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nilielhPairing : Ohno/Girl!Nino
Rating : R
Summary : Crossfire AU. She is the flame that ignites the fire within him; his girl, his angel, his everything.
Note : Will repost in AO3 soon
It was a struggle, getting through the rest of the day peacefully when her nerves were on edge and she couldn’t sit still. She knew it wasn’t just the stupid hormones messing it all up - she could deal with it just fine without the unnecessary drama - but it’s difficult to tell what’s happening when there’s an added layer of excitement already buzzing under her skin on top of all those complicated female emotions she’s forced to face every damn month without fail.
Thankfully, five o’clock rolled around without her having to call her best friend for help to dispose of a body, but it was a close call with Maruyama from Finance. Still, it’s nice to be able to finally walk out of the office a few minutes after five to the familiar sight of her best friend’s goofy smile waiting for her outside their office door.
“What time d’you call this?” she demands, without heat, when she steps out of the door and straight into Aiba’s waiting arms, her best friend chuckling and mumbling his apologies into her hair. “You’re the worst, I hope you know that.” she tells him, sighing gently into his chest when he pats her back and squeezes her lightly before he lets go.
“I did apologize for that already, right? Come on, are you really that mad?”
She tsks, pushing him and jabbing him lightly on the chest. “I was promised free lunch and then got ditched off at the last minute. I was looking forward to some ice cream too, you know?”
Aiba’s grin is clearly unrepentant as he throws his gangly arms over her shoulders. “So, now I owe you dinner and dessert, no problem! I’m free all evening, where do you want to go for dinner? We’ll reserve the dessert at home where we can just lounge in our pajamas eating your favorite ice cream. Am I forgiven?”
“No.”
“Naww, Nino-chan, I swear I didn’t mean to miss - wait,” Aiba pauses, walks to her front and gives her a look. “This isn’t just because of that, is it? Did something happen at lunch?”
She groans mentally, cursing Aiba’s inconvenient ability to read her so easily. “What’s worse that could happen than you ditching me to have lunch alone? And pay for it too? Seriously -”
“Oh my god,” Aiba exhales, grinning. Nino doesn’t like the sound of that at all. Completely ignoring her, Aiba nudges her exaggeratedly before throwing an arm around her shoulders again. “Something did, I can feel it. What is it? What is it, Nino-chan?"
“Nothing, shut up already!” she hisses, pushing at him.
“Hah! That’s so suspicious! You’re acting very suspicious right now, Kazu!”
“Oh my god, can you keep it down? People are going to think we’re weird,” she comments drily, but already feeling much better than she was earlier. “Not that that’s something new, but still, can you keep it down until we get to the apartment? I promise to tell you everything if you promise to keep your big mouth shut until then.”
Aiba just grins at her and pecks her cheek. “Jesus, is it because of a guy? It is, isn’t it? Is he hot? Does he have an equally hot best friend or a sexy sister? You know I’m good with either, right?”
“I swear to god I am going to bitch-slap you right here if you don’t shut up.”
“So mean, Nino-chan!”
“Whatever. I’m starving so let’s have that dinner now. Then you can treat me for ice cream later.” she says, hooking her arm around his elbow and holds on, smiling when Aiba simply chuckles and tells her she’s a rightful bitch and he loves her.
Nino says nothing. She knows it and knows that he knows she loves him just as much.
+
Dinner was wonderful, and thankfully, a quiet one.
Aiba took her to this western restaurant that serves the best hamburg steak in town, making her order the most expensive one on their menu and almost making her forget her own name on the first bite. Forgiving Aiba after that is just normal, she thinks, so there’s that.
Afterwards, Aiba insisted they buy ice cream at the convenience store near their apartment, so it wouldn’t melt all that much when they reach home. She agreed, only because it was sensible.
About an hour and a half later, they’re on their shared living room lounging on their tank tops and shorts, and eating ice cream straight from the tub. Aiba, as always, is being a complete pig and devouring it like there’s no tomorrow.
Somehow, she’s too preoccupied to even notice.
“Anytime’s a good time to talk, Nino-chan,” Aiba is saying, nudging her in place and being deliberately annoying by clinking their spoons together noisily. Nino groans and tells him off, before scooping a large spoonful and shoving it into his mouth to shut him up.
“ashsidkddildld?”
“Oh my god, if you ended up spraying ice cream everywhere, I’m beating you with this spoon. And then you’re cleaning it all up, you disgusting monster.”
Aiba makes a face at her, swallowing before he talks. “It’s your fault, I’d say! What’s wrong with you, really?”
“Nothing.” she lies through her teeth, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to act like nothing’s bothering her when she doesn’t even know how to do that around Aiba.
“That’s the second time you answered me that, and honestly, it’s beginning to get in my nerves. I’m being serious now, Kazu. Talk to me or I’m waiting for you in the front of your office tomorrow with a baseball bat in hand and I don’t care what comes first - the ambulance or the police, doesn’t really matter.”
“What? What are you going to do that for?”
“To break all of your co-workers’ knees, what else?”
“For what?” she laughs, incredulous though touched that Aiba is willing to go to such length just to protect her. Or so she hopes that’s the case.
“Someone is either bullying you or harassing you, and I’m at this point where I don’t really care what they’re doing. I’m just going to break their legs and be done with it.”
“You’re crazy,”
“Are you going to tell me the truth now or what?” Aiba says, putting his almost empty tub down and reaching over to take hers to do the same.
She rolls her eyes at him. “Fine, it’s about a guy. Happy now?” she says, giving up. Though, it’s not like there’s much to tell at this point, and she tells Aiba as much. “and as I said, it’s nothing. I don’t even remember the guy’s name.” that’s a lie, she completely remembers it, she just doesn’t want Aiba to think she’s swooning.
Even though that’s exactly what she is doing. Oh dear.
“What does he look like?” Aiba asks, after a long moment of silence.
She chuckles. “Small.”
Aiba raises a hand, gestures with his fingers. “This small?” he asks. Nino reaches over and hits him.
“A few centimeters taller than me, give or take.”
Aiba nods in agreement. “Your height, then?”
“Almost.” she says.
“What else?”
She tilts her head. “Dark.”
Aiba frowns. “Foreigner?”
“Nope. Japanese.”
Aiba frowns. “That’s - unusual.”
She shrugs. “It suits him, if you ask me.”
“Could be artificial, then. Tanning salons exist for a reason, after all.”
“I don’t think it came from that,” she says, frowning back, remembering Ohno’s hands, his long fingers and the veins protruding from under the man’s tanned skin. They look strong and capable, like nothing she’s ever seen before. “I’m not sure, really.”
Aiba lets her mull over that for a moment before he asks her again. “Anything else? At least something that could help me imagine him better? I’m guessing since he’s Japanese, he has small eyes?”
“Yeah.”
“Lips?”
“Thin and pouty, the kissable kind.”
“The kind you dig, you mean. Nice. And his hair?”
“A bit on the longer side. Styled. Kind of fluffy.”
Aiba grins at him. “Hmm, let’s see. He’s small and dark, with small eyes and pouty lips. Are you sure you’re not talking about a dog here?”
“Hey!”
Aiba laughs. “Fine, fine, I was just joking,” he says, then, “But I still can’t imagine him well. But I get why you’re acting like this. He’s your type, isn’t he?”
She gives him a look and shrugs. She’s not really sure about that, but obviously, if that’s what Aiba is saying, then maybe that is right. She has no idea she has a type either, but maybe, maybe, she does. Aiba would know it if she does, anyway.
“There’s one more thing though,” she finds herself saying, remembering the way he stares her over and make her blood pound through her ears as he helped her up, his hands around her as if they’ve always belonged there. The way she molded perfectly in his embrace as if she was made for him and him alone.
The way he held her gaze and made her feel trapped, wanted, desired.
“What?”
Her lips curve into a smile, her cheeks warm when she cups her palm over them to hide.
“If there was someone you could say personified sex, he was it,” she says, and the memory of his warm hands around her making her hot. “He was sexy as hell, Aiba-shi. In that suit and that smile and - god. I - he wanted me. I think he wanted me. And I think I’m going to say yes. Soon.”
“Woah there, Nino!”
