An EXTREMELY short one-shot for iDontCare, an anon who has reviewed many of my stories! Here you go! Sorry it's short, but I promise your other requests will be longer.
Rated T for one bad word in the last sentence.
Rin Kagamine decides she hates him.
She hates him as she looks at that stupid smirk on his face. She hates him as she glares down at the ring on her left hand. She especially hates him when she yanks her luggage into her arms, feeling the weight press fabric patterns into her arm.
She starts to hate him even more when they leave the airport, stepping out into the cold winter air. There's snow everywhere; piles by the side of the parking lot and slush in the gutters. She's never seen so much snow. Where Nero and Rin are coming from, it snows maybe an inch or two every Christmas. If they're lucky. Here, white flakes seem to pack up until they meet her knees. When the chilly wind whips by and throws her scratchy scarf into her face, Rin decides she hates this place, too.
Nero glances over at her and chuckles. He takes her hand gently, giving her an easy out if she chooses to pull away. She doesn't, but she still sends him a glare.
"Don't be so pissy," Nero tells her with that cheerful tone of his. "You'll love them! And they'll love you!"
Rin gives him the same look he always gets when he stumbles home drunk with Len. It's not a look he remembers, of course, but he shivers visibly at the familiarity of her actions.
"You're wasting my Christmas break," she says plainly. It's obvious she means it had better be worth it.
"Don't worry," he repeats for the seventh time that day. "You'll have fun."
A car horn honks and Nero turns to look. Rin watches him brighten and wave at the car, gesturing to it like she hadn't noticed the last ten seconds. "There they are!" Nero exclaims. He slides along the icy sidewalk and Rin follows with a roll of her eyes, her duffle bag and suitcase clumping along behind her at the speed of a sleepy chihuahua.
"Hi, Mom!" Nero says as the dark-haired woman in the driver's seat rolls down the window. He pecks her on the cheek and stands to the side to pull Rin next to him.
"This is Rin!" he introduces. "Rin, this is my mom."
"Prima," the woman offers with a familiar friendly glint in her eyes. "Get in the car, child of mine."
Nero settles their bags into the trunk of the Akita family's small Sudan. The two of them slide into the back, cheeks red from the cold and gloves hands shaking. Rin doesn't fail to notice how Prima turns up the heat when they enter.
There's a few moments of silent driving before Nero's mother speaks up from the front, eyes on the rearview mirror.
"No need to be shy, kids," she says with a grin. "Feel free to cuddle up. It's cold, after all."
"Mom!" Nero whines. Rin can't help but roll her eyes.
Are we having fun yet? she asks Nero in the privacy of her own head.
The Akita house is a nice little place. Outside, lights have been hung and the sidewalks are neatly shoveled. It's homely in a way Rin's house never was when she was younger. Don't get her wrong, her family had a nice Christmas. There was always a tree. A nice meal. Presents for herself and her twin. But eventually, she just kind of grew used to the idea that her parents couldn't afford something dumb like decorations. She didn't need them to have a good Christmas, anyway.
But now that a house that was so stereotypically upper middle-class American sat in front of her, neatly crafted and lit subtly, she could see the appeal.
Prima waved her away from the trunk of the car when they pulled into the two-car garage. "Leon can get it," she says. Rin assumes she's referring to Leon Akita, the man who happens to be Nero's father. He's an attractive man in his fifties and has much the same feel to him as his wife: no-nonsense but sweet and homely. If that makes any sense.
Rin shrugs to herself. It makes sense to her, at least.
"Hello, brethren!" Nero announces as he enters the house, throwing the door open like this is a dramatic scene in Lord of the Rings or something. "And female equivalents."
Said female equivalents glance up from the couch. It's none other than Neru, Nero's older sister, and her soulmate. Rin doesn't remember his name.
"Welcome back, slug," Neru greets. Then, she directs a kinder greeting to Rin. "Hey, Kagamine. Looks like you got stuck with my brother.
Rin tries for a smile. "Looks like."
Neru offers her a slightly smaller frown of pity as opposed to the smile most people resort to. At least she's original.
"I'll show you to your room, dear," Prima offers. "Though you're always welcome to room with Nero if you want."
Rin sincerely hopes the woman is just teasing. From the smile on her face, which is sweet and genuine, she isn't. Oh God.
Nero sends her a wink and she says, "Oh, he's terrible to share a bed with. Any chance I get to sleep alone would be a miracle."
On the couch, Neru's soulmate snorts uncontrollably and Neru gives Rin a thumbs up. Nero, on the other hand, shoots her a look of distaste and pure aggression. She smiles at him. He should have asked her before getting her into this situation.
Admittedly, Rin probably would have said yes. Pretending to be his girlfriend has been fine before. But this… They were pretending to be engaged now. And their soulmarks didn't even match! Nero had told her. She's never seen his, but he's seen hers and he guarantees they don't match. With RIn's luck she'll actually end up putting a ring on come June. Urgh.
Prima lets her be to settle into the guest room. There are two in the house, which amazes Rin because one, that means there are five bedrooms in this place and two, both of the bedrooms will be filled up come the twenty-fifth. As will the couches and the sleeping bags and… Come to think of it, she really hopes Prima didn't invite more people just so they could meet Nero's fiance.
Ohhhh, she is in so much trouble.
Rin is introduced to Nero's father later, a nice man with short blonde hair and the build of a greek god. Dear lord, if Nero looked like that she's probably marry him in a heartbeat. As it was, Nero wasn't bad looking or unfit, just kind of… Nero. Come to think of it, why hadn't she realized how attractive he was before?
Oh no. She was already losing her mind.
Leon cooks dinner and Prima gathers everyone around the table. They promise sight-seeing tomorrow. Ice skating is mentioned and Rin prays to any and all present deities that they stay as far away from the ice skating rink as possible. She doubts it'll work out her way, though.
That night, Rin goes to bed at eleven. It isn't too long after she's settled in that Nero knocks on the door lightly and sneaks in quietly. The bed stains beneath him as he flops inelegantly next to Rin, one of his slippers falling off in the process.
"Go get your own bed," Rin hisses between her teeth. She's had entirely too much of this boy already.
Nero props himself up on his elbow and grins at her in the dark. She can see him only by the light reflecting off the snow outside. White light throws shadows over his handsome face and turns his smile a bit more creepy than he intended it. Well, she hopes that's the case.
"Sooooo," Nero draws out the syllable until Rin thinks she might punch him. "Still mad?"
Rin smacks him with her spare pillow to show him how pleased she is with the circumstances.
"Ow," he complains. It didn't really hurt and they both know it.
"I hate you," she mutters, turning to the side. He sighs.
"Don't be that way. I promised I'd make it up to you," Nero says. "Here, I'll show you my soulmark. You've been dying to see it, right?"
Rin turns over to look at him again, her eyes squinting suspiciously. Akitas as a rule are not trustworthy, Nero least of all. She doesn't know if the whole thing is worth it but… If he's offering.
"Fine," she replies gruffly. Nero grins and yanks down his sleeve, turning his arm over quickly, then pulls his arm back into hiding with ease.
Rin huffs and shoves him off the bed, resulting in a huge crash she's sure woke everyone in the house up.
"Hey, I did show it to you!" Neo protests, his mess of blond hair poking up over the edge of the bed.
"Go back to bed," Rin snaps.
She doesn't sleep after her leaves. It's probably because the snake that loops its way up Nero's arm matches hers perfectly. And Nero seems to be under the impression she didn't see it at all.
She'll have to talk to that asshole in the morning.
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