Ohno in Wonderland

[boblemon]

Title: Ohno in Wonderland
Rating: PG-13ish
Pairing: Ohno/Everyone (specifically Ohno/Jun), Nino/Sho
Genre: AU, fantasy bordering on crack
Chapter: three
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Just like Alice, Ohno falls down the rabbit hole... only there are more familiar people there waiting for him than Alice had. Inspired by the recent Tim Burton Movie, Animated Classic, and the books.



Chapter one
Chapter two

The guard that was gently holding onto Ohno’s elbow began shaking as he pushed the artist forward, obviously terrified of Nino’s upset attitude. Sho and Kame turned to watch, both moving to the side to let the approaching pair through, and Ohno finally was able to see what his dream Nino looked like.

He was draped across the throne with one leg tossed up over the arm rest, his chin resting heavily on his hand propped up by the elbow on the other side. Almost just like the Nino in the real world, this one had shaggy hair that had just a hint of curl to it, enough that he had styled it so that it rested on the side of his face instead across his forehead, and atop of it was a tiny silver crown that had several heart shaped pieces cut out of it. He was also wearing a small red velvet cape with white trim, just like Ohno imagined most royalty wore, but was otherwise dressed smartly in a stylized suit. His under vest was shorter than the standard size so that it only covered half of his white dress shirt, and had two bright red hearts on either side of the heart shaped buttons in the middle. He was also wearing a red bowtie and had a belt with an oversized heart buckle on it. As for the pants, they had a pin striped print and were tucked into his boots, which were as tall as his knees and also secured with silver heart shaped buckles.

Ohno thought he was quite handsome and almost intimidating, but he had seen his real life Nino’s magic show in which he made a fool of himself and so, even though he looked at this very important person in his dream, all he could imagine in his mind was Nino with a lady's stocking pulled over his head.

“This is the pawn?” the high ranking man asked for clarification as the guard quickly ducked back and left Ohno standing alone in front of the Very Important Nino.

“Yes, this is the pawn,” Kame said slowly and Sho frowned at him.

“Pawn,” Nino started in a haughty voice, but Ohno quietly broke in.

“My name is Ohno. You can call me Oh-chan if you want.” He didn’t bother saying that that was what the other Nino called him since he didn’t want to have to explain anything.

“Oh-chan,” Nino started again, as if he hadn’t really realized the change in way he was addressing his prisoner. “Is it true that Kame caught you?”

Looking over at Sho, Ohno already knew that there would be a pathetic pleading look there (and there was), and eventually he turned to Kame as well, who was sending him a warning glare.

“I don’t know,” the artist replied honestly, returning his gaze to Nino, who seemed mildly interested in his answer. “Sho caught me this morning and Kame caught me this afternoon.”

“Ah!” the heart clad man said in excitement. He sat forward and dropped his feet to the floor, then punched a fist into his other hand as if he suddenly understood the entire situation. “I see, I see. Most excellent! If that’s the case, I have no choice but to split you in half and give one part to each of them!”

Sho looked ecstatic and Kame pouted.

But Ohno thought it sounded painful.

“Congratulations, Sho-chan!” Nino said happily, jumping up and darting down the few stairs to be on the same level as the knight. “It’s only half a point, but it’s still your first capture!” He hugged him tightly and Sho was so red he looked like he could merge right in to Nino’s attire.

“Th-th-tha-thank you,” he said happily as the smaller man pulled back.

Turning to Kame next, Nino gave him a pat on the shoulder and consoled, “It’s half a point, anyway. Good job!” Kame still didn’t look very happy, but he averted his eyes shyly as Nino smiled at him, and finally the man in charge turned to Ohno, who was standing in the middle of their little celebration.

“Pawn-“

“Ohno,” the artist tried to correct, but Nino just looked annoyed.

“Pawn, you will be spending the rest of the evening with me. Let’s go!” he said arrogantly, stomping off towards the exit and obviously expecting Ohno to follow him. He didn’t, but after a second, Sho, who had pulled himself together, gently took him by the elbow and began thanking him over and over again as they followed Nino.

“Oh, Hatter!” Right before he had reached the door, the man in charge had spotted Jun and turned abruptly. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been meaning to challenge you to another game of Flangerfluffle.”

Jun rolled his eyes and took a breath that sounded like he was in agonizing pain. “Dear God, why Flangerfuffle?”

“Why do you hate that game so much? You’re really quite good, although you haven’t been trying as hard to win recently.”

“That’s because if I win you’ll cut my head off!” Jun replied in exasperation.

“Well, yes,” Nino replied immediately, but still looked like he didn’t understand what the problem was.

“What’s the use then?” Ohno suddenly noticed as one of Jun’s hands came to rest on his hip that the streamer holding his arms together had fallen to the floor behind him sometime in the last five minutes. He pulled his own apart since he was feeling a little stiff at the awkward position.

“Well, regardless, we’re playing tomorrow. As for now… SHO-“ Nino yelled the name of the knight and he jumped to attention next to Ohno as his superior looked back at the pair.

“Yes, Nino?”

“Prepare a bath. Come on pawn, let’s go.” Nino held out his palm to Ohno like he would for a small child and only after a prodding from Sho did the artist shuffle forward and take his friend’s hand. Nino wasn’t usually this bossy and he wasn’t sure if he liked it very much.

“Can I at least hang out with Oh-chan tonight?” Jun asked pleadingly, frowning as Nino began dragging the other man away.

“No. You may stay in your usual room.”

Jun sighed and looked like a tortured, misunderstood teenager and Ohno could only offer him a small wave as he was taken away.

The pair walked through the castle, down several hallways and up at least one flight of stairs before they were standing in front of a moderately sized door that was framed by bright red drapes. Ohno hadn’t said anything, still not sure what to think about the Nino that he had been looking forward to meeting. But the man who was usually a magician pushed open the door and it was quite obvious that they were now in the important man’s private quarters, which consisted of a lavish red velvet bed and an oversized dresser, not to mention a huge mirror in the shape of a heart. There were also various doors set into the walls, some that looked fairly normal and some that were covered in hearts or at least in the cut of them.

“You’ll be sleeping in here tonight,” Nino explained, finally dropping Ohno’s hand and closing the door behind them. Taking his time, the room’s resident walked over to his bed and removed his cape, placing it on the mattress, and then started unbuttoning his vest. When the guest didn’t follow him, Nino looked over at him curiously.

They stared at each other for a moment and then Nino raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to get undressed?”

Ohno tilted his head, which was his basic reaction for just about everything now, and asked, “Why?”

“I said we were taking a bath, didn’t I?”

“Together?” the artist asked in apprehension. It wasn’t like he had a problem being naked with other people, he had just thought that things that involved two people being naked together also involved things like love and sex.

But Nino scoffed at him. “Dear Lord. Yes, together. Who else would I be taking a bath with? Kame? Certainly not!”

That didn’t make any sense to Ohno, but not many things were, so he didn’t dwell on it too long. And he really did need a bath…

So he followed Nino’s earlier path to the bed and slowly began removing his filthy stained shirt and then his pants (which were only in slightly better condition). When he got to his underwear he heard Nino scoff again.

“Clothes under your clothes that you can’t even see?! What nonsense is this? Where are you from, pawn?”

But there wasn’t enough time for Ohno to come up with an answer… not that he knew what it was anyway.

“Nino, the bath is ready.”

Sho had popped his head in from one of the many doors leading out of the bedroom and the artist was startled by the declaration. Although they had left Sho in the main hall a few minutes ago, was there really enough time for him to not only arrive before them, but also draw a bath? Ohno wasn’t sure, but he supposed he was going to find out right now… But he reminded himself that nothing here was logical anyway and that the regular rules of time and space probably didn’t apply in a dream…or hallucination, whichever it was.

Sho waited until the master of the room nodded at him, and then retreated back the way he had come, leaving the two alone again.

“Okay, pawn, let’s go.” Nino pulled the artist (who barely had time to struggle out of his underwear), by the hand to the door Sho had used, and the pair entered an expansive bath room together.

The air was wet with humidity from the hot water and Ohno took a deep breath, already feeling relaxed. He wasn’t sure how he could be exhausted like this inside of a dream, but he certainly felt that way and was looking forward to a little rest.

Sho followed them to the bath as if this was a regular occurrence and held Nino’s hand as the higher up climbed inside the classic looking tub. It was pristine white and raised off the ground by four legs that were actually in the shape of legs (a lion’s, to be exact) and the faucet, which was dripping a little, was made of silver so shiny that Ohno could see his reflection in it.

Once Nino sat down and submerged himself with a satisfied sigh, Sho turned to Ohno, who wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be doing. It was a regular sized bath, nothing huge like he had expected, and how were two grown men going to fit in there?

Another sigh of annoyance came from Nino and he motioned for Ohno to follow him, and so the artist did, since there didn’t seem to be another choice. Sho helped him in too, and then rushed across the room, apparently busy doing something else.

“Very good, pawn. Now, just sit down here in front of me.”

As directed, Ohno slid into the warm water with his back to Nino and closed his eyes as the warmth quickly spread through his body.

“So pawn, tell me about yourself,” Nino prompted gently as he began splashing water on Ohno’s shoulders and hair, the places that weren’t wet yet. Sighing as his body immediately went limp, the artist allowed his eyes to drift shut for a few seconds.

There was only the sound of moving water for a minute or two while the castle’s guest to get his brain working again, and then he finally mumbled, “I don’t know…”

“Well…” Nino replied gently, his hands running across Ohno’s shoulders now instead of just pouring water there and the massage sent him to heaven. “For example, what time did you wake up this morning?”

Ohno just hummed contently. He didn’t know.

Sho was back at the side of the tub, his metal gloves and boots gone, with an armful of bottles. He set them down one by one next to them on the floor and then handed a random blue one to Nino without being asked. His boss patted the knight happily on the head and then poured some of the liquid onto his hands, rubbing it into Ohno’s hair and making bubbles that eventually drifted onto the surface of the bath water.

“Hmm. What kind of racing horse do you like?”

Ohno giggled at the question and then promptly answered, “The fast kind.”

Nino laughed too and continued massaging the shampoo into Ohno’s hair. “What color of shoes do you wear?” Sho had taken off again, leaving the various items at Nino’s disposal.

“Black… I think… I don’t know.” Even though he had only taken them off a moment ago, Ohno was feeling too sleepy to think straight. He was slowly sliding back in the bath tub and resting against Nino as his consciousness drifted.

“Okay, down!” Nino said good-humoredly, easing Ohno under the water so that the shampoo would disperse. Waking up just slightly, the artist wiped his eyes, but Nino immediately guided him back to leaning against his chest and Ohno’s breath began to even out quickly. Nino was rubbing some more goop across his shoulders, working at some of the more tense spots. “I feel like I know you already!” he continued cheerily, then turned towards the door.

“SHO-CHAN!” he called, but even his loud voice didn’t affect the guest’s relaxed demeanor. “SHO-CHAN!”

The knight came back to their side at a trot, waiting attentively for Nino’s request.

“Read us a story,” he politely said as Sho leaned down to listen to him, and the knight smiled at Nino and nodded his head happily as if it was his favorite time of the night. Taking off the way he came, back into Nino’s room, Sho immediately disappeared to no doubt find them a storybook.

“Oh-chan, what kind of things do you like? What do you do in your free time?”

Not even realizing it was a fairly normal question, the artist immediately responded in a mumble, “Fishing. I like fishing and I paint and-“ He was ready to ramble off a whole list of things, which included singing and watching Jun play croquette with Nino, but he was cut short as the man behind him yelled again.

“SHO-CHAN! READ US A STORY ABOUT FISH.”

A few minutes of peaceful silence later (the back of Ohno’s head was gently resting against Nino’s neck and his eyes were closed), the knight came clamoring back with a thick book in his hands. He sat it next to the pile of bottles (of which they had only used two) and then opened up the front flap to pull out a separate, much thinner volume wasn’t even substantial enough to have a spine. Sitting on the heavier book so that his head was on the same plane as Nino’s, Sho cleared his throat and began reading in a practiced voice.

The Swordfish and the Shark

Once upon a time in an ocean, an ocean that was many different colors like orange at sunset or black in a storm or green on the edges or red during war, there lived two friends, two very very good good friends that were always with each other. But one was a swordfish and one was a shark and therefore neither had many other friends, since the sharks didn’t like the way the swordfish looked and the other swordfish were scared of the shark because he had sharp teeth.

It didn’t matter, though, because the swordfish and the shark, they were very good friends. They would go on picnics together and chase schools of goldfish together and terrorize fishermen together and they were very, very happy.

After a little while, while they were simply swimming around, they met another fish, one that wasn’t afraid of the shark or thought the swordfish looked strange. It was a small fish and not very pretty, but it was funny and would come up with jokes that made the swordfish laugh. Soon it began riding around on the shark’s head and instead of just two for picnics it was three and somehow the time was just as fun with three as it was with two.

But one day, the swordfish was waiting for his friends in a coral park, one that they often played at when the tide was high, but his friends didn’t join him. He waited and waited and waited and finally another fish mentioned to him that his friend the shark was chasing a school of fish on the other side of the jet stream with their new tiny companion.

Of course the swordfish wasn’t upset and simply went home, coming back to the same coral park the next day to wait for his friend to join him.

But the shark didn’t come.

Today he waited again, waited until the tide began to retreat, waited until he could see the top of the water, waited until he couldn’t go home any more.

But the shark didn’t come.

The next day the swordfish didn’t have to wait anymore.

Sho slowly closed the book and turned to the pair in the tub.

Somewhere during the course of the story, Ohno had perked up a little to listen and was now staring at the knight in wonder. It had been a sad story. A very sad one and he almost felt like crying for the poor swordfish.

“That was beautiful. Thank you Sho-chan,” Nino said solemnly.

Trying to cover up his emotions, Ohno turned back to the milky water they were submerged in, which was now luke-warm at best, and created a few ripples in the water with the tips of his fingers.

“Well, then, I think we’re done. Sho-chan, will you bring us our coats?”

The knight smiled in return, but after a second he hesitated.

“I have yours, your majesty, but there’s only one in your closet…”

Nino rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well, find another one.”

Sho’s head twitched and then he nodded and shuffled off.

Ohno blinked. “Kazu, why did he call you ‘majesty’?”

Not noticing the use of his first name, Nino smiled and replied, “I was waiting for you to ask! I’m the Red Queen, you know! I run this place!”

Opening his mouth to ask why Nino was being called a queen, Ohno realized that not much in this place was making sense and decided this explanation probably wouldn’t either.

“Oh, so you’re pretty important?”

The other man beamed. “That’s right. Very important. You know a very important chess piece, you should be happy.”

Sho was rushing back holding two trench coats in his arms and Ohno looked at him quizzically as he approached. Nino pushed him up, so the artist slowly stood, feeling sore and stiff now, and the queen immediately stepped out of the bath and shrugged on the bright yellow wool coat that Sho was holding up for him. As he began buttoning it up around the waist, he looked at Ohno expectantly. The knight was holding up another full length coat that was grey and didn’t look quite as heavy as Nino’s, but still pretty stifling after the hot bat.

He put it on anyway, since the other two men weren’t moving, and then Nino led him into the bedroom once again. It felt late, although Ohno really had no idea what time it was, and all he wanted to do anyway was fall asleep (if he could even do that inside of his dream).

Letting out a big yawn, the artist noticed immediately that his clothes were folded and sitting on the footrest of a red velvet armchair, and that Nino’s were nowhere to be seen.

“Time for bed, then?” the Red Queen asked teasingly, grinning at Ohno’s obvious fatigue. The artist just smiled sleepily and nodded.

Nino pulled back the oversized blankets on his bed and immediately crawled onto the soft mattress, scooting towards the center of it. He plopped back and looked at Ohno, who hadn’t followed him, then raised an eyebrow.

“We’re sleeping in these?” the artist asked slowly, not sure how comfortable he felt in a soggy trench coat… with no underwear…

Nino scoffed and his eyebrows twitched as he answered promptly, “Yes! What else would we sleep in?”

After a short pause, Ohno tentatively offered, “Pajamas?”

“Paja-!” Nino turned his head in amazement and irritation, then returned his stare to Ohno. “You want to sleep in pajamas?!”

The artist just blinked. It seemed to be an effective response.

And it worked. Nino sighed in defeat and yelled once again for Sho, who had disappeared into what seemed to be a closet.

“Sir?” the knight asked quickly, now dressed in a simple white t-shirt and shorts, looking ready for bed in the proper way.

“Find Oh-chan a pair of pajamas, would you?”

“Paja-?” Sho started to respond incredulously.

“Don’t ask, just do it,” Nino replied in irritation, and Sho ducked his head and rushed out of the room.

Ohno twiddled his thumbs while he waited, looking around the private quarters distractedly and marveling at how pretty everything was despite the overuse of red and hearts.

The knight was back quickly, though, with a normal looking pair of pajamas that were white with heart print, and he handed them gingerly to Ohno. As soon as he had finished helping the other man, Nino had promptly called his name again, redirecting the chess piece’s attention.

“Sho, I’m tired! Come snuggle with me!”

“Yes sir!” he replied and even gave a salute before promptly walking over to the bed. He crawled across the mattress and laid next to Nino, immediately dropping his hand around the smaller man’s waist and pulling him back against him. The queen began adjusting the blankets over the top of them and then patiently waited for Ohno, who had only started buttoning up his pajama top. Trying to go as fast as possible, the artist distractedly approached the side opposite of Sho, which had the most room for him to sleep, and when he finished putting the pajamas on he slid across the sheets and stopped next to Nino.

As he had changed his clothes, Ohno had examined his arm, which still hurt and was bruised, but it looked like it wasn’t infected, so he didn’t say anything to his new friends about the wounds and instead just decided that they would heal over soon enough. Assuming dream wounds had to heal. He’d also managed to get his underwear back on without any comments from Nino, glad that the knight was there to distract the Red Queen from any more criticisms.

“Come closer, Oh-chan,” Nino directed, patting the open space between the cuddling pair and Ohno.

He did, and finally the queen covered all three of them with the large blanket. Ohno stared at Sho and Nino as they immediately closed their eyes, looking content, and then allowed his own to float shut, since he was exhausted and now quite comfortable.

Right before he drifted off, Ohno wondered if the next time he woke up he would be at Jun’s wedding again. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to face that yet, still not having the courage to either congratulate the man or tell him that he loved him.

Ohno had dreams about tea and hearts and hats and everyone was happy. But in the morning when he woke up he was still in Nino’s heart shaped bed with the queen and his knight. He watched them sleep for a few minutes, recapping the previous day’s events and the differences and similarities between his dream friends and his real friends, and then tried to remember the details of the brief problem at Jun’s wedding.

After lounging around for more than ten minutes, Ohno pulled himself away from Nino (the artist had been tucked against the queen’s chest when he’d woken up) and slid off the bed.

Although he probably should have been, he wasn’t surprised to find Aiba sprawled out in the arm chair, Ohno’s filthy clothes still folded neatly on the foot rest.

“’Morning, Oh-chan.”

“’Morning.” He smiled sleepily.

Although he would rather stay in the pajamas for a while, Ohno wasn’t sure what else Nino would try to dress him in, so he took his dirty clothes in front of Aiba and began to change, attempting to ignore the cat watching him.

“There’s a nice fireplace in Nino’s library. Want to go in there?” Aiba offered when his friend was finished.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning again, Ohno nodded in return and followed Aiba as he walked (instead of disappeared) towards one of the doors on the same side of the room as the bathroom entrance.

He opened the door for the artist, and then waited for him to take a seat in front of the roaring fireplace (Ohno wasn’t sure why it was on this early in the morning, but it didn’t seem to be that hot even though it was lighting up the room and making the air comfortable) on a couch that matched the rest of the furniture in the royal quarters.

Once he’d gotten comfortable, Ohno immediately felt Aiba reappear next to him, then scoot closer, and he smiled at the artist cutely. After waiting for a moment, the Cheshire leaned forward and nuzzled Ohno’s neck, just like a real cat probably would, which caused the artist to giggle, but he began rubbing the top of Aiba’s head affectionately as if he actually were petting a cat in return.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Aiba slowly asked a question.

“Did you find your home, Oh-chan?”

Ohno’s hand was gently brushing Aiba’s hair back and forth and there was a purring sound coming from the Cheshire as his ears were rubbed.

That was a hard question.

If home was a place where people who loved him were waiting, this would certainly be it. Nino seemed to love him and Sho, too, even though he was very busy. And Aiba was here loving him right now. And if Jun’s shy looks meant anything, Jun loved him too.

…But somehow it wasn’t the same. He thought that maybe his friends in the real world loved him too.

And he was starting to miss them a little.

Ohno never voiced a reply to the question, only continued to comb his hand though Aiba’s hair.

The cat slowly fell asleep and Ohno was right behind him.

This time he dreamed he was a swordfish.

+++

A/N: A little shorter than the previous chapters, but a lot more content, maybe? I don't know...

How did you like Nino? There's a lot of backstory with him, Sho, and Kame in my head, but unfortunately there's not a lot of room to write it here, especially because this story focuses on Ohno. I might go into it more if I make a sequel, although I'm pretty sure I don't have the motivation for that right now.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think (good or bad)!!

Chapter four