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ninoexchange2019-06-28 11:23 pm
nino_mod) wrote in ninoexchange2019-06-28 11:23 pm
Entry tags:
fic for eggrater!
For: eggrater
From: :3.
Title: The Hidden Effect of Manning the F*** Up
Pairing/Focus: Matsumoto Jun/Ninomiya Kazunari
Rating: T
Word Count: 4476
Warnings: Language warnings, I guess? I mean, I trust you can handle swears. It's in the title.
Summary: The road to and from Aiba's party is a wonderland, but if only people would stop telling Nino what to do.
Notes: I’m writing the notes as I write the story because why not. First off, I want to say thank you for the mod for putting this on again. Also, thank you to D, who beta’d this fic for me. I greatly appreciate it. Now, to my dear recipient. It took me a hot minute to figure out what I wanted to write, and tbh, watching Supernatural of all things to have me figure it out, so I really hope this isn’t too far off the mark! Please enjoy.
I remember when my parents first handed me a video game. It was in my formative years, if you can even call five formative. I don’t, but for me it was eye opening in a way; the digital paintings capturing my attention.
Sighing, Nino began to hit the backspace key. Why he took up journalism, he’ll never know for sure. Like, okay, his pieces were just for a magazine. Essays, really, which meant he could write anything he wanted. The biggest question on his mind was if he should write about video games again. Just last year he wrote about Nintendo and how they’ve captured the hearts of so many world wide. The year before, he’d written about his arcade he used to visit with his elementary school friends.
Staring at the blinking cursor before him in his now blank document, Nino snapped his laptop shut and stretched. Maybe I could skip this deadline? He thought to himself, rolling his chair back so he could grab his Switch.
He didn’t bother turning it on, still lost in his own mind. No, if he skips the deadline that wouldn’t be good. Besides, he has, what? Another two weeks to write something. He’ll come up with something by then. He always does and if he’s experiencing writer’s block, well, that’s a rite of passage and maybe he’s lucky it took him this long to really feel it.
He huffs to himself and tosses his Switch onto the small bed in his office, heading to the living room, checking his phone as he goes. He has a message from his friend Aiba, or three. The guy’s not exactly good at reaching his point in one message.
Nino, are you still coming out next weekend?
It’ll be a lot of fun!
You should bring your roommate, too!
“Fuck.” Nino grumbles. He completely forgot about the party he’d been invited to. He swore he’d put it into his calendar the day Aiba had called to tell him about it. He’d been staring at his calendar and everything, although he has to admit to himself that sometimes on the phone with Aiba his eyes glaze over. Just a little bit. Around the 45 minute mark. It doesn’t help that Aiba lives a few towns over, now. Far enough that he’ll have to take a few days to drive there.
Contemplating it, he supposes he could bring his roommate. They’ve been living together for a few years now and Aiba still hasn’t met the guy. He’s a busy bee. That, and if he brings him he doesn’t have to drive. Settling into the armchair, he replies.
Seconds after his message sent, he sees the dots of a reply being written pop up. He scoffs, Aiba’s always pretty quick to reply. Before he receives another message, he hears the jingle of a key ring and the bolt sliding open. Looking over, he sees his roommate walk in, headphones in his ears. He hasn’t seen Nino yet.
Glancing back down at his phone to no reply, he looked back up and stared at Jun in his suit, jacket over his shoulder. Nino wouldn’t admit it to himself, but he maybe harboured some kinds of feelings to the guy. Maybe. The thing is, he’s not used to the idea of dating men. All of his partners had been women at this point and while, yes, he’d admitted to himself a while ago that he found men attractive, it just wasn’t his area of expertise. He was nervous.
He watches as Jun closes the door and toes his shoes off before neatly lining them up at the door. When Jun finally looks up, Nino waves at him and gestures for him to take off the headphones. Jun does with a little nod.
“Aiba wants to know if you’d like to come to his party next week?” Nino asks, confident it’ll be a no. It usually is, even if Jun seems to always regret giving that answer. “We’ll have to leave on Thursday to drive there. The party is on the Saturday.”
Jun pad into the living room, flopping down onto the couch dramatically, “You know, I think I can actually make that.”
Nino’s eyes widens, before he breaks into a grin, “What? You’ve never been able to make these before. What happened, did you get fired?”
Lifting his feet onto the couch and stretching his arms out, Jun chuckles, “Nah, we’re just not overly busy. Apparently no one wants lavish weddings right now. I’m sure Sho can handle it for a week.” NIno laughs at Jun’s shit eating grin, “I also don’t have any appointments for my current clients then and have been told I ‘work too hard and need to take a vacation’.”
Nino nods, and glances down at his phone. Two notifications. “Okay, I’ll let him know we are both coming.”
“What’s this for anyway?”
Glancing back up, Nino breaks out an amused grin, “would you believe the idiot wanted a spring birthday party?”
Jun laughs, “From what I know of him, yes. Yes I would.”
Nino keeps smiling as he unlocks his phone to let Aiba know they’d both be there, ignoring the two messages Aiba sent him only to hear a softer, “Hey, Nino?” Nino glances up, and nods before returning to his phone, only letting out a grunt for Jun to proceed, “Is Ohno coming over for supper, still?”
Ohno, the only friend of Nino’s Jun had met over the past few years. He guesses it can’t be helped since he’s the only one living in their city at this point. He also tended to come over once in a while, when he wasn’t busy getting tan from fishing or losing himself in a painting. Nino looked up to see Jun loosening his tie to take it off, “He is. He said he’ll be here around 7:30. I guess that’s in an hour and a half?”
Jun takes off his tie--Nino swallows--and begins rolling up his shirt sleeves. “Well,” He looks at Nino, “I guess I should get started on supper. Is pasta okay?”
Nino nods mutely, glancing back at his phone and up, “Yeah, pasta is fine. What kind are you making?”
“Uhhh…” Jun says as he hangs his head over the armrest of the couch, Nino can’t help but look at his adam’s apple as he does it. What he would give to tell him, but he also has a good thing here. A good roommate that cooks for him sometimes and seems to love having Ohno over, even if he does retire early some of those nights. Hell, Jun even plays Mario Kart with him and he’s good. “I was thinking truffle linguine?”
“That sounds perfect, J.”
▬▬▬▬▬
Ohno arrives a few minutes after 7:30. It’s the first time he’s been over all week, which is fine. Nino’s not the biggest on inviting people over, but for Ohno, he makes an exception. Like, once or twice a month. Really, he brings the booze and sometimes his latest catch, which is nice. Jun enjoys it. Today he’s brought them a bass and some sake.
Jun, having changed into more casual clothes before cooking and wearing his apron, answers the door when he arrives. Nino, absorbed in his Switch playing Dragon Quest, doesn’t even look up when Ohno enters the living room and sits on the couch, offering him a “Hi!”
“Hi!” Ohno replies as they sit in companionable silence, the only noise heard being a quiet grumble of Ohno’s stomach. He’s a little hungry, probably looking forward to Jun’s cooking all day.
Not ten minutes later, Jun is calling them both to supper, the truffle linguine finished and ready to serve. It’s a nice companionable dinner, with Jun and Ohno discussing their days at work, though Ohno is an artist so he’s largely recounting how many times he saw a spider. It isn’t until they’re almost done that Nino asks, “Ohno, are you going to Aiba’s party?”
Ohno pauses, his face blank; his thinking face. “No,” he begins, “I have to get ready for an art show starting the following week.”
“You have an art show coming up?” Jun asks, causing Nino to snort.
“I didn’t tell you about it?”
“No. Did you know about this, Nino?”
Nino snorts again, smiling a little, “No. We’ll be there, though. Let us know where it is, okay?”
Ohno nods and takes another bite of his pasta. “Are you going to the party?”
“Yeah,” Nino pauses, glancing at Jun and then flicking back to Ohno, “Jun’s coming along, too. He’s never met Aiba, he’s going to be so tired.”
“He can’t be that bad!” Jun protests, bringing out yet another snort from NIno.
Ohno smiles softly, looking between the two. “I hope you have the best time.”
Nino smiles back at Ohno, "I'll tell him you said hi."
They eat the rest of the meal mostly quietly, some conversation thrown in here and there like what is Ohno's show about anyway? Nino's not even sure after the explanation.
After dinner, Nino and Ohno wash the dishes while Jun sets up the Switch for Mario Kart. Jun is the only one Nino trusts with his Switch at this point. He even sets up the characters for everyone. Nino sometimes wonders if they do this too much?
As they play, Ohno as Toad hits a solid fourth place consistently, which he's fine with. It's actually fun for him to watch Nino (as Yoshi) and Jun (as Waluigi) fight it out for first.
Nino, though, Nino wants to win. Unfortunately, as they finish their second cup, he's missed the gold for the second time. Huffing, amused, he throws himself back into the couch, "I guess you win, J."
Jun laughs and shakes his head. Setting the controller down, he stands from his chair and stretches, glancing at Nino and Ohno on the couch. "I think I'm going to retire as a winner. See you guys in the morning?"
"Goodnight, Jun." Ohno says and Nino nods in agreement. They watch him leave to his room before Nino stands up to disconnect the Switch from the dock.
"I guess we should go, too." He says, turning to Ohno with the Switch in his hands.
Ohno nods, following Nino to his room. It was a system they used often. Ohno would stay in Nino's room, letting them both have a moment to chat before sleeping.
After getting ready, they both lie down under the covers. "You should tell him." Ohno says.
Nino shoots him a glance, "Tell who what?"
"Jun." He shifts like his trying to be sucked into the bed, "You should tell him your feelings."
Nino closes his eyes. Why should he tell him when his feelings won't be returned? He takes a breath, "I can-"
A small snore interrupt him. He glances at Ohno, asleep. "-'t tell him." he finishes with a whisper.
The next morning, they walk out to Jun sitting on the couch reading. As quick as he glances at them he looks away, mumbling a good morning.
▬▬▬▬▬
It was the following Thursday afternoon when Nino and Jun set off on their trip to go to Aiba's party. Nino realizes setting off on a two night road trip is maybe a bad idea but he couldn't care less. He curls up in the passenger's seat, Switch in his hands, and watches Jun as he drives. It's peaceful.
At least, it is until Jun takes the wrong turn and Nino doesn't realize it right away, too absorbed in Breath of the Wild. When Jun encounters a gravel road, though, that is when Nino notices.
"Jun, are we lost?" Nino asks, not even looking up from his game.
Jun pauses. "No…?"
"I think we're lost."
Jun sighs and pulls over. Nino glances at him as he does so, seeing him pull out his phone.
"I took a wrong turn." He taps at his phone, "I'll get us back, don't worry."
Nino hums in response, he's confident they'll get back, though horribly off track. "We might have to stop earlier than planned?"
"Nah, we'll make it there!" Nino wishes he had that kind of confidence.
They do get back on track, the delay meaning they have to watch the sunset from the car as they drive. Nino had stopped playing his game by then, instead choosing to look out the window as they go. "Why do people like beaches?"
Jun glances at Nino, noticing the beach he's looking at, "Not everyone hates sand, Anakin."
Smirking, Nino looks at Jun, "Does that make you my Padmé?"
Jun shakes his head as Nino goes back to watching from the window.
It's after sundown when they reach their first stop and pull up to the first hotel they see. It's a cozy three storey inn. Nino, who’d been staring out the window for that past while, watching as the lights went by, turns to look at Jun as he parks at the door. “I take it this is our stop, Mr. Chauffeur?”
Jun rolls his eyes as he unbuckles his belt, exiting the car and ignoring Nino. Nino steps out after him, following him into the lobby. Jun rings the bell at the counter.
Stepping around the corner, the receptionist gives them a sleepy, uninterested look, “Hi, how can I help you?”
“Hi, we’d like a room for the night.” Jun says.
The receptionist flicks their eyes between the two of them, seeing Nino standing just slightly behind Jun, unsure if he’s glaring at them, “Is a one king size bed room okay?”
Nino scoffs and laughs, if it is a nervous laugh, Jun doesn’t seem to notice, “we aren’t together.”
The receptionist pauses and shoots Nino an unimpressed look. They clearly caught it, Nino thinks. “We only have that kind of room available. You could both get different rooms if you’d like?”
This makes Nino pause. Two rooms equals double the cost. Like fuck they we’re going to pay for two rooms for one night. A king bed should be big enough to not send me into some kind of gay panic over sharing a bed with him. It should be okay? Right? He thinks, and before Jun can open his mouth, Nino says, “We’ll take it!”
▬▬▬▬▬
It was not okay.
Groaning, Nino presses his face to the passenger side window. He’s tired as fuck, having not slept a wink until late in the morning. He spent the entire night worried what asleep him would do. Would he curl up beside Jun? Would Jun be upset about waking up like that? He had no fucking clue, and none of it happened while Nino was asleep (as far as he knew), thank god.
Jun glances at Nino as he stops at the lights before he can turn onto the highway, “Are you okay?”
Nino sighs and looks at him out of the corner of his eye, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.”
"We're going to be on the road for a bit, take a nap."
Nino grunts in agreement as he settles into his seat, reclining it a bit.
It is lunch time when Jun shakes him awake. Blearily, Nino rubs his eyes and looks at him, "Wha?"
Jun turns off the car, and opens his door stepping out, "Come on, it's lunch time."
Glancing out the window, Nino sees a sign for McDonald's. A quick lunch, he supposes. Stretching in his seat a little, he unbuckles and follows behind.
It is a mere hour before they're on their way. Feeling much more refreshed, Nino pulls out his Switch and begins playing Breath of the Wild.
Despite the gaming, Nino doesn't miss the glances Jun keeps casting at him. Trying not to think too hard about it, Nino keeps playing his game. Eventually Jun speaks.
"So, apparently you talk in your sleep?"
Nino snaps to attention, although not looking away from the screen of his Switch, happy he was in a fairly neutral area. "I do?"
Jun flexes his hands on the wheel, "Yeah, you were talking in your sleep early this morning."
Nino fidgets with the left d-stick. "What did I talk about? No one's ever mentioned it before to me."
Jun glances over, "Not much. You were vaguely talking about asking someone out…"
Nino's fidgeting stops, "I have no idea who that could be about." he replies, trying to shrug the topic off.
"I did hear one name."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, it wa-"
"I'll have to ask Ohno if this has happened before." Nino says, cutting off Jun, "I'm sure he's been around for that!"
"Yeah." Jun replies, almost sullenly Nino thinks to himself, "ask him…" If he grips the wheel a little tighter, Nino doesn't notice.
▬▬▬▬▬
The rest of the trip goes without any major hitches. The room for the second night had two queen beds, much to Nino's relief, and they arrive at noon on Saturday to Aiba’s place, who is waiting in the front for them. Nino had texted about an hour before their arrival.
"Nino!" Aiba exclaims as Nino steps out of the car. "I'm so glad you could make it!" He’s right there to immediately give Nino a hug.
"Ugh, get off," Nino whines as Aiba lets go. "It's good to see you, though."
"It's been so long!" The driver's door closes with a thunk, drawing Aiba's attention. "Oh, is this Jun?"
Nino looks over as he turns to them and vaguely gestures, "Ahh, yeah. Aiba, Jun. Jun, Aiba."
"Hi, I'm Nino's roomma-"
Aiba rushes over to him, holding out his hand, "I'm Aiba, Nino's best friend. I've heard so much about you."
Jun looks at his hand, giving it a shake, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Jun… So, what all have you heard about me?"
Aiba casts a glance to Nino, who is, much to Nino’s relief, not visible from Jun's position. Nino waves his arms and shakes his head. "Not too much, just that you're the best roommate he's ever had."
Jun glances back to Nino, who is now acting nonchalant. Turning back to Aiba he smiles, "It's nice to know. He's the best roommate I've had, too."
"Well, Aiba! Where are we staying?" Nino asks, opening the trunk to grab his suitcase and Jun's.
"Ah, yeah! Follow me! Let's get you settled and then some lunch. The party starts at 7, so if you need a nap you can have one!"
They follow Aiba to his guest room, which, to Nino's absolute horror contains one queen sized bed and two side tables.
"Here it is! Sorry we only have one bed. I figured you two were familiar enough with each other and I'd offer you the couch but Toma's staying over as well." Aiba shrugs as Nino casts some serious side-eye.
Jun shrugs, clearly tired from driving, "It'll have to do, right Nino? Won't be the first time this trip."
Nino stares at him before whispering, "Right, won't be the first time." In his head all he can think is, this'll be the death of me.
Lunch is quick, and before Nino realizes, Jun has disappeared to take a nap, leaving Aiba and himself playing some Mario Kart. Nino's happy Aiba has his own Switch.
"So, why haven't you told him?" Aiba asks, his character, Daisy, letting loose a blue shell straight to Nino's Yoshi in first.
"Because, Aiba." Nino curses under his breath as the shell hits.
"That isn't a reason, you know." Through dumb luck, Aiba gets the Bullet Bill power-up.
"Aiba, it's complicated. I have no idea if he'll be okay with it. We have a good thing going." Triple mushrooms, great.
"He seems like an easygoing guy, it'll be fine." Daisy makes it to third.
"Maybe I'll tell him tonight, at the party." Yoshi crosses the finish line just as a red shell passes by.
"Do it. I'll be here to support you!" Daisy winds up in fourth.
"You'd better."
▬▬▬▬▬
Nino doesn't tell him at the party. As it turns out, Aiba's friend, Toma, is an old friend of Jun's and the two of them, after some brief introductions to Nino, spend a good portion of the night catching up. Catching up and sitting a little too close for Nino's liking.
Thankfully, the beer flows freely at Aiba's party and somewhere in the night Nino produces a deck of cards. He begins to perform some card magic for various guests at the party. More and more tricks performed the drunker he gets.
Eventually he Aiba pulls him aside and insists he go to bed, even going as far as guiding him to the guest room. In a matter of minutes, Nino is passed out. He never notices when Jun arrives to sleep later that evening.
▬▬▬▬▬
In the morning, Nino wakes up before Jun and slowly peels himself away. At some point in the night, he wound himself a little around the guy. Stepping out of the room and closing the door, he heads to the kitchen.
Toma is in the kitchen drinking some coffee.
"Good morning...Nino, right?"
Grabbing himself a mug, Nino pours himself some coffee before plopping down across from Toma at the table, "Yeah, Nino." He may be a little hung over, "Sorry, yeah, good morning Toma."
"How'd you sleep? You left the party fairly early."
Nino vaguely waves at him, taking a long swig of coffee, "Ehhh, okay I guess. Head hurts a little, but nothing time won't fix."
Toma nods, bringing his own mug up in front of his face, "Sorry we didn't really get a chance to talk. Jun told me all about you, though. He’s very proud of your magic skills."
Nino cocks an eyebrow, "Is he, now?"
"Yeah. He accompanied it with a dorky smile and everything."
"Huh. Thanks?"
Toma smiles, taking a sip of his coffee before looking at Nino seriously. "You should tell him."
This makes Nino stop. Who the fuck is this guy? What does he know? "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Jun," Toma shrugs, "Ohno told me Jun might need a push but you might be the easier push."
"What the hell, you know Ohno?" Nino is incredulous, "Wait, since when does Ohno play matchmaker?"
"Since he got tired of watching you guys dance around each other. I may not know you well, but I'm not blind. I see what he means. As to how I know Ohno, we worked together a few years ago."
Nino can't believe it. Who is this guy, telling him what to do? The fact that he knows from Ohno as well is just peachy, along with Ohno telling him. Stewing, Nino doesn't respond and drinks his coffee in silence.
▬▬▬▬▬
It's the Sunday afternoon when Nino and Jun take off back home. Waved off by a jokingly emotional Aiba and the exchanging of promises that they'll visit each other soon, with Aiba mentioning he'll come crash in their guest room. A room that doesn't exist.
The drive is mostly in silence, both tired from the night before but needing to return home because of work. That, and Jun seems to be avoiding talking to Nino. Gone are the glances from when they drove to Aiba's, though to be fair, they seemed to die off after their conversation about Nino's sleeptalking the other day.
It's nearing sundown when Nino gets tired of the silence. Sighing, he saves his game and turns his Switch off. "Jun, can you pull over? We need to talk."
Jun looks at Nino out of the corner of his eye before turning off and onto an access road that runs parallel to the highway.
Putting the car in park, he looks at Nino, not saying a word. Nino, in response unbuckles his belt, "How about we go outside and watch the sunset?" He doesn't wait for a response before exiting the vehicle. Feeling relieved when he hears the driver's door open as well.
Jun doesn't speak until the two of them are settled at the back of the vehicle, the pinks and oranges of the sky before them. "What do you want to talk about?"
"First off, I want to say I'm sorry for not telling you this sooner…"
Nino is stopped by an over dramatic gasp, "You're dying?"
Nino gives Jun a "hmph" as he slaps his hand to his face. "No," he says, dragging his hand down his face, "not yet. No, you'd be the first to know. We might get a better rate on rent?"
"So what is it?"
"Jun…" Nino pauses, "Jun, I like you."
Jun grins at him, "I like you too. Best roommate I've ever had."
"No, Jun. I like you like I'd like to take you on a date." He neglects to mention never dating men before.
"Oh!" Jun stares ahead at the sunset, not returning Nino's gaze. The oranges from the sunset bouncing off his face. "But what about Ohno?"
"Ohno?" Nino says, confused.
"Yeah, Ohno. You two seem rather close, I assumed you were dating."
Nino laughs. Sure, they've always had a bit of a touchy friendship but that was all. They'd never even gone on a date. Jun stares at him laughing, his face soft.
"Ohno and I would never. Besides, he knows how I feel about you."
"Well, this is a relief!" Jun exclaims, "It really explains why you were sleep talking about me and how you latched onto me last night."
Nino pales. He thought he'd gotten away with it.
"Good thing I like you too, then, eh?" Jun says as he turns away from Nino, face colouring a bit more than the sunset would allow.
"Wait, you do?" Nino stares, dumbfounded.
"Yeah," Jun looks at him again, "For someone so smart you can be really unobservant at times."
Nino begins to protest against Jun’s slight but doesn't get very far as the taller man captures his lips. It's their first kiss and for Nino, despite it being a little rough around the edges, it is welcome. So welcome.
▬▬▬▬▬
The rest of the trip back, they merely ask for a room with a single bed if available. This results in Nino getting the single best sleep he has had all trip.
Plus, at least now he has something to write about for his article. Maybe he'll call this one "The Hidden Positives of Manning the Fuck Up". Maybe. But for now, he's going to bask.
eggraterFrom: :3.
Title: The Hidden Effect of Manning the F*** Up
Pairing/Focus: Matsumoto Jun/Ninomiya Kazunari
Rating: T
Word Count: 4476
Warnings: Language warnings, I guess? I mean, I trust you can handle swears. It's in the title.
Summary: The road to and from Aiba's party is a wonderland, but if only people would stop telling Nino what to do.
Notes: I’m writing the notes as I write the story because why not. First off, I want to say thank you for the mod for putting this on again. Also, thank you to D, who beta’d this fic for me. I greatly appreciate it. Now, to my dear recipient. It took me a hot minute to figure out what I wanted to write, and tbh, watching Supernatural of all things to have me figure it out, so I really hope this isn’t too far off the mark! Please enjoy.
I remember when my parents first handed me a video game. It was in my formative years, if you can even call five formative. I don’t, but for me it was eye opening in a way; the digital paintings capturing my attention.
Sighing, Nino began to hit the backspace key. Why he took up journalism, he’ll never know for sure. Like, okay, his pieces were just for a magazine. Essays, really, which meant he could write anything he wanted. The biggest question on his mind was if he should write about video games again. Just last year he wrote about Nintendo and how they’ve captured the hearts of so many world wide. The year before, he’d written about his arcade he used to visit with his elementary school friends.
Staring at the blinking cursor before him in his now blank document, Nino snapped his laptop shut and stretched. Maybe I could skip this deadline? He thought to himself, rolling his chair back so he could grab his Switch.
He didn’t bother turning it on, still lost in his own mind. No, if he skips the deadline that wouldn’t be good. Besides, he has, what? Another two weeks to write something. He’ll come up with something by then. He always does and if he’s experiencing writer’s block, well, that’s a rite of passage and maybe he’s lucky it took him this long to really feel it.
He huffs to himself and tosses his Switch onto the small bed in his office, heading to the living room, checking his phone as he goes. He has a message from his friend Aiba, or three. The guy’s not exactly good at reaching his point in one message.
Nino, are you still coming out next weekend?
It’ll be a lot of fun!
You should bring your roommate, too!
“Fuck.” Nino grumbles. He completely forgot about the party he’d been invited to. He swore he’d put it into his calendar the day Aiba had called to tell him about it. He’d been staring at his calendar and everything, although he has to admit to himself that sometimes on the phone with Aiba his eyes glaze over. Just a little bit. Around the 45 minute mark. It doesn’t help that Aiba lives a few towns over, now. Far enough that he’ll have to take a few days to drive there.
Contemplating it, he supposes he could bring his roommate. They’ve been living together for a few years now and Aiba still hasn’t met the guy. He’s a busy bee. That, and if he brings him he doesn’t have to drive. Settling into the armchair, he replies.
I wouldn’t miss it. I’ll see if Jun can come as well. He’s a busy guy you know!
Seconds after his message sent, he sees the dots of a reply being written pop up. He scoffs, Aiba’s always pretty quick to reply. Before he receives another message, he hears the jingle of a key ring and the bolt sliding open. Looking over, he sees his roommate walk in, headphones in his ears. He hasn’t seen Nino yet.
Glancing back down at his phone to no reply, he looked back up and stared at Jun in his suit, jacket over his shoulder. Nino wouldn’t admit it to himself, but he maybe harboured some kinds of feelings to the guy. Maybe. The thing is, he’s not used to the idea of dating men. All of his partners had been women at this point and while, yes, he’d admitted to himself a while ago that he found men attractive, it just wasn’t his area of expertise. He was nervous.
He watches as Jun closes the door and toes his shoes off before neatly lining them up at the door. When Jun finally looks up, Nino waves at him and gestures for him to take off the headphones. Jun does with a little nod.
“Aiba wants to know if you’d like to come to his party next week?” Nino asks, confident it’ll be a no. It usually is, even if Jun seems to always regret giving that answer. “We’ll have to leave on Thursday to drive there. The party is on the Saturday.”
Jun pad into the living room, flopping down onto the couch dramatically, “You know, I think I can actually make that.”
Nino’s eyes widens, before he breaks into a grin, “What? You’ve never been able to make these before. What happened, did you get fired?”
Lifting his feet onto the couch and stretching his arms out, Jun chuckles, “Nah, we’re just not overly busy. Apparently no one wants lavish weddings right now. I’m sure Sho can handle it for a week.” NIno laughs at Jun’s shit eating grin, “I also don’t have any appointments for my current clients then and have been told I ‘work too hard and need to take a vacation’.”
Nino nods, and glances down at his phone. Two notifications. “Okay, I’ll let him know we are both coming.”
“What’s this for anyway?”
Glancing back up, Nino breaks out an amused grin, “would you believe the idiot wanted a spring birthday party?”
Jun laughs, “From what I know of him, yes. Yes I would.”
Nino keeps smiling as he unlocks his phone to let Aiba know they’d both be there, ignoring the two messages Aiba sent him only to hear a softer, “Hey, Nino?” Nino glances up, and nods before returning to his phone, only letting out a grunt for Jun to proceed, “Is Ohno coming over for supper, still?”
Ohno, the only friend of Nino’s Jun had met over the past few years. He guesses it can’t be helped since he’s the only one living in their city at this point. He also tended to come over once in a while, when he wasn’t busy getting tan from fishing or losing himself in a painting. Nino looked up to see Jun loosening his tie to take it off, “He is. He said he’ll be here around 7:30. I guess that’s in an hour and a half?”
Jun takes off his tie--Nino swallows--and begins rolling up his shirt sleeves. “Well,” He looks at Nino, “I guess I should get started on supper. Is pasta okay?”
Nino nods mutely, glancing back at his phone and up, “Yeah, pasta is fine. What kind are you making?”
“Uhhh…” Jun says as he hangs his head over the armrest of the couch, Nino can’t help but look at his adam’s apple as he does it. What he would give to tell him, but he also has a good thing here. A good roommate that cooks for him sometimes and seems to love having Ohno over, even if he does retire early some of those nights. Hell, Jun even plays Mario Kart with him and he’s good. “I was thinking truffle linguine?”
“That sounds perfect, J.”
Ohno arrives a few minutes after 7:30. It’s the first time he’s been over all week, which is fine. Nino’s not the biggest on inviting people over, but for Ohno, he makes an exception. Like, once or twice a month. Really, he brings the booze and sometimes his latest catch, which is nice. Jun enjoys it. Today he’s brought them a bass and some sake.
Jun, having changed into more casual clothes before cooking and wearing his apron, answers the door when he arrives. Nino, absorbed in his Switch playing Dragon Quest, doesn’t even look up when Ohno enters the living room and sits on the couch, offering him a “Hi!”
“Hi!” Ohno replies as they sit in companionable silence, the only noise heard being a quiet grumble of Ohno’s stomach. He’s a little hungry, probably looking forward to Jun’s cooking all day.
Not ten minutes later, Jun is calling them both to supper, the truffle linguine finished and ready to serve. It’s a nice companionable dinner, with Jun and Ohno discussing their days at work, though Ohno is an artist so he’s largely recounting how many times he saw a spider. It isn’t until they’re almost done that Nino asks, “Ohno, are you going to Aiba’s party?”
Ohno pauses, his face blank; his thinking face. “No,” he begins, “I have to get ready for an art show starting the following week.”
“You have an art show coming up?” Jun asks, causing Nino to snort.
“I didn’t tell you about it?”
“No. Did you know about this, Nino?”
Nino snorts again, smiling a little, “No. We’ll be there, though. Let us know where it is, okay?”
Ohno nods and takes another bite of his pasta. “Are you going to the party?”
“Yeah,” Nino pauses, glancing at Jun and then flicking back to Ohno, “Jun’s coming along, too. He’s never met Aiba, he’s going to be so tired.”
“He can’t be that bad!” Jun protests, bringing out yet another snort from NIno.
Ohno smiles softly, looking between the two. “I hope you have the best time.”
Nino smiles back at Ohno, "I'll tell him you said hi."
They eat the rest of the meal mostly quietly, some conversation thrown in here and there like what is Ohno's show about anyway? Nino's not even sure after the explanation.
After dinner, Nino and Ohno wash the dishes while Jun sets up the Switch for Mario Kart. Jun is the only one Nino trusts with his Switch at this point. He even sets up the characters for everyone. Nino sometimes wonders if they do this too much?
As they play, Ohno as Toad hits a solid fourth place consistently, which he's fine with. It's actually fun for him to watch Nino (as Yoshi) and Jun (as Waluigi) fight it out for first.
Nino, though, Nino wants to win. Unfortunately, as they finish their second cup, he's missed the gold for the second time. Huffing, amused, he throws himself back into the couch, "I guess you win, J."
Jun laughs and shakes his head. Setting the controller down, he stands from his chair and stretches, glancing at Nino and Ohno on the couch. "I think I'm going to retire as a winner. See you guys in the morning?"
"Goodnight, Jun." Ohno says and Nino nods in agreement. They watch him leave to his room before Nino stands up to disconnect the Switch from the dock.
"I guess we should go, too." He says, turning to Ohno with the Switch in his hands.
Ohno nods, following Nino to his room. It was a system they used often. Ohno would stay in Nino's room, letting them both have a moment to chat before sleeping.
After getting ready, they both lie down under the covers. "You should tell him." Ohno says.
Nino shoots him a glance, "Tell who what?"
"Jun." He shifts like his trying to be sucked into the bed, "You should tell him your feelings."
Nino closes his eyes. Why should he tell him when his feelings won't be returned? He takes a breath, "I can-"
A small snore interrupt him. He glances at Ohno, asleep. "-'t tell him." he finishes with a whisper.
The next morning, they walk out to Jun sitting on the couch reading. As quick as he glances at them he looks away, mumbling a good morning.
It was the following Thursday afternoon when Nino and Jun set off on their trip to go to Aiba's party. Nino realizes setting off on a two night road trip is maybe a bad idea but he couldn't care less. He curls up in the passenger's seat, Switch in his hands, and watches Jun as he drives. It's peaceful.
At least, it is until Jun takes the wrong turn and Nino doesn't realize it right away, too absorbed in Breath of the Wild. When Jun encounters a gravel road, though, that is when Nino notices.
"Jun, are we lost?" Nino asks, not even looking up from his game.
Jun pauses. "No…?"
"I think we're lost."
Jun sighs and pulls over. Nino glances at him as he does so, seeing him pull out his phone.
"I took a wrong turn." He taps at his phone, "I'll get us back, don't worry."
Nino hums in response, he's confident they'll get back, though horribly off track. "We might have to stop earlier than planned?"
"Nah, we'll make it there!" Nino wishes he had that kind of confidence.
They do get back on track, the delay meaning they have to watch the sunset from the car as they drive. Nino had stopped playing his game by then, instead choosing to look out the window as they go. "Why do people like beaches?"
Jun glances at Nino, noticing the beach he's looking at, "Not everyone hates sand, Anakin."
Smirking, Nino looks at Jun, "Does that make you my Padmé?"
Jun shakes his head as Nino goes back to watching from the window.
It's after sundown when they reach their first stop and pull up to the first hotel they see. It's a cozy three storey inn. Nino, who’d been staring out the window for that past while, watching as the lights went by, turns to look at Jun as he parks at the door. “I take it this is our stop, Mr. Chauffeur?”
Jun rolls his eyes as he unbuckles his belt, exiting the car and ignoring Nino. Nino steps out after him, following him into the lobby. Jun rings the bell at the counter.
Stepping around the corner, the receptionist gives them a sleepy, uninterested look, “Hi, how can I help you?”
“Hi, we’d like a room for the night.” Jun says.
The receptionist flicks their eyes between the two of them, seeing Nino standing just slightly behind Jun, unsure if he’s glaring at them, “Is a one king size bed room okay?”
Nino scoffs and laughs, if it is a nervous laugh, Jun doesn’t seem to notice, “we aren’t together.”
The receptionist pauses and shoots Nino an unimpressed look. They clearly caught it, Nino thinks. “We only have that kind of room available. You could both get different rooms if you’d like?”
This makes Nino pause. Two rooms equals double the cost. Like fuck they we’re going to pay for two rooms for one night. A king bed should be big enough to not send me into some kind of gay panic over sharing a bed with him. It should be okay? Right? He thinks, and before Jun can open his mouth, Nino says, “We’ll take it!”
It was not okay.
Groaning, Nino presses his face to the passenger side window. He’s tired as fuck, having not slept a wink until late in the morning. He spent the entire night worried what asleep him would do. Would he curl up beside Jun? Would Jun be upset about waking up like that? He had no fucking clue, and none of it happened while Nino was asleep (as far as he knew), thank god.
Jun glances at Nino as he stops at the lights before he can turn onto the highway, “Are you okay?”
Nino sighs and looks at him out of the corner of his eye, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.”
"We're going to be on the road for a bit, take a nap."
Nino grunts in agreement as he settles into his seat, reclining it a bit.
It is lunch time when Jun shakes him awake. Blearily, Nino rubs his eyes and looks at him, "Wha?"
Jun turns off the car, and opens his door stepping out, "Come on, it's lunch time."
Glancing out the window, Nino sees a sign for McDonald's. A quick lunch, he supposes. Stretching in his seat a little, he unbuckles and follows behind.
It is a mere hour before they're on their way. Feeling much more refreshed, Nino pulls out his Switch and begins playing Breath of the Wild.
Despite the gaming, Nino doesn't miss the glances Jun keeps casting at him. Trying not to think too hard about it, Nino keeps playing his game. Eventually Jun speaks.
"So, apparently you talk in your sleep?"
Nino snaps to attention, although not looking away from the screen of his Switch, happy he was in a fairly neutral area. "I do?"
Jun flexes his hands on the wheel, "Yeah, you were talking in your sleep early this morning."
Nino fidgets with the left d-stick. "What did I talk about? No one's ever mentioned it before to me."
Jun glances over, "Not much. You were vaguely talking about asking someone out…"
Nino's fidgeting stops, "I have no idea who that could be about." he replies, trying to shrug the topic off.
"I did hear one name."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, it wa-"
"I'll have to ask Ohno if this has happened before." Nino says, cutting off Jun, "I'm sure he's been around for that!"
"Yeah." Jun replies, almost sullenly Nino thinks to himself, "ask him…" If he grips the wheel a little tighter, Nino doesn't notice.
The rest of the trip goes without any major hitches. The room for the second night had two queen beds, much to Nino's relief, and they arrive at noon on Saturday to Aiba’s place, who is waiting in the front for them. Nino had texted about an hour before their arrival.
"Nino!" Aiba exclaims as Nino steps out of the car. "I'm so glad you could make it!" He’s right there to immediately give Nino a hug.
"Ugh, get off," Nino whines as Aiba lets go. "It's good to see you, though."
"It's been so long!" The driver's door closes with a thunk, drawing Aiba's attention. "Oh, is this Jun?"
Nino looks over as he turns to them and vaguely gestures, "Ahh, yeah. Aiba, Jun. Jun, Aiba."
"Hi, I'm Nino's roomma-"
Aiba rushes over to him, holding out his hand, "I'm Aiba, Nino's best friend. I've heard so much about you."
Jun looks at his hand, giving it a shake, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Jun… So, what all have you heard about me?"
Aiba casts a glance to Nino, who is, much to Nino’s relief, not visible from Jun's position. Nino waves his arms and shakes his head. "Not too much, just that you're the best roommate he's ever had."
Jun glances back to Nino, who is now acting nonchalant. Turning back to Aiba he smiles, "It's nice to know. He's the best roommate I've had, too."
"Well, Aiba! Where are we staying?" Nino asks, opening the trunk to grab his suitcase and Jun's.
"Ah, yeah! Follow me! Let's get you settled and then some lunch. The party starts at 7, so if you need a nap you can have one!"
They follow Aiba to his guest room, which, to Nino's absolute horror contains one queen sized bed and two side tables.
"Here it is! Sorry we only have one bed. I figured you two were familiar enough with each other and I'd offer you the couch but Toma's staying over as well." Aiba shrugs as Nino casts some serious side-eye.
Jun shrugs, clearly tired from driving, "It'll have to do, right Nino? Won't be the first time this trip."
Nino stares at him before whispering, "Right, won't be the first time." In his head all he can think is, this'll be the death of me.
Lunch is quick, and before Nino realizes, Jun has disappeared to take a nap, leaving Aiba and himself playing some Mario Kart. Nino's happy Aiba has his own Switch.
"So, why haven't you told him?" Aiba asks, his character, Daisy, letting loose a blue shell straight to Nino's Yoshi in first.
"Because, Aiba." Nino curses under his breath as the shell hits.
"That isn't a reason, you know." Through dumb luck, Aiba gets the Bullet Bill power-up.
"Aiba, it's complicated. I have no idea if he'll be okay with it. We have a good thing going." Triple mushrooms, great.
"He seems like an easygoing guy, it'll be fine." Daisy makes it to third.
"Maybe I'll tell him tonight, at the party." Yoshi crosses the finish line just as a red shell passes by.
"Do it. I'll be here to support you!" Daisy winds up in fourth.
"You'd better."
Nino doesn't tell him at the party. As it turns out, Aiba's friend, Toma, is an old friend of Jun's and the two of them, after some brief introductions to Nino, spend a good portion of the night catching up. Catching up and sitting a little too close for Nino's liking.
Thankfully, the beer flows freely at Aiba's party and somewhere in the night Nino produces a deck of cards. He begins to perform some card magic for various guests at the party. More and more tricks performed the drunker he gets.
Eventually he Aiba pulls him aside and insists he go to bed, even going as far as guiding him to the guest room. In a matter of minutes, Nino is passed out. He never notices when Jun arrives to sleep later that evening.
In the morning, Nino wakes up before Jun and slowly peels himself away. At some point in the night, he wound himself a little around the guy. Stepping out of the room and closing the door, he heads to the kitchen.
Toma is in the kitchen drinking some coffee.
"Good morning...Nino, right?"
Grabbing himself a mug, Nino pours himself some coffee before plopping down across from Toma at the table, "Yeah, Nino." He may be a little hung over, "Sorry, yeah, good morning Toma."
"How'd you sleep? You left the party fairly early."
Nino vaguely waves at him, taking a long swig of coffee, "Ehhh, okay I guess. Head hurts a little, but nothing time won't fix."
Toma nods, bringing his own mug up in front of his face, "Sorry we didn't really get a chance to talk. Jun told me all about you, though. He’s very proud of your magic skills."
Nino cocks an eyebrow, "Is he, now?"
"Yeah. He accompanied it with a dorky smile and everything."
"Huh. Thanks?"
Toma smiles, taking a sip of his coffee before looking at Nino seriously. "You should tell him."
This makes Nino stop. Who the fuck is this guy? What does he know? "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Jun," Toma shrugs, "Ohno told me Jun might need a push but you might be the easier push."
"What the hell, you know Ohno?" Nino is incredulous, "Wait, since when does Ohno play matchmaker?"
"Since he got tired of watching you guys dance around each other. I may not know you well, but I'm not blind. I see what he means. As to how I know Ohno, we worked together a few years ago."
Nino can't believe it. Who is this guy, telling him what to do? The fact that he knows from Ohno as well is just peachy, along with Ohno telling him. Stewing, Nino doesn't respond and drinks his coffee in silence.
It's the Sunday afternoon when Nino and Jun take off back home. Waved off by a jokingly emotional Aiba and the exchanging of promises that they'll visit each other soon, with Aiba mentioning he'll come crash in their guest room. A room that doesn't exist.
The drive is mostly in silence, both tired from the night before but needing to return home because of work. That, and Jun seems to be avoiding talking to Nino. Gone are the glances from when they drove to Aiba's, though to be fair, they seemed to die off after their conversation about Nino's sleeptalking the other day.
It's nearing sundown when Nino gets tired of the silence. Sighing, he saves his game and turns his Switch off. "Jun, can you pull over? We need to talk."
Jun looks at Nino out of the corner of his eye before turning off and onto an access road that runs parallel to the highway.
Putting the car in park, he looks at Nino, not saying a word. Nino, in response unbuckles his belt, "How about we go outside and watch the sunset?" He doesn't wait for a response before exiting the vehicle. Feeling relieved when he hears the driver's door open as well.
Jun doesn't speak until the two of them are settled at the back of the vehicle, the pinks and oranges of the sky before them. "What do you want to talk about?"
"First off, I want to say I'm sorry for not telling you this sooner…"
Nino is stopped by an over dramatic gasp, "You're dying?"
Nino gives Jun a "hmph" as he slaps his hand to his face. "No," he says, dragging his hand down his face, "not yet. No, you'd be the first to know. We might get a better rate on rent?"
"So what is it?"
"Jun…" Nino pauses, "Jun, I like you."
Jun grins at him, "I like you too. Best roommate I've ever had."
"No, Jun. I like you like I'd like to take you on a date." He neglects to mention never dating men before.
"Oh!" Jun stares ahead at the sunset, not returning Nino's gaze. The oranges from the sunset bouncing off his face. "But what about Ohno?"
"Ohno?" Nino says, confused.
"Yeah, Ohno. You two seem rather close, I assumed you were dating."
Nino laughs. Sure, they've always had a bit of a touchy friendship but that was all. They'd never even gone on a date. Jun stares at him laughing, his face soft.
"Ohno and I would never. Besides, he knows how I feel about you."
"Well, this is a relief!" Jun exclaims, "It really explains why you were sleep talking about me and how you latched onto me last night."
Nino pales. He thought he'd gotten away with it.
"Good thing I like you too, then, eh?" Jun says as he turns away from Nino, face colouring a bit more than the sunset would allow.
"Wait, you do?" Nino stares, dumbfounded.
"Yeah," Jun looks at him again, "For someone so smart you can be really unobservant at times."
Nino begins to protest against Jun’s slight but doesn't get very far as the taller man captures his lips. It's their first kiss and for Nino, despite it being a little rough around the edges, it is welcome. So welcome.
The rest of the trip back, they merely ask for a room with a single bed if available. This results in Nino getting the single best sleep he has had all trip.
Plus, at least now he has something to write about for his article. Maybe he'll call this one "The Hidden Positives of Manning the Fuck Up". Maybe. But for now, he's going to bask.
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Ohno occasionally having dinner with them is very cute as well, ah <3 Him falling asleep after telling Nino that he should tell Jun his feelings thooough, softest <3 <3
JUN AND NINO GOING ON A DRIVE WITH NINO CURLED UP ON THE PASSENGER SEAT ;O; cue my tears it's the cutest thing!! Jun being a reliable chauffeur and making sure they'll get back on track LOL, to the point they had to watch sunset together from the car... ahh.. ;__; I'm a sucker for these little things, I love it very much. Also HAHA I'm a horrible person who has never watched Star Wars, but as far as I know, Anakin and Padme are a thing, so I enjoyed Nino's subtle, fun flirting there :D
THEY HAD TO SHARE A ROOM!! *insert fireworks emojis here* Poor Nino was too nervous, but I wouldn't blame him, really. And Nino sleep talking *eyes emojis* that little awkward moment already made me all !! because I smell some stupid miscommunications from these blockheads over here, LOL. (THANK YOU AIBA FOR MAKING THEM SHARE A ROOM AGAIN, in this house we adore meddling best friendos!!!)
TALK TIME!! talk time with the sky being pretty above them in the car, wow, anon. Congratulations because you just unlocked everything someone needed to get into my heart. Jun still managing to joke around with his whole "you're dying?" though, it's such a little shit move but also it's such a Matsumiya kind of interaction, I adore it so much. AND SEE!! MISCOMMUNICATIONS!! these dumb blockheads. Jun, oh Jun, all you had to do was ask but ofc you didn't, the poor dude. Ah, but when Jun dropped the bomb about how Nino had slept, lmao. Truly, blockheads that I love.
Thank you so much for this piece of joy, Anon! It was short yet it was so wonderfully packed, it didn't feel rushed, and above all, it brought me a lot of joy <3 I'm super happy to see these dumb dudes finally getting to it and manning the fuck up, LOL. Thank you for being super considerate of my requests in the sign up too, I can see them here and there and I appreciate them a lot. This was such a fun read, thank you again! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
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I loved the way that everyone else could read Nino's feelings so easily. And year he was so oblivious.
Thank goodness he finally confessed.
Thanks for such a fun read.
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