*~Chapter Four~*
Fanning the Cinders
*Just wanna say that pretty much this entire chapter was sired by Migoto Nami and was written by me. I was having a hard time and she really helped me out. So ya, go check out her stuff...and stuff.
"Oi. Quit messing around and come kill this guy." The brunette's tone was flat, nearly monotonous.
"I'm trying." Rin frowned. "I can't move, I'm stuck behind this stupid pile of rocks."
Rin's character twitched every which way on the screen as she tried to free herself from the glitched position inside a pile of rubble. Meanwhile Sosuke's character was being pursued by a hulking armored skeleton warrior. He was dangerously low on health and all out of potions. His death would mean that they would have to start the area all over again and lose all the loot they picked up.
"It's fine. I'll just die and we'll start over."
"Don't even think about it." Rin warned. "I picked up an awesome crossbow back there and I'm not losing it because you want to half-ass things."
Sosuke's hand reached over to Rin's controller and pressed the start button, bringing the pause menu up on screen.
Rin's brow furrowed deeper. "What're you…?"
"Rin." Sosuke's teal eyes were unwavering as they connected with red. "Why don't we try doing something now?"
His eyes rounded with surprise and a moment later he felt his cheeks sting. Was Sosuke asking what Rin thought he was asking?
"...what do you mean?"
"You know what I mean." Sosuke said, his tone and expression serious. "I'm saying we should try doing something together."
The redhead's stomach lurched and his cheeks flushed with warmth. He averted his gaze to the hardwood floor below and anxiously rubbed his thumbs against his controller.
"I guess so…" His tone came out sounding muffled and indigent but he didn't mean it to. He felt his body tense up as a sort of silence elapsed between them. But he shook off the feeling and turned to face his best friend with a focused expression.
"Alright…" He swallowed and forced himself to meet Sosuke's gaze. "What did you have in mind?"
Rin resolved that he wouldn't shy away. After all, the last time he and Sosuke talked about this a few days ago, he did agree to accept his help…
"What if we tried doing stuff together?"
Rin was speechless. He'd been expecting the question and yet it had still managed to catch him off guard, completely rendering his mind as a blank slate.
He forced his mouth to start moving, trying to give the butterfly swimmer an answer he didn't have. "Sosuke…you're not serious, are you?"
"I am." Nothing about Sosuke's tone or his expression betrayed anything about what he might be feeling. He appeared nearly stoic as always, except for his dark brow which was set with a hint of seriousness. "I wouldn't joke about something like that."
"Of course you wouldn't, but still, I…" Rin looked anywhere but at Sosuke and scratched the back of his neck.
"You said it yourself: You think you have urges for guys, but won't know unless you try things out with someone you know. Who else do you know that fits the bill?"
Rin remained silent, not really wanting to entertain the thought.
"Would you prefer Momo?"
Rin drew back as if someone had just hit him. "What? No-!"
"Then Ai?"
Rin's brow darkened as his fiery orbs met with frosty teal. "Do you hear yourself right now? You're not making any sense."
"Who else do you know well enough then?"
Rin saw Sosuke's point, and indeed, had already arrived at the same conclusion even before his solemn friend had said it. Such knowledge was making it even more difficult to argue with him. Rin remained quiet, not really sure how to answer his best friend.
"I'm not saying we have to take things far." The butterfly swimmer said while scratching the back of his head. "I mostly meant like holding hands and stuff."
"Sosuke…" The embarrassment of the whole situation had Rin struggling for his words. "I'm sorry, but I don't think-"
"I don't expect you to answer me right now, and I don't want you to either." The brunette stood up from the roll-away desk chair and stuffed his hands in his short's pockets. "Just promise me you'll give it some honest thought before you say yes or no. Got it?"
Rin knew what he wanted to say, but something about the way Sosuke seemed so adamant about the whole thing had him hesitate. At the very least, the redhead felt that he should humor Sosuke's wishes if only for politeness sake.
"Aaahh...sure, I will."
"Alright." The bigger of the two males went over to the door and slipped on his shoes. "I'm going out for a bit. Be back later." He cast one last glance back at Rin before opening the door. "See ya." And then closed it behind him.
"Nitori, Aiichiro." Rin's voice called out in a drone-like fashion.
"Hai!"
"Onodera, Ritsu."
His other members answered with much the same level of energy as Rin read down the line taking attendance. The early summer sun beat down harshly on the tops of everyone's heads and the blistering heat radiating from the black top parking lot and from the stinky, loud bus behind their captain certainly wasn't making things any easier on them. Rin shared the same sentiments with his members and tried to go through the roster as quickly as possible. He wanted to dive into that cold pool at the place they were going to just as badly as everyone else did.
"Alright. Everyone's here. You guys can head on the bus now."
"Ah-wait a moment, Rin-Senpai!" Nitori called out, raising his hand like a good little egg. "You haven't told us where we're going or why…"
"Ah? I thought I did…" He murmured while brushing some hair from his face. "Well anyways, we're all heading to Iwatobi for a joint practice today. I figure you guys can get some experience swimming with other people who are on our level. Let's get a move on. I don't want to be late."
"Yes, sir!" They all cried and promptly boarded the bus.
About thirty minutes later found the whole of the Samezuka swim team dressed and standing around the glistening pool at Iwatobi high school.
Almost immediately a perky and petite blonde teenager bounced over to Rin who fronted the group of his team that he was leading from the locker rooms.
"Rin-chan! You're here!"
"Hey, Nagisa. We're here for the joint practice today."
The blonde peeked over Rin's shoulder and let out a chuckle. "And you brought everybody this time! Even Ai-chan!"
"Of course I'd come. I'm part of the swim team after all..." Rin heard his underclassman mumble. "And I'd prefer if you didn't call me Ai-cha-".
Not noticing (or perhaps not caring about) Nitori's comment, Nagisa spun around on his heel and shouted to a very built young man doing the backstroke in the pool.
"Mako-chan! Rin-chan and his team are here!"
After completing his touch on the other end of the pool, the young man stood up in the water and removed his black swimming cap to reveal a full head of honey brown hair that was slicked down flat to his head, completely drenched. After catching his breath for just a few seconds, he climbed out of the pool. The water ran off his half naked body in droplets zigzagging over his taut chest and abs. A smile graced his full lips as he approached the captain of the Samezuka swim team that lit up his entire face and made his emerald eyes shimmer.
"Rin. You're here already? I didn't think you'd be here so soon." The male said, brushing his wet brown bangs out of his eyes.
Rin arched his brow but felt a corner of his mouth twitch upwards despite himself.
"C'mon. You knew what time I'd be here. You guys can't continue to be so carefree all the time."
The brunette chuckled, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"Ah, by the way," Rin went to stand beside the larger male. "I don't think I've introduced you to my team yet. Everyone, this is Makoto Tachibana. He's the captain of the Iwatobi swim team. Learn what you can from him during our practice today."
Rin's team responded heartily to his orders while Makoto gave a subtle yet polite bow.
"Alright. Everyone begin with your warm-ups and then we'll get started."
The team gave noises of affirmation and then moved to their respective positions some ways away to begin their stretching. Among the crowd, Rin's fiery irises accidently connected with a certain pair of teal ones. His and Sosuke's gazes connecting sent a jolt of awkwardness through him, causing his stomach to lurch reflexively. He looked away before he could help himself, but when he looked back again he saw Sosuke involved with helping Momo stretch. As usual, nothing about Sosuke's expression gave away what the solitary brunette might be thinking or feeling.
Rin ran his fingers through his hair and glared off in the direction of the water.
The hell is wrong with me...? Playing glancing games like this...Rin didn't believe in beating around the bush most of the time, or at least when things came to his own problems. But somehow this particular problem of his was something he did not know how to deal with. And especially now since Sosuke was involved…
Rin recalled bits of their conversation as his red irises drifted around the pool, falling on each one of the Iwatobi swim members.
Ahhh...that's right. He remembered now that back when he and Sosuke were half seriously talking about other candidates to try new things with they didn't even consider any of his friends from Iwatobi. Rin supposed that he knew Haru, Makoto and Nagisa well enough. Rei was a nice person, but Rin could hardly say he knew him very well.
Rin gave it some serious thought for a moment. Would he consider doing those sorts of things with Nagisa? His lip wrinkled and he shook his head. No way. That was something he just could not picture. Then what about Haru? Rin imagined approaching Haru about the subject and simply couldn't see the solitary swimmer agreeing to it. Haru didn't seem romantically interested in anything except water, weirdly enough. Besides, thinking of that outcome made him feel just as uncomfortable as when he tried to imagine things with Sosuke...Then Makoto?
Rin rubbed at his eyes to hide the deep furrowing of his brow and the slight blush going across his cheeks. I need to stop thinking about things like this and get a grip. This is just making things too weird.
"Rin-san!" A jubilant voice pulled the redhead's attention back to the present. A handsome-looking young man with dark purplish hair stood in front of him smiling with his hands placed on his hips. His amethyst orbs which rested behind bright red frames were set with an unspoken challenge. "Good afternoon!"
"Ah, Rei." Rin mumbled, trying to recede from his awkward thoughts. "What's up?"
"I wanted to officially extend a challenge to you in a race swimming butterfly style!" Rei pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a smile. "What do you say? I think it would be an excellent opportunity for us to develop our butterfly technique!"
"Oh, uh. Sure. But, not right now..."
The other male's smile fell and his brow pulled upwards in a slightly concerned expression. "Turning down a challenge...? That's very weird to be hearing from you, Rin-san."
"Uh, I only meant I haven't done my warm-ups yet." Rin stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away. "I just need to do my stretches, that's all."
Rei's face brightened once again with a smile, all worry fading away from Rin's words.
"Oh, yes! How foolish of me to have not realized! Very well," the young man said pushing up his glasses once more. "Take as much time as you need to properly warm-up. I will be ready for yo-"
"Aaah, careful, Rei-chan!" Came a cute voice attempting to be serious down near the male's hip. "There's a troublesome crab scuttling about that likes to pinch men's underwear!"
"H-huh?! Wh-what do you-!"
Rei's swimming jammers started being pulled down his hip, exposing his pale skin underneath. The poor butterfly failed to notice anything was happening until both of his fair butt cheeks jiggled out over the top of his swim suit, glistening in the sun.
"What in the world!"
Rei clutched at his garments to pull them back up. The red hue on his face was enough to rival the color of his glasses. Spinning around revealed the culprit, Nagisa, crouched on the ground holding an extendo-arm tool that had a pinching mechanism on the far end of it. The blonde gave an angelic smile and pulled the trigger a few more times which made the two fingers open and close on the other end of it.
"Run away, Rei-chan. Crabby-chan wants more of your cheeks."
"N-Nagisa-kun stop this!"
A chase ensued that involved Nagisa rapidly pinching the extendo-arm inches from Rei's butt and Rei protectively covering his cheeks while screaming.
Rin watched the whole spectacle with half lidded eyes and sighed.
"I'm not in the mood to deal with this right now..."
"You feeling okay, Onii-chan? What's wrong?" Came a familiar voice from Rin's left.
A petite, redheaded girl stood next to Rin looking up at him with expectant eyes which were an identical shade of red to his own. Likewise, her long red hair which was pulled back into a ponytail borrowed from the same color as his. The girl was Gou, his younger sister.
Rin stiffened from the question. Was it really so easy to tell that something was bothering him today?
"What are you talking about?" He asked, trying to play it off. "Nothing's wrong."
"Nnnnn..." Gou began in a chastising tone. "I know you better than that. I can tell when something is bothering you."
"I'm telling you nothing's wrong." He whined, hoping with one last attempt to shake her off.
There was a brief pause that was filled with Nagisa's laughter and Rei's screaming. Then silence came after there was a huge splash from the pool.
"...Did you and Sosuke-kun get into another fight?"
Rin sighed as he realized that nothing he could say would deter his doting sister. Red orbs searched across the way and came to rest on the shoulders of a particularly familiar brunette.
"Not exactly..."
Gou remained silent, urging her brother to continue.
"Gou..." Rin began hesitantly. "...I've been...lately I've been...having second thoughts about what I want..."
"Hnn? What you want?"
"Yeah."
Her red brows shot upwards in concern. "You mean...what you want to do with your future?"
Rin clenched a fist at his side.
"Yeah, I guess that's what I mean."
"Well..." Gou was quiet for a moment, hugging her ubiquitous clipboard to her chest while she pondered her answer.
"I know you were having thoughts about going abroad, and I can understand how that would feel scary. It's a big investment and it still might not work out...but if it's one thing I know about you it's you don't let insecurities like that get in your way. My Onii-chan went to a foreign country where he couldn't even speak or read the language and held his own just fine!" Gou smiled clenching a fist in front of herself.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is maybe things won't end up going as well as you hoped, but at the same time they might turn out better than you imagine. You will never know unless you give it an honest try. And also, for better or for worse, the experience is still an experience to help round you as a person. That's what I think, anyway."
"Hnnn..." Fiery orbs jumped to the far end of the pool where all the team members had started lining up for practice, having finally finished their warm-ups.
"Yeah, I see what you're saying..."
Rin mulled over his sister's words for a few moments, then turned and gave her a reassuring half-smile.
"That really helped me. Thanks, Gou."
The girl's eyes rounded in surprise, but then she too smiled and dipped her head in a nod. "Nnn!"
Just then, a very high-pitched and excited voice cut through the air from across the pool.
"Ahaha ha hah, Gooooouu-saaaan!" Momo waved to Rin's younger sister with sparkles dancing around his head.
Rin arched his brow. "It looks like you have someone asking for you."
Gou shrunk back, hugging her clipboard even tighter. "I might just stay over here today..."
Rin gave a toothy smile and chuckled. "I can't blame you there. Oi, Rei!" He called out and removed his jacket. "You ready? Let's get that race started!"
After the race the group's practice went on until the sky was orange and the night-time birds started chirping.
"It's about time to wrap up." Rin called out to his men. "Let's head out to the showers."
Rin and everyone headed over to the showers beside the pool to rinse the chemicals from the water off their bodies. They made quick work of it and soon just about everyone had headed back into the locker room.
"Hey, Sosuke," Rin called after his friend before he could leave with everyone else. "Hold on a second."
Sosuke paused as the rest of the swim team walked away.
"What's up?"
Rin knew what he wanted to say, but the subject matter made it difficult for him to formulate his thoughts into sentences.
"I thought about what you said earlier..."
The look that registered on Sosuke's face said he hadn't expected Rin to bring the subject up.
"And...I've decided...that I want to give it a try."
Sosuke's brows shot upwards and his mouth popped open. Then, a second later his expression was serious again, his blue gaze turning firm.
"You're sure about this?"
"Yeah..." Rin looked towards the setting sun in the orange sky. "I gave it some thought like you said, and I realized nothing's going to change if I don't take action." He closed his eyes, unable to proceed while looking at Sosuke. "I was so hung up on the fact that it's...it's you," Rin felt his cheeks sting as he said the words. "But just as long as you're not weirded out about it, I guess there's no reason for me to be so prude." Fiery red orbs opened and slid in their sockets to connect with teal. "Right?"
"Ah, Yeah..."
"Oi, c'mon." Rin playfully punched Sosuke's arm with a grouchy expression. "Quit making that face. It's not like I'm sentencing you to death or something."
"I know, it's just..." Sosuke rubbed his arm. "I expected you to say no, is all."
Rin opened his mouth but then closed it and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, sorry I almost answered too quickly earlier."
"Don't worry about it. C'mon. We should go. Everyone's waiting for you."
"Ah, right."
The swim team captain said his goodbyes to the Iwatobi family and gave an especially warm smile to his sister.
"Gou." He called before she could walk off. "Thanks for earlier."
The girl smiled and nodded her head. "Any time."
...Which was how he found himself in his current predicament, trying not to fidget under Sosuke's seemingly unmovable, blue gaze.
"Relax, I don't want to do anything weird." Sosuke said, his brow furrowing.
Rin arched a red brow as he bit back the words, define 'weird'. This whole idea was already weird to him as far as Rin was concerned.
"Here." Sosuke held out both his hands palm-side up. "Hold my hands."
"Hold your...hands?"
"Yeah, that's simple enough, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but..." Is this really going to help me figure out what satisfies me?
"Look, it's nothing erotic," Sosuke said as if he were reading Rin's thoughts, much to the redhead's dismay. "But we have to start somewhere, right?"
Sosuke still held his hands out to Rin in offering, his steady blue eyes never wavering from red.
Rin swallowed as his orbs dropped down to look at the palms of the larger butterfly swimmer. Taking them would mean that he would start this whole process with Sosuke. There was no telling how far it would go, but the idea of starting still made Rin feel anxious all the same.
Snap out of it, he chastised himself. These were only Sosuke's hands, the hands of his best friend. There was no reason to be scared or have any reservations. I said I would do this. There's no backing out now.
"Idiot...I know that..."
Rin finally slipped his hands into Sosuke's palms and squeezed his fingers. His skin was pleasantly cool to the touch. His hands felt soft in some places yet rough in others. Rin supposed the soft parts came from his comfortable life during school, and the rough parts came from working hard during the summer helping his Dad with his construction business. Those thoughts made Rin realize just how much he knew about the solitary brunette sitting across from him, more than anyone should know. They had been friends for so long, there was hardly an aspect of Sosuke's life that he didn't know about...
...or so he had thought.
Remembering that talk they'd had between them a couple weeks ago reminded Rin that while he had an intimate understanding about how the guy worked, about his family and his personal life, there was also a lot about Sosuke that he didn't know. Even though he and Sosuke had been friends for years, there were almost just as many years of them being apart and not talking...and Rin felt that was mostly his fault.
"Rin, what's wrong?"
A low baritone voice sounded in front of him, pulling Rin back to the present. He made a small startled noise as he hadn't realized how far he'd drifted until Sosuke had said something. Looking up revealed slightly concerned teal eyes looking at him.
Rin's hold on Sosuke's hands tightened, just barely enough to be noticeable.
"Nothing's wrong..."
More silence passed between them. Rin tried to quiet his restless thoughts and focus on the moment and what he was doing with Sosuke. Suddenly, a soft chuckle rumbled in Sosuke's chest.
"This reminds me of that one time..."
Rin arched his brow. "What, us holding hands like this?"
"Yeah. Don't you remember?"
Rin's brow furrowed as he wondered what on earth Sosuke might be talking about. The redhead wracked his collection of memories. It couldn't have been anything recent. Then from when they were kids...?
Suddenly a light went on in Rin's head as the memory came flashing back to him.
"Oh, that!" He chuckled. "Yeah, I remember. You mean that time we went shopping with my mom at the department store and Gou got lost, right? She was just a toddler back then." Rin's eyes grew warm as he reflected on the time passed.
"My mom was pretty worried, and because of that I started to get scared too..." Rin's grip tightened around Sosuke's fingers reflexively.
"Your mom had us wait with the manager while she and security looked around the store." Sosuke continued.
"You started crying and said, what if they don't find her? What if somebody stole my baby sister?"
Rin's lips pursed into a pout. "Hey, c'mon. We don't have to talk about that part, you know..."
"Then, I took your hand..." Sosuke's fingers shifted in Rin's hand, threading their warm fingers together. The small gesture sent a flush of warmth through the redhead's entire body that reached all the way up to his cheeks. "And I told you not to worry, that they would find her. I said, I'll stay here with you as long as you need me. I won't go anywhere. So you can stop crying now."
Sosuke's blue eyes looked distant and glassy as he stared down at their hands joining together. He smoothed the rough pads of his thumbs over the backs of Rin's hands in a tender back and forth motion.
Rin's face heated up as he felt some wetness pool at the corners of his eyes.
"Sosuke..."
Sosuke held their hands together for a moment longer and then gently released them. Rin's fingers suddenly felt so cold without the presence of Sosuke's hands flush up against his.
"That's enough for today."
Sosuke picked his controller back up and shifted in his seat to face the tv again.
"I've got a plan to get us out of this. Just follow my lead."
"Uh...sure..." Rin picked up his own controler and begrudgingly turned back towards the tv and unpaused the game. And so, just like that, their first lesson had ended just as abruptly and out-of-no-where as it had started.
The next day found the red headed captain in front of the closed door to Nitori and Momo's dorm room. It was later in the evening, after classes and practice had been done with.
Rin raised his knuckle and knocked on the door.
"Ai. Momo. It's me, can I come in?"
That's weird, Rin thought to himself, usually their door's always open.
"Ah! W-wait just a second, Rin-senpai!" Came Nitori's frazzled voice from the other side. "Momo-kun is-"
"PYUNSUKE!" Momo's voice exploded through pitiful sobs. "Where did you go, Pyunsuke?! Wahahah!"
"Eeeh...s-sorry senpai, Momo-kun's beetle got out of his cage. We're trying to find him now. Could you come back in a few minutes?"
Rin clicked his tongue and shook his head. "You shouldn't even have something like that in the dorms in the first place..." He muttered. "Oi, Momo. Open up the door just a little. I want to give you-"
"No, Rin-senpai!" He heard the other redhead cry as someone threw their body up against the door, effectively barring it. "You can't open this door even a little bit! What if Pyunsuke gets out?!"
A small growl of irritation rumbled in the captain's throat.
"Well hurry up and find him already. I need to talk to you."
Usually Rin would have come back later, but as it was he kept forgetting to talk to Momo about this certain thing and wanted to do it now while they both had time.
"Alright!" Nitori chimed. "We'll hurry!"
Rin stood staring at the wooden barrier that separated him from his classmates with half lidded red eyes while he listened to the ruckus they made looking for Momo's bug. Pretty soon their voices and rustling faded away as Rin's thoughts started to preoccupy himself.
His knuckles still buzzed from rapping them against the hard door. The sensation drew Rin's restless thoughts down to that part of his body and made him think of what had transpired between him and his best friend the day before.
Oddly enough the experience hadn't been...as awkward or as fruitless as he initially thought it would have been. As a matter of fact, when Rin reflected on it, he actually felt a little disappointed that the session hadn't lasted longer. Dare he say...
...it felt...nice to hold Sosuke's hands. He wasn't sure if it was weird for him to be thinking that about his best friend, and didn't really know if he liked the experience in that sort of way. Just as he was starting to have reservations about how he should feel or if it was weird because of the fact it was Sosuke, he consciously stopped himself. Rin reminded himself not to get hung up on the fact that the person he was doing these things with was his best friend, and certainly not to care about the fact that he was a guy. If he liked it, then he liked it. There really wasn't any need to reflect on his feelings of the matter further.
Finally, the door to the dorm room opened to reveal a defeated looking Nitori and a rejoicing Momo snuggling a jar with a stag beetle inside of it.
"Sorry about that Senpai…" Nitori sighed. "Momo-kun's beetle is okay after all."
"What a relief." Rin drawled in a flat tone. "Oi, Momo." The redhead called over Nitori's shoulder. "Put your bug down and come here a minute. I have to talk to you."
"Ahaha, okay!" The bubbly underclassman bounced up from his position on the floor and gently placed Pyunsuke on their desk. It was a wonder how anyone could go from desperately upset to blissfully happy in a matter of fifteen minutes, Rin thought. He wondered how Nitori constantly put up with the other redhead's mood swings. It must have been exhausting for the both of them.
"Yes? What is it, Rin-senpai?"
"Here." Rin handed him a white envelope that had the words first place prize written on it. He watched as Momo opened up the envelope and saw his expression shift from curiosity to shock.
"Th-these are two passes to Disney World in Tokyo!" Momo exclaimed, prompting Nitori to come and look over his shoulder. "Senpai, why are you giving these to me?!"
"Me and Sosuke won them when we went to a party a while ago, but…" He scratched the back of his neck and averted his gaze down the hallway. "It's for a couples trip so it wouldn't really make sense for us to go together. I figured you might be able to use them better."
"No way! You're serious?! Waahoooo!" Momo cried and skipped down the hallway holding the passes over his head. "Disney world, Disney world, Disneeeeeey wooorld, ahaha!"
"Oi, keep it down." His captain mumbled, knowing his pleas would fall on deaf ears.
"Rin-senpai! Do you think Mickey-chan and Minnie-chan will be there?! Ah! What about Buzz Lightyear and Woody-!" Suddenly, Momo's golden eyes went blank and he blushed. "...what if I get meet Cinderella-sama?"
Rin was beginning to wonder if perhaps bestowing Momo with these passes was a bad idea…
"But, Rin-senpai…" Nitori spoke up. "There's no one that you would want to take with you? Eh! N-not to be nosey!" He held up his hands defensively. "I-I only meant that, it's such a shame for you to miss out on it just because…"
"I don't really know anyone I could ask. I mean, it's a couple's trip…" Rin averted his eyes down the hallway again and sighed. "I think it would just be too weird to ask anybody to go with me. Besides, I don't really know that much about Disney."
"And...Yamazaki-senpai was okay with you just giving them to Momo-kun?"
"He...didn't seem like he cared when I asked him."
"Rin-senpai!" Momo was up in Rin's face again. "Do you think if I asked Gou-san to come with me that she might say yes?"
The corners of Rin's mouth pulled downwards and he arched a brow. "How should I know? You should ask her yourself." He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"I'm not going to stop her from going if she says yes...but you better remember this," A visible shiver ran down Momo's body as Rin connected a searing red glare into his golden gaze. "You better be a gentleman to her, you got that?"
"Gggh!" For a moment, all Momo could do was quiver. "I would never do anything to disrespect Gou-san! Stop making such a scary face at me!"
"Good. Well then, I hope you enjoy your time-"
"Gah! Wait just a second, senpai!" Momo cried and then disappeared into his room. A moment later he reappeared holding what looked to be a board game that hadn't been opened yet. The title of it was printed in big English letters, but even with his experience of reading the language Rin still had trouble pronouncing the name.
"Qwua...Qwir...Qwirkle?"
"Me and my Onii-chan went shopping the other day and I bought this new board game. We should all play it together sometime!"
"Sure, that sounds like it'd be fun." Rin smiled.
"Ah! I'd like to play too!" Nitori chimed in from the background.
"The box says that the game is better with four people, so let's invite Yamazaki-senpai too!"
"Sounds good to me. Bring it over to our room and we'll all play sometime this weekend after practice."
"Yeah!"
"Okay. Get some rest, you guys. And no more yelling." Rin said, casting a glance at Momo. With that, he left the two in their doorway with a wave.
"Aah! Thank you so much, Rin-senpai! I'll never forget your kindness!"
"I said no more yelling…"
When Rin got back to his dorm room he found Sosuke over by his school bag searching for something.
"What are you up to?" Rin asked as he closed the door behind him.
"I rented a movie from the machine today. I figured we could watch it."
"Hnn? A movie? What is it?"
Sosuke, having found what he was looking for, stood up and showed Rin a DvD box with a picture of a black dinosaur skeleton contrasted against a red background.
"Jurassic...Park?" Rin read the English words carefully. He remembered hearing about this film during his stay in Australia but he had never gotten around to watching it. "You seriously want to watch this?"
"Yeah. Seems interesting. You're not scared, are you?" Sosuke teased his friend with a smirk.
"Tch, idiot." Rin muttered, stepping around him and flopping down on to the bottom bunk. "That's not what I meant. This movie was made in English. How are you supposed to follow along?"
"This version has Japanese voice-overs. I'll be fine."
"Fine then. Put it in already."
Sosuke pressed a button on the console and dropped the DvD in the tray once it popped out. The movie began to play while Sosuke shut off the light and crawled on to the bottom bunk with Rin. They would often watch stuff or play video games together while sitting next to each other on Rin's bed, so the situation shouldn't have been weird.
It shouldn't have been...yet Rin found himself feeling a bit nervous about how close they were.
They both sat with their backs pressed against the wall with about only a foot of space between them. As much as Rin tried to focus on the movie, every now and then his attention would be brought back to the pocket of space between their bodies when Sosuke would shift or clear his throat. At one point Rin glanced down and saw one of Sosuke's hands resting on the bed beside him. It would have been so easy to reach out and slip his fingers into those cool palms that were both rough and gentle at the same time. To feel that sort of special connection with him again. Rin's hand burned with the urge to do so, and for a fraction of a second he made an action to do it...but then just as quickly stuffed his own hand in his pocket and glared back at the tv screen, pretending to have never looked down in the first place.
It was Saturday evening and all of the physical activities had concluded for the day. The air was warm and stagnant while sounds of cicadas and crickets floated in through the open slider door. Earlier that evening Rin, Sosuke, Momo and Nitori had gone down to the local convenience store to grab their favorite choice of ice cream: Sosuke and Rin munched on rootbeer popsicles, Nitori savored a fruit sherbet cup, meanwhile Momo lapped a drooping ninja turtle character pop that had gumballs for eyes. Though the boys had tried their best with their tactics to remain cool, the stillness of the air and the humidity made the atmosphere nearly stifling. There wasn't a breeze to be had on this particular evening, so instead the four occupants of the room had opted to install a fan on the desk.
The four said occupants were all currently sitting on the floor of the swim team captain's dorm room. In the center of their group was a criss-crossing of game pieces that looked almost like dominos but were more square in their appearance and had only a single shape printed on them.
Rin's red eyes shifted over the assortment of pieces all lined up in their patterns, trying to figure out what action would earn him the most points. Rin tried his best to maintain a serious face, but as much as he didn't want to admit it...he had only half an idea what he was doing.
"I know you have the yellow circle, Sosuke." Rin shot his best friend a hooded glare. "You can drop the act."
Sosuke's expression didn't budge an inch. As always, the guy was as unmovable as an ice pillar. His cool teal eyes connected with Rin's as he took a bite from his pop. "Yellow circle?"
"Don't play games with me. There're two yellow circles on the board so that means there's one left. I know you have it."
"I don't what you're talking about."
"Like hell you don't-!"
"Rin-senpai. It's still your turn…" Nitori interjected the fight with a timid tone.
With a grumble Rin begrudgingly laid down his tiles and earned a meager four points.
"Ah. It's my turn now?" Sosuke asked.
"Yeah."
The brunette laid out his remaining tiles and got double the points, tying his combos together with the one piece that everyone had been searching for...the yellow circle.
"You piece of garbage!" Rin shouted and threw down his clean popsicle stick causing some of the pieces to tremble. "I knew you had that tile! You lied!"
"That's how you play if you want to win."
Rin bit back a slew of curses and sat down simmering with a scowl.
"Wow! Yamazaki-senpai sure has a poker face!" Momo laughed and then turned his own golden orbs down to his tiles. "Hnnn…"
"I'm worried for you, Momo-kun." Nitori murmured with his spoon in his mouth. "There aren't any tiles left to pull from the bag and you only have three-"
Before Nitori could even finish his sentence the young spitfire flipped down all of his pieces in a flurry of color.
"Shabam!"
The rest of his classmates looked on in astonishment. Momo had managed to rack up fifteen points by connecting three loose ends none of them had noticed. Momo flashed a wolfish grin that reminded Rin of his former captain.
"Gotcha, suckers! Read it and weep!"
The game proceeded in much the same fashion until tallying up the points proved Momo to be the winner.
"How in the hell did that guy win…?" Rin and Nitori sat together with worn and exhausted expressions.
"Well, that was fun." Sosuke grunted as he stood up and rolled his shoulder around in its socket, earning a few pops. "But I'm tired now, so I'm kicking you guys out."
"Whaaaaa, so soon?" Momo whined as he glanced at the clock on the shelf. "But it's only 9:30. We could definitely play another round-"
"Momo…" Sosuke glared down at his underclassman through a shadow covering his eyes, making his usually icy gaze even more piercing. "Don't let your victory go to your head."
Momo and Nitori both shuddered then frantically began picking the tiles up off the floor. Even Rin had to admit Sosuke could be pretty scary when he wanted to.
"Fine then, we'll be going now! Good night, Rin-senpai, Yamazaki-senpai." Nitori waved to them and closed the door behind him with a soft click.
"Calling it a night early, eh?" Rin asked his roommate once they were alone.
Sosuke crossed his arms behind his head and looked out the open slider door. "Not really."
Rin arched a brow, but decided that he didn't want to pursue the conversation further.
"Well, whatever." Rin took the towel that was hanging around his shoulders and began to tousle his still wet hair dry. He had taken a shower before coming out to play that game with his friends and it was still wet on account of the stagnant, humid air. Rin reached for his hair brush which rested on the shelf.
"Oi." Something pulled on the hem of Rin's shirt near the small of his back. Turning around revealed that it was Sosuke tugging on the fabric and looking at him with those piercing teal eyes. "Let me do that."
Red orbs glanced down to his hair brush in his hand.
"What? Brush my hair?"
"Yeah."
Rin blinked. "...Why?"
"Why not?"
Rin stiffened as he thought of the idea. Was this another attempt of Sosuke's at having them 'do stuff' together?
The solitary brunette plopped down on the bottom bunk with his legs slightly spread apart.
"Go on. Sit down already."
Rin hung back for a moment, but then sat down cross-legged on the floor in the space Sosuke had created from parting his legs.
"Alright. I'm going to start now."
"Idiot, you don't need to narrate the whole thing…"
Then, Rin felt rough pads brush against the nape of his neck as Sosuke's fingers collected his red strands together. The light sensation of just his fingertips brushing against Rin's skin was enough to send shivers up his neck. Rin blushed as he glared his red orbs down to the wood floor below him. What was the matter with him? He touched that area all the time when washing and brushing his own hair. Why should it feel any different now that Sosuke was doing it?
Rin closed his eyes and pushed his loud thoughts to the back of his mind. He promised himself that he would stop trying to analyze everything and just focus on what Sosuke was doing. That was the whole point of them doing things like this together, wasn't it?
Sosuke was at least considerate enough to start brushing near the ends of Rin's hair first and then work his way upwards, rather than just yanking the brush through his hair from root to tip right from the start when it was tangled. This surprised Rin. He figured Sosuke wouldn't have any experience brushing long hair seeing as how he'd always kept his own dark brown hair short.
But Sosuke's lack of experience showed through once he started brushing around Rin's ears. The ignorant butterfly swimmer raked the bristles down across Rin's ears and he yelped.
"Ow-! Hey!"
"Nn? What's wrong?"
"I'll tell you what's wrong, you just brushed down over my ears!"
Sosuke blinked. "And?"
"And that hurts, idiot. Be more careful," The redheaded captain huffed as he turned back around. "My ears are very sensitive."
He felt Sosuke's hand pause midway through a brush.
"...Oh?"
"Hn? What is it?"
"Ah, nothing."
Rin wasn't sure exactly why but...he had a bad feeling that maybe he shouldn't have told Sosuke that information about his ears.
Sosuke continued to tend to Rin's hair, this time being careful to tuck Rin's fiery red locks behind his ears so that they stuck out and were clearly visible. Rin could understand why Sosuke was doing it, so he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. But what he wasn't sure about was why his friend's fingers lingered there for a few seconds than they were supposed to, running a rough pad down the shell of his ear to his soft and warm earlobe. Rin took in a very faint breath, surprised from the shivers that the small action sent down his neck. He wondered if Sosuke had done it on purpose, or if perhaps it was just an accident and his thumb just happened to caress his ear in such a way while he was adjusting his hair.
Rin dared to take a glance at the reflection of them sitting together in the glass door leading out on to the balcony. Sosuke's expression appeared nearly blank as always. He looked engaged with what he was doing, but no more than how he usually looked when he was preoccupied with mundane tasks like folding laundry or getting dressed. No, it must have been an accident, Rin concluded.
"There. All done." Sosuke handed the brush to Rin over his shoulder.
Much like their hand-holding session, the hair brushing ended sooner than Rin had expected...and perhaps sooner than he'd wanted it to.
"Well," Sosuke stood up from the bed and grabbed one of their controllers off the desk to turn on the console. "I was gonna watch that episode I recorded then go to bed. Want to watch it with me?"
"Yeah, sure I guess." Rin got up from his position on the floor and started to straighten things out from when they had company earlier.
"Oi...Rin."
"Hnn?"
Sosuke scratched the back of his neck and averted his teal eyes off to the side. "I thought...maybe we could sit together this time?"
Rin's red eyes rounded in shock slightly. After the hair brushing session they just had, Rin didn't expect Sosuke to ask for anything else. But, that wasn't to say that he was necessarily turned off from the idea.
"Yeah. That'd be fine."
"Okay."
Much like the other day, Sosuke turned off the lights and set things up on their console. Only this time when he crawled on to the bottom bunk he sat very close to Rin. Close enough that their sides brushed against each other.
"Excuse me."
Sosuke's deep voice was low and hushed as his lips came close to Rin's ear, making him shiver. Rin felt something snake around his back and then come to rest on his hip. Before he could even realize what it was, Sosuke pulled him closer up against his body so their sides were flush together and then just left his hand to rest on Rin's hip. The redhead's body stiffened reflexively, but then he made a conscious effort to relax his muscles. He didn't want to send Sosuke the wrong idea, or worse, make the guy think that he was intimidated by him.
It felt strange to have Sosuke's body pressed up against his like this. Him and Sosuke had been friends since childhood, so of course there had been times when they had sat close together and, at some point, even shared the same bed. But those times were different. They were only kids back then, and besides, him and Sosuke doing these small things meant something entirely different now…
This close Rin could smell the brunette's familiar scent clinging to his clothes. It was a comforting smell that pulled at Rin's eyelids, making them seem heavier. All the physical activities that had happened during the day seemed to weigh down on him now that Rin was snuggled up in bed with the lights off, leaning against something warm and soft. Rin really wanted to close his eyes and let his head come to rest on Sosuke's shoulder. He was just so tired. But...part of him hung back because he wasn't sure how Sosuke…
No, you know what? I don't care any more. I'm done beating around the bush and second guessing myself, the redhead firmly thought to himself. Closing his eyes, Rin leaned his head in to rest on Sosuke's shoulder. The immediate comfort that washed over him was enough to make him produce a small yawn, making wetness appear at the corners of his lashes. Half of him was slightly concerned about how Sosuke felt about doing this without asking him, and yet the other half of him was too tired to be concerned.
Suddenly, there came a soft weight on the top of Rin's head that stayed to rest there. Rin's red eyes peeked opened and he blushed. Was...Sosuke leaning his head against him too? The very thought had Rin's face flush with heat. Just like the other day when they had their fingers threaded together and were talking of memories past, Rin felt a tenderness that made his whole body feel warm. Rin had always felt that Sosuke was one of the few people on earth who intimately understood him, and honestly, he didn't mind things being that way. Despite what Rin had previously thought about this endeavor of theirs...he was starting to think that maybe he could learn to like being close with Sosuke in this way.
Whew -~- so there it is. There's chapter 4. I hope you like it. Even though there wasn't really anything juicy we finally had some stuff happen between our boys. I've already said this before, but I really do want to take things slow with these two because I just think that will be a better story. So I know it's slow for now, and all the reflecting and dialog can be a bit dry, but just wait until they get going.
Btw, sorry if the whole "flash back" thingy was confusing and/or not clear. I wanted to use a different divider rather than just the same plain horizontal rule to segment when the flash backies started and ended but this site was being a total butt and wouldn't let me use anything else. So, yeah, sorry if things got confusing...
Okays, welp. I'm gonna be honest. As much as I adore Sosuke and Rin (and I really do, those guys are mah OTP. Last scene had me choking up like DAAAAW), I'm thinking I'm gonna take a short break from writing this for a little bit. Like I've said on my personal page, I need to start focusing on other projects in my life, both academic and personal, because I don't have much time left until school starts. I'm going to try and produce one more chapter by the time I go back to school but I'm not really sure if that will happen. It really all depends on my motivation and if I have time.
Well, leave a review if you enjoyed. Or leave a review if you have anything constructive, I like that stuff too. All of your kind words encourage me to keep writing.
Bye Byeee~~
