Come On! Koibito! 16/21
Jun was going to kill someone. He hadn't decided yet quite who it was going to be, although he had a long list of potential candidates. The most obvious contender was Sho for the double whammy of both lying to him and crushing Aiba's spirit in one fatal blow. But Jun knew very well that Sho was just a pawn, that his sense of justice towards the television show could very easily complicate his feelings and that stupid sense of duty was what made him do it. Of course, that didn't make it okay and Jun had every intention of making Sho feel like hell, at least for a little while, but he couldn't fault him for what he knew was a bigger job.
"You have two minutes," Jun snarled, bursting into the production tent, startling Nagase and Kimura who were facing the monitors in the back of the room, "to explain to me why you did this. And why you didn't tell me. Go."
"Matsumoto," Nagase started, getting up out of his chair and approaching Jun cautiously, as if he were a potentially dangerous wild animal, "calm down. You know that we do everything we do for ratings."
"Two minutes," Jun growled through his teeth, fixing the older man with the strongest death glare he could manage. And although Nagase was pretty fearful himself, Jun felt a sense of pride seeing just a small flinch run along his back.
"I know what'll make you feel better," Kimura smiled, completely ignoring the mood of the room and bouncing out of his chair to grab Jun's arm and start pulling him back towards the monitors. Jun tried to shake loose of the director's hold.
"I don't want something to make me feel better. I want you to explain why you did this."
"Now, Matsumoto, listen to me," Nagase began, gruffing up his voice so as to try and intimidate Jun. "You know that we only did it to show the true face of the contestants. See who was only in it for the money."
"You could have done that and still let me know what was happening," Jun growled.
"Jun, come on," Kimura tugged at his arm.
"Genuine reactions, Jun. That's the name of the game. If you knew, that would ruin part of the real experience. Someone might have figured it out."
"You told Sho!" Jun yelled. "You trusted Sho!"
"Guys~" Kimura tried to break in between them.
"Sho had to film intro spots! That's the only reason we told him! Trust me, we didn't want to."
"Because you wanted to milk something out of him and Aiba? You guys are horrible!"
"Both of you, be quiet!"
Both sets of eyes turned to Kimura who had a deadly look on his face. It wasn't very often that something set off the rather playful man but the look on his face... Jun didn't want to have to deal with someone that looked like that. He took a step backward but Kimura grabbed his arm again, another hand grabbing Nagase's.
"Calm down, both of you. Nagase, you know better so sit down." Nagase threw Kimura a look but sauntered back over to his chair and took a seat. Kimura turned his attention back to Jun. "Now, Jun. We didn't tell you mainly because there are a few contestants that we knew were going to look to you to see if they should believe the cancellation or not. If you knew, they'd know and we couldn't have that. So, I'm sorry, but that's what happens when you sign your life away on a reality show. Got it?"
"Whatever," Jun sighed, knowing there was no arguing with that, especially since it was true, as much as he hated it. Nino, at least, would have totally seen through him.
"Now that that's settled," Kimura smiled, a scarily quick transformation back to his normal self, "we've got some awesome footage from the hidden cameras. You know you want to watch~"
Okay, it was true. He did. And so he let the director drag him over, pull up a chair, and sit him down for a few hours of watching hapless contestants struggle through what they were going to do with their lives.
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Welcome to JTV Forums! You are logged on as Guest.
JTV-->Shows-->CoKoi!-->Week Eight: Cancellation?!
7tropic: ......I still don't know what I think about this week.
JTVFan2246: Would I be excommunicated if I said I think I ship Nino/Ohno more than Nino/Jun? Cause I think I do.
SIGJKSDF: iknwo! that scene was super kewt! Ohno iz hawt! but y did it fade to black after they started kissing? Scandalous! lol
SunshineDreamer: I still can't believe that that Ohno guy is Nino's cameraman. How cute is that?! Do you think they fell in love on set? Omgsh we have to keep them and see more! Not enough!
COKLuver56: Not just them! I think somethings going on wit Aiba and Sho! There waz tension in that scene with Jun, am i rite?
CoKoi763: I always knew Aiba liked Sho but I think Sho likez him 2! How great iz that?
Shunisnumberone: THERE WASN'T ENOUGH SHUN IN THIS EPISODE. WHERE IS SHUN?
MrsSaKuRaI: Aiba/Sho OTP
JTVFan2246: God, I'm glad Tegoshi's gone, at the very least. That kid bugged me.
COKLuver56: Wait, so if Sho'z with Aiba and Nino's wit that cameraman, who's with Jun?
Shunisnumberone: SHUN IS SHUN IS SHUN IS
SIGJKSDF: Does it matter? Now we just have more cute couplez! :D
JTVFan2246: Agreed. Jun has plenty more suitors. I like these couples more than Jun and anyone, anyway.
SunshineDreamer: What's his name? Ohno? TEAM OHMIYA. :D
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"This is awful," Nino sighed, falling back on his bed with a heavy thud. This was a fucking joke. It had to be. It just wasn't fair. He finally, finally got the nerve to make a move, felt like it was alright to actually go for something he wanted and the show wasn't fucking cancelled?
It was probably for the best that things hadn't gone all the way, he thought peevishly, picking up a pillow and tossing it in the air, zoning out as his mind travelled back a day, remembering how Ohno had pushed him back on the bed, laying almost in the same way he was now, that sleepy, content, sexy smile on his face as he leaned down to meet him. And oh, it was nice.
Nino could hear noises escaping from him that he wasn't even conscious of making, concentration fully on Ohno's lips and cheek and ear and everything. Ohno had smiled again, something vaguely triumphant in his face and had set his sights on Nino's neck, something Nino was never going to complain about.
"Oh-chan," Nino breathed, trying hard to regain the power of speech, slightly worried it would come out in mews. Ohno made a vague sound of acknowledgment in the back of his throat, mouth currently focused on nibbling Nino's ear. "Oh-chan, what were you going to do today?"
Nino ran a hand through Ohno's hair, threading his fingers through the individual strands. Ohno pulled back a bit to look in his eyes, smiling peacefully.
"Nothing important," he sighed, letting himself drop next to Nino on the bed, an arm draped over Nino's stomach. Nino considered this for a moment before flipping onto his side and curling into Ohno. He spied something on the older man's shirt and reached forward, beginning to play with the second button.
"You know?" Nino mused, smiling at the button, "the very first time I saw you, you were completely focused on this. Everyone else was listening to Nagase talk but you? You were more concerned with this button than anything anyone was saying."
"I remember that," Ohno frowned, looking down at the button himself. "I had just accidently pulled it off while grabbing food from the trailer and I knew my mom was going to throw a fit when I told her a button had already come off my new shirt."
"What are your parents like, Oh-chan?" Nino asked softly, gaze still focused on his hand that was toying with the button. Ohno smiled at the question, falling onto his back and pulling at Nino a little so that he was slightly laying on the older man.
"They're normal. Dad still goes to work everyday at six and Mom makes sure that my laundry's always done because she knows I'll never do it myself. She makes delicious nabe that we eat every New Year's and my sister and her family come home to eat it with us. And every Thursday night, we have a family Wii Bowling Tournament that my mom usually wins."
Nino laid his head on Ohno's chest, several slightly different versions of Ohno dancing around in his head. Older Ohno going to work with a suit and a briefcase, feminine Ohno coming over to the house in Ohmiya with a baby in her arms and an man that looked kind of like him at her side, an older woman Ohno laying out clothes on his Ohno's bed and humming a tune while cooking a pot of nabe.
"You know," Ohno said offhand, a hand reaching around to rub Nino's arm, pulling his attention back to reality, "I've always wondered what would happen if someone actually put Mom in her place. She always acts like she owns the house after she wins. Not that she doesn't own the house but, well, you know what I mean."
"I could train you," Nino smiled, imagining the fun trying to train Ohno to excel at Wii Bowling would be. Plus, it'd certainly be hands on. "Aiba has a Wii. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."
"I was actually thinking," Ohno stared up at the ceiling, "that maybe you'd want to come and try your hand. I'm sure Mom would love a challenger."
"Whoa," Nino sat up slightly, swinging his head around to look down at Ohno. "You want me to come meet your family?"
"Is there something wrong with that?" Ohno asked honestly, frowning.
"Oh-chan, isn't that moving a little fast? I mean, I only confessed twenty minutes ago." Nino frowned. "Are you sure you're taking this seriously? You're not teasing me, are you?"
"Of course not," Ohno protested, reaching up to pull Nino back down to him. "I'm just happy and see no reason to put any kind of delay on that, whether that seems imprudent or not. Why wait simply for propriety's sake? Are you happy?"
"Well, yeah, of course."
"So am I. And that's all that matters. So stop worrying." He leaned forward to kiss Nino's forehead but Nino still wasn't convinced.
"I don't know, Oh-chan," Nino pulled back a little. "I think, I think you should go home and sleep on it. Not that I doubt you in any way," he assured, "but I think we'll make some wiser decisions when we're not in the heat of the moment."
"Spoilsport," Ohno muttered and Nino grinned.
"Maybe but I think you'll thank me later. At the rate you were going, we'd be married by next week," Nino kissed his cheek.
"I don't think there'd be very much wrong with that," Ohno frowned like a child who's favorite toy was being taken away but he did get up and move over towards where he had set his jacket.
"Save the sonnets, Romeo," Nino grinned, standing next to the bed and watching Ohno shrug on the coat. "You'll have plenty of time to sing them later. I'm not going anywhere except home. Which you know the location of."
"Maybe I'll be there when you get back," Ohno winked.
"That'd be kind of creepy."
"...Yeah, it would. Maybe not."
"Call me in the morning, Oh-chan," Nino smiled, opening the door for him. "We can figure this whole thing out in the daylight. But until then," he reached forward and grabbed hold of Ohno's collar, a quick kiss having to serve as apology, "sweet dreams."
"This won't be the last you see of me, Ninomiya," Ohno had grinned, taking a step outside and smiling before making his way back home. And it had seemed good, great, perfect. And then Nino had woken up to the text message.
"Cancellation canceled. Meeting Downstairs in ten minutes."
What the fuck did he do now?
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"Nino's avoiding me," Ohno complained to Aiba. This took a second for Aiba to register, his eyes on Sho who was frowning up at the giant balloon. Why, Aiba couldn't even begin to fathom because hot air ballooning had to be the best challenge ever and totally made up for the fake cancellation, at least to him.
"How can he avoid you? You're his personal cameraman," Aiba frowned. "It's not going to work very well."
"He's closed off. He won't even look me in the eye. You're his roommate; I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."
"He's probably just embarrassed," Aiba shrugged. "Here he made this big deal out of the show being cancelled and then it wasn't. His pride took a serious hit with that." Aiba paused, noticing something come over Ohno's face. "Ohno, are you blushing?"
"No," Ohno replied quickly but Aiba didn't believe him.
"You are! Did something happen? God, did Nino make a move?!" Even though Ohno didn't say anything, it was pretty obvious that something had happened. Oh, this was great news. "He did, didn't he? Oh, this is amazing!"
"Aiba," Ohno frowned. "This isn't what we're talking about right now."
"Oh, but it completely explains why Nino's avoiding you," Aiba shrugged. "He wants to win the game, right? His pride and all that nonsense. So if he keeps acting on what happened between you two, he thinks he'll get voted off. He's probably super conflicted right now about it."
"You think?" Ohno asked kind of awkwardly.
"I know. That's totally how his mind works. Just give him a little time and I'm sure he'll come to his senses."
"If you say so," Ohno scrunched up his nose, obviously unhappy with the pronouncement. Aiba patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, Ohno. Nino likes you. You two will be fine." Ohno smiled in response and Aiba felt a little better about making his exit. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a host to talk to."
Aiba made his way over towards where Sho continued to stare in wonder at the hot air balloon they were soon to ascend in. Jun had already pulled Aiba aside earlier in the day, asking him if was mad at Sho. Aiba certainly knew why he should be. But the news of the show not being cancelled, and all the realizations that came with that, had managed to clear a lot of suspicions in his mind. And honestly? He understood. Sho was a little harsh about it, sure, but Aiba felt he knew the man well enough at this point to tell that that was the result of awkwardness and not malevolence.
Jun had told him to punish Sho a little bit, make him regret what he said and Aiba had fully intended to do that. He really had. But there was something about the way Sho was looking fearfully up at that balloon that had cracked Aiba's resolve and as much as he felt like a girl to be doing this, he found himself making his way over to Sho.
"Did you have some kind of traumatic experience in your childhood with balloons or something?" Aiba joked, startling Sho who jumped at the sound of Aiba's voice. Aiba could see a bunch of emotions play over the older man's face as he realized who it was, something like surprise to realization to happiness? to apprehension. So maybe there was some kind of hope Aiba'd be allowed to have.
"I don't like heights," Sho admitted, frowning a little. "I'm not looking forward to this challenge."
"Do you have to go up?" Aiba asked. "I mean, you're the host, right? So why would you have to go up? It's a challenge for the contestants, not for you."
"Kimura wants to get me to do the intro shot from the air," Sho sighed, head falling back from the weight of his words. "Thinks it'll be a really good stunt. Also, I think he likes to watch my knees tremble in fear. He's sadistic, you know."
"It's not that bad," Aiba laughed. "Just pretend you're a bird. Or you're flying. Or something equally awesome."
"Easy for you to say," Sho cringed. "You're not scared of anything. It's kind of idiotic but at least you can do stuff like this."
"If you want," Aiba looked up at the balloon, "I can talk to Jun, try and get him to convince Kimura to let you make the intro from the ground. All you need is the balloon in the background, right? You can do that from the ground."
"Of course I can," Sho agreed, "but I don't think it's going to happen. Putting aside the fact that Kimura lives for shots like the one I'm about to make, Jun's really mad at me. I doubt he'll stick up for me. I think I lost a lot of respect from him last week."
Sho looked guilty, really guilty, and that was all Aiba really needed to see. Aiba knew he should be mad, should be reveling in the guilt that was so clear on Sho's face, but he never could do that, not very well. Nino always said this tendency was going to end up biting him in the ass one day, and that very well may be true, but he was going to stick to optimism until it actually let him down.
"Don't worry about it," Aiba smiled, slapping Sho on the back. "I'll go talk to Kimura myself. I'm sure I'll be able to convince him."
"That's very optimistic of you," Sho smiled weakly. "But seriously, you don't have to. It's not going to happen."
"Never say never," Aiba smiled, giving Sho a wink before walking off in search of Kimura. There was hope for he and Sho yet. He just had to build up a little more foundation.
~
Happy Halloween! I honestly wasn't sure if this chapter was going to make it out this weekend or not. I have a Japanese Speech Contest tomorrow (7 minute speech in Japanese, you guys. GUH) and have been super stressed over it but you know what is a great de-stressor? Writing Ohmiya. (笑) So, the chapter was finished. Just a warning, though: I have a giant research paper that is due in a few weeks. I will do my best to keep on track with CoKoi but a week may come without an update. If that happens, don't worry; I'm doing my best! I'll never forget about you guys, promise. :)
I don't know if anyone's noticed but I've been hinting at something in all the forum board posts. Anyone have a guess as to what it is? (And yes, I'm being incredibly vague so if you have no idea, don't worry about it. :D This is just for super easter egg hunters~)
Also, with this chapter, we have passed the 50,000 word mark! CoKoi is officially a novel! :D How exciting is that? I'm pumped. :D Hope you guys had a good Halloween and see you (hopefully) next week! ♥