Losing My Religion

Part 5

A wonderful mood followed Rin all throughout the day and late into the evening. He whistled a spontaneous tune as he moved around the kitchen with a chef's expertise.

Yukio came to the doorway right in the middle of the light-hearted song. He listened for a while, silently observing his cheery twin. Normally Rin was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy [if he wasn't throwing an angry fit that is], but today Yukio noticed that he was in even higher spirits than usual. The corners of his lips edged up slightly. Seeing his brother genuinely happy never failed to make him feel the very same.

"You sure look like you're in a good mood today," he remarked.

Rin turned from the counter to face his brother. He cradled a large bowl in his left arm, and used his right to stir the contents with a wooden spoon. "Oh, do I?" Rin smiled so big that Yukio could see almost all his pearly pointed teeth. It was contagious. He smiled back.

"Yeah, you're practically glowing."

"Welllll-," his older brother, Yukio wouldn't exactly say "pranced" but there was a definite lightness to the steps, moved towards the fridge. "It might have something to do with-" he flung his arm out to point at a paper tacked to the fridge with a magnet. Batter flew off the spoon and across the room. Yukio grimaced, but Rin paid it no mind. "-This!"

He squinted at the paper from behind his lenses, making out only the big red 100% from where he stood, but it was enough to understand why Rin was in such a great mood. His eyes grew wider than ever now in amazement.

"Congratulations, brother!"

Rin just smiled even bigger, if that was even possible, and walked back to pour some batter into the pan he had heating on the stove.

Deciding to make some tea, Yukio went to rummage through the cupboard in search of the electric kettle. As he filled it with water at the sink he chatted with his twin. "See? I knew you're a smart guy. All you needed was to apply yourself." Rin rolled his baby blues. How was it his brother managed to sound naggy even when praising him?

"Yeah, well I didn't do it all on my own," Rin admitted.

"You cheated?" Yukio immediately questioned like some kind of higher authority figure. He should have known! Rin plus math should never equal A+.

Rin just laughed at the furious/surprised stare he got. "No! I just meant that Bon helped me study... nice to know that's the first thing you think of from me though." Rin made a face as though he'd just been sucking on lemons. "...know I'm a smart guy indeed...spotty-four-eyed-..." he muttered as he scooped the first crepe out of the pan.

"Sorry," Yukio apologized feeling a bit sheepish. But he reminded himself that it was more the pattern of Rin's past behaviors when it came to academic performance at fault for the acusation rather than he himself. Rin's track record just plain sucked afterall. When finished with plugging in the kettle he stared off into space, no doubt pondering something.

The oil in the pan sizzled and popped when Rin poured in more batter. There was still some left in the bowl. Just then he got the great idea to make a lunch for Bon as well. He wanted to do something nice for the guy in return, because really, it was super cool of Bon to tutor him.

Bon was turning out to actually be one of the best friends Rin had ever had. Not that he had many friends to compare, but that was beside the point.

There were many reasons Rin was glad toknow the other teen. Not only did he look cool, but he was also smart, brave, and pretty damn useful in battle. He wasn't the kind of guy to let people down either, and though Bon often shouted and threw fits, Rin understood most of the time it was because he was actually kind of sensitive and had been hurt. After all, he was the exact same way when it came to his own temper. Lastly, the older teen had this surprising habit of, after acting all pissy and angry, saying just the right thing to throw a complete curveball and show that the way he acted wasn't because he didn't like Rin, but rather that he did care for him very much as a friend.

Rin now realized that, even though Bon made it a point to scowl all the time and act mean, on the inside he was completely squishy-soft! It shed the hard-looking man in the most adorable light to figure all this out about him. Rin couldn't decide if that made him want to puke or to swoon... or to track down the other that very instant and badger him relentlessly. That would probably be fun.

Yup, Rin had the 'tough-guy' completely figured out now... Rin blushed, too busy being lost in his Bon-centric thoughts to bother suppressing it. But it didn't matter because the other occupant of the kitchen was paying no attention to him anyways. Yukio simply stared at the thin wispy steam as it rose from the kettle.

By the time the kettle started to whistle he finally looked towards his brother. He watched as Rin carefully placed some strawberries and melon (that he'd somehow managed to cut quite artfully in the short time it took the water to boil) so they sat perfectly angled in each of the three boxes laid out on the counter. "Why are you making three bento?" Yukio asked curiously, as he pulled the kettle's plug from the socket.

Rin paused mid whistle to answer with a simple, "one's for Bon." the whistling resumed.

A sudden illumination took up in aqua eyes.

Wasn't bringing such a carefully made lunch something you did for the person you especially liked? And since when had his brother started calling Suguro by nickname?

Yukio had seen the way his brother reacted to everything the other teen did from the start. He had also noticed the way Suguro himself had done little else but stare at his brother during his class lately.

The younger Okumura might wear glasses, but nothing escaped his vision. He easily put two and two together. Still, it was never smart to assume.

"You and Suguro have been getting along well lately, eh?" he tried not to let his suspicions leak into his tone. At the same time he rummaged through the cupboards for tea, trying to make himself not look too involved in the conversation. He leaned so far towards the cupboard his nose was almost in it and glanced to the left at his brothers face.

"yeah... I guess we have." Rin smiled as he placed the lids on the bento. Yukio analyzed that smile. It held a definite dreamy quality. He was onto something, he knew it. And that something was getting more and more interesting.

"So how come you two aren't fighting anymore?" Yukio placed a tea bag in each of the two cups he also brought from the cupboard. Even as he poured the hot water he kept glancing at Rin as he worked on the nicest looking bento he'd ever made to date. Patiently he waited for a reply to his question, but it seemed his older brother was too caught up in what he was doing to give one.

Rin pulled some blue ribbon from a drawer and cut three lengths of it. Was it just Yukio's imagination, or did he take an extra second or two to tie the ribbon in a bow just right on the last of the three boxes?

Finally finished with the lunches, he set them away in the fridge for tomorrow. Yukio brought the cups over to the table and motioned for the other to join him. Before moving to take his seat, Rin pulled a couple cubes of ice from the freezer

The twins sat opposite of each other, the cubes crackled when Rin dropped the ice into his teacup. Yukio repeated himself, "What changed that you aren't fighting with Suguro anymore?"

"Well," Rin paused for half a second to sip at his tea. His memory supplied him with a flash image from last night of him and Bon rolling around on the floor pushing and hair pulling like five year olds. They still fought obviously... But Yukio didn't need to know about that. "He's an asshole... but he's actually a really nice guy!" Rin chuckled when he realized how that sounded. "That make any sense at all?"

Yukio thought of the teen in question for a second, "yeah, it makes perfect sense actually," he laughed as well.

Next came a long drawn silence. Rin sipped at his tea again and Yukio tried to calculate how much more prying he could get in before his brother caught on to what he was doing. Sure he could out right ask, but if Rin didn't want to answer then tricking it out of him would be the only way. Subtlety had always been more his style anyways.

"Have you two been hanging out a lot then?" Not a question that would get a very revealing answer. Unless Rin happened to let something slip. This was Yukio's hope, not to ask anything out of the ordinary, but to just keep the conversation going in the right direction and eventually Rin would tell him something he wanted to hear.

Rin peered up into Yukio's face. A sparkle of wonder at his line of questioning could clearly be seen in blue eyes. Damn, caught! His twin knew him far too well.

Again Rin took a sip from his cup, closing his eyes as he did so. When his gaze returned to Yukio it was void of suspicion.

"No, just to study twice," Rin replied. He then quickly added, "I should get to sleep early. Didn't get enough of it last night." He was up and already at the kitchen doorway by the time Yukio said, "Goodnight, brother."

Rin stretched his arms out and yawned as he walked over the his bed. What a long day. Rin had never had more thoughts and emotions about one person in his entire life time as he had in this one day. He'd gone from using Bon as masturbation fuel to obsessing over how great he was, all in little more than twenty-four hours. It was a wonder he was able to stomach any food with just how sickening it all was... not to mention all the butterflies in there making him warm and pleasantly queezy [how was that even possible?]. By now it wasn't a matter over weather he wanted Bon, or had a crush on him, or whatever anymore. Or even if he wanted to want him. He was falling fast. There was no way to deny it or feel upset about it really. No point in beating himself up over it.

So then the question was, what should he do about it? Pretend it didn't exist and just let it be? No. He could already tell that'd never work. He was craving the other boy's attention like nobody's business and Rin always did what he wanted, no matter if it was good for him or what anyone else thought. So what other choice was there then, besides the obvious?...

Rin pulled the covers back, disturbing Kuro who had already been napping on them, and lay himself down. The demon cat curled up against his side when he was settled and softly purred.

Was Bon even like that at all? Rin couldn't very well jump head first into trying to win him over if he didn't have a snowflake's chance in hell to begin with. That would just be plain awkward, or possibly even ruin their friendship. Rin may be a bit of a ditz at times, but he wasn't stupid. He knew his actions had repercussions, he just never cared about those repercussions before. But this, this was too sensitive an issue to risk fucking up. Rin tried to summon up what he'd heard referred to as "gay-dar" before. Hmmmm, how to turn it on? He squeezed his eyes shut in concentration for a moment. Nothing came to him. Damn.

He could always ask his twin's opinion on the matter. Yukio was a good judge of character and a four-eyed know it all to boot. But with the way he'd been all nosy already today it wouldn't be a good idea. Rin could just imagine it, "so you think Bon's a homo?" Yeah, that didn't sound suspicious at all. Rin would have to figure this one out on his own first at least before bringing it up with anyone else. Even if that anyone was the one person he could truly say he trusted to always be there for him.

Because really, there were just some things you couldn't admit out loud if you wanted save yourself the awkwardness. After all, his little brother never mentioned a word about Shiemi to him, and even Rin could tell there had so be something going on there with all the blushing. Honestly, it was like the atmosphere got fluffy with barf-worthy cuteness every time the two got near. Maybe that was the reason, as adorable as Shiemi was, that Rin could only see her as a sister-like best friend. If his brother had a thing for the girl then she was off limits. It was just one of those unspoken rules.

So what made a guy like other dudes anyways? Somehow they must be like girls to like boys, right? Well, Bon did wear jewelry and style his hair everyday. But he was the exact opposite of girly despite that. Rin never gave a shit about his appearance and took all of five minutes each morning to get ready. Sometimes he even forgot to brush his hair, and he himself was at least bi seeing as how he had the hots for Bon. So none of those things could clue him into his crush's orientation.

Abandoning that train of thought to nowhere, Rin came up with a better idea. He should try a little flirting! When a guy liked someone he would test the waters with them by dropping a few small cues for the other person. At least that's how it worked on TV.

But, Oh yeah, Rin didn't know the first thing about how to flirt. He couldn't even imagine what it might be like if he tried that with Bon, but he just knew it wouldn't be pretty. Ugh, it was hopeless thinking about it anymore. He might as well just get some sleep tonight for all the non-existent progress he was making.