44 - waxrose
This takes place some time after Part 33.
"Satoshi," Sho says, head hidden under the hood of the Dart, "Isn't the engine making a funny noise?"
"Hmm?" Ohno wanders over and pokes his head under next to Sho, still munching on one of the sandwiches Nino had just brought over for lunch. "Not really."
"It had trouble starting yesterday, though," Sho says, "When Jun and I took it out, it kind of made a rattling noise when I tried to start it up."
"Mmm, could be a lack of compression," Ohno muses, "Maybe your piston rings are worn out. Or could it be a hole in the cylinder?"
"Do you think so?" Sho asks, almost eagerly. "How long would that take to fix?"
"Sho-chan," Ohno says as gently as he can, "I'm only kidding. If either of those were wrong, the engine wouldn't be starting at all now. I've checked it over well. It's in perfect shape, I'm sure."
Sho stares down at the engine. "I'm just putting it off, aren't I?" he says, sounding defeated and more tired than Ohno has ever heard him. "I want to get back on the road again, but I -" He trailed off miserably.
Ohno pats Sho's back sympathetically. It probably wouldn't do any good to tell Sho that he and his car could have been fixed up and out of town a good three hours after he had first arrived, and that was including a tire check and an oil change. But he'd had a feeling (that only had a little bit to do with the sharp sweetness of Nino's first smile in the diner) that it wouldn't hurt to keep them around a little longer. Maybe it hadn't been such a great idea, in some ways - he could see that Aiba still felt a little torn about the eventual choice between leaving again or staying, could see that Jun and Sho were only just beginning to grow close, that the fragile connections that kept them all in this town were starting to tighten.
But Ohno wasn't really the type to regret his decisions, or to think twice about listening to his instincts. He had told Nino that he would leave behind the town, leave his shop and the diner and his family, if Nino just asked him. And he had meant it, he had acted on a coiled feeling that he knew somehow, deep down, was right.
Nino hadn't asked, hadn't spoken about it since. But Ohno knew that he had understood.
"You can't keep making excuses, Sho-chan," Ohno says, letting his arm wrap around Sho's shoulders. "If you want to stay, then stay. If you want to leave, then go. No one else can make that decision."
Sho doesn't reply for a long moment. "If I leave - and if he comes," he mutters, like he almost wasn't even talking to Ohno at all. "And Nino -" He looks up at Ohno, smiling weakly. "I don't want to leave anyone behind, somehow."
Ohno kisses Sho's cheek. "People get left behind sometimes," he tells him. "It's okay, you know. The world won't end. There's always a way to meet again. It just means that you have someplace to come home to."
"Ohno-san?" Chinen peeks his head around the corner of the back of the shop, wide-eyed and upset with a smudge of dirt wiped across his cheek. He was a local kid who Ohno had hired to take care of some of the main office and some of the easier interior cleaning work. "I can't find the carpet shampoo and I know there were three bottles that I left on the shelf and now they're gone and I looked everywhere and I really really think we might have been robbed." Chinen finally stops to catch a breath. His eyes fall on Ohno's casual arm around Sho's shoulder and he turns rather pink.
"Nino," Ohno mutters, with a smile. "Check the fridge, okay, Chinen-chan?"
"The fridge?" Sho asks, as Chinen scurries off back into the main office again. Ohno hums affirmatively.
"I saw Nino rummaging in there when he dropped off lunch earlier. I think he has fun trying to trick Chinen." Ohno makes sure that Sho's fingers are out of the way before lowering down the Dart's hood. "I think he thinks that he's cute, but he's bad at showing it. He just scowls and calls him a runt."
Ohno takes the ring of keys off of his belt, sorting through and sliding off one, his copy of Sho's key. He pressed it into Sho's hands, wrapping his fingers around it. "You're all set," he says.
Sho's fingers tighten around the key, his hand warm under Ohno's. "Thank you," he says, so quietly that Ohno can barely hear him.
"Satoshi," Sho says, head hidden under the hood of the Dart, "Isn't the engine making a funny noise?"
"Hmm?" Ohno wanders over and pokes his head under next to Sho, still munching on one of the sandwiches Nino had just brought over for lunch. "Not really."
"It had trouble starting yesterday, though," Sho says, "When Jun and I took it out, it kind of made a rattling noise when I tried to start it up."
"Mmm, could be a lack of compression," Ohno muses, "Maybe your piston rings are worn out. Or could it be a hole in the cylinder?"
"Do you think so?" Sho asks, almost eagerly. "How long would that take to fix?"
"Sho-chan," Ohno says as gently as he can, "I'm only kidding. If either of those were wrong, the engine wouldn't be starting at all now. I've checked it over well. It's in perfect shape, I'm sure."
Sho stares down at the engine. "I'm just putting it off, aren't I?" he says, sounding defeated and more tired than Ohno has ever heard him. "I want to get back on the road again, but I -" He trailed off miserably.
Ohno pats Sho's back sympathetically. It probably wouldn't do any good to tell Sho that he and his car could have been fixed up and out of town a good three hours after he had first arrived, and that was including a tire check and an oil change. But he'd had a feeling (that only had a little bit to do with the sharp sweetness of Nino's first smile in the diner) that it wouldn't hurt to keep them around a little longer. Maybe it hadn't been such a great idea, in some ways - he could see that Aiba still felt a little torn about the eventual choice between leaving again or staying, could see that Jun and Sho were only just beginning to grow close, that the fragile connections that kept them all in this town were starting to tighten.
But Ohno wasn't really the type to regret his decisions, or to think twice about listening to his instincts. He had told Nino that he would leave behind the town, leave his shop and the diner and his family, if Nino just asked him. And he had meant it, he had acted on a coiled feeling that he knew somehow, deep down, was right.
Nino hadn't asked, hadn't spoken about it since. But Ohno knew that he had understood.
"You can't keep making excuses, Sho-chan," Ohno says, letting his arm wrap around Sho's shoulders. "If you want to stay, then stay. If you want to leave, then go. No one else can make that decision."
Sho doesn't reply for a long moment. "If I leave - and if he comes," he mutters, like he almost wasn't even talking to Ohno at all. "And Nino -" He looks up at Ohno, smiling weakly. "I don't want to leave anyone behind, somehow."
Ohno kisses Sho's cheek. "People get left behind sometimes," he tells him. "It's okay, you know. The world won't end. There's always a way to meet again. It just means that you have someplace to come home to."
"Ohno-san?" Chinen peeks his head around the corner of the back of the shop, wide-eyed and upset with a smudge of dirt wiped across his cheek. He was a local kid who Ohno had hired to take care of some of the main office and some of the easier interior cleaning work. "I can't find the carpet shampoo and I know there were three bottles that I left on the shelf and now they're gone and I looked everywhere and I really really think we might have been robbed." Chinen finally stops to catch a breath. His eyes fall on Ohno's casual arm around Sho's shoulder and he turns rather pink.
"Nino," Ohno mutters, with a smile. "Check the fridge, okay, Chinen-chan?"
"The fridge?" Sho asks, as Chinen scurries off back into the main office again. Ohno hums affirmatively.
"I saw Nino rummaging in there when he dropped off lunch earlier. I think he has fun trying to trick Chinen." Ohno makes sure that Sho's fingers are out of the way before lowering down the Dart's hood. "I think he thinks that he's cute, but he's bad at showing it. He just scowls and calls him a runt."
Ohno takes the ring of keys off of his belt, sorting through and sliding off one, his copy of Sho's key. He pressed it into Sho's hands, wrapping his fingers around it. "You're all set," he says.
Sho's fingers tighten around the key, his hand warm under Ohno's. "Thank you," he says, so quietly that Ohno can barely hear him.