(no subject)
Title: Guardian Angel
Rating: G
Pairing: implied Juntoshi, implied Aimiya (angelically)
Prompt: Guardian Angel!Jun. I just saw the most random quote that Jun once said if he was ever invisible for a day, he'd follow Leader around and protect him. >_< Bonus for skull cracking!
Word Count: 2205
Notes: Self-betaed. This could so easily become a series, or at least a much longer story, but I refuse to make it so. I have too many already T^T The stuff about seeing Jun and Nino as angels is 100% taken from The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. Also, I couldn't resist sticking in the Aimiya. They made me do it.
Generally speaking, Ohno wasn’t stupid in the same way that Aiba wasn’t stupid. Both had slightly loopy images to keep up, and Aiba was sometimes frighteningly dense just as Ohno was sometimes frighteningly vacant. But neither were stupid and Jun would never think that about them.
That still didn’t stop him from wondering, quite often, if both were trying to send themselves to early graves. Not that Aiba was his problem; Aiba was strictly Ninomiya’s to deal with and Nino was very territorial about his charges even if he abused them daily. Normally he wouldn’t have had a reason to be around a charge who wasn’t his own - even Guardian Angels couldn’t be in two places at once, and the whole point of being a Guardian was to guard ones charge daily.
But Aiba and Ohno (and this other human named Sho who didn’t have a Guardian) were good friends and spent a lot of time together. So while Jun’s charge was Ohno, he’d been watching over Aiba by proximity, side-by-side with Nino.
Jun flexed his wings and brushed a stray cloud wisp away from his looking fountain. He smiled softly at the image within. Ohno was in his little boat again, fishing pole hooked against one side and his sketch-pad on his lap. The human was most as peace like this, and Jun liked to watch the long fingers work with different mediums.
Somewhere close by, Nino groaned and Jun grinned to himself. Nino’s charge was sometimes so amusing. He looked up from the picture of Ohno and looked over to see the slighter Guardian’s head bowed over his fountain in a perfect picture of exaggerated despair.
Jun raised his eyebrow, expectant. “Well?”
“He’s experimenting again.”
“What is it this time?”
“More dried ice,” Nino said mournfully. “What would happen if you tried to powder it and put it in the washer.”
“Can you powder it?”
“That’s the first part of the experiment.”
The taller Guardian grinned. “What do you think?”
“It’s a solid and it’s generally non-explosive, right? It should work,” Nino said thoughtfully. His eyes never left the fountain’s image.
Jun laughed to himself, looking back into his fountain. He pouted. Ohno had put the sketch pad away in favor of a nap - not that Jun could necessarily begrudge the bakery owner such a thing given his normal schedule.
“I’m going down,” he said suddenly.
Nino looked over from the corner of his eye. “Oh?”
“Yeah. I’ll be back.”
The slighter Guardian just nodded. As the rules went, watching over a charge meant just that - they watched from above. Intervention was for desperate and undeserved things that occurred in the course of their charge’s life.
Interaction was for never.
But Nino had been at such a job for too long - longer than he’d ever tell Jun. And Jun was smart enough to know where to draw his lines. He watched the taller angel create the Gate that would take him down to earth, and watched it close behind him. He pulled Jun’s looking fountain closer to his own, smiling at the human he knew as well as his own charge.
He and Jun would always cover for each other, because it was hard not to fall in love with the people you knew better than they knew themselves.
------
Jun closed the Gate and let his feet take him to the shore where Ohno had tied up his boat. It was a quick and easy thing to glide across to the boat and perch on the bow, making no noise and leaving the boat steady in the water, because he was completely insubstantial. The human didn’t even twitch. Jun smiled in spite of himself. Ohno was like that: when he was content he was so content that nothing could budge him - a quality which had given Jun several epic headaches at the beginning of his assignment.
The Guardian settled down on the boat, propping his chin on his hand.
He couldn’t say why he’d taken such a liking to this charge. He’d had several others in years gone by, who were all good humans with big hearts, but none had captured his interest in the same way this one did.
It might have been because this one was more artistically inclined than his previous charges, and Jun had always liked art. The Guardian smirked, memories of Ohno nearly walking into traffic returning to him. Or it might be that Ohno would walk off with the first person who told him to, just because they told him to, and somebody had to look after him.
The human shifted, rolling over and rolling right against the side of the small boat. Jun waited a moment to be sure the whole thing didn’t capsize, kicking at Ohno’s ankle when it became apparent that he hadn’t noticed he was starting to tip.
Ohno mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep and tried to roll over again.
“Wake up, idiot!” Jun said, even though Ohno couldn’t hear him. He kicked Ohno’s ankle again.
This time there was enough tipping in the boat that water splashed into the human’s face, and Ohno jerked awake. He rolled quickly back to the center of the boat, spreading himself over the benches in an attempt to steady the boat.
Jun hovered above him, shaking his head wearily. “Of all the moronic, sleepy-faced, oblivious artists in the world, I get stuck the one who wants to drown himself for the sake of a trout.”
“Tuna.”
“Whatever.” Jun snapped. He blinked and shot into the air, startled.
That couldn’t have just happened.
Ohno pushed his fishing hat off his head, sitting up. “... Are you there?”
He tilted his head around. He wasn’t looking at Jun, but he wasn’t looking around wildly, either. Jun watched the human, wide-eyed. Who was his charge talking to?
“Mister spirit? Are you - oh! You are,” Ohno said, smiling.
Jun frowned. The human still wasn’t looking at him ... oh. Oh no. He was. Ohno’s head was cocked just a little to the side and his eyes were facing at just such an angle that Jun would be in right in his side view.
“Please come down,” Ohno said, “It’s hard to keep my neck like this.”
The Guardian swallowed thickly. He shouldn’t. He should leave - very quickly. It was against the rules - Ohno shouldn’t even know he was there. But Ohno’s lips were forming a pout. Jun came back down to the prow of the boat, perching on the edge, and Ohno turned accordingly.
“Thank you, that’s much better.”
“You’re welcome,” Jun said automatically.
“What are you? You’re not a ghost - I’d be able to see you better.”
“I’m nothing you need to be worried about.”
Ohno smiled. “I figured. You’ve been around long enough that you would have done something already, if you were planning it.”
“You can’t be sure.”
The human shrugged. “I guess I can’t be, but your presence is too nice. Too comforting.”
Jun blinked. He hadn’t been aware that he had a presence. Even if he did, humans weren’t supposed to be able to feel it. He chewed on his lip and didn’t answer. Ohno looked mildly worried, even though he wasn’t facing the Guardian.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“You’re not supposed to know I’m here.”
“... Oh. ... Sorry.”
Jun shrugged. “Nothing to be done now.”
“You won’t get in trouble, will you?”
“Probably not.”
Ohno smiled. “That’s good. ... Will you stay, or are you going to leave?”
“I can’t leave you,” Jun said, quite serious. “It’s in my contract.”
The human’s eyes wrinkled as he laughed. “Contract? Are you a guardian spirit or something?”
“I have a business card and name tag in my other suit.”
Jun smiled a little, listening to Ohno finish laughing and settle back into the boat. Ohno stretched and laid back with a sigh, tipping his hat to shade his eyes from the sun. Jun stretched out his wings and stood.
“I’ll be around.”
Ohno smiled. “I know.”
------
“He saw me,” Jun said by way of greeting, closing the Gate behind him.
Nino pushed the looking fountain over. “I know.”
“Peeping tom.”
“Watching your ass.”
Jun grinned. “You know you like it.”
“Ohno’s is nicer.”
The taller angel took his place by the looking fountain and watched Ohno finished tying off his boat at the public dock. The way the human was bent over, Jun found it hard to disagree with Nino. He took a peek at Nino’s fountain and watched Aiba and Sho play with a small cat. (Or, really, the cat was trying very hard to chew through Sho’s pants and Aiba was giggling because Sho couldn’t get it off.)
“How did the washer experiment go?”
“He and Sho tried valiantly but it turns out you can’t powder dry ice at home,” Nino said dryly, but he was smiling. “He wanted to just put a block into the machine, but good providence gave them a kitty and they’ve been distracted since.”
“Where do you find all these animals?”
“It needed a home,” the smaller angel said, just a touch defensively, pouting.
Jun grinned and turned back to Ohno. The human had pulled out his cell phone and was talking to someone happily. In his other hand was the bucket of fish he’d caught that afternoon. The water was sloshing out of the sides as he tried to gesture with that hand, even though the person on the other end wouldn’t be able to see it, and he clearly wasn’t paying attention to where he was going. Jun touched the pool of water lightly, letting the sound of the conversation filter out.
“Ohno, you caught fish today, right?” said Aiba, “Can we use them to bribe the cat?”
“Cat?” asked Ohno.
“We do not need to bribe the cat with fish!” Sho’s voice shouted from Nino’s fountain, even as Aiba giggled and tried to explain: “I found this kitty. And Sho-chan pulled his tail and he won’t stop clawing at his pants.”
“I did not pull his tail!” Sho wailed, “And he’s biting my ankle! OW!”
“Really,” Aiba whispered, giggling, “I think he just likes Sho-chan and doesn’t know how to show it.”
“Stop talking like he’s a five year old boy and get him off me!”
“I’ll be right over,” Ohno said, chuckling softly.
------
It took them thirty minutes, but Ohno and Aiba dislodged the irate cat from Sho’s ankle and had it napping happily in Aiba’s lap. The tallest grinned as he stroked the small cat’s fur, leaning against the couch. Sho curled against the opposite arm of the couch, doing his best to stay away from the newly dubbed Devil Cat. Ohno sat between them, playing idly with Sho’s knee. Sho watched the older man’s fingers move, but didn’t make any move to stop him.
(Jun and Nino sighed enviously at the same time. They looked at each other. Nino laughed.
“Are we hopeless?” he asked.
Jun smirked. “Well, maybe you are.”)
There was a long moment of silence before Aiba broke it. “Ne ...” he started thoughtfully, “do you ever feel watched?”
Sho asked, “Did you watch movies really late last night?”
Aiba stuck his tongue out. “No, dad, I didn’t.”
“You’re in the street, and suddenly you look behind you - that sort of scene?” Ohno asked softly.
“Yeah!” the tallest exclaimed, pointing triumphantly at Sho, “See? He’s knows what I mean! Like when you’re at home by yourself, and you left the TV on and you forget and think someone’s talking to you, because it says something appropriate.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I meant ...” Ohno said weakly, smiling.
“Both of you are weird,” Sho sighed, reaching over Ohno to thwack Aiba’s head gently, “The TV doesn’t talk to you. It’s recorded dialog, and if it’s not a drama it’s pre-recorded variety hosts aiming for a laugh from their studio audience.”
“What about the news?” Ohno asked.
“He doesn’t watch that,” Sho said, rolling his eyes like it was obvious. He whacked Ohno’s head. “Neither do you!”
“I still think I’m watched,” Aiba said. “Sometimes I swear I catch this young guy out of the corner of my eye. Like he’ll just be hanging out. But every time I look for him, he’s gone. It really sucks.”
“That you’re hallucinating?” Sho asked, eyebrows raised.
“No,” Aiba stuck his tongue out. “That he’s not there when I look. He’s pretty cute.”
(Nino preened. Jun smacked the top of his head.)
Ohno looked thoughtful. “You can only see him out of the corner of your eyes? Is it easier to see him at night?”
“Don’t tell me you’re getting behind this!”
Aiba nodded, eagerly, ignoring Sho’s groaning. “Yeah! It’s really easy during sunset. He’ll just be there. Sometimes I think he wants to talk, but most of the time he’s just watching. And laughing at me.” he added, pouting.
“Mine does that to me, too,” Ohno said.
“‘Yours’?”
“Yeah. My Guardian angel.”
“Idiot!” Jun smacked the top of Ohno’s head in the fountain.
Down on earth, Ohno himself jerked as if he’d been hit, rubbing the back of his head. “Ow!”
“A Guardian Angel, huh?” Sho asked skeptically. “What’s he like?”
Ohno pouted harder. “He wears huge rings and hits me.”
Rating: G
Pairing: implied Juntoshi, implied Aimiya (angelically)
Prompt: Guardian Angel!Jun. I just saw the most random quote that Jun once said if he was ever invisible for a day, he'd follow Leader around and protect him. >_< Bonus for skull cracking!
Word Count: 2205
Notes: Self-betaed. This could so easily become a series, or at least a much longer story, but I refuse to make it so. I have too many already T^T The stuff about seeing Jun and Nino as angels is 100% taken from The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. Also, I couldn't resist sticking in the Aimiya. They made me do it.
Generally speaking, Ohno wasn’t stupid in the same way that Aiba wasn’t stupid. Both had slightly loopy images to keep up, and Aiba was sometimes frighteningly dense just as Ohno was sometimes frighteningly vacant. But neither were stupid and Jun would never think that about them.
That still didn’t stop him from wondering, quite often, if both were trying to send themselves to early graves. Not that Aiba was his problem; Aiba was strictly Ninomiya’s to deal with and Nino was very territorial about his charges even if he abused them daily. Normally he wouldn’t have had a reason to be around a charge who wasn’t his own - even Guardian Angels couldn’t be in two places at once, and the whole point of being a Guardian was to guard ones charge daily.
But Aiba and Ohno (and this other human named Sho who didn’t have a Guardian) were good friends and spent a lot of time together. So while Jun’s charge was Ohno, he’d been watching over Aiba by proximity, side-by-side with Nino.
Jun flexed his wings and brushed a stray cloud wisp away from his looking fountain. He smiled softly at the image within. Ohno was in his little boat again, fishing pole hooked against one side and his sketch-pad on his lap. The human was most as peace like this, and Jun liked to watch the long fingers work with different mediums.
Somewhere close by, Nino groaned and Jun grinned to himself. Nino’s charge was sometimes so amusing. He looked up from the picture of Ohno and looked over to see the slighter Guardian’s head bowed over his fountain in a perfect picture of exaggerated despair.
Jun raised his eyebrow, expectant. “Well?”
“He’s experimenting again.”
“What is it this time?”
“More dried ice,” Nino said mournfully. “What would happen if you tried to powder it and put it in the washer.”
“Can you powder it?”
“That’s the first part of the experiment.”
The taller Guardian grinned. “What do you think?”
“It’s a solid and it’s generally non-explosive, right? It should work,” Nino said thoughtfully. His eyes never left the fountain’s image.
Jun laughed to himself, looking back into his fountain. He pouted. Ohno had put the sketch pad away in favor of a nap - not that Jun could necessarily begrudge the bakery owner such a thing given his normal schedule.
“I’m going down,” he said suddenly.
Nino looked over from the corner of his eye. “Oh?”
“Yeah. I’ll be back.”
The slighter Guardian just nodded. As the rules went, watching over a charge meant just that - they watched from above. Intervention was for desperate and undeserved things that occurred in the course of their charge’s life.
Interaction was for never.
But Nino had been at such a job for too long - longer than he’d ever tell Jun. And Jun was smart enough to know where to draw his lines. He watched the taller angel create the Gate that would take him down to earth, and watched it close behind him. He pulled Jun’s looking fountain closer to his own, smiling at the human he knew as well as his own charge.
He and Jun would always cover for each other, because it was hard not to fall in love with the people you knew better than they knew themselves.
------
Jun closed the Gate and let his feet take him to the shore where Ohno had tied up his boat. It was a quick and easy thing to glide across to the boat and perch on the bow, making no noise and leaving the boat steady in the water, because he was completely insubstantial. The human didn’t even twitch. Jun smiled in spite of himself. Ohno was like that: when he was content he was so content that nothing could budge him - a quality which had given Jun several epic headaches at the beginning of his assignment.
The Guardian settled down on the boat, propping his chin on his hand.
He couldn’t say why he’d taken such a liking to this charge. He’d had several others in years gone by, who were all good humans with big hearts, but none had captured his interest in the same way this one did.
It might have been because this one was more artistically inclined than his previous charges, and Jun had always liked art. The Guardian smirked, memories of Ohno nearly walking into traffic returning to him. Or it might be that Ohno would walk off with the first person who told him to, just because they told him to, and somebody had to look after him.
The human shifted, rolling over and rolling right against the side of the small boat. Jun waited a moment to be sure the whole thing didn’t capsize, kicking at Ohno’s ankle when it became apparent that he hadn’t noticed he was starting to tip.
Ohno mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep and tried to roll over again.
“Wake up, idiot!” Jun said, even though Ohno couldn’t hear him. He kicked Ohno’s ankle again.
This time there was enough tipping in the boat that water splashed into the human’s face, and Ohno jerked awake. He rolled quickly back to the center of the boat, spreading himself over the benches in an attempt to steady the boat.
Jun hovered above him, shaking his head wearily. “Of all the moronic, sleepy-faced, oblivious artists in the world, I get stuck the one who wants to drown himself for the sake of a trout.”
“Tuna.”
“Whatever.” Jun snapped. He blinked and shot into the air, startled.
That couldn’t have just happened.
Ohno pushed his fishing hat off his head, sitting up. “... Are you there?”
He tilted his head around. He wasn’t looking at Jun, but he wasn’t looking around wildly, either. Jun watched the human, wide-eyed. Who was his charge talking to?
“Mister spirit? Are you - oh! You are,” Ohno said, smiling.
Jun frowned. The human still wasn’t looking at him ... oh. Oh no. He was. Ohno’s head was cocked just a little to the side and his eyes were facing at just such an angle that Jun would be in right in his side view.
“Please come down,” Ohno said, “It’s hard to keep my neck like this.”
The Guardian swallowed thickly. He shouldn’t. He should leave - very quickly. It was against the rules - Ohno shouldn’t even know he was there. But Ohno’s lips were forming a pout. Jun came back down to the prow of the boat, perching on the edge, and Ohno turned accordingly.
“Thank you, that’s much better.”
“You’re welcome,” Jun said automatically.
“What are you? You’re not a ghost - I’d be able to see you better.”
“I’m nothing you need to be worried about.”
Ohno smiled. “I figured. You’ve been around long enough that you would have done something already, if you were planning it.”
“You can’t be sure.”
The human shrugged. “I guess I can’t be, but your presence is too nice. Too comforting.”
Jun blinked. He hadn’t been aware that he had a presence. Even if he did, humans weren’t supposed to be able to feel it. He chewed on his lip and didn’t answer. Ohno looked mildly worried, even though he wasn’t facing the Guardian.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“You’re not supposed to know I’m here.”
“... Oh. ... Sorry.”
Jun shrugged. “Nothing to be done now.”
“You won’t get in trouble, will you?”
“Probably not.”
Ohno smiled. “That’s good. ... Will you stay, or are you going to leave?”
“I can’t leave you,” Jun said, quite serious. “It’s in my contract.”
The human’s eyes wrinkled as he laughed. “Contract? Are you a guardian spirit or something?”
“I have a business card and name tag in my other suit.”
Jun smiled a little, listening to Ohno finish laughing and settle back into the boat. Ohno stretched and laid back with a sigh, tipping his hat to shade his eyes from the sun. Jun stretched out his wings and stood.
“I’ll be around.”
Ohno smiled. “I know.”
------
“He saw me,” Jun said by way of greeting, closing the Gate behind him.
Nino pushed the looking fountain over. “I know.”
“Peeping tom.”
“Watching your ass.”
Jun grinned. “You know you like it.”
“Ohno’s is nicer.”
The taller angel took his place by the looking fountain and watched Ohno finished tying off his boat at the public dock. The way the human was bent over, Jun found it hard to disagree with Nino. He took a peek at Nino’s fountain and watched Aiba and Sho play with a small cat. (Or, really, the cat was trying very hard to chew through Sho’s pants and Aiba was giggling because Sho couldn’t get it off.)
“How did the washer experiment go?”
“He and Sho tried valiantly but it turns out you can’t powder dry ice at home,” Nino said dryly, but he was smiling. “He wanted to just put a block into the machine, but good providence gave them a kitty and they’ve been distracted since.”
“Where do you find all these animals?”
“It needed a home,” the smaller angel said, just a touch defensively, pouting.
Jun grinned and turned back to Ohno. The human had pulled out his cell phone and was talking to someone happily. In his other hand was the bucket of fish he’d caught that afternoon. The water was sloshing out of the sides as he tried to gesture with that hand, even though the person on the other end wouldn’t be able to see it, and he clearly wasn’t paying attention to where he was going. Jun touched the pool of water lightly, letting the sound of the conversation filter out.
“Ohno, you caught fish today, right?” said Aiba, “Can we use them to bribe the cat?”
“Cat?” asked Ohno.
“We do not need to bribe the cat with fish!” Sho’s voice shouted from Nino’s fountain, even as Aiba giggled and tried to explain: “I found this kitty. And Sho-chan pulled his tail and he won’t stop clawing at his pants.”
“I did not pull his tail!” Sho wailed, “And he’s biting my ankle! OW!”
“Really,” Aiba whispered, giggling, “I think he just likes Sho-chan and doesn’t know how to show it.”
“Stop talking like he’s a five year old boy and get him off me!”
“I’ll be right over,” Ohno said, chuckling softly.
------
It took them thirty minutes, but Ohno and Aiba dislodged the irate cat from Sho’s ankle and had it napping happily in Aiba’s lap. The tallest grinned as he stroked the small cat’s fur, leaning against the couch. Sho curled against the opposite arm of the couch, doing his best to stay away from the newly dubbed Devil Cat. Ohno sat between them, playing idly with Sho’s knee. Sho watched the older man’s fingers move, but didn’t make any move to stop him.
(Jun and Nino sighed enviously at the same time. They looked at each other. Nino laughed.
“Are we hopeless?” he asked.
Jun smirked. “Well, maybe you are.”)
There was a long moment of silence before Aiba broke it. “Ne ...” he started thoughtfully, “do you ever feel watched?”
Sho asked, “Did you watch movies really late last night?”
Aiba stuck his tongue out. “No, dad, I didn’t.”
“You’re in the street, and suddenly you look behind you - that sort of scene?” Ohno asked softly.
“Yeah!” the tallest exclaimed, pointing triumphantly at Sho, “See? He’s knows what I mean! Like when you’re at home by yourself, and you left the TV on and you forget and think someone’s talking to you, because it says something appropriate.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I meant ...” Ohno said weakly, smiling.
“Both of you are weird,” Sho sighed, reaching over Ohno to thwack Aiba’s head gently, “The TV doesn’t talk to you. It’s recorded dialog, and if it’s not a drama it’s pre-recorded variety hosts aiming for a laugh from their studio audience.”
“What about the news?” Ohno asked.
“He doesn’t watch that,” Sho said, rolling his eyes like it was obvious. He whacked Ohno’s head. “Neither do you!”
“I still think I’m watched,” Aiba said. “Sometimes I swear I catch this young guy out of the corner of my eye. Like he’ll just be hanging out. But every time I look for him, he’s gone. It really sucks.”
“That you’re hallucinating?” Sho asked, eyebrows raised.
“No,” Aiba stuck his tongue out. “That he’s not there when I look. He’s pretty cute.”
(Nino preened. Jun smacked the top of his head.)
Ohno looked thoughtful. “You can only see him out of the corner of your eyes? Is it easier to see him at night?”
“Don’t tell me you’re getting behind this!”
Aiba nodded, eagerly, ignoring Sho’s groaning. “Yeah! It’s really easy during sunset. He’ll just be there. Sometimes I think he wants to talk, but most of the time he’s just watching. And laughing at me.” he added, pouting.
“Mine does that to me, too,” Ohno said.
“‘Yours’?”
“Yeah. My Guardian angel.”
“Idiot!” Jun smacked the top of Ohno’s head in the fountain.
Down on earth, Ohno himself jerked as if he’d been hit, rubbing the back of his head. “Ow!”
“A Guardian Angel, huh?” Sho asked skeptically. “What’s he like?”
Ohno pouted harder. “He wears huge rings and hits me.”