~*Chapter Three*~

A Flickering Flame in the Darkness


The question of what he should say to him did cross Rin's mind, but he suppressed the urge to consider the possible responses because he knew they would all be terrible, miserable failures. So he figured he might as well try to get his nerves under control in the mean time.

Rin came to a stop beside the punch bowl and served himself a drink. He stood there next to the werewolf with his drink in hand and his mouth parched for words.

Sensing someone beside him, the other male turned to look at Rin and locked gazes with him when he noticed Rin apparently wanted something. Those deep amethyst irises glared at Rin like toxic jellyfish, sending a zap through his entire body. No wonder nobody had been over here to socialize with him.

Okay, Rin...This is the part where you're supposed to say something. The redhead tried to collect his thoughts and concoct something witty to say, something charming to get the conversation going in the right direction.

"Hey."

"Hi." The male answered back, and took a sip of his drink.

Fucking say something, you idiot!

"So uh…" Red orbs flickered over to Sosuke who was watching the whole thing happen. The brunette made a subtle rolling gesture with his hand, as if to say, keep it going. "It...doesn't look like you have a lot of friends."

If Rin could have slapped his hand to his face at that moment he would have. That's the best you could come up with?! Seriously?

But to Rin's surprise, instead of the werewolf's brow darkening from the insult, he merely sighed and leaned back against the table. "Yeah, I could see why you'd think that."

Rin remained quiet, both because he didn't know what else to say and also afraid of what other atrocities might fly out of his mouth.

"My mean-looking eyes have earned me a pretty bad reputation. Not many people feel safe talking to me."

"I see." Rin could understand where he was coming from. Sometimes he found himself in similar situations because of how serious he looked and of his foreboding-looking teeth. Rin bit his lower lip, mind scrambling for something to say. "So even though you look mean, you're actually a nice person. Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Well..." The werewolf sloshed his drink around inside his cup and smirked. "I didn't say that."

Rin arched one of his slender brows.

"I at least know someone at this party, though. I assume you know Ren, right?"

"Uh, yeah, we've met. But she's more of a…" Rin's eyes looked back over to where Sosuke was standing and he felt a small jolt of panic go through him when he noticed the butterfly simmer had disappeared. "...friend of a friend's."

"I getcha," The guy said, obviously not noticing Rin's internal peril. "That would make sense then; I was just thinking to myself that I don't think I've seen you before. What school do you go to?"

His question caught the redhead off guard and he almost slipped up by telling the kid his real school's name.

"Iwa...Iwatobi high school."

"Iwatobi…" The werewolf rolled the word around his head for a few seconds before shrugging. "Haven't heard of it. But I guess it doesn't matter what schools we're from, now does it?" That playful smirk graced his face once again, making his purple irises spark. "The name's Youji. What's yours?"

"It's Rin." At last, for once Rin felt like they were getting somewhere.

"Great. It's nice to have someone to talk to finally."

Just then a new beat started emanating from the dance floor and the werewolf's ears perked up.

"Shit, I love this song." Youji tipped his head back and downed his drink, expelling a hearty breath of air when he finished. His gruesome hand crushed the plastic cup and tossed it in a nearby trash can. "C'mon! Let's go dance."

Rin felt the floor to his stomach drop. Dance? Rin's first instinct was to make some sort of excuse and refuse, or something else to get him out of this situation. It wasn't as if Rin didn't like dancing, he just wasn't accustomed to dancing in a setting like this, and completely without the security of his friends around. The floor was crowded, the music was fast paced, and he was all but entirely alone.

His fingers tightened around his plastic cup.

Quit making excuses, Rin. You came here for a reason, remember?

Rin did the same as Youji and threw back his head to down his drink all at once. He felt a funny itching sensation as he gulped the liquid down. Once he finished the drink his face soured as a flavor like burning curdled in his throat and stomach.

He coughed and made a gagging noise. "Wh...what the hell?"

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah...just...weird tasting punch."

Youji let out a hearty laugh and clapped Rin on the back of the shoulder. "You're funny!"

Though Rin didn't know what he said or did that was so amusing.

"C'mon! Let's go!"

The werewolf left no room for Rin to protest, taking a hold of his wrist and dragging him towards the pulsating throng of people huddled around the dance floor.

"Ah! H-hey!"

Rin held his breath as they plunged into the small spaces between the bodies in the crowd. Once inside the two were enveloped in a cloud of heat and a musk of sweat and perfume. Youji was pulling them in deeper, expertly weaving through people as if he knew which way they were going to jive. Oddly enough, things were a bit more spread out towards the middle of the crowd. Rin wondered if more people liked to linger on the edges because that made it easier to leave if they wanted to.

Once they were in a comfortable spot, Youji let go of Rin's wrist. His loud neon colors glowed brightly underneath the purplish ultraviolet lights near the stage. His amethyst eyes connected with Rin's and he smiled, the small gesture made his usually paralyzing gaze seem warm. The werewolf closed his eyes then and his body melted into the beat of the song. His transition seemed so fluid, so natural, carefree. It was hard not to watch him and feel captivated. His features looked relaxed, completely absorbed in the beat that vibrated their bodies.

Rin couldn't exactly say the same for himself, though. Perhaps it was because this really wasn't a scene he frequented very often, but he couldn't see himself slipping into the music as seamless as Youji did. He felt stiff and unsure of what to do with his body.

"C'mon!" Youji yelled over the speakers. "Get moving!"

Rin did his best to try and 'get moving', but he couldn't help but feel like his movements were awkward and unflattering.

"That's it! You got it!" Youji came closer to him and started dancing in a ridiculous fashion around him, flailing his arms and throwing his head back and forth like a banshee. Rin's brow furrowed and wondered if he should just back away slowly...

"See?" Youji held up his arms as if to say 'look around'. "Nobody cares what you look like. Just go with it!" The other male gave a wolfish grin and went back to his dancing.

As juvenile as Youji's example was, it actually helped Rin's confidence. His red orbs flickered around the crowd and saw that indeed nobody really was watching them. They were all absorbed with the tunes and working their groove out in their own unique way.

Rin felt his head bobbing to the beat despite himself and started rocking his body with the rhythm. He began to get into it a bit more and brought his arms into the mix too. Rin still felt a little self conscious about how he looked, but when the person in front of him seemed so relaxed and having fun, it was hard for him to feel insecure about anything.

The chorus of the song came on and with it a new entrancing melody that nearly swept Rin off his feet. Throwing all his insecurities to the wind, the redhead allowed the music to play with his body as it pleased. His red head swung from side to side. His hips rocked back and forth to the booming beat in a precise yet fluid motion that made his already rock-hard and sexy body even more tantalizing. Soon, Rin lost himself to the music just as Youji had and closed his eyes, completely absorbed. A corner of his mouth quirked up into a half smile as he found himself starting to have a bit of fun. He gripped on to the visor of his police hat as he bobbed his head from side to side, both so it wouldn't fall off and also to assume a sassy air while he danced.

He felt something warm brush up against his hand holding his visor and then a moment later felt the weight of his hat leave his head. When he opened his eyes he saw that the frisky little werewolf in front of him had stolen the hat out of his hand and was now wearing it proudly between his two fluffy ears.

"Oi!" The redhead yelled and tried to snatch it back. But the mongrel was so quick on his feet, he evaded every one of Rin's swipes and even made it look like a dance while doing so. The conniving werewolf merely wagged his finger at Rin and winked. Rin's brow furrowed and his mouth flattened out to a line. Better off to just let it be for now, he supposed. He would get it back from Youji later.

The said teen had gone back to his dancing, completely oblivious to how much he'd riled up Rin. But Youji was dancing...a bit differently now. His movements were fluid, more sensual somehow. His features looked so relaxed, with his eyes closed, his thick lashes dusting over his high cheeks, and his full lips parted slightly. He bit down on his lower lip as he ran his hands up the front of his body and tangled them in his hair, as if any simple touch could ignite mind numbing pleasure across his skin.

Rin couldn't help but blush as he watched the other male dance before him. The situation felt somewhat similar to when Rin was looking at the erotic images in Sosuke's magazines, but this time the person wasn't dancing or blushing or touching themselves because there was a cheap monetary trade-off. Youji was here dancing like this in front of Rin...because he wanted to. And that completely changed how Rin's body accepted the stimuli.

He felt a distant stirring in his nether regions, and the strangest desire to reach out and touch Youji yearned in him. But of course he refrained from doing so. He hardly knew the kid, he wasn't about to go climbing all over him. Even if he did know him better...Rin wasn't the type of person that would do those things in public. Rin thought that if he couldn't get physical with this person who was eliciting such feelings in him, then at least he might be able to dance back, and give Youji a show of his own, right?

Rin ran one of his hands down his front while he pulled the elastic out of his red hair with the other, making his locks free to move with him as he danced. Moving around and being in such cramped quarters had Rin burning with heat in just minutes. No longer hindered by hesitation, Rin's fingers expertly began to undo the button-up front of his police officer uniform, exposing a white wifebeater underneath. Soon he had the whole thing undone, and the flaps to his shirt hung open, exposing the clean white fabric that hung tightly to his ripped body. His ab muscles flexed as he moved his upper body in waves. He smiled, feeling ridiculous, knowing how he probably looked, but on a second thought he realized that he didn't give a shit.

Suddenly, Rin felt someone's hands on his hips and a flat body pressed up against his back and he stiffened. Hands with long, grotesque nails found themselves on the front of his hips and were feeling up the small grooves of his abs as they moved their way up the front of his body, traveling closer towards his chest.

"Hey!" Rin shouted and pushed the body that was immediately behind him away, sending that person stumbling into an innocent bystander in the process. "What the hell's your…!"

To the redhead's surprise, the mystery gropper turned out to be Youji, purple eyes gone wide and mouth rounded from shock. Rin's surprise quickly gave way to anger that had his cheeks burning pink.

"Why, you…" He growled.

Though Youji couldn't hear him, Rin was sure his venomous expression was enough to make the werewolf give a sheepish smile and scratch the back of his fluffy head.

Rin had half a mind to tell him off, but felt even more frustrated knowing that the guy wouldn't even be able to hear him where they were. Not caring whether Youji would follow or not, Rin turned on his heel and stalked his way through the crowd and off of the dance floor.

"Wait!" He heard someone cry once he was far enough away from the speakers. Turning around revealed the neon-blue wolf chasing after him, huffing and puffing, about to blow the damn house down. "You...ran off…"

"And you groped me." Rin growled, having Youji all submissive again.

"Alright, I get it-I'm sorry! I just got carried away and wasn't thinking, okay?"

Rin let out a calming breath through his nostrils but still held Youji in place with a half lidded stare.

"I mean it, honestly: We were both having so much fun-or at least, I was-and I saw you were too and…" Youji averted his purple orbs and rubbed the back of his neck. "...And...the way you were dancing...I acted without thinking. Besides, I didn't think you would get so mad about it. Anyways, I'm really sorry, okay?"

Rin wasn't about to forgive him just yet, but he didn't see the sense in holding a grudge over something so petty either. He was in the tender moment right after an offense and needed time to get over it a bit.

Youji, seeming to sense this, removed the police cap from the top of his head and handed it back to Rin.

"Look, I'm an ass, okay? You said it yourself: I don't really have a lot of friends. But you're different somehow. I'd like it if you didn't stay mad at me because I'd like for us to be friends."

Rin felt some of his anger soften at that comment, making his harsh gaze lighten up a bit.

"I'll see you around then?" Youji's tone sounded hopeful, but still left room for Rin to decline if he wanted.

"Yeah…"

That response seemed good enough to the other male as he turned back towards the dance floor and left Rin with a smile.

"What was that just now?" Came a voice from behind and above him, causing the redhead to spin on his heel. Apparently Sosuke had appeared right behind him like his fairy god mother. The brunette's blue eyes shifted over Rin's wrinkled uniform and messy hair. "What the hell happened to you in there?"

Rin blushed and turned away slightly to start buttoning his shirt back up. "Nothing happened. We just danced, that's all."

"I've never seen people's shirts unbutton themselves while they dance. But whatever."

Rin felt his agitation flare when he saw the teasing smirk curled on Sosuke's mouth. "Tch, who asked you, anyway..."

"Hi boys!" Came a familiar, sing-song voice from beside them.

"Oh, it's Ren again."

"Weeeeeeeelll, look at you, mister sassy pants with your hair all crazy and shirt all undone. Tell me, they eat you alive on the dance floor, or what?"

Rin blinked and averted his gaze, red brow furrowing. "Not really."

"Well, that'll happen to ya at a place like this. Gottah keep your wits about you, otherwise the big bad wolf might gobble you up!"

Rin's eyes went wide and he felt his cheeks sting. Did Ren just happen to make a coincidental reference or had she seen them dancing?

"Anyways, stick around, boys." She winked one of her red orbs over towards Sosuke. "The real fun is about to begin." And with that she continued sashaying towards the stage in her three-inch heels.

"I can see what you mean about her getting on your nerves." Rin sighed.

It was Sosuke's turn to chuckle this time, the sound rumbling like waves crashing upon a shore.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"By the way, where did you go that whole time?"

Sosuke's smile fell and he stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking away. "No where, really."

Rin fixed him in place with a scrutinous stare.

"I just had something to take care of. That's all."

Rin didn't push the subject any further. He could take a hint when Sosuke didn't want to talk about something. He would try to remember to pester it out of him later.

"AAAAAAALLLRIGHT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, HOW'RE WE DOIN' TONIIIIGHT?"

A terribly loud voice yelled over the speakers, assailing Rin's still tender eardrums. Rin looked over towards the stage and saw a pink-haired angel up there next to the DJ, who looked loath to relinquish his equipment to the little thing.

The crowd answered her with hearty screams and yells.

"Great! Awesome! I'm glad to hear it. Thank you, all of you, for making time to come to my party. M'glad you all have been having a great night so far, but now it's about to get even better. I'm gonna need everyone to clear off the dance floor for our next event! Go on! Move ya butts!"

There was a slight commotion as the tightly packed crowd dispersed and cleared off the dance floor.

"I wonder what's going on?" Rin thought aloud.

"Beats me."

"Alright, that's great guys, now while we get things set up I'm gonna hand the mic over to the fabulous guy hosting this event so he can give you the run-down on the rules. Everybody make some noise for my boy, the Bloody Baron!"

The crowd rose with applause as a young man with dark red hair dressed in a lavish pimp costume, complete with furry cape and wide brimmed hat, made his way on stage.

"Is he someone from your old school?"

"No." Sosuke blinked his teal eyes as he watched the guy climb on stage. "I don't recognize him."

"Evenin', everybody! It's time for the event you've all been waiting for: It's! The Bloody Baron's Ballsy Body Paint-Off Challenge!"

The crowd went into an uproar with excitement, as if they knew what this event was already and were extremely impatient for it. Rin wondered, was this an event that Ren liked to host often at her parties? Rin looked up and finally noticed that there was a big image of the baron being projected on a very large screen against the wall, making it easier for everyone in the crowd to see him. Over the speakers the bloody baron's voice continued.

"Alright, alright!" The baron chided the overzealous crowd. "I can tell you guys are excited to start so I'll hold off on explaining the rules for now, since most of y'all already know'em, and just get straight to the part that you care about most: The prizes!"

"I can only imagine what the prizes will be like." Rin said, looking around the renovated warehouse and noting all the food and technical equipment. "This party doesn't look like it was cheap to begin with."

"Ren's parents are exceedingly rich." Sosuke said. "But she doesn't have an ego about it or anything. Her parents still make her work for the things she wants."

Over the speakers the baron went on.

"Like last time we've got some fabulous prizes here for you tonight, courtesy of the Kougari kid's parents, so y'all can thank them later. For third place we've got a pair of tickets to go to Japan's hottest food district for a night on the town. Eat as much as you want with these Bottomless Pit tickets. Try exotic fish, fruits and fronds at over twenty different restaurants who accept the passes listed on the backs of the tickets."

Rin chuckled. "I bet Momo would like that one. I can just imagine him stuffing his dumb face full of sweets."

"Screw Momo. I'll take both of them myself and you two can eat cafeteria food."

Rin snickered and playfully elbowed Sosuke in the side. "Fatass."

"Next, for the second place prize, we have two highly coveted badges for the exclusive Hokkaido Sports Expo happening next month at the Hokkaido Convention Center!"

Rin's mouth reflexively popped open and he took in a sharp breath. Registration for that expo had sold out months ago. Rin knew this because he'd heard of the event and thought that it would be a good thing to bring his team to as a club trip. The school certainly had the funds for it, and the tickets weren't that absurdly priced so Rin thought he could make it happen. But by the time he had gotten all the right administrators to sign off on the approvals, all the badges had been bought up. The only way to get badges for the expo now was to buy them off people who had bought passes in bulk while they were on sale, but of course they were significantly more expensive that way...

"Want a chance to brush elbows with the greats and get an inside look at what's hot in the sports world right now? Then this expo is just the thing for you! But we're not just talkin' sports here, people. Oh no! Top of the line vendors will be there handing out samples of their latest products, olympic and major league athletes hold Q&A sessions, there's signings, there's the dealers room that sells exclusive never before seen merchandise, there's all sorts of panels that talk about every kind of sport you can think of and recruiters looking for fresh meat roam the halls talking to young athletes at free random! If you're a jock, and Ren tells me a lot of you guys are, then you won't want to pass up these babies!"

"Sosuke…" Came Rin's soft voice, not even caring to listen to what the extravagant first place prize must be.

"I know."

Rin looked to Sosuke and found the brunette already looking back at him, blue eyes set with determination. It would appear that his best friend understood Rin's intentions with just a single word.

"We have to get those badges. I don't care what it takes."

"We'll have to compete, you know." Sosuke warned.

"I'm aware of that...I don't care what we have to do."

Sosuke looked as though he was about to say something, but the bloody baron had apparently finished his explanation of the final prize and cut him off with his loud voice before he had a chance to say anything.

"Alright then! So who among you will be brave enough to compete in my challenge?"

"C'mon, let's go. Now!"

"Right."

The two tried to rush through the crowd as politely as they could, bumping into several people in the process. In a matter of seconds the two police officers emerged from the line of people into the clearing of the dance floor where three large, blue tarps were set up.

"Aaaaaaah, what's this? Do we have our first set of challengers?!"

Sosuke and Rin both nodded their heads with serious expressions on their face, which was rather comical given the atmosphere of the party.

"Awesome! But we still need two more groups of two to get this game started. C'mon now, you cowards! You were all screaming for more just a minute ago. Where'd your courage go? And in the face of such fabulous prizes, who could resist!"

It seemed to Rin that this was the type of event that a lot of people came to watch but only few were willing to participate in. It was kind of like when his friends back in elementary school would play truth or dare: you played the game to see the dares but just about everybody would pick truth. The redhead shared his curiosity with the baron: why were people so hesitant to join this game?

Eventually the baron was able to harass two other pairs of people into coming out and joining the event.

"There we go! Now that I've got you guys locked in I'll explain the rules for the people that might be first timers: I had my guys set up three stations of tarps, bottles of paint and brushes on the dance floor as you can all see. In each of the pairs, one of you's gotta be the painter, and the other is gonna be the model, you followin me? Each group will be given a picture of a character from pop fiction. The character can be from anything: movies, books, manga, anime-the sky's the limit! The painter's job is to paint a knock-out costume of said character on to the body of your model in fifteen minutes. At the end of the time limit, the pair that has the best looking 'costume' wins!"

Rin's brow furrowed in puzzlement. 'Paint a costume on to the model'? How were they supposed to do that when Rin was already wearing…

Rin's heart sank to the pit of his stomach.

...no, they couldn't mean…

"Alright! Models, start your engines! We're gonna need you to strip all the way down to your skivvies!"

Rin cheeks flushed with heat as a bunch of cat-calls ran through the crowd.

"...Skivvies?"

"He means underwear."

"I know what it means." Rin bristled, then collected himself with a sigh. "Alright fine. Go on then, get undressed."

"What for? I'm being the painter."

"Oi! Who said you get to be the painter?"

"I did. Just now." Sosuke crossed his arms and gave his friend a firm glare. "You're the one who dragged us into this. Why should I be the one to humiliate myself?"

Rin's mind ran a mile a minute trying to find an excuse to match Sosuke's argument but came up flat. His dark red orbs flickered over to the giant projector and his heart rate sped up when he saw all three teams broadcasted on the big screen for the whole crowd to see. He looked around him and saw the models on the other teams starting to strip off their costumes. Panic seized his body, making him freeze.

"Weren't you the one who said you didn't care what we had to do?"

"Yeah but I didn't think I would have to get half naked in front of a crowd of people!"

"Girls, girls! You're both pretty!" Rin heard the baron announce over the speakers, obviously noticing their deliberation. "We don't care which one of you's the model, so stop arguing!"

"What do you want to do?" Sosuke stood in front of Rin as solid and as unmovable as a stone statue. "You gonna back out now?"

Rin heard the taunt in his friend's words and clenched his teeth in anger from the insult.

The red-eyed shark clenched his hands into fists at his side. "Hell no. I said I didn't care and I meant it."

Rin's fingers started to undo the button-up front of his police officer uniform. He shrugged the piece of clothing off nonchalantly, exposing his bare shoulders and toned arm muscles. Next his fingers worked at the belt buckle securing his pants around his waist. The metal clinked and his zipper made that characteristic noise as he shoved that part of his clothing off of himself too, it falling to the floor in a heap around his ankles. He kicked them off in addition to his socks and shoes, leaving him in just his white undershirt and a pair of tight-clinging, black boxer briefs.

Rin looked out into the crowd and saw everyone, male and female alike, with their eyes glued to him eagerly watching and waiting for him to remove the last article of clothing from his body. The nervousness made his arms feel like they were filled with lead. His sluggish fingers hooked under the hem of his shirt, and like ripping off a bandaid, Rin pulled it up and over his head quickly to get it over with.

The action exposed his fully toned pectoral and abdominal muscles, making a light flush dust his cheeks.

He could hear the people in the crowd immediately in front of him whispering, murmuring, and giggling.

Rin shook his head to try and get a grip on himself. He had no idea what they were talking about, he reminded himself. It was foolish to think that they were all talking about him. After all, he wasn't the only person up there without any clothes on, though in his opinion Rin thought he had the best body among the models. He tried to keep his breathing even and remain calm, though that was hard to do when he could hear his own heart hammering in his ears.

It was strange for him to be reacting this way, he realized, considering how he went to events where he would be half naked with spectators watching all the time. But he reasoned that this situation was completely different because here the people were watching exclusively for his body while at his swimming competitions the people were more so watching him swim, not devouring his body with their eyes.

"Okay, now to reveal tonight's theme for the game…" The baron removed a sealed envelope from somewhere on his person and slowly opened it for dramatic effect.

"Tonight's theme is...Disney Princess!"

Rin nearly buried his face in his hands. This couldn't be happening. Could things get any more embarrassing?

"My lovely assistant will now hand out the pictures of your assigned characters."

Someone emerged from the base of the stage and handed out pieces of paper as she walked by the painters.

Rin saw Sosuke's cerulean blue eyes look over the piece of paper he was given and his brow furrowed.

"What is it?" Rin called out. "Let me see."

Sosuke flipped the paper over to show a thin, smiling mermaid with a flowing mane of red hair.

"Who is-"

"Okay then, so everyone's got their reference picture? We all set? Remember, you've got fifteen minutes to transform your model into that character. Okay, ready? Painters, on your marks!"

Sosuke bent over and was about to reach for the paint bottles and brushes when Rin saw him freeze.

"What? What is it?"

He noticed a bead of sweat forming near Sosuke's brow.

"The...the costumes…" He murmured.

"What about them?"

"Get ready!"

Without any further explanation, Sosuke started to unbutton his shirt and kick off his socks and shoes. Rin floundered to work his words out as he watched Sosuke undo his belt buckle and start stripping his pants off.

"I-idiot! Why are you-?"

"Aaaand go!"

The other painters exploded into action, grabbing for their paint brushes and slathering colors on to their models, while Sosuke still stumbled to remove the rest of his clothing.

"Oi!" Rin yelled, demanding to be answered. "What are you doing?"

"Whoooaa! What do we have going on here folks?!" The bloody baron shouted, directing everyone's attention to Rin and Sosuke's team in the middle. "In my many years of hosting this event I've never seen the likes of this! We have two people on one team daring enough to get down to just their undies?! Let's give it up for group two!"

"Sosuke!" Rin hissed over the crowd's cheering. "Put your damn clothes back on and stop wasting time!"

"Not a chance." The butterfly swimmer said in an expulsion of breath as he pulled his shirt off over his head. "These costumes don't belong to us. We can't afford to get a single drop of paint on them. It would reflect poorly on you as captain, and on the whole swim team, if you handed these back to the theater club in anything less than the condition they were given to us."

As much as Rin wanted to disagree with Sosuke he found that what he was saying actually made a world of sense. He felt a little disappointed in himself that he could forget such an important thing, and silently gave credit to Sosuke for being on top of things when he couldn't.

"Besides, I've got some time. Our character is barely wearing anything."

Rin recalled the image of the half naked mermaid and deduced that Sosuke had a point.

Finally left in nothing but a pair of dark blue boxer briefs, Sosuke bent over to begin his work. He picked up a broad brush and started squirting out the large amounts of green that they would need for the mermaid's tail on the tarp. Without even giving Rin a warning, Sosuke slapped the brush with the cold, wet paint on to his midriff, making Rin shiver. He worked the green over the hem of Rin's boxers and down below. Rin tried to ignore the weird sensation of the paint seeping through his clothes and to feel those touches around such an inappropriate part of his body. Instead he tried to focus on the prize at the end of the tunnel, the reason that they both were doing all of this...but it just felt so embarrassing!

Mind over matter, Rin. He kept telling himself. Mind over matter!

Suddenly Rin felt the soft bristles of the brush poking at him through his underwear give way to a sharp metal edge. He looked down and his heart dropped at what he saw.

Sosuke was there kneeling in front of him, looking at the paint brush he was just using with his mouth agape. But the paint brush could no longer even be called such because the part that had held the bristles together had fallen off, and now the brush was just a stick with a metal band around the broad end of it.

Are you serious with this?...Rin lacked the capacity to say the words, but thought them just the same. They spent thousands of yen on this party but couldn't even invest in some decent paint brushes?

"It broke?! You've gottah be kidding."

"There's no time." Throwing down the useless paint brush, Sosuke picked up the bottle of green paint and squirted as much as he could into his palms.

Rin growled. "Great, now what are you-" The redhead's sentence died in his throat as Sosuke slapped those cold and wet palms on to Rin's thigh and began painting across his skin with nothing but his bare hands. The butterfly swimmer smeared the paint up Rin's thigh, heading towards his boxers and Rin stiffened. He reflexively shoved Sosuke's arms away and stepped back.

"Are you crazy!" Rin yelled.

"Are you crazy?" His best friend shouted back at him, dark brows angry. "Are you saying you want us to have wasted our time and embarrassed both of ourselves for nothing just because our paint brush broke?"

"Woah! Just when you think things couldn't get any more hot! Now painter number two has abandoned using his brush in place of running his hands sensually up his partner! Talk about sexy!"

Rin blushed at least fifty shades of pink before his pallette arrived at a dark, humiliated red.

"Don't go yelling stuff you know nothing about!" Rin shouted as best he could over at the bloody baron. "We're not like that!"

"Would you sit still for a god damn minute?" Sosuke pulled Rin back into the proper standing position on the tarp and once again loaded his hands up with green paint. "Look, I'll do this as fast as I can, alright?"

Rin didn't even have a chance to argue with his best friend before Sosuke's hands were on him again. Rin decided that, like it or not, Sosuke had a point in that they came all this way and already went through so much humiliation getting undressed in front of the entire crowd. They might as well stick it out and hope to get their prize. Either way they were leaving there with something: there were three groups and three prizes, so it wasn't as if they were going to walk away with nothing but all of this might as well have been for nothing if they couldn't get the prize that they wanted.

Rin clenched his eyes shut and simply let Sosuke's hands do their thing. He tried to bring his mind to another place, away from the humiliation and awkwardness of the situation. He tried to imagine them walking the halls at the Hokkaido Convention center, going through the halls with those shiny badges around their necks, looking at the panel schedules, trying to decide which athlete they wanted to go see-

Sosuke's hands started playing up into his nether regions and there was no way Rin could ignore it. He bit back pitiful whining noises as Sosuke's fingers did the best they could to paint the green substance across his groin as quickly as possible without being too obtrusive. But fingers were such an odd device for application. Even though Rin was sure Sosuke was trying to get done with the area as quick as possible, the larger male had to keep going back and applying more color. Plus, the fact that the color kept sinking into the dark fabric of Rin's boxers didn't exactly help the situation.

"Jesus...Sosuke…" Rin growled, tears pooling on the corners of his eyes from the sheer mortification.

"I know, I didn't ask for this either, okay?"

Rin kept his legs clamped together and silently thanked his lucky stars when his best friend didn't ask for him to spread them. As long as he kept them pressed together, the 'costume' would work for presentation's sake.

"Alright, I'm all done up front. Turn around."

Rin quickly shuffled himself around, careful to keep his legs pressed together. Rin let out a yelp as two large and wet hands slapped themselves on to both of his cheeks and started working the paint over his backside. Unable to withstand the embarrassment any further, Rin buried his blushing face into his hands and sulked.

God damn him. Rin understood that Sosuke wasn't half-assing things here because he was as motivated as Rin was about winning that prize but...did he really need to be that thorough?

Sosuke's hands felt so large. One hand could easily cover each cheek, and in fact from the feel of things that was exactly what Sosuke was trying to do. His hands made quick work of smoothing the paint down over Rin's bottom, then they moved down the backs of his thighs and calves.

"The tail's done." Turning back around, Rin watched Sosuke wring his hands clean with some paper towels and squirt some purple paint on to his fingers.

"What else do you have to d-"

Not wasting any time with verbal directions, his best friend looped an arm around Rin's waist and pulled him closer towards him so that they were less than an arm's breadth apart. Rin hadn't been aware of how cool the room around them was until he could feel the waves of heat rolling off of Sosuke's body and on to his skin. A shiver lept down Rin's spine as he felt something cold and wet play across his nipples. He soon realized that what he was feeling was Sosuke's rough thumbs drawing against his skin once again. The solitary butterfly simmer's fingers ran across Rin's skin, making the sensitive flesh harden under his touch.

"For crying out loud…" Rin growled through his teeth. "Could you be any more embarrassing?"

Oddly enough though, Sosuke didn't respond back to Rin's rebuke like he expected him to. The brunette's teal colored eyes looked entranced, captivated by what they were doing, Rin's harsh comment going completely unnoticed. Rin thought he felt Sosuke's fingers slow for just a fraction of a second as they dragged across his skin. But then they continued their hasty work by filling in the shape of the purple seashells going across his chest. Rin deduced that Sosuke must have had trouble recalling what the character looked like for a second, that's all.

"Alright, aaaaannnd...time! Painters, put your materials down and step away from your models!"

The warmth of Sosuke's hands left his skin as the brunette obeyed the baron's command and backed away from his model. Rin looked down on himself and thought that, while their character didn't have much going on to begin with, Sosuke did a pretty good job considering all the obstacles that were thrown their way. Rin looked to his left and right to judge their competition. It was hard to tell if Sosuke's work could earn them the second place prize. In Rin's opinion, all three models looked to be on the same level. But that wasn't saying much, maybe amateur at best.

"So this is the way we'll decide the winners: We're gonna place the groups in first, second and third by applause. When you see my assistant hold her hand over a pair, make as much noise as you can for your favorite duo. Make sure you only cheer for the one you want to win! Okay, everyone ready? Give it up for group one with Princess Jasmine!"

The crowd made a respectful amount of noise for the first pair of people. Next, the assistant made her way over to Rin and Sosuke and held her hand over their heads.

"And now, for our hot and fiery, fruit of the loom boys, make some noise for group two with Princess Ariel!"

Immediately, the crowd exploded with cheering and feminine screams coming from both males and females alike. Sosuke and Rin blushed at the overwhelming support from the audience, and also from the aggressive cat calls directed at both of them.

Uh oh...Rin had a sinking feeling. It was going to be pretty hard for the next group to top that level of excitement. At any other time Rin would have gladly flaunted their victory, but when they were trying to place for second...

"And last, but certainly not least, group three with Princess Rapunzel!"

Just as Rin had feared, the applause that the last group received was notably a lot better than the first group's, but still didn't even come close to his and Sosuke's. Which meant...

"Wow! For once we actually decided very cleanly! We didn't even have to do a dance battle to settle the score! I think it's pretty clear then: In third place, taking home the delicious bottomless pit tickets, we have group one with Princess Jasmine. In second place, winning those wonderful, shiny badges to the sports Expo is group three with Princess Rapunzel!"

All the air in Rin's body left him in a sigh that completely deflated his posture. He ran his fingers through his hair and clenched at the strands in frustration, trying to beat back the small tears of aggravation from having lost.

"Uuuggh...what the hell...I can't believe this..."

"Well, we didn't lose. Technically we did win."

"Oh yeah, that's right." Wait a minute, try as hard as Rin might he couldn't recall what the first place prize was. And that's when he remembered that he wasn't paying attention because at that time he was distracted talking to Sosuke. "What is the first place prize anyway?"

Sosuke just shrugged. He didn't need to have the answers though, because the baron was about to explain.

"And by a landslide, claiming the first place prize...is sexy group two with Princess Ariel!"

The crowd erupted with applause once again, forcing Rin and Sosuke to wave back to them at least until they settled down some so the baron could explain what they won. To Rin's horror, a pair of stage hands emerged from somewhere holding a dazzling rhinestone princess tiara. The teen stiffened and frowned as the two slowly brought the thing down on to his head, crowning him in his first place victory.

"Congratulations you two. You've just landed yourselves an all expenses paid couples weekend trip to Disneyland in Tokyo!"

Rin blanched. "Uuuh….what?" A couples trip?

"Oooooh I know! You're so excited to get alone together! I can see it in your face!"

"What did I just say!" Rin shouted, but bit back his temper, knowing that it was futile to try and argue with him. The guy was probably wanting to see a rise out of him anyway.

"Here are your tickets guys. Congratulations."

Rin accepted the envelope from the stage assistant with a resigned look. He cast a glance over to the third group and felt one last spark of hope go through him. He hadn't noticed before but the model painted as Rapunzel was given a long blonde wig at some point. It was braided and fitted with a bunch of fake flowers, but was still long enough to go down to the guy's butt.

"Hey." Rin said, making his way over to them. "You guys don't want those badges. Trade with us. This is the first place prize, to Disneyland. Isn't this the better prize?" There it was. There was the pitch from Rin, master negotiator.

"No way!" Rapunzel stuck his tongue out and pulled down one of his eyelids. "These badges are the whole reason we played this stupid game in the first place. Get lost!" With that, the model tossed his blond hair over his shoulder with a catty attitude and started walking away with his partner.

Rin ground his teeth and his cheeks flushed from anger. "Rrrr…why you..."

"Hey." Sosuke caught his hotheaded friend by the shoulder before he could take off after them. "Forget about them. We have to pick up our things and get out of here."

Rin turned his attention back behind him and saw the stage hands already back on the floor cleaning things up so that the party could get back going again.

He let out a sigh that sounded like a growl. "Sorry…I guess I'm just mad that we went through all that for nothing."

"Well...I don't know if I'd say we went through it for nothing."

Rin frowned and raised a brow at his friend.

"I mean, we didn't get the prize that we wanted, but at least we weren't bored."

Rin groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. "You really are something else, you know that?"

Sosuke scooped up the two bundles of their clothes, seeing as how Rin might still have wet paint on him. "C'mon, let's go get you cleaned up."


"Rin." Came the knock at the men's bathroom door. "Hurry up. There's people waiting."

Rin looked at himself in the mirror and his handsome face soured at the half scrubbed image he saw reflected back at him. The damn paint that had dried on him wasn't coming off. And it didn't help the situation that there was no paper towels left in the bathroom so all he had to work with was some cheap two-ply toilet paper.

He gave a loud and resigned sigh. "Yeah, I'll be right out."

Rin had tossed his soaked boxers away in the trash can of the one-man bathroom. They were beyond saving, completely covered in green paint that had now hardened and had the flexibility and consistency of sandpaper against his sensitive skin. The rest of the paint on his body had dried, and his clothes covered everything well enough. So he slipped on his costume and finally emerged from the bathroom.

"Finally!" A random stranger shouted and all but bowled over Rin as he forced his way into the men's bathroom and slammed the door, locking it.

Rin raised his eyebrows but then shook his head. He didn't even want to entertain the question of what that guy's emergency was.

"There you are." Rin looked up to see Sosuke waiting for him out there, fully dressed in his police office uniform already. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah." He sighed once more. "I just wasn't able to scrub the paint off…"

Sosuke sputtered and laughed, the gesture making his whole face brighten and seem warm.

"Oi." Rin pouted. "Shut up."

"Sorry…" Sosuke said, though he was still chuckling.

The corners of Rin's mouth turned downwards. He brushed past his friend, heading for the tables that lined the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Hey, c'mon." Sosuke called after him, following behind. "Don't cry."

"I'm not crying, idiot." He sighed then, coming to a stop in front of the punch bowls. "I need something to drink." That whole ordeal of humiliating himself in front of a crowd of people had him thirsting something fierce. Rin served himself a full cup of the red liquid and drank as much as he could before he had to stop. That burning flavor was there again, but this time it was even stronger than Rin remembered. The burning sensation coupled with the cheap cherry flavor of the drink reminded him of cough medicine. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but the only other thing to drink was soda, which Rin knew would only dehydrate him further. So he gulped down the rest of his drink, coughing and made a disgusted face when he was done.

"Uuuugh...god."

"What?"

"Nothing." Rin said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Evening, everybody." Came a mellow voice over the speakers. Rin looked over to the stage and saw the DJ speaking into the mic. His features, hair and skin colors were as mellow as his voice. Very pale skin, and hair so blonde it nearly looked silver. "I was forced into agreeing to play one slow dance song for the evening, so here it is." The DJ continued, despite the mixed reactions from the crowd of people on the dance floor. "If you don't like it then go home. Here we go, grab your bae or ya boo and get slow."

"A slow dance…" Rin's brow furrowed. This was the last place he expected to see-

"Hey!" Someone called, making both males turn their attention to the side.

"Youji?"

The werewolf smiled as he drew near. "You two weren't bad out there. Congratulations on winning first place."

"Oh, thanks. But, we weren't trying to."

"Whaaaat?" Youji smirked and then shook his head. "You guys are weird."

"Oh yeah, by the way Sosuke…"

Rin quickly introduced the two.

Youji nodded. "Good to meet you."

"Yeah." Was Sosuke's short reply.

"Anyways, Rin...I uh…" Youji's cheeks flushed a light pink and he smiled, scratching the back of his fluffy head. "I was gonna ask if you wanted to dance with me?"

Rin blinked and wondered if the surprise that he felt from Youji's question was as plain on his face as he thought it was.

"Trust me, I've learned my lesson from last time. I'll play nice." The werewolf offered his clawed hand out for Rin to accept. "Would you want to?"

"I...uh…" Rin felt a soft push come from his backside, making him stumble forward a bit.

He looked back to see Sosuke putting his foot back down into standing position with his usual stoic expression on his face.

"Go for it, idiot." Sosuke softened his words with a small smile. "Isn't this the whole reason we came here?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Rin's red orbs flickered over towards the dance floor where he saw plenty of people already dancing. He saw couples of all different shapes, sizes and gender. There were even a few couples out there of big built guys like himself, making some of Rin's shyness melt away. Rin cast one last glance towards his best friend, looking for some sort of assurance.

Sosuke's smile only warmed as he dipped his head in a subtle nod.

Youji was still holding his hand out for Rin to accept.

"Sure, alright." The redhead agreed and scratched the back of his neck. "But, you don't have to hold out your hand like that, though."

Youji blinked, but then just laughed and let his hand fall away. "Right. Sorry. I guess that's just the romantic in me."

"Alright, well. We're going now." Rin said to Sosuke.

"Okay."

Youji took hold of one of Rin's hands anyway and eagerly began leading him over towards the dance floor once again. Rin felt his gut twinge with nervousness. He'd seen people slow dance before but had never done it himself. And was Sosuke just going to stand there and watch them the entire time until Rin got back? The very idea of it made him feel pressured.

They came to a stop a good distance in. Youji turned around so that they were facing each other.

"Come closer to me." Youji said, holding out his arms.

Rin stepped a bit closer, somewhat awkwardly, not knowing how to stand or where to put his arms.

Youji only chuckled at this. "Here. Take your arms," the werewolf took hold of Rin's arms and guided them up to rest and connect around his neck. "Put them like that and…" Rin stiffened once again when he felt one of Youji's broad hands press against the small of his back, pushing his body closer towards Youji's. "Get close to me…"

Rin's body tensed reflexively and a light blush dusted his cheeks. Thier chests pressed together and Youji's heat seeped through Rin's clothes to his body. Rin felt Youji wrap his arms around his waist and come to rest at the small of his back. They started to shift back and forth to the slow rhythm of the song.

"How's that?" Youji's voice was hushed and very close to Rin's ear, sending a shiver down his spine.

"Wh-why am I the one who's like this?" Rin asked in concern to their positions. "Isn't this what the woman's supposed to do?"

Youji stopped their dancing to look at him.

"Are you saying you want to lead?"

Rin choked and looked away, grumbling. "I didn't say that."

Youji chuckled and continued carrying Rin through their dance. "You just seem like you haven't done this before, is all. I thought you wouldn't mind."

Rin decided it was useless trying to save face by disputing the fact that this was his first time slow dancing. It was glaringly obvious that it was, even without Rin having to say so. Why bother?

As strange as it seemed, Rin felt even more self conscious dancing slowly than when he was out there jamming away to bumping fast paced music. For one thing, there were less people, so there was more opportunity for people to gawk at them, and for another thing...It really wasn't like him to be in a situation like this. He felt like a fish out of water in every sense of the phrase.

"It's nice to dance slow like this." He felt the vibrations of Youji's voice rumble through his chest.

"Yeah…"

They turned around in their dance, and Rin's vision appeared blurry for a moment. He blinked his eyes, to try and clear it away, but he was having more and more trouble focusing his vision as they continued on. His head felt heavy and his thoughts seemed sluggish, like he was getting very tired.

Rin accidentally tripped over one of Youji's feet, and couldn't react fast enough to catch himself.

"Whoa." The werewolf caught a hold of Rin and fixed him upright. "What was that just now? You alright?"

"Yeah." Rin breathed and pressed a hand to his forehead. "I just...I'm not sure what's wrong with me."

Youji stopped their dancing, but Rin's head still felt like it was spinning.

"C'mon, why don't we go sit down for a bit?"

That sounded like a good idea to Rin. The redhead let Youji lead him off the dancefloor and over to a black metal staircase on the side of the room that lead up to the infrastructure of metal walkways above the warehouse floor.

Youji set him down on the bottom step gently and then took a seat next to him.

"Well, that was still a pretty good dance." Rin heard Youji say but had some trouble using his words.

"...Yeah. Right, it was a good dance." Rin took a deep breath and leaned against the cold metal railing of the stairs.

"Hey so...uh…" Youji reached into his shirt pocket and produced a beaten up track phone. "I had a good time with you tonight. I was wondering...could I maybe get your digits?" Youji's smile stuck through his corny words.

Rin's brow furrowed, not really following what the werewolf was saying.

"What…?"

"Uhm, I'm asking if I can have your number."

"Oh." Rin pushed his bangs out of his face and looked away. "Uhm. Sorry, but no. It's nothing personal. I had a good time too, I just...didn't come here for that."

"What do you mean you didn't come here for that?" Youji asked. Rin could hear the small twinge of hurt in his voice from being rejected. "You're the one who came over and started talking to me, you know."

"Me and Sosuke came here tonight to try new things for me because…" Rin slammed the brakes on his mouth and clamped it down tight. He was astonished at himself. How could he almost tell a complete stranger something so personal? It really wasn't like him to let things slip up like that. Where the hell was his filter going? "Uh, I mean, nevermind."

But it was too late. Youji's curiosity seemed piqued now. "Try new things? What do you mean?"

"Nothing…" Rin grumbled, only feeling his dizziness get worse.

Youji's purple eyes flicked down to the green bracelet on Rin's wrist. He smiled, as he seemed to realize something.

"Ohhh….I think I get what you mean."

Well shit. Thanks to his slip up, Youji was privy to his secret of being sexually curious. Whatever, it didn't matter. Nothing seemed to matter to Rin at the moment.

"Hey, if that's the sort of thing you're looking for…"

Rin distantly felt Youji's arm snake around his waist and pull him closer so that their sides were touching. Youji's lips murmured against the shell of Rin's ear, voice low and inviting.

"I could show you some things."

"Idiot…" Rin's entire face flushed bright red, but for some reason he couldn't move his body to shove the werewolf away. It was almost as if he were paralyzed. "Get off of me…"

But his voice came out too low, Youji must not have heard him. Rin clenched his eyes shut as he felt soft and warm lips kiss up his jawline, ending just under his ear. A hand slipped under the hem of his shirt and felt over the flat wall of his abs while that naughty mouth started nibbling on the shell of his ear…

Rin's body finally snapped into action, shoving Youji away roughly enough to send him scooting to the other side of the step.

"I said, get off me…" Rin growled, and shot the werewolf a hooded glare containing all the viciousness of a shark thirsting for blood.

Youji shriveled under his gaze.

"Hey, okay!" The wolf said, sheepishly holding up his hands. "There's no reason to get all upset. All you had to do was tell me to stop-"

"Ah, so this is where you were." Came a baritone voice from their front. Sosuke stood in front of them with his hands in his pockets and a dark eyebrow arched. "What are you guys doing over here?"

"Nothing." Rin grumbled. "We're done here. C'mon Sosuke, I think...we should…" Rin went to stand and completely lost his balance. He pitched forward and saw the ground rushing up to meet him, but his body was too sluggish and slow to do anything about it.

"Rin!" He heard Sosuke cry a moment before he collided into something firm but warm. A familiar scent filled his nose; a smell of clean clothes warm from sunshine, a hint of sweat, and just a bit of cologne.

"Mmnnn...Sosuke…" Rin grumbled, fingers pulling on the fabric of his uniform as he struggled to remain upright. Just the simple motion of standing up had Rin's vision blurry and his head swimming. It was hard to see anything straight, and now, to make matters worse, his stomach was starting to feel sick. "I...I don't…"

"Hey, look at me for a second."

Rin felt fingers grip his chin and turn his face upwards. Rin blinked his eyes which brought Sosuke's serious expression into focus.

"Ngh...what? What do you want?" Rin irritably swatted his hand away. Why was everybody fucking touching him tonight!

"Son of a…" Sosuke cursed under his breath and threw a venomous glare Youji's way.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! He was like this before we even sat down!"

"Whatever." Sosuke threw one of Rin's arms over his shoulders and began walking towards the exit. "C'mon. We're going home."

"What are you doing?" Rin squirmed. "Let go of me, you idiot. I can walk my own damn self."

"Like hell you can." Sosuke's grip tightened around Rin's wrist as he continued to fight against him. "You can't even stand up."

"I was just dizzy, that's all." Rin's expression darkened as the butterfly swimmer still refused to let go of him.

"Sosuke." He barked. "I said I'm fine."

"And I'm telling you you're not."

"What's your problem!" Rin shouted, punching Sosuke in the side with his free hand. Why the fuck couldn't the guy just understand that Rin wanted to be alone for a few seconds? "Who're you to say how I'm feeling?!"

"Rin-Rin!" Sosuke shouted, scuffling with the redhead for a few seconds before grabbing a hold of both of his wrists so he couldn't hit him any more. "Would you get a grip! Do I have to carry you out of here?!"

"No way in hell is that happening." Rin grit his teeth as he fought against his best friend's strength. "Just try it, I dare you!"


"Sosuke…" Rin growled through clenched teeth. "Put. Me down! Now!"

"No." The solitary butterfly swimmer said, completely unaffected by Rin's harsh voice. "You might want to keep it down. It's already midnight."

Rin lay draped over Sosuke's left shoulder like a large, dead fish. He'd already expended the rest of his energy by pounding on Sosuke's back and yelling vulgarities at him earlier. But squirm as he might, he just couldn't break out of the larger male's grasp. After a while, Rin flopped down, pathetically, and let Sosuke carry him, both too tired and too out of it to argue any further.

They had left the warehouse district a while ago and were now back in the residential area. Sosuke came to a stop at the first convenience store he saw and gently let Rin down.

"Wait here a minute."

Too irritable to say anything, Rin just kept quiet as he watched Sosuke walk into the store. The redhead sighed and slid down the brick wall of the building, sinking down on to his backside. He was just so tired from all the events of the day. And his condition certainly wasn't getting any better…

"Here. Drink this."

Rin looked up to find a water bottle hanging close to his face. Sosuke stared down at him with an expression that left him no room for argument.

"Thanks." Rin accepted the water bottle and was unscrewing its cap when another item was shoved in his face followed after the noise of a plastic bag being crinkled. It was a rice ball.

"Eat this too. It'll make you feel better."

"Fine…" Rin relented and took the rice ball, even though he certainly didn't feel like eating.

The two sat in silence for a few moments as Rin took a few swigs of the water and chomped a bite out of his rice ball. Rin's fiery orbs stared at the filling of his rice ball oozing out of the bite mark he'd just made.

"Sosuke…" Came Rin's hoarse voice. His hand tightened around the packaging of his rice ball. "What the hell am I doing…?"

More silence passed between them as Sosuke pondered his answer.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself." Sosuke finally said. "I felt the same way when I was going through this a year ago. You're not going to get all the answers right away. So stop looking so depressed about it."

It was times like these that reminded Rin just how well Sosuke understood him, and how unlikely it was that he would ever meet another person who could do it better. Rin continued eating his rice ball, feeling a little bit better.

"I guess you're right."

"We'll talk more about it tomorrow when you're feeling better." Sosuke gulped down the rest of his water, crushed the bottle and tossed it in a bin. "You ready?"

"Yeah." That water and rice ball really did have Rin feeling better. He didn't feel as dizzy any more and his stomach no longer felt queazy. Overly full, but at least not queazy. Rin wondered how Sosuke knew just what to do to fix his symptoms...now that he thought of it, he didn't remember telling Sosuke he felt sick in the first place.

"Can you walk now?"

"Yeah. I think I'll be fine."

The rest of their trip back to their dorm was enveloped in a comfortable silence. When they arrived back to their room around 12:30 that morning, Rin all but collapsed down on to his bunk, not even caring to shower the paint off his body or to get undressed from his disheveled costume.


"Hey…"

A voice floated to Rin through the void of his sleeping, but he ignored it. He was still so tired. He wanted to remain asleep.

"Hey." Came the voice again and a soft nudge on his shoulder.

Rin groaned and rolled over on to his side. As soon as he did a delectable smell teased his nostrils and made his sleeping stomach churn with hunger. Red eyes peaked open and squinted against bright sunlight coming in through the shades in their dorm room.

Sosuke stood next to him holding a brown paper bag.

"Get up. I got us breakfast."

Every muscle in the swim team captain's body ached as he pushed himself from lying down into a sitting position. He groaned once more just from the simple task of keeping himself upright. He felt as if he'd gone a bit too hard at the gym the previous day, but didn't remember going there before…

Looking down, Rin saw he was still wearing the crumpled police officer costume from last night and felt the dry princess paint crusted underneath. That's when the events of the previous night came flooding back to him and he groaned for an entirely different reason.

The paper bag crinkled as Sosuke tore it open and removed two lumps wrapped in clean white paper.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, handing one of the lumps to Rin.

Rin's head ached, feeling like it was buried in sand, and his breath tasted like death. His stomach felt a cross between viciously hungry and mildly sick.

"Fine, I guess." His voice sounded like gravel as he accepted the neatly wrapped package. It was warm and smelled delicious. Unwrapping it proved the item to be a juicy egg and cheese sandwich.

"Good to hear." Sosuke pulled out the rollaway chair at the desk and sat down to eat his own sandwich and cracked open bottle of soda.

The two ate in silence for the most part, but Rin was anything but relaxed. He knew what was coming. If Sosuke thought he could catch him off guard a third time by being all nice and waking him up with breakfast then he was dead wrong. Rin, his mind still sluggish with sleep, quickly tried to recall all the things that had happened the night before.

Sosuke crumpled the white packaging paper after taking the final bite of his sandwich and Rin subsequently felt his stomach sink.

"Alright. So," Sosuke turned the chair about so that he could rest his upper body over the back of it. "Start talking: what happened last night?"

"A lot of stuff…" He sighed.

"Why don't you start with telling me about that guy?"

Rin felt his gut wrench and his cheeks sting in embarrassment. Then an instant later he felt his embarrassment give way to frustration as he remembered all the things that mangy mongrel did to him...and how he hadn't really done anything about it. Rin clenched his teeth...For crying out loud, he'd just woken up and eaten breakfast and he was already getting to be in a bad mood.

"Jeez...do we have to talk about this now?"

"Yes, we do, actually. Because if not you'll just keep blowing me off until I back you into a corner."

Rin shot his friend a half lidded glare but had to concede that in a way he was right. Rin was beginning to realize that about himself: that he had a tendency to avoid this specific type of conversation. Conversations about his sexual wants and identity.

"Fine…" he sighed. "After we talked for a bit we went to dance and…" Rin's fingers clenched around the wrapper to his sandwich.

"And?"

"He touched me…" His cheeks heated with a blush. Him and Sosuke had had these types of talks a couple times now but it still wasn't any easier for Rin to talk about stuff like this with him. He just wasn't used to talking about such things in general and the fact that he was talking about it with Sosuke made it even weirder.

But like last time, Sosuke didn't seem to feel nearly as uncomfortable.

"What do you mean?"

Rin ran his fingers through his hair and let out a slow breath through his nose. He explained everything in detail: about what happened on the dance floor, how he saw Youji dancing and got attracted to him, put on a teasing show of his own and as a result got groped from behind. He also told Sosuke about their time slow dancing and everything that happened before he found them together on the stairs.

"I have no idea what my problem was." Rin growled. "But if I had been in my right mind when he did that to me…" He let his sentence trail off menacingly.

"You were drunk."

The words hit Rin like a slap to the face.

"...What?!"

"Did the punch have a burning flavor?"

Rin blinked. "How did...you know that?" The redhead didn't remember seeing Sosuke drink any of the punch.

"Happens all the time at parties. Someone must have dumped a decent sized bottle of vodka in there. Your breath was reeking of it when I found you last night."

"And you didn't think to warn me about stuff like that before we went in?"

Sosuke's brow darkened. "So it's my fault you got hammered?"

"I was not hammered!" Rin growled. Talk about adding insult to injury. First he had to relive the embarrassment of what happened the night before, and now to find out that he was a lightweight that couldn't even hold down a drink? The redhead sighed and passed a hand over his face.

"We're getting off topic." For once, Rin actually deflected the conversation back towards the matter he didn't normally want to talk about.

"Ah, right. So, did you figure anything out?"

"Well, I haven't really had time to think about it. All this only happened just last night…" A pregnant pause enveloped the two as Rin stared down at the remaining half of his sandwich, reflecting upon the memories as well as the emotions and the urges that came with them.

"But even so, even only having this short amount of time to think about things, I think I can safely say that I did figure something out about myself."

"Alright then. Out with it."

"Well…" Rin's cheeks heated with a blush as he recalled the image of Youji dancing sensually one the dance floor, feeling himself up and down. "I think I can say that...I'm open to the idea being interested in guys."

"Okay." Sosuke's tone encouraged Rin to continue.

"But more importantly, as embarrassing as it was to have that shit happen to me, it did make me realize something else about myself."

"You're talking about when he kissed you?"

Rin's brow furrowed and his lip curled in distaste. "Yeah. As much as I don't like that it happened...it…it made me realize that I can't do those sorts of things with someone I don't know. I realized that I don't think I'd be able to tell if I'm truly interested in doing those sorts of things with another guy if I do that stuff with some random person."

"Huh…"

Sosuke pondered his best friend's information with a furrowed brow.

"So...you're thinking that you might like guys…"

"Yeah."

"But looking at stuff does nothing for you?"

"Right."

"And experimenting with a person doesn't mean anything either unless you know them very well?"

"Mmn...yeah…" Rin started to put all the information together like Sosuke had. From a logical process of thinking, it would make sense if Rin tried to experiment with someone, a guy, that he knew well. Or at least well enough that he could confide in him with confidence. But at the same time, that guy would also have to have a taste for guys as well to not reject Rin outright.

His red eyes flickered as his mind went through the brief catalogue of people he knew: guys on the swim team, classmates. He realized he didn't know hardly anyone that fit the bill...except for one person. The realization caused a creeping type of embarrassment that turned from mild to stifling. The huge elephant in the room only grew larger with each passing second of silence that went between them. Rin wondered if Sosuke was silent because he realized it too, and just didn't want to say anything, or if he was only thinking and didn't even realize it. Rin was severely hoping for the latter.

After a while Sosuke cleared his throat to break the silence. He scratched the back of his neck and averted his cool blue eyes. Rin could have swore he saw a very light flush on the tops of Sosuke's cheek bones.

Oh god no, Sosuke, Rin inwardly pleaded. Don't say it, please don't make this awkward-

"What if we tried doing stuff together?"


Heeeeeeeeeey guuuys. Sorry it took me forever and a day to write this. But I'm guessing you can forgive me seeing as how a whole bunch of goodies happened. So, if you haven't noticed, I'm taking things really slow with Rin and Sosuke, because that's the only way I see things working between them. I wanted to focus on the love aspect of this story first before getting to all the stuff that we want to see because I think that makes them a stronger couple, makes them stronger as characters and overall just makes for a better story. So that's why, at the end of chapter three, we're just getting to this point of them talking about trying stuff together. I know I write too much and for too long, but thank you for sticking with this story. Thanks guys!

Ahahahaah! omg but the disney princess part tho! I'm so glad I thought of that, I struggled for a good thirty mins between me and my friends trying to decide which disney princess Rin should be xD Jasmine's my favorite personally but we started with Ariel and had to come back to Ariel. It only made sense.

Comments always give me determination to keep writing, thank you for those who comment!

Bye for now :)

Random Shorts~*


"Sosuke…" Came Rin's hoarse voice. His hand tightened around the packaging of his rice ball. "What the hell am I doing…?"

"Uhmmm…" Sosuke paused and then said very slowly. "You're eating a rice ball, Rin."

Rin scowled and shot his friend a death glare.

"Would you just shut up?"


"Fine…" he sighed. "After we talked for a bit we went to dance and…" Rin's fingers clenched around the wrapper to his sandwich.

"And?"

"He touched me…" Rin's cheeks heated with a blush.

Sosuke placed a blank, undecorated stuffed doll on the table between them. It looked to be in the shape and the size of a small child.

"Tell us where he touched you, son."

Rin's eye brows shot up at this.

"You don't have to say it if it's too painful for you. You can just point if that works."

The solitary butterfly swimmer procured a box of tissues from the same place he pulled the doll from and slid it across the table towards Rin.

"Take your time."

"What the hell is this?" Rin shouted. "Law and Order special victim's unit?!"