Nino waited for a few weeks but Sho was still silent about his situation. Whenever Nino tried pressing onto it, Ohno stops him and tells him Sho will tell if he’s ready. It’s almost a month and he was tired of waiting for the student’s story. He had to know or else he’ll kick him out.

Since it was already afternoon, he knew that the student was in his room after weeks of observing him. Aiba came around this time of the day saying how he had to take care of him, or look after him when he knows it’s all an excuse. But he decided to ignore it and let the two of them be. He made sure Ohno was in his room, sleeping, so that he wasn’t forcefully stopped. When he was sure he was truly asleep, unlike the times he pretends he is, he sneaked out of the room to the third floor.

By the time he reached Sho’s room, that he kindly gave him, he was about to open the door when he heard crying. Sho must have made Aiba cry, but he knew that he wasn’t the type to make people cry without reason. Aiba also barely showed negative emotions whenever they were in school. He was all smiles and laughter when the five of them were together.

He pressed his ear against the door until he could hear Aiba’s hard breathing. “S-S-Sho-chan… My parents they--”

“Don’t talk anymore, I’ll take care of you too once I get out of here,” Sho cut him off his voice sounding very determined.

“But… w-what about you? I-I don’t want you to s-s-spend money on me…”

“I don’t care,” Sho said, “I’ll take care of you even if I get beat up. Trust me, alright? I’ll make sure our lives will be better than the one you have now. Just--”

Nino took this chance to barge in only to see the two hugging each other tightly. They didn’t react for three seconds and they finally let go of each other when he refused to take his eyes off of them. There was definitely something fishy about these two…

“Nino-chan!” Aiba gasped and turned around obviously trying to hide his red eyes. However, Nino already knew he was crying but he only knew it was between him and his parents and Sho.

“Sakurai,” Nino glared at the said student his eyes narrowing to focus on him, “What do you mean ‘even if I get beat up.’ What exactly happened to you that day I brought you in?”

“Sho-chan he--”

“I’ll tell him, Masaki. The truth is, I transferred to our school using my parent’s names. They died along time ago, but the teachers know nothing about it. A few weeks before I transferred to our school, I decided to be stupid and asked the loan sharks for money. When I couldn’t pay them back, I tried my best running away. And it’s thanks to Masaki, he took me in. But that didn’t work…” Sho paused before looking straight into the Aiba’s eyes. “His parents found out and kicked me to the streets. So then that was the day you found me at the back of the school and when you kindly took me in.”

He always thought that he was here because he ran away and got into some trouble, but he never thought that he would do something that stupid. After Sho had transferred, he became the top one in the school with a scholarship following closely behind him. He was the talk of the school along with the other four.

Nino hated to be the bad guy especially when he thought about Ohno. He didn’t want his friend to think of him as a bad guy who did whatever he wanted to do. In retrospect, he always heard Ohno say that if he did good things, then good things will happen to him too.

“Fine, I’ll help you guys,” He grumbled, “Sho can work for my parents and Aibaka can come here or stay here for all I care…”

“Really?!” Aiba gasped.

“Yeah you can. Just don’t… break my things,” Nino glared at the smiling student, swearing to himself when he realized he had brought in a storm. He stayed in Sho’s room for awhile, asking himself if he had done the right thing. When he realized that it was getting late, he walked out closing the door behind him, and was pushed gently against the closed door.

“What the--”

“That was a nice thing you did, Kazu,” Ohno smiled before closing on him in a hug. There was nothing better than getting a nice hug from him, and the smell of peach filling his lungs. Nothing has changed ever since they met even his shampoo still smelt the same. He wasn’t tired of it at all, but he felt rather…different around him. Maybe it was because he did something without Ohno asking him too.

“I thought you were sleeping.”

“That’s what you thought. I knew what you were thinking and I had a feeling I should leave you alone this time, and I was right.”

Nino could hear him grinning and he couldn’t help but smile too. He had never known that Ohno always had an influence on him until he had done something by himself. Mostly everything he did included Ohno’s permission, or the calm look in his eyes that always made him agree to everything.

“Oh-chan, I’m glad I met you,” Nino said while he played with the creases on Ohno’s pajama sleeves. He really meant it. Back when he was a kid, all Nino ever got into was trouble and more mess. But after Ohno had appeared, he believed that changing once in awhile was good. He remembered being so loud and spoilt back then, asking his parents for what he wanted until he met him that he started to be more obedient.

When Ohno let him go, he frowned as the warmth and the smell of his peach shampoo became weak; but his arms were still around him. He was about to pull him into another hug, when it happened again. However this time, he reacted with his eyes closed. It was much more formal than last time since he closed his eyes and allowed Ohno to touch him more. He moved with Ohno’s rhythm and found his arms going around his friend’s waist. All this, Nino thought, I wish I can have him all to myself.

TBC