Fic: Muses - You're A Law Unto Yourself

[rikke_leonhart]

Title: You're A Law Unto Yourself
Pairing(s): Ohno/Nino
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nuh-uh!
Word count: ~4,500
Warnings: Italics abuse, Nino's neuroses, attempted humor, fluff in sickly doses
Summary: AU. Computer support!Nino met stage actor!Ohno, and Nino's life was pretty much never the same again. This time: Nino faces a life-altering decision - decaf or no? and sleep rhythms get messed up.
Author's Notes: Muses verse yay! Already, yes! Next piece won't get posted until I have part four finished (halfway through, yes!), but stay tuned until then! For bulkyass since a little bird told me she'd commit homicide if she didn't get the next part ASAP. Thank you to the fabulous Gati for lightning fast beta <3 Title taken from the pretty song Open Arms by Elbow. And yes, titles will get more and more pretentious, just you wait.

*

For the record - that thing they always did in movies when it rained, and the protagonist held a newspaper over his head to shield from the rain?

Yes, well, that didn’t work.

Nino was soaked. Work had pushed late, they were several men down due to a nasty, circulating flu, and all Nino really wanted was to go home, shower and then sleep a thousand years at the very least. If Ohno showed up, well that would be a definite added bonus, but as it were, Nino would just be happy to be home. As he stepped closer to the road, a car drove by, driving up a cascade of water and Nino rolled his eyes.

Seriously.

He glared after the car, sighed, then looked at the direction he’d been going. Ohno’s place was closer, but he actually didn’t know if Ohno was home because Ohno worked weird hours (Nino had all but actually given up on figuring out his exact schedule) and – would it be weird to just show up? He did have Ohno’s key, but he’d never used it, it somehow felt very final to actually use it to let himself in. Before that it just felt like something they did, exchange keys, that it was all fine in theory to hold a copy of your boyfriend’s apartment key, but it felt like so much more to actually use it.

Huh.

He better suck it up, he thought as he shivered, because it wouldn’t do for him to get ill. Ohno’s place it was, then.

*

“Oh-chan?” he called out, wincing at how much water he was splashing on the carpet, his sneakers were squelching uncomfortably and his jacket was clinging. He dropped his bag on the floor with a dull thud. “Oh-chan, are you home?”

There was a sound from further in and Nino supposed that that was good enough and he took it as go ahead. He tried to wrestle his jacket off, it clung to his arms, and his fingers were cold and uncooperative. He cursed colorfully until he heard a snort of a laugh.

“Oh my god, Nino.”

Nino looked up at him, glared the best he could while he was certain he looked ten kinds a drowned rat. “It’s not funny.”

“No, of course it’s not,” Ohno chuckled, disappearing again only to reappear with a towel. He giggled again. “Okay, so it is a little bit funny.”

Nino glared again.

“I take it that asking if it’s raining is only going to get me into trouble, so I’ll stop being funny on your account,” Ohno said, stepping closer and giggling when his bare toes got in touch with the water Nino had brought in.

“My sides are splitting, Oh-chan,” Nino deadpanned and held his arm out when Ohno reached for it, tugged at the jacket sleeve until it gave away, slipping off of Nino’s arm, and Nino shivered at the cool air that hit his clammy skin. Ohno’s clever fingers were already tugging at his other sleeve and it went much easier than the first, and when it came off, Ohno held it out like he hadn’t really considered it was wet in the first place.

“Bathroom,” he announced and threw the towel at Nino’s head. “Come on, don’t stay there dripping on my floors.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve never cared about dripping on your floor before, are you sure you’re not just trying to get me out of my clothes?”

“Of course I am, I always am,” Ohno said, grinning at him over his shoulder as he opened the door for him.

Ohno’s grin was sleepy and lovely and Nino patted his cheek on his way into the bathroom where he threw his wet t-shirt to the floor, wrestled his belt open and tried to hop out of his pants. It was probably pretty undignified, but Ohno was the only spectator, and he had it on very good authority that Ohno found him pretty cute, so whatever. He braced one hand against the wall, trying to pull his socks off simultaneously with kicking off his clinging pants, and he almost tripped if not for Ohno’s steadying hands. Ohno dropped into a crouch and started tugging at Nino’s socks, and finally they gave way.

Nino looked down at him for a long moment, Ohno’s tired smile and gentle hands. “Were you asleep?”

Ohno shrugged, letting Nino have his foot back. “We had some rehearsals after lunch, Akki is sick, so we had to bring in someone else and adjust a bit. I meant to catch up on some energy while I could. Shower, you’re freezing.”

In the shower, Nino might have made some very inappropriate noises when the water pressure hit him, but he couldn’t help it.

“I’m in love with your shower,” he said, voice pitched lower than usual and he couldn’t even bring himself to care. With his luck, Ohno was almost asleep already, sitting on the closed lid of the toilet.

“Good to know what you’re in this for,” Ohno returned, and yes, he sounded asleep but otherwise coherent. “And I could’ve guessed with all your obscene noises. You’re lucky I’m too tired to grab you.”

“They weren’t obscene,” Nino protested – he really wouldn’t protest to Ohno grabbing him, but Ohno did look knackered to the extreme. It was a heavy schedule with two performances every day and Ohno was exhausted more often than not, but it was so gratifying to bring Ohno to bed, body practically strumming with the rest of the stage adrenaline, content with the applause and adoration. Today though, Nino supposed he could let him get away with some sleep.

“Cuddle bug?”

Ohno laughed and something hit the shower curtain. Nino was willing to bet Ohno had thrown one of his wet socks at it, and he giggled and swatted back at the curtain. The water dripped from his hair down into his eyes, heating up his cold skin, and by the time he turned the water off, he was sure Ohno had fallen asleep. He stuck his head out, his hair plastered to his forehead, and Ohno was leaning his head against the wall, eyes closed.

“Oh-chan,” he said, smoothing his dripping hair back and grabbing a towel.

“Not asleep,” Ohno hummed without opening his eyes. He yawned widely.

“Charming,” Nino said, toweling his hair and then wrapping the towel around his hips. “You need to lend me some clothes, you know.”

“Fetch, boy,” Ohno said, cracking one eye open, but his smile was lazy and open. “Come on, rain man, let’s get you to bed.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s my line,” Nino said but didn’t protest when Ohno tugged at him again. The air outside of the bathroom was cool, though, much cooler than the damp warmth he’d become acclimated to during his shower, and he shivered when it hit his skin. “Oh-chaaaaaan.”

He face planted on the bed and didn’t stir when Ohno threw clothes at him.

“T-shirt,” Ohno listed conversationally. “Oh I actually think this t-shirt is yours, want that instead? And… boxers. Oh fuck, you don’t mind wearing mine, right? For all the things you’ve left here, I don’t think you’ve ever left underwear. Am I just that good at getting you out of them?”

“Luck,” Nino said from where his face was pressed into the pillows. “Definitely luck.”

“And my good looks,” Ohno said and Nino didn’t even bother reacting when more clothes landed on his legs.

“Those too,” Nino agreed, turning his head when the mattress shifted, and he saw Ohno stretched out next to him, pliant and languid, lips twitched in a faint smile. “You still tired?”

Ohno’s eyes slipped closed again as he nodded. “Yeah,” he breathed and worked blindly at getting under the covers. “Yeah, sleep.”

Nino rolled his eyes, not feeling it at all, and he slipped off the bed to get into the t-shirt and underwear, and then he got under the covers as well, moving as close to Ohno as he could, and he only stopped squirming when they were touching from shoulder to knees.

“Comfy?”

“Very,” Nino sighed in contentment, putting an arm around Ohno’s waist, slipping his fingers up under Ohno’s t-shirt and relaxing against Ohno’s back. “Now sleep.”

Ohno chuckled in a very non-committed way and Nino felt him drift off very quickly, but Nino was only feeling warm and sleepy, not tired to the point of sleep yet. He just squeezed Ohno closer and stayed awake for a bit longer.

*

Their sleep rhythms were fucked.

“Our sleep rhythms are fucked,” he said and blearily eyed Ohno making coffee. Ohno’s hair was sticking up on one side and was completely flat on the other, but Nino was willing to bet his own was a disaster area as well, so he didn’t bother commenting on it. Besides, it looked adorable.

Ohno hummed a little, probably not even hearing what Nino had said, just registering that Nino had spoken.

“Are you even listening, Oh-chan, our sleeping schedules are fucked, why did you think it was a good idea to sleep the entire afternoon away? I’m not a night owl. I don’t get how you can function on so little sleep all the time.”

“I’m actually asleep during the pre-show meeting. Sleeping is good,” Ohno said and balanced two cups of coffee to the table. “Coffee is good.”

“You’re assuming I want a caffeine fix,” Nino said, narrowing his eyes. “If I’m completely useless tomorrow I’m blaming you, I hope you know.”

Ohno hummed again. “I can make you decaf.”

Nino stared at him in horror. “I trust you not to have that monstrosity anywhere near me, and if you do, never to serve it for me. Gigantic waste of money – coffee without caffeine? Might as well drink water, then, or stick your tongue out of the window, that’s even cheaper.”

Ohno looked impossibly fond in that moment, and it still made Nino squirm, though he hadn’t quite found out if it was in delight or embarrassment or maybe a weird mix of the two.

“Right then, no decaf for you,” Ohno then said and plunked down in the seat next to Nino. He leaned over the table, pillowing his head on his crossed arms and narrowly avoided toppling his coffee over, only because Nino had quick reflexes.

“Are you honestly still tired?”

Ohno nodded into his arms, turned his face a bit so one eye emerged. “Someone woke me up, you know.”

Nino shoved his shoulder before settling his hand on Ohno’s back, rubbing circles. Ohno worked hard on stage, running, jumping, fighting, not to mention the emotional strain of having everyone die around you every night, sometimes twice a day.

“I had hoped you’d be here,” he said then, “but I wasn’t sure.”

Ohno smiled, slow and brilliant, at least the half of it Nino could see was slow and brilliant. “You used my key,” he said smugly.

“Oh, so we’re addressing the elephant?”

“Of course,” Ohno said into his arms, shrugging the best he could. “Unless you really don’t want to.”

“In that case, I really don’t want to.”

“Okay,” Ohno shrugged again and turned his face back into his arms. “Your call.”

Nino sort of hated how easily Ohno sometimes let him off the hook, but at the same time, he really wasn’t sure whether or not he was ready for that particular topic. He also knew he was kind of a coward, and maybe Ohno wasn’t doing him a favor by letting him avoid things even if it was nice and convenient.

“So I used your key,” he said before he could censor himself and he really had to have a word with his brain to mouth filter if it was going to make a habit of this thing of talking before thinking, because, seriously.

“I thought we weren’t talking about it,” Ohno said, turning his head completely so Nino could see his entire face.

“We weren’t,” Nino said airily. “Now we are.”

“Okay,” Ohno said again and went silent, just staring at Nino, looking expectant.

“What?”

“I’m not asking you to move in, you know, I gave you the key so you could stop by when you were in the neighborhood and you felt like stopping by. You worry too much about this, stop over thinking it.”

Nino crossed his arms. “It’s really annoying when you seem like you don’t care.”

Ohno shrugged, awkward where he was resting on the tabletop. “But that’s sort of the point, isn’t it? I don’t. Care, I mean. I told you – I’m not asking you to move in. I like having you here, if it’s for the night or for days or for lunch or whatever, it’s up to you.”

“That’s really frustrating.”

“Me giving you freedom?”

Nino sighed and then groaned. “I don’t actually know why I’m protesting so much.”

Ohno sat up and ran a hand through his impressive bed hair. He was hesitating, fingers forcibly measured, and he had that look about him that meant Nino quite possibly wasn’t going to like whatever he said next. “Hypothetically, if I were to ask you to move in, what would you say?”

Nino kind of felt like he’d been sucker punched. He desperately tried to wet his dry throat. “I would say that probably you’re insane.”

“Good thing I’m not asking, then.”

“Wait, are you asking or are you just asking?”

“Nino,” Ohno grinned a bit, fond and slow, “calm down. It was just a question about how you’d feel.”

“I know what the question was, and then I don’t feel like we’re mature enough for this conversation,” Nino decided, heart still racing and Ohno just shrugged as if he genuinely didn’t care. It sort of pissed Nino off just as much as it calmed him. Ugh, relationships, why did he even try?

Ohno yawned widely and got to his feet, pushing the chair back into the table. “Coming back to bed at some point?”

He wasn’t quite sure how Ohno knew, but he was acutely aware of Ohno giving him an out, and even if he wasn’t quite ready to even consider the prospect of oh my god living together, it was comforting, because, he realized with a jolt, Ohno cared enough to let him decide on his own. That alone should probably have told him a thing or two already.

“I need to finish my coffee,” he said and leaned into Ohno’s touch when he scratched at his nape as he went.

*

Nino tapped away on the computer. “I’m not sure I want to know what this computer ever did to you or why it’s such a mess. I’m not even sure I can save it.”

“Nino-chan to the rescue,” Aiba grinned and stretched out on the floor. “Do your best!”

Nino kicked at Aiba’s ribs and Aiba laughed, rolling out of the way. “I’m warning you, it’ll cost you, I won’t do this for free, you know.”

“I’ll stock up your fridge, how does that sound?”

“That sounds like a deal to me,” Nino returned, then frowned. “Especially because I’m supposed to be cooking dinner for Oh-chan tonight.” He glanced at the clock.

Aiba smiled widely. “Oh, he’ll be here after the play? Then I want to stay when you’ve fixed my computer, Mr. Magic Hands.”

“No way,” Nino protested, pressing down a bit harder in the keys. “No way. I haven’t seen him in days.”

“I don’t care about your kissing and, you know, things,” Aiba waved him off. “I really don’t. I can even pretend I’m not watching, how does that sound? We haven’t seen him in a while either, you know, you really tend to monopolize him pretty effectively when he’s here.”

The last bit was said with an accusing look.

Nino made his best d’uh face. “Well, he’s my boyfriend. I think it’s in the boyfriend contract.”

“And he’s our friend,” Aiba said, rolling back to Nino again. “Let us talk to him once in a while, okay?”

Nino grumbled a bit, but he knew it would be futile to protest or deny – one, Aiba was right, two, he wasn’t that childish to lick his toys (okay, so maybe just a bit), and three, Aiba was right. Damn it.

“Fine,” he agreed petulantly and then he paused, glancing down at Aiba. “He asked me how I would feel if he asked me to move in. Purely hypothetically speaking, of course.”

Aiba sat up with a jerk, a manic sort of expression lighting up his face. “He asked you to move in? What’s the problem with that?”

“What? No,” Nino hissed. “Hypothetically, okay? Hypothetically. It was an if question. No actual asking involved, thank God, I don’t know what I would’ve done if he had actually asked. Probably panicked and broken up with him and then called him ten minutes later and pathetically asked him to take me back.”

Aiba giggled. “Sounds about right. You idiot,” he added fondly and rolled out of the way of Nino’s foot again. “But really, hypothetically speaking and assuming you don’t freak out, what would you say if he asked you?”

Nino took a deep breath, fingers stilling on the keyboard. “I don’t know. I guess he’d have to ask me to know how I would react.”

“Scary,” Aiba agreed. “But pretty idiotic.”

“Hey,” Nino protested and the computer made an ominous sound. “See, your computer hates you as well. All my hate, you know.”

“You’re a lying liar who lies, it’s what you are,” Aiba stuck his tongue out and poked at Nino’s sock-clad toes. “So if he asked, why would you say no? Purely hypothetically speaking, of course.”

“I feel like I should ban you from uttering words above three syllables,” Nino said flatly and frowned. “I… I don’t know. It’s not like I would hate it, I think. He’s not that messy or if he is, I haven’t noticed. Or maybe he just has too much space to be able to make it clutter. He’s not hogging the bathroom. I really don’t know.”

“So what if I asked you to move in with me?”

“I’d know you were kidding.”

“No,” Aiba insisted, “Be serious, okay, see what I’m doing for you here, be grateful. If I said, move in with me, what would that mean to you?”

“Moving in with my best friend,” Nino said sincerely. And then, “Oh.”

Aiba looked like he’d struck gold. It was a bit frightening. “So you don’t feel like he’s your friend?”

Nino shook his head slowly. “That’s not it,” he said at length. “I do feel like he’s my friend. First and foremost, I think that’s why we work, so that’s not the problem.”

Aiba shrugged. “Do you feel like he could be your best friend?”

Nino narrowed his eyes. “Is that a trick question?”

Besides looking utterly unconcerned, Aiba just poked Nino’s foot hard. “Think about it. I think it’s pretty normal if he turned out to be your best friend, it’s pretty expected. Who does Oh-chan talk to about stuff like this?”

Nino tried to imagine Ohno talking about Nino and his life and his worries, his taciturn Ohno. It was pretty surreal. But. He knew that Ohno spent so much of his time with the theatre guys, and it was pretty inevitable, Nino thought. “Machida-san, I think. He’s never mentioned anything about best friends, I don’t think he believes in that, really.”

“So,” Aiba said, “would you mind if he started talking to you about stuff instead of going to Machida-san?”

Ohno coming home, brows furrowed in worry, Nino being able to soothe the wrinkles out just by listening? To share great news? He was surprisingly pretty okay with that, everything considered. It might actually be really nice.

“And what if you asked him to move in with you? Would that make a difference?”

When thinking about it like that, it actually did make a difference. Huh. A huge difference. It would also mean being comfortable enough with Ohno to invite him into his space and stay. “I think,” Nino started. “I might possibly be a little bit stupid.”

“Just a little bit,” Aiba rolled even closer and hooked a few fingers around Nino’s ankle. “If it feels like he’s invading your space, then it’s wrong. If it feels like he’s welcome to stay, then it’s right, I think. If you feel like you’re welcome to stay in his space, but you don’t feel it entirely yet, then I think that’s okay, too.”

“He doesn’t really know the concept of personal space, it’s pretty non-existent in his world,” Nino wrinkled his nose.

“You know,” Aiba grinned. “I’ve always wondered about that.”

Nino shrugged. “He says he’s a theatre kid. As if that explains everything. I think, maybe, he doesn’t really understand what it means to have someone so close. He just does it.”

Aiba’s smile was fond. “But he’s thinking about having you as a permanent fixture, so maybe it’s up to him to decide? Just because you’re not ready doesn’t mean that he isn’t.”

Nino stared at the cursor on the screen, unmoving. “Huh.”

“Nino,” Aiba squeezed his ankle. “Are you in love with him?”

Shrugging, Nino carefully kept his eyes on the screen. “Maybe.”

Aiba whooped, making a triumphant fist pump. “I knew it! It’s looove!”

Nino kicked at him again, and this time he actually did hit Aiba’s shoulder. “Shut up.”

“So when, not if, but when he asks, you’ll just say you’re not ready yet, if you’re not ready, and if you are, then you move in,” and then Aiba looked positively gleeful. “My original question still stands, you know. What’s the problem?”

“Shut up,” Nino repeated.

Aiba cackled.

*

Ohno didn’t bring it up again, which surprisingly turned out to be just as frustrating to Nino as the initial panic at the thought had been. Perhaps Ohno thought he was doing Nino, and by extension, them, a favor by not bringing it up, but Nino was trying not to be pissed off that Ohno assumed Nino couldn’t handle it – never mind that Nino hadn’t really been able to do just that until Aiba had talked some sense into his head.

And he still didn’t know what he’d say, he was kind of waiting for Ohno to ask. Ohno, who was currently sitting on the floor and reading a new audition piece and looking annoyingly sexy and distracting. Nino looked around and tried to imagine how it would feel to live here. Less cramped than his own apartment, that was for sure, and that was one thing Nino had concluded – he could ask Ohno to move in with him, sure, but there was just no way they’d be able to fit in Nino’s shoebox apartment. Then both of them would have to sell their apartments and buy a new one, and wouldn’t that be overkill when Ohno’s apartment was fine?

It wasn’t such a stretch.

But Ohno wasn’t asking. That was a problem. Funny how that had changed.

Ohno looked up at him, probably sensing Nino’s eyes on him, and he smiled softly. His hair was still damp from his earlier shower and his t-shirt was two sizes too big at the very least. He was really so appallingly sexy that Nino didn’t really know what to do with it.

“Hi,” he said, eyes twitching. “Tired?”

“Not really,” Nino frowned and slipped from the couch to the floor to sit next to Ohno. “Oh-chan.”

Ohno blinked at him.

“So you remember that thing where you asked me how I’d feel if you asked me to move in with you, and I kind of freaked out and then you never mentioned it again?”

Ohno’s lips twitched. “Vaguely, yeah.”

Nino reached out and let his fingers climb up under Ohno’s shirt, finding a bony hip to hold on to. “So that’s really annoying.”

“Which part of it?”

“You never mentioning it again,” he tried to sound put out, he really did, but he had a feeling that the way he scratched his nails over Ohno’s skin kind of contradicted that. “That is really annoying.”

Ohno put the script down and leaned back on both his hands. He shrugged but looked very earnest. “Nino, it was just a question. You looked like you’d seen a ghost when I even mentioned the possibility, so you can’t really blame me for not bringing it up again.”

“You really seemed like you didn’t care,” Nino returned but it fell flat even to his own ears, and he knew it didn’t hold, and Ohno’s answering grin also told him as much.

“Well you know me,” Ohno chuckled. “Words and I don’t really go well together, they tend to run away when they see me coming.”

“We can’t all be natural born poets,” Nino conceded and petted at Ohno’s hip. “And don’t derail me. I actually have a point with this, you know. Okay, so I admit I was a little freaked out, but I’m not anymore. I wouldn’t mind. Living together, I mean.”

Ohno looked entirely too smug for his own good. “Are you asking me to move in?”

Nino pinched him. “If you want to live in that shoebox, fine, but then I’m moving out. Moot point.”

Ohno scooted closer and hooked a finger through one of Nino’s belt loops. “Nino,” he said and leaned forward until he could rest his chin on Nino’s shoulder. “You know you’re welcome here.”

“It’s really difficult to think straight when you’re this close,” Nino breathed, because damn it. Ohno was so pretty. And he knew it was time to admit other things than just owning up to being a bit manic about certain topics. “I’m not sure you know it, but I actually love you.”

Ohno lit up completely, beaming, eyes crinkling. “Really?”

Nino ducked his head, feeling heat in his cheeks, and had it been anyone else, he would pretty much have cut them down verbally by now, but Ohno hadn’t deserved his ire, not this time, and that was it, he realized, because he didn’t mind Ohno seeing him all vulnerable. There were certainly much worse options, Ohno was actually kind of the best. “Yes, so now you could do us both a favor and tell me you love me and then ask me to move in with you.”

“I love you,” Ohno said without hesitation, pressing his nose into Nino’s neck. “I really do. You knew that, didn’t you? I actually thought you were smart.”

Nino shrugged, feeling warm and pleased at the very core of Ohno’s attention. “And anything else?”

“You’re very pretty,” Ohno said honestly.

“Likewise. And?”

Ohno appeared to mull it over before shrugging. “Nope, I think that was it.”

Nino pinched Ohno just beneath his ribs and Ohno flexed, trying to squirm away, but Nino was insistent and they went down in a heap of tangled limbs.

“You jerk,” he gasped when Ohno laughed at him. “Ask me to move in.”

“Move in with me,” Ohno returned, still laughing.

“That wasn’t a question.”

“Okay, will you move in with me?”

“So spontaneous,” Nino agreed and leaned down to kiss him, kiss him, kiss him. “I suppose I could.”

*