A.N: Merry Christmas! I'm finally posting one of my many SouRin fanfics.
Rin was practically jumping to see over the crowd, various different heads bobbing up and down as he craned his neck.
The airport was particularly crowded that morning, seeing as it was Christmas Eve. People from all over were coming and going, and Rin felt oddly squished in the terminal, his fingers digging into the small square of cardboard he was using as a greeting sign.
He couldn't begin to explain how surprised he'd been after his six a.m practice that morning to get a text from Sousuke that was short, but shocking.
"Meet me at the airport at seven-thirty."
Rin remembered gaping at the phone for at least a minute before a shit-eating grin overtook his face.
This was the first year in Australia where he'd said he wasn't coming home for Christmas. He had a few student-loans to pay off, and the trip back home was just outside of his budget. Luckily his mom and sister had been totally understanding, since Christmas wasn't as big of a deal in Japan. But in Australia, Rin was smothered by the spirit of things, the festivities he had no family to share with, and he did miss his friends an awful lot.
Of course, he wouldn't have seen Rei and Nagisa even if he had visited, since they were in Hawaii on their first romantic getaway as a couple, and Makoto and Haruka were going to spend their Christmas in Tokyo, so Rin wouldn't have gotten to visit them either. Though he had seen all of them a month earlier for Nagisa and Rei's engagement party, and the real people he would have been missing that holiday were Ai, Momo and Sousuke.
But Ai (and Momo, by extension, since they were still roommates even though they were in college) had promised to Skype him, and Sousuke was somewhere in this airport.
With that thought, Rin snapped back to reality and continued to scan the crowd for his friend. He must have been squinting for five minutes before he noticed a familiar head of brown hair standing tall above the rest.
This time, Rin really did jump, as he waved an arm furiously over his head, screaming "Sousuke!" a little too eagerly.
Blue eyes locked with Rin's own, and the next thing he knew, Sousuke was jogging towards him, grinning like an idiot and screaming with equal enthusiasm: "Rin!"
Rin had been expecting a high five, or a brofist, which was how they normally greeted each other. Sousuke, however, took him by surprise and scooped him into a tight, happy bear-hug, laughing into his ear.
"Rin!" He said again, swinging the shorter man around in his arms. "It's so good to see you!"
Flustered at the contact, Rin rubbed his head into Sousuke's shoulder, clinging to him hard. "It's good to see you, too." He was a grown-ass man, he was not going to cry. Sousuke chuckled against his forehead before pulling away, shooting an amused look at Rin's little cardboard meeting sign that said his name on it.
"You wrote it in English, dummy." Sousuke teased, and Rin's ears burned in embarrassment.
"Oi, shut up, you had me rushing this morning!" The redhead mumbled, giving Sousuke's good shoulder a light shove. "What are you even doing here? You didn't even tell me before you hopped on a plane!"
Sousuke hummed, as he fell into step beside Rin to head towards the exit. "I just wanted to see you, you know? And it's Christmas, which is a big deal here, right? I thought you'd be lonely."
"Tch, figures you'd know me too well to leave me alone." Run scoffed, but his chest swam with warmth at the idea of Sousuke caring enough to actually fly over to spend the holiday with him.
"It was about time I visited here, too." Sousuke said, smiling down at Rin in his charming, warm kind of way. "You want to show me some sights?"
Rin tried not to read into that suggestive dip in his voice and grinned. "Of course!"
With a smirk. Sousuke hooked his arm with Rin's and told him to lead the way. Although he was blushing like some virgin maiden, Rin did as told, giving Sousuke an energetic pull to get him to hurry out the door.
Since it was the height of summer in Australia, Rin was eager to show Sousuke the beach, which wasn't nearly as crowded in the mornings. He told Sousuke about how he jogged there every day to keep himself motivated for the people back home. Sousuke confessed himself to having spent a few long hours staring across the water and thinking about Rin. This time, Rin couldn't help but to read into that.
"So... You sometimes just sit there? And you think about me?"
Sousuke flushed a little, but he nodded. "I don't know... It's a 'what if' scenario, but I often catch myself thinking about coming over here just to be with you."
Going completely red, Rin could only stutter a few gibberish words in response.
"Sorry, that was lame." Sousuke sighed, covering his face with one hand and groaning into it.
"N-no!" Rin squawked, embarrassedly turning towards the water. "I... Think about that kind of stuff, too, you know."
In between the nervous glances back at Sousuke, Rin noticed the other man was smiling again. His heart thrummed at the sight, and he almost let a sigh escape from his throat.
It had become painstakingly obvious the year of Rin's final relay with Sousuke that he had feelings for his dumb, proud friend. The only other person who made Rin feel so mushy and romantic was Ai, but it soon became clear in their brief, awkward first love for one and other that they wanted different things. Even so, they had remained great friends.
But Sousuke was different; while Haruka had Makoto, who could do weird telepathy things with him and guess his every thought, Rin had Sousuke, who visited him when he was sick, who chased him when he needed to blow off steam, who never once raised a hand against him, but could hit him hard with just a few words. Sousuke was Rin's best friend, someone so close to him he knew too much, cared too much.
That was why it was really hard to have a crush on him.
"I'm going in!" Rin announced, rolling up his pantlegs and scrambling towards the water. "Catch me if you can!" He called over his shoulder, shooting Sousuke a challenging grin.
And of course, Sousuke let out a grunt and chased after him.
...
By the time they got back to Rin's place, they were both quite exhausted. Insistent on giving his friend the full tour, Rin had tugged Sousuke to all his favorite parts of the city, including Russel and Lori's house.
They had both teased Rin extensively for bringing him over, considering how much they had heard about him. The embarrassment Rin had this time made the trip with Haru back in high school look like a picnic.
"They seemed nice," Sousuke had said, oblivious to their snarky comments about him to just 'propose to Rin already.'
Still, the best part of the day had to be when Rin took Sousuke to the pool, where he swam every morning to practice. His teammates also seemed to lack subtlety, and they made mock smooching noises when Sousuke was doing laps to mock Rin's pain.
Nonetheless, Rin was glad to be home.
"It's cozy," Sousuke commented, glancing around the apartment curiously. He caught sight of Rin's shark plushies all piled up by his sofa and laughed, which only made Rin more embarrassed.
"Most of them are from Nagisa and Gou!" He defended his manliness, but Sousuke gave him a look.
"You still sleep with Sharkey, I've seen him in the background of our Skype sessions." The brunet accused, smirking as Rin's cheeks reddened. "You know I'm just teasing."
"Whatever." Run stuck his tongue out at him, which may have been more childish than the stuffed toys, but he could've cared less. As he shrugged off his hoodie and headed for the kitchen, Rin began to ask, "So, I assume you're stuffed from Lori's cooking, but you want anything to eat? Maybe some Christmas cookies I bought yesterday because I was planning on crying and eating them alone?"
Sousuke chuckled from the living room, taking a seat on Rin's couch. "Sure, I'll have some. And even though it's Satan's armpit outside, hot chocolate?"
"Oh, definitely."
By the time Rin had organized their snack and returned to the living room, Sousuke had cleared off his coffee table and set a red and green bag, with some wrapping paper sticking out of it, on top.
"Oh my god, you didn't." Rin gaped, a surprised smile overtaking his face.
"I did," Sousuke retorted, "Now open it."
Rin felt guilty, "But I didn't get you anyth-"
"Just open it, dork."
"...Okay."
After setting down the snacks, Rin took a seat next to his friend, ignoring how their thighs were touching, and carefully began to open his gift. The first thing he noticed was a card, signed by the Iwatobi crew, his mom and sister, the Mikoshiba brothers, and Ai. It had a silly picture of a Reindeer with googly eyes on it, and it made Rin snort.
Then underneath it, a tank top with a design of a shark's jaw across the front. It looked really cool, and super comfortable. Rin knew it was a joke towards his own sharp teeth, but it was such a nice looking shirt, he couldn't bring himself to dislike it.
And at the bottom of the bag, Rin noticed a little white box. He tried not to desperately tear it apart, and quickly unwrapped it.
When Rin saw what it was, he could've choked on air. It was an anklet, just the kind he normally wore, but it had little charms of Penguins, Orcas, Dolphins, Sharks, and other types of fish. The thoughtfulness behind the present made him emotional, and goddammit, he was crying.
"I knew you'd like it," Sousuke said smugly, wrapping an arm over Rin's shoulder to hug him. "Merry Christmas, Rin."
"Merry Christmas, you even bigger dork." Rin sniffled, laughing and crying into Souduke's shoulder. "I love it, thank you so much."
"The shirt's from Nitori," Sousuke mumbled, soundly oddly embarrassed. "Can't take all the credit."
Rin snickered, and then he suddenly pulled back. "Wait, I did get you something! Stay right there!" He got to his feet and all but tripped into his room, leaving Sousuke in, albeit confused, excitement.
When he reemerged, he was carrying the unwrapped back nervously, setting it in Sousuke's lap before taking a seat next to him again.
Cheeks aflame, Rin explained the gift. "It's a headset, since you have such a crappy one back in Tokyo. This way we can hear each other better on Skype and stuff..."
Sousuke's eyes widened considerably, and then he looked at the box fondly for a good thirty seconds before setting it down next to Rin's empty bag.
Rubbing his neck embarrassedly, Rin added, "It's not much compared to that anklet, but-"
"Rin," Sousuke cut him off, taking the other man's face in his hands. The redhead only had time to blink in surprise before he was brought into a soft, sudden kiss.
Well that was unexpected, to say the least. Overtaken by his emotions, Rin all too eagerly returned Sousuke's kiss, his hands grabbing at his friend's chest. Things soon became heated, and Rin was more than completely willing to let Sousuke press him down against the couch cushions and snake his tongue into his mouth.
The kiss finished too quickly when Sousuke sat up, abruptly, his face more red than a tomato. "Oh, shit, Rin, I didn't even ask- I-I had a plan, sheesh, this was all going so well..."
With a laugh, Rin sat up so they were closer again, grinning from ear to ear. "It was going completely well until you pulled away, dumbass."
Sousuke went beet red again, then he shook his head. "Don't people normally wait a while before they...?"
"You have to go back to Tokyo in two days," Rin reminded him, "And I've loved you for about four years now, maybe longer, so I'm done waiting."
It felt extremely good to get off his chest. It almost felt as satisfying as the massive blush Sousuke downed at the confession. Wiping a hand over his reddened face, Sousuke happily stuttered, "I love you too, Rin."
And now they were both red.
Run started crying again in happiness and Sousuke kissed his tears away, laughing all the while.
They didn't realize they'd left their hot chocolate out until the next morning.