Come On! Koibito! Epilogue
Two Weeks Later~
Nino had never really liked tropical places. Not that he had much experience with them, never having left Tokyo for most of his life but the idea in theory never had appealed to him. He didn't like the water and so, by extension, he didn't like the beach. The heat just made him sweat and sand was never a friend to his DS. There just really was nothing on a tropical island that was of much interest to Nino.
It was Ohno that had accepted the invitation and despite the fact that Nino didn't really want to go, Ohno had looked pretty excited and it was free so pretty soon, Nino found himself celebrating Christmas with his boyfriend in Hawaii. If the show had let him choose his own hush money (Nino had threatened to sue when he found out about the hidden cameras), they'd have a much nicer apartment and perhaps a few more gaming supplies but the show had offered the vacation and Ohno had accepted before Nino could barter.
Nino sat at the table on the patio, waving back to Ohno at the beach. Their room opened out to the water which never really sat quite right with Nino but Ohno loved it and at least then Nino could sit inside and play video games and Ohno could see him from his perch by the ocean.
There was a knock at the door and Nino hollered for whoever it was to come in, not really feeling the need to look up before defeating Bowser. He couldn't save until he captured the castle, anyway. Footsteps made their way towards the terrace and he saw Sho plop down in a chair next to him in his peripheral vision. Already used to Nino's habits despite only having been dating Aiba a month, Sho patiently waited until Nino beat the boss, saved, and shut the DS.
"Swimming with the dolphins again?" Nino asked, knowing that Sho hadn't seen his boyfriend in roughly 24 hours, ever since Aiba had realized that the resort had an aquarium that offered such a service. Sho nodded, taking a sip of the fruity resort drink he'd brought with him.
Nino wasn't entirely sure why Aiba and Sakurai had gotten the vacation, too. Sho had probably complained since they'd been filmed as well--Nino knew full well that Aiba probably didn't care. At any rate, they had the room next door which was both handy, letting their friends drop by whenever, and a little awkward, as Nino had heard a few sounds from Aiba late at night that he was pretty sure he never wanted to hear. Then again, Nino had probably made a few sounds of his own, so the deal most likely went both ways.
"Did you ever decide on the deal Kimura offered you?" Sho asked, looking genuinely curious. Nino shrugged and Sho gave him a face. "Come on, you should do it. It'll pay better and I know you'd be good at it. Plus, you'd get to be on set with Ohno all day."
Nino still wasn't sure if he should take the deal or not. Kimura had offered him, along with the Hawaiian vacation, a job with CoKoi. They'd made up some type of title, Executive Thematic Developer or something, that basically meant that Nino would help come up with the challenges or, more simply, help Kimura and Nagase fool contestants with whatever new scheme they came up with. Granted, it sounded kind of fun and working at the same place as Ohno would be nice but Nino still wasn't sure if he really wanted to watch Ohno have to follow some other contestant around all the time.
"I'll think about it," Nino finally replied and Sho seemed to accept that, leaning back in his chair and twirling the umbrella in his drink. Nino was kind of curious if they'd ever see Aiba again.
"What do you think Jun is up to?" Sho asked offhandedly, obviously trying to think of a new topic of conversation.
"Shopping, probably," Nino shrugged. "You know him. Those two are constantly out at the mall, trying on clothes and sunglasses and whatever. Someone should have told him that you could do that in Tokyo."
"But it's cheaper here," Jun replied, walking up to the patio from the beach, where he had obviously been sunning himself. "Plus, they have some nice things we can't get in Japan."
"Like puka shells?" Sho asked, eyeing the necklace Jun was wearing. Jun dipped his head in what, if Nino didn't know better, he'd call a blush.
"That was a present," he replied and Sho laughed.
"You don't like it?" another voice asked, a figure appearing from behind Jun, hands on hips. "I thought it was pretty manly myself."
"Necklaces aren't manly," Nino grinned. "Especially ones made of something called 'puka shells.' But nice try."
Mao rolled her eyes and reached over to grab Sho's drink, taking a sip. Sho made a move to say something but gave up just as quickly, not really seeing the point.
It was still kind of a shock that Mao was there at all. The winner of CoKoi and thus, Jun's new boyfriend was supposed to get, along with the money, a fantastic vacation, probably the vacation that Nino and company were currently on. However, in a finale that somehow even Kimura hadn't predicted (although Nino was sure the man had loved it), Jun hadn't chosen anyone, apologizing to the other two contestants and saying that although he enjoyed their company, he just wasn't looking for a boyfriend at the time. Because he already had a girlfriend.
Nino had been right when he'd guessed that Jun must be rich. Jun was rich and, more importantly, bored so he had signed up to be the bachelor on CoKoi. He told them one night over drinks that he had mainly been looking to make some new friends, sure that not everyone in the contestant pool would be in love with him. He'd even had Mao do some work with a private eye, doing background checks on the contestants, just in case. If that hadn't worked, there'd always be the staff. Sho had complained that that was kind of mean to the few contestants that had actually liked them but had quickly quieted when Jun asked him to name one.
Jun hadn't won any prize, considering he hadn't picked a winner, so he and his girlfriend, Inoue Mao, had showed up to the vacation a day late on Jun's own dime. Nino had asked him why he felt the need to hang out with them even now that the show was over and Jun had just given him a look. Despite everything, Nino had begrudgingly accepted that maybe Jun and he were friends.
"When do you guys want to go for dinner?" Mao asked, giving Sho his drink back and reaching down to pick up the few shopping bags that were at her feet. "I heard the resort's restaurant was having some kind of really good special tonight. We should check it out."
Nino had no idea how Jun had managed to hook such a fun and nice girl to be his girlfriend and had told the younger man so a few days earlier. Even though Jun had insulted his mother in response and Nino laughed it down, he was still a little curious. When he'd asked Mao the night before, she'd blushed and mentioned something about them both being from Saturn. Maybe they were both crazy.
"I don't know when we'll get Aiba back," Sho sighed, checking his watch. "Maybe give it another hour? If he's not back by five, I'll drag him out of that pool myself."
"Good luck with that," Jun laughed, reaching down to pick up the one bag Mao didn't have enough hands to grab.
"Let's say sixish then?" Mao asked and got a few murmurs in response.
Jun and Mao headed off, saying that they were dropping their bags off in their room and that they'd see them for dinner, if not earlier. Sho was quick behind them, planning to attempt to rescue the dolphins from Aiba. Nino waved them all away, settling down with his DS again to beat a few more levels before propriety would force him to head out to dinner with these people he supposed he called his friends.
"How far are you in Super Mario Brothers now?" Ohno asked as he returned to the room, hair plastered to his face and towel dripping water from his shoulder.
"You're getting the patio wet," Nino smirked, trying to ignore the way his breath was coming in shorter puffs at the sight of his boyfriend's naked chest.
"Oh, sorry," Ohno looked down at the stone under his feet and Nino chuckled at the fact that Ohno actually felt bad for getting stone, that was outside in the first place, wet.
"Go take a shower," Nino told him. "We're all getting dinner at six. Mao's idea."
"That sounds nice," Ohno smiled, dropping the towel onto a rock just off the patio to let it air dry for awhile. "I'll be out in fifteen minutes." And Ohno moved from the patio into the room, disappearing into the bathroom.
Nino heard the water turn on a few minutes later and sat there, thinking about how much his life had changed in a few months. He'd gone from a loser who worked at Animate in Ikebukuro, someone who hadn't had a real relationship in ages and had had basically one friend for fifteen years to this, a vacation in Hawaii with a group of friends and the man of his dreams. Maybe he would take that offer of Kimura's. The show, as much as it annoyed him, had been good to him. Plus, Sho was right; he would be good at coming up with new challenges.
He checked his watch. There was still forty five minutes until they were supposed to meet the others for dinner. With a sly smile on his face, Nino got up and went inside, closing the door, dropping his DS on the bed and making his way towards the sound of the running shower. Forty five minutes was plenty of time.
~
Can you believe it? Clocking in at just over 70,000 words (!!), CoKoi has come to an end. Thank you guys so much for sticking through this monster with me! I really appreciate the people who've been reading since I started posting this in August and everyone who's come since then. ♥
Remember that contest we did, way back when the contestants were first announced? Time to announce the winners! So, nobody actually got it right so I picked two names at random from the group of "really really close" guessers. Those two winners are: barefootprint and haruchaan! Congrats, you guys! You were only one person off. (There was a big list of people only one person off, btw). You two, feel free to comment here or PM me with a prompt or whatever you want me to write and I'll do my best to get a fic/drabble/something to you soon. :D
CoKoi may have come to an end but senkawa is still alive and kicking! Thank you everyone for your awesome response to my last one shot (a lot of my soul is in that story and I really appreciate your comments). I'm still working on more stuff so hopefully, some of you check out whatever comes next. ♥