Fic: Stars - Bound

[rikke_leonhart]

Title: Bound (IV)
Series: Stars
Pairing(s): Ohmiya
Rating: PG-13.
Disclaimer: Do. Not. Own. Unfortunately.
Summary: AU. Early in the B-side timeline. Nino finds out a startling truth about Ohno.
Author's Notes: Fourth installment, the first one in the b-side. Keep in mind that the B-side is set sometime in the future where Nino and Ohno are in an established relationship. Longer than the others, and beware, drama.

*
“Hello,” Sho greeted when he opened the door to the Sakurai household, allowing Jun and Nino to enter. “Come in, Ohno-san!”

The slight figure behind Nino stepped through, ducking his head. “Thank you for the invitation, Sakurai-san,” Ohno mumbled and looked earnestly at Sho, who scratched his head in embarrassment.

“No need to be so formal,” Sho replied, but he looked pleased nevertheless. He gestured for them to step further into the house. “Do you want a tour?”

Ohno nodded intently.

Sho smiled widely. He looked expectantly at Jun and Nino.

“We’re good,” Jun said haughtily and grabbed on to Nino’s arm, walking into the day room. Nino muttered a string of colorful words as he stumbled on his feet.

Jun spotted Aiba lying on his back on the floor. “Aiba-chan.”

Aiba beamed. “What took you guys so long?”

“The ceremony was a bit longer than anticipated,” Nino said and dropped down next to Aiba.

“No, it wasn’t,” Jun said and rolled his eyes. “Satoshi was busy afterwards, so we waited for him to finish up.”

“Busy with what?” Aiba propped himself up on his elbows. He waggled his eyebrows at Nino. “Busy making out?”

“Unfortunately not,” Nino sighed dramatically. “He actually had stuff to do.”

“You need to breathe sometimes,” Jun reminded him. “You’re always making out.”

“Not true,” Nino retorted. “See, we’re not making out right now. Besides, he’s always working. Do you have any idea how hard it was to drag him here?”

“Not too hard,” Jun said and rolled his eyes.

“Nino,” Aiba said, “Ohno-san does everything you ask him to. If you ask him to come here, he will.”

Nino’s eyes softened and his mouth relaxed into a fond smile. Ohno always did his best to do everything Nino wanted him to. Nino was flattered but terrified of appearing as if he was taking advantage of it.

“I just feel like I don’t see him, lately,” Nino admitted. “He’s working himself so hard right now. He’s losing weight and he’s tired.”

“Doesn’t he sleep?”

“He does. I suppose he does. I think he goes to bed at dawn.”

Jun sighed. “There’s always these periods, it’ll pass, you know that.”

Nino shrugged.

“Nino, it won’t be the time for meteor showers forever. Besides, you could just stay up with him.”

Aiba giggled. “Or keep him up.”

Nino groaned, but couldn’t help smiling. “Aiba.”

“What? It’s nothing you haven’t done before.”

“True, that,” Nino agreed, while Jun looked as if he might gag. “Do you think it’s alright for me to be there?”

“You mean you’ve never stayed the night there?” Aiba was shocked.

“Of course not!” Nino hissed, his cheeks colouring. “It’s a temple.”

Jun laughed. “You could actually just sleep. Do you know what sleep is?”

Nino’s cheeks darkened. “I’ve stayed in his quarters, just not when there’s been meteors,” he started, but was saved from further answering by the sound of footsteps approaching.

“And this is the day room,” Sho said and Ohno followed him into the room. “And the three idiots I call friends. They’re here so often I sometimes think they’re part of the interior.”

“Oi,” Jun protests. “We’re decorating the place.”

“Sure,” Sho agreed and watched as Ohno shuffled over to Nino, apparently without any conscious thought. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

Nino looked up at Ohno, from his position on the floor, and took one of Ohno’s hands, tugging him down.
“I can’t stay too long,” Ohno murmured as he crouched down, but Nino ignored it.

“You’re here now,” he simply said and looked at Ohno’s hand in his own.

*
Nino had followed Ohno back to the temple. He supposed he could stay all night and if he was too tired to go home if he was bored, he could just go into Ohno’s quarters and sleep. Simple as that. He had stayed there before, after all, but Ohno hadn’t gone to bed at all, those times.

Nino was now curled up in a chair, bundled up in a thick blanket. He watched with hooded eyes as Ohno adjusted the telescope. He bent over slightly, looking through the lens.

Nino thought it was endlessly fascinating, watching Ohno work.

Without any deliberation at all, Ohno made notes, lines and calculations based on what he saw. Sometimes, Ohno muttered something, but Nino had learned not to respond to that. It was random comments and observations to himself.

Nino thought that Ohno was, without a doubt, the most complex person he’d ever met. Ohno appeared to be simple, but he really wasn’t.

So many things added into the equation that was Ohno, and he discovered new things every day. He liked knowing that the others saw Ohno as a soft spoken, timid young man, and he knew that when Ohno felt comfortable, he really was a great big dork.

He smiled fondly as he watched Ohno write something down, but his smile faltered when Ohno rubbed his eyes. He had noticed Ohno steadily growing more and more restless, something that upset Nino greatly. He was used to Ohno being relaxed and calm.

“Satoshi,” he called softly, even though he knew Ohno preferred silence when he was working.

Ohno looked over at him, his eyes strangely bright.

“You should sleep,” Nino said, gently, getting to his feet and holding the blanket around his shoulders as he walked over to Ohno.

Ohno shook his head and turned back to the stars. Nino had never been here while meteors were due, but he knew that Ohno was acting a bit strange, even for him. He had sounded and acted as if it was very urgent for him to return to the temple.

Come to think of it, Ohno had been strangely reluctant to let him stay over tonight, too, for some reason.

Nino stepped completely up to Ohno, standing behind him and wrapping his arms around the slender waist. The blanket slid slightly down.

Ohno stiffened a bit and Nino frowned. Ohno’s fingers let go of the ruler to grip Nino’s hands. “But you should get some sleep,” he said, his voice sounding oddly raw.

He turned in Nino’s arms, and the blanket fell in a pool around their feet. He locked his arms around Nino’s frame, squeezing a bit.

“You don’t want me here,” Nino said, resting his head on Ohno’s shoulder. It was a fact.

“It’s not that,” Ohno replied breathily. “Things happen at times like these.”

“Things?”

“The visions,” Ohno said, sounding tense. He pulled back a bit to look at Nino.

Nino gasped slightly. Ohno’s eyes were brighter than he had ever seen them, glazed over, distanced. Nino would swear that they were glowing.

Nino had never seen Ohno having a vision, Ohno’s reluctance to speak of them had been persuasion enough that perhaps he didn’t need to know at all.

“They are coming,” Ohno said, his voice low and his hold on Nino tightened. He looked Nino into the eyes, but Nino could see how difficult it was for Ohno focus.

“What can I do?”

Ohno smiled humorlessly. “Leave.”

“No way,” Nino snapped, freeing himself from Ohno’s hold, instead opting for gripping Ohno’s shoulders. “Tell me, what can I do?”

“Bed,” Ohno said and leaned heavily on Nino when Nino started walking.

Nino supported Ohno as they made their way to Ohno’s rooms beside the star room. Ohno took a shuddery breath and almost doubled over had it not been for Nino’s steadying hands.

“Almost there,” Nino said more to himself than to Ohno, “almost.”

Ohno’s body jerked right before they made it to the bed, and Nino almost lost his hold on the older man. He carefully lowered Ohno until the slender man was horizontal, eyes closed.

“Toshi,” he whispered, but wished he hadn’t called Ohno’s attention when Ohno opened his eyes, revealing perfectly white eyes.

“Bell,” Ohno rasped out and curled up, hiding his face.

Nino’s eyes searched for a bell and he found a small silver bell on the floor. He felt silly, but rang it nevertheless.

He looked at Ohno’s still form and suddenly felt fearful. He was so out of his depths, he had no idea what to do. He knew nothing about Ohno’s visions, didn’t know that this happened to Ohno at all.

It was frightening.

The door behind him opened and he whirled around, seeing Machida Shingo enter. The other boy nodded sharply to Nino before kneeling down next to the bed.

Machida Shingo had come here from Kyoto about a year after Ohno. From what Nino had understood, Ohno and Machida had been close to inseparable during their years there. Machida’s family was very devout and had seen to that the heir of the family was properly taught and had been sent to study in Kyoto.

The best scholars were religious and resided in the temples. No one had foreseen that Machida wanted to continue learning everything he could from everyone. He had received the chance to study in Tokyo, following Ohno.

Needless to say, Nino told himself daily that he wasn’t jealous. Not a bit.

“Satoshi-kun,” Machida called softly, “Still here?”

Ohno didn’t respond but groaned.

“Don’t fight it,” Machida ordered sharply and then looked at Nino. “We need to get his mind to clear or the visions won’t come.”

“How?”

Machida explained, “I’ll hold him still and then you need to press sharply with your thumbs at the base of his neck. He’ll protest, but you need to keep on pressing. Can you do that?”

Nino thought of everything Ohno always did for him. He nodded, mutely. Anything to stop feeling so damn helpless.

Machida kneeled on the bed, holding Ohno’s body in place under the weight of his own. Nino let his finger grace the flawless skin at Ohno’s neck before they trailed to the base. He pressed slightly and Ohno jerked violently. He was startled and nearly stopped pressing when he remembered the other boy’s words.

He pressed hard and Ohno fell limp.

Machida carefully rearranged Ohno to lie on his back, gently lifting an eyelid, seeing the white eyes glowing faintly. “It’s one of the bigger ones,” he said.

Despite just having helped, Nino felt entirely out of control. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Nothing much, unfortunately. No one can do this for him.”

They both looked at Ohno. He laid perfectly still, only the rising and falling chest signaling life.

Ohno suddenly winced.

“Machida-san, does it hurt?”

“Yes,” Machida said without hesitation. “Some more than others.”

“I’ve never seen it before,” Nino said quietly.

“Sit down, Ninomiya-san,” Machida said and slid to the floor. When Nino sat down, Machida continued. “If it was up to him, no one would know about his visions. He’s completely powerless when they hit and he doesn’t like people knowing that.”

“Isn’t it common for star readers to have visions?”

Machida shrugged. “They all have the ability to some degree, but not everyone can use it. It lays dormant in most. But Ohno-kun is the most powerful star reader in recent times, so everything is more forceful and violent with him.”

Nino hated knowing that he had known Ohno for such a long time now and didn’t know these things.

“Ninomiya-san,” Machida chuckled as if he had read Nino’s thoughts, “He’s a private person. I didn’t experience one of his visions for three years.”

“How did you find out?”

“Much the same way as you did. Minus the intention to sleep here.”

Nino ducked his head.

Both their gazes were drawn to the bed as Ohno shifted slightly. He winced again.

“He tries so hard to be the best even though not everything appeals to him. He’s shouldering a lot.”

“He’s in so much pain,” Nino said, “why didn’t I know?”

“Because he just wants you to be happy and not worry about him. He just wants to be a normal guy to you.”

“He is,” Nino breathed, choking slightly on the lump that had formed in his throat. He drew his knees up to his chest. “He’s just-”

“I know,” Machida interrupted. “Just don’t be mad at him.”

Again, Nino thought of everything Ohno did for him, for others. Never for himself. “Isn’t there anything I can do?”

Machida Shingo regarded him for a while and Nino felt as if he was being weighed.

“Get comfortable,” Machida said softly. “This will take a while.”

*
Nino was glad when the earliest sunlight came creeping on the horizon, signaling the beginning of the day. The stars were slowly but surely chased away, and Nino couldn’t say that he was sad to see them disappear from the still slightly dark sky.

Having spent the last few hours keeping watch over Ohno, his mind churning, he felt exhausted, but he didn’t want to rest.

Not when Ohno had called for him in his sleep.

It had been a long night.

Ohno’s pain had been tangible, and only when Ohno had shifted into a deep sleep had Nino marginally relaxed.

Nino sat on the floor, his back resting against the bed. He craned his head to look at Ohno who had barely moved at all. He sighed. He didn’t understand how Ohno could be so fascinated with the stars when they hurt him so, but he also knew that it was Ohno’s life.

He’d have to work around it, he knew. He had learned a lot in a very short time and he’d spent a lot of time just thinking. He wondered why he had never questioned Ohno’s health when he had shown up, trembling, after a night of star reading.

Now Nino knew.

He could work around it.

Ohno breathed deeply and shifted.

Nino lifted himself up to sit on the edge of the bed and reached out to let his fingers rest at the side of Ohno’s neck.

Ohno shifted again.

“Satoshi,” Nino whispered and a smile tugged at his lips when Ohno’s eyelids fluttered, and he was rewarded with a sliver of brown peeking out from behind the eyelids.

“Here,” Ohno murmured, “you.”

“Yes,” Nino said softly. He brought Ohno’s hand up to his mouth and gently pressed his lips to each fingertip.

Ohno was quiet for a few moments, but it was okay. Nino knew. Ohno needed to put his head back together.

“You,” Ohno repeated and then blinked before adding, “Steady.”

“Are you tired?”

“Head,” Ohno replied. He took another deep breath before opening his eyes completely, revealing perfectly brown orbs. Nino was ecstatic to not have white eyes staring back at him.

“More sleep?”

Ohno shook his head, but winced at the action.

“You’re crying, Toshi,” Nino said gently.

“Someone will die,” Ohno said, “so young.”

Nino pressed a lingering kiss at the corner of Ohno’s lips and as Ohno curled up and wept for the life of someone he didn’t know, probably would never know, Nino realized one thing.

He really hated the stars.

*
/End for now


AN: So, I recently grew very fond of Machida, can you tell? XD Toma will make an appearance soon, I think.
I think you've all noticed by now that all the titles with A is in the A-side and all with B is in the B-side, which is sort of challenging, since I almost always decide the title first and then write whatever comes to mind XD
I haven't decided if the next piece will be in the A-side or the B-side, but I have some thoughts.
Remember that the pieces won't necessarily come in chronological order.

Oh, I should get to work now^^

Take care of yourselves :)