fic: Barriers (RPS, Arashi)
Title: Barriers
Author: NemKess
fandom: RPS, JPop, Arashi
pairing/characters: Ohmiya SK
Warnings: mildly slashy?
Notes: beta'd by adronicus. This fic takes place early days Arashi. Probably within a month of their debut.
Summary: Everything started because Nino wanted to play his video game....
~*~*~
Nino would never admit it under pain of death, but he was nervous as he knocked on the door to room # 212. He wasn’t sure why, exactly. Perhaps because the older boy on the other side of the door was still so unknown to him. Perhaps because the other boy acted even older than he actually was, making Nino feel even younger and more inexperienced than he really was.
Perhaps it was just because he’d already been yelled at twice by two people he considered good friends and he really didn’t want to be the first one who experienced it if Ohno was actually capable of raising his voice.
Whatever it was, standing outside that door, clutching his Nintendo64 to his chest, it wasn’t helped by the fact that Ohno seemed to be ignoring him.
He raised his fist to knock again and very nearly hit his band mate in the chest as the door finally swung inward.
Ohno’s head was already tilted to the side to keep the cordless phone trapped between his ear and shoulder, but from his expression, Nino could easily imagine him doing that little vaguely-curious-tilt thing that he did so often.
It seemed to Nino that everything Ohno did was done vaguely. Except for singing. There was nothing vague about the Arashi leader when he was singing.
“Can I-“ Nino started, but was interrupted as Ohno held up one hand, his eyes going vacant as a voice sounded over the phone.
“No, no... It’s just Ninomiya-kun.... Hai... I’ll tell him.” Even as Ohno continued the conversation Nino had obviously interrupted, he waved the younger boy inside and shut the door behind him. “No, I won’t forget about it. I’ll ask.... Okay.... Tomorrow, then? Hai.... I love you, too.”
Nino didn’t even try to pretend he wasn’t blatantly eavesdropping on the disjointed, one-sided conversation. It wasn’t like he could actually understand it. When Ohno hung up and tossed the phone carelessly on the bed, he couldn’t help but ask. “Girlfriend?”
Hands on his hips, Ohno laughed softly. “My mother. She said to tell you hi and that you should eat more, you looked too thin on television the other day.”
“I eat plenty,” Nino replied, pouting a little at the idea that anyone thought he was too skinny. He wasn’t nearly as scrawny as MatsuJun!
“I’m just the messenger.” Ohno held up his hands in a placating gesture, then waved them towards Nino. “Did you want something?”
‘Well, duh,’ Nino thought but didn’t voice. It wouldn’t do to anger Ohno before he’d gotten what he’d come for. “Can I use your television, Ohno-kun? Aiba-chan and MatsuJun are trying to sleep and Sho-kun said I was disturbing his studying.”
Ohno was the only one who’d gotten his own room, a fact that Nino found grossly unfair. Damn Ohno for being so lucky in Jan Ken anyways.
The other boy shrugged, gesturing towards the television with one hand even as he sat down on the chair by the lamp and picked up an abandoned notebook with the other. “Be my guest. I’m not using it.”
“Thanks!” Happy, Nino set up his Nintendo and settled down on the single bed for a night of gaming fun.
~*~*~
“Should we wake them?”
“Do you really think you can? I don’t know about Ohno-kun, but Nino sleeps like the dead.”
“We could always dump cold water on them...”
Nino wanted to swat away the voices that were distubing him. He was warm and comfortable. He’d slept better than he had since he’d left home, before then even. Wrapped up in a solid, soft warmth, he felt safe and protected.
He just wanted to stay there and doze all day long.
The finger that kept poking at his cheeks and shoulders were making that damned hard, though.
“They almost look like one person, sleeping that close together....”
“How can they even stand it? I’m getting claustrophobic just looking at them...”
There was movement, under him, around him, and the groggy sounding voice was practically in his ear. “G’way... S’not uptime yet...”
“Wrong, Riida. It was time to get up over an hour ago.”
Was that MatsuJun?
Nino finally cracked an eye open, but all he could see was bright yellow cotton. Blinking, he tried to shift away, much to the disgruntlement of the wearer of said yellow cotton. Vise-like arms pulled him back. “Oof...”
“Oi, Riida... I think you’re suffocating Nino....”
“Hmm?” More movement, and Nino was released. “Ah, gomen, Ninomiya-kun.” Strong hands helped him sit up and he watched with bleary eyes as Ohno stretched and yawned beside him. “Is it really time to get up?” The older boy looked so disappointed at the idea that Nino actually wanted to pat him on the head.
Instead he snarled and swatted at MatsuJun. “Go away. We’re up already.”
“You know, Nino-“ Before MatsuJun could say whatever smartassed comment that was lurking in his twisted brain, Sho clasped a hand over his smirking mouth and began pulling him backwards.
“You guys have about a half hour before management is expecting us downstairs. Try not to be late, okay? You don’t want to miss breakfast.”
“Breakfast?” Ohno perked up at that.
“Hai, when you come down, Ohno-kun. Come on, Aiba-chan, MatsuJun.” Then Sho was dragging a protesting MatsuJun out the door, a confused looking Aiba-chan trailing after them.
For a moment, Ohno stared after them, looking a little confused himself, but then he seemed to shake himself. He smiled at Nino before dragging himself out of the bed. “You should get up too, Ninomiya-kun. I promised my mother you’d eat more, not that I’d let you miss meals.”
Nino remembered no such promise or even the implication of one, but all he did was grumble. “I’m not too skinny.”
“Ninomiya-kun is fine the way he is,” Ohno agreed sagely. “But breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Actually....” The older boy paused as if considering something weighty. Then he shrugged. “Any meal is the most important of the day. You shouldn’t miss them.”
“How can more than one meal be the most important one, Oh-chan? You can only have one most important.”
He didn’t even catch his slip until the older boy paused, half turned back. Ohno didn’t mention it though, or scold him for being too familiar. “It’s food, Ninomiya-kun.”
Nino knew he should have left it alone, but that had never stopped him before. “You don’t have to say it like that. No one else does.”
Ohno tilted his head to the side, nothing vague about his curiosity this time. “Does it bother you?”
“Well... no.... but....” Nino frowned, unsure himself what his point was.
“Would you rather I called you Nino like everyone else does?”
“Yes. No. I....” What did he want? He hated being the same as everyone else. Ohno was so reserved with everyone. He hadn’t come to the older boy’s room with the intention of breaking down those barriers, but now that he’d started... Nino wanted it. He wanted the right to use more intimate nicknames that no one else could use. He wanted to see if Ohno could be pushed completely out of that reserve and if he was the one who could do it. “Call me Kazu.”
There was a long minute of silence before Ohno nodded. “Kazu-kun.”
Nino couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face. “Oh-chan.”
“Do you think they’ll hold breakfast for us?”
Rolling his eyes, Nino clamored out of the bed, nearly toppling over when his legs got tangled in the blankets. “You really do have a one track mind, don’t you?”
~*~*~
“So, you badgered Ohno-kun into letting you use his television?” Nino wasn’t sure if he was being scolded for bothering their leader or teased for his addiction. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Sho.
Not so with Jun who leaned over and stole a bit of fish off Nino’s plate, with a smirk. “I don’t think that was all our fearless leader let him use.”
“Did you guys do it?” How Aiba could keep such an innocent face while asking such a decidedly uninnocent question was completely beyond Nino’s comprehension. It was just part of what made Aiba Aiba.
He blushed and slapped at Jun’s second attempt at his food. “Of course not! I fell asleep playing Zelda, you hentai!”
“Funny, I didn’t see any -“ Jun’s comment ground to a halt as Ohno finally came over to join them. He’d gotten stopped on the way in by someone in a suit and had sent Nino on ahead with a hopeful request that something be saved for him. “G-good morning Ohno-kun!”
“Good morning, Matsumoto-kun.”
Nino smirked at the younger boy. Jun’s crush on Ohno was absolutely hilarious to see - especially since Ohno himself seemed to be so very oblivious to it.
Distracted fingers trailed through his hair as Ohno passed by his chair and it was all Nino could do not to chortle in glee at the jealousy flaring on Jun’s face. He hadn’t really considered that particular side benefit of getting closer to Ohno. “If you want to leave your game box in my room so you can play it later, I don’t mind, Kazu-kun.”
“It’s a Nintendo 64, Oh-chan,” Nino corrected, thouroughly enjoying the different shades of purple Jun was turning. “I probably will. Maybe we can play together, tonight?”
Ohno laughed softly as he settled down next to Nino and snagged the plate that had been saved for him. “I’m not very good at video games.”
“Don’t worry, Ohno-kun. No one can beat Nino anyways. He only asks people to play so that he can feel smug after he beats their pants off.”
Jun choked on his water at Aiba’s comment.
Ohno gave him a concerned look. “Are you okay, Matsumoto-kun?”
“Fine,” came the weak reply and Nino stretched and dropped a casual arm over Ohno’s shoulders just to see what reaction it would get from everyone.
Sho looked faintly disapproving, but said nothing. Aiba paused for a moment, but seemed to shrug it off before launching into a story about the last time he’d been tricked into playing video games with Nino. Jun glared at them and stabbed his own fish with vengeful chopsticks, ignoring another concerned question from their leader and waving off Sho’s attempts to placate him - which of course increased the disapproval from that direction.
Ohno’s reaction was the most curious to Nino, though, in that there was none. Other than an ever so slight shift to lean closer, Ohno acted as if it was an every day occurrence. As if having Nino in his personal space was as natural as breathing oxygen or drinking water.
It occurred to Nino that if he’d fallen asleep on top of the covers while playing the night before, Ohno must have been the one to put him under the blankets and crawl in with him.
He grinned at the thought.
Perhaps that wall of reserve wasn’t nearly as thick as he’d first thought.
~*~*~
The End
Author: NemKess
fandom: RPS, JPop, Arashi
pairing/characters: Ohmiya SK
Warnings: mildly slashy?
Notes: beta'd by adronicus. This fic takes place early days Arashi. Probably within a month of their debut.
Summary: Everything started because Nino wanted to play his video game....
~*~*~
Nino would never admit it under pain of death, but he was nervous as he knocked on the door to room # 212. He wasn’t sure why, exactly. Perhaps because the older boy on the other side of the door was still so unknown to him. Perhaps because the other boy acted even older than he actually was, making Nino feel even younger and more inexperienced than he really was.
Perhaps it was just because he’d already been yelled at twice by two people he considered good friends and he really didn’t want to be the first one who experienced it if Ohno was actually capable of raising his voice.
Whatever it was, standing outside that door, clutching his Nintendo64 to his chest, it wasn’t helped by the fact that Ohno seemed to be ignoring him.
He raised his fist to knock again and very nearly hit his band mate in the chest as the door finally swung inward.
Ohno’s head was already tilted to the side to keep the cordless phone trapped between his ear and shoulder, but from his expression, Nino could easily imagine him doing that little vaguely-curious-tilt thing that he did so often.
It seemed to Nino that everything Ohno did was done vaguely. Except for singing. There was nothing vague about the Arashi leader when he was singing.
“Can I-“ Nino started, but was interrupted as Ohno held up one hand, his eyes going vacant as a voice sounded over the phone.
“No, no... It’s just Ninomiya-kun.... Hai... I’ll tell him.” Even as Ohno continued the conversation Nino had obviously interrupted, he waved the younger boy inside and shut the door behind him. “No, I won’t forget about it. I’ll ask.... Okay.... Tomorrow, then? Hai.... I love you, too.”
Nino didn’t even try to pretend he wasn’t blatantly eavesdropping on the disjointed, one-sided conversation. It wasn’t like he could actually understand it. When Ohno hung up and tossed the phone carelessly on the bed, he couldn’t help but ask. “Girlfriend?”
Hands on his hips, Ohno laughed softly. “My mother. She said to tell you hi and that you should eat more, you looked too thin on television the other day.”
“I eat plenty,” Nino replied, pouting a little at the idea that anyone thought he was too skinny. He wasn’t nearly as scrawny as MatsuJun!
“I’m just the messenger.” Ohno held up his hands in a placating gesture, then waved them towards Nino. “Did you want something?”
‘Well, duh,’ Nino thought but didn’t voice. It wouldn’t do to anger Ohno before he’d gotten what he’d come for. “Can I use your television, Ohno-kun? Aiba-chan and MatsuJun are trying to sleep and Sho-kun said I was disturbing his studying.”
Ohno was the only one who’d gotten his own room, a fact that Nino found grossly unfair. Damn Ohno for being so lucky in Jan Ken anyways.
The other boy shrugged, gesturing towards the television with one hand even as he sat down on the chair by the lamp and picked up an abandoned notebook with the other. “Be my guest. I’m not using it.”
“Thanks!” Happy, Nino set up his Nintendo and settled down on the single bed for a night of gaming fun.
~*~*~
“Should we wake them?”
“Do you really think you can? I don’t know about Ohno-kun, but Nino sleeps like the dead.”
“We could always dump cold water on them...”
Nino wanted to swat away the voices that were distubing him. He was warm and comfortable. He’d slept better than he had since he’d left home, before then even. Wrapped up in a solid, soft warmth, he felt safe and protected.
He just wanted to stay there and doze all day long.
The finger that kept poking at his cheeks and shoulders were making that damned hard, though.
“They almost look like one person, sleeping that close together....”
“How can they even stand it? I’m getting claustrophobic just looking at them...”
There was movement, under him, around him, and the groggy sounding voice was practically in his ear. “G’way... S’not uptime yet...”
“Wrong, Riida. It was time to get up over an hour ago.”
Was that MatsuJun?
Nino finally cracked an eye open, but all he could see was bright yellow cotton. Blinking, he tried to shift away, much to the disgruntlement of the wearer of said yellow cotton. Vise-like arms pulled him back. “Oof...”
“Oi, Riida... I think you’re suffocating Nino....”
“Hmm?” More movement, and Nino was released. “Ah, gomen, Ninomiya-kun.” Strong hands helped him sit up and he watched with bleary eyes as Ohno stretched and yawned beside him. “Is it really time to get up?” The older boy looked so disappointed at the idea that Nino actually wanted to pat him on the head.
Instead he snarled and swatted at MatsuJun. “Go away. We’re up already.”
“You know, Nino-“ Before MatsuJun could say whatever smartassed comment that was lurking in his twisted brain, Sho clasped a hand over his smirking mouth and began pulling him backwards.
“You guys have about a half hour before management is expecting us downstairs. Try not to be late, okay? You don’t want to miss breakfast.”
“Breakfast?” Ohno perked up at that.
“Hai, when you come down, Ohno-kun. Come on, Aiba-chan, MatsuJun.” Then Sho was dragging a protesting MatsuJun out the door, a confused looking Aiba-chan trailing after them.
For a moment, Ohno stared after them, looking a little confused himself, but then he seemed to shake himself. He smiled at Nino before dragging himself out of the bed. “You should get up too, Ninomiya-kun. I promised my mother you’d eat more, not that I’d let you miss meals.”
Nino remembered no such promise or even the implication of one, but all he did was grumble. “I’m not too skinny.”
“Ninomiya-kun is fine the way he is,” Ohno agreed sagely. “But breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Actually....” The older boy paused as if considering something weighty. Then he shrugged. “Any meal is the most important of the day. You shouldn’t miss them.”
“How can more than one meal be the most important one, Oh-chan? You can only have one most important.”
He didn’t even catch his slip until the older boy paused, half turned back. Ohno didn’t mention it though, or scold him for being too familiar. “It’s food, Ninomiya-kun.”
Nino knew he should have left it alone, but that had never stopped him before. “You don’t have to say it like that. No one else does.”
Ohno tilted his head to the side, nothing vague about his curiosity this time. “Does it bother you?”
“Well... no.... but....” Nino frowned, unsure himself what his point was.
“Would you rather I called you Nino like everyone else does?”
“Yes. No. I....” What did he want? He hated being the same as everyone else. Ohno was so reserved with everyone. He hadn’t come to the older boy’s room with the intention of breaking down those barriers, but now that he’d started... Nino wanted it. He wanted the right to use more intimate nicknames that no one else could use. He wanted to see if Ohno could be pushed completely out of that reserve and if he was the one who could do it. “Call me Kazu.”
There was a long minute of silence before Ohno nodded. “Kazu-kun.”
Nino couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face. “Oh-chan.”
“Do you think they’ll hold breakfast for us?”
Rolling his eyes, Nino clamored out of the bed, nearly toppling over when his legs got tangled in the blankets. “You really do have a one track mind, don’t you?”
~*~*~
“So, you badgered Ohno-kun into letting you use his television?” Nino wasn’t sure if he was being scolded for bothering their leader or teased for his addiction. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Sho.
Not so with Jun who leaned over and stole a bit of fish off Nino’s plate, with a smirk. “I don’t think that was all our fearless leader let him use.”
“Did you guys do it?” How Aiba could keep such an innocent face while asking such a decidedly uninnocent question was completely beyond Nino’s comprehension. It was just part of what made Aiba Aiba.
He blushed and slapped at Jun’s second attempt at his food. “Of course not! I fell asleep playing Zelda, you hentai!”
“Funny, I didn’t see any -“ Jun’s comment ground to a halt as Ohno finally came over to join them. He’d gotten stopped on the way in by someone in a suit and had sent Nino on ahead with a hopeful request that something be saved for him. “G-good morning Ohno-kun!”
“Good morning, Matsumoto-kun.”
Nino smirked at the younger boy. Jun’s crush on Ohno was absolutely hilarious to see - especially since Ohno himself seemed to be so very oblivious to it.
Distracted fingers trailed through his hair as Ohno passed by his chair and it was all Nino could do not to chortle in glee at the jealousy flaring on Jun’s face. He hadn’t really considered that particular side benefit of getting closer to Ohno. “If you want to leave your game box in my room so you can play it later, I don’t mind, Kazu-kun.”
“It’s a Nintendo 64, Oh-chan,” Nino corrected, thouroughly enjoying the different shades of purple Jun was turning. “I probably will. Maybe we can play together, tonight?”
Ohno laughed softly as he settled down next to Nino and snagged the plate that had been saved for him. “I’m not very good at video games.”
“Don’t worry, Ohno-kun. No one can beat Nino anyways. He only asks people to play so that he can feel smug after he beats their pants off.”
Jun choked on his water at Aiba’s comment.
Ohno gave him a concerned look. “Are you okay, Matsumoto-kun?”
“Fine,” came the weak reply and Nino stretched and dropped a casual arm over Ohno’s shoulders just to see what reaction it would get from everyone.
Sho looked faintly disapproving, but said nothing. Aiba paused for a moment, but seemed to shrug it off before launching into a story about the last time he’d been tricked into playing video games with Nino. Jun glared at them and stabbed his own fish with vengeful chopsticks, ignoring another concerned question from their leader and waving off Sho’s attempts to placate him - which of course increased the disapproval from that direction.
Ohno’s reaction was the most curious to Nino, though, in that there was none. Other than an ever so slight shift to lean closer, Ohno acted as if it was an every day occurrence. As if having Nino in his personal space was as natural as breathing oxygen or drinking water.
It occurred to Nino that if he’d fallen asleep on top of the covers while playing the night before, Ohno must have been the one to put him under the blankets and crawl in with him.
He grinned at the thought.
Perhaps that wall of reserve wasn’t nearly as thick as he’d first thought.
~*~*~
The End