(no subject)
Title: Christmas Interlude [1/2]
Pairing: Arashi orgy of fluff and cuddles?
Rating: G
Word Count: 3387
Notes: Remember the Imp named Ninomiya? Yeah, he's back. All those questions from Hallowe'en Games and Hallowmas that you may or may not have had? Still aren't answered XD This was supposed to have gone up around Christmas. That ... didn't happen.
Ohno frowned as his ‘tadaima’ went unanswered once more.
Ninomiya was acting strangely.
He’d been fine after the event of November, and had settled in to life with Ohno easily. Or so Ohno had been under the impression that he had. The Imp hadn’t been home to greet Ohno for nearly three weeks. He hadn’t said anything about where he was going, or why he was going, and Ohno didn’t know why he wouldn’t talk about it. Nino always came back sooner or later, because Ohno would wake every morning to find the small being happily sleeping next to him.
Ninomiya wasn’t the only one acting strangely, either. Ohno had tried to get an idea of what was going on via Toma - when he’d managed to find Toma - but the Mandragora said nothing. The copper haired being had smiled and changed the subject so swiftly and skillfully that Ohno hadn’t realized he was being distracted until it was too late and he’d forgotten what he’d been asking in the first place. He hadn’t been able to find Toma, since.
Jun and Aiba and Sho were no help either, because they had as much of an idea of what was going on as Ohno did.
Ohno closed and locked the door, kicking off his shoes, and trudged into the living room. The Christmas tree was lonely and undecorated in the back corner. Ohno had been saving the decorating to do with Nino, but with the Imp not there and Ohno in school otherwise, it wasn’t happening.
Christmas was only a few days away.
Ohno sighed. Maybe he should give up and just decorate the tree himself. Nino probably didn’t know what Christmas was. Or maybe this was Nino’s way of telling Ohno that he wasn’t interested. With another sigh, Ohno went to the closet and, after a few minutes of rooting about, took down the box that held his meager fare of Christmas ornaments and lights. He placed the box at the foot of the tree and started digging through it - and then his stomach growled, letting him know that it was nearing seven and he hadn’t eaten since lunch.
Dinner first, then.
Christmas was still a few days away.
------
Nino stumbled through the door, quite literally, too tired to bother with a key. It wasn’t like anybody was looking. He yawned widely, and only just remembered to phase out of his old, worn, and strangely comfortable sneakers (courtesy of Sho, who’d given them to him behind Matsumoto’s back) and leave them in the entrance. Nino made his way through the apartment walls to the living room, noticing immediately and with a pang of hurt and disappointment that there were Christmas decorations on the floor, and some already on the tree.
Why hadn’t Ohno asked him to help?
Nino knew enough about Christmas to know about decorations, and to know that they were a friends-and-family thing. He knew he’d burdened the five with his presence since Hallowmas, but he’d thought they were at least friends. Was that why Ohno didn’t want him to help? Because he didn’t think of Nino as a friend? It hurt to consider the possibility, much more than Nino had ever thought it would considering the number of lives he’d been locked out of. He hadn’t cared about those.
Nino came down to the floor and padded over to the box, peering in. Many of the decorations inside were lights that looked many years old, and chipped, cheap, shiny, colored balls. He wrinkled his nose. These were hardly good enough for his human. Quickly, he Looked through the house. Ohno was sleeping soundly in the bedroom that was now an actual bedroom (and one that Nino had helped to furnish). Nino pulled his awareness back, looked back in the box, and made a few quick calculations.
Yes. He could expend himself and be on time tomorrow.
The Imp sat down with the box and began to hum softly. His eyes went half-lidded.
By the time he was done, he had just enough energy to make it into bed, curling into Ohno’s warmth instinctively as he passed into pure unconsciousness. Magic had always made him cold.
------
Even in sleep, Ohno knew something was wrong. It wasn’t a ghost, and it wasn’t the poltergeist who bothered his neighbors (and Ohno was pretty sure that poltergeist was still there, but he hadn’t gotten around to trying to find him again). Something was ... cold. Freezing, even.
Was there ice in his bed? How had it gotten there?
Ohno slowly forced his eyes open, as his body was telling him that yes, he was cold. Very cold. Very cold, but only his front. His back was still pleasantly warm, as it was covered by his quilt. But his front should have been covered, too, then, and this made Ohno’s brow furrow lazily in sleepy confusion. He unwrapped one arm from around - what? Unwrapped?
Ohno blinked, pushing himself up and looking down. Nino was there, shivering in his sleep. So he was back. And he’d clearly been curled in Ohno’s arms, because with Ohno gone, he rolled over fussily and curled tightly into himself, still shivering. Ohno reached out and touched Nino’s bared shoulder gently.
He snapped it back a second later.
The Imp was what was so cold!
Ohno’s heart began to race in his chest and he looked around like the answer lay somewhere in his room. What on earth was this? Nino wasn’t in danger again, was he? Ohno tried to swallow down the knot of fear in his throat. What was he supposed to do? Should he call Toma? How did he call Toma? Would Toma even know what was wrong?
“Nino?” Ohno murmured, hovering over the being.
The small body shifted towards his voice.
“Nino? Are you awake?”
Nino rolled over and curled against Ohno. His eyes were closed and his face was mostly slack, and the panic started to subside. At least Nino didn’t look like he was in pain. Ohno wrapped Nino gingerly in his arms and held him close. The shivering abated some. Ohno allowed himself to relax. He lay back down and brought Nino with him, covering their bodies snugly with his quilt and tucking it around the Imp as best he could. Nino sighed in his sleep and settled, shifting just enough to throw one leg between Ohno’s.
The human jerked and craned to look wide-eyed at the Imp. Did Nino - no. He couldn’t know what he was doing; he was too deeply asleep.
Still, it took Ohno a while to fall asleep after that.
------
Nino opened his eyes groggily, met a ray of sun nearing his face and Ohno’s slow breathing near his ear. He groaned quietly and screwed his eyes closed. Nice as waking up was, this was one of those times where he wished incorporeality was an option - recharging was so much faster and easier than sleep. But Ohno didn’t like it, so Nino wouldn’t do it.
He shivered and sighed.
He was still cold, but nowhere near what he’d felt right after changing the decorations. That was one of the best things about humans - especially sensitive ones. There was no better source of warmth to leech from. Unwilling to leave the warm nest of blanket and Ohno, Nino nonetheless opened his eyes, craned his neck and turned his head until he could see the clock.
It was 6:45. Not much longer before Ohno got up and headed for his classes, then. Nino’s brow furrowed. Ohno did have classes, today, didn’t he? It was going to be very awkward to slip out if Ohno didn’t ... but it was Friday, so of course his human had classes.
Nino yawned and settled back against Ohno’s chest. There was still time for a bit more sleep, then, and he intended to get it. Except he couldn’t because then Ohno started shifting as though in response to Nino being awake, like he’d been waiting for Nino to wake up even in sleep.
Nino frowned. He hadn’t thought Ohno was that sensitive.
The human blinked then, and Nino closed his eyes, adopting deep, even breathing.
“Hmmm ... Nino?” Ohno’s voice asked sleepily above him. Nino felt himself being shaken a little, but he stayed relaxed and slack-faced. “Oh. Not awake.”
The disappointment in Ohno’s voice almost hurt, but the human was watching him, and he couldn’t find out Nino’s secret yet, so Nino forced himself to keep feigning sleep. Eventually the human sighed and rolled out of bed. Nino waited, listening to the noises that meant Ohno was making breakfast and gathering his supplies for school. When the noises abated, he rolled out of bed and shed the clothes he’d wound up sleeping in.
He was in the genkan and tying his sneakers when there were footsteps behind him.
“Morning.”
Nino froze. He turned around slowly, guiltily. Ohno stood behind him, hands loosely holding his school bag’s handle. His face was carefully neutral. With a sudden rush of alarm, the Imp remembered that Ohno had late classes on Friday. No wonder the human was still here. Nino managed a half of a smile. Ohno didn’t smile back. Nino swallowed.
“Are you going to be late again?” the human asked.
Nino flinched a little, but nodded.
Ohno hummed his acknowledgment vaguely. “Oh. Well, take care.”
“A - ah. I’ll be going,” Nino said, forcing the words out through a suddenly dry throat.
Ohno was angry with him, he realized. Maybe because he hadn’t asked for permission. Maybe because ... Nino couldn’t think of anything, actually. Ohno disappeared back into the apartment and Nino disappeared from the genkan.
He reappeared in a recessed doorway a few blocks from a convenience store - which itself was not far from the Waseda University. It was a matter of minutes from the doorway to the store, and the man behind the counter greeted him warmly. Since he’d been hired a few weeks ago, Nino had never once been late to his shift.
------
Since they’d met in Ohno’s last year of high school, when Jun was a new student and Sho was already studying for his entrance exams, not a school day had gone by when Ohno, Sho, Aiba and Jun didn’t find some way to see each other at least once. Ohno would be graduating from college at the end of this year, and Sho might have been in Keio in Minato while the others were at Toukai in Shibuya, but they were making that tradition last.
Today’s time was immediately after Sho’s last class, sitting in one of their favorite coffee shops.
As had been the scenario of the last few visits, they were spending this one listening to Ohno talk about Nino. Jun was getting just the slightest bit annoyed by it - and no, it had nothing to do with jealousy no matter what Aiba said.
“... He hasn’t even been home to decorate the tree with me!” Ohno finished.
His head met the table with a soft ‘thunk’.
“Ohno-kun, you’ve been moaning about this for weeks now. So Nino’s got a life,” Jun said, sipping his coffee, “don’t you want that? He’s not a housewife.”
Ohno only looked more upset, and Sho kicked the younger man’s leg gently but pointedly under the table. Jun glowered. Sho turned to Ohno and offered a smile.
“What Jun-kun means,” he said with a pointed look at the younger man, “is that you shouldn’t worry. Nino’s been fine since November. He’s not going to disappear on you. It’s good that he’s found a hobby, or a friend.” Sho paused. “Which one is it?”
“I don’t know!” Ohno pouted. “That’s the problem. He just ... left one day. He’d be there in the morning and not be there at night, and he’s never told me why. I don’t like the secrets.”
The others were silent. How did you keep tabs on a mythical being? Other than ordering that he report in to them, which, according to Toma, Nino would have no choice but to obey. That whole idea didn’t sit well with any of them.
“Have you perhaps tried asking him what he’s been doing?” Jun asked.
Ohno shook his head. “He’s been coming back after I go to sleep, and he’s always still asleep in the mornings.”
“Sounds like a job,” Aiba said absently, playing with his straw and watching the ice cubes swirl around in his tea. Three pairs of eyes turned on him. He, feeling the sudden weight of them, looked up. “What?”
“A job? Come on. What would he need with a job?”
“Where would he get a job?”
“How would he get one?”
“He’s magic. Maybe he magic-ed the owner,” Aiba said, shrugging.
“What still doesn’t tell us why he’d need one,” Sho said thoughtfully.
“Maybe he’s bored. I mean, he’s been starting at the same walls for years, right? Wouldn’t you want to leave? Or maybe he feels like he needs to help with rent or whatever. ‘Cause he eats food and bathes in water and stuff.”
Ohno frowned pensively at his coffee cup. A job?
“Oh, yeah! Almost forgot! Mom wants to make sure you’re all coming for Christmas, right?” Aiba asked then, smiling happily. “And Nino, too?”
“We never come to your house for Christmas, idiot,” said Jun, “It’s for your birthday.”
Sho agreed quickly. Ohno nodded vaguely and kept frowning at his coffee.
What could Nino need a job for?
------
Nino’s brow furrowed in concentration as he folded paper around a box. His tongue poked out of the corner of his mouth. He placed tape on the paper and smoothed it down carefully. Another corner he folded on top of that, and taped down. So far he’d done this three times, but these all had to be perfect. The first presents he’d ever given anyone. He even had bows for the tops and ribbon for the sides.
Matsumoto was the sort who liked expensive and ornamental things. Nino had checked through the man’s collection of rings and chains carefully while Jun was out with a boy called Oguri Shun for lunch one day. It had taken an extra temporary job delivering papers, on top of the convenience store, but he’d managed to save enough money for this necklace.
Sho was getting a daily planner. He would have to wait and find out that it was going to start buzzing the song ‘Wake Up Angel’ whenever it got to be ten minutes before the specified time of whatever event Sho wrote down. (Nobody was going to find out that that particular bit of magic had taken him nearly a day to recover from.)
Aiba was getting a long scarf in green and dark red, which Nino had magic-ed to be the same texture as his hair, seeing as Aiba had a particular fondness for petting him.
The box he was wrapping now was Ohno’s.
Ohno’s newest project had been clearing out his art supplies. Nino had been watching the human checking and throwing out out his tubes of watercolors left and right, and his remaining ones were a pitiful selection of odd colors that he rarely used. Nino smiled in satisfaction as he placed the bow on the center of the long, flat box. This would be perfect for him.
Nino waved his hand at the presents and they disappeared to the hiding spot he’d chosen in the back of the closet. He sighed. Speaking of the human ... Ohno wasn’t home yet. The human hadn’t been home when he’d gotten back from his last shopping trip. Nino had figured that Ohno was just out with the other three, but this was getting really late and Ohno had never not come home. The Imp settled in front of the Christmas tree and poked at an ornament with a frown.
Ohno would be home, soon.
He’d just have to wait.
------
“Tadaima,” Ohno muttered to himself, yawning.
He slipped out of his shoes and wrinkled his nose. He hadn’t meant to stay out last night, but Sho and Jun had magical ways of producing really good alcohol, and it was really hard to say ‘no’ to a pleading face like Aiba’s, so they’d wound up drinking until well after eleven and by the time Ohno realized what time it was he was far too drunk to think about the navigating the JR.
The four of them had crashed on the floor of Jun’s surprisingly well-furnished livingroom, and had only woken up when the sun found its way through the windows and in to their eyes. Jun yelling hoarsely at the light to go away had helped.
Once again, he could hear nothing that suggested Nino was in the house. Ohno sighed and began the trudge to his room, intent on getting out of his clothes and taking a very long shower. As he passed the living room, his awareness pinged at him. He stopped all at once, poking his head through the doorway and looking around. His gaze fell on the Christmas tree, and then on the sleeping form beneath it.
“... Nino?”
The desire for a shower forgotten about for the moment, Ohno padded into the living room and over to the Imp. He knelt over the small figure, eyes catching sight of the Christmas ornament in Nino’s hand. That didn’t look like one of his. Ohno peered in to the box. Those didn’t look like his, either. He looked up at the tree. Those couldn’t have been his. Ohno frowned. They were all of the quality he would expect to see on Jun’s tree, delicate, tasteful, and gorgeous. Even the lights looked like they’d be found in a high end store.
Ohno shook the Imp’s shoulder, pleased to discover that Nino was at least a normal temperature. Nino sighed in his sleep. The human couldn’t help but smile at the small figure. It was amazing, the number of human habits that the Imp had adopted since he’d been summoned - if he had indeed adopted them just since November.
“Nino?” Ohno asked softly, shaking Nino’s shoulder a little more intently. “Hey, Nino.”
The Imp’s eyes fluttered and his tongue darted out to wet his lips. Ohno’s breathing got a little shallower. Almost as soon as Nino laid eyes on him, the Imp was sitting up right and rubbing at his eyes, moving so quickly it was only Ohno’s abilities that allowed the human to keep track of him.
“Oh, Ohno. Okaeri,” Nino yawned.
Ohno tried not to feel the swelling in his chest that Nino’s voice produced. “Why were you sleeping under the tree?”
The Imp looked around reflexively. “I was tired. Must have fallen asleep.”
“Where did you get these?” Ohno asked, motioning at the box of ornaments.
Nino’s ears turned a little bit red, but his eyes were defiant. “I didn’t get them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t get them,” the slight being replied, “They were here.”
Ohno’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t own - oh. You ... changed them?”
Nino nodded.
“Is that why you were cold last night?”
“I woke you?”
The immediate question and the slight concern in the Imp’s voice were all the confirmation Ohno needed. He nodded and Nino looked away, fiddling with a string of lights.
“... Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Ohno said, shaking his head, “You had me a little worried, is all. I didn’t know why you were cold.” He tipped head to the side, remembering his original line of questioning. “Oh, yes. Why were you sleeping under the tree, anyway?”
“It’s not done. I thought ... that you were too busy to finish, maybe, so I’d do it for you.”
Ohno blinked. “But I wanted to - ”
“But I didn’t get around to it. I fell asleep,” Nino said.
“ - do it with you.”
There was a short silence.
Nino blinked. “Do it with me?” he repeated.
Ohno nodded. “I was waiting to ask you, but you’ve been gone so much ...”
Nino didn’t rise to the pointed bait, though he must have heard it. “Well, late nights, you know how it is. Kept losing track of time.”
“You don’t keep time.”
“Easy to lose track of it when I don’t keep it,” the Imp said.
Ohno sighed a laugh, “Hadn’t thought of it that way. Well, then. Want to decorate the tree with me?”
Nino smiled. “Sure.”
Pairing: Arashi orgy of fluff and cuddles?
Rating: G
Word Count: 3387
Notes: Remember the Imp named Ninomiya? Yeah, he's back. All those questions from Hallowe'en Games and Hallowmas that you may or may not have had? Still aren't answered XD This was supposed to have gone up around Christmas. That ... didn't happen.
Ohno frowned as his ‘tadaima’ went unanswered once more.
Ninomiya was acting strangely.
He’d been fine after the event of November, and had settled in to life with Ohno easily. Or so Ohno had been under the impression that he had. The Imp hadn’t been home to greet Ohno for nearly three weeks. He hadn’t said anything about where he was going, or why he was going, and Ohno didn’t know why he wouldn’t talk about it. Nino always came back sooner or later, because Ohno would wake every morning to find the small being happily sleeping next to him.
Ninomiya wasn’t the only one acting strangely, either. Ohno had tried to get an idea of what was going on via Toma - when he’d managed to find Toma - but the Mandragora said nothing. The copper haired being had smiled and changed the subject so swiftly and skillfully that Ohno hadn’t realized he was being distracted until it was too late and he’d forgotten what he’d been asking in the first place. He hadn’t been able to find Toma, since.
Jun and Aiba and Sho were no help either, because they had as much of an idea of what was going on as Ohno did.
Ohno closed and locked the door, kicking off his shoes, and trudged into the living room. The Christmas tree was lonely and undecorated in the back corner. Ohno had been saving the decorating to do with Nino, but with the Imp not there and Ohno in school otherwise, it wasn’t happening.
Christmas was only a few days away.
Ohno sighed. Maybe he should give up and just decorate the tree himself. Nino probably didn’t know what Christmas was. Or maybe this was Nino’s way of telling Ohno that he wasn’t interested. With another sigh, Ohno went to the closet and, after a few minutes of rooting about, took down the box that held his meager fare of Christmas ornaments and lights. He placed the box at the foot of the tree and started digging through it - and then his stomach growled, letting him know that it was nearing seven and he hadn’t eaten since lunch.
Dinner first, then.
Christmas was still a few days away.
------
Nino stumbled through the door, quite literally, too tired to bother with a key. It wasn’t like anybody was looking. He yawned widely, and only just remembered to phase out of his old, worn, and strangely comfortable sneakers (courtesy of Sho, who’d given them to him behind Matsumoto’s back) and leave them in the entrance. Nino made his way through the apartment walls to the living room, noticing immediately and with a pang of hurt and disappointment that there were Christmas decorations on the floor, and some already on the tree.
Why hadn’t Ohno asked him to help?
Nino knew enough about Christmas to know about decorations, and to know that they were a friends-and-family thing. He knew he’d burdened the five with his presence since Hallowmas, but he’d thought they were at least friends. Was that why Ohno didn’t want him to help? Because he didn’t think of Nino as a friend? It hurt to consider the possibility, much more than Nino had ever thought it would considering the number of lives he’d been locked out of. He hadn’t cared about those.
Nino came down to the floor and padded over to the box, peering in. Many of the decorations inside were lights that looked many years old, and chipped, cheap, shiny, colored balls. He wrinkled his nose. These were hardly good enough for his human. Quickly, he Looked through the house. Ohno was sleeping soundly in the bedroom that was now an actual bedroom (and one that Nino had helped to furnish). Nino pulled his awareness back, looked back in the box, and made a few quick calculations.
Yes. He could expend himself and be on time tomorrow.
The Imp sat down with the box and began to hum softly. His eyes went half-lidded.
By the time he was done, he had just enough energy to make it into bed, curling into Ohno’s warmth instinctively as he passed into pure unconsciousness. Magic had always made him cold.
------
Even in sleep, Ohno knew something was wrong. It wasn’t a ghost, and it wasn’t the poltergeist who bothered his neighbors (and Ohno was pretty sure that poltergeist was still there, but he hadn’t gotten around to trying to find him again). Something was ... cold. Freezing, even.
Was there ice in his bed? How had it gotten there?
Ohno slowly forced his eyes open, as his body was telling him that yes, he was cold. Very cold. Very cold, but only his front. His back was still pleasantly warm, as it was covered by his quilt. But his front should have been covered, too, then, and this made Ohno’s brow furrow lazily in sleepy confusion. He unwrapped one arm from around - what? Unwrapped?
Ohno blinked, pushing himself up and looking down. Nino was there, shivering in his sleep. So he was back. And he’d clearly been curled in Ohno’s arms, because with Ohno gone, he rolled over fussily and curled tightly into himself, still shivering. Ohno reached out and touched Nino’s bared shoulder gently.
He snapped it back a second later.
The Imp was what was so cold!
Ohno’s heart began to race in his chest and he looked around like the answer lay somewhere in his room. What on earth was this? Nino wasn’t in danger again, was he? Ohno tried to swallow down the knot of fear in his throat. What was he supposed to do? Should he call Toma? How did he call Toma? Would Toma even know what was wrong?
“Nino?” Ohno murmured, hovering over the being.
The small body shifted towards his voice.
“Nino? Are you awake?”
Nino rolled over and curled against Ohno. His eyes were closed and his face was mostly slack, and the panic started to subside. At least Nino didn’t look like he was in pain. Ohno wrapped Nino gingerly in his arms and held him close. The shivering abated some. Ohno allowed himself to relax. He lay back down and brought Nino with him, covering their bodies snugly with his quilt and tucking it around the Imp as best he could. Nino sighed in his sleep and settled, shifting just enough to throw one leg between Ohno’s.
The human jerked and craned to look wide-eyed at the Imp. Did Nino - no. He couldn’t know what he was doing; he was too deeply asleep.
Still, it took Ohno a while to fall asleep after that.
------
Nino opened his eyes groggily, met a ray of sun nearing his face and Ohno’s slow breathing near his ear. He groaned quietly and screwed his eyes closed. Nice as waking up was, this was one of those times where he wished incorporeality was an option - recharging was so much faster and easier than sleep. But Ohno didn’t like it, so Nino wouldn’t do it.
He shivered and sighed.
He was still cold, but nowhere near what he’d felt right after changing the decorations. That was one of the best things about humans - especially sensitive ones. There was no better source of warmth to leech from. Unwilling to leave the warm nest of blanket and Ohno, Nino nonetheless opened his eyes, craned his neck and turned his head until he could see the clock.
It was 6:45. Not much longer before Ohno got up and headed for his classes, then. Nino’s brow furrowed. Ohno did have classes, today, didn’t he? It was going to be very awkward to slip out if Ohno didn’t ... but it was Friday, so of course his human had classes.
Nino yawned and settled back against Ohno’s chest. There was still time for a bit more sleep, then, and he intended to get it. Except he couldn’t because then Ohno started shifting as though in response to Nino being awake, like he’d been waiting for Nino to wake up even in sleep.
Nino frowned. He hadn’t thought Ohno was that sensitive.
The human blinked then, and Nino closed his eyes, adopting deep, even breathing.
“Hmmm ... Nino?” Ohno’s voice asked sleepily above him. Nino felt himself being shaken a little, but he stayed relaxed and slack-faced. “Oh. Not awake.”
The disappointment in Ohno’s voice almost hurt, but the human was watching him, and he couldn’t find out Nino’s secret yet, so Nino forced himself to keep feigning sleep. Eventually the human sighed and rolled out of bed. Nino waited, listening to the noises that meant Ohno was making breakfast and gathering his supplies for school. When the noises abated, he rolled out of bed and shed the clothes he’d wound up sleeping in.
He was in the genkan and tying his sneakers when there were footsteps behind him.
“Morning.”
Nino froze. He turned around slowly, guiltily. Ohno stood behind him, hands loosely holding his school bag’s handle. His face was carefully neutral. With a sudden rush of alarm, the Imp remembered that Ohno had late classes on Friday. No wonder the human was still here. Nino managed a half of a smile. Ohno didn’t smile back. Nino swallowed.
“Are you going to be late again?” the human asked.
Nino flinched a little, but nodded.
Ohno hummed his acknowledgment vaguely. “Oh. Well, take care.”
“A - ah. I’ll be going,” Nino said, forcing the words out through a suddenly dry throat.
Ohno was angry with him, he realized. Maybe because he hadn’t asked for permission. Maybe because ... Nino couldn’t think of anything, actually. Ohno disappeared back into the apartment and Nino disappeared from the genkan.
He reappeared in a recessed doorway a few blocks from a convenience store - which itself was not far from the Waseda University. It was a matter of minutes from the doorway to the store, and the man behind the counter greeted him warmly. Since he’d been hired a few weeks ago, Nino had never once been late to his shift.
------
Since they’d met in Ohno’s last year of high school, when Jun was a new student and Sho was already studying for his entrance exams, not a school day had gone by when Ohno, Sho, Aiba and Jun didn’t find some way to see each other at least once. Ohno would be graduating from college at the end of this year, and Sho might have been in Keio in Minato while the others were at Toukai in Shibuya, but they were making that tradition last.
Today’s time was immediately after Sho’s last class, sitting in one of their favorite coffee shops.
As had been the scenario of the last few visits, they were spending this one listening to Ohno talk about Nino. Jun was getting just the slightest bit annoyed by it - and no, it had nothing to do with jealousy no matter what Aiba said.
“... He hasn’t even been home to decorate the tree with me!” Ohno finished.
His head met the table with a soft ‘thunk’.
“Ohno-kun, you’ve been moaning about this for weeks now. So Nino’s got a life,” Jun said, sipping his coffee, “don’t you want that? He’s not a housewife.”
Ohno only looked more upset, and Sho kicked the younger man’s leg gently but pointedly under the table. Jun glowered. Sho turned to Ohno and offered a smile.
“What Jun-kun means,” he said with a pointed look at the younger man, “is that you shouldn’t worry. Nino’s been fine since November. He’s not going to disappear on you. It’s good that he’s found a hobby, or a friend.” Sho paused. “Which one is it?”
“I don’t know!” Ohno pouted. “That’s the problem. He just ... left one day. He’d be there in the morning and not be there at night, and he’s never told me why. I don’t like the secrets.”
The others were silent. How did you keep tabs on a mythical being? Other than ordering that he report in to them, which, according to Toma, Nino would have no choice but to obey. That whole idea didn’t sit well with any of them.
“Have you perhaps tried asking him what he’s been doing?” Jun asked.
Ohno shook his head. “He’s been coming back after I go to sleep, and he’s always still asleep in the mornings.”
“Sounds like a job,” Aiba said absently, playing with his straw and watching the ice cubes swirl around in his tea. Three pairs of eyes turned on him. He, feeling the sudden weight of them, looked up. “What?”
“A job? Come on. What would he need with a job?”
“Where would he get a job?”
“How would he get one?”
“He’s magic. Maybe he magic-ed the owner,” Aiba said, shrugging.
“What still doesn’t tell us why he’d need one,” Sho said thoughtfully.
“Maybe he’s bored. I mean, he’s been starting at the same walls for years, right? Wouldn’t you want to leave? Or maybe he feels like he needs to help with rent or whatever. ‘Cause he eats food and bathes in water and stuff.”
Ohno frowned pensively at his coffee cup. A job?
“Oh, yeah! Almost forgot! Mom wants to make sure you’re all coming for Christmas, right?” Aiba asked then, smiling happily. “And Nino, too?”
“We never come to your house for Christmas, idiot,” said Jun, “It’s for your birthday.”
Sho agreed quickly. Ohno nodded vaguely and kept frowning at his coffee.
What could Nino need a job for?
------
Nino’s brow furrowed in concentration as he folded paper around a box. His tongue poked out of the corner of his mouth. He placed tape on the paper and smoothed it down carefully. Another corner he folded on top of that, and taped down. So far he’d done this three times, but these all had to be perfect. The first presents he’d ever given anyone. He even had bows for the tops and ribbon for the sides.
Matsumoto was the sort who liked expensive and ornamental things. Nino had checked through the man’s collection of rings and chains carefully while Jun was out with a boy called Oguri Shun for lunch one day. It had taken an extra temporary job delivering papers, on top of the convenience store, but he’d managed to save enough money for this necklace.
Sho was getting a daily planner. He would have to wait and find out that it was going to start buzzing the song ‘Wake Up Angel’ whenever it got to be ten minutes before the specified time of whatever event Sho wrote down. (Nobody was going to find out that that particular bit of magic had taken him nearly a day to recover from.)
Aiba was getting a long scarf in green and dark red, which Nino had magic-ed to be the same texture as his hair, seeing as Aiba had a particular fondness for petting him.
The box he was wrapping now was Ohno’s.
Ohno’s newest project had been clearing out his art supplies. Nino had been watching the human checking and throwing out out his tubes of watercolors left and right, and his remaining ones were a pitiful selection of odd colors that he rarely used. Nino smiled in satisfaction as he placed the bow on the center of the long, flat box. This would be perfect for him.
Nino waved his hand at the presents and they disappeared to the hiding spot he’d chosen in the back of the closet. He sighed. Speaking of the human ... Ohno wasn’t home yet. The human hadn’t been home when he’d gotten back from his last shopping trip. Nino had figured that Ohno was just out with the other three, but this was getting really late and Ohno had never not come home. The Imp settled in front of the Christmas tree and poked at an ornament with a frown.
Ohno would be home, soon.
He’d just have to wait.
------
“Tadaima,” Ohno muttered to himself, yawning.
He slipped out of his shoes and wrinkled his nose. He hadn’t meant to stay out last night, but Sho and Jun had magical ways of producing really good alcohol, and it was really hard to say ‘no’ to a pleading face like Aiba’s, so they’d wound up drinking until well after eleven and by the time Ohno realized what time it was he was far too drunk to think about the navigating the JR.
The four of them had crashed on the floor of Jun’s surprisingly well-furnished livingroom, and had only woken up when the sun found its way through the windows and in to their eyes. Jun yelling hoarsely at the light to go away had helped.
Once again, he could hear nothing that suggested Nino was in the house. Ohno sighed and began the trudge to his room, intent on getting out of his clothes and taking a very long shower. As he passed the living room, his awareness pinged at him. He stopped all at once, poking his head through the doorway and looking around. His gaze fell on the Christmas tree, and then on the sleeping form beneath it.
“... Nino?”
The desire for a shower forgotten about for the moment, Ohno padded into the living room and over to the Imp. He knelt over the small figure, eyes catching sight of the Christmas ornament in Nino’s hand. That didn’t look like one of his. Ohno peered in to the box. Those didn’t look like his, either. He looked up at the tree. Those couldn’t have been his. Ohno frowned. They were all of the quality he would expect to see on Jun’s tree, delicate, tasteful, and gorgeous. Even the lights looked like they’d be found in a high end store.
Ohno shook the Imp’s shoulder, pleased to discover that Nino was at least a normal temperature. Nino sighed in his sleep. The human couldn’t help but smile at the small figure. It was amazing, the number of human habits that the Imp had adopted since he’d been summoned - if he had indeed adopted them just since November.
“Nino?” Ohno asked softly, shaking Nino’s shoulder a little more intently. “Hey, Nino.”
The Imp’s eyes fluttered and his tongue darted out to wet his lips. Ohno’s breathing got a little shallower. Almost as soon as Nino laid eyes on him, the Imp was sitting up right and rubbing at his eyes, moving so quickly it was only Ohno’s abilities that allowed the human to keep track of him.
“Oh, Ohno. Okaeri,” Nino yawned.
Ohno tried not to feel the swelling in his chest that Nino’s voice produced. “Why were you sleeping under the tree?”
The Imp looked around reflexively. “I was tired. Must have fallen asleep.”
“Where did you get these?” Ohno asked, motioning at the box of ornaments.
Nino’s ears turned a little bit red, but his eyes were defiant. “I didn’t get them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t get them,” the slight being replied, “They were here.”
Ohno’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t own - oh. You ... changed them?”
Nino nodded.
“Is that why you were cold last night?”
“I woke you?”
The immediate question and the slight concern in the Imp’s voice were all the confirmation Ohno needed. He nodded and Nino looked away, fiddling with a string of lights.
“... Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Ohno said, shaking his head, “You had me a little worried, is all. I didn’t know why you were cold.” He tipped head to the side, remembering his original line of questioning. “Oh, yes. Why were you sleeping under the tree, anyway?”
“It’s not done. I thought ... that you were too busy to finish, maybe, so I’d do it for you.”
Ohno blinked. “But I wanted to - ”
“But I didn’t get around to it. I fell asleep,” Nino said.
“ - do it with you.”
There was a short silence.
Nino blinked. “Do it with me?” he repeated.
Ohno nodded. “I was waiting to ask you, but you’ve been gone so much ...”
Nino didn’t rise to the pointed bait, though he must have heard it. “Well, late nights, you know how it is. Kept losing track of time.”
“You don’t keep time.”
“Easy to lose track of it when I don’t keep it,” the Imp said.
Ohno sighed a laugh, “Hadn’t thought of it that way. Well, then. Want to decorate the tree with me?”
Nino smiled. “Sure.”