Title:Moon (Part 12)
Pairings:AibaxNino, ShoxAiba, OhnoxAiba, JunxNino
Genre/Rating:Fluff, Family, Romance, AU / G
Word Count:2585
Disclaimer:I own nothing but the plot
Summary:Aiba decides to talk a short walk near the beach and he finds Sakurai along the way.

 

The sound of cicada near the living room windows woke up Aiba. It was early in the morning and the sun shined so brightly onto the hardwood floor that when Aiba poked it, his finger slightly burned at the touch. It was definitely summer, he thought. He stretched his arms until his belly button was being exposed, and yawned as he turned to his left side. He was hoping to see Sakurai’s face first thing in the morning, but instead he faced nothing but an empty futon. Alarmed, he sat up. Sakurai slept over last night after they came home from a family dinner, and when he was about to sleep Sakurai put his arm around—

Aiba found himself blushing as he remembered the events last night and quietly giggled like a maniac to himself. He remembered the way Sakurai slipped his arm around him, his warmth, and the sound of his heart beating in constant rhythmic beats when Aiba leaned against his broad chest. Just the thought of it made Aiba want to go to sleep again and imagine Sakurai’s arm around him-- No, there was something wrong about this. Sakurai’s a man and he’s going to be disgusted of him…

Kazu’s cries snapped him back into his senses and he immediately ran towards the crib. However, Kazu was not there. Aiba began to panic, swearing that he tucked Kazu last night under his blanket and checked more than once to see if the crib was latched securely. Even so, there would have been no way that Kazu got up, crawled out of the crib, and—Aiba didn’t want to think about what would happen if he fell. Just as he was about to search the house, he saw Sakurai come from the hallway to his right with a hiccupping Kazu in his arms.

“I just changed his diapers,” Sakurai said as he passed Kazu to him, and a light yellow towel. “Oh, and your mom called earlier. She said that you need to get to the family vacation house before today ends.”

“Then, I have to start packing and—“

“I’ve already done it earlier, Aiba-san. There’s no need to worry about it.”

“Did you—“

“I packed all of Kazunari-chan’s clothing too.”

Aiba stared at the doctor in utter gratefulness, but then was suddenly reminded him of his mother. Like how she always packed his clothes for him early in the morning when they don’t leave until later in the night, or the next day. Or when Yuusuke was still a baby and his mother would always tend to him in the morning, if his diapers needed changing or not. He stifled a laugh as Sakurai gave him a concerned look, but he couldn’t hold it anymore when the doctor’s worried expression reminded him of a worried mother.

“Is there something on my face?” Sakurai asked slightly panicked.

“No,” Aiba shook his head as he tried to keep himself steady on his feet. “I was just thinking of a funny joke.”

The doctor sighed in relief as he placed his hands on his hips. “I hope you don’t mind, Aiba-san, that I used your kitchen to make breakfast.”

“I don’t mind at all.”



It was a long ride to their family vacation home and they should have offered the Ohno’s a ride, but it was too late by the time they were leaving Tokyo. He asked his parents when they were on the way if he could invite a friend of his. They easily agreed – especially his mother – after hearing that his friend has a son.

Just thinking about how big this year’s family summer vacation will be made Aiba feel all giddy and excited. Every year, it was always the same with just the four of them, but it wasn’t as bad: it was fun and a memory worth keeping. He hopes that this year, they could all make much more wonderful memories.

The car finally pulled into the driveway in front of the vacation house and Aiba could see his family standing like a picture perfect portrait family as if they were waiting for his arrival.

“Why don’t you guys go in?” Aiba asked as he got out of the car with Kazu in his arms.

Yuusuke rolled his eyes and nodded towards their mother. “It was Ma’s idea that we all wait for everyone.”

“But we’ve never done this before…”

“Well, it’s up to her anyways.” Yuusuke did have a point. Their mother always seemed more like the man of the house rather than their father.

As they waited for the Ohno’s, they decided to set up a small fire pit in front of the house and ignored the weird looks people gave them as they passed by. It was an odd thing to do, sitting in front of a home when you can just enter inside and have the fire pit in the backyard instead, but it was Aiba’s family and they were completely different from other families. They would just have to get used to it whether they liked it or not.

They shared a few stories like they did yesterday night, and laughed when they all found someone’s words amusing. Soon, though, they heard a car pull up and they saw a man with a baby who tried to walk on his feet as the man held his hand.

“It’s Ohno-san and Jun-chan!” Aiba beamed as he stood up and greeted the both of them. When he bent so he was facing Jun, the one year old was trying to reach for Kazu. “You want to play with him?” He asked adoringly as he tried to move closer so Jun wouldn’t have to struggle as much.

“Oh, my!” Aiba glanced over his shoulder and saw his mother with her hands against her cheeks. She had the look of a predator in her eyes as she laid them on Jun’s chubby cheeks. “How old is your son?”

“A year,” Ohno answered quietly, his eyes cautiously on his son.

“How cute! What’s his name?”

“Ohno Jun.”

“Can I hold him?”

“Yes, you—“

Aiba’s mom already had Jun in her arms, and he looked as if he didn’t want to be pulled away from Kazu. Jun’s hands kept trying to grasp in the air as if calling for Kazu, but all Aiba could do was roll his eyes and apologize for his mother’s behavior.

“It’s ok,” Ohno chuckled lightly. “It happens a lot.”

Now that everyone was present, his mother, with Jun still in her arms, announced that it was about time to go inside. The men, excluding Aiba, carried the luggage inside the house. Aiba wanted to help out, but Sakurai took his place without a word and did all the heavy lifting for him instead. It was as if he was treating him like he was his wi—He’s not a girl, and he was definitely born a male.

Today’s dinner was barbecue that his father grilled in the backyard. It consisted of hamburger, hamburger steak, hot dogs, chicken, and skewer meat sticks. They were all delicious and belly-filling that only one hamburger was enough to satisfy his hunger. Even Kazu, who was given a bottle of warm milk, burped after Aiba gently patted his back a few times.

“Masaki, why don’t you go ahead and take a break,” his mother suggested after dinner. “I’ll take care of Kazunari and you can go and have fun. After all, you’re still young.”

His mother was right. Ever since Kazu came into his home, he spent every minute of every day worrying about him that time slipped so easily in between his fingers. He decided to take his mother’s words for his own good, although he hesitated when he gave Kazu to his mother. It took his mother more than five times to reassure him that Kazu would be alright, and more than ten times to convince him that she will take good care of him with the other children. He finally decided to take her word by the thirtieth and he decided to take a walk at the shore.

Aiba walked the sand bare feet to let them cool down from the heat, but it didn’t help as much because it was still warm despite the cool night weather and the freezing ocean waves. At least it felt a bit cooler and the sand felt therapeutic around his feet. He smiled widely out of happiness when Kazu came into his thoughts and he spread his arms wide open as if he was preparing to give a bear hug to an unfortunate someone.

In his life, he’s experienced happiness, but he couldn’t find a word to use to explain how extremely happy he was right now that the word euphoric was out of the question. Perhaps, it was Kazu’s addition to the Aiba family or Kazu with everyone else that he met along the way: Sakurai and the Ohno’s. He wondered that if he had never met Kazu, or hadn’t gone to work that day when Kazu’s biological mother was about to bring a baby into Earth, he never would have gotten close to Sakurai or never would have met the Ohno’s. He silently thanked his son for such fortunate events and the thought of never meeting Kazu was pushed aside.

It was a full moon tonight and it casted it’s bright light down onto Earth. The ocean waves twinkled under the light as if they were Earth’s version of stars, and the world looked as if it was still wide awake. Maybe when Kazu’s a little bit older, they’d take walks like this on the beach at night every family summer vacations. He hummed a bright tune as he waded from side to side like the sand was the ocean. He kicked the sand here and there and stopped when it small particles began to get into his eyes.

For a second, he felt like he was a kid again, so careless, short, and playful. But when he looked up from the sand, he felt like his age when his eyes landed on a familiar person’s back. The man was a distant far from him, but Aiba immediately recognized him. He had the urge to run to him, which he did, but he stopped halfway when he saw that he was talking into his cellphone.

“Yeah…” Sakurai mumbled and nodded his head. “No, it’s not that—Look, I’ll come back when summer vacation is over. At least let me spend some time with their family… You’re just jealous…No…” the man laughed, “…honestly, I don’t know. What I do know is that I’m in love and I want to have a family… Yeah, yeah… Ok. Tell mom I said good night… Bye.” The doctor sighed as he pocketed his cell phone and looked up at the moon. He stayed in that position for a while when Aiba fell back and made a slight sound of gasping and whimpering.

Had he heard right? That Sakurai was in love with someone and wanted to start a family with whoever it was? He saw the doctor smile as he walked towards him, but it was quickly replaced by a surprised look when Aiba backed away as if he was a frightening figure. God only knows why, but he didn’t as to why he reacted so hostile after he heard Sakurai speak so enthusiastically about this person he loved. It’s not like they were even in a relationship of some sort, and it’s not like he—

“Aiba-san, did you hear what I was talking about back there?... It was just my little sister on the phone, and she called and demanded that I come back home.”

Nothing came out of Aiba’s mouth as he stared into Sakurai’s chocolate brown eyes.

“Aiba-san… are you ok?”

He immediately stood up when Sakurai tried to reach for his arm, and he could see the hurt look when he backed away. “I… I’m sorry…” Aiba mumbled as he turned around ran for it. He could hear Sakurai calling for his name desperately and apologizing for whatever it is he had done for him to act that way. He didn’t even know why he was running from him, but he couldn’t help it. His feet were just telling him to.

There were tears in his eyes as he ran and he could taste how salty it was when it reached his lips. However, his tears unexpectedly became uncontrollable that he couldn’t see and he landed face first on the sand. He made no attempts to move from the sand, even when he heard Sakurai approach him. He probably looked like some clown monster as Sakurai lifted him up from the sand.

“Masaki…” the doctor panted and Aiba noticed how he called him by his first name, but he decided to ignore it. The man looked at him from top to bottom, side to side as if he was checking for injuries. Then he sighed in relief as he wiped the sand off Aiba’s face. When he was done, however, the doctor had done the most unexpected thing ever: he hugged him so tightly like he was afraid that he was going to lose him and ran his gently fingers through his moist hair. Aiba watched the moon from where they laid and he wished it would just stay there forever.

“I—“

“Don’t say anything,” Sakurai hushed him. “Let’s stay like this for a while.”

And so they did until Aiba felt that he was getting sore from staying in the same awkward position for a long time. Just as he was about to pull away, however, Sakurai pulled him until they were just inches apart from each other’s faces. Aiba could feel Sakurai’s warm breath on his skin as he watched his eyes dilate.

“I think you misunderstood, Masaki,” Sakurai whispered. “You heard everything I said earlier, didn’t I?”

Aiba nodded hesitantly.

“And who do you think I was talking about?”

Aiba shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t want to know.

“Will this answer it?” Before Aiba was about to shake his head to whatever it was Sakurai was going to say, he felt the touch of soft lips against his own and he felt as if a thousand stars exploded in his body. However, he was too shocked and confused to register what was going on that all he could do was stare at Sakurai’s face as he was being kissed.

“I wanted to tell you by the end of summer vacation, but it couldn’t be postponed for too long since you misunderstood my words,” Sakurai told him when he pulled away. “I wanted things to go slowly and smooth at first since we only had two dates, and I didn’t think that you liked me back. Until last night. I woke up when I felt that you kept moving too much, but I kept my eyes closed. It was when you turned around and I put my arm around you. Not once had you pulled away.”

“…”

“I’d like us to start slowly though, since you’re still overwhelmed with everything. I’m not going to rush it— Masaki!”

Aiba fell from his arms, his back falling against the warm sand. The sudden rush of mixed emotions was too much that he felt faint and was in need of air. The last thing he saw was the bright moon and Sakurai lifting him up from the sand.

TBC