Work Text:
Sho stirred at the noises of someone moving around in the room. He felt the sunlight tickling his closed eyelids. He flopped on his back and cracked an eye open just in time to see the man sitting on the edge of the bed next to him.
“Why are you up?” Sho asked, his voice still husky from sleep and his eyes closing when he felt those long, slim fingers running through his hair.
“I’ve got a meeting at the gallery but I’ll be back soon” Ohno promised, smiling. “It’s your day off, go back to sleep, Sho-kun. You deserve a lazy day. Both of you…” he added, eyes wandering to the other sleeping figure in the bed before bending down to kiss Sho goodbye and leaving the room.
Sho rolled around in the bed, cuddling close to Nino’s warm, pliant body and sighed contentedly.
If just a few months ago someone would’ve told him that such bliss was possible for him, he would’ve laughed in their face. But Sho couldn’t be happier to be proved wrong for once…
Few months earlier…
Sho felt he used the last of his brain power to fend off the advances from the ladies of his office – and it required quite the alertness in his own drunken state. It was more than exhausting. Especially after being abandoned by his so-called friend, Jun, who was begging off early from the welcome party of the new employees at their accounting firm.
‘That traitor!’ Sho grumbled as he stumbled out of the bar to head home. But after a while, he found himself in an unfamiliar, deserted street. ‘Oh, man…’ he groaned, realizing through his foggy mind that he must’ve taken a wrong turn or two, ending up with no idea where he was or where he could find a train station or at least a taxi… ‘You’re so lame, Sakurai…’ he thought sulkily as he kept wandering and stumbling through those dark, narrow alleys. It might’ve taken minutes or even hours, he lost any sense of time, when suddenly he spotted a small diner that had its lights on.
The door slid open with a loud, rattling sound that made Sho jump a little and he all but fell inside the diner.
The place was tiny, barely a dozen of seats around the U-shaped counter. As expected, the place was empty save for the small, skinny man behind the counter who sported an amused smirk as he observed Sho’s loud and clumsy entrance.
“Sir?” the man asked finally after they stared at each other mutely for minutes, his smirk widening.
“Ah!...” Sho blinked slowly, trying to get his brain work again but that smirk on that handsome face made this exceptionally difficult. “You… must be closing…? Sorry?... I just… The train?...” he stuttered incoherently.
“I just opened, actually. But unfortunately it means the last train will probably be gone by the time you get there,” the man said as he put a glass of water in front of Sho – from where did he even get that?
“Huh?...” Sho blinked at the man, confused. The alcohol must’ve damaged his hearing cause there was no way this man just said he opened the diner just now, right?! ‘Does he even have customers?’
“Yeah, I have quite a few” the man flashed him a toothy smile, making Sho realize that he actually voiced his last question. “One of them is actually a taxi driver. She should be here soon. I’m sure she’d take you home. Though probably not in this state of yours…” he nudged the water glass closer to Sho who now obediently sat down and raised the glass to his lips, his eyes still wide with wonder and confusion. The master’s teasing smirk softened at this. “So what will it be? I have a menu, but as long as I have the ingredients, I can make anything you want.”
And that was how Sho introduced to the Midnight Diner…
It never took much from Sho to become a regular at a food establishment. Good food was always enough to lure him back – mostly because Sho was more of a natural disaster in the kitchen than anything else. But if Sho wanted to be honest with himself, it wasn’t only that this time. Even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud to anyone, he was intrigued and more than a little charmed by the master of the unusual diner. During his weekly visits, Sho got to see Ninomiya – or Nino as all his patrons call him – drop snarky comments every other minute, but behind all those bluntly honest comments, it was obvious that he cared for his patrons – old and new – deeply. And it was a quality Sho admired a lot…
“You’re taking a lot of overtime recently…”
Sho looked up surprised at Jun’s comment.
“No, I don’t. It’s just that time of the year…” he replied immediately but returned to his work before even finishing the sentence. If he keeps it up for another hour or so, he can drop by Nino’s place on the way home. Damn, he couldn’t wait to taste Nino’s food again...!
“…You really are a workaholic… Are you even listening to me?” Jun snapped. He stomped over to Sho laptop and closed it firmly – almost shutting it on his fingers but he couldn’t be bothered with it.
Sho pouted up at him, offended.
“Go home, Sho-kun!” Jun said firmly. “Your work can wait until tomorrow. And if I see you taking as much as a minute of overtime for the rest of this month, I’ll have to report you to HR, you hear me?”
“You wouldn’t!” Sho gasped in horror. It was rich coming from Jun who was the most perfectionist person Sho knew and therefore spent even more time in the office than all of their co-workers added together.
“Of course I would. I’m your friend and I’m worried about you. This way you’re going to exhaust yourself and collapse one of these days. I won’t just stand here and let you do that so would you please do this for me?” Jun asked, not even trying to hide his concern. During the last weeks the dark circles under Sho’s eyes grew to a point he couldn't tolerate it anymore, so he deemed it was time for intervention before Sho ran himself into the ground.
The open concern on Jun’s face made Sho feel guilty. If he wanted to be honest, most of the work he took care of during these overtime hours wasn't that urgent. He just used it as an excuse to stay behind and then drop by Nino’s diner on the way home to get dinner. But he never bothered to think that those selfish acts of his would because this much trouble to his friend.
“Fine, okay…” Sho gave in, sighing, and started to pack up his stuff.
“Thank you,” Jun said with a smile. “I’ll take you home, so you’ll be able to sleep a bit more, okay?”
Sho just nodded at this. Sleep sounded tempting after all…
“Sho-chan! I missed you~!”
Next time Sho went to the Midnight Diner, he barely set foot in the establishment before Aiba, another regular of the place, flung his arms around him in a bear hug, squeezing him tight.
“I was afraid you abandoned us!” Aiba whined cutely, earning a rather breathless chuckle from Sho.
“Nice to see you too, Aiba-kun,” Sho mumbled with some difficulty while still being locked in Aiba’s long arms.
“Nino-chan! Tell Sho-chan you missed him too!”
“Aiba-shi!” Nino’s stern voice came from the other side of the counter. “I’d appreciate if you’d unhand my customer, thank you…”
With obvious reluctance, Aiba obeyed Nino and retreated to his place at the counter, but not without dragging Sho along to sit with him.
“Welcome back, Sho-san,” Nino put a glass of beer in front of Sho without him having to order it, wearing such a soft smile that it made Sho's breathe hitch for a moment. “Please don’t mind him, he’s an idiot but harmless. Most of the time…”
“That’s mean, Nino-chan!” Aiba complained pouting, earning another chuckle from Sho.
“That’s okay, Master, I don’t mind him. Though I have to tell he did surprise me,” Sho said, raising the beer to his lips as he laughed.
“Good to know,” Nino said with a smirk, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, what will it be today, Sho-san? I actually happen to have some fresh clams, if you’re interested…”
Sho’s eyes glinted with obvious happiness at the mention of clams. He mentioned once that it was his favorite food and knowing it was not something that was usually on Nino’s menu, Sho felt his heart beat a little faster, thinking whether he was buying them with Sho in mind.
“I’ll take that! Thank you very much, Master!” he said with sparkling eyes.
“Coming right up!” Nino retreated to the kitchen with a chuckle…
Sho was focused on his delicious grilled clam dinner, barely listening to Aiba’s non-stop chatter about the local animal shelter where he worked, until Aiba suddenly announced he had to return to shelter for his night shift. When Sho looked up to say goodbye to Aiba, he realized that with him gone, it was only him and Nino in the restaurant. It made Sho flush a little with excitement, but before he could find the courage to use this rare chance of alone-time with Nino, the door opened again with a loud rattle.
“I’m back!”
“Satoshi!”
Sho froze immediately hearing that voice. It was years since he last heard it, but he would still recognized it anywhere. He ducked his head down trying to pretend that he didn’t hear them, but a silent gasp still escaped him.
“Hey, Ohno! I heard you got scouted again!”
Sho froze immediately when he heard that name, and peeked up cautiously from the book he was reading while heading to the library. As expected, a few of his seniors were coming his way on the corridor. Including him…
"I wasn’t scouted… They just happened to see my doodle and they liked it…” Ohno said with a slightly sheepish smile, shrugging off his classmate.
“But Tanaka says they bought it!”
Sho tried to press himself to the wall as the other students got closer, pretending he wasn’t staring.
“They didn’t, I… Oh, hello, Sho-kun!”
Sho’s eyes widened as Ohno greeted him with a bright smile. He mumbled back something that he meant as a greeting, but probably sounded nothing like that. Not that it mattered, cause by the time he found his voice, his seniors already passed by him, leaving him to stare after Ohno with sparkling eyes.
It was weird, how he never had the chance to have an actual conversation with Ohno senpai. Still, any time he could see him was enough to make his day a lot brighter. It was stupid but, as always, Sho still had a silly grin on his face for the rest of the day…
‘Senpai…’
Lowering his head more, eyes fixed on his plate, Sho listened with bated breath as the newcomer shuffled in and the door rattled close again.
“You should’ve told me you’re coming back today!” Nino said in a chiding yet soft tone.
“But I wanted to surprise you!”
Nino huffed a little laughter, then there were some more shuffling footsteps before he spoke again.
“Go upstairs and freshen up, old man! Once you’re not stinking of travel anymore, you can come back and have your curry…”
“Hmm… I missed Kazu’s curry…”
Once the footsteps died, Sho risked a glance up. Even though the previous conversation was pretty much normal, there was something in their tone that made Sho feel that he was eavesdropping on something intimate. ‘They’re even on first name basis…’ Sho felt his chest tighten painfully as he saw that soft, glowing expression on Nino’s face.
“So… he’s your…?” Sho shut his mouth immediately when he realized what he was about to ask. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer! It was rude of me to even ask!” he said hurriedly, trying to backpedal from the emotional minefield he was stepping into with that one stupid question.
But Nino just chuckled a bit.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind if you ask. And to answer to you: yeah, you can say so,” Nino said with a rare, bright smile. “Another beer?”
Sho just nodded dumbly and picked up his chopsticks again even though his appetite was suddenly gone. Forever, probably… Nino was taken, by no one other than Sho's high school crush. Life couldn’t be more unfair than this…
Hurried footsteps rose Sho from his gloomy thoughts, but since he knew who was coming, he tried to pretend to be busy with the last bites of his food and the beer Nino just placed before him.
“Aren’t you a fast one?” Nino asked teasingly.
“Because I missed Kazu’s curry,” Ohno said simply.
Hearing such innocent statement from Ohno, Sho couldn’t resist the temptation to sneak a peek at him. He barely changed at all. He still had the same soft, sleepy eyes, chubby cheeks and spikey hair. He was humming delighted around a mouthful of curry when…
Their eyes met.
“Ah!” Sho ducked his head again immediately but he knew already that it was too late.
“Sho-kun!”
Trying to fight back the blush that he knew was creeping up on his neck, Sho looked up again.
“Ohno senpai, it's been a long time…” he mumbled with a weak smile. The bright smile that Ohno flashed back at him made Sho’s heart skip a beat, just like it did back when they were in school.
“You two know each other?” Nino asked surprised, his curiosity evident on his face as he looked between his patrons.
“Yeah, we went to high school together.”
“Ohno-san was actually a year above me, but yeah…” Sho corrected tensely, not knowing how to act. He tried to control his shaking hands as he dropped a few bills on the counter. “Anyway, I have to go. Bye…” he mumbled hurriedly and scrambled out of the diner before either Nino or Ohno could say anything.
Nino stared at the closed door with an offended pout for a few moments before reaching for Sho’s money. Yet his pout quickly turned into a frown when he heard Ohno’s cackle behind him.
“What?”
“You like him,” Ohno said with a teasing grin.
Well, Nino couldn’t say Ohno was wrong there. Though at first Nino thought Sho was just another drunk salary man, but his opinion changed quickly. He was smart, funny, and a bit awkward from time to time but that only added to his charm. And he loved to eat so much! And before he knew, he already started to like Sho…
“What will you do then?” Nino asked in a challenging tone, leaning closer to Ohno. But Nino knew that Ohno won’t make a fuss. They agreed after all. They loved each other but when Ohno had to travel, Nino was free.
“I can’t say I blame you. Sho-kun is pretty. But… should I remind you that I saw him first?” Ohno asked back, raising an eyebrow, suddenly seeming more awake than he did ever since he entered the diner.
“What you saw first is the geeky kid he most probably was,” Nino said, waving off Ohno’s claim. “I saw first that hot piece of ass that just walked out of here! He’s mine!”
“We’ll see about that…” Ohno said with calm confidence, but his eyes sparkled with increased excitement as he dug in his curry again.
Despite (or maybe because of) his confusion and mixed feelings, Sho found himself back at Nino’s diner a few days later. A few other patrons were already sitting around the counter. Though Aiba - who happened to sit next to Ohno of all people - was waving Sho to come sit with them, Sho chose to scramble into the corner opposite them.
“Welcome, Sho-san! What would you like today?” Nino asked with a smile that got Sho charmed from the first moment he set foot in this place.
“Ehm… I’d like the omurice. Thank you,” Sho said, returning Nino’s smile and reaching for the beer that Nino put in front of him without asking.
“Hey, Nino! You never ask what I want. Why is that?” Aiba complained loudly.
“Quit whining, Aiba-shi! As if you’d ever ask for anything else but fried chicken!”
Sho watched them bantering. Nino’s words were harsh and Aiba tended to whine and call him ‘mean’, but the affection in their way of speaking to each other was obvious. It made Sho smile every time he witnessed it.
Sho's glance met Ohno’s across the room before he could avert his eyes. Ohno waved at him with a sleepy smile. Sho couldn’t help but return the gesture.
“Ne, ne, Sho-chan! Did you know that Oh-chan here is a world famous artist?” Aiba asked suddenly, eyes sparkling with excitement.
“I’m not surprised. He was quite the artist already back in high school,” Sho replied but his words went unheard under Ohno’s embarrassed protest:
“I’m really not!” Ohno said, his eyes never leaving Sho’s face.
At this, Nino huffed in the kitchen loudly.
“Of course, you’re not! You’re just one lucky, lazy old man!”
“Don’t listen to them!” Aiba cut in hastily. “Oh-chan really is famous! He had an exhibition in New York! Isn’t that awesome? I wanted to go see it but I didn’t have time off from the shelter…” he added with a pout.
“Don’t worry, Aiba-chan. I’ll have another one here in Tokyo next month. So you can come this time,” Ohno said, smiling as he patted Aiba’s head softly. The action made Aiba perk up immediately, throwing questions a thousand words a second at Ohno.
Sho felt strangely jealous at this sight, but did his best to ignore the feeling. He had no right anyway. What if Ohno was getting along with everyone so nicely? What if he was with Nino? Sho was in no place to judge or to be jealous. They were just old school mates, that’s all.
“Well… There’s no opening date yet actually. I’m still in the artistic process,” Ohno said, looking a bit embarrassed.
Again, Nino huffed hearing that comment.
“You mean, you spend too much time out there fishing instead of doing your job,” he said teasingly.
“Fishing?” the question slipped Sho’s mouth before he could stop himself. He promised himself to keep his distance, but this new piece of information surprised him too much to be able to stay silent.
“Yeah, it’s really relaxing. Helps me come up with ideas, you know,” Ohno said, then suddenly his smile widened. “Hey, Sho-kun, you wanna come with me?”
Before Sho’s brain could actually process the question, his mouth ran away with him: “Yeah, sure!”
“It’s a date then!”
The plate landed in front of Sho with a bit more force than necessary, startling Sho and the other patrons, but Nino only flashed an innocent smile as an apology.
“Sorry for the wait, Sho-chan… Enjoy!” he said with a wink before turning to tend to another patron who was calling for him.
Sho felt blush creeping up his neck. Nino never called him ‘Sho-chan’ before. Why now? He even drew a heart on his omurice with ketchup, which only made Sho flush more. Sho tried to find reason in the situation, cause if he didn't know better, he’d think Nino was flirting with him. But that couldn’t be the case, right?
“Hey, Sho-kun! Will you give me your number? So we can set up a date for our fishing trip.”
Ohno’s sudden suggestion made Sho choke on his food. He looked up at Ohno with shocked, bulging eyes, coughing wildly. He could look away only when Nino put a glass of water in his hand, nudging him to drink it.
“Satoshi! Would you quit harassing my customer? Look how traumatized he is!” Nino scolded Ohno. “Don’t bother with him, Sho-san,” he turned back to Sho with an understanding expression.
But Ohno didn’t seem to be fazed the slightest by Nino’s words.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Kazu. I just want a chance to catch up with my cute junior. I don’t think Sho-kun minds either, right, Sho-kun?” Ohno asked flashing a dazzling smile to Sho, who just nodded dumbly.
Even after Sho went back home, he still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact how he ended up with the contact of both Ohno and Nino…
“-kun? Sho-kun? Sho-kun!”
“Wha…?” Sho jumped from his seat upon hearing his name. “Oh, Jun… what do you need?”
“I wanted to talk about the project budget, but seeing I called you like ten times before you heard me… What were you thinking about so deeply?”
“I’d rather be talking about the project budget…” Sho mumbled dejectedly. He knew even without Jun’s comment that he was distracted recently. More precisely since he last went to Nino’s diner. Ever since, then he got messages from both Ohno and Nino, and he just couldn’t get it! Maybe it was because it was so long since the last time he was attracted to anyone. And he was stupid enough to make up for it by falling for two at once. Why was his life always such a mess?!
“Sho… Come on, talk to me!”
“Jun… Do you think it’s possible to like more than one person? Like… really like…”
Jun looked back silently for the longest time before he sighed.
“I guess it’s not just a rhetorical question so… why don’t we get off early and go out for a couple of drinks? I think you need it and you can tell me everything, okay?”
Sho felt himself nodding, though the pity he saw in Jun’s eyes was enough for him to just want to head home, crawl into bed and burrow under his blankets and wallow in misery, just like he did the past couple of days. Hoping to just fall asleep and forget about the mess that was his life.
Still, an hour and few beers later, here Sho was sitting with Jun at their usual bar. He talked about how he found Nino’s diner by accident, how he started to fall for the snarky man. How his high school crush just dropped back in his life and stirring up all those feelings. And how he found out that Ohno and Nino are actually together…
“Or at least ’you can say so…’ What does that even mean? Who even says that when asked whether they’re in a relationship or not?” Sho burst out, slightly slurred but totally complaining.
“I think you’re asking the wrong person,” Jun said more coldly than Sho would’ve liked from his friend. Sho stared at Jun over his beer glass, pouting offended. “You can look at me like that all you want, but I’ll still think you should quit whining and self-sabotaging and just talk to them,” Jun said with a shrug. It was tough love, but Jun knew Sho long enough to know what he needed when he got in this state. And Jun knew that Sho knew it too.
“I hate you,” Sho mumbled before downing the rest of his drink and waving the waiter to get another round. “Anyway… what’s the point? They’re together! I’m not that guy! I won’t be the one who makes a couple break up to… to get them!”
Jun sighed deeply. He was a bit angry with himself for not noticing this before Sho could dig himself so deeply in his doubts and insecurities, but there was no helping that now. With another deep sigh, Jun took the beer glass that was just placed before Sho and put it out of his reach.
“Look, Sho, I really think you should talk to them. Tell them how you feel. It’s not like you can control who you fall in love with. Even when it’s not one person only. Just because it’s not… conventional, it doesn’t make your feelings invalid or untrue. You got it? So you don’t have to hide them or be ashamed of them.”
Sho nodded weakly.
“But… what if they don’t…?”
“Then you’ll be able to move on without wondering about ‘what if’s,” Jun said firmly. “Though from what you told me, I doubt that would be the case…” he added.
“Huh?” Sho blinked at his friend confused, not catching his last words.
“Anyway, let’s get you home, alright? I think you need a good night’s sleep and you need to make up your mind. Also we have a meeting in the morning so come on!”
A few days later, Sho stood before the Midnight diner, taking deep breaths, trying to find his resolve to enter. After a while, it started to get awkward, people started to throw suspicious glances in his direction.
“I’m sorry we’re not open yet… Oh, Sho-san, welcome!”
Nino stopped cleaning the counters when he saw Sho. His face was surprised yet somehow pleased at the same time.
“I know you’re not open yet, sorry to bother you but… I was hoping you could spare a few minutes for me to talk…”
The amused quirk of Nino’s lips made Sho realize how ridiculously formal he spoke. It made his nerves pick up again, but he did his best to push them back.
“Well, if it’s that serious, please take a seat, Sho-san and let’s talk!”
Sho settled on the seat next to Nino despite his anxiety but kept silent, not finding the right words.
“What is it? Sho, you can talk to me about anything, you know that?” Nino asked gently after several minutes passed without Sho opening up, reaching out to take Sho’s hand.
“I…” Sho started, looking down at their entwined fingers while still searching for words that wouldn’t picture him as a fool or a complete jerk who was trying to break a couple apart. But before he managed to do so, the door rattled open behind his back.
“Satoshi!”
Sho felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
“Am I… interrupting something?” Ohno asked carefully, his glance jumping between Nino and Sho before settling down on their hands.
“Yeah, so would you…?” Nino started but Sho cut in:
“No! It’s okay, stay, please, Ohno senpai…” Sho asked, suddenly calm and clear-headed, pulling his hand away from Nino’s touch.
Ohno nodded and settled down on Nino’s other side, both men waiting patiently for Sho to speak up.
“I…” Sho started flashing a nervous smile to the other two men. “I like you. Both of you,” he decided to say it simply. “I liked Ohno senpai back in school but, apparently, I’ve never actually fallen out of love with you…” he admitted with an embarrassed chuckle. “Yet… I still fell for you too, Nino.” When he said it out loud like that, it sounded part comical, part pathetic. “Anyway… I know you have each other and I’m not saying this to get between you. I just… wanted to tell you. So I guess that’s all,” Sho finished with another uncertain smile, standing up to leave.
“Sho-san!”
Nino’s voice stopped him before Sho could even open the door. He turned back slowly, catching the men exchange a meaningful glance, but it was so quick that Sho almost doubted it was there at all.
“Sho-kun…” Ohno’s voice was soft, the smile that bloomed on his face full of promises. “You’ll leave before even hearing our answer?”
Few months later
“Hmmm… Where’s Satoshi?”
Nino’s croaky morning voice pulled Sho out of his daydreaming a little while later.
“Gone for a meeting…” Sho mumbled back. “Be back soon, he said.”
“He better be. We’re supposed to spend our day off together!” Nino grumbled as he snuggled deeper into Sho’s arms. “You can keep me entertained until he's back,” he mumbled, lips brushing against Sho’s collarbone. Sho sighed happily and pulled Nino’s face up so their lips could meet, kissing him long.
These past months since his – their – confession weren't easy. They all were stubborn and willful, but step by step they were getting there. Life was good…