Title:Heights (Part 9/14)
Pairings:NinoxSho
Genre:Fluff, AU, , Angst, Romance
Rating:PG
Disclaimer:I own nothing but the plot
Word Count:1969
Summary:Kazu hopes the carnival would lighten up his mood.
 

The walk to the carnival near the edge of city didn’t take long since it was only 30 minutes away, but nearing it did. Sho kept trying to make small talk to him which he refused to reply back. He kept asking him how he was doing, how has his summer been, or where he went off to that morning because he was worried. Worried my , He quietly scoffed, He wasn’t looking for me, but for someone to go to bed with. In the end, though, his brother kept talking when they finally made it to the carnival.

There weren’t many children around, but a couple who obviously had parents who didn’t care about giving them enough sleep. It was mostly over populated with adults, and a couple of teenagers he recognized from school. He didn’t want to mingle along with them since everyone knew who the baseball co-captain was at school. He decided to shield his face from them, not wanting to make his mood even worse.

As he walked through aisles and past people, he felt like he was 7 years old again. This wasn’t his first time being in the carnival, but his second. It was also during summer, and because his parents were those cool parents, they brought to the carnival late in the night, gave them 20 dollars each before vanishing into the other side of the carnival.

With 10-year-old Sho tightly and protectively holding his hand since he was responsible for him, they tried all differents kinds of booths, and a few rides safe for him. After having winning a couple of prizes, thanks to Sho, they decided to head back to their parents, but he pulled his brother back.

”I want to ride that one!” He declared cheekily as he pointed at the tallest ride in the carnival. It was the only ride they haven’t tried and he has been having his eyes on that one since they arrived.

“I don’t know...” Sho mumbled, his hand getting tighter around his. “Let’s just go, Kazu. Mom and d--”

“But I want to ride it!” He yelled, ignoring his brother’s worried voice. “Bring me there!”

“Ka--”

“What’s wrong?”

Both of them turn their heads to the direction of their mom’s voice. She looked at the both of them with a troubled face before announcing that it was time to head back. Kazu, on the other hand, didn’t want to go back. All he wanted to do for the last was to ride the tallest ride in the carnival, but something as simple as that request was easily denied. He eventually gave up after hearing that his parents will let him ride it next time. Grumbling, he stomped to the parking lot, pushing his brother’s hand away because even he won’t let him ride it.

Kazu wanted to laugh at that memory now, realizing, as he grew older, that his brother was actually afraid of heights. But there was never a next time, and he has long forgotten about it until now. He didn’t laugh, though, not wanting Sho to think that he was in a lighter mood when he really wasn’t; the memory just lifted it up a bit.

He visited every booth, playing one game each, but was only able to win one or two prizes out of all the booths he visited so far. When he ran out of money, he would silently hold out his hand and money was shortly placed on his palm. His brother had stopped talking by then since his voice was replaced by the loud carnival music and the chatter of people passing by.

The thought of the carnival somehow brightening up his mood was what he hoped for, but he ended up becoming violent on booths that had safe, but dangerous, toy weapons that was used for the booth. When he was at a shooting booth, he fired everywhere, ignoring the staff that was warning him. It wasn’t until he ran out of time and rubber ammunition that he was eventually banned (temporarily) from the booth, and other booths that had toy weapons in them.

In the end, he ran out of places to become violent that he had no choice but to go back home. He won a couple of prizes though, from the weapon friendly booths, and was running out of arms to hold them. Just as they were about to give up, a white plastic bag was handed to him. Without a word, he took it and stuffed everything he had in it. He didn’t even mutter a simple thanks to his brother and instead pressed on without him like he has been the whole entire night.

What he thought was the path to an exit was nothing but a steel wall covering the entire carnival. Grumbling angrily, he pushed past his silent brother and accidentally ran into a crowd as he did so. He cursed at whoever he bumped into, ignoring the person cursing back as he continued to find where they had entered from.

It was as if the night was an attractive time for people to show up that the crowd had suddenly sized up, making it harder to find the exit. He was being pushed around so much that he swore his brain would be mixed into confusing juices altogether. Surely, he was confused and he didn’t know where he was walking to. Everyone that brushed past him didn’t seem to care that he was the only person who stood in place, feeling small and paranoid from the influx of crowd. Without thinking, he weakly called out his brother’s name. As his voice got louder, he really felt like he was going to disappear, but it wasn’t until he felt protective hands hold his trembling one. In a flash, he was out of the crowd and was breathing heavily against a broad chest.

“Don’t disappear like that,” He heard his brother’s worried voice above him as clear as day.

“Don’t--”

He was about to tell Sho not to touch, or hold him, but he was suddenly pulled by force again. He tried to pull his hand back from Sho’s hand, but they were so tight around his that he failed in trying to pull it off. When he felt his hand was slowly slipping because of the sweat building up, he bumped into something and almost fell to the ground if it weren’t for his brother holding his hand.

He stopped struggling when he realized where they had stopped: in front of the ferris wheel. It was the ride he wanted to go on back then, and he never thought that this would be the time he’ll get to ride it. Not when he was in a bad mood also since he wasn’t in the mood to ride it at all. Without saying anything, he pulled his hand free from Sho, but only to be held again and was pulled into some kind of compartment that could fit about four people.

“This is ridiculous,” He muttered as he got to his feet, “I don’t--”

“Stay,” Sho snapped his hand refusing to let him go as he was once again pulled to sit down. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Kazu scoffed and rolled his eyes. “What makes you think--”

His brother was right. The door had already been closed by a staff, and he could feel that they were slowly going up. He considered about jumping down if he forced the door open, but it would only take a stupid person to do that to risk his life. Instead, he sat down and having no choice but to look anywhere but his brother.

Stupid Sho. Even though he’s afraid of heights, he still gets in.

When he was a kid, he always imagined how fun it would be to ride the ferris wheel, and how it would feel like to be on top of the world. He realized that now, it wasn’t so great all because his mood was stopping it from being so. If only he had ridden in at that time, then that’ll be the great first experience ever. But too bad they had to do it now when he was so pissed off of everything and everyone.

As they slowly neared the top, the hand that refused to let go of his hand was starting to feel tight and constricted. He knows that it was just his brother starting to get nervous and anxious about how high they were from the ground. And judging from where they were as he looked through the glass window, they were probably two digits feet up into the sky.

At times like these, he would make fun of his brother and about his fear of heights. However, he remained as quiet as ever as he watched blinking lights from the city below their feet. From where they were, they looked just like stars.

“Kazu...”

The sound of his brother’s voice calling him out disrupted his sightseeing. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. “What do you want?”

“I’m s-sorry...” Sho apologized, his voice unsurprisingly shaky,

“I don’t care about it anymore,” He lied, knowing really well that he cared. “Just don’t talk about it anymore.”

“I-it’s not a... about that...”

“Then what?” He snapped, his mood starting to get worse every second this conversation continued.

“About being... your brother...”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That wish earlier... I wish it was true too.”

“What are you--”

He turned his head to his right and was about to question his brother what nonsense he was talking about, but was cut off by something being placed on his lips. It laid unmoving at first as if it wasn’t sure what it was doing, but it slowly began to move against his quivering lips. He didn’t know whether to be happy or to be angry at his brother for taking advantage of him like this.

“I just like you too much, Kazu,” His brother confessed after pulling away from his lips. “I can’t control myself around you anymore. That man (I think his name was Jun, or something like that) earlier... I used him to get my mind off of you, but you saw and...”

“Sho,” He whispered, his voice losing it’s angry feeling from earlier. “I...”

He didn’t know what to say really since he had never rehearsed something like this before in his head. He only thought about holding hands, and sleeping peacefully on bed with him, but he never gave the thought about his brother kissing him so unexpectedly. Never.

“I’m so sorry, Kazu,” His brother immediately apologized. “I didn’t mean to-- You must think I’m horrible now...”

“I don’t think that,” He mumbled, which was the truth since his brain wasn’t focusing for him right now. “It’s just that... I really don’t know how to react...”

“I knew it!” His brother exclaimed as he got up to his feet. “You hate me...”

“I don’t!” Kazu quickly denied before pulling his brother back down besides him.

“Then, what do you really--”

“Feel?” He continued for him, his voice suddenly getting it’s strength back. “This.”

Without a warning, he gently grabbed his brother’s cheek with his free hand and pulled him into another kiss. He must have surprised his brother since he wasn’t moving for a couple of seconds, but he did when he was about to pull away. He felt his brother’s hand pull away from him at the same time he felt an arm and another make their way around his waist. Smiling, he pulled his brother towards him also to deepen the kiss that was being shared between them.

This has to be the great first experience ever.

TBC