Archive of Our Own

Embarrassing as it was for him to admit, before Hiori, Rin had never really had a friend before–not one that counted–and so he occasionally found himself wondering what actually constituted ‘normal friend behaviour'. 

Up until now, he’d simply accepted the soft way Hiori smiled at him and the way he gently bumped their shoulders together or purposely brushed his hand against Rin’s as standard shows of affection–possibly because he had no idea what casual affection was supposed to look like.

But recently Rin had started to wonder whether it was possible Hiori’s definition of friendship differed slightly from the standard.

This line of thinking had begun when Hiori had arrived at Rin’s house on the second morning of their two week break, standing at his doorstep with a duffle bag and a hopeful smile.

“Can I stay here fer a coupla days?”

Rin later learned–after nodding, dumbfounded, and letting Hiori into his empty home where he shortly made himself comfortable after learning both of Rin’s parents were out and probably wouldn’t be back for at least the next week due to the overly-involved nature of their jobs–that Hiori had simply gotten sick of his own parents and had decided on a whim the night before to just hop on a train at around 6am.

“They’ll prolly be pissed,” Hiori shrugged as they played some horror game Rin wasn’t paying attention to because Hiori was in his house, in his living room, playing one of his dumb horror games with him and sitting close enough on the sofa that their thighs pressed together and Rin could feel the muscles in Hiori’s arms flex slightly whenever he shifted to get a better grip on the controller, “But it’ll be fine. They like ya anyways; said yer were amazin’ durin’ the U-20 match.”

Rin flushed at the praise, even if it hadn’t come from Hiori himself.

There was just something about the way compliments sounded coming from Hiori’s mouth that was so honest it always left Rin, who’d never really cared about people’s praises or criticisms since that night with– well. 

Well, it always left Rin feeling uncomfortably warm.

Rin couldn’t tell whether it was the twinge of Hiori’s accent that made everything he said sound so genuine or if that was just how Hiori was.

Either way, Rin liked it.

There were a lot of things Rin liked about Hiori.

He liked Hiori’s eyes, and Hiori’s laugh, and Hiori’s undeniable skill with a football, and–as much as Rin tried not to let it get to his head–he liked the fact that his house was the one Hiori had chosen to come to when, unlike Rin, Hiori actually had a plethora of friends to choose from–many of whom lived significantly closer to him than Rin did.

When Rin asked Hiori that first morning–as he took Hiori’s bag from him and gave him a quick, half-hearted tour of the house–why he didn’t decide to hop on a train to Isagi’s house instead, who was significantly nicer and probably a lot more welcoming than Rin; or Karasu, who lived far closer and had known Hiori, regrettably, for far longer, Hiori just smiled up at him and said, “I wanted to see ya!” 

Rin’s heart still hammered embarrassingly fast whenever he thought about it, even after Hiori had settled in and made himself comfortable in Rin’s empty excuse for a home. 

He’d expected things to be awkward at first–or rather, he’d expected he would be awkward, as he was prone to be.

Rin hadn’t had that many friends in middle school and he’d had even less at the high school he’d been attending before Blue Lock had begun and consumed his entire life, so he’d never actually ended up having a friend over to spend the night before. 

And Hiori wanted to stay over for a couple of days.

Being completely honest with himself, Rin wasn’t sure he’d be able to survive it.

The first day went by relatively fast, all things considered.

They played games, then took a break to have a small, simple lunch since Rin was yet to go grocery shopping and the house was quickly running out of food; then they spent the evening watching shitty old movies–pausing briefly to heat up Rin’s last cups of instant ramen which they ate in silence, bar the sound coming from the obnoxiously bright screen, while Rin resolved to go out to buy groceries the next day.

Hiori started to doze off a couple hours after ‘dinner’.

Rin had gently laid the boy down on the sofa and found a soft blanket to layer over him.

He realised that Hiori looked incredibly peaceful when he slept.

The soft cyan of his hair fell over his closed eyes and staring at him, Rin was left wondering why it was so hard to look away and why he felt as though his heart were about to burst.

He felt a strange urge to reach out and touch the boy–brush his fingers through that hair, press a finger against those lips to see if they were as soft as they looked–then immediately, thankfully, thought better of it. 

It wasn’t until the first full morning of Hiori’s stay that Rin would learn his efforts to keep his hands to himself would ultimately be for nothing when Hiori ended up proving himself to be surprisingly tactile by nature. 

***

It started at breakfast. 

Rin had always been an early riser and Hiori was apparently whatever the opposite of that was–so by the time he was slowly pushing open the door to the kitchen where Rin was, rubbing sleepily at his eyes and yawning a ‘good mornin’’ in Rin’s direction, Rin had already woken up, brushed his teeth, changed, gone for a run, come back, showered, changed again, and had begun making breakfast.

The last of the eggs were now sizzling in two separate pans in the form of two separate omelets as Rin divided his attention between both of them–multitasking–because he was nothing if not efficient.

He’d been so laser-focused on his eggs–because again, they were the last eggs, and Rin would probably have to kill himself if he burnt them since there was no breakfast backup plan–that he’d barely registered Hiori shuffling sleepily into the kitchen, only humming in acknowledgement of the greeting.

So it wasn’t until Rin suddenly felt two arms wrap around his waist from behind that he realised Hiori had crept up behind him at all. 

Humiliating as it was to admit, Rin yelped at the contact.

But when Hiori didn’t let go after eliciting a reaction–only chuckling softly into Rin’s left shoulder at the sound–Rin gauged that the intention behind the surprise embrace hadn’t been to scare him and he let himself relax a little.

It was…nice, having Hiori hold him like this.

Rin wondered whether this was how it felt when all friends hugged each other, and almost began to reconsider all the times he’d actively dodged the hugs that Bachira and Isagi offered or attacked him with.

Then he remembered they were both lukewarm losers and couldn’t be compared to Hiori in any way, shape or form. 

Rin quickly returned his attention to the pans in front of him as the tiny hint of a burning smell managed to shock him out of his Hiori-hug induced stupor and he set about stiffly turning off the stove and somehow transferring their breakfast from pan to plate as Hiori hung off of him like an overgrown koala.

He’d thought Hiori might release him then but found himself mistaken when the blue-haired boy unwrapped his arms from Rin’s waist, only to wrap them around his neck instead, allowing Rin to drag his less-than-light form to the dining table–not as far a distance as it could’ve been since their kitchen was big enough to double as a dining room, but still–while Hiori giggled into his back at the way his feet dragged across the floor–which was only to be expected considering they were practically the same height. 

Rin set down both the plates and almost immediately missed Hiori’s warmth as the boy finally released him to sit down and enjoy the fruits of Rin’s labour. 

It only occurred to Rin as the boy smiled a thanks and picked up his fork that he’d neglected to ask Hiori if he actually liked eggs.

Unfortunately, Rin had been so busy starin– taking in the sight of a sleepy Hiori in rumpled pyjamas sitting at his table that he didn’t think to blurt out–“Do you like eggs?”--until Hiori was already in the process of taking a bite, causing the boy to pause awkwardly with his mouth open and fork hovering in the sky as he blinked at Rin’s question. 

Rin flushed a darker shade of red with each microsecond Hiori took to reply. 

Thankfully, Hiori’s confused face broke into a smile and rather than condemning Rin for his social failure as he was sure he deserved, Hiori replied with a kind, “Yep! Do you?”

Rin nodded stiffly, his face still not quite cooling down and Hiori’s smile widened.

He batted his eyelashes coyly at Rin who was still standing awkwardly for some reason and said smoothly, “Well maybe ya should sit down and eat ‘em then?” 

Rin immediately sat down and grabbed his fork.

Usually he would internally wince at his own gracelessness, a slight twitch of his eye being the only sign of his hidden mortification, but the friendly way Hiori laughed as a result of it had Rin minding slightly less as he melted with embarrassment into his seat.

The two ate their breakfast together in silence, with Rin sneaking little glances at Hiori out of the corner of his eye every so often, watching in wonder as Hiori’s natural glow seemed to slowly grow brighter as the blue-haired boy gradually came to life.

By the time they were done, all sleep had been blinked from those big blue eyes and they were twinkling as Hiori grinned at Rin.

“So,” Hiori began, leaning against the counter as Rin washed their dishes in the sink, “What’s the plan for today, partner?” 

Rin’s lips twitched in a smile as he waited a moment to reply, finishing off with the plates and making sure to splash Hiori with his wet hands before he dried them off–a force of habit that came with being the younger brother–eliciting a small shriek from the boy.

“We need groceries,” Rin said simply–back turned to the boy so he wouldn’t see Rin’s smile, “I was going to go today.”

“I’ll come with ya!” Hiori announced with zero hesitation.

Rin rolled his eyes as he turned back to him, “Well I wasn’t going to leave you here alone.”

Hiori grinned and bounced from the counter, out of the kitchen–presumably to go and get ready–leaving Rin alone to deal with the racing heart that came as an aftermath of what that smile always did to him.

Hiori had a cute smile.

***

The grocery store was a short trip from Rin’s house so he and Hiori walked there–not that Rin had a car he could have used to drive them if he wanted to; his parents had taken their car with them and Sae only ever rented.

So Hiori and Rin walked, and Rin was grateful for the Sun shining down on them but he couldn’t help but think the star had nothing on the way Hiori shined as he looked up and down the street.

“I forgot ya live in the city! This is nothin’ like back home!”

Right, Rin had forgotten Hiori lived in the countryside.

“What’s it like, back home?” Rin asked hesitantly as they walked; he was pretty sure you were supposed to ask your friends questions–Bachira had plagued him with enough during the Second Selection when he’d been trying to make friends.

“Nothin’ like this. A lot more trees.” Hiori said contemplatively.

Rin nodded thoughtfully, “We have less trees.”

Hiori snorted and Rin realised–perhaps a little too late–that his conversation skills, regrettably, hadn’t magically improved overnight.

He let Hiori lead the conversation after that–asking Rin easy questions he could answer with one-or-two-word replies without feeling rude. 

As they walked their arms swung lightly and every so often the back of Hiori’s hand brushed against Rin’s.

Rin liked that.

When they got to the grocery store Rin didn’t bother picking up a basket.

He would just get a few essential things for the kitchen; he could force his parents to do a big shop when they got back. 

Hiori followed behind Rin dutifully as he drifted down the familiar aisles, grabbing milk, eggs, rice–which he immediately passed to Hiori to hold, his hands beginning to get full–the green tea he liked, some dried seaweed, some snacks, a few odd vegetables, and some more cup noodles. 

Laser-focused on his task, Rin didn’t make much effort to conduct a conversation but Hiori didn’t seem to mind.

He chattered happily enough for the both of them, making silly little comments about the items Rin picked and cracking little jokes that didn’t really make sense but made Rin smile when he paid enough attention to register them.

It was nice, having Hiori here with him like this; usually when Rin had to do these things it was alone.

Almost everything Rin did he did alone.

He hadn’t known the difference easy company made.

Perhaps it was just because Hiori seemed to have a better understanding of Rin’s personality than most people.

He didn’t mind Rin’s natural quietness, or how every so often Rin zoned out–staring at neat rows of items but not really seeing them, his mind floating around elsewhere, wherever a wild train of thought might’ve taken him.

It was habit now, this custom of drifting away.

Rin was so used to being alone it’d never really mattered when he chose to disappear–there was never anyone there to care enough to keep him grounded to reality anyway.

That is, until now.

Now, every time that happened, Hiori brought Rin back with a small press of his hand against the small of Rin’s back.

He made the gesture so readily, straightforward without a sense of awkwardness, that when Rin shook himself back to reality he didn’t even feel the need to flush with embarrassment–too far gone to even realise the significance behind the action.

By the time he was ready to pay with the credit card his parents had left him, Rin was balancing an assortment of items in his arms with practiced efficiency.

Hiori looked almost impressed.

“D’ya do this often?” He asked as Rin scanned his items. 

Because he’d rather not have to carry the items home in the same impractical manner, Rin sorted his shopping into a large plastic bag.

He shrugged in reply to Hiori’s question, “I guess. I don’t know. Just when the house is empty I suppose.”

Hiori hummed in acknowledgement of Rin’s reply.

He seemed a little distracted by something, eyes glued to Rin’s arms as he lifted the bag–a little heavier than expected–and shifted it until he was holding both handles in his left hand.

Hiori had walked on Rin’s right side the whole of the way there and Rin, operating under the assumption that the trip home would be the same, made the executive decision that it would be better this way–he didn’t want the bag to bump into Hiori’s legs in that awkward way every so often.

As he’d predicted, once they’d walked out of the shop and were back on the street, Hiori fell into step beside Rin on his right.

A bonus to Rin’s decision was that his right hand was free to hang at his side, in perfect position for Hiori’s to brush against in time with their steps.

Except, that wasn’t exactly what ended up happening.

What happened was that, once they’d walked a couple minutes in the direction of Rin’s house–after only brushing his hand against Rin’s once–Hiori, out of nowhere, interlocked their pinkie fingers together.

Rin startled and turned to look at Hiori but the boy was happily staring straight ahead, so Rin peered suspiciously at their intertwined fingers instead, wondering if perhaps the move had been a really specific accident. 

Then Hiori’s hand moved again and all of his fingers became intertwined with Rin’s.

When Rin looked up to blink at the boy he found Hiori was looking at him this time.

He gave Rin a small smile that looked almost shy, and gave his hand a squeeze.

Rin’s face felt weird.

He returned his gaze forwards–they were almost home now–but he didn’t let go of Hiori’s hand.

His breath stuttered slightly and for some weird reason Rin felt a few significant degrees hotter than he’d been just a few minutes before.

This was holding hands; Rin was holding hands with Hiori.

His face felt warm.

Rin hadn’t known this was part of being friends.

(He liked it.)

***

As night drew closer, Rin grew increasingly nervous.

When Hiori had first arrived at Rin’s doorstep, he’d asked if he could stay for a couple of days. 

This was technically the end of Hiori’s second day with Rin; did that mean Hiori would be thinking of leaving soon?

Rin desperately hoped this wasn’t the case.

He dreaded the thought of Hiori leaving; the house was too cold without him.

Once they’d gotten home and Rin had locked the door behind them, Hiori had followed Rin to the kitchen and helped him put away their items.

Rin was struck by the domesticity of the situation. 

Usually he would’ve spent the rest of the day after that training until the Sun went down and the storm in his head grew quiet, but for some reason he felt inclined to spend as much time with Hiori as possible.

That was how they’d ended up back on Rin’s sofa, watching old horror movies again until they got hungry.

Despite the fact they had more food now, Rin simply made the cup noodles for them again, though this time he also soft-boiled some eggs.

(Hiori had said he liked eggs.)

As Hiori poked at his last little noodles with his chopsticks–a small smile on his face as he nibbled at his bottom lip–Rin got the sense he was working up to saying something.

Rin also got the sense that perhaps the intense way he was staring at him probably wasn’t doing much to put Hiori at ease, but the longer Hiori waited to say whatever was on his mind, the more tense Rin felt–until he was left feeling somewhat breathless with the anticipation.

“Hey, Rin-kun?” Hiori finally asked, eyes still glued to the empty cup in his hands.

“Mm?” Rin hummed, not trusting himself to speak.

“I know I only asked t’stay fer a coupla days but d’ya reckon I could–?”

“Yes,” Rin gasped out, winded as the breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding finally released itself.

Hiori turned to Rin and blinked at him until his surprise melted away into a warm smile.

“I didn’t even finish mah question?” He said teasingly.

Rin flushed hot and Hiori laughed, probably at him but not unkindly.

“So I can stay fer a week?”

Rin nodded easily–he didn’t even need to think about it.

Hiori sighed happily.

He shuffled a little closer and let his head fall to rest on Rin’s shoulder as Rin tried not to combust.

If Hiori noticed the way Rin’s spine had immediately tensed and his body had sat up rigidly straight, he didn’t say anything.

Mind cleared, Hiori seemed happy to go back to focusing entirely on the movie–watching a group of friends be brutally slaughtered with this cute, content look on his face like he was simply watching cartoons.

Hiori’s hair tickled Rin’s neck. 

Hiori’s body was warm against his own.

Rin hadn’t realised being friends came with so much touching but he was filled with this weird, warm, sickly sweet sense of pride at the thought of someone being so comfortable with him.

He liked Hiori a lot–

He liked having Hiori here a lot.

He liked Hiori–himself–a normal amount.

Obviously.

***

The next few days passed by similarly; they ate breakfast together, they played video games, they breaked for a light lunch, then Rin–who couldn’t go two days without training without falling into a debilitating state of panic, worrying he was falling behind–would drag Hiori out to the field near his house where they would practice together, with minimal complaints from Hiori, until Hiori got bored and flopped dramatically to the ground, declaring himself dead and refusing to get up no matter how much Rin kicked at him.

At this point, Rin would usually drag him around for a bit, partly out of frustration but mostly because he liked the way Hiori’s eyes scrunched up as he giggled every time, until he felt he’d wasted enough time and ran some solo drills by himself until Hiori started booing him from the sidelines where he usually ended up sat up watching Rin, with an expression Rin could never quite decipher.

Then they’d walk back home together.

(Sometimes Hiori held Rin’s hand.)

Sometimes Rin had them stop to get ice cream on the way, the way Rin and Sae had used to when they were kids, except–while Rin had always gladly given up the bigger half of the treat to his brother–Hiori did this odd thing where, after he snapped the popsicle in two, he would lick at the bigger piece until it was roughly the same size as the smaller one, then he would present it to Rin with a grin, saying, “There! Even!”

Rin never commented on the fact that this unique method meant Hiori–despite his claims of equality–without fail, always got to enjoy more of the ice cream, and simply accepted his ‘half’ with a small smile and a slight blush that was nobody’s business but his own.

Once they got home Rin liked to shower immediately, while Hiori did his best to make his way through as many of the snacks they’d stocked in the kitchen after their grocery trip as possible, ‘replenishing his energy’, before getting in the shower after Rin.

Then they played more video games, breaked for food again (the second night they’d had ramen again, but on the third Rin had tried his hand at some more advanced cooking, and whilst his rice had turned out as practically mush and he’d somehow managed to burn vegetables he’d meant to boil, Hiori ate it all with a smile and minimal teasing), and afterwards watched shitty old movies together.

Rin thought that the movies had to be his favourite part of their new routine as, every time they watched them–despite the more than ample room on Rin’s sofa–Hiori always sat pressing against his side, close enough for his soft breath to tickle Rin’s neck at every exhale.

Once, Hiori’s hand (which had started off on Rin’s shoulder) had gradually gravitated down Rin’s arm over the course of a movie, until it had lingered on Rin’s own–not quite holding it like he had outside the shop that day but, there.

Now Rin couldn’t even remember what the movie had been called–just the way his ears had burned and how nice the coolness of Hiori’s hand had felt against the back of his own, and the way Hiori’s breath had tingled against his neck in that familiar way with chilling regularity.

Once they’d run out of movies to watch, Rin usually stayed sitting exactly where he was–all of a sudden all-too-aware of the intimacy that came with sitting with Hiori in the place he’d been sleeping for the past few nights. 

During these moments, usually in the dark since the Sun had long gone down and the light of the TV no longer kept them company, the two boys usually just talked.

They talked a lot; their tones hushed, as if both were scared to break the peace of the moment. 

It was how Rin had learned so much about Hiori–stuff he’d never imagined knowing about a person before–stuff about his parents, and his dreams, and why he really played football. 

And it was how Rin had ended up telling Hiori so much about himself–stuff he’d never shared with anyone before, not even Sae.

He’d even ended up telling Hiori about Sae. 

Rin had thought he’d die with the shame of the truth of their new relationship strapped to his back, suffering with the secret that was a result of his own inferiority.

Instead he got Hiori’s hands cradling his face, wiping away the tears Rin hadn’t noticed falling.

“I don’t reckon yer as bad as all that. Your brother might be a genius but I don’t believe that means he knows everythin’.”

The words perhaps might not have sounded all that sweet to anybody else but they didn’t understand the importance in the soft way Hiori looked at Rin, or the way their faces had been so close they were breathing in each other’s exhaled air. 

It was easily the nicest, most reassuring thing anybody had ever said to Rin and when he woke up the next morning he was still feeling infinitely lighter than he had the day before.

The lightness of Hiori’s words, the buoyancy of his smile at breakfast, it all did wonders to combat the weight of the world Rin had been carrying since that night his brother got back from Spain.

But good things never last and Rin knew good feelings were even more ephemeral.

***

On Hiori’s fifth night with Rin, Sae and Shidou dropped by.

They’d been watching a horror movie on the couch and Hiori was all at once far too close and nowhere near close enough to Rin, leaning against his side with his legs folded up beneath him while Rin sat stiffly with his arms glued to his sides as he tried to remember how he usually went about breathing.

Rin had been so distracted trying to remember how to function as a person that he’d barely been paying attention to this night’s movie even though he had been the one to originally suggest it, so when the doorbell rang he’d originally assumed it was just another part of the movie–it wasn’t until Hiori, who hadn’t previously fallen for any of the jumpscares and had even gone so far as to laugh at a few of them, shrieked beside him that Rin realised, ah, there was actually someone at the door.

Instinct had him trailing to the front door–arm already reaching out to unlock it–before common sense could warn him that there were very few people who had real reason to be knocking on his door, especially at this time of night.

Hiori, who obviously had infinitely better judgement than Rin, was hissing over the back of the couch–half-hidden behind it–that Rin should absolutely, under no circumstances, for no reason, open the door unless he wanted to die a gruesome, cliché, horror movie death.

Of course by then it was already too late.

Rin didn’t even have time to open the door once he’d unlocked it–the moment the click of the latch sounded the door immediately swung open, almost as if by itself.

And there, in full horror movie glory, stood Rin’s worst nightmare.

The life-sized cockroach waiting outside Rin’s house on his doorstep grinned maliciously.

“Well well Rin-Rin, looks like you’re home after all!”

“Shidou,” Rin gritted out, hands automatically clenching into fists by his sides. 

The demon bared his fangs and Rin wondered whether he wasn’t going to have to fight this lukewarm in his own home when the second-to-last person he’d expected to see during his break (the first being Shidou, obviously) suddenly popped their head over the demon’s shoulder to stare impassively at Rin.

“Ah, Rin,” his estranged brother commented after a moment of silence, during which Rin had simply stared at him blankly, “I wasn’t sure you’d be here.”

“Where else would I have gone?” Rin muttered darkly before quickly coming to his senses and spluttering, “But– what are you doing here? And why is he with you?” 

Shidou, the fucking sadist, appeared to take pleasure in Rin’s confusion and, if possible, only seemed to grin wider as Rin struggled to get his words out.

The demon looked like he was about to open his mouth and probably say some dumb shit that Rin would definitely have to punch him for when Sae interrupted him with a firm, “Ryusei, get my bags from the car.”

“Of course, my precious Sae-chan,” Shidou beamed, not-so-coincidentally at the exact same time Rin repeated, “Ryusei?”, finding himself physically recoiling. 

Rin watched Shidou bounce back to his brother’s car with an expression he was sure could only be described as undiluted horror.

When he returned his attention to the brother in question, Sae looked unimpressed–however, for the entirety of their lives Sae had pretty much always looked unimpressed so perhaps it was more accurate for Rin to say his brother was wearing his most neutral expression.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” Sae finally asked impassively, after Rin had spent what felt like hours trying to remember what his life had been like before his brother’s arrival a couple minutes ago had turned the world he thought he knew upside down, “I mean, it is my house too?”

Speechless, Rin stepped to the side.

Sae glided in past him without a word.

Shidou, predictably, had significantly less grace. 

Inexplicably carrying one of his brother’s heavy, hot pink suitcases balanced on his head and rolling the other in front of him with his other arm like a child, Shidou wheeled past Rin with a wild cackle, making sure to bump forcefully into him on his way.

Rin’s teeth were gritted so hard together he was surprised they were still intact.

“Aren’t you closing the door?” Asked his brother’s cool voice in Rin’s direction.

Rin’s left eye twitched as he slammed the door shut with as much force as possible and whirled around to glare at his brother, only to find his anger melting away from him entirely as horror flooded through Rin instead–chilling Rin right to his bones–as he realised his brother was currently inspecting a startled Hiori, who blinked back at Sae with those big blue eyes of his.

For a long, harrowing moment, nobody said a word.

The house was silent.

Of course, with the demon around, nothing silent ever stays that way for long.

“Yo-chan! I didn’t know you and Rin-Rin were friends,” Shidou then lowered his voice–just slightly–in a mock-conspiratorial tone, “Or that Rin-Rin had friends.”

Hiori, the traitor, giggled.

Rin tried to shoot him a mean look but because he was incapable of being purposefully mean to Hiori, Rin realised belatedly he’d just ended up pouting.

He could tell he was pouting because Sae was giving him that slightly pitiful, mostly condescending look he’d been prone to any time Rin had made the same face when they were kids.

His brother–who generally had more manners than the demon–turned back to Hiori to introduce himself properly.

“Hello. I’m–” 

He was promptly cut off.

“Itoshi Sae!” Hiori finished for him, excitedly–much to Rin’s chagrin, “I’m a huge fan. My name’s Hiori!”

He leaned up, over the back of the sofa to extend a hand out to the nuisance that was Rin’s older brother.

Sae–with as much magnanimity as he did everything else–took Hiori’s hand and shook it lightly, which only made Rin mad all over again.

Sae hated touching people; what reason did he have to make an exception for Hiori– Rin’s Hiori?

“It’s nice to meet you, Hiori.”

Rin hated the sound of Hiori’s name coming from his brother’s mouth; Rin hated everything about tonight.

Shidou, unfortunately, seemed to pick up on this fact.

“Awww,” he drawled, eyes twinkling with mischief in typical demon fashion, “What’s with the face? Is our little Rin-chan jealous?”

Shidou was lucky he’d somehow made his way to the other end of the room in the time Rin had spent seething over Sae and Hiori’s small interaction, and was now fucking with their potted plant–poking at it with the safety net of Hiori, Sae, and Sae’s offensively bright suitcases between him and Rin’s fists.

Rin’s hands still clenched at his sides anyway.

“What are you even doing here?” he gritted out, “As far as I know, you don’t live here.” 

“Oh, did Sae-chan not tell you?” Shidou asked in a way that might have seemed innocent to anyone too blind to see the devil lurking behind his eyes, “He invited me.”

Shidou punctuated that last statement with what was easily the most machiavellian grin Rin had ever seen.

“We’re only here for one night,” Sae supplied as Rin was too busy holding down his vomit to formulate a reply to Shidou’s words, “We were in the area and I’ve been growing tired of hotels.”

“Shidou-kun has been staying at the hotels with you, Itoshi-san?” Hiori asked curiously, betraying Rin once again by voicing the idea he’d been so desperately trying to ignore. 

“Yes,” Sae replied simply, “This is a busy week for me, PR-wise. I have a variety of interviews lined up as a result of the Blue Lock match and Ryusei has been…keeping me company.”

Rin had to actively fight not to gag at the thought of the demon travelling with his brother and, for whatever reason, staying in the same hotel as him every night. 

“I see!” Hiori said cheerfully; Rin desperately wondered what he was finding to sound so cheerful about, “I hope ya don’t mind my being here, Itoshi-san.”

“Not at all,” Sae replied coolly, but Hiori–who by now was used to interpreting Itoshis due to the time he’d spent with Rin–could tell just as easily as Rin could that his words were genuine, if a little disinterested.

Rin hated the way Hiori was beaming up at his brother. 

Rin really hated the fact that his brother was here (in the house they technically shared, mind you, but nevermind) intruding on his time with Hiori. 

“Nii-chan–” Rin started, sounding strained, the old name slipping out before he even realised.

“Rin,” Sae interrupted evenly, “Have you been letting your guest sleep on the sofa?”

“Wha– He– You–” 

“I know you struggle with affection but surely even you can do better than that?”

“It’s not– I dont–”

“‘S okay, Itoshi-san,” Hiori mercifully interrupted Rin, saving him from stumbling through an incoherent sentence as his face flushed bright red, “I don’t mind, I like the sofa.”

Sae shot Hiori an appraising glance which Hiori, to his credit, didn’t shrink away from.

“I see,” Sae remarked, repeating Hiori’s earlier words.

It seemed that, despite the short period of respite Rin had received from it, his brother’s full, concentrated attention was about to return to him as Sae glanced at Rin out of the corner of his eye and opened his mouth to speak when a loud crash from one of the upstairs rooms interrupted him.

It seemed no-one had noticed the demon sneaking out of the room while they were distracted; this had been a huge mistake.

Sae sighed, heavily. 

“I suppose I should go check on him. He becomes restless when he doesn’t receive enough attention.”

Rin shuddered at his brother’s words as Hiori laughed at them.

Both watched as Sae paused at the door to turn back and ask, “Rin, I don’t suppose your cooking has improved since I was last home?”

When Rin’s only reply was a scoff so indignant not even Hiori’s loud snort was enough to drown it out, Sae nodded infuriatingly. 

“I thought so. Then perhaps we should order dinner. You can use one of my cards.”

Rin scoffed again as Sae finally left the room and Hiori dissolved into laughter.

Rin shot a half-hearted glare at the boy still leaning over the back of the sofa (he found it difficult to be properly mad when he could hear Hiori’s laugh in the background).

“It’s not funny, you know. I don’t know who he thinks he is just showing up here and insulting my more than adequate cooking,” Rin grumbled, grumpily retaking his seat next to Hiori.

Hiori only giggled and poked Rin playfully in the cheek. 

“Aww, don’t cry Rin-Rin–I like yer cooking.”

Rin made a show of huffing in fake-annoyance in response but his irritation had all but melted away by the time Hiori had pinched Rin’s cheeks between his fingers and instructed him to, “Smile, Rin-Rin! Your brother and his boyfriend came all this way to see ya!”

Rin pointedly left the phone exactly where it was.

If Sae wanted to order food, he could make the call. 

Him and his pet demon, whatever reason he had to be here.

They’d both been gone a suspiciously long time actually but Rin chose to ignore that fact, instead deciding to remain blissfully unaware as he sank into the cushion of the couch–allowing Hiori to continue teasing him in hopes of teasing the stubborn frown from Rin’s face.

***

When Sae and Shidou finally came down, flushed and dishevelled with the demon being suspiciously quiet, Rin chose to ignore it.

He’d stayed silent as Sae ordered food and made polite conversation with Hiori.

He’d made a point of ignoring the sight of the cockroach grinning at Rin out of the corner of his eye.

Rin remained astonishingly calm through it all, not wanting to cause a scene especially with the extremely specific assortment of people present.

Dinner turned out to be a sombre affair, and Rin’s night was made all the more melancholy by the events that took place afterwards.

Shidou and his brother seemed to be under the impression that the walls were much, much thicker than they were.

Rin lay on his side, his head pressed against his mattress underneath his pillow as he stared at the wall that separated his room from his brother’s, regretting his life choices and feeling thoroughly traumatised.

The worst part was that there was no escape–banging on the wall and yelling, begging, for them to stop would just be acknowledging what was happening and the last thing Rin wanted to do was acknowledge what was happening.

As he stared blankly at the wall and wondered whether it would be quicker to asphyxiate himself with his pillow or to find a sharp object in his room and pierce it directly through his heart, the door to Rin’s room slowly creaked open.

An angel had come.

An angel had come to save him from this nightmare.

“Rin..?” 

Hiori’s voice.

Ah.

Well, it was close enough.

When Rin didn’t reply Hiori tried again, opening the door a little further and whispering slightly louder this time, “Rin? Are ya awake?”

It wasn’t until he started to hear the sounds of a sigh and retreat that Rin finally gathered his wits enough to shoot up and turn to the boy at his door.

“Hiori?” He called, forgetting to whisper.

It was dark but no absence of light could hide the majesty of Hiori’s grin from him.

“Thank goodness,” Hiori smiled, stepping fully into the room and shutting the door gently behind him, “I’d worried ya’d already gone to sleep.”

At that moment, a…sound–came from the other room. 

An unsavoury one, particularly loud this time.

For a minute, neither Rin nor Hiori spoke.

Then Rin groaned, picking up his previously discarded pillow and slamming it into his face.

“How could I?” He whined, voice muffled by the pillow.

Hiori dissolved into equally muffled giggles and Rin assumed he’d had to cover his mouth with his hand–not that he understood why, the other two occupants of the house didn’t seem to be making any effort to keep quiet.

Rin smiled into his pillow.

Hiori had a cute laugh.

Suddenly the mattress dipped by his side and Rin was so surprised his pillow fell to the ground.

“Ya don’t mind, do ya? If I sleep here tonight?” Hiori, who was currently climbing onto his bed–Rin’s bed–asked quietly, tilting his head to keep his soft cyan hair from falling into his eyes and perhaps coincidentally hiding his shy-looking smile behind the same hair at the same time.

“I– Um– No,” Rin finally managed to choke out.

Hiori’s face lit up so much Rin could practically see it in the dark. 

“Cool.”

Rin budged up to make room for him and before he knew it they were both lying on their sides under the covers, facing each other.

Rin couldn’t believe it but he found himself almost grateful for the…noise–let’s just call it noise–that was coming from the other room; it kept things from becoming too awkward as Rin realised he was once again so entirely out of his depth. 

“This is nice,” Hiori whispered, face so close his nose was almost brushing against Rin’s.

Rin–too terrified to talk, too terrified to even breathe–simply jerked his head slightly upwards in agreement. 

He twisted his body a little, so that he was now lying awkwardly on his back as Hiori somehow managed to inch even closer.

Rin thought his heart might explode that night.

“About yer brother…Sorry I got a lil starstruck even after everythin’ you told me…Itoshi-san seems cool, but I’ll still be mean to ‘im if ya want me to.”

It was all Rin could do to shake his head robotically.

It was all Rin could do to follow the words Hiori was saying, and even that he could barely accomplish, though a little warmth bloomed in his chest at the realisation of how deep Hiori’s loyalty went.

In truth, Rin didn’t mind much if Hiori admired Sae–most people did; even Rin did.

As long as it was Rin who got to be Hiori’s friend, Rin didn’t mind much of anything at all.

Of course, it was hard to articulate this, or give voice to any of Rin’s thoughts for that matter, with Hiori so close.

The thing was, Hiori touched Rin all the time.

Not that Rin minded, just that sometimes he didn’t know what to do with it all.

People didn’t touch Rin often; he didn’t let them.

But denying Hiori seemed to him like an unspeakable crime and so even though it drove Rin half-crazy, he allowed Hiori to cling to him like a remora. 

He allowed Hiori to climb into his bed and drape his long, muscled limbs over Rin as though they did this every night.

The tension already flooding through Rin’s body reached a crux when Hiori’s soft lips pressed to his cheek in the dark and Rin’s heart, for a moment, completely stopped beating.

“Night night,” Hiori whispered in his ear, amusement and country twang making his voice seem light as air as Rin tried to figure out how to return to Earth.

Hiori was out like a light almost immediately.

He was a heavy sleeper–literally, his limbs limp and heavy over Rin’s body–and he was snoring softly, directly in Rin’s ear, which would’ve been unbearably annoying had Hiori been literally anybody else.

As it was, Rin simply let his eyes fall closed and listened.

As a small smile stretched his face slightly, Rin regrettably realised that he was probably entirely fucked.

Before Hiori, Rin had never really had a friend before and so he occasionally found himself wondering what actually constituted ‘normal friend’ behaviour.

But unfamiliar as ‘friendship’ was, Rin was pretty sure this wasn’t how you were supposed to feel about your friends.

No, Rin suspected that the disgusting, fluttering feeling filling his chest now was more similar to whatever you called that blissful smile he’d observed on Bachira’s face when he’d chosen Isagi during the Second Selection, or the disgusting, heart-eyed way the cockroach had been staring at his brother throughout the entire U-20 game.

Yeah, Rin was pretty sure that whatever this feeling was, it was probably a lot closer to love than anything strictly platonic.

Great, his first real friend and Rin was already fucking it all up.

But as Hiori sighed in his sleep and snuggled closer into Rin now, Rin realised–try as he might–he couldn’t find it in himself to mind too much.

***

Sae and Shidou were gone before Hiori got up the next morning.

Rin had woken up confused to find long limbs tangled between his own.

By the time he’d worked out who they belonged to and then processed the fact that a sleepy, unbearably adorable Hiori was cuddling him–ten minutes had gone by since Rin had first opened his eyes.

Untangling himself from Hiori was certainly a feat–especially as every muscle in Rin’s body begged for him to stop so that they could soak up Hiori’s warmth for at least a minute longer–but it was one Rin had to suffer through. 

Once he’d successfully extracted himself from the bed, which became even harder when he realised he’d essentially been sandwiched between Hiori and the wall and basically had to climb over Hiori’s body without waking the blue-haired boy, Rin hesitated before slowly reaching out a hand and stroking Hiori’s head.

He grinned to himself.

There, affection. 

He'd done it; take that Sae.

Rin was in a good mood as he bounced down the stairs that morning.

Perhaps it had a little something to do with the fact that the previous night had been the best he’d slept in years by a longshot.

Rin wondered if it had anything to do with Hiori’s presence. 

Unfortunately–before Rin could figure out the truth behind the mystery–his good mood was significantly dampened by the sound of a cockroach in his kitchen. 

Sae and Shidou were talking.

That was how Rin was choosing to interpret it because stopping to analyse the situation and coming to terms with the fact that, in reality, the demon and his brother were flirting–was simply too much for Rin to handle that morning.

“So how does Sae-chan like his eggs in the morning?” 

“I like them prepared in silence, demon.”

“Sae-chan doesn’t mean that, he likes my voice.”

“You’re delusional.”

“I certainly enjoyed Sae-chan’s voice last ni–”

Rin promptly decided there would never be a better moment for him to burst into the kitchen, interrupting them.

Though perhaps, Rin realised belatedly, he should’ve at least knocked in warning.

When he abruptly barged into the room, Rin was greeted with the sight of his brother sitting on top of their kitchen counter with the demon standing pressed between his legs, hands firmly grasping Sae’s bare waist, riding up his sleep shirt with the motion.

At the sound of the door opening, both men turned to look at him, and Rin knew they hadn’t expected anyone to walk in because the demon’s hair was down and he hadn’t even put his pink contacts in, so when he blinked at Rin it was with brown bug eyes.

“Gross,” was all Rin could say, wrinkling his nose at the sight.

Once he’d regained his wits, Shidou’s blank expression transformed into a grin.

“Morning, Rin-chan,” he drawled, eyes wild. 

“Don’t talk to me, demon.” Rin snapped.

It was way too early for this.

“Ryusei, behave. Rin, be nice.” Was all Sae apparently had to say to the situation.

He made no move to get off the counter but he listed his head to peer at Rin curiously over Shidou’s shoulder.

His brother tapped the demon twice on the shoulder and Shidou seemed to take the hint, returning his attention to making their breakfast or whatever he’d been doing with their good pan. 

Rin was about to assess how he felt about the cockroach being so comfortable in their kitchen but it seemed his brother wasn’t done speaking with him. 

Sae cleared his throat and Rin paused his glaring at the back of Shidou’s head to glance at his brother.

“The boy. Your friend. He wasn’t on the sofa when we came down?”

Rin fought to keep his face from flushing but he got the defeated sense that he was failing miserably.

Sae had this way of talking where he very rarely asked any direct questions and yet you still felt compelled to spill your guts to him anyway.

“He– We– It’s none of your business!” Rin snapped, fighting the urge.

Sae’s expression didn’t even flicker in response to Rin’s hostile tone.

“I like him,” his brother said simply instead, “He’s nice. Far too nice for you.”

Rin glared at his brother, neglecting to speak in protest of his audacity.

“And he’s a good player too,” Sae continued, not taking the hint, “I remember him from the game. He shows promise.”

Not for the first time in their lives, Rin was unsure of what his brother was trying to achieve with his words.

“...Thanks..?” Rin tried, squinting suspiciously at his brother.

Sae nodded like he thought the conversation was going swimmingly.

“Ryusei is making omelets. He’ll make one for you too.”

When Rin and Shidou immediately began to simultaneously protest at this, Sae simply shot them both a look, causing the two of them to fall silent–though Shidou seemed more amused at this while Rin silently seethed, stomping over to the dining table.

The three of them ate their omelets at the table together, Rin fuming as he realised the demon was infuriatingly good at cooking. 

After that, Sae and Shidou had left with little fuss–though Sae did make a couple more cryptic comments about Hiori on his way out, and Shidou, of course, couldn’t drive off without shouting something incredibly inappropriate out of the car window at Rin, who’d silently flipped him off in response from the doorstep where he’d been watching.

Rin supposed as far as impromptu visits went, this one could have gone a lot worse.

And it helped that once he’d locked the door behind him, the first thing Rin heard was the sound of Hiori shuffling slowly down the stairs.

Rin found it funny that even his yawns seemed to have an accent.

He’d forced Shidou to make an omelet for Hiori too and knew the boy could probably smell it waiting for him in the kitchen, but still, it was Rin Hiori shuffled to first–opening his arms wide and really doing something more like falling dramatically into Rin than hugging him but Rin didn’t mind.

He was happy to half-drag Hiori to the dining room like he’d done that first morning, though in the end he was basically carrying the boy there–Hiori humming contentedly into the crook of Rin’s neck the entire time.

Rin liked his face there; Rin liked him all soft and clingy like this.

Rin liked him all the time.

Rin liked him. 

***

To Rin’s surprise and extreme delight, that next night after they’d completed the motions of their usual routine–despite the harrowing interruptions their day had earlier suffered–Hiori had climbed into Rin’s bed again.

Again, he’d crept into Rin’s room after he’d already turned his lights off and settled into bed, and again he gave him that shy smile and asked in a quiet voice–despite the fact they were the only ones in the house that night–“Ya don’t mind, do ya?”

Perhaps it was the fact that they were both aware they were alone now that made the atmosphere that slightest bit more awkward that night, after Rin shook his head no and Hiori made to climb into his bed once again.

The situation seemed all the more intimate now and Rin found it even harder to breathe than he had the previous night as Hiori attempted to get comfortable, arranging his limbs around Rin like he’d die if he couldn’t be touching him as much as possible. 

Rin was almost shaking with anticipation, waiting to see if Hiori would kiss him on the cheek again.

“Yer shivering, are ya cold?” 

Rin was burning up, but he nodded knowing it would only make Hiori snuggle in closer.

Predictably, Hiori did–and though his face surprisingly felt almost as warm as Rin’s when he pressed it against Rin’s cheek, Hiori kissed him as gently as he had the night before, muttering a quiet, “G’night,” into Rin’s ear as he settled down to sleep.

Rin glowed in the dark.

He could feel Hiori’s slightly hurried heartbeat as a result of their proximity and had to bite on his lip to try and suppress his quickly growing smile.

It didn’t work.

He wondered what he would have to say to get Hiori to stay so close their hearts combined and beat as one.

***

On Hiori’s seventh night with Rin, the last night before the agreed upon week was over and Hiori would be leaving Rin all alone in his Hiori-less house all over again, the two of them had been watching a movie, as usual–zero feet between them, as usual–when everything changed.

Hiori had thrown a leg over Rin’s lap and, with his body turned in that direction, Hiori’s hand had found its way to Rin’s hair where he had been absent-mindedly playing with Rin’s bangs as he watched, laser-focused on the movie.

Where the casual intimacy of the situation might’ve flustered Rin beyond belief during Hiori’s first couple of nights at his house, Rin found he was now growing used to Hiori’s tactile nature, and had even managed to rest a gentle hand on the boy’s leg–comfortable warmth filling his chest at the domesticity of it.

 Rin had all but melted into the sofa when the moment was interrupted by a sudden alert from his phone. 

A text.

From Sae. 

Rin only had three numbers in his phone, and his parents never texted, rarely called.

It had to be Sae.

The only question was what reason did Sae have to be texting him?

He reached out even less often than their parents did.

Hiori looked over Rin’s shoulder as he opened his phone to check the text.

To Rin’s mortification, the only message he’d received in months read:

LUKEWARM BROTHER: I hope I didn’t interrupt anything with your boyfriend.

Rin’s entire body immediately flushed red hot.

He was going to kill his brother.

Hiori seemed to find the message entirely more amusing than Rin and cackled loudly.

“I like yer brother,” Hiori said, smiling cheesily once his laughter had mostly died down, “He’s funny.”

“Yeah, real funny.” Rin grumbled, half-to-himself.

He was so busy seething as he tried to think of a reply that would preferably explode his brother’s phone with the force of his rage and kill him and his stupid boyfriend, that he briefly took his attention off of the boy next to him, not even noticing the hand that had been in his hair snaking playfully down his arm.

Rin shivered at the sound of Hiori’s voice, unexpectedly soft, right at his ear.

“Maybe we should give ‘im somethin’ to interrupt next time.”

And suddenly, Hiori was in Rin’s lap. 

Rin blinked up at him, holding his breath as his heart momentarily stopped beating.

Hiori returned his gaze with that same small, shy–but looking at it now, not really shy–smile from the other night–his eyes hooded as his hands moved to gently cradle Rin’s face.

Hiori’s hands were cold.

Rin waited–because really, what else was he supposed to do? 

There was no way what he thought was happening could actually be happening.

So what was happening?

Before Rin could open his mouth to ask–and probably blurt out something stupid as well because, well, it was Rin–Hiori leaned in closer and interrupted him.

“Yer cute,” was all he whispered before he closed the space between them.

Now, Rin had never really had a friend before and he still wasn’t entirely sure what constituted normal friend behaviour but he was very, very sure that most people didn’t consider climbing into your friend's lap and slipping your tongue into their mouth to be platonic behaviour.

Once the Hiori-induced fog in his brain–because holy shit, Hiori was kissing him–had dispersed, Rin quickly pulled away, staring wide-eyed at the blue-haired boy who was fully seated on him because holy shit, Hiori just kissed him. 

“What are you doing?” Rin asked, finally breaking the suffocating silence that had settled over them as they both stared at each other, perplexed.

Hiori tilted his head in confusion, his eyebrows furrowing in this adorable way as he replied, “...kissing ya?”

“Yes but why?” Rin was painfully aware of how strained his voice sounded as he pushed out the question but in his defence he was feeling very emotionally charged.

He’d only just come to terms with the fact he might be interested in Hiori in that way, and this was pretty much directly following the emotional ordeal that had been coming to terms with the fact he had a friend now so you can understand why Rin was feeling a little overwhelmed.

“Because…we’re datin’?” Hiori still looked confused as he answered but it was nothing compared to the genuine astonishment Rin felt as his mouth dropped open at Hiori’s reply.

What?

“What?” The word came out more like a squeak when he actually voiced it but Rin didn’t get the chance to feel embarrassed about it as realisation dawned in Hiori’s eyes and his face suddenly became a worryingly bright red.

“Oh my God ya didn’t know–”

“Wha–?” Rin started to ask again but he was interrupted by Hiori rapidly scrambling to get out of his lap.

When Rin reached out his hands to grab the boy before he lost his balance, Hiori flinched so violently away from his touch that he just fell backwards–landing hard on Rin’s floor.

“Are you oka–?”

“I’m-sorry-I’m-sorry-I’m-sorry–!” Hiori garbled out intelligible apologies at a speed so fast Rin could barely make them out, but what he did understand was that there had been a very severe amount of miscommunication between the two of them.

Rin stared at the boy on his floor. 

He could just barely make out the heavily blushing face Hiori was hiding behind his hands, sat with his head ducked and his legs drawn in close.

When it became clear Hiori wasn’t going to speak or make any attempts to help clear up the misunderstanding, Rin nervously licked his lips and attempted to mentally prepare himself for the conversation he was apparently going to have to initiate.

“Hiori..?” He started, uncertainly.

Hiori’s embarrassment had apparently left him incapable of words and so he let out a mortified whine in reply to Rin’s call.

Now, whilst the last thing Rin wanted to do in this already extremely awkward situation was make poor Hiori feel even more uncomfortable, the fact was–the melting puddle of mortification on the floor that was his blue-haired friend at the moment was something Rin didn’t know how to fix, and so he came to the decision to just go ahead and ask–

“Hiori?” Another whine. “What made you think we were…”

Rin trailed off, cringing at his own question. 

This whole thing would probably be easier if he was just a little better at communication.

Poor Rin had no idea how much this was the case.

“I mean– when did we– when did you think we started dating? And why?” 

Hiori whined again and Rin tried not to flush at the sound.

“Ya told me ya liked me!” 

Rin blinked in surprise.

While it was true that sometimes Rin said things without thinking he was pretty sure he had never said that before, no matter how often he thought it.

Without a word, Rin found himself slinking off of the sofa and sliding over to Hiori until he was sitting cross-legged, facing him. 

He reached out slowly to pull Hiori’s hands away from his face if only so he could look the boy in the eyes as he furrowed his brows and asked with the most bewilderment he had ever felt in his life, “When?”

“While we were still at Blue Lock!” Hiori cried, face only growing redder by the minute, “Ya literally said the words ‘I like you Hiori’.” 

He finished the sentence with a poor imitation of Rin’s voice and though Rin flushed at the memory he could now vaguely remember the instance Hiori was talking about.

But then he’d assumed the reason Hiori’s face had flushed was because of how awkward Rin was being about it, he’d never– he didn’t– he hadn’t known!

“Is that not–” Rin was suddenly so hot he couldn’t believe he’d ever thought his house was too cold. 

“I thought that was how you asked people to be friends…” He trailed off awkwardly, finally letting go of Hiori’s hands so he could use the back of his own to cover his face as he tried to look at literally anything other than the blue-haired boy sitting across from him.

When about a minute went by without Hiori saying anything, Rin finally risked flicking a glance in his direction.

Hiori was staring in wide-eyed shock, apparently speechless.

When he caught Rin’s gaze though, his face–though still incredibly pink–finally relaxed.

He breathed out a little laugh and Rin thought he might die inside.

“I guess that makes more sense…”

Rin jumped as Hiori suddenly started to laugh harder.

He gaped in surprise for a moment before indignation won over embarrassment.

“Hey–! Don’t make fun of me!” He yelled, reaching back towards the sofa and grabbing a pillow to throw at Hiori. 

Hiori caught the pillow easily, making an honest effort to stifle his giggles and failing miserably.

It was all Rin could do to bite back the smile threatening to overtake his face.

Hiori had a cute laugh.

“Sorry, sorry,” Hiori chuckled, though he didn’t look all that remorseful as he peered up at Rin.

“Are ya mad?” He asked quietly, nibbling at his bottom lip.

Rin could only stare at the blue-haired boy in shock.

“Are you kidding? I should be the one asking you that question!”

Hiori blinked back at Rin, “Why?”

“Because I led you on!” Rin whined, fully aware that he probably sounded like a child and was not at all creating the impression he wanted to in that moment, “I had no idea you thought– Or that– Ugh– When did you even start to think we were–”

Rin couldn’t even say the word, he was so mortified. 

(Not at the thought of it, but at his inexplicable ignorance.)

“Ya asked me out!” Hiori exclaimed, though he sounded more amused and bewildered than actually mad or embarrassed like before.

“When?”

“After the U-20 match! Ya said– Ya said ya liked me and asked if I'd ever be interested in hanging out together, just us two?”

“I meant like– Just us two! Without training or whatever. Just as…friends.”

Hiori peered curiously at Rin–then his face did this thing–and he gave Rin the sweetest smile ever, like Rin had no idea how precious he was.

(He could imagine Hiori saying that very word. 

“Precious.” Cooed in that adorable accent. 

God, Rin was going insane.)

“But wait– if ya didn’t think we were datin’ then why did ya let me hug you an’ hold yer hand and all that?”

Hiori, thankfully, didn’t mention the kisses.

Rin’s already flushed face suddenly burned as he looked away from Hiori.

This was going to be embarrassing to admit. 

“I– I thought– well I don’t know what I thought,” Rin started pathetically, still desperately avoiding eye contact, “I didn’t know that was all–dating stuff–I thought we were just being friends…”

Hiori’s laughter was bubbly and bright and usually Rin liked it so much but now he had to groan at the sound.

“Please don’t make fun of me.”

“I ain’t!” Hiori insisted, very much still giggling, “It’s just that– pfft, well I was wonderin’ why ya were so stiff all the time. I thought yer were just shy, I had no idea I’d been forcin’ myself on you all this time in yer own home.”

Rin snapped his head back to Hiori, feeling an urgent need to correct his statement.

“You weren’t! Forcing yourself on me, I mean…” Rin took a deep breath as Hiori tilted his head to gaze at him, waiting, “I– I liked it. All of it. The hugging and the hand-holding and when you slept in my bed.”

Hiori flushed a bright red at that last confession and Rin got the idea that he might have gone a little too far but he felt the need to continue regardless.

“I always liked it when you touched me, because I like you, Hiori.”

Due to the fact Rin’s courage had been steadily declining as he went on, by the time he got to the final–arguably most important–part of his confession, his voice had basically faded away into a whisper.

But if the way Hiori had made that shy little smile of his–because now it really did look shy and Rin wondered whether it didn’t just change with Hiori’s mood–and slowly shuffled forwards until he was close enough to Rin to reach out and cradle his face, before slowly pulling Rin into a kiss he was actually expecting and ready to reciprocate this time–was any indication, then Rin could probably assume that his only friend had heard him just fine.

Epilogue:

“Ryusei, you didn’t tell me that my brother had a boyfriend?”

“That’s because he doesn’t!” Shidou cackled delightedly, one hand on the wheel of Sae’s shiny car and the other gripping Sae’s succulent thigh, exactly where it wanted to be.

Sae rested back in his seat with a sigh, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“But he and that blue-haired boy– what was his name?”

“Yo-chan.”

“Yes, whatever, they seemed awfully close. I don’t think Rin’s ever invited a friend over before and it was clear that that boy had been staying overnight for at least a few days.”

“Well if it helps, Sae-chan, they’re definitely head over heels for each other, but little baby Rin-Rin is too socially inept to realise it and sweet little Yo-chan is way too nice to ever impose on anyone with something like his feelings.”

Sae hummed to himself thoughtfully. 

“Perhaps we’ll have to give them a small nudge in the right direction.”

“Oh? I didn’t know Sae-chan was so charitable?” Shidou’s grin was wide enough to split his face, but that was how he always looked around Sae so Sae didn’t think to interpret it as excitement for his little brother and rolled his eyes, slumping back against the seat of the car.

“It’s not charity,” he sighed, “Just that that blue-haired boy seemed nice, I think that he could be good for Rin.”

“I’m pretty sure the only thing that would be good for Rin-Rin at this point is a device that would somehow be able to dig the stick out from his ass, but whatever Sae-chan wants!” 

Sae rolled his eyes at the demon-he-still-wasn't-calling-his-boyfriend.

“I think I’ll send Rin a message…” He mused quietly to himself.

Sae wanted to draw his legs up onto his seat but the movement would’ve dislodged Ryusei’s hand and Sae liked that where it was.

“You know you can send me a message anytime Sae-chan.” Ryusei purred, catching Sae’s eye in the rearview mirror and grinning deviously.

Sae snorted in that dumb way only Ryusei could bring him to, “That doesn’t even mean anything, demon.”

“We could make it mean something…”

He knew Ryusei was just messing with him now but something about the demon always made Sae slightly more tolerable of nonsense.

“Just drive, demon. We have to be back at the airport in a half hour; we can see about making meanings when we’re back in Spain.”

Ryusei hummed to himself, his smile growing genuine for a split second before it reverted back to the demon grin Sae knew and begrudgingly allowed to exist in his orbit.

“Sae-chan?” Ryusei asked innocently enough, though the sinister glint in his eyes better suggested his true motives.

“Yes, Ryusei?”

“Why didn’t you just tell Rin-Rin you came back specially to see him?”

Sae allowed himself a small smile, “Stop asking stupid questions; you know it would have just made him mad.”

Ryusei was silent for a moment.

Then, “Sae-chan?” In a drawl that suggested he liked this new game and intended on playing for a while.

Sae allowed his eyes to flutter closed, “No more questions unless you want me to end our trip early and leave you here in Japan.”

Ryusei took his hand off of Sae’s thigh to mime zipping his lips shut.

He then used that same hand to tickle Sae–looking for ‘somewhere to keep the key’--until Sae kicked him, hard.

“Focus on the road, you devil.”

Sae closed his eyes again, planning to nap until they got to the airport.

Instead, he spent the drive pretending to be asleep but instead sneaking intermittent glances at Ryusei through the rearview mirror. 

The demon didn’t bother him again until they got to their destination, at which point he gently shook Sae ‘awake’.

Opening his eyes to find that predictable grin on the demon’s face was all the confirmation Sae needed to send Rin that message.

The blue-haired boy would be good for Rin, he was sure of it.

Sae had never really had any friends either, but he was learning to see the value in company.

He hoped his little brother could learn too.