dictionarysays

Title: Out of Convenience
Author:

dictionarysays
Genre: AU, Romance, and Humour
Length: Multi-chaptered
Chapter: 2
Pairing(s): Ohmiya, Sakuraiba, and (mentioned) Matsumiya
Rating: PG-13 generally, sometimes R
Disclaimer: I don't own Arashi at this point in time, I merely fawn over them from afar. 10, 482.26 kilometres to be exact.
Summary: It's not every day that your stupid roommate (see: Aiba Masaki) forgets to pay the rent.
A/N: This was a really fun chapter to write, it came out far too easily from my fingers. To those who are wondering, yah, there'll most likely be more Aiba-chan POVs in the future. P.S. Why is it that this time around lj isn't complaning about my word length? P.S.S. Feedback is ridiculously appreciated. :)
Previous Chapters: 1.1, 1.2

“I’d never seen Oh-chan get that mad before. He never gets mad, ne.”

“Well, it’s pretty understandable, don’t you think? If my roommate told me we were getting evicted, at work no less, and without any warning... ?” Sho-chan trails off briefly, letting loose a thin chuckle, shaking his head amiably as he raises the cup of tea to his lips.

I obviously don’t notice this. Nope, not at all. I don’t even catch sight of the sheen layer of liquid that stretches across his top lip after he takes a sip. And I certainly don’t pay any attention to his tongue as it flicks out briefly and wipes away the sheen quickly.

See? I’m not observant at all. Definitely not one of my strengths or anything like that, as you can tell.

Personal weaknesses aside, without much effort, I convinced Sho-chan to come out after work and now we’re in the café that’s halfway between our two places; it’s always made things even. I guess it doesn’t matter too much now though, huh? Since I won’t technically have any place in about a day and a half.

Did I invite him with any ulterior motives you ask? Of course I did! But don’t tell Sho-chan that. At least not just yet.

“D’you think this makes me a bad person?” After all, I have a heart! I care about Oh-chan too, I don’t want him to stay mad at me forever. To be honest, I don’t want him to be mad at me at all, but I shouldn’t be that surprised. I peek up at Sho-kun almost nervously, his mouth is scrunched to the side and his eyes are fixated on the rim of his cup.

A few seconds pass by, and if I didn’t know any better, it feels like a billion years. I bite down on my lower lip now, worried about what he might be thinking. He hates me too, doesn’t he?

“Sho-chan... ?” I murmur this softly, carefully, unsure if I want him to respond at all now.

I’m so dumb! Why would I ask him a question like that? Of course I’m a bad person. Terrible, even. What kinda roommate—no, friend—would do that? Hide all that information until it got too late. Get one of my best friends evicted, even... it doesn’t matter what happens to me, I could care less. I’ll figure it out. It’s Ohno I’m worried bout, I wish I didn’t have to hurt him because of all of this.

I bite down even harder on my lower lip, now, stifling a saddened frown as I do everything in my power to not cry. I sniffle and cough immediately afterwards, there’s no way I’m going to let Sho-chan think I’m being a weakling here. Sighing heavily, breathlessly, I tuck my legs in against me, somehow managing to lift them up onto the seat with me.

I bury my face in between my knees, wrapping my arms tightly around my legs and wish a black hole would just come out of nowhere right about now and swallow me whole.

“... I don’t think you’re a bad person, Aiba.” I stiffen at the sound of Sho-chan’s voice, I’d honestly lost all hope in him replying. I don’t do a single thing. I don’t know what to say. So I just wait instead. “There isn’t a single bad bone in you, if I know you well enough. Which I like to think I do. If you were as bad as you think you are, you wouldn’t be here right now. You wouldn’t have asked for my help.” My head shoots up at that, staring at him blankly, confused. I never asked him for his help! At least, not out loud, I just invited him for some tea. How did he know?

He suddenly smiles warmly and all I want to do is tell him how I feel. I’m so stupid. He even chuckles that goodhearted chuckle of his, and I can’t even glare. I can’t even pretend to glare! I hate how right he is sometimes.

“Believe it or not, Aiba-chan, you’re actually pretty easy to read.” He must’ve seen my face fall at that, because he quickly waves his hands, denying whatever must’ve flashed across my face. “It’s not a bad thing! Trust me. It’s actually one of my favourite things about you—it’s very honest.” He smiles a little sheepishly now. “You’re very honest. That’s hard to find nowadays.” For the record? I am not, I repeat, am not holding back a blush. I’m merely a little warm; this place seriously needs to put the A/C on.

“Ano... it s’okay, Sho-chan... I know I’m the one in the wrong here—”

“I never said you weren’t, Masaki. All I’m saying is you would never do anything bad intentionally. Especially if it might hurt a friend. You thought what you were doing was right, and in some really strange way, it’s sweet.” Are?! Has someone lost their mind... ?

I watch him confusedly, scratching the top of my head, not exactly able to grasp what he’s saying here. As expected, he merely chortles breathily, leaning over and ruffling my hair messily, kindly. I smile waywardly at that, and again, don’t do any repression of blushing of the sort. Like I said, it’s hot.

“So... what you’re saying is that I’m nice, right?” I ask curiously now, coming up with an idea and watching him. Waiting.

“Of course.”

“And we’re close friends too, right? We’d do anything for each other, right?” I begin to sit up properly now, letting my legs unfold into their previous position. I’m still staring him down; I don’t think he has a clue.

“Well, yes. I mean, I’d do whatever I could.” He nods slowly, as I smile a little bit, finally picking up my green tea, which I know for a fact has gone cold by now. All the same, I cup it, leaning back comfortably, casually in my seat.

“... mm. Let’s say I needed help at this very moment. Would you help?” I purposefully circle the rim of my cup, avoiding his gaze, but I have a feeling he’s looking up at me right now, his brown eyes slowly lighting up in comprehension. We’re almost there.

He pauses and I can sense his apprehension, probably wondering as to how the conversation turned this way. And no, trust me, this has nothing to do with observation. Remember? I suck at it. Especially when it comes to a certain Sakurai Sho, I barely pay any attention to the guy. I’m sure you’ve noticed that by now.

“I would. You should know that by now, Aiba-kun.”

“Really... ?” Instinctively, I raise the cup to my lips, hiding my tiny grin and trying to drown my amused snort by taking a gulp. Which, I regret immediately. Green tea is no fun when cold; but I swallow it down gradually, or there would’ve been no point in drinking it to start with. Taking my time, I place the cup back on the table, once having finished with that, I peek over at Sho-kun who’s watching me curiously, frowning strangely. I can tell he’s amused.

I've got nothing to lose, right?

“Let me move in with you.”

“Eh?” Sho-chan’s apparently surprised, I thought by now he would’ve gotten the hint and figured out where I was heading with this. Keio boy, my butt.

“I can’t make it any clearer, dummy. I want to move in with you. I mean, if I had anywhere else to go, I wouldn’t try and be a bother, but I don’t. And like you said, you’d do whatever you could.” I cross my arms loosely now, watching Sho-kun expectantly, smiling brightly now, hopefully. He looks a little uncomfortable, smiling, sure, but playing with the bottom of his tie now. He twists it around his delicate fingers repeatedly, almost unconsciously, and I don’t make note of any of this. “Pleeease, Sho-chan. It wouldn’t even be for that long, just until I find a cheaper place to live in, yanno? Get everything figured out.” He looks me over and from the flecks of gold in his eyes, I can tell he’s seriously thinking it over. I laugh out at the serious expression on his face, smiling wider, not meaning to, my mouth just happens to stretch that way.

I reach over and poke his face, scrunching my nose playfully as I do.

“Cawmon, it’d be so fun, and you know it too. We get along anyway, and considering how much we see each other, it’s almost like we’re roommates.” He still has that serious look on his face, but it’s weakening. A little smile is playing at the edge of his lips. I start waggling my eyebrows, and very convincingly, I must say so myself. “You know you wanna. Just imagine all the awesome things we could do! I’ll even pay my rent, coz I usually do, just, the last two months weren’t so good, is all. So whadaya say?” The serious expression disappears from his face finally, and all I’m left with is a friendly smile. I start to poke his stomach now, not even realizing how firm and toned it is beneath his button-up shirt. Is he fit? Who knows? I wouldn’t know. Not that I’d want to know or anything, either. “Huh, huh.” I egg him on teasingly.

He finally breaks and a full-fledged smile spreads across his face, his cute white teeth peeping through. Cute, as in, it’s a completely neutral observati—not an observation!

“Fine, but there’s one condition.”

“Yaaay! What? Anything.” The wide bright smile that blooms on my face has all to do with the fact that I have a place to live in, and nothing to do with the fact it’ll be with a certain Sakurai Sho who may have nice lips, and may have pretty fingers, and maaay even have fairly attractive eyes that are sometimes covered by his usually stylishly cut hair. None of that matters, that stuff didn’t even come to mind, to be honest.

Clearly all I want is a place to live.

“You can only bring one stuffed toy with you.”

“What?! That is completely unreasonable! What is this? Cruel and unusual punishment!” Sho-chan laughs out loud, in that breathy childish way he does a lot of the time, and all I can do is glare feebly back.

Yanno, I’m willing to sacrifice many things in life, but nobody messes with my stuffed toys.

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