Defeating the Boss: Pause
Title: Defeating the Boss: Pause (part two)
Rating: PG-13 (R overall)
Pairing: Aiba/Nino, Sho/Jun (Aiba/Jun friendship, OT5 friendship)
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Aiba is finally able to land a job...and along with it, a boss that ignores his existence. What's he going to do about it?
Notes: Office AU for astrangerenters, who donated to the Fund-Raising Project for the Habagat Victims last year oh geez. Thanks to r_tenou for looking over it for me.
Part one: Game Start
Despite their long night of chatting, Aiba only realized when he was at home and lying in bed still mostly drunk, that he hadn’t succeeded in breaching the topic of office relationships with Jun at all. Not only had he wanted to give his friend a little push to approach Sho about it, but there was something else still bothering Aiba.
Nino.
He still hadn’t warmed up to Aiba’s presence over his second week of work. He refused to show Aiba the affection that he showed the other employees, although he was polite and accommodating. Jun had talked about Nino so warmly, but hadn’t mentioned that it might take time, or that Nino was shy with new people. The fact that he hadn’t said anything was strange, as if Jun hadn’t even realized the distance himself.
Maybe it was something else.
By any means, Aiba had missed his opportunity to ask for a while at least, since he knew Jun would be busy now along with the rest of them. And it wasn’t something that could be talked about in the office, so he bid his time. Instead of the advice he wanted, Aiba tried to plug along by himself, making Nino (and Ohno, and sometimes everyone) lunch and starting a conversation when he could. It wasn’t getting very far, but at least Nino would respond in that snarky tone of his, and sometimes he’d even smile at Aiba before he caught himself and walked away.
Besides, Aiba was still convinced it was only a matter of time, and he didn’t want to push things too fast and get the opposite result.
“Ah, I’m never going to finish by tomorrow,” Sho mumbled to himself as he sat as his computer, and Aiba looked over from the review he had been writing for Jun.
“Sho-chan?” he asked tentatively, drawing the other man’s attention, and Sho looked startled like he hadn’t meant to say anything in the first place.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about Aiba-chan. I just wish I had an extra day to complete these reports before the meeting,” he sighed. “Even if I stay all night it won’t be enough to finish all the changes Nino added yesterday…”
“Could I help you?” Aiba offered tentatively, although he thought he already knew the answer.
“As I said, don’t worry about it. It would take longer to explain the details about the company than what you would make up for,” Sho said as gently as possible. Aiba had been there for over two weeks now, but that certainly wasn’t enough time for him to figure out details and that fact was quite obvious.
“Well… How about…” he started, then bit his tongue. It wasn’t his place to volunteer others for overtime, even if would work out the best for everyone.
Apparently Aiba had done enough though, because Jun was standing in the doorway with a determined look on his face, his voice equally determined. “But I know enough, don’t I?”
Sho’s twisted around to look at Jun with his mouth open in surprise.
“I couldn’t ask you to-“
“I’m offering. Besides, Aiba can do a bit of my work on my computer and save me a few hours later. Okay, Aiba-chan?”
Aiba nodded his head enthusiastically. “And I’ll bring over some food for dinner!”
“You don’t have to-“ Sho turned back to him now with a guilty look on his face, but between the other two men they didn’t let Sho get another word in.
“Come on, Aiba, I’ll show you what I need done-if you don’t mind.”
“No problem!” Aiba stood up. He was more than happy to put in his first overtime shift as long as it meant helping the others. Whether he got paid for it didn’t matter either.
+++
Twenty minutes later, Aiba was completely satisfied with his interference, once Jun had taken up Aiba’s chair next to Sho and the two of them began discussing the reports in lowered tones. They sounded so intimate and Aiba couldn’t help but smile to himself.
+++
After finishing what Jun had asked him to (which had taken him several hours, but he wouldn’t complain), Aiba made a trip home to help his mother close up the shop as usual. After that was finished he rounded up the remaining ingredients and threw together a few quick dishes-his mother’s cooking may have tasted better, but he wasn’t going to put any added stress on her if he could help it.
When he arrived back at the office, it was as he had left it; only half of the lights were lit and a “closed” sign hung on the door, despite it being unlocked. Aiba placed the boxes of food on the counter and put the drinks he’d purchased at the convenience store on the way over in the fridge. There were two drinks for everyone, the preferences he’d learned over the short span he’d been working here, plus a can of coffee each because he knew they’d be needing it. Two for Jun.
Actually, Aiba hadn’t known if Nino and Ohno would still be there when he came back, but he had prepared just in case and it turned out his intuition had been right. Inside The Lair, Ohno was dozing off in a pile of blankets on the floor, and Nino was looking tiny in his armchair with the bags under his eyes, highlighted in the light from the TV.
“Nino-san,” Aiba called out quietly. “I brought some dinner if you’re hungry.”
Nino blinked slowly as if he’d forgotten to for the last hour, then distractedly turned to Aiba and sighed like he was letting out some stress. “I guess it’s a good time for a break. Oh-chan, get up.”
Ohno didn’t move, even when a second later Nino pushed at him with his leg.
“Aiba brought food, get up,” he said with a little more force, and Aiba smiled before shuffling over to poke at Ohno himself.
“I like Aiba’s food,” Ohno finally mumbled with a cottony tone, turning onto his back and stretching. “Tastes good.”
“It’s better than that healthy crap Jun usually brings,” Nino conceded, standing up and stretching himself. Aiba couldn’t help but subtly watch him, hoping that the fact that Nino looked less thin than the first time Aiba’d seen him wasn’t just his imagination. The white t-shirt he was wearing slid up to show a flash of the flesh on his hip before Aiba averted his eyes back to Ohno.
“I brought coffee too,” he said, wondering where his place was in this little safe room they’d made.
“Thank you,” Nino offered casually, but there was something in his tone that was different from usual. There was sincerity that replaced the coldness, though maybe that was just due to exhaustion. Aiba didn’t know Nino well enough to tell specific things like that yet.
As Nino headed out of the cubicle and Aiba finally got Ohno standing up, he could hear the others begin talking when Nino poked his head into Sho’s office.
“How’s it coming? Room for a break?”
“Well…” Sho cleared his throat.
Ohno took Aiba’s hand naturally as he gained his balance, and the two of them slowly followed behind Nino, Ohno giving out a big yawn as Aiba watched, trying to stop himself from over-thinking things.
“I’m taking a break,” Nino stated as if that was the answer to everything. “To make my feet remember what circulation feels like.”
That got Sho to let out a laugh, and Jun mumbled that they might as well join him since things were going along smoothly and all. They all headed to the kitchen together as soon as Aiba and Ohno caught up, and stood around the counter together. Nino took the initiative and began passing out disposable plates and chopsticks.
Jun and Sho were standing rather close to each other, and once again Aiba wasn’t sure if it was just exhaustion that was making them less on edge, but part of him really wished he could get Jun alone to hear if he’d made any progress. Then again this wasn’t exactly the time for that with all of them pushing the deadline for tomorrow.
“This is a new one,” Ohno commented as he began indiscriminately dishing food onto his plate, and Aiba perked up, glad for a topic he felt more secure with.
“Well it’s not something on the menu, we just happened to have some leftover pumpkin tonight, so I thought I’d experiment and put it in a salad,” he explained, then giggled as Jun lifted an eyebrow at him.
“Pumpkin in a salad?” Nino teased. “What were you thinking?”
Aiba felt his head get a little lighter and he smiled at Nino-but not too much in case it scared him away again-and turned to the small fridge to begin passing out drinks.
“All of my experiments don’t turn out that well, but some of them do!” he argued. “My chocolate sushi was a huge hit last summer.”
“Chocolate…” Jun sounded appalled while Sho actually looked thoughtful, like he was considering it. Aiba liked that about him. Sho was willing to eat anything at least once.
“I am horrified,” Nino followed up, but his plate was half full the next time Aiba looked and he was eating it. Aiba couldn’t convey how happy he was to see Nino enjoying the cooking he’d created, and that should have been a sign right there. But Aiba was rather stupid about some things.
“Or the jelly-mabo-dofu,” Aiba added with a grin, waiting for their reaction. “That one wasn’t too bad.”
“Interesting,” Sho got out in a low voice right before he started stuffing his face with food, and Jun shot him an incredulous look before realizing how close they were and turning away with a painfully plain expression.
But he didn’t move.
Aiba glanced over in time to see Nino watching Jun with as much amusement as Aiba was feeling, and then their eyes met just for a second before Aiba realized what had happened and he turned away too. It was because he didn’t want his boss to feel uncomfortable, that was all.
“Someone needs to keep an eye on you. Obviously Touma hasn’t been doing his job properly,” Jun commented to Aiba between bites of food-which he was also eating with a vengeance as if he’d been starved all day.
“Touma’s more likely to join in,” Nino countered with a laugh and small squinted eyes. It was that moment that Aiba few his chest ache and he was worried for a second, wondering if his lungs were acting up again. That should have been the second sign. But after a moment he was back to normal so he didn’t give it another thought.
But at Nino’s comment he’d had a good idea. If Jun couldn’t give him advice right now about how to handle Nino, surely Touma could! He should have thought of it before. Besides, he hadn’t told him anything at all about working here, other than he’d got the job in the first place, and he was sure his old friend had some insights to his situation. He’d be able to tell him all of Nino’s quirks, and he’d be less reserved about asking Touma than Jun.
It was settled then.
“You’re right,” Jun grinned with a measuring look at Aiba. “I don’t even want to know the trouble you two got into when you were younger.”
“It would give you nightmares,” Aiba teased back, feeling a bit more at ease than when he had walked into the office half an hour ago. Things were looking up again.
The group shared a polite laugh at the joke (except for Ohno, who was too focused on his food). Nino finished off the last bite of his dinner before sitting the plate on the counter and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.
“Better get back to work. Oh-chan, you can go home, there’s nothing left for you to do here.”
“But Nino-“ Ohno’s eyes suddenly shot up to stare at him, and it was the most attentive Ohno had looked all day.
“If you’re just going to sleep in my bed you might as well sleep in your own,” he said firmly, but with an edge of gentleness. “Aiba-san,” Nino turned to him next, “Thank you for dinner. Have Sho put it on the budget.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Aiba replied formally with a smile. “My treat.”
“If you say so,” Nino smirked as if that’s what he’d expected to happen, and Jun rolled his eyes.
“Should’ve let him put it on the budget. He won’t let you take it back now,” Jun commentated before drinking deeply from his bottle of mineral water.
“I really don’t mind,” Aiba told him as Nino turned to head back into The Lair. “I’ll leave the rest of the food here. You’re going to be here for a while… aren’t you?” Aiba asked tentatively, as if he didn’t really want them to, but that the situation couldn’t be helped.
“We will, but don’t worry about us, Aiba-chan,” Sho replied. “We really appreciate your help tonight.”
“We do,” Jun added with a smile. “Now you and Ohno get home and rest. We’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay.” Aiba wished there was something more he could do, but at least he didn’t have to be a burden on top of the work load they already had. “Take care of Nino,” he added before he’d realized it wasn’t really his place to say something like that. As usual, his mouth was faster than his brain.
But Jun looked amused and Sho smiled.
“Don’t worry about that brat,” Jun assured him, then put his empty plate down on the counter as well. “We’d better get back to work too.”
“Okay. You can just leave this, I’ll clean up in the morning,” Aiba told them, gesturing to the mess on the counter. At least it would be easy for them to come back for a midnight snack. “Oh-chan, let’s go together?” he asked and Ohno nodded before lifting his plate to his mouth so he could finish his food in a few more bites.
Jun and Sho had both gone back to Sho’s cubicle by the time Aiba noticed, and while he waited for Ohno, Aiba straightened up the take-out boxes just to give himself something to do. His interactions with Nino tonight were leaving him very confused. They weren’t what he expected of a person who was simply coming over his shyness and becoming friendly with him. Although there was still a prickly protective edge about his words, something was coming through to the surface that Aiba couldn’t quite place.
“Let’s go Aiba-chan,” Ohno jolted him out of his daze, and Aiba nodded at him.
“There’s coffee in the fridge,” he called out as his final greeting as they headed for the door and it was Jun that responded first, as expected.
“Thank you. Get out of here already.”
Aiba grinned, but was secretly glad that Ohno was leaving along with him. It would have been too hard to go by himself while the rest of them were working so hard-even if he was only a gopher and had only been there two weeks.
It was silent as the pair walked out onto the street. It was already dark and probably past dinner time when he had arrived an hour before.
They walked to the station slowly, Aiba wondering what he should say, if he should say anything at all.
It came as a bit of a surprise to him when Ohno was the one to speak.
“Nino’s actually very kind. Too kind for his own good,” he said slowly, as if those words held some hidden meaning. Aiba tried to find it, but the only thing he could come up with was the fact that Nino hired him when he probably shouldn’t have.
“And Nino remembers a lot of things.”
They took several steps forward while Aiba pondered those words, but as they were reaching the station he gave up and said, “I don’t get it.”
“One day you will.”
+++
It was a different atmosphere that met him the next day, when Aiba came into the office at his regular time.
Nino was the same-sitting in his oversized chair in The Lair, only instead of playing a game it was paused and he had a stack of papers in his lap. He took the cup of coffee Aiba handed him without a word, or even a glance, and Aiba wondered if last night had really been exhaustion after all. Although, Nino looked just as exhausted now. And he was even wearing the same oversized t-shirt as yesterday.
It was Jun and Sho that were different.
Jun was in his own office when Aiba checked, but the shy glance that he sent him made Aiba do a double take, and once Jun had his full attention he gave Aiba a smile worth a million words. Words that Aiba couldn’t hear right now. There was internal cursing, but Aiba smiled back sincerely and went to fill up Jun’s cup of coffee.
He took Sho’s with him as well and dropped it off as he walked past. Sho was in a full suit today, and looked like he’d gotten some sleep, and even grinned at Aiba as if everything had all been thanks to him.
“Good morning,” Aiba offered tentatively, uncomfortable with taking any gratitude from his co-workers. All he’d done was point out things that should have been obvious.
“Good morning, Aiba-chan.”
In replace of a continued conversation, Aiba raised Jun’s mug in explanation and got to Jun’s cubicle as fast as he could with wide eyes. Something had happened with the way these two were acting-they probably hadn’t slept much last night if they’d slept at all, plus they had a huge meeting in just a few hours. And Aiba hadn’t even brought in any special coffee or anything!
When Aiba looked to Jun for an explanation, he just shook with silent laughter at the expression. He raised his phone, opened to a blank message and pointed to the ‘send to’ address.
Jun took his coffee and Aiba typed in his information with a raised eyebrow. He knew they couldn’t really talk with everyone listening, but it must be pretty juicy if Jun couldn’t wait until they were alone to talk about it.
“Thank you,” Jun mumbled, taking the phone back. He turned away from Aiba pointedly, beginning to type out a message and Aiba sighed dramatically-all the while trying to keep a smile from his face. He acted as casual as possible as he strode back into Sho’s cubicle and sat down in his chair, trying not to draw attention to himself as he set his phone down in front of him and channeled patience.
After a minute he turned to Sho and asked in a soft voice, “So you finished?” not sure whether he was interrupting his work.
But Sho turned to him with another bright smile. “Last night. Nino’s looking over it now.”
“Great,” Aiba smiled back and then jerked his head towards his phone when it blinked in a new message. Luckily Sho let him be and turned back to his computer.
Stayed at Sho’s last night since it’s closer to the office.
He has a DJ mixer it was heaven
Aiba had to cover his mouth from blurting out a huge laugh, and ducked his head in apology when Sho’s curious gaze shifted to him.
“More coffee, Sho-chan?”
“Mine’s still full, thanks,” he replied, as if he couldn’t figure out why Aiba was offering. (The question was accurate, since he had just handed him the cup a few minutes ago, but Aiba wasn’t very good at making excuses either.)
“Well I guess I’ll go get some for me then,” Aiba chuckled nervously, standing up and escaping to the kitchen to write his own reply.
I bet it was
Did you even get any sleep
Following up on his excuse, Aiba poured himself some coffee and sipped at it as he leaned against the counter.
A couple hours.
Except he grinds his teeth when he sleeps.
Aiba had meant his question to be a joke, but Jun had replied seriously and he wasn’t sure whether that was to avoid the topic or because he wasn’t actually thinking of what Aiba had been implying. Either way it was cute.
You were so watching him sleep
His reply was more obvious this time, hoping for a better reaction.
Was not! It woke me up.
The reason Jun was so happy this morning was quite obvious now, and he wasn’t trying to hide things anymore, so Aiba just took the plunge and teased him, hoping he wasn’t pushing it.
You are so in love with him
A reply didn’t come to that one, instead Jun actually stood up (Aiba could see him over the lowered partitions) and stomped into the kitchen with a red face. He hit Aiba over the head (Aiba was grinning from ear to ear the whole time), and then went right back into his office.
Sho stuck his head out of the doorway and looked at where Jun had just disappeared, and then to Aiba with a puzzled expression. Aiba just shrugged as innocently as he could and walked back towards him, reclaiming his place at the desk.
Luckily enough Sho didn’t push his curiosity about their office antics, and Aiba began sorting through the postal mail that had been left in the box downstairs. Fifteen minutes later his cell blinked in a message and he immediately picked it up to check it.
It’s a secret
Aiba smiled and shook his head at his phone. He would talk to Jun about this later, give him a pep talk about how high his chances were and that he should really go for it.
“Hey, Aiba-chan?”
The fact that Sho started talking to him while his thoughts were busy with their “secret” topic caught Aiba off guard and he flipped off his phone to give Sho his undivided attention (possibly with a guilty smile). “Yes?”
“You’re going to have to hold down the fort while we’re gone. Nino said he told Ohno not to come in today, since they couldn’t do any work.”
All of those obvious facts hadn’t connected to that conclusion until now, but Aiba was fine with that-and proud that they trusted him enough to do that kind of job.
“Yes, of course! I’ll do my best!”
“All you have to do is answer the phone if it rings, and take a message. I doubt anyone will come in to the office, but if they do, you can do the same thing. Just tell them we’ll be back in the afternoon. Usually we’d just close down for the day, but since you’re here Nino’s insisting on keeping it open.”
“Leave it to me!” Aiba said happily, and followed up with a silly saluting gesture.
“It’s the most productive option,” said Nino, who was suddenly standing in the doorway. “That’s the only reason. If anything goes wrong you’ll be taking full responsibility.” His tone was as cool as it had been from the beginning, as if he was indifferent to who it was actually watching over things; Aiba would have been the same as a pack of monkeys.
Aiba smiled anyway. “I’ll do my best,” he repeated with a smile at Nino, who turned away and continued to the front of the office.
“Don’t worry, we’re still closing early. After last night we all deserve it,” Sho told him, leaning back in his chair. “You can probably leave as soon as we come back from the meeting.”
“I’ll stay until you guys do,” Aiba assured him.
Before Sho could get out another altruistic response, Nino called out across the office.
“Jun, we have to leave in twenty minutes. If you make us late again because you have to do your makeup-“
“It was only foundation and it was only one time!” Jun yelled back, obviously embarrassed by the comment. “And because I had acne that day!”
“Just saying, better get moving to fix up that pretty face of yours.”
A sound of annoyance came from Jun’s office over the partitions, and Sho distractedly watched when Jun stormed past their doorway. Aiba leaned his elbow on the desk and rested his head on his palm, slouching.
“He doesn’t even need make-up to be pretty, huh Sho-chan?” he asked as indifferently as he could, and was pleased when Sho fell into his trap.
“I agree. He’s one of the prettiest-“ Sho started to automatically reply in his distraction, then caught himself and shifted his eyes to Aiba suspiciously.
“Just saying,” Aiba ended the conversation just in case things got awkward, and returned to his mail stack. “Anything else I need to know before you guys leave?”
“Not that I can think of…” Sho visibly relaxed and turned back to his computer, although he only looked at it thoughtfully. The question had diverted Sho’s attention back to his proper work ethics, and worry that something could go wrong while they were gone. “If you need to go out for any reason, you can just lock the front door while you’re away. The key’s over here…”
Sho stood up and directed Aiba into The Lair. Aiba hadn’t noticed before, but next to one of the zombie posters there was a small line of hooks on the wall, which held three keys in a row. One was rather small, and the other two looked almost identical, the kind of duplicates made at a key shop. Aiba wondered what they were for, but he supposed it couldn’t be anything too important if they were out here in the open. And there wasn’t much opportunity for them to be stolen, since someone was around all the time, particularly Nino who never left his little cave. This was the safest place for them in the office.
“It’s this one.” Sho indicated the twin key on the left. “The other one is for the storage shed in the back, but the only thing there now is Nino’s old broken computer.”
Although he wondered about that, Aiba politely nodded his head. Sho noticed and explained anyway.
“He’s too cheap to throw it out. I tried to fix it, but the motherboard is fried and it needs a new hard drive anyway. Despite that, he’s insisting that we use it for ‘parts’ even if the thing is from the previous decade,” Sho scoffed with one side of his lips twitching upwards. He took a few slow steps back out into the hallway as he talked, smoothing down the lapels of his suit.
Aiba nodded, but could share Sho’s feelings, and filed away another fact about his boss into the back of his mind. It was like a puzzle that he was trying to fit together with one more piece in place.
“Anyway, you won’t need to use that today. Just close up the shop if you have to leave, and take the key with you.”
“Okay. But I shouldn’t need to go out. I brought a lunch and everything.”
“There’s still some food from yesterday as well. Thanks again for that,” Sho commented, leaning against the wall next to Jun’s office more casually than Aiba had ever seen him. A little strange considering he was dressed up for the meeting, classier than usual.
It was then that both Jun and Nino walked back into the office. They had left through the front door a few minutes earlier and the reason was obvious now. Just like Sho, they were both in full suits, fitted and crisp as if they’d been freshly cleaned, Nino carrying his other shirt and jeans in his hands while Jun had a bag slung over his shoulder.
There was no denying that they both looked good. Before that moment Aiba hadn’t thought a suit would fit Nino with his perpetually messy hair and slouched back, but he had been proven wrong. It was cut to accent his slim waist, making his shoulders appear a little broader than Aiba knew they were, and the pants were tight at his hips.
It wasn’t until the two of them headed to a closet in the kitchen area to put their other clothes away that Aiba realized he’d been staring.
With probably the same expression that Sho had on his face right now.
Sho noticed Aiba’s attention on him and shifted uncomfortable-although Aiba could tell he’d noticed that they were in the same position. “Anyway, as I was saying…” Sho mumbled, turning to look into The Lair as if using that as a cover. “I’ll give you my cell phone number just in case,” he said after a moment, as if he couldn’t just leave things at that.
“Okay. Good luck at your meeting!” Aiba managed some enthusiasm despite feeling a bit off balanced by Nino. Again.
“Thanks. Shouldn’t be anything difficult. In fact it’ll probably be over with by noon,” Sho commented distractedly, his eyes automatically landing on Jun again. He watched him for a second, but as soon as Jun turned and caught him Sho asked, completely normal, “Ready to go?”
“Just let me grab my suitcase,” Jun replied, coming towards them, not noticing that anything unusual had transpired. He slipped into his office and Sho finally left Aiba’s side to get his own stuff.
To get to The Lair, Nino had to pass by Aiba, and Aiba couldn’t help but watch him, feeling a little nervous and on edge.
“Good luck, Nino-san.”
Nino looked at him briefly and made a curt noise to say he’d heard him.
It was better than nothing he supposed.
“Just like Sho said, it’s nothing to worry about. We got everything done, so now it’s just presenting it.” Jun came out of his office and patted Aiba on the shoulder with an easy smile. “I’m more worried about you getting bored here all by yourself.”
The comment made him laugh and he patted Jun back on the shoulder. “I’ll miss you guys,” Aiba replied dramatically, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.
Leave it to Jun to lighten Aiba’s mood.
“Idiot,” Jun laughed back, still as relaxed as when Aiba had come in that morning. “See you later,” was his final comment before heading towards the front door where Sho was already waiting. Nino came out right behind him, blatantly ignoring Aiba as he passed.
When Aiba saw them to the door, though, Nino addressed him with a firm stare.
“I’m serious when I say you’ll take full responsibility if something happens while we’re gone.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” Jun assured him before Aiba could, and he pushed Nino towards the door. “Come on, it’s time to go.”
Aiba watched them leave with conflicting feelings, then took a deep breath and looked around the empty and suddenly much lonelier office.
It was true, it wasn’t like he had anything to do here, no work of his own, but at least he could take a minute to calm down.
More than before, Nino’s attitude that morning left Aiba completely stunned. Last night he’d hoped that they were getting somewhere, but it must have just been sleep deprivation after all. Besides, Nino’s feelings were understandable-Aiba’d been working here less than a month and he was being left in charge of the company that Nino had built with his own sweat (well maybe just in charge of the physical part of the company). Nino had reason to be defensive, but that didn’t make things easier for Aiba.
He went back to his desk and pulled out his phone. There was only one person left to turn to at this point, and he was going home early after all.
+++
Touma had only laughed when he had explained the situation with Nino.
Their dinner in Aiba family’s half-empty restaurant had started with Aiba detailing how he’d gotten the job in the first place, his friendship with Jun, Sho, and Ohno, and had ended up with the real topic he’d wanted to discuss: his boss.
“I get this, I totally get it,” Touma said with a hearty grin, an ecstatic and triumphant expression on his face. “You hate that he doesn’t like you.”
“Wh-what?!” Aiba felt himself flush down to his collarbone. That was not what’d he’d been expecting or hoping for.
“You’re the kind of person that needs people to like you. And Nino hasn’t warmed up to you yet so it’s driving you crazy. That’s what this is all about.”
Aiba actually gave that statement a thought. Indeed he was the kind of person that wanted people to like him, but he felt like this situation was a little deeper than that.
“That can’t be it…” he mumbled, shifting the food on his plate in distraction, pouting that Touma actually wasn’t helping him at all. He had just lost his last hope for finding a quick resolution.
“Listen, Aiba,” Touma sighed with that jaunty grin Touma was famous for. “I know Nino. He’s not the most social person, that’s true. But he’s not mean without a reason. I think you’re reading into this too much.”
That caused Aiba to frown.
It did feel like Nino was being mean to him when it wasn’t called for, but Aiba seemed to be the only person noticing that. Then again, because no one else was noticing, it might just be inside of his head after all. Maybe his friend was right. He should let things be as they were instead of worrying so much about it. Just as he had been thinking all along, things would work themselves out in the end.
Nino had given him the job after all.
“Now, give me some more details about this thing with Jun and Sho…”
+++
The closed sign on the office was up when Aiba arrived at work.
The door was unlocked, though, so he tentatively walked inside, looking around at all of the lights off.
Sho wasn’t in his cubicle, his computer turned off, so Aiba set his bag down and walked to the back of the room. Jun wasn’t here either, so Aiba turned to The Lair, wondering what in the world was going on.
There on the floor, in the pile of blankets that Ohno had been sleeping in days before, was Nino. He was curled up on himself, his breath steady and mouth open a little, lips dry because of it.
Aiba was afraid to get too near, so he looked around again, making sure that no one else was here or had arrived, then took a step closer, leaning down to get a better look. If it had been anyone else he would have run for his phone to take an incriminating picture, but unfortunately he wasn’t on such lax terms with Nino.
Nino was rather pretty wasn’t he? Just as much as Jun, only in the cute genre with his blunt nose and small chin decorated by his signature mole. If he had been the type, Nino could have played girls easily, making all of them fall for him and his well honed charms. Aiba wasn’t sure why, but he appreciated the fact that Nino was exactly as he was now, even if they weren’t quite getting along yet.
This would be a very embarrassing situation to get caught in by Jun, so Aiba looked around again before he squatted down next to Nino, wondering if he should wake him or not. He could probably use the sleep, since those bags under his eyes were still apparent.
But it was time for work, and Aiba wasn’t sure what to do without anyone else around…
He was still debating action in his head when Nino’s let out an uneven breath and barely shifted his body, his eyes moving a bit behind his eye lids.
Aiba found himself frozen in place, watching attentively until Nino cracked his eyes open and they focused on him, still slow with sleep.
“Ah, Aiba-san,” Nino said in a hoarse voice, then cleared his throat and pushed himself up on an elbow. “What’re you doing here? Didn’t Sho tell you everyone has the day off?”
“No,” Aiba replied stupidly, because he hadn’t been told.
Nino chuckled, but it sounded half-hearted and warped. He yawned before replying.
“Go home, Aiba. You’re not getting paid today.”
There it was, that tone that everyone else wasn’t picking up on. It made Aiba feel a little defensive.
“Why are you here then? If everyone has the day off.”
Nino rubbed his eye sleepily and Aiba felt his chest constrict again, enough that he almost clutched at his shirt but managed to contain himself at the last minute. Apparently Nino was bad for his health.
“Need to check a few things. It won’t take that long.”
“Then it’s okay if I stay until you’re done, right?” Aiba asked casually. More than anything he wanted to make sure that Nino was actually getting rest-the fact that he had been sleeping in the office and apparently made a habit out of it was appalling to Aiba and his need to take care of people. Part of him wondered if Nino even rented an apartment or anything, but he brushed that concern aside until another day.
At the suggestion Nino looked annoyed. “You’re not getting paid.”
Although it probably wasn’t, Aiba took it as Nino conceding to his suggestion, and smiled his stupid Aiba smile. “That’s fine with me, it won’t take that long, right? I’ll make you some coffee.”
Not waiting for a response, Aiba bounced up, feeling a little empowered by Nino’s aura of sleep (he wondered if that would last long) and left The Lair, flipping on the light in the hallway as he passed.
Nino grumbled behind him.
It was decided. He was going to make himself comfortable in Ohno’s place (Oh-chan surely wouldn’t mind) and just be together with Nino today. That should help their friendly-boss-and-subordinate-relationship move along quite nicely, Aiba thought.
Besides, he’d brought lunch for both of them as usual, and it would be a shame to let that go to waste.
After he’d taken care of usual routine (poured Nino the coffee, put his things away, check the mail on his desk, etc) Aiba picked up his cell phone and own coffee and returned to The Lair.
By then Nino had moved into his chair and turned the TV on, his game remote in one hand and mug in the other. He sent a suspicious look as Aiba waltzed past him and plopped down into the pile of blankets that Nino had been in a moment ago.
“Don’t sit there,” Nino complained, but his tone was half-hearted, so Aiba just made himself comfortable until his boss became more proactive about moving him. There was no one here for Nino to use against him, and Aiba figured that Nino didn’t think it was worth the effort to do it himself.
He was right. Ten minutes later Nino still hadn’t said anything else, just played through the first level of the game with a new item and glanced at Aiba out of the corner of his eye once in a while.
Validated in his decision, Aiba was finally the one to start the conversation, feeling quite satisfied with his plans for the day.
“But let’s have lunch before you go home, okay? Because otherwise you won’t eat anything, right?”
Aiba wasn’t stupid. He knew that Nino had been planning on spending the whole day here, and probably wouldn’t have eaten anything at all either. Which is why he had been lucky that Sho had forgotten to tell him (or, as he found out upon checking his phone, sent a message at a ridiculously late hour that barely made sense).
“You’re worse than Jun,” Nino grumbled, sliding down in his chair more than he already had been, keeping his eyes glued to the TV.
“Do you want some now? For breakfast?”
“Shut up.”
Aiba thought that ruffled Nino was rather cute, but he kept that to himself and snuggled further into the blankets.
+++
It had been easy to keep up the silence.
Aiba got distracted watching Nino play (both the screen and Nino’s face), and that was enough to keep his brain busy. It wasn’t until Nino had beaten the second boss and let out a big yawn that Aiba was jolted out of his daze and realized it had been several hours since he’d come in. His back was stiff from lying in the same position for so long, and eyes dry from his focused attention.
With a muffled grunt at his stiffness, Aiba pushed himself up, catching Nino as he turned to watch him.
“Lunch?” Aiba offered. It was a little early, but the timing seemed right.
“Whatever,” Nino sighed, placing the controller next to his empty coffee cup on the small table to his side and stretching his arms above his head.
Aiba got the lunches from his bag and came back immediately, handing one to Nino, who took it without a second thought. It was like they were back at that one special night a few days ago when Nino had complimented his cooking (sort of) and even teased him a little.
Trying not to be obvious, Aiba watched Nino as they ate. He tried to pick up signs that Nino had eaten his lunches before, just for confirmation, and so far that seemed to be the case; he knew right away how to open the clasp on the side, and methodically fixed the two containers on his lap as if it was a usual habit.
It wasn’t anything concrete, and maybe Aiba was just reading into things, but he smiled as he opened his own lunch.
“What?” Nino asked suspiciously, obviously noticing what Aiba’d been doing.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah right,” he replied with a scoff, but let the topic drop in favor of focusing on his lunch.
It was a prime chance to learn more about Nino, but Aiba didn’t even know where to start, what questions were the best to ask first.
“So… do you have any other hobbies, besides video games?” A bit lame, but the only thing that was coming out.
Nino narrowed his eyes at him, probably annoyed that he was prying into his life.
Aiba encouraged him with his bright I’m-very-interested-look, which tended to work well under normal circumstances.
Nino took a bite of fried rice and stared at the TV for a full minute before he finally sighed and tentatively replied, “Music…”
“Like singing?”
“…Piano and guitar. I don’t sing much.”
“I’d love to listen to you sometime-“
“I don’t perform,” Nino cut him off, as if he’d been asked to countless times before. “And I haven’t been practicing much lately,” he added and somehow that softened the previous statement a bit.
“Jun says everything around here is busy. It must be hard for you to do so much work every day!”
“Hm,” Nino mumbled back, and it didn’t sound like he was disagreeing with him. “We get by.”
“I’d be happy to help any way I can.” His grandma’s medical bills would be paid eventually, but Aiba had a feeling he wasn’t going to leave Hatenai Sora Inc. even when they were. Hopefully his parents would forgive him.
“Hm,” was all Nino offered again, but his expression relaxed as he stared down at his bento, focusing too much on eating his lunch.
“Nino, why did you hire me?” Aiba suddenly asked, even though he hadn’t meant to. Just another case of his mouth running away on him, and for a second he regretted it.
That got his attention, and Nino’s head shot up to look at Aiba in mild surprise. But he schooled the expression and distracted his vision back to the TV.
“Spur of the moment is all. Jun’s fault.”
The half-assed answer hurt a bit, but Nino couldn’t be expected to bear the truth that carelessly.
“Well, I’m glad.”
Aiba didn’t want to lose the light atmosphere that was in the air by pressing his question, so he scarfed down the rest of his lunch and then took his bento to the kitchen to wash it out. It may have been a little cowardly of him to not face Nino head-on now that he was in uncertain territory, but his plan had been to take things one step at a time and he had already taken more than that from Nino today.
Another cup of coffee was in order, so Aiba started the machine before taking care of his lunch box, meticulously washing it out in the sink even though all it really needed was a quick once over. After that he went back into The Lair for his mug, pausing next to Nino for a moment, until the other man looked up at him.
“Coffee?” Aiba offered with a soft smile, and Nino seemed to realize he wasn’t about to be interrogated again. His face became lax and he reached for his cup, offering it to Aiba, and Aiba was happy to see that most of the lunch was gone too.
When Aiba came back with the coffee cups a few minutes later, Nino had finished everything and the empty box sitting on the table. Nino was rotating his neck to get rid of the stiffness and rubbing his fingers to prepare to return to gaming, and Aiba thought he looked very tired.
He knew exactly what Nino needed.
“How about a massage?” Aiba offered with an encouraging smile, remembering that he had put that on his list of things he was good at when he had come into the office for a job in the first place. It had been the tie breaker and he finally had a chance to prove his skills.
“I’m fine.” Nino’s answer was immediate and firm, but now that the idea had planted itself inside Aiba’s head, it was going to stay there until he followed through.
“I insist! You had a hard day yesterday! And it’s free, think of it that way.”
Aiba ignored Nino’s discomfort and set the two cups of coffee down by the empty lunch box before promptly getting behind Nino’s chair and placing his hands on his shoulders.
“I don’t really think this is appropriate-“ Nino got out in a nervous voice as he tried to wiggle away. But he didn’t stand up, so Aiba started to move his fingers into the tight muscles above Nino’s collarbone, and in the moment of uncertainty maneuvered Nino right where he wanted him.
“You’re really tense, just like I thought.” He could tell by the way Nino was straining his neck that it probably hurt a little, but Aiba knew that the pain would relax away in another minute or two, and it would keep Nino’s mouth closed in the meantime.
The t-shirt Nino was wearing was thin and a little worn, and Aiba could feel the warmth from his skin as plain as day through it. His fingers worked their way to the curve of Nino’s shoulder and then slid a few inches down his back to return towards his spine in a circle.
Nino loosened up eventually, but unlike most of his massage recipients, Nino was antsy even after that, moving his arms around every few seconds and arching his back when Aiba found that tender spot near his left shoulder blade.
“Ow, ow,” he finally gasped out with a hiss of breath, and Aiba softened his grip a bit. Although, instead of leaving it alone, he continued to work that piece of muscle with a little more technique, helping it un-tighten.
“It’s worse than I thought. Maybe you should lie down on the ground.”
Aiba thought his plan would be rejected right away, but Nino sounded a bit reluctant when he replied. “I… I was going to start back up on the game…”
It was if a magical switch had been pressed and suddenly Nino was putty in his hands. That tended to happen when Aiba gave massages; albeit this was the happiest he’d ever been for that particular talent.
“It will just be a few minutes,” Aiba assured him, and even went as far as to usher Nino off of the chair and to his pile of blankets.
“Are you-“ his question as cut off at his quick intake of breath. Before he could change his mind, Aiba had shoved him down and promptly went to work at his mid-back, where he knew he would be sore from his slouching and sitting all day.
His guess was spot-on, and Aiba smiled proudly (now that Nino couldn’t see) when Nino twitched again, revealing another sore area. Aiba’s fingers rocked back and forth against the muscle, making Nino’s t-shirt bunch up around his hips. When a sliver of skin could be seen above the waist of his pants, Aiba got a bit distracted watching it, but his fingers moved automatically, rubbing against his spinal cord next.
After that was the dip in his lower back, which was more pronounced than Aiba had been expecting. Everything was stiff there and would take a bit more time to finish than he was willing to take from Nino right now. He did what he could, starting off easy and then increasing the pressure second by second, rotating the tips of his fingers in small circles against his skin.
“Ah… Ah, Aiba-san,” Nino gasped out and that got his attention away from the bare skin laid out before him. His eyes shot up to Nino’s face as he turned onto his back and pushed Aiba away, his face flushed and lips red from panting. “Too much,” he commented, but Aiba wasn’t listening.
In that moment, things clicked.
Seeing Nino like that, venerable and sexy and honest, was the last piece of the puzzle and Aiba realized he was an idiot. The reason Nino’s distance had bothered him, all of his overthinking and worries boiled down to one thing.
He was in love with Nino.
Completely, head over heels in love, and Aiba was an idiot for not seeing it until now.
+++
Aiba was the sort of person who listened to his own instincts and wants, rather than social norms or expectations.
So, when he should have excused himself and gone home to cool down, instead he stayed at the office with Nino, watching him play his next hour or two on the game.
“You’re being creepy,” Nino finally commented, referring to Aiba’s unwavering gaze on his face.
“Ah, sorry,” Aiba replied without much emotion backing his statement, and continued on as he had been, his eyes not leaving Nino. After his epiphany Nino had escaped back to his chair and Aiba hadn’t followed him (at least he’d had that much sense), instead spreading out on the blanket bed again, where he had a good view.
Most of the time was taken up looking back on the long list of signs that he was in love, which he had ignored or not noticed. Even though he was so caught up in Jun and Sho’s romance (or was that, because), he hadn’t guessed at all that that’s what he was going through with Nino.
The question was whether he was going to take his own advice and go for it like he wanted Jun to, or not.
He was leaning towards not right now.
After all he’d only been here a short time, and although Nino was far from forbidding relationships within the office, Aiba didn’t want to mess things up and lose his precarious job position so soon. Not only was he in love with his boss, but his boss was Nino, the man who had been avid about avoiding him despite the fact he had agreed to give him a job.
“Fine,” Nino sighed, dropping his controller onto his lap and raising his hands in exasperation. “I’ll go home. Happy?” His tone was half annoyance and half surrender, and he completely ignored Aiba as he picked up the controller to filter through to the save screen and shut the system down.
Although that hadn’t been his intention, Aiba supposed it was a good enough outcome. It was late afternoon, but earlier than Aiba even usually went home. Now if only he could be assured that Nino just wasn’t going to do the same thing once he got there and play video games for the rest of the night instead of resting like he should.
“Should I go with you?” Aiba offered before he really processed the statement and then blushed just as deeply as Nino did-although, Nino’s was probably anger.
“You are worse than, Jun! Listen, Aiba-san, I am a grown man that can take care of myself, I will spend my free time as I like whether that is working or not!” he replied hotly, confirming Aiba’s suspicions, and Aiba may have gotten just a little worked up watching him be so passionate. “I built this company with my own hands and god be damned if I’m not going to take care of it-“
“I’m sorry,” Aiba said clearly and as sincerely as possibly, and bowed his head to prove his intent. “I didn’t mean it that way. You should know by now how much of an idiot I am.” He hoped that those words would lighten the mood, and at least they stopped Nino’s rant.
“You are an idiot,” Nino grumbled, and Aiba wondered if Nino would ever know just how true that statement was.
Nino shot up out of his chair and began collecting his personal items, which had been haphazardly placed on the floor. After they were all tucked into his pockets or his shoulder bag he looked at Aiba pointedly with cold eyes and jerked his head towards the exit.
“Come on, you’re leaving too.”
“Yes, sir…” Aiba whined in his usual way without thinking about it. Touma called it his “lost puppy” look, and when Nino saw it his expression softened just barely.
“And not to my house. Go home.”
Aiba let out a laugh before he could stop it even though it was at the risk of Nino’s returned wrath, but Nino just rolled his eyes and leaned over to jerk the key off the wall. He didn’t even wait for Aiba to catch up before stomping out of the cubicle.
+++
Things went back to normal after that, despite Aiba’s revelation.
He came into the office every day like usual, and Nino mostly ignored him, like usual. Jun refused to take any action with Sho, so Aiba had begun wondering whether he shouldn’t start working on Sho instead. Then again, they were all still busy because of the goal to finish the game by the end of the year (they were already down to the last few months), and so Aiba couldn’t quite convince himself it was worth it with the current timing.
One thing he was convinced of, though, was that he had to make himself more useful. Not because he was afraid of getting fired, but because he could do so much more for them, his friends and coworkers. He wanted to do more for them.
Instead, it seemed like Aiba was the one who continued to receive their help.
“Hey, Aiba-chan.”
Aiba turned away from the cupboard, where he had been putting away coffee and a few other items he’d gotten to refill the stock in the kitchen (it was mostly coffee). Jun was stretching as he came over from his cubicle, wearing his usual fashionable clothing: today a gray cardigan over a tight red shirt and fitted slacks.
“Do you have a minute?” he asked, holding back a yawn, and Aiba nodded. Actually he had been finished a moment ago, but he didn’t have anything else to do until he went home, so he’d been double checking everything. If Jun was going to distract him for even a few minutes he would welcome it.
“Sure!”
“Let’s get some fresh air, huh?” he grinned, and Aiba nodded encouragingly.
There was one other office on the second story, but Aiba had never seen it in use (there wasn’t even a name on the door). It was a moderately old building in general, including emergency escape stairs out back that were questionable at best, but good enough for a quick chat or smoke. Aiba didn’t smoke because of his lungs, and he had never seen any of the rest of them either, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t use the space as they saw fit.
So Jun led him out of the metal door to the fire escape, taking a deep breath as the crisp air fit their faces. Aiba wondered what he wanted to talk about, or if he really was just looking for a short break. If so, Aiba had plenty of questions and love lectures, although Jun might be sick of those by now.
Before he could say anything, Jun slipped his hand inside his cardigan and pulled out an envelope, looking at it thoughtfully before offering it to Aiba.
“What’s this?” he asked curiously, taking it from him. Although what was inside was clear, since the heavy coins were causing envelope to bend sideways.
“Your paycheck. It’s the end of the month.”
“But…”
There were so many questions. Aiba thought that pay-checks usually came a full work-cycle behind, and the job he’d almost gotten before Touma had said it wasn’t going to give him his paycheck until he had worked there at least a full month. He’d been working for Hantenai Sora Inc. for barely over three weeks.
“I heard about your grandma from Touma. He said that’s why you were looking for a job in the first place.”
“But-“ Aiba tried to argue back, looking down at the envelope. He really didn’t deserve such kindness.
“Don’t worry, I talked it over with Sho and Nino. They said it was fine to give you an advance. It’s not really that much, after all. I even talked Nino into no interest.”
Without any warning Aiba’s eyes started tearing up and he sniffed before rubbing them away. “You guys are the best!”
Jun laughed first before patting him on the back. “It’s nothing.”
“No, really, this job is the best thing that’s happened to me,” Aiba declared. “You, and Sho-chan, and Nino, and Oh-chan, I don’t know what I would do without you guys now! You’re like my new family!” His tears were only getting worse despite his huge smile, and he continued trying to wipe them away and save himself some dignity. It was a good thing Jun brought him outside for this.
“Well, I do have something else I want to talk about,” admitted Jun with a slightly more serious tone. He turned to lean his back against the brick building and looked across the street, where they had a fabulous view of the back of a supermarket.
“What?” Aiba tried to sober up, but continued sniffing for another moment, wiping his nose on the back of his hand next, but finally able to calm down his breathing.
“Are you serious about working here long-term? Or only until things are taken care of with your grandma?”
Jun wasn’t looking at him, as if the answer would be one Jun didn’t want to hear.
Aiba sniffed again and took a deep breath. Although his head said he needed to think his reply over better, his heart told him was the ultimate answer would be. And he didn’t want to cause any more misery by telling Jun he needed to wait any longer.
“If you’ll keep me…” he replied tentatively, wiping his wet palm on his jeans, the envelope already crumpling in his other hand. “I know I’m pretty useless.”
At the answer, Jun turned to him with a gentle smile and clasped him on the shoulder. “You’re not, Aiba. You’ve done more than you realize.”
What that implied wasn’t obvious, but Aiba was happy to have some affirmation.
“I want to do more!”
“Okay, okay,” Jun laughed again. “I’ll see what can be done.”
Aiba beamed. “Thank you.”
They shared a content look between them, then Aiba glanced down at this envelope, trying to smooth it out with his other hand. He didn’t want to go back inside yet, because his eyes were probably red and his face a mess, so he hoped Jun would give him a moment to himself.
Except, Jun apparently had one more thing to talk about. He cleared his throat and suddenly his gentle expression turned stern.
“Now, tell me why does Touma know about Sho? It was supposed to be a secret!”
Aiba’s first reaction was to laugh, but he managed to cover his mouth at the last second. He wasn’t thinking at all when he had brought Touma into the situation, trying to figure out the most effective way to get the two men together. Touma hadn’t had much insight, but he had been amused at Jun’s crush.
That was a terrible thing to do, to break his promise to Jun! But by the look on Jun’s face, he was going to forgive him.
+++
The money had been put to use right away. When he’d given it to his mother and told her what’d happened, she’d cried harder than Aiba had, and didn’t hesitate to forgive him when he explained he wasn’t going to be quitting once they were caught up.
+++
A/N: Sorry I suck at titles guys.
Part Three: Continue?
Rating: PG-13 (R overall)
Pairing: Aiba/Nino, Sho/Jun (Aiba/Jun friendship, OT5 friendship)
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Aiba is finally able to land a job...and along with it, a boss that ignores his existence. What's he going to do about it?
Notes: Office AU for astrangerenters, who donated to the Fund-Raising Project for the Habagat Victims last year oh geez. Thanks to r_tenou for looking over it for me.
Part one: Game Start
Despite their long night of chatting, Aiba only realized when he was at home and lying in bed still mostly drunk, that he hadn’t succeeded in breaching the topic of office relationships with Jun at all. Not only had he wanted to give his friend a little push to approach Sho about it, but there was something else still bothering Aiba.
Nino.
He still hadn’t warmed up to Aiba’s presence over his second week of work. He refused to show Aiba the affection that he showed the other employees, although he was polite and accommodating. Jun had talked about Nino so warmly, but hadn’t mentioned that it might take time, or that Nino was shy with new people. The fact that he hadn’t said anything was strange, as if Jun hadn’t even realized the distance himself.
Maybe it was something else.
By any means, Aiba had missed his opportunity to ask for a while at least, since he knew Jun would be busy now along with the rest of them. And it wasn’t something that could be talked about in the office, so he bid his time. Instead of the advice he wanted, Aiba tried to plug along by himself, making Nino (and Ohno, and sometimes everyone) lunch and starting a conversation when he could. It wasn’t getting very far, but at least Nino would respond in that snarky tone of his, and sometimes he’d even smile at Aiba before he caught himself and walked away.
Besides, Aiba was still convinced it was only a matter of time, and he didn’t want to push things too fast and get the opposite result.
“Ah, I’m never going to finish by tomorrow,” Sho mumbled to himself as he sat as his computer, and Aiba looked over from the review he had been writing for Jun.
“Sho-chan?” he asked tentatively, drawing the other man’s attention, and Sho looked startled like he hadn’t meant to say anything in the first place.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about Aiba-chan. I just wish I had an extra day to complete these reports before the meeting,” he sighed. “Even if I stay all night it won’t be enough to finish all the changes Nino added yesterday…”
“Could I help you?” Aiba offered tentatively, although he thought he already knew the answer.
“As I said, don’t worry about it. It would take longer to explain the details about the company than what you would make up for,” Sho said as gently as possible. Aiba had been there for over two weeks now, but that certainly wasn’t enough time for him to figure out details and that fact was quite obvious.
“Well… How about…” he started, then bit his tongue. It wasn’t his place to volunteer others for overtime, even if would work out the best for everyone.
Apparently Aiba had done enough though, because Jun was standing in the doorway with a determined look on his face, his voice equally determined. “But I know enough, don’t I?”
Sho’s twisted around to look at Jun with his mouth open in surprise.
“I couldn’t ask you to-“
“I’m offering. Besides, Aiba can do a bit of my work on my computer and save me a few hours later. Okay, Aiba-chan?”
Aiba nodded his head enthusiastically. “And I’ll bring over some food for dinner!”
“You don’t have to-“ Sho turned back to him now with a guilty look on his face, but between the other two men they didn’t let Sho get another word in.
“Come on, Aiba, I’ll show you what I need done-if you don’t mind.”
“No problem!” Aiba stood up. He was more than happy to put in his first overtime shift as long as it meant helping the others. Whether he got paid for it didn’t matter either.
+++
Twenty minutes later, Aiba was completely satisfied with his interference, once Jun had taken up Aiba’s chair next to Sho and the two of them began discussing the reports in lowered tones. They sounded so intimate and Aiba couldn’t help but smile to himself.
+++
After finishing what Jun had asked him to (which had taken him several hours, but he wouldn’t complain), Aiba made a trip home to help his mother close up the shop as usual. After that was finished he rounded up the remaining ingredients and threw together a few quick dishes-his mother’s cooking may have tasted better, but he wasn’t going to put any added stress on her if he could help it.
When he arrived back at the office, it was as he had left it; only half of the lights were lit and a “closed” sign hung on the door, despite it being unlocked. Aiba placed the boxes of food on the counter and put the drinks he’d purchased at the convenience store on the way over in the fridge. There were two drinks for everyone, the preferences he’d learned over the short span he’d been working here, plus a can of coffee each because he knew they’d be needing it. Two for Jun.
Actually, Aiba hadn’t known if Nino and Ohno would still be there when he came back, but he had prepared just in case and it turned out his intuition had been right. Inside The Lair, Ohno was dozing off in a pile of blankets on the floor, and Nino was looking tiny in his armchair with the bags under his eyes, highlighted in the light from the TV.
“Nino-san,” Aiba called out quietly. “I brought some dinner if you’re hungry.”
Nino blinked slowly as if he’d forgotten to for the last hour, then distractedly turned to Aiba and sighed like he was letting out some stress. “I guess it’s a good time for a break. Oh-chan, get up.”
Ohno didn’t move, even when a second later Nino pushed at him with his leg.
“Aiba brought food, get up,” he said with a little more force, and Aiba smiled before shuffling over to poke at Ohno himself.
“I like Aiba’s food,” Ohno finally mumbled with a cottony tone, turning onto his back and stretching. “Tastes good.”
“It’s better than that healthy crap Jun usually brings,” Nino conceded, standing up and stretching himself. Aiba couldn’t help but subtly watch him, hoping that the fact that Nino looked less thin than the first time Aiba’d seen him wasn’t just his imagination. The white t-shirt he was wearing slid up to show a flash of the flesh on his hip before Aiba averted his eyes back to Ohno.
“I brought coffee too,” he said, wondering where his place was in this little safe room they’d made.
“Thank you,” Nino offered casually, but there was something in his tone that was different from usual. There was sincerity that replaced the coldness, though maybe that was just due to exhaustion. Aiba didn’t know Nino well enough to tell specific things like that yet.
As Nino headed out of the cubicle and Aiba finally got Ohno standing up, he could hear the others begin talking when Nino poked his head into Sho’s office.
“How’s it coming? Room for a break?”
“Well…” Sho cleared his throat.
Ohno took Aiba’s hand naturally as he gained his balance, and the two of them slowly followed behind Nino, Ohno giving out a big yawn as Aiba watched, trying to stop himself from over-thinking things.
“I’m taking a break,” Nino stated as if that was the answer to everything. “To make my feet remember what circulation feels like.”
That got Sho to let out a laugh, and Jun mumbled that they might as well join him since things were going along smoothly and all. They all headed to the kitchen together as soon as Aiba and Ohno caught up, and stood around the counter together. Nino took the initiative and began passing out disposable plates and chopsticks.
Jun and Sho were standing rather close to each other, and once again Aiba wasn’t sure if it was just exhaustion that was making them less on edge, but part of him really wished he could get Jun alone to hear if he’d made any progress. Then again this wasn’t exactly the time for that with all of them pushing the deadline for tomorrow.
“This is a new one,” Ohno commented as he began indiscriminately dishing food onto his plate, and Aiba perked up, glad for a topic he felt more secure with.
“Well it’s not something on the menu, we just happened to have some leftover pumpkin tonight, so I thought I’d experiment and put it in a salad,” he explained, then giggled as Jun lifted an eyebrow at him.
“Pumpkin in a salad?” Nino teased. “What were you thinking?”
Aiba felt his head get a little lighter and he smiled at Nino-but not too much in case it scared him away again-and turned to the small fridge to begin passing out drinks.
“All of my experiments don’t turn out that well, but some of them do!” he argued. “My chocolate sushi was a huge hit last summer.”
“Chocolate…” Jun sounded appalled while Sho actually looked thoughtful, like he was considering it. Aiba liked that about him. Sho was willing to eat anything at least once.
“I am horrified,” Nino followed up, but his plate was half full the next time Aiba looked and he was eating it. Aiba couldn’t convey how happy he was to see Nino enjoying the cooking he’d created, and that should have been a sign right there. But Aiba was rather stupid about some things.
“Or the jelly-mabo-dofu,” Aiba added with a grin, waiting for their reaction. “That one wasn’t too bad.”
“Interesting,” Sho got out in a low voice right before he started stuffing his face with food, and Jun shot him an incredulous look before realizing how close they were and turning away with a painfully plain expression.
But he didn’t move.
Aiba glanced over in time to see Nino watching Jun with as much amusement as Aiba was feeling, and then their eyes met just for a second before Aiba realized what had happened and he turned away too. It was because he didn’t want his boss to feel uncomfortable, that was all.
“Someone needs to keep an eye on you. Obviously Touma hasn’t been doing his job properly,” Jun commented to Aiba between bites of food-which he was also eating with a vengeance as if he’d been starved all day.
“Touma’s more likely to join in,” Nino countered with a laugh and small squinted eyes. It was that moment that Aiba few his chest ache and he was worried for a second, wondering if his lungs were acting up again. That should have been the second sign. But after a moment he was back to normal so he didn’t give it another thought.
But at Nino’s comment he’d had a good idea. If Jun couldn’t give him advice right now about how to handle Nino, surely Touma could! He should have thought of it before. Besides, he hadn’t told him anything at all about working here, other than he’d got the job in the first place, and he was sure his old friend had some insights to his situation. He’d be able to tell him all of Nino’s quirks, and he’d be less reserved about asking Touma than Jun.
It was settled then.
“You’re right,” Jun grinned with a measuring look at Aiba. “I don’t even want to know the trouble you two got into when you were younger.”
“It would give you nightmares,” Aiba teased back, feeling a bit more at ease than when he had walked into the office half an hour ago. Things were looking up again.
The group shared a polite laugh at the joke (except for Ohno, who was too focused on his food). Nino finished off the last bite of his dinner before sitting the plate on the counter and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.
“Better get back to work. Oh-chan, you can go home, there’s nothing left for you to do here.”
“But Nino-“ Ohno’s eyes suddenly shot up to stare at him, and it was the most attentive Ohno had looked all day.
“If you’re just going to sleep in my bed you might as well sleep in your own,” he said firmly, but with an edge of gentleness. “Aiba-san,” Nino turned to him next, “Thank you for dinner. Have Sho put it on the budget.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Aiba replied formally with a smile. “My treat.”
“If you say so,” Nino smirked as if that’s what he’d expected to happen, and Jun rolled his eyes.
“Should’ve let him put it on the budget. He won’t let you take it back now,” Jun commentated before drinking deeply from his bottle of mineral water.
“I really don’t mind,” Aiba told him as Nino turned to head back into The Lair. “I’ll leave the rest of the food here. You’re going to be here for a while… aren’t you?” Aiba asked tentatively, as if he didn’t really want them to, but that the situation couldn’t be helped.
“We will, but don’t worry about us, Aiba-chan,” Sho replied. “We really appreciate your help tonight.”
“We do,” Jun added with a smile. “Now you and Ohno get home and rest. We’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay.” Aiba wished there was something more he could do, but at least he didn’t have to be a burden on top of the work load they already had. “Take care of Nino,” he added before he’d realized it wasn’t really his place to say something like that. As usual, his mouth was faster than his brain.
But Jun looked amused and Sho smiled.
“Don’t worry about that brat,” Jun assured him, then put his empty plate down on the counter as well. “We’d better get back to work too.”
“Okay. You can just leave this, I’ll clean up in the morning,” Aiba told them, gesturing to the mess on the counter. At least it would be easy for them to come back for a midnight snack. “Oh-chan, let’s go together?” he asked and Ohno nodded before lifting his plate to his mouth so he could finish his food in a few more bites.
Jun and Sho had both gone back to Sho’s cubicle by the time Aiba noticed, and while he waited for Ohno, Aiba straightened up the take-out boxes just to give himself something to do. His interactions with Nino tonight were leaving him very confused. They weren’t what he expected of a person who was simply coming over his shyness and becoming friendly with him. Although there was still a prickly protective edge about his words, something was coming through to the surface that Aiba couldn’t quite place.
“Let’s go Aiba-chan,” Ohno jolted him out of his daze, and Aiba nodded at him.
“There’s coffee in the fridge,” he called out as his final greeting as they headed for the door and it was Jun that responded first, as expected.
“Thank you. Get out of here already.”
Aiba grinned, but was secretly glad that Ohno was leaving along with him. It would have been too hard to go by himself while the rest of them were working so hard-even if he was only a gopher and had only been there two weeks.
It was silent as the pair walked out onto the street. It was already dark and probably past dinner time when he had arrived an hour before.
They walked to the station slowly, Aiba wondering what he should say, if he should say anything at all.
It came as a bit of a surprise to him when Ohno was the one to speak.
“Nino’s actually very kind. Too kind for his own good,” he said slowly, as if those words held some hidden meaning. Aiba tried to find it, but the only thing he could come up with was the fact that Nino hired him when he probably shouldn’t have.
“And Nino remembers a lot of things.”
They took several steps forward while Aiba pondered those words, but as they were reaching the station he gave up and said, “I don’t get it.”
“One day you will.”
+++
It was a different atmosphere that met him the next day, when Aiba came into the office at his regular time.
Nino was the same-sitting in his oversized chair in The Lair, only instead of playing a game it was paused and he had a stack of papers in his lap. He took the cup of coffee Aiba handed him without a word, or even a glance, and Aiba wondered if last night had really been exhaustion after all. Although, Nino looked just as exhausted now. And he was even wearing the same oversized t-shirt as yesterday.
It was Jun and Sho that were different.
Jun was in his own office when Aiba checked, but the shy glance that he sent him made Aiba do a double take, and once Jun had his full attention he gave Aiba a smile worth a million words. Words that Aiba couldn’t hear right now. There was internal cursing, but Aiba smiled back sincerely and went to fill up Jun’s cup of coffee.
He took Sho’s with him as well and dropped it off as he walked past. Sho was in a full suit today, and looked like he’d gotten some sleep, and even grinned at Aiba as if everything had all been thanks to him.
“Good morning,” Aiba offered tentatively, uncomfortable with taking any gratitude from his co-workers. All he’d done was point out things that should have been obvious.
“Good morning, Aiba-chan.”
In replace of a continued conversation, Aiba raised Jun’s mug in explanation and got to Jun’s cubicle as fast as he could with wide eyes. Something had happened with the way these two were acting-they probably hadn’t slept much last night if they’d slept at all, plus they had a huge meeting in just a few hours. And Aiba hadn’t even brought in any special coffee or anything!
When Aiba looked to Jun for an explanation, he just shook with silent laughter at the expression. He raised his phone, opened to a blank message and pointed to the ‘send to’ address.
Jun took his coffee and Aiba typed in his information with a raised eyebrow. He knew they couldn’t really talk with everyone listening, but it must be pretty juicy if Jun couldn’t wait until they were alone to talk about it.
“Thank you,” Jun mumbled, taking the phone back. He turned away from Aiba pointedly, beginning to type out a message and Aiba sighed dramatically-all the while trying to keep a smile from his face. He acted as casual as possible as he strode back into Sho’s cubicle and sat down in his chair, trying not to draw attention to himself as he set his phone down in front of him and channeled patience.
After a minute he turned to Sho and asked in a soft voice, “So you finished?” not sure whether he was interrupting his work.
But Sho turned to him with another bright smile. “Last night. Nino’s looking over it now.”
“Great,” Aiba smiled back and then jerked his head towards his phone when it blinked in a new message. Luckily Sho let him be and turned back to his computer.
Stayed at Sho’s last night since it’s closer to the office.
He has a DJ mixer it was heaven
Aiba had to cover his mouth from blurting out a huge laugh, and ducked his head in apology when Sho’s curious gaze shifted to him.
“More coffee, Sho-chan?”
“Mine’s still full, thanks,” he replied, as if he couldn’t figure out why Aiba was offering. (The question was accurate, since he had just handed him the cup a few minutes ago, but Aiba wasn’t very good at making excuses either.)
“Well I guess I’ll go get some for me then,” Aiba chuckled nervously, standing up and escaping to the kitchen to write his own reply.
I bet it was
Did you even get any sleep
Following up on his excuse, Aiba poured himself some coffee and sipped at it as he leaned against the counter.
A couple hours.
Except he grinds his teeth when he sleeps.
Aiba had meant his question to be a joke, but Jun had replied seriously and he wasn’t sure whether that was to avoid the topic or because he wasn’t actually thinking of what Aiba had been implying. Either way it was cute.
You were so watching him sleep
His reply was more obvious this time, hoping for a better reaction.
Was not! It woke me up.
The reason Jun was so happy this morning was quite obvious now, and he wasn’t trying to hide things anymore, so Aiba just took the plunge and teased him, hoping he wasn’t pushing it.
You are so in love with him
A reply didn’t come to that one, instead Jun actually stood up (Aiba could see him over the lowered partitions) and stomped into the kitchen with a red face. He hit Aiba over the head (Aiba was grinning from ear to ear the whole time), and then went right back into his office.
Sho stuck his head out of the doorway and looked at where Jun had just disappeared, and then to Aiba with a puzzled expression. Aiba just shrugged as innocently as he could and walked back towards him, reclaiming his place at the desk.
Luckily enough Sho didn’t push his curiosity about their office antics, and Aiba began sorting through the postal mail that had been left in the box downstairs. Fifteen minutes later his cell blinked in a message and he immediately picked it up to check it.
It’s a secret
Aiba smiled and shook his head at his phone. He would talk to Jun about this later, give him a pep talk about how high his chances were and that he should really go for it.
“Hey, Aiba-chan?”
The fact that Sho started talking to him while his thoughts were busy with their “secret” topic caught Aiba off guard and he flipped off his phone to give Sho his undivided attention (possibly with a guilty smile). “Yes?”
“You’re going to have to hold down the fort while we’re gone. Nino said he told Ohno not to come in today, since they couldn’t do any work.”
All of those obvious facts hadn’t connected to that conclusion until now, but Aiba was fine with that-and proud that they trusted him enough to do that kind of job.
“Yes, of course! I’ll do my best!”
“All you have to do is answer the phone if it rings, and take a message. I doubt anyone will come in to the office, but if they do, you can do the same thing. Just tell them we’ll be back in the afternoon. Usually we’d just close down for the day, but since you’re here Nino’s insisting on keeping it open.”
“Leave it to me!” Aiba said happily, and followed up with a silly saluting gesture.
“It’s the most productive option,” said Nino, who was suddenly standing in the doorway. “That’s the only reason. If anything goes wrong you’ll be taking full responsibility.” His tone was as cool as it had been from the beginning, as if he was indifferent to who it was actually watching over things; Aiba would have been the same as a pack of monkeys.
Aiba smiled anyway. “I’ll do my best,” he repeated with a smile at Nino, who turned away and continued to the front of the office.
“Don’t worry, we’re still closing early. After last night we all deserve it,” Sho told him, leaning back in his chair. “You can probably leave as soon as we come back from the meeting.”
“I’ll stay until you guys do,” Aiba assured him.
Before Sho could get out another altruistic response, Nino called out across the office.
“Jun, we have to leave in twenty minutes. If you make us late again because you have to do your makeup-“
“It was only foundation and it was only one time!” Jun yelled back, obviously embarrassed by the comment. “And because I had acne that day!”
“Just saying, better get moving to fix up that pretty face of yours.”
A sound of annoyance came from Jun’s office over the partitions, and Sho distractedly watched when Jun stormed past their doorway. Aiba leaned his elbow on the desk and rested his head on his palm, slouching.
“He doesn’t even need make-up to be pretty, huh Sho-chan?” he asked as indifferently as he could, and was pleased when Sho fell into his trap.
“I agree. He’s one of the prettiest-“ Sho started to automatically reply in his distraction, then caught himself and shifted his eyes to Aiba suspiciously.
“Just saying,” Aiba ended the conversation just in case things got awkward, and returned to his mail stack. “Anything else I need to know before you guys leave?”
“Not that I can think of…” Sho visibly relaxed and turned back to his computer, although he only looked at it thoughtfully. The question had diverted Sho’s attention back to his proper work ethics, and worry that something could go wrong while they were gone. “If you need to go out for any reason, you can just lock the front door while you’re away. The key’s over here…”
Sho stood up and directed Aiba into The Lair. Aiba hadn’t noticed before, but next to one of the zombie posters there was a small line of hooks on the wall, which held three keys in a row. One was rather small, and the other two looked almost identical, the kind of duplicates made at a key shop. Aiba wondered what they were for, but he supposed it couldn’t be anything too important if they were out here in the open. And there wasn’t much opportunity for them to be stolen, since someone was around all the time, particularly Nino who never left his little cave. This was the safest place for them in the office.
“It’s this one.” Sho indicated the twin key on the left. “The other one is for the storage shed in the back, but the only thing there now is Nino’s old broken computer.”
Although he wondered about that, Aiba politely nodded his head. Sho noticed and explained anyway.
“He’s too cheap to throw it out. I tried to fix it, but the motherboard is fried and it needs a new hard drive anyway. Despite that, he’s insisting that we use it for ‘parts’ even if the thing is from the previous decade,” Sho scoffed with one side of his lips twitching upwards. He took a few slow steps back out into the hallway as he talked, smoothing down the lapels of his suit.
Aiba nodded, but could share Sho’s feelings, and filed away another fact about his boss into the back of his mind. It was like a puzzle that he was trying to fit together with one more piece in place.
“Anyway, you won’t need to use that today. Just close up the shop if you have to leave, and take the key with you.”
“Okay. But I shouldn’t need to go out. I brought a lunch and everything.”
“There’s still some food from yesterday as well. Thanks again for that,” Sho commented, leaning against the wall next to Jun’s office more casually than Aiba had ever seen him. A little strange considering he was dressed up for the meeting, classier than usual.
It was then that both Jun and Nino walked back into the office. They had left through the front door a few minutes earlier and the reason was obvious now. Just like Sho, they were both in full suits, fitted and crisp as if they’d been freshly cleaned, Nino carrying his other shirt and jeans in his hands while Jun had a bag slung over his shoulder.
There was no denying that they both looked good. Before that moment Aiba hadn’t thought a suit would fit Nino with his perpetually messy hair and slouched back, but he had been proven wrong. It was cut to accent his slim waist, making his shoulders appear a little broader than Aiba knew they were, and the pants were tight at his hips.
It wasn’t until the two of them headed to a closet in the kitchen area to put their other clothes away that Aiba realized he’d been staring.
With probably the same expression that Sho had on his face right now.
Sho noticed Aiba’s attention on him and shifted uncomfortable-although Aiba could tell he’d noticed that they were in the same position. “Anyway, as I was saying…” Sho mumbled, turning to look into The Lair as if using that as a cover. “I’ll give you my cell phone number just in case,” he said after a moment, as if he couldn’t just leave things at that.
“Okay. Good luck at your meeting!” Aiba managed some enthusiasm despite feeling a bit off balanced by Nino. Again.
“Thanks. Shouldn’t be anything difficult. In fact it’ll probably be over with by noon,” Sho commented distractedly, his eyes automatically landing on Jun again. He watched him for a second, but as soon as Jun turned and caught him Sho asked, completely normal, “Ready to go?”
“Just let me grab my suitcase,” Jun replied, coming towards them, not noticing that anything unusual had transpired. He slipped into his office and Sho finally left Aiba’s side to get his own stuff.
To get to The Lair, Nino had to pass by Aiba, and Aiba couldn’t help but watch him, feeling a little nervous and on edge.
“Good luck, Nino-san.”
Nino looked at him briefly and made a curt noise to say he’d heard him.
It was better than nothing he supposed.
“Just like Sho said, it’s nothing to worry about. We got everything done, so now it’s just presenting it.” Jun came out of his office and patted Aiba on the shoulder with an easy smile. “I’m more worried about you getting bored here all by yourself.”
The comment made him laugh and he patted Jun back on the shoulder. “I’ll miss you guys,” Aiba replied dramatically, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.
Leave it to Jun to lighten Aiba’s mood.
“Idiot,” Jun laughed back, still as relaxed as when Aiba had come in that morning. “See you later,” was his final comment before heading towards the front door where Sho was already waiting. Nino came out right behind him, blatantly ignoring Aiba as he passed.
When Aiba saw them to the door, though, Nino addressed him with a firm stare.
“I’m serious when I say you’ll take full responsibility if something happens while we’re gone.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” Jun assured him before Aiba could, and he pushed Nino towards the door. “Come on, it’s time to go.”
Aiba watched them leave with conflicting feelings, then took a deep breath and looked around the empty and suddenly much lonelier office.
It was true, it wasn’t like he had anything to do here, no work of his own, but at least he could take a minute to calm down.
More than before, Nino’s attitude that morning left Aiba completely stunned. Last night he’d hoped that they were getting somewhere, but it must have just been sleep deprivation after all. Besides, Nino’s feelings were understandable-Aiba’d been working here less than a month and he was being left in charge of the company that Nino had built with his own sweat (well maybe just in charge of the physical part of the company). Nino had reason to be defensive, but that didn’t make things easier for Aiba.
He went back to his desk and pulled out his phone. There was only one person left to turn to at this point, and he was going home early after all.
+++
Touma had only laughed when he had explained the situation with Nino.
Their dinner in Aiba family’s half-empty restaurant had started with Aiba detailing how he’d gotten the job in the first place, his friendship with Jun, Sho, and Ohno, and had ended up with the real topic he’d wanted to discuss: his boss.
“I get this, I totally get it,” Touma said with a hearty grin, an ecstatic and triumphant expression on his face. “You hate that he doesn’t like you.”
“Wh-what?!” Aiba felt himself flush down to his collarbone. That was not what’d he’d been expecting or hoping for.
“You’re the kind of person that needs people to like you. And Nino hasn’t warmed up to you yet so it’s driving you crazy. That’s what this is all about.”
Aiba actually gave that statement a thought. Indeed he was the kind of person that wanted people to like him, but he felt like this situation was a little deeper than that.
“That can’t be it…” he mumbled, shifting the food on his plate in distraction, pouting that Touma actually wasn’t helping him at all. He had just lost his last hope for finding a quick resolution.
“Listen, Aiba,” Touma sighed with that jaunty grin Touma was famous for. “I know Nino. He’s not the most social person, that’s true. But he’s not mean without a reason. I think you’re reading into this too much.”
That caused Aiba to frown.
It did feel like Nino was being mean to him when it wasn’t called for, but Aiba seemed to be the only person noticing that. Then again, because no one else was noticing, it might just be inside of his head after all. Maybe his friend was right. He should let things be as they were instead of worrying so much about it. Just as he had been thinking all along, things would work themselves out in the end.
Nino had given him the job after all.
“Now, give me some more details about this thing with Jun and Sho…”
+++
The closed sign on the office was up when Aiba arrived at work.
The door was unlocked, though, so he tentatively walked inside, looking around at all of the lights off.
Sho wasn’t in his cubicle, his computer turned off, so Aiba set his bag down and walked to the back of the room. Jun wasn’t here either, so Aiba turned to The Lair, wondering what in the world was going on.
There on the floor, in the pile of blankets that Ohno had been sleeping in days before, was Nino. He was curled up on himself, his breath steady and mouth open a little, lips dry because of it.
Aiba was afraid to get too near, so he looked around again, making sure that no one else was here or had arrived, then took a step closer, leaning down to get a better look. If it had been anyone else he would have run for his phone to take an incriminating picture, but unfortunately he wasn’t on such lax terms with Nino.
Nino was rather pretty wasn’t he? Just as much as Jun, only in the cute genre with his blunt nose and small chin decorated by his signature mole. If he had been the type, Nino could have played girls easily, making all of them fall for him and his well honed charms. Aiba wasn’t sure why, but he appreciated the fact that Nino was exactly as he was now, even if they weren’t quite getting along yet.
This would be a very embarrassing situation to get caught in by Jun, so Aiba looked around again before he squatted down next to Nino, wondering if he should wake him or not. He could probably use the sleep, since those bags under his eyes were still apparent.
But it was time for work, and Aiba wasn’t sure what to do without anyone else around…
He was still debating action in his head when Nino’s let out an uneven breath and barely shifted his body, his eyes moving a bit behind his eye lids.
Aiba found himself frozen in place, watching attentively until Nino cracked his eyes open and they focused on him, still slow with sleep.
“Ah, Aiba-san,” Nino said in a hoarse voice, then cleared his throat and pushed himself up on an elbow. “What’re you doing here? Didn’t Sho tell you everyone has the day off?”
“No,” Aiba replied stupidly, because he hadn’t been told.
Nino chuckled, but it sounded half-hearted and warped. He yawned before replying.
“Go home, Aiba. You’re not getting paid today.”
There it was, that tone that everyone else wasn’t picking up on. It made Aiba feel a little defensive.
“Why are you here then? If everyone has the day off.”
Nino rubbed his eye sleepily and Aiba felt his chest constrict again, enough that he almost clutched at his shirt but managed to contain himself at the last minute. Apparently Nino was bad for his health.
“Need to check a few things. It won’t take that long.”
“Then it’s okay if I stay until you’re done, right?” Aiba asked casually. More than anything he wanted to make sure that Nino was actually getting rest-the fact that he had been sleeping in the office and apparently made a habit out of it was appalling to Aiba and his need to take care of people. Part of him wondered if Nino even rented an apartment or anything, but he brushed that concern aside until another day.
At the suggestion Nino looked annoyed. “You’re not getting paid.”
Although it probably wasn’t, Aiba took it as Nino conceding to his suggestion, and smiled his stupid Aiba smile. “That’s fine with me, it won’t take that long, right? I’ll make you some coffee.”
Not waiting for a response, Aiba bounced up, feeling a little empowered by Nino’s aura of sleep (he wondered if that would last long) and left The Lair, flipping on the light in the hallway as he passed.
Nino grumbled behind him.
It was decided. He was going to make himself comfortable in Ohno’s place (Oh-chan surely wouldn’t mind) and just be together with Nino today. That should help their friendly-boss-and-subordinate-relationship move along quite nicely, Aiba thought.
Besides, he’d brought lunch for both of them as usual, and it would be a shame to let that go to waste.
After he’d taken care of usual routine (poured Nino the coffee, put his things away, check the mail on his desk, etc) Aiba picked up his cell phone and own coffee and returned to The Lair.
By then Nino had moved into his chair and turned the TV on, his game remote in one hand and mug in the other. He sent a suspicious look as Aiba waltzed past him and plopped down into the pile of blankets that Nino had been in a moment ago.
“Don’t sit there,” Nino complained, but his tone was half-hearted, so Aiba just made himself comfortable until his boss became more proactive about moving him. There was no one here for Nino to use against him, and Aiba figured that Nino didn’t think it was worth the effort to do it himself.
He was right. Ten minutes later Nino still hadn’t said anything else, just played through the first level of the game with a new item and glanced at Aiba out of the corner of his eye once in a while.
Validated in his decision, Aiba was finally the one to start the conversation, feeling quite satisfied with his plans for the day.
“But let’s have lunch before you go home, okay? Because otherwise you won’t eat anything, right?”
Aiba wasn’t stupid. He knew that Nino had been planning on spending the whole day here, and probably wouldn’t have eaten anything at all either. Which is why he had been lucky that Sho had forgotten to tell him (or, as he found out upon checking his phone, sent a message at a ridiculously late hour that barely made sense).
“You’re worse than Jun,” Nino grumbled, sliding down in his chair more than he already had been, keeping his eyes glued to the TV.
“Do you want some now? For breakfast?”
“Shut up.”
Aiba thought that ruffled Nino was rather cute, but he kept that to himself and snuggled further into the blankets.
+++
It had been easy to keep up the silence.
Aiba got distracted watching Nino play (both the screen and Nino’s face), and that was enough to keep his brain busy. It wasn’t until Nino had beaten the second boss and let out a big yawn that Aiba was jolted out of his daze and realized it had been several hours since he’d come in. His back was stiff from lying in the same position for so long, and eyes dry from his focused attention.
With a muffled grunt at his stiffness, Aiba pushed himself up, catching Nino as he turned to watch him.
“Lunch?” Aiba offered. It was a little early, but the timing seemed right.
“Whatever,” Nino sighed, placing the controller next to his empty coffee cup on the small table to his side and stretching his arms above his head.
Aiba got the lunches from his bag and came back immediately, handing one to Nino, who took it without a second thought. It was like they were back at that one special night a few days ago when Nino had complimented his cooking (sort of) and even teased him a little.
Trying not to be obvious, Aiba watched Nino as they ate. He tried to pick up signs that Nino had eaten his lunches before, just for confirmation, and so far that seemed to be the case; he knew right away how to open the clasp on the side, and methodically fixed the two containers on his lap as if it was a usual habit.
It wasn’t anything concrete, and maybe Aiba was just reading into things, but he smiled as he opened his own lunch.
“What?” Nino asked suspiciously, obviously noticing what Aiba’d been doing.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah right,” he replied with a scoff, but let the topic drop in favor of focusing on his lunch.
It was a prime chance to learn more about Nino, but Aiba didn’t even know where to start, what questions were the best to ask first.
“So… do you have any other hobbies, besides video games?” A bit lame, but the only thing that was coming out.
Nino narrowed his eyes at him, probably annoyed that he was prying into his life.
Aiba encouraged him with his bright I’m-very-interested-look, which tended to work well under normal circumstances.
Nino took a bite of fried rice and stared at the TV for a full minute before he finally sighed and tentatively replied, “Music…”
“Like singing?”
“…Piano and guitar. I don’t sing much.”
“I’d love to listen to you sometime-“
“I don’t perform,” Nino cut him off, as if he’d been asked to countless times before. “And I haven’t been practicing much lately,” he added and somehow that softened the previous statement a bit.
“Jun says everything around here is busy. It must be hard for you to do so much work every day!”
“Hm,” Nino mumbled back, and it didn’t sound like he was disagreeing with him. “We get by.”
“I’d be happy to help any way I can.” His grandma’s medical bills would be paid eventually, but Aiba had a feeling he wasn’t going to leave Hatenai Sora Inc. even when they were. Hopefully his parents would forgive him.
“Hm,” was all Nino offered again, but his expression relaxed as he stared down at his bento, focusing too much on eating his lunch.
“Nino, why did you hire me?” Aiba suddenly asked, even though he hadn’t meant to. Just another case of his mouth running away on him, and for a second he regretted it.
That got his attention, and Nino’s head shot up to look at Aiba in mild surprise. But he schooled the expression and distracted his vision back to the TV.
“Spur of the moment is all. Jun’s fault.”
The half-assed answer hurt a bit, but Nino couldn’t be expected to bear the truth that carelessly.
“Well, I’m glad.”
Aiba didn’t want to lose the light atmosphere that was in the air by pressing his question, so he scarfed down the rest of his lunch and then took his bento to the kitchen to wash it out. It may have been a little cowardly of him to not face Nino head-on now that he was in uncertain territory, but his plan had been to take things one step at a time and he had already taken more than that from Nino today.
Another cup of coffee was in order, so Aiba started the machine before taking care of his lunch box, meticulously washing it out in the sink even though all it really needed was a quick once over. After that he went back into The Lair for his mug, pausing next to Nino for a moment, until the other man looked up at him.
“Coffee?” Aiba offered with a soft smile, and Nino seemed to realize he wasn’t about to be interrogated again. His face became lax and he reached for his cup, offering it to Aiba, and Aiba was happy to see that most of the lunch was gone too.
When Aiba came back with the coffee cups a few minutes later, Nino had finished everything and the empty box sitting on the table. Nino was rotating his neck to get rid of the stiffness and rubbing his fingers to prepare to return to gaming, and Aiba thought he looked very tired.
He knew exactly what Nino needed.
“How about a massage?” Aiba offered with an encouraging smile, remembering that he had put that on his list of things he was good at when he had come into the office for a job in the first place. It had been the tie breaker and he finally had a chance to prove his skills.
“I’m fine.” Nino’s answer was immediate and firm, but now that the idea had planted itself inside Aiba’s head, it was going to stay there until he followed through.
“I insist! You had a hard day yesterday! And it’s free, think of it that way.”
Aiba ignored Nino’s discomfort and set the two cups of coffee down by the empty lunch box before promptly getting behind Nino’s chair and placing his hands on his shoulders.
“I don’t really think this is appropriate-“ Nino got out in a nervous voice as he tried to wiggle away. But he didn’t stand up, so Aiba started to move his fingers into the tight muscles above Nino’s collarbone, and in the moment of uncertainty maneuvered Nino right where he wanted him.
“You’re really tense, just like I thought.” He could tell by the way Nino was straining his neck that it probably hurt a little, but Aiba knew that the pain would relax away in another minute or two, and it would keep Nino’s mouth closed in the meantime.
The t-shirt Nino was wearing was thin and a little worn, and Aiba could feel the warmth from his skin as plain as day through it. His fingers worked their way to the curve of Nino’s shoulder and then slid a few inches down his back to return towards his spine in a circle.
Nino loosened up eventually, but unlike most of his massage recipients, Nino was antsy even after that, moving his arms around every few seconds and arching his back when Aiba found that tender spot near his left shoulder blade.
“Ow, ow,” he finally gasped out with a hiss of breath, and Aiba softened his grip a bit. Although, instead of leaving it alone, he continued to work that piece of muscle with a little more technique, helping it un-tighten.
“It’s worse than I thought. Maybe you should lie down on the ground.”
Aiba thought his plan would be rejected right away, but Nino sounded a bit reluctant when he replied. “I… I was going to start back up on the game…”
It was if a magical switch had been pressed and suddenly Nino was putty in his hands. That tended to happen when Aiba gave massages; albeit this was the happiest he’d ever been for that particular talent.
“It will just be a few minutes,” Aiba assured him, and even went as far as to usher Nino off of the chair and to his pile of blankets.
“Are you-“ his question as cut off at his quick intake of breath. Before he could change his mind, Aiba had shoved him down and promptly went to work at his mid-back, where he knew he would be sore from his slouching and sitting all day.
His guess was spot-on, and Aiba smiled proudly (now that Nino couldn’t see) when Nino twitched again, revealing another sore area. Aiba’s fingers rocked back and forth against the muscle, making Nino’s t-shirt bunch up around his hips. When a sliver of skin could be seen above the waist of his pants, Aiba got a bit distracted watching it, but his fingers moved automatically, rubbing against his spinal cord next.
After that was the dip in his lower back, which was more pronounced than Aiba had been expecting. Everything was stiff there and would take a bit more time to finish than he was willing to take from Nino right now. He did what he could, starting off easy and then increasing the pressure second by second, rotating the tips of his fingers in small circles against his skin.
“Ah… Ah, Aiba-san,” Nino gasped out and that got his attention away from the bare skin laid out before him. His eyes shot up to Nino’s face as he turned onto his back and pushed Aiba away, his face flushed and lips red from panting. “Too much,” he commented, but Aiba wasn’t listening.
In that moment, things clicked.
Seeing Nino like that, venerable and sexy and honest, was the last piece of the puzzle and Aiba realized he was an idiot. The reason Nino’s distance had bothered him, all of his overthinking and worries boiled down to one thing.
He was in love with Nino.
Completely, head over heels in love, and Aiba was an idiot for not seeing it until now.
+++
Aiba was the sort of person who listened to his own instincts and wants, rather than social norms or expectations.
So, when he should have excused himself and gone home to cool down, instead he stayed at the office with Nino, watching him play his next hour or two on the game.
“You’re being creepy,” Nino finally commented, referring to Aiba’s unwavering gaze on his face.
“Ah, sorry,” Aiba replied without much emotion backing his statement, and continued on as he had been, his eyes not leaving Nino. After his epiphany Nino had escaped back to his chair and Aiba hadn’t followed him (at least he’d had that much sense), instead spreading out on the blanket bed again, where he had a good view.
Most of the time was taken up looking back on the long list of signs that he was in love, which he had ignored or not noticed. Even though he was so caught up in Jun and Sho’s romance (or was that, because), he hadn’t guessed at all that that’s what he was going through with Nino.
The question was whether he was going to take his own advice and go for it like he wanted Jun to, or not.
He was leaning towards not right now.
After all he’d only been here a short time, and although Nino was far from forbidding relationships within the office, Aiba didn’t want to mess things up and lose his precarious job position so soon. Not only was he in love with his boss, but his boss was Nino, the man who had been avid about avoiding him despite the fact he had agreed to give him a job.
“Fine,” Nino sighed, dropping his controller onto his lap and raising his hands in exasperation. “I’ll go home. Happy?” His tone was half annoyance and half surrender, and he completely ignored Aiba as he picked up the controller to filter through to the save screen and shut the system down.
Although that hadn’t been his intention, Aiba supposed it was a good enough outcome. It was late afternoon, but earlier than Aiba even usually went home. Now if only he could be assured that Nino just wasn’t going to do the same thing once he got there and play video games for the rest of the night instead of resting like he should.
“Should I go with you?” Aiba offered before he really processed the statement and then blushed just as deeply as Nino did-although, Nino’s was probably anger.
“You are worse than, Jun! Listen, Aiba-san, I am a grown man that can take care of myself, I will spend my free time as I like whether that is working or not!” he replied hotly, confirming Aiba’s suspicions, and Aiba may have gotten just a little worked up watching him be so passionate. “I built this company with my own hands and god be damned if I’m not going to take care of it-“
“I’m sorry,” Aiba said clearly and as sincerely as possibly, and bowed his head to prove his intent. “I didn’t mean it that way. You should know by now how much of an idiot I am.” He hoped that those words would lighten the mood, and at least they stopped Nino’s rant.
“You are an idiot,” Nino grumbled, and Aiba wondered if Nino would ever know just how true that statement was.
Nino shot up out of his chair and began collecting his personal items, which had been haphazardly placed on the floor. After they were all tucked into his pockets or his shoulder bag he looked at Aiba pointedly with cold eyes and jerked his head towards the exit.
“Come on, you’re leaving too.”
“Yes, sir…” Aiba whined in his usual way without thinking about it. Touma called it his “lost puppy” look, and when Nino saw it his expression softened just barely.
“And not to my house. Go home.”
Aiba let out a laugh before he could stop it even though it was at the risk of Nino’s returned wrath, but Nino just rolled his eyes and leaned over to jerk the key off the wall. He didn’t even wait for Aiba to catch up before stomping out of the cubicle.
+++
Things went back to normal after that, despite Aiba’s revelation.
He came into the office every day like usual, and Nino mostly ignored him, like usual. Jun refused to take any action with Sho, so Aiba had begun wondering whether he shouldn’t start working on Sho instead. Then again, they were all still busy because of the goal to finish the game by the end of the year (they were already down to the last few months), and so Aiba couldn’t quite convince himself it was worth it with the current timing.
One thing he was convinced of, though, was that he had to make himself more useful. Not because he was afraid of getting fired, but because he could do so much more for them, his friends and coworkers. He wanted to do more for them.
Instead, it seemed like Aiba was the one who continued to receive their help.
“Hey, Aiba-chan.”
Aiba turned away from the cupboard, where he had been putting away coffee and a few other items he’d gotten to refill the stock in the kitchen (it was mostly coffee). Jun was stretching as he came over from his cubicle, wearing his usual fashionable clothing: today a gray cardigan over a tight red shirt and fitted slacks.
“Do you have a minute?” he asked, holding back a yawn, and Aiba nodded. Actually he had been finished a moment ago, but he didn’t have anything else to do until he went home, so he’d been double checking everything. If Jun was going to distract him for even a few minutes he would welcome it.
“Sure!”
“Let’s get some fresh air, huh?” he grinned, and Aiba nodded encouragingly.
There was one other office on the second story, but Aiba had never seen it in use (there wasn’t even a name on the door). It was a moderately old building in general, including emergency escape stairs out back that were questionable at best, but good enough for a quick chat or smoke. Aiba didn’t smoke because of his lungs, and he had never seen any of the rest of them either, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t use the space as they saw fit.
So Jun led him out of the metal door to the fire escape, taking a deep breath as the crisp air fit their faces. Aiba wondered what he wanted to talk about, or if he really was just looking for a short break. If so, Aiba had plenty of questions and love lectures, although Jun might be sick of those by now.
Before he could say anything, Jun slipped his hand inside his cardigan and pulled out an envelope, looking at it thoughtfully before offering it to Aiba.
“What’s this?” he asked curiously, taking it from him. Although what was inside was clear, since the heavy coins were causing envelope to bend sideways.
“Your paycheck. It’s the end of the month.”
“But…”
There were so many questions. Aiba thought that pay-checks usually came a full work-cycle behind, and the job he’d almost gotten before Touma had said it wasn’t going to give him his paycheck until he had worked there at least a full month. He’d been working for Hantenai Sora Inc. for barely over three weeks.
“I heard about your grandma from Touma. He said that’s why you were looking for a job in the first place.”
“But-“ Aiba tried to argue back, looking down at the envelope. He really didn’t deserve such kindness.
“Don’t worry, I talked it over with Sho and Nino. They said it was fine to give you an advance. It’s not really that much, after all. I even talked Nino into no interest.”
Without any warning Aiba’s eyes started tearing up and he sniffed before rubbing them away. “You guys are the best!”
Jun laughed first before patting him on the back. “It’s nothing.”
“No, really, this job is the best thing that’s happened to me,” Aiba declared. “You, and Sho-chan, and Nino, and Oh-chan, I don’t know what I would do without you guys now! You’re like my new family!” His tears were only getting worse despite his huge smile, and he continued trying to wipe them away and save himself some dignity. It was a good thing Jun brought him outside for this.
“Well, I do have something else I want to talk about,” admitted Jun with a slightly more serious tone. He turned to lean his back against the brick building and looked across the street, where they had a fabulous view of the back of a supermarket.
“What?” Aiba tried to sober up, but continued sniffing for another moment, wiping his nose on the back of his hand next, but finally able to calm down his breathing.
“Are you serious about working here long-term? Or only until things are taken care of with your grandma?”
Jun wasn’t looking at him, as if the answer would be one Jun didn’t want to hear.
Aiba sniffed again and took a deep breath. Although his head said he needed to think his reply over better, his heart told him was the ultimate answer would be. And he didn’t want to cause any more misery by telling Jun he needed to wait any longer.
“If you’ll keep me…” he replied tentatively, wiping his wet palm on his jeans, the envelope already crumpling in his other hand. “I know I’m pretty useless.”
At the answer, Jun turned to him with a gentle smile and clasped him on the shoulder. “You’re not, Aiba. You’ve done more than you realize.”
What that implied wasn’t obvious, but Aiba was happy to have some affirmation.
“I want to do more!”
“Okay, okay,” Jun laughed again. “I’ll see what can be done.”
Aiba beamed. “Thank you.”
They shared a content look between them, then Aiba glanced down at this envelope, trying to smooth it out with his other hand. He didn’t want to go back inside yet, because his eyes were probably red and his face a mess, so he hoped Jun would give him a moment to himself.
Except, Jun apparently had one more thing to talk about. He cleared his throat and suddenly his gentle expression turned stern.
“Now, tell me why does Touma know about Sho? It was supposed to be a secret!”
Aiba’s first reaction was to laugh, but he managed to cover his mouth at the last second. He wasn’t thinking at all when he had brought Touma into the situation, trying to figure out the most effective way to get the two men together. Touma hadn’t had much insight, but he had been amused at Jun’s crush.
That was a terrible thing to do, to break his promise to Jun! But by the look on Jun’s face, he was going to forgive him.
+++
The money had been put to use right away. When he’d given it to his mother and told her what’d happened, she’d cried harder than Aiba had, and didn’t hesitate to forgive him when he explained he wasn’t going to be quitting once they were caught up.
+++
A/N: Sorry I suck at titles guys.
Part Three: Continue?