Archive of Our Own

There were so many reasons, why Nino loved Sho. His partner was a great man, someone you could rely on. He might not be the best cook but besides this fact, he was almost flawless, at least for Nino. He loved everything about that man. His friendliness, the warmth in his eyes when he smiled at him, his caring side, his positive way of thinking, that he could be serious but also a complete dork and that he did everything so that Nino would feel good.

“Come on, hurry up, I'm prepared enough,” Nino assured his boyfriend and turned around, supporting himself on all fours, ready for what might follow.

“You're sure?” Sho asked and bent over the smaller man from behind, slightly pulling at his partner's black hair and kissing the nape of his neck lovingly – for now.

“Yes, I'm ready, believe me,” Nino hissed, hanging his head to give Sho better access to his nape.

“Alright love, how you wish,” Sho smirked, his hot breath hitting Nino's sensitive skin and making the other shiver.

“Come on!”

Nino's voice cracked from the excitement, he couldn't wait any longer and just a second later, Sho grabbed Nino's ass, forcing his erected member straight into his lover's small body without holding back as he groaned deep inside his throat. He pushed as deep inside as possible until Nino cried out from the pain and joy that was overwhelming him at the same time while Sho was biting into the flesh of his boyfriend's nape, leaving behind thin red marks of his teeth. As if it gave him another kick to see the traces he left behind on the other's body, Sho moaned satisfied.

“Gosh, yes, just like that, Sho,” Nino whimpered when he pushed back to make the feeling inside of him grow even more.

There was one more reason, why Nino loved Sho and that was, because the two of them were the perfect match, not only in daily life but also, when it came to sex. It was Nino's little secret that from time to time, he liked it to get treated roughly, that it was his personal little kink to get handcuffed to the back of their bed or that he liked to get bent over when he least expected it, that he liked it to feel Sho slamming into his tight small body with no mercy. And it was Sho's little secret, that he loved doing exactly those things to his lover, not having to hold back since this was exactly what the other wanted too. It wasn't like Sho manhandled him or hurt him, Sho and Nino had everything under control. This wasn't perverted, at least not to their understanding, this was just their way of making love – rough, brutal sometimes but always full of passion.

“That's. How you. Like it. My boy. Right?” Sho pressed out only a few words with each deep thrust he made and it was like Nino was melting underneath him.

The taller man put his arms around Nino's slim body and lifted him so that both of them were upright. He pressed Nino's sweating back against his chest, bringing him closer and letting gravity help them fusing their bodies each time when the smaller sank down onto his lover's length, burying his hard member deep inside of him.

Nino turned around his head and crashed his lips against Sho's, not caring that they almost crashed their teeth and coping with Sho biting onto his lips accidentally, even if it started bleeding a little.

Sho's hand wrapped around Nino's swollen erection and started pumping it roughly, causing the other to shiver more and more. Nino was a helpless bunch of moans within his lover's arms, enjoying each and every thrust, kiss, touch, whatever he could get as long as it was hot and passionate, as long as it was Sho. At times like this, Nino thought that it would be fine if Sho would break him, if he would rip him apart, he just wanted to feel him more, he just wanted to be fully his with body and soul.

The two of them reached their climax at almost the same time, Nino, throwing his head back into his neck, leaning it against Sho's shoulders, spread his semen all over his lover's hands and his own stomach while Sho exploded inside of his lover, filling him up with the hotness of his orgasm. When Nino became limp in his arms, almost losing conscious from the high he was riding together with his partner, Sho wrapped his arms firmer around the small body of Nino, pressing him close and whispered words of love into his ear.

Nino knew that he would feel exhausted the next day and that it would hurt just to sit still on his seat at work, but he didn't care. These passionate moments he spent with his lover were worth all the pain he felt and the loving kisses and caring touches that Sho placed all over Nino's body after he had laid him down onto the soft bed sheets as well as the loving whisper in his ears and the warmth he felt when he finally curled up in Sho's embrace, ready to fall asleep, made up for all the pain anyways.

*****

As expected, Nino felt quite limp when he entered the office of the magazine, he was working for the next morning. He even had to cope with the knowing looks of his colleague and best friend Jun, when the young journalist came along, a cup of coffee in his hands, but he was already used to that. At least, Jun was discrete enough to never ask for the details.

Nevertheless, Jun couldn't prevent teasing his colleague. Just when Nino finished a phone call with a potential cast for his next interview, Jun told him, that his lover boy Sho had tried to call him but ended up at Jun's line since Nino had been busy. Nino pushed Jun's face away playfully and immediately leaned in for another phone call again, this time dialing the direct line into Sho's law office. Nino was lucky that he got hold of him just right before the other left for lunch.

“You called?” Nino asked, a smile dancing on his lips.

”I wanted to make sure that my darling is feeling well,” the deep voice on the other side of the line answered and Nino could almost hear his partner's smirk, ”Does it hurt much?”

“I'm perfectly fine, thank you,” the journalist answered, trying to sound tough.

”Be assured that I'll take good care of you once we're back home. I'll carry you in my arms and wash you carefully in the bathtub and then, when we'll watch some movies while cuddling on the couch, I'll give you a proper massage to relax,” Sho spoke, painting the perfect evening for the two of them. Nino smirked.

“I know what you're up to, playboy,” he tried to whisper into the phone's receiver, well aware of Jun's teasing look on him, “You're too easy to look through.”

Sho laughed that slightly cracking laughter, Nino loved so much, “So, we'll see each other later then. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Nino said smiling before he hung up.

Unfortunately, this evening, Nino did not come to know the true promises of what Sho told him on the phone earlier. This was because instead of in Sho's embrace, sharing a hot bath with him, Nino ended up in hospital after work.

It happened when Nino and Jun left the office together to go to the bus station and the two men were chatting about some random work-related stuff while going downstairs. Nino didn't pay enough attention, tripped over his own feet and before he could get hold of himself again, banged his head against the stair railing while falling and passed out.

When Sho came rushing to the hospital after getting contacted by Jun, who told him that Nino had met an accident, his boyfriend was already awake again, sitting in the white bed, bandages wrapped around his head. Sho hurried towards his boyfriend's bed and leaned forward, pulling the smaller man into a tight hug.

“Nino! You frightened me, are you alright? What happened?” Sho asked worried.

“Ah, Sho,” Nino chuckled, as he tried to get free from Sho's a bit too tight embrace, “Don't worry, I'm fine, just a little dizzy! I just tripped over and fell down the stairs, the doctor said I can go home tomorrow morning, they just want to keep me here to check if everything's alright.”

“You're really OK?” Sho asked again, looking at Nino worried as he carefully cupped his boyfriend's face.

“Yeah, really,” Nino assured him and smiled at Sho, looking straight into the other's eyes. As suddenly a figure behind Sho's back captured his attention, he looked sideward. Did Sho bring someone with him? But when he looked behind his boyfriend, expecting someone to stand there close to the door, there was no one.

“Nino? What's the matter?” Sho wondered and turned around trying to see what had drawn Nino's attention away from him.

“Ah, nothing,” Nino looked around carefully again, frowning, “Just for a moment I thought someone was standing there, a doctor maybe but seems like my eyes tricked me.”

“Seems like. Nobody entered the room with me. Maybe your beautiful head is still a bit confused,” his boyfriend said and carefully stroke Nino's hair, who slightly nodded.

Nino would have forgotten this small incident, if the following night wouldn't have been so strange. Sho had left a long time ago when the young man suddenly woke up in the middle of the night from a growling thunder. The window of his hospital room was wide opened, even if he couldn't remember that he had opened it before falling asleep. It must have been a nurse who was checking on him or something but Nino wondered, it was pretty cold outside and it has started to rain heavily. He sat up, dizzy from sleep and wanted to get up to close the window when a cold breathe filled the room and blew through the white curtains around his bed. Nino froze and lifted his hands to rub his arms, warming himself up a bit.

He finally stood up, feeling the cold air embracing him and the cold floor beneath his blank feet as he slowly walked towards the window which was covered with another white curtain that curled up in the blowing wind. When Nino pulled it back, he could feel some cold rain drops from outside falling onto his skin, making him shiver a little. He reached sideward to the window's grip and slowly closed it.

Right then, lightning flashed through the dark clouded sky outside and lightened up the room and for a second, Nino caught the glimpse of not only his own reflection in the window glass, but also the pale outlines of someone else standing behind him. As thunder broke down, Nino turned around quickly, his blood frozen and his heart beat speeding up. What was that? Wasn't he alone in the room? But of course he couldn't see anything in the dark.

“Hello?” he asked carefully after standing still for almost a minute, not moving. He didn't hear anything strange, the only sounds coming to his ears being his own slightly hitching breath and the raindrops hitting the window from outside. As expected, he was all alone.

“You're imagining things, go back to sleep and better not mention that to the doctor,” Nino murmured to himself as he tried to find his way back to his bed through the pitch black room.

*****

The next morning, the sun was shining again, Nino had almost forgotten about the happenings from last night and Sho was there to pick him up and take him back home, where the doctors had ordered their patient to stay and rest for the next few days. Sho had tried to take some days off so that he could fully take care of his boyfriend but he had only managed to get one day off. Nino was thankful enough for this, knowing that Sho had tried his best for him.

At home, Sho forced Nino to stay in bed the whole day, didn't allow him to turn on TV or play games, he had to relax and his head needed rest. Nino slept a lot and when he was awake in between, Sho was always there right by his side and if he felt bored, he would chat with his boyfriend about whatever came to his mind. Sho tried to cook something for his partner at midday, but he ruined it and so he ended up ordering Nino's favorite food, Hamburger. The man finally allowed Nino to get up and so both of them settled down at the dining table where Sho had already unpacked their ordered lunch. He went to get two glasses filled with ice tea and then sat down at the opposite site of the table so that he was facing Nino.

“Enjoy your meal!” Sho said and smiled at his boyfriend, who did the same before he picked up his hamburger and took a first bite.

Nino wasn't really hungry and so he stopped eating after finishing only half of his burger, putting it back onto his plate again. He drank some ice tea and watched Sho eating, who already had started his second burger. Nino had always adored how much Sho could eat without losing the good shape of his body, it was like a miracle.

When some sauce dropped down from Sho's sticky fingers, Nino's attention got dragged onto his boyfriend's hands. His fingers were long, thin and well defined and they were clenching the hamburger bread so that it almost fell apart. Nino frowned. Something was strange about that scene. His gaze wandered upwards to Sho's plum red lips, the other licked with his tongue over just that moment. Some breadcrumbs and drops of sauce disappeared in Sho's mouth before he took another bite of his hamburger, the meat spreading some of its stickiness around the man's lips, his teeth burying into it, tearing it apart. Sho gulped it down, chewing it only a few times. Nino felt reminded onto a lion ravening his prey. What stupid thoughts...

“You're already finished?” Sho asked then, pointing at Nino's ration and the younger, getting pulled out of his thoughts, just nodded, pushing his plate towards Sho to offer him his left overs.

Sho gladly took them but other than before, he put the hamburger bread and the salad aside, only going for the half piece of burger that Nino hadn't finished. He took the dark brown meat with his blank fingers and brought it up to his mouth. Nino could just follow his partner's actions with his eyes, not being able to look away. Suddenly, everything around them fell silent and Nino's eyes and ears were only focused onto Sho's mouth and chewing while the other was eating that piece of meat that's color suddenly appeared quite unappetizing to Nino somehow, which was strange, since he used to like that kind of meal so much. He watched Sho repeating his actions like in slow motion, how he opened his mouth, licked over his lips, buried his teeth into the hamburger meat, tearing it apart and suddenly, for the first time ever since he met Sho, Nino found something his boyfriend did to be disgusting, even if he didn't even know, why.

“This was delicious,” the man opposite to Nino exclaimed eventually, licking his fingers clean to not waste the smallest bit of taste, “You liked it as well?”

But Nino just stared at Sho, pale and his boyfriend started worrying again.

“Nino? You're alright?”

The other forced himself to nod, even if his stomach felt like it was turning upside down right now.

At night, Nino couldn't sleep. He was lying in bed together with Sho, curled up in the other man's embrace, his cheek like always bedded on his lover's chest, which was rising and lowering constantly in a low pace, indicating the deep sleep, Sho had already drifted into some time ago. Nino circled his arm tighter around Sho's body and groaning in his sleep, the taller unconsciously brought his hand up to put it onto Nino's shoulder, pressing him close. The younger smiled happily and tried to hold his eyes closed but he couldn't help, he felt fully awake. So he opened his eyes again and let his look wander around in the dark room which was lightened up a bit by the dim moonlight from outside, which was breaking at the outlines of the bedroom furniture, letting them glow slightly.

Suddenly, the curtain in front of the window shuffled, the reflecting moonlight swayed a bit and wondering, Nino rose his head slightly, to check what was happening. The young man stared at the window, it should be closed. Maybe something fell from the window board and had caused the curtain to shift but expect from the light rustling of the thin fabric and the constant breathing of his boyfriend, Nino hadn't heard any other sound. His heartbeat raised when he suddenly remembered the pale outlines of that face he had seen in the hospital's window the former night. Wasn't that just a dream?

Nino settled back to curl up to Sho again. Maybe he was dreaming as well already. Nino took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to calm down again. A few minutes later, when he thought that he might be finally able to fall asleep soon, calmed down by Sho's steady heartbeat that he could hear when he pressed his ear against the muscular body, there was something else distracting Nino and he quickly opened his eyes again.

Didn't he just hear something? He couldn't really allocate the sound and he didn't even know where it – whatever it might have been – had come from. He gulped and forced himself to close his eyes again.

Suddenly, he realized that the air inside of the bedroom had turn colder or was he just imagining this? Yeah, he must be dreaming already after all. What a shitty dream. But then, there was another noise and again, Nino's eyes snapped open and his ears went sharp. There, there it was again, coming from the window, repeating, getting closer. Nino's body stiffened and he darted his eyes through the slightly lightened room, trying to catch something that strange noise was coming from but there was nothing. What was that sound anyways? It sounded like... footsteps?

A dream, it's just a dream, Nino told himself silently but that didn't make those noises disappear. His heartbeat sped up and his lips and throat started feeling awfully dry. Yes, if he wasn't mistaken, this was the sound of footsteps. Slowly approaching, shuffled footsteps. Nino sharply pulled in some air between his dry lips, trying to not make any noise while doing so. He stared into the darkness; still, there was nothing to see. The footsteps came closer. Closer. It seemed, that they came to a halt right next to the bed, just where Nino and Sho were lying and then, slowly but surely, Nino thought that there was some kind of shadow forming in the darkness, or was he just hallucinating?

The dark shadow finally took form and lightened up until a glowing white blurred figure was standing there right next to Sho. What the hell...

Nino had frozen completely, the grip around Sho tightened, then, when he thought that he already had forgotten, how to breathe, his breath started to hitch. He must not only have a dream but a nightmare, the young man thought, not able to move. He couldn't take his eyes from the still undefined figure next to them, whose outlines became slightly sharper gradually until Nino thought that he could recognize the shape of a human being. It must be a young man, his body and the white clothes he was wearing, transparent, blurring into the dark as if it was flickering. Nino wanted to scream, but he wasn't able to move. Not until the white figure was bending over Sho and seemed to examine the other, just a few inches away from Nino's face but ignoring him completely. The frightened just stared at the white figure unbelieving, panicking, and too afraid to even blink his eyes. Who was this? What was this? A ghost? A dream?

Then, suddenly, the pale face with slim features turned to Nino, eyes widened looking at him directly as if the creature was surprised that Nino actually could see him and then, Nino finally screamed.

The young man sat up in bed, causing Sho's hand to slip off his shoulder and he screamed out loud in fear again, his voice sounding a bit husky from the dryness of his throat. He quickly reached out for the bedside lamp right next to him, switching it on and when he light flooded the room and he stared back to where that white face had been just a second ago, it was gone.

Instead, Sho was sitting upright in bed as well now, next to him, fully awake due to the sudden scream of his boyfriend and the switched on light.

“Nino, what happened?!” he asked panicking, turning towards his lover, looking at him with surprised eyes.

Nino looked at him, his face white as chalk, his lips still parted from the scream, his heart beating at abnormal speed. He was shaking. Nino looked around, searching for the strange figure he had just seen bending down over him and Sho but again he just could see Sho in their bedroom and no one else.

“Nino?” Sho asked again, reaching out his hands to touch the man's shaking body.

He rubbed his arms, trying to get Nino out of the state of panic and to calm him down. Nino, his breath still hitching, as if he was close to hyperventilate, finally looked at Sho, seeing the worry in his boyfriend's eyes. He gulped, wet his dry lips and gulped again. His breathe still hasn't calmed down completely. Sho then pulled him closer, hugging him and let his hands run up and down Nino's back slowly to comfort him.

“Shhh... calm down, honey. Did you have a nightmare?” the older man lifted one hand and brushed it caring over Nino's face, painted by sheer panic, “Don't worry, whatever it was, it was just a dream. I'm here with you; anything and anybody will harm you.”

No, no nightmare, I just saw a ghost, Nino wanted to answer but the words kept stuck inside of his throat. His boyfriend pulled him closer, stroking his hair carefully and slowly he laid him down onto the soft bed sheets again. He kissed his face lovingly, each and every piece of skin that he could find. Brushing his fingers over Nino's forehead and face, Sho smiled at him and slowly but surely, Nino calmed down again. He reached up to Sho's hand which was resting on his cheek and put his own hand on top of it, intertwining their fingers and pressing Sho's hand closer.

“Come on, let's go back to sleep,” Sho whispered, kissing Nino's dry lips, “Don't worry, I'm with you.”

Nino nodded and tried his best to answer his lover's kiss, even if he was still a bit shaking. He took another look around in the bedroom, there was indeed nothing. As Sho had said, this must have been a dream. A really stupid one. The young man put his arms around Sho's shoulders and pressed him close. The other reached out for the bedside lamp and wanted to switch it out, but Nino stopped him.

“No! Wait... please let the light on, just for a while...”

Sho wondered but did like Nino asked and after some time, cuddling his partner, not hearing or seeing anything strange any longer, Nino finally got overwhelmed by a heavy wave of tiredness. As he couldn't keep his eyes opened any longer, he reached his face up to Sho to place a last hastily good night kiss onto his chin and when he dropped his head back into his pillow, Nino was already drifted off to his dreams. Sho kissed his nose once again, before he turned off the lights and carefully pulled Nino towards him into their typical sleeping position, stroking his back and brushing his hand over his boyfriend's cheek again, before he fell asleep again as well.

*****

When Nino woke up the next morning, he was slightly shocked, when he looked directly into dark brown eyes, close to his face. He cringed but pulled himself together quickly again, it was only Sho. The man seemed to be already fully awake and must have been watching Nino while sleeping, the younger thought as he took in the relaxed figure of Sho, already wearing a dress shirt and some black pants, examining him with a loving smile on his face. The older man lifted his hand and stroke Nino's cheek.

“Good morning, darling,” he said, “I'm glad you could sleep last night. You really scared me with your nightmare! Are you OK? How is your head?”

Nino, still drowsy, didn't immediately answer but let his tired eyes gaze through the room. The light of the morning sun filled the bedroom and the window was slightly opened, letting in the cheerful singing of birds. Everything looked peaceful and friendly, nothing compared to the cold and scary atmosphere, Nino had experienced – or dreamed of? - last night.

“What's the time?” Nino asked.

“Around 9 o'clock,” the other answered, continuing to caress Nino's face.

Surprised, Nino looked at his boyfriend, “9 o'clock? Aren't you supposed to be at work already at this time?”

“I called in that I'd come a bit later today. I didn't want to let you wake up alone after you were so scared last night,” the other explained and placed a kiss onto Nino's forehead.

The younger man's heart skipped a beat when he heard those words and felt Sho's soft lips on his skin. He was so lucky to have such a caring and nice boyfriend, he thought. Sho was too good to be true.

“I'm alright, really. You didn't need to wait for me waking up,” Nino said and answered his boyfriend's smile, “Sorry for keeping you from work.”

Sho chuckled, “Don't worry, love! If it wasn't to earn money for living, I'd prefer to skip work every day just to stay in bed with you,” he winked and after kissing Nino, who responded with caressing Sho's lips lovingly with his own, the other finally got up from the bed, “But unfortunately, I have to go now so that I can come back home to you early tonight.”

Nino nodded while Sho went to the cupboard and searched for a nice necktie matching his outfit. His boyfriend stood up, taking a few steps closer to him and hugged him from behind, pressing his face against Sho's back. When the taller turned his head a little to watch the suddenly clingy man, Nino just hid his face deeper into the soft fabric of Sho's white shirt.

“Thanks for being there for me,” he whispered, Sho almost didn't hear his words.

The taller then turned around in Nino's embrace and leaned down to seal his boyfriend's lips with his. When their lips met, Nino slowly closed his eyes and enjoyed the warmth between them while melting away in Sho's caressing. When the other slightly parted his lips to deepen their kiss, Nino didn't hesitate to welcome Sho's tongue in this hot mouth and while they shared a passionate kiss, Sho let his hands wander underneath Nino's sleeping shirt, caressing his sides and pressing him closer as he embraced his slim waist.

Nino blushed as he broke their kiss to prevent them from going further steps. This wasn't the time for something like that, he still felt dizzy and Sho had to go to work anyways. They would save this for later when Nino felt better again and it would be as gorgeous as both couldn't imagine yet. Sho cleared his throat, obviously distracted but he seemed to understand Nino's point from just looking at him. Instead of approaching the other further, he grabbed his necktie again, which was already hanging loosely around his neck and fiddled with it, trying to get it done. As usual, the young lawyer was pretty clumsy and so Nino ended up tying his boyfriend's necktie and smiling adjusted his collar to round his respectable appearance.

“Thank you,” Sho smiled at the smaller man and pulled on his jacket, “Stay in bed as long as you can and then take it slow, will you?” he advised him, “There are some left overs in the fridge that you can heat to eat but if you feel like it, you can also order something. I brewed a fresh can of tea, it might be a bit cold already so you should better drink it soon, and shall I bring it to the bedroom for you?”

„No need for treating me like a raw egg,“ Nino chuckled, “I'll manage to get it myself, thank you.”

“By the way, what did you dream about?”

The white figure from last night, bending over Sho before suddenly staring at Nino with a straight look, reappeared in Nino’s thoughts and a slight shiver ran down his spin. He hoped that Sho didn't notice and avoided his boyfriend’s eyes, “I forgot.”

“Really? Hm… well, the best way to get over a nightmare is to forget it, I guess,” Sho answered and Nino just nodded. “Alright, I'll take my leave then,” the lawyer said and reached out for Nino a last time, placing pecking his cheek, “Take care!”

“Come back home safely!” he younger replied and waived his hand slightly.

While Sho was leaving the apartment, Nino went into the kitchen to drink some of the tea and after that headed back to bed, trying to follow his boyfriend's advice to get some more sleep. He closed his eyes, enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun and the sounds of nature coming from outside and it didn't take long until he drifted off to sleep again.

When Nino opened his eyes for the next time, the skies have darkened and he could hear raindrops starting to fall against the window. It was already semi-dark, when the young man sat up, driven from thirst and slouched into the kitchen again. After getting some more tea and checking the time which told him that it was already early in the afternoon, Nino decided that he had slept enough and allowed himself to settle down in the living room in order to watch TV for a while. He slowly drifted off to sleep again when the TV program didn't show anything interesting any longer after a few hours and since it would still take some time until Sho would return, the young man decided to go back to sleep a further time.

He finished his tea and finally switched off the TV as he stood up. When he brought the empty cup back into the kitchen and placed it in the dish washer, Nino suddenly heard voices from the living room. When he turned around to check the source, the TV has been switched on again by itself and the show he had just switched off continued running. Nino went back, picked the TV receiver from the couch table and switched off the program again. He put the receiver back to its place and when he turned around to leave again, it happened again. The TV switched on, the voices in the show continued chatting. Nino turned his head again, wondering and started to feel angry. The TV was brand new, Sho just bought it some weeks ago, how was it possible, that it was already defect? Sighing, Nino reached out to the receiver and turned it off again. He waited for a few seconds, nothing happened, the screen stayed black and silence lay over the living room.

“Alright,” the young man murmured and thinking that the matter was settled, he turned on his heels to head back to bed.

Just when he had entered the bedroom and wanted to close the door, it happened a third time. Nino sighed again. Then, he realized, that the voices and sounds from the TV seemed to change several times. Great, now the TV didn't only switch on by itself but it also switched channels. Completely annoyed from the situation, Nino went back into the living room. He wanted to grab the receiver which he had placed onto the couch table but his fingers only met the wood of the table. Nino frowned. He was hundred percent sure that he had placed the receiver there just a minute ago. His eyes searched over the table but then finally caught the sight of the TV receiver lying on the couch. He frowned again. Maybe, did he really leave it there without noticing, after all? He rubbed his forehead before he took some more steps towards the couch, reached for the receiver and switched off the TV again. He then placed the receiver back onto the couch table, carefully checking that he really put it there and then – just to make sure – after a few seconds, he pulled the TVs plug.

Finally back in bed, Nino took one of Sho's books from the bedside table and flipped through it, thinking about starting to read it as well. It was a book that Sho highly recommended to him when he started with it but Nino had told him, that he wanted to wait until his boyfriend finished it and told him, if the ending was good enough to try the book or if it was ruining everything. His curiosity – or better said, the boredom that fell over him while he was still waiting for Sho's return from work – finally made him open the first page and start reading. Just after three pages, the light of his bedside table suddenly went out, the bulb bursting and Nino cringed from the surprise.

Damned. He wasn't lucky today regarding electricity. Then, he heard another sound from outside of the bedroom, it sounded like something crashing onto the floor and splitting into several pieces. Did Nino miss Sho's return and was the other clumsy again? But Nino didn't hear any further noise, not the typical cursing of his boyfriend that would usually follow after something like that, no footsteps, nothing. So he got up again to check what happened and when he switched on the lights in the living room, he found one of the glass framed photographs showing him and Sho as the happy couple they were, fallen from a shelf and scattered into pieces. Nino bent down to pick up the broken glass and the picture, wondering how this could just fall off from the shelf. It couldn't have been the wind, since even if it was windy outside, he didn't open the window in the living room.

Wait... what if... Nino remembered again the night in the hospital when he found a window open that should have been closed. He remembered last night again, letting run another shiver down his spine when the image of the strange white figure popped up his mind again. Could it be that... no, that couldn't be true. That was impossible. Nino shook his head and tried to get rid of the stupid ideas that invaded his thoughts right now.

Collecting the pieces of glass, Nino did not pay enough attention and cut his thumb deeply with one of the sharp pieces. He cursed and quickly put his finger between his lips, pressing his tongue against the cut. He stood up and went into the kitchen to search for a band-aid but couldn't find any. Just that moment, he heard the entrance door of the apartment getting opened, looked like Sho has returned home. Finally, Nino thought, he started to get nervous all alone with that strange stuff happening...

“I'm home!” Sho exclaimed happily, as he showed up into the kitchen a few seconds later. Nino waived at him and tried to smile, his thumb still stuck between his lips.

“Welcome back,” he mumbled.

Sho frowned, “Did you get hurt?” he asked and coming closer to his boyfriend, he slightly tugged at Nino's arm who then pulled his thumb out of his mouth so that Sho could grab his hand to examine it, “What happened?”

“Cut with a piece of glass. One of our photos fell from the shelf and broke. I'm sorry,” Nino summarized shortly and Sho nodded.

He quickly disappeared into the bathroom and came back with a brand new package of band-aids. “Sorry, I forgot to refill the stock of plaster in the kitchen,” he said and smiled excusing while he pulled out one.

He then took Nino's thumb and seeing another big, deep red drop of blood forming on the hurt skin, he took his lover's finger between his own lips, starting to suck at it. He let his tongue slide over the cut and bored it into the flesh to lick off even the last tiny drop of blood. Nino cringed slightly as he felt pain from that and Sho immediately enforced the grip around Nino's wrist suddenly, to not let his lover's hand get away.

“Ouch,” Nino murmured frowning and Sho finally let him go.

“I'm sorry,” he said and then, he placed the already prepared band-aid onto Nino's thumb, carefully wrapping it around.

“Take care,” Sho smiled and then grabbed a dustbin and a small broom to clean up in the living room, leaving behind his boyfriend who stared at his vetted thumb which felt like it was pulsating.

*****

Nino felt safe now, that Sho was around again. Well, it wasn't like he was afraid of something in particular, but he was getting nervous. He didn't know if it was just him and the after effects from his accident, or if there were really strange things going on, but it was strange. Of course, Nino had watched one or the other horror movie in his life and of course, he already heard stories of people experiencing strange stuff going on at home like lights going crazy, things moving on their own...

Honestly, Nino tended to believe that only his imagination was playing pranks on him but this didn't mean that he was less nervous. Even if it might just be imagination, it wasn't fun to see “ghosts” or the like in the middle of the night after all and it wasn't fun either, that Nino wasn't able to fall asleep the following night after what had happened, his thoughts keeping him awake.

His eyes stared into the darkness of the room; his ears were sharp, ready to catch every little sound that would occur in the apartment. Nevertheless, the only noises, Nino could hear were a few sighs from his dreaming boyfriend as well as his steady breathing. At one point at the night, Nino suddenly felt like he was getting stared at from the corner of the room but there was nothing and so he tried to ignore that feeling as much as he could. Imagination, it was all his stupid imagination after all...

Around half past 4, Nino gave up trying to sleep and sighing he got up. He crawled over Sho, careful not to wake him and tip-toed into the bathroom. If he already was awake, he could also take a shower and get up. He undressed and stepped under the hot water, letting it wet his hair and warm his body. Finally, he was able to relax a bit again.

His hair was still wet and the bathroom was filled with steam while Nino was brushing his teeth. When he looked into the steamed up mirror, he could just barely recognize his own pale face. He bent down over the sink to spit out and rinse his mouth.

Suddenly, some lights in the bathroom went out and the room was almost dark. Nino felt frustration spreading in his chest, what the hell was that with the lights and such lately? Was it even possible, that everything broke at almost the same time? Annoyed, he lifted his head and he almost choked on a last sip of water when his look fell into the mirror again. He covered his lips with his hand as he coughed and focused onto the mirror again, trying to calm down his racing heart and not sure what he should find scarier at the moment, the fact that there have appeared letters written onto the steamed mirror out of the blue, or that there were – again – the blurred outlines of someone standing behind him in the dim light.

Nino's breath hitched, he almost freaked out. Not again, please, not again! Hurriedly, he turned around and stumbled backwards, crashing against the sink as he recognized the “ghost” from last night standing right there in front of him. It was a slim figure of a young man, dressed in white. His hair was short, he had a pointed nose and his eyes looked tired. Tired and sad.

“Who – who are you?” Nino whispered, his voice shaking, “Why are you appearing in front of me, what the hell do you want?!”

The young white man didn't answer, his face didn't show any reaction and he just continued staring at Nino. Then, he slowly lifted his hand, pointing at Nino – no, he was pointing at the mirror behind Nino.

Not sure, if he should take his eyes off from the stranger, Nino fought with himself, if he should turn around to look at the mirror or not but as he figured that the other would not say anything more, Nino gulped, pulled together all of his remaining courage and looked at the mirror, finally reading the letters written there into the steamed surface of it, the condensing water slowly but surely running down the flat object, making the letters less readable.

“Stay away from him”, the letters written on the mirror read and Nino spoke them out slowly, his lips dry like he didn't drink anything in ages, “What? Stay away? From “him”? Who are you talking about?” he tried to figure out and looked at the pale figure again who now slowly moved his arm, pointing into another direction, the direction of Nino's and Sho's bedroom, “You mean... Sho?”

The slim figure nodded slowly.

“Why?” Nino asked, “Why should I?” there was no way that he would stay away from Sho, what was this all about?!

The white man vanished into thin air and Nino could only stare at where he just had been a second ago. Then, still confused, the young man heard a noise from the living room. Again, something seemed to have fallen off the shelves.

Nino rushed there and found a book lying on the ground. When he slowly approached it, he recognized that it was an anniversary book from High School days but it wasn't his, it seemed to be Sho's. Nino bent down to pick it up and took a look at the page that was opened, a collection of single pictures of each and every student that graduated from the same year back then. He immediately recognized Sho in one of the lower rows, showing a friendly smile like always, his eyes formed to cute crescents. Nino then briefly let his eyes wander over the other students' pictures, not sure what exactly he was searching for but when he found it, it was like lightning stroke him.

There it was - a picture of a young pale man with tired eyes, a pointed nose and short hair. Nino froze. No doubt, even if he might look a bit older now, the student in the picture was definitely the same person like the ghost he had just encountered in the bathroom. He quickly read the name underneath the picture and tried to memorize it. “Ohno Satoshi”. If he and Sho knew each other? After all, this person must have been a classmate of him or at least a student from the same year...

Nino flipped through the pages of the photo book hurriedly, he remembered that he never had the chance to do so before because Sho always said he felt ashamed if Nino looked at it. The young man realized with the feeling of a light stab in his heart that he knew almost nothing from Sho's past since the other tended to simply not talk about such things. Nino had always wondered, why, but he had accepted this side of Sho as well and didn't force him to talk about stuff he didn't want to. Nevertheless, he was curious of course.

Flipping through the pages and briefing each and every picture as fast as he could, Nino spotted Sho in several pictures. The man seemed to have been popular back then, well, Nino wasn't surprised about that. He even spotted that Ohno Satoshi sometimes but most of the time he seemed to have been just standing in the background, shy and not really showing a strong bond with any of his classmates. Later on, Nino saw class pictures and in their last year of High School, Satoshi and Sho seemed to have attended the same class. Still, they were standing far apart, nothing pointed to that they knew each other or something...

Sighing, Nino took a look at the last few pages of the album and suddenly, just as he thought that he wouldn't find any more clues in it, a brown envelop slipped out of the album between two pages and fell to the ground. Wondering, Nino picked it up and turned it around. There was nothing written on it and it wasn't sealed. Curiously, he opened it and pulled out a photograph. The pictures was showing Sho and Satoshi, not dressed in school uniforms but in casual wear, looking maybe a bit older than in the School photo book. What was that? And from when? College time maybe? Nino carefully looked at the picture that showed the two of them in an amusement park, hugging each other. Even if Satoshi still looked tired and pretty shy, he also looked happy and even smiled in the picture. What has his relationship to Sho has been, friends? Maybe even more?

Somehow, the longer Nino looked at those pictures, the more he felt jealousy growing in his chest. Sho had never told him about this person and Nino suddenly felt pretty left out. This Satoshi might know sides and things about Sho that he didn't...

“Nino? Already awake? What are you doing?” he heard Sho's voice behind him and he quickly turned around.

Sho's eyes fell onto what Nino was holding in his hands and as he recognized the picture and his old School photo album, he dashed towards his boyfriend, ripping everything out of his hands, immediately. Nino looked at him stunned.

“What are you doing?!” this time, Sho sounded angry.

“I - I just... the photo album, it fell out from the shelf,” Nino tried to explain, gesturing with his arms.

“It fell from the shelf? Are you kidding me? How? And how did this picture fell out of the envelop? Come on, Nino!” Sho really sounded angry and he quickly stuffed the picture back into the brown envelop and hid it within the book that he slammed shut, “I told you, I don't like it if you look at my old stuff! I should have burned it anyways...”

“Why?” Nino asked, “It's nothing bad to want to know something about the past of one's partner, is it?”

“That has nothing to do with you!” Sho yelled at Nino, stamping his foot and Nino cringed in surprise.

He gulped and looked at Sho with serious eyes. “Because it has to do something with the guy on that picture, Ohno Satoshi?” he finally asked, deciding that he wanted to know everything.

Sho sighed, brushing his hand through his bed hair. It seemed as if he hesitated to tell Nino but that made the other even more curious.

“Who is he?” Nino asked demanding.

“He was a friend from college, that's all,” Sho answered after a small pause, his mood having cooled down a bit.

“Was?” his boyfriend wanted to confirm.

“Yes,” the other replied, “We were like best friends for some years as we met at college after graduating from school but then he moved away and suddenly stopped calling me and such. We didn't have contact any longer.”

“Did something happen to him?” the young journalist continued his questions.

Sho shook his head, “Not as far as I know, why?”

“Ah, just wondering why he stopped contacting you...,” Nino wondered, lowering his head and staring at the floor.

Was that everything? They had been friends, Satoshi had moved away, they didn't have contact any longer? And why was it that the ghost of that person was haunting Nino's and Sho's apartment now? Was it just Nino's imagination after all, the unconscious curiosity about finding out more about Sho that he tried to suppress but still was holding ever since? Maybe he had seen a picture of Satoshi somewhere before and that's why he imagined a ghost looking like him?

When Nino looked at Sho again, he pressed his hands against his mouth to muffle a scream. Satoshi was there, standing behind Sho and observing the young man. Nino squinted and when he opened them again, the ghost was gone again.

“Nino?” Sho asked worrying but his boyfriend didn't answer, “Nino!”

Suddenly, Nino's head started hurting extremely again, as if small daggers were getting bored through his temples, his forehead... His vision suddenly blurred, the world around him started to spin and it went darker and darker. Nino pressed his hands against his temples and he bent down, moaning. He just could hear Sho's voice again like it was coming from far away, calling out his name before everything went black and Nino broke down to the floor.

*****

When Nino regained consciousness, he was back in the hospital and Sho was there, waiting for him to wake up.

“Thank God, Nino,” Sho sighed and grabbed Nino's hand firmly.

“What happened?” the other asked, wondering, his head still hurting.

“You broke down at home... I brought you here and the doctors checked your head. They say, everything is OK, you might just have been stressed and your head is still sensitive from your accident,” Sho explained, “I'm sorry for yelling at you, I didn't want to stress you or something. It's my fault...”

Nino took a deep breath. Now that Sho mentioned it, he remembered everything. He answered the pressure of Sho holding his hand and smiled at him, “Don't worry, it's not your fault. I guess, I was just thinking too much. I'm sorry for looking at your photo album without permission. I'm too curious sometimes. I'll respect your privacy from now on.”

Sho just nodded thankfully and Nino decided to not tell Sho any further about what he had experienced. Sho didn't need to know that Nino's curiosity was almost driving him crazy, letting him even see ghosts in their apartment. He didn't need to know, how obsessed Nino obviously was about him. Nino just had to deal with this on his own and forget about everything. He didn't want to risk what they had with scaring Sho away, after all.

When a doctor showed up to check Nino, he reassured him, that everything was fine and so he could leave the hospital again just a few hours later with the suggestion to stay at home a few more days, not to stress himself and to properly rest before returning to work. Nino promised to do so and strongly reminded himself that he had to forget about what was troubling him so that those stupid imaginations would stop.

However, it didn't stop. Strange stuff continued happening, Nino lacked of sleep, always afraid of spotting the ghost of Ohno Satoshi again, who indeed continued to appear from time to time, even if he was just standing there in Nino and Sho's bedroom in the middle of the night, staring at them or stalking Sho when the young lawyer was walking through the apartment. Nino had stopped screaming each and every time when he saw Satoshi, not because he stopped being scared, but because he didn't want to scare Sho as well. Nevertheless, his breath hitched every time and it gave him the shivers but he tried his best to ignore what he thought were his hallucinations. Anyways, what remained to be strange was, that almost every electronic device around Nino broke during the next few days, leaving Sho wondering about that but Nino didn't speak up. Nevertheless, the longer this continued, the more Nino started to think about the possibility that Satoshi probably wasn't only a hallucination, but a real ghost...

*****

When Nino started to truly doubt his sanity, he felt the urge to talk to someone. He wanted to tell Sho everything about that frightening things going on but somehow, he couldn't.

A few days after the journalist had finally started working again, he was sitting in front of his computer one afternoon, a troubled expression on his face. The sixth coffee he had been drinking today was again losing its power to keep him awake and he was staring at the blank white document he had opened with his writing program without moving for more than ten minutes now.

He couldn’t concentrate.

He was so damned tired.

Nino buried his face in his hands, trying to think hard about a fitting beginning for his new article but no matter how hard he tried, everything that came up his mind were the scary things that were happening at home. He shivered when he remembered the frequent appearances of Satoshi's ghost and the nervousness he was feeling at home since every little sound made him cringe. He had become a real scaredy cat... At least, here at work it seemed safe.

Suddenly, Nino felt a grip on his shoulder and as if he’d been struck by lightning, he jumped up from his chair, accidentally pushing the messy pile of notes right next to his keyboard from his desk. Damned, didn't he just think that he was safe here?! Panicked, he stared right into the worried face of his best friend. Some other colleagues had stopped working and stared at the young man surprised from his sudden reaction but Nino didn’t even realize that.

“Gosh, it’s just you…,” he murmured relieved and slumped back onto his chair, burying his face again in his hands.

„Nino?“ Jun asked carefully and lifted his hands. After he shot a glare around, the other journalists finally went back to work. Jun bent down to grab some of Nino’s papers and brought them back onto the other’s desk, Nino thanking him for his help, not able to get up to collect his stuff by himself right now.

“Sorry Jun, you surprised me,” Nino answered after he had rubbed his face. He tried to smile at his friend but failed terribly.

Jun pulled an empty chair from nearby and brought it close to Nino to sit down next to him. He lowered his voice, trying to avoid that everyone else could listen to what he was talking about to his friend.

“Are you still feeling sick?” Jun asked worried, “You don't seem well, since you're back at work and it's getting worse with each day. You look deathly pale, like if you saw a ghost or something.”

Nino stared at Jun, not moving for a few seconds, before he let out an annoyed moan. If that was supposed to be funny, Nino couldn’t laugh at all. But Jun was right and Nino had to admit that if he looked like he felt, he must look horrible.

“Did you even sleep last night? How about going home, it’s almost the end of working hours anyways,” Jun simply supposed as he realized that Nino wouldn’t answer to his question.

“I don’t want to go home,” Nino sighed, ruffling through his black hair.

His friend frowned, “Hm… trouble with Sho or something?”

Nino slightly shook his head, “It’s not him…”

“What do you mean?” Jun asked concerned, putting his hand onto his friend’s arm to convince him to talk to him.

Nino slightly opened his lips but in the end he just sighed again, not able to say anything. He hesitated to tell Jun about his problem. He didn’t want to worry him and well, Jun would call him crazy anyways, that was for sure.

“It’s nothing,” Nino finally answered but it was clear that his friend didn’t believe him.

“Come on, Nino, you can't pull off such a reaction and then say it's nothing! Blind people can see that something's wrong! I'm your friend, you can tell me everything,” Jun pouted.

The other man sighed, “Alright, I'll tell you but not here and if you call me crazy from the start, I will never ever tell you anything again!” he hissed.

Jun lifted his eyebrows wondering but accepted. The two men packed their stuff and called it a day, leaving the office and Nino quickly typed a message to Sho, that he shouldn't wait for him with dinner, since he was going for some drinks with Jun. Sho sent him a sad smiley, telling him that he would miss him but wished them a nice evening and promise to warm the bed for Nino's return, followed by a winking smiley. “Pervy, I love you,” was Nino's reply, even if he was quite sure that not much would happen in bed this night either. Since his accident, or better since his apartment got haunted by someone from Sho's past, Nino had completely lost his sex drive. It was strange after all, making love while he always must be afraid of getting watched by a ghost, it was just too creepy. Until now, Nino could blame the lack of need for sex onto him still not feeling well, but he wasn't sure how long this excuse would work for Sho.

*****

After hearing Nino's story, at first, Jun thought that his friend was joking and that was why he laughed. Only, as Nino didn't join in the laughter and didn't look amused at all, he finally figured, that this was not supposed to be a joke at all.

“Wait... you're serious?” Jun chuckled but quickly lost the smile on his face when Nino just grabbed his drink to force it down in one go and ignored his friend completely.

Yes, Nino was deadly serious.

“Alright, I'm sorry that I laughed about this but it really sounds crazy, you know that, right?” the young journalist wanted to make sure.

He couldn't believe what his best friend just told him. Things moving on their own, wind blowing through the rooms when no window was open, letters appearing on the mirror out of the blue, some strange figure “haunting” Sho that looked like a former friend from college days, that was just nonsense. Nino must imagine things!

The other continued to ignore his friend and instead gestured the barkeeper that he needed refill. Jun shifted closer to Nino, trying to catch the sight of the smaller guy who just sighed as he finally looked at him again.

“I never said, that this was going to be a normal problem,” Nino murmured and took his next drink.

“It might be possible, that you... might be suffering from some after affects of your accident, don't you agree?” his friend suggested and Nino shrugged his shoulders.

“I don't know. Maybe. But by now, I doubt it.”

“Did you go to the hospital for another check?” Jun asked, “Just to make sure?”

“I was in the hospital, after I broke down when I found out about Ohno Satoshi's existence. The doctors said, I'm fine,” Nino explained, shrugging his shoulders.

“And if you... go to see a psychologist or something?” Jun carefully suggested, earning a death glare by his friend.

“I'm not crazy, I told you, I think that this is real,” he said. Well, at least, he was more scared about the possibility of getting labeled as crazy and forced into an asylum than the possibility of ghosts existing for real. Nino didn't want to get separated from Sho, not even if this would mean that he would have to share his life with a ghost from now on.

Jun didn't know what else to say and he fell silent for a few minutes, thinking about the situation.

“Go on,” Nino finally said, “If you don't believe me, I of course can't force you to do so, I know that. But please, no word to anybody about this. It's enough if my best friend thinks that I went crazy.”

The other journalist sighed, “To be honest, I don't know what to believe. I've never believed in something like ghosts but neither have you and now, you do... OK, let's say, it's possible. I think I could help you maybe.”

Nino looked at his friend surprised.

“I remember some strange guy from a small interview series in the past, Aiba or something similar. He's some kind of healer... something like a shaman or such, you know? He said something about ghosts as well back then. I didn't believe him of course but if you want to try and consult him, I can search for his business card at home,” Jun finally said and smiled at Nino.

“That would be great, thank you!” the other answered and smiled back, “At least, it's worth a try.”

*****

Back at home, when Nino arrived, slightly drunk and tired, the clock telling him that it was already some minutes after midnight, he didn't expect Sho being awake any longer but he was wrong. The light in the bedroom was still switched on and his boyfriend was reading the last few pages of his current bed time lecture. When Nino entered the room, peeling off his jeans a bit clumsily, he smiled at him and Sho put aside his book to get up and welcome Nino with a hug.

“You're late, was it fun?” he asked the other while cuddling his boyfriend, “I was waiting for you, I wanted to hug you, just like this, to kiss you...,” Sho bent down and kissed the exposed skin between Nino's neck and shoulder which caused the other to giggle, “Just like this and I wanted to do even more with you...”

“Sho,” Nino still giggled from the tickling feeling on his skin and turned around in the embrace to reach up and place a hasty kiss onto Sho's lips, “You know, that's really cute but I'm really tired and I need to get up early tomorrow for work, let's safe this for the weekend, maybe?”

But Sho didn't want to let his boyfriend escape that easily and grabbed his shoulders, “It's been so long, Nino, I need you...”

“Please, not tonight. I'm tired, let's go to sleep.”

Sho enforced the grip of his hands and leaned forward to crush his lips against Nino's, needy, rushing, and assertive. When he tried to deepen their kiss, forcing his tongue between Nino's lips, the smaller man protested and tried to move backwards to free himself. When their lips parted, Sho's grip still around his lover's arms had enforced in pressure so that it almost hurt. He stared at Nino desperately and Nino looked at him with surprised eyes. He was used to Sho being a bit rough but usually he never was without Nino's agreement. His heart started racing and honestly, he felt a bit scared...

“Sho, please, I said, I -”

“Are you cheating on me?” Sho finally blurt out.

“What!?” Nino didn't get it and froze in Sho's tight grip.

“Are you cheating on me? Do you have someone else? Don't you love me anymore?” Sho asked, starting to shake Nino as the other didn't reply, the despair painted in his face getting stronger and stronger with each question, his voice sounding panicked, “Don't tell me, it's Jun, Nino, you can't -”

Nino grabbed Sho's arms and tried to calm him down, “Stop, Sho, what the hell are you talking about?! I'm not cheating on you, I never would! How can you even think about something like that?!”

Sho took a deep breath and blushing, he dropped his look onto the floor while Nino looked at him worrying, “It's just... I know that you didn't feel well and everything, but since your accident, you're acting strange somehow and now you don't even want to -,” he finally loosened the grip around Nino and let his arms drop.

“Sho, it's not that I don't love you anymore, I'm just stressed and still not feeling that well, you know? I'm sorry, please don't misunderstand that! I would never cheat on you, you're the only one I love, you can trust me!” Nino asserted sincerely, trying to catch Sho's sight, “Sho? You get it?”

Sho looked devastated. The man then lifted his head and stared at Nino, the look on his face a mixture of despair, distrust and... anger?

“Prove it,” he said coldly, “Prove it, that you love me!”

He came closer again, pushing Nino, who was still clinging to Sho's arms, towards their bed until the younger's knees gave in and he was forced to sit down onto the soft mattress as he lost balance. Sho reached out to Nino's shoulders, grabbed them forcefully and pushed Nino down to crawl over him, bringing their faces close. He looked into his lover's eyes and even if it didn't seem like Nino had admitted his defeat, Sho couldn't resist his need any longer and crushed his lips onto Nino's again, kissing him passionately, hungrily.

Nino, totally surprised about Sho's selfish actions, still tried to fight his boyfriend, clinging onto his arms to push him back but it wasn't only the alcohol that made Nino feel weak and helpless, in fact, Sho had always been stronger than him. The younger man pressed his lips together and tried to turn his head but his boyfriend was pressing him down into the bed's mattress with his full weight so that Nino could barely move.

When Sho unlocked their lips, just to focus onto pulling off Nino's underwear, Nino could finally catch some fresh air.

“Sho, stop! Please,” he whimpered, as he finally felt Sho's hands stroking his tights before he straddled them to shift his own body in between Nino's legs, “Sho, please...”

But Sho didn't listen to Nino, he moved up his hand, grabbing Nino's slim wrists and bringing them up over Nino's head, pressing them down onto the bed with one hand then. He reached down with his free hand, pushing down his own boxer shorts and freed his already hard member, groaning. Nino's body had started to shake slightly; his heart was beating like crazy. He didn't want that but no matter how often he tried to make Sho understand, the other man just seemed to ignore him, continuing to press Nino's tights apart forcefully, bringing their lower bodies closer to each other.

Everything that Sho could think about was that he wanted to do Nino like he always did, like he loved it, like both of them loved it. He wanted to claim him as his again and again. When he entered Nino's body without much preparation, the other screamed in pain, missing the joy he would normally feel from such action and Nino was not able to adjust himself to the sensation like usual. Sho lost himself in his passionate making love to his boyfriend quickly, fast, hard, rough and didn't seem to realize at all, how much he hurt Nino, this time for real. He didn't even seem to realize the screams of pain, that left his partner's lips, or the tears that ran down from the corners of Nino's eyes. Sho just kept on, thrusting deeper, harder, bringing himself closer to the edge to finally release everything that had built up inside of him due to the long deprivation of having sex with his Nino.

“I love you,” Sho exclaimed sincerely, breathing heavily, as he came deep inside of his boyfriend, whose breath was hitching and whose body was shaking extremely, even if Sho didn't realize that it wasn't from pleasure, “You'll always be mine, no matter what.”

Nino wasn't able to answer anything, muted from the pain that shot through his body from the forceful intrusion of his boyfriend. Squinting, he tried to get some air, tried to relax his body now that everything was finally over as he felt Sho's member slipping out of his body and the brutal grip around his wrists loosening up but he still felt cramped, his body shaking like crazy and feeling weak like he never did before. The shock of this experience sat deep inside of Nino who had always trusted that his Sho would never do anything to harm him.

It seemed like just after getting down from his orgasm, Sho returned immediately to his former self, realizing what he had done as he spotted his boyfriend lying beneath him, still shaking and sobbing. The straight look in Sho's face softened again and his heart cringed as he saw what he actually did to his boyfriend. Suddenly feeling helpless, Sho released Nino completely, who immediately brought his reddened hands to his chest and curled up a little, trying to turn away from Sho.

“Nino... oh gosh...,” the man whispered and tried to touch his boyfriend again, who cringed and now looked at him with eyes widened in fear before he started sobbing again.

Desperate about what to do, Sho quickly reached for some tissues and started to slowly clean Nino who didn't fight back but again cringed at his boyfriend's touch as he was wiping away his own semen that spilled out from his lover's body, together with a bit of blood. Carefully, Sho put back on Nino's boxer shorts, tagged his wriggled up T-shirt into place and caressing Nino's face, brushing through his hair, stroking his arms carefully, Sho finally settled down behind Nino, pulling him carefully into a hug. He buried his nose at the crook of Nino's neck from behind and let one of his hands wander around to find Nino's hand. He intertwined his fingers with Nino's, who didn't react at all any longer to Sho's touches and just seemed to stare in front of him, still a few silent tears escaping his eyes.

“Nino, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened to me,” Sho whispered desperately, pressing his boyfriend closer who at least had stopped shaking finally, “I – I didn't want to hurt you, really! Please forgive me, I promise something like this won't happen ever again, I promise!”

Nino still didn't answer but his tears died out the moment he could feel Sho's hot tears of regret dropping down onto the naked skin of his neck. He took a deep breath as he had calmed down. He knew that Sho's words were sincere, that he was telling the truth or at least, he wanted to believe him from the bottom of his heart. After a few minutes of silence, Nino finally answered the pressure of Sho's fingers, clenching their hands together before both of them fell asleep a little later.

*****

The next morning at work, Nino couldn't really concentrate. He was staring at his computer's screen almost apathetically, his thoughts still stuck with the happenings from last night. It wasn't like Nino was mad at Sho because of what had happened. After all, he was sure that Sho had just been insecure and had lost self control. This was the first time that Sho had treated him roughly without permission and Nino was sure that his boyfriend would keep his promise to never let this happen again. Plus, he had apologized properly, not only yesterday night, also this morning and just a few minutes earlier via a message...

Jun with a concerned look on his face finally pulled Nino out of his thoughts and handed him the promised business card of Aiba Masaki, the spiritual healer, he had told him about the former evening. He recommended him to call there soon, since he had heard that the healer was pretty popular and busy lately. Nino did as Jun suggested and made an appointment after talking to Aiba's assistant on the phone during lunch break. Luckily, he would be able to meet the spiritual healer already in two days, since unexpectedly another client had called off so that there was a free appointment and immediately, Nino consulted his boss to get some time off for that afternoon.

Honestly spoken, when Nino arrived at the address written on Aiba Masaki's business card, he was stunned. Regarding his image of a “spiritual healer” or “something like a shaman”, like Jun had called the man, he had expected something, well, strange and crazy. He had been prepared for a dark coop filled with occult stuff from all over the world and his image of a healer had been how he imagined the head of an Indian tribe, wearing a feathered headdress, wrapped in a heavy cape and sitting in front of a crystal ball or something mystic like that. Yes, Nino had to admit, he might have been full of prejudice with this.

In fact, when he exited the taxi he had taken from the nearby train station, he found himself in front of a small but impressive traditional Japanese estate with a beautiful large stone garden. When he arrived at the entrance, a young woman, a classic Japanese beauty with almond eyes and long black hair tied up at the back of her head, dressed in a beautiful kimono, already awaited him and immediately lead him inside. The inventory of the house was simple and everything was clean. Nevertheless, the house didn't feel cold or empty; instead, it felt like a warm presence has spread everywhere, even into the farthest corners of the building. Immediately, Nino's nervousness fell from his shoulders and he felt at ease when the young woman led him into a wide room.

On their way thereto, Nino could glimpse into another room which seemed to be filled with cram full bookshelves. When the girl offered him to sit down at the low table and begged him to wait until she brought a set of tea, he thankfully nodded at her. After she left the room, Nino let his eyes wander around. The room was, as most likely most of the other rooms inside this estate as well, only simply furnished. The paper windows of the room were slid open and so Nino could look into the verdancy of the garden, filled with green bamboo and other plants. The young man could see a small pond and hear the steady sound of a typical bamboo fountain, the dump end of the short bamboo cane hitting onto stone followed by sound of water rippling into the pond and the sounds thereof got almost completely swallowed from the green surroundings. Nino took a deep breath and let the relaxing situation intrude his mind.

A door which connected the room to another door opened slowly, and a tall man with black hair, tied together in his neck and wearing a dark blue kimono entered. Nino stood up to bow in front of the man, immediately knowing that this must be the spiritual healer, Aiba Masaki. The healer mirrored Nino's gesture and then, both sat down at the table, opposite to each other, the green garden in Aiba's back rounding the picture perfectly.

“Welcome to my house, Ninomiya-san, right?” Aiba started and his face showed a friendly and warm smile which had an even more calming effect onto Nino than the beautiful surroundings already had.

“Yes, Ninomiya Kazunari. I'm pleased to meet you,” the young man answered, again lowering his head slightly.

The door behind Nino slid open again and the young woman entered with the promised tea which she placed in front of Aiba and his guest.

“Thank you, Emi-chan,” Aiba said and smiling, she left the room again.

After both of them took a first sip from their teacups, complete silence filled the room. Nino had to admit, that he didn't really know how to begin and so he was hoping for Aiba starting the conversation. Gladly, that was exactly what happened.

“You didn't tell much on the phone when you made the appointment, Emi-chan told me, but your problem sounded to be urgent,” the healer began, “It has something to do with the dead, right? You are getting haunted by someone, aren't you?”

Nino looked at the other surprised, how did he know? A second later, he remembered where he was and that most likely a lot of people consulted Aiba because of similar problems. Maybe he just made a good guess. Nevertheless, Nino was thankful for each and every tip that he could get and judging from his first impression, the spiritual healer in front of him seemed to be reliable. At least, that was what his feelings told him.

“It's someone from your partner's past and he scared you, I can see that much in your eyes.”

Nino nodded again; impressed by Aiba's knowledge of the situation even if he didn't talk about it yet. He took a deep breath and finally started to explain, “He shows up randomly in our apartment. First, he scared me directly, he even threatened me to stay away from my partner and now he's there almost every minute, watching us while sleeping or following each and every step of my partner... It's scary.”

“So it's a man? Do you know him already?” Aiba asked further.

Nino nodded, “I found out his name and that he attended the same High School like my boyfriend Sho. He even admitted that he and the guy on the picture were friends during college days but then the contact broke because Ohno – that's the name of his friend – moved away. That's everything I know.”

Aiba nodded slightly, before he continued talking, “Most likely, that Ohno died after he moved away, maybe that's why their contact broke. You don't have any idea why he could be haunting you and your partner? Usually, if people die and there is something left to do or if they have a strong bond to someone who's still living, they might not be able to move on to the next world. Something about your partner must still make him holding to our world.”

Nino shivered slightly as the thought that this ghost might have always been there ever since he died, in order to cling to Sho, popped up his mind. He brought his hand up to his lips, trying to calm himself down, “But why is he trying to keep me away from him? Why isn't he showing himself to Sho and why doesn't he talk to him?”

“Because most people can't see the dead. It's a seldom ability. For example, I'm born with it since my family ever since had this ability. And for you – something happened that made you able to see him, right?” Aiba asked.

Nino nodded, “I fell down the stairs and hit my head. After that, strange things started to happen.”

“I'm sure he has a message for your partner that he wants you to deliver or something like that. Did you try talking to him?”

“He never talks... I don't know why. I asked him who he was and instead of telling me, he caused my partner's High School graduation album to fall out from shelf, showing a page on which I could recognize him. That's how I found out his name,” Nino reported, “Before that, he wrote the thread towards me onto the fogged mirror.”

“I see, so even if he doesn't talk, he indeed tries to communicate with you. I think, you should face him once again,” the healer said and he continued talking to Nino for a while, giving him tips how he should proceed and how he could interpret the ghost's actions.

Nino learned a lot this afternoon and when he left the healer's estate, thanking him from the bottom of his heart, he was convinced that he would be able to get rid of Satoshi so that he and Sho could leave in peace again, finally.

*****

The first necessary step was, to find out more about the past and about the relationship between Sho and Satoshi. Maybe there was something hidden, that Sho didn't want him to find out, but maybe, this was exactly what held the essential hint about Satoshi's motives. Now, that Nino had a goal, he wasn't scared that much about Satoshi's presence any longer. Of course, it was still frightening to see the white blurred figure clinging to Sho, of course it was still creepy to open one's eyes in the middle of the night and to find Satoshi bent over their bad or standing in a corner, observing them, but Nino was confident, that soon, all this would be over.

He tried to talk to Sho about Satoshi once more when they were out for dinner that Sho paid for, still trying to compensate his forceful behavior from some nights ago, even if Nino already had forgiven his boyfriend. The young man tried not to touch the subject of Sho's past in a too clumsy way but as expected, Sho didn't want to talk about it by no means. Since Nino didn't know any other of Sho's friends from college or High School days either, there was no one else, he could ask either, but he tried to do some research on the internet and also asked Jun for help in the end.

After a few more days, they had found out, that a friend of Jun attended the same college as Sho and Satoshi and like this, they could find out more about the relationship between those two. It seemed, like first, they had indeed started as friends, just like Sho had told Nino already but then, their relationship developed into something serious and they became a couple. Nino felt a bit of jealousy burning in his heart but he tried to remind himself that this was unnecessary right now. He was the one having a relationship with Sho now after all, not Satoshi and as it seemed, Satoshi was already dead, anyways. The last thing, Jun's friend knew about Satoshi, was indeed, that the man moved away but then, that's it. When Nino and Jun met for drinks again one evening and brought together the information they could gather, Nino concluded, that something must have happened to Satoshi, maybe an accident or that he died off an illness and that his ghost couldn't leave this world because he was still in love with Sho. Nino also concluded, that Sho must have been brokenhearted after Satoshi moved away, that he actually knew about Satoshi's death but didn't tell him and that the painful memory was the reason that he didn't want to talk about that time in general. Again, a wave of jealousy hit Nino but he tried to gulp it down. What was left now was, to confront Satoshi and to clear the situation. Satoshi had to let go off Sho, or they would get haunted by him forever.

Of course, Nino had thought once again about talking to Sho about the whole matter with the ghost and the strange happenings but in the end he had stuck to his decision not to frighten his boyfriend and so he wanted to settle this on his own. He would protect Sho, no matter what.

First, Nino had asked Aiba for help, but the spiritual healer could only find a free appointment in three weeks. However, since Sho would be away for his business trip now, Nino figured, that he had to do it on his own. The healer had generously explained to him as much as possible during a short telephone call and Nino remembered everything in detail. It might be risky to do it without a professional, but it was worth a try, he thought. So, after Nino had accompanied Sho to the airport and drove back home with Sho's car that evening, it was finally time to put his plan into action.

The young man took a deep breath as he entered the apartment. He looked around. He was alone and it was almost dark, so he switched on the lights to brighten the apartment. He didn't know where Satoshi was, the ghost didn't show himself all the time. He would have to call the ghost to end this. Of course, Nino was pretty nervous, when he prepared everything. He went into the bedroom where he had hidden some stuff in the back of the cupboard behind a pile of T-shirts. He quickly pulled out a big white candle, a bag filled with rose quartz and a small book that he had gotten from Aiba when he had visited him. He took everything with him and went into the living room, where he knelt down and put everything in front of him. When the candle dropped out of his hand, he realized that he was shivering slightly. He closed his eyes and again, he took a deep breath to calm himself down.

“Alright, let's do it,” Nino murmured.

He grabbed the candle again to deploy it in the middle of the room. Then he took the bag and put the rose quartz out of it to form a stone circle around the white candle. He tried to remember exactly, what Aiba had told him, how this should be arranged and tried to concentrate onto his task. After that, he took a lighter from his pocket and lit the candle. It took some time until the brand new wick of the candle got on fire and since Nino was impatient, he took about three tries but then, it finally caught a huge flame which became smaller just a few seconds later. Nino stood up and switched off the lights to darken the room again.

Now, there was only the small flame of the candle and the dim light from dusk shining through the curtains from outside and silence had fallen over the scene again. Nino's heart was racing so hard that he could feel it in his throat. When he realized that he had hold his breath until now, he breathed out slowly and it was like the sound of his breath was filling the whole room. He went back towards the circles of rose quartz with the white candle in the center and slowly, he bent down again until he was kneeling in front of it, his arms put onto his tights and the small book of Aiba lying right by his side. He cleared his throat.

“Ohno Satoshi-san? Please come here, we need to talk!” Nino said in a loud and clear voice.

Nothing happened. The bright flame of the candle was flickering a little bit but nothing happened and Nino wasn't sure any longer, if he reallywanted something to happen.

“Ohno-san? Please,” Nino tried again, his eyes closed and his voice sounding a bit hoarse. He was frowning and when he dared to open his eyes again, still nothing happened.

Since waiting didn't seem to help, Nino's next step was to follow Aiba's advice and call the ghost another way. So he reached out for the small book lying next to him and trying to catch the lettering with the light the candle was sharing, he searched for the page that Aiba had told him about on the phone. Nino focused his eyes and all of the concentration he could effort right now onto the candle's flame in the middle of the circle out of rose quartz, the spot on which he wished the ghost to appear.

After taking another deep breath, he read out, “I'm begging for salvation. I'm begging for answers. I wish to solve this situation and bring it to the best solution for all people involved,” Nino spoke slowly, a small pause after each sentence, his voice shaking a bit but only a bit, “Ghost of the late Ohno Satoshi-san, please show yourself here in front of me. Please show yourself and give me some time to talk about my concern to you. I will be grateful,” he closed his eyes, “Now, I will count until three and open my eyes to see you. One...,” his heartbeat raised again, “Two...,” his throat finally became dry, “Three.”

Nino snapped his eyes open and immediately focused onto the white candle's bright light. He waited for a few seconds. His breath was hitching, his heart lying on his tongue and his ears were sharp, ready to catch the slightest noise.

Still, nothing happened...

Frustrated, Nino sighed but then, suddenly, it was like Nino felt a cold breathe blowing through the room. Cold air hit Nino's cheeks and ruffled through his hair and he squinted. The sensation was gone as quickly as it had appeared and when Nino slowly opened his eyes again, clenching the small book in his hands, he finally had appeared. Nino pulled in the air sharply and his breath almost got stuck in his throat when he took in the sight of the ghost in front of him.

Right there, only one step behind the big white candle, there was he – Ohno Satoshi's ghost. Like always, he showed the appearance of a young man, his body and face pale, see-through, the outlines of his appearance glowing in blurred white, flickering.

“Please, listen to me,” Nino finally started, trying hard not to stumble over his own words, “I know who you are. You are Ohno Satoshi and you used to be Sho's friend and lover, right? I know that you don't seem willing to talk so if you understand me, please just nod or shake your head.”

First, nothing happened but Nino was patient and kept on waiting. Finally, Satoshi slowly nodded his head and Nino gulped.

“I know that you loved Sho and I'm sure that Sho loved you as well. He doesn't talk about you but I think that is not because he forgot you but because he wants to hold his memory of you dear. I saw the picture of the two of you and I'm convinced that you had a great time...,” bitterly Nino wondered, if Sho was as happy with him as well, “I want to thank you for the time that you spent with him, making him happy.”

Nino bowed slightly and focused his eyes onto the white figure again, who just stood there without moving an inch, listening.

“But now, I am the one in Sho's life. I swear, I love him from the bottom of my heart and I will do everything to make him happy. I'm not your rival, I'm your successor, so if you love Sho, you should understand that and be happy for him,” Nino wasn't sure if he was imagining it but suddenly, it looked like Satoshi's face has darkened.

“I beg you to leave this place and to go where you belong to,” the young man continued, his head lowered, squinting, “This world is meant for the living. You can't make him happy any longer and if you keep on haunting us, we will become unhappy, you understand that, right?” the young man asked, almost pleading.

When he lifted his head again, Satoshi was still standing there but seemed to examine the begging man in front of him closely with a serious look. He started shaking his head without leaving Nino with his eyes and Nino's heart sunk into his stomach. The ghost's white glowing outlines started flickering stronger and Satoshi's face turned into an angry, disgusting grimace. Wind suddenly arose again and the floor started shaking so Nino surprised clenched his hands down on the floor. Staring at Satoshi, he realized that the ghost had opened his mouth. Like crazy, Satoshi seemed to gesture with his hands and it seemed like he was shouting something, yelling at him furiously maybe but everything that Nino could hear was the wind rustling through the room and making the furniture shaking.

Nino remembered Aiba's advice and yelling, he repeated his pleading, to the furious ghost, “Please, you have to go now! Sho is mine now and I will not let you have him, no matter what. I promise to take good care of him, really. That's all that I can do for him and all that I can do for you so please, please let me take care of him and go get find your peace!”

The ghost lifted his head, let it drop into his nape and he lifted his hands at his side as if he wanted to pray for something and then the wind circled around the ghost's body tighter, becoming stronger and stronger. The furniture in the living room was shaking stronger, papers got blown everywhere and some stuff standing in the shelves made clinging noises from the movement or fell over. The light of the candle had long got blown out and the room has darkened even more, the light from dusk almost gone.

Still, Nino could see Satoshi's white silhouettes in the center of the wind, which suddenly began to glow more and more intense. The ghost's blurred body transformed into a bundle of dazzling white light that almost blinded Nino's eyes, who instinctively lifted his arms to cover his face. The room was shaking stronger and stronger and Nino wasn't able to move or hide and so he just tried to protect himself from the stuff that was still getting ripped out of the bookshelves. The light in the middle of the room that had drawn the heavy wind around itself like a tornado seemed to explode, accompanied by a high pitched, shrieking noise, Nino couldn't connect with anything. The whole room was suddenly filled with white and air blasts shot from the center of the room into each and every corners creating even more chaos and dashing Nino backwards against the wall where he hit his head and passed out...

It took Nino only a few to wake up again and when he opened his eyes, growling at the pain he felt at the back of his head, the room had fallen dark and silent again. The young man confused lifted his head, some strands of his disheveled hair blocking his sight but he wouldn't have been able to see anything in the pitch black dark anyways. Slowly, he tried to stand up and stumbled forwards, searching for the light switch to turn on the lights. He almost tripped over some stuff lying on the floor and cringed in surprise but then he finally found what he was searching for and switched on the lights.

The living room lightened up again and Nino was shocked about the mess in the apartment. The candle had been hit down and had spread white liquid wax everywhere that had already hardened again, the rose quartz had been thrown through the room, papers from the desk on which Nino and Sho used to work sometimes had been spread all over the room and some of the stuff that had fallen from the shelves was broken.

Nino sighed but then, after the shock followed realization.

The realization, that Satoshi was gone.

*****

Indeed, Satoshi's ghost seemed to have disappeared completely and it was like he had never been haunting Nino and Sho's apartment in first place. No strange things were happening any longer, the electricity behaved normal again. After Nino had cleaned up the living room and spent another night without sleep, just to make sure, that the ghost would not show up again, he finally drifted off to his dreams when the first birds in the morning began to sing their songs and the first sun rays tickled the green leaves of the trees in front of the bedroom window. Thank God, it was Sunday and so, Nino didn't have to pay attention about time and could sleep as long and as much as he wanted to. For the first time after so long, he was finally able to sleep again; feeling safe and sound.

When Nino woke up again, it was like he could see the world in a completely different light again. Even if he was still a bit sensitive to strange noises, during the next three days he learned to calm down again completely, he got healthy portions of sleep again and his mind found peace. Nino was finally able to concentrate onto work again, much to Jun's appreciation and Nino was relieved to find his desire for Sho and for getting into sexual contact with him coming back almost immediately.

Talking about Sho, Nino couldn't wait for his return. Even, if the two of them texted each other and spoke on the phone every day, Nino missed him and for Sho it was the same. Jun had already started to make fun of both of them again, teasing Nino that he couldn't even survive one week without his boyfriend. Fortunately, Sho's business trip was over soon and on the day of Sho's return, Nino took his boyfriend's car again to pick him up.

Impatiently waiting for him at the gate, he searched for Sho until he spotted him in the middle of the crowd, immediately recognizing Nino and lifting his hand to waive at him excitedly. Nino blushed and even if he was a bit embarrassed to do so that openly, he mirrored Sho's gesture and when his boyfriend came running to hug him, he had a hard time not to crash down onto the floor.

“Sho!” the young man giggled, his slim body getting embraced so tight that he almost lost his breath.

“I missed you so much, Nino!” Sho said and after loosening his grip around his boyfriend, he cupped his face with both hands, bringing their lips together.

Nino didn't care any longer that people were staring at them whispering, he just closed his eyes and concentrated onto feeling Sho's warm plum lips. He settled his hands around Sho's waist and pressed him close, making them feel complete again. As the two of them broke their kiss to get some fresh air again, Nino smiled widely and Sho leaned his forehead against Nino's.

“I missed you too,” Nino said, brushing his fingers over Sho's cheeks. He was so happy to see the other again, to feel him again and since all of the sorrow he had felt the last time because of Satoshi haunting them was gone, he could fully concentrate onto Sho and his feelings for him again.

“I can't wait to get home,” Sho grinned and Nino chuckled, immediately knowing his boyfriend's thoughts.

At home, the two mean lost half of their clothes already in the hallway and they barely made it into the living room, touching each other, kissing each other passionately, Nino clinging to Sho, who carried his boyfriend to the edge of their bed, dropping him and causing him to laugh when he covered him to bite his neck playfully, leaving his traces of possession all over his lover's body.

“You look so good today, something happened?” Sho asked between countless kisses.

“What, that sounds like I don't look good usually,” Nino protested jokingly, causing Sho to chuckle.

“You know what I mean!”

Nino grinned and bit Sho's earlobe before he explained, “My headaches are gone and I recovered completely, finally.”

Sho smirked against Nino's neck, tickling him with the slight brushing of his lips, “Those are good news, I'm happy you're feeling better, I was worried about you.”

“Now that you are back, there's nothing left to worry, everything is perfect,” Nino answered and then the two made love to each other, loving and passionately, all night long.

*****

The next morning, Sho suggested that he and Nino should go spend the upcoming weekend up in the mountains in a hut, a small holiday residence of his parents. Nino has never been there and it has been ages since he had been on holidays somewhere, so he was happy to agree with Sho's plan.

Nino didn't interpret the flat Sho's car had on the highway on Friday afternoon as a bad sign, maybe he should have. Like this, after a little delay because they had to change the defect wheel, the couple arrived already in the dark at the mountain hut. Nino didn't even wonder about the defect electricity there at first, assuming that the hut had been empty for a while since his boyfriend told him, that his parents lately preferred holidays at the beach or overseas instead of coming here.

The first night was quiet; Nino slept, curled up to Sho as usual, pretty well and only woke up at night once because the window was still open (or did Sho open it after Nino fell asleep?) and it had turned pretty cold inside of the hut.

The next day, Nino had caught a light cold and it seemed like it got worse, the later it got. First, he and Sho had chatted for some time, about whatever came to their minds. They played a bit cards and then they just continued cuddling on the couch, Sho making sure, that Nino was wrapped up into a warm blanket. I the afternoon, even if he wanted to join Sho going outside to cut some wood for the fireplace in the living room, Sho had ordered Nino to stay inside, covered in his blanket, with a cup of hot tea in his hands. Even if this should make him feel safe and spoiled by his boyfriend, somehow Nino felt like something was wrong. He couldn't really tell where this feeling was coming from, though. The silence of the mountains suddenly made him feel unease. There was no television set in the hut, no radio or anything that he could turn on and he didn't bring his mp3 player either. The only sound he could hear was the whistling of the trees when the wind and the cold, echoing sound of Sho's ax breaking through some trunks... chop... chop... chop....

When suddenly Nino's cell phone rang, the young man almost spilled his tea as he cringed in shock. He didn't expect any calls and he had almost thought that up here in the mountains his phone wouldn't get any connection anyways, so this caught him in surprise. When he put the cup of tea onto the wooden table in front of the couch, he pulled out his phone from his pants' pocket and surprised found Jun's name blinking on the screen.

“Ah, Nino? Sorry for disturbing your lovey-dovey weekend. How is it, up there in the mountains?” the young man heard his best friend's voice.

“Jun, what's the matter?” he asked, happy to hear him.

”Well, I know you told me that everything is over now, right? With the ghost and stuff,” Jun began, ”but I found out something more about that Ohno Satoshi and I thought, you would be interested.”

Nino sat up straight; of course, he was interested, even if the matter was settled. If he could learn something about Sho's past, everything was fine, “I'm all ears.”

”You know that Ohno moved away at one point, right?” the young journalist started.

“Yeah. That must have been after college graduation, right? That's what your friend told,” Nino summarized.

”Exactly!”, his friend agreed, ”It seems like Ohno and Sho broke up because Ohno wanted to move somewhere else, seemed to have something to do with a job offer. Anyways, an acquaintance of my friend happened to know that Ohno died in an accident during some vacation in the mountains on a hiking trip and that his body was never found. Somehow I had to think about your vacation -”

“Vacation in the mountains?” Nino repeated in a low voice.

”I am not sure if it is related, but assuming that it would be possible that actually Sho and Ohno spent a joined holiday together at maybe the same hut you're staying right now - let's say as a last holiday as a couple or something - and that Ohno could have met an accident during hiking... must have been pretty hard for Sho, right? I think, I would understand why he never talked about his ex.”

Nino gulped, “Yeah...,” he said, his thoughts already spacing out.

”Oh, and just because you told me that the ghost never spoke to you, I found out that Satoshi was actually unable to speak from birth. Maybe that's why?”

“Oh,” Nino said and remembered Satoshi trying to tell him something but never using words, “Well, that would make sense...”

*****

Nino didn't want to think about Satoshi any longer, the problem was solved, but somehow he couldn't stop after Jun's phone call now. Something of this story just didn't make sense but he didn't know what exactly it was, that was bugging him. Nino wanted to get up and look after Sho, since dawn was already approaching and as he turned around, he almost suffered from a heart attack.

“Ohfuck, what are you doing here?!” the young man hissed, clenching at his heart that had stopped beating for a moment.

There he was again. Satoshi's ghost. Standing right in front of him, the blurred figures of his pale face seriously staring at Nino. He didn't answer. Of course not. He wasn't able too. At least, Nino now knew why the ghost never talked to him and why he wouldn't talk to him now either but this didn't make things any easier.

“Please, I told you that you can't have Sho any longer, why don't you just leave us in peace?”

Of course there was still no answer but Satoshi moved his head, his eyes seemingly looking upwards and then he looked at Nino again, lifting one of his hands, pointing upwards. Confused, Nino frowned. What did Satoshi want to tell him this time? He didn't get it... He looked upwards, wondering for a while, until the realized what the ghost might have actually meant. Nino looked down again, just to find Satoshi disappeared again. He quickly looked around but the white figure was nowhere around.

Nino hurriedly run towards the stairs, climbing up to the second floor of the small hut and just as expected, there he saw the ghost again, staying in the middle of the corridor, looking at Nino and pointing towards a door – the bedroom door. Dashing towards the door, Nino burst it open and immediately switched on the lights. The lamp at the ceiling flickered a bit and Nino waited for some seconds but then the light went on properly.

Again, he spotted Satoshi again; the ghost had appeared in front of the cupboard and looked at it. Nino pulled himself together and went towards the cupboard, ripping it open. When he finally reached it, the board at the bottom slightly vibrated again and Nino cringed. Slowly, he reached out to put it away and he was surprised to find something like a hidden floor, revealing a flat box. Nino put out the box from the cupboard and placed it in front of him. He turned around. Satoshi was gone. Getting back to the box, Nino took a deep breath, looking at it, before he was ready to actually open it.

Nino slowly took out some stuff, looking it through. He found a bunch of photos inside of the box, all of them showing Sho and Satoshi together as a couple. There were also some envelops, Sho's name written on them and a pocket calendar. Nino wondered. The envelops turned out to contain letters from Satoshi and Nino started flying over each and every single one of it. They told about Satoshi's dream about becoming a successful artist, the dream of living happily together with Sho forever. Then, the newer the letters became, the more Satoshi had written about one specific dream... namely, to study art in New York, Paris, wherever his heart would guide him and in the last letter, Nino found Satoshi's neatly handwriting telling Sho, that he had come to the conclusion, that it would be better to break up so that both of them could fully devote themselves to achieve their goals... Nino frowned. So it had been Satoshi who broke up?

He then picked up the pocket calendar. Nino finally picked it up and flipped through it. It was a calendar from some years ago, a time when he didn't know Sho yet. It was filled with Sho's handwriting and in his typical way, Sho had filled the pages of the calendar accurately, all of his plans and appointments filed into it. Deadlines for tests at university, appointments for job interviews and also some appointments that were reserved just for meeting Satoshi, at the park, the library, Satoshi's atelier or somewhere else. Nino finally reached the dates that came closer to the date of Satoshi's last letter. In fact, just a few days after the last letter's date, there was scheduled a “Weekend in the mountains with Satoshi” and in the right down corner, just so small that Nino had to squint and to bring the calendar closer to his face to read it, there was something written in the schedule that made the blood in Nino's body freeze...

Staring at the small letters, Nino blinked a few times, trying to process the information. It was as if his brain refused to connect the right meaning with the letters written onto the paper but in the end, he just couldn't pretend to not understand what was written there. Still, he was shocked.

“No way...,” he whispered voicelessly, his throat feeling completely dry.

Nino's heartbeat started to increase and it was beating so hard in his chest, that he could feel it inside of his ears, inside of his throat. It felt like his chest was ready to burst any second and Nino had a hard time to breathe. Then finally, when he realized that something was wrong, he just hold his breath and sharpened his ears.

Wasn't it too silent suddenly? Really silent?

It was too late, when Nino could name which exactly was the sound that he has been missing the last few minutes – the chopping sound of Sho, cutting wood with his ax...

“Nino?”

The young man froze as he heard his lover's voice behind him. He turned around slowly and his eyes immediately fell onto the ax, Sho was dragging with him in one of his hands. Nino dropped the calendar he had still been holding in his hands, and jumped up quickly. He stared at Sho, his eyes widened, who came closer, bent down and picked up the calendar, throwing it onto the bed after looking at it for a second, spotting his own handwriting in the low corner, reading “Kill Satoshi”...

“So you were really sneaky enough to find out everything?” Sho asked, his look darkening.

Nino stared at his obviously angry boyfriend, not able to speak or move.

The taller man sighed and brushed his hands through his hair, “See, Nino,” he started, his voice swelling until the yelled at the other, “That's why I didn't want you to know about my past!”

“So it's true?!” Nino burst, his voice cracking.

“You know... I had to do it, he wanted to leave me,” Sho said, tilting his head and shifting closer towards his boyfriend, while Nino who could spot craziness in Sho's eyes, went a step backwards until he stood pressed against a wall, “It couldn't be helped...”

The man came even closer until he stood right in front of his boyfriend. Nino could already feel Sho's hot breath against his cheeks. His heart was racing from sheer fear of this man in front of him.

“The body was never found, right? What happened?” Nino asked after a few seconds of silence, he just had to know...

Sho put his free arm around Nino who stiffened under the touch of the taller man. He bent down and kissed the nape of his lover's neck, just like the other loved it so much but this time, it didn't excite Nino in a sensual way, and it just gave him the creeps.

Putting his lips right next to Nino's ears, Sho whispered, “You really want to know?”

His body still stiff, Nino didn't even manage to nod.

Sho continued whispering, “After I pushed him down the hill, I climbed after him to bring him up again. It took me so long, that he was already cold when I laid him onto the grass... He looked so beautiful, his skin paler than usual... not even the cuts and bruises on his face made him less beautiful. Then I realized what I did and that he was really gone forever... His heart tasted like something I never tasted before, it was unbelievable and then, I buried his body right behind the hut.”

Nino widened his eyes in horror and he felt his stomach turning upside down as he heard Sho's words. This couldn't be true... He wanted to break free from this too tight embrace, wanted to push Sho away, wanted to empty his stomach, but he couldn't move.

“No, Sho, no,” Nino's voice cracked, tears were forming in his eyes from the shock.

“You know, why I did that, Nino?” Sho asked, taking a step forward and brushing his hand over Nino's soft cheeks, catching some teardrops, “Like this the person I loved would stay with me forever as a part of me.”

Nino didn't dare to say anything; he gave up before he even started.

“I love you Nino. Now, you are the person that I love the most in this world, so can't we just forget about Satoshi? It's in the past,” Sho said, a slightly hysterical laughter mixing in his question and Nino could hear the sound of the ax that Sho was still dragging sliding over the floor.

“You will never leave me, right Nino?”

The End