Poston

Chapter four : Awkward Confessions

After a few weeks and a few extra men to help build, the elementary school for Poston I was finally finished in the space next to blocks nineteen and thirty. It was going to be the school for all the elementary aged children in Poston I, and a high school was being built in the large area next to blocks twenty nine and thirty six. As a show of support, Jun and Sho had everyone in their barrack as well as Nino's go with the three children to show them off to their first day of school. Samantha and Charlie were beaming brightly, finally happy that they were able to go back to school. Yuki, on the other hand, hid behind her father for at least ten minutes as he reassured her that school was nothing to be afraid about. "Besides," Sho told his nervous daughter as she clung to his pants. "You'll have Mr. Matsumoto as your teacher with Samantha and Charlie. You'll be fine. What could possibly be scary about that?"

"I wouldn't want him as a teacher either," Nino mumbled, earning a glare from the man in question.

Next thing Nino knew, it was already late October. When he counted, he found that they had been at camp already for almost three months. It didn't seem like that long, but with everyone trying to make life as normal as possible, Nino could believe that time did fly.

And it had been a month since he started having his dreams about Satoshi. They never went away, but they were all the same. It had Satoshi and Nino standing out in the middle of nowhere just holding each other. They were nice dreams, and sometimes Nino even caught himself wishing they were true.

But he knew they couldn't be. Satoshi would be disgusted if I told him about my dreams, Nino thought constantly. It would just push him away. He won't like me the way I'm beginning to like him. He'll never look at me like a person ever again.

However, a week later, Nino's mind was almost plagued with anything but thoughts of his one-sided love.

"Kazu! Wake up!" Natsumi said shaking her brother awake.

Nino flinched and clutched his blanket closer to him. "Go away," he shivered.

"Don't tell me you're cold," she continued pulling the blanket away from him. "It's not even cold outside. Now c'mon and get dressed so that we can go eat."

Nino couldn't see why his sister claimed it wasn't cold. He was freezing! But he got up and got dressed like an obedient child and walked to breakfast with everyone.

"Are you okay?" Satoshi whispered to Nino on the way to the mess hall.

Nino shook his head. "I'm freezing," he said.

Satoshi placed a gentle hand on Nino's forehead, making Nino both shiver and blush from the contact. "You're really warm," Satoshi answered. "Maybe I should take you back to the barrack?"

Nino frantically shook his head. "No!" he exclaimed. "I'm fine. I just have to eat something and I'll be okay."

However, he was not okay. In fact, the simple breakfast of milk and oatmeal just made Nino feel ten times worse. All he had was two bites of food he felt like he could have coughed it all up. When he couldn't take it anymore, he stood up. "I have to go," he announced to the table before he stumbled out of the mess hall and started walking back to the barrack.

Something was wrong, but Nino didn't know what. He felt like his head was ready to split in two, and the longer he walked the more his stomach felt like it was on fire. Nino had to stop walking for a minute, but nothing went away. He then found himself sink to his knees and holding his stomach as he felt like he was going to be sick.

He was suddenly aware of a warm hand rubbing his back in gentle circles. "Nino, what's wrong?"

"My head," Nino cried as he felt himself tear up from the pain. "God, and my stomach!" It was then that the contents of his stomach finally came up all over the dirt of the barrack next to him. After he was sure he was empty, Nino could only take deep breaths. He didn't feel any better than he did before. In fact, he felt worse.

"I'm taking you to the hospital," the voice next to him said. Nino felt a pair of arms wrap around him and he was aware that he was being carried as he moved faster than he had been before. Then he looked up and saw a scared Satoshi holding him close before he closed his eyes and moved closer into the man's embrace.

--

The next time Nino opened his eyes again, he was inside a barrack on a soft bed and covered in a white sheet. He looked over next to him and saw that there were multiple beds around him, all with others in the beds looking sick or asleep.

"Are you awake Kazu?"

Nino looked back on the other side of his bed and saw his sister sewing next to him. She looked up and smiled at him. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Tired," Nino replied. "Where am I?"

"In the hospital," Natsumi answered. "Ohno-san followed you out of the mess hall and found you close to dying, so he brought you here. The army doctor said you have dysentery, so every couple of hours he's been forcing medicine down your throat. You've been kinda out of it for three days."

"Three days?" Nino's eyes widened as he thought about it. Three days in the hospital? That meant three days without sleeping in his own bed, three days Masaki has had to cook for everyone by himself, and three days he hasn't been able to work or see Satoshi. "I really must have been dying to not remember anything."

"You were," Natsumi agreed. "But you've gotten better. Your actually conscious now, and stuff isn't coming out of both ends of you anymore so I would say that's progress."

Carefully, Nino moved to sit up as his sister moved the pillow so he could lean back on it. "I've been sick for three days?" he asked shocked.

"Mhm," his sister said, cutting the string of the thing she was sewing. "Mama's been worried sick about you, and Ohno-san refused to leave your side for the first day to make sure you weren't going to die."

"Satoshi?" Nino looked up at her to make sure he didn't hear wrong. It made him somewhat touched that the man would stay with him like that. "Satoshi was here?"

Natsumi dropped her hands onto her lap and looked at him. "Yes. Satoshi. He's been absolutely worried sick about you! He's been in a daze for the past two days worried that you're going to die! He's afraid he didn't get you here in time, and because of his stubborn worry he's barely eaten since you've been here. And it hasn't helped that Jun got here yesterday with the same thing you have. He's more scared than Mama!"

"Jun's sick too?"

"Yeah, both Jun and Charles. They're thinking some sort of bacteria in the chicken caused it. Lots of people are getting sick from either dysentery or salmonella. Thank goodness the army doctors here know what they're doing." Natsumi looked up past Nino and smiled. "Looks like you have a visitor."

Nino looked up at where his sister was looking and felt his heart jump.

"Nino!" Satoshi smiled as he approached the bed. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"

Nino felt a shiver go down his spine, but he nodded. "I feel better, thank you."

Natsumi stood up. "Well," she said. "I'll go tell Mama you're not going to die and I'll see you both later."

After she left, the two men sat there in an awkward silence for a minute before Satoshi took her seat. "I'm glad you feel better," he said holding his head down. "I-I was nervous. I found you and I thought you were going to die. You looked so sick and pale. Then you got worse when you were here. It really scared me."

"Thank you for being so concerned about me," Nino responded. "You didn't have to stay like you did. It meant a lot that you did, though."

Satoshi nodded before finally looking up at him. "I was worried about you. I wanted to stay longer, but the doctors kicked me out for a while."

Nino chuckled a bit. He could really see doctors pulling and forcing the strong man out as he kicked and screamed. "Thank you," he said again.

"Nino," Satoshi sat up a little bit straighter, as if he was gaining some courage he didn't have before. "I have to tell you something."

Nino felt his heart begin to beat harder than it had before. He clutched the blanket under him, bracing for whatever it was Satoshi had to say. Can it be...?

But then he watched as Satoshi's newfound confident dissipated slowly. And as his courage went away, so did Nino's hope. "I...I wanted to tell you that Jun's sick too," Satoshi said. "He's getting better too, and the doctors are getting rid of the source of the illness."

The younger man felt his eyes start to water a little bit. "That's good," he said. Of course, Nino thought. Of course he wasn't going to say that. How could I be so stupid? "Hopefully no one else gets sick."

"Yeah," Satoshi nodded. Then, just as quickly as he arrived, he stood up. "I better go. Mama wanted my help. I-I guess I'll see you soon."

Nino only smiled, hiding his disappointment. "Yeah," he said. "I'll see you soon."

It wasn't until Satoshi was safely out the door that Nino allowed his tears that he had been holding back to fall freely.

--

That night, Nino wished that his brief insomnia had lasted a little while longer. After he tried eating, his food just came right back up into a tin bucket right by his bed. Than an hour later, the diarrhea came back. Even though he was given medicine, the cramps still remained and Nino felt like he was dying. His head felt like splitting, and no matter what he took the fatigue always remained. Nino felt so miserable that for a split second he even considered selling what was left of his soul just to get better.

It was amazing how he was able to get to sleep, but he did. The next day, the medicine finally began working and Nino felt a lot better. The diarrhea and the vomiting disappeared, and the cramps were beginning to go away as well. After another couple of days in the hospital, Nino felt good enough to finally leave and go back home to his own barrack.

"How are you feeling?" Jun asked when Nino ran into him when he was walking back.

"Better," Nino answered. "How about you? You had dysentery as well, right?"

Jun nodded. "Yeah, but I didn't have it as bad. Charlie was flat miserable, but he pulled through. I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Same to you," Nino said.

Looking back at him, Jun bit his lip. "Ne, Nino, can I ask you something?" When Nino nodded, he hesitated. "Well... it's about Satoshi."

Nino felt his heart jump again. He honestly had forgotten about Satoshi over the past couple of days. "Yeah? Did something bad happen?"

"Oh, no!" Jun explained. "Nothing like that. It's just... well, me and Masaki couldn't help but notice the way you two have been acting around each other. I was just wondering if there was anything going on between you two or not."

"Is it really obvious?" Nino sighed. "No, nothing is going on between us."

"Eh, that's too bad," the younger man said.

"He'd be disgusted with me if he knew how I felt."

To Nino's surprise, Jun laughed. "Seriously?" he asked. "You know that Satoshi is gay, right?"

Nino stopped cold in his steps and looked at the younger man. "What?"

"Yeah. He told you about not going to prom, right? That was why. He would rather be miserable at home than fake being in a relationship with a girl. Of course, Uncle Shiro was mad that he didn't go. In fact, Satoshi is so scared of his father that he's so terrified to even talk to him about anything."

"Why is he scared of his father?"

"Beats me. That's something you'll have to ask," Jun smirked. "After you confess, of course."

Nino laughed nervously. "Yeah, whatever."

After that conversation, however, Nino watched Satoshi more often then he thought he was before. Satoshi, though, blushed every time he found he was being watched, and it made Nino think of how adorable the older man really was. It was like he was nervous to see people, especially Nino, watching him. Nino also caught himself smiling more at Satoshi and tried becoming more of his friend than a love interest.

Nino knew he would never have the guts to really tell Satoshi how he felt. He was too big of a coward to do that sort of thing.
Before anyone knew it, it was late November, and one day Mrs. Ohno got up and smiled, beaming from ear to ear. "Do you know what day it is today, Satoshi?"

Satoshi only rolled over on his futon as he tried to wake up. "A cold Friday?"

"Today is your birthday!" Mrs. Ohno smiled.

This got everyone's attention, especially the man in question. "What?" Satoshi asked sitting straight up to look at his mother.

"Happy twenty-sixth birthday, my son!" Mrs. Ohno exclaimed hugging her son. Then, Ayumi soon joined in on the happy occasion and glomped her brother as well. Satoshi just looked shell-shocked.

Nino froze as he watched the scene, feeling guilty that he hadn't gotten the man anything.

Although, Nino reasoned with himself, they lived in the middle of a desert in an internment camp with shops barely opening. He couldn't feel too bad.

That day, everyone wished Satoshi a happy birthday, and then as his sister dragged him somewhere, Nino found himself trying to decorate the barrack for a small birthday party for him.

"I don't see the point in this," Nino complained as he helped Natsumi hang up a small banner saying 'Happy Birthday!' on it.

"Grant his mother this one happy moment!" Natsumi snapped. "God, you are so pessimistic."

"I'd rather be pessimistic than you."

After the barrack was decorated in the banner and small gifts, everyone in Barrack 6D came over to celebrate. When Satoshi came back, Nino could see how badly he was faking his smile. He didn't want all of this trouble. Nino could understand that completely.

After about an hour or so of perfect happiness with the children giving gifts and everybody sitting around and talking to each other, Masaki approached his cousin.

"It's a nice party" Masaki whispered to him.

"It is," Nino whispered back. "Too bad we're being held prisoner."

"How are you feeling?" Masaki asked.

"Not good. My head hurts." Setting down his cup, Nino walked away with a splitting migraine. "I'm leaving."

He didn't get far. Nino just found himself sitting on the steps outside of the barrack listening to everyone laughing and having a good time. Five minutes later, he felt another presence set themselves next to him, and when Nino looked he only frowned. "Shouldn't you be inside enjoying your party?"

Satoshi shrugged. "I didn't want a party," he replied. "This was for my mother's sake, not mine."

Nino hummed as he nodded. "So did you get anything you wanted for your birthday?"

"I didn't get what I wanted the most," the older man answered.

"And what's that?"

Nino looked over and found Satoshi staring at him. Then, before any of them could say a word, Nino felt a soft pair of lips land on his.

Nino's heart jumped and he jumped slightly. Satoshi pulled away immediately. Nino could see a hint of fear and regret enter his eyes, and that scared Nino more than anything. Before his brain could say otherwise, Nino leaned forward and captured the older man's lips on his. He closed his eyes and gently kissed him before Satoshi began to react and kiss him back. It was like heaven to Nino. It was wet and a little sloppy, but it was sweet and tender.

Then, as soon as the kiss began, it was over. Both men pulled away and looked at each other, not sure what to say or react. Nino's head felt lighter than ever, and he was the first to feel his ears turn red and he hid his hand in the palm of his hand, embarrassed slightly.

"I'm sorry."

Nino's head snapped back to look at Satoshi, who had a hurt look on his face. "What the fuck for?" Nino asked. "Did you mean that first kiss or not?" When Satoshi didn't answer, it got Nino even more upset. "I meant it, but if you just wanted the experience of having a kiss on your birthday, then congratulations. You got it. If you didn't mean it then—"

"I did mean it!" Satoshi snapped, making Nino stop. "I meant everything. Every touch, every word, every action I've done I've meant it. But I was so terrified of telling you how I felt that I just made myself stop. I was terrified of kissing you, but you asked what I wanted."

Nino could only stare back at him. Satoshi... he did like him back? Jun and Masaki weren't just making it up? Before he could control himself, Nino's hand found it behind Satoshi's nape and he kissed him again, making Satoshi gasp in surprise before he knew what was going on to continue. After a few seconds, Nino let him go and laughed. "We were both fools, weren't we?"

Satoshi beamed and laughed. "Yeah, we were—" Then, Satoshi froze and his face dropped to a terrified expression. Nino looked behind him and saw a man standing a few yards away, dressed in a nice suit and tie. He could feel Satoshi start to tremble slightly underneath him.

"Satoshi," the older man said, an angry scowl on his face as he looked at Satoshi. If looks could kill, Nino thought, we'd both be dead. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Satoshi only gulped. "P-papa," he quivered. "Y-you're back."

Nino felt as if his eyes could fall out. Papa?! he thought as he looked back at Satoshi. Then it sunk in, and Jun's words came rushing back to him as he looked back at the stranger.

Oh shit.