are finally here!” Jun called out in a breathless voice. It was obvious he had just run all the way up the steps and was looking mildly flustered despite his tidy suit.

After adjusting his sleeves, which were secured by bright silver cuff links in the shape of his initials, JM, he gave Aiba, Nino, and Sho a bright smile, then turned to Ohno who had stopped a few feet behind them, frozen since he’d heard Jun’s voice.

“I thought you were going to be late!”

Aiba was the first to force a smile and a chuckle, then Sho immediately followed, although his fake expression was much more obvious. Nino made an attempt, but ended up averting his eyes to the ground and pretended to be looking for something.

“Oh, you know Oh-chan… I had to wrestle him out of bed to get him here on time…” Aiba said slowly and Ohno finally turned back with a small grin that didn’t make it seem like he was happy about anything at all.

But Jun laughed and looked at the tiny man with an endearing gaze. “Can’t even get out of bed on time for your best friend’s wedding, huh?” he teased.

Immediately Nino began to make a comment under his breath that that was exactly the reason that he didn’t want to get up, but Sho stomped on his toe and his complain was cut short by a curse.

Jun walked past the trio and grabbed Ohno’s hand, pulling him down the stairs. “Come on, there’s a load of people I want to introduce you to.”

“And I’m sure there’s a load of people that Ohno doesn’t want to be introduced to,” Nino countered under his breath, and Sho let it go this time with a warning look since the groom and his victim were too far away to hear them. “I can’t believe that Oh-chan is just going to let him get married without even telling him anything. I’d never be able to let the person I love get away like that…”

Aiba sighed and nodded and Sho distractedly watched the pair as they reached the bottom of the steps and start to slow down as Ohno realized what was going on.

“I don’t know why anyone would want to meet your lowly artist friend…” he said sulkily, forcing Jun to stop and turn around to face him.

“Oh-chan…” was the reply with a curious look.

“I’m serious…” Ohno said slowly, only sparing the younger man a brief look and then pretending to eye the sweets table that was set up under the balcony where the four men had been talking a few minutes earlier. “All the people you know are important….” he trailed off, unsure what else to say.

“That’s the point,” Jun said with an amused expression. “You’re an amazing artist, I’m sure you can get a few clients…”

“Oh, I see. So you’re trying to give me a hand out,” Ohno said in a quiet offended voice, even though he usually jumped at opportunities like this.

“Ohno, I’m trying to help you-“ Jun started incredulously, but the smaller man pulled his hand out of the groom’s grip, where it had been held tightly up until a moment ago.

“I don’t need it!”

Without thinking, Ohno took off running towards the entrance of the garden labyrinth, which was one of the main attractions of the Matsumoto estate, and didn’t bother to care that he had just made a scene for no reason or that everyone was staring at him or that Jun must be deathly embarrassed right now.

He knew that Jun had probably been stunned at the reaction, since Saoshi was usually much more laid back and accommodating, but that he would no doubt be running after him in a few seconds, and therefore got as much of a head start as he could.

As he turned a corner, Ohno ran past a pair of lovers kissing, who looked startled as he zoomed past, and then as he rounded another curve noticed some rose bushes to the right which were probably tall and thick enough to hide him.

The thorns stung as he dived into the hiding place, but he had already realized they would be and it didn’t hurt nearly as much as the pain in his chest. He pushed himself up against the regular bushes that made of the wall of the maze and pulled his knees to his chest, trying his hardest not to burst out crying.

Ohno knew he shouldn’t have come. He should have faked a fatal illness and stayed at home in bed.

Jun’s voice sounded as the younger man rounded the corner that Ohno had just taken and the artist held his breath as his friend called his name and jogged past his hiding spot.

He shouldn’t have come, the artist told himself again, trying to push away the image of Jun with a woman, kissing and living together and having sex. They’d been friends for ten years and Ohno knew that he would lose out soon or later as Jun’s father put more pressure on him to get married, but that didn’t stop the situation from hurting any more. He really did wish that he’d told Jun already that he loved him, that he didn’t want him to get married and slowly fade from Ohno’s life…

Ohno violently scrubbed the tears from his eyes. When the coast was clear he was going to find Aiba and ask to be taken home. He couldn’t face Jun again after the scene he’d just made.

“Jun…?” A female voice was suddenly heard in front of the artist and Ohno hadn’t even noticed that someone else had come. He stilled his breathing and watched a pair of stiletto clad feet slowly pass his hiding spot. “Jun darling, what are you doing?”

As expected, a few minutes passed in silence and then two familiar voices came back towards him.

“…but I really wanted you to meet him. He’s amazing-“ Jun’s voice could barely be heard.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll show up sooner or later. I really do want to meet him, though, with how much you talk about him…” It was the same woman from earlier.

Ohno pressed his forehead to his knees as the voices faded again.

He was going to find Aiba and go home.

Dreading going back out through the prickly bushes as well as the chance that he might have to face Jun or any member of the Matsumoto family, Ohno waited for almost twenty minutes until he convinced himself it was time to leave. His shirt was ripped anyway, he was sure of that much, he was bleeding in random places, and that was more than enough excuse to walk past the crowd of people and back the way he’d come.

Sighing in irritation as he finally was clear of his hiding place, Ohno rubbed his forearm, where there was a fairly deep cut, and then slowly stood. He brushed off what he could of the dirt he could feel on his pants and then straightened, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands just in case there were any stray tears lingering there.

He was about to turn towards the exit when something in the opposite direction caught his attention.

A person had just walked around the corner and it looked like Aiba… but why was he heading towards the center of the garden?

“Ah,” Ohno said aloud as he realized the answer right away. Aiba-chan was probably looking for him, having heard from Jun what he did… although he knew he’d get a scolding from Nino later on, the fact that Aiba cared so much made Ohno feel a little at ease. Everything would probably be okay… at least to the point that he could deal with it. He would just have to get to know Jun’s new wife and hope that she was as amazing as she should be. Then maybe he could accept the fact that Jun couldn’t be his.

Without wasting any more time, Ohno began jogging to where Aiba had been headed, rounding the corner and then quickly another as he searched for his friend.

On the third turn he saw the inventor once again, who darted out of his view right before Ohno could call out to him. He was running out of breath, but Ohno still tried to speed up, determined to stop his friends from fretting over him anymore.

“Aiba-chan!!” Ohno called out as he followed him, but the artist only saw the other man glance back for a second before continuing towards the middle of the maze.

“Hey!” the artist called out again, mad that his friend hadn’t stopped for him, but realizing that there was a possibility that he hadn’t been heard properly. Speeding up again and completely out of breath now (how was Aiba moving so quickly?), Ohno continued farther into the labyrinth.

But the next corner led him into a clearing, one that he didn’t recognize, and suddenly Ohno halted his search and instead began to look around him.

This wasn’t the garden that belonged to the Matsumoto’s. It was overgrown, the trees were tall enough that they were blocking out the sun, and there were countless rocks that Jun’s mother would have already removed.

“Aiba… chan?” the artist asked tentatively, eventually turning back to the way he had come in, and found that there were no longer any walls made of precisely cut bushes to be seen.

There was a movement out of the corner of his eye and Ohno flew around in an effort to see what it was, feeling almost frightened at the weird chance of circumstances.

Aiba, who was clad in a black dress vest and slacks, was looking at a pocket watch that didn’t seem familiar to the artist. He also had a tiny black top hat--which looked quite ridiculous to Ohno, but Aiba knew much more about fashion and things than him, so he’d never say anything-and… a tail?

Taking a second look, Ohno blinked and tried to focus, but the man had already darted behind another tree, running at an inhuman speed.

“Aiba, wait!” Ohno yelled, now just focused on following the strangely dressed inventor and trying to ignore the rest of the things that seemed out of place.

As he darted past the tree that his friend had just disappeared behind, the artist heard quite distinctly, “I’m late!”

Furrowing his brows, but feeling confident now that he was close enough to hear Aiba’s unusual complaint, Ohno could only follow, jumping over tree roots (not quite as lithely as the man in front of him, but he hadn’t fallen yet) and ducking under low hanging branches.

“Oh damn, Jun is going to kill me-“

Ohno wanted to tell Aiba not to worry about that, since the wedding wasn’t due to start until the evening, and they were technically at the party right now, weren’t they? But he couldn’t get the words out because of the burning in his chest and he wasn’t sure the reassurance was going to do anything anyway.

He was closing in on the quick man, though, and could plainly see a long purple tail flopping around as he ran ahead of him. While he was staring, though, wondering first of all why Aiba was wearing such a ridiculous thing and secondly how he had it attached through his pants like that, Ohno tripped and landed flat on his face, jarring his chin and scraping his arms even more.

But he looked up just in time to see Aiba slip into the darkness of a large tunnel, which seemed like it should belong to an abandoned mine or something, and Ohno sighed deeply. All he wanted was a ride home…

Forcing himself to stand up once again and then wincing as he felt his tender arm throbbing (it was likely to bruise…), Ohno slowly made his way to the tunnel, thinking that there was no way that Aiba would get away from him in there. He’d get to the bottom of this and discover what all the nonsense was about.

Ohno usually didn’t mind nonsense, in fact it brought inspiration for his paintings many times and had thus helped him meet Jun and the others, but right now he was feeling too miserable to tolerate Aiba’s game. He didn’t care if Aiba came out with a cake and offered him a cup of tea while in the confines of the tunnel, he was going to insist that they go home already so that he could get away from this most terrible day.

Stepping tentatively into the darkness, Ohno let his eyes adjust to the shadows before going a little deeper inside.

“Aiba-chan? Come on…” he said in an annoyed voice.

“This isn’t funny,” he followed up when there was no response.

“I’m seriously going to get you for this. I won’t snuggle with you when you’re drunk anymore…” he tried to threaten, hoping that he’d at least get a laugh to reveal the location of his friend.

But there still wasn’t a sound, not even one of footsteps, and it seemed like the sun coming in from the outside was getting dimmer. The air was getting heavy and although Ohno didn’t like the feeling he had, he continued to press forward.

Just as suddenly as the change in scenery earlier, the ground seemed to be collapsing underneath him and Ohno was tumbling into nothingness.

He let out a yell and called for Aiba’s help again, but he was falling quickly. Ohno’s arms reached out to grab whatever they could, even though they only got scraped even more in the process. But as a soft glow began radiating off of the walls of the hole, Ohno’s fear for his life slowly waned and instead he curiously looked at the things around him.

There were pictures, hundreds of pictures in various sizes and styles and frames and there were chandeliers hanging out from the dirt sideways (he almost hit one on the way) and tables that were set for dinner, some with teacups, some with spaghetti, some with delicious looking tea cakes… Ohno tried to grab one of those, but his elbow hit the side of the table instead and so he pulled it back to his chest and simply tried to keep his limbs intact.

The bottom of the hole coming up quickly, though, Ohno could see it because it was brightly lit, and so he squeezed his eyes shut, wondering if this was going to be the end of him. At least then he wouldn’t have to worry about what to do with Jun.

But as he approached an oversized table that had a feast laid out on top of it, somehow gravity became less intense and the artist gradually began to slow down. The force was still enough for the table to break underneath him, but Ohno wasn’t dead, only had a sore ass to add to the list of injuries he’d experienced that day already, and so he considered himself lucky.

He coughed and slowly pulled himself out of the wreckage of the table and then looked around him again. There were a few pictures on the wall down here too and some lamps that brightened up the room, but most of the space was taken up by doors of various sizes and shapes.

Unsure of what else to do, Ohno immediately tried each door, distractedly walking around the room as random thoughts sped through his head.

I’m going to miss Jun’s wedding.

Stupid, you wanted to miss Jun’s wedding.

Jun’s going to be mad.

Aiba said that Jun was going to be mad that he was late for something.

Maybe more time had passed than he thought.

Where was this place?

Was that piece of steak as delicious as it looked?

Ohno had made it around the circular room and was back where he had started with no success. So he had turned to the table in hopes that there was an answer for him there, a key or a lock pick… there wasn’t one, though, only a piece of meat that had survived the collapse of the table and was still displayed neatly on its plate looking absolutely delectable…

Without thinking, Ohno picked up a portion of the steak, one that was just big enough to chew properly, and popped it into his mouth. It really was delicious, juicy and full of flavor and…

Suddenly Ohno was the same size as the plate.

Which was fine because now the food would be even more filling-

Before he attempted to eat any more of the wonderful meal, Ohno somehow managed to stop himself. If the steak made him smaller, eating more might make him so tiny that he didn’t even exist anymore.

Of course he didn’t know if that was even possible. Aiba was the inventor and probably could answer the question, but instead of filling his tummy, Ohno decided he’d better pass this time.

Without worrying about it anymore (worrying wasn’t going to do anything, right?), the artist slowly slid down the table top towards the main area of the table that had collapsed with his entrance and then crawled off onto the floor to look around again.

While his mind wandered with thoughts of what Jun would do if he found him like this (probably be worried but eventually laugh and pick him up in his hand and carry him around in his vest pocket all day... that sounded like fun), Ohno unconsciously wandered towards a small door that he hadn’t noticed in his earlier search.

And Nino would make fun of him and poke gently at his tiny stomach while Aiba laughed and Sho would write a new bestselling book about him…

Ohno reached for the door and simply tilted his head curiously when the handle moved out from under his hand. After staring at it for a second, Ohno tried again, moving his hand over the door knob, but once more the metal shifted under him and stopped at the top of the entrance.

With a smile on his face, the rest of the morning already forgotten (in fact, Ohno had a fleeting suspicion he’d fallen asleep in the garden while hiding from Jun), the artist tried to jump in order to reach the shining round object.

He still couldn’t reach it though, and began giggling as he pressed himself against the door. The handle was moving back and forth as if it was teasing him.

“You’re really cute,” came a tiny shy voice and Ohno immediately backed away and tried to see where the noise had come from. He watched in fascination as the knob dipped back to the very center of the door and melted to form a tiny nose. Two knots in the unfinished wood became miniature almond shaped eyes and a smile formed out of a dark line in the grain.

The artist grinned and touched the door lightly to see what would happen.

It laughed.

“H-hey, that tickles!”

“Chi-chan?” Ohno asked slowly, finally recognizing the distinct way the face had formed and the familiarity of the voice.

“Excuse me?” the door asked quietly, blinking.

“Chinen-chan?” the artist asked again, gently running his hand over the door’s frame. It looked just like a student that Ohno had taken on a few months ago, much to Jun’s (and Nino’s and Aiba’s and Sho’s) distress. They hadn’t like the idea that Ohno would no longer be available at any time for a surprise visit or shopping trip or short vacation. They had gotten used to their free floating friend who could be lured away with the promise of something as simple as food and had teased Chinen pretty badly because of it.

The boy idolized him, though, and it was nice to have a constant income, as small as it was, and so Ohno had convinced them all to leave Chinen alone at the threat that he would stop answering the door when any of them stopped by his studio.

“How’d you know my name?” the door asked softly, looking amazed.

“You don’t know me?” Ohno asked with confusion.

“Sorry, I’ve never seen you before. Actually, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone even like you before.”

“Hmm,” the artist hummed in response. “Well, my name is Ohno Satoshi.”

The door smiled widely at him and let out a bubbly laugh. “Nice to meet you Ohno-san,” it said in a happy sing song voice.

“You can call me Oh-chan if you want… Everyone does…” he replied kindly. When he had told the other Chinen that, the boy had blushed and became flustered and still insisted that that suffix was far too personal for a student and teacher relationship.

The door did the same, at least the blushing and flustered part.

Ohno ran his hands over the frame once again and smiled knowingly. “Say, Chi-chan…” he started and waited for the door’s attention to rest on him before continuing. “Did Aiba-I mean, a tall man with brownish hair and a tiny hat in a suit and maybe he had a purple tail…? Did he come through here?” the artist asked sweetly.

“Oh, Aiba-chan? Yes, I just let him through a few minutes ago.”

Fluttering his eyelashes in a way that he hoped was too cute to resist, Ohno leaned against the door and requested passage as well.

“I don’t know…” Chinen’s knot eyes shifted to one side. “I’m not supposed to let outsiders through…”

Ohno backed away and nodded as if he understood completely. “Is there another way out?”

“…Well… No…”

Continuing to nod, Ohno looked at the table, which had somehow righted itself into the proper setup in the time he had been distracted with following Aiba, and sighed. With no other choice, the artist turned back to the door and gave him a pleading look.

“The other doors will be mad at me if I do! I can’t!” Chinen squinted his eyes shut.

“Those big old things? I bet they’re really hard on you, huh?” he replied consolingly, resting his hand lightly on the frame of the door. He waited for a moment while Chinen’s face contorted in debate and finally the furnishing replied.

“Yeah… They always make fun of me for being tiny…”

Ohno smiled and patted Chinen on what should have been his forehead. “I don’t think you’re tiny. You’re just the right size for me after all…”

The wood eyes darted over to the human leaning against him and then looked away, once more becoming flustered.

There was silence for a second, but it was quite obvious that Ohno was going to get his way.

“I guess… It’s okay…” Chinen conceded and glanced back over at the artist.

“Thank you Chi-chan!” was the happy reply and the door gave him a genuine smile before the facial features disappeared back into wood and the metal nose became a knob once again, returning to the proper place it belonged.

This time when Ohno reached for the handle it didn’t disappear and instead the door opened in front of him. Thanking his new friend one more time, the lost man popped through the entrance and it promptly closed behind him.

Right away Ohno glanced around him to take in his new surroundings. He was in a forest again and he had just walked out of tree which displayed absolutely no signs that there was a door on the other side of the bark. He seemed to be a medium size, either that or the forest was just exceedingly large, but the leaves were pretty big and so Ohno thought that maybe he was still smaller than he should be. Jun would have to carry him in his arms now.

Despite having made it through to his destination, he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. Of course Aiba-chan was nowhere to be seen and neither was anyone else, human or not.

Ohno scratched his head and decided he would just find something interesting and somehow that would lead him to the end he wanted. A first priority might be to find something to become a proper size again, but in reality the artist didn’t care that much. He was getting a new point of view from this size after all, and all sorts of inspirations were coming to him. He wished he’d had a pad or something so he could capture parts of the scenery around him, but unfortunately all of his art supplies had been left in Aiba’s carriage and were too large to properly carry around with him anyway. He’d only brought them because he knew in the bottom of his stomach that he would have to see this wedding through somehow. He couldn’t stand to see the disappointment on Jun’s face for messing up something that important.

Clearing thoughts of that fiasco to the back of his mind, Ohno looked around again, having walked for several minutes and into an unfamiliar area. There were sunflowers over the top of him and he was walking in their shadows and unable to see much else above him. He heard them whisper something to each other but didn’t catch any of it, and kept walking instead.

There were some blueberry plants to his right and Ohno was just about to head over and see if there were any fruit on them to eat when he heard a spongy voice from somewhere in the opposite direction.

“Who are you?”

Ohno turned back and blinked at the caterpillar-looking-thing resting on a mushroom just a little off the path he’d taken. Temporarily abandoning the blueberries, the artist shuffled over to the bug and knelt down so that he could get a proper view of the thing. He was twice its height even though it was sitting on the toadstool, and thought it was only polite to give the thing his full attention, especially if it was watching him like that.

“Whoooooo are you?” It repeated again, elongating the first word and blowing smoke from a cigarette out of his mouth.

“I’m Ohno.”

“Ooooohno?”

“You can call me Oh-chan. The Ogura that lets me use his attic as a studio does.”

There was silence at the man’s strange response.

“You knooooow,” the caterpillar started, raising one of his many hands to take a deep breath from a cigarette held between his tiny fingers, “who I am?” he finished as he released another puff of smoke, this time making a circle with his lips so the air came out in rings.

“At least who you look like.” It was curious that his subconscious was doing these weird things to his friends like making them doors and caterpillars. But Aiba looked pretty normal, so maybe everything wasn’t wrong. Ohno wondered what Jun and Sho and Nino would look like and if they were even going to show up in his dream at all.

“Ahhhh,” was the simple reply, as if the reason didn’t really matter.

Neither spoke for a few seconds, Ohno turning to eye the oversized blueberry bush again, but he decided it was rude to leave Ogura when they had just started talking, so he didn’t.

“By the way, have you seen Aiba come by here?”the artist asked politely instead.

“Aaaaaaiba…” Ogura repeated, making the first syllable longer than necessary. “Oh, you mean that snnnnnnneaky,” the sentence was broken up while the bug let out a deep breath of smoke and then raised the cigarette to his lips again, “little kitty?”

“Kitty?” Ohno asked with a raised eyebrow. Not one to be frustrated easily, the fact that it was taking more time to have a conversation with this thing than to go looking for the man himself didn’t even cross his mind.

“Snnnnnneaky, that one.”

“Hmmm. I don’t know if Aiba is sneaky or not, but have you seen him?”

Ogura looked up at the sky and although he snuffed out the butt of his drug on the mushroom around his feet (at least Ohno thought those were his feet), another hand immediately came up with a fresh cigarette to replace it.

“Yesssssss.”

The artist waited in expectant silence, but the bug didn’t offer anything else and so he was forced to ask.

“Which way did he go?”

“That way,” Ogura replied immediately and without any weird pronunciation, but his several arms were all pointing in different directions.

Ohno blinked and decided this Ogura couldn’t be trusted (as sometimes the real one couldn’t, especially when girls were involved).

“I see. Well, I’d better go look for him,” Ohno said with a raised hand and turned back to the blueberry bush.

“If you’re going to eat one,” the caterpillar started in his previous leisurely pace, “I’d eat a blue one.”

The artist could only blink again. He thought all blueberries were blue.

But upon closer examination of the plant, Ohno realized that there were berries of all different colors, most of them being yellow or bright green.

Not doubting the Ogura-caterpillar’s advice in the least, in contradiction with the decision he had just made a second ago, Ohno looked until he found a blueberry that was actually blue and then immediately popped it into his mouth. It was sour and his fingers were dyed afterwards, but Ohno could feel himself expanding and soon he was back to a size that felt almost normal. He glanced down at the tiny caterpillar, who waved up at him, and then at the blueberry bush which was actually quite smaller than it should have been.

Now that he could see farther in the distance, Ohno scratched his head, not sure that he had made any more progress in his journey since he had come out of the door. Oh well, at least he was regular size again. Jun wouldn’t have to hold him anymore and instead they could hug or Jun could give him a piggy back ride.

Suddenly the melancholy thought of this actually being real and the possibility of never seeing Jun again made Ohno feel like maybe he could weather something as simple as a wedding. He knew this was a dream, but somehow the fact that his knees hurt and his arm was still throbbing and that he was pretty sure the taste of that blueberry wasn’t going to leave his mouth for a while made him unsure of himself.

“You! You there! Dressed in white! What team do you play for?”

Ohno twisted around at the sound of Sho’s voice and tilted his head as he saw his friend. Or his friend as he was in Ohno’s dream at least.

+++

A/N: First of all I feel inclined to apologize for the use of my regular pairings. =.=;

Second of all, I'm sorry this isn't the end of the series of porn I was already working on. I'm in a serious slump right now, probably because I just made a big move (to Japan) and I'm having a hard enough time writing, let alone something smutty. To keep my attention I decided to work on something happy and lighthearted and this is what came out. I wanted to post it so no one would think I was dead and maybe get a little motivation to finish some of my other things...

As always, yarukizero betaed, and actually she's posting a story right now too. It's a Harry Potter-ish AU with Ohba and Sakumoto. It's very cute, so you should check it out on her journal! ^.^ Also, the fact that I made a banner for this was her fault too.

Comments, either criticisms or things you liked are welcome!!

Chapter two