Fic: Stars - Artifice

[rikke_leonhart]

Title: Artifice (V)
Universe: Stars
Pairing(s): Ohmiya
Rating: PG-13 for now
Disclaimer: Do. Not. Own. Unforunately.
Summary: AU. Things take an unexpected turn for Nino. Set about ten months after Ohno's arrival in Tokyo.
Author's Notes: Sorry this is late ;;__;;
 

*
“I didn’t say that,” Aiba said, waving his hands in surrender. “I just said that I don’t exactly see what you see, that’s all.”

Nino crossed his arms.

Sho frowned. “Come on, it’s not that big of a deal. We just don’t experience Ohno-san as you do.”

“How do you see him? What’s he like?”

Sho thought for a moment. “He’s reserved,” he started. “He’s thoughtful and kind. And he doesn’t talk much.”

“He’s never talked much,” Jun supplied. “My mother used to tell me how nice it was that he wasn’t noisy. I tried to be quiet after that.”

Sho and Nino snickered.

“By the way, why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be pestering Ohno-kun?” Jun elegantly changed the subject.

Nino openly sulked. “He was busy. I didn’t even get to see him before some brat came and told me that he didn’t want to be disturbed.”

“Poor baby,” Jun said, sounding amused. “Looks like you’ll have to make do with your friends.”

“Shut up,” Nino grumbled. “I don’t ditch you that often.”

Sho, Jun and Aiba exchanged knowing glances.

“For someone who’s not involved with the guy, you sure see an awful lot of Ohno-san,” Sho remarked.

“I just don’t understand why you haven’t told him,” Aiba sighed.

“Are you serious?” Nino’s eyes widened. “I can’t!”

“Why not?”

“Aiba-chan, I don’t really think it’s a good idea…”

Aiba pouted. “But why?”

“Because I say so,” Nino said, sounding final. He looked at Jun and Sho for support, but was startled to see thoughtful faces staring back at him.

“It could work,” Sho said, slowly. He looked at Jun. “What do you think?”

 (“You’re conspiring against me!” Nino whined in the background, but Jun answered anyway.)

“If Satoshi-kun likes him, of course it’ll work. He’s not bound to the Gods by priesthood, so it really could work.”

“What do you mean, not by priesthood?” Aiba asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nino leaned back on his elbows. “He’s not a priest or anything. He says he’s only bound to the Gods by his faith.”

“Nino,” Jun frowned. “Do you know what that means?”

“That he’s allowed to be in a relationship?”

“You don’t know our religion too well,” Sho chuckled. “No one in the temple is prohibited from relationships. It’s just that the majority of the people in the Gods’ service chose not to.”

“Nino, Ohno-kun has no obligations to the Gods except for what he feels. That’s a good thing. He hasn’t promised anyone anything,” Jun explained.

Nino cursed himself when he felt his heart flutter.

“Really, Nino-chan,” Aiba cooed, “you should tell him.”

Nino groaned. “‘Oh-chan, I’ve liked you since the first time I saw you.’”

Aiba tapped his chin. “Oh-chan, I want your sexy body!”

“Nooo,” Nino swatted Aiba. “No.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of ‘I want to kiss you senseless,’ but I guess yours works fine, too,” Jun added thoughtfully.

“Seriously,” Sho said, “you’re seeing more of him than you see of us, don’t you think that he at least suspects something?”

“I don’t know,” Nino said, “I hope not.”

*
“You’re an idiot,” Jun chided softly, walking slowly through the people in the town.

“No, really, what the hell was I supposed to say?” Nino kicked a rock.

“You could just have asked him to come with us,” Sho frowned, walking on Nino’s other side. “It didn’t have to sound like more than that.”

Nino kicked another rock, this time more forcibly. “It would still have sounded like I was asking him out.”

“Well, that’s the point, isn’t it?” Aiba grinned. “But if you had mentioned going with all of us, you’d have been fine.”

“Shut up,” Nino snapped. “I hate it when you make sense.”

“But please just enjoy the festival with us, okay?” Sho squeezed Nino’s arm as they headed towards the first booth.

Nino just grinned.

*
Hours into the festival, Nino’s general mood had improved greatly. He had, if not forgotten, then at least pushed thoughts of Ohno to the back of his mind.

Aiba was doing his best to try absolutely everything at the festival, much to Sho’s amusement and Jun’s chagrin.

Someone laughed.

“Oi, there’s Toma-kun,” Jun remarked and tilted his head.

Nino snapped around just in time to see Ikuta Toma laughing as he followed some other people into a tent.

“What’s in there?” Nino asked and stepped closer.

“Fortunetelling,” Jun drawled. “Don’t tell me you want to go in there.”

Nino shook his head. “No, let’s just wait for Toma to get out here so we can say hi.”

They stopped in front of the tent and heard laughing from inside.

Nino bent forward, listening and then motioned for Jun to do the same. Jun crossed his arms in a show of that’s below my dignity.

Nino arched an eyebrow and pretended to listen. He bit back a grin when Jun bent forward too.

“You’ll be married before you’re 30,” a woman’s voice crooned, and some people laughed.

“You’re marrying a kind and wise person, one who’ll look to you for protection in times of need, and in turn, they’ll guide you. You’ll find yourself quite the extraordinary lover.”

“Extraordinary?” Toma’s voice asked.

“It will be tough, because you’re not the only one determined to win the affections. The person has returned to their roots.”

Nino listened intently, but what he heard next made his blood run cold.

“It sounds remarkably like Ohno-kun, doesn’t it?” A voice laughed.

Toma’s indignant protests sounded through the tent. “Ohno-kun, they’re setting us up!”

“Wouldn’t be the first time, ne, Satoshi-kun?” another voice asked.

“Sorry, Toma-kun,” Nino recognized Ohno’s smooth voice instantly, “my mother wants grandchildren.”

“What about you, young man? Don’t you want to know the future?” The woman asked.

“No, thank you,” Ohno declined.

“Some other time then, maybe.”

Jun and Nino exchanged glances when they heard footsteps approaching them from inside the tent. They jumped away from their eavesdropping in time for Toma, some of his friends and Ohno to exit the fortuneteller.

“Oi, Matsujun, going to hear your future?” Toma grinned when he saw Jun.

“Not if I can help it,” Jun wrinkled his nose. “Hello, Satoshi-kun, I didn’t know you’d be here.”

Ohno looked sheepish. “I wasn’t intending to, but Toma insisted.”

Jun nodded and elbowed Nino, who hadn’t stopped staring at a young man practically clinging to Ohno.

Toma laughed. “Seriously, you can’t let your guest stay in the temple all the time!”

The young man next to Ohno smiled widely. “I’m Machida, pleased to meet you.”

Jun introduced himself and elbowed Nino until he did the same. It undoubtedly didn’t escape Jun’s notice how close Machida was standing to Ohno.

“Machida-san,” Jun said, thinking. “Ah yes, Ohno-kun has spoken of you. You know each other from the temple in Kyoto?”

Machida nodded. “Yes, I study there.”

Nino definitely noticed how fondly Machida kept looking at Ohno. Ohno smiled back and Nino tensed visibly.

“I have to get to my father now,” Machida continued. “It was nice meeting you all.”

He bowed and turned to Ohno. “Tomorrow?”

Ohno, nodding, smiled and Nino thought it looked wistful.

As Machida walked away from them, Ohno watched him, and Nino watched Ohno. Jun cleared his throat.

“If I had known you’d come, I’d asked you to come with us.”

“You can,” Toma said. “You know we’re leaving in a few moments, anyway. You could stay here with Matsujun and his merry sidekicks.”

Toma ducked Jun’s swat with practiced ease.

He continued. “I think you should stay here. You’re always holed up in the temple.”

Ohno smiled tiredly. Perhaps they had discussed it before. “If I’m not a bother,” he said softly and bowed to Jun, but kept his eyes on Nino.

Nino broke out into a relieved smile.

*
“Look who we found,” Jun said, gesturing at Ohno.

“Ohno-san,” Sho greeted with a smile and Aiba waved madly. Jun blanched.

“What,” Jun hissed, “is that on his head?”

Sho looked grim and hissed back; “I have no idea. He says it’s a hat. He refuses to take it off because he won it.”

Jun looked vaguely sick. “It’s hideous,” he said with feeling.

“I call food,” Aiba announced, overruling any complaints Jun might have had about his hat. “And then it’s time for the fireworks!”

Okay, so they weren’t drunk, but they were definitely in a good mood. They were on their way to the big field of grass where they would sit and watch the fireworks. Aiba was trying to place his hat on Jun, and Sho was laughing at his failed attempts and at Jun’s colorful language. Ohno and Nino walked a few steps behind them in a comfortable silence.

Nino startled a bit when he felt a hand at the small of his back. He looked up at Ohno’s soft eyes.

“You okay?”

Nino smiled a bit. “I’m fine. I just have a lot on my mind.”

Ohno nodded and was silent for a few moments. “I’m glad I came with you,” he said.

Nino glanced at him. “Really?”

Ohno exhaled. “I didn’t know you were going. I thought it’d be rude to invite myself.”

“You’re always welcome with us,” Nino murmured softly and his stomach fluttered pleasantly when Ohno smiled brilliantly.

Ahead of them, Aiba laughed loudly in triumph and Jun cursed him into next week.

“Can I tell you something?” Nino asked in a low voice, even though the others wouldn’t be able to hear him over Aiba’s raucous laughter.

Ohno looked at him.

Nino shrugged. “I wanted to ask you to come with us, but I was afraid it’d sound like a date.”

“A date?” Ohno repeated. “You and me?”

Nino was grateful for the impending darkness as the tips of his ears burned. “I know, silly, right?”

He laughed weakly and dared to look at Ohno’s eyes. That look suggested that he didn’t believe Nino at all.

Nino walked a few steps faster when Ohno called to him;

“So, is it a date?”

Nino stopped and took a deep breath before turning to look at Ohno. He grinned weakly.

“Of course not,” he lied through his teeth, trying to decipher Ohno’s oddly guarded expression. He rambled on; “We’d be dating, and that’s kind of impossible, right?”

Ohno’s normally open face was closed off as he slowly nodded. “Right. Impossible.”

“Nino! Ohno-kun!” Aiba called, “Hurry up, the fireworks are starting!”

And Aiba said something else, too, but Nino didn’t hear it as Ohno smiled faintly and walked past him.

Nino thought that perhaps not everything had to be a complete catastrophe when he lay down next to Ohno and Ohno didn’t move away.

Aiba was his usual pushy self and plopped down on the grass and placed his head on Ohno’s stomach without asking first.

Ohno chuckled and let his fingers run through Aiba’s hair while Jun made disapproving noises until Ohno reassured him it was okay.

“It’s starting,” Sho announced in a low tone, gaze fixed upon the evening sky.

“So pretty,” Aiba breathed in wonderment as the sky was lit up by magnificent, glowing colors. Nino nodded, but to be fair, he wasn’t watching the fireworks directly. He was watching the perfect display of colors on Ohno’s face.

“It’s summer,” Ohno said quietly, lettings his fingers rest by Aiba’s collarbones. He looked up at the changing colors, looking thoughtful. “Something will happen this summer.”

Jun propped himself up on his elbow. He narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

Ohno shrugged. “Feels like it. Well, something might happen this summer.”

“What will?” Sho asked, glancing at Nino.

“I don’t know,” Ohno said, a tad of frustration in his voice. “I don’t know.”

“You can’t force it,” Aiba murmured. “If we could, it’d be boring.”

“It’s not about choices,” Nino finally spoke up, repeating what Ohno had told him so often. He wanted nothing else but for Ohno to look at him, but Ohno kept his gaze on the sky, the light reflecting in his eyes.

Ohno sighed deeply and picked up a stone from the ground. “If it’s meant to happen.”

Nino’s heart broke a little when Ohno later excused himself and walked back to the temple, not looking back even once.

*
“You’re seriously the biggest idiot I know,” Jun snapped and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And I happen to know a few.”

“I know,” Nino said miserably. “I know.”

“Why would you even say that? He was testing the waters!”

Nino groaned and buried his face in his arms.

“You’re so scared of getting hurt, Nino,” Sho said gently, placing an arm around Nino’s shoulders, “but Ohno-kun wouldn’t hurt you. Do you think he will?”

Nino looked up and opened his mouth to answer when Aiba burst into the room, looking like someone had killed his dog.

*
Nino had felt his heart plummet to his feet at Aiba’s declaration.

That was why he was standing outside of Ohno’s quarters, feeling foolish and entirely like a lurker. He knocked on the door before opening it. He wasn’t met with the sight of Ohno calculating or drawing, but that of Ohno packing.

“Hello,” he said softly and nodded when Ohno looked at him and smiled.

“You’re leaving,” Nino stated quietly, and as he voiced it, reality sunk in. “Where are you going?”

“Back to Kyoto,” Ohno said, smiling a bit.

“Why? I thought you’d-”

“I need guidance,” Ohno cut in, calmly.

Nino bit his lip. “When will you come back?”

He refused to think that Ohno wouldn’t come back.

“I don’t know,” Ohno shrugged, “at some point when it’s time.”

Nino hated how vague Ohno could be. “But why? I thought…the stars… you said you were meant to come here.”

Ohno hesitated briefly, but continued packing. “I was wrong.”

Nino didn’t know what to say to that, but Ohno continued;

“I’ve never been wrong before. I’m scared the Gods have left me. That’s why I need more guidance.”

Nino furiously tried to blink back the sudden, unbidden tears. “When are you leaving?”

At this point, he didn’t even care that his voice was wavering.

“Tomorrow,” Ohno said, “with Machida-kun.”

“So soon,” Nino whispered, then cleared his throat. “Come have dinner with us tonight.”

He knew he was pleading, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, cursing himself instead as he had pushed the older man away. Could he take it back now, if he wanted? Would Ohno even want to hear it?

Ohno looked apologetic. “I’m eating with my family tonight,” he explained.

Nino felt his throat close up, and he wanted to say something, anything, but he had no idea where to start. ‘I’m sorry’, ‘Don’t leave’ or ‘I love you’?

Ohno tilted his head. “I’m leaving at midday, will you see me off?”

Nino heard himself say yes, felt himself nod and watched as Ohno smiled in gratitude before continuing his packing.

Could Nino say anything that would make Ohno stay? That would make Ohno care? The more he thought about how he had rejected Ohno’s subtlety at the festival, the more he realized what an idiot he was.

It’d be so much easier if Ohno hadn’t come to Tokyo, if he hadn’t shown up to steal away Nino’s sanity, his affections. If Ohno hadn’t showed up, Nino wouldn’t be hurting like this, wouldn’t have to hurt this much. But Nino knew that it wasn’t fair thinking like that, couldn’t even bring himself to mean it.

His life with Ohno’s presence in it, however brief it had turned out to be, had been so much better.

And as much as Nino had tried to avoid getting hurt, in the end, he had hurt himself the most.

When Nino left the temple, the night sky was clouded over.

*
/End for now

AN: Okay, don't kill me D:
Next part, Adjacent, will be up in a few days, it's just about done, and it will continues from where this one left off. And there was Toma :D
Did you see my new icon? It was made by the lovely Kyon, thank you darling <3
I don't know if you've seen it, but the new  drawing/companion piece I made for Stars can be found HERE.
Now I'll try to finish Adjacent!
Take care of yourselves :)