[036] Here's My Hello - Arashi (Nino/Sho)
Title: Here's My Hello
Group: Arashi
Pairing/Genre: Nino/Sho, side Becky/Aiba, Toma/Jun and Ohno/Meisa (THE GANG’S ALL HERE); Roommate AU (some liberties taken with the setting)
Rating/Warnings: PG; some swearing
Word Count: 6500
Summary: Aspiring musician seeks roommate to share painfully tiny apartment at ridiculously high rate. Domestic skills a plus. Students and trust fund babies welcome. No pets or kids. E-mail me at sleight.of.body@gmail.com for info.
Notes: Written for 120795 for ninoexchange. :) Thanks to my lovely betas Anie and Jen for hand-holding, motivating and fixing my English!fail. <3 This is honestly one of my favorite things I’ve written. :)
•••••
Aspiring musician seeks roommate to share painfully tiny apartment at ridiculously high rate. Domestic skills a plus. Students and trust fund babies welcome. No pets or kids. E-mail me at sleight.of.body@gmail.com for info.
---
Date: May 5, 2011 22:58
From: Sakurai Sho [ssakurai@newszero.co.jp]
To: [sleight.of.body@gmail.com]
Subject: Apartment for rent
To whom it may concern,
I'm inquiring about the apartment for rent. What amenities does it offer? How big is the apartment? Where is it located? How much would my portion of the rent be? I naturally assume that cleaning duties would be shared, while cooking would be of our own accord?
Please let me know.
Sincerely,
Sakurai
---
Date: May 5, 2011 23:16
From: Nino [sleight.of.body@gmail.com]
To: Sakurai Sho [ssakurai@newszero.co.jp]
Subject: RE: Apartment for rent
Attachments: directions-to-the-uh-partment.txt (5kb)
Just come by and see it, Sho-chan. Directions attached.
-Nino
---
Date: May 5, 2011 23:25
From: Sakurai Sho [ssakurai@newszero.co.jp]
To: Nino [sleight.of.body@gmail.com]
Subject: RE: RE: Apartment for rent
Right now?? I do have to work in the morning. Do you at least have a picture of the apartment?
-Sakurai
---
Date: May 5, 2011 23:29
From: Nino [sleight.of.body@gmail.com]
To: Sakurai Sho [ssakurai@newszero.co.jp]
Subject: RE: RE: RE: Apartment for rent
Attachments: layout-for-sho-chan.jpg (65kb)
Wow, you're a quick one. Tomorrow, whenever.
-Nino
---
Sho stares at the screen of his laptop for a moment in disbelief. Setting aside the horrifying fact that a stranger had already come up with a nickname for him (and such a diminutive one, at that), Sho clicks on the attachment in the last e-mail and promptly bursts out laughing. Nino, it seems, is not only a comedian, but an artist. It's not a bad drawing, necessarily, but obviously done in haste. The apartment seems decently sized, much larger than he'd been anticipating. Maybe he'd have to give it a chance.
It's only minutes later, after he'd hit the send button on his reply e-mail, that Sho realizes he hasn't stopped grinning since the first reply.
---
Nino is weird, Sho decides, roughly 30 seconds after meeting him. He'd answered the door to the apartment in the loudest shorts Sho had ever seen, a white tank top, and a Guitar Hero guitar strung around his middle. And he looks like he's about 18 years old. At best. He's not weird in an off-putting way, not exactly, but Sho is wary of Nino's sharp eyes and careful smile. Sho senses Nino is guarded, but says nothing. It's not his place to psychoanalyze a potential roommate. Unless he turns out to be a serial killer. Sho vaguely thinks that would be a problem.
"Looking sharp, Sho-chan," Nino comments as he moves to put the guitar back on a stand near the TV, flicking off the game console in the process. The television is larger than it really should be for a room of this size, but doesn't seem terribly out of place. Game cases are stacked all around it on the floor - every system Sho can think of is represented in the organized chaos. The credenza under the TV is slightly open, revealing even more cases and cords. Sho wonders what exactly Nino does for a living to afford it all.
"Um, thanks," he says a little self-consciously, ignoring the nickname and looking down at his suit. "I'm a staff editor at News Zero, so."
"Never heard of it," Nino says with a shrug. Before Sho can even gape at him (it's the foremost newspaper in the country! Fifty million papers sold a day!), Nino's gesturing about the apartment and smiling. "So this is it! Living room, kitchen's through there, my room is around the corner, yours is at the end of the hall, bathroom is next to yours, you're welcome. So when will you be moving in?"
Sho holds up a hand, still reeling from Nino's ignorance and trying to process everything at once. "I never said I was moving in," he says firmly, eyes wide. He wouldn't tell Nino that he'd spent the morning looking up every statistic he could find on the neighborhood - crime rates, nearest grocery stores, average age and income of residents. Before Nino had answered the door, Sho was pretty sure he was somewhere between the ages of 18 and 80. He still isn't sure where exactly on that continuum Nino lands.
"You're here, aren't you?" Nino asks, head cocked to one side innocently, his eyes piercing.
Sho realizes in that moment that he's sunk. He didn't have to come, especially after Nino dodged every question he'd asked, refused to e-mail properly, gave him a ridiculous nickname and all but called him an idiot. Why is he here?
Sighing, Sho holds out a hand and tries to smile. "How does next Friday sound?"
Nino smiles back and shakes Sho's hand firmly, small fingers wrapping tightly around Sho's longer ones. "Ninomiya Kazunari," he replies.
"Sakurai Sho. Nice to meet you."
---
Sho is stressed.
It's Friday night and he and Nino have been roommates for almost two weeks. They're still trying to find a routine that works - Sho's up every morning at 5:30 to get to work; Nino rarely gets home before 2. It had taken him almost a full week for Sho to work up the courage to ask Nino exactly what he did. Nino's not exactly forthcoming with personal information. A series of horrible prospects flew through his head - drug dealer? Pimp? Oh god, what if he's a drug runner?
As it turns out, Nino is a musician, and Sho's not entirely sure that's better. He maintains a part-time job at the combini down the street from their building, to help with rent, but his passion is music, something Sho learned early on (though Nino quickly learned how fierce Sho’s temper was when awoken by the synthesizer at 3 a.m.).
The paper isn't exactly doing well. The advent of internet news, where teenagers can bounce the latest headlines from person to person in under a minute, has hurt movable type something fierce. The offices of News Zero are tense, to say the least, and Sho has a bad habit of internalizing everyone else's problems until he finally explodes. He discovered this about himself ages ago, though, and has learned to control it - by cleaning.
Sho's a bit of a packrat and not exactly the tidiest person on the planet, if his room is any indication with his laundry flung this way and that, books stacked on the shelves haphazardly, the closet door permanently stuck open by the overflow. He and Nino had quickly sorted out a "clean it if it's dirty" routine for the rest of the apartment. Now Sho stands in the middle of the kitchen and scowls in disgust. Slipping on a pair of yellow rubber gloves, Sho gets to work.
It takes under an hour for the kitchen to sparkle.
Thirty minutes after that, the grout in the bathroom is whiter than it was when it was first installed.
Sho is contemplating breaking into Nino's room in direct defiance of the sign on his door ("Keep Out - That Means You, Sho-chan~"), when he spots the living room. They've been pretty good about keeping the main living area tidy, at least making sure the beer bottles make it to the recycling, but the area around the TV console has been disorganized and messy since the day Sho moved in. He suspected it'd been that way since the day Nino moved in. With a nod of determination, Sho grabs a beer from the fridge and gets to work on the stacks of games, movies and various flotsam around the TV. He allows himself a small smile as he sorts. Nino will be so pleased, he thinks. Everything will finally be in order. He's already picturing the pat on the back, the celebratory melon pan from the vending machine.
It takes four more beers, half a glass of wine, and three loads of laundry for Sho to finally crash and burn, collapsing on his bed feeling much more relaxed.
Sho is sure he's dreaming when his bedroom door slams open and a small, wiry figure catapults itself at him.
"What did you do?" the figure yells, his face bright red with fury.
Sho is still trying to push through the alcohol-induced haze when he realizes Nino is on top of him, screaming and generally having a fit. He'd be lying if he said he didn't find Nino attractive at the best of times, and normally wouldn't exactly be opposed to waking up with Nino in his lap, but red-faced and full of rage was not Nino's best look.
"I....what?" Sho responds intelligently.
"There was a system, Sakurai!" Nino crawls off of him and stomps into the living room. Sho can hear him cursing as he rolls over to look at the clock. 2:26 a.m. It all comes back to him, finally breaking through his muddled brain - Nino just got home and he was pissed about something.
Sho stumbles into the living room to find Nino sitting on the floor, pulling game cases out from underneath the TV.
"Hey, I just organized that," Sho mumbles. He realizes his mouth tastes like death and puts one hand to his head. He doesn't miss the scowl that Nino throws him before turning back to the discs and cases.
"Completely screwed up," he's muttering. "I'm going to have to start all over." Nino turns to back to Sho and raises his voice again. "You screwed up my system, Sho. Everything was perfectly organized - system, genre, levels I'd beaten so far. And now I have to start all over."
Sho's face falls as he realizes the mistake he's made. He'd just been trying to clean up their mutual living area and had inadvertently destroyed Nino's system. If two weeks of living with Nino had taught him anything, it was that you don't mess with the man's games. He guards them like a mother hen guards her chicks. Or maybe a lioness and her cubs might be more apt, Sho thought.
"I'm really sorry, Nino," he says, shaking his head and trying to clear the cobwebs from his brain. "I was just trying to clean up a little. I cleaned the kitchen! And did you see the grout in the bathroom?"
"I don't care about the damn grout," Nino growls.
Sho bites his lip to keep from lashing out, just mumbles another quiet "I'm sorry," and heads back to collapse on his bed.
He wakes up the next morning feeling like death. Nino doesn't talk to him all day, but makes it a point to slam every door in the house and clang the dishes together as he loads the dishwasher. Sho hates him a little by early afternoon. By the evening though, Sho realizes he deserves it, maybe, and sets to work.
Before Nino leaves for his gig that night, Sho hands him a piece of paper with a tentative smile.
"What's this?" Nino asks, his voice tight. He's still angry. Sho tries to keep his smile in place.
"A spreadsheet," he replies. "For your games."
Nino just gapes at him.
"Look," Sho points. "You can organize your games however you want - system, whether or not you've killed that 12 year old from Sweden on it yet, if the female characters boobs are realistic or not. Just write them in, I'll get a second bookcase for next to the TV, we'll tack the list up next to it and then we can both be happy." He looks at Nino hopefully. "This way they can stay off the floor and you can keep your system."
Nino's quiet for a moment. He carefully lays the list on the coffee table and grabs his guitar case. Sho's face falls a little. He'd been sure the peace offering would work. He's heading back to his room to pout and take more painkillers when Nino says his name. Turning, Sho sees Nino halfway out the front door, his guitar case slung across his chest not unlike the first time they'd met.
"Thank you," he says.
The door closes before Sho can reply. He allows himself a small smile and collapses on his bed.
---
"What's your friend's name again?" Sho asks, straightening the slippers near the genkan for the hundredth time. "Aiba?"
"Yeah, Aiba Masaki. He's a high school chemistry teacher. Don't ask him about it, or he'll rope you into one of his many experiments and you'll live to regret it."
The week following Gamepocalypse (as Nino has come to call it), Sho had suggested a get-together. Both of them would invite over some friends for beer and cards. Sho had called it a housewarming party, but Nino's response of "I've had sex with men and even that is too gay for me" not only made Sho blush, but put the kibosh on a name altogether. They haven't talked about their personal lives too much, but Sho is determined to change that. It's not that he wants to know about Nino's conquests or anything, but he feels bad living with someone he knows basically nothing about.
The door rings and Nino goes to answer it, coming back to the living room practically attached to Ohno, Sho's oldest friend.
"Satoshi," Sho grins, shaking his hand firmly. "How's Meisa?"
"Hi Sho," Ohno replies with a shy smile. "She's planning a hostile takeover of the European branch of Lego, so you know. Great sex lately."
Nino pouts. "And here I thought you were all mine."
"Nino, you seriously just met the man. Do you even know what Ohno does for a living?" Sho asks, incredulous.
"It's okay, Sho," Ohno replies. He leans into Nino's body and Sho can tell they'll be damn near inseparable now. Great.
Ohno's explaining in his quiet, mumbly way about his art studio and his girlfriend, Meisa's corporate law practice, when the bell rings a second time. Sho gets it this time, lest Nino barnacle himself to any of his other friends, and finds two tall men at the door - one with fluffy hair and a bright smile he can't help but return, the other looking like he was just carved from marble.
"You must be Aiba," Sho says to the smiling man, ushering them inside. "Nino's told me way too much about you."
"Is it as much as I just heard in the elevator?" the other asks, his features unmoving.
"Oh, come on, MatsuJun! I didn't tell you that much!" Aiba exclaims.
"Your wife is named Becky, you've been together since you were 15, you have three kids with a fourth on the way, your favorite food in the world is mabo tofu, but it's followed closely by natto, you're a chemistry teacher at the local high school and you love your job, but sometimes you wish you had gone into electrical engineering so you could blow stuff up," Jun deadpans, all in one breath. He turns to Sho and tries to smile. "If you leave me alone with him again, I will murder you," he whispers, passing Sho the bottle of wine he brought before moving past him to the apartment proper. Sho grimaces and prays this actually works out. Aiba smiles at him reassuringly, whispers a quiet "sorry!" and hurries to join Ohno and Nino on the couch, shaking hands with everyone on the way.
The night actually turns out to be much more fun than Sho had anticipated. Ohno and Aiba become fast friends, both giggling about something Sho really doesn't want to know about. Jun impresses everyone with his knowledge of fine wines, including Nino, who stares at him hungrily. Sho doesn't catch it at first. It's only after Aiba's third beer, when he tries to ticket Nino for "excessive eye-fucking" that Sho realizes Jun and Nino have been scooting closer together all night. He tries not to let it bother him.
Nino shows off for a while, flicking the playing cards back and forth between his nimble fingers, while Jun tells them of his latest collection. An aspiring fashion designer, Jun is on the brink of his big break.
"I think this could be it," he says, eyes bright with the flush of alcohol. "This time next year I could be showing my designs in Paris."
"You could be showing off your designs in NINO'S PANTS," Aiba exclaims, collapsing on Ohno and giggling breathily.
Nino just rolls his eyes as Jun leans over to cuff Aiba in the back of the head. It isn't much later that Sho is ushering them all into cabs, Ohno and Aiba still wrapped around each other, singing loudly and off-key. Sho apologizes to the cab driver and sees them off. He turns to find Jun giving Nino his number with that smile. Sho knows it well - Jun had used it on him five years ago when they'd first met. It had even worked for a while, until they both realized they were way too high strung to maintain a relationship. Sho coughs lightly and Jun turns, smile softening as he approaches Sho.
"Thanks for inviting me, Sho," he says, clapping Sho on the back. "It was...interesting."
"Yeah," Sho replies with a small smile. "Sorry about Aiba."
Jun laughs and he looks years younger for a moment. "He's not all bad," Jun says. He glances toward the door and blushes a little. "I had fun."
Sho nods and helps him into the cab, promising to call him later in the week.
By the time Sho gets back to the apartment, Nino is already in post-party mode, wandering around the living room with a plastic bag full of bottles.
"So, that was fun," Sho says as he starts collecting plates.
Nino just hums and nods, still collecting bottles from where Aiba and Ohno were sitting.
"You seemed to hit it off pretty well with Jun." Sho hates himself the moment the words come out of his mouth. He sounds hurt and immature, neither of which are terribly becoming traits.
"The pretty boy?" Nino asks, looking up at Sho, almost looking straight through him. Sho wonders sometimes if Nino is a mind-reader or if he really is just that transparent. "Too high maintenance for my tastes," he replies with a shrug.
Sho tries not to feel too happy about that.
---
Becky comes over one evening when Nino is playing at the bar down the street. She's dropping off sheet music for Nino, she explains. They've been collaborating on a few songs lately.
Sho adores her instantly. Her eyes are the color of the first leaves of a spring tree; her laugh loud and joyful. She's round with child and looks absolutely radiant. Pregnancy suits her, Sho decides. He understands why Aiba's been in love with her for half of his life and for a fleeting moment, he feels jealous of the man.
Becky lowers herself carefully into a chair and sighs happily.
"Aiba's at home with the boys tonight," she explains. "It's nice to get some time off from them. All of them."
Sho chuckles and gets her a footstool. Becky looks like she might kiss him as he helps her elevate her tired, swollen feet.
"You have three kids, right?" he asks, settling on the couch across from her.
"Mmm," she hums, examining him closely. Becky looks at him the same way Nino does sometimes - like she can see through his defenses, straight to his heart. "Well, four, if you count Aiba. Five if you count this guy." She pats her stomach fondly and smiles.
Sho chuckles and shakes his head. Becky's a stronger person than he is. Or maybe she's just crazier. Maybe a combination of both, he thinks.
Two hours pass in the blink of an eye as they talk about everything. Becky met Aiba and Nino in high school. They were fifteen and she had a crush on Nino. It was Aiba, though, who asked her out, who charmed her with his smiles and good nature. They'd been together ever since - married right out of college, she had the twins two years later, their youngest not long after. Sho envies their happiness, but is pleased that he's becoming part of their family, too.
"Nino is very special to me, Sho," she says at one point, looking at him with serious eyes.
Sho just nods. "I know," he replies.
Becky seems to examine him for a long moment, staring him down as if to test his resolve. Finally she nods and smiles again. "Good. Now help me out of this chair or I'll be here forever."
---
It's a rare evening that they're both home at the same time. Sho heats up a few combini-lunches for them while Nino organizes his coupon folder at the table. Sho had given Nino crap about his organizational system for his coupons at first, but when he'd come home with a dozen bags of food for less than the price of a fast food meal, Sho had quickly shut up about it.
Sho hands Nino a plate and fork as he settles himself across from him at the table. He reflects for a moment how nice it is to just sit quietly and eat dinner with a friend. He supposes that's what he and Nino are now, anyway. Friends, roommates, whatever. Picking up the day's copy of the national paper, Sho is stopped short when he realizes he can see through it.
"Nino?"
"Hm?"
"....Nino."
"What?" Nino replies, looking up, mouth full of microwavable spaghetti.
Sho's peering at him through a coupon-sized hole in the business section.
"What?" Nino asks again, his voice laden with annoyance.
Sho sighs and puts the paper down, eyeballing the coupon folder.
"Could you not cut out the coupons until after I'm done reading the paper?"
"You could just read your paper in the morning instead," Nino says, eyes still flicking over the coupons as he shrugs.
"I like reading it at night," Sho counters.
"And I like having my coupon folder organized before I have to go to work." Nino shrugs again and Sho thinks that sometimes, just sometimes, he really wants to hit him. "I am sorry, though," Nino says, looking up at Sho with honest eyes.
Sho relents in the end, choosing to read his paper in the mornings and letting Nino hack away at it in the afternoon. It's not a bad deal, he thinks, after he receives praise from his supervisor for the third day in a row of being on top of the latest news. Sho doesn't tell Nino for fear of inflating his ego even further. He comes up with something even better. Rubbing his hands together excitedly, Sho begins searching the web, exclaiming quietly when he finds what he's looking for and furiously scribbling on a piece of paper. Perfect.
---
Nino's furious coupon-clipping leads to him doing most of the grocery shopping. This also leads, however, to a serious lack of any cooking supplies in the house. Premade, microwavable meals bought in bulk are cheaper than fresh produce, Nino argues. And they last longer. Sho can't argue with that logic.
But tonight Sho wants to make dinner. A proper dinner. A subtle "thank you, but don't get a big head about it" dinner with a side of "yay we haven't murdered each other yet" for dessert. He decides on pasta. Pasta is easy, he thinks. Jun made spaghetti carbonara for him one time and that was simple enough. Sho stops at the store on the way home to pick up the necessary supplies and realizes just how much Nino manages to save them every week with his silly folder.
The apartment is quiet when Sho returns. Not entirely unusual, but Sho is hoping to surprise Nino and having him fluttering about the kitchen would kind of ruin said surprise. Nino doesn't take "leave me alone, I'm working" very well.
Sho ties on the apron he's fairly certain is hanging in the kitchen as a joke and sets the pasta water to boil on one burner. Another heats up the pan for the bacon. He hums a little song as he works, pleased he can do something nice for Nino. Slicing up the bacon into little bits, he tosses them into the pan and grins as they crackle and sizzle merrily in their own fat. He's carefully cutting up a tomato according to the diagram he'd printed off earlier when he hears the front door open and shut.
"Don't come in the kitchen!" Sho yells, hoping it's Nino at the door and not a murderer.
"Why?" Nino steps into the kitchen and stops to stare. Sho just smiles a bit sheepishly and waves to him with his knife-hand.
"Because I'm doing something...bad?" he suggest, hoping Nino will turn and leave him to his work. The surprise is still salvageable!
"Yeah, you are," Nino replies and Sho feels his face fall a fraction of an inch. Until Nino points behind him and sighs. "Your pan is on fire."
The bacon pan was apparently slightly too hot, Sho discovers as he turns around, small flames engulfing the meat. He panics for half a second before calming and smiling again.
"I can handle this," he says, grabbing a cup of water from next to the sink.
Nino's shout of "NO!" is about half a second too late. Sho's hand freezes mid-air, the water propelled out of the cup and into the grease fire. The smoke detector wails and suddenly Nino is right there, pressed up against Sho's side to lead him out of the kitchen.
Sho learns a very important lesson that day - never try to douse a grease fire with water.
Half an hour later, they're sitting on the back of a fire truck, Nino still clinging to Sho's side, not saying a word. Sho feels awful and stupid. He hangs his head and fiddles with the tie of his apron. Tears are threatening to push through, but Sho refuses to let that happen. The firemen are talking about "minimal damage" and "thank god it was contained quickly." Sho lets a little part of himself hope. Nino nudges him and offers a little smile when Sho looks up.
The fire wasn't that bad, they discover. The stove would need to be replaced and the cabinets above and next to it would need repainting, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Sho shakes hands with the firefighters and tries to smile, thanking them for their quick response and help.
They order Chinese for dinner and eat on the living room floor, the windows flung wide in an effort to air out the stench of burned bacon and charred cabinet.
The next day, Sho is surveying the damage for the hundredth time when Nino shuffles into the kitchen and thrusts the coupon folder at him.
"What's this?" Sho asks, eyes wide.
"If you promise me you will never ever cook again and that you will use the coupon folder to the fullest extent," Nino says, a laughing glint in his eye belying his serious face. "I'll take over cooking if you do the grocery shopping."
Sho looks down at the folder in his hands and realizes the trust Nino has placed in him. At this point, he's honestly surprised Nino hasn't kicked him out and started the search for a new roommate. "Done."
They smile at each other for a moment and Sho feels that funny fluttering in his stomach before turning away awkwardly.
---
Fall is on its way and Sho and Nino have settled into a comfortable routine. Sho tries to keep quiet in the morning when he gets up for work, tiptoeing past Nino's door and dressing in the living room. He loads up the coffee pot with fresh grounds and water, setting the timer to brew again in 3 hours.
Nino wakes up to fresh coffee every morning. After midnight he keeps his games on mute and tries not to scream at the 12 year old from Sweden who continues to thwart his attempts at winning Halo.
Sho goes shopping for groceries every Saturday, diligently pawing through the coupon folder for the best deals. Nino still clips the coupons, though, claiming it gives him a sense of calm in a tumultuous world. Sho just smiles and indulges him.
Most nights Nino cooks dinner. It's usually something creative and new, but always delicious. He reveals to Sho one night that both of his parents are chefs. It must be in his blood to make food delicious. Sho is tempted to ask if it's also in his blood to pack Sho panda-shaped onigiri in his bento box, but refrains. He likes his little lunches and the accompanying "Do your best today, Sho-chan!" notes in small, neat writing.
They see every movie that comes out that summer. Sho gets free passes from the paper and splits them with Nino, who usually gets in on a student discount with a smile and a wink at the girl behind the counter. No one really believes he's of age anyway. Nino steals half of Sho's Milk Duds before the previews are done and Sho had long ago given up any hope of getting his own drink.
"It's a better deal if we just get the large one for the free refills," Nino had argued. "It's not like I have cooties, jeez."
Sho can't very well argue with that.
---
The leaves are falling from the trees when Ohno finally moves out of his parents' house and into a loft with Meisa. He calls to ask for Sho and Nino's help. They both readily agree, but only on the promise that Ohno would donate a new painting for the living room.
Sho is, quite honestly, terrified of Meisa. He's met her a few times, but he remains convinced she doesn't like him. Her sharp eyes and biting wit remind him of Nino, but her quiet demeanor seems to suit Ohno well.
Sho's dropping the last box on the floor, his face covered in sweat, when he hears chuckles from the kitchen. Nino and Meisa are sitting at the table with cups of tea, chattering away about something. Sho flops into one of the chairs and takes a long drink from his bottle of water.
"This is you helping Ohno to move?" he asks Nino incredulously.
"I'm helping Meisa organize her kitchen," Nino replies, taking a sip of his tea.
Sho just gapes at him for a moment before chuckling. "Meisa's lived here for three years. I'm pretty sure her kitchen is just fine, you lazy ass." He's surprised to find Meisa chuckling as well, and Sho can see why Ohno loves her in that moment.
Nino just shrugs and smirks into his cup. "Speaking of lazy asses," he says to Meisa. "Where is Jun-pon?"
"Mmm," Meisa hums with a nod. "Our darling Matsumoto has snagged himself yet another young actor full of promise and sexual energy."
Sho groans. Things he did not need to hear about one of his best friends. Nino laughs at him, mocking his pain.
"Which one is it this time?" Nino asks. "Last I'd talked to him, he was still dating that one with the face....Kame or something like that?"
"They broke up ages ago! Keep up with the times," Meisa replies, eyes dancing. "He's been sleeping with Toma for weeks now."
Sho zones out of the conversation for a few minutes, surprised that not only is Nino talking to Jun more than he is, but Nino is more on the up and up of Jun's love life. And that he isn't a part of it. Something in Sho had assumed Nino would have hooked up with Jun ages ago, but it wasn't his place to ask.
Ohno wanders in and stands behind Meisa, resting his chin on the top of her head. For a moment, they look both so incandescently happy that Sho's heart hurts in a good way.
It's not too much later that Sho and Nino find themselves walking home in the cool autumn air.
"So," Sho starts, hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Meisa scares me."
Nino laughs, loud and clear, his head thrown back. He teases Sho all the way home. Sho can't find it in himself to be annoyed.
---
Winter is around the corner when they have their first big fight. Sho is honestly surprised it's taken this long, then surprised again when he realizes they've been roommates for almost 6 months.
News Zero is implementing a new internet-only subscription and cutting staff left and right. Sho is terrified he's going to lose his job, being a lowly staff editor, and takes it out on Nino. Nino doesn't yell back, but he also doesn't talk to Sho for three days.
By day four, Sho is going crazy.
He's having lunch with Aiba at a soba shop near the high school. Aiba's showing off pictures of the new baby, now nearly 3 months old, and grinning like a fool.
"Another boy, that's all she could say," he's telling Sho. "After the twins, she kept saying 'just one more, I want a girl.' And now we've got four boys. I wonder if I could convince her to try again...."
"You look happy," Sho replies, smiling. Aiba and his family have made it a point to include "Uncle Sho" in their lives and Sho loves them all dearly.
"I am ridiculously happy," Aiba says. His face lights up the whole room with joy as he smiles. "What about you? You look....less than happy, Sho."
Sho sighs and his smile falters.
"Nino and I aren't exactly speaking right now," he confesses.
Aiba frowns and nods, encouraging him to continue. Sho searches for the right words.
"I was having a bad day, I took it out on him, and now he's not talking to me. We're going on a week of this, and I'm going crazy. I feel like a bad boyfriend or something." As the words tumble out of Sho's mouth, he realizes that's exactly what he feels like. A boyfriend with none of the benefits.
"Have you ever heard him play, Sho?" Aiba asks, eyes wide and honest.
"No." Sho looks at his hands and stirs the soba with his chopsticks. "He never tells me when he's playing or where and I'm usually in bed before he even leaves, so...." Sho shrugs, but doesn't look up. He's afraid of what he'll see there, in Aiba's eyes. The truth, maybe, of what he's been feeling for months, since a scrawny, weird man opened his door.
"Well," Aiba replies, leaning back and patting his full stomach. "I have it on good authority that he's playing at Zenti tonight. That bar down the street from your apartment? Just. Just go and listen."
"Yeah," Sho nods, still avoiding Aiba's eyes and looking despondent. "Maybe I will."
---
Sho is shocked at how powerful, how raw Nino's voice is. They've lived together for almost six months and he's never once heard Nino sing. Even in the early days when Nino was keeping him up late at night making music, it was all instrumentals, no vocals.
Sho sits at the back of the dark bar, a haze of smoke overhead and a drink in hand. Nino's playing something on the piano. It's a light, sweet song, but the emotion in it is prevalent and strong. Sho wants to wrap himself in Nino's voice and never leave.
The rainbow is beautiful, Nino sings, fingers dancing across the keys delicately. No, you are more beautiful. To you who begins to shine, thank you. Thank you.
Sho moves to the bar, sitting on a stool and waiting patiently. He's rewarded for his patience when Nino sidles up and perches on the stool next to him. Sho orders him a drink and they sit in silence for a few minutes, sipping on their respective drinks and staring into space.
"I'm sorry," Sho says quietly.
Nino nods, but remains silent.
"I was a jerk. I shouldn't have taken it out on you," Sho continues, looking at Nino, hoping his earnestness shows. "But you were. Nino, you were great."
"Thanks," Nino mumbles. He resolutely continues looking at the bar, the bartender, anywhere but Sho.
Sho's ready to give up and go home, moving to grab his jacket, when he feels a hand on his arm. He looks up and Nino is staring at him.
"I'm sorry, too," Nino replies and Sho's heart breaks a little at the sound. "I'm not used to people being involved in my life. My parents split when I was a teenager and I'm used to being on my own. You're the first person in a long time that's gotten under my skin."
This is the most information Nino has shared about his life in the time they've known each other. Sho tries not to let his shock show on his face. Instead, he stands and shrugs into his jacket.
"Let's go home," he says, retrieving Nino's jacket from the back of his chair and holding it out for him.
They step outside into the cool night and Sho breathes a sigh of relief. Nino presses in close to him and threads their fingers together. Sho looks at him in disbelief, but Nino is pointedly looking away. There's no disguising the blush to his cheeks, though. Sho feels himself blush, too, and squeezes Nino's hand. They walk home, to their home.
---
Sho's long ago lost count of how many weeks they've been living together. He tells people it started with a newspaper ad and ended with a fight, but really, it started with a drink in a bar. Not much has changed, truth be told. Nino still has a "Keep Out" sign on his door that he flips over when Sho is allowed in. Sho does the grocery shopping, having lived up to Nino's standards, and has even been allowed to start clipping the Wednesday coupons. Sho's pretty sure that's a huge step for Nino. The living room is decorated with paintings from Ohno, a bookshelf just for games, pictures of Aiba's boys. Becky's pregnant with number five - this time they're pretty sure it's a girl, but given the look on her face when she's watching her family wrestle around on the floor, Sho's pretty sure she could give birth to an alien and they'd be just fine.
Sho's been promoted to chief editor of the online edition of News Zero. Nino, with Meisa's help, has started shopping his act around to publicists and agents. Ohno finally proposed and they're getting married next month. Jun's latest collection is getting ready to show in New York at Fashion Week. Toma is going with him.
Nino comes home one afternoon from a meeting with an agent to find Sho sitting on the couch, trying to look inconspicuous, but the latest game on his Amazon wish list is sitting on the coffee table, unopened. Sho laughs loudly as Nino pounces him, then snuggles up to his side to play for a few hours.
Sho had long ago learned to deal with Nino's electricity rationing - the lights are kept low so he can play. And really, if the TV is on, who needs lights anyway? Nino had made up for cutting into Sho's reading time by buying him the latest iPad. Sho thinks that says something awfully serious about their relationship.
They're entering hour two of reading and gaming when Nino turns his head and sneaks a kiss to the underside of Sho's chin. Sho smiles as Nino turns back to the TV.
"You know," Nino starts, fingers mashing the buttons of his controller wildly. "It's getting colder out."
Sho hums, flicking a finger across the screen to read the next page.
"We could save even more electricity by turning the heat down," Nino continues. "And sharing a bed. Regularly."
Sho looks up from his screen and grins, turning to look at Nino, who is obviously trying to hide his own smile. Clicking off the tablet, he places it carefully on the coffee table, then takes Nino's controller, setting it down as well.
"Well, why not start now?" Sho asks, tipping them over and attacking Nino's collarbones with kisses.
Nino is still chuckling when their lips meet.
Group: Arashi
Pairing/Genre: Nino/Sho, side Becky/Aiba, Toma/Jun and Ohno/Meisa (THE GANG’S ALL HERE); Roommate AU (some liberties taken with the setting)
Rating/Warnings: PG; some swearing
Word Count: 6500
Summary: Aspiring musician seeks roommate to share painfully tiny apartment at ridiculously high rate. Domestic skills a plus. Students and trust fund babies welcome. No pets or kids. E-mail me at sleight.of.body@gmail.com for info.
Notes: Written for 120795 for ninoexchange. :) Thanks to my lovely betas Anie and Jen for hand-holding, motivating and fixing my English!fail. <3 This is honestly one of my favorite things I’ve written. :)
•••••
Aspiring musician seeks roommate to share painfully tiny apartment at ridiculously high rate. Domestic skills a plus. Students and trust fund babies welcome. No pets or kids. E-mail me at sleight.of.body@gmail.com for info.
---
Date: May 5, 2011 22:58
From: Sakurai Sho [ssakurai@newszero.co.jp]
To: [sleight.of.body@gmail.com]
Subject: Apartment for rent
To whom it may concern,
I'm inquiring about the apartment for rent. What amenities does it offer? How big is the apartment? Where is it located? How much would my portion of the rent be? I naturally assume that cleaning duties would be shared, while cooking would be of our own accord?
Please let me know.
Sincerely,
Sakurai
---
Date: May 5, 2011 23:16
From: Nino [sleight.of.body@gmail.com]
To: Sakurai Sho [ssakurai@newszero.co.jp]
Subject: RE: Apartment for rent
Attachments: directions-to-the-uh-partment.txt (5kb)
Just come by and see it, Sho-chan. Directions attached.
-Nino
---
Date: May 5, 2011 23:25
From: Sakurai Sho [ssakurai@newszero.co.jp]
To: Nino [sleight.of.body@gmail.com]
Subject: RE: RE: Apartment for rent
Right now?? I do have to work in the morning. Do you at least have a picture of the apartment?
-Sakurai
---
Date: May 5, 2011 23:29
From: Nino [sleight.of.body@gmail.com]
To: Sakurai Sho [ssakurai@newszero.co.jp]
Subject: RE: RE: RE: Apartment for rent
Attachments: layout-for-sho-chan.jpg (65kb)
Wow, you're a quick one. Tomorrow, whenever.
-Nino
---
Sho stares at the screen of his laptop for a moment in disbelief. Setting aside the horrifying fact that a stranger had already come up with a nickname for him (and such a diminutive one, at that), Sho clicks on the attachment in the last e-mail and promptly bursts out laughing. Nino, it seems, is not only a comedian, but an artist. It's not a bad drawing, necessarily, but obviously done in haste. The apartment seems decently sized, much larger than he'd been anticipating. Maybe he'd have to give it a chance.
It's only minutes later, after he'd hit the send button on his reply e-mail, that Sho realizes he hasn't stopped grinning since the first reply.
---
Nino is weird, Sho decides, roughly 30 seconds after meeting him. He'd answered the door to the apartment in the loudest shorts Sho had ever seen, a white tank top, and a Guitar Hero guitar strung around his middle. And he looks like he's about 18 years old. At best. He's not weird in an off-putting way, not exactly, but Sho is wary of Nino's sharp eyes and careful smile. Sho senses Nino is guarded, but says nothing. It's not his place to psychoanalyze a potential roommate. Unless he turns out to be a serial killer. Sho vaguely thinks that would be a problem.
"Looking sharp, Sho-chan," Nino comments as he moves to put the guitar back on a stand near the TV, flicking off the game console in the process. The television is larger than it really should be for a room of this size, but doesn't seem terribly out of place. Game cases are stacked all around it on the floor - every system Sho can think of is represented in the organized chaos. The credenza under the TV is slightly open, revealing even more cases and cords. Sho wonders what exactly Nino does for a living to afford it all.
"Um, thanks," he says a little self-consciously, ignoring the nickname and looking down at his suit. "I'm a staff editor at News Zero, so."
"Never heard of it," Nino says with a shrug. Before Sho can even gape at him (it's the foremost newspaper in the country! Fifty million papers sold a day!), Nino's gesturing about the apartment and smiling. "So this is it! Living room, kitchen's through there, my room is around the corner, yours is at the end of the hall, bathroom is next to yours, you're welcome. So when will you be moving in?"
Sho holds up a hand, still reeling from Nino's ignorance and trying to process everything at once. "I never said I was moving in," he says firmly, eyes wide. He wouldn't tell Nino that he'd spent the morning looking up every statistic he could find on the neighborhood - crime rates, nearest grocery stores, average age and income of residents. Before Nino had answered the door, Sho was pretty sure he was somewhere between the ages of 18 and 80. He still isn't sure where exactly on that continuum Nino lands.
"You're here, aren't you?" Nino asks, head cocked to one side innocently, his eyes piercing.
Sho realizes in that moment that he's sunk. He didn't have to come, especially after Nino dodged every question he'd asked, refused to e-mail properly, gave him a ridiculous nickname and all but called him an idiot. Why is he here?
Sighing, Sho holds out a hand and tries to smile. "How does next Friday sound?"
Nino smiles back and shakes Sho's hand firmly, small fingers wrapping tightly around Sho's longer ones. "Ninomiya Kazunari," he replies.
"Sakurai Sho. Nice to meet you."
---
Sho is stressed.
It's Friday night and he and Nino have been roommates for almost two weeks. They're still trying to find a routine that works - Sho's up every morning at 5:30 to get to work; Nino rarely gets home before 2. It had taken him almost a full week for Sho to work up the courage to ask Nino exactly what he did. Nino's not exactly forthcoming with personal information. A series of horrible prospects flew through his head - drug dealer? Pimp? Oh god, what if he's a drug runner?
As it turns out, Nino is a musician, and Sho's not entirely sure that's better. He maintains a part-time job at the combini down the street from their building, to help with rent, but his passion is music, something Sho learned early on (though Nino quickly learned how fierce Sho’s temper was when awoken by the synthesizer at 3 a.m.).
The paper isn't exactly doing well. The advent of internet news, where teenagers can bounce the latest headlines from person to person in under a minute, has hurt movable type something fierce. The offices of News Zero are tense, to say the least, and Sho has a bad habit of internalizing everyone else's problems until he finally explodes. He discovered this about himself ages ago, though, and has learned to control it - by cleaning.
Sho's a bit of a packrat and not exactly the tidiest person on the planet, if his room is any indication with his laundry flung this way and that, books stacked on the shelves haphazardly, the closet door permanently stuck open by the overflow. He and Nino had quickly sorted out a "clean it if it's dirty" routine for the rest of the apartment. Now Sho stands in the middle of the kitchen and scowls in disgust. Slipping on a pair of yellow rubber gloves, Sho gets to work.
It takes under an hour for the kitchen to sparkle.
Thirty minutes after that, the grout in the bathroom is whiter than it was when it was first installed.
Sho is contemplating breaking into Nino's room in direct defiance of the sign on his door ("Keep Out - That Means You, Sho-chan~"), when he spots the living room. They've been pretty good about keeping the main living area tidy, at least making sure the beer bottles make it to the recycling, but the area around the TV console has been disorganized and messy since the day Sho moved in. He suspected it'd been that way since the day Nino moved in. With a nod of determination, Sho grabs a beer from the fridge and gets to work on the stacks of games, movies and various flotsam around the TV. He allows himself a small smile as he sorts. Nino will be so pleased, he thinks. Everything will finally be in order. He's already picturing the pat on the back, the celebratory melon pan from the vending machine.
It takes four more beers, half a glass of wine, and three loads of laundry for Sho to finally crash and burn, collapsing on his bed feeling much more relaxed.
Sho is sure he's dreaming when his bedroom door slams open and a small, wiry figure catapults itself at him.
"What did you do?" the figure yells, his face bright red with fury.
Sho is still trying to push through the alcohol-induced haze when he realizes Nino is on top of him, screaming and generally having a fit. He'd be lying if he said he didn't find Nino attractive at the best of times, and normally wouldn't exactly be opposed to waking up with Nino in his lap, but red-faced and full of rage was not Nino's best look.
"I....what?" Sho responds intelligently.
"There was a system, Sakurai!" Nino crawls off of him and stomps into the living room. Sho can hear him cursing as he rolls over to look at the clock. 2:26 a.m. It all comes back to him, finally breaking through his muddled brain - Nino just got home and he was pissed about something.
Sho stumbles into the living room to find Nino sitting on the floor, pulling game cases out from underneath the TV.
"Hey, I just organized that," Sho mumbles. He realizes his mouth tastes like death and puts one hand to his head. He doesn't miss the scowl that Nino throws him before turning back to the discs and cases.
"Completely screwed up," he's muttering. "I'm going to have to start all over." Nino turns to back to Sho and raises his voice again. "You screwed up my system, Sho. Everything was perfectly organized - system, genre, levels I'd beaten so far. And now I have to start all over."
Sho's face falls as he realizes the mistake he's made. He'd just been trying to clean up their mutual living area and had inadvertently destroyed Nino's system. If two weeks of living with Nino had taught him anything, it was that you don't mess with the man's games. He guards them like a mother hen guards her chicks. Or maybe a lioness and her cubs might be more apt, Sho thought.
"I'm really sorry, Nino," he says, shaking his head and trying to clear the cobwebs from his brain. "I was just trying to clean up a little. I cleaned the kitchen! And did you see the grout in the bathroom?"
"I don't care about the damn grout," Nino growls.
Sho bites his lip to keep from lashing out, just mumbles another quiet "I'm sorry," and heads back to collapse on his bed.
He wakes up the next morning feeling like death. Nino doesn't talk to him all day, but makes it a point to slam every door in the house and clang the dishes together as he loads the dishwasher. Sho hates him a little by early afternoon. By the evening though, Sho realizes he deserves it, maybe, and sets to work.
Before Nino leaves for his gig that night, Sho hands him a piece of paper with a tentative smile.
"What's this?" Nino asks, his voice tight. He's still angry. Sho tries to keep his smile in place.
"A spreadsheet," he replies. "For your games."
Nino just gapes at him.
"Look," Sho points. "You can organize your games however you want - system, whether or not you've killed that 12 year old from Sweden on it yet, if the female characters boobs are realistic or not. Just write them in, I'll get a second bookcase for next to the TV, we'll tack the list up next to it and then we can both be happy." He looks at Nino hopefully. "This way they can stay off the floor and you can keep your system."
Nino's quiet for a moment. He carefully lays the list on the coffee table and grabs his guitar case. Sho's face falls a little. He'd been sure the peace offering would work. He's heading back to his room to pout and take more painkillers when Nino says his name. Turning, Sho sees Nino halfway out the front door, his guitar case slung across his chest not unlike the first time they'd met.
"Thank you," he says.
The door closes before Sho can reply. He allows himself a small smile and collapses on his bed.
---
"What's your friend's name again?" Sho asks, straightening the slippers near the genkan for the hundredth time. "Aiba?"
"Yeah, Aiba Masaki. He's a high school chemistry teacher. Don't ask him about it, or he'll rope you into one of his many experiments and you'll live to regret it."
The week following Gamepocalypse (as Nino has come to call it), Sho had suggested a get-together. Both of them would invite over some friends for beer and cards. Sho had called it a housewarming party, but Nino's response of "I've had sex with men and even that is too gay for me" not only made Sho blush, but put the kibosh on a name altogether. They haven't talked about their personal lives too much, but Sho is determined to change that. It's not that he wants to know about Nino's conquests or anything, but he feels bad living with someone he knows basically nothing about.
The door rings and Nino goes to answer it, coming back to the living room practically attached to Ohno, Sho's oldest friend.
"Satoshi," Sho grins, shaking his hand firmly. "How's Meisa?"
"Hi Sho," Ohno replies with a shy smile. "She's planning a hostile takeover of the European branch of Lego, so you know. Great sex lately."
Nino pouts. "And here I thought you were all mine."
"Nino, you seriously just met the man. Do you even know what Ohno does for a living?" Sho asks, incredulous.
"It's okay, Sho," Ohno replies. He leans into Nino's body and Sho can tell they'll be damn near inseparable now. Great.
Ohno's explaining in his quiet, mumbly way about his art studio and his girlfriend, Meisa's corporate law practice, when the bell rings a second time. Sho gets it this time, lest Nino barnacle himself to any of his other friends, and finds two tall men at the door - one with fluffy hair and a bright smile he can't help but return, the other looking like he was just carved from marble.
"You must be Aiba," Sho says to the smiling man, ushering them inside. "Nino's told me way too much about you."
"Is it as much as I just heard in the elevator?" the other asks, his features unmoving.
"Oh, come on, MatsuJun! I didn't tell you that much!" Aiba exclaims.
"Your wife is named Becky, you've been together since you were 15, you have three kids with a fourth on the way, your favorite food in the world is mabo tofu, but it's followed closely by natto, you're a chemistry teacher at the local high school and you love your job, but sometimes you wish you had gone into electrical engineering so you could blow stuff up," Jun deadpans, all in one breath. He turns to Sho and tries to smile. "If you leave me alone with him again, I will murder you," he whispers, passing Sho the bottle of wine he brought before moving past him to the apartment proper. Sho grimaces and prays this actually works out. Aiba smiles at him reassuringly, whispers a quiet "sorry!" and hurries to join Ohno and Nino on the couch, shaking hands with everyone on the way.
The night actually turns out to be much more fun than Sho had anticipated. Ohno and Aiba become fast friends, both giggling about something Sho really doesn't want to know about. Jun impresses everyone with his knowledge of fine wines, including Nino, who stares at him hungrily. Sho doesn't catch it at first. It's only after Aiba's third beer, when he tries to ticket Nino for "excessive eye-fucking" that Sho realizes Jun and Nino have been scooting closer together all night. He tries not to let it bother him.
Nino shows off for a while, flicking the playing cards back and forth between his nimble fingers, while Jun tells them of his latest collection. An aspiring fashion designer, Jun is on the brink of his big break.
"I think this could be it," he says, eyes bright with the flush of alcohol. "This time next year I could be showing my designs in Paris."
"You could be showing off your designs in NINO'S PANTS," Aiba exclaims, collapsing on Ohno and giggling breathily.
Nino just rolls his eyes as Jun leans over to cuff Aiba in the back of the head. It isn't much later that Sho is ushering them all into cabs, Ohno and Aiba still wrapped around each other, singing loudly and off-key. Sho apologizes to the cab driver and sees them off. He turns to find Jun giving Nino his number with that smile. Sho knows it well - Jun had used it on him five years ago when they'd first met. It had even worked for a while, until they both realized they were way too high strung to maintain a relationship. Sho coughs lightly and Jun turns, smile softening as he approaches Sho.
"Thanks for inviting me, Sho," he says, clapping Sho on the back. "It was...interesting."
"Yeah," Sho replies with a small smile. "Sorry about Aiba."
Jun laughs and he looks years younger for a moment. "He's not all bad," Jun says. He glances toward the door and blushes a little. "I had fun."
Sho nods and helps him into the cab, promising to call him later in the week.
By the time Sho gets back to the apartment, Nino is already in post-party mode, wandering around the living room with a plastic bag full of bottles.
"So, that was fun," Sho says as he starts collecting plates.
Nino just hums and nods, still collecting bottles from where Aiba and Ohno were sitting.
"You seemed to hit it off pretty well with Jun." Sho hates himself the moment the words come out of his mouth. He sounds hurt and immature, neither of which are terribly becoming traits.
"The pretty boy?" Nino asks, looking up at Sho, almost looking straight through him. Sho wonders sometimes if Nino is a mind-reader or if he really is just that transparent. "Too high maintenance for my tastes," he replies with a shrug.
Sho tries not to feel too happy about that.
---
Becky comes over one evening when Nino is playing at the bar down the street. She's dropping off sheet music for Nino, she explains. They've been collaborating on a few songs lately.
Sho adores her instantly. Her eyes are the color of the first leaves of a spring tree; her laugh loud and joyful. She's round with child and looks absolutely radiant. Pregnancy suits her, Sho decides. He understands why Aiba's been in love with her for half of his life and for a fleeting moment, he feels jealous of the man.
Becky lowers herself carefully into a chair and sighs happily.
"Aiba's at home with the boys tonight," she explains. "It's nice to get some time off from them. All of them."
Sho chuckles and gets her a footstool. Becky looks like she might kiss him as he helps her elevate her tired, swollen feet.
"You have three kids, right?" he asks, settling on the couch across from her.
"Mmm," she hums, examining him closely. Becky looks at him the same way Nino does sometimes - like she can see through his defenses, straight to his heart. "Well, four, if you count Aiba. Five if you count this guy." She pats her stomach fondly and smiles.
Sho chuckles and shakes his head. Becky's a stronger person than he is. Or maybe she's just crazier. Maybe a combination of both, he thinks.
Two hours pass in the blink of an eye as they talk about everything. Becky met Aiba and Nino in high school. They were fifteen and she had a crush on Nino. It was Aiba, though, who asked her out, who charmed her with his smiles and good nature. They'd been together ever since - married right out of college, she had the twins two years later, their youngest not long after. Sho envies their happiness, but is pleased that he's becoming part of their family, too.
"Nino is very special to me, Sho," she says at one point, looking at him with serious eyes.
Sho just nods. "I know," he replies.
Becky seems to examine him for a long moment, staring him down as if to test his resolve. Finally she nods and smiles again. "Good. Now help me out of this chair or I'll be here forever."
---
It's a rare evening that they're both home at the same time. Sho heats up a few combini-lunches for them while Nino organizes his coupon folder at the table. Sho had given Nino crap about his organizational system for his coupons at first, but when he'd come home with a dozen bags of food for less than the price of a fast food meal, Sho had quickly shut up about it.
Sho hands Nino a plate and fork as he settles himself across from him at the table. He reflects for a moment how nice it is to just sit quietly and eat dinner with a friend. He supposes that's what he and Nino are now, anyway. Friends, roommates, whatever. Picking up the day's copy of the national paper, Sho is stopped short when he realizes he can see through it.
"Nino?"
"Hm?"
"....Nino."
"What?" Nino replies, looking up, mouth full of microwavable spaghetti.
Sho's peering at him through a coupon-sized hole in the business section.
"What?" Nino asks again, his voice laden with annoyance.
Sho sighs and puts the paper down, eyeballing the coupon folder.
"Could you not cut out the coupons until after I'm done reading the paper?"
"You could just read your paper in the morning instead," Nino says, eyes still flicking over the coupons as he shrugs.
"I like reading it at night," Sho counters.
"And I like having my coupon folder organized before I have to go to work." Nino shrugs again and Sho thinks that sometimes, just sometimes, he really wants to hit him. "I am sorry, though," Nino says, looking up at Sho with honest eyes.
Sho relents in the end, choosing to read his paper in the mornings and letting Nino hack away at it in the afternoon. It's not a bad deal, he thinks, after he receives praise from his supervisor for the third day in a row of being on top of the latest news. Sho doesn't tell Nino for fear of inflating his ego even further. He comes up with something even better. Rubbing his hands together excitedly, Sho begins searching the web, exclaiming quietly when he finds what he's looking for and furiously scribbling on a piece of paper. Perfect.
---
Nino's furious coupon-clipping leads to him doing most of the grocery shopping. This also leads, however, to a serious lack of any cooking supplies in the house. Premade, microwavable meals bought in bulk are cheaper than fresh produce, Nino argues. And they last longer. Sho can't argue with that logic.
But tonight Sho wants to make dinner. A proper dinner. A subtle "thank you, but don't get a big head about it" dinner with a side of "yay we haven't murdered each other yet" for dessert. He decides on pasta. Pasta is easy, he thinks. Jun made spaghetti carbonara for him one time and that was simple enough. Sho stops at the store on the way home to pick up the necessary supplies and realizes just how much Nino manages to save them every week with his silly folder.
The apartment is quiet when Sho returns. Not entirely unusual, but Sho is hoping to surprise Nino and having him fluttering about the kitchen would kind of ruin said surprise. Nino doesn't take "leave me alone, I'm working" very well.
Sho ties on the apron he's fairly certain is hanging in the kitchen as a joke and sets the pasta water to boil on one burner. Another heats up the pan for the bacon. He hums a little song as he works, pleased he can do something nice for Nino. Slicing up the bacon into little bits, he tosses them into the pan and grins as they crackle and sizzle merrily in their own fat. He's carefully cutting up a tomato according to the diagram he'd printed off earlier when he hears the front door open and shut.
"Don't come in the kitchen!" Sho yells, hoping it's Nino at the door and not a murderer.
"Why?" Nino steps into the kitchen and stops to stare. Sho just smiles a bit sheepishly and waves to him with his knife-hand.
"Because I'm doing something...bad?" he suggest, hoping Nino will turn and leave him to his work. The surprise is still salvageable!
"Yeah, you are," Nino replies and Sho feels his face fall a fraction of an inch. Until Nino points behind him and sighs. "Your pan is on fire."
The bacon pan was apparently slightly too hot, Sho discovers as he turns around, small flames engulfing the meat. He panics for half a second before calming and smiling again.
"I can handle this," he says, grabbing a cup of water from next to the sink.
Nino's shout of "NO!" is about half a second too late. Sho's hand freezes mid-air, the water propelled out of the cup and into the grease fire. The smoke detector wails and suddenly Nino is right there, pressed up against Sho's side to lead him out of the kitchen.
Sho learns a very important lesson that day - never try to douse a grease fire with water.
Half an hour later, they're sitting on the back of a fire truck, Nino still clinging to Sho's side, not saying a word. Sho feels awful and stupid. He hangs his head and fiddles with the tie of his apron. Tears are threatening to push through, but Sho refuses to let that happen. The firemen are talking about "minimal damage" and "thank god it was contained quickly." Sho lets a little part of himself hope. Nino nudges him and offers a little smile when Sho looks up.
The fire wasn't that bad, they discover. The stove would need to be replaced and the cabinets above and next to it would need repainting, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Sho shakes hands with the firefighters and tries to smile, thanking them for their quick response and help.
They order Chinese for dinner and eat on the living room floor, the windows flung wide in an effort to air out the stench of burned bacon and charred cabinet.
The next day, Sho is surveying the damage for the hundredth time when Nino shuffles into the kitchen and thrusts the coupon folder at him.
"What's this?" Sho asks, eyes wide.
"If you promise me you will never ever cook again and that you will use the coupon folder to the fullest extent," Nino says, a laughing glint in his eye belying his serious face. "I'll take over cooking if you do the grocery shopping."
Sho looks down at the folder in his hands and realizes the trust Nino has placed in him. At this point, he's honestly surprised Nino hasn't kicked him out and started the search for a new roommate. "Done."
They smile at each other for a moment and Sho feels that funny fluttering in his stomach before turning away awkwardly.
---
Fall is on its way and Sho and Nino have settled into a comfortable routine. Sho tries to keep quiet in the morning when he gets up for work, tiptoeing past Nino's door and dressing in the living room. He loads up the coffee pot with fresh grounds and water, setting the timer to brew again in 3 hours.
Nino wakes up to fresh coffee every morning. After midnight he keeps his games on mute and tries not to scream at the 12 year old from Sweden who continues to thwart his attempts at winning Halo.
Sho goes shopping for groceries every Saturday, diligently pawing through the coupon folder for the best deals. Nino still clips the coupons, though, claiming it gives him a sense of calm in a tumultuous world. Sho just smiles and indulges him.
Most nights Nino cooks dinner. It's usually something creative and new, but always delicious. He reveals to Sho one night that both of his parents are chefs. It must be in his blood to make food delicious. Sho is tempted to ask if it's also in his blood to pack Sho panda-shaped onigiri in his bento box, but refrains. He likes his little lunches and the accompanying "Do your best today, Sho-chan!" notes in small, neat writing.
They see every movie that comes out that summer. Sho gets free passes from the paper and splits them with Nino, who usually gets in on a student discount with a smile and a wink at the girl behind the counter. No one really believes he's of age anyway. Nino steals half of Sho's Milk Duds before the previews are done and Sho had long ago given up any hope of getting his own drink.
"It's a better deal if we just get the large one for the free refills," Nino had argued. "It's not like I have cooties, jeez."
Sho can't very well argue with that.
---
The leaves are falling from the trees when Ohno finally moves out of his parents' house and into a loft with Meisa. He calls to ask for Sho and Nino's help. They both readily agree, but only on the promise that Ohno would donate a new painting for the living room.
Sho is, quite honestly, terrified of Meisa. He's met her a few times, but he remains convinced she doesn't like him. Her sharp eyes and biting wit remind him of Nino, but her quiet demeanor seems to suit Ohno well.
Sho's dropping the last box on the floor, his face covered in sweat, when he hears chuckles from the kitchen. Nino and Meisa are sitting at the table with cups of tea, chattering away about something. Sho flops into one of the chairs and takes a long drink from his bottle of water.
"This is you helping Ohno to move?" he asks Nino incredulously.
"I'm helping Meisa organize her kitchen," Nino replies, taking a sip of his tea.
Sho just gapes at him for a moment before chuckling. "Meisa's lived here for three years. I'm pretty sure her kitchen is just fine, you lazy ass." He's surprised to find Meisa chuckling as well, and Sho can see why Ohno loves her in that moment.
Nino just shrugs and smirks into his cup. "Speaking of lazy asses," he says to Meisa. "Where is Jun-pon?"
"Mmm," Meisa hums with a nod. "Our darling Matsumoto has snagged himself yet another young actor full of promise and sexual energy."
Sho groans. Things he did not need to hear about one of his best friends. Nino laughs at him, mocking his pain.
"Which one is it this time?" Nino asks. "Last I'd talked to him, he was still dating that one with the face....Kame or something like that?"
"They broke up ages ago! Keep up with the times," Meisa replies, eyes dancing. "He's been sleeping with Toma for weeks now."
Sho zones out of the conversation for a few minutes, surprised that not only is Nino talking to Jun more than he is, but Nino is more on the up and up of Jun's love life. And that he isn't a part of it. Something in Sho had assumed Nino would have hooked up with Jun ages ago, but it wasn't his place to ask.
Ohno wanders in and stands behind Meisa, resting his chin on the top of her head. For a moment, they look both so incandescently happy that Sho's heart hurts in a good way.
It's not too much later that Sho and Nino find themselves walking home in the cool autumn air.
"So," Sho starts, hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Meisa scares me."
Nino laughs, loud and clear, his head thrown back. He teases Sho all the way home. Sho can't find it in himself to be annoyed.
---
Winter is around the corner when they have their first big fight. Sho is honestly surprised it's taken this long, then surprised again when he realizes they've been roommates for almost 6 months.
News Zero is implementing a new internet-only subscription and cutting staff left and right. Sho is terrified he's going to lose his job, being a lowly staff editor, and takes it out on Nino. Nino doesn't yell back, but he also doesn't talk to Sho for three days.
By day four, Sho is going crazy.
He's having lunch with Aiba at a soba shop near the high school. Aiba's showing off pictures of the new baby, now nearly 3 months old, and grinning like a fool.
"Another boy, that's all she could say," he's telling Sho. "After the twins, she kept saying 'just one more, I want a girl.' And now we've got four boys. I wonder if I could convince her to try again...."
"You look happy," Sho replies, smiling. Aiba and his family have made it a point to include "Uncle Sho" in their lives and Sho loves them all dearly.
"I am ridiculously happy," Aiba says. His face lights up the whole room with joy as he smiles. "What about you? You look....less than happy, Sho."
Sho sighs and his smile falters.
"Nino and I aren't exactly speaking right now," he confesses.
Aiba frowns and nods, encouraging him to continue. Sho searches for the right words.
"I was having a bad day, I took it out on him, and now he's not talking to me. We're going on a week of this, and I'm going crazy. I feel like a bad boyfriend or something." As the words tumble out of Sho's mouth, he realizes that's exactly what he feels like. A boyfriend with none of the benefits.
"Have you ever heard him play, Sho?" Aiba asks, eyes wide and honest.
"No." Sho looks at his hands and stirs the soba with his chopsticks. "He never tells me when he's playing or where and I'm usually in bed before he even leaves, so...." Sho shrugs, but doesn't look up. He's afraid of what he'll see there, in Aiba's eyes. The truth, maybe, of what he's been feeling for months, since a scrawny, weird man opened his door.
"Well," Aiba replies, leaning back and patting his full stomach. "I have it on good authority that he's playing at Zenti tonight. That bar down the street from your apartment? Just. Just go and listen."
"Yeah," Sho nods, still avoiding Aiba's eyes and looking despondent. "Maybe I will."
---
Sho is shocked at how powerful, how raw Nino's voice is. They've lived together for almost six months and he's never once heard Nino sing. Even in the early days when Nino was keeping him up late at night making music, it was all instrumentals, no vocals.
Sho sits at the back of the dark bar, a haze of smoke overhead and a drink in hand. Nino's playing something on the piano. It's a light, sweet song, but the emotion in it is prevalent and strong. Sho wants to wrap himself in Nino's voice and never leave.
The rainbow is beautiful, Nino sings, fingers dancing across the keys delicately. No, you are more beautiful. To you who begins to shine, thank you. Thank you.
Sho moves to the bar, sitting on a stool and waiting patiently. He's rewarded for his patience when Nino sidles up and perches on the stool next to him. Sho orders him a drink and they sit in silence for a few minutes, sipping on their respective drinks and staring into space.
"I'm sorry," Sho says quietly.
Nino nods, but remains silent.
"I was a jerk. I shouldn't have taken it out on you," Sho continues, looking at Nino, hoping his earnestness shows. "But you were. Nino, you were great."
"Thanks," Nino mumbles. He resolutely continues looking at the bar, the bartender, anywhere but Sho.
Sho's ready to give up and go home, moving to grab his jacket, when he feels a hand on his arm. He looks up and Nino is staring at him.
"I'm sorry, too," Nino replies and Sho's heart breaks a little at the sound. "I'm not used to people being involved in my life. My parents split when I was a teenager and I'm used to being on my own. You're the first person in a long time that's gotten under my skin."
This is the most information Nino has shared about his life in the time they've known each other. Sho tries not to let his shock show on his face. Instead, he stands and shrugs into his jacket.
"Let's go home," he says, retrieving Nino's jacket from the back of his chair and holding it out for him.
They step outside into the cool night and Sho breathes a sigh of relief. Nino presses in close to him and threads their fingers together. Sho looks at him in disbelief, but Nino is pointedly looking away. There's no disguising the blush to his cheeks, though. Sho feels himself blush, too, and squeezes Nino's hand. They walk home, to their home.
---
Sho's long ago lost count of how many weeks they've been living together. He tells people it started with a newspaper ad and ended with a fight, but really, it started with a drink in a bar. Not much has changed, truth be told. Nino still has a "Keep Out" sign on his door that he flips over when Sho is allowed in. Sho does the grocery shopping, having lived up to Nino's standards, and has even been allowed to start clipping the Wednesday coupons. Sho's pretty sure that's a huge step for Nino. The living room is decorated with paintings from Ohno, a bookshelf just for games, pictures of Aiba's boys. Becky's pregnant with number five - this time they're pretty sure it's a girl, but given the look on her face when she's watching her family wrestle around on the floor, Sho's pretty sure she could give birth to an alien and they'd be just fine.
Sho's been promoted to chief editor of the online edition of News Zero. Nino, with Meisa's help, has started shopping his act around to publicists and agents. Ohno finally proposed and they're getting married next month. Jun's latest collection is getting ready to show in New York at Fashion Week. Toma is going with him.
Nino comes home one afternoon from a meeting with an agent to find Sho sitting on the couch, trying to look inconspicuous, but the latest game on his Amazon wish list is sitting on the coffee table, unopened. Sho laughs loudly as Nino pounces him, then snuggles up to his side to play for a few hours.
Sho had long ago learned to deal with Nino's electricity rationing - the lights are kept low so he can play. And really, if the TV is on, who needs lights anyway? Nino had made up for cutting into Sho's reading time by buying him the latest iPad. Sho thinks that says something awfully serious about their relationship.
They're entering hour two of reading and gaming when Nino turns his head and sneaks a kiss to the underside of Sho's chin. Sho smiles as Nino turns back to the TV.
"You know," Nino starts, fingers mashing the buttons of his controller wildly. "It's getting colder out."
Sho hums, flicking a finger across the screen to read the next page.
"We could save even more electricity by turning the heat down," Nino continues. "And sharing a bed. Regularly."
Sho looks up from his screen and grins, turning to look at Nino, who is obviously trying to hide his own smile. Clicking off the tablet, he places it carefully on the coffee table, then takes Nino's controller, setting it down as well.
"Well, why not start now?" Sho asks, tipping them over and attacking Nino's collarbones with kisses.
Nino is still chuckling when their lips meet.