Arashi - AU - Voyager 3/12
Title: Voyager
Chapter: 3
Fandom: Arashi
Pairing: ohmiya etc.
Word count: 1122
Notes: More 'flashback'. Nino meets someone.
earlier chapters:
1 | 2
03. Shoes with loose laces
Nino met Aiba in a dream.
Nino didn't dream normally anymore - hadn't for a long time, maybe ever since he first learned how to walk through the Door - and Aiba just stumbled into his lucid dreaming, a flash of green light in his peripheral vision.
Aiba had been in the wrong place, in the wrong time (it was always the wrong time to stumble into Nino's dream).
"What are you doing here?" Nino asked, his tone harsh, his dreamscape moulding behind him into any shape he wanted, sometimes resembling mountains, sometimes the sea and sometimes nothing like anything.
Aiba had apologized profusely and so sincerely that Nino couldn't stay mad at him. That, Nino thought later, had been the beginning of the end. After that it had gotten very hard to get any peace from the tall man. Aiba had been like a starved puppy, ready to devote himself to the first person that showed any kindness to him. Not that Nino had been particularly kind to him but Nino had information, years of study behind him, ancestors all the way to the times before emperors, and - against his better judgement - Nino told him what he knew. Nino fed him.
Aiba had come again the next night, full of enthusiasm to hear more and Nino had been stuck with him ever since. He had to teach him everything, tell him about the rules and the things he couldn't do. He taught him how to respect the dreamer and how to tread lightly without unbalancing dreams, without pulling them down and making them crumble around the dreamer. Dream Doors were like shoji doors: they could keep things outside but a violent force broke them too easily.
"The rule is: take what you need, nothing more, and do not upset the natural balance," Nino said.
"How do I know if I am about to upset the natural balance?" Aiba asked and for a moment Nino was speechless.
"It's just... uh. It's instinctive. I can't explain it," Nino stuttered, dragging his fingers through his hair in frustration. This was why he shouldn't teach anyone. Too much of what he knew and could do was just too instinctive. "Can't you feel the texture of the dream around you? Can't you feel it moulding around you? When you do something wrong, it vibrates."
"Oh! You mean that weird feeling I sometimes get. It goes through my head and feels a little like electricity."
"Uh. I guess..." To Nino, it was nothing like electricity. It felt like soft, brittle paper crumbling between his fingers.
"What happens if I upset the balance?"
"Bad things, Aiba. Bad things happen."
After that, Nino had tried to keep Aiba out of his dreaming, but somehow the man always found a way in, slipping through the tiniest cracks in his defence, like it was the easiest thing to do to get inside Nino's head. And Aiba never seemed to mind that Nino tried to shut him out - he treated it as an amusing game instead. Nino knew Aiba had potential. He just wasn't sure what to do with it, this strange ease Aiba had when he barged through Nino's intricate defences.
A few weeks after their first meeting, Aiba had found him in the waking world. He had just appeared on Nino's doorstep one afternoon, smiling and carrying a black, battered suitcase with him.
Somehow the Aiba in the real world was even more impressive than the Aiba in the dreaming. Aiba was tall, slender and graceful and full of energy and movement. Nino couldn't really place what was different about him when he was standing there, in front of his real eyes, from the version that kept visiting his dreams. Nino could only think about it as a different kind of friction. Aiba occupied the space differently in Nino's living room than in his head.
The difference fascinated Nino, so he let Aiba stay. It was not like he would run out of space even if he had five Aibas living with him.
He might run out of patience, though.
Nino's home had thirty seven regular doors and almost as many rooms. The lands around the mansion were all his and it took five minutes to walk from the house to the front gate. So Nino had presumed that it would still be easy to get some time alone, even if there was someone else living there with him. But in a long line of presumptions crushed by Aiba, this was one of the first.
Nino had to admit to himself that he didn't mind, though. Not really. Aiba's presence sometimes grated on his nerves and sometimes even Aiba's voice made him grimace. But there were other times when having someone there with him was soothing and comfortable. The rooms didn't seem so empty and the air wasn't as cold anymore. Aiba also seemed to quickly learn the signs of Nino's bad mood and more than once he had managed to cheer him up before he exploded.
They had settled into comfortable companionship surprisingly quickly. Aiba was curious and energetic and his good moods were contagious. He asked questions and Nino found that he sometimes even liked answering them. And when he wasn't in the mood Aiba wandered around Nino's library, reading and researching on his own.
Aiba was also very affectionate. It had shocked Nino the first time it had happened. Aiba had just casually flung his arm around Nino's shoulders and leaned against his side and Nino had jumped from surprise.
"What is it?" Aiba had asked, puzzled.
"Nothing," he had answered. Nino had thought it would be embarrassing to make a big deal out of it. Aiba was warm next to him, solid and alive.
But somehow (and very quickly) it escalated. Nino wasn't sure what to think about it, but Aiba wasn't complaining. And considering that Aiba's presence kept him away from the staircase and the comforting atmosphere of the dreams and the dark, it was only fair that he would let Nino curl up in his lap and leech off his warmth instead. Suddenly such simple, stupid things like having Aiba play with his hair while he rested his head on Aiba's leg made him very happy.
Of course, he wouldn't ever tell that to Aiba. But then again he believed that the tall man still knew.
It was one of those occasions, when Aiba had successfully petted him into lazy submission, when he told Nino something.
"Nino?"
"Mhm?" Nino mumbled and rubbed his cheek against the coarse material of Aiba's jeans. He was warm and almost asleep and he really didn't want to answer another set of questions right then.
"I have this friend..." Aiba started.
To chapter 4
Chapter: 3
Fandom: Arashi
Pairing: ohmiya etc.
Word count: 1122
Notes: More 'flashback'. Nino meets someone.
earlier chapters:
1 | 2
03. Shoes with loose laces
Nino met Aiba in a dream.
Nino didn't dream normally anymore - hadn't for a long time, maybe ever since he first learned how to walk through the Door - and Aiba just stumbled into his lucid dreaming, a flash of green light in his peripheral vision.
Aiba had been in the wrong place, in the wrong time (it was always the wrong time to stumble into Nino's dream).
"What are you doing here?" Nino asked, his tone harsh, his dreamscape moulding behind him into any shape he wanted, sometimes resembling mountains, sometimes the sea and sometimes nothing like anything.
Aiba had apologized profusely and so sincerely that Nino couldn't stay mad at him. That, Nino thought later, had been the beginning of the end. After that it had gotten very hard to get any peace from the tall man. Aiba had been like a starved puppy, ready to devote himself to the first person that showed any kindness to him. Not that Nino had been particularly kind to him but Nino had information, years of study behind him, ancestors all the way to the times before emperors, and - against his better judgement - Nino told him what he knew. Nino fed him.
Aiba had come again the next night, full of enthusiasm to hear more and Nino had been stuck with him ever since. He had to teach him everything, tell him about the rules and the things he couldn't do. He taught him how to respect the dreamer and how to tread lightly without unbalancing dreams, without pulling them down and making them crumble around the dreamer. Dream Doors were like shoji doors: they could keep things outside but a violent force broke them too easily.
"The rule is: take what you need, nothing more, and do not upset the natural balance," Nino said.
"How do I know if I am about to upset the natural balance?" Aiba asked and for a moment Nino was speechless.
"It's just... uh. It's instinctive. I can't explain it," Nino stuttered, dragging his fingers through his hair in frustration. This was why he shouldn't teach anyone. Too much of what he knew and could do was just too instinctive. "Can't you feel the texture of the dream around you? Can't you feel it moulding around you? When you do something wrong, it vibrates."
"Oh! You mean that weird feeling I sometimes get. It goes through my head and feels a little like electricity."
"Uh. I guess..." To Nino, it was nothing like electricity. It felt like soft, brittle paper crumbling between his fingers.
"What happens if I upset the balance?"
"Bad things, Aiba. Bad things happen."
After that, Nino had tried to keep Aiba out of his dreaming, but somehow the man always found a way in, slipping through the tiniest cracks in his defence, like it was the easiest thing to do to get inside Nino's head. And Aiba never seemed to mind that Nino tried to shut him out - he treated it as an amusing game instead. Nino knew Aiba had potential. He just wasn't sure what to do with it, this strange ease Aiba had when he barged through Nino's intricate defences.
A few weeks after their first meeting, Aiba had found him in the waking world. He had just appeared on Nino's doorstep one afternoon, smiling and carrying a black, battered suitcase with him.
Somehow the Aiba in the real world was even more impressive than the Aiba in the dreaming. Aiba was tall, slender and graceful and full of energy and movement. Nino couldn't really place what was different about him when he was standing there, in front of his real eyes, from the version that kept visiting his dreams. Nino could only think about it as a different kind of friction. Aiba occupied the space differently in Nino's living room than in his head.
The difference fascinated Nino, so he let Aiba stay. It was not like he would run out of space even if he had five Aibas living with him.
He might run out of patience, though.
Nino's home had thirty seven regular doors and almost as many rooms. The lands around the mansion were all his and it took five minutes to walk from the house to the front gate. So Nino had presumed that it would still be easy to get some time alone, even if there was someone else living there with him. But in a long line of presumptions crushed by Aiba, this was one of the first.
Nino had to admit to himself that he didn't mind, though. Not really. Aiba's presence sometimes grated on his nerves and sometimes even Aiba's voice made him grimace. But there were other times when having someone there with him was soothing and comfortable. The rooms didn't seem so empty and the air wasn't as cold anymore. Aiba also seemed to quickly learn the signs of Nino's bad mood and more than once he had managed to cheer him up before he exploded.
They had settled into comfortable companionship surprisingly quickly. Aiba was curious and energetic and his good moods were contagious. He asked questions and Nino found that he sometimes even liked answering them. And when he wasn't in the mood Aiba wandered around Nino's library, reading and researching on his own.
Aiba was also very affectionate. It had shocked Nino the first time it had happened. Aiba had just casually flung his arm around Nino's shoulders and leaned against his side and Nino had jumped from surprise.
"What is it?" Aiba had asked, puzzled.
"Nothing," he had answered. Nino had thought it would be embarrassing to make a big deal out of it. Aiba was warm next to him, solid and alive.
But somehow (and very quickly) it escalated. Nino wasn't sure what to think about it, but Aiba wasn't complaining. And considering that Aiba's presence kept him away from the staircase and the comforting atmosphere of the dreams and the dark, it was only fair that he would let Nino curl up in his lap and leech off his warmth instead. Suddenly such simple, stupid things like having Aiba play with his hair while he rested his head on Aiba's leg made him very happy.
Of course, he wouldn't ever tell that to Aiba. But then again he believed that the tall man still knew.
It was one of those occasions, when Aiba had successfully petted him into lazy submission, when he told Nino something.
"Nino?"
"Mhm?" Nino mumbled and rubbed his cheek against the coarse material of Aiba's jeans. He was warm and almost asleep and he really didn't want to answer another set of questions right then.
"I have this friend..." Aiba started.
To chapter 4