SCENTS

AKA: LET ME GET A WHIFF OF DAT ASS

SUMMARY: Rin tries to help Bon study for Physics.

Rin impatiently tapped his fingers on the desk, waiting for Bon to finish his homework. The latter's eyes fluttered ever so often as his back gently oscillated in the forefront of the lamp light.

"Use the function to determine the particle's acceleration at time t = 6…" he muttered under his breath. Rin was smitten. How the hell did this idiot expect him to help him when he wasn't even taking the class?

"The particle is...increasing?" Bon mused, brows furrowed as he turned to look at Rin. His lips stretched out into a toothy grin, "whatever puts the cat back in the bag, princess." Bon scoffed at this, going back to his work. Silence permeated the room-save for the scratch of pen on paper which filled the air, mingling and intertwining with the incense they had lit an hour ago.

Rin caught another scent in the air, however. It came across as spicy, yet subtle. Loquacious, yet taciturn. Reticent, yet ever-so-strident. Bon adjusted his elbow and continued writing. The scent lingered on.

Normally, deodorant didn't catch Rin's attention; when it did it wasn't necessarily for innocent reasons. He remembered fucking Shiemi, the decadent stench of perfume erupting from the exposure, enticing him and awakening something deep inside. He remembers smell burgeoning from a primal, inane state, drowning out moans and the slap of skin to skin contact. It was just so...ecstatic. And here he was, seated next to Bon, doing nothing about nothing, head in hand patiently waiting for him to move onto the next problem.

He glanced towards the dorm door and his breath hitched for a hot second: he caught the brunette from the corner of his peripheral vision adjusting himself, and then running a hand through his corse locks before underlining information in a relational problem. Rin stretched and cracked his knuckles before turning back towards him. Bon did the same, grunting. He let out a languid chortle.

"The smart alec Ryuji Suguro copying me? Well well, isn't that good practice for academic dishonesty."

"Fuck off," the tan stoner huffed. He glared at Rin from his propped elbows as the sides of his eyes began to crinkle. The glint of the lamp highlighted his deep chocolate irises and circled about his pupils in a soft eclipse. Rin sucked in his breath and handed Bon his calculator before getting up to open up a shoddy window.

"It smells like your old man's temple in here," he punctuated, drawing up the blinds.

"It's better than that toast you burnt, idiot. So much for culinary school."

"Is it really my fault, Buddha boy? Last time I checked you've been eating my curry for days!"

Rin playfully jabbed him in the side. Bon tried to conceal the smile poking at the corners of his mouth, nervously picking at his stubble and shaking his head before turning back towards the homework.

Rin stared outside into the chasm of cold. As he exhaled, vapor took hold of the air, spiraling and merging with the wayward incense. Feathery snow sprawled out on the ground like the dust of an old house. A bird chirped in the distance.

"Goddammit, asshole. If you're gonna have the window open at least have something to warm us up," Bon exclaimed before switching a lever in the cheap heater they had bought at the department store. It hummed voraciously. Rin returned to his seat next to the bitching boy. And silence engulfed the room once more.

Bon let out a sigh while punching in the keys of his TI-84. "These intercepts don't mean shit."

His spearmint breathe held its own against the vacuum-purposed window. It struck Rin's nose and dallianced with a whiff of that damn deodorant. "Fuck it," he thought as he promptly nuzzled his forehead in the crook of Bon's neck. He felt himself melting into him like a cat on the hood of a heated car. This wasn't the same as Shiemi. He just wanted to hold him.

Bon, clearly allerted by the sudden gesture jostled himself up to look down at the raven mop that so liberally nestled itself. His hand moved from his pen and over to Rin's hand. He caressed the callouses that peppered Rin's palms. Rin moved his head to look directly into Bon's eyes. They began to waver as he took in the subtle changes in Bon's appearance that had taken place over the years. He noticed the length of his hair, which had been cut just four months ago. He took note of the sharper jawline that framed Bon's face well enough to get them free drinks at bars. He revelled in the unkempt bushiness of his eyebrows. And more importantly, he became attentive to the fact that Bon had worn more deodorant than usual today.

The window clamped shut.

Author's note: I haven't been back here in AGES. I kind of want to post this collective on AO3 but tbh I haven't gotten back into the fandom and don't have time until I get it together. Check out my profile for the AO3 acc when it's up? Comments and kudos are very much appreciated and feel free to PM or comment one shots you want to see? *Also I'm sorry if anything comes off as OOC, I'll see what I can do to make my writing better and more in tune with this fandom.*

-Sincerely whatever the fuck you want to think of me as.