Come On! Koibito! 12/21
The first thing Nino noticed upon waking was the warmth. There was a steady source of heat warming his body from head to toes and it felt wonderful. Not that it was particularly cold in his room at any given time but there was something almost comforting about this, like a warm blanket on a winter's day. His first thought was that the production team had turned on the heat in the night. It wasn't until he felt a slight pressure on his hip that Nino actually opened his eyes and took in the situation around him.
Yes, Nino kind of remembered letting Ohno in last night and could vaguely picture the man climbing into the bed, even after he had expressly told him not to. It couldn't be helped; it was too late and Nino was too tired to kick him out. If there had been more to it than that, Nino would never admit to it, at least consciously.
What Nino could not fathom, however, was how he had gotten himself into this position. Ohno's arms were wrapped around his waist, pulling Nino flush against the other man's torso. What had probably started out as unconscious spooning had turned into something more, though, as Nino must have turned in his sleep, curling into Ohno's chest and burying his face in his neck.
Nino could feel his cheeks burning as all the implications of his current position fully sunk in. He was half dressed, in bed, with the man that he was determinedly not falling for, twisted around him like wrapping paper on a Christmas gift. And somehow, despite all of the reasons against it that were running through Nino's head, the thought he kept coming back to was that, somehow, it didn't feel wrong.
A knock at the door brought Nino out of his reveries.
"Nino? You in there?" Aiba's voice called from the hallway, clearly somewhat impatient. Nino threw a startled glance at the door. Aiba couldn't see this. He couldn't.
"One second, Aiba~" Nino called, trying to extract himself from Ohno's arms. It was easier said than done, however, as the still sleeping man only groaned in protest to the movement and tightened his hold. A shiver ran down Nino's spine that he told himself to pay no attention to.
"What's the matter? It's not like I haven't seen you naked before," Aiba complained from behind the door. The guy had a point; there was no good reason why Nino could convince him to not come in. Which meant he would have to resort to desperate measures. He hoped Ohno would forgive him later.
Two swift kicks were enough to launch a startled and half awake cameraman off a bed. Ohno landed on the ground with an 'oof'.
"Everything all right in here?" Aiba questioned, opening the door and trying to determine the source of the crash he had just heard. Nino sat up in the bed, trying to surreptitiously even out the sheets so they looked only half used. What Nino had no control over, however, were dazed and sore cameramen who go from having nice rainbow colored dreams where fish had feline faces to returning to the waking world with a crash.
"What happened?" Ohno asked, rubbing the back of his head and glancing around with half lidded eyes. "Why does my head hurt?" Nino groaned, hand on his forehead as Aiba's eyes lit up with glee.
"You didn't," he breathed, scandal and excitement and approval in his tone. Nino had to nip this in the bud.
"You're right. We didn't," he returned, giving Aiba what was supposed to be a silencing glare. This was too good, though, and Aiba wasn't about to let it rest.
"Ohno," Aiba redirected his energies, "did you sleep with Nino?"
Ohno blinked some sleep out of his eyes, trying to focus his vision on the intruder and identifying it as Aiba. After a second to process the question, he nodded. "Yeah."
Aiba's eyes grew even wider than Nino had previously thought possible, like Christmas and his birthday had been rolled into one day. Nino groaned, dropping his head into his hands and trying to think of how to deal with this.
"Technically," he began, "we did sleep together. But nothing happened, Aiba, so get those thoughts out of your brain. All that went on in this bed was sleeping." Aiba tried to wiggle an eyebrow at his best friend but Nino just frowned, trying to put a rest to the argument. Eventually, Aiba sighed, seeing that his ribbing wasn't going to get anywhere right then.
"Anyways," Aiba sighed, saddened that Nino had put an end to his silliness, "Nagase wants us downstairs to prepare for the ceremony tonight. Something about a new standing arrangement or something. I don't know."
"Fine," Nino sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We'll be down in fifteen minutes." Aiba gave the two one last raised eyebrow before turning and exiting the room.
"Nobody gets to know about this," Nino turned to Ohno as soon as he saw the door close.
"Gets to know about what?" Ohno asked honestly. Nino sighed in relief that Ohno would play along, although a part of him (a ridiculous, romantic, stupid part of him) was slightly disappointed.
"That's the attitude," Nino smiled, winking at Ohno gratefully and jumping out of bed, headed to the closet and some clothes to trade his sweat pants for. With his back turned, Nino missed the tell tale furrow of Ohno's brow and the way his face sank with something like disappointment. But maybe that was for the best.
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Jun was not particularly looking forward to this challenge. Not that the contestants were aware it was a challenge, of course. No, they thought they were on another group date, one of the several that were thrown in throughout the contest. Jun was a little worried that it didn't seem like any of the contestants had managed to figure out yet, though, that none of these seemingly "off" weeks were actually always some kind of challenge, if only in disguise. Well, that wasn't true. Jun could think of a few contestants that might have figured it out and just weren't saying it. Ninomiya, for instance
Damn, that guy was interesting. He seemed like such an introvert, always playing on his DS during his down week, not actively seeking out anyone other than Aiba or his cameraman. While the other contestants didn't seem to mind his presence, they also didn't seem to have actively befriended him. And yet, on camera, he was a completely genial presence, as evidenced by the fact that he had managed to make it through every round in a fairly high ranking, even now that the game had already rooted out most of the "trouble makers" and some of the good guys were starting to go. Okura had gotten voted off last time. It was a shame; that guy had seemed nice. Then again, he had also seemed fairly interested in those blondes. Maybe that had come back to bite him.
Jun glanced over his shoulder to where all the contestants in his first date of the day (Mizobata, Kame, Toma, Yamapi, and Aiba) were engaged in discussion, eagerly talking about the ceremony a few nights before as they waited for their ride to arrive. It kind of sucked that Jun wasn't allowed to take the same car as them, something Kimura kept saying about making him seem like more of a prize. It was stupid but there was nothing Jun could do; Kimura made the rules.
Aiba began laughing, the noise vaguely resembling a hyena and Jun couldn't help but smile. That guy's humor was infectious. He was like a human ray of sunlight, somehow managing to brighten people's day with his mere presence. Of course, if the look on Nino's face half the time meant anything, he probably brought disaster in his wake part of the time as well but it seemed like a worthy trade to get to spend a spell with such a bundle of energy. Probably. Jun was aware that his time with the human tornado was severely limited and there was a good chance he was only seeing the bright side of things. He was also positive that Nino would agree. For some reason, that made him chuckle.
Sho wasn't supposed to come on site with them this time, Nagase getting on him about something. It was kind of weird, watching the bigger man pull Sho aside and Sho nodding to every word he said. Something was going on between those two and Jun was extremely curious to see what it was. He had then determined that Sho should ride in his car with him ("I need some human interaction, don't I?") and reluctantly, both Nagase and Sho agreed.
"You don't have to look so bummed about spending time with me," Jun had joked when Sho had agreed to accompany him to the site, a movie megaplex where they had reserved a theater to see the latest Abe Hiroshi movie a month early. Apparently, rumors had been circulating around the contestants that they were going to be tested on their knowledge of celebrities and movies after the showing. They were in for a surprise.
"Sorry, Jun," Sho shrugged. "It's not that; you know it's not that. I just don't feel like going on site today is all." The words were clearly reflected on his face, the host looking like death warmed over. Jun frowned as the two got into the car, buckling in for the twentyish minute journey.
"Any reason in particular?" Jun fished for information. "Don't tell me you're getting sick of Aiba's puppy dog crush yet?" It was meant as a tease, Jun flashing a smile at the older man but his grin dimmed when he noticed Sho's troubled face. "Seriously? But he's like your pet."
"I know," Sho sighed. "I know and it's not that I'm sick of him, not at all. It's just," Sho paused, rubbing the bridge of his nose with middle finger and thumb, "Nagase's been talking to me about it. Saying too much host/contestant air time was bad for Aiba's chances." Sho's head dropped into his hands. "I don't want to be responsible for that guy getting off the show."
Jun considered his new friend, taking in Sho's troubled posture and the way the guy sighed before straightening himself up and flashing an awkward smile at him.
"Ah, whatever," Sho tried to brush it off. "He's just a contestant that got a little too attached. It'll be fine. If I just give him the cold shoulder for a bit longer, he'll get the hint and hopefully, the audience at home will like him enough to keep him around til the last round. At that point, we'll be counting on you, Jun-kun." Sho faked tipping his hat at Jun and chuckled, trying to ease his own tension, Jun could tell.
No matter what Sho said, it was obvious in his posture, tone and facial expression that there was a lot more to this than trying to shake off the attentions of simple contestant. Sho, at the very least, liked Aiba. Any fool could see that. Hell, half the crew were taking bets on if anything would happen (without Sho's knowledge, of course). In fact, Nagase had odds on the negative. That explained a lot.
"I'll do my best," Jun responded and Sho smiled. Little did Sho have to know that Jun was busy making plans of his own. Yes, Jun had a bit too much time on his hands and so Project Aiba was added into his schedule as of that moment. Right alongside Mission Ninomiya.
Kimura really should give him more to do.
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"I don't know if I liked Matsu Takako's character all that much," Junpei thought out loud as the group left the theater and walked the few blocks to the restaurant where they were scheduled to have dinner. The movie, a dramatic thriller, had just ended and the group was discussing the various merits.
"You didn't?" Toma asked rather incredulously. "She was pretty much the best part!"
"You think so?" Yamapi blinked. "I mean, I understand why she was important but I don't know if I liked her all that much." Toma looked betrayed. Yamapi shrugged.
"What about the little kid?" Kame asked, trying to join the conversation. "I don't think the movie would have been anything if that little kid hadn't been so spot on."
"Oh, completely," Jun agreed, nodding in concordance, gently guiding the group to take a right turn. "What did you think, Aiba?"
"Eh?" Aiba looked up from where he had been fiddling with his hands, trailing at the back of the group. In all honesty, he hadn't really been himself the past few days and it must be beginning to show, especially if Jun was noticing. Ever since that last challenge, Sho had been giving him the cold shoulder. Aiba was trying to be tough about it, shoulder it all and keep moving forward, like Nino always said, but it was so hard.
"What did you think about the movie?" Jun repeated, kindness in his eyes. Nino was wrong, Aiba thought. Jun was a rather great guy once you got to know him. It was weird that Nino thought he was kind of creepy. Here Jun was being so nice to him, too.
"Oh, I liked it," Aiba smiled, trying to rally up some of his old energy. It was weird; Aiba couldn't think of another time when something so small, like having a person back off his advances, had bothered him so. It was seriously too much. "I really liked the dog. Wasn't the dog the best?"
Everyone laughed at Aiba's honesty and Aiba felt himself relax into the laughter. This was the world he knew, he understood. As long as he could make people smile, laugh, relax, then everything was alright. He looked up to catch Jun giving him an approving glance. Aiba wasn't quite sure what to make of it but felt a small warmth blossoming in him, regardless.
It was at this point that Toma created a situation, if by accident. He wasn't watching where he was going which made it fairly easy for him to bump into a man coming from the opposite direction. Although Toma apologized, the larger man decided not to let it go, much to the consternation of the group. It only took a few moments for the man to severely overreact and call over another friend, talking about the "punks" that had the nerve to "knock him over" in the street.
"I think you're misunderstanding what happened," Kame began timidly, trying to draw their attention away from their increasingly powerful wish to inflict bodily harm on the group. Junpei and Toma had formed a kind of barrier between the man and Jun. Yamapi .... Yamapi had gone off somewhere.
"I think we understand perfectly well what's going on," the giant man growled back, not looking like he wanted to back down in the least. "I think you idiots need someone to tell them what's what. And I'll be happy to fill that role." He cracked his knuckles.
"I think that's a bit drastic," Aiba tried, wincing a bit when the gorilla of a man turned his attention to him. Nino was going to kill him when he found out about this. "Why don't we just settle this like ... men?" He'd lost his nerve on the last word but the giant looked intrigued.
"And how do you suggest we go about doing that?" the man asked, grinning almost savagely. The rest of the group also had their attention focused on Aiba who gulped, not having really thought this plan through. He took a second to focus his thoughts and then smiled, knowing the perfect way.
"Rock Paper Scissors!" he exclaimed, throwing his arm up in the air in a gesture of enthusiasm. There was a beat. Everyone looked at him as if he were crazy. Kame gulped.
"...rock paper scissors it is, then," the man agreed in a growl, shocking everyone but Aiba. Obviously, this was the only way duels were fought anymore, at least by honorable men.
"Ready?" Aiba asked, prepared to take one for the team, stepping in front of the others and poising himself in a stance that would emphasize the looseness of his limbs. He needed everything he could going for him. The man stood opposite him, preparing himself for the moment. They looked each other in the eye. They nodded.
"Rock. Paper. SCISSORS!"
Everyone gasped and looked down at the hands each man had displayed in the middle. The man, as Aiba had hoped, had gone with rock. With a shout of glee, Aiba made his 'paper' hand cover the other man's rock before turning around and high-fiving Junpei.
"Best two out of three," the man tried to intimidate Aiba but he was having none of it, a newfound strength running through him, still on the adrenaline rush of winning.
"That's just cheap and you know it," Aiba gave the man a pointed look. The man ducked his head. "Don't feel bad. You did well. It was a hard battle," Aiba tried to be friendly. And against all odds, it worked.
"You're right. Sorry about that." And the man nodded and went on his way.
"That was awesome~!" Junpei exclaimed as soon as the man was out of earshot.
"Way to go, man," Toma clapped him on the back. "Nice quick thinking."
"I have no idea how that worked," Kame looked vaguely dazed.
Jun just smiled but somehow Aiba thought that meant more, the way his smile seemed to come from somewhere deep within and beam out, as if he were almost proud of Aiba. Aiba felt that familiar warmth spread in his chest and wondered if his cheeks were reddening. Did his even do that? He'd have to ask Nino later.
Toma looked around for a second before announcing that they had lost his friend Yamashita. And while they spent the next twenty minutes finding their missing member, all Aiba could think about was the difference between sparkling bowties and sparkling smiles.
-------
"So it was that fight that was the challenge," Nino contemplated later, sitting in Aiba's room as the older man lay on the bed, tossing his stuffed dog up and down in the air. "I knew that was way too weird to not be planned."
"How did your group get away?" Aiba asked, having already relayed his adventure to Nino, amused to watch Nino's face morph into shock at the mention of Aiba challenging giant men to rock paper scissor duels. He had eventually shook his head, telling Aiba that when he was shot for trying to have a thumb war with a yakuza member, Nino wouldn't say he hadn't warned him.
"I distracted them, talking about stupid stuff, while Shun ran and got a cop." Nino paused. "Come to think of it, the cop was probably in on it, too. He seemed awfully fine with the whole situation. If I were him, I'd be intimidated, badge or no."
"Probably," Aiba nodded. He paused before continuing. "Hey, Nino?"
"Yeah?" Nino asked, not looking at Aiba, trying to give the man space to consider his words carefully.
"Maybe," Aiba began, "...maybe I was too hasty about Sho."
"What?" Nino asked, head bouncing up to look Aiba in the eyes in shock.
"I don't know," Aiba sighed. "I don't think he likes me."
"Doesn't like you?" Nino scoffed. "He sends you personal mails with every message we get. He winks at you during filming. Hell, he doesn't throw you out when you stalk him in between shooting. The man either has feelings for you or a death wish."
"But that's just it," Aiba frowned. "He does throw me out, now at least. He doesn't send me mails. He doesn't wink. He just ... ignores me."
"Maybe something happened," Nino shrugged. "Maybe production thought it was too overt and he's trying to calm you down."
"Or he doesn't like me," Aiba countered in a low voice, looking down. Before Nino could cut him off, though, Aiba continued, trying to keep his voice positive. "I think I like Jun now, though, so it's okay."
"You what?" Nino asked, incredulously. "Aiba, he's kind of a creep. And you were all over Sho up until basically yesterday. How are you already into Jun?"
"He's not a creep," Aiba defended Jun. "He's nice. He likes me. He smiles at me when we're out."
"Creep~"
"Shut up, Nino," Aiba frowned. "Just cause you got some the other day--"
"--I DID NOT--"
"--does not give you the right to judge. So there." And like a mature adult, Aiba stuck out his tongue.
"How many times do I have to tell you I didn't sleep with Oh-chan?" Nino sighed, rubbing his forehead like he was trying to contain himself. Aiba just grinned, always enjoying the frustration of Nino.
"Doesn't matter. I won't believe you~" Nino glared at Aiba who simply grinned in response.
"I hate you, Aiba."
"I hate you too, Nino. ♥"
~
Since last week's was so late, I thought I'd make this week's early. I actually finished it on Wednesday night but CoKoi has kind of become a weekend thing so the weekend it waited for. As you may have noticed, the question mark has been replaced by a '21'. Yes, I plotted the rest of the chapters this week and there will be 21 and an epilogue. So, the end is in sight! Also, since I usually type my chapters out in Text Edit, I thought I'd copy and paste what I've written so far in a Word document to see how long it really is. Single spaced 82 pages, 33,691 words. .... And there's still ten chapters to go. You guys are, apparently, reading my first novel. (笑) I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for reading~♥