Arashi - AU - Voyager 7/12
Title: Voyager
Chapter: 7
Fandom: Arashi
Pairing: ohmiya etc.
Word count: 1440
Notes: I just realized that I'm leaving a lot of things unanswered in the later chapters and that means that I'm pretty much missing a whole scene from chapter 9. Fun times. D:
earlier chapters:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
07. With me I will take you along
Nino was yanked so forcefully through his Door that he almost lost his grip on Ohno's hand. They stumbled into the hallway, blinking and disoriented and still holding hands. Ohno's fingers were squeezed tightly around Nino's palm and Nino forgot to let go even after the Door was securely closed behind them.
"Three days!" Aiba was yelling. "Three days, Nino! I thought you weren't coming back!"
Nino stared at the haggard, unshaven, teary-eyed Aiba. There were dark circles under his eyes and...
"Three days!" Nino exclaimed, horrified. "I was gone for three days?"
Aiba let out a sob and grabbed Nino, pulling him into the tightest hug he had ever experienced.
"Took a wrong turn?" Jun asked and Nino realized they weren't alone in the house. And he was still holding Ohno's hand. He gently untangled his fingers from Ohno's and hugged Aiba back. Aiba let out another sob and Nino met Jun's eyes over his back.
Jun looked... relieved. He also looked tired but not nearly as unkempt as Aiba.
"Aiba was worried," Jun said between Aiba's broken sobs of "lost" and "coming to look for you" and "Nino".
"He hasn't slept in two days," Jun added when Aiba swayed and stumbled and dragged Nino down to the floor with him. "I came here to look after him and make sure he wasn't going to do anything stupid."
Something deep inside Nino tightened when he realized that Aiba was this worried about him, that Aiba really cared this much. The responsibility scared him and startled an apology out of him. "I'm sorry," Nino said softly into Aiba's ear. "I'm sorry I made you worry like this."
He could feel Aiba nodding against his neck and then gradually relaxing in his arms. Nino let out a small chuckle and tried to sound annoyed. "I'm fine, I'm okay. Stop crying and get up, you're crushing me. I swear, this is like having an overgrown puppy."
Aiba sniffed and then giggled. Only when he dragged both himself and Nino up, he seemed to notice there was a new person in there with them. "Ah," he said, and Nino could see he was embarrassed over his outburst. "Are you Nino's friend?" he asked and then let out a short laugh. "I guess I really was wrong when I thought that the one sleeping in the living room was pretty much the only friend Nino had!"
"What?" Nino snapped. "You let someone into my house?"
"Relax," Jun drawled, leaning against the wall. There was a small smile on his lips. "If you're so worried about it, go and see him for yourself."
Nino left them all behind, darting through the corridors and then taking a sharp left to the newer wing of the house. His heart was pounding in his chest and he knew who he would find in the living room, but the fear was still there. He turned a corner and stepped into the small room, willing himself to calm down.
Sho. Sho was sleeping on the couch, lying on his side, his arms wrapped around himself like he was feeling cold. There was a blanket on the floor next to the couch. Relief washed over Nino and then he grinned. Being happy that he was there, finally, didn't mean that he wouldn't take advantage of a sleeping Sho. He crept closer and kneeled in front of the couch. In his opinion, Sho was asking for this. Who fell asleep in the middle of a crisis anyway?
Nino stifled a laugh and pressed his lips against Sho's.
Sho's eyes snapped open and he made a small noise against Nino's lips. But Nino didn't pull away and gradually Sho answered the kiss. "I warned you, didn't I?" Nino teased, pulling away far enough to see Sho's expression. "You got some nerve. First the guy sleeps four years and then wakes up just to fall asleep when his best friend is missing. Have you ever thought that you might have some problems with sleeping?"
"Mages sleep to gather power," Sho muttered, like Nino was still unaware of it after the first thousand times Sho had told him over the years, and pulled Nino to him, placing another light kiss on his lips. "I see you came back and I was right not to worry too much."
"Still, a little more worry would have been nice."
"But," Sho said, pulling Nino on the couch with him. "I have faith in you. That's way better than concern. I know you're too good to let anything happen to you in there."
"Liar," Nino grunted and buried his nose into Sho's neck, smelling the real Sho for the first time in four years. "It got pretty close this time," he admitted.
Someone cleared their throat in the doorway. "I'm sorry to interrupt the touching reunion," Jun said, "but who exactly is this guy?"
Nino looked up and saw Ohno peeking sheepishly from behind Jun. He didn't care about Jun, but he felt vaguely embarrassed that Ohno saw him like this. He pulled himself up and out of Sho's arms, avoiding catching Ohno's eye and instead focusing on Jun. "He," Nino said, "is Ohno Satoshi and we're going to help him find his sister."
"You- you will?" Ohno asked while the others just stared at him.
--
He had been right. It was exactly like owning a puppy, and it was called Aiba-chan.
Aiba had fallen asleep with his head in Nino's lap and his arm around Nino's leg. Moving was out of question so he was stuck in a room with two very vocal mages and one very quiet Ohno Satoshi. He had told them what had happened and Aiba had fallen asleep somewhere between Ohno's Door and the lavender tea. After he had finished it had been mostly about pretending to listen to the two mages and answering a question from time to time.
Ohno was sitting quietly next to him on the couch and Nino was distracted with trying to find something that was different from the Ohno in the dreams and the Ohno right there. He hadn't found any differences yet and he was starting to think that his constant side glances weren't left unnoticed, even if Ohno didn't react to being stared at in any way. Even the effect that Ohno had on him hadn't changed. He still felt restless and tingly and vaguely suspicious.
"This thing reeks of magic, doesn't it?" Nino asked, trying to ignore the way Ohno's arm was brushing against his. He hadn't noticed Ohno moving closer. Maybe he had moved closer to Ohno instead? But Aiba was still impersonating a dog in his lap, so he couldn't have.
"But it's impossible," Sho insisted, for what was roughly the fifteenth time.
Ohno shifted next to him again and Nino's senses went instantly back to him. "Shadows," he heard Ohno mutter and everything just clicked into place.
"Shadows," he groaned. "Shadows, damn it. It wasn't a trap set inside someone's dream. That wasn't a dream, not exactly."
"Nino?" Sho frowned. "What was it?"
"The trap was for me after all. It was a portal. A way station. Something that someone had set up with parts of dreams." Nino bit his lip, trying to figure how to explain it so that the others would understand. "Someone took parts of dreams, like the alleyway and the parade from someone's nightmare and stuck them into this artificial place inside the dreamlands. It was set up in a thin place. If I had seen the parade, it would have weakened my mind and I could have slipped through too easily. And Ohno might have really seen his sister there. Family bonds are stronger than almost anything else and thin places flicker." Nino watched Sho and Jun exchange glances. He could see that they didn't completely understand him, but Ohno was nodding his head silently, a serious expression in his eyes.
It had been one of the first lessons of self-preservation his mother had ever taught him: In dreams, shadows were never just shadows. They were the darkness or they were there because of some part of our consciousness needed them there to make sense of the world, even the dream world. They were thin places or half-formed dreams that filtered through the seams. They were hiding places and disguises and, most importantly of all, they were pathways.
Nino got hold of Ohno's hand, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry, I can't do anything for your sister. She's beyond my reach. There are no Doors to the Grey Lands."
That had been a lesson he had learned well.
To chapter 7.5
Chapter: 7
Fandom: Arashi
Pairing: ohmiya etc.
Word count: 1440
Notes: I just realized that I'm leaving a lot of things unanswered in the later chapters and that means that I'm pretty much missing a whole scene from chapter 9. Fun times. D:
earlier chapters:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
07. With me I will take you along
Nino was yanked so forcefully through his Door that he almost lost his grip on Ohno's hand. They stumbled into the hallway, blinking and disoriented and still holding hands. Ohno's fingers were squeezed tightly around Nino's palm and Nino forgot to let go even after the Door was securely closed behind them.
"Three days!" Aiba was yelling. "Three days, Nino! I thought you weren't coming back!"
Nino stared at the haggard, unshaven, teary-eyed Aiba. There were dark circles under his eyes and...
"Three days!" Nino exclaimed, horrified. "I was gone for three days?"
Aiba let out a sob and grabbed Nino, pulling him into the tightest hug he had ever experienced.
"Took a wrong turn?" Jun asked and Nino realized they weren't alone in the house. And he was still holding Ohno's hand. He gently untangled his fingers from Ohno's and hugged Aiba back. Aiba let out another sob and Nino met Jun's eyes over his back.
Jun looked... relieved. He also looked tired but not nearly as unkempt as Aiba.
"Aiba was worried," Jun said between Aiba's broken sobs of "lost" and "coming to look for you" and "Nino".
"He hasn't slept in two days," Jun added when Aiba swayed and stumbled and dragged Nino down to the floor with him. "I came here to look after him and make sure he wasn't going to do anything stupid."
Something deep inside Nino tightened when he realized that Aiba was this worried about him, that Aiba really cared this much. The responsibility scared him and startled an apology out of him. "I'm sorry," Nino said softly into Aiba's ear. "I'm sorry I made you worry like this."
He could feel Aiba nodding against his neck and then gradually relaxing in his arms. Nino let out a small chuckle and tried to sound annoyed. "I'm fine, I'm okay. Stop crying and get up, you're crushing me. I swear, this is like having an overgrown puppy."
Aiba sniffed and then giggled. Only when he dragged both himself and Nino up, he seemed to notice there was a new person in there with them. "Ah," he said, and Nino could see he was embarrassed over his outburst. "Are you Nino's friend?" he asked and then let out a short laugh. "I guess I really was wrong when I thought that the one sleeping in the living room was pretty much the only friend Nino had!"
"What?" Nino snapped. "You let someone into my house?"
"Relax," Jun drawled, leaning against the wall. There was a small smile on his lips. "If you're so worried about it, go and see him for yourself."
Nino left them all behind, darting through the corridors and then taking a sharp left to the newer wing of the house. His heart was pounding in his chest and he knew who he would find in the living room, but the fear was still there. He turned a corner and stepped into the small room, willing himself to calm down.
Sho. Sho was sleeping on the couch, lying on his side, his arms wrapped around himself like he was feeling cold. There was a blanket on the floor next to the couch. Relief washed over Nino and then he grinned. Being happy that he was there, finally, didn't mean that he wouldn't take advantage of a sleeping Sho. He crept closer and kneeled in front of the couch. In his opinion, Sho was asking for this. Who fell asleep in the middle of a crisis anyway?
Nino stifled a laugh and pressed his lips against Sho's.
Sho's eyes snapped open and he made a small noise against Nino's lips. But Nino didn't pull away and gradually Sho answered the kiss. "I warned you, didn't I?" Nino teased, pulling away far enough to see Sho's expression. "You got some nerve. First the guy sleeps four years and then wakes up just to fall asleep when his best friend is missing. Have you ever thought that you might have some problems with sleeping?"
"Mages sleep to gather power," Sho muttered, like Nino was still unaware of it after the first thousand times Sho had told him over the years, and pulled Nino to him, placing another light kiss on his lips. "I see you came back and I was right not to worry too much."
"Still, a little more worry would have been nice."
"But," Sho said, pulling Nino on the couch with him. "I have faith in you. That's way better than concern. I know you're too good to let anything happen to you in there."
"Liar," Nino grunted and buried his nose into Sho's neck, smelling the real Sho for the first time in four years. "It got pretty close this time," he admitted.
Someone cleared their throat in the doorway. "I'm sorry to interrupt the touching reunion," Jun said, "but who exactly is this guy?"
Nino looked up and saw Ohno peeking sheepishly from behind Jun. He didn't care about Jun, but he felt vaguely embarrassed that Ohno saw him like this. He pulled himself up and out of Sho's arms, avoiding catching Ohno's eye and instead focusing on Jun. "He," Nino said, "is Ohno Satoshi and we're going to help him find his sister."
"You- you will?" Ohno asked while the others just stared at him.
--
He had been right. It was exactly like owning a puppy, and it was called Aiba-chan.
Aiba had fallen asleep with his head in Nino's lap and his arm around Nino's leg. Moving was out of question so he was stuck in a room with two very vocal mages and one very quiet Ohno Satoshi. He had told them what had happened and Aiba had fallen asleep somewhere between Ohno's Door and the lavender tea. After he had finished it had been mostly about pretending to listen to the two mages and answering a question from time to time.
Ohno was sitting quietly next to him on the couch and Nino was distracted with trying to find something that was different from the Ohno in the dreams and the Ohno right there. He hadn't found any differences yet and he was starting to think that his constant side glances weren't left unnoticed, even if Ohno didn't react to being stared at in any way. Even the effect that Ohno had on him hadn't changed. He still felt restless and tingly and vaguely suspicious.
"This thing reeks of magic, doesn't it?" Nino asked, trying to ignore the way Ohno's arm was brushing against his. He hadn't noticed Ohno moving closer. Maybe he had moved closer to Ohno instead? But Aiba was still impersonating a dog in his lap, so he couldn't have.
"But it's impossible," Sho insisted, for what was roughly the fifteenth time.
Ohno shifted next to him again and Nino's senses went instantly back to him. "Shadows," he heard Ohno mutter and everything just clicked into place.
"Shadows," he groaned. "Shadows, damn it. It wasn't a trap set inside someone's dream. That wasn't a dream, not exactly."
"Nino?" Sho frowned. "What was it?"
"The trap was for me after all. It was a portal. A way station. Something that someone had set up with parts of dreams." Nino bit his lip, trying to figure how to explain it so that the others would understand. "Someone took parts of dreams, like the alleyway and the parade from someone's nightmare and stuck them into this artificial place inside the dreamlands. It was set up in a thin place. If I had seen the parade, it would have weakened my mind and I could have slipped through too easily. And Ohno might have really seen his sister there. Family bonds are stronger than almost anything else and thin places flicker." Nino watched Sho and Jun exchange glances. He could see that they didn't completely understand him, but Ohno was nodding his head silently, a serious expression in his eyes.
It had been one of the first lessons of self-preservation his mother had ever taught him: In dreams, shadows were never just shadows. They were the darkness or they were there because of some part of our consciousness needed them there to make sense of the world, even the dream world. They were thin places or half-formed dreams that filtered through the seams. They were hiding places and disguises and, most importantly of all, they were pathways.
Nino got hold of Ohno's hand, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry, I can't do anything for your sister. She's beyond my reach. There are no Doors to the Grey Lands."
That had been a lesson he had learned well.
To chapter 7.5