Come On! Koibito! 18/21
"You know, I thought, with that heroic gesture of yours, I'd be free of your constant nagging and annoying judgmental face." Nino threw a harsh glance at Aiba from over his Playstation controller but the older man only laughed at his friend's sullenness.
"You're just jealous I had the idea first," he smiled, taking advantage of Nino's distraction to KO his character, not really helping his case with his best friend. Nino simply threw the controller down and stormed off towards the interior of the room to flop, face down, on the bed.
Due to "extenuating circumstances," Aiba had been allowed to stay on site for the week following his quitting the show. However, Kimura had decided that there needed to be some kind of penalty and thus, Aiba's room had been taken away. Much to Nino's chagrin, Aiba was told that for the next week, he would be crashing at Nino's.
"I don't know why you're being so difficult about this," Aiba continued almost conversationally, knowing that he'd lectured about as much as he could manage at this point and the next step with Nino at this point was try and get him to talk. It only worked a small amount of the time. Aiba was hoping against hope and he knew it but it was worth a shot. He was feeling kind of like the Miracle Boy lately.
"Aiba," Nino's voice was muffled by the sheets, "can you even be talking? You haven't gotten an answer yet." Aiba frowned; he had a point.
"The important thing is," Aiba continued on, disregarding Nino's comment, "that I made an effort for what I wanted. And you are just being lazy about it."
"I'm not being lazy," the pillows countered.
"Says the man that is arguing from the bed."
"I just, I don't know if I can just throw it away like you can, though." Nino's voice was clear and undistorted. Aiba looked up to see Nino staring down at him, eyes big and clearly upset. Secretly cheering himself for managing to break through, Aiba rose and made his way over to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Of course you can," Aiba enthused. "Why couldn't you? What's stopping you? The money? Your pride? Two things you've always been preoccupied with having much too much of." Nino was watching him carefully and Aiba knew he couldn't mess this up, if he wanted his friend to be happy. Time to tread carefully.
"Nino, were you ever really happy on any of your dates with Jun? Like you wanted to be with him?"
"No," Nino answered honestly, averting his eyes from Aiba's honest gaze.
"And were you ever really happy when you were dating Ryo or Hiroki or any of those weird guys you somehow managed to surround yourself with?"
"No," Nino shivered. Aiba didn't blame him; Nino had a weird string of ex-boyfriends.
"And here's the most important question," Aiba looked Nino straight in the eye, knowing it all depended on this. "Nino, are you happy when you're with Ohno?"
Nino didn't answer, not like the other questions. He kept Aiba's gaze for a second before looking away, staring at something somewhere beyond Aiba's shoulder. But his hands fiddled nervously with a grip on the sheets and his mouth was pressed in a straight line. Aiba smiled. He had his answer.
-------
"So, who came up with this latest challenge? Because it seems like a really bad idea." Sho watched Jun take a sip of his latte and cross his arms, trying to fend off the cold. Why they had decided to film intro spots outside in November was beyond him, especially since the challenge had absolutely nothing to do with the outdoors to begin with. At least he'd remembered to bring his wool coat to set.
"Kimura. Who else?" He answered. "He thinks it's going to add a good taste of drama, especially since we only have one more challenge after this and that's the same every year." Sho grabbed a packet of sugar to pour into his coffee, swirling it absentmindedly with a bright pink swizzle stick that someone on staff had just happened to have on hand. He had stopped questioning the staff long ago.
Sho had to admit, it was a weird idea for a challenge. Interviewing the contestant's friends? Okay, that made sense. Their family? Even more. Interviewing their ex-boyfriends? That just seemed like a recipe for trouble. For one thing, Sho wasn't sure where Kimura had even found all the exes in the first place. Probably some sort of hired private detective but Sho didn't know for sure. All he knew was that he never wanted to cross Kimura.
"Still," Jun mused, smiling down at his coffee cup, "I never would have guessed about Toma. I feel like I should have seen that one coming."
"That Yamapi was his ex?" Sho chuckled. "Yeah, they did a good job of hiding it on the show. Although, was it just me or did they seem much more lovey dovey today than they ever did when they were on set?"
"Oh, no," Jun nodded, "I don't think they're over each other at all."
"Which is probably going to hurt Toma in the voting this week," Sho thought out loud. "But that's okay; I think they need to resolve things with each other anyway."
"Speaking of having to resolve things," Jun grinned cheekily to Sho, "what are you going to do?"
Sho sighed, taking a swig of his coffee and ignoring the way that Jun was smiling at him, like he saw right through him. It was unnerving. It had been a surprise when Aiba had confessed to him on air but it hadn't been unpleasant. In all honesty, Sho had kind of been waiting for something like that to happen. Not to that scale, of course, but any fool could see that Aiba had a crush on him.
But what was he going to say? Aiba was already off the show; he didn't have to worry about how his response would harm or help Aiba's image. He could make the decision entirely on his feelings. But what were they?
"Look alive," Jun poked him, bringing Sho back to the present. "Your loverboy's on his way over."
"Hmm?" Sho looked up, spying Aiba making his way over from the mansion. Sho felt his face automatically warm at Aiba's grin and immediately looked down at his coffee again. Kimura had allowed the two to talk to each other in the week interim, as long as there were no answers given off camera. They had both easily agreed, neither really looking forward to avoiding the other for a whole week but it was a little awkward every time.
"Hi Jun. Hi Sho," Aiba smiled, doing his best to ignore the delicate atmosphere surrounding the three and somehow managing to bring the other two into his same easy going mood. "What are you guys talking about?"
"The latest challenge," Jun supplied, noticing that Sho was probably not going to answer. "Kind of weird, huh?"
"The ex-boyfriend thing?" Aiba asked. "Yeah, it is kind of strange. I'm glad I'm not on the show anymore. I don't even want to think of who you guys would dig up for me."
Sho frowned. He hadn't even thought about that. He didn't particularly want to see Aiba's ex-boyfriends, either.
"Speaking of which," Aiba continued, his expression becoming somewhat troubled, "who got called in for Nino? I can't think of a single guy in Nino's life that I would really want to appear on this show. They were all kind of ..." Aiba trailed off, looking for words to describe Nino's past flings. "Well, Nino doesn't have the best taste in men."
Jun frowned. "I don't remember. Do you, Sho?"
"Um," Sho thought for a moment, "some guy named Ryo, I think? Whoever the last guy he dated was. That's what Kimura said."
"Ryo?" Aiba's face paled, looking almost like he'd seen a ghost. "Nishikido Ryo?"
"Yeah, that's him," Sho nodded, watching Aiba's troubled face carefully. "Why? Is there something wrong?"
"Well, I don't know," Aiba thought out loud, still not looking quite well. "I mean, Ryo was always..." Aiba trailed off again. Sho had never seen the younger man look so troubled before; it was off-putting. "Honestly, Ryo was kind of crazy."
"Crazy?" Jun raised his eyebrows at Aiba. "Crazy how?"
"Well," Aiba began wringing his hands, looking ridiculously uncomfortable, "for one, he was creepily possessive. He didn't even like me being around Nino and I was his roommate. And, I don't know," Aiba's eyes were faraway, "it always seemed like he was near the breaking point, like he was about to do something really horrible. Nino broke up with him before it got too bad but I always felt like he got out just in time."
Sho and Jun frowned at each other.
"When are you supposed to interview this guy?" Sho asked. Jun reached into his bag and pulled out a set of production notes. After quickly scanning the page, his finger landed on a time stamp.
"In about an hour."
"Just be careful," Aiba offered, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "That guy's trouble."
-------
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Nishikido," Jun smiled pleasantly, reaching out his hand to shake Ryo's. The other man didn't make any move to return the gesture and after an awkward pause, Jun took back his hand and motioned for the other to sit. That he seemed to agree to, leaning down into the chair, back rigidly straight.
Jun could already kind of see what Aiba had been talking about. There was something about how the way Ryo stared too powerfully, the way his suit was so cleanly pressed, the way his back pressed against the back of the chair like he had a rod holding him up. There was something off about the man and Jun didn't like it.
"So you're the guy, huh?" Ryo asked, sizing Jun up with a glance. He didn't seem to like what he saw and Jun returned the feeling.
"I'm the guy," Jun affirmed, leaning back so as to not let Ryo intimidate him. "Is there something wrong with that?"
"There's something wrong with the whole idea of this show," Ryo sneered. "All these men are basically prostituting themselves and for what? For you? What makes you such a prize?"
"This is all up to them," Jun shrugged, trying not to let the man get to him. "They're the ones that entered themselves. Plus there's a cash prize, you know. It's not just me."
"Oh, I know," Ryo agreed. "That's the only reason Nino would be on an awful show like this. There's no way he would agree to something like this if money wasn't involved."
"Are you saying Nino would never fall in love with me?" Jun asked, smirking. Not that he thought Nino was in love with him, far from it, but there was no reason Ryo had to know that.
"I'm saying," Ryo countered, "that Nino knows better than that." Jun frowned. He didn't like Ryo's tone.
"What do you mean?"
"You heard me," Ryo replied, a self-satisfied smile on his face. "Nino knows that no one would ever love him like I do."
"Nino broke up with you." Jun said, an uneasy disbelief in his tone. "Unless you missed that part."
"Minor detail," Ryo assured. "He's just testing me, trying to get me to prove how much I love him. He'll come back to me when he sees how much I care." There was something about the way Ryo said that that made Jun extremely uneasy.
"You know," Jun stood up slowly, already pretty sure he wasn't going to want to make fast movements around this guy, "I need to run to the bathroom real quick. Would you excuse me for a moment?"
"Of course," Ryo's too wide smile replied. Jun nodded to him and quickly made his way through the door, closing it behind him. There was something wrong. He was too calm, too weird. There was no way that man didn't have something going on.
Jun knew that Kimura was watching the live footage in a production tent just a few yards away and he dashed over there, one question burning in his mind. A feeling of dread crept into the back of his spine and added a certain speed to his step that wouldn't otherwise be there.
"Tell me," Jun burst into the tent, startling Kimura and Nagase who flipped their chairs around to meet Jun's eyes, "tell me that Ryo hasn't had access to Nino today."
"What are you talking about?" Nagase asked, annoyed at the way Jun had barged it. "You know full well that each contestant had thirty minutes with their ex to sort out things."
"Fuck," Jun muttered, running a hand through his hair. "And Nino definitely met with Ryo?"
"Yeah," Kimura nodded. "I remember Nagase telling Okada to show him to Nino's room. Why?" Jun let out out a frustrated groan, confusing the two even more.
"Just, I don't know, get someone down here to possibly restrain this guy? I have a feeling something might have gone wrong. I'll go back and try and get something out of him."
"You mean a crime might have been committed on set?" Kimura asked, equal parts horrified and kind of excited. Jun frowned at him.
"Just get a guard or something down here, okay?" Without giving Kimura a chance to answer, he turned around and headed back out of the tent, walking with a purpose back to the shoot.
Halfway there, an idea hit him and Jun pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his contacts until he found Aiba's number. After typing a quick message, he entered the room again, giving a gracious smile to the creepy man.
"I'm sorry about that. Now where were we?"
-------
Ohno felt the panic desperately try to claw at his mind but he wasn't going to let it in. He shook his head a bit, trying to have some of the desperation leave with each movement. If he let himself worry too badly, there was no way he was going to be of any use. It was hard, though, to keep calm when there was a possibility one of Nino's psychotic ex-boyfriends had attacked him.
Aiba had run up to him about ten minutes earlier, terror on his face, his arm stretched out in front of him clutching his phone. Ohno took the phone from him when the young man finally reached him, frowning as he read the message.
"GET OHNO. FIND NINO. NOW."
"What's this all about?" Ohno asked, an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach as he connected all the threads in his mind. Aiba only confirmed his fears when he confided that the ex-boyfriend they had called in for Nino was supposedly crazy. Ohno had not gone to meet him, knowing that he would only feel uncomfortable meeting someone Nino had once dated, had once trusted more than he now did Ohno. But maybe he should have. Maybe he could have prevented this.
There was no time for what ifs, though. The most important thing was to find Nino, to make sure that he was all right. Aiba and his first destination had been Nino's room, the logical place. Ohno had hoped beyond hope that they would walk in and Nino would be sitting there, playing his DS or strumming his guitar, looking up angrily at their interruption.
What they found, however, was a slightly messy room, something that would look pretty normal if not for the fact that both Aiba knew that the room hadn't looked like that a few hours prior. He had been upstairs, playing some sort of game with Nino before the challenge and out of frustration with Nino, had taken to straightening parts of the room, pretty much just to annoy Nino who didn't like Aiba touching his things. Pillows that Aiba had neatly stacked were now strewn across the floor; the bed Aiba had straightened looked almost slept in. Most of all, there was no sign of Nino. Something was definitely wrong.
Aiba had offered to check downstairs if Ohno would check upstairs. It seemed like a good idea at the time, spread out to cover more ground. As time was passing, however, Ohno was beginning to worry that Aiba would forget to tell him when he found Nino or, worse still, that neither would find him at all.
Ohno refused to think too hard about it, though. They would find Nino. They would. There couldn't be any other option.
At this point, though, Ohno had checked every room upstairs, much to the annoyance of a few other contestants but they could live. He'd checked the bathrooms, the closets, even under a few beds. Nino was simply nowhere to be found.
Walking down the hallway, Ohno paused when he came to Nino's doorway. There was something that was bothering him about it; he couldn't shake the feeling that he and Aiba had somehow missed something in there. A frown of concentration on his face, he reached over and opened the door.
Nothing looked different, as Ohno scanned the room again. The same scattered pillows and the same messed up bed. He began walking around a bit, throwing pillows to the side in case there might be something underneath one of them. Although he found nothing in his pillow search, when Ohno looked up, he found himself in front of the bathroom door.
Thinking back, he couldn't remember Aiba and he checking the bathroom in the first place. A chill ran down his spine as he gazed at the door. Something about it was throwing him off balance, almost like his mind knew something that he didn't yet. With a quick intake of breath, Ohno reached down and turned the handle.
And nothing happened.
Ohno frowned, trying one more time to turn the handle but finding the door locked. That was weird. Nino had never locked the door, as far as Ohno knew. There had never really been a reason to.The fact that this door wasn't opening definitely meant something.
Well, if the door wasn't opening, Ohno was going to have to do something. He took a step back and sized up the door. Ohno was fully aware that he wasn't the biggest person but he had a feeling that, if he condensed his size and used the right amount of force, he could probably break down the door. At least, he hoped.
Holding his breath and muttering a quick chant of good luck, Ohno slowly backed up, amassing energy for the sudden run. When he felt that he had done enough, Ohno blinked, focused his eyes straight ahead, and ran with all his might.
To his surprise, the door opened fairly easily with the addition of Ohno's weight, bursting open with a bang that was louder than he had anticipated. It was quickly forgotten, though, because the scene that met Ohno's eyes was much more terrifying, the image searing itself onto Ohno's memory.
Nino's eyes met his from where Nino lay in the bathtub, fear and panic almost overwhelming them as they struggled to stay open. Nino's arms and legs where bound to his sides with cords that, upon inspection later, had probably come from his Playstation. The bath had been filled so that the water went past Nino's mouth but not quite to his nose, allowing the man to breath but not to speak. As if to add insult to injury, Nino's head had been duct-taped to to the wall, not allowing him to turn away from the offending liquid. If it weren't so awful, the technicality would have been almost impressive.
In his shock, Ohno had paused for a moment before a quick shout of "Nino!" escaped his lips and he rushed to Nino's side, ripping the duct tape from the wall and dragging Nino out of the bath. Nino immediately began shaking; the water had been cold and there was no way of knowing how long he'd been in there, nevermind the shock he was probably in. Shaky hands began untangling the cords holding Nino's arms which, when free, immediately shot around Ohno, desperately searching for something solid to hold onto.
Seeing that Nino wouldn't be able to move for possibly quite awhile, Ohno reached up to where a towel was hanging on the wall, pulling it down and wrapping it around Nino, trying to quell the shivering. Nino said nothing, just clung to Ohno like a lost child that had finally found a safe haven.
"Nino?" Ohno tried, not even sure if Nino would be able to form words. "Nino, are you okay?" Nino said nothing, just tightened his grip on Ohno and buried his face in the awkward space between Ohno's chest and neck.
They sat that way for awhile, sprawled on the bathroom floor, Nino shaking and Ohno trying to figure out what to do. Millions of options flew through Ohno's mind: call Aiba, get Nino into warm clothes, get the set's physician up there. But Nino wasn't moving and there wasn't much Ohno could do except hold him and be that rock that he needed.
Eventually, however, Nino's shaking began growing worse and even Ohno couldn't ignore it anymore. He made a move to stand up, trying to draw Nino with him, but Nino looked up, fear in his eyes as if Ohno were leaving him.
"We need to get you warm," Ohno tried to explain. "Get those wet clothes off of you and wrap you up in about fifty blankets. You're going to catch pneumonia if we're not careful."
Nino seemed to consider Ohno's words for a moment before going limp, an indication Ohno somehow understood as a go ahead, allowing himself to be pulled up and dragged over to the bed. Ohno walked over to the dresser and pulled out the warmest pair of sweats he could find and set them down on the bed.
"Don't get any ideas," Ohno smiled half-heartedly, reaching over to pull the sopping t-shirt over Nino's head before quickly wiping him off with the towel and pulling the sweatshirt into place. He repeated the same action with Nino's pants, drying the younger man off before replacing them with sweatpants. There was absolutely nothing sensual about the act but it still felt intimate. Ohno grabbed his phone before lying Nino down in the bed and pulling the covers around him.
A quick call to AIba alerted the poor man to the fact that he had found his best friend and not to worry but he was kind of in shock so it might be best to bring a medic up to Nino's room. Aiba immediately agreed and hung up in a hurry.
The sudden dial tone brought Ohno to his senses in an instant. Placing his phone on the nightstand, Ohno looked down at the bed to find Nino looking up into his eyes. The shock had still not worn off; Nino hadn't spoken a word yet. But there was something in his eyes, a pleading tone that Ohno couldn't ignore. He didn't want to.
"You know," Ohno smiled, slipping his slippers off, "humans make the best heaters. And we need to get you warmed up, don't we?"
Nino didn't say anything but his eyes watched every move Ohno made. A step forward, another. Ohno reached down and drew back the covers a little, laying down awkwardly, trying to make enough room for himself in the space that Nino was already occupying. The two men were taking up only half the bed.
Nino's eyes continued to burn into Ohno's but there was nothing more Ohno could think to do but tug at Nino, pulling the smaller man into his arms and doing his very best to give all the warmth that his body had to the other. Nino's head rested in the crook of Ohno's shoulder and Ohno rubbed small circles onto Nino's back.
Ohno felt Nino tense in his arms for a second, before completely going weightless. And then Nino cried.
-------
Aiba was nervous. It was a normal way to feel, he supposed, what with the fact that he was going to get an answer to his confession. Not only that, but it was going to be on live television, pretty much the most embarrassing place something like this could ever happen. What could be worse? Maybe in front of his family? Oh, no, that didn't work. His family was probably watching this.
"Calm down," Jun whispered from his side, in as soothing a voice as he could muster. Nagase had made Aiba wait with Jun, pointing out that he wasn't a contestant anymore so there was no reason he should stand with them. Aiba appreciated it; it wasn't like Nino was on set, anyway. After the previous day's catastrophe, Ryo had been taken away by the local police on harassment and battery charges and Nino and Ohno had been taken to the clinic, Nino to be treated and Ohno because Nino was attached to his arm and wouldn't go anywhere without him.
Aiba had wanted to stay with him, cancel the whole confession thing and be there for Nino. It was Jun that convinced him otherwise.
"There's nothing you can do for him at this point," Jun said, giving him a pointed look. AIba knew he was right but it felt wrong leaving Nino like that. His eyes kept fluttering over to where Nino sat on the bed, finally asleep after twelve hours of staring ahead wearily, hands clasped tightly in Ohno's. It was this last point, Ohno's presence, that finally allowed Aiba to leave.
So now here he stood, nervous as a man on his first date, wringing his hands and watching as the elimination ceremony continued steadily. Junpei joined them. Sho announced that Nino was still in, despite his absence. Finally, Toma was voted off in what was apparently a close vote, although Aiba didn't know the numbers. And then, it was time.
"And now," Nagase stepped onstage, dressed up for once, showing how planned this segment had been, "we have the moment you've all been waiting for. Aiba, will you come over here?"
Aiba followed Nagase's beckoning arm slowly, legs like lead as he moved through molasses to the main stage. He couldn't even look at Sho. He couldn't remember being this nervous about anything before. Maybe it was the cameras. Maybe it was the fact that his best friend had recently been attacked. Or maybe it was the man, himself.
"Last week," Nagase continued when Aiba had reached his side, "Aiba confessed his feelings to our dear host, Sakurai. Sho has had a week to think over things, to make his decision. Will Sho turn him down? Will new love bloom? Let's find out~!" And with a flourish, Nagase ushered himself offstage.
And then it was just the two of them. Aiba finally managed to look up at Sho and just as quickly wished he hadn't. The man looked more nervous than he did, hands held tightly in front of them and a serious look of concentration on his face.
"Aiba," Sho began, taking a breath and looking in Aiba's eyes. Aiba wouldn't have been able to look away if he tried. "Last week, you told me something very personal at this elimination ceremony." Sho paused and feeling awkward with the tension, Aiba nodded.
"This week," Sho continued, "I'd like to give you an answer to your question." Sho paused again and in the back of Aiba's mind, he realized that it was probably for dramatic effect on television. His more present mind, however, was annoyed as hell at how long this was taking. Just answer already.
"And that answer is?" Aiba finally asked, seeing that Sho wasn't going to start it. It seemed to be the right idea, though, because Sho grinned in response and a warmth began spreading in Aiba's stomach.
"And that answer is," Sho repeated, "yes, of course. It was always yes."
It only took Aiba about two seconds to launch himself the five feet between himself and Sho, arms latched around the older man in as big a hug as he could muster. He felt Sho chuckle under him and he pulled back, smiling and placing a kiss on Sho's cheek.
"Aiba," Sho frowned through his laughter, "we're on television. You can't do that." Aiba was about to ask why when he saw Sho grin, a mischievous one that made his eyes twinkle. And then Sho was kissing him. Kissing him, on national television. Not that Aiba was aware of much of anything at this point, mind now concentrated on the lips that had set themselves upon his.
Much too quickly, Sho drew back, that same devious smile on his face.
"We're on television. We have to do something much more dramatic."
Aiba (and Kimura, for that matter) wasn't going to argue.
~
And there you have chapter 18. A little bit more serious than normal but hopefully not too bad. Just a heads up: there is a 99% chance that there won't be an update next week. I have two papers due a week from Monday and they are serious business. After that week, I'll be smooth sailing but next week will be bad. At least I gave you a somewhat happy place to wait on? We'll see what you guys think. :) Hope you liked it and see you soon!
Eta; And I'd like to add an apology to Ryo: I know that you're not really like that. I'm basically just writing Sousuke from last friends with your name. No hard feelings?