Summary: It's been fourteen years since Haruka and Makoto saw Rin, and the two of them recently got engaged. Neither of them imagines, in their wildest dreams, that they'll find Rin again working the corner in a seedy neighborhood. What happened to him? Just how did he manage to fall so far from grace? And what the hell are they supposed to do now that Rin's entered back into their lives in the most unexpected way possible...? AU in which Rin never came back. Marinka, Kink Meme fill.

Warning: Prostitution

Buy My Time

Haruka didn't so much "propose" as simply ask, "Why aren't we engaged yet?" in the slightly contemplative monotone that Makoto has come to expect in over two decades of knowing him.

Makoto laughed and smiled, and said, "Do you want me to get down on one knee, then?" and Haruka looked pensive for a minute and then nodded.

"That would be nice of you," he said.

So they're engaged.

Nothing much has changed between them since they started dating at the age of eighteen, nine years ago now. Haruka suggested that too, after finally getting tired of Makoto beating around the bush.

"I like you too, you know. You can ask me out," he told Makoto in the showers after swim practice. Makoto jumped, got soap in his eyes, and spent the next few minutes sputtering and rinsing shampoo out of his corneas.

Nagisa applauded and cheered and said, "About time!" and Rei gave his congratulations in the most roundabout manner possible.

They moved four years ago, after college, and are living a few towns over in a little apartment. Tonight, Haruka insisted on going to a seafood restaurant on the shadier side of town, and they're walking home when Haruka suddenly stops dead.

Whores aren't exactly rare in this neighborhood. This one is different. He leans on a telephone pole, calling at cars like the rest of them, but there's something about him – the way he holds himself, maybe – that sets him apart.

He's tall – not quite Makoto's height, but taller than Haru – with hair that might be dark red, but it's hard to tell in the flickering glow of the street lights. Wearing tight black jeans and a jacket with no shirt underneath, he has the body of an athlete. No, maybe a former athlete. He's too thin.

"Haru, what are you doing?" Makoto asks with a hint of a whimper in his tone as Haruka takes a couple of steps forward. He doesn't like this neighborhood, he doesn't like it at all, and this guy is not the type he wants Haru talking to.

When Haru gets within five feet, the whore turns his head.

"Hey, stranger, interested?" he asks in a silky voice, running his hands down his body and showing a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth. There's a jagged scar under his right eye.

And those eyes are ruby red.

"Rin," Haruka whispers.

The scarlet eyes widen, and the whore scowls. Makoto can't believe it, doesn't want to believe it, this isn't Rin, this can't be Matsuoka Rin.

"How do you… I don't give out my name, I don't know you, who the hell – ?"

"Rin… it's me. It's Haruka. And that's Makoto."

Rin's face goes blank for a moment before twisting into a snarl.

"Go away. I'm working."

Makoto takes a few shaky steps toward the man he doesn't want to believe could possibly be Rin, who turns on him.

"Go away," he snaps. "Unless you're going to fucking buy me, get out of here."

Makoto flinches.

"Rin, please, we just want to talk," Makoto pleads, reaching out for Rin's arm. Now that he's closer, Rin smells like cheap cologne masking the scent of stale alcohol. Rin pulls away.

"If you want my time, you have to buy it. But talking's not in my job description and it's extra for two."

Makoto has no idea what to do. He's rooted to the sidewalk, staring mutely at Rin, because it is Rin, there's no mistaking it no matter how much Makoto would love to believe it isn't.

Haruka, though. Haruka's not ready to give up.

"How much?" he asks.

Rin just stares at him for a few seconds.

"You're fucking kidding."

"I'm not. How much is your time worth these days, Rin?"

Rin shakes his head and sighs and throws out a number about three times what he usually charges. He's sure Haruka won't pay it. When the money comes out of Haruka's wallet and he holds it out, Rin looks at the sky for a minute and wonders if this shit is really worth it. Then he remembers that he hasn't had a job in three days and he's hungry. So what the hell.

"You got a car?" Rin asks. Haruka shakes his head. "So you expect me to walk to the classy side of town looking like me. People are going to notice you just picked up a whore, you know."

"Don't care," Haruka says. Makoto cringes at Rin referring to himself as a whore. How did this happen?

Haruka starts walking. Rin follows. Makoto trails behind.

Rin is right – they definitely get looks on the way home.

At the top of four flights of stairs – the elevator's broken and has been for years – Haruka leads the other two into the apartment and locks the door.

"What happened, Rin?" he asks bluntly.

"I don't discuss my personal life with customers. That's not what you paid for," Rin says without emotion. "And it's not for sale." He sits down in an armchair, legs crossed, hands behind his head.

"When did you come back to Japan?" Haruka continues, undeterred.

"I said I'm not going to fucking talk to you about my personal life," Rin hisses. "Feel free to do what you did pay for, but don't expect your money back if you don't."

"Rin," Makoto says softly. "You don't have to – "

Rin actually starts laughing, a harsh bark of a laugh.

"Oh shocker, Makoto thinks he can save me. Cute. I don't need saving."

Haruka sits down in the chair next to the decorative fireplace, across from Rin.

"Did something happen in Australia?"

Rin twitches. Haruka thinks he's touched a nerve this time. He's getting closer.

"If you're not going to fuck me, I'm leaving. You paid for my time and my body, not my life story, which, as I said, is not for sale."

Makoto makes to touch Rin's arm, and his heart has never felt so heavy as it does when Rin flinches away.

"Don't," Rin whispers. "Don't fucking pity me. I don't need it, I don't want it."

"Rin – "

"Why couldn't you just walk away?!" Rin yells. "What, you think you're going to rescue me, just wish away the past decade and a half and pretend we're all thirteen again? It doesn't work that way."

He sort of crumples, falling forward to rest his head on his hands, and Makoto wants nothing more in the world than to hold him, away from this life that has obviously been so cruel.

Haruka tries to think, tries to come up with something, anything that might be able to get through to Rin. He's so shut down, so closed off from them.

"Rin, we're not going to… to take advantage or anything," Makoto says. "We don't want to hurt you. Do you want to stay here tonight? Just to sleep, nothing else. You look so tired."

Rin looks up, and Makoto wonders where he got that scar. His face is unreadable, but there's something in his eyes that betrays how broken he is, how tired and beaten down. And there's still something in his eyes of the boy he used to be, and that's the most painful thing for Haruka and Makoto to witness.

Haru just watches Rin as Rin looks at Makoto. He doesn't want Rin to go back out on the street. And maybe they can't stop him from doing it again tomorrow, but for tonight they can keep him safe if he'll just let them.

"Yeah," Rin says, after a solid five minutes of silence. "I could use a place to sleep."

End Chapter