Status Update
Title: Status Update
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: ohmiya, implied sakuraiba
Summary: A drunken question from Sho leads Ohno to contemplate his relationship with Nino.
Notes: Apartment Verse~
If you traced it back to it's ultimate root, the mess probably began around five pm on the night of Jun's last final. As expected, the youngest had been stressed for the past month or so, snapping if someone so much as stepped on leaf outside his door if he was trying to read one of his textbooks. While Aiba had claimed that the party was to celebrate Jun having a full six weeks of freedom, everyone was fairly sure that it was more a celebration that Aiba didn't have to tiptoe around the complex anymore.
Excited for the festivities, the occupants of 407 had decided to open a bottle of champagne early. Aiba couldn't help it; Jun had just texted and said that his last class was getting delayed due to a train issue with his professor and he was going to take a little longer. Nino had already informed them that he would be "fashionably late," for reasons unknown to the rest. That left the other three with nothing to do, waiting on the two youngest impatiently. When Aiba suggested opening a bottle, both Sho and Ohno eagerly agreed that neither would probably mind.
When Jun got home an hour and a half later, he discovered his friends a great deal happier than they perhaps would have been had his final gotten out at the normal, appointed time. Sho energetically greeted him at the door, a gleeful shout of "Jun's home!" echoing throughout the apartment only to be greeted by returning hoorays from beyond the entranceway. Jun winced, entirely aware of what had happened, and slipped off his shoes, deciding then and there that it would be easier to join them than get mad at them.
The party continued, Jun now stress free and able to handle three vaguely inebriated men who were throwing around bad jokes and worse impressions. Aiba quickly invented a drinking game that had rules at first (something about every time you thought about elephants you had to take a sip of your beer, the replacement for the champagne they had already finished) but quickly dissolved into nonsense, each man shoving the beer bottle in the other's faces, accusing them of various infractions that would cause the other to need to take a swig. Everyone was very obliging.
It was to this delightfully raucous scene that Nino returned, more late than fashionable, at around midnight. He had let himself in, having heard Jun's hysterical laughter from down the hall. No one seemed to mind, however, when he came walking into the room, greeted by gleeful cries of "Nino~!" and a beer thrust into his hand.
"Geez, guys. Leave some water for the horses," Nino muttered but couldn't help but smile at the pure, if inebriated, joy his friends were radiating. After opening the beer, he made his way around the table to his usual spot at Ohno's arm, receiving a drunkenly fond smile from the older man. Nino felt his cheeks warm but he blamed the alcohol, conveniently forgetting he hadn't taken a sip of yet.
The party continued unabated. Aiba had brought out a board game after a little while. No one remembered the real rules but they knew there was rolling of dice and trivia cards and now, apparently, dares involved so it was just as fun as it would have been had they followed the true rules, if not better.
The game was, it seemed to everyone, the greatest idea anyone had ever had. Considering the fact that most of the party was wasted (Nino kept taking tiny sips of his beer but wasn't much a drinker to begin with so he stayed rather sober while the others continued their steady descent towards Saturday morning hangovers), the game actually continued rather uniformly, people taking turns and rolling dice and somewhat moving around the board. The most fun part, however, were the dares.
Aiba seemed to encourage nakedness the more inebriated he became as almost all of his dares required stripping. As the night progressed, each member of the party lost a little more clothes coverage, although Sho was the most notable loser, down to boxers after only an hour. That's when Aiba stopped daring Sho, something about not wanting everyone to get a look at his treasure. Sho had muttered something embarrassedly but everyone was too far gone to notice.
Nino, the most clearheaded of them all, decided that this was a good time to get information, most of his dares being questions he dared the others to answer, Ohno suspected for blackmail purposes in the future. Jun didn't even question the notepad Nino had brought out brazenly about halfway through, jotting down what Sho's scariest reoccurring dream was and what would annoy Jun the absolute worst on the morning a big term paper was due. Honestly, Ohno was only half paying attention, focused more on the hazy image of Nino's adorable hamburger hands scribbling information down.
The trick, however, backfired on Nino as Sho picked up on it. Well, picked up might be too generous a way of putting it. It was more like Sho was tired of being asked questions and decided to start using his turns to interrogate Nino. Sho being Sho, however, the questions were never quite deep. Nino obviously didn't particularly care if the others knew what kind of candy bar he would be (whatever was cheapest) or what his favorite color for clothes was (whatever was clean). But perhaps because of the ease of the earlier questions, the younger man was clearly thrown for a loop when Sho asked the question that would eventually end the game.
"Nee, Nino," Sho began, smiling sloppily and much too widely, one hand pointing across the table towards Nino, over Jun who had already fallen asleep, the other hand grasping his beer can, "I have a question~"
"Shoot," Nino smiled, leaning backwards with a self-satisfied smile, arm coiled around Ohno's and cheek leaned against Ohno's shoulder. Ohno smiled. It was warm. Warm was nice.
"What exactly is going on between you and Ohno, hmm~?" Nino stilled but Sho didn't notice (Sho wasn't noticing much of anything at this point), continuing on. "I mean, we all assume something's going on but nobody knows exactly what. I'll put it this way: these walls are thin and we've never heard anything untoward, if you know what I mean."
"I know what you mean!" Aiba giggled.
Jun groaned from where he was slumped over on the table, surprisingly halfway awake. "Of course you do. I hear more than I need to from your room all the time." Sho had the decency to blush. Aiba just laughed harder.
Nino was noticeably silent through the exchange, his posture stiff at Ohno's side. Sho was quickly distracted by Aiba's laughter, forgetting what he had asked in his boyfriend's guffaws and began laughing himself for pretty much no reason, almost falling over onto Jun who immediately began muttering irritatedly, shoving at Sho.
Ohno's alcohol clouded mind, however, somehow managed to cling onto that question and realize that he didn't know the answer to it. And now that he thought about it, he was curious.There was only one way to fix this. He turned his head slowly (fast movements ran the risk of making the world spin) and caught Nino's eye.
"Nino~?" he asked curiously, watching as Nino's eyes seemed to ask him what was up without words. It was cute the way his eyebrows furrowed together when he made that face and Ohno decided he wanted to see what those wrinkles felt like. Forgetting his question, he leaned forward, poking at the scrunches above Nino's nose. Oh, they were squishy~
"Oh-chan, what are you doing?" Nino asked, his voice a bit strangled, pushing back at Ohno's hand. Oh hey, the tips of his ears were pink. This was a new and adorable development. Ohno wondered how that happened and decided he would ask in the morning, when he was more likely to remember the answer. Wait, question. He had a question, didn't he?
"Nino~" he began again, buying time to remember the question by picking up one of Nino's hands and playing with it. The younger man looked down at their hands with a bit of a blank face before meeting Ohno's eyes again, still confused. That's when Ohno remembered. "What is going on between us? I don't know either."
Maybe asking was a bad idea. It drew the others' attention back to them, something that was sure to clam Nino up regardless of whether he intended to answer in the first place or not. Ohno watched as Nino's expression closed on him, his eyes losing a bit of their brightness and his mouth straightening into a line. Ohno frowned. That's not what he wanted to happen.
"I think," Nino spoke plainly, no warmth in his voice as he rose from his seated position, "that you have all had too much to drink. If you need me, I'll be getting a good night's rest in my room. I had a long day." He stepped around Jun who was still slumped over the table, hopped over Sho's leg and stormed out of the room.
The other four were silent for a moment, not entirely sure what happened or even what was really going on. Jun was the first one to recover his voice.
"Why did he slam the door? My ears are ringing now. Bastard."
"He didn't need to get that upset about it," Sho complained, leaning over against Aiba who patted his head.
"He never answered my question," Ohno pouted. Three heads nodded in agreement.
Nino slept in his own room that night for the first time in six months.
-------
A week passed quietly. Nino kept to himself mostly, suddenly more busy than he had been since the other four had known him, constantly running off to a meeting here or a recording there. He hadn't invited himself over to Ohno's since that night.
Ohno was confused. He only had vague memories of what had happened that night (as did the rest of them) but he seemed to remember asking Nino a question that upset him and Ohno had come to the conclusion that it must somehow be his fault. Of course, if it were his fault, it was up to him to fix it but he was kind of lacking on ideas of how to do that. The next time he ran into Nino in the hallway, he had tried his best.
"Hey, Nino," he said cautiously, not wanting to scare Nino off, knowing how skittish the younger man could be. "Long time, no see." Nino had looked up from where he was locking his door. His guitar case was strapped onto his back and he looked like he was in a sort of vague rush.
"Oh, hey, Ohno," Nino replied, taking the key out of the lock and slipping it into his pocket. Ohno inwardly winced at the use of his family name, already more used to Oh-chan than anything else. "How have you been?"
"Fine, I guess," Ohno thought aloud. It was more than true. There was an exhibition coming up that had decided to use a few of his pieces and he had wanted to take Nino out to celebrate but this weird mood of his was making it very hard to invite him. He decided that a conversation beyond the niceties was going to have to suffice for now. "How are you?"
"Fine," Nino replied automatically. "In fact, I'm kind of in a hurry right now so sorry Ohno, but I have to get going." He didn't look particularly sorry.
"Oh, okay," Ohno answered, disappointed. "Well, if you have to." And that was that. Most of the conversations he had managed with Nino in the following days were much of the same. It was getting frustrating.
Without any other recourse, Ohno decided to turn to those who might be able to help: Aiba and Sho. Okay, so it wasn't really a planned decision; it was more that Ohno had tried to talk to Nino one day when the other two were coming home and upon Nino's exit, the couple had pulled Ohno into their apartment to try and figure out exactly what was going on. Ohno figured it was better than being confused alone.
"So he won't talk to you at all?" Aiba asked, trying to make heads or tails of the situation. Ohno shook his head while accepting the cup of tea Sho had just poured him.
"Well, he talks to me a little but just the necessities, you know? Stuff like 'hi' and 'fine' and 'well, see you later'. It's more like acknowledging each other's presence than talking."
"Is he mad about something?" Sho asked. "I mean, what else could it be? He used to be all over you and now it's like you don't exist. He must be mad about something."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure he is," Ohno readily agreed. "In fact, I vaguely remember what it is. But I don't remember enough so I don't know how to fix it."
"Oh?" Aiba asked, intrigued. "Tell us what you remember. Maybe we can help piece it together."
"Well," Ohno began, "I'm pretty sure it all started that night we celebrated Jun finishing finals. I was so drunk, though, that I only remember bits and pieces. We were playing that board game and people were doing dares and then someone, Sho maybe?, asked Nino a question and Nino didn't want to answer it. Then, I think, I asked it again. I don't know. I did something and now he's mad."
"Sho?" Aiba turned to look at the other man who was putting some groceries away. "Do you remember the question? It sounds like you started it."
"Question?" Sho asked himself, looking upwards as if that would somehow help him. "I don't particularly..." he muttered but a look of realization came over his face. "Oh! I think I know!" He frowned. "But he shouldn't have been that upset about it."
"What was it?" Ohno asked, curious and a little apprehensive. It was a lot easier to be removed from the situation when he didn't know what he had done in the first place.
"Well, I just," Sho rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and sat down at the table with the other two. He looked rather embarrassed, as he really should, considering that in a way, he had started this whole mess. "I just asked him, you know, what you guys' status was."
"Our status?" Ohno asked, confused. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant and why such a weird question would upset Nino that badly.
"Yeah. Um, you know. Like what was going on. If you were, i don't know, dating? Or just friends? Or, I don't know, your status." Sho looked really uncomfortable and it was understandable. It was an awkward question, especially without the confidence of alcohol to help you ask it.
"Oh," Ohno replied, thinking about this for awhile. That was what had upset Nino that badly? But it wasn't even that weird a question. Even he was unsure as to what they exactly were. ... Oh. That was it, huh?
"Thanks for the help, you guys," Ohno nodded at the two confused stares he was getting, rising and heading towards the door. "I think I know what to do now."
"You do?" Sho asked. "Cause it doesn't seem like we really helped with anything."
"No," Ohno called back from the doorway, pulling his shoes back on, "you really did. I'm sure it'll all be better in the morning." And with that, he slipped out the door.
"You think he's really all right?" Aiba asked, looking over at Sho. Sho shrugged.
"I guess we'll find out later."
-------
When Nino came home that night, there was an Ohno on his doorstep. From the looks of things, he'd been there for awhile, a heavy sweatshirt on his smallish frame and knees pulled up to his chest to try and keep the cold out. It was an odd sight and definitely not what he had expected to find when he came home.
"Cold?" he asked, getting the older man's attention. Ohno looked up and met Nino's eyes. In a moment, he lit up, all smiles as he slowly rose from the sitting position, trying to shake out all the aches he had from sitting for so long.
"Won't be in a second," he shrugged. He took the key out of his pocket and grabbed Nino's hand with the other. "Come on, you're coming over."
"Oh no, Ohno," Nino tried to protest. "I've had a really long day and I'm sure you have, too so why don't we just go, take a bath, and get in bed? Doesn't that sound nice?"
"Don't care," Ohno answered without hesitation, unlocking the door and then dragging Nino inside. There really had never been a choice for the younger man.
As soon as they got inside, Ohno led Nino over to his bed and pushed on his shoulders, sitting Nino down on the edge of it. Taking a few steps farther in the room, he grabbed the stool he usually sat on when painting and pulled it up so that he was sitting opposite Nino.
"So, um, what's up?" Nino began awkwardly, not entirely sure what was going on and unable to meet Ohno's eyes. Ohno took a breath, trying to think of an easy way to begin this conversation.
"What have you been up to lately?" he finally asked, realizing that he still had no idea where Nino had been disappearing to lately. "You come home so late and leave so early. You're like a ghost."
"Oh, is that all?" Nino asked, relaxing at the question, leaning back a little so that he was in his familiar hunched position. Ohno relaxed, too, from Nino's lead. "Well, I got a new gig and it's just been taking up more time than usual, that's all."
"New gig?" Ohno prompted, curious as to what exactly it was. Nino was young and although he was slowly gaining fame with his music, there was still a lot of trouble an unexperienced young man could get into. Nino straightened slightly at the question, adding to Ohno's inward anxiety.
"Oh, um," Nino looked down at his hands while he answered, "some exec over at Fuji TV heard my demo tape, apparently and they decided to use one of my songs as an insert in one of their dramas next season."
"What?" Ohno asked, eyes widening in excitement. "Nino, that's awesome! They're going to use your song in a drama? Man, your popularity is going to skyrocket! That's amazing!"
"I guess," Nino smiled a little, still not looking up. Ohno frowned.
"You are much too blase about this. Why haven't you told us? We would have had a party."
"I think everyone's had enough parties for awhile," Nino replied dryly.
"Is that what this is about?" Ohno finally asked, the question that had been haunting him finally on his lips. "Is it about what I asked at that party last week?"
Nino didn't look up but Ohno knew that he must have been right, watching emotions flit across Nino's downturned face.
"You never answered, you know," Ohno prodded. It seemed to work. Nino let out a sigh, as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders and looked up to meet Ohno's eyes. He looked weary.
"What do you want to be, Ohno?" he asked, much to Ohno's surprise. "I feel like I've made too many decisions in our relationship."
"I was the one that invited you over in the first place," Ohno pointed out.
"And I was the one that never left," Nino countered. "I was the one that decided that we were what we were. But that was selfish of me. I realize that now. So, it's up to you. What do you want to be?"
Ohno considered this for a second. Nino looked so tired and it broke his heart. He hadn't thought that Nino was blaming himself so harshly for something that wasn't even wrong.
"What's wrong with what we were?" Ohno asked, trying to figure out what would make Nino feel better. He hated seeing the younger man like this. "We were fine before, weren't we? Why can't we just do that again?"
"We can," Nino conceded. "Of course we could do that. It's just that," he paused, looking around the room for a second, eyes focusing on a painting Ohno had stuffed in the back corner of his room. It had been too yellow for his taste. "It's just that, if we do just go back, people are going to ask questions again. Maybe not out loud, like Sho, but they'll be thinking it. They'll be wondering."
"So?" Ohno asked, not entirely sure what the big deal was but aware, nonetheless, that it seemed to upset Nino. "Do we care what other people think?"
"No, of course not," Nino answered automatically. Ohno frowned. This wasn't what Nino wanted and it was obvious.
"Do you want something more stable than that? Do you want something more official?" Nino looked up at the question, not entirely sure what Ohno meant by that. There was a gleam in Ohno's eye, like he had an idea, but Nino couldn't read it. He shrugged.
"I want whatever you want, Ohno. Just say the word and that's what we are."
"Okay, then," Ohno sat back, smiling slightly. "Then, just to clear up confusion, of course, if anyone asks, we'll just say that you're my boyfriend."
"What?" Nino's eyes widened considerably, not sure where this sudden confession (was it even a confession?) had come from. He felt his cheeks fill and a warm haziness begin to permeate his being but he tried to draw himself back into the moment, figure out exactly what had just happened. "Oh-chan, are you sure? You don't have to say that. You don't have to do that."
"But I want to," Ohno shrugged, smiling wider. After a beat, however, his smile faltered slightly. "Why? Do you not want to be my boyfriend?"
Nino had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. "Are you kidding? I've been sleeping next to you for six months without so much as making a sound. Do you know how much self control that takes?"
"So that means yes, then?" Ohno asked, a hopeful smile on his face.
"Idiot," Nino muttered under his breath, launching himself off the bed and into Ohno's lap. His arms found their familiar position around Ohno's neck and Nino looked up into Ohno's face, smiling. "Yes."
"Oh. Well, good then," Ohno nodded, grinning for a second before finding his face pulled down to meet Nino's.
-------
"Aww," Aiba commented from the table where he was flipping through a magazine he'd brought home with him from work. "It sounds like they made up."
Sho frowned from his position on the bed, giving the wall a dirty look. "It's a good thing no kids live on this floor."
~
It is 12:08 which makes it officially November 10th aka my birthday! To celebrate, I decided to give you guys a present: a new apartment verse fic. This has been in the works for a long time but I made sure I could finish it for today~ ♥ I think it's my favorite thus far in this series. And don't worry; I'm pretty sure that CoKoi will be back this weekend (I'm super excited to write chapter eighteen) so hopefully see you Saturdayish. Hope you enjoy~
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: ohmiya, implied sakuraiba
Summary: A drunken question from Sho leads Ohno to contemplate his relationship with Nino.
Notes: Apartment Verse~
If you traced it back to it's ultimate root, the mess probably began around five pm on the night of Jun's last final. As expected, the youngest had been stressed for the past month or so, snapping if someone so much as stepped on leaf outside his door if he was trying to read one of his textbooks. While Aiba had claimed that the party was to celebrate Jun having a full six weeks of freedom, everyone was fairly sure that it was more a celebration that Aiba didn't have to tiptoe around the complex anymore.
Excited for the festivities, the occupants of 407 had decided to open a bottle of champagne early. Aiba couldn't help it; Jun had just texted and said that his last class was getting delayed due to a train issue with his professor and he was going to take a little longer. Nino had already informed them that he would be "fashionably late," for reasons unknown to the rest. That left the other three with nothing to do, waiting on the two youngest impatiently. When Aiba suggested opening a bottle, both Sho and Ohno eagerly agreed that neither would probably mind.
When Jun got home an hour and a half later, he discovered his friends a great deal happier than they perhaps would have been had his final gotten out at the normal, appointed time. Sho energetically greeted him at the door, a gleeful shout of "Jun's home!" echoing throughout the apartment only to be greeted by returning hoorays from beyond the entranceway. Jun winced, entirely aware of what had happened, and slipped off his shoes, deciding then and there that it would be easier to join them than get mad at them.
The party continued, Jun now stress free and able to handle three vaguely inebriated men who were throwing around bad jokes and worse impressions. Aiba quickly invented a drinking game that had rules at first (something about every time you thought about elephants you had to take a sip of your beer, the replacement for the champagne they had already finished) but quickly dissolved into nonsense, each man shoving the beer bottle in the other's faces, accusing them of various infractions that would cause the other to need to take a swig. Everyone was very obliging.
It was to this delightfully raucous scene that Nino returned, more late than fashionable, at around midnight. He had let himself in, having heard Jun's hysterical laughter from down the hall. No one seemed to mind, however, when he came walking into the room, greeted by gleeful cries of "Nino~!" and a beer thrust into his hand.
"Geez, guys. Leave some water for the horses," Nino muttered but couldn't help but smile at the pure, if inebriated, joy his friends were radiating. After opening the beer, he made his way around the table to his usual spot at Ohno's arm, receiving a drunkenly fond smile from the older man. Nino felt his cheeks warm but he blamed the alcohol, conveniently forgetting he hadn't taken a sip of yet.
The party continued unabated. Aiba had brought out a board game after a little while. No one remembered the real rules but they knew there was rolling of dice and trivia cards and now, apparently, dares involved so it was just as fun as it would have been had they followed the true rules, if not better.
The game was, it seemed to everyone, the greatest idea anyone had ever had. Considering the fact that most of the party was wasted (Nino kept taking tiny sips of his beer but wasn't much a drinker to begin with so he stayed rather sober while the others continued their steady descent towards Saturday morning hangovers), the game actually continued rather uniformly, people taking turns and rolling dice and somewhat moving around the board. The most fun part, however, were the dares.
Aiba seemed to encourage nakedness the more inebriated he became as almost all of his dares required stripping. As the night progressed, each member of the party lost a little more clothes coverage, although Sho was the most notable loser, down to boxers after only an hour. That's when Aiba stopped daring Sho, something about not wanting everyone to get a look at his treasure. Sho had muttered something embarrassedly but everyone was too far gone to notice.
Nino, the most clearheaded of them all, decided that this was a good time to get information, most of his dares being questions he dared the others to answer, Ohno suspected for blackmail purposes in the future. Jun didn't even question the notepad Nino had brought out brazenly about halfway through, jotting down what Sho's scariest reoccurring dream was and what would annoy Jun the absolute worst on the morning a big term paper was due. Honestly, Ohno was only half paying attention, focused more on the hazy image of Nino's adorable hamburger hands scribbling information down.
The trick, however, backfired on Nino as Sho picked up on it. Well, picked up might be too generous a way of putting it. It was more like Sho was tired of being asked questions and decided to start using his turns to interrogate Nino. Sho being Sho, however, the questions were never quite deep. Nino obviously didn't particularly care if the others knew what kind of candy bar he would be (whatever was cheapest) or what his favorite color for clothes was (whatever was clean). But perhaps because of the ease of the earlier questions, the younger man was clearly thrown for a loop when Sho asked the question that would eventually end the game.
"Nee, Nino," Sho began, smiling sloppily and much too widely, one hand pointing across the table towards Nino, over Jun who had already fallen asleep, the other hand grasping his beer can, "I have a question~"
"Shoot," Nino smiled, leaning backwards with a self-satisfied smile, arm coiled around Ohno's and cheek leaned against Ohno's shoulder. Ohno smiled. It was warm. Warm was nice.
"What exactly is going on between you and Ohno, hmm~?" Nino stilled but Sho didn't notice (Sho wasn't noticing much of anything at this point), continuing on. "I mean, we all assume something's going on but nobody knows exactly what. I'll put it this way: these walls are thin and we've never heard anything untoward, if you know what I mean."
"I know what you mean!" Aiba giggled.
Jun groaned from where he was slumped over on the table, surprisingly halfway awake. "Of course you do. I hear more than I need to from your room all the time." Sho had the decency to blush. Aiba just laughed harder.
Nino was noticeably silent through the exchange, his posture stiff at Ohno's side. Sho was quickly distracted by Aiba's laughter, forgetting what he had asked in his boyfriend's guffaws and began laughing himself for pretty much no reason, almost falling over onto Jun who immediately began muttering irritatedly, shoving at Sho.
Ohno's alcohol clouded mind, however, somehow managed to cling onto that question and realize that he didn't know the answer to it. And now that he thought about it, he was curious.There was only one way to fix this. He turned his head slowly (fast movements ran the risk of making the world spin) and caught Nino's eye.
"Nino~?" he asked curiously, watching as Nino's eyes seemed to ask him what was up without words. It was cute the way his eyebrows furrowed together when he made that face and Ohno decided he wanted to see what those wrinkles felt like. Forgetting his question, he leaned forward, poking at the scrunches above Nino's nose. Oh, they were squishy~
"Oh-chan, what are you doing?" Nino asked, his voice a bit strangled, pushing back at Ohno's hand. Oh hey, the tips of his ears were pink. This was a new and adorable development. Ohno wondered how that happened and decided he would ask in the morning, when he was more likely to remember the answer. Wait, question. He had a question, didn't he?
"Nino~" he began again, buying time to remember the question by picking up one of Nino's hands and playing with it. The younger man looked down at their hands with a bit of a blank face before meeting Ohno's eyes again, still confused. That's when Ohno remembered. "What is going on between us? I don't know either."
Maybe asking was a bad idea. It drew the others' attention back to them, something that was sure to clam Nino up regardless of whether he intended to answer in the first place or not. Ohno watched as Nino's expression closed on him, his eyes losing a bit of their brightness and his mouth straightening into a line. Ohno frowned. That's not what he wanted to happen.
"I think," Nino spoke plainly, no warmth in his voice as he rose from his seated position, "that you have all had too much to drink. If you need me, I'll be getting a good night's rest in my room. I had a long day." He stepped around Jun who was still slumped over the table, hopped over Sho's leg and stormed out of the room.
The other four were silent for a moment, not entirely sure what happened or even what was really going on. Jun was the first one to recover his voice.
"Why did he slam the door? My ears are ringing now. Bastard."
"He didn't need to get that upset about it," Sho complained, leaning over against Aiba who patted his head.
"He never answered my question," Ohno pouted. Three heads nodded in agreement.
Nino slept in his own room that night for the first time in six months.
-------
A week passed quietly. Nino kept to himself mostly, suddenly more busy than he had been since the other four had known him, constantly running off to a meeting here or a recording there. He hadn't invited himself over to Ohno's since that night.
Ohno was confused. He only had vague memories of what had happened that night (as did the rest of them) but he seemed to remember asking Nino a question that upset him and Ohno had come to the conclusion that it must somehow be his fault. Of course, if it were his fault, it was up to him to fix it but he was kind of lacking on ideas of how to do that. The next time he ran into Nino in the hallway, he had tried his best.
"Hey, Nino," he said cautiously, not wanting to scare Nino off, knowing how skittish the younger man could be. "Long time, no see." Nino had looked up from where he was locking his door. His guitar case was strapped onto his back and he looked like he was in a sort of vague rush.
"Oh, hey, Ohno," Nino replied, taking the key out of the lock and slipping it into his pocket. Ohno inwardly winced at the use of his family name, already more used to Oh-chan than anything else. "How have you been?"
"Fine, I guess," Ohno thought aloud. It was more than true. There was an exhibition coming up that had decided to use a few of his pieces and he had wanted to take Nino out to celebrate but this weird mood of his was making it very hard to invite him. He decided that a conversation beyond the niceties was going to have to suffice for now. "How are you?"
"Fine," Nino replied automatically. "In fact, I'm kind of in a hurry right now so sorry Ohno, but I have to get going." He didn't look particularly sorry.
"Oh, okay," Ohno answered, disappointed. "Well, if you have to." And that was that. Most of the conversations he had managed with Nino in the following days were much of the same. It was getting frustrating.
Without any other recourse, Ohno decided to turn to those who might be able to help: Aiba and Sho. Okay, so it wasn't really a planned decision; it was more that Ohno had tried to talk to Nino one day when the other two were coming home and upon Nino's exit, the couple had pulled Ohno into their apartment to try and figure out exactly what was going on. Ohno figured it was better than being confused alone.
"So he won't talk to you at all?" Aiba asked, trying to make heads or tails of the situation. Ohno shook his head while accepting the cup of tea Sho had just poured him.
"Well, he talks to me a little but just the necessities, you know? Stuff like 'hi' and 'fine' and 'well, see you later'. It's more like acknowledging each other's presence than talking."
"Is he mad about something?" Sho asked. "I mean, what else could it be? He used to be all over you and now it's like you don't exist. He must be mad about something."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure he is," Ohno readily agreed. "In fact, I vaguely remember what it is. But I don't remember enough so I don't know how to fix it."
"Oh?" Aiba asked, intrigued. "Tell us what you remember. Maybe we can help piece it together."
"Well," Ohno began, "I'm pretty sure it all started that night we celebrated Jun finishing finals. I was so drunk, though, that I only remember bits and pieces. We were playing that board game and people were doing dares and then someone, Sho maybe?, asked Nino a question and Nino didn't want to answer it. Then, I think, I asked it again. I don't know. I did something and now he's mad."
"Sho?" Aiba turned to look at the other man who was putting some groceries away. "Do you remember the question? It sounds like you started it."
"Question?" Sho asked himself, looking upwards as if that would somehow help him. "I don't particularly..." he muttered but a look of realization came over his face. "Oh! I think I know!" He frowned. "But he shouldn't have been that upset about it."
"What was it?" Ohno asked, curious and a little apprehensive. It was a lot easier to be removed from the situation when he didn't know what he had done in the first place.
"Well, I just," Sho rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and sat down at the table with the other two. He looked rather embarrassed, as he really should, considering that in a way, he had started this whole mess. "I just asked him, you know, what you guys' status was."
"Our status?" Ohno asked, confused. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant and why such a weird question would upset Nino that badly.
"Yeah. Um, you know. Like what was going on. If you were, i don't know, dating? Or just friends? Or, I don't know, your status." Sho looked really uncomfortable and it was understandable. It was an awkward question, especially without the confidence of alcohol to help you ask it.
"Oh," Ohno replied, thinking about this for awhile. That was what had upset Nino that badly? But it wasn't even that weird a question. Even he was unsure as to what they exactly were. ... Oh. That was it, huh?
"Thanks for the help, you guys," Ohno nodded at the two confused stares he was getting, rising and heading towards the door. "I think I know what to do now."
"You do?" Sho asked. "Cause it doesn't seem like we really helped with anything."
"No," Ohno called back from the doorway, pulling his shoes back on, "you really did. I'm sure it'll all be better in the morning." And with that, he slipped out the door.
"You think he's really all right?" Aiba asked, looking over at Sho. Sho shrugged.
"I guess we'll find out later."
-------
When Nino came home that night, there was an Ohno on his doorstep. From the looks of things, he'd been there for awhile, a heavy sweatshirt on his smallish frame and knees pulled up to his chest to try and keep the cold out. It was an odd sight and definitely not what he had expected to find when he came home.
"Cold?" he asked, getting the older man's attention. Ohno looked up and met Nino's eyes. In a moment, he lit up, all smiles as he slowly rose from the sitting position, trying to shake out all the aches he had from sitting for so long.
"Won't be in a second," he shrugged. He took the key out of his pocket and grabbed Nino's hand with the other. "Come on, you're coming over."
"Oh no, Ohno," Nino tried to protest. "I've had a really long day and I'm sure you have, too so why don't we just go, take a bath, and get in bed? Doesn't that sound nice?"
"Don't care," Ohno answered without hesitation, unlocking the door and then dragging Nino inside. There really had never been a choice for the younger man.
As soon as they got inside, Ohno led Nino over to his bed and pushed on his shoulders, sitting Nino down on the edge of it. Taking a few steps farther in the room, he grabbed the stool he usually sat on when painting and pulled it up so that he was sitting opposite Nino.
"So, um, what's up?" Nino began awkwardly, not entirely sure what was going on and unable to meet Ohno's eyes. Ohno took a breath, trying to think of an easy way to begin this conversation.
"What have you been up to lately?" he finally asked, realizing that he still had no idea where Nino had been disappearing to lately. "You come home so late and leave so early. You're like a ghost."
"Oh, is that all?" Nino asked, relaxing at the question, leaning back a little so that he was in his familiar hunched position. Ohno relaxed, too, from Nino's lead. "Well, I got a new gig and it's just been taking up more time than usual, that's all."
"New gig?" Ohno prompted, curious as to what exactly it was. Nino was young and although he was slowly gaining fame with his music, there was still a lot of trouble an unexperienced young man could get into. Nino straightened slightly at the question, adding to Ohno's inward anxiety.
"Oh, um," Nino looked down at his hands while he answered, "some exec over at Fuji TV heard my demo tape, apparently and they decided to use one of my songs as an insert in one of their dramas next season."
"What?" Ohno asked, eyes widening in excitement. "Nino, that's awesome! They're going to use your song in a drama? Man, your popularity is going to skyrocket! That's amazing!"
"I guess," Nino smiled a little, still not looking up. Ohno frowned.
"You are much too blase about this. Why haven't you told us? We would have had a party."
"I think everyone's had enough parties for awhile," Nino replied dryly.
"Is that what this is about?" Ohno finally asked, the question that had been haunting him finally on his lips. "Is it about what I asked at that party last week?"
Nino didn't look up but Ohno knew that he must have been right, watching emotions flit across Nino's downturned face.
"You never answered, you know," Ohno prodded. It seemed to work. Nino let out a sigh, as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders and looked up to meet Ohno's eyes. He looked weary.
"What do you want to be, Ohno?" he asked, much to Ohno's surprise. "I feel like I've made too many decisions in our relationship."
"I was the one that invited you over in the first place," Ohno pointed out.
"And I was the one that never left," Nino countered. "I was the one that decided that we were what we were. But that was selfish of me. I realize that now. So, it's up to you. What do you want to be?"
Ohno considered this for a second. Nino looked so tired and it broke his heart. He hadn't thought that Nino was blaming himself so harshly for something that wasn't even wrong.
"What's wrong with what we were?" Ohno asked, trying to figure out what would make Nino feel better. He hated seeing the younger man like this. "We were fine before, weren't we? Why can't we just do that again?"
"We can," Nino conceded. "Of course we could do that. It's just that," he paused, looking around the room for a second, eyes focusing on a painting Ohno had stuffed in the back corner of his room. It had been too yellow for his taste. "It's just that, if we do just go back, people are going to ask questions again. Maybe not out loud, like Sho, but they'll be thinking it. They'll be wondering."
"So?" Ohno asked, not entirely sure what the big deal was but aware, nonetheless, that it seemed to upset Nino. "Do we care what other people think?"
"No, of course not," Nino answered automatically. Ohno frowned. This wasn't what Nino wanted and it was obvious.
"Do you want something more stable than that? Do you want something more official?" Nino looked up at the question, not entirely sure what Ohno meant by that. There was a gleam in Ohno's eye, like he had an idea, but Nino couldn't read it. He shrugged.
"I want whatever you want, Ohno. Just say the word and that's what we are."
"Okay, then," Ohno sat back, smiling slightly. "Then, just to clear up confusion, of course, if anyone asks, we'll just say that you're my boyfriend."
"What?" Nino's eyes widened considerably, not sure where this sudden confession (was it even a confession?) had come from. He felt his cheeks fill and a warm haziness begin to permeate his being but he tried to draw himself back into the moment, figure out exactly what had just happened. "Oh-chan, are you sure? You don't have to say that. You don't have to do that."
"But I want to," Ohno shrugged, smiling wider. After a beat, however, his smile faltered slightly. "Why? Do you not want to be my boyfriend?"
Nino had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. "Are you kidding? I've been sleeping next to you for six months without so much as making a sound. Do you know how much self control that takes?"
"So that means yes, then?" Ohno asked, a hopeful smile on his face.
"Idiot," Nino muttered under his breath, launching himself off the bed and into Ohno's lap. His arms found their familiar position around Ohno's neck and Nino looked up into Ohno's face, smiling. "Yes."
"Oh. Well, good then," Ohno nodded, grinning for a second before finding his face pulled down to meet Nino's.
-------
"Aww," Aiba commented from the table where he was flipping through a magazine he'd brought home with him from work. "It sounds like they made up."
Sho frowned from his position on the bed, giving the wall a dirty look. "It's a good thing no kids live on this floor."
~
It is 12:08 which makes it officially November 10th aka my birthday! To celebrate, I decided to give you guys a present: a new apartment verse fic. This has been in the works for a long time but I made sure I could finish it for today~ ♥ I think it's my favorite thus far in this series. And don't worry; I'm pretty sure that CoKoi will be back this weekend (I'm super excited to write chapter eighteen) so hopefully see you Saturdayish. Hope you enjoy~