[Multi-chapter] Rumors (7/7 final)
Title: Rumors (7/7)
Pairing: Ohmiya, Sho x Ohno, ??
Rating: PG
Genre: Fluff, School AU
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story ~ Arashi own my heart.
Summary: The rumor didn't bother Nino so much until he met that person. And he started to wonder whether it was true or not, and one day he became the center of another rumor, too.
A/N: As usual this is beta-ed by potatoos ^^ Thanks so much for your help! So, this is the last chapter of this story (it's sad since I like it so much ne =^^=). Thanks for all of you who has read it from the beginning until now! I'm so happy with all your comments and know that you like it become my motivation to write more... Enjoy ne, and please let me know what you think about the ending... Once again, I'm so grateful ^-^ *hugs*
Chapter 7
“Want to go somewhere together?” Nino asked during lunch one day when they were both on the terrace. Ohno raised his head to look at Nino in surprise, his eyes widened.
“What’s with that face?” Nino chuckled, “Don’t you want to?”
Ohno shook his head quickly and swallowed his food; then, he spoke hastily.
“Of course I want to,” He nearly choked, and Nino gently rubbed his back to soothe him “I mean, yes, let’s go.”.
Nino laughed, and Ohno felt his heart skipped a beat. He loved Nino’s laugh. It was like sunshine on a rainy day.
“Where would you like to go?” Nino picked at a grain of rice near Ohno’s mouth and teased in a singsong voice, “Ohchan’s still a kid~”.
“…A park?” Ohno suggested shyly and he lowered his head to hide his blush. “I mean, I’ve always wanted to go there someday… but I have no chance.”
“You have never gone to a park before?” Nino arched his eyebrows in disbelief. “Which planet do you come from?”
“I’m always too busy,” Ohno smiled sheepishly “with, well, painting and making stuff… More than that, I don’t have anyone to go there with.”
“What about him?” Nino tried to keep his tone as neutral as possible while mentioning about that boy. The uneasiness saddled in his stomach, but he knew better and kept his face straight. He didn’t look at Ohno though, for fear of giving away his jealousy.
“Who?” Ohno frowned in confusion, “Ah, you meant Sho-kun?”
“He’s Sho-kun?” Nino winced slightly, “I’ve never known his name before...”
“Oh yes,” Ohno smiled nervously. “Well, we often meet at each other’s house…”
Nino ignored the jealousy growing in his chest. He knew he was just jealous of this unknown boy, because he had never had a chance to visit Ohno’s house. This Sho-kun must be someone important to Ohno. Well, they were a couple... He felt his chest was being pressed heavily as he stared at the floor.
“Nino?” Ohno, awared of Nino’s strange expression, asked gently “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Nino lied and forced a smile. “Okay, we’ll go to the park then.”
“Really?” Ohno beamed happily, and Nino felt his heart fluttered inside his chest. He forgot about his jealousness of that ‘Sho-kun’, and lay down to rest his head on Ohno’s lap, enjoying the welcoming warmth radiating from the latter. Ohno looked at him with a slightly surprise smile but his hand naturally rested on Nino’s hair and stroked it gently while the younger man closed his eyes, his lips curved into a satisfied smile.
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“Nino!” Aiba called when he reached his locker, ready to change into his outside shoes. He turned around to see Aiba approaching him with worry clearly visible in his eyes, and again an insecure feeling started to grow within him.
“What?” he snapped when Aiba came closer and he didn’t need to look at Aiba to know what was coming.
“They say that you’re dating Ohno-san,” Aiba announced uncertainly. “…Is that true?”
Nino sighed and opened his locker, crammed his stuff into it a little more forcefully than he intended to. He clammed it shut with a loud bang and turned to look at Aiba.
“What if it’s true?” he smirked in defiance.
“What?” Aiba gasped, his hand flew up to cover his mouth in surprise. “It’s true??”
“Aiba, I’m tired of it,” Nino sighed and zipped his bag. “Why don’t they learn how to leave people alone, seriously?”
“But, Nino, you’re not really dating him, aren’t you?” Aiba was insistent and Nino didn’t have the heart to lie to his best friend.
“Of course not,” He slung his bag over his shoulder. “You’re annoying, Aiba. Why do you believe in those rumors?”
“Well, they said that you two are going on a date,” Aiba continued. “And I was so shock that you didn’t tell me!”
“What?” Nino turned to Aiba and stared at him in disbelief. Just how the hell did they know about it?
“What?” Aiba looked back. “I shouldn’t believe in this one too, right?”
“Yeah…” Nino mumbled and turned away, and tried to get away from Aiba as quickly as possible.
He was so tired of all these, the rumors. They don’t have the right to judge what people are doing, he thought angrily.
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Ohno was standing at the main gate of the largest park in Osaka. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and a black jacket. He looked at his watch again and again to check the time. It’s still early, and Nino wouldn’t come until two pm. He had been here for nearly half an hour, and there was an unexplainable excitement in his chest. He had checked his appearance carefully to make sure everything about him was okay before going. He leaned against the wall, a small smiled formed on his face as he suddenly felt that life was not as bad as he thought it had been. It had been a long time since he had last felt that life was so beautiful - like this. What kind of person he would become if he had never met Nino, he could never imagine. Perhaps I would still be lost in my own maze… And I would be crying alone again …
“You’re sleeping even when you’re outside?” Nino’s voice came from beside him, and Ohno snapped his eyes open to stare at Nino’s mischievous smile.
“No, I’m just thinking,” He smiled sheepishly and suddenly felt embarrassed. He took his hands out from his pocket, and when he realized that he had nothing to do with them, he tugged them back into the pockets again. Nino watched amusingly and grabbed his arm, pulling Ohno closer to him.
“Ohchan is cute ne~”
Ohno could feel his cheeks burning, and he looked away with a big grin that he knew Nino noticed, but Nino acted like he didn’t realize that.
“Where should we go first?” Nino pulled Ohno along and they walked side by side, leaving no space between their touching shoulders. Nino held Ohno’s arm tightly, making Ohno smiled.
“I want to go…there,” Ohno pointed to the Ferris wheel. From where they were, they could only see its top which was rotating slowly. “There’s a legend…”
Ohno suddenly realized what he was going to talk about, and he stopped mid-sentence. Nino turned to him, confused.
“What legend?”
“Ah, never mind, I just read it somewhere.” Ohno spluttered, and he pulled Nino’s arm and walked away, but Nino pulled him back.
“Tell me,” Nino demanded “What legend? Because I want to go there too.”
“No, you’ll think that I’m so dreamy!” Ohno hid his face behind both hands in embarrassment.
“I won’t!” Nino exclaimed. He pried Ohno’s hands away to look at Ohno’s red face with an amusing smile. “Tell me, Ohchan!”
“…Satoshi?”
A familiar voice interrupted them from the crowd, and they both looked up to see a boy walking towards them, his mouth twisting into a kind smile. Nino turned to Ohno, and seeing how Ohno froze in his actions, he suddenly understood. He immediately let go of Ohno’s hand, and stepped back a little from the older boy, his heart starting to fill with envy.
“Satoshi? You’re here today too?” Sho said happily when he reached the two, then he spotted Nino staring at him quietly with unwelcoming eyes. “Eh? This is…?”
“My friend,” Ohno replied “Ninomiya Kazunari.” He couldn’t hide his perplexed face, but he didn’t want Nino to meet Sho. He didn’t know why but he felt that it was better to keep those two away from each other. He glanced at Nino, but Nino didn’t look at him back. Nino was glowering at Sho instead.
“Really? Thank you for taking care of Satoshi!” Sho ignored Nino’s coldness and smiled cheerfully as he shook Nino’s hands a little too enthusiastically for Nino’s liking.
Nino didn’t know what to say, and Sho pulled back and talked to Ohno happily.
“I’m here with him, you know,” Sho smiled shyly. “We’re having a date.”
“Oh, really?” Ohno replied stiffly. He didn’t know how to deal with the situation and his stomach tingled with unease. He felt sad, but then he saw Nino coming closer to him, and before he knew it, he felt Nino’s arm wrapping around his waist as Nino pulled him closer. He then heard Nino’s voice.
“Us too,” Nino smiled at Ohno, and he winked. “And we’re going to ride the Ferris wheel together.”
“Really?” Sho widened his eyes in surprise, but he seemed really happy for his friend. “So you’re…?”
“Yeah,” Nino smirked. “I’m his boyfriend.”
Ohno stared at Nino in shock and was unable to get what Nino was saying. Nino’s arm squeezed him tightly, as if telling him, it’s okay, I’m here. Ohno took a depth breath and turned to Sho, who was happily congratulating them.
“You didn’t tell me the last time we met!” Sho whined to Ohno with a grin on his face. “You should’ve told me Satoshi, I was so worried about you!”
“Well, because…” Ohno halted.
“…At that time we haven’t dated yet,” Nino cut in confidently. “Just after that.”
“Really?” Sho totally believed Nino that finally his best friend had found someone that he loved and loved him back, and he was obviously grateful. “Please take care of Satoshi, Ninomiya-san!!”
Out of sudden, they heard someone calling Sho from afar. Sho bade them goodbye and hurriedly ran towards his date. Almost immediately after Sho disappeared into the crowd, Nino loosened his hold on Ohno’s waist. His hand came to his face and he covered his mouth nervously. He didn’t dare to look at Ohno, for fear of what the latter might say. Ohno, on the other hand, was still too shock that he was unable to think clearly.
Nino wasn’t serious, was he?
“I…” Nino started, but couldn’t find the right words to say. He stole a look at Ohno and immediately looked away. “I’m sorry. I thought that you’re uncomfortable with that guy so…”
“I was,” Ohno agreed quietly.
So… Nino was just helping him out of the unpleasant situation. He wasn’t serious about being a couple. Of course, it was supposed to be that way.
The realization didn’t make Ohno feel any better. On the contrary, he felt worse. He didn’t know why his heart started to ache but he smiled at Nino, “Thank you, Nino.”
“If I did anything wrong…” Nino bit his lips nervously, “I’m sorry. May be I shouldn’t claim that … I’m your boyfriend…”
“It’s okay,” Ohno shrugged. But in his heart, he was disappointed.
There was a moment of awkward silence as none of them said anything. Ohno lowered his head and stared at the ground as his mind went blank. Nino was the first to break the uneasiness.
“So… do you still want to go the Ferris wheel? Because I want to.”
“Yeah, sure.” Ohno nodded. There’s a legend about couples going on the Ferris wheel together, Ohno thought. Maybe Nino was the only one on Earth who had never heard about it.
They were sitting on opposite sides of the cabin, the Ferris wheel rotating slowly as they were brought higher, higher. Ohno was so excited with the splendid scenery - which he had told Nino animatedly - that he totally forgot the small accident with meeting Sho. Nino observed Ohno with an amusing smile, rather than looking outside to enjoy the scenery below.
“Look, Nino! It’s the river! I can fish there someday!!” Ohno exclaimed enthusiastically, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Oh, okay,” Nino laughed at Ohno’s childish expression “You surprised me, Ohchan. I thought you’re more mature.”
“I am!” Ohno pouted adorably. “But this is so beautiful… Look! It’s the bridge leading to my apartment!!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Nino chuckled. He turned away from Ohno’s face for a moment to focus on the scenery. The houses and buildings and constructions now were so tiny that they look like toys. Ohno was right, it was beautiful.
“Ne, Ohchan,” Nino murmured, his eyes were fixed on the scenery below and he purposely avoided Ohno’s eyes which were now looking at him questionably.
“There’s a new rumor at our school, you know.” He thought Ohno would have known this already, but he wanted to tell Ohno the one thing that he had thought about for days.
“I don’t know,” Ohno frowned. He was perplexed. “What is it about?”
“Us,” Nino’s lip curved up into a small smile. A small balloon flew past their cabin and up into the wide sky. “They say that we’re dating.”
Nino could feel Ohno tensed up. He still looked at the balloon flying higher and faster, putting in all its effort to reach to the sky.
“I hate it.” Nino turned to look at Ohno, who in turn was looking at him with mixed emotions of both shocked and sadness.
“I’m sorry, Nino,” Ohno’s voice went dry as he bit his lip, and tried his best to stop its trembling. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t drag you into this.” Now he felt like crying, but he couldn’t. He held back his tears and looked at Nino apologetically; he knew he was wrong to agree to keep this relationship. He had known it would become like this, sooner or later.
But he had never thought that Nino would hate it. Didn’t he say that he didn’t mind? It must be that Nino was being kind after all… Nino was only being nice with him, to assure him that he wouldn’t mind and continue to be his friend. But, it seemed like a stupid wish on Ohno’s part that no matter how other people talked about them, their friendship still remained. After all, no one could be okay with that kind of rumor.
Nino’s words had broken his heart.
“No, you’re taking it all wrong,” Nino shook his head quietly. Ohno frowned in confusion when he realized that Nino was smiling at him. “I didn’t mean that.”
“What…?” Ohno blinked, a tear rolled down and he hurriedly wiped it away. “I’m sorry…”
“No,” Nino suddenly stood up and went to sit beside him. He turned to Ohno, and his hand reached for Ohno’s cheeks to force the other boy to look at him in the eyes. They were face to face now, and Ohno could feel Nino’s breath near his face. “I mean, I hate it because it’s just a rumor, that it’s not true.”
Ohno was still confused.
“What do you mean?”
“I want it to be real,” Nino admitted quietly. He reached out his hand to take Ohno’s, and he was relieved when Ohno didn’t retract his hand back. “I want us to be real.”
Ohno widened his eyes in surprise. It took him a while for those words to sink into his mind, and when he knew that he didn’t misunderstand it this time, he cried. It felt like the heavy rock upon his chest a moment before was gone.
“Why are you crying?” Nino asked worriedly as he wiped away Ohno’s tear gently. He bit his lip in confusion. “You don’t have to accept me, it’s okay, you could reject me, so please don’t cry!!”
Ohno didn’t answer. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Nino’s neck and pulled him into an embrace. He then buried his face into the crook of Nino’s neck, feeling the pleasant warmth of the younger boy as he shook his head quietly. Nino hugged him hesitantly.
“You don’t want to, ne? I’m sorry for saying it so suddenly …”
He shook his head again, this time more firmly, and he tightened his embrace as a way to convey his feeling.
“Eh? So you want to?” Nino became even more confused.
He nodded.
“What do you want to, anyway?” Nino insisted gently. “Do you want to reject me?”
“No…I want to love you,” Ohno whispered, and he felt Nino’s heartbeat quickened against his chest. Nino’s arms hugged him tighter, and then kissed his temple.
“Thank you,” Nino said, and Ohno could tell that he was smiling “Thank you, Ohchan.”
“You know what,” Ohno leaned into Nino, his eyes sparkling with happiness. “The legend about this Ferris wheel…”
“What legend?” Nino wrapped his arms around Ohno.
“They say that if you come here with the person you love,” Ohno chuckled “You’ll be together forever.”
“Really?” Nino stared at Ohno, and he grinned shyly when their eyes met. “So you knew about it… and you want to come here with me?”
“Just hoping,” Ohno smiled, “that if I come here with you, maybe a miracle would happen.”
“It was, ne?” Nino squeezed his shoulder. “I’m so happy that we came here together.”
“Me too.” Ohno agreed and closed his eyes, happiness growing in his heart. He entwined their fingers together.
The sun was starting to set. The last gold rays radiated through the glass windows of the cabin, shining onto their happy faces, and the Ferris wheel was still rotating, rotating slowly.
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“Am I great at acting?” Sho asked happily when they were secretly observing Nino and Ohno who were walking out of the cabin hand in hand. Happiness was evident in their eyes.
“Yes, you’re really great, Sho-chan,” Aiba giggled beside him. “I bet they aren’t suspicious about anything!”
“Yeah,” Sho gave Aiba a satisfied smile. “But really, I was so surprised that Satoshi had transferred to your school!”
“Me too. I was extremely surprise when I found out that Nino was hanging out with Ohno-san!”
“But the most important thing is they like each other. How coincident!!”
“Yeah... Making them realize their true feelings was difficult ne, since both of them didn’t want to admit it…but we still succeeded in the end!” Aiba beamed.
“But, are you sure that the students in your school have stopped bullying Satoshi?” Sho asked seriously.
“Yeah, I told them to better leave him alone. I’m the president of Student Council, you know.” Aiba shrugged with a complacent smile.
“No, you are not!” Sho burst into laughter at Aiba’s joke, and he reached out to ruffle Aiba’s hair playfully.
“I’m still wondering what Ohno-san would say if he knew that I’m the one who took his Sho-kun away.”
“Well, he won’t mind,” Sho grinned assuredly, “since he already has Nino!”
They both laughed and stood up from their spot; Sho suddenly leaned in to give Aiba a chaste kiss on his forehead.
“Now it’s time for you and me.” He grinned.
A/N: So, it's the end minna!! My beta-reader suggested me to make it clearer at the last part, what exactly Aiba and Sho had done for help? And actually I'm working on it - it is another story that I want to share later, hope the ending didn't disappoint you ne. ^-^ But I think you can understand it somehow, right? *wink* The story went smoothly from the start to now, and each Aiba and Sho's action had the certain meaning after all...
Thanks for reading until now!!! I'll see you in another fic then!! ^-^!!!