Arashi: Green (02)
FANDOM: Arashi
RATING: G
PAIRING: Aimiya (friendship), maybe Sakuraiba in the future
DATE: January 31, 2010
NOTES: This is a work of fiction. RedShiftverse AU.
Chapter One | Chapter Three
CHAPTER TWO
Aiba was acting weird, Nino decided. All day he was either staring into space, contemplating something in silence, which was unlike him, or he was more inquisitive than usual, and kept trying to grill Nino on his whereabouts during the last week. To top it all off, Aiba was also asking weird questions, like what kind of girls Nino liked, and what kind of things Nino liked to do on dates.
“Why are you asking me all these stuff?” Nino finally asked his best friend, piqued.
Aiba just looked at him with that cute lost puppy expression he had honed down to an art, and answered, “well, Suzuki is dating Ai-chan and Sugimoto said that he really liked Ai-chan’s friend, who frankly enough I found just a little bit scary with that bondage gear of hers. Then I wondered, what kind of girl does Nino like? It’ll be a problem if it’s someone I found scary, don’t you think? You don't like girls who wear those bondage stuff, do you, Nino?”
Nino frowned, and wondered if their band mates were to blame for his sudden descent into the twilight zone. “I don’t know,” he finally answered. “I never really thought about it, I guess.”
Aiba, who was leaning against Nino at the time, pouted and straightened up. “Don’t tell me if you don’t want to, then,” he said.
“What? What?” Nino asked, frustrated. “You were the one who brought up the subject,” he started to say, before a thought occurred to him. He narrowed his eyes at Aiba and asked, “is there a girl you like in school or something?”
The question threw Aiba off, and he forgot about wanting to get Nino to open up about his girlfriend. “Eh?” He laughed. “Are you kidding?”
“Idiot,” Nino muttered, annoyed that he was actually participating in the conversation. This one would definitely win a place in his ‘surreal conversations with Aiba’ wall of fame, which included one where Aiba wondered what having to wear a bra all the time felt like, and one where Aiba asked him why, despite the many flavours of canned and boxed drinks out there, there isn’t a natto-flavoured drink. (Nino thought that there probably was one, but he didn't mention it to Aiba, since he didn't want Aiba to research it and start a quest to search for the drink.) Nino was trying to think of a way to change the subject, when his cellphone rang. With a relieved smile, he looked at the caller ID. “I’ll take this outside,” he told Aiba, and left.
})i({
The next day, Nino had called to tell Aiba that he was busy after school, and couldn’t meet up. Aiba didn’t mind, as he had a lot of homework to do that day. He was in the middle of a math question when he happened to look out his window, and saw Nino’s figure entering the house across the street. Nino’s back from school, huh, Aiba thought absently, turning back to his homework, but he couldn’t concentrate. He turned back to the window, and pulled out an old pair of binoculars from his desk drawer. It was from the brief bird-watching phase he and Nino got into in junior high, although he had to admit that it had other uses.
Aiba peered through the binoculars, and noticed that there was an extra pair of shoes, laid faced out in front of Nino’s door. Curious, he placed the binoculars back into the drawer, and decided to walk over.
He was about to knock on Nino’s front door when he paused, and lowered his hands. He could hear Nino’s acoustic guitar. They must be in the living room, Aiba supposed. He thought of peering into the living room window, but decided against it. Nino would probably be pissed if he saw him. So Aiba raised his hands again and knocked on the door.
He heard the music stop, and put on his best puppy dog expression (so named by Nino; Aiba just went along with it) when Nino opened the door. It was lost on his friend, however. Nino just scowled and said, “I thought I told you I’m busy today.”
“I know!” Aiba said in a cheerful voice. “I just wanted to ask you about math stuff, but then I heard your guitar. Is that a new song?” He looked down and pretended to notice the other pair of shoes for the first time. “Oh, do you have company?”
Nino glared at him and opened the door wider to let Aiba in. “Where’s your math book?” he asked.
“It’s right - oh, I forgot to bring it?” Aiba answered sheepishly.
“Geez,” Nino said, rolling his eyes. “Go and get your book, then.”
Aiba didn’t move.
“What?” Nino asked.
Aiba was looking at the figure that had come behind Nino. He blinked. “It’s a boy,” he said blankly.
Nino looked behind him to see what Aiba was talking about, and turned back to Aiba. “Congratulations, you can tell whether a person is a boy or a girl,” he said drily. “Either get your book or come in, Aiba.”
The boy behind Nino smiled when he made the ‘boy’ comment, and Aiba felt a tug in his chest. His face was flushed as he walked into Nino’s house. “I thought you were with a girl,” he said in explanation.
“Why’d you think that?”
“Well, you’ve been so secretive and all, so Suzuki and Sugimoto said you must be dating…”
Suddenly Aiba’s past behaviour started to make sense to Nino. He laughed. “You’re really an idiot,” he said affectionately. “Sho, this is Aiba Masaki, my best friend,” he said to the other boy. “Aiba, this is Sakurai Sho. He’s my classmate from school.”
“Wow, so you’re his classmate?” Aiba asked the other boy. “It’s really rare for Nino to make a friend, and I don’t think he’s ever invited anyone else here before!”
"Hey, don't talk as if I'm anti-social," Nino interjected, "because I'm not."
“We’ve had to work on a couple of class projects together,” Sho said, “so I’ve been here a few times already.”
Aiba turned to Nino with a hurt look. “And you didn’t even bother to introduce me before this?”
“Stupid! Why should I introduce you? It’s not like we’re dating or anything!” Nino retorted, a little flustered. He didn’t know why he didn’t want Aiba and Sho to meet; he just knew that the idea bothered him. He looked to Sho for help, but was met with a small smirk. “What?” he asked Sho.
“The two of you are really interesting,” Sho said, trying not to laugh at how defensive Nino looked, and how red Aiba was. You would think that they’re a couple and Kazunari was caught cheating on his boyfriend, he thought with amusement.
Nino shot a glare at his friend, and changed the subject. “Anyway,” he told Aiba, “Sho studied classical piano so he’s been teaching me music theory.”
Aiba’s eyes widened. “That’s why your new songs are different, huh?” he asked. “Maybe you could teach me too, Sakurai-kun!” He looked at Sho so appealingly that the other boy was a little taken aback.
“Uh… sure,” Sho answered hesitantly. His initial amusement gone, Sho had retreated back into politeness. “You could just call me Sho,” he told Aiba.
“Really?” Aiba’s smile became brighter, if such a thing was even possible. “You could call me Masaki then… wait, no, you can call me Aiba like Nino does, that’s even ‘more special’, right, Nino? Since Nino have acknowledged you as a friend then I bet we will get along very well, too. And you could call Nino ‘Nino’ like I do, and you could teach us music theory and see our band play this weekend and we’ll be great friends…”
“Well, Kazunari-kun didn’t tell me about -”
“No, you can call him Nino now! Oh, Sho-chan, were you the one who helped Nino with his English homework, too? Because I could use some help also, you know, and…”
Sho inched closer to Nino, whispering, “does he have an off button? And I didn’t say he could call me -chan…”
Nino groaned. Now he remembered why he hadn’t wanted his two friends to meet.
~ to be continued ~
Chapter One | Chapter Three
Marineko's notes:
Haha, Aiba's a bit stalker-y here, with the binoculars and all... also, I'm dropping the Aimiya tag since if I tag all Aimiya friendship fics then won't everything be Aimiya, sort of? Hmm...
RATING: G
PAIRING: Aimiya (friendship), maybe Sakuraiba in the future
DATE: January 31, 2010
NOTES: This is a work of fiction. RedShiftverse AU.
Chapter One | Chapter Three
CHAPTER TWO
Aiba was acting weird, Nino decided. All day he was either staring into space, contemplating something in silence, which was unlike him, or he was more inquisitive than usual, and kept trying to grill Nino on his whereabouts during the last week. To top it all off, Aiba was also asking weird questions, like what kind of girls Nino liked, and what kind of things Nino liked to do on dates.
“Why are you asking me all these stuff?” Nino finally asked his best friend, piqued.
Aiba just looked at him with that cute lost puppy expression he had honed down to an art, and answered, “well, Suzuki is dating Ai-chan and Sugimoto said that he really liked Ai-chan’s friend, who frankly enough I found just a little bit scary with that bondage gear of hers. Then I wondered, what kind of girl does Nino like? It’ll be a problem if it’s someone I found scary, don’t you think? You don't like girls who wear those bondage stuff, do you, Nino?”
Nino frowned, and wondered if their band mates were to blame for his sudden descent into the twilight zone. “I don’t know,” he finally answered. “I never really thought about it, I guess.”
Aiba, who was leaning against Nino at the time, pouted and straightened up. “Don’t tell me if you don’t want to, then,” he said.
“What? What?” Nino asked, frustrated. “You were the one who brought up the subject,” he started to say, before a thought occurred to him. He narrowed his eyes at Aiba and asked, “is there a girl you like in school or something?”
The question threw Aiba off, and he forgot about wanting to get Nino to open up about his girlfriend. “Eh?” He laughed. “Are you kidding?”
“Idiot,” Nino muttered, annoyed that he was actually participating in the conversation. This one would definitely win a place in his ‘surreal conversations with Aiba’ wall of fame, which included one where Aiba wondered what having to wear a bra all the time felt like, and one where Aiba asked him why, despite the many flavours of canned and boxed drinks out there, there isn’t a natto-flavoured drink. (Nino thought that there probably was one, but he didn't mention it to Aiba, since he didn't want Aiba to research it and start a quest to search for the drink.) Nino was trying to think of a way to change the subject, when his cellphone rang. With a relieved smile, he looked at the caller ID. “I’ll take this outside,” he told Aiba, and left.
})i({
The next day, Nino had called to tell Aiba that he was busy after school, and couldn’t meet up. Aiba didn’t mind, as he had a lot of homework to do that day. He was in the middle of a math question when he happened to look out his window, and saw Nino’s figure entering the house across the street. Nino’s back from school, huh, Aiba thought absently, turning back to his homework, but he couldn’t concentrate. He turned back to the window, and pulled out an old pair of binoculars from his desk drawer. It was from the brief bird-watching phase he and Nino got into in junior high, although he had to admit that it had other uses.
Aiba peered through the binoculars, and noticed that there was an extra pair of shoes, laid faced out in front of Nino’s door. Curious, he placed the binoculars back into the drawer, and decided to walk over.
He was about to knock on Nino’s front door when he paused, and lowered his hands. He could hear Nino’s acoustic guitar. They must be in the living room, Aiba supposed. He thought of peering into the living room window, but decided against it. Nino would probably be pissed if he saw him. So Aiba raised his hands again and knocked on the door.
He heard the music stop, and put on his best puppy dog expression (so named by Nino; Aiba just went along with it) when Nino opened the door. It was lost on his friend, however. Nino just scowled and said, “I thought I told you I’m busy today.”
“I know!” Aiba said in a cheerful voice. “I just wanted to ask you about math stuff, but then I heard your guitar. Is that a new song?” He looked down and pretended to notice the other pair of shoes for the first time. “Oh, do you have company?”
Nino glared at him and opened the door wider to let Aiba in. “Where’s your math book?” he asked.
“It’s right - oh, I forgot to bring it?” Aiba answered sheepishly.
“Geez,” Nino said, rolling his eyes. “Go and get your book, then.”
Aiba didn’t move.
“What?” Nino asked.
Aiba was looking at the figure that had come behind Nino. He blinked. “It’s a boy,” he said blankly.
Nino looked behind him to see what Aiba was talking about, and turned back to Aiba. “Congratulations, you can tell whether a person is a boy or a girl,” he said drily. “Either get your book or come in, Aiba.”
The boy behind Nino smiled when he made the ‘boy’ comment, and Aiba felt a tug in his chest. His face was flushed as he walked into Nino’s house. “I thought you were with a girl,” he said in explanation.
“Why’d you think that?”
“Well, you’ve been so secretive and all, so Suzuki and Sugimoto said you must be dating…”
Suddenly Aiba’s past behaviour started to make sense to Nino. He laughed. “You’re really an idiot,” he said affectionately. “Sho, this is Aiba Masaki, my best friend,” he said to the other boy. “Aiba, this is Sakurai Sho. He’s my classmate from school.”
“Wow, so you’re his classmate?” Aiba asked the other boy. “It’s really rare for Nino to make a friend, and I don’t think he’s ever invited anyone else here before!”
"Hey, don't talk as if I'm anti-social," Nino interjected, "because I'm not."
“We’ve had to work on a couple of class projects together,” Sho said, “so I’ve been here a few times already.”
Aiba turned to Nino with a hurt look. “And you didn’t even bother to introduce me before this?”
“Stupid! Why should I introduce you? It’s not like we’re dating or anything!” Nino retorted, a little flustered. He didn’t know why he didn’t want Aiba and Sho to meet; he just knew that the idea bothered him. He looked to Sho for help, but was met with a small smirk. “What?” he asked Sho.
“The two of you are really interesting,” Sho said, trying not to laugh at how defensive Nino looked, and how red Aiba was. You would think that they’re a couple and Kazunari was caught cheating on his boyfriend, he thought with amusement.
Nino shot a glare at his friend, and changed the subject. “Anyway,” he told Aiba, “Sho studied classical piano so he’s been teaching me music theory.”
Aiba’s eyes widened. “That’s why your new songs are different, huh?” he asked. “Maybe you could teach me too, Sakurai-kun!” He looked at Sho so appealingly that the other boy was a little taken aback.
“Uh… sure,” Sho answered hesitantly. His initial amusement gone, Sho had retreated back into politeness. “You could just call me Sho,” he told Aiba.
“Really?” Aiba’s smile became brighter, if such a thing was even possible. “You could call me Masaki then… wait, no, you can call me Aiba like Nino does, that’s even ‘more special’, right, Nino? Since Nino have acknowledged you as a friend then I bet we will get along very well, too. And you could call Nino ‘Nino’ like I do, and you could teach us music theory and see our band play this weekend and we’ll be great friends…”
“Well, Kazunari-kun didn’t tell me about -”
“No, you can call him Nino now! Oh, Sho-chan, were you the one who helped Nino with his English homework, too? Because I could use some help also, you know, and…”
Sho inched closer to Nino, whispering, “does he have an off button? And I didn’t say he could call me -chan…”
Nino groaned. Now he remembered why he hadn’t wanted his two friends to meet.
~ to be continued ~
Chapter One | Chapter Three
Marineko's notes:
Haha, Aiba's a bit stalker-y here, with the binoculars and all... also, I'm dropping the Aimiya tag since if I tag all Aimiya friendship fics then won't everything be Aimiya, sort of? Hmm...