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One morning Nino woke up and Ohno was already not there beside him. He got up and stepped slowly towards the ajar door. As he took the view of the living room, his worries dissipated and he stopped to lean on the doorframe.
Ohno was tidying the room up. He swept the floor and mopped it. He dusted the tables clean and rearranged some things which Nino just put on the table before because he didn’t know where they belong. The curtains and the windows were opened. The altar was uncovered.
Ohno finally noticed that Nino was eyeing on him. He stopped on his track, smiled at Nino, and greeted, “Morning, angel.”
Nino smiled back. “Morning, Oh-chan.”
Ohno looked up and grinned at the nickname. It was the first time that Nino called him that way. Ohno walked towards Nino and Nino noticed that he was bringing a plate of oranges and a jar of candies on his hands. With little difficulty, Ohno held out an orange for Nino. “Want some?”
Nino shook his head softly.
Ohno smiled and resumed his walk across the room. He stopped in front of the altar and put down the oranges and candies. Then, he just sat there with a smile on his face.
Nino approached him from behind. He put a palm on Ohno’s back and sat down beside him, looking at the pictures of a woman and a little girl.
“It’s gumdrop. My baby likes gumdrop,” Ohno said, taking a candy between his fingers. Then, he turned to look at Nino, showing the gumdrop right in front of Nino’s face. “She says gumdrops are the medicine for a sad heart. When I’m down, she’d come running with a jar of it in her hands, saying that she’d give all of her gumdrops to her papa.”
Nino’s heart ached at Ohno’s smile–at his sincere smile despite the layer of tears that he had in his eyes. His heart felt the sadness that Ohno was feeling–at the pain of acknowledging and letting go. “Want to eat one now?”
Ohno’s head dropped down and he closed his eyes. His body trembled vaguely. “I... can’t,” he whispered hurtfully.
Nino smiled because that’s all that he could do. He leaned forward and took the gumdrop into his mouth right from Ohno’s hand.
Ohno looked up, startled.
“It’s sweet,” Nino said, smiling and resting his cheek on Ohno’s hand. “Sweet, just like her.”
Hearing that, Ohno’s defense crumbled. He broke into tears, crying his heart out. Nino took him into his arms, chanting comforting words along the line of ’she’s in a better place now’ and ’she’s okay, I’ve brought her to the best place that there is’. His hand ran on Ohno’s back, soothing him.
After some moments, Ohno stopped crying and looked up, right into Nino’s eyes. In one sudden movement, he caught Nino’s lips in his, kissing him earnestly. Then, he broke the kiss and rested his forehead on Nino’s. Licking his lips that now tasted like the gumdrop, he said, “You’re my medicine now. You okay with that?”
Nino smiled, understanding that even though it might sound cheesy to other people, Ohno didn’t mean nothing but showing his vulnerability. He’s showing that he needed Nino. Desperately. Helplessly. Dependently.
With all the sincerity that he had in him, Nino kissed the tip of Ohno’s nose. “Okay.”