How Thieves Are Decided - Nino&Sho

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How Thieves Are Decided
Ninomiya Kazunari&Sakurai Sho
tinyangl, 544 words
Prompt: nino & sho, once a thief from sinonymity. Written here originally.


"So Maki found the books, or rather, the lack thereof."

Nino blinks slowly, waking himself up from a nap he'd been happily taking. "Great?" Nino says during a particularly large yawn.

Sho sits down on the grass beside the boulder Nino had been using as a bed. "I'm just warning you since it means she'll come after you soon."

"Why would she do that?" Nino asks, yawning again. He sits up, sure that Sho sitting down means Nino won't be getting anymore sleep, at least not anytime soon.

"You know how much Maki values her books, all the hundreds and thousands of them. She won't forgive it away like she does your other pranks." Sho looks over at Nino and annoyingly enough, the sun shines directly behind him, making Sho glow like the Sun God he is.

Nino looks away with a scoff. "I know Maki better than to take all her books. I would just skip straight to avoiding her for a century before enduring whatever punishment she's come up with."

Sho's eyebrows furrow. "So you didn't steal Maki's books?"

"Why would I do something so idiotic?"

"Well..." Sho pointedly looks away into the horizon. "I mean, you have done dumber things."

"I was younger then!"

"I'm fairly certain that in the past century you took Cerberus from Shota and placed him at Meisa's door to see if she'd tame him."

"That was not idiotic," Nino says as straight as he can, although the hint of a smirk betrays his amusement. "That was a very important question that I'm sure all Olympusyama was looking for clarity on."

"My mistake then," Sho says drily.

Nino pauses before asking. "Did someone really take all of Maki's books?"

"Every one."

"Even the ones she keeps hidden in her night table for light reading?"

Sho raises an eyebrow. "How—" he starts, but shakes his head. "Yes, at least that's what Meisa said when she told me about it. She also added a 'Tell that rat Ninomiya that he is dead meat."

Nino feels his face redden. He wasn't worried too much about Maki, sure that she would believe that he wasn't dumb enough to take all her books, nor would he go through all the trouble. But he had forgotten that Meisa was less inclined to believe his innocence and more likely to just shoot him with an arrow, even if he proved to be innocent. "Do—do they all think I did it?"

Sho snorts. "Nino, there is no question in their minds that you didn't do it."

Nino frowns. "How rude. I've been doing better."

"You stole my entire flock!"

"That was when I was a child, are you ever gonna get over it?"

"Nope."

They sit in silence, staring out into the distance. Nino is the first to break it. "Would it be a good idea to hide?"

"Is there anywhere you could hide?"

Nino hangs his head with a sigh. "No." He opens his mouth but Sho quickly says, "Nope."

"But I'm innocent." Sho snorts, disbelieving to which Nino sighs. "Guess I'll just have to hope Maki does believe me."

"Unlikely."

Nino falls back onto the rock, curling up into fetal position on his side. If he was gonna get punished for something that he didn't do, he might as well get some good sleeping time in. Before he falls fully asleep, he feels Sho pat him on the back before disappearing.