Nino-day! YAY! お誕生日おめでとう!!
Title: The Song of Storm - side story/sequel to You think You know Me
Pairing: OhMiya (main), Sakuraiba (side), Aimiya
Rating: PG-13 - R (not sure, might change as the story goes on)
Genre: AU, fluff, romance, angst (a lot!)
Summary: Nino's life was always full with ups and downs. But he desereves to be happy too, right? Who knew that'd be a stormy road to reach that...
A/N: starts before the other fic in timeline. no special need to read the other fic to understand this but feel free to do so XD yoroshiku, ne? m(-.-)m
Previous chapters: Prologue
Chapter 1:
After Nino moved in with his uncle his life turned upside down. Starting with everything around him went smoothly without the slightest mistake. No more raising rent, low payment at part time jobs or too high prices at the conbini… As expected he was enrolled to the most prestigious private all-boys high school since he should graduate from a well-known school. He was a company heir now, obviously. But what was kind of unexpected to Nino that at Momiji Gakuen teachers hardly ever mind whether their students were there or not, paid attention or did completely different stuff during classes. Yet whatever their results were all the students passed on every exam…
“I shouldn’t even be surprised. For all that money they got from the families the least they can do to let everyone graduate peacefully…” Nino commented to the empty music room.
After his first weeks as a Momiji-student he noticed that he was the only one who paid attention at class not that either this caught the teachers’ notice - he decided to ditch class as well. After all, he already used to catch up on schoolwork from textbooks only. So he just ‘hid’ in the music room or skipped school completely and hang out in the game arcade or at his uncle’s company a few times.
Nino twiddled with the piano keys absent minded for a while then sighed and huffed and curled his lips into an adorable-frustrated pout.
“Boooring!” he whined to the emptiness again.
Obviously he made no friends at the school. He never was the friendly-type and none caught his desire to get to know either. Also he missed his family and former baseball teammates, though he’d hardly admit it aloud.
With another sigh Nino got up and grabbing his bag’s strap, headed to the door. Maybe he should hang around the company today instead of boring his head off here alone… Maybe there something fun would happen…
Wandering down the corridors of the company wasn’t exactly the fun that Nino was looking for. It was kind of fun for the first time he came here but now it lost all the once interesting points of its. Now all he could see was serious looking managers running up and down everywhere. During this time of the day soon-to-be and wanna-be idols barely were spotted here. Most of them, yeah, were at school since it passed 10 in the morning.
So nothing better to do, Nino opened a door randomly which turned out to lead to a dancehall, as expected, it was empty at the moment. Nino sighed and pouted once again. Where was his luck when he just wanted to find some fun?
But just when he turned to leave, the other, smaller door at the other end of the hall opened and someone came in reading something on the clipboard in his hand.
“Oh, hey! What are you doing here? Today’s practice is over already. Two hours ago actually…”
“Eh?” Nino asked turning back confused.
“Junior’s practice…” the other, possibly a dance instructor, said as if it was making everything understandable.
“Oh…” Nino said not knowing what else the other was expecting from him.
“You’re new, right? You weren’t at the morning practice…” the older man said studying Nino’s face.
“Uh… yeah, well… kind of that’s the case…” Nino said rubbing his nape sheepishly.
A soft smile appeared on the dance instructor’s pouty lips.
“You missed quite a lot. Well, I don’t have much time now but tomorrow’s junior-practice is in the afternoon so why don’t you come here in the morning and I’ll help you catch up on things, ‘kay?” he asked smiling at Nino.
The school boy felt his heart skipping a few beats at this.
“Sure… that… would be cool…” he stuttered and blushed a little.
“Great! By the way, I’m Ohno. I’m the juniors’ dance instructor. Yoroshiku!” Ohno smiled at Nino wider. “Your name?”
“My…? Oh! It’s Ninomiya…”
“Ninomiya? I don’t remember having that name on the juniors’ list…” Ohno muttered to himself. “Would you mind writing you name here so I can add you later…” he asked holding out the clipboard to Nino.
“Yeah, sure…” Nino mumbled dazzled by the older man’s smile, he scribbled down his name on the paper in front of him.
“Ninomiya… Kazuya?...” Ohno read Nino’s name.
“That’s Kazunari!” Nino pouted offended.
It happened all the time so he kind of used to correcting the people who read his name ‘Kazuya’ yet it hurt now somehow.
“Oh, sorry! Kazunari…” Ohno repeated with an apologetic smile on his round face.
Nino wanted to say something but just as he opened his mouth there was a knock on the door before that was opened immediately.
“Oh-chan, can we get started?... Or you’re busy?”
A boy around Nino’s age stood in the doorway eyeing the couple standing close to each other and holding onto the same clipboard.
“Nope, I was just waiting for you, Aiba-chan!” the dance instructor smiled at the boy.
Nino’s heart sank a bit, envying the affectionate nicknames they call each other and the smile the older man shot to the other boy.
“I guess I’m just intruding here so…” with this Nino almost sprinted out the dance hall but not quick enough to not to hear the following words:
“Who was this, Oh-chan?”
“He? Just a new junior…”
‘Just a new junior…’
Suddenly too much emotions flooded him almost choking Nino so he headed home without actually thinking. He really didn’t want to be found somewhere here, crying alone…
Nino tossed and turned all night thinking about the morning and not able to forget about Ohno’s smiling face as he looked at him… his voice as he called his name…
In the morning he still was unsure what to do but in the end the temptation was just too much and after an hour of fruitless whining and rolling around in the bed he got determined and got up…
"Ohayou..."
“Oh, so you came finally! I started to think you stood me up…” Ohno greeted Nino with a bright smile when he entered the dance hall.
“It almost sounds as if you’d miss me!” Nino answered without thinking and grinned back cheekily.
“You can say that” Ohno admitted causing Nino’s eyes to light up happily. “I don’t want you to fall back more compared to the others…”
“Then we should get started, shouldn’t we?” Nino said to hide his disappointment at Ohno’s words…
Two hours later Nino had to admit to himself that dancing with Ohno was fun; more than fun if he wanted to be completely honest with himself. He never was interested in this kind of stuff but Ohno was a really good teacher and even better dancer and Nino just enjoyed a lot how all Ohno’s attention was focused on him.
Later that afternoon Nino was walking around the corridors when he heard someone trying to play on the piano and cursing over their miserable fails. Curiosity - and boredom - took him there and opened the door which behind he heard the voices. He found the boy from yesterday there sitting behind the piano looking angry and embittered at the same time. The other boy didn’t notice him immediately and Nino used the time to try remembering his name.
“You’re… Aiba-chan, right?” he asked then making the boy’s head shot up and look at him.
“And you’re the ‘new junior’…” Aiba shot back slightly angry and glared at Nino.
“Well, I am new but not a junior…” Nino said and entered.
For some mysterious reason Aiba did caught his interest so he couldn’t care less his glare as he walked up to him.
“Then who are you? And what are you doing here if you’re not a junior?” Aiba asked and his angry glare turned into a puzzled one. “Wait, you’re not a crazy stalker or psycho, are you?” he asked wanting to put some distance between them which was kind of impossible with him trapped behind the piano.
Nino chuckled at this. Yeah, he’ll definitely like this boy.
“No, I’m not a stalker, neither a psycho…”
“They all say that!” Aiba retorted sharply.
“Okay but if I tell you, you can’t tell it to anyone! You have to promise this!” Nino said seriously.
“Is it a secret?” Aiba asked with suddenly shining eyes. He was just like a small kid on Christmas day.
“Yeah, it’s a secret” Nino nodded and sat on the piano bench next to Aiba. “I’m Ninomiya Kazunari. And I’ll just inherit this place one day” he whispered to the other boy.
“Uso! You’re the Ossan’s son?” Aiba asked back with wide eyes.
“No” Nino shook his head.
“But…”
“He’s my uncle. When my father left us with a bunch of debts our hardships worsened with almost every passing day. Uncle offered to help us out is I agree to move in with him and become his heir…”
Nino in the back of his mind wondered why was he telling all these to a boy he didn’t even know. But he felt he just want to tell it to Aiba cause he’d understand…
“Welcome in the club…” Aiba said bitterly.
Nino looked at Aiba questioning but he didn’t seem to be as chatty as Nino was. The skinny guy sighed and thought it’d probably be better to drop the topic for now.
“So, you need help with this?” he asked instead pointing at the piano.
“That Ossan forces everyone to learn music instruments too. He thought piano suits me…” Aiba pouted grumpy.
“You don’t like it?” Nino asked slightly surprised as he played random melodies on the keyboard.
“I’m not as… gifted as you are… And I’d rather choose something less… common…” he pouted some more.
“Like what?” Nino asked curious.
“Like… saxophone!” Aiba said with shining eyes.
“Saxophone, eh?” Nino grinned back at him. “Yeah, that’d suit you better…”
“Deshou?”
And both boy started laughing freely temporary forgetting the whole world outside that door…
“Hey, uncle!” Nino entered his uncle’s office a few weeks later.
“Kazunari! It’s nice to see you here! Sorry, I’m barely at home with you. How’s school?”
“It’s… you know, just school… Everything’s okay” Nino said shrugging and smiling at his guardian . Like Hell he’ll admit he barely attended school four times in the last three weeks…
“Good to hear that. Midterm exams are coming up, right? I’m expecting good results from you, Kazunari!” the old man said seriously.
“Sure, you can count on me…” Nino said with an angelic smile; cursing silently all the upcoming exams.
“By the way, how can I help you? I hardly believe you just wanted to chat with me…”
“Oh, yeah, that! I thought about if you could give me an access to the company database? Since I’ll inherit this, I want to learn about it as much as possible”
Pleased light glinted in the old man’s eyes hearing Nino’s request.
“Sure, I can grant you that. I’m glad to see that you’re interested in the business. I’ll settle everything for you till Monday”
“Thanks, uncle! Then… I’m going now. Exams are coming up…”
As Nino left his uncle’s office on the corridor he literally bumped into someone and ended up falling on his back pulling the other with him.
“Uh…” he winced at crashing into the ground with the other on top of him.
“Gomen! Are you okay, Ninomiya-kun?”
At his voice Nino’s eyes widened and felt his cheeks heat up in blush.
“Uh-huh…” he hummed which could’ve meant he was okay but he found it hard to form more understandable words while Ohno’s face was only inches from him; with Ohno’s hot breath fanning, burning his lips. “I’m… okay but…” he started a little while later after staring at each other mutely. “…probably… we should… get up bef…” Nino suddenly shut up cause he’d swear he felt his lips brushing to Ohno’s while he spoke.
“Ah! Sorry!” Ohno cried out suddenly as if he’d notice just then what a compromising position they were in.
The dance instructor got up quickly then held out his hand and pulled Nino up too. Nino felt himself blushing more while Ohno held his hand.
“Ehm… thanks…” Nino said pulling his hand back slowly and rather reluctantly, denying to himself how nice it actually felt holding hands with Ohno.
“By the way, Ninomiya-kun, you’re skipping practices ever since. That’s no good…” Ohno said on a slightly scolding tone.
“Uh, yeah, about that I wanted to…” Nino started but Ohno didn’t let him finish.
“Look, if you’re afraid to dance in front of the others that’s okay. I can give you some pricate practice time to gain some confidence, just promise me you’ll stop skipping dance practice, ‘kay?” the older man asked.
Nino couldn’t help but wonder why Ohno was so desperate with this whole him and dancing topic. He wasn’t even a junior! Which led his thoughts back to what he wanted to tell Ohno before he cut in.
“Look, Ohno-san, I really appreciate the offer but…” but once again, the dance instructor cut in.
“Great, so you agree! Then come to the practice hall tomorrow morning…” Ohno said with an enthusiastic smile on his sleepy face. “Oh, I’m late! I have to go now. I’ll wait for you tomorrow, Ninomiya-kun!”
Nino cursed silently while he watched Ohno’s retreating form. As much as he knew he should not, he knew very well he’ll go to meet up with Ohno tomorrow. And the next time, and the one after that too… And it’ll be just much harder with every time to tell him the truth about who he was.
In short, Nino was in deep shit but he just couldn’t even care to get out of it as far as he could spend time with Ohno alone…
A/N: Tanjoubi omedetou to the forever 17 brat aka. Ninomiya Kazunari and our dearest betzi_chan! omedetou! ^-^
btw, hope you like this chapter. love at first sight for Nino, ne? ^-^
