fic for jade_lil (1/5)

[nino-mod.livejournal.com]

For: jade_lil
From: phrenk

Title: Should You Choose to Accept It
Pairing/Focus: Nino/Ohno/Sho in all combinations
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: implausible action scenes including violence, terrorists, and explosions; past minor character death resulting in an angsty back-story; peril and injury to main characters (all of whom make it through just fine)
Summary: Nino is a secret agent in a world where a mark on his arm means he'll know his soulmate as soon as they touch. That doesn't mean he's going to wait quietly, not when he's already found the love of his life. But when he meets someone else, what does that mean when it comes to destiny?
Notes: I was intrigued by the mention of soulmate tattoos, jade_lil, and I hope you like this! Thank you to my beta, and also to our nino-mod, to whom I additionally apologize for my lateness.

As he had every morning for the past six months, Nino woke up next to the love of his life.

He could tell from Sho's breathing (a kind word for snoring, currently) that said love of his life was still asleep, and so he spent a few minutes, as he had routinely done for the same half a year, wondering about someone else.

The rest of the time he was Sho's, through and through, with no regrets. If he'd really wanted to, he could even get rid of this daily moment, but honestly… it was something he wanted to keep.

Also, he was secretly a little superstitious, and part of him thought that if he didn't remember the person who'd saved his life, something bad might happen--his hero might die, or turn out to have been his imagination all along, or forget him completely in turn.

Thus Nino, who loved Sho with all his heart and intended to be with him as long as Sho would have him, took some time before Sho woke up to think about Ohno Satoshi.

Was Oh-chan well? Happy? Had he found a new job; had he found his soulmate?

Did he still think about that one heartwrenching kiss, like Nino did once--and only once--every day?

Though he wasn't especially religious, Nino sent well wishes out into the universe toward Ohno.

An ungraceful choking noise heralded Sho rejoining the world, and Nino smiled. He turned to his boyfriend and watched him wake up. Sho was tangled in the sheets, frowning and a little sweaty. His eyes were still closed, so Nino let every single foolish emotion show on his face--his soulmate tattoo hadn't sparked with Sho's, but this person in bed with him was his, destiny be damned.

Sho opened his eyes like he already had a grudge against the day. Then, blearily seeing Nino, he smiled. The fact that Sho found Nino's presence something to turn a bad morning good was something for which Nino was grateful.

He said kindly, "You were snoring again."

Sho rolled toward him on the bed like he was going to push Nino off. "I've never snored a day in my life."

Nino let Sho bump up against him and wrapped his arms around those strong shoulders. As usual, Sho was only in a tank top and underwear for sleeping, and Nino fussily kicked at the sheets until he could tangle his pajama-covered legs with Sho's bare ones.

"I don't snore," Sho insisted again, but he was already tucking himself closer to Nino, his cheek on Nino's shoulder. They lay there for a moment comfortably. Nino was also wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt because he got cold easily and Sho tended to steal the covers, and, not for the first time, he wished he could think himself naked. Sho's skin on his was the perfect way to start the day.

After a moment, he realized Sho was thinking about something. Usually this sort of situation would make Sho sleepy, or horny, or talkative--all of which Nino enjoyed--but right now Sho's breath was quick, his body tense.

Nino waited him out. It had taken some time to trust Sho again after they'd gotten back together, but he was starting to believe they were both in this for the long haul, no matter what happened with their soulmate marks.

Finally Sho said quietly, "Am I sharing you?"

Nino's arms tightened involuntarily, making Sho give a winded oof. Instead of letting go, Nino kept him there, holding him as close as he could get him, like he could transmit his commitment directly into Sho by touch. After they'd reunited, Nino had told Sho everything about the time they'd spent apart, and about Ohno, because he wasn't about to start over without complete honesty. Sho had been (adorably) embarrassed that he hadn't slept around like Nino had during that painful year, but people coped in different ways. The thing with Ohno was something else entirely, but Sho, after they'd finished hashing everything out, hadn't asked him about it again.

Nino didn't consider a few minutes out of twenty-four hours to be important to anyone but himself. He said, "If you want me to spend less time gaming, there are less roundabout ways to say so, Sho-chan."

Sho ignored this. His next words were firm, however gently he spoke them, and he said them as if he hadn't paused at all.

"Because I can."

"Sho-chan--" Nino started, trying not to panic.

"He saved your life," Sho said steadily. He pushed himself up on one elbow and looked down into Nino's eyes. "He's the reason you're here with me right now, in more ways than one. If you--"

"You're stuck with me. Stop trying to wiggle out of it."

Instead of smiling, Sho pressed his mouth to Nino's temple. "I'm not trying to wiggle out of anything. I'm saying I can share."

"Sounds like wiggling to me," Nino said grumpily. "What little time we have before work and you're spending it talking about someone else."

Sho sat up, making Nino suppress a little sound of disappointment, but then Sho's hands were working their way up Nino's shirt. It ended up involving more movement than Nino would've chosen, but Sho got the shirt off and lay back down next to him, his fingers tracing the familiar pattern of Nino's soulmate tattoo.

Nino lay there with his eyes closed, trying to control his breathing as Sho's touch skimmed down and around his left wrist, so light it gave him goosebumps. After a moment, he placed his other hand on Sho's and guided him. From long practice, Sho knew where Nino's mark was, but no one could see it but Nino himself. Not until he sparked.

"That thing's defective," he said hoarsely. "I've been thinking about getting it removed."

A childish bluff, considering there was no known way to do so--even losing an arm would mean the tattoo reappeared somewhere else--but Sho still drew in his breath sharply.

"Don't you dare. I want to see it someday--I want to see every part of you."

It hurt. It hurt to be together when a stupid mark on his arm was a constant reminder that it wasn't forever (except it was--it was forever--), but Nino was going to fight for it.

Instead of saying I love you, Nino said, "Feeling spry? There are some parts of me you've neglected lately, old man, and if you're quick I'll still have time for a few levels before we leave."

Sho grinned and let go of Nino's wrist. "Neglected?" he said, sounding delighted. "Which ones? I thought I got you all over last night but I'm willing to try again."

Despite himself, Nino flushed. If he concentrated, it was true that he could feel the slight soreness that came after a night when Sho had felt quite spry.

Then he laughed, because Sho had gotten tangled in his tank top, then Sho was free, and on top of him, and smiling at him like he'd never broken Nino's heart or told him he could be with someone else.

Nino loved him. He put his hands on Sho's bare shoulders (trying to forget that on the right shoulder there was, though he couldn't see it, a mark that meant someday Sho wouldn't be with him) and pulled Sho's mouth down to his.

"Be quick," he said again, after a heartstopping kiss.

Sho was already pulling down Nino's pajama pants. "I will," he promised, palming Nino through his underwear. "After all, we can't go to work without a good breakfast."

Nino wanted to roll his eyes, but that would involve looking away from his boyfriend, who was currently nuzzling him obscenely with a look on his face that made Nino feel lightheaded.

"Quicker than this," Nino said breathlessly, and instead of teasing, Sho obeyed, making short work of what little they had on before coming back to Nino's mouth.

Efficient with the ease of long practice, since mornings were a favorite time for this but neither wanted to wake up any too early, it wasn't long before Sho was between Nino's legs and pushing into him just like he had the night before.

Sho had a dorky look of concentration on his face and he filled Nino up in that way that had Nino forgetting to breathe.

Then Sho muttered, "Neglected, my ass," and Nino laughed out loud. He felt the hot drag of Sho pulling out to thrust home, but instead Sho hesitated. His eyes were on Nino's face--on Nino's smile. His heart was in his eyes.

Nino hid his own heart in a smirk and sighed lightly. "Too bad, there won't be time for breakfast. Coffee's enough for me anyway…"

Sho scowled at him, not at all fooled, but then he glanced over at the clock to confirm that there would, in fact, be time for Nino to take in a proper meal. Nino waited until Sho looked back down at him before lifting his eyebrows challengingly.

Narrowing his eyes and taking hold of Nino's hips, Sho fucked back into him, making Nino whimper at the feel of it. "I don't snore," Sho said, thrusting hard. "I'm not an old man, and you're not neglected, and by god, you're going to eat breakfast or I will hold you down and--"

Nino laughed again, but it came out high and breathy as he lifted his hands to the headboard and braced himself to meet Sho's pace.

He knew Sho was trying to make him laugh, and he also knew Sho was partially genuine, which made it even better. For a moment he could see the rest of his morning--the shower together before the video game, which he'd play until they were about to be late, and Sho all the way through, washing his back, complaining about his gaming, sneaking bites of breakfast into his mouth even though Nino nipped at his fingers.

Then all he could think of was the present, and Sho inside him, and Sho.

*

Nino was reluctantly grateful to have some food inside him during the interminable finance meeting, even if Sho had only managed burnt toast. He was also glad to have something pleasant to think about instead of the droning about the budget--he sat there in his swivel chair with his colleagues around him and kept his face utterly blank as he relived the morning's exertions with Sho.

It helped that Sho was the one in charge of the boring finance meeting, though it did mean he had to think about something entirely unpleasant every once in a while in order to keep himself presentable.

After one particularly long-winded explanation about the merit of spreadsheets in assessing one's spending, Nino's boss broke in irritably from the back of the room.

"What Sakurai-san is saying, for those of you who aren't listening, is to be efficient. If you can do it with one bullet, don't fire twice. If you borrow jewelry for yourself or a target, bring it back safely to storage. If you can't avoid crashing the Porsche, for god's sake, try harder."

Nino straightened in his seat, thoughts pulled from Sho to that one car he had maybe kind of totaled. Their legendary leader, Matsumoto Jun, might be kinder than he looked, and he'd never begrudge an agent anything it took to keep them safe, but that didn't change the fact that Nino's disastrous mission six months ago had cost the agency a great deal of money, not to mention all the fallout that still required constant attention from the public relations people upstairs. All of those personal repercussions didn't take into account the repercussions that were still being felt worldwide, as well as here in Japan--it would be a long time before they recovered.

But even Nino couldn't make all of it his fault, and Jun wouldn't want him to.

Silhouetted against the projector screen still showing one of his many spreadsheets, Sho nodded respectfully at Jun.

"Matsumoto-san makes some excellent points. If you think of it is a game, perhaps you'll find it easier," he said, meeting Nino's eyes blandly for an instant. "You score more points the less money you waste. Thank you."

They clapped half-heartedly, all of them except Nino's handler, who was blatantly asleep. Nino elbowed Aiba as he clapped until he heard a muffled snort of surprise followed by hasty applause.

He smirked at Sho, was was obliviously shaking Jun's hand like between the two of them they'd solved world hunger. But when Sho came over to sit down next to him, his presentation complete, Nino gave him a thumbs-up. Sho might be long-winded, but he knew what he was talking about, and in his own way he fought just as hard for their agency as Nino did out in the field. It was because of Sho and his subordinates that the agency had money to finance Nino's equipment, as well as the constant training agents required, and both his equipment and training had saved Nino's life more times than he could count.

Jun flicked the lights back on and gestured for the projector to be turned off.

"As you're all observant people," he started, eyes severe on Aiba in a way that had Nino's handler squirming in his seat, "you'll be curious why I'm here at Sakurai-san's presentation. In fact, there is another reason you're gathered together today. Last week our newest round of graduates completed their initial training, and all of you know what an achievement that is. I would like you to join me in welcoming them as full agents starting today."

At an elegant gesture from Jun, Sho's assistant opened the door and people in suits began to file in, looking nervous. Nino glanced down at his notebook (in which he wrote songs he'd never finish in cypher when he was trying to keep awake during meetings) and began to scribble a note to Sho. Sho, of course, was studiously listening to Jun give a speech to the new agents.

Nino's fine-tuned ears caught the moment when his attention was required again, and he elbowed Aiba just in case his friend had nodded off again.

Jun was saying solemnly, "If everyone could stand to show our sincerity, I'll be greeting each new agent personally. Ah, Sakurai-san? As you're a manager as well, perhaps you could come to the front with me."

Sho stood and bowed as Jun began shaking the hands of each of his newly accepted employees. There were only three of them, probably whittled down from a training class of at least ten, and two of them were women. One was tall, with short hair and a restless expression, while the other was compact and fierce-looking, like a wrestler. The last new agent was a small man, but Sho walked by him as Nino glanced at his face, so he didn't get to assess him properly.

Starting down the line after Jun, Sho shook the tall agent's hand, smiling with charming professionalism, then moved to the smaller woman, whose grip made him flinch. Then he laughed, making her fierce face ease into a grin, and that's when a move from her other side had Nino's eyes shifting back to the man next to her.

He froze. Even when they'd only met once, even though it had been half a year already since then, he recognized that sleepy face.

*

Six months earlier.

The first time Nino met Ohno, he was complaining about Sho.

"For my own good," he grumbled. "Am I a child? I'm grownup enough to die on the job, but I can't be with him without permission from an obnoxious bunch of skin cells?"

The bomb under his swift and careful hands couldn't speak in return. It did, however, continue ticking away the last minutes of his life--11:59. 11:58. 11:57.

Nino hesitated. It was tempting to let the clock run down, considering the circumstances. He was alone. He was trapped. He was going to die regardless, so how much did he really care about the destruction of other people's property?

He wiped his sweaty face with one gloved hand and got back to work. If nothing else, trying to disarm the bomb kept him from getting too weepy.

"Sho…"

It took some effort, but he pushed back the memory of Sho breaking his heart and let himself wallow in remembering how it had felt to wake up next to someone he trusted completely, who played along with his capriciousness and got huffy when teased about the apartment's multiple aroma diffusers, who got shy when Nino asked for a kiss but felt no embarrassment about cuddling close in the afterglow and saying things--

--saying things that weren't worth thinking about if Nino wanted to keep it together. It was possible it was past the point of that, though, because his face was wet from more than perspiration and he was only just realizing he'd been talking to himself for the past several minutes.

"At least this proves these stupid marks are defective," he muttered. "I'm about to get blown up and look, the one person I was fated to meet and love and be with forever and whatever… where are they? I told you it was broken, Sho-chan, and now look--I'm about to be proved right."

It didn't feel all that great to be right. At least if his mark had sparked with Sho's he would know that he'd get to see him in his next life, even if they'd be different people or however it actually worked.

Instead, he had nothing but a defective soulmate mark and an ex-boyfriend whose smile was all he could think about. 7:43. 7:42. Nino's hands slowed.

"--Hello? Hello? How the hell can I talk to you with this..."

Nino froze. The town was evacuated. He hadn't even heard from his team for an hour, which was a thought he couldn't give the proper worry considering his imminent death. The voice coming through his earpiece was a stranger's.

"I can hear you," he said slowly.

"Oh good!" the voice replied, far too cheerfully. "I'm--"

"You need to run," Nino interrupted. "Head north as fast as you can. If the keys are still in the van, then take it and--"

"I'm not in the van anymore. I'm on my way to you."

"There is no way to me," Nino said, trying not to watch the clock as his hands flew with renewed purpose over the exposed wires of the bomb. "They sealed everything--I'm not leaving this room. Believe me, I've checked every potential exit and--"

"But as long as you stop the bomb, you'll just have to wait, right? I'll get in eventually," the stranger said calmly.

Nino gritted out, "There are two bombs. The control box I'm working on connects to one that's the start of a chain reaction that'll level the whole city. And one's here in this room, with me."

That seemed to get through to his would-be rescuer. It was probably too late for both of them now, but Nino had to try.


"Get out of the building, get out of the city. You have to go now or you're going to die."

"If we're going to die, you must be my soulmate. Oh hey, a map! But I think I'm going to save you, so just work on the bombs--"

"I don't have time to disarm both!" Nino cried, at his limit from exhaustion and grief and--as caused by this weirdo who came from nowhere--crippling confusion.

"Then pick the other one, 'cause I'm in the ducts--" An enormous sneeze in his ear made Nino flinch.

"Then this one will level the city with us in it, you idiot, I can't just--"

Nino stopped. Precious seconds ticked off the clock--off both clocks--as he thought. The chain reaction was planned to start from the docks and work north to the convention center where several important international diplomats would have been trapped without the efforts of his team. (His missing team, who'd left him, or been made to leave--) He was halfway between the two at the bank that'd been co-opted by the terrorists, and maybe, just maybe...

He got up ("Was that your knees!?") and raced for the other bomb.

"What kind of person says he's your soulmate before you even meet," he said, mostly to check on his new acquaintance's progress without giving away his extremely precarious newfound hope for their survival.

"Logic," came the low voice, sounding out of breath. "I haven't sparked yet either, and my mark's been itching like crazy lately. If I'm about to die, and you're the only one here, then--"

"--Or we're both going to survive," Nino said, barely able to believe it. "Holy shit."

A small laugh huffed in his ear. "Win-win."

"I'm flattered, but that's not at all how I would describe this situation." He worked desperately at the wires, forgoing every possible bit of caution in his bid to beat the clock.

0:31. 0:30. 0:29.

Nino cut one last wire.

0:29.

0:29. Despite himself, despite knowing that he had checked every door, every window, every duct he could use to get out, he gave a small sob of relief as he realized the clock had stopped.

He stood up, smiling distantly as his joints creaked again, and looked across the room at the control panel of the system of bombs that was about to level three-quarters of the buildings in the city.

0:21. 0:20. 0:19.

Nino closed his eyes and pictured the map of the building he and his teammates had stolen before he'd infiltrated it.

There was no way out.

"You need to turn around and run as fast as you can," he said. He meant it, but he also selfishly wanted to hear another human's voice before the end. "How are you even here? We scanned the city for heat signatures after the evacuation."

No answer. 0:09. 0:08. 0:07.

"Get out of here," he tried again, voice raspy. It was bad enough to die, bad enough to know he'd never see Sho again, now some obstinate stranger was going to die trying to save him. "Head north--it's your only chance to outrun the bombs."

0:02. 0:01. 0:00.

He heard the distant boom of the first bomb exploding just as someone fell through the ceiling and landed in a dusty heap at his feet.

Nino stared down at his rescuer. He was a man of about his size with a dazed look on his face, still clutching the van's walky-talky.

"Are you really my soulmate?" he heard himself ask, but it came out quietly enough he could pretend he hadn't said it.

"I was working in the freezer," the other man croaked, spitting out dust. "At the convenience store."

Breaking out of his own daze, Nino moved urgently to drag a table across the room to help them back up into the duct.

"That duct wasn't supposed to be there," he said to himself, yanking the small stranger up by one arm and maneuvering them both up onto the table. "It wasn't on the map--"

"Was too," was his answer, and Nino spared half a second to look at the bedraggled paper being held out to him.

It was the evacuation map from the door by the exit to the bank. On it, clearly marked, was the duct leading from the back basement office where they were to a wall vent in the lobby.

The terrorists had papered over this last duct and changed the digitally-stored blueprints, knowing the high-tech capabilities of the agents pursuing them, but neither side had thought to remember the old paper map probably in plastic at the front door for the last fifteen years.

Another boom thudded out somewhere not nearly far enough way. Nino made a step with his hands and helped the other man climb back up into the duct before following with the sort of athletic leap that had kept him comfortably ahead of every other agent in his class during training.

"My soulmate wouldn't be the type to gloat," he sniffed as he crawled through the duct. It was dim, and they were probably still about to die, but even so he couldn't help appreciating the view of his rescuer on his hands and knees from behind.

His complaint was ignored. "I'm Ohno Satoshi. I gather you're Nino, from what you were saying earlier--does your boyfriend really sound like that?"

Nino flushed, remembering acting out both sides of a particularly irritating conversation where Sho had nobly tried to convince Nino to give him up for the sake of his own future happiness.

"Ex-boyfriend," he said, not even pretending not to flirt considering this potential relationship would likely last a matter of minutes. "Convenient, right? No pesky morality to get in the way of our dying embrace."

Ohno didn't laugh. He said simply, "Awesome."

It was that deadpan, one-word response that broke through Nino's haze of panic and adrenaline and made him realize that this person, this man with the silly reactions and calm voice, who'd rushed toward him instead of away from a bomb, who had an ass that simply didn't quit--Ohno might actually, really, joking aside, be--

He might be the soulmate Sho'd been adamant existed.

Then they were out of the duct and sprinting to the lobby doors, and the cool night air hit Nino's face with the shock of life and hope and an unfortunate amount of upcoming physical exertion.

Except obviously--

"Which car should we take?" he asked Ohno nonchalantly. The effect was spoiled somewhat by the way he jumped at the sound of the next explosion. It was much closer than the last one.

"Blue," Ohno said simply. By some twist of fate, he'd chosen the car Nino came in, though the keys were still with his handler. Nino grabbed Ohno's hand and pulled him along toward the sleek blue car at the curb, wishing their touch were skin to skin so they'd know about their marks but aware they should put that off until they'd actually survived this hellscape of explosions. The sky had started raining ash.

Nino drove them north in the hotwired car as the city crumbled behind them. Smoke rose in his rearview mirror and the ground shook, but somehow he and Ohno were holding hands again. It was ridiculous, and he didn't know who'd started it, but they were talking like they were in entirely different circumstances. As if he were hallucinating, he found they were play-acting like they were on a date.

Sho had always been charmed by Nino's playfulness, but it was new to find someone who seemed to sense where Nino's weird brain was going and play along and up the ante all at once. By the time they had the city outskirts in sight, they were to the point where Nino, in the role of the doting boyfriend, was trying to coax Ohno to stop with him at the nearest love hotel, while Ohno, who had a bit of a foreign accent for no reason Nino could name, was being coy and making noises about wanting to go home with him and meet his family first.

"And I need to know you can support me," he said, voice lilting even higher. "After all, my job just blew up."

Nino, despite wanting to keep in character, burst out laughing. He wished he could cover his over-revealing smile, but he needed one hand to drive and Ohno was holding the other.

"It's not funny," Ohno sulked, not slipping even for a second. "I'd been working there for eight years, like any good soulmate would know."

"A capable soulmate like you can find a new job," Nino said fawningly, casting his eyes over just in time to see Ohno smirk slightly. "You should put map-reading on your resume, and climbing through ducts."

"Actually," Ohno said, voice settling back down into its normal register unexpectedly. "I've been recruited for something new. I wasn't sure I was going to try for it, but if--"

He broke off as the latest blast had buildings collapsing on the street ahead. The bombs were still behind them--though they were closer every time no matter how fast Nino drove--but the buildings were shaking themselves to pieces from what felt like earthquakes. Nino knew it was man-made malice.

"If we survive, you mean," Nino said lightly, and he gripped Ohno's hand hard, wishing again he could feel that warmth instead of his glove. He should have told Sho he loved him no matter what Sho said. He slammed his foot down as hard as he could on the gas pedal.

He darted the car through the falling debris like they were in a video game, because to turn in any other direction was to turn toward another explosion. It was strangely satisfying to hear Ohno finally give in to open alarm--the yelp at every crash that barely missed them only made Nino drive more recklessly. There was no place for caution now; their survival depended on Nino's skill and sheer luck.

And, maybe, on the fact that they hadn't touched yet. Though his dedication to Sho made Nino dubious, not to mention rebellious, he knew that throughout the century or so since the soulmate marks had started showing up on people there hadn't been a single marked person who died before they met their match.

If Ohno was his match, all he had to do was hold off on touching him until they made it out of the city and they'd be safe.

Still, Nino wasn't about to put his trust in fate, especially when a part of his mind was dubious whether Ohno's theory was really how it worked. When he saw an opening--though no one but a highly trained daredevil would see a fallen metal roof as anything but something to be avoided--he took it.

"You're not--" Ohno said breathlessly, and Nino nearly laughed at how the disbelief in his voice was mixed with reproach.

It was too late. Nino pushed the car as fast as it would go and they hit the sloping roof at over a hundred miles an hour.

Then they were airborne.

They sailed over the median as Nino let out a defiant yell. Ohno, apparently shocked speechless, clenched Nino's hand like he wanted to go back in time and grab the wheel.

Midway through their impromptu flight, the last of the bombs exploded behind them, filling the world with shrapnel and flames. It seemed to make the car go impossibly faster--

--before it crashed down on the exit ramp of the freeway, landing off-balance with a body-jarring crunch of wheels and frame. The momentum was too much. The car flipped, and Ohno found his voice in a short shriek of terror. Nino nearly knocked his head against the steering wheel. The car flipped again.

It was upside-down when it stopped rolling, and it shook constantly with the fall of debris.

Nino peeked out the window, body aching. They'd made it out of the city. He might have totaled the car, and rocks might fall like rain for however much longer, but they'd made it out safely.

Unless--

"Oh-chan," he croaked and turned his head painfully. Ohno hung limp in his seatbelt, one hand still clutched in Nino's. Nino felt like his heart stopped beating.

Then Ohno mumbled, "You drove us off a roof."

Nino choked on a relieved laugh. "To be fair, the roof was on the ground. I bet we didn't even clear fifteen feet."

"A roof!" Ohno said, aggrieved. "I'm never getting a licence. Driving is terrifying."

Nino stared at him, eyes wide. He was about a hair's breadth away from grabbing this ridiculous person's face and laying the kiss of the century on him. "You don't think maybe it was the bombs…? Just so you know, when you're driving, there usually aren't any bombs, Oh-chan."

"Says you," Ohno said nonsensically. He reached for his seatbelt.

"You might want to--" Nino said hastily, but then Ohno was dropping with a pained noise to the roof of the car, now flipped to become the floor. Luckily the car had been a bit crunched by their landing and Ohno didn't have all that far to fall.

Nino noticed that Ohno still kept hold of his hand, even so. He couldn't believe that Sho had been right, at least about this--there'd been someone out there for him, and as soon as they sparked, they'd be together forever.

Pushing down thoughts of Sho, Nino gave himself up to destiny and released his own seatbelt.

"Ouch."

"Yeah," Ohno said dreamily. "Think it's safe to leave the car?"

Nino looked over from where he'd most likely just broken his neck. "Judging by how often boulders keep landing on us, I'd say not."

Ohno laughed, repeating to himself, "Boulders," then kept laughing.

Though he had been exaggerating, Nino hadn't really been trying to be funny. He watched as Ohno cracked up for a solid minute over his non-joke, still holding on to Nino's hand.

As soon as Ohno calmed down, Nino said experimentally, "Boulders." Ohno's eyes shot to his, then crinkled helplessly as he laughed without any sound, just little shudders of amusement that made Nino want to kiss those eye crinkles, that mouth, the involuntary bob of his Adam's apple as he laughed and laughed.

Purposefully, Nino let go of Ohno's hand. He was on his back on the ceiling of a wrecked Porsche next to a stranger who'd just saved his life. An entire city had blown up behind them. In all respects except loss of life, the terrorists had won.

But in that one moment, who cared? He was about to find his soulmate, the one person he'd be with throughout this life, the one he'd find in his next life, and the one after that, forever.

He pulled off his glove and held his hand out to Ohno.

Sprawled there in the wreckage, eyes a little wet from laughing, Ohno smiled at him and took his hand.

Their touch was warm, and it felt right. There was nothing else.

"This can't be happening," Nino said desperately. "This can't be happening to me again."

"Nino," Ohno said. "No, I thought for sure…"

Nino closed his eyes and lifted their joined hands to his forehead as he tried not to cry. He'd met Sho, he loved Sho, their lack of fate ignored. Sho'd left him. He'd met Ohno, been sure he was the one, and how could he have been so sure so soon without it being fate?

And now he was alone again.

"You're not alone," Ohno said.

Nino's eyes opened in astonishment. "Oh-chan--"

Ohno, dusty, upside-down, his face fatigued with recent terror, just smiled at him. "Go find him. Your Sho-chan."

"You saved me," Nino said slowly, holding Ohno's eyes.

"You love him. Plus you almost died, so he'll take you back, don't you think?"

Nino didn't say anything. He could imagine it, could imagine going back to Sho and convincing him that destiny was for other people and he and Sho were for each other. What he couldn't imagine was leaving Ohno behind.

"The van's doors were open," Ohno said. "I thought I heard a voice, so I went in--the whole city was empty, do you know how weird that was? Like a movie. No one was in the van, either, but you were talking--you'd talked for a long time before I figured out how to talk back. Even though you thought you were just talking to a bomb, all you talked about was him."

He was silent a moment, his face serious. Nino's back was hurting horribly but he couldn't have moved in that moment if the world depended on it.

"I couldn't leave you," Ohno concluded. "Nobody could have left you if they'd heard you."

"That's not true," Nino said, his voice strange even to himself. "You… it could only have been you."

Ohno scooted over, twisting his body around to try to make his way across to Nino. Uncurling himself painfully, Nino stretched his legs out over the hanging headrest of the front seat and turned to find Ohno there, ready, his eyes dark and intent.

"Go find him," he said again, but he leaned in and kissed Nino like he loved him, like they'd sparked, like they'd be together in this life and forever after.

They kissed until a van pulled up beside the ruined Porsche, and even then Nino could barely let go.

It was a different kind of acting from their pseudo-date, and far less fun, to pretend to be strangers in front of Nino's team. But it was also the same--it was him and it was Ohno, who it seemed at moments could read his mind, and they played off each other like they'd been born to it.

Then an ambulance came and took Ohno away, and Nino went and found Sho.

*

Present day.

It was him.

Ohno Satoshi, the man who'd saved his life. Who'd made him laugh, and been thoughtlessly brave--who wasn't his soulmate, but had kissed him anyway.

He was a new agent; he'd be working alongside Nino, together.

Sho was about to shake his hand. Skin to skin, Ohno and Sho were about to touch.

With one of those sudden moments of clarity that couldn't be explained, Nino understood. He loved Sho, but their tattoos hadn't sparked the first time they'd touched, so they could never be easy together, knowing it wasn't fated to be. Then he'd been recklessly sure that Ohno was his soulmate, the soulmate Sho had left Nino in order to free him to find. Yet when Nino and Ohno had touched, nothing had happened.

As Sho moved toward the last agent in line, the unassuming man in the ill-fitting suit, the person who'd risked death to save a stranger's life, Ohno who hadn't even realized Nino was there, Nino saw it all.

The love of his life was going to spark with this second almost-soulmate. After so much worry about when Nino's tattoo would spark, and whether he'd really be able to give up being with Sho, he'd nearly forgotten to worry about the opposite scenario.

He'd already believed it, but he thought it again with all his soul: destiny was heartless.

Sho reached out his hand, and Ohno took it.

Nino closed his eyes and swayed on his feet, feeling his life fall apart. He was going to congratulate them. He was going to smile. He'd let Ohno take his place in the apartment--he'd find a way to keep this job he loved where he'd have to see them both. He'd give them up and watch them be happy.

Together. He thought he might pass out.

"Nino," Aiba hissed behind him. "Are you all right?"

He took a step back, shamelessly encouraging Aiba to put a hand on his shoulder to steady him, and waited for the cries of excitement and delight that came when two soulmates met for the first time and their tattoos sparked.

Instead he heard Jun's brisk voice say, "We'll take a ten-minute break. Be back on time with your case files in order. Dismissed."

Nino opened his eyes. Aiba still had a calming hand on his shoulder, but Nino only had eyes for Sho, who was shuffling papers together on the table in front of them. He looked unchanged.

He searched for Ohno, and found him still at the front of the room next to the other new employees.

His eyes were wide on Nino.

Abandoning his notebook and his pride, Nino turned around and made a break for it from the door at the back of the room, feeling like he might throw up.

Sho and Ohno hadn't sparked either.

*

Though it wasn't exactly normal for him to be so melodramatic, or at least he hoped it wasn't, Nino huddled in the locker room of the training gym for a while and tried to calm down. He should be feeling this upset if his boyfriend had sparked with someone else, not because he hadn't.

To distract himself from his inconvenient emotions, as well as the ever-clearer fact that his sense for what was and what wasn't destiny was disastrously off-base, Nino tried to figure out who was going to be the one to come find him.

He decided to look at it like he was placing a bet on a horse race, and he saw four promising options.

Number one, his overly-observant boss, the dashing Matsumoto Jun, would stride through the door and drag him back to the meeting, and probably later he'd track Nino down and ask awkward, kind questions about his emotional state.

Number two, his friend since childhood and current handler, the surprisingly emotionally intelligent Aiba Masaki, would peek in before sweeping him up in a hug and uttering many unnecessary (but doubtless strangely comforting) platitudes.

Number three, his non-soulmate boyfriend, Sakurai Sho… and number four, the also-not-his-soulmate Ohno Satoshi.

Of course, there was a chance it'd be another agent, or a messenger from an irate Jun, but Nino was limiting it to those four horses, and the part of him that wasn't occupied in mental hyperventilation over his near miss was debating just who it would be.

He'd just decided his bet was on Aiba when the door opened and Sho came inside.

Nino knew it wasn't fair, but he found himself saying, "First neglectful and now disappointing. What a stellar day for you."

He felt guilty about his unwarranted sharpness, but Sho knew him too well--his warm gaze looked right through Nino's bluster and found the unhappiness at the heart of it.

And because he was Sho, and horribly kind, he let Nino have a moment to pull himself together before he pushed for any answers.

"Aiba-chan said you might need me," he said neutrally. He held out a cup of coffee in a styrofoam cup. "I thought maybe you just needed caffeine."

"Someone kept feeding me toast instead of coffee," Nino said, trying to compose himself. "The toast was simply superb, though."

"Shut up already, I know it was burnt," Sho laughed, and Nino set the coffee aside and shifted closer down the bench he was sitting on to press his forehead against Sho's hip. Sho was wearing a fancy suit that shouldn't have been welcoming, but all Nino felt was comfort.

"How bad is it?" Sho asked quietly, tangling his fingers in Nino's hair. "Need me to beat some sense into someone? 'Cause I know this secret agent guy. Not very big, but he gets the job done."

Nino couldn't resist. "Sounds like the tagline of your sex tape, Sho-chan."

Sho snorted, unoffended. With how Nino reacted to him in bed, there was no reason for him ever to feel inadequate. "Are you going to tell me what's going on, Kazu?"

He sat down next to Nino and let Nino lean into him even harder.

One deep breath later, Nino forced it out. "It was already a lot, seeing Oh-chan again, and then…"

"That's Oh-chan?" Sho said, jumping a little under Nino's touch. "Your Oh-chan?"

"When you shook hands with him, I thought he might be yours," Nino admitted.

"But that's ridiculous," Sho said immediately. He still sounded startled, but his words were sure. "I've touched him countless times already."

Nino leaned back and goggled at his boyfriend. "What!?"

"He used to work at that convenience store down the street," Sho said. It was clear from his deliberate tone that only half of his mind was on the explanation. The other half, Nino had no doubt, was on the confession about his fear that Sho and Ohno would spark. "He sold me all those half-price box meals you like, before he moved away. The food at that convenience store hasn't been the same since…"

"He can cook?" Nino asked. It was emphatically not what he'd meant to say, but he was interested in the answer despite himself.

"I don't know," Sho said, surprised into full attention. He'd probably already worked through whatever he was working through about Ohno's reappearance and Nino's admission. Sho's brain was entirely too quick sometimes. "I don't think he made them, though. The first time he found me trying to figure out what to buy, because they had ones you'd eat and they had ones that were half-price, but none that were both."

"I think between the two of us we can afford full price, Sho-chan."

Sho laughed, eyes crinkling. "Believe me, I know; you're the one who seems to think we'll starve if we don't scrimp and save."

Nino crossed his arms over his chest and sniffed emphatically, refusing to dignify that with a response.

"Ohno-kun found me--apparently I'd been waffling for a while--and offered to tag one half-price a day early. And after that I always went when he was there and he always kindly did me that favor--"

"And now he just happens to work here, coincidentally?" Nino said sharply.

Sho blinked. "No, of course not. I recruited him."

Nino blinked back at him. "Again, for the record: what!?"

"Hey, can we skip to the part where you nearly had a heart attack because Ohno-kun and I shook hands? I'm not sure if I should find it sweet or worrying, by the way." He hesitated. Scooting closer to Nino on the bench, he finally said, "It's probably both. I'm sorry you were so scared."

"Scared?" Nino scoffed, but there was no force behind his words. Sho's very nearness was calming. "I was thinking about what color boutonniere to wear to your wedding."

"I love you," Sho said gently. He reached out and pulled Nino in, his hand warm on the back of Nino's neck.

Nino let him. There was no chance at resisting, no way to fight through the soothing touch and ask more questions--there was only Sho and his unconditional affection. Then they were kissing, and Nino focused in on it to the exclusion of everything else.

It stayed slow and sweet, but Nino's breathing was ragged by the time Sho pulled away.

"By the way," Sho said quietly. "Matsumoto-san said if you're more than five minutes late to the next meeting, you're doing every team's paperwork for the next month."

Nino jerked back, eyes wide. "And you didn't lead with that because?" He looked at his watch and flinched. "My god, Sho-san, I'm five minutes late already!"

Sho smiled crookedly. "Time for one more?" he asked, already leaning in.

He got a facefull of Nino, all teeth and barely-averted nose, in the crudest imitation of a kiss. Then Nino was out the door at a run.

Further kissing--and a chance at more answers--would be had when there wasn't a mountain of paperwork on the line.

*

Nino slid into a seat under Jun's disapproving eye. In his rush it was mere luck that he didn't end up sitting next to Ohno.

His erstwhile rescuer was across the room at a different table between his fellow new recruits. He was staring at Nino like he'd never blinked in his life and wasn't about to start now.

Nino took a break from making a cowed expression at Jun in order to stick his tongue out at Ohno, then grin. Sure, Ohno's appearance might constitute a (hopefully) minor crisis to Nino, and sure, he had reservations about working with the guy, but it was still Ohno. They might not be soulmates, but there was some affinity between them that Nino couldn't deny even if he wanted to.

Ohno's face did a funny little flinching thing that made Nino's smile more genuine, and then Ohno was smiling back at him like his thought processes had been restarted at least enough to register where he was and what was happening.

"As I was saying," came Jun's voice loud in Nino's ear.

Nino jumped about a foot and turned--mouth still stretched in a ghastly attempt at keeping his smile--to see his boss extremely close.

He said swiftly, holding the grimace-smile, "I apologize endlessly for my tardiness of exactly five minutes and no more, Matsumoto-san!"

Jun held his eyes for a moment, then kept walking around the room like nothing untoward had occurred.

"As I was saying, the mission is currently underway to find and decode transmissions relating to the whereabouts of the group of terrorists we've been tracking since the bombings. In a move that I'm sure will surprise everyone, the United States military has not chosen to share any of its information about this mission with us, despite the fact that the terrorist attack occurred on our soil. No doubt they are doing what they think is best, and, as usual, we're in no position to argue. However, we must be ready when the time comes. I've called in every favor I have, and the result is that we, Japan, will have a part in the mission to find and capture the people who struck at our country, as soon as the information comes through. Everyone in this room will have a role to play."

He lifted his eyebrows at them. "I trust you will not let me down."

"Sir, no sir!" everyone shouted, Nino included. He might doodle during meetings and make out with Sho in the locker room on the clock, but it was a point of pride for him that he worked for Matsumoto Jun. No one worked harder or with more passionate integrity than his boss. Nino would've stepped in front of a bullet for him without hesitation.

"On a lighter note," Jun continued, though his face didn't seem to get the memo and was still in super-intense mode, "Now that our training class has completed the preliminaries and been accepted into our ranks, I can finally publicly recognize a great service done for us during the very attacks that we've been working to clean up for the last six months."

Nino perked up cautiously. His team had succeeded in evacuating the city before the bombs went off, and though they'd been diverted from his aid by multiple false SOS transmissions, he himself had managed to survive despite every likelihood of an opposite outcome. Jun had been explicit in his gratitude to them more than once, but rarely in front of other agents due to the complicated nature of their success.

An entire city was rubble. Many, many families had lost their homes and livelihoods. Their country was only now beginning to recover from the chaos and fear.

Jun's acknowledgement meant something, but they weren't about to start bragging about the outcome of the mission, not even to each other.

Jun went to the cabinet in the corner and rummaged around behind the laptops and accessories. He emerged after a beat holding a battered old Polaroid camera.

"Ohno Satoshi-san," he said, gesturing him up to the front.

Ohno shot up out of his chair, then just stood there, looking nervous. Jun gestured again, patience waning.

When Ohno was finally at Jun's side, looking very small but holding his facial expression to impassivity, Jun began.

"In the matter under discussion, one civilian, Ohno Satoshi-san, showed remarkable bravery and ingenuity in the face of incredible odds. In large part because of his exemplary conduct, our very own Ninomiya Kazunari is still breathing today. Now that Ohno-san is officially one of us," Jun said, grinning widely, "let us thank him properly."

Ohno's eyes were very round. Nino stifled a smile with some difficulty.

"Get up here, Nino," Jun said, and Nino's good feelings faded fast.

"I've been thanked," he said, then corrected himself quickly, "I've already thanked Ohno-san, sir."

"Now."

Nino walked to the front of the room--to Ohno--as slowly as he dared.

Jun ignored his pace and said genially, "Now we all of us in this room know that the nature of our agency means we can't, for instance, take out an ad in the paper or have a ceremony in public. But there is one tradition, a high honor, that I feel is warranted in this case."

Despite his best intentions, Nino reached Jun's side. Then Jun stepped away and Nino and Ohno stood face to face for the first time in many months. Ohno's hair was darker now, and shorter, like he'd let it grow out and cut off the dyed part. It was spiky, too, as if he'd used something to make it stick up, or maybe he'd just been so nervous before his first real day at his new job that he'd run his hands through it so much he looked a bit like a hedgehog. A very cute hedgehog with sleepy eyes and a mouth that Nino remembered all too well--

"Good," Jun said, looking with a critical eye at the tableau they presented him from a few steps away. He backed up further and looked through the camera at them. "Now shake hands and smile for the picture, ready, set…"

Ohno reached out his hand hesitantly, his eyes on Nino's face. Nino looked down, then emphatically turned to face the camera. Even with that one glance, the impression of Ohno's weirdly pretty hands was in front of his eyes like an aftershock.

He took Ohno's hand without meeting his eyes, then smiled as best he could. It still felt right to touch Ohno. It didn't seem to matter that he knew it wasn't.

Ohno must have smiled as well, because Jun took the picture successfully.

As the other agents cheered, and Jun waved the developing picture around like a flag, Nino stood there, his face averted as he continued to hold Ohno's hand. He had no doubt that no one in the room was reading his face correctly and could only be glad that Sho wasn't there.

Feeling Ohno's heartbeat like it was his own, he knew that Sho would have seen the softening of his eyes, the slight parting of his lips, and known them for what they were. Nino very much needed his hand to let go of Ohno.

"All right, the picture is ready!" Jun said, drawing Nino's attention. The photograph was handed to the nearest agent, who happened to be Toma.

Toma duly looked at and dipped his head with a broad grin, both a thank you and a celebration in miniature. He handed it to one of Ohno's training mates, Eikura, Nino thought, who hesitantly did the same.

The picture made its way around the room. About halfway around, Nino managed to yank his hand away.

Finally the picture came to his hands, and he had to laugh a little. He'd been caught forcing the cheesiest grin imaginable while Ohno looked like a deer in the headlights. He handed it to Ohno, who snorted.

When Jun held out a hand for the picture, only Nino was close enough to see Ohno's fingers curl around it for a moment like he didn't want to let it go. Then the picture was back in their boss's hands.

"Ninomiya-san," Jun said grandly. "The blowtorch, if you please."

Nino's eyes shot helplessly to Ohno's face. He was rewarded by the most delightfully bewildered expression, and he was grinning as he went over to the cabinet to retrieve the miniature blowtorch within.

He brought it back to Jun, who'd pulled over a trashcan.

"To Ohno Satoshi," Jun said gravely, and everyone in the room echoed him with as much seriousness as they could muster when most of them knew what was coming.

Jun held up the picture. Then he took the blowtorch and used it to set the picture on fire.

Nino's head swiveled involuntarily again to Ohno, whose jaw was nearly on the floor. Something funny happened as the photograph burned, however--Ohno's shock turned by stages to something pleased, and by the time the last ashes had fallen into the trash he was actually clapping.

Nino turned and lent a deadpan look to his boss. "Your sentiment is staggering, Matsumoto-san, as ever."

"I liked it," Ohno's soft voice put in unexpectedly. "I feel very thanked, Mach--Matsumoto-san."

"You can't even say his name properly," Nino pointed out, but he did it quietly because he was diverted by the expression on Jun's face. Jun was staring at Ohno, looking rather flushed, like he hadn't been expecting praise and even less expecting such a cute expression from Ohno while he gave it.

"You two," he said abruptly. "I'm pairing you up so Ohno-san can learn the ropes around here. Nino, I expect your mentorship to yield quick results, got it?"

"But J--Matsumoto-san, wouldn't it be better if--" Nino started, but he cut himself off when Jun met his eyes with a forbidding expression.

"I meant what I said. If I have to repeat myself, it'll give me time to remember that there is someone among us here right now who was a full seven minutes late to this meeting, which would mean--"

"Understood!" Nino said cheerily and grabbed Ohno's wrist to tow him briskly from the room.

*


Part 2