JE Holiday 2009: Life & Coffee Spoons part 2
Title: Life & Coffee Spoons; Part 2
Pairing/Group: Arashi; Ohmiya
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 15,000. Epic.
Warnings: A couple of cameos and throw-away OC extras in the background.
Summary: A story of five guys, self-realization, determination, love and caffeine.
Aiba naturally finds out from Jun because they are roommates and tells Sho, who mentions it to Ohno that Nino and Jun are planning to make Shingo an offer for Johnny's. Jun's restlessness about what he'll do after graduation subsides and Aiba is thankful for it. He takes it upon himself to gather them all together on Sunday night for a celebratory dinner at his parent's Chinese restaurant. Even though nothing's going to change, it's a fresh start.
"But don't you think this is a little premature?" Sho doesn't even try to hide his skepticism.
"Why do you have to be such a killjoy, Sho-chan?" Aiba asks, setting down a plate of chili shrimp.
"You guys haven't mentioned anything to Shingo-san. How do you even know he'll go for it? What is Starbucks offering him anyway?"
"We're going to tell him on Thursday in person," Jun says, spearing some chicken on his chopsticks.
"It'll be fine! Stop worrying about it. Here, have some more mabo tofu." Aiba drops a heaping spoonful onto Sho's plate, drowning half of his spring rolls.
"I just think that maybe this is a sign," Sho replies, passing the ginger beef to Ohno. "Maybe it's time to move on? Ohno has his dancing, and Nino has his music... and what about you? You went to culinary school and you're just going to help out in your parents' kitchen and pick up shifts at the coffee shop for the rest of your life? What a waste."
"Jesus, Sho. Who shat in your cornflakes this morning?" Jun snaps. "This is a good thing. It's a stepping stone for me. For us."
Sho exhales sharply and rubs his temples. "I'm sorry. Work has been really riding me lately... I think I'm up for a promotion—"
There's cheerful uproar from Aiba and Jun; Nino exclaims something around a mouthful of rice and even Ohno cracks a smile.
"—but I blew it."
After a moment, cries of outrage fill their private room: Sho is hardworking and reliable and they all know from firsthand experience. Anyone to pass him over for a promotion is insane.
"Nino, do you remember that guy I introduced you to when you came to the radio station?"
Nino nods; his brows come together remembering the sting of rejection.
"He's a music producer. I told him about you and played him a couple of your recordings and he liked what he heard. And he really liked you after talking to you. After I introduced you to him, he said he'd consider me for an AD position on your recordings. He wanted to help you get a deal."
"So then why didn't he show up?" Nino asks shortly. "What changed his mind?"
"Nothing. I'm sorry, Nino." Sho looks up from his plate, painfully apologetic. "It was my fault. I don't know what happened but I screwed up and told you the wrong date. He did go to meet you, but obviously you weren't there. I'm so sorry."
Nino puts his chin in his hand and stares at the streaks of left-over sauce in his bowl.
"Nino, trust me, I'm trying to fix it. I've been trying to get ahold of him and explain what happened and set up another meeting but he hasn't returned any of my calls yet. Please don't be mad."
Aiba starts to fidget when Nino doesn't say anything for a long time. "Seconds, anyone?"
"Nino? Are you okay?" Ohno asks tentatively, leaning forward so he can see the look on Nino's face. He's not angry, or upset; there's no identifiable emotion visible in his features. "There'll be other chances. This is just the beginning," Ohno tries to be reassuring.
"It's fine, Sho-chan. I've been writing music for as long as I can remember. And I never did it with the hope or ambition of getting famous. I got a little extra credit in school and that probably helped, but it was just for fun. It's always been for fun. If I ever did happen to get famous," Nino shrugs. "Well, great. I never thought that he was all that interested in my music. It doesn't matter. I'm just as happy to play on our shitty makeshift stage for my friends. If music became a job, I don't think it would be fun anymore."
Nino looks around the table and gives his closest friends a bright smile. He knows they can see that it's not completely sincere – they've known him for far too long – but they don't call him on it. The thought had crossed his mind, that maybe, just maybe, there might be a small chance... But this is why Nino doesn't aspire: he wants to be content with what he has.
"Hey, Ohno," Jun takes a swig of his beer. "You're pretty quiet over there. How's the shumai? Aiba's mom makes the best."
"Hm? Oh," Ohno blinks, pulling out of his daydream. "Mm, yeah. Real delicious. Tell her they were great."
Nino frowns; the three shumai he'd put on Ohno's plate are still there.
*
Shingo swirls the coffee around in his cup, considering what he's just been asked. "I hope Aiba can handle the front alone while you two are in here talking to me."
"He'll be fine," Nino replies.
"You really want this place?" Shingo's tone is doubtful, just like they'd expected.
"Yes. It's a neighbourhood landmark," Jun says.
"And how righteous of you to want to save it."
There's coldness to Shingo's body language that Nino can't read. It makes him anxious.
"Like we need another Starbucks in this town," Nino supplies. "There are two at the station down the street."
Shingo nods and finishes the rest of his coffee. "Well, you obviously care a lot about this place. The new paint in the bathroom looks good."
"It was Oh-chan's idea to cover up the water stains with portraits of the regular customers. They love it," Nino beams a little. "We keep getting asked what the requirements are to get painted on the wall."
"Great; at least something good came of that mess. Look," Shingo puts the deposit in his bag and adjusts the shoulder strap. Jun plays with the ring on his finger and Nino knows him well enough to be able to tell that his heart is up somewhere near his throat, just like Nino's own. "I can see you guys are serious and honestly, as long as it's out of my hands, I don't care who the buyer is. I was going to meet with the Starbucks GM the end of next week to finalize everything but I'll give you guys until Monday to get your money together," he says, indulgently.
Shingo claps both Jun and Nino on the shoulder and strides out of the store room. They can hear him shout something at Aiba as the bell on the door tinkles. Jun looks at Nino, shell-shocked. "Wow. It's really happening."
"Looks like it."
"Part of me didn't think he would actually go for it."
"Don't jinx it, Matsujun. We haven't sealed the deal yet."
*
"Are you mad at me, Oh-chan?"
"What?" Ohno almost drops the big milk spoon into the foam he's just heaped on top of a latte.
"You heard me."
"Why would I be mad at you?" Ohno sets up a new shot, carefully tamping down the espresso.
"Then, why are you ignoring me? You haven't said—hold on."
Nino turns to take a customer's order, a falsely pleasant smile on his face. She can't make up her mind between a banana or chocolate-chip muffin. While she's debating the merits of each with her friend, Nino can only think of how Ohno's turned away from him, regardless of the orientation of the cash register and the espresso machine, and the unhappy slope of his shoulders.
She chooses a carrot muffin in the end and Nino tugs on Ohno's sleeve as he sets a cup on the counter for her non-fat mocha, no whip. "Oh-chan, you haven't said anything all day. You're not a talkative person by nature—and thank god for that, because Aiba talks enough for the rest of us—but you haven't said a word."
Ohno just shrugs.
"Did something happen at home?"
"No."
"Did you have an audition?"
"No auditions."
"Did you—"
"Nino, I just... don't feel like talking today. Is that okay with you?" It's not cold or malicious how Ohno cuts off his tirade; if anything, he sounds tired, defeated. But Nino still feels a sting.
"Yeah, okay," Nino doesn't have any other choice.
"I'm going to sweep before people start showing up for the Open Mic," Ohno slips past Nino without touching him.
The rest of the afternoon, Nino is extrapolating scenarios in his head. Ohno's favourite dance class got cancelled. His favourite brand of paint is being discontinued. His creepy aunt is coming to visit. He found a hole in his favourite pair of jeans and got yelled at by his mom? Or he couldn't wear them out on a date? But Oh-chan never said anything about a date. And when would that have been? Oh-chan closed every day this week so unless it was a late-night date, which would have meant—but maybe nothing happened. Because otherwise, Oh-chan would be happy, right? Maybe he got rejected. Or worse. Yes, that would explain his distance.
Nino shakes his head vigorously. He's been hanging around Aiba too much if he's coming up with conspiracy theories like that.
Yet it's more than Ohno not talking. There have been days when Ohno's worked in complete silence. But never like this. All those times, he'd still be smiling and joking like normal. He'd come up and perch his chin on Nino's shoulder for no reason at all. He'd put his hands on Nino's elbows to move him aside if he wanted to get past. Behind the counter, he'd stand so close that their shoulders would brush.
Nino's felt Ohno pulling away since Sunday. But he doesn't know how to fix it when he doesn't know what's broken.
He takes the stage last as he does every Friday night, but tonight he doesn't thank the audience or the other performers. Aiba and Jun come in as he's tuning his guitar, waving with mitten-covered hands in the half-light.
"I want to apologize," Nino says. The crowd murmurs and Nino watches Ohno where he stands behind the counter. "To my best friend. I'm sorry because I don't know what to do to make it better. You won't tell me and I can't figure it out by myself. I'm not a mind-reader. The only thing I can do is play your favourite song."
Ohno stops wiping the counter. Nino sees him fold the cloth and lay it aside, mouthing along with the words of the song. Nino doesn't know why it's Ohno's favourite; it's not his best work and it feels a little unfinished, but it always manages to make him smile.
He plays a couple other songs that Ohno likes, the one about the puppy he wrote after Aiba tried to adopt a pet for the store and the one for Ohno's twenty-fourth birthday. When Nino finishes and takes his final bows, Ohno isn't there. He turns off the amplifier and unplugs everything with a crease in his brow.
"Where did Oh-chan go?" Aiba's standing behind the register, ringing up a few last orders for coffee.
"He's in the store room. He needed to get more tape for the register and asked me to watch things."
"There should be extra rolls under the counter."
"Where? Oh, these ones?" Aiba holds up a fat roll of white paper in each hand. "Well, you'd better go tell Ohno to stop looking."
With the mic stand in one hand and the amp in the other, Nino shoulders the door of the store room-come-office open. Ohno's standing on stool, moving around boxes and plastic bags full of Hallowe'en ornaments, sickeningly pink Valentine's ribbons and fake cherry blossoms. A string of shiny silver tinsel falls out of one of the bags and Ohno nearly falls off the stool trying to grab it.
"Get down from there, before you kill yourself. There's register tape out front, and besides, it's not up there." Nino pulls out a fresh roll from the box sitting on top of the filing cabinet.
There isn't a lot of space in the small room and when Ohno jumps down from the stool, he's nose-to-nose with Nino. He's so close Nino can see the flecks of chocolate brown in his irises. Nino doesn't expect him to be so close and trips on the amp behind him—Ohno catches Nino's wrist when he stumbles.
Then there's the sound of scrapping against the door, like a chair behind wedged underneath the knob accompanied by Aiba's and Jun's giggling.
"What—" Nino turns and looks at the door and then back to Ohno and where he's being held by the wrist, reluctant to move.
When Nino doesn't, Ohno has no choice but to touch Nino to get around him in the tiny room full of boxes and bins of coffee beans. He turns the knob and pushes, blinking hard at the door when, of course, it doesn't open. "Ah, it's locked."
He knocks and calls out, asking politely to be freed.
"No! You both stay in there until you've worked out your bullshit, unresolved sexual tension, or whatever," Aiba shouts from the other side of the door. "It's weird and we don't like it. Even Sho-chan says so."
"And if you don't cooperate, we're going to turn the lights off," Jun adds.
Damn this old building for having put the light switch outside, Nino thinks.
"Let's turn them off anyway. It'll be more dramatic." Aiba enthuses and the room goes dark. There's no window and the only source of light is the dim sliver under the door. Nino can hardly see the shape of his hand in front of his face.
Ohno bangs on the door harder. "Aiba-chan! Let us out! Come on, this isn't funny!" But there's no response. "Hm, that always seems to work in the movies."
"Oh-chan, do you remember where the emergency flashlight is?"
"Emergency flashlight? We have one?"
Nino smiles and shakes his head. The situation is so ridiculous and that is such an Oh-chan-like thing to say. "Don't move. I'm coming over there."
Nino slides his feet along the floor to avoid falling over something in the dark, his hands stretched out in front of him, waiting to feel the shelves on the other side of the room beside the door. It's a slow process despite the size of the room but he finally feels the grainy wood and a few bags of coffee, a jacket, an apron and then Ohno's arm, his chest.
"Hi."
"Hey," Ohno replies.
Nino pushes some boxes out of the way to make room on the floor and tugs Ohno to sit down with him. Nino doesn't let go of Ohno's hand; he's testing to see how long Ohno will let him hold it. When Ohno doesn't pull away, Nino leans against him, just like he always does, imagining they are sitting on the sunken couch beside the fireplace, rather than the hard floor of the store room with shelves digging into their backs.
"I'm ready when you're ready," Nino says.
Ohno snorts, "That sounds really dirty."
"Shut up. You know what I mean."
"I know." Ohno squeezes Nino's fingers.
"Aiba's not right, is he?" Nino breaks the silence.
"About what?"
"You and me. Us. Unresolved sexual tension."
"Oh." Ohno shifts, uncrossing his legs and putting his feet flat on the floor. He pulls his knees up to his chin and wraps his free hand around them.
"Oh-chan, are you blushing?"
"... No."
Nino lets go of Ohno's hand and presses the backs of his fingers to Ohno's cheeks. "Liar."
"Haven't you ever thought about it?"
Nino can feel the skin under his fingers get warmer and Ohno tenses beside him. "Not really."
A beat. "Do you want to think about it?"
Nino doesn't answer immediately; he doesn't know how. Ohno gently pulls Nino's fingers away from his face, his hand following the line of Nino's arm to his shoulder, his throat, his chin. It's not smooth and that's now Nino can tell how nervous Ohno is because he's never anything but. Even when he was about to fall from the top of the stool he looked graceful.
Nino notices that his heartbeat is thumping heavily in his chest, his blood is storming through his veins and his palms are starting to sweat. The fluttering in his stomach, those are butterflies, he remembers; it's been so long since he's felt those. It suddenly hits him, hard, that he's excited when Ohno thumbs his bottom lip.
"Maybe," he answers as Ohno slides his hand along Nino's jaw to cradle the back of Nino's head, threading his fingers through Nino's hair. "I think, yes," he corrects, a little breathless.
Nino hears the rustle of Ohno's clothes before he feels Ohno's lips. Ohno misses, catching the corner of his mouth and Nino wants to laugh because how could Oh-chan be so uncoordinated at a time like this, but he can't. Not when Ohno finally kisses him fully, carefully, sweetly, a tiny taste of tongue and soft lips, nipping with just the right amount of pressure and bite.
When Nino reaches for Ohno's shirt collar—not enough, he thinks—Ohno pulls back, "So, does this mean, you want to—"
"No more talking."
"But—"
"If you want some flowery gay confession of undying love, you're not going to get one out of me. I'm not that kind of guy. Just," he pauses and then draws Ohno into a long, deep, kiss – one he's sure will leave Ohno with no doubts about his intentions. He breathes against Ohno's lips, "Let's just see where this goes, okay? Do what feels right, for us."
"Okay. But this floor," Ohno says between kisses, "is kind of uncomfortable for making out."
Nino laughs, "Yeah, it really is." He leans back against the shelves with a deep inhale, stretching his legs. It feels like things have fallen back into place. Almost.
"So, is this what you were thinking about all day? How you were going to confess to me?" Nino asks.
"Actually, no. That was... kind of, an accident."
"Oh," Nino blanches. "If not that, then what was it? You should hear some of the scenarios I thought up on my own."
Ohno takes a deep breath and the words start spilling out. "I'm happy that you and Jun-kun are going to buy this place because that will mean we can still work together and see each other all the time, but maybe Sho-chan has a point. I think you look the best when you're on stage and your songs should be heard by lots of people. And I'm not just saying that because I like you... or because I helped you with the words or anything. I really think they are great and so did that producer at Sho-chan's station. When I see you get on stage, I can see how happy that makes you."
"Wow, Oh-chan," Nino feels a little overwhelmed. "I think that's more than you've said all week. And here I thought you were traumatized by some unwanted sexual advances that weren't mine."
Ohno chuffs and Nino knows he's cracked a small smile.
"I'm sorry. But I didn't want to say you're making a mistake because I know it means a lot to Jun-kun and it will be really great. I just didn't know what to say."
Nino wishes that there was more light so he could see Ohno's face. But since he can't, he settles for looping his arm through Ohno's and resting his chin on Ohno's shoulder. Ohno leans into him in return instead of merely accepting Nino's physicality like he'd always done before. Nino's stomach does a happy flip when Ohno starts to play with his fingers.
"When we own the shop," Nino murmurs, "I can go on stage anytime you want me to. As long as I can keep playing, I'll be happy. It doesn't matter to me how big the audience is, as long as you're in it." As soon as the words leave his mouth, Nino can feel his ears getting hot. "God, I can't believe I just said that."
"It was sweet," Ohno says softly, kissing Nino again.
They sit in the dark for what must be fifteen minutes, the new dimension of their relationship still startlingly fresh. Nino's never seen Ohno be so forward before, not with anyone. It's strange, but he likes it. It feels so easy, like they've already been together for years. So—
"Oh-chan, why didn't we ever do this before? Why didn't you say something?"
Ohno shrugs, "I don't know, I don't talk much."
Nino elbows Ohno sharply. "Smart ass. You could have done something. You are too subtle for your own good sometimes."
"I just, I don't know. I didn't know how you felt about me – if you thought about me that way – and what if you didn't and then you hated me?"
"I could never hate you."
"And what if this doesn't work out?" Ohno's fingers pause.
"Don't be so negative—that's my job."
"I don't want to fuck up... us," Ohno mumbles.
"You won't. If we haven't screwed up yet, after six years, I don't think it's possible. I can't promise you anything, but... I want to try this. We'll just, take it slow. Okay?"
Nino reaches out again to touch Ohno's face, to feel the corner of Ohno's mouth curve up under his fingers. "Okay."
Outside the door, there's the squeak of running shoes on mopped tile and then shadows of feet under the door. "We're finished cleaning up," Aiba knocks. "Did you make up yet?"
"We weren't even fighting, you moron," Nino retaliates, pulling Ohno up with him as he gets to his feet. "Let us out of here."
"Did you make out?"
"I'm not answering that question."
"Oh my god, Matsujun, they totally did! You owe me a thousand yen."
*
Before Shingo arrives on Monday after the lunchtime crowd, Nino and Aiba close the store. The office isn't big enough and the others all want to be there to witness the historic moment. Sho takes a late lunch from the radio station to come over and Jun skips his business ethics class (while realizing the irony). Ohno picks up an earlier dance practice and comes over as soon as it's over at eleven.
A fat envelope with their combined savings, six years' worth of frugality and thriftiness, sits on the coffee table. In a folder beside it are all the legal documents Nino could find in the filing cabinet.
"How much is in there? Did you count it?" Aiba whispers.
"Eight million, six-hundred and forty thousand yen. Twice," Jun replies.
Ohno pinches the envelope, testing the thickness of it between his fingers. "I've never seen so much money in one place before."
"Me neither. I think I'm feeling buyer's guilt already," Nino laments. His stomach is rolling, a nervous combination of nausea and hunger. Jun is looking a little grey as well.
"You'll feel better once everything is signed and sealed. Did you bring your stamp?" Sho adds.
"Yes, mom, I did. You only reminded me about fifteen times, how could I forget?"
The bell on the door jingles loudly in the quiet shop, announcing Shingo's arrival. "Well, look at that. The gang's all here. All right, let's see what you've got."
Jun gives him the envelope, his hand shaking. Shingo peeks inside, examining the ten-thousand yen notes. "Wow, I didn't expect you kids to have this much."
"Is there anything else we need to change the names on, besides the deed and the business license?" Jun asks.
"Woah, just hold on," Shingo holds up his hand. "I know you are guys are serious about wanting to buy this place, but you're not even close."
Nino's stomach bottoms out. He knew it was too simple. "But this is everything we have. And you never gave us a number," he says, uneasy.
"I know."
"Wait," Sho pinches the bridge of his nose. "Shingo-san, were you even seriously considering an offer from Jun and Nino? Was this just a joke?"
"No. You might think I'm a heartless prick, but you guys were my top choice. Then I got Starbucks' final offer this morning. And they're offering a lot more than this."
"How much?"
"I don't think—"
"How much?!" Sho barks, his hands curling into fists. Ohno's flinches at the outburst, the thread he's playing with on his sleeve comes lose. Aiba's chewing on his fingernails, his eyes flicking back and forth between Shingo, Nino and Jun.
"Twelve million. That's what this building and the land are worth."
"How are we going to come up with another four million yen?" Nino cries. "That's not exactly pocket change you can simply ask to borrow from someone."
"We could try and get a loan from the bank," Jun suggests, "but I don't think they'll expedite it as fast as we need and we don't really have anything for collateral."
Sho gives Nino a resigned look, it says don't say I didn't tell you so. Jun is trying to think of another way but this is something his university courses never taught him. Aiba sits across from Nino, his chin resting on his fist, expression unreadable.
"This really isn't enough?" Ohno asks, when no one else does. They all look to Shingo then, wanting to believe that this is all some kind of malevolent joke or a test to see how serious they are. But the little flicker of hope dies when Shingo shakes his head slowly.
"I'm finalizing everything with Starbucks on Friday. It'll be nothing short of a miracle, but if you can make up the difference by then, she's yours."
Nino feels like he's in free fall.
"I'm really sorry," Shingo hands the envelope back to Jun. His hand lingers, squeezing like he means the apology. "I wanted to give you guys a chance and if you had ten million, it would have been a deal. I really like you guys; you've been good to me and this place. But this is business."
*
"Jun-kun, that kid is staring at you."
"Yeah, I noticed, Ohno." Jun turns and looks at the little boy clinging to his dad's pant-leg with one hand, a plush toy sheep in the other. He can't be more than three years old and has had a deep fascination with Jun's hairstyle ever since his dad sat down. Jun stares back at the kid, tries waving with a bright smile, but the kid doesn't even blink.
"Do you think it's because he's never seen a perm before?" Ohno reaches out and pats Jun's curls, smooshing them down only to watch them spring back.
"Shut up," Jun swats Ohno's hand away. "I needed a change, and now I have to start applying for jobs so I'd better look good. I'm going to a job fair this weekend."
The little boy looks up at his dad perched on a stool, reading the sports section of the newspaper. He can't see over the edge of the table – he tilts his head up as far as he can and almost falls backwards onto his diapered bottom.
"You dropped your hat," Jun says to the boy.
The boy considers his cap lying upside-down on the floor, his sheep and his dad's trousers. Jun picks up the hat and puts it back on the boy's head before he can reach a decision to the critical problem of which thing to let go.
The boy looks at Jun, his dad, and then knocks the hat off his head again, the brim clicking on the floor as it falls. He thinks it's a game and smiles toothily at Jun. His dad hears the hat fall this time, and jams it back on his son's head between the baseball scores and Ishikawa Ryo's latest golf results.
"Oh, so you think that's funny?" Ohno asks but the boy merely knocks the hat off again. He figures the sheep can be alone for a while and squats to picks the hat up on his own. He holds it out and offers it to Jun.
"Thanks," Jun says as the boy runs back to his dad's knee.
"You stole the kid's hat?"
"No, he gave it to me. I've always wanted a Mickey Mouse cap."
"Maybe he wants you to cover your hair."
Jun looks at the shiny blue Mickey silhouette on the hat before holding it back out to the boy. "Nino is starting to rub off on you in a bad way." Jun smiles at the dad who bows apologetically as his son waddles back giggling.
Ohno's ears turn pink. "So, where's Aiba-chan? Doesn't he start soon? He's usually here already."
"He said he had an appointment but didn't tell me what it was for. He's on the twelve thirty-to-close."
"Well, it's twenty-five after now," Ohno checks the clock on the wall. "I have an audition at one-thirty so I can't stay. And Nino said he won't come in early. He wants to sleep so don't bother calling him; he won't pick up if he sees the store number."
They wait until twelve forty-five, Ohno's jacket and duffel bag piled on a nearby table, ready and waiting to go.
"I know, Matsujun! I know! I'm sorry, I'll be there as soon as I can," is how Aiba answers the phone.
"Where are you?"
"I can't talk right now—"
"Aiba-chan, I don't care how bad traffic is. That's why you drive a motorcycle."
"No, that's not it. My num—"
"Ohno has an audition and he should have left already. It's starting to get busy."
"What about Nino?"
"Ohno says he won't come in early and you know what he's like; I'm not even going to try."
"Hey, Matsujun, do you think that they—"
"Aiba. Focus. You're already twenty minutes late for work; this isn't the time for that. And ew, I don't want to think about Nino having sex. Finish whatever it is you're doing and get your ass over here."
"Calm down, Matsujun. It'll be all right."
"All right?" Jun knows he's starting to sound hysterical. Ohno is still in his apron and a line of hungry under-caffeinated office workers is starting to form. "How will it be all right when there's no one but me to watch the store during the lunch rush?"
"Trust me."
"No. The last time you said that, I ended up hung-over for two days and Sho-chan woke up with a navel piercing."
"Yeah, but he liked it."
"Only after the shock wore off ...but that's not the point."
"Matsujun, you worry too much. Oh, crap; I'm up. Gotta go!"
Jun punches the end-call button to kill the dial tone and exhales sharply. He doesn't get paid enough to deal with this kind of stress. He wonders if Starbucks will give him a raise.
Now there's no sugar in the sugar bowl and both cream and non-fat milk jugs are empty; dirty cups and saucers are everywhere and the dish bin is full. There's a line of a dozen people waiting to place their orders and Ohno's still there. Nino's in the back refilling the coffee beans and placing the milk order early for the weekend.
Aiba pulls up in front of the store and barely has the engine turned off before he's pulling off his helmet and rushing inside. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," he repeats over and over, ducking his head underneath Jun's glare.
There's no time for Aiba to do anything else but sheepishly hang up his jacket, slip an apron over his head and start cleaning. He is an hour late and the lunch crowd is larger than normal because that's the way the universe works. Nino's on the phone and throws a wad of paper at Aiba's head when he opens the office door.
*
"So, please tell us what was so goddamn important that it made you an hour late." Nino's expression is still black even after the shop has cleared out and they've caught up on all the closing duties. Nino had been hoping for an easy, painless Thursday close. Instead he got the shift from hell.
Aiba cowers and the words tumble out of his mouth. "I would have been there earlier except I had to print out some stuff but Jun's printer wasn't working and then we ran out of paper so I had to go buy some at the convenience store. And then I had to go to the bank."
"That's your excuse?" Jun asks. "Lame. Even for you, Aiba-chan."
"No, seriously. It had to be today."
"Why?"
Aiba unzips his backpack and pulls out a bank envelope stuffed full of money. He tosses it onto the coffee table with a dull thud. "Here. It's enough for you to pay Shingo-san."
Nino snatches the envelope from table and dumps stacks of ten thousand yen bills into his hand. It's close to five million yen. The sight of it makes Nino's heart leap.
"Did you rob the bank?"
"No! It's my savings. Not all of it but it's enough for you to make a better offer than Starbucks."
"When—" Jun blanks. There are too many questions to ask, no one knows where to start. They can only stare at Aiba in disbelief.
"I've been saving since I finished cooking school. You know I don't want to take over my dad's restaurant but I don't really know what kind of place I want to have myself yet... but I started saving for it anyway."
"I never knew you wanted to have your own restaurant," Ohno says over Nino's shoulder.
"I hadn't made up my mind yet so I didn't say anything." Aiba reaches back into his bag and takes out a sheaf of paper. He flattens the pages on his leg and hands them to Jun. "I'll give you that money if you let me be in charge of the menu. We can use the kitchen in the apartment upstairs and if it really takes off, maybe we can make this more of a cafe. These aren't much, but they're a good place to start."
There's a list of recipes, soups, stews, baked pastas. Everything is made using seasonal fare. The produce all comes from local suppliers and it's broken down to show what everything will cost and how much they could make. He's also included some of the comments he's received from customers.
"Aiba-chan, this is amazing," Jun flips through the pages of recipes in awe.
"I went to the bank this morning but it took longer than I thought because they had to prepare such a large amount of cash for me. I'm sorry."
"Oh, don't worry about that anymore," Nino waves off Aiba's apology.
"So, I'm not fired?"
"No, you're still fired," Nino says casually and Aiba's expression wilts. It's just so easy. Nino laughs and slaps Aiba on the shoulder. "But now you're going to be partners with me and Jun and you'll be the head chef. That is, if Jun still wants to."
"Are you kidding?" Jun's face breaks into a grin.
"We should tell Sho-kun," Ohno says, excited.
Nino catches Ohno's hand as he reaches for the cordless phone. "Let's call Shingo-san first."
*
The picture they take – all five of them, of course – with the ink still wet on the business license, gets put in the centre of the mantle. The frame is simple wood, a light pine, with the date written neatly in the corner in Sho's handwriting.
Not much changes in the shop over the next year. Sho still opens every morning, greeting the customers with his cheerful smile. Aiba stops working at his parents' restaurant and goes full-time to work upstairs in the morning, working on recipes and preparing food for the following day in the kitchen, and helping downstairs in the afternoon. Jun closes, using the lulls between three and four o'clock to do the ordering and the schedule. Ohno covers when he can between rehearsals; he lands a job dancing in an up-and-coming starlet's music video and the job offers are steady after that.
As for Nino, the producer from Sho's station comes to their first open night after they take over Johnny's. There isn't much to discuss after watching Nino charm the crowd – it's so large they have to ask the Greek restaurant for spare chairs. He releases a single in the fall and a famous radio deejay in Tokyo calls him someone to watch out for.
Sho never gets offered the assistant director position. The producer is grateful for the invitation to the Open Mic and the second chance to met Nino, but holds a vicious grudge against Sho for the innocent mistake. When the manager that the record label first assigns Nino turns out to be a sadistic slave driver, Nino asks Sho to take the job. None of this would be happening if not for him, and few know Nino better.
Nino still works his closing shifts at Johnny's and takes the stage on Open Mic Night when he's not at the studio or away playing small shows Sho thinks will be good for exposure. He isn't getting famous overnight but Nino likes that just fine.
And Ohno's still there every time he plays at Johnny's, watching and humming along, mouthing the words that he knows off by heart. And tonight is no exception. "Nino, I think you were born for the stage."
"That's not a real stage, you know," Nino says as he laces his fingers through Ohno's. "You've seen some of the places in Osaka last week. Absolutely massive."
"I wish I could have gone with you. But even if this place is small and has only one light and you have to play your acoustic guitar, I still think it's the best." Ohno tugs on Nino's hand and leads him upstairs. "I wonder if you'll ever want to come back here to play when you get super famous. You've already got some groupies; did you see?"
"Yes, I saw," Nino unlocks the door to the apartment upstairs. Sho's visiting with Aiba and Jun who are still cleaning up, so they have the place to themselves for a while. He hasn't even had a chance to unpack yet. "But I'm not sleeping with any of them."
"I should hope not," Ohno replies, catching Nino's lips. "I don't share well with others."
"Idiot," Nino smiles, tugging on the hem of Ohno's shirt.
They make it to Nino's room, hands working belts and pulling on clothes, deep kisses and smiles melting into moans. Nino never thought he would like traveling and playing for strange crowds in foreign cities, living out of a suitcase and eating out every meal. He does but he still misses his own bed, his friends, his Oh-chan.
His isn't the biggest room in the house, despite Jun's protests – because they knew Ohno would stay over most nights – but it's large enough for his double bed and a desk. He can hear the sounds of the last people making their way home, the familiar clink of dishes and Aiba's, Jun's and Sho's laughter faintly downstairs. He always misses those sounds.
Ohno takes Nino's face in his hands and kisses him properly for the first time in a week.
Nino smiles and sighs into Ohno's mouth, "It's good to be home."
***
Pairing/Group: Arashi; Ohmiya
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 15,000. Epic.
Warnings: A couple of cameos and throw-away OC extras in the background.
Summary: A story of five guys, self-realization, determination, love and caffeine.
Aiba naturally finds out from Jun because they are roommates and tells Sho, who mentions it to Ohno that Nino and Jun are planning to make Shingo an offer for Johnny's. Jun's restlessness about what he'll do after graduation subsides and Aiba is thankful for it. He takes it upon himself to gather them all together on Sunday night for a celebratory dinner at his parent's Chinese restaurant. Even though nothing's going to change, it's a fresh start.
"But don't you think this is a little premature?" Sho doesn't even try to hide his skepticism.
"Why do you have to be such a killjoy, Sho-chan?" Aiba asks, setting down a plate of chili shrimp.
"You guys haven't mentioned anything to Shingo-san. How do you even know he'll go for it? What is Starbucks offering him anyway?"
"We're going to tell him on Thursday in person," Jun says, spearing some chicken on his chopsticks.
"It'll be fine! Stop worrying about it. Here, have some more mabo tofu." Aiba drops a heaping spoonful onto Sho's plate, drowning half of his spring rolls.
"I just think that maybe this is a sign," Sho replies, passing the ginger beef to Ohno. "Maybe it's time to move on? Ohno has his dancing, and Nino has his music... and what about you? You went to culinary school and you're just going to help out in your parents' kitchen and pick up shifts at the coffee shop for the rest of your life? What a waste."
"Jesus, Sho. Who shat in your cornflakes this morning?" Jun snaps. "This is a good thing. It's a stepping stone for me. For us."
Sho exhales sharply and rubs his temples. "I'm sorry. Work has been really riding me lately... I think I'm up for a promotion—"
There's cheerful uproar from Aiba and Jun; Nino exclaims something around a mouthful of rice and even Ohno cracks a smile.
"—but I blew it."
After a moment, cries of outrage fill their private room: Sho is hardworking and reliable and they all know from firsthand experience. Anyone to pass him over for a promotion is insane.
"Nino, do you remember that guy I introduced you to when you came to the radio station?"
Nino nods; his brows come together remembering the sting of rejection.
"He's a music producer. I told him about you and played him a couple of your recordings and he liked what he heard. And he really liked you after talking to you. After I introduced you to him, he said he'd consider me for an AD position on your recordings. He wanted to help you get a deal."
"So then why didn't he show up?" Nino asks shortly. "What changed his mind?"
"Nothing. I'm sorry, Nino." Sho looks up from his plate, painfully apologetic. "It was my fault. I don't know what happened but I screwed up and told you the wrong date. He did go to meet you, but obviously you weren't there. I'm so sorry."
Nino puts his chin in his hand and stares at the streaks of left-over sauce in his bowl.
"Nino, trust me, I'm trying to fix it. I've been trying to get ahold of him and explain what happened and set up another meeting but he hasn't returned any of my calls yet. Please don't be mad."
Aiba starts to fidget when Nino doesn't say anything for a long time. "Seconds, anyone?"
"Nino? Are you okay?" Ohno asks tentatively, leaning forward so he can see the look on Nino's face. He's not angry, or upset; there's no identifiable emotion visible in his features. "There'll be other chances. This is just the beginning," Ohno tries to be reassuring.
"It's fine, Sho-chan. I've been writing music for as long as I can remember. And I never did it with the hope or ambition of getting famous. I got a little extra credit in school and that probably helped, but it was just for fun. It's always been for fun. If I ever did happen to get famous," Nino shrugs. "Well, great. I never thought that he was all that interested in my music. It doesn't matter. I'm just as happy to play on our shitty makeshift stage for my friends. If music became a job, I don't think it would be fun anymore."
Nino looks around the table and gives his closest friends a bright smile. He knows they can see that it's not completely sincere – they've known him for far too long – but they don't call him on it. The thought had crossed his mind, that maybe, just maybe, there might be a small chance... But this is why Nino doesn't aspire: he wants to be content with what he has.
"Hey, Ohno," Jun takes a swig of his beer. "You're pretty quiet over there. How's the shumai? Aiba's mom makes the best."
"Hm? Oh," Ohno blinks, pulling out of his daydream. "Mm, yeah. Real delicious. Tell her they were great."
Nino frowns; the three shumai he'd put on Ohno's plate are still there.
Shingo swirls the coffee around in his cup, considering what he's just been asked. "I hope Aiba can handle the front alone while you two are in here talking to me."
"He'll be fine," Nino replies.
"You really want this place?" Shingo's tone is doubtful, just like they'd expected.
"Yes. It's a neighbourhood landmark," Jun says.
"And how righteous of you to want to save it."
There's coldness to Shingo's body language that Nino can't read. It makes him anxious.
"Like we need another Starbucks in this town," Nino supplies. "There are two at the station down the street."
Shingo nods and finishes the rest of his coffee. "Well, you obviously care a lot about this place. The new paint in the bathroom looks good."
"It was Oh-chan's idea to cover up the water stains with portraits of the regular customers. They love it," Nino beams a little. "We keep getting asked what the requirements are to get painted on the wall."
"Great; at least something good came of that mess. Look," Shingo puts the deposit in his bag and adjusts the shoulder strap. Jun plays with the ring on his finger and Nino knows him well enough to be able to tell that his heart is up somewhere near his throat, just like Nino's own. "I can see you guys are serious and honestly, as long as it's out of my hands, I don't care who the buyer is. I was going to meet with the Starbucks GM the end of next week to finalize everything but I'll give you guys until Monday to get your money together," he says, indulgently.
Shingo claps both Jun and Nino on the shoulder and strides out of the store room. They can hear him shout something at Aiba as the bell on the door tinkles. Jun looks at Nino, shell-shocked. "Wow. It's really happening."
"Looks like it."
"Part of me didn't think he would actually go for it."
"Don't jinx it, Matsujun. We haven't sealed the deal yet."
"Are you mad at me, Oh-chan?"
"What?" Ohno almost drops the big milk spoon into the foam he's just heaped on top of a latte.
"You heard me."
"Why would I be mad at you?" Ohno sets up a new shot, carefully tamping down the espresso.
"Then, why are you ignoring me? You haven't said—hold on."
Nino turns to take a customer's order, a falsely pleasant smile on his face. She can't make up her mind between a banana or chocolate-chip muffin. While she's debating the merits of each with her friend, Nino can only think of how Ohno's turned away from him, regardless of the orientation of the cash register and the espresso machine, and the unhappy slope of his shoulders.
She chooses a carrot muffin in the end and Nino tugs on Ohno's sleeve as he sets a cup on the counter for her non-fat mocha, no whip. "Oh-chan, you haven't said anything all day. You're not a talkative person by nature—and thank god for that, because Aiba talks enough for the rest of us—but you haven't said a word."
Ohno just shrugs.
"Did something happen at home?"
"No."
"Did you have an audition?"
"No auditions."
"Did you—"
"Nino, I just... don't feel like talking today. Is that okay with you?" It's not cold or malicious how Ohno cuts off his tirade; if anything, he sounds tired, defeated. But Nino still feels a sting.
"Yeah, okay," Nino doesn't have any other choice.
"I'm going to sweep before people start showing up for the Open Mic," Ohno slips past Nino without touching him.
The rest of the afternoon, Nino is extrapolating scenarios in his head. Ohno's favourite dance class got cancelled. His favourite brand of paint is being discontinued. His creepy aunt is coming to visit. He found a hole in his favourite pair of jeans and got yelled at by his mom? Or he couldn't wear them out on a date? But Oh-chan never said anything about a date. And when would that have been? Oh-chan closed every day this week so unless it was a late-night date, which would have meant—but maybe nothing happened. Because otherwise, Oh-chan would be happy, right? Maybe he got rejected. Or worse. Yes, that would explain his distance.
Nino shakes his head vigorously. He's been hanging around Aiba too much if he's coming up with conspiracy theories like that.
Yet it's more than Ohno not talking. There have been days when Ohno's worked in complete silence. But never like this. All those times, he'd still be smiling and joking like normal. He'd come up and perch his chin on Nino's shoulder for no reason at all. He'd put his hands on Nino's elbows to move him aside if he wanted to get past. Behind the counter, he'd stand so close that their shoulders would brush.
Nino's felt Ohno pulling away since Sunday. But he doesn't know how to fix it when he doesn't know what's broken.
He takes the stage last as he does every Friday night, but tonight he doesn't thank the audience or the other performers. Aiba and Jun come in as he's tuning his guitar, waving with mitten-covered hands in the half-light.
"I want to apologize," Nino says. The crowd murmurs and Nino watches Ohno where he stands behind the counter. "To my best friend. I'm sorry because I don't know what to do to make it better. You won't tell me and I can't figure it out by myself. I'm not a mind-reader. The only thing I can do is play your favourite song."
Ohno stops wiping the counter. Nino sees him fold the cloth and lay it aside, mouthing along with the words of the song. Nino doesn't know why it's Ohno's favourite; it's not his best work and it feels a little unfinished, but it always manages to make him smile.
He plays a couple other songs that Ohno likes, the one about the puppy he wrote after Aiba tried to adopt a pet for the store and the one for Ohno's twenty-fourth birthday. When Nino finishes and takes his final bows, Ohno isn't there. He turns off the amplifier and unplugs everything with a crease in his brow.
"Where did Oh-chan go?" Aiba's standing behind the register, ringing up a few last orders for coffee.
"He's in the store room. He needed to get more tape for the register and asked me to watch things."
"There should be extra rolls under the counter."
"Where? Oh, these ones?" Aiba holds up a fat roll of white paper in each hand. "Well, you'd better go tell Ohno to stop looking."
With the mic stand in one hand and the amp in the other, Nino shoulders the door of the store room-come-office open. Ohno's standing on stool, moving around boxes and plastic bags full of Hallowe'en ornaments, sickeningly pink Valentine's ribbons and fake cherry blossoms. A string of shiny silver tinsel falls out of one of the bags and Ohno nearly falls off the stool trying to grab it.
"Get down from there, before you kill yourself. There's register tape out front, and besides, it's not up there." Nino pulls out a fresh roll from the box sitting on top of the filing cabinet.
There isn't a lot of space in the small room and when Ohno jumps down from the stool, he's nose-to-nose with Nino. He's so close Nino can see the flecks of chocolate brown in his irises. Nino doesn't expect him to be so close and trips on the amp behind him—Ohno catches Nino's wrist when he stumbles.
Then there's the sound of scrapping against the door, like a chair behind wedged underneath the knob accompanied by Aiba's and Jun's giggling.
"What—" Nino turns and looks at the door and then back to Ohno and where he's being held by the wrist, reluctant to move.
When Nino doesn't, Ohno has no choice but to touch Nino to get around him in the tiny room full of boxes and bins of coffee beans. He turns the knob and pushes, blinking hard at the door when, of course, it doesn't open. "Ah, it's locked."
He knocks and calls out, asking politely to be freed.
"No! You both stay in there until you've worked out your bullshit, unresolved sexual tension, or whatever," Aiba shouts from the other side of the door. "It's weird and we don't like it. Even Sho-chan says so."
"And if you don't cooperate, we're going to turn the lights off," Jun adds.
Damn this old building for having put the light switch outside, Nino thinks.
"Let's turn them off anyway. It'll be more dramatic." Aiba enthuses and the room goes dark. There's no window and the only source of light is the dim sliver under the door. Nino can hardly see the shape of his hand in front of his face.
Ohno bangs on the door harder. "Aiba-chan! Let us out! Come on, this isn't funny!" But there's no response. "Hm, that always seems to work in the movies."
"Oh-chan, do you remember where the emergency flashlight is?"
"Emergency flashlight? We have one?"
Nino smiles and shakes his head. The situation is so ridiculous and that is such an Oh-chan-like thing to say. "Don't move. I'm coming over there."
Nino slides his feet along the floor to avoid falling over something in the dark, his hands stretched out in front of him, waiting to feel the shelves on the other side of the room beside the door. It's a slow process despite the size of the room but he finally feels the grainy wood and a few bags of coffee, a jacket, an apron and then Ohno's arm, his chest.
"Hi."
"Hey," Ohno replies.
Nino pushes some boxes out of the way to make room on the floor and tugs Ohno to sit down with him. Nino doesn't let go of Ohno's hand; he's testing to see how long Ohno will let him hold it. When Ohno doesn't pull away, Nino leans against him, just like he always does, imagining they are sitting on the sunken couch beside the fireplace, rather than the hard floor of the store room with shelves digging into their backs.
"I'm ready when you're ready," Nino says.
Ohno snorts, "That sounds really dirty."
"Shut up. You know what I mean."
"I know." Ohno squeezes Nino's fingers.
"Aiba's not right, is he?" Nino breaks the silence.
"About what?"
"You and me. Us. Unresolved sexual tension."
"Oh." Ohno shifts, uncrossing his legs and putting his feet flat on the floor. He pulls his knees up to his chin and wraps his free hand around them.
"Oh-chan, are you blushing?"
"... No."
Nino lets go of Ohno's hand and presses the backs of his fingers to Ohno's cheeks. "Liar."
"Haven't you ever thought about it?"
Nino can feel the skin under his fingers get warmer and Ohno tenses beside him. "Not really."
A beat. "Do you want to think about it?"
Nino doesn't answer immediately; he doesn't know how. Ohno gently pulls Nino's fingers away from his face, his hand following the line of Nino's arm to his shoulder, his throat, his chin. It's not smooth and that's now Nino can tell how nervous Ohno is because he's never anything but. Even when he was about to fall from the top of the stool he looked graceful.
Nino notices that his heartbeat is thumping heavily in his chest, his blood is storming through his veins and his palms are starting to sweat. The fluttering in his stomach, those are butterflies, he remembers; it's been so long since he's felt those. It suddenly hits him, hard, that he's excited when Ohno thumbs his bottom lip.
"Maybe," he answers as Ohno slides his hand along Nino's jaw to cradle the back of Nino's head, threading his fingers through Nino's hair. "I think, yes," he corrects, a little breathless.
Nino hears the rustle of Ohno's clothes before he feels Ohno's lips. Ohno misses, catching the corner of his mouth and Nino wants to laugh because how could Oh-chan be so uncoordinated at a time like this, but he can't. Not when Ohno finally kisses him fully, carefully, sweetly, a tiny taste of tongue and soft lips, nipping with just the right amount of pressure and bite.
When Nino reaches for Ohno's shirt collar—not enough, he thinks—Ohno pulls back, "So, does this mean, you want to—"
"No more talking."
"But—"
"If you want some flowery gay confession of undying love, you're not going to get one out of me. I'm not that kind of guy. Just," he pauses and then draws Ohno into a long, deep, kiss – one he's sure will leave Ohno with no doubts about his intentions. He breathes against Ohno's lips, "Let's just see where this goes, okay? Do what feels right, for us."
"Okay. But this floor," Ohno says between kisses, "is kind of uncomfortable for making out."
Nino laughs, "Yeah, it really is." He leans back against the shelves with a deep inhale, stretching his legs. It feels like things have fallen back into place. Almost.
"So, is this what you were thinking about all day? How you were going to confess to me?" Nino asks.
"Actually, no. That was... kind of, an accident."
"Oh," Nino blanches. "If not that, then what was it? You should hear some of the scenarios I thought up on my own."
Ohno takes a deep breath and the words start spilling out. "I'm happy that you and Jun-kun are going to buy this place because that will mean we can still work together and see each other all the time, but maybe Sho-chan has a point. I think you look the best when you're on stage and your songs should be heard by lots of people. And I'm not just saying that because I like you... or because I helped you with the words or anything. I really think they are great and so did that producer at Sho-chan's station. When I see you get on stage, I can see how happy that makes you."
"Wow, Oh-chan," Nino feels a little overwhelmed. "I think that's more than you've said all week. And here I thought you were traumatized by some unwanted sexual advances that weren't mine."
Ohno chuffs and Nino knows he's cracked a small smile.
"I'm sorry. But I didn't want to say you're making a mistake because I know it means a lot to Jun-kun and it will be really great. I just didn't know what to say."
Nino wishes that there was more light so he could see Ohno's face. But since he can't, he settles for looping his arm through Ohno's and resting his chin on Ohno's shoulder. Ohno leans into him in return instead of merely accepting Nino's physicality like he'd always done before. Nino's stomach does a happy flip when Ohno starts to play with his fingers.
"When we own the shop," Nino murmurs, "I can go on stage anytime you want me to. As long as I can keep playing, I'll be happy. It doesn't matter to me how big the audience is, as long as you're in it." As soon as the words leave his mouth, Nino can feel his ears getting hot. "God, I can't believe I just said that."
"It was sweet," Ohno says softly, kissing Nino again.
They sit in the dark for what must be fifteen minutes, the new dimension of their relationship still startlingly fresh. Nino's never seen Ohno be so forward before, not with anyone. It's strange, but he likes it. It feels so easy, like they've already been together for years. So—
"Oh-chan, why didn't we ever do this before? Why didn't you say something?"
Ohno shrugs, "I don't know, I don't talk much."
Nino elbows Ohno sharply. "Smart ass. You could have done something. You are too subtle for your own good sometimes."
"I just, I don't know. I didn't know how you felt about me – if you thought about me that way – and what if you didn't and then you hated me?"
"I could never hate you."
"And what if this doesn't work out?" Ohno's fingers pause.
"Don't be so negative—that's my job."
"I don't want to fuck up... us," Ohno mumbles.
"You won't. If we haven't screwed up yet, after six years, I don't think it's possible. I can't promise you anything, but... I want to try this. We'll just, take it slow. Okay?"
Nino reaches out again to touch Ohno's face, to feel the corner of Ohno's mouth curve up under his fingers. "Okay."
Outside the door, there's the squeak of running shoes on mopped tile and then shadows of feet under the door. "We're finished cleaning up," Aiba knocks. "Did you make up yet?"
"We weren't even fighting, you moron," Nino retaliates, pulling Ohno up with him as he gets to his feet. "Let us out of here."
"Did you make out?"
"I'm not answering that question."
"Oh my god, Matsujun, they totally did! You owe me a thousand yen."
Before Shingo arrives on Monday after the lunchtime crowd, Nino and Aiba close the store. The office isn't big enough and the others all want to be there to witness the historic moment. Sho takes a late lunch from the radio station to come over and Jun skips his business ethics class (while realizing the irony). Ohno picks up an earlier dance practice and comes over as soon as it's over at eleven.
A fat envelope with their combined savings, six years' worth of frugality and thriftiness, sits on the coffee table. In a folder beside it are all the legal documents Nino could find in the filing cabinet.
"How much is in there? Did you count it?" Aiba whispers.
"Eight million, six-hundred and forty thousand yen. Twice," Jun replies.
Ohno pinches the envelope, testing the thickness of it between his fingers. "I've never seen so much money in one place before."
"Me neither. I think I'm feeling buyer's guilt already," Nino laments. His stomach is rolling, a nervous combination of nausea and hunger. Jun is looking a little grey as well.
"You'll feel better once everything is signed and sealed. Did you bring your stamp?" Sho adds.
"Yes, mom, I did. You only reminded me about fifteen times, how could I forget?"
The bell on the door jingles loudly in the quiet shop, announcing Shingo's arrival. "Well, look at that. The gang's all here. All right, let's see what you've got."
Jun gives him the envelope, his hand shaking. Shingo peeks inside, examining the ten-thousand yen notes. "Wow, I didn't expect you kids to have this much."
"Is there anything else we need to change the names on, besides the deed and the business license?" Jun asks.
"Woah, just hold on," Shingo holds up his hand. "I know you are guys are serious about wanting to buy this place, but you're not even close."
Nino's stomach bottoms out. He knew it was too simple. "But this is everything we have. And you never gave us a number," he says, uneasy.
"I know."
"Wait," Sho pinches the bridge of his nose. "Shingo-san, were you even seriously considering an offer from Jun and Nino? Was this just a joke?"
"No. You might think I'm a heartless prick, but you guys were my top choice. Then I got Starbucks' final offer this morning. And they're offering a lot more than this."
"How much?"
"I don't think—"
"How much?!" Sho barks, his hands curling into fists. Ohno's flinches at the outburst, the thread he's playing with on his sleeve comes lose. Aiba's chewing on his fingernails, his eyes flicking back and forth between Shingo, Nino and Jun.
"Twelve million. That's what this building and the land are worth."
"How are we going to come up with another four million yen?" Nino cries. "That's not exactly pocket change you can simply ask to borrow from someone."
"We could try and get a loan from the bank," Jun suggests, "but I don't think they'll expedite it as fast as we need and we don't really have anything for collateral."
Sho gives Nino a resigned look, it says don't say I didn't tell you so. Jun is trying to think of another way but this is something his university courses never taught him. Aiba sits across from Nino, his chin resting on his fist, expression unreadable.
"This really isn't enough?" Ohno asks, when no one else does. They all look to Shingo then, wanting to believe that this is all some kind of malevolent joke or a test to see how serious they are. But the little flicker of hope dies when Shingo shakes his head slowly.
"I'm finalizing everything with Starbucks on Friday. It'll be nothing short of a miracle, but if you can make up the difference by then, she's yours."
Nino feels like he's in free fall.
"I'm really sorry," Shingo hands the envelope back to Jun. His hand lingers, squeezing like he means the apology. "I wanted to give you guys a chance and if you had ten million, it would have been a deal. I really like you guys; you've been good to me and this place. But this is business."
"Jun-kun, that kid is staring at you."
"Yeah, I noticed, Ohno." Jun turns and looks at the little boy clinging to his dad's pant-leg with one hand, a plush toy sheep in the other. He can't be more than three years old and has had a deep fascination with Jun's hairstyle ever since his dad sat down. Jun stares back at the kid, tries waving with a bright smile, but the kid doesn't even blink.
"Do you think it's because he's never seen a perm before?" Ohno reaches out and pats Jun's curls, smooshing them down only to watch them spring back.
"Shut up," Jun swats Ohno's hand away. "I needed a change, and now I have to start applying for jobs so I'd better look good. I'm going to a job fair this weekend."
The little boy looks up at his dad perched on a stool, reading the sports section of the newspaper. He can't see over the edge of the table – he tilts his head up as far as he can and almost falls backwards onto his diapered bottom.
"You dropped your hat," Jun says to the boy.
The boy considers his cap lying upside-down on the floor, his sheep and his dad's trousers. Jun picks up the hat and puts it back on the boy's head before he can reach a decision to the critical problem of which thing to let go.
The boy looks at Jun, his dad, and then knocks the hat off his head again, the brim clicking on the floor as it falls. He thinks it's a game and smiles toothily at Jun. His dad hears the hat fall this time, and jams it back on his son's head between the baseball scores and Ishikawa Ryo's latest golf results.
"Oh, so you think that's funny?" Ohno asks but the boy merely knocks the hat off again. He figures the sheep can be alone for a while and squats to picks the hat up on his own. He holds it out and offers it to Jun.
"Thanks," Jun says as the boy runs back to his dad's knee.
"You stole the kid's hat?"
"No, he gave it to me. I've always wanted a Mickey Mouse cap."
"Maybe he wants you to cover your hair."
Jun looks at the shiny blue Mickey silhouette on the hat before holding it back out to the boy. "Nino is starting to rub off on you in a bad way." Jun smiles at the dad who bows apologetically as his son waddles back giggling.
Ohno's ears turn pink. "So, where's Aiba-chan? Doesn't he start soon? He's usually here already."
"He said he had an appointment but didn't tell me what it was for. He's on the twelve thirty-to-close."
"Well, it's twenty-five after now," Ohno checks the clock on the wall. "I have an audition at one-thirty so I can't stay. And Nino said he won't come in early. He wants to sleep so don't bother calling him; he won't pick up if he sees the store number."
They wait until twelve forty-five, Ohno's jacket and duffel bag piled on a nearby table, ready and waiting to go.
"I know, Matsujun! I know! I'm sorry, I'll be there as soon as I can," is how Aiba answers the phone.
"Where are you?"
"I can't talk right now—"
"Aiba-chan, I don't care how bad traffic is. That's why you drive a motorcycle."
"No, that's not it. My num—"
"Ohno has an audition and he should have left already. It's starting to get busy."
"What about Nino?"
"Ohno says he won't come in early and you know what he's like; I'm not even going to try."
"Hey, Matsujun, do you think that they—"
"Aiba. Focus. You're already twenty minutes late for work; this isn't the time for that. And ew, I don't want to think about Nino having sex. Finish whatever it is you're doing and get your ass over here."
"Calm down, Matsujun. It'll be all right."
"All right?" Jun knows he's starting to sound hysterical. Ohno is still in his apron and a line of hungry under-caffeinated office workers is starting to form. "How will it be all right when there's no one but me to watch the store during the lunch rush?"
"Trust me."
"No. The last time you said that, I ended up hung-over for two days and Sho-chan woke up with a navel piercing."
"Yeah, but he liked it."
"Only after the shock wore off ...but that's not the point."
"Matsujun, you worry too much. Oh, crap; I'm up. Gotta go!"
Jun punches the end-call button to kill the dial tone and exhales sharply. He doesn't get paid enough to deal with this kind of stress. He wonders if Starbucks will give him a raise.
Now there's no sugar in the sugar bowl and both cream and non-fat milk jugs are empty; dirty cups and saucers are everywhere and the dish bin is full. There's a line of a dozen people waiting to place their orders and Ohno's still there. Nino's in the back refilling the coffee beans and placing the milk order early for the weekend.
Aiba pulls up in front of the store and barely has the engine turned off before he's pulling off his helmet and rushing inside. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," he repeats over and over, ducking his head underneath Jun's glare.
There's no time for Aiba to do anything else but sheepishly hang up his jacket, slip an apron over his head and start cleaning. He is an hour late and the lunch crowd is larger than normal because that's the way the universe works. Nino's on the phone and throws a wad of paper at Aiba's head when he opens the office door.
"So, please tell us what was so goddamn important that it made you an hour late." Nino's expression is still black even after the shop has cleared out and they've caught up on all the closing duties. Nino had been hoping for an easy, painless Thursday close. Instead he got the shift from hell.
Aiba cowers and the words tumble out of his mouth. "I would have been there earlier except I had to print out some stuff but Jun's printer wasn't working and then we ran out of paper so I had to go buy some at the convenience store. And then I had to go to the bank."
"That's your excuse?" Jun asks. "Lame. Even for you, Aiba-chan."
"No, seriously. It had to be today."
"Why?"
Aiba unzips his backpack and pulls out a bank envelope stuffed full of money. He tosses it onto the coffee table with a dull thud. "Here. It's enough for you to pay Shingo-san."
Nino snatches the envelope from table and dumps stacks of ten thousand yen bills into his hand. It's close to five million yen. The sight of it makes Nino's heart leap.
"Did you rob the bank?"
"No! It's my savings. Not all of it but it's enough for you to make a better offer than Starbucks."
"When—" Jun blanks. There are too many questions to ask, no one knows where to start. They can only stare at Aiba in disbelief.
"I've been saving since I finished cooking school. You know I don't want to take over my dad's restaurant but I don't really know what kind of place I want to have myself yet... but I started saving for it anyway."
"I never knew you wanted to have your own restaurant," Ohno says over Nino's shoulder.
"I hadn't made up my mind yet so I didn't say anything." Aiba reaches back into his bag and takes out a sheaf of paper. He flattens the pages on his leg and hands them to Jun. "I'll give you that money if you let me be in charge of the menu. We can use the kitchen in the apartment upstairs and if it really takes off, maybe we can make this more of a cafe. These aren't much, but they're a good place to start."
There's a list of recipes, soups, stews, baked pastas. Everything is made using seasonal fare. The produce all comes from local suppliers and it's broken down to show what everything will cost and how much they could make. He's also included some of the comments he's received from customers.
"Aiba-chan, this is amazing," Jun flips through the pages of recipes in awe.
"I went to the bank this morning but it took longer than I thought because they had to prepare such a large amount of cash for me. I'm sorry."
"Oh, don't worry about that anymore," Nino waves off Aiba's apology.
"So, I'm not fired?"
"No, you're still fired," Nino says casually and Aiba's expression wilts. It's just so easy. Nino laughs and slaps Aiba on the shoulder. "But now you're going to be partners with me and Jun and you'll be the head chef. That is, if Jun still wants to."
"Are you kidding?" Jun's face breaks into a grin.
"We should tell Sho-kun," Ohno says, excited.
Nino catches Ohno's hand as he reaches for the cordless phone. "Let's call Shingo-san first."
The picture they take – all five of them, of course – with the ink still wet on the business license, gets put in the centre of the mantle. The frame is simple wood, a light pine, with the date written neatly in the corner in Sho's handwriting.
Not much changes in the shop over the next year. Sho still opens every morning, greeting the customers with his cheerful smile. Aiba stops working at his parents' restaurant and goes full-time to work upstairs in the morning, working on recipes and preparing food for the following day in the kitchen, and helping downstairs in the afternoon. Jun closes, using the lulls between three and four o'clock to do the ordering and the schedule. Ohno covers when he can between rehearsals; he lands a job dancing in an up-and-coming starlet's music video and the job offers are steady after that.
As for Nino, the producer from Sho's station comes to their first open night after they take over Johnny's. There isn't much to discuss after watching Nino charm the crowd – it's so large they have to ask the Greek restaurant for spare chairs. He releases a single in the fall and a famous radio deejay in Tokyo calls him someone to watch out for.
Sho never gets offered the assistant director position. The producer is grateful for the invitation to the Open Mic and the second chance to met Nino, but holds a vicious grudge against Sho for the innocent mistake. When the manager that the record label first assigns Nino turns out to be a sadistic slave driver, Nino asks Sho to take the job. None of this would be happening if not for him, and few know Nino better.
Nino still works his closing shifts at Johnny's and takes the stage on Open Mic Night when he's not at the studio or away playing small shows Sho thinks will be good for exposure. He isn't getting famous overnight but Nino likes that just fine.
And Ohno's still there every time he plays at Johnny's, watching and humming along, mouthing the words that he knows off by heart. And tonight is no exception. "Nino, I think you were born for the stage."
"That's not a real stage, you know," Nino says as he laces his fingers through Ohno's. "You've seen some of the places in Osaka last week. Absolutely massive."
"I wish I could have gone with you. But even if this place is small and has only one light and you have to play your acoustic guitar, I still think it's the best." Ohno tugs on Nino's hand and leads him upstairs. "I wonder if you'll ever want to come back here to play when you get super famous. You've already got some groupies; did you see?"
"Yes, I saw," Nino unlocks the door to the apartment upstairs. Sho's visiting with Aiba and Jun who are still cleaning up, so they have the place to themselves for a while. He hasn't even had a chance to unpack yet. "But I'm not sleeping with any of them."
"I should hope not," Ohno replies, catching Nino's lips. "I don't share well with others."
"Idiot," Nino smiles, tugging on the hem of Ohno's shirt.
They make it to Nino's room, hands working belts and pulling on clothes, deep kisses and smiles melting into moans. Nino never thought he would like traveling and playing for strange crowds in foreign cities, living out of a suitcase and eating out every meal. He does but he still misses his own bed, his friends, his Oh-chan.
His isn't the biggest room in the house, despite Jun's protests – because they knew Ohno would stay over most nights – but it's large enough for his double bed and a desk. He can hear the sounds of the last people making their way home, the familiar clink of dishes and Aiba's, Jun's and Sho's laughter faintly downstairs. He always misses those sounds.
Ohno takes Nino's face in his hands and kisses him properly for the first time in a week.
Nino smiles and sighs into Ohno's mouth, "It's good to be home."