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ninoexchange2012-06-19 10:05 am
nino-mod.livejournal.com) wrote in ninoexchange2012-06-19 10:05 am
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fic for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
icecreamsuki
For: icecreamsuki
From:alphie_damiek
Title: Every Time We Meet by Chance
Pairing/Focus: Ohmiya
Rating: PG-13 because most people in the workplace don’t use polite language
Warnings: See rating
Summary: Office!AU Starring Arashi with appearances by Kanjani8 and SMAP (and kudos if you can figure out the other group that snuck in). Nino’s got a million ways to get what he wants, but it’s not the same if he can’t do it himself.
Notes: It was a pleasure to write for you,icecreamsuki! I hope you like enjoy your NinoDay fic. And thank you Ms. IA for all your help! The title comes from yarukizero’s translation of a line from Niji no Kakera.
For reference:
Nino: Level 3 IT, IT Coordinator
Sho: Workflow Specialist
Jun: PR Consultant
Aiba: HR Supervisor
Ohno: Financial Analyst
He had been intrigued since he first saw the man, sitting alone in the lunchroom. He was dressed in a maroon cardigan and deliciously fitting work pants. Not to mention the Ray-Bans he was sporting. And while the rest of the lunchroom was bustling with co-workers gossiping together and making plans, he was the only static element in the room. But not in a bad way: it was if time had slowed around him, as if his relaxed aura could control his immediate area.
It’s that enticing sort of adorable sexiness that has Nino gravitating towards him. What would it be like to actually sit next to him? Maybe like a personal rest area, amidst all the bustling employees trying to make deadlines and write reports? Or maybe there would be a quiet kind of energy, like the buzzing of anticipation Nino often felt before a new game was being released. But since it wasn’t his lunch hour and he didn’t have a lunch with him anyway (he was just going to bum off Jun later, since that man never had the time to eat his), he didn’t try to navigate around the bustling groups of people picking through pre-wrapped sandwiches and fruit cups.
Obviously he wasn’t going to just waltz right over and start talking to the man. It would be weird, wouldn’t it? Just sitting down in front of someone empty-handed and saying, “Hi, I’m Nino, and I may not have anything to eat with me but you are beautiful.” Right. He had more tact than that. Thankfully, he had ways to get around actually talking to someone in order to know more about him.
Now Nino’s curious. And no, he’s not a stalker. He’s smarter than a stalker. He has connections.
So he turns around (not before one last glance at the man) and makes his way to the third floor.
The third floor is decorated with colorful banners of encouragement and inspirational posters filled with animals and horrible puns, thanks to the head of HR, the man he’s about to see. He ignores some of the stares he gets; yes, its unusual to see one of the level 3 ITs in the HR department, but Nino’s not here to complain (this time). He makes a beeline for Aiba Masaki’s desk in the middle of the room, who is smiling as he finishes a call with a customer. It’s something Nino can’t fathom. Listening to people bitch all day and actually enjoying it? He leans against the wall of Aiba’s cubicle, waiting until Aiba hangs up.
“Having fun sucking up to the customers?”
Aiba laughs it off. “Customer relations, Nino! You know it’s important for a business to actually care about their customers.”
“Please, you’re the only one who actually gives a crap when you talk to them.” Maruyama frowns at them from the cubicle across, but Nino just waves him away with his fingers and a cheeky smile.
“Listen, enough about customers for two seconds. I need your help.” He sits down on the chair meant for Aiba’s clients, which has a gold duck-faced cushion on it. Crossing his legs and wrapping his hands around his knee, he gives an aura of “serious business” as he speaks.
“Aiba.”
Aiba leans forward, eyes and ears perking up. Nino leans forward and whispers.
“I need you to look up someone.”
Aiba sighs and slumps back into his seat. “You know I can’t do that for you Nino. It’s against company policy.”
Nino physically shrugs off the idea that he even mentioned something rule breaking. Frowning dejectedly, he gets up and makes a tepid motion of stretching his back and arms in front of Aiba’s desk.
“Fine, I see how it is. You know, I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to do it myself.”
Aiba squints at the other man. Nervously he asks, “What… what do you mean ‘yourself’?”
“Myself,” Nino corrects him. “I’ll just dig through the database myself until I find him.” He can’t suppress a smirk as Aiba’s eyes widen. He knows Aiba doesn’t like breaking the rules, but he also knows that Aiba hates the guilt of knowing that he KNOWS someone is breaking the rules even more. Slowly, Aiba moves his hands to his keyboard. Nino sits back down.
“What’s his name?”
“Don’t know. All I know is that I haven’t seen him here before. He’s got short, black hair, round face, and wears cardigans and Ray-Bans.”
Aiba lightens as he hears the description, snapping his fingers as he remembers. “Ahh! You mean Ohno-san. Yeah, I actually just met him. He came in yesterday to fill out his NDA paperwork. He didn’t talk much.” But still, Aiba’s smiling, like he’s got something to reminisce. “But he seemed nice. What exactly do you need to know about him?”
Nino leans forward. “Everything.”
Thanks to Aiba, Nino now knows who this man is and his role is as another cog in this business’s machine. His name is Ohno Satoshi, and he works in the financial sector as one of their analysts. He mulls over this new information, black bangs and Ray-Bans on his mind as someone knocks on the door to his office before letting himself in.
“Nino, things are starting to get hectic.”
Nino doesn’t look up, doesn’t give any telltale sign that he heard someone speak other than a half-hearted, “Hmm?”
“Yeah, the tickets have been piling up.”
“Mmm.”
The speaker gives an exasperated sigh. “Look, I know you’re not playing games, so could you please listen?”
Nino continues to stare at his screen, but furrows his brows, as if he’s trying to glare at the other employee though it. “And how do you know I’m not?”
Nishikido pointedly looks at Nino’s keyboard. “Your fingers aren’t on any of the directional keys.”
Nino huffs and glances up at Nishikido. He’s got a bright yellow shirt on and his tie lapel has a little infinity symbol with wings on it. “OK, which ticket is most important?”
Nishikido looks through his printout. “One of the CEO’s assistants is having trouble connecting to the server. We sent Yokoo over, but the assistant gave him so much grief he almost came back crying.”
Nino spends a few seconds thinking it over. “Just send another one of them out. We’ve got seven of them.”
He looks up and sees Nishikido glaring at him. “It would be simpler if we just fixed the problem here.”
Nino shrugs. “Fine, then. Fix the problem here.”
Nishikido sighs in defeat as he leaves. Not Nino’s problem, really. But just for kicks he logs into the offending computer and fixes the alias connection by the time Nishikido gets back to his desk.
The only reason he doesn’t go up this high is because of how tedious the trip to get there is. First, there’s the elevator ride seven stories high. Then he’s got to go across the hall, to the right, across another hall, and finally he barges into the fifth office on the right.
Sakurai Sho doesn’t look up from the mountains of schedules on his desk, his hands typing furiously, transferring the information into Excel. His face looks like death and Nino doesn’t have to touch the cup on Sho’s desk to know that the coffee in it is hours old.
“So. This Ohno character.”
Sho’s hands slow down on his keyboard as he thinks, analyzes the name in his mental employee database. He replies, still typing. “Yeah, apparently he’s doing really well as one of the newest financial analysts. I haven’t really spoken to him myself, but if he’s doing a good job that’s fine by me.”
Nino smiles. “So you do know him. I’ll get to the point, then. You HAVE to get our schedules to match up somehow.” He puts his elbows on Sho’s desk, messing up some of the stacks, but Nino’s sure Sho has everything on them memorized anyway.
“Dammit Nino, that’s not what my job entails, I hope you realize that.”
“All I realize is that you are in a high enough position to actually do something. So do it. Something. That something. Please? The only time I get to see him is during our lunch break.”
Sho stops typing to give Nino a stern look. “Nino, you two don’t have the same lunch break.”
“And therein lies the problem. I don’t like breaking the rules, Sho, you know that.”
Sakurai massages his forehead. “So you’d rather I break the rules for you?”
“No, Sho. I’m just asking that you help someone out. Someone in need.” Nino squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them and stares at Sho with what he hopes is his best puppy-dog stare. “Please?”
But Sho doesn’t give. “No, Nino. If you want to talk to him, try to find time to do it yourself. Or e-mail him. But do it on your own time, not during company time.”
The answer isn’t the one Nino wants to hear, but it can’t be helped. Sho isn’t as easily swayed as Aiba is, and when it comes to work, he can be even more stubborn than Nino. He knows he’s lost this round.
As he makes his way back to his office, Nino turns a corner and plows into someone, sending the other man face-first against the wall.
“Oh shit!” Nino exclaims. “Are you OK? I’m really so—” The rest of his apology leaves him as his eyes meet a round face with Ray-Bans.
“Ahh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Ohno apologizes with a soft smile. All Nino can do is shake his head mechanically. He forgot that Ohno was also on this floor (another tidbit he got from Aiba). Ohno looks slightly past him and Nino realizes he’s in the other man’s way. He moves to the side, but Ohno doesn’t move past him. Instead he looks at Nino expectedly.
“I was just going to go outside for some fresh air. Want to join me?” Nino is still speechless, just follows Ohno as he makes his way to the terrace, opening the door for Nino. Ohno takes in a deep breath as the wind brushes against the ends of his hair.
“Mmm, this is nice. Sometimes it’s kind of stuffy in there, don’t you think?”
All Nino can do is squint at the sun and grumble out loud: “It’s kind of bright.”
Ohno laughs, beckoning Nino over. “Fresh air won’t hurt you.”
Nino pouts. “You don’t know that.” But Ohno has this weirdly refreshing aura around him that brings Nino forward, out onto the terrace with him. He stands next to Ohno, and even though the wind is relaxing, his muscles are still stiff from being so close to him. Ohno looks over the terrace at the nearby buildings glittering in the Tokyo light. He turns to Nino.
“See, this isn’t so bad.” He moves closer to Nino, extending a hand in greeting. Nino looks at the hand, and even those are pretty: long, slender fingers and tapering nails. They look feminine, but the shake he receives has a lot of strength to it.
“I’m Ohno. Ohno Satoshi.” Nino pretends he doesn’t already know that, smiles as he hears it coming out of the actual man’s mouth.
He responds with what he can only hope is a smooth, “Nino. Just call me Nino.”
“Nino, huh. Are you in the same department as Sakurai?”
So Sho DID know who Ohno was, that lying bastard. “Sho? Ah, no. I’m just in IT.”
Ohno looks impressed. “That must be hard. Are you new here too?” Nino shakes his head.
“Ahh, no. I’ve been here for three years.”
“Oh, really?” Ohno asks. “Same as Aiba, then?”
“Yeah, Aiba and I started here at around the same time. That guy, though.” Nino chuckles, shaking his head as he thinks about Aiba at his desk, laughing with a customer while he’s making chains out of paperclips or something. “He’s a nice guy.”
Ohno nods in agreement. “He is nice. Him and Sakurai.” They spend a few more moments in silence. It’s more comfortable than Nino realized it would be, given that A) he never made time to practice what he’d do when they’d actually meet, and B) being with the other man feels nice, nicer than he thought.
Soon Ohno clears his throat, breaking the silence. “Well, I meant to just sneak out for a few minutes, so I should go back.” He turns towards the door and gives a small wave to Nino. “It was nice meeting you, Nino.”
Nino brings his hand up, but by the time he tries to return the sentiment Ohno’s already in the building.
Nino makes an effort to try and catch Ohno whenever he’s available. Or really, whenever he thinks Ohno’s available. Because Ohno comes in earlier than him (one of the perks of being a level 3 IT is a slightly more flexible schedule), that means his lunch is earlier than Nino’s. So Nino has to find ways around that, creating situations that would cause them to meet. But whenever it happens, it’s always in passing and both he and Nino can barely exchange a “Hello”. Nino knows he should do more, should say more, but he doesn’t. If he can do this enough times, he convinces himself, then the perfect situation will present itself eventually.
And he sincerely doesn’t think this whole “obsession-but-not-in-a-stalker-way-over-Ohno” thing is a distraction. But apparently it got serious enough that, after he sat down after “accidentally” passing Ohno on the way to the seventh floor bathroom (where Sho was washing his hands and giving Nino the weirdest look), he got an email from his supervisor asking him to come into his office.
“Nino,” Shingo begins. Nino opens his mouth, ready to defend himself, but he stops when Shingo holds a hand up to silence him.
“Look, Nishikido and some of the other techs have been telling me that you’ve been slacking on your duties. And while I usually turn my head away from these kind of situations, apparently it’s causing everyone else to have to work through more tickets and adding unnecessary stress to the department.”
Nino looks down, guilty.
“Also, I heard you were bothering the security guards about the password for their security cameras.”
OK, he was hoping that wouldn’t have come up. But now that it has there really is nothing he can do to put himself back into a good light.
“Nino, seriously, I don’t give a shit what you do, as long as you do your job while you’re at it. Get to it, or I’ll be forced to make you a grunt.”
Nino groans. The last thing he wants is to be of the techs who get sent to do on-site tech support. He doesn’t want to be involved with those kids, who have even gone so far as to give themselves a stupid nickname and use Heelys to get around the building. He nods and lets the weight of Shingo’s threat sink in. Looking up, he hopes that he can squeeze by with at least a funny quip to end this session with.
But Shingo’s already focused on something on his computer. He looks back to Nino. “Go on, get to it.”
So Nino stands up, bowing his head and giving a soft apology as he leaves Shingo’s office. But he doesn’t go back to his desk. Instead, he heads towards the roof, trying to ignore the heated glares the rest of the team is giving him.
When he gets to the roof, he’s not alone. Here he finds Matsumoto Jun and what looks like a mountain of cigarette butts next to him in an ashtray. Jun’s got his shoulders hunched, elbows on the railing and wind frazzling his 200-dollar haircut. Without preamble, he reaches into Jun’s right jacket pocket, grabs both Jun’s smokes and his lighter (ignoring Jun’s indignant protests), lighting himself a cigarette and taking a drag like it’s the only source of air he’s got.
“I can’t imagine you having a worse day than me,” Jun grumbles, grabbing his belongings back from Nino’s outstretched hand. “But humor me.”
Nino chuckles. “Well, there’s this guy…”
Jun holds up a hand. “Wait. Is this the guy everyone says you’ve been pining for? The same one you haven’t even had a full-on conversation with, yet you’ve gone so far as to be his personal stalker?”
Jun gets a response from Nino’s middle finger. “Not stalking. Just trying to find out as much as I can before I actually make an attempt. You know about first impressions, J. What kind of asshole would I be if I actually tried talking to him without knowing anything about him beforehand? I’m making myself a safety net, not some shitty set of excuses.”
“Is he really all that, though?” Jun asks, only slightly condescending. Nino scoffs at the question, watching the smoke from his cigarette mix with the wind and drift off.
“Would I be going through all this trouble if it wasn’t?”
Jun just shakes his head. “You always go out of your way to make things difficult for everyone else, just so you can get what you want.” He looks pointedly at Nino from above the rim of his glasses. “This time is no exception. Aiba and Sakurai have told me what you’ve made them do. And if you really want this to work out, you better be willing to do some of the work yourself.” Suddenly Jun’s phone rings, and Nino looks on as Jun reads the caller ID. “It’s Ohkura,” he explains. “Usually he doesn’t call unless it’s urgent, so I gotta go.” As he walks away he stubs his cigarette into the ashtray before he crosses the threshold back into the building. Nino turns back to the cigarette, watching the ashes fall, then fly away.
So for the next few weeks, Nino tries his hardest to not distract himself from work (well, not more than before Ohno arrived). Which seems to work out well for the department, because the CEO, out of the blue, has a brilliant idea to create a better work environment by moving half the departments around (“Because this building is the brain of the business and we are the neurons, and a healthy business needs an efficient brain.” the e-mail had said). That meant the IT department had to scramble every hour of every day for who knows how many days, transferring files, reattaching servers, and moving computers from one floor to another. When he can, Nino tries to take the occasional break with the hope of catching Ohno during his lunch hour; most times he doesn’t see him, and when he does it’s as the man is leaving the lunchroom. Last week he didn’t see him at all. He even tries to pass that same corridor where they first bumped into each other, looking out the window, hoping to find him at the terrace. Nothing. But even though it’s easy to just go to the Analytical department and ask for him, he doesn’t. Even after not seeing him for a week straight, he’s still too cowardly to make an effort. He should be worried, but with how busy it’s been he hasn’t had much time to worry about anything other than tech support. It’s ridiculously frustrating, but at least no one’s been complaining and he isn’t getting sent to Shingo’s office. Apparently his new-found “productivity” has even reached Sho, who congratulates him for it.
“See what you can do with a little effort?”
Nino sulks, resting his head on his arms against Sho’s guest chair. Again, he usually wouldn’t make the effort to this part of the building other than to try and see Ohno, but those damn tech grunts were flying around like mosquitoes these past few days and Nino needed some fresh air (or at least some fresh circulated office air).
Sho looks at Nino, worried when his question isn’t answered. “Is something wrong?”
A sigh escapes Nino, who rubs his eyes against his hand. Had he always been this tired? Even at their busiest he’s still had enough energy to survive the rest of the day, go home, and play video games for a few hours. Now he can barely make it past lunch without wanting to crawl in a corner and nap for a few weeks. And even if he was tired, just the sight of Ohno would be enough to—
Wait.
Nino’s eyes dart open, zeroing in on Sho.
“Did you change his schedule or something?”
Sho looks puzzled. “You mean Ohno, right? No, I didn’t. Why do you ask?”
Nino tries to answer as nonplussed as he can muster. “It’s just that I haven’t seen him, you know, around lately. Did something happen?”
Sho looks at Nino pointedly. “Well, of course you wouldn’t see him. You don’t have the same schedule and you’re not on the same floor as him. Besides,” he says, “he’s not here anymore.”
Nino’s chest tightens. What? What does he mean by “not here”? As in transferred? As in fired?
No. He’s too late, he waited too long. Why had he been so stupid? Why hadn’t he said anything? He needs answers, and he needs them now. So he runs, ignoring Sho’s shouts along the way. He runs down the flights of stairs, to the third floor, past the motivational posters and paper garlands, not stopping until he’s in front of Aiba’s desk. He bangs his hands on the desk, startling Aiba from his paper clip chain that he’d been working on since he’d been on the phone with a customer. He scoots back, flabbergasted, waiting for Nino to catch his breath (and calm down).
“Where the hell is he?”
Aiba looks from Nino to the phone and back again. He starts to shrink under Nino’s fuming stare, torn between trying to placate him and keeping his concentration on the caller he’s been assisting. So he covers the receiver and looks pleadingly at Nino before whispering, “Nino, I need to finish this call, can’t you—”
His phone goes flying. Nino’s basically in a rage now. Maruyama and Shibutani look over from their cubicles at the commotion. Shibutani frowns; the rattling of the tossed phone against his and Aiba’s shared wall knocked down his tower of playing cards.
Aiba stands up, putting both hands in front of him. “Nino, calm down. We should talk about this, OK? Talk. That’s the best thing right now.”
“Aiba, I don’t want to waste time talking. I want answers. Where the hell is Ohno?”
Aiba averts his gaze from Nino’s, apologetic. “I’m sorry, Nino. I should have told you sooner. I didn’t know about the decision until after he was moved.”
Nino goes from enraged to slightly confused. His stance gets a little less defensive, and Aiba lowers his arms. “Moved? Wait, I thought he was fired.”
Aiba tilts his head. “Huh? No, no, that’s not it! He was just transferred to another floor. They moved the Analytics department closer to Accounting. Weren’t you all in charge of transferring their computers?”
Nino plops down on Aiba’s chair. He remembers helping Nishikido organize who was going to do the moving, and coordinating the seating arrangement with Sho, but he didn’t even realize he saw Ohno’s name over and over again on the paperwork. He feels Aiba’s hands on his shoulders and looks up, expecting to be lectured like Jun and Shingo did. Instead, Aiba’s smiling at him, radiating forgiveness and Nino is so, so thankful to have a friend like him.
“Now you know, right? Go on and talk to him.” Nino nods, getting up, and starts running, Aiba calling out behind him.
“It’s not just customer relations that are important, Nino! It’s ALL relations!”
He turns the corner out of the Human Resources department and into the elevator, the wind from his passing knocking over Subaru’s new half-done card castle.
Now he’s a bundle of nervous energy, jumping around between trying to calm himself down and trying to figure out what to say when he sees Ohno. As the elevator doors open, he clenches his fists at his sides, takes a deep breath, and takes calculated steps to towards the floor’s receptionist. The woman, who’s got a smile that reminds him of Aiba’s and a name card decorated with small animal plushes, looks at Nino and asks him if he needs any help.
“I’m here to see Ohno. Ohno… Ohno Satoshi. Is he available? I don’t know if I need an appointment or something.”
The woman (“Becky” her name card says) giggles and seriously, Aiba does know this woman exists, right? She shakes her head, gesturing with her hand towards the far wall behind her. “His office is the fourth on the left. If he’s available, just go on in.” Nino gives her a small bow before heading in. He’s never seen any of the other financial analysts and the environment isn’t unwelcoming, everyone just seems focused on the task at hand. He reaches the fourth room on the left and notices that the door’s open. Nino holds his breath and takes a few trepid steps forward before realizing that it’s empty. There are stacks of papers on one side of the desk, a calculator on the other, and a couch on one side of the room. It looks busy and cozy at the same time.
“Nino?”
Nino turns around quickly and sees Ohno with a cup of tea. He moves so Ohno can enter his office. Ohno turns to Nino and points to his couch with his free hand. “Oh, come in. Did you want any tea?”
Nino rejects the offer with a shake of his head as he sits on the couch. It’s comfortable, but he can’t make himself feel relaxed. He watches Ohno organize the stuff around his desk, moving things off to the side. Ohno looks at Nino, his eyes expectant, waiting. And for Nino, this is the scariest invitation he’s ever received, but now he’s in no position to run away.
“I… I noticed that you haven’t been going to lunch at your usual time. I mean….” Shit. Good job, giving yourself away like that, he thinks disdainfully. Ohno moves under his desk and grabs a bag, pulling the contents out and setting them on the empty space in the middle of his desk. It’s a bento set from the local convenience store.
“Oh, the walk to the lunchroom is kind of long now. So I just bring my own lunch.” He shrugs, opening the plastic top of his bento. When Ohno looks up, Nino’s standing in front of his desk.
“Um, I want to do this properly.” Ohno crooks his head, puzzled, a freshly separated chopstick in each hand. Ohno looks at his chopsticks, like they might be what Nino’s referring to.
“Let’s have lunch? Together?” Nino holds his breath, waiting for Ohno’s response. Ohno looks hesitant and Nino hopes that it doesn’t mean that he’s blew it.
But Ohno doesn’t tell him to leave, doesn’t move away, just says, “Sure. But I don’t see yours…”
Nino breathes a sigh of relief. “I mean later, Ohno. Some other day. Is that OK?” Hopefully he didn’t sound too hopeful, but thankfully Ohno looks happy at hearing the invitation.
“Of course, you’re always welcome in my office. You can even use the couch; I’m sure dealing with IT problems all the time can be really tiring.”
“Thanks,” Nino replies. He won’t let himself think too far ahead. Just the fact that Ohno’s still here, Ohno wants to have lunch with him, hopefully wants to have lunch with him after that. “I’ll email you about when’s a good time, how about that?” Ohno nods, and Nino, feeling lighter than he’s felt since his first saw the man in front of him, makes his way out of the other man’s office. Before he reaches the door, he turns when he hears Ohno call out to him.
“I’m glad you came. I wanted to properly try to make time to talk to you, but things got hectic, and then we moved. So I’m happy that you found me.”
Nino smiles, gives Ohno a small nod before heading back to his floor, smiling to himself and trying to quell his rapidly beating heart. He even turns and waves at Becky before entering the elevator. But instead of going to his floor, he presses the number ‘3’. Smiling, he thinks about when would be a good day to meet up with Ohno and what bento he should bring. He also thinks about the bento he owes Sho, Aiba, and Jun.
Well, maybe not Jun. He wouldn’t eat it anyway, that prick.
icecreamsukiFrom:
alphie_damiekTitle: Every Time We Meet by Chance
Pairing/Focus: Ohmiya
Rating: PG-13 because most people in the workplace don’t use polite language
Warnings: See rating
Summary: Office!AU Starring Arashi with appearances by Kanjani8 and SMAP (and kudos if you can figure out the other group that snuck in). Nino’s got a million ways to get what he wants, but it’s not the same if he can’t do it himself.
Notes: It was a pleasure to write for you,
icecreamsuki! I hope you like enjoy your NinoDay fic. And thank you Ms. IA for all your help! The title comes from yarukizero’s translation of a line from Niji no Kakera.For reference:
Nino: Level 3 IT, IT Coordinator
Sho: Workflow Specialist
Jun: PR Consultant
Aiba: HR Supervisor
Ohno: Financial Analyst
He had been intrigued since he first saw the man, sitting alone in the lunchroom. He was dressed in a maroon cardigan and deliciously fitting work pants. Not to mention the Ray-Bans he was sporting. And while the rest of the lunchroom was bustling with co-workers gossiping together and making plans, he was the only static element in the room. But not in a bad way: it was if time had slowed around him, as if his relaxed aura could control his immediate area.
It’s that enticing sort of adorable sexiness that has Nino gravitating towards him. What would it be like to actually sit next to him? Maybe like a personal rest area, amidst all the bustling employees trying to make deadlines and write reports? Or maybe there would be a quiet kind of energy, like the buzzing of anticipation Nino often felt before a new game was being released. But since it wasn’t his lunch hour and he didn’t have a lunch with him anyway (he was just going to bum off Jun later, since that man never had the time to eat his), he didn’t try to navigate around the bustling groups of people picking through pre-wrapped sandwiches and fruit cups.
Obviously he wasn’t going to just waltz right over and start talking to the man. It would be weird, wouldn’t it? Just sitting down in front of someone empty-handed and saying, “Hi, I’m Nino, and I may not have anything to eat with me but you are beautiful.” Right. He had more tact than that. Thankfully, he had ways to get around actually talking to someone in order to know more about him.
Now Nino’s curious. And no, he’s not a stalker. He’s smarter than a stalker. He has connections.
So he turns around (not before one last glance at the man) and makes his way to the third floor.
The third floor is decorated with colorful banners of encouragement and inspirational posters filled with animals and horrible puns, thanks to the head of HR, the man he’s about to see. He ignores some of the stares he gets; yes, its unusual to see one of the level 3 ITs in the HR department, but Nino’s not here to complain (this time). He makes a beeline for Aiba Masaki’s desk in the middle of the room, who is smiling as he finishes a call with a customer. It’s something Nino can’t fathom. Listening to people bitch all day and actually enjoying it? He leans against the wall of Aiba’s cubicle, waiting until Aiba hangs up.
“Having fun sucking up to the customers?”
Aiba laughs it off. “Customer relations, Nino! You know it’s important for a business to actually care about their customers.”
“Please, you’re the only one who actually gives a crap when you talk to them.” Maruyama frowns at them from the cubicle across, but Nino just waves him away with his fingers and a cheeky smile.
“Listen, enough about customers for two seconds. I need your help.” He sits down on the chair meant for Aiba’s clients, which has a gold duck-faced cushion on it. Crossing his legs and wrapping his hands around his knee, he gives an aura of “serious business” as he speaks.
“Aiba.”
Aiba leans forward, eyes and ears perking up. Nino leans forward and whispers.
“I need you to look up someone.”
Aiba sighs and slumps back into his seat. “You know I can’t do that for you Nino. It’s against company policy.”
Nino physically shrugs off the idea that he even mentioned something rule breaking. Frowning dejectedly, he gets up and makes a tepid motion of stretching his back and arms in front of Aiba’s desk.
“Fine, I see how it is. You know, I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to do it myself.”
Aiba squints at the other man. Nervously he asks, “What… what do you mean ‘yourself’?”
“Myself,” Nino corrects him. “I’ll just dig through the database myself until I find him.” He can’t suppress a smirk as Aiba’s eyes widen. He knows Aiba doesn’t like breaking the rules, but he also knows that Aiba hates the guilt of knowing that he KNOWS someone is breaking the rules even more. Slowly, Aiba moves his hands to his keyboard. Nino sits back down.
“What’s his name?”
“Don’t know. All I know is that I haven’t seen him here before. He’s got short, black hair, round face, and wears cardigans and Ray-Bans.”
Aiba lightens as he hears the description, snapping his fingers as he remembers. “Ahh! You mean Ohno-san. Yeah, I actually just met him. He came in yesterday to fill out his NDA paperwork. He didn’t talk much.” But still, Aiba’s smiling, like he’s got something to reminisce. “But he seemed nice. What exactly do you need to know about him?”
Nino leans forward. “Everything.”
Thanks to Aiba, Nino now knows who this man is and his role is as another cog in this business’s machine. His name is Ohno Satoshi, and he works in the financial sector as one of their analysts. He mulls over this new information, black bangs and Ray-Bans on his mind as someone knocks on the door to his office before letting himself in.
“Nino, things are starting to get hectic.”
Nino doesn’t look up, doesn’t give any telltale sign that he heard someone speak other than a half-hearted, “Hmm?”
“Yeah, the tickets have been piling up.”
“Mmm.”
The speaker gives an exasperated sigh. “Look, I know you’re not playing games, so could you please listen?”
Nino continues to stare at his screen, but furrows his brows, as if he’s trying to glare at the other employee though it. “And how do you know I’m not?”
Nishikido pointedly looks at Nino’s keyboard. “Your fingers aren’t on any of the directional keys.”
Nino huffs and glances up at Nishikido. He’s got a bright yellow shirt on and his tie lapel has a little infinity symbol with wings on it. “OK, which ticket is most important?”
Nishikido looks through his printout. “One of the CEO’s assistants is having trouble connecting to the server. We sent Yokoo over, but the assistant gave him so much grief he almost came back crying.”
Nino spends a few seconds thinking it over. “Just send another one of them out. We’ve got seven of them.”
He looks up and sees Nishikido glaring at him. “It would be simpler if we just fixed the problem here.”
Nino shrugs. “Fine, then. Fix the problem here.”
Nishikido sighs in defeat as he leaves. Not Nino’s problem, really. But just for kicks he logs into the offending computer and fixes the alias connection by the time Nishikido gets back to his desk.
The only reason he doesn’t go up this high is because of how tedious the trip to get there is. First, there’s the elevator ride seven stories high. Then he’s got to go across the hall, to the right, across another hall, and finally he barges into the fifth office on the right.
Sakurai Sho doesn’t look up from the mountains of schedules on his desk, his hands typing furiously, transferring the information into Excel. His face looks like death and Nino doesn’t have to touch the cup on Sho’s desk to know that the coffee in it is hours old.
“So. This Ohno character.”
Sho’s hands slow down on his keyboard as he thinks, analyzes the name in his mental employee database. He replies, still typing. “Yeah, apparently he’s doing really well as one of the newest financial analysts. I haven’t really spoken to him myself, but if he’s doing a good job that’s fine by me.”
Nino smiles. “So you do know him. I’ll get to the point, then. You HAVE to get our schedules to match up somehow.” He puts his elbows on Sho’s desk, messing up some of the stacks, but Nino’s sure Sho has everything on them memorized anyway.
“Dammit Nino, that’s not what my job entails, I hope you realize that.”
“All I realize is that you are in a high enough position to actually do something. So do it. Something. That something. Please? The only time I get to see him is during our lunch break.”
Sho stops typing to give Nino a stern look. “Nino, you two don’t have the same lunch break.”
“And therein lies the problem. I don’t like breaking the rules, Sho, you know that.”
Sakurai massages his forehead. “So you’d rather I break the rules for you?”
“No, Sho. I’m just asking that you help someone out. Someone in need.” Nino squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them and stares at Sho with what he hopes is his best puppy-dog stare. “Please?”
But Sho doesn’t give. “No, Nino. If you want to talk to him, try to find time to do it yourself. Or e-mail him. But do it on your own time, not during company time.”
The answer isn’t the one Nino wants to hear, but it can’t be helped. Sho isn’t as easily swayed as Aiba is, and when it comes to work, he can be even more stubborn than Nino. He knows he’s lost this round.
As he makes his way back to his office, Nino turns a corner and plows into someone, sending the other man face-first against the wall.
“Oh shit!” Nino exclaims. “Are you OK? I’m really so—” The rest of his apology leaves him as his eyes meet a round face with Ray-Bans.
“Ahh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Ohno apologizes with a soft smile. All Nino can do is shake his head mechanically. He forgot that Ohno was also on this floor (another tidbit he got from Aiba). Ohno looks slightly past him and Nino realizes he’s in the other man’s way. He moves to the side, but Ohno doesn’t move past him. Instead he looks at Nino expectedly.
“I was just going to go outside for some fresh air. Want to join me?” Nino is still speechless, just follows Ohno as he makes his way to the terrace, opening the door for Nino. Ohno takes in a deep breath as the wind brushes against the ends of his hair.
“Mmm, this is nice. Sometimes it’s kind of stuffy in there, don’t you think?”
All Nino can do is squint at the sun and grumble out loud: “It’s kind of bright.”
Ohno laughs, beckoning Nino over. “Fresh air won’t hurt you.”
Nino pouts. “You don’t know that.” But Ohno has this weirdly refreshing aura around him that brings Nino forward, out onto the terrace with him. He stands next to Ohno, and even though the wind is relaxing, his muscles are still stiff from being so close to him. Ohno looks over the terrace at the nearby buildings glittering in the Tokyo light. He turns to Nino.
“See, this isn’t so bad.” He moves closer to Nino, extending a hand in greeting. Nino looks at the hand, and even those are pretty: long, slender fingers and tapering nails. They look feminine, but the shake he receives has a lot of strength to it.
“I’m Ohno. Ohno Satoshi.” Nino pretends he doesn’t already know that, smiles as he hears it coming out of the actual man’s mouth.
He responds with what he can only hope is a smooth, “Nino. Just call me Nino.”
“Nino, huh. Are you in the same department as Sakurai?”
So Sho DID know who Ohno was, that lying bastard. “Sho? Ah, no. I’m just in IT.”
Ohno looks impressed. “That must be hard. Are you new here too?” Nino shakes his head.
“Ahh, no. I’ve been here for three years.”
“Oh, really?” Ohno asks. “Same as Aiba, then?”
“Yeah, Aiba and I started here at around the same time. That guy, though.” Nino chuckles, shaking his head as he thinks about Aiba at his desk, laughing with a customer while he’s making chains out of paperclips or something. “He’s a nice guy.”
Ohno nods in agreement. “He is nice. Him and Sakurai.” They spend a few more moments in silence. It’s more comfortable than Nino realized it would be, given that A) he never made time to practice what he’d do when they’d actually meet, and B) being with the other man feels nice, nicer than he thought.
Soon Ohno clears his throat, breaking the silence. “Well, I meant to just sneak out for a few minutes, so I should go back.” He turns towards the door and gives a small wave to Nino. “It was nice meeting you, Nino.”
Nino brings his hand up, but by the time he tries to return the sentiment Ohno’s already in the building.
Nino makes an effort to try and catch Ohno whenever he’s available. Or really, whenever he thinks Ohno’s available. Because Ohno comes in earlier than him (one of the perks of being a level 3 IT is a slightly more flexible schedule), that means his lunch is earlier than Nino’s. So Nino has to find ways around that, creating situations that would cause them to meet. But whenever it happens, it’s always in passing and both he and Nino can barely exchange a “Hello”. Nino knows he should do more, should say more, but he doesn’t. If he can do this enough times, he convinces himself, then the perfect situation will present itself eventually.
And he sincerely doesn’t think this whole “obsession-but-not-in-a-stalker-way-over-Ohno” thing is a distraction. But apparently it got serious enough that, after he sat down after “accidentally” passing Ohno on the way to the seventh floor bathroom (where Sho was washing his hands and giving Nino the weirdest look), he got an email from his supervisor asking him to come into his office.
“Nino,” Shingo begins. Nino opens his mouth, ready to defend himself, but he stops when Shingo holds a hand up to silence him.
“Look, Nishikido and some of the other techs have been telling me that you’ve been slacking on your duties. And while I usually turn my head away from these kind of situations, apparently it’s causing everyone else to have to work through more tickets and adding unnecessary stress to the department.”
Nino looks down, guilty.
“Also, I heard you were bothering the security guards about the password for their security cameras.”
OK, he was hoping that wouldn’t have come up. But now that it has there really is nothing he can do to put himself back into a good light.
“Nino, seriously, I don’t give a shit what you do, as long as you do your job while you’re at it. Get to it, or I’ll be forced to make you a grunt.”
Nino groans. The last thing he wants is to be of the techs who get sent to do on-site tech support. He doesn’t want to be involved with those kids, who have even gone so far as to give themselves a stupid nickname and use Heelys to get around the building. He nods and lets the weight of Shingo’s threat sink in. Looking up, he hopes that he can squeeze by with at least a funny quip to end this session with.
But Shingo’s already focused on something on his computer. He looks back to Nino. “Go on, get to it.”
So Nino stands up, bowing his head and giving a soft apology as he leaves Shingo’s office. But he doesn’t go back to his desk. Instead, he heads towards the roof, trying to ignore the heated glares the rest of the team is giving him.
When he gets to the roof, he’s not alone. Here he finds Matsumoto Jun and what looks like a mountain of cigarette butts next to him in an ashtray. Jun’s got his shoulders hunched, elbows on the railing and wind frazzling his 200-dollar haircut. Without preamble, he reaches into Jun’s right jacket pocket, grabs both Jun’s smokes and his lighter (ignoring Jun’s indignant protests), lighting himself a cigarette and taking a drag like it’s the only source of air he’s got.
“I can’t imagine you having a worse day than me,” Jun grumbles, grabbing his belongings back from Nino’s outstretched hand. “But humor me.”
Nino chuckles. “Well, there’s this guy…”
Jun holds up a hand. “Wait. Is this the guy everyone says you’ve been pining for? The same one you haven’t even had a full-on conversation with, yet you’ve gone so far as to be his personal stalker?”
Jun gets a response from Nino’s middle finger. “Not stalking. Just trying to find out as much as I can before I actually make an attempt. You know about first impressions, J. What kind of asshole would I be if I actually tried talking to him without knowing anything about him beforehand? I’m making myself a safety net, not some shitty set of excuses.”
“Is he really all that, though?” Jun asks, only slightly condescending. Nino scoffs at the question, watching the smoke from his cigarette mix with the wind and drift off.
“Would I be going through all this trouble if it wasn’t?”
Jun just shakes his head. “You always go out of your way to make things difficult for everyone else, just so you can get what you want.” He looks pointedly at Nino from above the rim of his glasses. “This time is no exception. Aiba and Sakurai have told me what you’ve made them do. And if you really want this to work out, you better be willing to do some of the work yourself.” Suddenly Jun’s phone rings, and Nino looks on as Jun reads the caller ID. “It’s Ohkura,” he explains. “Usually he doesn’t call unless it’s urgent, so I gotta go.” As he walks away he stubs his cigarette into the ashtray before he crosses the threshold back into the building. Nino turns back to the cigarette, watching the ashes fall, then fly away.
So for the next few weeks, Nino tries his hardest to not distract himself from work (well, not more than before Ohno arrived). Which seems to work out well for the department, because the CEO, out of the blue, has a brilliant idea to create a better work environment by moving half the departments around (“Because this building is the brain of the business and we are the neurons, and a healthy business needs an efficient brain.” the e-mail had said). That meant the IT department had to scramble every hour of every day for who knows how many days, transferring files, reattaching servers, and moving computers from one floor to another. When he can, Nino tries to take the occasional break with the hope of catching Ohno during his lunch hour; most times he doesn’t see him, and when he does it’s as the man is leaving the lunchroom. Last week he didn’t see him at all. He even tries to pass that same corridor where they first bumped into each other, looking out the window, hoping to find him at the terrace. Nothing. But even though it’s easy to just go to the Analytical department and ask for him, he doesn’t. Even after not seeing him for a week straight, he’s still too cowardly to make an effort. He should be worried, but with how busy it’s been he hasn’t had much time to worry about anything other than tech support. It’s ridiculously frustrating, but at least no one’s been complaining and he isn’t getting sent to Shingo’s office. Apparently his new-found “productivity” has even reached Sho, who congratulates him for it.
“See what you can do with a little effort?”
Nino sulks, resting his head on his arms against Sho’s guest chair. Again, he usually wouldn’t make the effort to this part of the building other than to try and see Ohno, but those damn tech grunts were flying around like mosquitoes these past few days and Nino needed some fresh air (or at least some fresh circulated office air).
Sho looks at Nino, worried when his question isn’t answered. “Is something wrong?”
A sigh escapes Nino, who rubs his eyes against his hand. Had he always been this tired? Even at their busiest he’s still had enough energy to survive the rest of the day, go home, and play video games for a few hours. Now he can barely make it past lunch without wanting to crawl in a corner and nap for a few weeks. And even if he was tired, just the sight of Ohno would be enough to—
Wait.
Nino’s eyes dart open, zeroing in on Sho.
“Did you change his schedule or something?”
Sho looks puzzled. “You mean Ohno, right? No, I didn’t. Why do you ask?”
Nino tries to answer as nonplussed as he can muster. “It’s just that I haven’t seen him, you know, around lately. Did something happen?”
Sho looks at Nino pointedly. “Well, of course you wouldn’t see him. You don’t have the same schedule and you’re not on the same floor as him. Besides,” he says, “he’s not here anymore.”
Nino’s chest tightens. What? What does he mean by “not here”? As in transferred? As in fired?
No. He’s too late, he waited too long. Why had he been so stupid? Why hadn’t he said anything? He needs answers, and he needs them now. So he runs, ignoring Sho’s shouts along the way. He runs down the flights of stairs, to the third floor, past the motivational posters and paper garlands, not stopping until he’s in front of Aiba’s desk. He bangs his hands on the desk, startling Aiba from his paper clip chain that he’d been working on since he’d been on the phone with a customer. He scoots back, flabbergasted, waiting for Nino to catch his breath (and calm down).
“Where the hell is he?”
Aiba looks from Nino to the phone and back again. He starts to shrink under Nino’s fuming stare, torn between trying to placate him and keeping his concentration on the caller he’s been assisting. So he covers the receiver and looks pleadingly at Nino before whispering, “Nino, I need to finish this call, can’t you—”
His phone goes flying. Nino’s basically in a rage now. Maruyama and Shibutani look over from their cubicles at the commotion. Shibutani frowns; the rattling of the tossed phone against his and Aiba’s shared wall knocked down his tower of playing cards.
Aiba stands up, putting both hands in front of him. “Nino, calm down. We should talk about this, OK? Talk. That’s the best thing right now.”
“Aiba, I don’t want to waste time talking. I want answers. Where the hell is Ohno?”
Aiba averts his gaze from Nino’s, apologetic. “I’m sorry, Nino. I should have told you sooner. I didn’t know about the decision until after he was moved.”
Nino goes from enraged to slightly confused. His stance gets a little less defensive, and Aiba lowers his arms. “Moved? Wait, I thought he was fired.”
Aiba tilts his head. “Huh? No, no, that’s not it! He was just transferred to another floor. They moved the Analytics department closer to Accounting. Weren’t you all in charge of transferring their computers?”
Nino plops down on Aiba’s chair. He remembers helping Nishikido organize who was going to do the moving, and coordinating the seating arrangement with Sho, but he didn’t even realize he saw Ohno’s name over and over again on the paperwork. He feels Aiba’s hands on his shoulders and looks up, expecting to be lectured like Jun and Shingo did. Instead, Aiba’s smiling at him, radiating forgiveness and Nino is so, so thankful to have a friend like him.
“Now you know, right? Go on and talk to him.” Nino nods, getting up, and starts running, Aiba calling out behind him.
“It’s not just customer relations that are important, Nino! It’s ALL relations!”
He turns the corner out of the Human Resources department and into the elevator, the wind from his passing knocking over Subaru’s new half-done card castle.
Now he’s a bundle of nervous energy, jumping around between trying to calm himself down and trying to figure out what to say when he sees Ohno. As the elevator doors open, he clenches his fists at his sides, takes a deep breath, and takes calculated steps to towards the floor’s receptionist. The woman, who’s got a smile that reminds him of Aiba’s and a name card decorated with small animal plushes, looks at Nino and asks him if he needs any help.
“I’m here to see Ohno. Ohno… Ohno Satoshi. Is he available? I don’t know if I need an appointment or something.”
The woman (“Becky” her name card says) giggles and seriously, Aiba does know this woman exists, right? She shakes her head, gesturing with her hand towards the far wall behind her. “His office is the fourth on the left. If he’s available, just go on in.” Nino gives her a small bow before heading in. He’s never seen any of the other financial analysts and the environment isn’t unwelcoming, everyone just seems focused on the task at hand. He reaches the fourth room on the left and notices that the door’s open. Nino holds his breath and takes a few trepid steps forward before realizing that it’s empty. There are stacks of papers on one side of the desk, a calculator on the other, and a couch on one side of the room. It looks busy and cozy at the same time.
“Nino?”
Nino turns around quickly and sees Ohno with a cup of tea. He moves so Ohno can enter his office. Ohno turns to Nino and points to his couch with his free hand. “Oh, come in. Did you want any tea?”
Nino rejects the offer with a shake of his head as he sits on the couch. It’s comfortable, but he can’t make himself feel relaxed. He watches Ohno organize the stuff around his desk, moving things off to the side. Ohno looks at Nino, his eyes expectant, waiting. And for Nino, this is the scariest invitation he’s ever received, but now he’s in no position to run away.
“I… I noticed that you haven’t been going to lunch at your usual time. I mean….” Shit. Good job, giving yourself away like that, he thinks disdainfully. Ohno moves under his desk and grabs a bag, pulling the contents out and setting them on the empty space in the middle of his desk. It’s a bento set from the local convenience store.
“Oh, the walk to the lunchroom is kind of long now. So I just bring my own lunch.” He shrugs, opening the plastic top of his bento. When Ohno looks up, Nino’s standing in front of his desk.
“Um, I want to do this properly.” Ohno crooks his head, puzzled, a freshly separated chopstick in each hand. Ohno looks at his chopsticks, like they might be what Nino’s referring to.
“Let’s have lunch? Together?” Nino holds his breath, waiting for Ohno’s response. Ohno looks hesitant and Nino hopes that it doesn’t mean that he’s blew it.
But Ohno doesn’t tell him to leave, doesn’t move away, just says, “Sure. But I don’t see yours…”
Nino breathes a sigh of relief. “I mean later, Ohno. Some other day. Is that OK?” Hopefully he didn’t sound too hopeful, but thankfully Ohno looks happy at hearing the invitation.
“Of course, you’re always welcome in my office. You can even use the couch; I’m sure dealing with IT problems all the time can be really tiring.”
“Thanks,” Nino replies. He won’t let himself think too far ahead. Just the fact that Ohno’s still here, Ohno wants to have lunch with him, hopefully wants to have lunch with him after that. “I’ll email you about when’s a good time, how about that?” Ohno nods, and Nino, feeling lighter than he’s felt since his first saw the man in front of him, makes his way out of the other man’s office. Before he reaches the door, he turns when he hears Ohno call out to him.
“I’m glad you came. I wanted to properly try to make time to talk to you, but things got hectic, and then we moved. So I’m happy that you found me.”
Nino smiles, gives Ohno a small nod before heading back to his floor, smiling to himself and trying to quell his rapidly beating heart. He even turns and waves at Becky before entering the elevator. But instead of going to his floor, he presses the number ‘3’. Smiling, he thinks about when would be a good day to meet up with Ohno and what bento he should bring. He also thinks about the bento he owes Sho, Aiba, and Jun.
Well, maybe not Jun. He wouldn’t eat it anyway, that prick.
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Thanks for sharing anon-san!
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Thanks for writing!! :D
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Thank you! :D
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thank you for taking your time to write this! I'm sorry if I've only read it just now.. I've been busy with school stuff..
office AU! I really like it when Nino is chasing Ohno :)) and troubling people along the way... :p and I love that Ohno is welcoming Nino's advances! :)
and I love Niji no Kakera! "meguriau tabi...." that's my new LSS!!
I don't know who you are, but I am really grateful for this! :))
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I'm so happy that you liked your NinoDay fic. Thank you for your wonderful comment!
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