[Arashi] [Sakumiya] Her Silver Lining
Apr. 20th, 2014 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
radhajDisclaimer: Those people are not mine. Damn.
Warnings: Transgender character. Sexy stuffs later on. Nothing super kinky this time. Maybe
Summary: The job might not be the most prestigious and by far not something she had envisioned herself doing to support herself at this point of her life. But perhaps this whole thing was exactly what she needed to finally feel confident in who she was.
Chapter 2
Shouko concentrated on breathing evenly and not looking at the mirror as she changed into her uniform.
Usually she actually enjoyed this part: getting into the cute clothes, seeing how they complemented her figure, feeling almost... pretty in it. But she knew that after a day filled with insensitive, block-headed comments, the only things she'd see when looking at her reflection would be her flaws and reminders of the truth, so it was better to avoid it. Otherwise she might just end up crying, and she couldn't have that with hours of work still ahead of her.
It wasn't even like this was new to her. Really, she had plenty of practice in just grinding her teeth and moving on. She had thick skin (in her world, you either grew it or just didn't survive long) and usually barely reacted whenever someone said something. And considering everyone in the university knew her from... before, there were always some people who insisted on giving their disapproving or mocking opinion to her.
But sometimes it just got too much, and this was one of those days. So she was honestly looking forward to having some peace and quiet as she simply did her work and forgot all about other people and their judgemental attitudes and could just exist without having to justify herself to anyone. This job was truly perfect for that most of the time as she was just given a list of tasks and left alone to complete them.
But when she entered the music room with a bowl of water and some cleaning supplies in her hands, she realized that luck just continued to evade her today. Ninomiya was inside the chamber already, at home early (like he was every Wednesday, apparently) and not absent unlike he had been the rest of the week, albeit he was not playing the piano which was why she hadn't heard him ahead of time when walking to the room. Instead, he was sitting in front of the instrument, perusing some papers with a pencil in his hand and scribbling something on them. But he immediately looked up when she came in, so she felt forced to fake a polite smile and then bow slightly.
“Good afternoon, young Master, I hope it is alright with you if I clean up here now,” she greeted him respectfully but a little subdued.It was not like she disliked him. In reality she had enjoyed his company and quirky comments a lot the last two times she met him, even though his overly playboy-like attitude sometimes did make her feel uncomfortable. But today she had been looking forward to being alone, having gotten used to it after another week of not seeing a sign of him at the manor during her working hours, so she was a bit disappointed.Unlike her, however, he surely didn't lack excitement at all and grinned at her brightly.
“Ah yes, of course, I was waiting for you, Shouko-chan,” he spoke, sounding genuinely happy to see her, “You are always the highlight of my week!”
The corners of her lips twitched upwards a little in response, but her bad mood made sure that she didn't react to the flattery any more than that. She just nodded and started preparing to do her job, quietly.
“Aww, no pretty blushes today?” was her employer's reaction, and she sure would have been blushing at that... on any other day. But today the most she could manage was a noncommittal shrug.
She didn't even have to be facing him to know that he reacted to that by frowning, perhaps a little worriedly. There was some shuffling coming from behind her as he put the papers away somewhere and a soft squeak when he turned on the stool he was sitting on (she made a mental note to oil it tomorrow). A few melodious notes followed as he started pressing the keys thoughtfully.
“Do you know what I've been doing recently?” he spoke up, continuing to play, “I'm sure you're dying to know, of course,” he added with deliberately magnified self-assurance, “I've been writing a song. It's inspired by Shouko-chan's beauty and I think I will be calling it “Choco-chan” because of the color of your eyes.”
Finally, that got through her armor of bad mood and she found herself chuckling, glancing at him over her shoulder and seeing the cheeky grin on his face.
“I think, young Master, you've never even looked into my eyes close enough to notice their color,” she challenged playfully.
“Then how would I know they're chocolate?” he countered without batting an eyelash and she rolled her (chocolate) eyes.
“Considering I'm Japanese, it was for sure terribly hard for you to guess,” she said sarcastically and he reacted by faking an exaggerated gasp as if he felt extraordinarily affronted.
“Are you implying my words were not sincere?” he asked in great offense but she just turned back to her work, dismissive of his, as ever, overly flirtatious attitude.
“I'm sure you write a song to every young maid in a cute frilly uniform that you see, Sir,” she said, a little bit of melancholy in her voice. There was a moment of silence that followed her words then and she relaxed, thinking that she finally made him give up his game. However he did answer after all, all jokes disappearing from his tone, with a seriousness that was unexpected to her.
“Perhaps that is true,” he spoke evenly and calmly, and she inwardly nodded to herself at his admission, “But I wouldn't know. You are the first one I see that is actually beautiful enough to me to make me do it.”
As self-assured as she had been that she was right about him only acting like a playboy out of habit again, the statement truly took her by surprise. But it was not a happy one. In fact, she felt a sad coolness run through her and her hands wavered in their task. The tentative smile flew off her face again, leaving her feeling a bit shaken.
“You should not jest in such a way, young Master,” she allowed herself to chide him lightly and stubbornly made her hands move again. Surely, he wouldn't even be kidding in such a way if he were to know the truth, she told herself sadly. Although... Although he had made her wonder and worry a couple of times and suspect that he might have already guessed...
No. No no, it wasn't even that, it didn't matter. After all, he wasn't serious at all so she shouldn't even be paying attention or thinking about it deeply in the first place. It didn't matter, it was all just a game to him. She was just a maid, she couldn't really reject him to severely so it was no wonder that he saw her as fair game and easy to play around with a bit. She couldn't even blame him. There used to be a time in her life when she wouldn't have thought much differently herself.
She was so busy trying to concentrate on her work and ignoring her feelings that she didn't even notice that the man behind her was suspiciously silent until all of a sudden there were hands on her shoulders, making her startle.
“Shoouuuuko-chan,” a silky voice purred incredibly close to her ear, making her twirl her head to the side, which only caused another shock as it brought their faces incredibly close. Far too close, really. She could now clearly see his own bright brown eyes staring right at hers and felt her heart beating in her throat, “I would never joke about anything like this. I was interested in you from the first moment I saw you and you just continued to charm me afterwards. I like you. And if you don't believe me now, I will just tell you again and again until you do.”
He stayed unmoving after he said his piece and she found herself afraid to even breathe with him still so close and reluctant to feel touched by the words because she couldn't allow herself to believe them. What was he doing, what was he trying to achieve by throwing her off with his unexpected actions so much? Unwittingly, her eyes started curiously roaming his perfect face, as if searching for some answer, over his flawless skin, stumbling over the cute moles and the adorable, small nose, her heartbeat only speeding further up. And while she stared at the beautiful, pink lips, suddenly they started coming closer and, without thinking, her eyelids fluttered closed and she started leaning in herself. But then, abruptly, she sensed how he simply pecked her on the tip of her nose and withdrew again. Her eyes snapped open, wide with shock, blood rushing to her cheeks, but he just smirked and stepped back.
“Here's that pretty blush again,” he whispered, winking at her shamelessly and she looked to the side, flustered and maybe... maybe just a little bit flattered by the carelessly given compliment.
“Young Master-” she started but was stopped as he pressed a finger to her full, slightly parted lips to silence her.
“You should stop calling me that,” he commented, pouting a little, “It feels weird, especially since we're about the same age.”
She wavered, but only for a second before shaking her head slightly.
“That is the proper way for me to address you, young Master,” she stuck to it respectfully, but he just laughed at her lightly.
“Always caring so much about what's proper and what is not, Shouko-chan,” he noted, finally stepping away and giving her some space as he returned to the piano, “Well, if you ever do feel adventurous, please call Nino,” he suggested, winking at her playfully before sitting down on the stool “That would make me very happy. But for now, “Sir” would suffice then. Or Ninomiya-san. “Young Master” is just...” he trailed off and gave a shudder, “Just leave that one for old man Fujita, okay?”
She couldn't help but giggle and nod then and he seemed satisfied enough, his eyes lighting up.
“Good. And now listen veeery closely. After all, you'll be the first person ever to hear this, you should be honored... even though it's far from being finished yet,” Ninomiya stated as pompously as only he could while pretending to present her with a song he wrote for her, and she decided to humor him this once. Because she was, admittedly, just a bit curious and willing to believe in the fantasy of someone doing this for her. Just for a little bit.
She left her work spot and settled timidly on one of the chairs available in the room, gathering her hands in her lap gingerly while his stubby fingers started running over they keys of the piano with habitual grace. It was another slow, romantic melody, just like all the others that he usually liked to play. Very soft, easily flowing through the air, filling it, drawing in any listener within a second. There were no words, just the beautiful sound of the piano, sometimes a little unclear as he quickly brushed over the parts that had yet to be fully written, sometimes accompanied with a low humming from the man performing it.
It was the first time she heard Ninomiya singing and her breath hitched in her throat at the sound. Unlike his rather nasal and sometimes even a bit grating speaking voice, he sounded so very clear and vibrant when he sang or hummed, capturing her heart and mesmerizing her. The music was simply amazing and if she let herself believe that this talented man truly wrote this for her, she actually felt her heart start aching with longing and her eyes teared up. After a day that she just had, the idea that someone might actually be willing to do something so beautiful for her was just incredible and overwhelming.
But she couldn't believe. She just couldn't. He was just a flirty playboy, a rich man who thought it was all just a funny game and he wasn't being serious. And even if he were, he would immediately take it all back once he found out the truth about her. This was something she had come to terms with – if she wanted to stay like this, if she wanted to stay true to herself, she had to sacrifice any hope of having a relationship because who could ever love and want someone like this, like her? And she was fine with it, really, she had made her choice of what was more important for her. But now, having someone treating her so nicely and creating this fantasy where she was actually desirable... And when that someone was a person whom she actually, just maybe, liked a bit and admired? It was just too heartbreaking to realize that this was, really, nothing more than an illusion and suddenly she was crying, burying her face in her hands, not even noticing anymore when the beautiful song came to an abrupt end. She wasn't normally this emotional but...
“Was the song really that terrible?” Ninomiya's gentle voice suddenly came from right next to her and she shook her head quickly and strongly.
“It was beautiful,” she said, her voice muffled through her hands. “I'm sure the... the person that you really wrote it for will love it.”
His answer came together with a long sigh.
“You really will take a lot of convincing, won't you? But it's okay, I can be patient when I need to be,” the man said evenly, in a low, comforting voice, “But this is quite a bummer. You see, I was trying so hard to cheer you up, and yet I made you cry instead. I'm not used to failing so badly.”
These words made her freeze a bit in slight surprise. He... what? It was not, of course, unexpected that he had noticed her mood – she hadn't expected him to actually care, so she didn't bother hiding it much. But now he was saying that he had actually attempted to comfort her, to raise her spirits because he didn't want her sad and did all that he had for that purpose? She had just assumed he had done it all for his own amusement. But knowing he actually cared enough to bother going out of his way for her sake was incredible, even if it wasn't completely sincere.
“I... I'm sorry, I've just had a long day and...” she started apologizing but he was shushing her immediately and there were warm, strong arms around her. She let out a small gasp and raised her head a bit, only to have him press her against his own body, her damp face ending up resting close to his neck..
“What do you say,” he whispered, his lips moving against the top of her head, “We make a bet, okay? If I manage to finish the song by the time we meet next week and you like it, you'll go out on one date with me? No arguments and no saying that that you think I'm only joking. You just let me treat you for a day and I will show you how serious I actually am. And if I don't manage, well... I don't know. If you want, you can order me to stop hitting on you and teasing you all the time then?”
She chuckled through her tears, unable to help it. That was pretty sweet and yet clever of him. Of course, saying that he was trying to win a date with her was flattering and made her feel a little happier. And yet she knew that of course he probably won't finish the song on purpose and act all disappointed and dejected, but that left him the perfect way out after all. She decided to humor him one more time. She blinked the last of her tears away and forced herself to sit up, leaving his soft embrace.
“Okay,” she chuckled and was about to say something else when her eyes noticed the damp spot on his shirt where her face had just been resting. Not only did she get it wet but there were dark marks of mascara staining the light-yellow fabric and she blanched away in horror, about to jump off the chair, “Oh Gods, I'm so sorry, I'll go get you a new shirt right away, Sir, and wash this one in a-”
“Just... just calm down, okay?” Nino said, laughing at her flustered reaction and making her sit back down, “Relax for a bit, okay? You have my permission to take a small break and compose yourself, I'll just go get my own shirt, don't worry, I am still able to do that much for myself,” he reassured her teasingly as he did indeed stand up and started walking towards the room that led straight to his room, “And then you can wash it,” he added meanly just as he was about to leave the room unexpectedly, and she giggled again, wiping the remnants of her tears and somehow feeling much better all of a sudden. It seemed that the man hadn't failed after all.
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Date: 2014-04-21 02:19 am (UTC)I really like the way nino try to cheer shoko up and the betXD
Really love this series and couldnt wait for the next chapter~
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Date: 2014-04-21 09:15 pm (UTC)Thank you so much! I try to make the updates weekly :)
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Date: 2014-04-21 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-22 01:24 pm (UTC)Thank you for your continued interest and lovely comments, I really appreciate it incredibly :)
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Date: 2014-04-22 02:45 am (UTC)Thank you for updating! <3
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Date: 2014-04-22 01:27 pm (UTC)The next part will come in a week <3 Thank you so VERY MUCH for your kind comments and for reading, it means a lot to me :)