[Fic] I Love You, Stranger

[nilielh]

Title : I Love You, Stranger 14
Rating : PG
Pairing : Ohno/Nino
Disclaimer : fiction, yo!
Word count : around 2900 words
Summary : Losing the love of his life to an accident 2 years prior, Nino decided it was high time he moved on; but things had its major turn around when at the same day he finally found the strength to let go, a man who looked exactly like Ohno appeared out of nowhere.

“Satoshi!”

He knew he was screaming, shouting on top of his voice and his body’s moving before he could even stop himself. He was also pretty sure that he’s hearing Jun and Sho’s combined voices as they shouted his name, but he ignored them just the same as his legs kept moving, not stopping until he found himself in front of the upside-down car that their beloved leader was in.

His steps faltered once at the same time his heart seemed to have stopped beating; he was trying his best to focus his eyes though everything in front of him was disoriented and blurry. There was a smell of something that suspiciously like gasoline, gasping when his vision moved down to his feet and seeing the liquid pouring out of the upside down vehicle made him all the more dizzy.

There was a slight movement from where he was standing, a groan that seemed to float into the air the moment he found himself kneeling down, only realizing a second too late that his body had moved again on its own.

A slight twitching of someone’s hand from the driver’s seat, the angle of the body looked entirely wrong from Nino’s viewpoint and he did everything he could not to choke at the sight.

Everything seemed to slow down from then on, his gaze shifting sideways and shaking his head; he couldn’t quite give a damn if the bastard was dead, not really, as he shifted his gaze quickly to the passenger’s seat and choked back a gasp.

That’s when he saw them.

He was already on his hands and knees and ready to crawl his way forward, ignoring the dangerous possibility that the car could explode any moment, because fuck it, Ohno was still there and – fuck if he’s going to just stand there and do nothing but was stopped short by Sho’s voice, shouting something about ‘dangerous and don’t come closer’ even though he knew he could no longer find the strength to think about himself; not when Ohno’s there and badly needed his help.

He didn’t know which body belonged to who, because the only thing he could see was a mess of red and limbs thrown around somebody else’s body; everywhere he turned, there was blood and Nino wished he could somehow see past the grueling sight in front of him, but he couldn’t. His heart seemed to have stopped beating then, his remaining strength seemed to have left his body at the same time he realized that this must have been the end of everything.

“Nino!”

A pair of arms embraced him from behind, pulling him up and turning him around as quickly as the movement would allow him, tucking his face against a broad shoulder and dragging him few steps away from where he was crouched down before. He’s frozen still, his limbs wouldn’t move even when he forced them to, not minding the fact that even if he’s able to do exactly that, he couldn’t, if the vice-like grip Sho had on him was of any indication.

He didn’t know he was trembling, shaking so badly until Sho’s hand came up to rest firmly around the back of his neck while the other he wrapped around Nino’s waist, steadying him, grounding him. There were no tears this time, just overflowing sense of loss and nothingness as he allowed Sho’s soothing words and soft touches lulled him into calmness he knew he would never be able to possess anytime soon.

That was all there was to it and nothing more; like everything he’s been living for ended there, in that one moment and he knew there was no way he’d be able to turn around and live his life the way he used to.

He heard Jun’s frantic voice in the background, calling, shouting, screaming and more screaming. The sounds of tires screeching, muffled noises that seemed too far away from his ears as he burrowed his face further down the crook of Sho’s neck.

The sounds of sirens from a distance startled him as he let the final pieces pierced themselves together in his head, biting back a sob when he’s able to properly focus his eyes again and hearing the sounds of people shouting and Aiba’s muffled whisperings, albeit clearly this time around.

Was he facing the end now? If he was, then why the pain?

“Nino,”

“Paramedics are here, they’re taking them now. We’re going aren’t we, Nino?”

He’d wanted to shake his head, to tell them off because none of that mattered anymore. He saw what he saw; he didn’t need any of those crappy lies he knew they would feed him after this, like how everything would be alright and that Ohno’s going to wake up.

He wouldn’t. Not this time, no.

He lifted his face and with his best effort, he smiled. The faces of his friends, his brothers, the faces of the people whom he trusted almost all his life were there, still backing him up, until now. “N-Nino,” Jun croaked, reaching out to grab him by the shoulder and pulled him towards his younger friend’s chest.

There was a rumbling sound coming from deep within Jun’s chest and Nino wanted to drown himself to it; Jun held him tightly, like he’s going to break apart if he as much as loosen his hold around him and Nino was glad. The solidity of Jun’s body was keeping him from completely giving in; the desire to shut everything off seemed to be the first thing that always came to mind whenever and wherever.

He imagined Ohno’s face the night before; the way he’d clung unto the older man’s fingertips while he sobbed quietly beside him. The fact that he was able to press himself closer to him, felt him breathe and heard him say his name over and over made it all the more real, now. If only he knew this was going to happen, if only he was stubborn enough not to let him go, then –

No.

For once, he’d wanted to put himself on Ohno’s place; imagining how it felt like being Ohno this time, to be dragged around unconscious while the rest of them fought over him like he’s some kind of a prized trophy. The fact that he still couldn’t remember his past, living someone else’s life and living it the way he was asked to; quietly, without asking why, the way they expected him to.

He couldn’t help but wonder how tiring it must have been for Ohno and for once, he’d just wished for everything to stop so Ohno could finally have the rest he truly deserved.

“O-Ohchan’s already v-very tired, Jun-kun,” he managed to murmur despite the sudden stillness around him… despite the almost blinding pain. “ – c-can’t we j-just let him rest?” he said, closing his eyes and curling his fingers against the nook of Jun’s elbow, quietly wishing he could hold Ohno for at least the last time.

There’re a lot of ‘what ifs’ and though he knew he would someday dwell on the thought of all these, of how he’d failed to recognize all the signs when they were just there, almost poking him on the face and how he was supposed to be the one to take care of Ohno but wasn’t able to, because he was too caught up with trying to lessen the pain he felt when Ohno ‘died’.

“Nino,” Sho muttered brokenly, grabbing him from Jun’s arms and taking him in his own carefully as Nino shook his head desperately, wanting nothing but to dig himself a hole and hide there for the rest eternity, because this was just too hard and too painful and he was fairly sure he’s not gonna be able to get out from this even if he tried, most especially now that –

“O-Ohchan, Ohchan,” he called repeatedly, desperately; the mask of bravery he’d been wearing since morning seemed to have broke apart at the thought of losing Ohno, for real this time. Every single moment he’d spent with the older man came back like a replay in his head, taunting him, torturing him even more as he tightly curled his fingers against the fabric of Sho’s shirt.

 “D-Don’t say that, Nino… Leader is – f-fuck, he’s…” Jun grumbled somewhere behind him, the fierce emotion riding each and every word was enough to make him sob harder against Sho’s chest, just as Aiba pressed himself closer and muffled his own tears against Nino’s hair.


#

It felt like eternity, from the time the paramedics came to their rescue; they’ve been shoved far, as far away as they thought was safe enough for them to just stand back and wait before the medical team moved with ease and quickly but carefully dragged the three out of the upside down car.

There were only the sound of Jun and Sho’s combined cursing, followed by muffled shouts coming from the medical staffs but he wasn’t able to focus his ears on those; the sound of his pounding heartbeat seemed to drown all other sounds around him as he closed his eyes and tried erasing the memory of his Satoshi’s face covered in blood.

He knew he wasn’t breathing then; he couldn’t, even after considering the fact that his face was still mostly buried against Sho’s shirt and he was wrapped around the older man’s arms tightly that making even a single movement was deemed rather difficult, simply because Sho wouldn’t let him.

Sho kept muttering words against his ears, something like ‘they’ll be fine, don’t worry about it’ and ‘no, Nino… please, no’ under his breath whenever he would twitch, wanting to twist his head around to look, to at least see what was going on then, but Sho wouldn’t let him, and at that moment,  he knew.

“H-He’s dead, isn’t he?” he murmured, breathing his words directly against the juncture of Sho’s neck and shoulder, shuddering at the reality of it all exactly the same time the words were out from his mouth. Sho’s hold tightened around him, the older man’s breathing turned sharp and ragged as another strangled sound escaped Sho’s throat.

“H-He wouldn’t dare,” Sho grumbled in a voice so raw and shaky; Nino shut his eyes closed and let his tears fall freely down his face as his body shook along with it. “ – he wouldn’t dare die on us because if he do, I’ll revive him just to kill him again for you, Nino…”

He choked on a sob at the same time he felt another set of arms hugging from behind, the faint sound of somebody else’s voice prompting them to move before he felt a stinging, quick pain against his upper arm and everything blacking out around him a few seconds after.

#

He didn’t know how long he had been sleeping by the time the smell of something strong woke him up, opening his eyes to the grinning face of Aiba with a cup of steaming coffee pressed dangerously close to his mouth. He was able to at least let his eyes wander for a while before he groaned, blinking the sleepiness away and carefully pushing the cup away from his face before Aiba accidentally made one silly move and pour it all over his face; not that that’s far from happening since it surely happened before but he’s actually not in the mood to think about that now because he still felt somehow tired even though –

Slowly, he opened his eyes again and allowed his memories to come back one by one; everywhere he looked, he could see nothing but white and he was sure that that smell, aside from the distinct smell of Aiba’s coffee, belonged only to a certain place.

He’s in a hospital.

He closed his eyes again, the emotions filling him up faster than he would have wanted, because no matter how long he’d been sleeping, there was no denying the fact that when he woke up, everything would still be the same.

“You have to wake up now, Nino-chan… it’s been almost a straight twenty-four hours,” he heard the taller man say with a chuckle, along with the sound of him sipping at his coffee and Nino let out another frustrated noise, cracking an eyelid open, feeling the moisture in his eyes as he did so. “Wake up and shower or Jun-kun’s coming over in about, say, ten minutes to drag you to the bathroom himself. Because he said you’ll surely want to see leader exactly the minute you open your eyes and he’s not going to allow that since you’re still wearing your clothes from days before and you haven’t brushed your teeth and you probably stink and ~”

W-Wait, what did he just say?!

Did Aiba just say what he thought Aiba said?

There was a scramble for words before he was able to find the courage to actually command himself to think, to look past the pain and simply stared at his still grinning friend with wide eyes. Aiba seemed to be enjoying the moment, still sipping on his coffee and probably just waiting for him to actually gather enough brain cells to put his words together until he’s gasping for breath at the same time everything fell into their right places.

“MASAKI, WHERE THE FUCK IS OHCHAN?!” he shouted, all traces of sleep seemed to have drained out of his body as he jerked from the bed, limbs flying in all direction as he collared Aiba quite literally and started shaking his surprised friend, his coffee spilling in between them as he did.

Aiba opened his mouth to maybe say something but wasn’t able to because the door slammed open, revealing a surprisingly newly-showered Sho and Jun, before Nino found himself out the bed and clinging unto Sho’s arms like a lifeline.

“Sho-chan, w-where’s -  i-is h-he,” he paused, his voice betraying him as memories of the incident came rushing back and the need to know exactly what he’d missed during the past hours he was sleeping was too strong that he needed to grip Sho’s elbows tightly until the older man winced.

It was Jun who took a step forward and closed a hand over Nino’s trembling own, pulling the slighter man against his body and wrapping his arms around Nino’s chest.

“He’s fine, Nino,” Jun said with the barest hint of smugness, relief and joy on his voice and Nino slumped back against Jun’s body with a sigh. “He’s still unconscious but he’s fine.. he’s just in the other room, sleeping…”

With a quick turn, he flung himself against his youngest friend and threw his arms around Jun’s neck with a sob, all adrenaline leaving his body as he let Jun stirred him forward carefully.

#

Satoshi…

He heard that voice again, coaxing him to wake up, to open his eyes, but he couldn’t; every part of him felt heavy and fogged with numbness that even the simple motion of exhaling felt rather difficult.

There was a tingling sensation right at the tips of his fingers, an itch he’d wanted to scratch just so he could be able to feel, in any way possible.

Come back to me… Satoshi…

Yes, he murmured to himself, wanted nothing but to hold on to that voice and never let go; he felt a gentle brush against his cheek, a press of something cold and soft against his forehead just as the numbness slowly returned.

Come back when you’re ready… I’ll be here, I won’t leave… I’ll wait for you.

Yes, he’d wanted to reply but the force of something stronger stopped him from doing anything, aside from a simple quirk of his lips. He heard the sound of collective gasps and the gentle stroking left his cheeks and moved down to the curve of his neck and then he could feel a hot wetness dribbling past his forehead down to his still closed eyes.

Tears.

He couldn’t understand why it suddenly felt like he’s chest was close to bursting, like he’d wanted to do something in return to whoever it was that’s hovering over him, touching him so gently as if he’s going to break and murmuring soothing words he sorely missed but couldn’t exactly pinpoint why.

“I’ll be here when you open your eyes next time, old man,” said the voice, high-pitched and shaky, now spoken directly against his ear, soft and impossibly sweet. He tried any verbal response he could muster, but he was sure that the only sound that left his lips was a seemingly forced breath before the soothing touch returned, now stroking his cheeks ever so gently. “ – shhh, it’s okay, it’s okay… go to sleep, you need to rest… w-we’ll be here when you wake up.. I-I’ll be here, I promise…”

“Wait for me,” he found himself whispering, though he wasn’t really sure if he’s able to let it  slipped out from his lips, groaning quietly when the simple act made him ache all over.

He heard another choked gasp and the feeling of fluttering, wet eyelashes against his cheeks made him tear up but then another voice added itself in between before he felt a stinging pain against his upper arm.

“Yes, yes I will,” was the last thing he heard before he drifted, holding on to that promise and smiling, because he knew that it’s real….that voice, that promise…

Wait for me