He woke up once again when he heard the sound of door opened. It must be Aiba and Jun. He looked at the clock, it's only been 20 minutes since Ohno left him. They came earlier than expected. He thought he had to wait for them for an hour or two.
However, he started to doubt it when he only heard one set of footsteps only. The person opened the door of the room next to him. Maybe Ohno forgot something and he came home to get it. The door was closed once again and then he heard the footsteps coming to his room. Expecting it to be Ohno, Nino immediately sat on the bed when the door of his room was opened from the outside. However, it wasn't Ohno, it was...
"There you are, Kazu!"
Makoto stood in front of him, dressing in the uniform of the security guard of the building. He smiled creepily towards Nino. How? How did he know Nino lives here?
"Ah, I'm glad that we finally have the chance to be alone. Do you know how much I miss you?"
Makoto approached him. Nino wanted to move, to run away from Makoto but his body won't cooperate. Perhaps it's because of the headache or the fear towards Makoto that made him unable to move.
"When I saw your boyfriend left the building, I know destiny wants us to meet again," he sat on the chair that was previously occupied by Ohno. He tried to hold Nino's hand but Nino push his hand away. He didn't seem angry as he keep on smiling. "Your boyfriend is a pain in the ass. I've seen you too many times before but he was always with you. If he wasn't, that noisy friend of you will be there,"
Now, it makes sense. No wonder Ohno was very protective of him. He was afraid that Makoto would come looking for Nino again. Nino never forget what happened between him and Makoto but he was too distracted with work to think about Makoto.
"But... He was stupid. He thought you will be safe inside this building because of the security. Being a genius, I decided to work as a guard here to watch you. I waited patiently for the moment you will be alone and like I said before, destiny is on our side. No one will disturb us this time, honey! Your noisy friend went out with the thick eyebrow and your boyfriend is with that smarty pant,"
Makoto stood up to take off his t-shirt before he sat on the bed with Nino. Hands starting to touch Nino's body, before he leaned forward to kiss Nino. Nino lowered his head so that Makoto cannot kiss him. No matter how hard Nino tried to push him away, he was stronger than Nino. Nino wanted to scream so that someone will come to rescue him but nothing came out of his mouth.
Please, Ohchan! Please come and protect me from him!
He didn't remember what happened afterwards. His headache took over his body and he cannot fight Makoto so Makoto... He finally get what he wants from Nino.
He remembered the first time he met Makoto. He just moved to the building and Makoto lived next to him. He didn't suspect anything at first. Makoto seems to be a friendly neighbour. However, after a few months, he became uncomfortable with the way Makoto was looking at him. Sometimes, he even touched Nino inappropriately. Nino started to put distance between them but Makoto became bolder. One day, he came to Nino's apartment even though Nino tried to stop him from entering. He tried to rape Nino but thankfully Jun came and save him. Jun suggested he moved out from the apartment so that Makoto couldn't find him.
But... Today... Makoto... He destroyed everything.
It was dark when he woke up. He was lying on the bed with someone holding his hand. Thinking it was Makoto, he pushed the hand away and started to cry. He didn't know what to do now. He wanted to stay with Ohno but would Ohno accept him when he knew how dirty Nino was?
Makoto stirred in his sleep when Nino pushed his hand away. Nino turned to look at him. He wanted to scream at the guy for what he did to Nino. But, he was surprised to see the person who sat on the chair near the bed. It wasn't Makoto. It was Ohno.
Even in the dark, he could still see the beautiful smile of Ohno Satoshi. Ohno smiled at him before he switched on the bedside lamp. That's when Nino noticed he wasn't in his own bedroom. He was in... He didn't know whose bedroom he was sleeping in.
"Are you okay?" Ohno asked him softly.
He tried to touch Nino's hand but Nino stopped him. To be honest, he wanted to hug the other guy and cried, tell him everything that happened to him after Ohno left. He wanted to beg Ohno never to leave him alone again and stayed by his side. But, he cannot do that. There was no special relationship between the two of them. Ohno was his boss and his roommate. Nothing more. Even though he suspected Ohno might share the same feeling, Ohno will definitely reject him now, after what happened with Makoto.
"Are you angry at me?" Asked Ohno. Nino looked at him confusedly. Why would he be angry at Ohno? He should be angry at himself for being weak to fight Makoto.
"I'm sorry, Nino. I shouldn't left you alone," Ohno leaned forward and hugged him. He wanted to resist him but once he was in Ohno's embrace, he couldn't help but crying and told Ohno what happened.
"Ohchan, I was so scared. I tried to push him away but he was too strong for me. I wanted to scream but nothing came out. All I could do was pray that you will come and rescue me,"
Ohno didn't say anything. He only caressing Nino's back and Nino found the gesture to be comforting.
"I love you, Ohchan," There's no use for him to confess now. Ohno will reject him anyway. But, he wanted to let Ohno knows the truth. "I understand if you reject me. I'm dirty,"
Ohno slowly let him go. Then he lifted Nino's face.
"Nino, nothing happened between you and Makoto," Ohno told him.
"Eh?" Nino was confused. Nothing happened? What does that mean? No one come to save him so Makoto...
"I'm sorry I was late to stop him from coming to you. You must be traumatized because of that. But I came home before he could do anything to you. You collapsed so maybe that's why you cannot remember anything,"
"Eh? How?"
"The chief guard called me to ask if anything happened because he saw a guard entering our apartment. I had a bad feeling when I heard that so I asked Sho to go back. I've also asked the chief guard to check your condition first. Thank God, I wasn't really far so when I got home, Makoto was trying to take off your clothes so I fought with him and he is now in the jail,"
Nino didn't say anything. He tried to process everything that Ohno said. Did Ohno told him the truth or is he lying to protect Nino from the truth? Honestly, Nino only assume he had been raped because of what happened before he passed out. However, he didn't feel any pain.
"So... I'm still..." He asked for confirmation. Ohno smiled at him and nodded his head. Crap! Suddenly he feel embarrassed with himself for assuming things. He even confessed to Ohno! If Ohno didn't feel the same way, it would be awkward for them.
"Ne... Nino," Ohno called him softly. "Do you really mean what you say before? Do you really love me?"
Nino nodded his head.
"I love you too," said Ohno in a low voice. "Can I kiss you?"
Nino nodded his head. He wanted to forget what Makoto did to him earlier, he wanted to replace it with Ohno's.
"Are you sure? We can take things slow,"
Nino nodded his head once again. Even though he seems shy, Ohno leaned forward...
"Ohchan..." They were interrupted when the door was opened from the outside. Aiba stood there, looking at them. He blinked his eyes, like he didn't understand what was going on. When he finally realized what was happening, he immediately closed the door without saying anything.
"Jus a quick kiss. Then we will go out," said Ohno and he lightly kiss Nino before pulling him and lead him outside.
Outside of the room, Aiba, Jun and Sho were waiting for him. Looking at the living room, he knows where he was. He was in Sakuraiba's love's nest (that's what Aiba called it) and the room he previously occupied must be their guest room.
"Are you okay?" Asked Jun. Nino nodded his head. "Sorry, we should come earlier,"
Jun looked guilty. The same goes with Aiba and Sho who lowered their head.
"It's okay, guys. It wasn't your fault," Nino said to the three of them. They looked at Nino, still appeared to be guilty. "It's my fault. If I followed Jun's advice before to report him to the police, maybe this won't happen,"
During the first case, Jun advised Nino to inform the police but because he didn't want to cause trouble, he refused to do so.
"We should stop blaming ourselves," Ohno said from behind him. "What's important, he has been caught. But, we cannot let our guard down. We should always be careful,"
Ohno put his hand on Nino's shoulder. Nino turned to look at him, staring straight at his eyes. His eyes seem to tell Nino that he would never leave Nino alone again and that was enough to make Nino felt safer.
"Should we eat? You haven't eat anything from afternoon," said Sakurai, interrupted the silence moment between Nino and Ohno. Nino agreed. He didn't realize how hungry he was until Sho mentioned it.
Aiba and Jun exchanged glance. Then, excitedly, Aiba took a large box from the refrigerator. Even though he didn't seem to make any mistake, Jun scolded him for ruining the surprise. Nino looked at them curiously, wondering what was inside the box. But, before he could ask, Ohno whispered from behind him.
"May I close your eyes?"
Nino nodded his head though he didn't understand why Ohno wanted to close his eyes with his hands. He heard ruckus with Jun warned Aiba not to be too excited and calm himself.
A few minutes later, Ohno asked him to open his eyes. Everything was dark except for the light from the candles. Then, the other four were singing 'Happy Birthday' song for him. It took him a while to realize what really happened. Today is his birthday!
"Blow the candle!" Said Aiba excitedly. Nino did as what he was told and Sho switched the light on after that.
"Did you guys make the cake?" Asked Nino.
"Yes. We were late because we went to buy ingredients for the cake," answered Jun.
"How about Ohchan? Where do you want to go earlier?"
"Lunch with a potential client," answered Sho. "We didn't make it but it's okay. We still have another chance,"
Nino felt guilty to hear that. They lose a client because of him.
"You don't have to feel guilty. It was an emergency and like Sho said, we still have another chance," said Ohno pulling him to sit on the chair. Then, Jun handed him a plate of hamburger.
"Let's eat," said Aiba in excitement.
They watched movies in a marathon after dinner, as suggested by Jun then ended up sleeping in front of the television. Ohno was the first one to sleep, followed by Sho and Aiba in the middle of the movie. Seeing the majority of them had fall asleep, Jun switched off the television and then sleep on the couch. Nino, sharing a futon with Ohno, moved closer to Ohno until they were no spaces between them.
Ohno woke up because of that. He smiled softly at Nino then hugged him.
"When we get home tomorrow, I want to show you something," whispered Ohno. Nino looked at him with a frown, wondering what he meant by that.
"Can you show me now?" said Nino, trying to be as cute as possible so Ohno won't refuse. Seeing that Ohno was hesitating about it, Nino took the initiative and lead Ohno outside, careful not to wake the others.
"You're impatient," remarked Ohno as he opened the door to their apartment.
Once they were inside the apartment, Ohno led him to the third room, the room that he won't allow Nino to enter before. That made Nino feel even more curious to know what Ohno was going to show him.
"What...?" Nino didn't even know what to say.
He was beyond surprise when he looked into the room. There were too many drawings and sketches of..... Drawings of him. Of Nino. Since when did Ohno sketch him, he thought to himself. Some of the drawings brought nostalgic memory to him. A sketch of him during the first annual gathering of the company, when he still had his old hairstyle. He remembered the outfit because Jun made him looked so cool for the gathering. Then, there was a sketch of him during the first time he made a presentation, nervous because Ohno asked him a hard question. He could tell that some of them were quite recent. A sketch of them eating lunch together for the first time. A sketch of when they went to a restaurant together for the first time. Even though they were other people, Nino was the main focus of each drawing and sketch. All of them conveyed the same message. Even though there were other people with them, Nino was all Ohno sees.
"Did you know why my mom wants to find a roommate for me?" Asked Ohno. Nino shook his head. He didn't understand what the question has to do with what Ohno show him.
"She saw these drawings and sketches so she knew I was in love with someone. She urged me to confess but I told her you were out of my reach. Maybe because she wanted me to move on, she suggested the roommate idea, hoping that I will fall in love with my roommate and forget you,"
"Oh," was Nino's short response. No wonder Ohno's mother was excited to see him when they first met.
"I'm not sure if I love you at first. I just like to see your cute face and I like it even more when you pouted. Even though I told you before, I don't want you to be cocky and that's why I never compliment your work, that wasn't the real reason. The real reason was... I love the way you pout when I criticize you,"
Nino looked at those drawings one more time. He realized that he was pouting in most of the drawing.
"The first time I realized I love you was when we met Makoto for the first time. I was jealous to hear him call you Kazu but when I saw how you're afraid of him, I don't want you to get hurt and I want to protect you all the time. But, I think I failed you today,"
Nino shook his head.
"You didn't fail me. You save me before he could do anything to me," said Nino. "And, I want to tell you that I have a crush on you for a long time. You were too cute. There is just something about your aura that attracts me to you. And, I started to fall in love with you because how protective you are towards me for the last few months us living together and how understanding and caring you are towards me. Like I said before, I thought our role has been reversed when you care more about my well-being. Ohchan, I love you so much and knowing that you love me too is the greatest gift I ever received for my birthday,"
Ohno chuckled to hear that before he walked towards Nino, shorten the distance between them. He hugged Nino then leaned forward to give a sweet kiss to Nino.
A/N: I just want to write something for Nino's birthday and to be honest, this turns out to be different than what I initially planned. It's always like that. I hope it wasn't too weird and comments will be appreciated :)