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ninoexchange2018-06-19 02:56 am
nino_mod) wrote in ninoexchange2018-06-19 02:56 am
Entry tags:
fic for aeslis!
For: aeslis
From: :3.
Title: Survivors
Pairing/focus: Aimiya
Rating: PG-13
Word count:8440
Warnings: None
Summary: What would you do if you are the only survivor on earth?
Notes: Dear aeslis, I tried my best with this story, and I hope you like it. Thanks to my beta, the best beta on earth.
Nino stood at the window, staring outside absent-mindedly. The houses on the other side of the street were slowly collapsing and soon there would be no more memories of how the old Tokyo had once looked like.
“Nino?” He turned to look at his only companion.
“Isn’t this a sad view?” Nino asked. The man nodded. “Jun, sometimes I wonder why we are still fighting. Isn’t it all over already?”
Jun stepped next to him, looking out of the window. “It isn’t over. Not till we are sure that there aren’t any other survivors out there.”
“How can you be sure that there are others?” Nino wanted to know. He mostly tried staying positive, but on some days his depression overwhelmed him. One of the undestroyed windows from the other houses reflected the sun. It would have been a wonderful day outside and Nino would have enjoyed going out, eating an ice cream or going for some ramen, but there was no one left. No one had survived the apocalypse.
“I need to be. There has to be someone out there.” Jun clenched his fists. He got angry, but Nino needed him to be, because it made him stronger. Jun’s power and will made him stronger and let him believe that there was really a chance to find survivors or maybe even a colony where they could find a place to stay which was safer than their apartment on the twentieth floor of this undestroyed building.
They had been together for half a year now, and they hadn’t found a single human being during this time.
Everything had started in the comic shop on the other side of town.
Six months ago
Nino and Jun were in the comic shop when the apocalypse started and they hid in the cellar, where they had been looking through comics. It went down fast and they could hear people scream and things were crashing. They looked at each other and it seemed that they understood each other. There was a small door leading to a toilet they rushed into. Luckily there hadn’t been anyone else with them, because the space in the toilet wasn’t overall big.
They stayed there for at least two hours before they decided to leave their hiding place. It was horrible. Carefully, they made their way up to the entrance and saw that the whole street was destroyed. It looked like a hurricane had rushed through the street, but there was something more horrible going on: There wasn’t a single human being around. It was like they had disappeared in the middle of all the mess around them.
Nino stepped out into the street and looked around. His heartbeat increased. This wasn’t possible. This was just not possible. “They are…” he heard the other beginning to talk.
“Gone,” Nino finished the sentence. The buildings and streets looked like a hurricane had ruined everything, but there were no corpses and no people running around. It was like they had vanished.
The man nodded absent-mindedly. “What the hell happened here?” he whispered. He looked directly at Nino, who just shrugged. He had no idea, and he feared that they would find the same emptiness when strolling around.
“What should we do now?” Nino wanted to know.
“I have no idea.” The man stepped closer. “Oh, by the way, I am Jun. I guess I didn’t introduce myself till now.” He smiled a bit and bowed.
“Ninomiya, but everyone calls me Nino.” He bowed too. “It’s nice to meet you,” Nino sighed. “Though I guess the circumstances are a little bit weird.“
“Nino?” Nino looked up. He was totally in his thoughts and didn’t even realize that Jun was patting his shoulder.
“Hm?”
“I said that we should go out to find more food.” Jun rolled his eyes. To Nino’s surprise they had managed pretty well to survive the last months. Electricity was partly working, and so they had no problem with freezing things. The bigger problem they had was that supermarkets were almost empty because of animals, which had started combing the city in search something edible. Nino and Jun had found this place on the building’s twentieth floor where they had a nice overview and they could be sure that no animal would find its way up there. They even had water for showering and fridges in every apartment, but they had only carried two of them into theirs. They hadn’t believed that it would really work to live here, but it did.
“Are we already running out of food?” Nino wanted to know. They had searched for food not long ago.
“No, but it would be nice to find something, and we definitely need water,” Jun said. They hadn’t dared to try the river’s water till now, because they feared that it was polluted, but it got more and more difficult to find water bottles around.
Nino stepped to the door, which led into a small pantry. They had locked their food and water away there in a fridge. Nino and Jun both had a key for this room, and they always locked it, preventing others from stealing something from them. The second fridge was in the kitchen, but they didn’t lock this one. It was a little ridiculous, because till now they hadn’t seen any human being around somewhere and they doubted that there was anyone alive. Nino took the key from around his neck and opened the door.
At the back were eight bottles of water and some cans with food. He opened the fridge. They were slowly running out of fresh vegetables and fruits, but they knew it wouldn’t be possible to get something in the stores, because the items would be rotten by now. “We should find more cans of food and water.”
“Yes. And I want to search for some meds.” When Nino grumbled and rolled his eyes, Jun continued. “You know what happened last time, and we didn’t have enough here to take care of your wounds.”
Nino sighed. “Stupid metal bar in the middle of the supermarket. And stupid slippery floor.” He had seen some bottles of beer on one of the shelves and wanted to get them, when he slipped and fell with his hand on a metal bar. He had some terrible cuts on his hand and arm, and they had to search for medicine almost a whole day.
Jun chuckled. “Of course.”
Sometimes Jun annoyed him, but all in all Nino was glad that he wasn’t alone. At least he had someone to talk to, and someone who suffered as much as he did. In the end they both didn’t know where this whole thing would lead them, and if they were cursed to stay alone on Earth till they’d die.
~~~
It was almost summer and the sun was burning hot on this day. Nino and Jun had decided to head north, because they hadn’t searched for food in this area till now. Nino had never been the sporty or adventurous one, but he had learned to be during the last weeks. Sometimes they had to be fast, just because an animal was following them, or there were barriers around. “Over there is a supermarket.” Nino pointed at the 7eleven sign not far away from them.
They had learned that running straight to the place they wanted to get to could be dangerous, so they hid somewhere and observed the area before they really decided to go into the supermarket. There was a small transporter they hid behind and peeked around to see if there was any movement at the supermarket. After some minutes without any noise or sign they sneaked inside. “Looks like no animal is around,” Jun said.
During their first days they had also said that there was no human around, but since they had never seen anyone else, they had stopped talking about seeing someone around. It had always been just animals hunting them. The supermarket was completely destroyed, but Nino found some cans with fast food and long-life milk, coffee, tea, and the most important thing: water. There were at least ten boxes with six bottles of water in each. “Jun.” Nino pointed at the water. “We need them, but how should we transport that?”
Jun came up to him and rubbed his chin. “Hm, we need a car.” They had tried driving around a few times, but first of all, most of the cars were broken, and second, the streets were too destroyed to drive on them. “That small path leads to our building, you remember?” Jun asked.
Nino blinked. “Oh, you mean the park?” That was a brilliant idea. If they found a car, they could drive there. The path was undestroyed and it led directly to their home. “That’s great, but we don’t have a car.”
They walked outside, but no matter which car they tested, each and every one was broken. “Damn fucking apocalypse,” Nino yelled and kicked the car’s tyre. He had hardly had any outburst even though the whole situation had been overstraining him from the very beginning. But Jun had had a very calm and alluring attitude and managed to calm Nino down, and somehow the small hope in him stayed that this was just a dream, or that everything would become alright again.
“Shh,” Jun suddenly said, raising his hands.
“No, I don’t want to stay calm now,” Nino screamed.
“No, no, listen,” Jun answered.
Nino stopped moving and listened into the silence. First he thought that Jun had imagined something, but then he heard it too. “Help.”
Nino’s heartbeat increased. Was there really someone calling for help? That couldn’t be. Nino stared at Jun, who looked as astonished as he himself must have looked like. “Where does this voice come from?” Nino whispered. He was afraid to overhear another cry for help.
Jun pointed at a parking lot right next to the supermarket. They slowly walked up there, always aware that this could be a trap. Not far away from the lot they could see a man kneeling on the ground. Nino looked at Jun and they nodded at each other before they ran up there. The wish to find other survivors was bigger than the fear of running into a trap.
“Hey, can we help you?” Nino asked and the man stood up, taking some steps backwards. Nino could see a second man lying on the ground, not moving.
“Who are you?” He raised a knife.
“We heard your voice and came to help.” Jun raised his hands and stepped closer. “We don’t want to hurt you.”
Jun took slow steps and Nino tried to stay behind him. It felt a bit like getting closer to a shy animal. “What happened to him?” Nino wanted to know.
The man looked from them to the man on the ground. “He tried to climb up there, and fell down.” He pointed at a ladder next to the house.
“Listen, I am a doctor, I will take a look at him now.” Jun knelt down and touched the man’s neck.
Nino walked up to the other man and stretched out his hand. “I am Nino.” He smiled and hoped the man would at least trust them that they wouldn’t rob him.
“Sho,” he stuttered and looked at Nino’s hand for a moment before he shook it. “I didn’t believe that there are other survivors.”
“But you called for help?” Nino asked.
Sho nodded at him. “There are three of us. Satoshi is somewhere around to search for firewood.” He robbed closer to the man on the ground. “I hoped he’d hear me and come help me.”
Jun turned to him. “He is alive, but he needs treatment.” Jun looked around. “Do you have a car?”
Sho nodded. “Yes.” He pointed at a transporter.
“Perfect. We will bring him to our place, and we have enough space to take the water and food along.” Jun stood up and looked around. “The hospital is not far away. I will go there to get some things.”
“You can’t go alone,” Nino said. “I will accompany you.”
Jun shook his head. “No. You bring him to our home. Sho, can you accompany me?”
Sho nodded. Suddenly he seemed to have found trust. “Of course.”
“Who are you?” They heard a voice not far away.
“Satoshi, they are here to help. Masaki fell down and hurt himself.” Sho stepped to the third man.
“Humans,” Satoshi said with his mouth wide open. “There are other survivors?”
“I will go with Jun and search the hospital for medicine.” Sho stepped to Jun. “And this is Nino, he will bring Masaki to their home.” Sho seemed all over chipper.
“I will go with you,” Satoshi said and stepped to Nino.
Nino nodded. “We need to get the water into the transporter and the food.” Nino turned to Jun. “I will cook something for later.”
“Cook?” Satoshi looked at him. “You have a bonfire?”
Nino blinked. “No, a kitchen.”
“You have electricity?” Sho asked astonished.
“Yes, you don’t?” Jun asked. The two shook their heads.
“Okay, we talk about everything later on, let’s get your friend to our apartment,” Nino said.
They walked to the supermarket and carried everything they’d need into the transporter before they carefully carried Masaki there and placed him on the backseat. “Be careful, Jun,” Nino said before he started the car. “And you too, Sho,” he added.
They drove down the park and soon Nino could see their building appearing. “We live over there,” he said to Satoshi.
Satoshi looked at him. “In a noble building.” He laughed.
Nino shrugged. “After the apocalypse had happened, nobody asked about the rent.” He joined the laughter. “Here we are,” he said after he had parked the car in the garage. It was almost a miracle that the building was completely unaffected by the happenings.
“We occupy an apartment on the twentieth floor, but there are several empty apartments, so if you want you could stay with us?” Nino asked. He didn’t know the others, but he was so overall happy that there were finally other humans, that he didn’t care about being that direct.
“It would be nice to stay here, we don't have a comfortable place like that,” Satoshi said. “And you really have electricity?”
Nino nodded. “I saw some fridges in other apartments, I am sure we can rearrange an apartment for the three of you.”
They got out of the car and opened the door to the backseat. “I suggest to carry him to the elevator,” Nino said. They pulled on Masaki’s arm and carried him to the elevator. “I will hold him, go and get some water and the food,” Nino added and held Masaki against the wall and tried to keep the elevator’s door open with one foot.
He looked at Masaki and blinked. Even though the other was more or less unconscious he looked beautiful. Was this already the first step of going insane here? Was the loneliness already overwhelming Nino? But he never felt the need to jump Jun, even after being together for months.
“Here I am,” Satoshi said and carried the last water bottles and cans into the elevator. “That’s amazing,” he said.
Nino smiled and felt a little proud, like it was really his home he offered here and not a random building they had chosen as their new home. He guided Satoshi to their apartment and let Satoshi help him carry Masaki to the couch in their living room.
He took the key from his neck and stepped to the locked room. “You can place the food and water in there.”
“You are really well prepared,” Satoshi was stunned.
“Where did you live?” Nino wanted to know.
“In the northern part of town. The buildings there are all destroyed. We hid in a playground in a tree house,” he explained. “There is no electricity and we have hardly any protection there.”
“It seems we were really lucky.” Nino swallowed. “What should we do now?” he asked.
Satoshi stepped to Masaki and stroked his head. “I think we can’t do anything for him now. We have to wait for the others?” He looked at Nino. “Is Jun really a doctor?”
Nino nodded. “I think yes.”
“Did you know each other before this here?” Satoshi asked and Nino shook his head.
“We survived together and decided to stay together. And you?” Nino wanted to know.
“We are colleagues and friends.” Satoshi smiled at him. “I am glad that we aren’t alone.” He stepped closer. “It makes me hope that there are more people out there.”
Nino agreed. It really was nice to see other people. “How about checking out the apartment opposite?” he suggested. Jun and he had thought about living in two apartments at the beginning, but this apartment was big enough for more than one so they had decided to share it at one point. But the apartment opposite was almost the same size and had three bedrooms. “I guess that one would be perfect.”
“This apartment is more than enough for the three of us,“ Satoshi was stunned. “I lived on a boat, so I am not really picky about how much space I have,” he added with a laugh.
“We will search for a fridge somewhere in the other apartments later on, but let’s head back to Masaki,” Nino suggested and Satoshi followed him with a nod.
Satoshi knelt next to his friend and stroked over his head. “Masaki?” He asked, but the other didn’t react. “I can’t sit here and wait.” Satoshi stood up. “I want to go out to search for some things. Is it okay to leave him with you?”
Satoshi looked worried, and Nino could understand his feelings. Satoshi had been with his friends since this mess had begun and even though they had probably not been like a family beforehand, this here had made them something like that. He didn’t want to imagine what he would do if something happened to Jun. “Sure.” Nino smiled. “Can you look for some towels and food – food is always top priority.”
“Sure.” Satoshi nodded. He once again looked around. “This here feels like heaven compared to our place.” He made a pause. “It feels just a little bit like everything is okay.”
“I am glad you think this way, and I hope we can stay together, even though it’s maybe really airheaded to trust someone I don’t know at all,” Nino answered.
“I can only talk for myself, but I agree.” With that Satoshi left him in the apartment with Masaki.
Nino walked up to the kitchen and started preparing food from the cans. It was something different to cook for five people instead of two, but it didn’t stress him, no, it was a bubbly-warm feeling spreading. They had really found companions. Nino heard a moan from the living room and headed to Masaki, who had his eyes open. Masaki tried moving, but Nino pushed him back down on the couch. “You are hurt.”
Masaki yelled out. “Who are you?” He tried fighting Nino, but he was definitely too weak to get Nino down.
“I am Nino.” He pointed at himself. “Satoshi is searching for food, and Sho is together with my friend Jun in the hospital to get some medicine for you.”
“Satoshi, Sho…,” Masaki whispered. “You know them?”
Nino smiled at the man. “Yes. We met you at the supermarket and saw that you are hurt. Jun, my friend, is a doctor, and he’ll search for medicine to take care of you.”
He could see that Masaki didn’t believe him. His eyes were restless and he seemed insecure and afraid. He tried to sit up, but Nino pushed him down as gently as possible. “Please, stay here. You are really hurt, and you can’t stand up. Do you want something to drink or eat?”
“Something to drink would be nice,” Masaki said carefully. He was still afraid that this was a trap, and Nino was sure that he would have felt the same in Masaki’s place.
“Sure.” Nino stood up and hurried to the kitchen and the small fridge there. He took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with coke. He hurried up to their guest room – something Nino never had when the world was still alright – and took a pillow and a blanket from there.
He walked back to Masaki with all the items in his hand and knelt next to him. “Here is a pillow and a blanket. And something to drink.” Nino smiled.
“What is this here?” Masaki asked. He took a deep breath. “And are you cooking something?” He looked directly at Nino. “Am I dreaming or was I dreaming all this apocalypse thing?”
“No, you are not dreaming and sadly everything is true.” Nino sat on the ground. “But we found this apartment and we found out that electricity was still working here, so we decided to move in,” Nino explained.
“What happened to me?” Masaki asked.
“I don’t know. Sho said you fell down from a ladder. We didn’t see it happen. We came because we heard Sho’s screams for help.” Masaki was still acting like a shy deer, but he got a little calmer already.
He suddenly nodded. “I remember. I wanted to climb up there to see if there is anything around we could need. I…” he stopped and sat up, wincing because of the pain, but he finally grabbed Nino’s shoulder with his hand. “I saw you there, and I wanted to tell the others that I found humans. I was so chipper that I didn’t watch out and I fell.”
“At least you remember about it,” Nino said. “I am not a doctor, but I guess that’s good.”
Masaki lay back and closed his eyes for a moment. “I am happy, even though I am still afraid that this is either a dream, or you are evil, but you know,“ he turned to Nino, “I don’t care about dying. I mean this is hell on earth, so I guess it can’t be worse.”
Nino gulped. Of course he sometimes had this thought, but he never said it out loud and to his surprise this feeling always disappeared fast. “I understand your feelings, but hey, we are five now, and who knows, maybe we will be many more sooner or later?” He tried to cheer Masaki up. “I will cook something now, and we are going to eat, the five of us together, like nothing is bothering us, okay?”
“What are you cooking, Nino?” Masaki asked.
“Tortellini with tomato sauce.” Nino stood up. “I know it’s not a special menu, but I will do my best to make it tasty.”
Masaki laughed out loud. “I haven’t eaten something like that since this mess happened, so I would love to eat tortellini.”
~~~
Half an hour later Nino had the food cooking on the stove and he had also prepared some dessert for them. He and Jun had carried everything eatable into their apartment, and today was the perfect day to use a little more than usual.
Masaki was asleep and Nino checked his breath from time to time, to be sure that everything was okay with him, but he seemed to be in a more or less peaceful sleep.
Nino got pulled out of his thoughts when the door suddenly opened and Sho, Jun and also Satoshi came in together. They stopped at the door and Sho and Satoshi seemed confused.
“This feels so strange,” Sho said.
“It’s like… a normal day.” Satoshi sounded sad.
“Come in,” Nino said. “Dinner is ready, and Masaki woke up. He feels alright.”
“I found some towels and some more food out there,” Satoshi said and showed Nino the items.
“Take them along to your apartment, you’ll need them.” Satoshi bowed because of Nino’s words.
“Our apartment?” Sho wanted to know.
“Opposite is a huge apartment, with electricity and three bedrooms,” Satoshi explained. “I thought we could stay here instead of going back to the tree house.”
Sho’s face turned into a bright smile. “I would love to stay in a house again with electricity.”
“We even have water for showering,” Jun said with a laugh. “But before we talk about everything further, I want to take a look at Masaki.” He placed the bag on the ground and opened it. “We found a lot of things there, but there were some animals around, so it’s not really save in the area around the hospital. But I think I got everything we need.”
He knelt next to Masaki and smiled at him. “Hey, you are awake.” He took some bottles out of the bag and started pouring the liquid on a cotton wool pad before he dapped it onto Masaki’s face. “Do you feel any pain in your body? And can you move your legs and arms freely?”
Masaki squealed when Jun put the pad on his forehead. “Hurts,” he pouted. Nino couldn’t hide a grin and something in him started jumping. “I can move every part of my body, just my head hurts and the wounds are burning.”
“That’s good. I guess nothing is broken then, and I have some meds against your headache, so don’t worry.” Jun checked Masaki’s limbs before he nodded with a smile. “Everything should be alright.” He stood up. “Maybe you should eat something.” He looked around. “Maybe we all should eat.”
They sat at the table and even Masaki could stand up to join them for dinner. It was strange and completely surreal. Nino looked out of the window. Everything was calm outside, and even the moon found its way through some clouds. It was like a normal night where he sat together with friends, just that it was different.
“All these noble things here, I never imagined that I would sit in such an apartment one day.” Masaki seemed in a good mood, even though he looked tired, but his eyes showed that he had started trusting Jun and Nino.
“What are you doing on normal days out here?” Satoshi asked after a while.
“We go out every day, because we hope to find other survivors and we collect things we think we can use one day,” Nino said. “We occupied another apartment where we store the stuff we don’t need immediately.”
“You are really organized,” Sho said. “Have you expected an accident like this?”
Nino shook his head. “I was just…” he was sure that he was blushing. “I used to watch a lot of apocalyptic TV series, so I think I learned from them?”
The others laughed at that, but it was true, it had maybe helped Nino to stay alive till now. This and the fact that Jun was pretty talented to handle this whole thing. “You even have a TV here?” Sho pointed towards the screen on the wall.
“More or less. You can watch DVDs, but there is nothing like news or so,” Jun said.
“Hey, at least we can watch DVDs. It’s something new for us,” Masaki answered. “Our house was a tree house, but I guess the others told you.” He smiled. “We had to live there, because in the north are a lot of wild animals strolling around, and the tall buildings are all destroyed.”
“That’s horrible,” Jun said. “We come from the east and decided to stay here. We searched a few days for a perfect home, and found this here. We don’t know why, but this building seems to be the only one with electricity and water. It was just a coincidence that we got here.”
“Yeah, I wanted to see such an expensive apartment building from the inside,” Nino chuckled.
“And then we stayed here.”
“It seems you have found the only place in town where it’s possible to live at least a little bit like we used to,” Masaki said.
“I am really happy that we found this,” Jun agreed.
“Were you friends before this?” Masaki asked Jun and Nino.
Nino had to laugh. “No, we hid in a toilet together when we heard something like an earthquake and that’s why we survived this.” He looked at Jun, who joined his laughter. “And you?” Nino wanted to know.
“We are childhood friends and co-workers,” Sho explained. “We have our own company.” He stirred his food with the fork. “Or better we had our own company,” he corrected himself.
“Since I am a positive person, I believe that this isn’t only bad,” Masaki tried to cheer up the mood. “We found new friends here.” He pointed at Nino and Jun. “And we are in a house which isn’t destroyed.”
“The biggest problem is that we don’t know what to do when we don’t have enough food anymore,” Satoshi mused. This was also Nino’s biggest fear, but till now they had never had any problem finding something. In the end it seemed that there weren’t too many people left around here.
“Did you hide somewhere when this happened?” Nino asked them and this time it was Satoshi answering.
“We had a conference with some partners in Europe. We had a special room for these conferences. Maybe this saved us,” Satoshi said with a shrug.
“What happened with the people in Europe?” Jun asked.
“The connection broke, we don’t know,” Masaki explained. “Then we started running around and searched for a place to stay. Since the animals were soon everywhere around, we hid in this small and uncomfortable tree house.” He stretched his limbs. “I am happy to sleep in a bed again.”
“You should rest a lot now,” Jun said to Masaki. “You aren’t fit and you shouldn’t go out till your wounds are alright again.” Jun smiled. “You were lucky, but we really need to take care that nothing too bad happens to us, because I don’t know if I am able to help with major injuries.”
“We will be careful,” Sho promised with a yawn. “I am really tired now, and you maybe can’t imagine it, but I am really happy when I get a hot shower.”
“Oh my god, a shower,” Masaki grunted happily. “I long for being refreshed.”
Nino laughed out. “That shouldn’t be a problem. You can shower here, if Sho-san is going to take the shower in your apartment.” He stood up. “I'll give you some shampoo and soap.” He took his key and walked to the apartment next to theirs, followed by the others. He opened the door and stepped into it.
“Wow, what’s this?” Masaki stunned.
“We collect everything we might need one day.” Nino shrugged. “It’s boring sometimes and so I search for things we can use in our daily life, like clothes, shampoo, towels, batteries, and everything you get in a supermarket,” he chuckled.
“That’s amazing,” Sho said. He stepped to the shampoos and took a bottle. “Can I use that?”
“Sure,” Nino said. “And here you have clothes in case you need some.” He pointed at a big wardrobe on the other side. “I think you’ll find something that will fit you.”
“Thank you so much,” Satoshi said with a bow. “Can we meet tomorrow morning for breakfast?” Satoshi looked up. “I mean, just to get something like a normal life again with a daily routine.”
“Sure,” Jun agreed, patting Satoshi’s shoulder. “But for now it’s better to go to bed.” He stepped to Masaki. “Can I do a last check-up?”
Masaki nodded. “Sure.”
“Okay, follow me,” Jun said and they disappeared into their new apartment.
“I take the biggest room,” they heard Masaki yell before the door closed.
Sho rolled his eyes, but had a smile around his lips. “Thank you, Nino.”
“No problem, we are happy to have found someone else,” Nino replied and walked back to his apartment.
~~~
“What do you think about them?” Jun asked when they were alone in their apartment.
Nino stepped to his friend. “I am so relieved that we finally found humans.” Nino breathed out. “I thought it would be only the two of us for the rest of our lives.”
Jun nodded. “I thought the same, and I am really happy to have others now.” He smiled sheepishly. “Not that I don’t enjoy your company, but you know what I mean.”
Nino laughed out. “Yeah, a big family is better than a small one.” Nino stretched his limbs. “I am already really tired. I guess I will go to bed now.” Slowly he could feel the tiredness spreading in his body and the tension from the day slowly faded. The bouncy and happy feeling that they finally found someone washed over him and made him relaxed and ready to fall asleep immediately.
“Me too,” Jun said. “It was an exciting day for us, and we need to find some rest.”
~~~
“No, you should stay here,” Nino heard Sho’s voice from outside. He blinked. It was already morning and the clock struck eight. Not that it was important, because they didn’t have any kind of appointment, but Nino liked to know what time it was.
He stepped out of his bed and walked to the living room where the others were standing around the table and discussing something. Masaki had his hands crossed and the others looked at him with small eyes. “I won’t,” Masaki said.
Nino stepped to them and looked from one to the other. Jun on the other side looked at them, relaxed, with a cup of coffee in his hands. “They discuss if Masaki should accompany them to the north or not.”
“I am not hurt, I feel good, I can come along.” Masaki sounded stubborn and Nino almost smiled at that, but he didn’t dare to. He didn’t want to increase Masaki’s anger.
“No,” Sho just said.
“You fell from a ladder, and you have a big wound with a lot of bruises on your forehead, you stay here,” Satoshi insisted.
“I don’t want to stay here alone, while everyone else is outside.” Masaki pouted. “I feel so useless then.”
“I can stay here with you.” Nino smiled. He really had no problem staying at home for a few days, after all he had never liked going out every day. It had just became something like a must to go out, because what else should they have done here? But Nino didn’t know Masaki, and maybe it would be interesting to get to know the other. Nino’s heart jumped. He had never been overall social, but the last months with just one person – and this wasn’t a topic of liking Jun, because he really liked him – were hard. He now realised how important his friends had been for him. And maybe he regretted it a little bit that he had often cancelled appointments, because he had had no motivation to go out. Now he would have given everything to get the chance to see them again.
Masaki looked at him. He opened his mouth and closed it again. He didn’t seem to know what to say. “That’s brilliant,” Jun said. “So let’s go.”
Nino hadn't known Jun for too long, but he immediately realised his intention. He wanted to get out of there, before another discussion would start. Masaki was too astonished to complain about Nino’s offer and before he could say something, the others were already leaving the apartment.
“I am not hurt,” Masaki said again even though the others were probably already out of the building.
“But your forehead looks like a rainbow,” Nino laughed. “Maybe it’s really the best thing to stay at home for today. I am sure we’ll have to leave the apartment more often in the next months, years… or whatever.” Nino waved.
“Do you think we’ll stay alone?” Masaki asked. He sat at the bar, which divided the living room and the kitchen. Nino joined him and saw two cups of coffee Jun must have had prepared earlier.
“I don’t know, but we can’t change things, right?” He gave Masaki one cup. “And I think we should enjoy every single minute we have here, because who knows what’ll happen to us.”
Masaki looked down at his cup. For a moment they both didn’t say a word, till Masaki looked directly at Nino. “Somehow that sounds really sad, but you didn’t sound all over sad at all. It seems you can see a small sparkle of hope in our situation?”
Nino shrugged. He had never been all over gloomy because of their situation, because he couldn’t change it, and he had to accept it the way it was. “It is how it is, right?”
Masaki nodded with a smile. “Maybe you are right.” He rubbed his head, and winced. “Okay, my head really hurts, but don’t you dare tell the others.” He pointed at Nino, who just laughed.
“Don’t worry, I can keep a secret.” He turned to the cupboard and took a melon pan from there. Luckily those things were packed and still eatable. “Do you want one?” he asked, earning a nod from Masaki.
“What was your life like before we ended up here?” Masaki wanted to know.
Nino took a bite of the bread and sat next to Masaki on the bar chair. His life had been… he tilted his head. What had his life really been like? It had been boring and really unspectacular. It had just been… a normal life. He hadn’t reached pretty high goals and he had totally been nothing special. “I worked in a law office as an assistant, so nothing special at all. I had a few friends I was meeting here and there, but I was kind of a loner. I loved being at home, playing games and reading comics, and you?”
“Oh that’s not boring,” Masaki said with a smile – a smile Nino could have gotten lost in. He shook his head just a little bit. What was he thinking here? “I worked together with Sho and Satoshi. We ran a company together, but we already told you.”
“That‘s amazing, really,” Nino said honestly. “You had a lot to take care of owning a company, right?”
Masaki nodded. “Yeah, but Satoshi and Sho did the most. I was more the creative head of it. I was in charge of planning our meetings and taking care of our employees.” He made a pause. “I sometimes miss work. It’s all a mess now, and we don’t know how it’ll go on and what will happen to us next.”
“But we are still alive.” Nino knew he didn’t sound all over positive, but he really wanted to see it as a good thing that they hadn't been caught by whatever had gotten the other human beings.
Masaki smiled at him. “Yeah.” He sounded sad, which made Nino feel blue. “Did you have someone you loved?” He asked.
Nino felt a stinging pain in his chest. He had never had time to think about a relationship, because he had always enjoyed his life as a single. He had never thought about falling in love because he had always thought that there was enough time to find someone to share a life with. “Nope.” He tried sounding cool, but he knew he failed.
“Me neither,” Masaki said. “I thought that I don’t need someone, because I had a lot of work, and this was more important than being together with someone. But now I somehow regret it, because it’s too late now.” Masaki’s words made Nino feel the pain rising. He didn’t know why the other was so open-heartedly talking with him, but he didn’t feel ashamed nor did it feel wrong to him, on the contrary, he enjoyed the open talk with someone. With Jun he had always talked about surviving, but they hardly ever talked about the lives they had had before. And in the end it didn’t matter, because they were all gone. Just that Nino now realised that his life had been sad, and he was kind of shocked that he didn’t miss anyone much. Of course he thought a lot about his family, but his friends? He missed them, sometimes, but he never suffered because of it.
“It sounds strange, but I am not feeling bad because of this here.” It felt different to say it out loud. But Nino wasn’t lying. His life hadn’t changed much, on the contrary, he had found a friend with whom he was able to live with, and he had now found three other people, he hoped to get closer to. Was his life really getting better?
Masaki shook his head. “Me neither.”
“Are you crying?” Nino asked concerned. He placed his hand on Masaki’s shoulder. The other smiled at him with tears in his eyes.
“Sorry, it’s just kind of sad that I don’t miss my old life much.” He took a deep breath to calm down. “And the saddest thing is, that Satoshi, Sho and I are now talking with each other, like we haven’t done in years. It’s making me sad and happy at the same time.”
“I thought you were friends?“ Nino asked.
The way Masaki looked at him, let him feel the need to hug the other, but he didn‘t dare to. Masaki was still a stranger after all. “We were friends, but during the last years we drowned in work, and slowly our relationship turned into something business-like only. Sometimes we didn‘t talk for weeks, because of work hunting us. Or sometimes we fought at work over some stupid plans, and stopped talking privately with each other.“ Masaki looked at Nino. “And after this happened we finally had no work to talk about. It was only us, and we needed to talk with each other again, and we found each other again. There I realised how much I missed my best friends.“
“So this whole mess created an opportunity for the three of you.“ Nino smiled at him.
“Yeah, seems so.“ Now Masaki smiled. He seemed to be glad that Nino didn‘t accuse him of seeing something good in this whole mess. “Did you have a lot of friends?“
Nino shook his head. “I was someone who loved to be alone, but I learned that company is really nice.“
“Jun seems to be someone really nice,“ Masaki agreed. “You get along well, right?“
Nino nodded. “First, I thought that this would never work. Not because of Jun, he had always been the social type, at least he told me that, but because of me. I couldn‘t imagine having someone next to me all day long, but now I can‘t imagine it being different.“ Nino laughed. “Sounds stupid, right?“
Masaki shook his head. “I think our priorities have changed.“ He seemed to think about something, because for some moments he just stared at the wall. “And I think it‘s good that we don‘t drown in fear or sadness because of this, because then we wouldn‘t be able to survive this.“ He smiled at Nino. “But I am really happy that we found you.“
Something in Nino jumped. It was the same feeling he had already had when he had seen Masaki for the first time. He was beautiful, but not the cliché beauty. He was… he was… what Nino liked. He gulped. It couldn‘t be that he – Ninomiya Kazunari – who had always loved to stay away from human beings as far as possible, had finally found someone he could get interested in; and just because a damn apocalypse was happening to them.
—
Weeks had passed and Nino still felt this strange pushing and pulling in his stomach when he was together with Masaki. He had tried to forget about it, had tried to focus on other things, but with every day his feelings grew stronger and slowly he couldn‘t hide it from himself anymore. He had to admit that he had fallen for Masaki.
Nino and Jun were outside, searching for some necessary things again when Jun suddenly stopped and turned. “What is there between you and Masaki?“
Nino gulped. How could the other know? He had never said anything to anyone. “What are you talking about?“
Jun grinned evilly. “Oh, come on.“ He stepped closer, placing his hand on Nino‘s shoulder. “I can see you looking at him, and I see him staring at you.“
Masaki was staring at him? He had never seen this. Why? Nino was sure he blushed. “I have no idea what you are talking about.“
Jun rolled his eyes. “Oh, of course.“ He was still grinning. “I'll just tell you one thing: I am sure Masaki likes you, and if you really feel something for him, than go and grab him.“ Jun clenched his fists and raised them up in the air to cheer on Nino. Embarrassing, Nino thought. Luckily no one was listening to them.
Nino wanted to deny any feelings again, but in the end he had questions no one would be able to answer if he didn‘t decide to open up. “Hypothetically,“ he started, “if I liked Masaki, how should I get closer to him?“
“Hypothetically,“ Jun mimicked him, “you can just ask him to go on a little searching trip with you. Just the two of you. And then you can talk about this and that and get closer step by step.“
“That sounds like I need to go out with him more often till we maybe come to a point where we can talk about feelings?“ Nino asked.
“You aren‘t the most patient type of guy, right?“
Nino shook his head. He nibbled on his lower lip. “And I have never been in love before.“
He waited for Jun to start laughing, but to his surprise the other just gave him an understanding smile. “You‘ll need some time, but because I am sure that Masaki is interested in you, it may happen that this goes on faster than you might expect.“
Nino‘s heart made a jump.
—
“Masaki, do you want to go on medicine search with me?“ Nino asked the next day. His heart beat faster when he asked this, but it calmed down a bit after Masaki agreed with a smile.
Jun gave him an encouraging nod and Nino wasn‘t sure if he interpreted it right, but Sho and Satoshi seemed to do the same with Masaki. Maybe he was really interested in Nino? But Nino didn‘t want to interpret too much into it, because he had done this once, and he had gotten terribly dumped.
They were not far away from their home when Masaki suddenly stopped and held Nino back. He pointed down the street, where some animals made their way up to where they were standing. Nino froze. He looked around, but where should they go? Before he could decide about a direction, Masaki pulled him into a small cave-like hole built from two destroyed houses. “I hope they'll just pass,“ Masaki whispered.
Nino nodded at him. Fear washed over him in hot waves, and he didn‘t dare to move a millimetre. He winced when he felt Masaki‘s hands taking his, squeezing them to signalise that everything would be alright. But Nino couldn‘t get rid of his panic. He felt Masaki shifting till he was next to Nino, and the next thing Nino felt where Masaki‘s lips on his. For a moment Nino didn‘t know what to do, they hadn‘t talked about feelings before, and now Masaki was just doing this? But it felt terribly good and slowly Nino melted into the kiss, letting himself being pulled into a tight hug. What had he missed out on in his life till now? These feelings were overwhelming and he couldn‘t get enough of the other‘s hands around his waist, his lips soft but eager against Nino‘s.
Nino didn‘t know how long they had been making out, but he was sure that the animals were long gone. Masaki smiled at him when they dissolved. “I hoped you‘d feel the same.“
Nino brushed Masaki‘s cheek. “Never thought that I would ever fall in love,“ he laughed.
He pecked Masaki‘s lips before he crawled out of the cave. “The others won‘t be happy if we come back empty-handed,“ Nino said, and Masaki nodded at him. Nino saw Masaki‘s blushed cheeks, and he was sure that the other was at least as insecure but happy about it as Nino was.
—
“So you come home with a half-filled bag?“ Jun asked with a smile.
Nino shrugged. He knew he was an open book, and even though Jun hadn‘t been his friend for years, they had gotten to know each other pretty well during the last months and somehow he had become something like Nino‘s best friend, who was able to read Nino‘s thoughts easily.
“I am happy, Nino.“ Jun patted Nino‘s shoulder.
“How the hell did you know that?“ Nino wanted to know.
Jun laughed. “You are an open book, Ninomiya. At least I spent enough time with you to tell that something happened, and because you aren‘t gloomy nor crying, I guess that something worked out perfectly.“
Nino could just nod. His belly made jumps and he felt like exploding. He had never felt that good. “We hopefully have a long time here together, and even though everyone else is gone, I am happy – as long as we are happy,“ Jun said.
Nino stepped forward and hugged the other. “Thanks for being my friend.“
—
The sun was about to disappear behind the horizon. It was beautiful, but also melancholic, because they didn’t know how life would continue for them. Nino stepped onto the rooftop. There was only one way to live their new life: enjoying every day as if it was their last one. It wasn‘t important what would happen in a few weeks, it was important what they felt now, and now Nino was happy – more than happy. He could see Masaki sitting on the ground, his eyes closed.
“What are you thinking about?“ Nino asked and sat next to Masaki.
He turned and smiled at Nino. “I am happy.“
Nino leaned closer and kissed him. “Pathetic, right?“
“Mhm,“ Masaki said, “but I want to feel good, no matter what will happen to us.“
“Me too.“ Nino leaned against Masaki‘s shoulder and closed his eyes. It wouldn‘t get any easier for them as the – maybe – last human beings on earth, but they would fight, and even if it seemed senseless, they had the strong will to fight and to survive. The five of them together.
aeslisFrom: :3.
Title: Survivors
Pairing/focus: Aimiya
Rating: PG-13
Word count:8440
Warnings: None
Summary: What would you do if you are the only survivor on earth?
Notes: Dear aeslis, I tried my best with this story, and I hope you like it. Thanks to my beta, the best beta on earth.
Nino stood at the window, staring outside absent-mindedly. The houses on the other side of the street were slowly collapsing and soon there would be no more memories of how the old Tokyo had once looked like.
“Nino?” He turned to look at his only companion.
“Isn’t this a sad view?” Nino asked. The man nodded. “Jun, sometimes I wonder why we are still fighting. Isn’t it all over already?”
Jun stepped next to him, looking out of the window. “It isn’t over. Not till we are sure that there aren’t any other survivors out there.”
“How can you be sure that there are others?” Nino wanted to know. He mostly tried staying positive, but on some days his depression overwhelmed him. One of the undestroyed windows from the other houses reflected the sun. It would have been a wonderful day outside and Nino would have enjoyed going out, eating an ice cream or going for some ramen, but there was no one left. No one had survived the apocalypse.
“I need to be. There has to be someone out there.” Jun clenched his fists. He got angry, but Nino needed him to be, because it made him stronger. Jun’s power and will made him stronger and let him believe that there was really a chance to find survivors or maybe even a colony where they could find a place to stay which was safer than their apartment on the twentieth floor of this undestroyed building.
They had been together for half a year now, and they hadn’t found a single human being during this time.
Everything had started in the comic shop on the other side of town.
Six months ago
Nino and Jun were in the comic shop when the apocalypse started and they hid in the cellar, where they had been looking through comics. It went down fast and they could hear people scream and things were crashing. They looked at each other and it seemed that they understood each other. There was a small door leading to a toilet they rushed into. Luckily there hadn’t been anyone else with them, because the space in the toilet wasn’t overall big.
They stayed there for at least two hours before they decided to leave their hiding place. It was horrible. Carefully, they made their way up to the entrance and saw that the whole street was destroyed. It looked like a hurricane had rushed through the street, but there was something more horrible going on: There wasn’t a single human being around. It was like they had disappeared in the middle of all the mess around them.
Nino stepped out into the street and looked around. His heartbeat increased. This wasn’t possible. This was just not possible. “They are…” he heard the other beginning to talk.
“Gone,” Nino finished the sentence. The buildings and streets looked like a hurricane had ruined everything, but there were no corpses and no people running around. It was like they had vanished.
The man nodded absent-mindedly. “What the hell happened here?” he whispered. He looked directly at Nino, who just shrugged. He had no idea, and he feared that they would find the same emptiness when strolling around.
“What should we do now?” Nino wanted to know.
“I have no idea.” The man stepped closer. “Oh, by the way, I am Jun. I guess I didn’t introduce myself till now.” He smiled a bit and bowed.
“Ninomiya, but everyone calls me Nino.” He bowed too. “It’s nice to meet you,” Nino sighed. “Though I guess the circumstances are a little bit weird.“
“Nino?” Nino looked up. He was totally in his thoughts and didn’t even realize that Jun was patting his shoulder.
“Hm?”
“I said that we should go out to find more food.” Jun rolled his eyes. To Nino’s surprise they had managed pretty well to survive the last months. Electricity was partly working, and so they had no problem with freezing things. The bigger problem they had was that supermarkets were almost empty because of animals, which had started combing the city in search something edible. Nino and Jun had found this place on the building’s twentieth floor where they had a nice overview and they could be sure that no animal would find its way up there. They even had water for showering and fridges in every apartment, but they had only carried two of them into theirs. They hadn’t believed that it would really work to live here, but it did.
“Are we already running out of food?” Nino wanted to know. They had searched for food not long ago.
“No, but it would be nice to find something, and we definitely need water,” Jun said. They hadn’t dared to try the river’s water till now, because they feared that it was polluted, but it got more and more difficult to find water bottles around.
Nino stepped to the door, which led into a small pantry. They had locked their food and water away there in a fridge. Nino and Jun both had a key for this room, and they always locked it, preventing others from stealing something from them. The second fridge was in the kitchen, but they didn’t lock this one. It was a little ridiculous, because till now they hadn’t seen any human being around somewhere and they doubted that there was anyone alive. Nino took the key from around his neck and opened the door.
At the back were eight bottles of water and some cans with food. He opened the fridge. They were slowly running out of fresh vegetables and fruits, but they knew it wouldn’t be possible to get something in the stores, because the items would be rotten by now. “We should find more cans of food and water.”
“Yes. And I want to search for some meds.” When Nino grumbled and rolled his eyes, Jun continued. “You know what happened last time, and we didn’t have enough here to take care of your wounds.”
Nino sighed. “Stupid metal bar in the middle of the supermarket. And stupid slippery floor.” He had seen some bottles of beer on one of the shelves and wanted to get them, when he slipped and fell with his hand on a metal bar. He had some terrible cuts on his hand and arm, and they had to search for medicine almost a whole day.
Jun chuckled. “Of course.”
Sometimes Jun annoyed him, but all in all Nino was glad that he wasn’t alone. At least he had someone to talk to, and someone who suffered as much as he did. In the end they both didn’t know where this whole thing would lead them, and if they were cursed to stay alone on Earth till they’d die.
~~~
It was almost summer and the sun was burning hot on this day. Nino and Jun had decided to head north, because they hadn’t searched for food in this area till now. Nino had never been the sporty or adventurous one, but he had learned to be during the last weeks. Sometimes they had to be fast, just because an animal was following them, or there were barriers around. “Over there is a supermarket.” Nino pointed at the 7eleven sign not far away from them.
They had learned that running straight to the place they wanted to get to could be dangerous, so they hid somewhere and observed the area before they really decided to go into the supermarket. There was a small transporter they hid behind and peeked around to see if there was any movement at the supermarket. After some minutes without any noise or sign they sneaked inside. “Looks like no animal is around,” Jun said.
During their first days they had also said that there was no human around, but since they had never seen anyone else, they had stopped talking about seeing someone around. It had always been just animals hunting them. The supermarket was completely destroyed, but Nino found some cans with fast food and long-life milk, coffee, tea, and the most important thing: water. There were at least ten boxes with six bottles of water in each. “Jun.” Nino pointed at the water. “We need them, but how should we transport that?”
Jun came up to him and rubbed his chin. “Hm, we need a car.” They had tried driving around a few times, but first of all, most of the cars were broken, and second, the streets were too destroyed to drive on them. “That small path leads to our building, you remember?” Jun asked.
Nino blinked. “Oh, you mean the park?” That was a brilliant idea. If they found a car, they could drive there. The path was undestroyed and it led directly to their home. “That’s great, but we don’t have a car.”
They walked outside, but no matter which car they tested, each and every one was broken. “Damn fucking apocalypse,” Nino yelled and kicked the car’s tyre. He had hardly had any outburst even though the whole situation had been overstraining him from the very beginning. But Jun had had a very calm and alluring attitude and managed to calm Nino down, and somehow the small hope in him stayed that this was just a dream, or that everything would become alright again.
“Shh,” Jun suddenly said, raising his hands.
“No, I don’t want to stay calm now,” Nino screamed.
“No, no, listen,” Jun answered.
Nino stopped moving and listened into the silence. First he thought that Jun had imagined something, but then he heard it too. “Help.”
Nino’s heartbeat increased. Was there really someone calling for help? That couldn’t be. Nino stared at Jun, who looked as astonished as he himself must have looked like. “Where does this voice come from?” Nino whispered. He was afraid to overhear another cry for help.
Jun pointed at a parking lot right next to the supermarket. They slowly walked up there, always aware that this could be a trap. Not far away from the lot they could see a man kneeling on the ground. Nino looked at Jun and they nodded at each other before they ran up there. The wish to find other survivors was bigger than the fear of running into a trap.
“Hey, can we help you?” Nino asked and the man stood up, taking some steps backwards. Nino could see a second man lying on the ground, not moving.
“Who are you?” He raised a knife.
“We heard your voice and came to help.” Jun raised his hands and stepped closer. “We don’t want to hurt you.”
Jun took slow steps and Nino tried to stay behind him. It felt a bit like getting closer to a shy animal. “What happened to him?” Nino wanted to know.
The man looked from them to the man on the ground. “He tried to climb up there, and fell down.” He pointed at a ladder next to the house.
“Listen, I am a doctor, I will take a look at him now.” Jun knelt down and touched the man’s neck.
Nino walked up to the other man and stretched out his hand. “I am Nino.” He smiled and hoped the man would at least trust them that they wouldn’t rob him.
“Sho,” he stuttered and looked at Nino’s hand for a moment before he shook it. “I didn’t believe that there are other survivors.”
“But you called for help?” Nino asked.
Sho nodded at him. “There are three of us. Satoshi is somewhere around to search for firewood.” He robbed closer to the man on the ground. “I hoped he’d hear me and come help me.”
Jun turned to him. “He is alive, but he needs treatment.” Jun looked around. “Do you have a car?”
Sho nodded. “Yes.” He pointed at a transporter.
“Perfect. We will bring him to our place, and we have enough space to take the water and food along.” Jun stood up and looked around. “The hospital is not far away. I will go there to get some things.”
“You can’t go alone,” Nino said. “I will accompany you.”
Jun shook his head. “No. You bring him to our home. Sho, can you accompany me?”
Sho nodded. Suddenly he seemed to have found trust. “Of course.”
“Who are you?” They heard a voice not far away.
“Satoshi, they are here to help. Masaki fell down and hurt himself.” Sho stepped to the third man.
“Humans,” Satoshi said with his mouth wide open. “There are other survivors?”
“I will go with Jun and search the hospital for medicine.” Sho stepped to Jun. “And this is Nino, he will bring Masaki to their home.” Sho seemed all over chipper.
“I will go with you,” Satoshi said and stepped to Nino.
Nino nodded. “We need to get the water into the transporter and the food.” Nino turned to Jun. “I will cook something for later.”
“Cook?” Satoshi looked at him. “You have a bonfire?”
Nino blinked. “No, a kitchen.”
“You have electricity?” Sho asked astonished.
“Yes, you don’t?” Jun asked. The two shook their heads.
“Okay, we talk about everything later on, let’s get your friend to our apartment,” Nino said.
They walked to the supermarket and carried everything they’d need into the transporter before they carefully carried Masaki there and placed him on the backseat. “Be careful, Jun,” Nino said before he started the car. “And you too, Sho,” he added.
They drove down the park and soon Nino could see their building appearing. “We live over there,” he said to Satoshi.
Satoshi looked at him. “In a noble building.” He laughed.
Nino shrugged. “After the apocalypse had happened, nobody asked about the rent.” He joined the laughter. “Here we are,” he said after he had parked the car in the garage. It was almost a miracle that the building was completely unaffected by the happenings.
“We occupy an apartment on the twentieth floor, but there are several empty apartments, so if you want you could stay with us?” Nino asked. He didn’t know the others, but he was so overall happy that there were finally other humans, that he didn’t care about being that direct.
“It would be nice to stay here, we don't have a comfortable place like that,” Satoshi said. “And you really have electricity?”
Nino nodded. “I saw some fridges in other apartments, I am sure we can rearrange an apartment for the three of you.”
They got out of the car and opened the door to the backseat. “I suggest to carry him to the elevator,” Nino said. They pulled on Masaki’s arm and carried him to the elevator. “I will hold him, go and get some water and the food,” Nino added and held Masaki against the wall and tried to keep the elevator’s door open with one foot.
He looked at Masaki and blinked. Even though the other was more or less unconscious he looked beautiful. Was this already the first step of going insane here? Was the loneliness already overwhelming Nino? But he never felt the need to jump Jun, even after being together for months.
“Here I am,” Satoshi said and carried the last water bottles and cans into the elevator. “That’s amazing,” he said.
Nino smiled and felt a little proud, like it was really his home he offered here and not a random building they had chosen as their new home. He guided Satoshi to their apartment and let Satoshi help him carry Masaki to the couch in their living room.
He took the key from his neck and stepped to the locked room. “You can place the food and water in there.”
“You are really well prepared,” Satoshi was stunned.
“Where did you live?” Nino wanted to know.
“In the northern part of town. The buildings there are all destroyed. We hid in a playground in a tree house,” he explained. “There is no electricity and we have hardly any protection there.”
“It seems we were really lucky.” Nino swallowed. “What should we do now?” he asked.
Satoshi stepped to Masaki and stroked his head. “I think we can’t do anything for him now. We have to wait for the others?” He looked at Nino. “Is Jun really a doctor?”
Nino nodded. “I think yes.”
“Did you know each other before this here?” Satoshi asked and Nino shook his head.
“We survived together and decided to stay together. And you?” Nino wanted to know.
“We are colleagues and friends.” Satoshi smiled at him. “I am glad that we aren’t alone.” He stepped closer. “It makes me hope that there are more people out there.”
Nino agreed. It really was nice to see other people. “How about checking out the apartment opposite?” he suggested. Jun and he had thought about living in two apartments at the beginning, but this apartment was big enough for more than one so they had decided to share it at one point. But the apartment opposite was almost the same size and had three bedrooms. “I guess that one would be perfect.”
“This apartment is more than enough for the three of us,“ Satoshi was stunned. “I lived on a boat, so I am not really picky about how much space I have,” he added with a laugh.
“We will search for a fridge somewhere in the other apartments later on, but let’s head back to Masaki,” Nino suggested and Satoshi followed him with a nod.
Satoshi knelt next to his friend and stroked over his head. “Masaki?” He asked, but the other didn’t react. “I can’t sit here and wait.” Satoshi stood up. “I want to go out to search for some things. Is it okay to leave him with you?”
Satoshi looked worried, and Nino could understand his feelings. Satoshi had been with his friends since this mess had begun and even though they had probably not been like a family beforehand, this here had made them something like that. He didn’t want to imagine what he would do if something happened to Jun. “Sure.” Nino smiled. “Can you look for some towels and food – food is always top priority.”
“Sure.” Satoshi nodded. He once again looked around. “This here feels like heaven compared to our place.” He made a pause. “It feels just a little bit like everything is okay.”
“I am glad you think this way, and I hope we can stay together, even though it’s maybe really airheaded to trust someone I don’t know at all,” Nino answered.
“I can only talk for myself, but I agree.” With that Satoshi left him in the apartment with Masaki.
Nino walked up to the kitchen and started preparing food from the cans. It was something different to cook for five people instead of two, but it didn’t stress him, no, it was a bubbly-warm feeling spreading. They had really found companions. Nino heard a moan from the living room and headed to Masaki, who had his eyes open. Masaki tried moving, but Nino pushed him back down on the couch. “You are hurt.”
Masaki yelled out. “Who are you?” He tried fighting Nino, but he was definitely too weak to get Nino down.
“I am Nino.” He pointed at himself. “Satoshi is searching for food, and Sho is together with my friend Jun in the hospital to get some medicine for you.”
“Satoshi, Sho…,” Masaki whispered. “You know them?”
Nino smiled at the man. “Yes. We met you at the supermarket and saw that you are hurt. Jun, my friend, is a doctor, and he’ll search for medicine to take care of you.”
He could see that Masaki didn’t believe him. His eyes were restless and he seemed insecure and afraid. He tried to sit up, but Nino pushed him down as gently as possible. “Please, stay here. You are really hurt, and you can’t stand up. Do you want something to drink or eat?”
“Something to drink would be nice,” Masaki said carefully. He was still afraid that this was a trap, and Nino was sure that he would have felt the same in Masaki’s place.
“Sure.” Nino stood up and hurried to the kitchen and the small fridge there. He took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with coke. He hurried up to their guest room – something Nino never had when the world was still alright – and took a pillow and a blanket from there.
He walked back to Masaki with all the items in his hand and knelt next to him. “Here is a pillow and a blanket. And something to drink.” Nino smiled.
“What is this here?” Masaki asked. He took a deep breath. “And are you cooking something?” He looked directly at Nino. “Am I dreaming or was I dreaming all this apocalypse thing?”
“No, you are not dreaming and sadly everything is true.” Nino sat on the ground. “But we found this apartment and we found out that electricity was still working here, so we decided to move in,” Nino explained.
“What happened to me?” Masaki asked.
“I don’t know. Sho said you fell down from a ladder. We didn’t see it happen. We came because we heard Sho’s screams for help.” Masaki was still acting like a shy deer, but he got a little calmer already.
He suddenly nodded. “I remember. I wanted to climb up there to see if there is anything around we could need. I…” he stopped and sat up, wincing because of the pain, but he finally grabbed Nino’s shoulder with his hand. “I saw you there, and I wanted to tell the others that I found humans. I was so chipper that I didn’t watch out and I fell.”
“At least you remember about it,” Nino said. “I am not a doctor, but I guess that’s good.”
Masaki lay back and closed his eyes for a moment. “I am happy, even though I am still afraid that this is either a dream, or you are evil, but you know,“ he turned to Nino, “I don’t care about dying. I mean this is hell on earth, so I guess it can’t be worse.”
Nino gulped. Of course he sometimes had this thought, but he never said it out loud and to his surprise this feeling always disappeared fast. “I understand your feelings, but hey, we are five now, and who knows, maybe we will be many more sooner or later?” He tried to cheer Masaki up. “I will cook something now, and we are going to eat, the five of us together, like nothing is bothering us, okay?”
“What are you cooking, Nino?” Masaki asked.
“Tortellini with tomato sauce.” Nino stood up. “I know it’s not a special menu, but I will do my best to make it tasty.”
Masaki laughed out loud. “I haven’t eaten something like that since this mess happened, so I would love to eat tortellini.”
~~~
Half an hour later Nino had the food cooking on the stove and he had also prepared some dessert for them. He and Jun had carried everything eatable into their apartment, and today was the perfect day to use a little more than usual.
Masaki was asleep and Nino checked his breath from time to time, to be sure that everything was okay with him, but he seemed to be in a more or less peaceful sleep.
Nino got pulled out of his thoughts when the door suddenly opened and Sho, Jun and also Satoshi came in together. They stopped at the door and Sho and Satoshi seemed confused.
“This feels so strange,” Sho said.
“It’s like… a normal day.” Satoshi sounded sad.
“Come in,” Nino said. “Dinner is ready, and Masaki woke up. He feels alright.”
“I found some towels and some more food out there,” Satoshi said and showed Nino the items.
“Take them along to your apartment, you’ll need them.” Satoshi bowed because of Nino’s words.
“Our apartment?” Sho wanted to know.
“Opposite is a huge apartment, with electricity and three bedrooms,” Satoshi explained. “I thought we could stay here instead of going back to the tree house.”
Sho’s face turned into a bright smile. “I would love to stay in a house again with electricity.”
“We even have water for showering,” Jun said with a laugh. “But before we talk about everything further, I want to take a look at Masaki.” He placed the bag on the ground and opened it. “We found a lot of things there, but there were some animals around, so it’s not really save in the area around the hospital. But I think I got everything we need.”
He knelt next to Masaki and smiled at him. “Hey, you are awake.” He took some bottles out of the bag and started pouring the liquid on a cotton wool pad before he dapped it onto Masaki’s face. “Do you feel any pain in your body? And can you move your legs and arms freely?”
Masaki squealed when Jun put the pad on his forehead. “Hurts,” he pouted. Nino couldn’t hide a grin and something in him started jumping. “I can move every part of my body, just my head hurts and the wounds are burning.”
“That’s good. I guess nothing is broken then, and I have some meds against your headache, so don’t worry.” Jun checked Masaki’s limbs before he nodded with a smile. “Everything should be alright.” He stood up. “Maybe you should eat something.” He looked around. “Maybe we all should eat.”
They sat at the table and even Masaki could stand up to join them for dinner. It was strange and completely surreal. Nino looked out of the window. Everything was calm outside, and even the moon found its way through some clouds. It was like a normal night where he sat together with friends, just that it was different.
“All these noble things here, I never imagined that I would sit in such an apartment one day.” Masaki seemed in a good mood, even though he looked tired, but his eyes showed that he had started trusting Jun and Nino.
“What are you doing on normal days out here?” Satoshi asked after a while.
“We go out every day, because we hope to find other survivors and we collect things we think we can use one day,” Nino said. “We occupied another apartment where we store the stuff we don’t need immediately.”
“You are really organized,” Sho said. “Have you expected an accident like this?”
Nino shook his head. “I was just…” he was sure that he was blushing. “I used to watch a lot of apocalyptic TV series, so I think I learned from them?”
The others laughed at that, but it was true, it had maybe helped Nino to stay alive till now. This and the fact that Jun was pretty talented to handle this whole thing. “You even have a TV here?” Sho pointed towards the screen on the wall.
“More or less. You can watch DVDs, but there is nothing like news or so,” Jun said.
“Hey, at least we can watch DVDs. It’s something new for us,” Masaki answered. “Our house was a tree house, but I guess the others told you.” He smiled. “We had to live there, because in the north are a lot of wild animals strolling around, and the tall buildings are all destroyed.”
“That’s horrible,” Jun said. “We come from the east and decided to stay here. We searched a few days for a perfect home, and found this here. We don’t know why, but this building seems to be the only one with electricity and water. It was just a coincidence that we got here.”
“Yeah, I wanted to see such an expensive apartment building from the inside,” Nino chuckled.
“And then we stayed here.”
“It seems you have found the only place in town where it’s possible to live at least a little bit like we used to,” Masaki said.
“I am really happy that we found this,” Jun agreed.
“Were you friends before this?” Masaki asked Jun and Nino.
Nino had to laugh. “No, we hid in a toilet together when we heard something like an earthquake and that’s why we survived this.” He looked at Jun, who joined his laughter. “And you?” Nino wanted to know.
“We are childhood friends and co-workers,” Sho explained. “We have our own company.” He stirred his food with the fork. “Or better we had our own company,” he corrected himself.
“Since I am a positive person, I believe that this isn’t only bad,” Masaki tried to cheer up the mood. “We found new friends here.” He pointed at Nino and Jun. “And we are in a house which isn’t destroyed.”
“The biggest problem is that we don’t know what to do when we don’t have enough food anymore,” Satoshi mused. This was also Nino’s biggest fear, but till now they had never had any problem finding something. In the end it seemed that there weren’t too many people left around here.
“Did you hide somewhere when this happened?” Nino asked them and this time it was Satoshi answering.
“We had a conference with some partners in Europe. We had a special room for these conferences. Maybe this saved us,” Satoshi said with a shrug.
“What happened with the people in Europe?” Jun asked.
“The connection broke, we don’t know,” Masaki explained. “Then we started running around and searched for a place to stay. Since the animals were soon everywhere around, we hid in this small and uncomfortable tree house.” He stretched his limbs. “I am happy to sleep in a bed again.”
“You should rest a lot now,” Jun said to Masaki. “You aren’t fit and you shouldn’t go out till your wounds are alright again.” Jun smiled. “You were lucky, but we really need to take care that nothing too bad happens to us, because I don’t know if I am able to help with major injuries.”
“We will be careful,” Sho promised with a yawn. “I am really tired now, and you maybe can’t imagine it, but I am really happy when I get a hot shower.”
“Oh my god, a shower,” Masaki grunted happily. “I long for being refreshed.”
Nino laughed out. “That shouldn’t be a problem. You can shower here, if Sho-san is going to take the shower in your apartment.” He stood up. “I'll give you some shampoo and soap.” He took his key and walked to the apartment next to theirs, followed by the others. He opened the door and stepped into it.
“Wow, what’s this?” Masaki stunned.
“We collect everything we might need one day.” Nino shrugged. “It’s boring sometimes and so I search for things we can use in our daily life, like clothes, shampoo, towels, batteries, and everything you get in a supermarket,” he chuckled.
“That’s amazing,” Sho said. He stepped to the shampoos and took a bottle. “Can I use that?”
“Sure,” Nino said. “And here you have clothes in case you need some.” He pointed at a big wardrobe on the other side. “I think you’ll find something that will fit you.”
“Thank you so much,” Satoshi said with a bow. “Can we meet tomorrow morning for breakfast?” Satoshi looked up. “I mean, just to get something like a normal life again with a daily routine.”
“Sure,” Jun agreed, patting Satoshi’s shoulder. “But for now it’s better to go to bed.” He stepped to Masaki. “Can I do a last check-up?”
Masaki nodded. “Sure.”
“Okay, follow me,” Jun said and they disappeared into their new apartment.
“I take the biggest room,” they heard Masaki yell before the door closed.
Sho rolled his eyes, but had a smile around his lips. “Thank you, Nino.”
“No problem, we are happy to have found someone else,” Nino replied and walked back to his apartment.
~~~
“What do you think about them?” Jun asked when they were alone in their apartment.
Nino stepped to his friend. “I am so relieved that we finally found humans.” Nino breathed out. “I thought it would be only the two of us for the rest of our lives.”
Jun nodded. “I thought the same, and I am really happy to have others now.” He smiled sheepishly. “Not that I don’t enjoy your company, but you know what I mean.”
Nino laughed out. “Yeah, a big family is better than a small one.” Nino stretched his limbs. “I am already really tired. I guess I will go to bed now.” Slowly he could feel the tiredness spreading in his body and the tension from the day slowly faded. The bouncy and happy feeling that they finally found someone washed over him and made him relaxed and ready to fall asleep immediately.
“Me too,” Jun said. “It was an exciting day for us, and we need to find some rest.”
~~~
“No, you should stay here,” Nino heard Sho’s voice from outside. He blinked. It was already morning and the clock struck eight. Not that it was important, because they didn’t have any kind of appointment, but Nino liked to know what time it was.
He stepped out of his bed and walked to the living room where the others were standing around the table and discussing something. Masaki had his hands crossed and the others looked at him with small eyes. “I won’t,” Masaki said.
Nino stepped to them and looked from one to the other. Jun on the other side looked at them, relaxed, with a cup of coffee in his hands. “They discuss if Masaki should accompany them to the north or not.”
“I am not hurt, I feel good, I can come along.” Masaki sounded stubborn and Nino almost smiled at that, but he didn’t dare to. He didn’t want to increase Masaki’s anger.
“No,” Sho just said.
“You fell from a ladder, and you have a big wound with a lot of bruises on your forehead, you stay here,” Satoshi insisted.
“I don’t want to stay here alone, while everyone else is outside.” Masaki pouted. “I feel so useless then.”
“I can stay here with you.” Nino smiled. He really had no problem staying at home for a few days, after all he had never liked going out every day. It had just became something like a must to go out, because what else should they have done here? But Nino didn’t know Masaki, and maybe it would be interesting to get to know the other. Nino’s heart jumped. He had never been overall social, but the last months with just one person – and this wasn’t a topic of liking Jun, because he really liked him – were hard. He now realised how important his friends had been for him. And maybe he regretted it a little bit that he had often cancelled appointments, because he had had no motivation to go out. Now he would have given everything to get the chance to see them again.
Masaki looked at him. He opened his mouth and closed it again. He didn’t seem to know what to say. “That’s brilliant,” Jun said. “So let’s go.”
Nino hadn't known Jun for too long, but he immediately realised his intention. He wanted to get out of there, before another discussion would start. Masaki was too astonished to complain about Nino’s offer and before he could say something, the others were already leaving the apartment.
“I am not hurt,” Masaki said again even though the others were probably already out of the building.
“But your forehead looks like a rainbow,” Nino laughed. “Maybe it’s really the best thing to stay at home for today. I am sure we’ll have to leave the apartment more often in the next months, years… or whatever.” Nino waved.
“Do you think we’ll stay alone?” Masaki asked. He sat at the bar, which divided the living room and the kitchen. Nino joined him and saw two cups of coffee Jun must have had prepared earlier.
“I don’t know, but we can’t change things, right?” He gave Masaki one cup. “And I think we should enjoy every single minute we have here, because who knows what’ll happen to us.”
Masaki looked down at his cup. For a moment they both didn’t say a word, till Masaki looked directly at Nino. “Somehow that sounds really sad, but you didn’t sound all over sad at all. It seems you can see a small sparkle of hope in our situation?”
Nino shrugged. He had never been all over gloomy because of their situation, because he couldn’t change it, and he had to accept it the way it was. “It is how it is, right?”
Masaki nodded with a smile. “Maybe you are right.” He rubbed his head, and winced. “Okay, my head really hurts, but don’t you dare tell the others.” He pointed at Nino, who just laughed.
“Don’t worry, I can keep a secret.” He turned to the cupboard and took a melon pan from there. Luckily those things were packed and still eatable. “Do you want one?” he asked, earning a nod from Masaki.
“What was your life like before we ended up here?” Masaki wanted to know.
Nino took a bite of the bread and sat next to Masaki on the bar chair. His life had been… he tilted his head. What had his life really been like? It had been boring and really unspectacular. It had just been… a normal life. He hadn’t reached pretty high goals and he had totally been nothing special. “I worked in a law office as an assistant, so nothing special at all. I had a few friends I was meeting here and there, but I was kind of a loner. I loved being at home, playing games and reading comics, and you?”
“Oh that’s not boring,” Masaki said with a smile – a smile Nino could have gotten lost in. He shook his head just a little bit. What was he thinking here? “I worked together with Sho and Satoshi. We ran a company together, but we already told you.”
“That‘s amazing, really,” Nino said honestly. “You had a lot to take care of owning a company, right?”
Masaki nodded. “Yeah, but Satoshi and Sho did the most. I was more the creative head of it. I was in charge of planning our meetings and taking care of our employees.” He made a pause. “I sometimes miss work. It’s all a mess now, and we don’t know how it’ll go on and what will happen to us next.”
“But we are still alive.” Nino knew he didn’t sound all over positive, but he really wanted to see it as a good thing that they hadn't been caught by whatever had gotten the other human beings.
Masaki smiled at him. “Yeah.” He sounded sad, which made Nino feel blue. “Did you have someone you loved?” He asked.
Nino felt a stinging pain in his chest. He had never had time to think about a relationship, because he had always enjoyed his life as a single. He had never thought about falling in love because he had always thought that there was enough time to find someone to share a life with. “Nope.” He tried sounding cool, but he knew he failed.
“Me neither,” Masaki said. “I thought that I don’t need someone, because I had a lot of work, and this was more important than being together with someone. But now I somehow regret it, because it’s too late now.” Masaki’s words made Nino feel the pain rising. He didn’t know why the other was so open-heartedly talking with him, but he didn’t feel ashamed nor did it feel wrong to him, on the contrary, he enjoyed the open talk with someone. With Jun he had always talked about surviving, but they hardly ever talked about the lives they had had before. And in the end it didn’t matter, because they were all gone. Just that Nino now realised that his life had been sad, and he was kind of shocked that he didn’t miss anyone much. Of course he thought a lot about his family, but his friends? He missed them, sometimes, but he never suffered because of it.
“It sounds strange, but I am not feeling bad because of this here.” It felt different to say it out loud. But Nino wasn’t lying. His life hadn’t changed much, on the contrary, he had found a friend with whom he was able to live with, and he had now found three other people, he hoped to get closer to. Was his life really getting better?
Masaki shook his head. “Me neither.”
“Are you crying?” Nino asked concerned. He placed his hand on Masaki’s shoulder. The other smiled at him with tears in his eyes.
“Sorry, it’s just kind of sad that I don’t miss my old life much.” He took a deep breath to calm down. “And the saddest thing is, that Satoshi, Sho and I are now talking with each other, like we haven’t done in years. It’s making me sad and happy at the same time.”
“I thought you were friends?“ Nino asked.
The way Masaki looked at him, let him feel the need to hug the other, but he didn‘t dare to. Masaki was still a stranger after all. “We were friends, but during the last years we drowned in work, and slowly our relationship turned into something business-like only. Sometimes we didn‘t talk for weeks, because of work hunting us. Or sometimes we fought at work over some stupid plans, and stopped talking privately with each other.“ Masaki looked at Nino. “And after this happened we finally had no work to talk about. It was only us, and we needed to talk with each other again, and we found each other again. There I realised how much I missed my best friends.“
“So this whole mess created an opportunity for the three of you.“ Nino smiled at him.
“Yeah, seems so.“ Now Masaki smiled. He seemed to be glad that Nino didn‘t accuse him of seeing something good in this whole mess. “Did you have a lot of friends?“
Nino shook his head. “I was someone who loved to be alone, but I learned that company is really nice.“
“Jun seems to be someone really nice,“ Masaki agreed. “You get along well, right?“
Nino nodded. “First, I thought that this would never work. Not because of Jun, he had always been the social type, at least he told me that, but because of me. I couldn‘t imagine having someone next to me all day long, but now I can‘t imagine it being different.“ Nino laughed. “Sounds stupid, right?“
Masaki shook his head. “I think our priorities have changed.“ He seemed to think about something, because for some moments he just stared at the wall. “And I think it‘s good that we don‘t drown in fear or sadness because of this, because then we wouldn‘t be able to survive this.“ He smiled at Nino. “But I am really happy that we found you.“
Something in Nino jumped. It was the same feeling he had already had when he had seen Masaki for the first time. He was beautiful, but not the cliché beauty. He was… he was… what Nino liked. He gulped. It couldn‘t be that he – Ninomiya Kazunari – who had always loved to stay away from human beings as far as possible, had finally found someone he could get interested in; and just because a damn apocalypse was happening to them.
—
Weeks had passed and Nino still felt this strange pushing and pulling in his stomach when he was together with Masaki. He had tried to forget about it, had tried to focus on other things, but with every day his feelings grew stronger and slowly he couldn‘t hide it from himself anymore. He had to admit that he had fallen for Masaki.
Nino and Jun were outside, searching for some necessary things again when Jun suddenly stopped and turned. “What is there between you and Masaki?“
Nino gulped. How could the other know? He had never said anything to anyone. “What are you talking about?“
Jun grinned evilly. “Oh, come on.“ He stepped closer, placing his hand on Nino‘s shoulder. “I can see you looking at him, and I see him staring at you.“
Masaki was staring at him? He had never seen this. Why? Nino was sure he blushed. “I have no idea what you are talking about.“
Jun rolled his eyes. “Oh, of course.“ He was still grinning. “I'll just tell you one thing: I am sure Masaki likes you, and if you really feel something for him, than go and grab him.“ Jun clenched his fists and raised them up in the air to cheer on Nino. Embarrassing, Nino thought. Luckily no one was listening to them.
Nino wanted to deny any feelings again, but in the end he had questions no one would be able to answer if he didn‘t decide to open up. “Hypothetically,“ he started, “if I liked Masaki, how should I get closer to him?“
“Hypothetically,“ Jun mimicked him, “you can just ask him to go on a little searching trip with you. Just the two of you. And then you can talk about this and that and get closer step by step.“
“That sounds like I need to go out with him more often till we maybe come to a point where we can talk about feelings?“ Nino asked.
“You aren‘t the most patient type of guy, right?“
Nino shook his head. He nibbled on his lower lip. “And I have never been in love before.“
He waited for Jun to start laughing, but to his surprise the other just gave him an understanding smile. “You‘ll need some time, but because I am sure that Masaki is interested in you, it may happen that this goes on faster than you might expect.“
Nino‘s heart made a jump.
—
“Masaki, do you want to go on medicine search with me?“ Nino asked the next day. His heart beat faster when he asked this, but it calmed down a bit after Masaki agreed with a smile.
Jun gave him an encouraging nod and Nino wasn‘t sure if he interpreted it right, but Sho and Satoshi seemed to do the same with Masaki. Maybe he was really interested in Nino? But Nino didn‘t want to interpret too much into it, because he had done this once, and he had gotten terribly dumped.
They were not far away from their home when Masaki suddenly stopped and held Nino back. He pointed down the street, where some animals made their way up to where they were standing. Nino froze. He looked around, but where should they go? Before he could decide about a direction, Masaki pulled him into a small cave-like hole built from two destroyed houses. “I hope they'll just pass,“ Masaki whispered.
Nino nodded at him. Fear washed over him in hot waves, and he didn‘t dare to move a millimetre. He winced when he felt Masaki‘s hands taking his, squeezing them to signalise that everything would be alright. But Nino couldn‘t get rid of his panic. He felt Masaki shifting till he was next to Nino, and the next thing Nino felt where Masaki‘s lips on his. For a moment Nino didn‘t know what to do, they hadn‘t talked about feelings before, and now Masaki was just doing this? But it felt terribly good and slowly Nino melted into the kiss, letting himself being pulled into a tight hug. What had he missed out on in his life till now? These feelings were overwhelming and he couldn‘t get enough of the other‘s hands around his waist, his lips soft but eager against Nino‘s.
Nino didn‘t know how long they had been making out, but he was sure that the animals were long gone. Masaki smiled at him when they dissolved. “I hoped you‘d feel the same.“
Nino brushed Masaki‘s cheek. “Never thought that I would ever fall in love,“ he laughed.
He pecked Masaki‘s lips before he crawled out of the cave. “The others won‘t be happy if we come back empty-handed,“ Nino said, and Masaki nodded at him. Nino saw Masaki‘s blushed cheeks, and he was sure that the other was at least as insecure but happy about it as Nino was.
—
“So you come home with a half-filled bag?“ Jun asked with a smile.
Nino shrugged. He knew he was an open book, and even though Jun hadn‘t been his friend for years, they had gotten to know each other pretty well during the last months and somehow he had become something like Nino‘s best friend, who was able to read Nino‘s thoughts easily.
“I am happy, Nino.“ Jun patted Nino‘s shoulder.
“How the hell did you know that?“ Nino wanted to know.
Jun laughed. “You are an open book, Ninomiya. At least I spent enough time with you to tell that something happened, and because you aren‘t gloomy nor crying, I guess that something worked out perfectly.“
Nino could just nod. His belly made jumps and he felt like exploding. He had never felt that good. “We hopefully have a long time here together, and even though everyone else is gone, I am happy – as long as we are happy,“ Jun said.
Nino stepped forward and hugged the other. “Thanks for being my friend.“
—
The sun was about to disappear behind the horizon. It was beautiful, but also melancholic, because they didn’t know how life would continue for them. Nino stepped onto the rooftop. There was only one way to live their new life: enjoying every day as if it was their last one. It wasn‘t important what would happen in a few weeks, it was important what they felt now, and now Nino was happy – more than happy. He could see Masaki sitting on the ground, his eyes closed.
“What are you thinking about?“ Nino asked and sat next to Masaki.
He turned and smiled at Nino. “I am happy.“
Nino leaned closer and kissed him. “Pathetic, right?“
“Mhm,“ Masaki said, “but I want to feel good, no matter what will happen to us.“
“Me too.“ Nino leaned against Masaki‘s shoulder and closed his eyes. It wouldn‘t get any easier for them as the – maybe – last human beings on earth, but they would fight, and even if it seemed senseless, they had the strong will to fight and to survive. The five of them together.
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I hope that now that they are five, they'll be able to put their heads together and come up with more ideas for how to survive and live happily together. And I'm glad Nino and Aiba didn't really miss out on love <3
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Thank you so much for all your hard work with this fic. I'm sorry my comment is late!
I LOVE Aimiya and I'm so happy to receive it! The setting is really interesting, too. I love the idea of Jun and Nino thinking they're the only people in the world, and they've set up a home together. (I adore them as a team, romantically or non-romantically.) It's hilarious that they ended up being the last two people on earth by sharing a bathroom hideaway. And then their teamwork after the apocalypse happens makes me really happy.
I like that they hadn't known each other before, either, but that Jun knows Nino well enough by the time they meet the others that he can tell something's going on. A grown friendship, and an important one.
I'm really intrigued by the whole apocalypse premise, and find it interesting that we don't know what happened, just like Nino and Jun and the rest don't know what happened. It's a mystery for us because it's a mystery for them. There are all sorts of possibilities...and it's creepier still that there are no bodies anywhere. HMMM!
I'm also such a sucker for those stories where a character is just...hit with it. The minute he sees Aiba, Nino is like, oh shit, I'm in trouble, this guy is hot. Even passed out! Aiba being upset that he couldn't help because he was hurt also feels so very Aiba. It reminds me of when his lung collapsed and he felt like a burden on the others.
And I love that the found happiness, even in the midst of this strange, unfortunate world. Thank you so much, Anon! You did great!
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